Stay Open, Stay Hopin'

When the going gets tough, the tough stay hopin'.

I swore I would not write another word until I am healed.  Holy Spirit largely ignores my rants, tirades and meltdowns.  Spirit remains consistently calm, unruffled and unfailingly hopeful.  It can be quite aggravating but my inner spirit just keeps encouraging me to keep on keeping on.

When The Way Seems Unclear, Hope Will Take You There

Days ago Spirit said 'stay open, stay hoping', today 'hope thou in God'.  Each day Spirit gives me just enough to keep me holding on as my heavenly Father works out His will in my life and for my life.  

Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.  - Psalm 42:11

I like David because David truly experienced the highs and lows of this journey of life.  David danced joyously with elation, David wept his desolation.   And David hoped.  

Through the darkest despair and monumntal devastation David stubbornly refused to let go of hope in his God.  So too dear friends we are called to hold on to hope, no matter how hopeless our circumstances may look or feel.  No matter how long we have been in the trenches,  no matter how devastating the heat of our fires, hope will get us through it.

Hope in yourself and for yourself, hope in life, hope in others, hope in your God.  

Never Give Up Hope

Hope is an ever available companion and a loyal friend.  I don't think that I thought much about hope before I stepped into the trenches.  I was not much of a hoper, I was a doer.  But hope was always there, for all of us hope is always there.  You're standing at the bus stop hoping the bus will come soon, you're at the atm hoping you have enough money, you walk into a meeting hoping for success.  Hope is always a part of our lives, every day of our lives.

Hope sometimes feels like its a weak emotion, it may feel like hope is something you have when you are lacking something.  You have not worked hard enough, you have not prepared enough, you have not done enough, so you hope.  On the contrary, hope is one of the strongest and most powerful emotions you can cultivate.  

Hope is the cherry on top after you have done all, after you have given all, hope is your secret weapon that can take you past all the others and into the victory circle.

Hope never walks alone, she comes with many strong and powerful companions.  Hope walks with confidence, fortitude, stamina and grace.  Hope promotes assurance, quietitude and peace even in the most adverse circumstances.  Hope brings joy, hope builds trust.

Hope comes with x-ray vision that sees beyond the mountain before you, into the verdant valleys beyond.  Hope brings persistence and builds resilience.  Hope gives you a strength you never knew you could possess, hope brings a determination that can take defeat after defeat and not give in.

Hope Does Not Back Down Until You Win

Hope is fierce, stubborn and intractable.  Hope fights for you, and does not back down until you win.  So choose hope.  Do the best you can in your situation and hold tight to hope, cling to her, do not let go.

Hope is a powerhouse, she is resilient, she is capable, she is strong and she will carry you when your heart feels like you don't have the strength to carry yourself.   

Let hope encourage you.  Let hope comfort you.  Let hope strengthen you.  Let hope carry you.

Hope knows the heart of your God for you and hope never gives up on you.  Follow her counsel, learn her ways.  Be strong as hope is strong.  Be resilient as she is resilient, determined as hope is determied and be as untiring.  Hope never gives up.

Do not ever give up.  Choose hope.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.  - Romans 15:13

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If you were blessed, uplifted or inspired by this message please let us know on YouTube.  It blesses our heart to be a blessing to yours.

In The Trenches Through The Fire

@VibranceMinistries 

Stay Hopin

©Spirit Speaks by Vibrance Ministries 2025, all rights reserved. 

Life Is A DELIGHT

There are days when life feels anything but delightful, in fact it feels as far from it as you can get.  Yet even in those days delight is never far away.  We may pull into ourselves and hide from delight because it feels like an indulgence that is simply too painful.  How can you feel delight when your heart is broken, or your body, your finances, your family, your world?

It is surprisingly simple.  

I was having a rough day, I reached out to Holy Spirit asking, what is God's heart for me today?

Life is a DELIGHT.

Seriously.  Holy Spirit is an irrepressible optimist.  Spirit calls us to be irrepressible optimists also, no matter what is going on in our lives.  The story of Stephen's death is one of the saddest in the bible (Acts 7:54-59), yet one of the most beautiful.  In the midst of the most horrific physical attack, Stephen's vision was focused above and he was received joyously into the arms of his Lord.

Could we be like Stephen?  Could we fix our vision so firmly on our Lord that the attacks of life do not dismay us?  Can we be delighted even in the worst of circumstances?

I do not need one thing to change in order to feel the way I want to feel, that is FREEDOM.

Spirit teaches me all the time to choose my truth.  It is something we do all day every day anyway.  The human psyche is wired to collect, filter and sort information.  Our minds hold on to the inputs that fit our worldview and discard the rest.  Our minds will go so far as to twist what comes in to fit what we believe.  Have you ever said something to someone and they heard something completely different?

So, what if we were to choose to do consciously what we are already doing unconsciously.  What if we were to choose a truth that aligns with God's heart for us, God's word, God's promises over our lives?  Even if our lives look and feel like the absolute opposite of  God-reality, what if we were to choose a truth that allows us to believe our God?

Would it make a difference to our experience?

The truth I was reminded of today is that life is full of delight.  Even in the tough circumstances, even on the really rough days life can be a delight, because delight is never far from us.  It is as simple as opening a crack for delight to come in.

I received this message when I was feeling far from delighted, but trusting Holy Spirit,  I prepared the artwork for this post.  As I scoured through pictures of cute kids eating ice-cream my heart pulsated with warmth.  I was feeling delight.  It was as simple as looking at pictures.

That is how easy it is to choose our truth each day.  We simply choose where we put our focus.  Do we focus on everything that is broken, or do we focus elsewhere?  I chose to focus on my Lord, He directed me to focus on delight.  Delight is a good point of focus because it feels good, and it's not hard to reach.

A bird perched on my window, delight.  An act of kindness from a stranger, delight.  Looking up at the clouds as they lazily move into one formation and then another and another, delight.  The beach on a warm summer day, delight.  Hovering in the back of church as the choir practices, delight.  Life is full of large and small delights.  

So if you are in a place where life feels anything but delightful don't be fooled by your emotions. Simply open your heart to be receptive to noticing what is already there.  Goodness is there, mercy is there, grace is there, laughter is there, hopefulness is there.  Delight is there.

Expect the BEST,  Celebrate the WORST and Appreciate ALL of it.  

Life is a DELIGHT, savor it.

Know that when you are struggling with anything in life, delight is one of the keys to your victory.  Crack a window, allow it in.  As you delight, your heart opens to your God, your spirit settles, trust anchors and grows strong.   The storm calms in the face of delight, the clouds roll away, the sun shines in and the sweetness of life opens once more.

Like a lick of ice-cream on a warm summer day.  

Delight in your God no matter what.  Trust Him implicitly, cultivate patience and optimism.  Then  watch with awe and wonder as He brings to pass the desires of your heart.  

Your delight, is the desire of His heart.

Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. - Psalm 37:4-5

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Author: Max Patrick @VibranceMinistries

In The Trenches Through The Fire is written for Christians who are going through stuff.  If you were blessed, uplifted or inspired by this message please let us know on YouTube.  It blesses our heart to be a blessing to yours.

In The Trenches Through The Fire

@VibranceMinistries 

Life Is Delight

©Spirit Speaks by Vibrance Ministries 2025, all rights reserved. 

 

GROW Through It

 

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,  knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

- James 1: 2-4

Victory - The Power of Living Faith

VICTORY, the power of a living faith. Your walk of faith is supposed to feel like victory every day.  Make it so.  Take your place in the winner’s circle child of God.  Know that even before your storm abates you can celebrate your victory lap. 

One of the core strategies in athletic training is developing the ability to experience the victory even before you run the race.

There is a tried and true mind training technique, where athletes mentally rehearse their event, visualizing themselves winning and experiencing the joy of the victory. This strategy helps to build their confidence, reduce anxiety, and improve performance by creating a positive mental blueprint for success.

If You Want To BE It, Gotta Let Yourself SEE It

Dear Christian friend, do you have a blueprint for personal victory?  Do you know how it feels to come out on top of the situation that threatens to overwhelm you?  Do you really?

Will I dance for You, Jesus, or in awe of You, be still?  Will I stand in Your presence, or to my knees will I fall?  Will I sing hallelujah?  Will I be able to speak at all?  I can only imagine*

Can you imagine? 

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine good outcomes for  your situation because of the pain and stress associated with it.  So take yourself out of it.  Come, walk with me…

Walk into the body of Usain Bolt.  Beijing Olympics 2008, you are 21 years old, primed for the 100 meter sprint, not yet knowing that you will beat a record set by the great Carl Lewis in 1984 by shattering 100 meters, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meters records in this single Olympics.  This record has literally stood longer than your entire lifespan.  You are about to rewrite history.

Be in Usain’s body in the moments before the 100 meter sprint.  Just three short years before, you placed dead last in the 2005 world track-and-field championships final.  The year before that you failed to even make the Olympic team.  But you’re back and you are not just here to be here, you’re here to win.

Feel the energy in your body, feel the buzz, feel yourself gather in all your strength and power, feel that moment of take-off as you give it everything that you’ve got.

Move into the  moment after you cross that finish line, heart pounding in your chest, gasping for breath, muscles quivering in the aftermath.  9.69 seconds.  It echoes in your head,  over and over you hear it 9.69 seconds.  Asafa did 9.74 just two years before.   You are now the world record holder.

Feel into the moment,  feel your heart trying to fly out of your chest, feel the sweat running  in sheets down your face, feel your muscles spasming, feel your emotions.   Is your heart racing?  Are there tears streaming down your face, do you have a sense of elation or relief?  Are you amazed?  

Now move into the moment when you do that iconic lightning bolt pose as the crowd goes wild.  That’s what victory feels like.

I've got, got the victory, I've got the sweet, sweet victory in Jesus, He is a mighty conqueror, In him I will trust,  all my battles he'll fight. I've got, got the victory, I've got the sweet, sweet victory in Jesus**

Christian friends your walk of faith is supposed to feel like victory every day.  The actual events unfolding around you do not determine your ability to walk in victory.  Your victory tour does not depend on stuff, it does not depend on people, money is not a determinant nor is the state of your health, your environment, or any of the things we love to stress about.

Your victory lives within you.  We Christians call him Jesus.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.  - Gal 2:20

This is everyday practical Christianity.  This is the true power of faith.

When the apostle Paul said ‘it is not I who lives, it is Christ living in me’ he meant it very literally.  To say that He dwells in us and we dwell in Him is a very literal thing.  Jesus’ spirit moves into your body and cohabitates.  This should mean something to you.

It is not you trying to gather courage to speak to your sickness.  Christ is in you and when he speaks he knows it is done.  So he’s not speaking and testing, speaking and fretting, speaking and hoping.  He is confident.

He is also alpha and omega, beginning and end ie. He’s super smart and has all divine wisdom.  He knows the end from the beginning, he is not worried about what happens in between.  So what if you speak and your situation gets worse?  You are devastated,  you think your faith is not working!

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. - Philippians 2:5

Child of God, Jesus hated the thought of the cross, he knew the suffering he would endure and it was frightening.  But he went anyway because he knew the end.  You may not know the end in your situation but whatever comes it is well done.  Jesus is in you and his guidance is sure, he never misses and he never loses. 

When you are in desolation, distress and anxiety you are being double-minded.  The Christ mind within you is at peace, it is your carnal mind that is freaking out.  Get yourself together, line up with the higher mind that is already active within you.

Are you a Christ-ian?  Well, this is what that means.  It means Jesus is not an external deity that you are begging to help you, it means he moved in the moment you extended the invitation.  So its not you who is facing the world in this day, it is you hid in Christ.

All you have to do is recognize that you are not the person you used to be.  You are not subject to the weaknesses, frailty and powerlessness that the human you was subject to.  You’ve got something extra in you, you are a spiritually enhanced being.

You Are So Much Bigger, Stronger, Smarter, More Capable And More Beautiful Than You Know Yourself To Be.

You may seem to be losing some battles, but for sure you will not lose the war.  You cannot.  Did Jesus lose?  If he did you would not be reading this right now.

Step into the winners circle my friend.  Live every day from that place.  Visit often in your imagination until the day that life catches up.  Then you will be so well rehearsed you will have such grace and poise in victory.  And the world will celebrate your God because of the way you handled your walk.

For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. - 1 John 5:4

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Author: Max Patrick @VibranceMinistries

In The Trenches Through The Fire is written for Christians who are going through stuff.  If you were blessed, uplifted or inspired by this message please let us know on YouTube.  It blesses our heart to be a blessing to yours.

In The Trenches Through The Fire

@VibranceMinistries 

Victory

©Spirit Speaks by Vibrance Ministries 2025, all rights reserved. 

Song Credits:

* Tamela Mann : “I Can Only Imagine”

**Yolanda Adams “Victory”

Other Links:  Usain Bolt Wins 100m/200m Gold - Beijing 2008 Olympics             

Your Fire is FOR you.

Thank you Jesus that the fire that I am walking through is and has always been FOR me.

Mic drop.

I recorded the words and then dropped my phone.  Like Obama’s epic mic drop it was that kind of moment.  Profound.

I had received The Place of Fulfillment  lesson and as I learn from Spirit each day I practice, so I went into prayer asking to be shown what my place of fulfillment may look like.  In that post I said that what Spirit gives you in response might me surprising.  I spoke truth.

FIRE of Jesus Heart

I had barely started to pray when I had a graphic vision.  I created the cover design for this post from that vision.  I was seeing Jesus’ heart and it was on fire.  Spirit has taught me often how passionate Jesus’ heart is toward us. 

I like to say that our Father gets double-teamed by Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  They keep Him in check.

Our Father’s heart towards us is not always good.  Fact.  Our Father can be angry at us, our Father can hold a grudge, He can turn His back on us, He can be vengeful, He can be wrathful.  He can even punish us for the sins of our fathers generations before us.

Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities -  Isaiah 14:21-22

But our Father knows Himself well and is also very clever.  He builds mitigation strategies into every level of creation,  because at the heart of it, everything is in service to our good.  So He sent us His heart, we call Him Jesus and He sent us His most holy spirit.

I have found over the years that Holy Spirit is extremely supportive, nurturing, kind, persistent and consistent.  Holy Spirit never gives up on you no matter how many times you give up on yourself.  Holy Spirit never judges you no matter how harshly you judge yourself.  Holy Spirit is always there to pick you up no matter how many times you fall down.

Encouraging you, drawing you out, comforting you, showing you amazing possibilities that are available to you, that's Holy Spirit, always for you.   In spirit I have seen that Holy Spirit is fierce in protecting us, and is indeed our advocate and intercessor.  Holy Spirit tempers our Father’s heart toward us.

And Jesus, well, hands down the thing I see most often in spirit about Jesus is his heart.    If you hear only one message ever in Christianity, this is the message you need to  hear.

Jesus heart for you is fierce and compassionate, it is always and only for your highest good.  What Jesus wants most for you is the restoration of your heart to his own.  He wants you to walk every day of your life in the JOY of that union.

When I say your fire is for you I do not mean it is punishment customized just for you.  Nor am I saying it is a test that you must pass, or a proving of your faith.  It can potentially be one or more of these things but none of these describe the substance and purpose of your fire.

Your fire is FOR you.

It is for your benefit, it is for your good.  That is our God’s heart for you.  The heat of the fire may be your Father's wrath, it may not. It may simply be something He has permitted, into which He has already implanted the seeds of your good.  Treasures for you to discover and enjoy.

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'. - Jeremiah 29:11

Jesus and Holy Spirit team up to get you through it, to help you to recognize the blessings in it and to find the Field of Diamonds in your path.

Your fire is for you.  It is for your growth, it is for your anointing and appointing and preparation.  It is a place where God brings out of you what He has implanted in you; spiritual giftings, emotional intelligence, gifts of love, mercy and grace, fierceness, boldness, fortitude and so much more.

Your fire is the place where your light rises from the ashes to dazzle the world.  Your fire is the place where like the phoenix, you are rebirthed.

The fire you are going through is for you.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad for the Lord your God is with you.  Through every moment of it, He is with you.  In every twist and turn His hand is at work as He develops you, hones you, molds you, makes you.

He sees something in you.  Let Him draw it out through this fire and the next and the next.  Relax.  Let Him make something magnificent out of you.

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.” - 2 Timothy 2:20-22 

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Author: Max Patrick @VibranceMinistries

Authors Note - The postscript to today’s message:  

In prayer, I asked to be shown what my place of fulfillment might look like.  As one who struggles with health challenges I expected to see myself in robust vibrant health, instead I saw Jesus’ heart.  As the vision progressed I got it,  I am called to be the Fire of Jesus' Heart.  Spirit tells you God’s heart for you in a thousand ways.  My ministry is the ministry of Jesus' heart.  

I love to receive beautiful and dramatic allegories in vision, but I am also a very rational and practical person.  So I asked Jesus, please show me what this means for me in a real and practical sense.  I got another analogue, two actually.  

 I saw myself as the fire of Jesus' heart, creation of fire, creature on fire. Then I started to work with my fire, casting it out into the world around me.  I saw others around me and as I sent forth my fire their souls lit up, each one with its own tongue of fire.

And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. - Acts 2:3   

I saw myself as Jesus, ministering to a crowd.  I was feeding them bread and they consumed it eagerly.

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes will never go thirsty." - John 6:35

I pray your heart will gorge eagerly as I have ministered today, and you will practice the principles you have learned.  You might just find that your fire is the most monumental blessing of your life.  I did.

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If you were blessed, uplifted or inspired by this message please let us know on YouTube.  It blesses our heart to be a blessing to yours.

In The Trenches Through The Fire

@VibranceMinistries 

Your Fire Is For You

©Spirit Speaks by Vibrance Ministries 2025, all rights reserved. 

The Place of Fulfillment

Do not pray from where you are.  Pray from the PLACE OF FULFILLMENT.

The place you are in emotionally when you pray influences the prayers that you offer to your God.  It also determines the outcomes you receive in prayer.  What if you could simply shift the platform you are standing on when you pray?  Radical transformation.

I have started In The Trenches Through The Fire even as I walk through the closing phases of a seventeen year long walk with sickness. I write about joyous expectancy, living life lustily, exhilaration, joy.  I write by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

There are days when my heart and mind are not caught up with Spirit, they are firmly stuck in the experience of the lived reality.  Yet every day Spirit calls me into alignment with God-Reality.

From the place of the lived reality praise is oftentimes so hard, joy feels almost impossible and even hope is sometimes hard to reach.  Yet every day Spirit starts my day by sending me songs of praise.  Some days I fuss and rail, mostly I have learned to surrender to the Holy Spirit.

There is such blessing to be had in surrender.  You just have to let Jesus take the wheel.  When you do that in prayer, Spirit will move you from the place you are in and take you to a more elevated place.  From that perspective when you look at your life as it is unfolding in this very moment, it looks very different.

You can see the purpose to what you are going through, you can see the promise in it and the seeds that our Father has planted, just for you.  You can see diamonds in your path, you can see mercy, you can see grace.

When you pray from that place, it’s a whole new kind of prayer.  Then, in even the most abject circumstance gratitude flows freely, you feel a sense of humility and awe before your God, because in your suffering He is honoring you.  Holy Spirit allows you to see the magnitude of His heart for you and it is humbling.  Who am I Lord to be worthy of such things?

I call this place of prayer my in-between.  It’s not quite lived reality, it’s not quite God-reality it’s somewhere in between.  It is a very healing place to be.  I have found it to be nurturing, comforting, strengthening.  In this place I have found a faith I did not know I was capable of and a resilience that is astounding.

“And Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.’ Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” - 2 Kings 6:17-20

In this place I have been blessed to see the angels, archangels and other divine helpers who minister to us constantly, lifting us up when we go down, patching us up, cheering us, sustaining us, directing us, fighting for us.  Christian friends no matter how alone or unsupported you may feel, know that you are never alone.  You have hosts. 

You may feel neglected by your God, even forgotten or rejected by Him.  Know today that His heart is for your good.  Everything He has orchestrated is for your good and He has already set in motion everything that is required to take you to the place where you are walking in the benefits.

The place of fulfillment

God has put in place a flow that will take you right into His desired end for you.  It’s like rafting.  There are times to row and there are times to just rest your oars and allow the current to take you.  All too often we are impatient, we’re checking our watches and then we start trying to speed the process.

We paddle to exhaustion, we get caught in cross-currents, sometimes we go in circles, other times we capsize.  All while declaring scriptures, attending every service and calling passionately on the name of the Lord.  Yet the very wind whispers ‘just go with the divine flow’.  We tend to be slow learners.

Allow God’s Flow To Take You

If we learn to pray from the place of fulfillment we turn our little boats into the current and allow God’s flow to take us.  Then we may actually enjoy the ride.  We may find that the route is scenic, we may find places of rest, hidden treasures and delightful surprises along the way.

We learn to run the rapids with perfect timing, paddling with all our heart at the right time, easing our efforts at other times.  We learn to just take a breath and let our boats fall, trusting that even if we go under we will pop back up.  Then we release shouts of wild exhilaration.

We did it!

That’s the place of fulfillment.  After you have gone through your journey, navigated all the twists and turns, the calm waters and the turbulence,  you get past the last bend and paradise lies before you.  It is yours.  And the amazing thing is, as you navigated the ride you were picking up the keys to the kingdom.

We tend to get so focused on the suffering that we miss the grace as we journey through the trenches.  But Holy Spirit is working with your spirit all the way.  Endurance, empathy, kindness, passion, purpose, these are some of the gifts you will have picked up along the way without even noticing it.

So when you get past that last bend and the kingdom lies before you, you already have the keys.  It is no strange place because in your journey you were taught the mindset of the kingdom, a kingdom heart was regenerated within you, the language of the kingdom is on your lips.

“His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many.” - Matthew 25:21

When the Lord says ‘well done my child, step into your reward’ you are elated but not surprised.  While you were on the journey Spirit had planted the seeds and with your cooperation, allowed you to catch glimpses of the place of fulfillment.

Your cooperation is the most important thing.  Will you wander in the wilderness for forty years, or will you allow the Lord to lead you into the promise?  His way may not look at all direct, in fact it may look chaotic, disjointed and painfully slow.

No worries my friend, He is leading you in the path of righteousness, so that you may receive all the keys you need to open the doors of promise.

Praying from the place of fulfillment is so simple, yet we have to consciously choose to direct our prayers in this manner. 

First and most important, reach for guidance on our Father’s will for you in your situation.  What does your state of fulfillment look like?

For some it will be exactly what you want in this moment.  For some it will be a stunning overturn of all your current beliefs and expectations.  Be patient with this part of the process, don’t try to rush a response, don’t try to rush past it.  Be quiet.  Be receptive to your God.  Hear Him speak.

Be aware that your ego is loud and never stops talking.  Don’t be fooled by the voice of your ego, don’t be distracted by the noise within yourself, or from others.  Surrender your mind to Christ and let him guide you.

When you are practiced at this you will know God’s will clearly.  He doesn’t send one message, he sends tens, scores, hundreds until you get it.  Random strangers will speak over you, your friends will say something that resonates deeply, scripture will leap out at you, you will just hear and see and know something that may be surprising to you.  

Be really mindful to keep your ego out of the way, set aside your desires and patiently listen.  You will hear and know His will for you.

Sometimes His will is so far-fetched or so far removed from your current experience your first response is to reject it as nonsense.  You may push it way because you feel unworthy, incapable or unqualified,  or because you simply cannot see the path from here to there.  You have to practice trusting your God.  Be better at it than Abraham.

Then nurture within yourself that fulfilled state.  Feed it, tend it, pull up the weeds that spring up around it, fertilize it.  And every time you pray, pray from that place.

Picture your fulfilled state as a garden.  Picture where you are now as it feels to you now.  It may feel like a barren wasteland littered with brambles and thorns.  You go into prayer feeling the thirst splitting your lips, the pain of weariness in your bones and the sting of the thorns biting into your flesh.

Allow Yourself To SHIFT!

Now shift from that place.  Just for a time, take yourself out of that place and step into your secret garden, the place of fulfillment.  Step into the skin of the version of you that lives in that place.  Feel their emotions, think their thoughts, live their experience.  It is your personal Eden, from that place  commune with your God.

How would your interactions feel?  What would your conversations sound like?  Would laughter come easily, would you feel a sense of reverence, contentment, even joy.

Everything your heart desires is in that place but it may not be show up as you want it to be.  You may want a job but in that place you find a sense of security.  You may want a spouse but in that place you simply experience a sense of being deeply loved.  You may want to be elevated in your business or career, but in your secret place you just feel an intense sense of belonging and worthiness.

God knows all your secrets, He knows why the things that hurt you hurt so much, He knows the motivations behind your desires.  In your garden of fulfillment He has already planted every variety of food that is good for you, and has provided every delight that your spirit needs to flourish.

So, just for a while each day, toss out your agenda.  Go into prayer and just be receptive to your place of fulfillment.  You can picture yourself opening the gate, walking into the garden and enjoying whatever comes.  A butterfly may perch on your nose, Jesus may show up and hang out with you, or a teacher may visit with you.  Whatever comes, allow.  Trust.  Enjoy.  Rejoice.

You will get to a place where this is not just a receptive prayer but an active one.  You can step into your place of fulfillment and get guidance for a business decision, strategies for a family matter, counsel for healing.  You can connect to this place in a snap, in the middle of whatever is going on and you can take what you need in that moment.

You see, your place of fulfillment - your kingdom, your Eden -  is there to support you not just through your current ride, but through all your rides.  It’s a place you will carry within you for the rest of your life.

Wouldn’t it be fun to tap in?

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Author: Max Patrick @VibranceMinistries

In The Trenches Through The Fire is written for Christians who are going through stuff.  If you were blessed, uplifted or inspired by this message please let us know on YouTube.  It blesses our heart to be a blessing to yours.

In The Trenches Through The Fire

@VibranceMinistries 

Place of Fulfillment

©Spirit Speaks by Vibrance Ministries 2025, all rights reserved. 

I Panic

Be still my child, all is well.  I have told you, Your Fire Is For Your Good.  Take a breath, be still, TRUST!

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” - Romans 8:28

§ 

Author: Max Patrick @VibranceMinistries

If you were blessed, uplifted or inspired by this message please let us know on YouTube.  It blesses our heart to be a blessing to yours.

In The Trenches Through The Fire

@VibranceMinistries 

I Panic

©Spirit Speaks by Vibrance Ministries 2025, all rights reserved. 

 

CONVERGENCE

CONVERGENCE is the place where belief and faith make miracles.

This is a lesson about belief and what it really means, faith and how to leverage it, and the place where belief and faith converge with our Father’s heart for you.  

Picture if you will three circles.  At first they are separate but by the process of convergence the three circles are drawn into a place where they overlap.  

The first circle represents your spirit.  Your spirit is a part of God and has never left his presence.  Your spirit lives in the reality of God’s heart for you in every moment, in every circumstance. 

The other circles represent your soul (heart and mind), which is subject to the trials and sorrows of this life, leading you to cry out for breakthroughs and miracles.  When your soul is in alignment with the God-Reality that your Spirit already enjoys, your breakthroughs flow effortlessly.

So, the three circles are Spirit, which is fixed in God-reality, Mind which can be all over the place and Heart which may be frozen in a place of separation from God’s heart for us.

Convergence is the place where the three circles overlap.  Here’s how it works in spirit:

Every situation you will ever experience in life is within our Father’s will.  The enemy cannot touch us unless the Father allows it.  So in every situation there is a reality that exists in accordance with our Father’s will.  In this reality is the past which may have birthed this situation, the present experience of it and the future that our Father has already ordained.

There may be many paths and many possibilities.  Through the grace of free will we get to choose which possibilities we birth into our lived experience.

Suffering, Failure And Lack Are States That We Are Choosing.

We don’t get to choose the state in which we are born, the family or community or body we are born into.  We don’t get to choose whether our prior experience was of lack or abundance, warfare or peace, hate or love.  We don’t get to control whether loss will impact us, or death may rock our world. 

But through all of it we get to choose our experience.  The mechanics of our circumstances do not determine our experience, we always get to choose our response.

Belief Is Not A Thought, It Is An EXPERIENCE. 

Belief is not an intellectual exercise it is a felt experience.  Belief also determines experience.  What you believe about your situation makes all the difference in the world, to the way you experience your situation.

When you truly believe a thing it impacts your entire soul, it governs your mindset, it triggers your emotions, it determines your will and orchestrates your responses.

Have you ever met someone who is paranoid?  They live in the safest neighborhood, have the best family, are successful in every area of life yet they are always anxious, always looking over their shoulder, always watching for that other shoe to fall.

Somewhere in their experience a belief was planted.  That foundation belief is ‘I am unsafe.  The world is not a safe place, physically, emotionally, financially, relationally’.  So they live their lives driven by a looming sense of insecurity, even though every circumstance of their life is in contradiction to their belief.  This person is experiencing a lived experience not based on facts but on their internal perception, which is strongly rooted in emotion.

When we say we believe in God, we believe Him as our savior, deliverer, protector, provider we should ask ourselves, what is my inner experience?  What am I truly believing?

Yes I’ve been broke, yes I have lost, yes I have suffered through sickness and grief, through all of that what is my experience of my God? 

You can be broke and feel AbOndantly Blessed.  You can be sick and effuse with joyous energy and vibrancy.  You can deal with catastrophic loss and walk through it with a sense of peace.  It’s all about belief.

So your first challenge is to tune into your heart and understand what it is that you are truly believing.  If your belief is broken, fix it.  Belief is not easy to fix, but Holy Spirit is eager to help.  God wants your heart to be in alignment with His heart, this is the first aspect of convergence.

“The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”- Matthew 6:22

Then there is the mind, the place of faith.  We fail abjectly in our attempts to define faith, I think this scripture is perfect.  Faith focuses on God-reality.  In this place your world lights up in incredible and wonderful ways.

Faith Is The Place Where Your Eyes Are Singularly Fixed On God-Reality. 

In the place of faith we are dogged, persistent and single-minded in our focus.  As humans we are inherently double-minded, some may call it the carnal man vs the spirit man.  In this thing which we call our mind, or psyche, at all times there exist at least two minds. If you try a quick mind quieting exercise you will see it immediately.  

There is a mind that is like a five year-old with ADHD, easily bored, unwilling to focus, darting here and there endlessly.  This mind gets really rambunctious when we are in prayer because it does not like to not be the center of attention.  It chatters endlessly at God, allowing no room for feedback.

If you have the awareness, you will notice there is another mind, I like  to call it the higher mind.  This is the mind that will tell your lower mind to shut up and be quiet.  This is the mind through which you receive inspiration, solutions, strategies, insights, wisdom or comfort.

To be single-minded is to bring your lower mind into alignment with your higher mind, which is in alignment with God-mind.  When you achieve this state,  your third circle moves into the place of convergence.  This is the state of faith. 

Faith Is Not A Decision, It Is A STATE.

We take the decision of faith all the time, when you pray about a situation you have taken a decision.  But what is the state of your mind?

Your state of mind is all about your established patterns of thought, belief and expectation and how these patterns are affecting your position with regards to what you are praying for.  It is not just one belief, it is the combination of all your beliefs.  When the dust settles, what is the state of your faith?  It's not a question of whether you have faith, it's about what is dominant in your mental and emotional state.

Are you praying fervently day after day from a place of anxiety, worry or fear?  Are you panicking?  Are you desperate, angry, frustrated?  You are not in a state of faith.

Faith is not an emotion and it is not a decision, it is the resting state of mind, heart and spirit.  It is a state of receptivity to our Father’s will, trust in His ways,  and peace within our situation.

From The Place Of Faith, Make Peace With Your Situation.

I have learned to grab my lower mind by the scruff of the neck and put it into time-out so that I can truly hear God’s will as I pray.  Therefore when I pray, I pray in alignment with my Father’s will.  A big part of that process is acceptance.  It’s not about fixing what is broken, it is about allowing room for His will to be done in my situation. It is about Holding Space.

But there is another aspect to consider.  When you become attuned to the Holy Spirit, you will hear God’s heart for you clearly.  However, like Abraham you may experience a gap in time between the promise and the fulfillment.  How do you position your faith while you wait?

Let Your Eye Be Single and

 Let Your Heart Dwell In The Experience Of The Promise Fulfilled.

There’s an old saying “there’s many a slip twixt cup and lip”.  Too often we miss our miracles because of the state of our faith while we wait.

Step one: Know God’s will in your situation.  Do not fool yourself that God’s will is an immediate positive outcome.  God is not Mr Fixit,  God is the master potter.  Allow Him to mold you.

Step two: Once you have a clear indicator of God’s will for you, believe it with all your heart.  This is not passive,  this is something you must do every day, several times a day until it becomes so practiced you are doing it in every moment.  You get to open your heart to believe in what God has spoken over you, you get to examine your heart and release contrary beliefs and expectations.  You get to nurture the belief in quiet assurance that no matter how much time passes, no matter how your situation seems to move in the opposite direction, if God says so it is so.  Take the time to do conscious exercises each day that allow you to cultivate this belief until it becomes automatic.

Step three: Let your eye be single.  See nothing that contradicts God-reality, even when the evidence is kicking your behind and shouting in your face.  Keep your eyes focused on God-reality.  Keep your mind single, do not entertain doubt, cultivate patience, this is God’s promise and He is faithful to fulfill it.  No matter what it looks like, let your vision be fixed on God’s vision for you.  Trust that it will happen.

Step four:  Check in.  Are you in a state of convergence?  Convergence feels like mind at peace,  heart expectant and excited.  Convergence feels like 'I’m in the midst of the storm yet I feel secure.  I can’t justify the way I’m feeling, I just know God’s got this, so I’m not going to worry about it'.  It is the place where I go into prayer and my issues don't even come up.  I just know it’s already done.

You don’t get frustrated in the place of convergence.  You handle the suffering that comes but you don’t get lost in it.  You have a higher perspective.  

Convergence Is The Place Where Your Heart, Mind And Spirit Meet In Alignment With God’s Heart For You.

There is a fourth element which is deliberately not included here.  We have talked about mind, heart and spirit, what about body?  Do we not need to do something to demonstrate our faith?

No you don’t.  Your miracle is not birthed by doing, it is birthed by believing. 

Works Are A Fruit, Not A Seed.

Action is not a mandatory pre-requisite for faith. Sometimes when you pray, Holy Spirit will prompt you to do something specific.  Do it.  Sometimes Spirit will call you to do nothing.  Do nothing.

The absolute key is your attunement to the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  When you are in the place of convergence, guidance comes clearly.  If God wants you to do something He will tell you in a way you cannot miss.  Act in accordance with the guidance provided by Spirit,  including the guidance to do nothing. 

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” - Psalm 46:10

Be still in your mind, let the strivings cease.  Be still in your heart, trust.  Be still in your body, move only as He directs you.  That is how you bring all your circles into alignment with the will of God.

 That is convergence, the place in which your miracles and breakthroughs are birthed.

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” - Matthew 16:19

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Author: Max Patrick @VibranceMinistries

In The Trenches Through The Fire is written for Christians who are going through stuff.  If you were blessed, uplifted or inspired by this message please let us know on YouTube.  It blesses our heart to be a blessing to yours.

In The Trenches Through The Fire

@VibranceMinistries 

Convergence

©Spirit Speaks by Vibrance Ministries 2025, all rights reserved.