Without REVELATION, your BRAIN will always become your enemy.

Without revelation, your brain will always become your enemy.  What I mean by that is that our natural minds cannot totally understand God and that left to our own devices and natural abilities and insights, our spirituality always becomes merely the traditions and ideas of men, which, ultimately, will always war against the truth and reality of God.  I am not saying that we should ignore our brains or that we should not be thinking people.  But the human mind was never meant to be the center of our reality.  God is.  And even though He gave us our brains (wonderful and amazing and useful as they are), they will never be enough to walk in the fullness of our callings as spiritual beings.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” (Ephesians 1:17-18)

“to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;” (Ephesians 3:19)

“lean not on your own understanding;” (Proverbs 3:5)

“No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’ — but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:7-10)

A perfect example of this is in Matthew 16, where Peter receives a revelation of who Jesus really is, and Jesus says, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” But just a few moments later, Peter stops relying on revelation and starts using his mind to figure things out, and he is rebuked by Jesus as one who opposes God: “Get behind me, Satan! [ie – opposer] You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

So…spend time with God, getting to know Him. This is ABSOLUTELY important to your eternal destiny. You need Him to tell you stuff — important stuff that you can know no other way than that He reveals it to you:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)

“Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3-4)

Spend more time in His Word, yes. But also spend time listening for His voice. And as you begin to hear, respond to Him. Because then the real adventure begins — the adventure of the Spirit-led life.

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14-15)

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Watering God’s seeds…

“What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air perched in its branches.” (Luke 13:18-19)

And much like a mustard seed are the promises God has made to us. When He made them, some broke forth quickly and fruitfully — but others have lain dormant, waiting for us to re-visit them and water them with hope and faith and prayer and proclamation.

“…imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” (Hebrews 6:12)

“…for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Put your dreams to work!

I had a simple but profound dream years ago.  All I saw was an airborne seed floating in the wind.  When I woke up, the Holy Spirit told me that He was going to give me dreams that revealed things in seed form — things He wanted to accomplish — and other things that the enemy wanted to accomplish.  And He said that if I would pray for His “seeds” to be planted, then those specific good, Godly things would happen — and if I didn’t, then they might not.  And He said that if I would pray against the enemy’s “seeds”, then those demonic plans would not succeed.Since that time, He has led me on some amazing revelatory intercession experiences.And also, since I had that dream, I have heard from some major prophetic guys who said that one of the main purposes of revelation is intercession.

So…don’t be so fast to dismiss or disregard your dreams.  You might want to keep a dream journal of the dreams you think might be from God — and occasionally pray through them.  Who knows — He could be calling you to be a warrior and world-changer via prophetic intercession.

Now’s a pretty good time…

We all have this desire in us (put there by the Holy Spirit) to adventure with God.  To lay down our lives and run to the battle and spend our time and energy making a real, eternal difference in the lives of our fellow humans, for the glory of God — to “go into all the world and make disciples.”

So here’s the deal:  It will never be easier for you to take risks for God and his Kingdom than RIGHT NOW.  This is ESPECIALLY true for single 20-somethings.  You may think that later, somehow, things in your life will be more conducive to serving and adventuring with God.  But the longer you live, the more likely it is that you will invest your heart in the things of this world.  And as you do this, you will feel like you have more and more to lose by running after Jesus.  It will seem like you have fewer and fewer options.

You will NEVER have fewer hindrances (in the natural) to adventuring with the Holy Spirit than RIGHT NOW!!!

So go for it.  When you look back from Eternity, you will be INFINITELY more happy with this choice!

“The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22-23)

Don’t trade your calling from God for ANYTHING!

Don’t trade your calling from God for ANYTHING!

Don’t allow the vision He has given you to be hijacked by the busy-ness and trivia of the world and the path of least resistance!

Return to your First Love — and to the adventure of Love He has called you to!

Don’t let the Flame go out! Rage, rage, against the dying of the Light!

Spiritual trees need living water.

OK…an interesting, improvisational Holy Ghost experience!…

I minister to the homeless population in Atlanta.  One day, I was at a shelter, waiting for a friend of mine to show up.  As I waited, I was poking around in my bible, looking for a topic for a bible study that I would be teaching at a different shelter later that night.  I did the old tried-and-true random bible opening and my eyes fell upon Jeremiah 17:7-8:  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.  For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”

This was how my thoughts flowed:  “That’s a powerful verse.  I think God wants me to teach on it tonight.  That will make a good message.”

I don’t usually think of my teaching topics as “messages”, but that word was clearly the one that came to my mind.  Then I suddenly remembered that I had had a dream earlier that week that was very similar to this scripture.  In the dream, I was looking at a bone-dry riverbed.  I noticed that there was a tree in the middle of the riverbed and it was green and healthy, and had beautiful leaves.  And as the wind blew, the leaves turned from green to blue and then back again to green.

I didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize that God was speaking to me.  As I waited for my friend, I pondered what the significance of this  “message” and dream were.  After a few more minutes, I decided to go over to another shelter to see if my friend might be hanging out there.  I walked out onto the street, and in a minute, a nicely-dressed business man (whom I had never met or seen before) came up to me and got right in my face and startled me by saying “WHAT IS THE MESSAGE?!”  Dude, this def took me by surprise!  I sort of stammered “Wha?…uh…”  Then he said, even more adamantly: “Your dream!  You had a dream!  What is the message?!”

OK – I’m a little thick-headed, but even I finally realized that this was a God moment.  So I opened my mouth and began to tell this business man from India about a drought (economic and spiritual) that was coming to America, and that his only hope was to get to know Jesus and abide in Him, just like a thirsty tree abides in hidden, underground streams in a time of severe dryness.  And that if he did this, then he would not only survive, but flourish.

Then God began to speak more to me about this revelation.  I asked Him why the leaves in the dream went back and forth from green to blue, as the wind blew.  He said that the Wind represented the Holy Spirit and that the color blue (in this dream) represented intimacy through revelation.  He said that a very dry time was coming to America, and that the Church needed to learn to abide more regularly in His Presence, and to set seeking intimacy with Him and revelation from Him as priorities.

And the clincher happened when I got home later that night and my wife told me that she had just come from a bible study where they studied Psalm 1, which says “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”

In light of all this, I strongly encourage you to do some rearranging of your schedule and set intimacy with God as a priority.  Because a time is coming soon when we will need to be “abiding in the Vine” and “hidden under the shadow of His wings.”  And as we learn to abide in the Secret Place of intimacy with Him, we will not only survive, but we will actually have peace and joy, and will fruitfully flourish in all good ways!

So…what do you think about all this?  And what are you going to do?

WE ARE HEADED FOR A WEDDING!!! (but we’re not ready yet…)

I had a dream recently:  In the dream, I am at a church where a wedding is supposed to take place.  There is much theological talk going on, but I see no bride or groom.  I woke up, and the Holy Spirit told me that the Church is supposed to be getting ready for a wedding and a marriage, but they have little or no concept of their call as Bride and do not know how to accommodate the Groom.

We (the Church) are not a corporation or a seminary or an organization bound together by mere theology or ritual.  We are the BRIDE of Christ.  And we are headed towards a MARRIAGE.  This whole experience is supposed to be FILLED WITH ROMANCE and a fascination for our incomparable BRIDEGROOM!

Amazing Husband-to-be Jesus… Please send the Holy Spirit to break us out of our passivity, busy-ness, and self-centeredness.  PLEASE tell the Holy Spirit to bring warmth and passionate focus to our cold, distracted hearts and prepare us for your return!

Understanding Dreams…

As I mentioned in my last post, dreams can come from a variety of sources, and it is extremely important to know what that source is.  And as I also mentioned, the best tool is intimate, extensive knowledge of God and His ways.  And another very important (and often overlooked) tool is a Holy Spirit gift that Paul mentions — the discernment of spirits: “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:  for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit…to another discerning of spirits…”(1 Cor 12:7,10)

And Paul encouraged people to “earnestly desire” and seek after spiritual gifts.  So…go for it!  “You do not have because you do not ask God. (James 4:4)”

But dude, even after you’re convinced that it’s a dream from God, you’re not all the way there.  There are actually three steps to successfully receiving revelation from God:

1. Inspiration (actually experiencing the revelation)
2. Interpretation (understanding what the dream actually means)
3. Application (actually responding to the leading of the Spirit concerning the meaning/directive of the dream)

So…#1…inspiration.  OK, you got what you think is a dream from God.  But what does it mean?  Some revelation is meant to be taken literally and some is symbolic (in a sense like parables).

Some dreams are so straight-forward that they interpret themselves.  I remember one time a security guard at a local grocery store told me about a dream he had had recently.  He said, “In my dream, God is calling me to preach the Gospel, but the devil is trying to get me to smoke marijuana all the time instead.”  Then he said, “What do you thing that dream means?!”  (Hahaha!  Sometimes, even when the revelation is simple and straight-forward, we don’t “get it” because we really don’t want to.)

But some dreams involve symbolic elements.  One time, I had this dream:  “I am a business man and I fill out a requisition for a camel.”  That was it.  And when I woke up, I began praying about the meaning of the dream, and this is what the Holy Spirit told me:  “Camels are animals that are able to carry people and goods long distances over arid terrain, not needing much water.  Your business is about to go through a dry season, but don’t lose hope, because I have provided a “camel” (grace from God) and this camel will successfully carry you through the dry season until things start flowing again.”

And of course, the application of the dream is of ultimate importance.  Without an obedient, faithful response, the grace that God intended by giving the revelation is lost.  In the security guard’s case, he needed to stop smoking pot (duh!) and take steps towards becoming a lay or full-time minister.  In my case, I needed to keep my eyes on God’s encouraging promise of provision, even when things got a bit dry, business-wise.  (Which, by His grace, I did.)

So…what has God been saying to you?  Do you believe that God still speaks today?  Have you received dreams from Him?  And if so, what are you doing about it?

Where do dreams come from?…

“In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, He may speak in their ears…” (Job 33:15-16)

“This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had.” (Daniel 4:18)

“Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.” (Matthew 2:22-23)

Church fathers who believed that God still speaks through dreams:  Tertullian, Origen, Cyprian, Augustine and Jerome (among others).

Dreams can be amazing experiences.  They can seem more real than reality.  Many people have dreams that they dreamt years ago, but which still inspire or fascinate or trouble them.  It is clear from the Bible that dreams played an important part in God’s interactions with people.  In my experience, God has used a few strategic dreams to powerfully direct my life.

The problem that most people will acknowledge is that there are certain concerns about the source of a dream.  Where did it come from?  How can I know if the dream is from God?  And these are important and necessary questions to ask ourselves, since there are a variety of sources from which dreams can come:

• God
• our souls (our mind and emotions)
• culture (including movies, TV, books)
• biochemistry (illness, diet, drugs, alcohol, etc.)
• the enemy

That’s why it is so important to have an intimate, ongoing relationship with God through His Word, in prayer, and in our lives (including being in trustworthy, regular Christian community).  “Spiritual” experiences can seem very compelling at times — that is why it is so necessary to have true discernment, so that we can discern between a legitimate spiritual interaction with God and a counterfeit experience.  And discernment comes from knowing the real thing so well that it is difficult to be fooled by counterfeits.

If I have time, in the days to come, I may elaborate a bit on the importance of dreams, and how to navigate successfully in this amazing realm of experience.