Before You Were…

21 Apr 2024 Leave a comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity, Uncategorized Tags: ,

Before you were…

Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, I knew you. Delight filled my being at the very thought of you. My plans and intentions to fill your life with my goodness consumed my heart. Before your heart even beat one beat, my voice was calling your name.

Before you were etched and marked by the sin of a sinful world, I engraved my name on your heart, and your name upon my hand. Before you were bedazzled by the empty promises of the world, I gave you my promise and sealed you with my Spirit.

Before you were even born, I lavished my love on you and my love established forever your value and worth. Chosen. Called. Loved. Before your first breath entered your lungs, you were mine, and my delight was for you.

Before you were broken, I bled to make you whole. When you look at yourself what you see is the reflection of your bad choices and sinful decisions. For too long you’ve clothed yourself in garments of guilt and shame. Before you were clothed in sinful rags, even then I made provision for you to be clothed in righteousness.

Before you made the choice to seek me, I sought you. Before you loved, I loved you. Before you laughed, I filled you with my joy. Before you wept, I wept for you. Before every triumph, before every failure, I was there, waiting for you to bring both failure or triumph to me, because neither your triumph nor your failure defines you, for I am your identity, not what you do. Before you were the you that you now think you are, I called you to become the you that you never thought you could be.

He Left The 99…

29 Jun 2023 Leave a comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity, Intercession 101, just a prayer, teach me Tags: , , , , , , , ,

This encouragement goes out to all the intercessors who so selflessly pour themselves out in the place of prayer on behalf of the nations. To you who have answered the call to stand in the gap and reach the Father’s heart for revival to sweep the nation(s), to you I say “well done, good job, keep pressing on and pressing in!” I know it is a labor of love that motivates you to offer your hearts to this.

This morning as I came before the Lord, asking him to increase my heart for the nation, that I might pray more powerfully and passionately for revival, it was as if God interrupted me by placing on my heart the impression of a young muslim man. I sensed he was on his knees, with just this hunger in his heart for truth. It seemed like God’s whole focus was on His Son being revealed to this one young muslim man. As my prayer formed and I touched heaven for his conversion, I wondered how many lives might be affected as this man comes to Jesus. Would he become a great Pastor? Evangelist? Missionary? Martyr? How would this prayer for this man at this time affect the kingdom of God? Without doubt, I prayed expecting God to do a mighty work of the gospel through this man. I didn’t need to know his name, location or circumstance to pray specifically and strategically for him. I only had to listen to Papa’s heart and pray those things I heard him pray.

I want to encourage you to carve out some time in your prayer closet to get super targeted with your prayers. Not only should we pray those broad, sweeping, “cover-it-all” type prayers for the nations, but we should practice making room for God to speak to us about specific individuals that He has targeted, so-to-speak. Be open to directing your prayers for just a moment away from ‘affecting nations” to powerful Spirit-led prayers to affect just one individual as God leads. Then just believe in faith.

One last thought. Don’t allow the enemy to sow doubt in your heart, or tell you that was a waste of my time. We walk by faith, not by sight. Did he promise to always hear you? Yes, so he’s heard you. Did he promise you would hear his voice? Yup. So believe you heard him. Jeremiah 33:3 say he will tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know when we call to him. Grab hold of that verse and make it yours by believing he meant it, and he meant it for you!

Knowing God as “Father”

19 Feb 2023 Leave a comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity Tags: ,

Lately, every time I’ve stopped the noise of this life, every time I’ve quieted myself or closed my eyes to rest, I hear a gentle whisper in my heart calling me back to the love of my Father. I hear the cross calling me to know the true reason spotless blood was poured out upon it. Jesus didn’t come so I could be restored to God Almighty and worship him forever. After all, every knee will bow before him in the end regardless of any confession of faith here in this life. So what did Jesus come to restore us to? Relationship, not just with “God”, but relationship with His Father, who is to be our Father. Not just as “a” father, nor even as “the” Father, but as “OUR” Father. To personally know him as my own, your own, Father, your Abba. To know Him just as savior, healer, provider, or promise maker (or even promiser keeper) is to fall short of the mark. Jesus made the way with his own life so that we could know God as He knew God, and he said He was one with the Father! We could know him perfectly by al his attributes, but until and unless we know Him as “Father”, we’ve missed the whole thing.

What Is It All About?

16 Feb 2023 Leave a comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity Tags: , , , ,

I love the persistent pursuit of the Holy Spirit to conquer my heart and woo me back into His divine affection. He is a faithful Lover, speaking gently, but always truthfully. This last year, 2022, was really hard for me on a personal level. It was as if my prayers were not being answered, as if seeking the Bible for comfort was little comfort if any, and worship was just a continual search for the right song to usher in a breakthrough. But Holy Spirit loves me, pursues me. He takes the time to lead and guide and woo me. He awakens my heart to listen like one being taught… and here’s what he taught me: it’s time to come back to what it’s all about.

He started with my waning prayer life. “It’s time to come back to what it used to be” He said. In a single moment, I knew what He meant. It wasn’t about answers to prayer, or how to pray or active my faith to see mountains move. It was never suppose to be about my authority, or saying the right words the right way. I had to get back to what “prayer” was for me. And intercession too. Intercession had become reduced in my life to praying for people in need, commanding situations to change, executing the power Jesus gives the believer. That’s not how I started in Him, that’s not how I want to finish. Back to the beginning. Back to relationship. Back to remembering the reason Jesus came, and it wasn’t so I could have a powerful, mountain-moving prayer life. It was just simply so I could know Him, be in relationship with Him. Anything beyond that is just the icing, ya know? It’s not about talking to Him because I have a need, it’s about having a need just to talk to Him. May I never allow prayer to be filled with lists and agenda when I could be just being with Him, talking to Him. He’s my Lover and my Friend. He doesn’t need my list, He wants my companionship. He wants me to become like Him because I’ve been with Him, searching the Word of God to find HIM, not searching the Bible to learn how to live.

Okay, if this somehow resonates with your soul, if you are saying “yes” deep inside, we just gotta talk to Jesus ‘bout it right now, you and me with Him. If you are more like “what??”… feel free to close out now. But if something in your heart is unsatisfied with pursuing a “Christian life” that seems to be more about living a successful Christian life than it is about the life of Christ living in you, let’s talk to Him now.

Jesus, Be here, right now, with me, with whoever may be still reading this. We need You, Your Presence, Your nearness. No reading books to learn what to pray, how to get answers and move mountains could ever compare with just talking to You. Your disciples asked You to teach them how to pray, and we miss the whole point if we only think you gave them a list, or a method to follow. The first thing You said was “Our Father…” the most important thing to focus on is relationship. The second thing was just as simple, “hallowed be Thy Name”… Know You, reverence You, honor You. We need to get to know You Jesus. Not about You, it goes deeper. Not about what You taught, it goes way deeper. We need to know You. Too often we read the Word in search of something “more than” just You. The danger with that is how easy it becomes to search for “other than” just You. We search for answers to our problems, direction on how to live, even promises You’ve given, and totally miss You in the process; forgive us. Forgive us for being impressed by answered prayers so much that we start trying to reproduce what we did the next time we pray. Forgive us for assuming that knowing what You’ve promised could replace the excellence of simply knowing You and letting the promise take care of itself. Forgive us for reading the Word in search of instruction on our own lives when we could be searching for how You reveal Yourself within the pages of the book.
Consume us Holy Spirit with a longing to be in Your Presence more than we long for the results of being there. Turn us around. Redirect us. Change us because we’ve been in Your Presence; don’t leave us satisfied to just seek You for a change. Remind us and teach us of things too lofty for us to know. Do what only You can do. Take us to the secret place, the inner chamber, beyond all that seems right to a man and is only found in intimacy with the Beloved. We love You, teach us, now, how to be IN LOVE WITH You. In the precious Name of Jesus, amen.

New Perspective on Romans 8:5

10 Nov 2022 1 Comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity Tags: , , , , , , ,

Today I was reading in Romans and Romans 8:5 jumped out at me, and I saw something I had never seen quite this way before. The NIV quote of Rom 8:5 says “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” Seems simple enough, pretty straight forward, not too hard to grasp. In the past, my understanding was that to live according to the flesh and it’s desires was referring to a list of sins I was meant to avoid, and living according to the Spirit referred to a list of virtues I was to aspire to – not saying that is incorrect thinking, just saying that today God took it a little deeper, albeit much simpler in my understanding. Rather than think of it as a specific list of do’s and do not’s, the Holy Spirit broke it down to this: the flesh desires only for itself, the Spirit desires always for others.

So how does that thought apply to Rom 8:5 ? It read something in my heart like this: “Those who live according to the flesh think only of themselves and their own needs, never thinking of others or putting others above themselves, they are only concerned with satisfying their own needs ; but those who live by the Spirit will come into agreement with the Holy Spirit, selflessly concerning themselves with the needs of others until they see the likeness of Christ reflected in their daily lives.” In short, living according to the flesh does not necessarily mean participating in sinful activity, but it will always mean living selfishly. Likewise, living by the Spirit does not necessarily imply living perfectly, but it does mean living with others in mind to love.

An Unsettling Response

07 Sep 2022 1 Comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity Tags: , , ,

I met a new friend this week, and we had such great conversations. One particular conversation about children born into crisis situations due to parental choices in lifestyle really surprised me. Her comment was something like she couldn’t understand how good people struggle with barrenness, while crackheads can have one right after another! She asked how could God let that happen? My first couple thoughts were “God didn’t ‘let’ that happen, it wasn’t God fault” and the common answer, “sin”. But my heart settled on something entirely contrary to those two “standard” answers. What did my heart come to? Because God is good. Because he rains on the godly and the ungodly just the same. That doesn’t mean He makes bad things happen to good people, it means His grace and lavish love allow good things to happen to all people, good or bad. We don’t like that answer, because we want bad things to only happen to bad people and for all the good things to happen only to the good people! How little we know of God’s ways to think that, and how little do we know of God to think His ways are like ours. I’m convinced God does not love us based on who we are and what we’ve done, but on who He is and all He’s done. While we were yet sinners, he calls us His children. We would have him rain fire down on our enemies, but the bible makes it clear that without the blood of Jesus, we would all be his enemies and deserving of wrath of God. Not one of us “deserves” his favor, his grace, or his love. He shows His favor, gives His grace, and lavishes His love upon us according to who He is, not according to who we are. All the righteous requirements given to be acceptable in His sight were fully met in Jesus, once for all. And all means all.

To Seek Him Beyond The Need

24 Aug 2022 Leave a comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity Tags: , , , , , , , ,

To seek Him beyond the need… that is what I heard in my heart as I bowed my head early this morning in prayer. I came to Him today thinking I needed a fresh word on where to stand today as I began another day caring for my mom in the final stages of an aggressive stage 4 cancer. The need of knowing exactly how to minister to her is pressing greatly on my heart. How do I encourage her? How do I comfort her? In the midst of those questions I began thanking Him for how near He’s been to me through this. As I lifted my praise, Holy Spirit spoke wisdom and caution. He said to seek Him “beyond” the need. I needed that word. It would be so easy to let my prayer life become all about my mom right now, and one would think that would be okay, it’s a serious need. You may have a similar pressing need that is consuming your heart, and actually feels like you are closer to God because of the way you are seeking him for the need.

But Holy Spirit cautioned me, and would caution you as well, to seek Him beyond the need, because eventually, that need won’t be there anymore, and then where will your prayer life and relationship with Jesus be? Our whole prayer life, our quiet times of seeking have to rise above being driven by our needs. Praying for our needs alone will fail to keep our heart. Our seeking must first be for his heart, then his face, and lastly, his hand.

Oh Papa, we humbly come before you, aware of your desire to share your life with us. While it is true, we have need of your hand to move in our lives, so much more is the need to see clearly your heart. Teach us that seeking you for our every need is good, but seeking you just for your presence is even better. I don’t want to get caught in the cycle of seeking you according to my need; teach me to go beyond that.

Knowing God Rightly

08 May 2022 Leave a comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity Tags:

May 8th, 2022

To know God rightly, one must first be undone by His incomparable glory. To see Him who sits high above the earth and yet considers all who dwell there upon it, to behold His holiness, is no trivial matter. To rightly approach His Throne, one must first recognize and rightly understand the depth, the height, and the breadth of grace that would reach down from the holiness of God to gather sinful man unto himself, to utter from holy lips the words “I have redeemed you, called you by name, you are MINE!”, thus forever changing the course of history and destiny of man.

What I Learned About Jesus While Kissing My Husband!

16 Mar 2022 Leave a comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity Tags: , , , , ,

Early in January, I took a little tumble tripping over the dog. At the time, I didn’t think I had injured myself, but over the next few weeks, the pain in my back was so intense I was literally crawling from room to room in my house! When I was able to stand, I was all hunched over, unable to stand straight. Raising my arms up to even get a plate out of a cabinet became impossible. By February, my sweet husband was doing all he could to ease my pain and was picking up the slack where I was unable, until I could finally start physical therapy in March. When I started physical therapy, I realized just how much mobility I had lost. One of the exercises they gave me was simple enough, just standing and arching my back, but I couldn’t do it on my own. So once again, I found myself asking my husband for help. As he took my hands to help me stand, I was able to rely on his strength and stretch my arms around his neck, stand upright and straight and give him a loving kiss. And Jesus spoke.

He said, “Darling one, do you see this is how I love you? When you are weak and unable to lift your hands in praise or even lift your head to see where your hope comes from, I do not despise your weakness. It’s then that I tenderly bow low to kiss you, to meet you where you are in your weakness. It’s then that the pure demonstration of my Bridegroom love for you is fully displayed. To love you in your weaknesses is my joyful duty as your Beloved. And because I love you, I do not leave you in your weakness. No, on the contrary, my love is the voice in your ear, encouraging you to rise up and reach for me, to wrap your arms around me, relying on my strength to uphold you, and to kiss me with your most honest devotion.”

How tender this lesson from my Beloved Jesus. How beautiful to know him in the romance of his love. It’s moments like this that are so precious to me.

What Wasn’t Said- John 5

16 Mar 2022 Leave a comment

by Carri Worton in Christianity, thoughts Tags: , , ,

I’ve been meditating on John 5, the story of the man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda. It’s a very short retelling of a moment in life of a man in need of healing for 38 years. It’s only a few short 15 verses that give us a brief look into what happened that day that ended 38 years of suffering, 38 years of struggling, 38 years of questioning and being questioned. It was the end of 38 years of being judged and knowing shame. The end of 38 years of losing hope and knowing pain. It was the end of having doubt and being condemned. The end of 38 years of being forgotten and being outcast. In just one moment, just 15 short verses, we see a man set free. But to understand the depth of his freedom, you have to understand what wasn’t said in that moment. Jesus didn’t ask what was keeping the man from being healed. He didn’t ask him to examine his heart for hidden unrepented sin. He didn’t question his faith or devotion, nor did he accuse him of some personal failure. He didn’t admonish him for not being able to manifest his own healing. He didn’t tell him to just speak healing to himself. Jesus did none of that, he only asked did he want to be healed, and then told him to get up. In just that one moment, a man was freed from 38 years of being focused on his condition. For 38 years he focused on himself and in one moment, his attention was fixed on Jesus.

Why is this story so amazing to me? Because Jesus never implied it was the man’s responsibility to get himself healed. He didn’t ask “what have you done to obtain healing?” He didn’t ask that. He didn’t ask “have you been confessing the scriptures? Have you claimed the promises? Are you speaking to your situation and telling it to change?” He didn’t put the focus on the man’s efforts at all.. he just drew the man’s attention to himself and told him to pick up his mat and walk. And once the man was fixed and focused on Jesus words, he obeyed them. I’m not trying to say there isn’t a time and place for claiming promises, speaking to mountains, and making confessions. I’m just saying for this man, for this moment, all that was needed was a pure fixed focus of Jesus, and that speaks deeply to me.

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