Thy kingdom come.

The Miracle Disclaimer

2009-11-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

Mark 9:38-40: And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.

I find it interesting to hear many Christian's response when told stories of modern day miracles. Some simply do not believe it at all. Others rejoice and praise the Lord for what He is doing. And a third group seem to believe but also throw in what I will call the miracle disclaimer, "that's good but remember it's not all about the miracles."

The first group who simply do not believe I can understand. While I don't agree with them when they try to tell me God does not do signs, wonders and miracles today, I at least understand where they are coming from. The ones who believe I also understand. But the ones who sort of believe but also feel the need to throw in the miracle disclaimer, those I am having trouble understanding.

As I read the gospels and meditate on the attitude Jesus had towards the miraculous I walk away with the belief that Jesus is for miracles, not against them. The above passage is a great illustration regarding this matter. The disciples witnessed people who were outside their group doing the miraculous in the name of Jesus. They decided they needed to do something about this and so they confronted them and told them to stop. Maybe they thought Jesus would be happy with their "word of correction". But Jesus tells them not to forbid them because no man can do a miracle in His name and then lightly speak evil of Him.

Something happens to a person when they do a miracle in the name of Jesus. When they see the hand of God at work right before their eyes they are forever changed. This is something to be pursued and valued in our walk of faith, it is not something we should put up on a high shelf with warning labels on it. I get sad when I hear someone, especially a child, who witnesses a miracle and then gets so excited they tell everyone and then a Christian with good intentions takes them aside to read them the miracle disclaimer. Jesus had something to say in verse 42 about this:

And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

This is not something Jesus took lightly and neither should we. Please don't walk away feeling condemned if you are someone who struggles with unbelief -this is something common to us all. A prayer that helps me is this, "Lord I believe, help my unbelief." Let's learn to steward the measure of faith that has been given to us and not waste our time and energy by trying to disprove every person or ministry who we disagree with. This also goes for us who believe in the miraculous - we should not spend so much time worried about those "religious folks," and trying to prove they are wrong.

I think it's simple. Spend more time focused on the Lord and less time focused on what is wrong. Easier said than done, right?

Peer Pressured

2009-10-16T17:12:00.000-07:00

Ok...it's been over a year since I have posted on here, so just to keep this blog legit I thought I would write something. I was also motivated by peer pressure to blog again - Matt Perkins told me that he was going to remove me from his friends link on his blog if I didn't post something soon. So here you have it. I made my first post for 2009 and it is about nothing. Oh and I got married on June, 13, 2009 to the most amazing woman in the world, Lacie Joy.

Well, next time I will try to write about something profound or at least slightly interesting.

What's the Number of Your Days?

2008-05-01T21:47:00.000-07:00

“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”

Ps.90:12

How many days do we have left here in our mortal bodies?

If I live to a ripe age of 120 I would have 35,430 days left. Now that seems like a lot but compared to the 8,521 days I’ve already spent on the earth, it’s not that much really.

Anyways, what is the essence of this verse? Is it to motivate us all to get our calculators out and do the math or is meant to teach us something much greater? I believe God wants to reveal to us how temporary and short our time is here. I sometimes think about old men on their deathbeds and when they look back at all they done they remember what was really important.

Mark Twain said, “Buy land, they're not making it anymore.” You know what else they’re not making anymore of either? – Time. Because if someone were making it they would be the richest person on the planet. Time is more precious then oil and more valuable then gold, that is if you place a high enough value on it. Now if your personality is like mine you may automatically be thinking of ways you can improve time management. There is nothing wrong with that but if you would, refrain from going down that path for now. I want to bring our focus to wisdom not efficiency.

The reason God wants us to number our days is that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. So what is wisdom? Answering that question may take us the rest of our lives but Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is where wisdom starts. And Jesus is the wisdom of God (1Cor 1:24). So we are introduced to wisdom through the fear of the Lord and wisdom also then dwells in our hearts when we ask Jesus to come and live in us. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom and is crying out to every one of us. The question is, do we have an ear to hear what the Spirit is saying?

So I said that to say this, if we are willing to take an inventory of our temporal existence here I believe we will begin to see our desperate need for wisdom. Our American culture offers us an endless supply of choices and paths to take in life. We can seek after so many things in life only to discover they had been distractions from the call of God on our lives. One last verse I would like to leave with you:

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”

Eph 5:15,16

Kingdom vs. Religion

2008-02-14T21:49:00.000-08:00

What was life like for Adam and Eve in the garden before the fall? What was a “normal” day like for Enoch before he walked off into the sunset with God one beautiful evening? What was it like for the nation of Israel to stand before the Red Sea and watch the waters part before their very eyes? What was it like for Elijah when the fire of God fell on Mt Caramel during his showdown with Baal’s prophets?

I bet it was simply amazing and for them. And yet these were all people living in the First Covenant, a Covenant that was inferior to the One we have today! Hebrews 10:19,20 says:

Therefore, brethern, having boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is His flesh.

Something awesome happened when Jesus died on the Cross, there was a supernatural shift in heaven and earth. At the Cross He opened up the door to enter into the Kingdom of God. He made it possible to know God and to have God live inside of us. Yes we have assurance that when we move on from this life we will be with Him forever in heaven but He also opened up the door to heavens reality here on earth! Here is some good news - we don’t have to wait till we die to experience God’s goodness, we can know it now, in the land of the living.

The person that enters into a relationship with God enters into a life of the miraculous and the unknown. A life of radical love and continual revelation. But when a person enters into a relationship with religion they are limited to only knowing about God and are restricted from that life that Jesus came to bring.

We’ve heard so much talk about religion VS relationship but what does that mean anyways? I’ve heard many different explanations of what it means to not be religious but really does it have anything to do with the way we dress or the style of our worship music? Most of what I hear about not being religious has to do with outward things but God looks at our hearts. I believe being free from religion has more to do with embracing the Kingdom then it does with rebellion against the traditions of man.

One of the most deceptive things about religion is that it has so many good ideas, especially Christianity. But Jesus didn’t come to give us good ideas He came to us with the news of an entirely new reality: the reality of the Kingdom of God. What were His first words of public ministry?

“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.” (Mt 4:17)

Is it necessary that people spend their entire lives living for God but never coming to actually know Him? Of course not. Our understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Christ has been so contaminated by man’s teachings that we must be willing to come to Him as a child and receive His words in true humility.

Why do some people burn with a fire that consumes their entire lives? Why do some end up turning cities and nations upside down for the glory of God? Why does God do awesome miracles in other countries but here in America we see so little? Does God not have an American passport? Maybe we should have a car wash and raise some money so we can buy Him one.

You might think I’m being out of line here but are we not out of line when we preach a different gospel than Jesus, Paul and the early church preached? They preached the gospel of the Kingdom and the Lord confirmed this message with signs and wonders. Paul said in 1 Cor 2:4 that his speech was not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

Generally speaking a minister or ministry that operates this way, with signs and wonders, is bound to receive a lot of criticism and skepticism. But the pastor that preaches the traditional evangelical salvation message, that is completely void of any power or working of the Spirit, is almost never criticized. Now my intention here is not to spark a wave of criticism or backlash on our Christian ministers, no it’s to simply say that the God who we read about in the Bible is the same God today. He’s never stopped being a God of wonder and power, He never changes.

I hope you hear my heart in all this. I am not a disgruntled believer who just wants to rebel against the church. My rebellion is against the lies the enemy has sold to us. Did the creator of the universe, the one who does everything with purpose, the master designer, did He send His Son to us so that we could sit in a church service for two hours a week and simply be good Christians with respectable morals? Our example is Christ is it not? Can you picture Jesus just kind of half-heartedly serving at His church and learning scripture so He could debate with other Christians? What would He do if He came on the scene today?

I think He would stir things up just like He did then. I believe He would heal people, cast out demons, raise people from the dead and preach with authority, proclaiming the Kindom message. Where is Jesus in our midst today? The Word says He lives in us so if He is not being released to our world there is something inside us holding that up. And if Jesus just lives in our minds and our religiously correct doctrines then that’s how He is received to the world. But if He actually lives in our hearts and our spirits are actually connected with the Holy Spirit then we have the honor of being living witnesses to this amazing God.

God and His word are either real or they are not. So we must confront our unbelief and hardness of hearts and get honest with ourselves and our God. Jesus rebuked His disciples for their unbelief even though they walked with Him in the flesh for three years. If Jesus sat down and talked to you about faith what would He say? God has called us to live a life that so demands His presence and power that without it we will fail. When we set our sights on only the things that can be accomplished through our own human effort we have missed the high calling of God.

After you finish reading this you have a choice to either disregard it or act on it. I ask that you take this to God in prayer and see what He has to say on the subject of His Kingdom. Remember when we ask God something we must believe that He will answer (James 1:5-8). Time is short and we have a choice. We can either continue down the road of the mundane and expected or we can step out of the boat and walk towards God. We can live the adventure we were destined to and truly come alive as we understand our life purpose. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by, take advantage of this moment and step into the realm of the unknown; it’s scary at first but not as frightening as meaningless existence.

Lesson's in Love

2007-11-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

(Abhay and Hoinu's family. Live in Bombay)

"Were you mentally prepared for what you saw in India?", my boss asked me yesterday. I looked at here intently and gave it a serious thought. "No, most things do not shock or surprise me but I was definitely not prepared for what I experienced over there."

We've all seen the pictures and read the stories of third world countries but experiencing it for ones own self is quite different. Out of sight and out of
mind. How sad but painfully true those words are. Before I was a Christian I remember watching those tv ads showing starving African kids with bloated bellies and thinking, "yeah that's bad but they are just trying to use guilt to make me give money," and then switch the channel. Now I wish more people would give to causes that are actually making a difference and being effective at what they do. While I was in India God broke open stony ground that was in my heart as He showed me the importance of love and relationships.

One day while we were walking the streets in India a scripture came to mind, "knowledge puffs up but love edifies." Over here in America we have a superabundance of knowledge while the God type of love is a precious and rare treasure. I could see that knowledge has the ability to be used as a wall to separate the mind from the heart. It can also be a link between people and used as sort of a pseudo relationship. Meaning that people can gather around knowledge and certain truths while missing the most important elements of Christianity, love and relationship. I don't intend to teach about this because I know so little about it. I just know that when me place a higher value on knowledge and learning than we do on loving God and loving one another we are setting a serious trap for ourselves.

I could see that the ministers in India could not afford to buy into a Christianity that had a form of godliness but denied its power. It was an honor to be able to meet these servants of God and learn from there lives. We were privileged to be able to stay with YWAMers in all the cities we stayed at except Delhi. And I will say that I was very impressed with the effectiveness of the people in this movement in sharing the gospel and doing the Lord's work. YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission and is a ministry that trains people up in the ways of the Lord and then sends them to evangelize the nations. We developed wonderful relationships with a handful of these YWAMers and look forward to staying in touch with them throughout the years.

India is the second most populated country with 1.2 billion people and less then 5% Christians. 1949 is the year it achieved independence form Great Britain and the country is still developing its own identity. Right now it seems like everything is changing in India, all the way from the government and economy to the people and culture. So please pray for India and that God's blessing would be upon the country. We want to see the name of Jesus lifted high as the light of the gospel chases away the darkness there. When sin abounds grace abounds even more. It is not too difficult for God to move in a mighty way and to touch the lives of millions of Indians in the upcoming years.

India Update

2007-11-14T07:32:00.000-08:00

Two words that best describe my experience so far in India: Eye Opening. Going into this trip I realized that we were going to see some things that are so different from our norm but I don't thinkI could have imagined some of the things we've experienced here. One thing I must say though, India is a beautiful country even with all the poverty and spiritual darkness. I have come to really love this land and the people in the short time I've been here. The hospitality we've been shown by our brothers and sisters in Christ has been overwhelmingly kind and gracious. My faith in Jesus Christ as the living hope of the world is even stronger than before as I see Him changing lives in a completely different culture but with the same Spirit of Love. We have visited and prayed over several temples and strongholds in Bangalore, Calcutta, Bombay, and also here in Delhi. It's a blessing to be able to partner with the prayers of the saints here and agree with them for God to heal this land. There is alot of stories I'd like to share but here is one that really moved me:

We went to the Red Light District in Bombay with some local YWAMers and prayed and ministered to the women who are working as prostitutes to survive. One young lady we prayed with gave us her prayer request: that her two young daughters would be able to go to a Christian hostel before the are old enough to get into "the business". As we layed hands on her and prayed I could sense the Presence of the Lord in that little shack. When we finished I could see her quickly wipe away a stream of tears that flowed down here face. It was hard to see these things and not be broken for the people. Well it's late and I'm tired so more on this trip later.

Fire in the Barn

2007-10-28T20:58:00.000-07:00

It's amazing what happens when we throw our man made agendas out the window and simply yield to God. I got to spend the majority of the weekend in this red barn along with about 60-70 other men and it's safe to say I was not prepared for what I experienced. But then again when are we ever fully prepared for when God moves? Just the fact that an estimated 30 different churches were represented here and we still had unity is a miracle itself. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethern to dwell together in unity!...For there the Lord commanded the blessing---Life forevermore. (Ps. 133:1,3)
Time restricts me from really sharing all the Lord did in my heart during the last few days but a couple things I will share. The first night we heard about Father God's love for us. And how many in the church have know Jesus as their savior and have had experiences with the wonderful Holy Spirit but many have never known the love of Daddy God. Pastor Paul Marin from Michigan taught us the importance of getting right with our earthly dad and the power of forgiveness.
Grace was also illustrated by Pastor Anthony Carter's testimony. He shared his story about being in ministry and then falling into sin after the tragic death of his daughter whom he felt responsible for. He was living a life as a cocaine addict, drug dealer and adulterer until God spoke to him and delivered him out of darkness. I appreciate the courage men like Anthony take to bare it all in front of a crowd of people, it is very powerful.
And Pastor Douglas Chieza from Zimbabwe preached a couple sermons where he talked about deliverance and also shared his dramatic testimony. In his first sermon he shared some stories of casting demons out of people and the dangers of sexual sin and soul ties. And during the next session we got to have a time of mass confession and repentance where many were set free from sins related to sexual immorality. We then started to worship God and folded up all the chairs and stacked them on the walls so we would dance and praise the Lord for His goodness! My legs are still a little sore from dancing but that's OK.
I wish I had more time to talk about these things but I know this, I am more free then I was a few days ago. I know that God is not someone to only learn about and develop theology about but He is very much into meeting with His kids. His desire is for our well being and He knows that sin only hinders us from whole heartedley entering into His courts with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Anthony said this, "come to God just as you are." Don't wait till you think your more righteous or more pure, but come as you are. There is nothing like the blood of Jesus to set the captives free. Grace speaks so much of the cross and without a revelation of His grace we are bound to go down the road of powerless religion. Take the time even right now to let go of any pressing thoughts and just ask the Lord about grace. I've found that God is great at demonstrating His truths to our hearts and His grace is no exception.

....India, 7 days and counting

Give It Away

2007-09-27T18:32:00.001-07:00

I have been challenged lately to give away what I have been freely given. I believe it was Watchman Nee who said something along the lines of, "it's not getting life into a Christian that's hard, it's trying to get life out of them." I want to share with the world around me the great life and hope I have inside of me. There is something about always getting and never giving that causes a blockage in our life. I love being the recipient of a blessing, of a gift, of an impartation and so on but I believe there is even a greater joy in being the giver of these things to others.

Yesterday I was thinking about reasons why I don't share Christ with others as much as I'd like. It's not because I don't want to or that I don't think it would be a good thing, for me it boiled down to two things, I'm either afraid or I don't know how. And an illustration came to me while I was thinking on this: "If someone told me that they were in need of $5 and that they had been looking frantically all day for $5 and now it was almost night and if they didn't get the money they would have a horrible night. And I stand there with my hands in my pockets and feel the $5 bill that someone had gave me earlier and say, "well I have $5 that someone gave me earlier and here you go." Yes, most of us would give the person the money and its a simple illustration but what I'm getting at is that we come into contact with people everyday that need Jesus and we have Jesus living in us. So how do we go about that? What if it were as easy as giving that $5 bill? Would you share your faith more? I know I would.

I don't know of any perfect formula or step by step approach to reach the lost but I believe that God desires to reach the lost more than we even do. I love hearing stores about revival and cities being totally transformed by the Spirit of God. And it makes me hungry for that to happen to me and my city. So last Friday I hit the streets by my house in SE Portland to hand out gospel tracts and share Jesus with my community. I had quite the interesting night and found that yes, there are people who may be violently opposed ( I came close to getting punched in the face when I tried to hand a tract to a couple guys) but there are also others who are searching for hope and are very open to the real message of Jesus Christ. I had a great talk with a young man trying to quit alcohol, I shared my story about how God freed me from a life of addiction and then he asked if he could call me sometime. I had another talk with a guy that was into Wicca and after a while he admitted that he didn't know if he really believed in it after all because he knows some guy just made it up. And then just two nights ago I saw this guy again on the other side of town and got to talk to him again.

So I didn't get to pray with anyone or lead anybody to Christ but I believe it was a step in the right direction. I want God to give me a greater awareness of the souls around me and what His thoughts are for them. The word says to eagerly desire spiritual gifts especially prophesy so that is what I'm doing also. People tend to pay more attention if you call them out by name and tell them a secret of there heart. So I desire to prophesy because the Word says to and I believe it will help spread the good news of Jesus. And so will heeling's, last night I was dreaming about praying for someone to be healed in the middle of a busy street in Portland and how that would draw a crowd for sure. The more I think about it, God has so many ways to reach the lost and all we have to do is listen and obey Him.

Warrior: Part II

2007-08-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a progress report about what I've been learning lately. About a week after I wrote my last blog I got to pray with my friend Roman Seppala and he started to pray, actually prophecy, about me being a person who is to fight for what is right and to fight for the ones I love. He basically prayed my last blog entry without even reading it before. It was amazing and I was so glad that this urge to fight (spiritually) wasn't just something that was coming out of my flesh. So I've continued to seek God about how to wage war His way and here's a few things I'm learning.
One is that God wants us to fight from a place of peace and with an understanding of His authority. I don't have to produce anything but instead I represent Christ and what He accomplished on the cross. I'm also learning to allow myself to be filled with continual rivers of joy, laughing in the face of my enemies. I've found that when I become intoxicated with God and then go to battle it is much more effective. We can be happy intercessors, that's such a relief (God's ways are not man's ways). Here is an excerpt from Dutch Sheets book "Intercessory Prayer" (p.73):

Both the Hebrew and Greek words used for "tread,"darak (Hebrew) and pateo (Greek), involves the concept of violence or war. The Hebrew word darak actually came to be used for bending the bow when about to shoot an arrow and is still used today in Israel for the command , Load your weapons." . . ."Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses." The word "tread," of course is darak. God wasn't telling Israel that everywhere they walked or stepped was theirs. He had already marked off the perimeters of the inheritance. He was saying symbolically , "Every place that you are willing to load your weapons and take, I'm going to give to you."

So even though the promised land is before us we still have battles to fight. I want to learn how to be an effective warrior and I know I will because I have the best teacher, God's very own Spirit. The same God who led Israel to victory is our God today. The God of David is our God and His strategies for victory are available to us. He will teach us how to be skilled swordsmen in the spirit. As our spirits are fed and nourished and promoted above our souls we will learn how to walk this path of victory. We will no longer be carried off by emotions and circumstance but we will be carried wherever the wind of God blows. The word spirit also means breath and we need the breath of God to come and blow on our spirits to stir up the fire within.
We will learn to wait on God until we are so empowered that our enemies wont even know what hit them. I pray God will awake the warriors in His church and lead us into battle under His banner of love. Love never fails and violent, stubborn, persistent love always wins.

Warriors

2007-07-31T21:41:00.000-07:00

Have you been instructed to put on the full armor of God (Eph 6) everyday when you get up? I have prayed that prayer countless times, dressing myself with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the boots of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. But honestly it has become more of a routine then anything and I believe God showed me yesterday that the reason for putting on His armor is to fight. I was like, oh yeah, duh, but I’ve been doing it more as a dress rehearsal or something. You know dressing up and checking myself out in my spiritual mirror, “yeah this stuff looks good on me.” No, this stuff is intended for the battlefield where I am called to fight and have victory.

Last night I received a phone call that brought the reality of this battle into the forefront of my mind once again. It was a call from a loved one who let me know that they had fallen back into there addiction; this may seem minor to some but I’ve watched this addiction almost kill this person before. I was very upset after I got off the phone and my heart started to break. I broke down in tears but as my anger started to rise I could not cry any longer even though I wanted too. I’ve found out that it’s ok to be mad and I can be real with God no matter what emotional state I’m in. So I started to pray and read His word and was reminded that I am called to fight for the people I love.

We know this is not a physical battle but one that is spiritual in nature (2Co. 10:4; Eph 6) and if God has set me free I am to set others free. He didn’t break the chains off me so I could run out of the dungeon and leave all the other prisoners behind to be tortured and die. I’ve remained passive for too long in my Christianity not fully aware that I have the potential to destroy the works of the devil as Jesus did. 1 John 3:8 says, “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” There are so many works of the devil that I come into contact with on a daily basis and instead of destroying them I tolerate them. Instead of casting out the demons as Jesus commanded, I want to have a discussion or a “talk” and try to help the person out of what I know. I desperately need God to help me change and I’m thankful that He will. And I realize that we’re not called to do this work independent of God but it’s just as true that God won’t do this work independent of us.

It’s actually quite sobering to think that God wants to set people free through us and if we resist some people may not receive there deliverance, there healing, there food, or even there salvation. “Wait a minute, don’t get carried away, remember you’re not that important” some would say. I know part of me wants to agree with you, but I think it’s also the part of me that is passive and would rather play dress rehearsal with the armor of God instead of actually take up my sword and do damage to the kingdom of darkness. We have a big part to play in this whole thing and when we miss the mark it’s not just us who suffer. There are consequences for everything we do and don’t do.

“Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle”
Ps. 144:1

The Lord is the one who trains us for this battle and just as Jesus walked and taught the disciples, Holy Spirit walks and teaches us, except it’s better for us because He lives in us! The battle is real it’s not just figurative and its people that will either die or live, depending on how we fare. I’ve realized the lack of understanding of the power of God in my life and can see that without His power I may as well just run around screaming at demons hoping that maybe they get scared by the sound of my voice. Jesus says, Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19)

It makes sense why the enemy would want to deceive the church in this area. If we knew the authority that Jesus died for us to have then he would be in trouble. If we knew that we could tell spirits of depression to leave. If we knew that we could tell spirits of addiction to leave a person, his days of torment would be over in so many people. I know I am an amateur in spiritual warfare but the God who lives in me is an expert. I am in training and I know that I must get understating about Gods authority and how His power operates in a Christian’s life.

We must always remember that our motivation to fight must come from a deep love for God and people. Heidi Baker puts it well, “lovers fight better”. Without being grounded in a revelation of the Father’s heart of love we might as well go back to playing church. When our hearts start to break for people and we receive the Father’s heart for them, then we can be molded by His Spirit and allow Him to empower us for ministry. Jesus was moved by compassion and He answers those who cry out to him. Let’s not be deaf to those same cries in our day.

So going back to the loved one I mentioned earlier. I believe this situation caused something to snap inside of me and I believe it will be for God’s glory. I have decided to persevere in prayer for them until they receive there deliverance. I like the mission statement of Bill Johnson and his ministry, “out of intimacy with God we destroy the works of the devil.” And that’s what it’s about, we fall in love with God and we fight for Him. We are not just common soldiers who fight because they are expected too, no we are called to be warriors and a warrior fights from the heart.

“Let God arise, Let His enemies be scattered”
Ps. 68:1

Presence People

2007-07-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd just share a quick tidbit about church today because it ties in with my previous two posts. Yesterday I decided to post one of my past journal entries and the subject was Ex. 33 and this morning my pastor preaches on Ex. 33, fancy that. I love it when God highlights an area of scripture and continues to repeat it over and over in various ways. Ex 33 speaks alot about God's Presence and that is something I could see myself studying the rest of my days.

Since the invitation is truly open to come into God's Presence I want to learn all there is about that! I've experienced just glimpses of the goodness of God but it's enough to have already ruined me for nominal Christian living. When Moses asked to see God's glory, God said He would make all His goodness pass before him, wow. It has been said that God is good but really what does that mean? How good is God? Is He good enough to waste our lives on? Is He so good that we would sacrifice all just to be with Him? How far will we go in our pursuit of Him?

Israel was led by the Presence of God and Moses said that he would not go anywhere unless God went with him. What a great way to lead people. He didn't say we will take the next step once we have all our finances in place. No, he didn't say we will move on once camp is in order and all the people are happy. No, he didn't even say we will go because God's promise lies ahead of us. God even said I will send my angel before you (33:2) but Moses was not satisfied with anything less then God's Presence. What happens when God's people return to this type of Presence driven lifestyle? Where will the church be led if we start to be Presence focused and not man focused? The possibilities are endless.

I daydream of a being part of a people who are so accustomed and sensitive to His Presence that if it leaves everyone mourns and stops everything to get it back. They stop the music, the programs, the agenda, the message and they cry out to the Lord in tears until He returns. Imagine that, join in my daydream for this type of Christian community because I believe it's coming. A people who know there God and seek His face. A people who wont be fooled by the deceitfulness of man or impressed by the wisdom of men but choose to live a different life. Does it make sense that God would be with the people in the OT in a more real and tangible way then today? No, that is crazy, He is still the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph. He never changes. He was a cloud by day and a fire by night. His ways are eternal and everlasting. The God who answered Elijah by fire is the same God we pursue today. The God who led the people out of Egypt is the same God who will lead us out of our religious nonsense today. I'm looking forward to where God is taking His church, I want to be a student of His Presence, how bout you?

2007-07-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

Life Journal: April 8, 2007
Ex. 33 & 34:10

OK I'm Listening

I listened to a Podcast tonight by Todd Bentley and guess what he preached on? Ex.33 and 34:10, just happens I was meditating on Ex. 33 yesterday. I love how the Holy Spirit highlights things that He wants me to understand.
Todd was preaching on the season of suffering and to embrace the season of suffering and to embrace the cross. He talked about Ex. 33:12,13 and how Moses prayed to the Lord by drawing on his past, "Yet you have said, 'I know you by name and you have also found grace in My sight.'" Moses could intercede like he did because he had such a closeness, such an intimacy with God. Todd said many in the church believe they have the right to intercede when the really don't, they don't have intimacy with Him and still try to tell Him what to do...ouch!
He also talked about 33:18,19 where Moses asks to see God's glory and God answers by saying, "I will make all My goodness pass before you..." So His goodness is a manifestation of His glory.
Todd's message was an honest revealing word that encouraged me to stop resisting what God wants to do in me. There is a cup of suffering to drink and it doesn't appeal to the flesh.
I know this is God wanting me to hear and understand the message displayed in Ex. 33. I've also been reading a book called "The God Chasers" by Tommy Tenney and it just so happens that the chapter I'm on, Ch.4 "Dead Men see His Face", starts out with nothing other than Ex. 33:17-18,20.
Part of me says, wow God is so good to me that He is actually orchestrating all of these various presentations of His word to highlight one area. Another part asks, "why does it take so much confirmation to make me believe and really listen to Him?"Whatever the case is, I know this, it's time to stop and listen. It's time to surrender my own ideas and desires and to receive His will and His words.

Holy Spirit help me know You as my best friend, help me know You Jesus, for real.

Led By His Presence

2007-07-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Life Journal Entry: April 7, 2007
Scripture: Ex. 33:7-23

Ex. 33:7a says, "Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp..."

Moses separated himself from the rest of the people to meet with God. I have many friends and people I enjoy being around. I also like to attend Christian events and conferences and prayer meetings but it can be enticing to just camp with the people.
I want to be like Moses and get away from "the camp" if I have to so I can meet with God. I want His actual Presence like in Ex 33:9-11 where a "pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle and the Lord talked with Moses." His manifest Presence has been on the forefront of my mind and I am starting to get an appetite for God's Presence.
In this day and in this country there are countless Christian activities and "things to do" in the Name of Jesus Christ. There are books written on almost every subject, conferences for prosperity, poverty, blessings, sacrifices, heeling's, youth, the prophetic, worship and on and on. There are teachings on podcasts available from all over the world; with just a click of the mouse we can download new sermons, worship songs, teachings, etc. There are modern day prophets with words of prosperity and also words of judgement. Our churches in the West our good at filling up our calenders with meetings, services, studies, classes, teachings, activities, events, ceremonies, concerts and the list goes on.
And personally since I became a Christian almost three years ago I have been a big fan of many of these Christian activities. But the Lord in His mercy has revealed to me, and then reminded me, that if my heart is not grounded and rooted with Him then these things have the potential to draw me away from my relationship with Him.
I'm not saying that these things are all bad, no most all of them are good. But like a quote I recently heard, "the greatest enemy of greatness is good enough" Or i suppose you could phrase it, " the greatest enemy of God's Presence is good Christian activity." I cannot speak for all Christians or anyone else for that matter but I can be honest and true about me.
I know that I have learned way more "about God" then I have actually got to "know Him." I have spent an extremely disproportionate amount of time reading books or the Bible then I have in just being with Him. I have been feeding off of second hand expressions, revelations, and knowledge of God. Instead of being like Moses who had one on one encounters with God, I have been a scavenger of stories and other people's experiences. Instead of seeing the smoke I have been experiencing second hand smoke, second hand glory. I have story after story of other people's testimonies but I want my own!
I believe God has allowed me to hear these things, to hear these stories so I would be hungry myself. He knows my desire and that I will never be content with just observation, with just sitting on the bench. I was created to play in the greatest game in the history of mankind, all for His glory.

Psalm 63

2007-05-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

Psalm 63:1-8

O GOD, You are my God;

Early will I seek You;

My soul thirst for You;

My flesh longs for You

In a dry and thirsty land

Where there is no water.

So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,

To see your power and Your glory.

Because Your lovingkindness is Better than life,

My lips shall praise You

Thus I will bless You While I live;

I will lift up my hands in Your name;

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness;

And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.

When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches.

Because You have been my help, Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice.

My soul follows close behind You; Your right hand upholds me.

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Colossians 3:1,2

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

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The church is not dead because God is not dead but alive and powerful and active in day to day life. The supernatural is not some hocus pocus extreme Pentecostal/ Charismatic theology, it is a heavenly reality. Let’s not forget that our eternal home is in heaven and we are pilgrims on this earth. “while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:18) We have been born again and God has given us His very Spirit so we can know Him, because without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to know God. We could exhaust all of our remaining days learning about Him and studying spiritual things but when do we finally come to a place of experience?

When I read the Psalms I see a man who did not just know God intellectually but knew Him by experience. The word know in Psalm 46: “Be Still and know that I am God” is the Hebrew word Yada, the same word used for, “and Adam knew his wife.” Oh, so your talking about that kind of knowing? Yes a knowledge that invokes not just the mind but the whole spirit, soul, and body. {That is why sexual immorality is not to be taken lightly because that also involves a knowing of spirit, soul, and body, but that is another message.} I also read, “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8) and also “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? (Ps. 42:1-2). And my main text tonight Psalm 63 which is listed above.

The Word of God reads: “O GOD you are my God.” This is a declaration, and a revelation of the intimate relationship between the author and His God. God is not just King David’s God, He is not just the apostle Paul’s God, He is not just John Wesley’s God, He is not just Bill Johnson’s God, He is not just my Pastor’s God. He is my God and when I pray He answers, when I seek Him I am found by Him. When I worship Him I am in His Presence. I love corporate praise and worship services but God cannot just be our God He must also be my God.

It then goes on: “Early will I seek You.” And I didn’t see a question mark here or else it would read, “Early, will I seek You?” Now I have taken this verse as a motivation to seek God early in the morning which I believe is a healthy godly habit to get into. But God is showing me that He is not a habit to develop but a Person to enjoy. And thus goes my dilemma, “I want to seek God early but my flesh is tired, I do it for a few days then fall back into old habits of sleeping in or getting preoccupied with something else. So I muster up willingness and a determination after a little guilt has crept in and I say, now I will develop a morning habit with God.” But my focus is still on the habit and the benefit of seeking God first (I have noticed that every time I seek God first my day is much more blessed), I have lost the desire that is rooted in passionate love when I take this approach. And then comes that subtle voice that says, “if you really loved God you wouldn’t have to strive to be with Him. If you practiced what you preached, which is a “love” relationship you would delight in Him, your no good, you don’t really love Him.” Sounds like an accuser if I ever heard one.

But the reason this lie hurts so much is because it is mixed with some truth. If we were truly lovers of God would we not spend every waking moment dreaming of Him and rearranging our schedule to make excuses to be with Him? David was a man who fell prey to the greatest love affair of all time and no I’m not talking about Bathsheba, that was adultery, not love. I’m speaking of his love affair with his God. He was caught up in a divine love affair that affected every area of his life. And this lover was also a mighty warrior, like I heard Heidi Baker say, “lovers fight better.”

So moving on, the next verse read: “My soul thirst for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.” We know from the Scriptures that water speaks of the Holy Spirit (Jn. 7:37-39) David had learned to drink of that Spiritual Rock, the Spirit of Christ. (1 Co. 10:4). So right now we’re going to take a moment and have a comprehension test to see where we are in our understanding of this theme. This is not to put anyone down or elevate anyone. It is simply to gauge where we are in our spiritual health. It’s like going to the Dr’s and getting a “physical” but instead it’s a “spiritual” (hey I thought it was funny). So please answer the following:

Question 1: How many glasses of the Spirit do you drink a day?

Question 2: How content are you with His Presence and His Word (1 Tim 6:6)? Are they enough to satisfy you or are you constantly seeking other things to entertain or gratify yourself?

Question 3: Do you know what kind of condition your spirit man is in? Is he malnourished or could he go twelve rounds easy?

It is very important that we develop an awareness of our spiritual state or else we open up ourselves to becoming spiritually sick which can in turn affect our bodies, minds, emotions, and ultimately our will. We were created to have fellowship with God. We were designed to drink of the Spirit, just like our physical bodies were designed to drink water or we will die. But if you are feeling discouraged after reading those questions have hope because God wants to teach you some healthy spiritual habits and the Holy Spirit is a great teacher. If you want to learn to drink of His rivers just ask Him to show you how.

When Jesus said to come to Him and drink I believe that the Word really means to come to Him and drink. It is an actual experience not just a good idea or something to study. One thing that may keep you away from receiving this heavenly drink is a mind that has not been renewed or a religious mindset that ultimately says, “you cannot really know God and you cannot partake of those things you hear about right now.” Or unbelief that says, “yeah I know what this guy is talking about and its that whole, sensual/ emotional belief. Those crazy people who claim to be drunk in the Spirit and have no foundation in the Word.”

I’m not here to have an intellectual debate or to argue with you, if your are thirsty and willing to turn to the Lord for your portion He will satisfy. Remember God’s ways are not our ways (Is. 55:8) I’m here to declare that God is real and we can really partake of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4) One thing I will no longer be ashamed of is His Spirit manifesting in my life. The Holy Spirit is a Person and He is God, He is not a doctrine or a school of thought. He is not weird or freaky, He is a Friend who sticks closer than a brother. (Prov. 18:24) He loves to reveal Jesus to us and He is the one who will empower us to be soul winners. He wants what is best for us but we (the church) have held on to what we know and our comfortable with and in doing so have eliminated the Spirit from being part of our comfortable Christianity. We have too much EGO (Edging God Out).

Which brings me to my next point in Psalm 63: “So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory.” So where is the power and the glory in the western church today? Do we even have a context for the apostle Paul’s statement to the church in Corinth, “And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Co.2:4,5) Not the power of men but the power of God. Jesus said in Acts 1:8a, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,” This is a supernatural power that cannot be attributed to anything man could develop. It is the power that heals the sick, the power to preach the Word of God with boldness, conviction, and authority, the power to cast out demons and the power to raise the dead.

So in conclusion I urge you to consider these things and to meditate on them in your secret place. Learn to wait on the Lord (Is 40:31) and receive from Him. Take time to listen and focus your thoughts on Him, ask the Holy Spirit to help you in this and you may just find that being a child of God is much more exciting and fulfilling then you ever have know. I pray that you, like King David, would become intoxicated with the love of God. Amen.

May 18, 2007 11:56pm