Cold to Hot

God is always leading us forward into freedom. Past the sin, the stuck places, the disappointment, and the heartache of living.

Forward.

Always forward into hope, into more of Him, into deep change. He does transformative work with this double-edged sword called Spirit and Truth.

With this sword, two things are happening at the same time. On one side, the truth of God sets us free from lesser lovers and worldly appetites. He reveals truth and lies lose their power. We are cut free from bondage.  On the other side, Holy Spirit comforts our spirit as we mourn our weakness and look for the courage to be changed. The Spirit cuts the cords of our complacency and apathy and we receive strength to be truly loved.

But to be clear, it is a deep cut into our current way of thinking. Spirit and Truth do not show up without us being painfully aware that Someone greater is on the scene. We are compelled forward.

It’s a complex thought I know, but so necessary for the days we live in. A friend and I were talking about  Matthew  24: 12 which warns the “love of others will grow cold.”  Look at the CEV version.

“Evil will spread and cause many people to stop loving others.”

Listen. If that doesn’t stop you in your tracks, I don’t know what will. Evil, from the enemy, will increase so much that people will stop acting like they know God.

How can this be? Remember Jesus’s command: Love God, others, and ourselves.  Romans says we OVERCOME evil with good.

We overcome the evil that comes against our own hearts, our families, our tribe, our city, and our nations.  I must press you today. Are you allowing the double-edged sword of spirit and truth to do its work in your life so that we can overcome the evil we all face?

Two verses come to mind that combat growing cold.

“Fan into flame the gift of God” from 2 Timothy 1:6.
“Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” Hebrews 10: 24

Jesus is calling us to a deeper more vibrant way of life. We are invited to be so alive with His love that it heals us as we go and impact others.  And. It pushes back the evil of our day.

I recall the words of a Jenny Owens song. “I don’t want to be a flame, I want to be a raging fire.”

Push forward. Blaze bright. Overcome darkness.

rare-gallery.com

 

How Majestic You Are!

Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas
Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8

Why Believe?

If you remember, my word for the year is Unleashing Miracles. Audacious, I know. But isn’t He? Audacious, awe-inspiring, surprising, outrageous. That’s our God.

And today as we head into Roar: Freedom in the Kingdom, as we head into another run around the sun, as we head into more living, I encourage you to not lose hope.

This week alone, I have personally experienced the fruition of prayers that were against all odds. I have personally rejoiced with my friends who kept on believing, and who were surprised by the goodness of God. Together we agreed that our faith was strengthened.

He is always working for good. He is always setting people free. He is always healing. He is always comforting the brokenhearted. So I say again, do lose hope.

Our belief in the miraculous God is a superpower that the world needs.

Help My Unbelief

The word stopped me dead in my tracks.  A friend was coaching us about decisions that needed to be made and he remarked, “it was presumptive of me to think God would take care of” the situation the way I had planned. He went on to give us much-needed wisdom and insight. But that word nagged me.

Presumptive.

What does presumptive mean?  It describes something that is expected to happen or become true.

I went back to the Lord and vented: “I am only doing what I think You said. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else. And if that makes me presumptive, then FINE! But I would rather be presumptive and believe YOU, than never attempt anything because I couldn’t even get out of the gate.”

Whew. Snort. Okay then.

Once I calmed down, I realized my wise friend was trying to broaden our scope and options. However, years after the conversation, the word still comes up in my mind like a full-blown assault.

It goes like this. I will hear a faint whisper from the Lord about some action to take, or an invitation to some dream He wants me to pursue. As I rally up my faith to hit the first Domino, I hear a sneer from the enemy, “you are so presumptive.”  Translation: You really expect God to come through? You really think He WILL do that for you? This is a stupid idea. It will never happen. You are crazy for thinking you heard God. 

Does this happen to you too? God invites us into more and our own unbelieving thoughts, or the enemy of God, tries to kill the dream before we even take the first step.

Sounds like the garden. Did God really say?

Well. As a matter of fact. YES — GOD DID SAY!

Now, after years of practicing trust and surrender, when I hear that word fire in my mind, it has become a bright flare, like a beacon of evidence.  Ahhh.  It MUST be God if there is this much opposition right off the bat.

I am calling us as believers to rise up in Faith and Boldness.  It’s not God who is weak, but our faith. We must rise up to activate His promises and goodness over our lives and our families and communities.

I want to bless you with one word: Storehouses.  There are storehouses of treasures in heaven. God is waiting for someone earthbound to pull them down. On Earth, as it is in Heaven. I remember Shawn Boltz saying God gave him a vision of a room with body parts with names on them. Creative miracles that God wanted to do on earth through our faith.

Just recently the Lord has been expanding that idea to me that there are storehouses of His goodness that He wants to release on earth and He wants to know who will do the faith journey to be a part of it.

Storehouses of relational healing, financial favor, healing and miracles, generational restoration. I don’t know about you. but I don’t want to miss out on heaven here because I would not believe God to Be God to me.

For the faint of heart (that’s all of us at some point), it’s not about just getting what we think we want. It is our transformation in the process, and being so close with this Beautiful God that we move to what He wants for us.

We bank our whole lives on the belief that God is working for our good. Presumptive. Yes, please.

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears,
“Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:23-25

 

 

Under New Management

Chuck and I enjoy eating out. We have our favorite go-to spots and a list of got-to-try places. As we left Corner 16 the other night, we recalled this memory of eating there when the girls were little.  Only then it was a Ruby Tuesday.  We watched that Ruby Tuesday slowly die. Declining food quality, bad service. Every time we went in there you could tell the place was gasping for air. No one seemed to care. So no one was surprised it closed down.

It was, after all, a bad location. Nothing could ever really succeed there. Blah, blah, blah.

As we exited the packed parking lot of Corner 16, with a wait at the door to get in, I told Chuck it was amazing to see how new management with a fresh vision and creativity could turn something around.

Turns out it wasn’t such a bad location, after all.

This picture in the natural captures my spiritual attention. What areas of my life, or your life,  are slowly dying, and all we throw at it is neglect, hopelessness, and resignation?

Do we have dreams or incredible ideas God has given us that at the moment are hard, declining, or frustrating? Sometimes, we would rather make excuses instead of asking for radical help.

I find often instead of going to Him for “new management with a fresh vision and creativity,” I am blaming and quitting. How about you?

Here’s the point. Jesus changes everything. Can you even imagine how the lame man felt when Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?” (John 5)

Imagine if I went to the Ruby Tuesday management,  and I said, “Do you want to have a thriving, brand-new concept that will blow your mind? It’s going to cost you more than money. It’s going to cost your very belief system. You will have to rethink, reshape and re-order your whole life. You in?”

The lame man looked at the King Over All Impossibilities and — made excuses. No one to help meWhile I am tryingSomeone else gets ahead

The crucial moment followed. Jesus gave the lame man specific instructions.

Get up.
Pick up your mat.
And Walk.

Or. Stay the same.

The last part Jesus didn’t audibly say. But the choice was crystal clear. Get up in faith and take radical action to go forward, or stay where you are in the same mess and hurt and sadness.

Look at your world and THE world. New Management is on the scene. It can’t help but change. Healing of every human wound and heartache and sin is on the scene.

Radical help and radical healing are ours. What can we do today to get up and walk?

 

 

 

Why Miracles Today

To be frank, I am not sure how the church ever stumbled over the miracle question. How we dropped the training and expectation of miracles is disturbing. Let’s break this down with the old math adage:  Milk comes from cows. Butter comes from milk. Therefore butter comes from cows.

Salvation comes from Jesus. Salvation is a miracle. Therefore miracles come from Jesus.

“Oh, oh !” the unbelieving believers exclaim, “IF you only count salvation then miracles still happen today.”

Not quite. Remember the word “saved” is the Greek word “Sozo” meaning physically healed, emotionally delivered, and spiritually restored.  To know Jesus and to be known by Jesus unlocks the miraculous way of life.

“Freely you have received, now freely give.” Jesus said in Matthew 10:8

Wait. What have I received? What have you?

He gave these instructions first to the disciples and then the 72 and then to us.

“Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.”  (The MSG)

He was instructing the very people who were the sick, the untouchables, the demon-possessed. In Paul’s words, “and such were some of you.” They had received the miraculous life of Jesus and there was plenty to share. In fact, they grew stronger and bolder and richer the more they gave away.

To know Jesus is to know miracles. It’s not a rare occurrence. It is the living, breathing expectation of heaven invading earth on the daily.

What will you speak and declare? And wait for?

From obstacles removed to bills being paid, to hardened hearts softened, to generational curses broken, to divine strategies, to bones being healed, to demons cast out, to fear and anxiety silenced, to sickness vanquished, all this and more Jesus has given to me and to you. There is no area of our life and this world that the healing power of Jesus is not available to radically transform.

Do you get stuck? Do you wrestle with unbelief? Do you have questions? Then do the work and clear the path for your faith to flow. The whole world is in need of the living water that exists in His followers.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:23-25

 

 

The Power of a Word

Each year we ask the Lord for His word for us for the year. It’s an exercise we have been doing for a long time.  My spiritual father, John Dee, started this beautiful practice and now many of us have this rich history of seeing God reveal more of His heart to us and in us. So, first things first, have you asked the Lord for your word? Second, what do you do with it when you get it?

More than a faddish thing, these words become bricks in our soul’s structure. I find each word builds on top of one another. In fact, if you haven’t recently, go back to the last 2-10 years and locate your word. It’s amazing how one brick, one deposit or revelation, had to come before the other. While you are at it, look at your memories. See how God unpacked your circumstances through the lens of the given yearly word. I can say that 2022 was a bruiser. But through the lens of His word for me, it is totally different.

Next step, share your word! Give testimony about how God revealed Himself to you.  We are all strengthened by the movement of God in each other’s lives.

Last year my word, or phrase, was “Unveiled and Seen.” I look back over my year of death and disruption, letting go and taking on the new, and I am in awe. This year has truly been an unveiling and seeing a whole new way of doing life with God, new comfort in sorrow, and even a new focus in ministry.

Okay so brace yourself. This is vulnerable. My words for 2023: Unleashing miracles.

I mean what even is that? I didn’t want to write it down. BUT. GOD.

What if Unleashing Miracles is what God wants to do give me, show me this year??
I don’t want to miss that.  So here’s my testimony.  This is me putting on my seatbelt. Tag your it. What’s yours?

Let’s do this.

Advent Reflections Week 4: The God Who Is With Us

I am enamored by The Chosen series, for many reasons. It’s startling to “hear” Jesus speak the words of scripture I know so well. It makes me weep to see the heroes of our faith in their humble beginnings. Matthew the hated tax collector. Mary the possessed woman. Simon the cheating, angry man. What beautiful transformations— just like you and me. We are not who we used to be.

And yet this beautiful offering is more than stories being told in a fresh way.

There is something familiar.

The way Jesus laughs and jokes with His new followers. The firm look He gives when they ask fearful questions. His outrageous instructions on how to live in His Kingdom. The comfort, oh the comfort of His touches and embraces. He is with them in every way.

In this whole new way of living.
In the unknowns of food and shelter.
In the threats of the Romans and the religious leaders.
He is With them, just like He promised from the beginning.

With. Us.

I recognize this Jesus. The fierceness, the tenderness. He locks eyes with me and sees straight into my very being. He heals my heart with a single word of His truth. And oh, the comfort of His embrace.

All of His Kingdom is summed up in two words. Follow Me.

We can make up lots of stories about lots of noble themes. But in the end, the bottom line is whether we allowed ourselves to be deeply known and loved by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This Perfect Love is the single greatest hope of change for any and all situations. His love transforms us.

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”
‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬ ‭MSG‬‬

Maybe, just maybe…give Him a present this year. Spend some time with Him.

Advent Reflections Week 3: The God Who is to Come

I went on a crazy rabbit trail with the Lord the other day.  About swaddling cloths. Really? Yeah.

Turns out the details matter to God and ultimately to us when He reveals them.  I have been deep diving into Garments (which will come later).  One thing led to another and the swaddling cloths came into focus where I learned two important distinctions for our Advent meditations.

Speaking of Joseph and Mary traveling to Bethlehem:
“So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths,
and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”  Luke 2:6-7

 

The first idea is specific shepherds surrounding the birth of Jesus were Levitical shepherds. As such, they were charged with overseeing the conditions of lambs so they would be “spotless and without blemish” for the sacrifices in the temple.

According to columnist, Linda Littlefield, “when the mother ewe was preparing to give birth, she was taken to a special birth place, or to the only cave designated, to give birth to the sacrificial Iambs.

This cave was kept sterile and clean for the arrival of newborn sacrificial Iambs. The newborn lamb was immediately wrapped in clean swaddling cloths to protect them and keep them from blemish and danger.”

So when the angels declared: And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a  manger, (Luke 2) these particular type of shepherds understood from these specific instructions that they were looking for the Sacrificial Child.

Using our spiritual imaginations, we see how Jesus came as the perfect lamb and God left clues, if you will, to help us discover the beauty and wonder of our Newborn King.

Now, look at this next beautiful detail.

After Jesus laid down His life, they again laid his body in the tomb (cave) and again wrapped His body in cloths. But the cloths this time are not swaddling cloths related to sacrifices.  Instead, these cloths, in variations of the Gospels in Greek,  say Jesus was “wrapped in linen cloth.”

Hold on a minute. Linen? Linen is what the saints are dressed in in heaven. Linen robes.

 

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. She was given clothing of fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints. Then the angel told me to write, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Revelation 19:7-8
Let your spirit connect these beautiful dots.
The swaddling cloths were for God’s only Begotten Son, the perfect lamb to be sacrificed.
The linen cloths were for the Beloved to be the first Resurrected of many brothers and sisters.
I don’t know about you. My heart about comes undone.

The God who is to Come. It was always the plan.
Talk about rejoicing.  Amen!

Let your heart worship with this song today.

Advent Reflections Week 2: The God Who Is

The God who IS. The One who is not created, imagined or even ignored. The great I am that I am.

In the most basic way, the Christmas story confronts my Christian story.  The Christmas story is loaded with miracles, the unexpected, the impossible. It turns our socially acceptable religion upside down. Instead of the most likes and plastic fantastics, instead of going through the motions in a powerless life, it is a babe in a borrowed manger bringing a new reality to the whole world. Instead of us having it all together, the Christmas story holds all things together. Instead of settling in my small world thinking, this new born King releases all of Heaven’s glory to me and to you.

We talked about this at the Gala. How God looked at
—the state of our marriages
—the behavior and challenges of our children
—our fear anxiety, sorrow, selfishness
—the deep, deep need to be truly loved and known
—our helpless state to truly fix all that is broken.

And He said, “I know just what they need. I have the Perfect Gift for all of this. “
Yet even in this extravagant offering, He gives us the choice to receive or not receive it. Imagine it. The very Giver of our breath gives us the choice to believe.
“It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
Christmas is an invitation to remember the Gift. To remember Wonder. To remember our faith in the God is so committed to His world that He would give His son. Not one day in heaven, but today. In the tears, sorrow, and madness of today’s world. And to remember the God who is, who rewards those who earnestly seek him.
The wise men. The shepherds. Something pulled them toward Someone greater. May your Christian story be renewed this year by the God who Is.
Enjoy this worship.