Hunger…

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;” (John 6:51)

What are you most hungry for? Where are your hungers and desires taking you? Whatever we are most hungry for will define our lives (You are what you eat!).  Hunger is as hunger does. Whatever we make time for in our lives is a good litmus test of what our true hungers and desires are.  I remember years ago thinking about prayer and fasting, and God told me that the day I wanted Him more than I wanted food, I would fast.

“It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'” (Matthew 4:4)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

Now is the time to press in for more of Him. No other food will sustain us in these days.

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Where is your treasure?

“For he [Abraham] was looking forward to the City with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11:10)

Abraham enjoyed many blessings and accomplished many great things while being “present” and living on this planet. But he never allowed these blessings or activities to beguile him or divert his attention from his true destiny. He knew that this place was not his home.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'” (Revelation 21:1-4)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your TREASURE is, there your HEART will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21)

May the fruit of our lives matter in eternity.
CARPE AETERNITAS!!!

 

His Bride has made herself ready!

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Revelation 19:7-8)

The clearest revelation I have ever received is about the enemy’s end time strategy concerning sexual purity. As we approach the Wedding of the Lamb, there will be greater pressure to give in to sexual sin than at any time in the history of the Church. IT WILL BE BOTH A TRIAL AND A TEST! And those who come through will be the Bride, “without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”

Wonderful and Traumatic!

I’m not into GLOOM-AND-DOOM. I’m not into HAPPY-HAPPY either (as much as I would like to be). I strive to not let a personal philosophy or my own yearnings become a lens through which I define reality. My great desire is to embrace whatever God is actually saying and doing and planning to do, as revealed in His Word and by His Spirit. And I believe that what is coming will be BOTH WONDERFUL AND TRAUMATIC beyond what I can imagine.

“I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.” (Revelation 6:1)

“…he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Mark 13:13)

“…the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her Husband.” (Revelation 21:2)

An Old Magician’s trick!

“…lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11)

There is an old magicians’ trick called misdirection.  With it, a magician distracts his audience and gets them to focus on something unimportant (perhaps with his left hand), while he is setting up the real trick with his right hand.  And then — du-du-duuuuhh!!! — the bunny appears, seemingly from nowhere. (OMGOSH, DID YOU FREAKING SEE THAT??!!)  Wikipedia defines this as a form of deception.

Dude, in the same way, the “old magician” is still up to his old tricks.  And distraction is one of his fave things to do.  Sometimes I call it “the tyranny of the immediate.”  Let’s say that I have decided to spend more time with Jesus.  And then all hell seems to break loose and many things “just have to be dealt with.”  Or maybe I get pulled once again into the vortex of Facebook for an hour or more.  And before I know it, a week has gone by and I have spent little or no time with the Lover of my soul — the One who created me from nothing and redeemed me with His own blood.  And what is my excuse?  Uh…well…stuff happens.

“…the people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

What an amazing time to be alive!  What an incredible adventure is unfolding in our cities and across the planet!  Aslan is on the move!  As the Light and darkness intensify, and as we prepare for the Son of Man to return, God is desiring to pour out unparalleled anointing and blessings to those who are paying the price to really know Him.  What a tragic thing it would be to look back on this time and realize that, like Esau, we traded away our amazing inheritance for a bowlful of unsatisfying sludge and distraction.

Rise up, O men of God!
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and mind and soul and strength
To serve the King of kings.

Rise up, O men of God!
The kingdom tarries long.
Bring in the day of brotherhood
And end the night of wrong.

Rise up, O men of God!
The church for you doth wait,
Her strength unequal to her task;
Rise up and make her great!

Lift high the cross of Christ!
Tread where His feet have trod.
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up, O men of God!

God is love. Are we?

“God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like Him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:16-18)

God is Love.  And the same tender, loving One who bled and died for us on the cross will open the seals mentioned in the Book of Revelation, releasing judgments on the Earth.  The same One who is Lover is also Judge.  And as we “live in love”, fear will truly leave.  But “living in love” does not merely mean that we have experienced His love, but that we have allowed it to change us and make us like Him.  And as we become more and more like Him, we will not be frightened by anything — even His judgments.

A trumpet blast…

I was lying in bed one day, wandering somewhat aimlessly in my thoughts, when the Spirit clearly interjected a question into my mind: “HAVE YOU EVER HEARD A TRUMPET BLAST?” I thought “Hmmm, I’m not sure.” He directed me to the trumpet blast in Exodus 19. In this account, when the trumpet was heard, there were two very different and distinct reactions: The people who were not hungry for God trembled with fear and drew back. But Moses, who was consumed with hunger for God, ran like a bride running to her wedding, to meet with God on the mountain top (even in the midst of all the shaking and fire and smoke).

Later that same day, I received what I believe is a continuation of what God was saying. I ended up going over to some friends’ house and there was a guy there that I had met only once before. And when I saw him, he immediately said “I had a dream about you last night. In the dream, there was a scary, destructive flood, and because of this flood, you and I and others were forced up a mountain to seek higher ground. I saw you on this mountain lying face down, praying. Then Jesus came and placed His hand on your head and began praying for you, and your face began to glow.”

And then I realized that there were some similarities to these two revelations. When the trumpet blast sounded, Moses also went up a mountain, where, in the Presence of God, his face began to glow, as did my face in my friend’s dream.

WHAT I BELIEVE GOD IS SAYING IS THIS: All this refers to the things that are now happening in the earth in this season. A trumpet is being sounded. And we, like all people, have a choice – to either allow passivity and fear and depression and discouragement and unbelief to overcome and overwhelm us – or to allow the events in the world to push us “up the mountain” and closer to God.

And as this watershed event continues to happen across the planet, it will be clearer and clearer who is governed by fear and who is inspired by God, as the darkness gets darker and the Light gets brighter – and then those who are overwhelmed by fear and darkness will see the Bride, shining like Moses, and MANY will run to the light of Christ that they see reflected in her face. And this, I believe, will usher in the last great revival before the Bridegroom returns.

 

A tale of two kingdoms…

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith…”
(1 Timothy 4:1)

There is a book called KINGDOMS IN CONFLICT by Chuck Colson.  Among other things, it chronicles the rise of the Nazis in pre-World War 2 Germany.  It seems hard to imagine that the Church could be so uncaring, as so many bad things were being done to the Jews by their government and culture.  But this attitude of the Church did not happen overnight.  Little bit by little bit, the political and cultural machine put pressure on Christians, every day.  It never let up.  Every week there where a few more things that Christians had to either take a stand against, or decide to merely co-exist and get along.  And the more that a person went with the flow, the harder it was the next day to break out of that momentum.

I am not saying that we should be confrontational jerks who needlessly create controversy. But for most of us, that is not a problem anyway. Most Christians in America tend to err on the side of passivity and avoiding any real conflict. The media likes to point out the militant, insensitive few, but that is a very skewed, misleading presentation of the average Christian. But we are called to lovingly, persistently invade the culture and communities around us and make a difference. And that cannot happen if we are the same as everyone around us.

That is why, everyday, we must re-connect with Jesus and the truth of the Bible and the call to the Great Commission – and the call to die to ourselves and to the world system, and to follow Him.  Because if we don’t, our end will be no different than the world’s.

“Come out of her [Babylon], my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;” (Revelation 18:4)

 

An old magician’s trick…

“…lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11)

There is an old magicians’ trick called misdirection.  With it, a magician distracts his audience and gets them to focus on something unimportant (perhaps with his left hand), while he is setting up the real trick with his right hand.  And then — du-du-duuuuhh!!! — the bunny appears, seemingly from nowhere. (OMG, DID YOU FREAKING SEE THAT??!!)  Wikipedia defines this as a form of deception.

Dude, in the same way, the “old magician” is still up to his old tricks.  And distraction is one of his fave things to do.  Sometimes I call it “the tyranny of the immediate.”  Let’s say that I have decided to spend more time with Jesus.  And then all hell seems to break loose and many things “just have to be dealt with.”  Or maybe I get pulled once again into the vortex of Facebook for an hour or more.  And before I know it, a week has gone by and I have spent little or no time with the Lover of my soul — the One who created me from nothing and redeemed me with His own blood.  And what is my excuse?  Uh…well…stuff happens.

“…the people that know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

What an amazing time to be alive!  What an incredible adventure is unfolding in our cities and across the planet!  Aslan is on the move!  As the Light and darkness intensify, and as we prepare for the Son of Man to return, God is desiring to pour out unparalleled anointing and blessings to those who are paying the price to really know Him.  What a tragic thing it would be to look back on this time and realize that, like Esau, we traded away our amazing inheritance for a bowlful of unsatisfying sludge and distraction.

Overcomers need to speak.

“They OVERCAME him [the enemy] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony;” (Revelation 12:11)

It seems to me that there is a sustaining grace that is embedded within our testimonies. And sometimes, when we are feeling depressed or oppressed or afraid, the best and most effective thing we can do is share our testimony with someone who needs to hear it.  Because when we do, we not only bless that person, but the Prophetic Presence of Jesus within our testimony breaks forth and pushes back the darkness, and we once again OVERCOME and are overcomers.

“For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy .” (Revelation 19:10)