Hineni-Isaiah 6

This is a reoccurring chapter in my study of the bible, having read this chapter at a minimum of 12-15 times a year. I am now becoming familiar with it but always discovering a new revelation through it.

This chapter speaks of a supernatural occurrence in the life of Isaiah at a specific time, "In the year King Uzziah died." It speaks of man realizing who and what he is in the light of God. It speaks of true repentance and intercession as we read in verse 5 " Woe to me for I am undone I am man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts".
It then talks about the very nature and relationship of God, as He cleanses our sins and makes us clean by his actions then sends out the commission call " Whom shall I send? And who will go for Us?"

As a lover of words and the power of their meaning, this next part is most important to me. It is the Hebrew word "Hineni"
Hineni is translated in English "Here am I " but it does not mean in only a physical sense as in being present or a persons location. It's deeper and more powerful meaning is the total surrender of oneself no matter what the cost".
I recently just watched the release of a documentary film titled "Father of Lights" and saw Hineni in action. Through the simple obedience of modern day believers all over the world and their answer of Hineni, God and His power was showing up and supernatural occurrences were becoming natural responses. It was so powerful that my spirit cried out "Hineni" with all the other people watching.
I believe that at a certain stage in an adult life your biggest question is, What am I here for? What is my purpose? In total surrender to God you hear the call and you get ready to answer. There are two answers each with a different meaning depending on where you are in your journey. “Here I am” says I am present at the appointed place, please see me here. But the statement “Here am I” says I know I am the person you are looking for and I have wrestled out the consequences and the cost and I am totally available to accomplish whatever task you set before me, my heart is here as well, Hineni.
The rest of the chapter is God giving Isaiah the very powerful message he wants him to deliver to his people.
But what continues to resonate in my spirit and heart is the answer that Isaiah, David, Abraham, Esther, and many others have given to God, "Here am I".
Can you say it with me?
Hineni!

Charmaine Hinds

Psalms 122 - Jerusalem

This psalms is about giving thanks for being able to go to the House of the Lord. Wow how many of us are excited to be able to come into the presence of the Lord? Into His house and into His family.

Then it begins to talk about a subject that should be near and dear to each believer’s heart, Jerusalem. Jerusalem was known as the “City of Peace” and here the psalmist tells us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. As I read this today I thought about the possibility that Israel could go to war any day now.

There are events happening and decisions being made half way around the world that affect us believers in a major way and we have been commanded to pray. But it goes on to say that there is a blessing to those that love Jerusalem, those that will declare peace and prosperity to her. Believers and non-believers alike tend to pray for the things close to them. We tend to pray for the branch and forget the tree it has been grafted into. God blesses many things, certain people and peoples groups, specific nations, holy objects and even land. He has blessed Jerusalem to be the City of David, the City of Peace. I am so grateful for the political stance that our country of Canada has made with Israel. So please as we enter into some of the most Holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, I ask you to please agree with the holy scriptures and pray for SHALOM to be with Jerusalem and with the people of Israel.

Charmaine Hinds

Broken Glass

Broken glass can represents a few thing

The symbolism of broken glass means broken promises or shattered expectations.

Your feelings may be hurt or a situation may be turning into a crisis.

At the Jewish wedding feast to consummate the relationship they drink from a wine glass and then they smash the glass

The glass is broken to protect this marriage with the implied prayer: "As this glass shatters, so may your marriage never break." The promises made by the bride and groom, like the broken glass, are irrevocable. It reminds us that love, like glass, is fragile and must be protected.

Shattered glass symbolizes the fragility of our relationships and reminds us that we must treat our relationships with extra special care. It teaches us that in times of joy we must also realize life also brings sadness and sorrow.

 Recently at a conference in 2012 where I was teaching at, the host decided to purchase a thank you gift for me. God told her a specific store in Halifax to go to and one word- the color purple

Unknown to her purple is my favourite color and the color of royalty that I wear often to remind me of my position as the daughter of the King. She went into the store and saw a purple gem rock, amethyst  (which coincidentally was also my birthstone) and decided to purchase it. As she went to take the gemstone off of the shelf something unusual happened. The entire glass shelving and all the remaining stones on the shelves came crashing to the floor. As she stood there before the rubble in disbelief with the gemstone in her hand all she could think about was the thousands of dollars of damage that lay on the floor in a shattered pile of glass. Then quickly something else happened that she did not expect- the attendant at the store came over and reassured her not to worry about the damage as there must have been some imbalance in the shelving for that to happen. Relieved but still in a state of shock she purchased the beautiful rock and had it packaged and wrapped and walked out the doors of the shop. Wow!

After sharing this incredible story with a few people and pondering on its significance the Lord spoke to her about the following.

She received Rev 21:18-20 - Number 12 means leadership, government, perfection, completion and purple symbolizes priesthood.

Amethyst was used as the 12th and last foundation. Each foundation is a unique gem for the adornment in creating the promised and new city to replace the old one.
Out of the broken glass shelves she received the message of Gods grace.

As she presented me with this precious gift and shared this story and meaning to me I knew that the Lord was speaking about the situation and circumstances that had just recently been reconciled and was in the process of restoration with my husband, our marriage, ministry and family.

This broken glass which represented the state of our relationship was because of the imbalance in our marriage and symbolized the brokenness of all of the promises and shattered expectations. But due to the grace of God we were walking away without having to pay the price for the damage and instead we would be rewarded by the amethyst foundation stone which represented the call of God that was on our lives of leadership and priesthood. Not to mention that He would replace the old with the new. What a beautiful gift of Gods Grace over our lives.

 God gave me this song as a reminder of the journey

Broken Glass -Shattered dreams

Broken glass all on the floor
Dreams are shattered they are no more
I cant believe I am here
In this place

What can I get from all of this
More broken plans as I resist
If I surrender now
Will I receive His Grace

Yet all I see are tiny pieces
Small fragments as the pain increases
All the broken glass
As it is falling into space

Yet out of this something shall arise
A prophetic gift, a promised surprise
A treasure for our future
A hopeful prize

This foundation stone is oh so bright
The color purple sparkles against my eyes
Speaks of His wonder, majesty and glory
As it tells the world a beautiful story

 

Grace oh grace His amazing grace

That which I owed has now been paid

Grace has favoured me now I am released

Walking free into destiny

 

For there is no more broken glass

Begun to feel hope again at last

All regrets are now in the past

As we begin to embrace this brand new day

Those shattered dreams to return no more

Just a brand new path and wide open doors

Brushed and swept away up off the floor

Broken glass and shattered dreams are gone

Yes ,broken glass and shattered dreams have gone…

C.Hinds (c) 2012

Free to Go

Last month I was in court  for a ticket that I received a few months ago for failing to stop at a stop sign. The thing was I felt I was innocent and I had evidence and pictures to prove it.

Or at least I did before I left the house that morning. That morning I prayed and asked God to help me prove that I was innocent. Then I gathered my evidence of photos and emailed them to my Iphone right before leaving and got in my car to drive to the court house. Half way there I looked at my Iphone and realised that for some reason my evidence had not arrived to my phone and that it would be my word against the police officer that had accused me. Now to be honest I wasn't expecting to prove my innocence as I knew how the system works. But I did want a lesser sentence- I was willing to pay the fine of $130, but everyone knows that with demerit points you keep paying for a lot longer. So I really only wanted to have my sentence reduced and the 3 demerit points taken off. This was my plan but I was willing to plead not guilty if I had to and get a trial.

So I arrive at the court house with a peace about me as I walk in with about eighty other people into courtroom 3M to line up to see the crown attorney. As I stood before the crown attorney she finds my papers and gives me two options- One, plead not guilty and have a trial where if convicted I will pay a fine of $130-$1000 and lose 3 points or option two where I plead guilty to a lesser charge and don’t lose any points and pay the fine of $130.

Now option two sounded really good, it was all I was expecting considering knowing how the system works and everyone before me was striking deals to reduce their sentences.

But something in me said " I'll will plead not guilty and have a trial". As I walked to the back of the courtroom fear began to creep into me and I kept thinking what if I am found guilty then I lose everything. So I did a wise thing, I called for some counsel- as my husband answered the phone I gave him the scenario and asked what he thought I should do. He told me that I should go back and take option two as that was what I had planned to do originally. So I lined back up to change my plea and as I stood there- I heard " woman where is your accuser" I looked around and saw a few police officers that looked familiar to the man that accused me on that sunny day in January, but I couldn’t be sure. So I looked at my paper for the badge number and began to compare #3257 to all of the officers in the room. None of them matched but way at the front of the courtroom was one officer that I could not see his badge number-I couldn’t even see his face, could that be him? Well I wouldn’t know until I got to the front of the line. So I text Wayne to say that I didn’t think the police officer was there and he told me then to stay with my not guilty plea because then they would throw the case out. What could I do? What if it was the police officer at the front? Then I heard again "Woman where are your accusers?"

So finally I reach the front of the courtroom once again to speak to the crown attorney and right before I get there the police officer turns around and I see his badge is #4377, whew was I ever relieved. All fear left me. So I stood again before the crown attorney and asked her to please repeat my choices and as I do not see my accuser I repeat again “I plead not guilty” but this time with some assurance. Wow you would think the ordeal was over, but then I sat in that courtroom for two hours while they called fifty cases before mine and I watched as person after person either took a reduced sentence or had their case thrown out because their police officer was not present in the courtroom. Then I stood up as my name was called case number 21. Then as the crown attorney told the judge that my accuser was not present the judge did a very symbolically thing for me that day. She told me that because no one was there to accuse me that I was free to go. Wow, free to go. I left there with a deep message in my heart and felt I wanted to share it.

John 8: 7-10

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.

There is someone who has paid the price for all of my mistakes. He has allowed me to be Free to Go. To go anywhere, free to be me, free to make mistakes, free from trying to prove my innocence, free from my guilt, Wow I am free.

Hope . Faith . Love

The party had just begun but she was already tired of all of the people and the celebration activities.
It was great to be around everyone but she needed just a moment of silence to catch her breath and to take in all that was happening. Everyone was here in honour of her grandmother who was 90 years old today. She saw so many faces that she hadn’t seen in while and her face hurt from smiling so hard. Truly she was happy to be in the midst of all these amazing people but her heart wasn’t in it, not today
She found an empty pathway down the hall, opened the door and snuck into the room. Then she let out the breath that she had been holding in and her shoulders loosened as she locked the door and lay down on the bed. She curled up in her favourite position holding her body closely as she grabbed her knees and tucked her head down in foetal position.
Then the tears began to flow. It was like a wellspring inside of her that she couldn’t turn off. She didn’t want to turn it off. It was hurting so badly on her insides but somehow as the tears flowed she felt herself letting go, just a little bit. Then it came. The voice she didn’t want to hear but couldn’t stop lately. It kept asking her questions but in a way that sounded like it was her very own voice. “Why me? What did I do to deserve this” “ am I not a good person?” “ how can this be happening”, with every question she felt the situation becoming more and more helpless. She instinctively put her hands over her ears as if doing so could stop the thoughts from invading her. But the thoughts were not coming from outside, now they were coming from within. She was wishing she could turn back the hands of time and do everything differently. But what could she do to change what the doctor’s report said to her. Then more questions came as doubt and blame began to settle in.

“If only I had gone to the doctors sooner and paid more attention to the signals my body was giving to me, maybe then I wouldn’t be facing this.” “Maybe I should have asked for more tests at my physical last year?”, “ I’m not ready to die yet” and finally the question she really wanted answered “ Doesn’t God love me? what have I done to deserve this?”

A sense and a feeling of hopelessness entered the room and settled on her like a blanket covering over her. She closed her eyes and decided to just sleep underneath this feeling as she was drained, tired and feeling unloved. Just a few minutes of rest and she would get up and join the people that had come to celebrate.

She had almost dozed off when she heard a thud at the window. It sounded like something had hit the window pane and had fallen. She got up and opened the screen , then slid the glass pane open. Looking down she saw a bird that had fallen onto the rose bush just outside the window. It was brightly coloured and very unusual looking. It almost looked tropical but the color of its wings were the most vivid forms of light. The bird was obviously injured from its recent collision with the clear glass. She was not an animal lover, didn’t even like having pets, but her heart was huge and she couldn’t leave the injured bird there to die or even worse be found by an unknown predator. She grabbed the table covering off of the dresser and scooped up the lifeless looking bird into her hands and the moment she did this the most bizarre thing began to happen. Colors of light started shooting everywhere, they were so bright and brilliant that everything became blurry around her and she became dizzy and started falling backwards. She felt the sensation of falling backwards but again this was weird because she never hit the ground, she just kept falling. As she opened her eyes she realized she wasn’t falling at all but that she was floating. Her body had become light and as she looked down at herself she saw that she was covered with bright coloured feathers, the same feathers that were on the fallen bird. The bird? Where was the bird? Where was she?

She was no longer in the room and she no longer felt all the same emotions and feelings that she had a minute ago. Her eyesight was becoming clearer and she could see past all the colours now and there just a short distance from her head was the bird flying just above her. Flying? A minute ago this bird was lifeless and injured, now it seemed healthy, alive and vibrant. But where was she? What had just happened?

The bird began singing the most beautiful heavenly song. That was the only way to describe it. And as it sang her heart began to beat rapidly. With every beat she could understand the words that were being sung.

“ Hope is my name, Hope is my name,
And I have been sent to you this very day.
Nothing could stop me, or get in my way
For heaven has heard you, the moment you prayed.”

The sounds that filled her being now caused the coloured feathers that were around her body to begin to float together creating a sort of canopy around her and the bird she now knew as “Hope”.
Then she heard a majestic booming voice say these words “ Faith is the substance of things hoped for The evidence of things not seen” then she heard “Without hope there is no faith”

In an instant she remembered her prayer to God. It was right after the doctor visit as she sat in the car trying to put together the words that had just been spoken to her. She didn’t know what else to do but she remembered what her grandmother had taught her all those years. So she bowed her head and said a prayer to God to please help her to have faith.

Faith? What was she really asking for? Faith for what? To believe that she could be healed ? To believe that God really loved her and that He didn’t want her to die? Faith to remove this awful death sentence that had been placed over her life? Faith for a miracle? Yes she wanted faith to believe all of these things.

The bird began to sing again, or maybe Hope had never stopped singing but she was tuning in again to understand the words being sung.

“Hope in the colors of spring,
Hope in the joy that I bring,
Hope when you cant see anything
Hope is the song that I sing”

There was something special in the words in those lyrics that spoke to her about new life and creation. It brought revelation and understanding beyond what her natural mind could comprehend. She knew that in order to see the things the way they truly were that she would have to grab a hold of this gift of Hope. She reached out and for the second time she put her hands delicately around this fluttering creature that she dared not to call a bird.

As her hands grabbed a hold of “Hope” all the color that was imbedded in the wings of this supernatural creature was now coming into her hands and surrounding her body and filling her with the greatest feeling of knowing, a sense that everything was the way it should be. Instantly she knew that God was in control and that He loved her and had a plan for her life. Everything changed in that moment she now was the sum of the total and not the end of a beginning. Then she heard the bells ringing ,large church bells tolling as if they were chiming out the time. She closed her eyes and tried to focus as she didn’t want to let go of this new sensation that was tingling all over her body... hope. But the sound of the bells was jolting her and she began to float again.

Suddenly she opened her eyes and she was back in the room on the bed and the telephone was ringing, probably a guest calling for directions. She lay there for a brief moment wondering if what she had just experienced was nothing more than a simple day dream. As she sat up on the bed something floated out of her hand and instinctively she grabbed at it.
It was a feather, a beautiful multi coloured feather laying in the palm of her right hand.

It answered all of her questions, but greater than that was how she now felt and what she now knew. She  knew that He who took care of the birds of the air, loved and valued her so much and she could trust Him to take care of her too.

With that she jumped up off the bed, took a tissue and wiped her face, breathed in a deep breath and as she unlocked the door she purposed in her heart to go back to the festivities and to celebrate today with Hope, Love, and Faith.

Charmaine Hinds September 2012

Esther 8-10 If it pleases the King…

As a believer that celebrates all the feasts of the Lord, I particularly love Purim. As with all of the feast times, the story of Esther is retold to bring to remembrance the great victory for the Jewish people. As we normally celebrate with Messianic Jews (Jewish believers in Yeshua- Jesus as the Messiah) they always relate this story to our relationship with the King of kings, Yeshua and Haman as the enemy Satan.

Chapter eight finds Esther again in great humility, again taking no regard for her own life, not exalting herself as the queen but desiring to find favour with the king. She repeats this statement numerous times “If it pleases the king…” and every thing else hinges on these five words that she continues to use when requesting anything from the one who has already told her that he will give her up to half of his kingdom. Again the king extends his royal sceptre, his rod of authority and gracious acceptance to Esther. If we as the royal priesthood would follow this example and understand that the grace we have been given is due to the favour of God and that our greatest desire should be to find out what pleases the King.

Esther is not only humble, she is also very wise and understands the rules of the kingdom. She has been taught well by her mentor and Uncle, Mordecai about what must be done to reverse the outcome of Haman’s hatred towards the Jews and his evil plot to annihilate them. Decrees and laws written in the kings’ name and endorsed by the king are irreversible once they have been set in motion and declared. Now the enemy longs to set into motion curses and evil plots, temptations and even death and destruction for the people of God. But just as Esther understood that another decree endorsed by the king could override the first, so must we as believers understand that what has been written in the word of God are holy decrees and declarations that overrides and counterattacks every curse, scheme, and plot of the enemy against our lives.

So at Esther’s request Mordecai is given permission to send the king’s edict granting the Jews in every city the right to assemble and protect themselves; to destroy, kill and annihilate the armed men of any nationality or province who might attack them and their women and children, and to plunder the property of their enemies.

The following two chapters tell of how this is accomplished and the great victory that occurs as they kill those considered to be the enemies of Gods people. Very specifically are named the ten sons of Haman, the next generation that would rise up in years to come. As believers we must begin to hate the enemy and to destroy every plot not only against us but against the people of God. We must break the curses that would affect the generations that come after us. This pleases the King and causes a time of celebration to be established.

I desire to be known as a believer that has humbled herself before God, not caring about her own life, but desiring to find out the will of God and what pleases the King and to come boldly before His throne of grace to declare His decrees to be established. To have His Mercy and Grace extended unto me as I am given power and authority over the enemies of Gods people, to reverse every curse, break every chain, set the captives free and to establish the future Kingdom here on earth. How about you?