Month: May 2017

Naked Beauty

/ Michelle Halloran / Leave a comment

IMG_0228

Imagine for a second you are naked. Completely exposed, Nothing hidden.

How would you react if you were seen like this by a stranger? I’m sure most of us would try to cover ourselves or hide. We may feel shame or embarrassment, awkward or uncomfortable.

On the other hand, how would you respond if you were seen like this by your spouse, someone who knows you intimately? Hopefully, the exact opposite. There’s no shame, awkwardness, or fear of rejection. Rather than hiding, there’s an inviting. This is the beauty of intimacy. 

Now imagine it’s Jesus you are standing before naked. Every deed you’ve ever committed, good and bad, laid bare for inspection. How do you respond? Are you hiding or inviting?

Your answer reveals a lot about your relationship with Him. If you’re hiding, take comfort in this: nothing is hidden from His sight. He sees everything about you, even the dark places, yet still He calls you altogether lovely. The sin isn’t lovely, but who He created you to be is absolutely… breathtakingly… lovely.

And He invites you to draw near to Him.

How do you respond? When we receive His invitation and, in turn, invite Him to come closer with nothing hidden between us, He brings light into all our dark places. This is repentance. And in our vulnerability, Jesus smooths out all our rough places, perfects all our weaknesses, and purifies all our blemishes.

This is your true beauty.

I absolutely love that He sees all of me and loves me anyway. But it’s more than that. The exposing is sanctifying. The revealing is making me holy just as He is holy. The inviting is creating intimacy between me and my Lord.

Nothing is hidden from Your sight.

Wherever I go You find me.

You know every detail of my life.

You are God and You don’t miss a thing.

You know me…

…You’ve memorized me.

Hebrews 4:13

Empowering Word for the Weary…

/ Michelle Halloran / Leave a comment

IMG_0168

If the devil can’t make you bad, he’ll try to make you
busy, tired, and/or distracted.

It seems many followers and dedicated lovers of Jesus are just plain old worn-out. Has this been you in this past season? I, for one, can totally relate. Especially as school is coming to a close and life has become super busy.

As I was praying for people battling this weariness, God revealed to me three different pictures. In the first picture, one was stuck in quicksand. The more they struggled, the more they sank. In the second picture, one had been traveling and came up against a large brick wall in their path preventing them from going forward. In the third picture, I saw a marathon runner. They’d been running a very long time and had become thirsty and weary.

You see, the enemy’s tactics are to sink you, stall you, and prevent you from crossing that finish line. But the hope of glory is this: If the enemy is trying so hard to wear you down, then there must be something incredibly amazing for you just around the corner! Also know this: Your making is in the wilderness!

It’s in this season where you are going to realize the supernatural strength of God as you rely upon Him. God is inviting you to a place of rest in Him. REST IS YOUR WORSHIP! As you cease struggling and start abiding in His presence through your worship, you will encounter a fresh anointing from Abba, your heavenly Father. It’s in the ENCOUNTER with God where you will be EMPOWERED to overcome all obstacles. It’s in your worship where you’ll be pulled out from the quicksand. It’s in your worship where hindering walls will crumble. It’s in your worship where you’ll get your second wind to keep pressing on.

What looks and feels like a trap the enemy has confined you in, is really a cocoon God will use to transform you in! And as you break free, you will begin to fly into all the possibilities God has in store for you!

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” –Galatians 6:9