Experiencing Heaven Through Our Five Senses: Part Two, Feeling Him

In the post, "Experiencing Heaven Through Our Five Senses: Part One, Hearing Him," I described God's desire for us to know Him through our senses, and as awesome as it is to hear His voice or heaven's songs, being touched by the One Who created the universe thrills my soul in even deeper measures. If I had to choose my favorite sense, feeling Him touch me would be number one!

Years ago as a teen, I had my first experience with His touch during a Pentecostal service I attended with a friend. At that time, His touch manifested as goose bumps, but oh, what a sensation!

Later on, I began to experience what I have affectionately have named, "Jesus Kissing My Soul." When Jesus kisses my soul, I cannot contain my tears. Imagine One perfect in purity, holiness and power kissing your soul! Overwhelmed by His beauty, I cry for gratitude and for the inability to express my love for Him. I cannot explain it any other way, because when He "Kisses My Soul," it is another world experience with no frame of reference with which to compare.

I mentioned that God told me to go ahead with brain surgery back in 1987, but what I did not say was that prior to hearing His voice, I felt a gentle breeze upon my back. I understand now that the breeze was the "breath" of the Holy Spirit.

Within the last several years, Jesus has manifested His touch by what feels like electricity or heat or even like rain upon my skin-all beautiful expressions of His love towards me!

Specifically, the sensation of electricity began several years ago when Chuck Peirce and Dutch Sheets visited my church. I had been passionately worshipping Jesus through dance when I felt my hands become "electrified." Whispering to a friend after the worship portion of the service, I said, "I think Jesus is touching my hands. It feels like electricity." My friend said, "You were really clapping. Maybe that's what happened." I sat there with my hands palms up on my lap; instead of wondering, I decided to ask Jesus about it. I said, "Jesus, if this is you, then I want more. If it isn't you, then take it away." By the end of the service, the electricity had spread up my arms, to my shoulders, and across my chest. Before going to sleep that night the electricity had spread over most of my body, and when I woke up the next morning, the electrical sensation continued. It was not until a day or so later when ministering wisdom to a friend that the electricity felt as though it came out of my mouth through my words. How awesome it that? Oh, by the way, my friend commented she could feel God's Presence as I spoke. We serve a God who delights in using us to minister His word!!! :)

At various times, God's touch feels like heat. The most dramatic heat experience occurred while visiting Life Center. A woman of God came to me during worship and started to prophesy over me. As she spoke God's word, it felt like I was standing in front of an open oven door. The woman ended the prophetic speech by answering the question to a private prayer that no one but God could have known about. God is to be praised!!!!!!

The newest tactile sensation manifested just a couple weeks ago when Patricia King visited my church for Randy Clark's, Voice of the Prophets conference. I felt rain upon my skin, and the cool thing was that later Patricia said it was raining in the spirit. I was not the only one feeling the rain as several people admitted to feeling the spiritual rain upon their skin.

Since I was a little girl, I have enjoyed touching and being touched. I believe God wired me that way, and that is why His touching me means so much to me. I love you, Jesus!!!!!

Lord, my awesome Friend, pour out Your Spirit upon all who read this post. Allow us to feel Your touch, the experience desired because we desire to know You and receive Your Love. We want to be touched so we can touch others. All for the glory on One Man, Jesus!!! AMEN!!!!

P.S. I'm feeling electricity right now!!!!!

Experiencing Heaven Through Our Five Senses: Part One, Hearing Him

There is no doubt in my heart that God intimately knows me and passionately loves me! He proved that once again last evening at Christ Community Church's youth service! My heart swells with love for my Jesus, and I need to write what He has placed inside me, for He wants you all to know Him, be acquainted with Him, and experience Him through your five senses of hearing, touch, sight, smell and taste.

The article, "Child, Friend, Bride: A Threefold Cord," speaks of our threefold relationship to God; those ways of relating to God are enhanced and strengthened by the way He allows us to experience Him through our natural/supernatural senses. The Lord spoke to me while walking with Him a few days ago saying that we learn to know Him- who He is, what He is like, by sensing Him. He directed me to write a series of posts on this particular subject. Fellow youth leader, Tra, spoke last night at the youth meeting on this very subject. Tra had no idea what Jesus had spoken to me early Sunday morning during our walk together. Apparently, God wants us all to understand and grasp the reality of "God with us," through the medium of senses.

Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the young woman who is unmarried and a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us]."

Hearing the heavenly realm seems to be the most common way of interacting with God. He desires us to know Him by the things He speaks to us or by the way He opens our sense of hearing to spiritual sounds. Earthly fathers use words to encourage their children; Fathers use words to guide, instruct, and rebuke, and our heavenly Father does the same. At twenty-three years of age, God instructed me to go ahead with brain surgery in order to remove an aneurysm-type lesion by audibly saying, "..., have the surgery. I will take care of you." I followed the direction of my Lord and experienced none of the expected side effects post surgery.

Some of the most intense hearing experiences I have had to date have been angelic singing. One Sunday afternoon while taking a nap, I awoke to hear the most beautiful singing, so beautiful in fact, that I did not want to move, breath or even blink my eyes, because I did not want the heavenly song to stop. In that moment, I had the revelation of how much I loved myself, not in an arrogant or self-centered way, but that I loved the woman I had become with Jesus. For someone who had struggled most of her life with self-worth, this heavenly interaction was no less than a miracle!

A public example of hearing angelic song occurred several years ago during a Terry MacAlmon concert at my church. I was worshipping when suddenly, behind me to my left and above the congregation, I heard what sounded like a choir of hundreds of voices singing notes I had never before heard on earth. This song lasted only for about fifteen seconds, but oh, what glorious fifteen seconds!

As His child, you too are entitled to hear the Lord and His heavenly realm. John 10:27 states, "The sheep that are My own hear and are listening to My voice; and I know them, and they follow Me." As you quiet your soul and actively listen for His voice and for the voices of His angelic servants, I promise you, you will hear!

Jesus, appreciation bubbles up inside of me as I realize we not only are privileged to share our hearts with You, but also overwhelmingly blessed that You would respond to our hearts' pondering; that we can hear You! Holy Spirit, open up our ears that we might hear you clearly, love You completely and obey You fully! All for the glory of One named Jesus! AMEN!!

Child, Friend, Bride: A Threefold Cord

"And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken." Ecclesiastes 4:12

While taking a walk with Jesus yesterday, I meditated on the various aspects of my relationship with Him. I considered being His child, His friend and His bride. The powerful position those relationships afford, overwhelms me!

Often fellow Christians have said that we need to know who we are in Christ, but just WHO are we in Christ? I felt like Jesus told me WHO we are yesterday, a child, a friend and a bride and a threefold cord is not easily broken!

Ecclesiastes 4:12, indicates our need for each other; we are stronger together then separate. A single cord may be easily torn in two, and doubled that same cord exhibits twice its original strength, but three cords wound together provide a strength that is not easily broken. I wholeheartedly agree with this interpretation, however, what if we view the threefold cord as symbolic of our varied ways of relating to our God?

Symbolically, the first cord in relating to God is that we are His children. He created us; He is our Daddy! In accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord, we immediately have all the rights and privileges inherent of sonship.

John 1:12 "But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name."

Though we may not understand scope of the vast authority given to us, by our Dad, that authority is within us ready to be used to declare Heaven's will upon this earth. What characterizes a child though? Playful, innocent, trusting, and a Daddy-adoring heart are the attributes that come to my mind when considering a child. The first cord of who we are in Christ has to begin with our understanding of being His child and exhibiting child-like traits.

Mark 10:15 "Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] positively shall not enter it at all."

The second cord strand is friendship with God. He has no longer called us slaves, but friends.

John 15:14 & 15 "You are My friends if you keep on doing the things which I command you to do. I do not call you servants (slaves) any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing (working out). But I have called you My friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. [I have revealed to you everything that I have learned from Him.]

Friends listen to one another; they share secrets and work together to accomplish a goal. Their hearts are tied together with a bond that enables them to read each others thoughts. They know one another and are even willing to die for each other. Jesus wants us to relate to Him as a friend, not a slave. He desires us to walk each day with Him on His level, seated with Him in heaven. Keeping our heads up and our spiritual eyes open, we can do what He is doing here on earth and accomplish the goal of releasing heaven right here, right now on earth.

Ephesians 2:6 "And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."

Devoted passion, eyes locked, hearts beating furiously to be with the Beloved, pure in her desire for One Man, this is what a bride is like. Passion like this completes the threefold cord. This cord's strength is beyond comprehension for its fibers are reinforced by the power of the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 11:2 "For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride one husband—Christ."

Do past sins enter my thoughts? Yes. BUT the love Jesus pours into my soul quickly brings me back to Him, my first love. Do the cares of this world tempt a bride to draw her eyes away from His eyes of flaming fire? Yes, at times. When that happens, a bride will cry out to her Bridegroom, and He will intervene. Our bridal relationship with Jesus must be maintained at all costs. Spending time with Him, dating Him, passionately worshipping Him are marks of a bride.

The evil one would attempt to break any or all of the strands composing the cord of our relationship with Jesus. Satan works overtime to deceive us whispering, "You're not really accepted as a child of God" or "How can you be so arrogant to think of God as your friend?" Maybe he says, "You're damaged goods, never will One so holy would want you as His bride." Do not listen to evil's lies, beloved!

We are His child, His friend and His bride, and a threefold cord is not easily broken!

Holy Spirit seal this truth up in our hearts. Cause head knowledge to become heart knowledge, burning in our hearts so brightly that we cannot help but to walk out our beautiful relationship with You. All for You, my Daddy, my Friend and my Bridegroom. AMEN!!!

I am Blessed: The Sisterhood Award

Thank you, Lidj, for blessing me with your friendship. Truly, we are sisters in Jesus! No matter the distance, our hearts are one in Him! Your godly character has encouraged me on more than one occasion, and I hope one day to embrace you in person.

With Much Love,
Beautiful Grace

2009: Christian Battle of the Bands

"Telios," the name of the band, means "It is finished!"

Fire, my "Extreme Drummer," played until his fingers bled.

Faithful Friend playing and singing.

Consecrated playing a Paul Gilbert guitar solo.

Seeing/hearing Consecrated's musical

gifting caused me to tear up.

Thanks to Redland Brethern in Christ Church

for providing a forum for the expression of musical giftings!

New Creation Warriors

Calling all home schooling families. If you are looking for a family-style co-operative, check out New Creation Co-op, which offers both academic and enrichment courses.

The Chocolate Calculator

I received this as an e-mail today and thought I'd post it in honor of my chocolate-loving friend at Jesus and Dark Chocolate.

Enjoy, Sandy!

Chocolate Calculator:

Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway -but the Hershey Man will know!

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

This is pretty neat.

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST!
It takes less than a minute .
Work this out as you read .
Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!
This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50 -- I'll wait while you get the calculator

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1759 ...
If you haven't, add 1758.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number

The first digit of this was your original number
(i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are

YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2009) IT WILL EVER WORK, SO SPREAD IT AROUND WHILE IT LASTS.

New Creation Homeschool Co-operative

The past three years every Tuesday during the home school year, I have had the blessing of teaching general science and biology at New Creation Home School Co-operative. Revealing the glory of God's creation through science to awesome students and seeing them grow in their appreciation for science was a huge blessing! However, my heart overflows to think that beyond science, I have had a small part in encouraging my students to seek after God with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength. I will not forget the unique callings and destinies of the students who patiently listened to me lecture on everything from protists to plants to deoxyribonucleic acid. Students, you have blessed me beyond comprehension! In addition, to the moms of New Creation- I will never forget your friendship, your prayers, and your love! May the Lord bless you with double that which you have given me!

Happy Birthday, Sissy!

Happy Birthday, my dear, generous, tender-hearted sister! Auntie MA, you are one of the most selfless people I know, and I am blessed to be your sister. May Jesus bless you and keep you. May He guide you when the storm rages and give you peace. I love you!!!!

"This is a New Season - a Season of Love and Redemption"

Dear Blog Readers,

Be blessed by this prophetic word through Tiffany Ann Lewis. May your love be awakened by the kisses of His mouth, which causes you to run after Him, going where He goes and doing what He does.

In the great and awesome name of my Beloved, Jesus!!! AMEN!!!

Reprinted from the Elijah List at http://www.elijahlist.com

by Tiffany Ann Lewis

God often delivers a message with a season. Prophetically speaking, the winter is past and the season of the spring—Mo'edim is here. Mo'edim is a Hebrew word that means: appointed times, sacred seasons, set feasts. The word is used to identify specific seasons that were appointed by God for a particular purpose.

"These are the feasts (mo'edim) of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover." Leviticus 23:4-5

The spring Mo'edim coincides with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our love is awakened under the Cross. It is the time, it is the season, it is mo'edim to allow His flame of Love to be that which purifies the dross that is in our lives.

The Process of Purity
"Nothing Produces Purity like Passion and I Am a Refining Fire."

Holiness and purity are a central theme throughout the Bible and one that cannot and should not be avoided. The Lord Jesus is no doubt coming back for a pure and spotless Bride. I want to be that spotless Bride, however, I have to confess when I hear words like virtue and purity, my heart sinks a little.

The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that we are saved by grace, not by works. Yet the mindsets of this world continue to cause us to measure our worth based on our works. It's as if we have exchanged one shackle for another, and the worshiper now strives to be better in order to become worthy of the high calling in which they were called. Can you identify?

The Lord is calling us to a season of love not a season of labor: "When I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!' Yes I said to you in your blood, 'Live!'...When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love…Then I washed you in water; yes I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil." (Ezekiel 16:6, 8a, 9)

When we are struggling in our own blood, we are struggling in our own efforts. We are redeemed by the Blood of the Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, the Firstborn from the dead, "who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own Blood." (Revelation 1:5)

Our love is awakened under the Cross of Calvary. I believe the vital revelation of the Cross is not what Jesus did, but why He did it. Beloved, Jesus didn't sacrifice His life out of duty; He is a husband to us not a fireman. God rescues us from the flames of Hell because of the relationship He desires with us, not out of some duty. He did it freely motivated by His love and His desire to fellowship with us, as it was in the beginning when He created man.

This is why we rejoice resurrection morning; because while we were yet sinners, Love overcame the grave. God loves us; I mean really loves us. He doesn't just tolerate us in our frail humanity.

This is the time for love, and intimacy is what will produce purity. The Lord is inviting us to rest in the finished work of the Cross and allow passion to produce the purity we strive for.

A New Season of Love
In Song of Solomon 8:6, "love" is depicted as a flame. In Hebrew, this flame is Shalheveth Yah. It is, literally, a Flame of Yehovah/Jehovah. This Living Flame of Love is what will purify that dreadful dross that continues to resurface in our lives and we will be made into ornaments of gold (see Song of Solomon 1:11).

It all starts with a kiss. The first chapter of the Song of Solomon reveals a prophetic parallel of this process:

"Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth" (verse 2). The kiss is a metaphor for the kiss of the Torah/the kiss of the Word of God. In this face-to-face encounter, God reveals the mystery of Messiah and the astonishing mystery of His unconditional love. This is a continual communion with the One who loves us, the Lover of our soul. It is something we can receive every day as we seek Him and ask for the kisses of His mouth.

"We will run after You" (verse 4a). We receive grace and peace in the kiss. After such an encounter we cannot walk any longer, we must run after Him. Wherever He goes there we will go.

"The king has brought me into His chambers" (verse 4b). He leads us to His chamber; that's the goal of the journey – intimacy with God.

At this point many of us don't know what to do. "Do not look upon me, because I am dark" (verse 6). Our shame causes us to want to run away and get cleaned up first.

This is, "the time of love" (Ezekiel 16:8). It is here that we are washed tenderly. If we run away we will miss these tender moments when the Lord Himself cleanses us lovingly and gently, not harshly and bitterly.

I realize that I am far from that spotless Bride, nevertheless, I am someone that is being cleaned up and refined by the Eternal Flame of Love - Shalheveth Yah. The gold maker uses heat to bring out the dross. As the fire comes and we remember His love, we will be able to endure the heat and be made holy as He is Holy.

It is true that we are dark in the light of His Holiness, but He looks at us even in our failings and says, "To me, my darling, you are like my mare among the chariots of Pharaoh" (Song of Solomon verse 9). Beloved, the Lord is the lifter of our heads and He wants us to look up and catch the fire in His eye. As we focus on the face-to-face encounter and remember why He did what He did, the transformation will occur.

"Your love is better than wine. We will be glad and rejoice in You, we will remember Your love more than the wine" (verses 2 and 4). In the Hebrew language pleasure and joy is referred to, symbolically, as wine. For some reason the reality that God loves unconditionally sparks something deep down inside of me that is more powerful than the joy (wine) of everlasting life.

This revelation empowers our limbs, strengthening us to pick up our cross and follow Him in a whole new way. We love, and so we will obey and willingly watch our dross go up in smoke as a fragrant offering to our King.

"I awakened you under the apple tree" (Song of Solomon 8:5). Eight is the number of new beginnings and five is the number for grace. Jesus Christ hung from a tree to rescue His Bride and awaken our love.

This is a new season—a season of love. It is also the season of our redemption—spring. The winter is past. It's time to stop striving, but to rest in the finished work of the Cross and allow His flame of Love to purify the dross that is in our lives.

Lord, I pray that every person who reads this message would hear the sound of Your unconditional love. I ask that this word divide between the bone and the marrow, the truth and the lies, and we would know that we are accepted in the Beloved. B'Shem Yeshua/Jesus – Amen

Tiffany Ann Lewis

Dancing with the Flame of the Lord Ministries
Email: TiffanyAnn@tiffanyannlewis.com

Spring is a Time For War!

Let me make this one thing clear; I am desperate to hear and be led by the voice of my Beloved! One of the ways He guides me is through my dreams, and several recent dreams have indicated a change, a moving on and a path becoming increasingly difficult.

Last week I kept hearing, "Spring is a time for war." This concept, found in 2 Samuel 11:1, speaks of King David who remained in Jerusalem when he should have been battling the Ammonites and Rabbah with his army. Because he was not doing what was expected of a king, he was left vulnerable to temptation, and that temptation led to adultery and murder! (See 2 Samuel 11)

This morning prior to checking my e-mail, I asked the Lord to reveal the meaning of a dream from last night; through the prophetic e-mail below, the Lord is guiding and encouraging me!

SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns -- April 7, 2009:

Beloved, you are in the flow of destiny, and I am bringing you along the time line of purpose. Even though you catch a glimpse of course changes that await, you must stay mentally and emotionally in the present. Be steadfast and faithful by maintaining spiritual focus. Timing is everything, and it would be a mistake to try to force any issue to obtain the goal. Wait patiently for My leading and trust that I indeed go before you to clear the path and make a way, says the Lord.

Isaiah 43:2-3 "I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, Who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel."

The Passover celebration begins at sundown on Wednesday evening; Traditionally, part of the preparation for the Passover feast is to remove all leaven from your home. Leaven (yeast) symbolizes sin, and although I do not plan to partake of the traditional Seder meal, I do plan to ask the Holy Spirit to search my heart and uncover any hidden sin.

Lord, I will trust Your leading. Course changes will come, clinging to You, worshipping You while I patiently wait! You will go before me clearing the path of the obstacles. I will do what You ask and go to battle as is required. You will reveal any part within me that does not please You. Any leaven must go because Jesus, I Love You!!!! I trust You to reveal and show me the way!!!! To God be the glory forever and ever!!!! AMEN!!!!!