Sept. 11th Vow renewal

I just celebrated my 20th anniversary on Sept. 11th, 2011 with a celebration in front of over 100 people that included a powerful written testimonial for each guest, balloons, singing, laughter, dancing, tears, promises, declarations of destiny over my children and vow renewals.  That date is familiar to almost every American because of  the terrorist attacks that unfolded on that day10 years ago and not because I was married on that day 20 years ago.  I believe that Sept. 11th was and is a prophetic day  for both my marriage and  for our nation at the same time and by that I mean a day full of divine seeds  that are time released every September 11th, with the  intention to reveal truth about our nature and character as a married couple, as a nation and most importantly the nature, character and faithfulness of our God.

Our nation was attacked by hateful and violent cowards who had been planning and plotting their attack on that day for a long time ( 911- emergency) causing fear and anxiety to crash over our nation like a massive tidal wave.  Our values, strengths, stabilities and our core identity were challenged and many of us questioned who we were and what we did to deserve the attack.  The simple answer for our nation and my marriage was that we were attacked because we have an enemy that hates us, and it was a sobering reminder.
For a period of time we were headed for divorce, I had moved out of the house and it looked like my marriage had been destroyed by the bombs and missiles the enemy had sent to destroy us too. However the attack served to resurrect something in my Spirit, character and marriage that I did not know was there until it was challenged, much the same way our nation responded in pride, unity and resolve that the enemy couldn't possibly have known existed or he probably wouldn't have attacked.

Our nation strengthened security, re-evaluted priorities and put all efforts into preserving a relationship and lifestyle that now was prized above freedoms and personal inconvenience.  My wife Lesley and I did the same thing in our marriage. We identified who the enemy was ( it was not flesh and blood), we repented, we forgave, we worked, trusted, counseled, prayed and took one step at a time, until we could celebrate and declare God's miracle in front of friends and family on 9/11/11.

On that day we renewed our vows ( promises, pledges, oaths, dedications) and celebrated a resurrected marriage while our country did the same. As a couple and as a nation we chose to consecrate ourselves to stand up for renewed values and priorities. When I had wandered away from my wife in my heart, it was because I had wandered away from my God first.  The attack was a sobering and costly wake up call for me as a husband and for every American the attack reminded them of how much they loved  the America  they had taken for granted and maybe that they had forgotten she was one nation under God.

The Spirit and the bride say come, renew your vows to God.  He is preparing a wedding feast for the church, a people that will love him as a bride loves her groom. There is safety and security for you.  You can freely express your thoughts and feelings knowing that he will hear and respond. Vow, be intentional to spend time and make time for your God.  Face all difficulties and pressures with him ( not without him) confident in his goodness.

Respectability or humility

I was considering the concept of  Humility today as I was listening on the drive into work.  I realized that as a culture and especially church culture we are always appealing to people to receive us, accept us, and respect us based on our message, gifts, discipline, education, intelligence, even spirituality ( which creates schism, pride, condemnation or comparison).   We many times operate (old man) out of an innate and deep seated desire for respectability that is counter to and in opposition to what God's Spirit is trying to produce in us, which is humility- ( the proper estimation of who we are in relation to God/ identity). 

Then  I considered how humility is being produced in the body right now and I smiled. Respectability is being gutted out of the church and that is producing humility.  Every structure we can hang our hats on is being toppled, but not the way I thought it was going to happen ( by crawling on broken glass on my knees). Humility comes with the wine of his Spirit. 

The Spirit of God weaved two sections of scripture together for me to reveal a truth.  The first one is the story of Joseph ( Gen. 37-50), it is one of the longest continuous narratives in the Bible about one man who is I think, the clearest typological example of Christ.  This section is packed with prophetic Revelation  and detail about Jesus, the church, Israel and end time move of God.  One scene in particular that I want to highlight is the picture of the Baker and the cup (wine) bearer who were in the dungeon with Joseph in Gen. 40.

The dungeon speaks of  the preparation of humility before the exaltation to rule as seen in the life of Joseph, but a secondary and more definitive application for the church and ministries can be seen in the Baker and cup bearer.   Both were accused of poisoning the king ( God) and put in the dungeon.  The baker, who prepared bread, ( teaching the  the word, singing, prophesying, blogging, writing, drama)  was found guilty of  poisoning/opposing the king.  He was doing his own thing, his own recipe, his ministry was not producing humility or acceptable to the king.  The cup bearer who was entrusted to bring wine ( refreshment, joy, peace, celebration, adoration) to the king was found innocent and brought back into the presence of the king to serve and minister and exalt the greater Joseph ( Jesus) he had come to know during his time in the dungeon.  The ministry of bread was temporarily refused, but wine was received immediately preceeding the revelation of Joseph as ruler over the earth ( 2nd coming)- there is a new priority for the end time move and it is Wine.

The second section of Scripture is Acts 2,  when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples after Jesus' ascension.  Notice the order of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit and how they were received and by whom.  Wind (power, leading, mystery, revelation)  Fire ( repentance, transformation, commitment, purging) and Wine ( joy, peace, love,)   Those that knew Jesus ( disciples/church) were impressed with the Wind and the fire, but notice that the nations were impressed with the effects of the wine and came running to see.   The nations had heard the words before, but had never seen the effects of the Spirit being poured out.   Peter told them, (acts 2:14)  "these men are not drunk as you suppose", ( but they were drunk in the Spirit)

The challenge I received in my Spirit today was to drink the wine and prepare the wine for the king and his subjects.  To be willing to be completely misunderstood and even foolish looking in the eyes of the religious establishment because the world will recognize and be drawn to the wine of humility made in the dungeons that produces joy. The church and the nations are choking on the bread we are making,  they need the wine to be able to swallow it.  There is a strength and ability to endure stigma and ridicule when your identity is secure and your identity is secure when you are humble.  Humility doesn't mean you think poorly of yourself, in fact quite the opposite, you see yourself how God sees you.  Worldly comforts mean less to you when you are under the influence.  You are loud and bold and unafraid under the influence and that is humility.

It seems to me that God has put us who bear his Message on stage in a theater in which no one wants to buy a ticket. We're something everyone stands around and stares at, like an accident in the street. We're the Messiah's misfits. You might be sure of yourselves, but we live in the midst of frailties and uncertainties. You might be well-thought-of by others, but we're mostly kicked around. I cor. 4:9-11 msg

I finally get it

I have had one of those weeks, months, years, when the message from God's throne is coming at me from every source that I value and receive from. ( Dreams, visions, circumstances, the pulpit,the word, my own spirit)  It is the message that I most need to hear so that I am the most effective.  The message is to Pray. It doesn't make me feel condemned or ashamed anymore  when I am reminded to pray because I now value prayer more than ever before after discovering that it actually works. I really get it now that all structures are built up or torn down in the spiritual realm ( 2 cor. 10)  we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.  Yelling at your spouse or children does not accomplish what you really want, but taking out the spiritual entity that is causing the problem through prayer does.

        I have realized only just now in my mid forties that I accomplish so much more for the kingdom, my family and myself by speaking to God about things than speaking to the people and/or situation from my own viewpoint. I get it that I don't have to make a public announcement or force my will or make anyone else aware except for God and that makes the answer that much sweeter.  3 years ago, I never would have dreamed that my main ministry to the Lord and people would be ( prophetic) intercession and I believe that God is calling alot of us to this ministry.  I planned my whole life to be a preacher and a teacher, but I am most fulfilled and see the most fruit as I remind God of his word in faith through prayer.  As I was recently reminded all the great leaders ( visible or not) from Moses to Jesus himself were intercessors. 

        I was listening to a very popular evangelist share a story this morning about a ministry trip to Africa  a few years back.  He was so amazed at the incredible anointing, miracles and response from over 50,000 people who attended an African crusade. As he was recounting it all to the organizer of the event, he was asked, " Well you know why all this happened don't you?  The intercessors came two weeks ago and have been praying from 4 am until dark everyday until evening and they left before you came to go pray for another event.  They didn't need to see the miracles happen, they already saw them take place ahead of time in their intercession, they pulled it down."   The evangelist was humbled and went to the shack that smelled like sewer where they had been praying.  The presence of God still remained. 

      When I pray for an individual, or my local church or my region or for the nations, thats what I am doing.  I am praying until I know in my spirit that something has happened.  Many times what we pray together on Saturday happens on Sunday very clearly and the intercessors rejoice knowing that they were co-laborers with the angels that were released.  I want to share some encouragement to those that want to be effective in their walk through prayer. If we want to be closer to God, prayer draws us into intimacy with God's heart like nothing else can and unifies us with his heart for God's people while at the same time changing us and transforming us.

*  Dont' just think about it or talk about it- pray it-  James 4:2- " you have not because you ask not"

*  How do we know what to pray for?

1. God initiates what he wants us to pray by declaring it in his word, to pray better we need to know his word better. ( John 15:7-8) If his word abides in you , you will bear fruit.- develop an action plan to read through the whole bible over and over. The new testament can be read in one month if you read 10 chapters a day.

2. We respond in obedience and prayer to that initiative reminding God of his word and promises.

3. God's response is set in motion, even if we don't feel the power.

* Pray in the spirit to receive revelation  ( I cor. 14:2, 4)

* Develop a written prayer list to avoid deer in the headlights syndrome, when you actually do pray

You can't google God

 I hate waiting just as much as you do.  The word itself is like a cuss word and offends me  when its thrown at me - 'just wait"!- by anyone- including God. Don't you know I have things I have to do that are important?  I hate waiting in the line at the grocery store, while the people are digging for the coupons or checkbooks.  I hate waiting for my computer to re-boot when I am already late for work and I have 386 e-mails to sort through and packing lists to print out.  I hate waiting for people to respond to my "important" calls so I e-mail, text, and facebook them too.  I hate waiting in the doctor's or dentists office for an hour past my appointment time or for the package to come in the mail that should be here already. If I need to know right away,
I google it.  That impatience and inability to wait sinks down into the soul level too, and gets translated into accusation and blame towards the people that make me wait if I let it.  I even question their motives for making me wait, if it is someone that has authority over my life to make me wait (like God) .  The waiting is even harder when the stakes are bigger, like waiting for the return of prodigal children.  Waiting for the provision to come in for the step of faith you took.  Waiting for the answer to your prayer for healing, direction, peace and calling.

     If you are like me, you go through through the checklist to see if you have missed anything  and try to negotiate with God. ' I am generous, I pray and fast and go to church.  I floss, recycle, tell my wife I love her.  I am a good person-I did everything right!  ' why wont you do this for me?-  What did i do or not do to deserve all this?  

    I have learned that is the wrong question.  What we do or don't do most of the time has little to do with the waiting process.  We are told via the prophet Isaiah that if we 'wait on the Lord we will renew our strength"  We cannot google God.  He is in control not us or our circumstances. He has our best interest in mind when it comes to the timing.  When it seems like there is nothing happening above ground is when the roots are growing underneath.  Book of James says, "let  patience have its perfect or completing work.  The root has to go down deep enough to hold the weight of the fruit when it comes. 

      I have also learned that I am not an exception.  Usually its the bigger the promise, the longer the wait. I am reminded that Moses tended sheep for 40 years before he delivered Israel and David waited 14 years between recieving the promise to be king and actually taking the throne.  The processes during the wait of tending the sheep and hiding out in the caves made them who they were because their response was to wait.  Sometimes waiting is the highest form of faith and remember thats how we renew our strength.

       While we are waiting, the enemy of your soul will attack the foundation of your hope that God is good and that God sees your circumstances and is working in it. This is foundational that he is good and his mercy endures forever.  Jesus went about doing good and healing all, the devil is the one who steals, kills and destroys.  In God's omnipotence and omniscience and because of his great love, he is able to weave all of our life's experiences together, good and bad (Rom. 8:28) and work them out to our benefit.  He is more committed to your benefit and blessing than you  are.  Phil 1:6 says that 'he who began a good work in you will complete it.  Just wait and see.
   

"This Rolex just screams success"

 I  was shocked and offended when the Christian businessman who was trying to motivate me said it.  "This Rolex just screams success" The ironic thing was that the Rolex was the prize in a sales contest that would be awarded to the person who helped raise the most money for poor business men and farmers in third world countries.  I couldn't argue or teach or rebuke him...I was too sad.  I was sad that he was using the world's value system and a  symbol of excess and self-indulgence to try and motivate people who called themselves believers. I hoped that all that were listening were as offended as I was by the promotion of an $8000 watch as something that I would ever want to wear to define me or scream out to the world that I was successful.   My mind pictured a poor village having bags of rice and beans delivered to them by men with Rolex watches and the hypocrisy of it made me ashamed.

God's Spirit percolated this experience in my mind until I came to grips with what  true success really is.  If success is not a Rolex, then what is it?  Everyone has a valid need and desire, even longing to be successful, but many of us are still motivated by what our humanistic culture defines as success, including recognition and admiration of people, being a man or woman of influence and of course having lots of money and/or things.

Many will be shocked when they are called to account and realize that God's definition of success has very little to do with our outward achievements or the size of our ministry impact.  It will all boil down to what a well known prophet was asked during a heavenly encounter,  " did you learn how to love"?  According to God we can become great and successful if we focus on the development of the hidden things- ( where your heart is there will be your treasure).  To be succesful in the sight of  God ( not successful in the sight of  man) is to care more about our heart responses than our natural giftings or resources and numbers.  

My definition of success is in hearing Jesus say- ( matt. 25) "well done good and faithful servant" because I heard his voice, I did his will and completed the assignment he gave me with a heart of love , regardless of how big or small it was.  If I am faithful over the few little things in this age it will result in ruling over many things in the age to come ( millennial kingdom and eternity).

1.  Good- speaks to the heart motives and intentions we have for what we do.  To love God and people

2. Faithful- with a big application of divine grace he views our consistency, integrity, preparation, development and follow through.

3. Servant- our willingness to give up our personal agendas honor and comfort, walking in humility

Ziklag is not your final destination

No single person's life speaks to me more personally or prophetically than the life of King David, the "man after God's own heart".  David is not only a type of Christ, but of the Church or those "in Christ" and his journey to the throne is more than a clue to us how to walk that out, it is the blueprint of how to walk into our destiny, expand the kingdom and discover our realm of authority as the end time church, both individually and corporately.   Probably the greatest  and most unique characteristic of Davids's life was his revelation and ability to walk in God's mercy with joy instead of being paralyzed with guilt and condemnation because of his sins (which were many)- Walking in the revelation of God's mercy will be one of the key characteristics of the end time David church, and that revelation of mercy will allow them to fight for and expand the kingdom to present to the Son ( greater Solomon).  David declares God's mercy more than any other characteristic of God in the Psalms.  Possibly the greatest example of the strength of this revelation is during his transition out of God's will in the Philistine city of Ziklag, to the throne of Judah, just a short time after Ziklag is destroyed. ( I sam. chapters 27-30)

As I was studying the life of David the Holy Spirit spoke to me powerfully and I knew the word was not only for me, but for many of my generation. God's Spirit said that Ziklag is where many of today's anointed and called are living and that they have been decieved into believing this is their final destination.  They question the call on their life, the words they received so many years ago, the promises they used to treasure in their heart, their hopes for changing the world. They vaguely remember their calling and anointing by the prophet or the Goliath's they have defeated or the favor of the king and living in the palace.  Instead all they can remember is fleeing out of fear and questioning if they heard correctly. Otherwise why would they be living in caves, pursued by Saul ( Flesh).  They don't know how they have ended up in Ziklag.  How did they end up living in the enemie's ( who we used to destroy) territory and begging for a piece of land to live on instead of ruling a kingdom?   What stands out to us are all the lies and compromises along the way that have brought us to Ziklag ( destruction of the priestly city because of our lies, feigning insanity, denying our faith and our people). 

Even when the prophetic word comes  (via prophet Gad- I sam. 22)) to remind us who we are and that we are supposed to go to Judah and to stop running, we go back to Ziklag.  We stay there because we no longer believe 2 sam. 3:1-  that the house of David would go stronger and stronger and the house of Saul would get weaker and weaker- instead in a state of depression we declare and believe that the flesh ( Saul ) is going to win. So why not live in Ziklag- and give up the idea of reigning as king.  We have a longing and love for God's people and kingdom and we do whatever we can from Ziklag, but it is still not God's will for us to stay there.  God's Spirit is saying to many right now "Ziklag is not your final destination" and out of God's mercy, he allows those of us who are living in Ziklag ( the place of our compromise) to watch the smoke rise in the distance as it is being burned. For many in this generation our Ziklag is our Home that is being foreclosed on, the job we had for 20 years, being uprooted from the safe ministry-and any other false security we are holding onto,  all the things that have kept us from trusting God to establish us as his regents to the kingdom we were called to. 

Ziklag is only a place of transition and not a final destination, God is prying it out of our hands and when it is taken from us, that is when we strengthen ourselves in the Lord ( I sam. 30:6-8) and his mercy and we see all the events of the past in their proper perspective.  The destruction of Ziklag will be one of the hardest times in our lives, everything seems lost.  You are being chased by Saul, living in compromise, rejecting God's prophetic word to come back to Judah where you know you are supposed to be,  loss of family and posessions, and completely misunderstood by the 400 mighty men who say they understand you.  This is exactly the time that God wraps up everything and ties it with a bow.  You pursue the enemy and gain victory, Saul dies in battle, you write Psalm 18, and 56 because of a revelation of God's mercy, and the next week you are crowned king in Judah. David learned that God was with him in the whole journey, that God's gifts and callings are irrevocable and that God full of mercy, still loved him through all the weakness of the journey to the throne.

Get real!

As a person of faith, have you ever been told you are living in unreality?  If you have, its probably a good thing, since most people's thinking ( including believers) is bound by their 5 senses and space-time concepts of reality, which are really two of the biggest enemies of faith.  If we are going to be consistent in our beliefs and responses that God is not limited by space or time, (Isa. 46:10 - he sees the end from the beginning) and that he is omnipotent and omnipresent, and unable to be defined by any concept we have of dimension- then we will begin to behave radically different than most others around us.   Especially if we believe that,  "as he -(Jesus) is so are we in this world-" I John 4:17.   If all the  fullness of God's essence dwelt in Christ bodily and Christ is in us- ( col. 2:9) then what are the implications for our sense of reality?  Human beings are the only created beings that are able to be in touch with both realms simultaneously.  ( Eph. 2:5-6, 1:21-23, Heb. 10:19)
Faith declares that the flow of reality is from Spirit to the physical or material, or in other words from causal to effect, calling those things that are not as though they are ( Rom. 4:17).   Holy Spirit is always attempting to change our perspective or transform our thinking ( Rom. 12:2) from temporary to eternal ( I cor. 6:17)  What the scripture teaches possible is that the Holy Spirit inside of us and outside of us simultaneously will use the faith image we hold as inner reality to change the outer reality and conform to that faith image.  ( Heb. 11;1, Heb. 4:12, Ezek. 37: 3-10)- Still working on that, but getting close.
Spirit reality has already been established in the eternal, heavenly realm based on the word of God and the Holy Spirit and we can have confidence in declaring that word for our personal life,  it is more real than the temporal or non-eternal realm than what we can discern with our created senses ( Psalm 33:6, Gen. 1:2, Heb. 11:1-3, I Peter 4:11, 2 Cor. 4:18)
I am not there yet, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel,  I can see these truths in the word of God.  Sometimes I operate in faith and other times I don't and I know that most of the time I don't its because I don't believe who I really am. I believe the lies and  lack of identity this temporal realm preaches to me instead of who I am in Christ. 
Irregardless of my feelings or appearances in the natural, I have determined  to be intentional in my thoughts and words in declaring and acting upon the truth of who God says  I am and operate out of the real, eternal, causal heavenly realm.  I am in the kingdom of God and completely out of the power of darkness ( col. 1:13) far above all demonic powers and I also am intentional in viewing people and circumstances from God's vantage point, seated next to him in heavenly places on the throne.
I have all the things God has declared and that I need, available to me purchased by Christ's blood  including:  peace, love, joy, faith, authority, wisdom. and I can do all things throuch Christ who strengthens me. ( Phil 4:13)