Jesus cast out 10,000 demons with one command. we use 10,000 commands to cast out one demon.
isn't that a bit strange? what was Jesus' secret? He was the Son of God? ok. so what do we say about the early church believers who had great signs, wonders and miracles occur?
i want to see what is real, just seeing with the natural eyes isn't always seeing what's real. we live in an illusionary world. our eyes are tricked by what we think we see. when we see Jesus in all circumstances, we can see what He is up to. when we see what He is doing, we see what the Father is doing. when we do what we see Jesus doing we WILL see results! the secret lies in doing what we see the Father doing and not what we think we should do...
brothers and sisters, kingdom life isn't just offered to us! kingdom life is in us! it's exciting to just think about that all day. we are called to be stewards of the mysteries of the kingdom that God has placed inside of us.
let's go a bit practical, shall we?
as citizens of the united states (for you who live in other countries, insert your own country's name), we cannot be denied the rights our citizenship affords us. we cannot be denied access into our own country.
we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven (and we know this because Paul wrote about it and Jesus actually said it). if we are citizens of the Kingdom, and we have the Kingdom within us and we have been charged to have dominion on the earth to fill the earth and subdue it, then we should naturally express our kingdom culture wherever we go.
let's take a real look at what we are producing. are we really reproducing something we can be proud of? are we reproducing strong christians who are effectively reaching their world for Christ? or are we reproducing people who are get lost in the christian sub-culture? is their christianity anything more than bible-based self-improvement? or are they active in communicating the gospel to those who are perishing? i fear that if they are the former, then we must deal with the issues in our lives. we reproduce who we are. if those we continue to produce bound-up believers then it's time we look at their teachers. perhaps our attitudes and issues need to be dealt with so that they do not develop our problems.
we either need a full-scale revival in the church or we need a riot against the four walls of the established church. we need to rethink our "strategies" for reaching the world. madison avenue marketing doesn't work too well in light of eternity. we should not jeopardize souls to fit our growth schedules. we do not need to tell people what they want to hear. we must tell them what they need to hear.
i don't know how to finish this post. really. so, perhaps i'll leave it as is. comments are welcome.
[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]
21 August 2006
26 June 2006
[up to speed...]
every so often we come across someone or something that truly blesses us and serves to alter our perspective slightly. sometimes this is good, sometimes the results are less than desirable.
it is true that i have been slacking in the posting department here on this blog, but i hope those of you who have been faithful to read this still continue in here from time to time (it would be different if this were a paid position and i were operating on a deadline...) i haven not forgotten any of you.
i wanted to post to let you all know that things are going well here at FIRE School of Ministry and that the rumor has some truth to it. there really is a girl in my life, her name is sabrina, and i'll be posting some more about her later.
but on to what i really want to share with you all.
a man named sean dietrich stumbled across my blog after a websearch and sent me a link to his website. he's a musician and i really think most of you would be blessed by his music. click here to visit his site.
thank you.
for the world-wide renown of His Sovereign Glory...
it is true that i have been slacking in the posting department here on this blog, but i hope those of you who have been faithful to read this still continue in here from time to time (it would be different if this were a paid position and i were operating on a deadline...) i haven not forgotten any of you.
i wanted to post to let you all know that things are going well here at FIRE School of Ministry and that the rumor has some truth to it. there really is a girl in my life, her name is sabrina, and i'll be posting some more about her later.
but on to what i really want to share with you all.
a man named sean dietrich stumbled across my blog after a websearch and sent me a link to his website. he's a musician and i really think most of you would be blessed by his music. click here to visit his site.
thank you.
for the world-wide renown of His Sovereign Glory...
20 April 2006
[understanding thomas...]
i've been thinking about thomas recently. what do we really know about him? we know he was called by Jesus to be more than a follower. we know that he was hurting when his rabbi was crucified. we know that he refused to believe the testimony of his fellow disciples when they claimed that Jesus had risen from the dead. and we know that he went to india and was killed there.
really, that's all the records we have of the life of thomas aside from the gospel of thomas, which many scholars doubt was actually written by the apostle. regardless, we, christians have, for centuries, clamored up the back of thomas and beat him with every generation for being a doubter. we teach our kids not to be a "doubting thomas." yet, with every generation, we doubt God just as much as we believe satan. really. if we started believing God at same level with which we believed the lies of satan, our lives would be much different.
back to thomas...
is it unfathomable that thomas was hurt that his rabbi and his friend with whom he shared three years of his life had been crucified at the hands of his own people and made a mockery of by the roman occupants? wouldn't you be hurt? and if your friends who, historically, have fought among themselves, all come to you and tell you that your friend is alive, how would you react? thought so...
so, what makes our doubting generation better than thomas? the only thing i can come up with is that we have the benefit of hindsight. but that does little to prove that we are better, on the contrary, it only goes to show that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history...
it is similarily astounding that we miss the fact that thomas still gathered with the other disciples despite his "monsterously" overwhelming doubt. not only this, but when Jesus did appear to thomas and the others, he didn't need to do what he said would prove to himself that Jesus was alive. he exclaimed, "my Lord and my God!"
the very next historical record we have of thomas is in india. he left jerusalem during the great persecution in the first century. Jesus spent three and a half years with thomas as his rabbi and friend. thomas turned around and spent the rest of his martyred life for his rabbi and his friend. thomas, was commissioned by an indian king to build a palace. while he was working and being a living testimony, he was killed by a dart or a spear.
what makes us better than thomas? it can only be that we have lived longer after our revelation of who Jesus is; and that is nothing that elevates one person over another.
really, that's all the records we have of the life of thomas aside from the gospel of thomas, which many scholars doubt was actually written by the apostle. regardless, we, christians have, for centuries, clamored up the back of thomas and beat him with every generation for being a doubter. we teach our kids not to be a "doubting thomas." yet, with every generation, we doubt God just as much as we believe satan. really. if we started believing God at same level with which we believed the lies of satan, our lives would be much different.
back to thomas...
is it unfathomable that thomas was hurt that his rabbi and his friend with whom he shared three years of his life had been crucified at the hands of his own people and made a mockery of by the roman occupants? wouldn't you be hurt? and if your friends who, historically, have fought among themselves, all come to you and tell you that your friend is alive, how would you react? thought so...
so, what makes our doubting generation better than thomas? the only thing i can come up with is that we have the benefit of hindsight. but that does little to prove that we are better, on the contrary, it only goes to show that the only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history...
it is similarily astounding that we miss the fact that thomas still gathered with the other disciples despite his "monsterously" overwhelming doubt. not only this, but when Jesus did appear to thomas and the others, he didn't need to do what he said would prove to himself that Jesus was alive. he exclaimed, "my Lord and my God!"
the very next historical record we have of thomas is in india. he left jerusalem during the great persecution in the first century. Jesus spent three and a half years with thomas as his rabbi and friend. thomas turned around and spent the rest of his martyred life for his rabbi and his friend. thomas, was commissioned by an indian king to build a palace. while he was working and being a living testimony, he was killed by a dart or a spear.
what makes us better than thomas? it can only be that we have lived longer after our revelation of who Jesus is; and that is nothing that elevates one person over another.
17 April 2006
[following and believing]
followers aren’t always believers and believers aren’t always followers. but when a follower becomes a believer, they will get out of a boat and walk on water. and when a believer becomes a follower they will turn the world upside down.
peter always gets beat up for denying Christ by his words, but i'll tell you the worst part wasn't what he said, but what he did after Christ was crucified. he left and went fishing. and yet, he's restored by Christ. peter always gets bashed for sinking, but no one ever stops to think that he actually walked on the water! have you made mistakes? have you ever doubted? have you walked on water? Jesus never belittled peter’s faith for attempting the miraculous. just like peter, Jesus offers forgiveness and restoration. beyond that, He has given us the authority to perform miracles.
strange things occur when a follower becomes a believer… you see miracles. crazy things happen when a believer becomes a follower… the world gets changed.
peter always gets beat up for denying Christ by his words, but i'll tell you the worst part wasn't what he said, but what he did after Christ was crucified. he left and went fishing. and yet, he's restored by Christ. peter always gets bashed for sinking, but no one ever stops to think that he actually walked on the water! have you made mistakes? have you ever doubted? have you walked on water? Jesus never belittled peter’s faith for attempting the miraculous. just like peter, Jesus offers forgiveness and restoration. beyond that, He has given us the authority to perform miracles.
strange things occur when a follower becomes a believer… you see miracles. crazy things happen when a believer becomes a follower… the world gets changed.
12 April 2006
[who i am, hates who i've been...]
do you ever get that lethargic feeling that you just aren't doing enough? that you're not reaching enough people, that you're not touching enough lives? you know, the one that says six months ago you were a better person. why can't you go back to that person?
maybe six months ago you were doing some incredible things for God, but somewhere along the road of life, you slowed down, you settled into a rhythm. but your heart yearns for more. you want to let the top down and let the wind sail through your hair; you want a highway where there's little traffic so you can feed a little more gas into your engine...
yeah, that would be nice. you're afraid of slowing down any further because you don't want the race to be over, but you're afraid of speeding up again because your body just won't make it to the finish line...
i know that feeling. i hate it.
the only way to break out of it is to break out of it. kind of deep, i know... let me rephrase it. it is easier to act your way into believing than it is to believe yourself into acting.
makes more sense? good.
brothers and sisters, what we don't see is that six months ago we may have been more attuned to the people in our paths but we don't exactly know who we are touching right now, in this moment.
they will know we are christians by more than our t-shirts, our bumper-stickers, our cd collections and our libraries. the will know we are christians by our love. and not necessarily our love for people we don't know. it's easy to love on someone you've never met before. it's a bit harder when they're your roommates or your family or people you see every day. it's the ones who we rub shoulders with everyday, even if our shoulders get a bit raw, that we are called to love. and when people see that, they will know that we stand out.
i am continuously running. and the prize i run for is greater than any medal given out at the olympics. it's greater than any accolade of man; it is the high calling of Christ Jesus. it is for this reason i run: to bring the knowledge of His sovereign glory to the world. not simply to "my world" or "the business world" or even to "the western world;" but to the whole world.
maybe six months ago you were doing some incredible things for God, but somewhere along the road of life, you slowed down, you settled into a rhythm. but your heart yearns for more. you want to let the top down and let the wind sail through your hair; you want a highway where there's little traffic so you can feed a little more gas into your engine...
yeah, that would be nice. you're afraid of slowing down any further because you don't want the race to be over, but you're afraid of speeding up again because your body just won't make it to the finish line...
i know that feeling. i hate it.
the only way to break out of it is to break out of it. kind of deep, i know... let me rephrase it. it is easier to act your way into believing than it is to believe yourself into acting.
makes more sense? good.
brothers and sisters, what we don't see is that six months ago we may have been more attuned to the people in our paths but we don't exactly know who we are touching right now, in this moment.
they will know we are christians by more than our t-shirts, our bumper-stickers, our cd collections and our libraries. the will know we are christians by our love. and not necessarily our love for people we don't know. it's easy to love on someone you've never met before. it's a bit harder when they're your roommates or your family or people you see every day. it's the ones who we rub shoulders with everyday, even if our shoulders get a bit raw, that we are called to love. and when people see that, they will know that we stand out.
i am continuously running. and the prize i run for is greater than any medal given out at the olympics. it's greater than any accolade of man; it is the high calling of Christ Jesus. it is for this reason i run: to bring the knowledge of His sovereign glory to the world. not simply to "my world" or "the business world" or even to "the western world;" but to the whole world.
11 April 2006
[a trimester down...]
so, i've finished my first trimester, and while it's still fresh in my mind, i want to write a few things that i've learned over the trimester that i may have otherwise never learned...
1. i learned that no matter the cost, no matter the pain and suffering, the message of the Gospel must be advanced, and that, even though the Kingdom is within us and people may kill our bodies, all it does is release the Kingdom in a more powerful way...
2. i learned that without an understanding of true community and love, the Jesus Revolution will die.
3. i learned that outside of Jesus i am nothing; but God thought i was worth everything and that's why He gave His life. (meditate on that a while...)
4. i learned the true unestimable power of prayer and its influence on society, through the prayer movement to counter the charlotte pride homosexual event.
5. i learned that healing is for today. that i can heal people through the power of Christ and that healing is in the atonement.
6. i learned that academia is a good and useful tool to educate, but it cannot teach everything. the Holy Spirit is given to teach us all things. even the seemingly mundane.
7. i learned that the brotherhood and sisterhood of believers is delicate and should be sought after more than the cultivation of romantic relationships. there is a delicate line, but, ultimately, it is a message needed in todays youth culture.
8. i learned that the only true risk we face is the decision to walk away from God.
9. i learned that i am in love. (this one is up for meditation and interpretation).
1. i learned that no matter the cost, no matter the pain and suffering, the message of the Gospel must be advanced, and that, even though the Kingdom is within us and people may kill our bodies, all it does is release the Kingdom in a more powerful way...
2. i learned that without an understanding of true community and love, the Jesus Revolution will die.
3. i learned that outside of Jesus i am nothing; but God thought i was worth everything and that's why He gave His life. (meditate on that a while...)
4. i learned the true unestimable power of prayer and its influence on society, through the prayer movement to counter the charlotte pride homosexual event.
5. i learned that healing is for today. that i can heal people through the power of Christ and that healing is in the atonement.
6. i learned that academia is a good and useful tool to educate, but it cannot teach everything. the Holy Spirit is given to teach us all things. even the seemingly mundane.
7. i learned that the brotherhood and sisterhood of believers is delicate and should be sought after more than the cultivation of romantic relationships. there is a delicate line, but, ultimately, it is a message needed in todays youth culture.
8. i learned that the only true risk we face is the decision to walk away from God.
9. i learned that i am in love. (this one is up for meditation and interpretation).
24 February 2006
[how to touch a leper]
my eyes have been opened lately and i see them all around, they walk with their heads down, avoiding eye contact. when they do make eye contact, they look for wholeness and acceptance but they are met with stoicism, contempt and ignorance. kicked to the curb and despised by so many, they sit to have their wounds licked by the dogs; they resign themselves to the idea that this is the only love and attention they'll ever know- compulsive love. they turn away from us with plastic smiles on their faces and weep bitterly the tears of maltreatment, lonliness and despairity in the darkness.
parts of them are missing. those who aren't so ignorant as to point the abnormalities out in open mockery, decry the hideousness on the inside and turn to look away.
we pass them everyday. from our youth, we have learned to ignore them. we push them to the outskirts of the camp because we don't want them to rub off on us; we don't want to catch what they have.
they are all around us. they are among us. in some cases, they are us and we are they. some are missing development, others maturity. still others are missing social graces.
they dress differently, act differently, move differently, smell differently. in short, they are different. and we damn them for it.
how does one reach out to a leper? do we just reach out a finger and barely tap them with the tip and exclaim, "i touched him/her?" is that what we are supposed to do? where is the compassion in that?
on the flip side of the coin, do we embrace them and ignore their differences? what would their initial reaction be? half would be so broken and half would be so bitter. where is the sanity in that?
how have we become so calloused? how are we so hardened that the world has to teach us how to approach them, much less touch them? why are we so insistent on furthering their abuse by ignoring their needs?
God! i pray that you have mercy! teach us a better way. teach us to walk in love and humility.
they really are all around us. not in some ward of some hospital. not begging on the street in some third-world country. they occupy the same offices, the same trains, the same apartments, and in many cases, the same church buildings as we do.
we are put off by their mannerisms that don't fit into our paradigm of how life should be. and maybe our paradigms are, in a word, correct, but our motives are incomplete and our methods are vile- shameless and despicable. we seem to justify them with our fingers out-stretched pointing out the inchoateness of their being, while our other hand pinches off the stench from our noses and our eyes are shut tight.
these deplorable acts do nothing but alienate us from their sufferings. what kind of person will mock a dying person? who are the monstrous beings now?
and again, what does it say about a person who simply accepts a person without offering any hope or help? is this psuedo-acceptance truly love? wouldn't love push a person past social disgrace? wouldn't love weep with the hurting, but continue on until restoration or healing has transpired? what good does it for the leper to die in the camp as opposed to outside the camp?
no, the act of true love, moves beyond an embrace of the body to an embrace of the soul.
so, how do you touch a leper?
i would suggest that we endeavor to grab hold of them with all the compassion that our flaccid hearts can initially muster and cling to them until we both are changed. they have found true love, true acceptance and true healing; while we have found true compassion. where is the safety in that? there isn't any. and that's the point...
i have seen the leper; my heart is more cantankerous than his festering boils.
***this is not about medical leperosy nor is it necessarily about moral or spiritual leperosy; this is about social leperosy... not developmental disorders... though all of these are valid surrogates. this is simply about those people who are different than us.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
parts of them are missing. those who aren't so ignorant as to point the abnormalities out in open mockery, decry the hideousness on the inside and turn to look away.
we pass them everyday. from our youth, we have learned to ignore them. we push them to the outskirts of the camp because we don't want them to rub off on us; we don't want to catch what they have.
they are all around us. they are among us. in some cases, they are us and we are they. some are missing development, others maturity. still others are missing social graces.
they dress differently, act differently, move differently, smell differently. in short, they are different. and we damn them for it.
how does one reach out to a leper? do we just reach out a finger and barely tap them with the tip and exclaim, "i touched him/her?" is that what we are supposed to do? where is the compassion in that?
on the flip side of the coin, do we embrace them and ignore their differences? what would their initial reaction be? half would be so broken and half would be so bitter. where is the sanity in that?
how have we become so calloused? how are we so hardened that the world has to teach us how to approach them, much less touch them? why are we so insistent on furthering their abuse by ignoring their needs?
God! i pray that you have mercy! teach us a better way. teach us to walk in love and humility.
they really are all around us. not in some ward of some hospital. not begging on the street in some third-world country. they occupy the same offices, the same trains, the same apartments, and in many cases, the same church buildings as we do.
we are put off by their mannerisms that don't fit into our paradigm of how life should be. and maybe our paradigms are, in a word, correct, but our motives are incomplete and our methods are vile- shameless and despicable. we seem to justify them with our fingers out-stretched pointing out the inchoateness of their being, while our other hand pinches off the stench from our noses and our eyes are shut tight.
these deplorable acts do nothing but alienate us from their sufferings. what kind of person will mock a dying person? who are the monstrous beings now?
and again, what does it say about a person who simply accepts a person without offering any hope or help? is this psuedo-acceptance truly love? wouldn't love push a person past social disgrace? wouldn't love weep with the hurting, but continue on until restoration or healing has transpired? what good does it for the leper to die in the camp as opposed to outside the camp?
no, the act of true love, moves beyond an embrace of the body to an embrace of the soul.
so, how do you touch a leper?
i would suggest that we endeavor to grab hold of them with all the compassion that our flaccid hearts can initially muster and cling to them until we both are changed. they have found true love, true acceptance and true healing; while we have found true compassion. where is the safety in that? there isn't any. and that's the point...
i have seen the leper; my heart is more cantankerous than his festering boils.
***this is not about medical leperosy nor is it necessarily about moral or spiritual leperosy; this is about social leperosy... not developmental disorders... though all of these are valid surrogates. this is simply about those people who are different than us.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
18 February 2006
[stop singing lies]
many people within the four walls of the church are treading on dangerous ground. they have donned camoflage and wander about aimlessly in the no-man's-land between the armies of light and the armies of darkness.
we must determine who we will serve. we say we have made our decision when we begin the song service and we try to draw close to God. then we deny Him His kingly right, His hubandly right, and His fatherly right by picking up our lives where we left off before the service.
we profane the holy by making it mundane. leonard ravenhill said that we could be damned to hell many times over for all the lies we sing on sunday.
choose this day whom you will serve. stop trying to lure God into an adulterous relationship. He will not put up our double-mindedness. He is a jealous Lover; He is a valient Warrior who is worthy to be feared. A jealous warrior is a volitile combination; he is capable of tearing apart whole continents for the sake of defending the purity of His bride.
"they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me..."
those words are applicable to much of today's evangelical, pentecostal, charismatic church as it was to the israelites in the old testament and to the pharisees and saducees in the time of Christ.
choose this day, whom you will serve, whether it be the gods of this age, or the God of abraham, isaac and jacob; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
the choice is up to you.
choose now and never look back.
we must determine who we will serve. we say we have made our decision when we begin the song service and we try to draw close to God. then we deny Him His kingly right, His hubandly right, and His fatherly right by picking up our lives where we left off before the service.
we profane the holy by making it mundane. leonard ravenhill said that we could be damned to hell many times over for all the lies we sing on sunday.
choose this day whom you will serve. stop trying to lure God into an adulterous relationship. He will not put up our double-mindedness. He is a jealous Lover; He is a valient Warrior who is worthy to be feared. A jealous warrior is a volitile combination; he is capable of tearing apart whole continents for the sake of defending the purity of His bride.
"they honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me..."
those words are applicable to much of today's evangelical, pentecostal, charismatic church as it was to the israelites in the old testament and to the pharisees and saducees in the time of Christ.
choose this day, whom you will serve, whether it be the gods of this age, or the God of abraham, isaac and jacob; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
the choice is up to you.
choose now and never look back.
10 February 2006
[what do you attribute this to?]
[hey nozza, i hope you don't mind, but i'm going to quote you to make it all the more easy for others to find and understand. they won't have to go digging for your question and i'll make sure that i quote you in complete context.]
"Tell me, what do you put this all down to? Is it a closer walk with God? Is it something that you are doing differently?"
what do i attribute it to? well, a couple of things...
first, i actually started to believe what i said i believed.
second, i realized that i believed that the whole Bible was true and inerrant and completely applicable to today.
third, i scrapped everything i learned over the last 7 years about prayer.
fourth, i just gave up. i realized that i needed to simply step and walk out my faith.
let me also say, i got sick of hearing testimonies and wanted to live them.
i wish to express that i am not the only seeing God move here. that others are seeing people healed from cancers and diseases. i am simply blessed in that i am stepping out on what the Word of God says and i'm seeing that He honors His Word.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
"Tell me, what do you put this all down to? Is it a closer walk with God? Is it something that you are doing differently?"
what do i attribute it to? well, a couple of things...
first, i actually started to believe what i said i believed.
second, i realized that i believed that the whole Bible was true and inerrant and completely applicable to today.
third, i scrapped everything i learned over the last 7 years about prayer.
fourth, i just gave up. i realized that i needed to simply step and walk out my faith.
let me also say, i got sick of hearing testimonies and wanted to live them.
i wish to express that i am not the only seeing God move here. that others are seeing people healed from cancers and diseases. i am simply blessed in that i am stepping out on what the Word of God says and i'm seeing that He honors His Word.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
02 February 2006
[the umbrella prophecy]
i buying an umbrella tomorrow. a nice big one. 72" like the one i left with anna in virginia.
no, really. why? it wasn't raining. in fact, it was a beautiful spring day at the end of january. yeah. it was weird.
so, i'm buying an umbrella tomorrow.
um, my spirit told me i needed one. yeah, ok, i hear ya. i'm weird. no, actually, i'm not.
my bible says to ask the Lord of the harvest for rain in the time for rain.
it's winter. that means it's time for snow- not rain.
yes... and no...
i'm buying an umbrella tomorrow because its a prophetic act.
something happened at walmart today that rocked my world. let me see if i can describe it to you...
i was nearing the end of my shift (as a cashier) and this woman came up and started loading her items on the belt. i looked at her, noticed that she kept her left arm tucked really close to her body. i asked her if she had had a stroke recently.
two months ago. ok. that's recently.
[not a good enough reason to constitute an umbrella? ok then.]
so i rang up all of her items and then she paid with her credit card. after i loaded everything into her cart, she thanked me and started to walk away (ok, it was more of a half-walk, half-drag) and i thought: you idiot, you should have prayed for her...
i wanted to say, "ma'am wait! come back..." but i heard myself say, "Susan!"
she sort of half turned and looked at me kinda dumbfounded and i commanded her body to be made whole in Jesus' name. [yeah, this was in front of everyone at walmart.]
she kind of shook her head and then started to walk away... normal... she took four steps, realized something different and turned her cart around and looked at me with large eyes and sort of terrified, and asked... "what did you do to me?"
i told her i didn't. Jesus healed her.
y'all, she paid with a credit card. i didn't see a name on a check or a signature on a receipt. she swiped the card herself and signed the computer.
oh. and then there's the funny part... the reaction of the people who saw it happen...
the next person in my line started to put their things back into her cart so she could go to another lane cause she didn't know what she had just seen.
so. i'm buying an umbrella. it's gonna rain.
no, really. why? it wasn't raining. in fact, it was a beautiful spring day at the end of january. yeah. it was weird.
so, i'm buying an umbrella tomorrow.
um, my spirit told me i needed one. yeah, ok, i hear ya. i'm weird. no, actually, i'm not.
my bible says to ask the Lord of the harvest for rain in the time for rain.
it's winter. that means it's time for snow- not rain.
yes... and no...
i'm buying an umbrella tomorrow because its a prophetic act.
something happened at walmart today that rocked my world. let me see if i can describe it to you...
i was nearing the end of my shift (as a cashier) and this woman came up and started loading her items on the belt. i looked at her, noticed that she kept her left arm tucked really close to her body. i asked her if she had had a stroke recently.
two months ago. ok. that's recently.
[not a good enough reason to constitute an umbrella? ok then.]
so i rang up all of her items and then she paid with her credit card. after i loaded everything into her cart, she thanked me and started to walk away (ok, it was more of a half-walk, half-drag) and i thought: you idiot, you should have prayed for her...
i wanted to say, "ma'am wait! come back..." but i heard myself say, "Susan!"
she sort of half turned and looked at me kinda dumbfounded and i commanded her body to be made whole in Jesus' name. [yeah, this was in front of everyone at walmart.]
she kind of shook her head and then started to walk away... normal... she took four steps, realized something different and turned her cart around and looked at me with large eyes and sort of terrified, and asked... "what did you do to me?"
i told her i didn't. Jesus healed her.
y'all, she paid with a credit card. i didn't see a name on a check or a signature on a receipt. she swiped the card herself and signed the computer.
oh. and then there's the funny part... the reaction of the people who saw it happen...
the next person in my line started to put their things back into her cart so she could go to another lane cause she didn't know what she had just seen.
so. i'm buying an umbrella. it's gonna rain.
31 January 2006
[after these messages, we'll be right back]
hey y'all,
i just wanted to ask you to pray because i'm going to be going to spain, morocco and germany in about six weeks and i have to put a little over half down in 17 days.
i am not asking you to send anything- just pray that God provides.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
i just wanted to ask you to pray because i'm going to be going to spain, morocco and germany in about six weeks and i have to put a little over half down in 17 days.
i am not asking you to send anything- just pray that God provides.
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
25 January 2006
[the beginning...]
so, i'm here in north carolina living a new revelation... a jesus revolution...
i've told you of a few healings that i've seen God do, and though i wish i could say everyone i pray for gets healed, i cannot.
but i can tell you that the more i pray the more convinced i am that it is God's will that they be healed. how do i balance that with not seeing them healed? easy. i cannot blame God for my shortcomings.
that said, i'm going to get back on topic. though healing, signs, wonders and miracles are all a major part of the jesus revolution.
a small contingent of students has been gathering at the beginning of our lunch period to pray for souls and to believe God together. it is a mutual upbuilding of faith. i am convinced that God is about to do something here in the charlotte/concord area that will draw more people than all the carolina panther football games, all the charlotte bobcat basketball games, and all the college sports games in the area combined.
this jesus revolution will be preceded by people, young and old who desire God more than food, more than education; who value God's presence more than social status and personal gain.
that's what i want to see. a complete jesus revolution.
churches shaken and the sins in the pews exposed. the only way a society can be saved is if the church is walking the way of the cross.
Jesus never told us to embrace the cross. he never asked us to be willing to take up the cross. he said to take it up and follow him- no matter the cost. in fact, the cross itself proclaims its cost- life.
the cross wasn't the pretty icon it has become. it's not a piece of gold on a chain around someone's neck. it's not a gleaming structure at the pinacle of sanctuary. it is not a banner around which a billion people rally. it is forever a symbol of incredible violence. a new testament altar upon which the Lamb of God was slain. and a place where we are to crucify ourselves.
a daily death to our fleshly desires breeds a new life in discovering His desires for our lives. this is the beginning...
this is the jesus revolution.
for the world-wide renoqn of His sovereign glory...
i've told you of a few healings that i've seen God do, and though i wish i could say everyone i pray for gets healed, i cannot.
but i can tell you that the more i pray the more convinced i am that it is God's will that they be healed. how do i balance that with not seeing them healed? easy. i cannot blame God for my shortcomings.
that said, i'm going to get back on topic. though healing, signs, wonders and miracles are all a major part of the jesus revolution.
a small contingent of students has been gathering at the beginning of our lunch period to pray for souls and to believe God together. it is a mutual upbuilding of faith. i am convinced that God is about to do something here in the charlotte/concord area that will draw more people than all the carolina panther football games, all the charlotte bobcat basketball games, and all the college sports games in the area combined.
this jesus revolution will be preceded by people, young and old who desire God more than food, more than education; who value God's presence more than social status and personal gain.
that's what i want to see. a complete jesus revolution.
churches shaken and the sins in the pews exposed. the only way a society can be saved is if the church is walking the way of the cross.
Jesus never told us to embrace the cross. he never asked us to be willing to take up the cross. he said to take it up and follow him- no matter the cost. in fact, the cross itself proclaims its cost- life.
the cross wasn't the pretty icon it has become. it's not a piece of gold on a chain around someone's neck. it's not a gleaming structure at the pinacle of sanctuary. it is not a banner around which a billion people rally. it is forever a symbol of incredible violence. a new testament altar upon which the Lamb of God was slain. and a place where we are to crucify ourselves.
a daily death to our fleshly desires breeds a new life in discovering His desires for our lives. this is the beginning...
this is the jesus revolution.
for the world-wide renoqn of His sovereign glory...
16 January 2006
[the return; to or from?]
i don't know what to say.
i'm ruined. don't ask. i'll tell you anyway.
for the past few weeks, we've been really praying for a complete Jesus revolution in and around the Concord/ Charlotte, NC area.
God is moving. i'm ruined.
walmart is no longer a place to work for me [though, i do get a paycheck]. walmart is ruined for me [which, isn't such a bad thing]. walmart is a place to minister. it's a 15,000 sq. ft. prayer room. it's a massive healing center [and i'm not talking about the pharmacy...]. walmart: the next house church.
walgreens is now a place to pray and to pour out the love of God over His creation.
let me preface the following testimonies by stating that the groundwork and foundation for this complete cultural and spiritual revolution was laid by people long before i ever stepped off a bus in concord. that is to say, i am not the central figure in these stories.
i was there. i witnessed it. and in these few cases, i took part, but the glory is all God's- and will always be God's, because He paid the price for it...
a fellow student and i went to walgreens this past friday with one goal: to see God move. what happened next blessed our hearts.
we made our way to the pharmacy to see if there were people there who had a need to be healed. there was a couple named thomas and betty who were in their mid-70's. both of them had severe chest colds and you could see on betty's face the toll it was taking on her sinuses.
after the laying on of hands and a short concise prayer, we saw that betty's (who had not taken any medication for the cold- she was waiting for the prescription to be filled) face had cleared up. all the redness had gone away. when we asked her how she felt, she said she felt better than she had in a long time. when we asked thomas how he felt, he said he felt better.
feeling a bit more bold, we noticed that thomas had a hearing aide in his left ear. eddie (my friend) asked if we could pray for that, because the God who heals colds, heals deafness. eddie asked thomas how we could know that he would be healed when we prayed for him and he pulled out his hearing aide and said he couldn't hear with out it. after a shorter prayer than our first one for their colds, eddie stood a good distance to thomas' left and softly asked how he felt. thomas looked at his wife and then at us and said, he felt fine... and that he could hear out of his left ear.
thomas and betty both left praising the Lord... and, without their prescriptions.
it's odd. really. now that i think about it. not the miracle. the healings are becoming normal and expected. what's odd is looking back at the past seven years that i've been a christian, and seeing how close i've always been to walking in the fullness of God, yet not actually walking in it.
i write good stuff. some of it's theoligically sound, some of it's a bit shaky. but, for the most part, was stuff i sincerely believed in my heart and in my head, i just never actually put some of it in practice. the book i was going to write? forget that... for now. now, i'm living.
it is often easier to act yourself into believing than it is to believe yourself into acting.
so, i threw caution to the wind last week. stepped out on faith. [insert your own rhetorical colloquiallism here] and saw God come to meet me.
what works at walgreens works at walmart... or so, in theory it should. except this time, i wasn't merely in a place where i could get asked to leave, but i was in a place where i could, potentially, lose my job- my source of income [but not my source of life].
it's interesting how many opportunities we're faced with when we stop looking at our own needs and wants and desires.
a middle-aged woman named carolyn came through my register last week and i casually asked her how she was doing. [honestly, at the time, i didn't think i really cared to know. it was just something polite to say... now, i know better.] she told me she was ok, except that she had fallen the day before and could barely lift her right arm above a 90 degree angle to her waist. something rose up inside of me [or should i say Someone...] and i found myself uttering the words... "would you like me to pray for you?"
[did i really ask her that out loud?] yeah. i did. she told me she didn't really believe in God. "doesn't matter" i told her. [say what?] i told her that i believe that God would heal her regardless of what she believed. she muttered something and i told her that if she didn't get healed, then she'd have a really interesting walmart story to tell someone...
so, i prayed. all the while no one came into my checkout lane. really... how often do you go to walmart in the middle of the day and see a line with no one in it? yeah, so no small miracle there either right?
i asked her how she felt, and she said she couldn't tell. i told her to do something she couldn't do before. so she began to lift her arm... right as she came to the point where there had been pain earlier, i handed her a bag filled with tuna cans and canned vegetables... i figured, she's either going to hit me or be really excited. and she grabbed that bag and lifted it up and over her shoulder...
yeah, her face said it all. wish i had had a camera... praise God. not only was susan healed, but she went home saved... and came to church on sunday evening...
praise God, that He answered that prayer... because i don't think i'd have wanted to get a phone call from walmart asking why i handed a heavy bag to an injured customer...
does everyone i pray for get healed? i wish that were so. but i don't see why it can't happen.
it's not like it's a faith issue, like so many people want to tell you it is. that's just an excuse to fail... "well, they weren't healed so they must not have had much faith..." not so... the guy at the beautiful gate in the book of acts wasn't looking for healing... he was just looking for a handout... he just wanted money from peter and john.
physical healing was purchased at the whipping post and sealed at the cross. by His stripes we are healed is what the book of isaiah says. 1 peter says by His stripes you WERE healed. peter wrote it in the past tense. which means the healing was accomplished at the whipping post.
i could go on, but i'll stop there for now [more will come later].
so, now is the time of the return. to what? from what? the return from half-truths and religious me-ology to true christianity.
i am not the only one down here seeing people healed. i told you about eddie. and there are others, who, when they lay hands on people, see sicknesses and diseases healed.
the return. i am ruined. i believe in the revolution. i will live my life to see this area transformed and the rest of the earth harvested.
and you shall go into all the earth and proclaim the good news. to walmart and walgreens and downtown charlotte, nc and to the whole rest of the world...
ok, that's not what the bible says, but it's pretty close to what its prophetic meaning is...
...proclaim the good news, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. and these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover...
and that is what Jesus said will accompany all who believe and are baptized.
strange... it's a return to the Scriptures... what a novel idea...
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
i'm ruined. don't ask. i'll tell you anyway.
for the past few weeks, we've been really praying for a complete Jesus revolution in and around the Concord/ Charlotte, NC area.
God is moving. i'm ruined.
walmart is no longer a place to work for me [though, i do get a paycheck]. walmart is ruined for me [which, isn't such a bad thing]. walmart is a place to minister. it's a 15,000 sq. ft. prayer room. it's a massive healing center [and i'm not talking about the pharmacy...]. walmart: the next house church.
walgreens is now a place to pray and to pour out the love of God over His creation.
let me preface the following testimonies by stating that the groundwork and foundation for this complete cultural and spiritual revolution was laid by people long before i ever stepped off a bus in concord. that is to say, i am not the central figure in these stories.
i was there. i witnessed it. and in these few cases, i took part, but the glory is all God's- and will always be God's, because He paid the price for it...
a fellow student and i went to walgreens this past friday with one goal: to see God move. what happened next blessed our hearts.
we made our way to the pharmacy to see if there were people there who had a need to be healed. there was a couple named thomas and betty who were in their mid-70's. both of them had severe chest colds and you could see on betty's face the toll it was taking on her sinuses.
after the laying on of hands and a short concise prayer, we saw that betty's (who had not taken any medication for the cold- she was waiting for the prescription to be filled) face had cleared up. all the redness had gone away. when we asked her how she felt, she said she felt better than she had in a long time. when we asked thomas how he felt, he said he felt better.
feeling a bit more bold, we noticed that thomas had a hearing aide in his left ear. eddie (my friend) asked if we could pray for that, because the God who heals colds, heals deafness. eddie asked thomas how we could know that he would be healed when we prayed for him and he pulled out his hearing aide and said he couldn't hear with out it. after a shorter prayer than our first one for their colds, eddie stood a good distance to thomas' left and softly asked how he felt. thomas looked at his wife and then at us and said, he felt fine... and that he could hear out of his left ear.
thomas and betty both left praising the Lord... and, without their prescriptions.
it's odd. really. now that i think about it. not the miracle. the healings are becoming normal and expected. what's odd is looking back at the past seven years that i've been a christian, and seeing how close i've always been to walking in the fullness of God, yet not actually walking in it.
i write good stuff. some of it's theoligically sound, some of it's a bit shaky. but, for the most part, was stuff i sincerely believed in my heart and in my head, i just never actually put some of it in practice. the book i was going to write? forget that... for now. now, i'm living.
it is often easier to act yourself into believing than it is to believe yourself into acting.
so, i threw caution to the wind last week. stepped out on faith. [insert your own rhetorical colloquiallism here] and saw God come to meet me.
what works at walgreens works at walmart... or so, in theory it should. except this time, i wasn't merely in a place where i could get asked to leave, but i was in a place where i could, potentially, lose my job- my source of income [but not my source of life].
it's interesting how many opportunities we're faced with when we stop looking at our own needs and wants and desires.
a middle-aged woman named carolyn came through my register last week and i casually asked her how she was doing. [honestly, at the time, i didn't think i really cared to know. it was just something polite to say... now, i know better.] she told me she was ok, except that she had fallen the day before and could barely lift her right arm above a 90 degree angle to her waist. something rose up inside of me [or should i say Someone...] and i found myself uttering the words... "would you like me to pray for you?"
[did i really ask her that out loud?] yeah. i did. she told me she didn't really believe in God. "doesn't matter" i told her. [say what?] i told her that i believe that God would heal her regardless of what she believed. she muttered something and i told her that if she didn't get healed, then she'd have a really interesting walmart story to tell someone...
so, i prayed. all the while no one came into my checkout lane. really... how often do you go to walmart in the middle of the day and see a line with no one in it? yeah, so no small miracle there either right?
i asked her how she felt, and she said she couldn't tell. i told her to do something she couldn't do before. so she began to lift her arm... right as she came to the point where there had been pain earlier, i handed her a bag filled with tuna cans and canned vegetables... i figured, she's either going to hit me or be really excited. and she grabbed that bag and lifted it up and over her shoulder...
yeah, her face said it all. wish i had had a camera... praise God. not only was susan healed, but she went home saved... and came to church on sunday evening...
praise God, that He answered that prayer... because i don't think i'd have wanted to get a phone call from walmart asking why i handed a heavy bag to an injured customer...
does everyone i pray for get healed? i wish that were so. but i don't see why it can't happen.
it's not like it's a faith issue, like so many people want to tell you it is. that's just an excuse to fail... "well, they weren't healed so they must not have had much faith..." not so... the guy at the beautiful gate in the book of acts wasn't looking for healing... he was just looking for a handout... he just wanted money from peter and john.
physical healing was purchased at the whipping post and sealed at the cross. by His stripes we are healed is what the book of isaiah says. 1 peter says by His stripes you WERE healed. peter wrote it in the past tense. which means the healing was accomplished at the whipping post.
i could go on, but i'll stop there for now [more will come later].
so, now is the time of the return. to what? from what? the return from half-truths and religious me-ology to true christianity.
i am not the only one down here seeing people healed. i told you about eddie. and there are others, who, when they lay hands on people, see sicknesses and diseases healed.
the return. i am ruined. i believe in the revolution. i will live my life to see this area transformed and the rest of the earth harvested.
and you shall go into all the earth and proclaim the good news. to walmart and walgreens and downtown charlotte, nc and to the whole rest of the world...
ok, that's not what the bible says, but it's pretty close to what its prophetic meaning is...
...proclaim the good news, whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. and these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick and they will recover...
and that is what Jesus said will accompany all who believe and are baptized.
strange... it's a return to the Scriptures... what a novel idea...
for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...
11 January 2006
[living the revolution]
(disclaimer) [to those of you who have been faithful to visit this site in my absence of writing, i offer this debt of gratitude. your patience and grace truly do inspire me.]
i truly do not know where to begin. so much has transpired over the past 8 hours that it would be rediculous to even try to tell you all that has occurred over the past three weeks.
allow me to give you the reader's digest condensed version before beginning what i truly feel God wants to say.
i have begun to settle in down here in concord, nc. i have stepped out on faith and entered fire school of ministry- now we'll see if the provision is there to continue (let me insert that i have not one iota of doubt in my mind any more that i am not where i am supposed to be at this very moment doing what i'm supposed to be doing.)
i am still vehicle-less and living on a borrowed couch, but by the grace of God, i am alive and healthy and i know that He is good and He has His purposes.
tonight there was a small fellowship for the first trimester guys hosted by three graduates. it was a form of "what you can expect at fsm*" and "what you can expect from God while at fsm."
i think they wanted give us a glimpse of God's glory and a taste of the passion that He has put in their lives for the sake of His glory, but God had a slightly different agenda.
after the time of eating and chatting, we moved into the living room to pray.
then it happened...
[God showed up.]
the word of the Lord came forth from isaiah 64: oh that you would rend the heavens and come down; that the mountains might quake at your presence... and from psalm 24: who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his hands to any vain idols... such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of jacob.
and a holy silence covered that place. the internal groanings of the spirit. a meeting with the most high God. a kiss from heaven. and worship was poured out.
the message is this: the King is coming. get ready. don't hold back. don't be found without oil. don't be sleeping. be ready. He is coming and He will pour out His Spirit in this place. and we will never be the same again [not that we would ever choose to be the same].
who wants to remain? who wants to live the revolution?
[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]
*[fsm= fire school of ministry]
i truly do not know where to begin. so much has transpired over the past 8 hours that it would be rediculous to even try to tell you all that has occurred over the past three weeks.
allow me to give you the reader's digest condensed version before beginning what i truly feel God wants to say.
i have begun to settle in down here in concord, nc. i have stepped out on faith and entered fire school of ministry- now we'll see if the provision is there to continue (let me insert that i have not one iota of doubt in my mind any more that i am not where i am supposed to be at this very moment doing what i'm supposed to be doing.)
i am still vehicle-less and living on a borrowed couch, but by the grace of God, i am alive and healthy and i know that He is good and He has His purposes.
tonight there was a small fellowship for the first trimester guys hosted by three graduates. it was a form of "what you can expect at fsm*" and "what you can expect from God while at fsm."
i think they wanted give us a glimpse of God's glory and a taste of the passion that He has put in their lives for the sake of His glory, but God had a slightly different agenda.
after the time of eating and chatting, we moved into the living room to pray.
then it happened...
[God showed up.]
the word of the Lord came forth from isaiah 64: oh that you would rend the heavens and come down; that the mountains might quake at your presence... and from psalm 24: who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in his holy place? he who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his hands to any vain idols... such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of jacob.
and a holy silence covered that place. the internal groanings of the spirit. a meeting with the most high God. a kiss from heaven. and worship was poured out.
the message is this: the King is coming. get ready. don't hold back. don't be found without oil. don't be sleeping. be ready. He is coming and He will pour out His Spirit in this place. and we will never be the same again [not that we would ever choose to be the same].
who wants to remain? who wants to live the revolution?
[for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...]
*[fsm= fire school of ministry]
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