I envisioned a bride coming out of the sun beholding the people of the land whose heads were in the sand like ostriches. The bride had a black mark on her back and all the people did as well. They knew that if they looked at her they would see the mark and have to deal with the one that was on their backs as well. What could the black mark represent?

Yesterday I knocked over a small treasure box in which I had stored many buttons. They scattered on the floor and after I had picked them up, I put them in a bag. I had an unusual lesson to learn from this as nothing happens to us by accident, even when we have accidents-… I have found that if we look to the Lord, He has a message for us even in the little things that take place in our lives.

This is what I discovered when I looked up the etymology of “button”: The word is from “to thrust, push… TO STRIKE- Something that pushes up or thrusts out- “button-pusher”… a deliberately annoying or provocative person.”

So where am I going with this, huh?

I want to talk about “button-pushing”…. What pushes YOUR button? Are you still carrying something on your back that can trigger a negative (Strike-Out) response from you? If you are, you are marked for trouble… yes, YOU, who are His beloved bride that our God delights in!

My mind went to Moses and how he didn’t speak to the rock as he was instructed to do, but rather struck it instead. Even though Moses was the most humble man on the earth, he was not allowed to enter into the promised land because of “the STRIKE”!… the strike that made a MARK on his destiny and that will make on our destinies as well, if the mark isn’t removed from our backs.

Tell me, you who are the bride of Christ… you who are in union with God in the Spirit… you who are still dealing with the flesh that you can not see: How will your mark be removed if you can’t see it and those in the body of Christ do not tell you what they see? … If they will not help you or help themselves by addressing the flesh in love?

This is the state that the body of Christ is in at the moment. How many have learned to use anger as a sword that divides the spirit and the soul instead of a sword that strikes and kills? How many stuff their anger and bring harm to themselves in doing so? When will there be a people who will not hide their faces from the flesh, but rather see what is amiss and speak the truth in love to the ones that need correction?… that need healing?

We will remain wounded people who wound others until we face our flesh… until we can speak the truth in love to those whose flesh provoke us. Can you hear our Lord saying: “I came not to bring peace… but a sword!”?

Will you follow Him and do the same? Then the black mark will be removed and the gold mark of the Lord Jesus Christ will be in your treasure chest of righteousness … Yea, all the buttons will be “in the bag” and button-pushers will be no more!

Hallelujah!