Greetings from Australia! My name is Amanda Butel. I'm the Editor of the new non-denominational Christian women's magazine created in Australia -- for the international market, called ENHANCE CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S MAGAZINE.

In brief, I believe I represent a growing number of women from my generation, cheerfully raising our children, and honored to love and serve the Lord with all that is in us.


Devoted to Him, Amanda 

His Breath

God is about to breathe on His promises over our lives. He is challenging us to embrace the Word He has placed in our hearts, and to invite His Holy Spirit to breathe on us. He is wanting to restore to us a new hope and a fresh vision. He is wanting to fulfill His purpose in and through us.

The Spirit of the Lord is searching to and fro, seeking out those who love Him. He is yearning for intimate relationship with a people who are hungry, holy and humble before Him. God is wanting to bring form to His Word, and manifest His Presence to this dying world.

There is an intensity -- a sense of urgency like never before. I don't know about you, but I want the power of God in my life. I don't want to just get by, acting out a mediocre and average existence. I don't want to finish this race without having given my Lord everything. I desire, with all my heart, to live wholeheartedly and abundantly -- passionately serving Him -- with His mighty hand backing up all that I do -- for His glory.

In order to be whom God has destined us to be, we cannot afford to become complacent and lose a sense of expectancy that God is about to move on our behalf. Without hope, we will be shredded and disintegrated upon the winds of disappointment and fear. Without courage and trust in God, we will perish to our own devices. So we need to learn the habit of anticipating His supernatural intervention at all times. With all the pressures and strains of this world, it is so easy to become tired, frustrated and discouraged. Often times it doesn't seem as though God is working on our behalf. It can appear as though the heavens are brass and the hand of God is far from us. But He is wanting to remember His promises to us, and demonstrate Himself in and through us beyond what we could ever hope, dream or imagine.

There is a short story of a woman the Bible calls a notable (great, high, mighty, noble, rich) woman -- the Shunammite woman (II Kings 4:8-37). She honors a holy man of God (Elisha), and hospitably feeds him whenever he visits town. Eventually she builds and furnishes a special room in her and her husband's home, and provides lodging for Elisha and his servant Gehazi whenever they need it.


The Promise Is Spoken . . .

To show his appreciation for her generosity, Elisha asks if there is anything he can do for her -- but she graciously declines. It is plain that in helping this man of God she wasn't after a reward -- her heart was to simply assist him. But the Lord recognizes her humility and, when Gehazi informs Elisha that the woman has no son, Elisha calls for her and prophesies, "About this time next year you shall embrace a son." (verse 16)

Her reply reflects many of our own when the Lord speaks over our lives. Sometimes His promises can seem wonderful and grand -- but unachievable. She cries out, "No, my Lord. Man of God, do not lie to your maidservant!"

In other Words, "Don't get my hopes up . . . This sounds too good to be true. I couldn't stand it if God said He would grant the desire of my heart and it doesn't come to pass . . . Surely I can't live if this Word isn't fulfilled!"

Today we are sensing a shift in the heavenlies. God is challenging us to embrace the promises He has placed in our hearts -- despite how things may appear in the natural . . . To believe for the impossible and make way for the improbable . . . To take up the shield of faith and ward off the enemy's accusations of doubt, fear and hopelessness.

Let's read on to see what happened . . .

True to the Word of the Lord through the mouth of His prophet Elisha, the Shunammite woman conceived and bore a son when the appointed time had come . . . and the child grew (verse 17).


The Promise Is Delivered . . .

God breathed life on her womb. Even though her husband was "old," and natural biology's prognosis was that a child was out of the question, she conceived and manifested God's promise. She physically embraced the fulfillment of the Word of the Lord. Notice that this occurred when the appointed time had come.

Know that there is an appointed time and season for the fulfillment of God's promises in your life. And once God says it, His Word cannot return to Him void. It is like defying the basic law of gravity . . . It cannot be done. It's a principle of the Kingdom. God says it, and that settles it!


But this story doesn't end here . . .

The child is out with his father one day in the fields, when he clutches at his head in pain and is taken up to the house where the Shunammite woman -- his mother -- holds him in her arms until noon when he dies.

Hang on a minute! PLEASE REWIND!! The little boy dies!? I thought he was the manifested promise of God! A few years down the track, sure -- but the promised child none-the-less! Dead!?

I imagine the Shunammite woman didn't just stand by and watch her child pass away without a fight. I can see her now as she tenderly cradles his small frame and rocks him back and forth . . . I can hear her heart pounding as she bravely ignores the hard swelling lump in her aching throat, and sings softly over him. All the while she is fervently praying -- trying to ease his pain, not allowing him to see her anguish. I can feel her desperate attempts to impart her own life and strength to him, so that he might recover, and bounce back through the fields to greet his father. She is sponging his clammy face and limp hands, and wiping his grubby feet with her tear-soaked garments -- all the while whispering Words of healing and hope.

Bringing cool water to his gray, chapped lips, she struggles to fight away Fear and Doubt as they coil their cruel talons of despair around her heart. Taking evil advantage of her pain, they attempt to drain away the hopes and visions she has of her boy's future. They relentlessly seep poisonous lies of unbelief and confusion into her mind, clouding her peace and judgment while she is at her weakest. What do you think of your wonderful God now? They torment her. It appears as if He has abandoned you -- right when you need Him the most . . . He is withdrawing His promise . . . Obviously you don't deserve it . . . Can't you see He is judging you . . . Maybe this promise wasn't really from God in the first place . . .

This gut-wrenching scene continues . . . As the intensity of the midday sun reaches it's peak, I sense this desperate mother feels her young boy's life slipping away. She grabs his little face and demands him to focus his glazing eyes on hers. Gathering every smidgen of scattered courage within her, she delivers a final convincing plea: "Live, son, live! You have so much to look forward to. So many experiences to partake of. A long, full life to live. It's not time for you to go. Live, son, live!"

But he dies.

Have you ever held a promise in the palm of your hand, or tasted the outworking of God's Word and power in your life, but then seemingly hit a brick wall, and watched it fall apart right before your eyes? Have you ever felt like the very life of your destiny was sliding away between your fingers?

Please, let me encourage you, DON'T GIVE UP! Watch what this mighty woman of God does . . . Despite her grief and confusion, she gently lays the lifeless body of her darling baby boy on the prophet's bed in the upper room, shuts the door and says, "It is well."


The Promise Is Laid Upon The Altar

The Shunammite woman had a determination in her heart that she heard from God. He had granted her a promise, and she wasn't going to accept anything less! She lays her promise on the altar of her former sacrifice -- in the room she and her husband had prepared for the man of God; and without explaining her intentions to anyone, she has a donkey saddled and heads out to find Elisha -- the vessel of her promise. Elisha's servant comes riding out to meet her -- asking after her, her husband, and her son. The woman's response rings true. "IT IS WELL!"

Can you imagine? The thing she holds most dear to her heart . . . That which she prayed and stood and waited and believed God for all those years and years . . . The sweetest, warmest, and most amazing miracle of God's manifest power in her life, is lying cold and stiff, and she says, "It is well."

I think I would be throwing a major wobbly right about here -- wouldn't you?!

She has watched the mighty Hand of God transform her desert, barren circumstance into a glorious testimony of His loving grace, only to see it distort and vanish in a fleeting moment. And she says, "It is well!" Is she in denial? Is she cold-hearted? Is she losing her mind with grief? NO! She is walking in believing power! She says, "It is well," by faith. She is not looking at her circumstance as it appears, but looking through eyes of faith and TRUST IN HER GOD! She is single-minded. She is pure-hearted. And she believes wholeheartedly that the man of God who prophesied her promise -- her son -- will be used as an instrument of the Lord to resurrect her boy.

Creating the Opportunity for God to Breathe His Life into Our Circumstances

Reaching the man of God, she abandons cultural protocol and throws herself at his feet -- persisting that he accompanies her home. She is desperate. Elisha accepts her determined plea and instructs his servant Gehazi to take his staff in his hand, and to go directly to the child without becoming distracted along the way. He asks Gehazi to lay the staff on the child's face. This is very significant. I believe Elisha's staff signifies the Word of the Lord.

As we embrace God's Word with everything in us, store His promises and His faithfulness deep in our lives, and walk in obedience, God can then breathe His life and ignite the flame of our hearts. His Spirit alights on His resident Word to manifest His glory, His life, and His power in and through us.

Recently I was going through my morning ritual of exfoliating in the shower, and the Lord spoke gently to my heart. "You know, you spend more time loofah-ing your body than cleansing yourself with the water of My Word." We need to ask ourselves: Is God's Word given absolute priority and securely positioned within my heart? So often we become consumed and distracted with the much less significant and less productive "outer" areas of our lives, sabotaging our personal potential and inner peace.


The Promise Is Resurrected

The servant follows Elisha's orders and positions the staff on the boy -- but nothing happens . . . that is, nothing happens until Elisha goes into the room, shuts the door, and prays!

Now look at what this radical prophet does . . . He lays over the top of the child -- mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, and hands to hands; and as he stretches himself out over the child, the young boy's flesh becomes warm! He repeats this process until the child sneezes and opens his eyes. The boy comes back to life! See the power of the breath of God! He can resuscitate what is seemingly gone!

Allow His Holy Spirit to breathe afresh on You and His Word and promises in your heart. Set aside any hopelessness shrouding your circumstances and declare, "It is well." Look neither to the left nor the right as you focus on laying the truth of His Word across your heart, and invite His Holy Spirit to breathe upon your life, your strategies and your programs. Then watch Him move!

You see, when we try to complete and manage ourselves and satisfy our agendas in our own strength, we so often fail. And as we strive to take matters into our own hands and fix them with our personal knowledge and mere abilities, we tangle, distort, and hinder our fleshly works all the more. Allow God Almighty -- Creator of the Universe -- to breathe on your life, your relationships, your family, your work, your finances, and your future. His breath can create and establish from nothing! He can breathe upon dust and bring forth life. His breath can cause that which is rigor mortis to pulsate again. His breath can destroy the works of the enemy.

Because of her maturity and spiritual perception that "ALL WAS WELL," the Shunammite woman once again held the promise of the Lord in her arms. She once again embraced her son's warm, breathing, moving life -- brimming with hope and potential. She once again savored the moment of the manifestation of God's glory in her family. She once again testified to the goodness and greatness of her Lord.

God wants you to see what He has prepared for you. He wants you to have spiritual perception where you can look beyond the natural and see what wonderful things He has laid up for you. God wants to put His eyes on your eyes, His hands on your hands, His heart on your heart -- and breathe upon you. He wants to resurrect His promises which lay dormant in your life. He wants to prove His Word!

The question is, will you shut the door on fruitless striving, opinions, and your own agenda -- to make room to invite His sweet Presence and life-giving breath to usher in the fulfillment of His spoken Word?


MAKE THE CONNECTION

1) Connect with your God.

Your Heavenly Father has made a way for you to access Him. The Bible says that a major key to living a victorious life is to honor and praise Him despite your circumstances. Allow His Holy Spirit to completely saturate you with His fresh, powerful Presence. Welcome the Holy Spirit to carry you to new places in Him, heal you with His sweet oil, and consume all that isn't of Him with His purifying fire.

·         Ask God to breathe on you. As we come to Him in worshipful intimacy -- mouth to mouth -- He can breathe His life . . . His way . . . His truth. Oh Lord, breathe Your fire on the altar of my heart -- that I might know Your voice, Your Words . . . That I might express what is on Your heart.

·         Ask the Holy Spirit to give You His eyes -- so that you can see what He sees -- and how He sees . . . Spirit of God, breathe on my eyes so the blinding scales of this world would fall, and Your revelation would be unveiled . . . that I would see circumstances and people the way You see them . . . That I would be Kingdom-oriented, not self-absorbed!
 

·         Ask Him to anoint your hands. Know that when you reach out to others, you stretch forth His hand of healing and deliverance. Lord, touch My hands, that I might prosper and be successful in You. That I might bless others on purpose. That Your mighty Hand would back me up in all that I do.
 

·         Ask Him to stretch Himself out over you -- heart to heart -- so you can be washed anew with His love and grace. Lord, breathe on the outworkings of my body, that You would add Your super to my natural. I want to flow with Your purpose, and bring glory to You.

2) Connect with your purpose.

If you feel frustrated or helpless in a particular area of your life, don't give up. PERSEVERE! Keep on keepin' on!

Notice that, at the end of the Shunammite woman's story, Elisha has his servant tell her, "Pick up your son."

In other words, take up your promise and go forth. Claim what is yours and alive in Christ Jesus -- and run with it! Run with the Spirit. Rest in Him, and run with the wind of the Spirit! Take the resurrected promise and proclaim His glory and His power. Testify of God's goodness.

The Shunammite woman does exactly that, she runs with the manifest Word of God in her life -- but not before bowing first. Not without acknowledging the miracle first. Not without an attitude of gratitude and a heart of thanksgiving. Ask the Holy Spirit to breathe on your path; and follow in obedience, gratefully giving Him glory for all He has done for you. Out of your place of desperation, consecrate your hope to Him . . . Don't give room to complacency, the fear of man, and religious ritual. Don't allow carnal methods and the pseudo solutions of this world system to dominate your choices and outcomes. Ask for more of Him. For His divine love! For His magnificent purpose in your life!


3) Connect with other God-fearing believers.

Who are you associating with? Are you in connection with people who are believing like you? Do you fill your conversation with faith and trust in God, and hope in His Word, or is your chit-chat splattered with phrases such as, "It's highly improbable . . . Everyone is doing it this way . . . " and the overrated cynical adage, "Well, we'll just wait and see what happens!"

Take heed and steadfastly guard your eye-gate and ear-gate with tenacious ferocity, to allow only the succinct truth of the Lord's Word to be enthroned in your life. This seat is from whence His power will flow!