MIND OF TRUTH

Sometimes I think it would be nice to just start over in the church. Just write everything your church does from nursery to classes to youth to services up on a white board and then erase it all. Then let the Holy Spirit tell you what He wants you to write on the board. Will it be the same things, will it be all new things? Imagine how the church in Acts did it. They did not just do it like everyone else has done it for centuries. They had a blank slate and they let the HS write His thoughts down. Maybe they just got together in their houses and let God show up and do what He wanted. God cannot do a new thing when we keep insisting that He does it within the mundane confines of our preconceived ideas. I want to let it all go and see God's creative power and uniqueness blow my mind. Yeah, I think I'd like that.

One more Warrior post for this week from Graham Cooke . Maybe I'll do more next week. Enjoy and be challenged! Stillness is so important to us that we learn how to be quiet before God, especially on difficult days. You get to still the clamoring and the panic that life can cause in us. Rest is a weapon and in the embrace of God’s peace, nothing touches me but the confidence of His great strength. Knowing how to access who God is in Himself is such a key part of your development. All of your life circumstances right now are preparing you to be brilliant. You’re learning how to be majestic, you’re learning how to be warriors, you’re learning how to overcome, your learning how to stand, your learning how to press in, your learning how to receive, your learning how to rejoice, your learning how to pray, your learning about the fruits of the Spirit, your learning the importance of patience, your learning how to wait on the Lord, your learning how to see Him, your learning how He t...

Being a true warrior for Christ makes the Spartans in the movie 300 look like cupcakes. Seriously, the greatest challenge of our lives is overcoming self day by day and living a brilliant life in Christ Jesus our Lord and King. Here is more from Graham Cooke on the Way of the Warrior The church in America is behind her own development and needs to catch up. What if the problem in this country is not crime or terrorism, it’s not abortion, it’s not poverty, or drugs. What if the biggest problem in this country is simply the lack of goodness? The scriptures say that we overcome evil with good. So where has the goodness gone? What if one of the chief parts of a warrior’s armory is the goodness and the favor of God? What if we live in the goodness of God and no one around us is safe? What if the problem right now in America is that there is not enough goodness and there is not enough people who realize that the Kingdom of Heaven is about being good and doing good? I...

More from Way of the Warrior by Graham Cooke God is very confident in Himself and He will build this confidence into you. Is 30:15 says “…in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Stillness is so vital to a warrior. You can’t win if you’re whining so at some point you have to give up your right to a pity party. Don’t look for sympathy, look to be empowered. Warriors are people who can get up, dust themselves off, and get on with it. They are fighters. They are not looking for rescue. They are looking for a side of God that they know only really exists on the battlefield. Warriors are people who want to get on that battlefield. It’s not like “Well, I’ll fight if I have to. I’ll fight if there is no alternative”. Warriors are people who are looking for a fight. They are spoiling for a fight.

I'm getting back into Graham Cooke's message series, The Way of the Warrior . It really stirs me up and builds my confidence. I would very much encourage you to order the CD's or download the MP3 files. I want to share a few excerpts over the next couple of days. Way of the Warrior – Graham Cooke It’s the confidence you learn in life that enable a warrior to hold their nerve and to be fearless in the face of enemy attack. It’s important for us to live with a growing conviction that the Lord is delighted to pour out with extravagant delight the certainty of His affection towards us. It’s so important that you absolutely know that you are the beloved of God, and that God is incredibly biased towards you. He favor’s you and he lifts up the light of his countenance upon you. He beams in your direction. You have His heart, you have His favor, and you need to learn to be confident in that, hugely confident in that. Prov. 3:26 26 “ for the Lord will be your...

I've been thinking about and teaching about the gap between our dreams and our reality lately. God is radically rearranging things in my brain to help me close those gaps. I have noticed though that there are big gaps in the church as well. There is a big gap between what we say and what we do. The gap is that we talk a whole lot, but we do very little. We talk and talk and talk and keep on talking. What I've noticed now it that we like to talk about not talking. We talk about how much we need to go out and do instead of just talking. Then we have a conference on doing that and come up with new terms and someone writes a book on it. I'm as guilty as anyone which is why I have told the Lord to do whatever He needs to do to get me out there doing more and allow the Holy Spirit to do the talking through my life. Doing leads to life, creativity, and newness. We need more of that in our churches. We have grown stagnant as we do the same things week after week. We say...

I'm still thinking about these gaps that exist in our lives between the life God has for us and our own reality. We have all the excuses in the world why we cannot begin right now to close that gap, but at the end of the day if we are not more like Christ and closer to the life God has for us, then its our own fault. Moses got it right as he shared a few vital words with Israel. The word of the Lord to take us forward is near us and we can do it. Do not delay, but begin to step forward to close those gaps today. Deut 30:11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

Mark Batterson hit the mark again with his blog post "A Fresh Anointing" . I've been feeling the same thing that there is way more God has for me and I want it. More than ever before we need a fresh hunger and desire for intimacy with God to overwhelm our complacency. We don't need the latest and greatest man idea, we just need to find ourselves rooted in a place of humble submission to the voice of the Holy Spirit. Mark said "Be filled with His Spirit. Be filled with His Word. And watch Him do things in your life that are way beyond your human ability!"

“The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creations. Not to make people with better morals, but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in even greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friends, is what it really means to be a Christian. Our religion never begins with what we do for God. It always starts with what God has done for us, the great and wondrous things that God dreamed of and achieved for us in Christ Jesus.” - Brennan Manning - The Furious Longing of God

Hab 2:1 "I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved." Today we need to cry out o God and lay everything at His feet. Let go of the fear, the pressure, the doubt, the expectations, the stresses of life. Take your life, your failures, your shortcomings, your weaknesses and shout them out to God and get it all out. Have the courage to stand up before God and say everything your thinking and feeling. Then quit your spirit and wait. Take up your place on the rampart, on the watchtower and wait for God to speak. Brace yourself and be prepared for God to correct and reprove you. Know that all the miserable failures that you laid at His feet deserve to be laid at your feet, but know that He takes it all because He is merciful, gracious, and loves you. He takes our fears and gives us love in return. He takes failure and gives us a miracle. He takes our complain...

Hab. 2:2 And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it." We took a look at Hab 2:1-4 Wednesday night and its an amazing passage. I know we quote 2:2 a lot and God has been giving revelation and showing us how to run with it, but I've been wondering about that middle part "Witting down the revelation". I know we need to process, journal, and meditate on the revelation, I agree with that. I know we need to write out a plan to stay focused and run with purpose. I agree with all that, but I saw another aspect of it as I was studying Wednesday. God wants us to write the revelation on our life so that "he who reads it" can run. My life should be a living, breathing revelation of the Word of God. People should know what God has spoken because it is written all over my life. They can read it on my face, they can read it in my marriage, and in my children, and in the work I do. Revelation changes everythin...

Today is my birthday. Spiritual birthday that is. 33 years ago on an Easter Sunday Jesus called me and said come follow me. I've been running with Him every since. He has never left me, He has never given up on me and His patience is amazing. He has shared His precious Word with me and given me privileges that I never deserved. I would give my whole entire life just to have one moment of revelation of who He is. I would give everything just to speak one Word of His truth, yet He gives me new revelation day after day and allows me to speak and teach His Word over and over again. I will follow Him anywhere and give everything to know Him more and more. What an amazing, wonderful God who gave Himself for me not only this day long, long ago, but every day! Thank You Jesus.

I'm teaching on Galatians 3:3 and Hebrews 12:1 tomorrow night at LIFE House Church Bethel. Gonna be good because God is speaking. I was just thinking that when God gives us revelation we need to run with confidence. I have encountered a few people lately who share with me the revelation God has given them and they seem a little hesitant and a little unsure about running with it. I know it is because we place our confidence in self and not in Christ. I will always be unsure about running in my own strength but running with Christ is another matter. He lifts me up and fills me with strength and endurance. His Spirit helps me cast aside every weight that slows me down. He empowers me and gives me the resource I need to run to win. When you get that revelation, that Word that He whispers into your heart, boldly step up to the line, set your focus, and get ready to run like the wind.

A thought occurred to me yesterday, sparked by something my Pastor said (Not sure if he knows, but he does that a lot. Thanks PT). I thought there is a lot more to running at a new level that we realize at first. The first thing you feel is scared out of your mind. All the walls are gone, God has expanded your boarders and taken away the nice cozy, snuggley place you were living in, and the reality of nothingness hits you big time. But like I said before, He has big plans to fill up that space with good things, so brace yourself, step up to the line, and keep running. Next you feel excited when you begin to realize what God is doing. You go around telling everyone your at a new level now, and you can feel the old things loosing their grip on your mind. You start looking forward to things you didn't think were possible before. You start dusting off those dreams God has whispered into your heart in times past. Then you realize that your heart is running way ahead of everythng ...

Isaiah 30: 21 And your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left. I just can't get this verse out of my mind. I used this Wednesday night while teaching from Galatians 3 and God used it. I could feel Him take everything to another level when I shared this verse. God wants to speak to His people. More than ever before He is wants us to receive revelation from His heart to ours. No matter what we may be doing or where we are running, God's Word will catch up to us and we will hear Him speaking behind us, directing us, and guiding our steps. We will not fall, or stumble, or slow down in any way. His Words illuminate the path before us and His Word will run with us wherever His will takes us. I am encouraged by this Word from the Lord. Now is the time to receive His revelation. Now is the time to write it down and run with it. Time is short and I want to spend all my time building the Kingdom o...

Seth is growing up so fast. It hit me on Wednesday as he turned 9 that this critical season of time I have with him while he is still in our home is half over. He has such strength and courage that I need to continue to develop. I've decided this year I'm making a covenant agreement with him for us to accomplish certain goals this year. Got the idea from Mark Batterson and I know the Lord will bless it. We'll set some physical and spiritual goals to accomplish together. We need to plan some camping and hiking, finish reading the Chronicles of Narnia, and plan a trip to go somewhere we have never been before. We have also set a goal for our family to raise 1k to buy a well in India. I am very excited about that one. I hope to take Seth over there in a few years. Its a life changing experience. Looking forward to my date with Abbey next week. We are going to see the Hannah Montana movie.

I read this today and felt like it summed up for me what the Lord is doing now. He wants to reveal Himself to His people. He wants to give us new revelation and speak direction into our life so that we may walk in His ways and build His Kingdom. If we are willing to cast aside all other priorities and false gods in our life, He will pour out His abundance, enlarge our territory, and bring blessing. Isa 30:18 ¶ Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him. 19 O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. 20 Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, [He,] your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. 21 And your ears will hear a word behind you, "This i...

Oswald Chambers said prayer does not prepare us for the work, prayer is the work. We need to get back to real prayer in our personal relationship with Christ. We have allowed our prayer lives to grow cold and ritualistic and they have become largely ineffective. We have to spend some time building our prayer life back up. We have to break through the lethargy and self dominance to heat up the fire in our heart once again. Self will pulls us down. Prayer is selfless and seeks God's will alone no matter what cost to our self life. Religious prayer serves the self will and builds it up, but real prayer is costly. Its ironic though that what we let go of is far less that what we receive in return. When we give up self, it will fall into the ground and die. Then the life of Christ will be raised up in our life and through our life. On our part, prayer is an act of laying our life down at the foot of the cross. On God's part it is the resurrection of the life of Christ wi...

God is good and faithful to do everything He has spoken to my heart. My wife and I have been knocking on the door of the next level of our life for a few years now, and now it is wide open. I have found that most people want to go to the next level, but are unwilling to step out in faith or let go of the past to do it. We like comfortable familiar places. Like a newborn, we like being wrapped up tight in that warm blanket. We don't feel comfortable stepping through that new door into those wide open unfamilar spaces. The thing is that God will fill up that space with good things. He is streching out out tent stakes and expanding our boarders. He will grow us and mature us to fit the new, vast, open potential. Step out in faith and trust your loving God. He will do everything He has spoken.

Good to be home from India. More on that later. Good to be moved in to our temporary townhouse. I know God has more in store for us. It was raining yesterday when we moved and Seth said he know why. he said the angels in heaven were crying with happiness because we were obedient to the Lord. He is pretty profound for an almost 9 year old.