The Importance of Recognizing Self

Yesterday I began my new assignment on the immune system as part of my studies to be a Naturopath. I love to study and learn new things and I especially love it when God begins to show me a parallel between the human body and spiritual truth. Well, I had this expectation in my spirit yesterday and as I was reading I could sense the spirit of wisdom and revelation lingering, ready to unlock some truth to me. Over the next few hours as I read and answered assignment questions I received this beautiful and timely word for the Body of Christ. I awoke today with an excitement to share it.

The one particular part of our immune response that I received revelation on was the development of self-recognition. You see, our immune system provides us with protection from ‘foreign invaders’ that seek to attack and destroy us causing sickness, death and disease. Without this system, we would easily die from invading pathogens. However, of equal importance is our system’s ability to recognise which cells are ‘self’ and which cells are ‘foreign’.

There is a very complex process that our body goes through to develop our immune system to recognise ‘self’ so that we do not attack and destroy our own cells (as seen in autoimmune diseases). There are two processes known as positive and negative selection which ‘weed out’ immune cells that do not recognise self and this is where I received revelation of what is happening in the body of Christ.

We are in a process of developing recognition of ‘self’ as the children of God. And by self, I do not mean just me as an individual. We are a body. One body. Jesus himself prayed that we would be one as He is one with the Father (John 17:21). We are in a season where we must embrace and recognize Christ in us and Christ in others and complete Oneness as a body.

There is a ‘positive and negative selection’ taking place which is eliminating those cells in the body that try to attack ‘self’. We could call it self-sabotage. See, what I didn’t tell you was that those immune cells that try to attack ‘self’ cells are destroyed. Yes your body completely annihilates these cells and entire cells lines that are ‘out of line’.

Anything we do or say that attacks ‘self’ is up for annihilation. Whether it is myself or my neighbor, my friend or another church member, my children or a careless driver, these ‘cells’ or thoughts or actions need to die. This is the process of crucifixion. For a body to thrive, we must not attack ourselves. We must rightly discern ‘foreign invaders’ and attack with full force, but we cannot live with self-sabotage.

The good news here is that the immune cells that do not attack ‘self’ are then multiplied and sent all over the body to do their job of attacking only foreign invaders. This is where my spirit is excited. There is a multiplication that is about to happen. Everything in us that walks in LOVE towards the body is about to be multiplied and sent throughout the body to deal to the real enemy.

So I am encouraged today to embrace the ‘weeding out’ process of any thoughts, ways or actions that are attacking ‘self’ which includes myself and others. Let us remember we are ONE BODY. Any thought that is less than love is not worthy to be reproduced and not worthy to ‘serve’ the body. Every time we choose love towards others and recognize that it really is our ‘self’ we are setting ourselves up for greater service towards mankind.

I pray that those who have ears to hear will hear what the spirit is saying today. I pray for grace to confess our shortcomings and ‘crucify’ anything that is less than love towards ourselves and others. I pray for an awakening to love the ‘whole body’ and begin to recognize ourselves as one body.

Much Love to you today

Rani

Daily Strategies for Living Free

While in prayer, Jesus revealed to me a strategy that the enemy has been using to enslave God’s children at this time. I saw spiderwebs. Hundreds of them like you sometimes see on clear days drifting in the sky (google informs me it is called spider ballooning). So thin and fine. So weightless and seemingly powerless. However I saw that the strategy of the enemy was to use that which seemed small and insignificant to go under the radar. These thin wisps of spider web represented very small occurrences. Little offenses. Little lies. Unforgiveness for little things. Small acts of unrighteousness.

 The only reason this strategy had any power was that God’s people were too busy, stressed or overworked to notice the small webs. One small web on its own could not do too much but as the number of small webs increased, it began to entangle people. I saw multiple small webs targeting people daily in an attempt to quickly enslave them and I saw a consistency of webs day after day, trying to find a victim.

Jesus revealed to me a few small webs that had come my way during the week and I was amazed at how small they were and yet how I had let them remain on me till this time. I was also amazed at the number of small instances that had occurred and how they had a negative impact on me.

The only reason I am sharing this is because Jesus only reveals the enemy’s strategy so that we can overcome with a greater and victorious strategy.  And this is our calling. This is our inheritance. And these are just 3 of many strategies that Jesus gave me.

1) Jesus said that the webs are easily discerned when we are present or still.

2) Jesus also told me that the webs easily disintegrate in the refining fire.

3) Jesus reminded me that the webs can also be washed off in the River.

The key is to make room for these activities daily.

When we are present and still, it is easy to see, feel or discern a web that has attached itself to us during the day. This is a KEY strategy for God’s children at this time. It is time to live present and increasingly aware in every moment. When we are present in love and light, discerning darkness or fear is much more obvious. We can easily remove the web ourselves when we see it.

When we invite Christ’s refining fire to purify us, it will reveal all impure thoughts and motives which can easily be dealt with. Again, this is simple and easy to do but it just takes time and intent. The more we embrace the refining fire, the greater the awareness of the state of our own heart.

We are blessed to be able to come and wash in the River of Life anytime we choose. We are blessed to have full access to this place of such purity, cleansing and fun. The webs easily wash off in this heavenly place and not only that, but there are many more beautiful things to receive in exchange.

So my prayer is that we have an awareness of Christ’s nearness in every moment of our days. I pray that we will not give the enemy a foothold, small or large. I pray that we would embrace the refining fire in both the Word and prayer. I pray that we would become more familiar with the River of Life and our inheritance in heavenly places.

I bless you this day with an awakening to Christ in YOU.

Much Love,

Raneeta

Love Whispers before He Shouts

God IS love. He is always speaking. He is always expressing His love towards us. Sadly, we are often not even aware of His love each day because His whisper can be drowned out by the clatter of this world.

I watched a movie last night that lingered on in my mind and heart. It lingered long enough to awaken areas of my parenting into greater love and joy (my funny accents and goofiness are back). I thought to myself, it may seem crazy but this movie has changed my life.

And then in dawned on me, the whispers in life can drastically change our lives if we choose to meditate on them and embrace the truth being spoken. However, sometimes in the busyness of life, the clatter of the world drowns out the whispers and we miss golden opportunities to grow in love. This made me ponder what maturity looks like.

I realised that…

Maturity can be measured by the level of resistance required for us to make adjustments in our lives towards greater LOVE. In other words, the mature respond to whispers.

Remember. Love whispers first. Only when we are still can we hear Him. If we constantly do not hear the whisper, love does raise His voice, because after all, He delights in loving us all. Love will speak up. Love will raise His voice. And ultimately Love will shout if necessary because Love never gives up.

Our bodies are the same. They begin by whispering to us when things are out of balance. A slightly sore knee, a sniffly nose, a headache. They all begin as whispers and if we give attention to those needs when they whisper, we find balance returns quickly.

However, if we ignore the whispers, just like Love, our bodies will raise their voice. The pain will get stronger, the symptoms will increase and the level of discomfort will increase. We have been magnificently made for balance and wholeness. If the whispers and nudges are constantly ignored, this leads to shouting which I would call chronic illness.

So if you feel that circumstances in your life are shouting at you or your body is screaming out to you, maybe it is time to pay attention. Maybe it is time to be still and ask yourself, “what is it that Love is teaching me in this season” or “What does my body require of me right now.” I dare you. Because I know Love has your best interest in mind and I know your body desires to be whole. Let us embrace the whispers of love and health today, and prevent the need for Love to shout.

May we have ears to hear what Love is whispering to us today.

Health and Harmony to you,

Raneeta Grace