Category Archives: Encouragement

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Mushrooming and hearing God

And other ramblings and stories

The other day I discovered a book about how God does not speak with us.  The author (a pastor) firmly believes that Christians cannot hear from God directly.  I didn’t read it.  The title itself, and advance knowledge of the general thesis was nauseating enough for me.  Publishing a book like that is kind of like popping a high-five with the devil, celebrating keeping people spiritually deaf.  It’s like a relationship where you get to read The Letter of God all you want, but by no means are you allowed to ever have the audacity to pickup the phone and call Him.  Jesus said “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4  It’s important to point out what Jesus did not say.  He did not say “…but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God.”  He used the word proceedeth which is ongoing.  By no means am I saying that in any way, shape, or form something should be added to the holy canon of scripture.  But the heavenly manna that we all need is the ongoing, continued, every-day word of God proceeding from His mouth!

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The Great Jailbreak

A prophetic declaration about plundering hell

You don’t need resurrection power unless something is dead.

The resurrection of Jesus is the center of Christianity, and it’s the center of what we believe.

If Jesus never rose from the dead our faith would be pointless.

I believe God wants to do some renewing of our minds.

I believe that God wants to shift the way we view darkness.

Often Christians are too afraid of the dark. Much like little children can be afraid of the dark.

Several legitimate reasons:

1. Creepy.

2. Dangerous – literal danger.

3. Spiritually dangerous – Temptation etc.

4. Afraid of spiritual attacks, or “catching something unclean”.

One of the great shifts from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, is that in the old covenant, if you touched something unclean, it made you unclean.

If you touched a leprous person, you became leprous. In the New Covenant, Jesus touched lepers and made them clean.

It’s an important shift.

But nevertheless we often we think more like the old covenant.

We have to believe what we carry. Why is it that we can say “oh, don’t go over there; there’s a very powerful demonic atmosphere there, and it might get on you”. I don’t see people saying “Oh, don’t go over there near that Christian because that purity thing on him could really affect you.” If they can do that on us, then I can do that on them.” — Wendy Backlund

Jesus went into hell, and led captives captive!

The leader of the greatest prison break in history (Jesus the Messiah) broke through death and blazed a trail for his precious children to freedom!

The gates of hell in fact did not prevail. (Matthew 16:18)

 

If you have confidence in the Holy Spirit living inside of you, then you don’t avoid darkness.

You run toward it.

Jesus set an example of going into darkness.

He did not avoid it. He ate with sinners.

He talked with women, even women of questionable conduct.

Then, it would seem that He surrendered himself to be imprisoned as everyone else who sinned, in death and hell.

But that wasn’t the end!

When Jesus told Peter, “On this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail”, that always confused me a bit.

How can something that is built with rock, something stationary somehow attack the gates of hell, and the gates of hell don’t prevail?

It’s like mixing two different metaphors, that don’t seem to be particularly compatible.

Here’s the key.

Jesus didn’t intend for churches to be built in pretty neighborhoods.

His plan was to send us, His church of LIVING stones, right into the many branches of hell the devil has established all around the planet, and plant us right in the middle of that darkness.

Right inside the prison.

And then make a prison break!

And the gates of hell will not prevail!

I believe scripture shows us that the gates are intended to be busted open from the inside.

Jesus said “I send you as lambs among wolves.”

I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16

We see a dramatic ilustration of this in the example of the Moravian missionaries who sold themselves into slavery in order to get to the Danish West Indies (St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John) to preach the gospel to the slaves there.

In 1732 these brothers felt like God called them to minister to the African slaves there.

Nobody would give them access to that slave colony, no matter what they tried.

They realized that the only way for them to come to those people was to sell themselves into actual slavery, and work alongside those slaves, and probably live as slaves till their death.

But that was worth it to them if they could only bring the gospel to those slaves.

As the ship pulled away from the docks, they called out to their loved ones on shore,

“May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!”

Interesting note:

5 years prior to them being called to minister to the Slaves, the 100 year 24/7 prayer meeting had started. (August 13, 1727)

I believe we’re supposed to raid hell every day. 

Every day.

Every day.

Every day you raid hell every day.

And you take from ’em as much as you can.

And then you start over tomorrow.” – David Hogan (Missionary in Mexico who has seen many people raised from the dead, among other miracles)

Jesus went into hell, and led captives captive!

The leader of the greatest prison break in history (Jesus the Messiah) broke through death and blazed a trail for his precious children to freedom! The gates of hell in fact did not prevail. (Matthew 16:18)

The Breaker [the Messiah] will go up before them. They will break through, pass in through the gate and go out through it, and their King will pass on before them, the Lord at their head.” Micah 2:13 AMPC

The gates of hell will not prevail, because we will bust them out from within!

We will go right into the darkness to save people from death.

We are the enemy line breakers!

The following is from a conversation that happened during  WWII between George Rice, 10th Armored division providing some ammunition to to Richard Winters, commander of Easy Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 101st Airborne Division.

George:

“A panzer divsion is about to cut the road south. It looks like you’ll be surounded”

Winters:

“We’re paratroopers. We’re supposed to be surrounded.”

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4 DANGERS OF THE ROCKSTAR CULTURE IN MINISTRY TODAY

A PROPHETIC VISION

This was a vision I saw as I was praying. In the vision I saw Jesus in my church, standing in front of the stage at a table, with a large ladle in His hands. He was serving our church hot soup. It was warming, and really hit the spot, like hot soup on a cold winter day. People were walking around enjoying the soup with smiles on their faces, content with the warmth in thier bellies.  Then all the sudden, in a blur, Jesus was drawn up and disappeared, like he ascended to heaven suddenly. Now there was a steaming pot of soup with a left-behind ladle still rocking back and forth from when Jesus dropped it. In a few moments, it became apparent, that there was nobody to serve the soup. Eventually people in the church started complaining that they weren’t getting any soup (because no one was being served).  In the vision, not being in the situation, but seeing it from above, I was thinking “Oh, will someone should just pick up the ladle and start serving the soup. No big deal.”  However, to my surprise, people would walk by the abandoned ladle and say things like “Oh, I’m not going to do that!” It was somehow too low for them. “That’s not a job I want to do.”  When I saw that in the vision I started to weep bitterly.  I was deeply grieved at what I saw.  As I wept, what came to mind was what the apostle John experienced when he started to weep as he realized that nobody was worthy to open the seals of the scroll described in the book of Revelation. That very accurately reflects what I was experiencing in the vision.

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Interrupt some great people

Start believing you're good soil!

All of us have self doubt.  And our biggest fear is not encountering a Grizzly bear on a hike, but rather the fear of failure. So we all need help. We need parents, mentors, friends and fellow fighters to spur us on, and encourage us and teach us. Most of us are aware of some exceptional people in our lives that are not necessarily involved in our lives, but are in enough proximity for us to realize how we would benefit from their influence. It could be a teacher, a friend of a friend, a businessman, a pastor. Anyone you admire enough that you recognize you could benefit from a connection them. In my life, the invisible wall that keeps me from connecting with them can be a bit elusive, and difficult to put the hammer to.

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The Hope Factor

How it can make a 24000% difference

Curt Richter had a special relationship with rats. In 1950 he put rats in a bucket with circulating water, to see how long they could swim before they would sink. Under normal conditions, a rat could swim for an average of 15 minutes before giving up and sinking. However, if he rescued the rats just before drowning, dried them off and let them rest briefly, and then put them back into the same buckets of circulating water, the rats could swim an average of 60 hours before drowning. If a rat was temporarily saved, it would survive 240 times longer than if it was not temporarily saved. That’s the same as 24,000% longer. A little hope goes a long way. The rats that had HOPE kept swimming.

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Preaching the Gospel is Preaching the Gospel

Not drilling wells

Jesus didn’t send his disciples into cities, and say   “When you go, be nice, trendy, hard-working, law-abiding citizens, start successful businesses, be super culturally relevant, and pray…   And wait…   Wait for that moment.  That moment someone asks you why you’re such a great person and why you’re so successful. Then, and only then, preach the gospel to them.” Actually he told them to preach the gospel, heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Matthew 10:8   It’s dumb for us to do everything that helps us spread the gospel, but never actually preach the gospel. That’s just dumb. I understand that there are many “covert ministries”, and spheres where much wisdom is required, and I’m thankful for Christians who God has positioned to bring influence in the various mountains of culture. And I understand that in most cases, it would not be a good idea to jump up onto the table and start proclaiming a blistering bible message. However, I’m afraid that we’ve become kind of like hunters sitting in our hunting blinds, and we’re so preoccupied with the process of sitting in waiting and perfecting our animal calls, that we never take the shot. We just watch the game stroll by and we pat each other on the back, and pride ourselves in how close they got to us without getting spooked.

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Royal brats

3 keys how to steward greatness

God is not impressed with our experience or expertise.  He’s impressed with faith.  However… There is a problem with faith.  The problem with faith is that it will make you great.  For example, if you have great faith, then you will see great miracles.  Miracles are like expensive cars.  The more of them you own, the more other people think you are great. They may even start calling you “Apostle So&So.”  Imagine that.  So the temptation to use faith to make you great is real.  

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Stop saying the divorce rate is 50%. You’re killing us.

The good news about marriage, and the REAL divorce rate

I read a book, and I’m really fired up.
Before I tell you what it is I’m so fired up about, let me tell you why it’s so important.
The #1 most important ingredient that keeps marriages together is HOPE.
When couples lose hope, it’s the beginning of the end.
The absence of hope is an indicator of the presence of a lie sinking its claws into its prey; whoever is believing the lie.
Shaunti and Jeff Feldhahn interviewed thousands of couples over 12 years.
They found that there was one common denominator among marriages that survived versus those that failed: HOPE.
According to Shaunti, many different factors led to either outcome, of course.
But underneath it all was this bottom line:
Did the couple have a sense of hope … or a sense of futility?
“After all, if the ship is going to sink anyway, why bother working so hard to bail it out?”
Far better, they think, to work on escaping the wreck intact. In other words, a couple’s futile feeling that “We aren’t going to make it” ends up being one of the main reasons they don’t make it.”

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A list of declarations that changed my life

Exposing a subtle lie I used to believe about the power of the tongue

There was a time when I was a bit skeptical about making “declarations of faith” as some do in certain Christian circles.  When I would run into Christians who believed in this kind of practice, I often felt like it wasn’t sincere and authentic.  I believe God wants us to be real.  I mean read the Psalms.  David didn’t polish his words with God.  That all changed when I was in BSSM taking the Church Leadership Track led by Steve Backlund, the crazy guy who is always trying to get people to laugh at lies.  I realized there were probably a few lies I had been believing, and my attitude toward making those audacious un-authentic declarations of faith started to change dramatically.  It was a combination of scriptural teaching, and empirical evidence from my own life that slowly converted me to one of those crazies. The problem with deception is you don’t know you’re deceived until it is somehow exposed. I am fully aware that many aspects of this idea of making declarations and proclamations has been abused in many ways.  But unfortunately we, the church, have a great reputation of throwing the baby out with the bath water.  I don’t know how someone could throw a baby out with the bath water.  I prefer not visualizing that.  

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What on earth is treasure in heaven

And how to invest in it

The other day I stumbled across some letters some friends once wrote to me to share how I impacted their life.  Tears started running down my tense cheeks.  Hearing people share things like that makes it all worth it.  It really snapped me out of the little puddle of gloom I happened to be sitting in.  I realized ‘perhaps I’ve done more than I tend to realize when I’m feeling down.’