The Sword of Goliath

This word is about a week late to posting.

Last week, closer to the turn of the new year, I felt like not only had things we had been dealing with over recent months shift and release but almost as if the chapter of the last decade of our life had also turned.

In the bible there is a story from the life of David where, his earlier major victory of rising up to face a giant and defeating him occurred. From there he went on to do other things, minister to the king, made new alliances and gained new best friends. He walked in a new level of exposure and authority for this season. He even married into the kings family. But eventually hardship overcame his new circumstances and he could no longer remain where he was at anymore. David could not control this, despite his calling and anointing.

The very person he had gained favor with by defeating Goliath had grown the desire to eliminate David. David remained the same but the season and circumstances around him changed. This was the Lord’s doing and was a necessary part in David’s growing process. The coming hardships are what forged David’s character to lead in Christ, through Christ, and with him,

Despite his previously achieved positions of influence and authority, David needs to leave this place. David leaves empty handed with nothing and no one into his next season. To the naked eye, one could not see his calling and the fact that he had previously already been anointed King. He visibly carried nothing with him into his next season, but what he DID carry was the only thing that mattered, his history in God, his calling and his anointing for it.

I’m almost to the point in the story I’ve been getting to. David arrived at the temple of the Lord at the time while fleeing (the first place he ran to was God’s dwelling, the place of God’s presence) and while there, God had two things for him. The bread of God’s presence, Christ crucified’s living word to nourish, sustain, and feed David. And secondly, what I’ve been aiming at, it that it seems to me a season where God himself is handing his people back, and placing in their hands again, the sword of authority they gained a decade ago when they slew the giant, that big thing from your past that you gained victory in that’s been wrapped in your mantle and hidden away for some time. You may have wondered even it even really happened or if it even mattered since it feels like it was sitting in an unvisable room in your life. It feels like God is saying, I need you empty handed and with me for this next season. Here, I’ve created circumstance where you are only getting sustenance from my words to you, and in this place I’m bringing out your distant past great victory with me and I’m calling that history and authority to the forefront again to pick up, carry, and walk with into your next season.

David asked the priest do you have any weapons–what can carry in my hands to be useful with now? The priest said I only have one weapon here to give to you, your own sword back, the sword you slew Goliath with. Let me hand your beginning, the thing that started it all, your history of victory in God, back to you, it is the mantle you will walk in again. David–alone, disposed of, and running away from the city toward the wilderness again (his old stomping grounds)–was handed back directly from God’s presence what had always been stored and kept there safely all along.

Invitation to Prayer – Death by a Fence

Hey Everyone! It’s been a million years since writing. I had a dream last night that I want to share for the purpose of praying together for the body of Christ.

I was looking down a dirt farm road and there were two large barns off to the left of this road right in front of me. Between these barns was a tall wire fence. This fence was stronger than the strength of a full size dam but it was still just a wire fence. I watched a heard of wild horses running full speed over these hills towards this fence from the left. There was no reduction in speed before they hit. The first died instantly, then the herd kept coming. They did not stop, the horses that hit first piled up dead at the front. The force with which these horses hit literally shook the earth I was standing on. It was a shocking and painful thing to watch.

As I awoke I understood that this fence was picture of running into offense in the heart of many powerful believers resulting in a lot of spiritual death. I do not know if this is offense at God or offense at men. I do not know whether this is happening now, has happened already or will happen. The force of offense resulting in spiritual death was shaking the earth.

Some sobering questions that arose within me from this picture are:
Am I operating out of offense toward another or others? Am I offended at God about something? Am I prepared if God moves in a way entirely against my expectation or understanding right now?

As I shared this dream out-loud, another verse grew in clarity for me. “The love of many will grow cold.” This came to mind not as a pessimistic outlook, but a sobering thermometer gauge of healthiness. This verse doesn’t say suddenly turn cold in an instant, it says “will grow cold.” When things grow in a field, it is a slow occurrence, little by little, over time, beyond the ability of a passing observant eye to even notice the growth. Loving the lord God with all your heart, mind, body, soul; receiving and experiencing the Love he first has for us is our walk of faith. This exchange of love is what everything else lives as an expression of; this is the healthy root of a thing. If we hate our brothers, we will be made into liars.

Thank you for prayers for the body of Christ that her heart would be protected against a great offense affecting many.

Is my love for man/God growing in this season? or growing cold? Return to my first L O V E

What is happening right now?

Let me give you a zoomed out perspective that may offer you someone hope during this time.

  1. I went into the spring of this year knowing God was setting each builder in place, in their callings, in order to fully mobilize the body of Christ this year.
  2. Then COVID-19 happened. The arrangement of destiny placement happened anyway despite of this, and sometimes in part, aided by it.
  3. The wave of restriction that hit our nation in March brought a blanket over every activity not worth fighting to resurrect again. Many things still lay dormant that no one will ever exert the effort and energy to resurrect. Only activities that are pertinent to life and families has endured. Everything that was an old ritual still in motion has fallen away.
  4. You, right now you are placed. Some part of how you have been created is being set in place, is growing beneath the surface, is in the formative stages. You are walking out your destiny today, you are on the path of your destiny today.
  5. If it doesn’t feel great, don’t worry about it. Sometimes we think when we lay ahold of our dreams or purpose everything will be clouds and pillows. Not always so; sometimes exactly the opposite. But there will be growth and growth can be uncomfortable and painful but it will always be worth its reward.
  6. Nothing may comfortable. This is 100% okay. God has every minute (mynoot) detail of society poised and positioned for his glory. Every little hinge and door and window and hallway of culture is intentional. Sickness and disease arn’t intentional, but your lack of ability to trust what you used to is.
  7. God is at peace. He is comfortable with your discomfort and certain in your uncertainty. He’s not doing things happenstancely in your life. When we feel completely dependent on him, it’s because it is real. We ARE completely dependent upon him.
  8. When you are positioned in circumstances that you feel you cannot change, he always retains the ability to change them. This ultimately comes down to his Lordship over your life and how you feel about that. This doesn’t mean joy isn’t set before you or that it is not worth the outcome. On the contrary, its just what your destiny ordered.
  9. You’ve been prepared for this. All that history, all that experience, all that wisdom you’ve been carrying around with you? It is for now.
  10. Your presence in your country matters. That’s why you are there!  Everyday you chose to show up, not let go of kindness, hope for peace, dare to laugh, and love anyway, these all matter…a lot.

I never have answers, only inklings. The course of a world is being altered at this time before our very eyes. We no longer can see our future anymore clearly through the lens of where we’ve come from.

Everything is about relationship. The fastest advancing front of the kingdom in this hour is family, even helped in-part by COVID circumstances. Everything God does is unshakable and preservable. You are a living collection of a lifetime of experiences of love that came in so many forms and fashions. You have experienced kindness and have the ability to continue to give it without condition.

Despite any trouble around you, he is oh so kind, oh so near, oh so excited about you just as you are. He never postpones delighting in you. I hope you feel connection with him despite any lack of understanding or confusion about what’s going on around you. He is not cold or harsh, he is not hurting you, or abrasive.

Nothing that happens for the remainder of this year has not been foreseen by him. Nothing that happens in the next two months will catch God off-guard or cause him to come off kilter. He is firmly placed, unmovable, unshakeable. Not only is he not undeterred, he is expectant and confident. He has seen the end from the very beginning. He is so good at conducting the orchestra of time and humanity.

You are hedged in by blessing right now and beloved of the Lord. Trust is the road that will bring you to the resting place of peace.

Blessings!

Start Again

Last weekend I heard Bobby Conner speak.  He said Jesus showed up to him and his face was sad and when Bobby asked why, Jesus replied, because my people don’t want to spend time with me.

After we left the meeting that night I had a long stream of thoughts in my head that I thought I would share here.  Can I say I already knew this?  Can I say that because it applies to me?  Holy Spirit’s kinda scary.  Let me explain more below.

A decade ago I was in the heart of everything extreme regarding Holy Spirit experiences.  Prayer rooms, conferences, communities, ministry, missions trips, prayer meetings, extravagant poverty and generosity, new adventures, preaching, ministering to the poor, etc.  Its safe to say many many of us remember those times of waking up to everything supernatural, unseen, giftings, refinement, and faith challenging.  Literally on the the floor, taken over by God.

Then I noticed another season.  I noticed it but hadn’t articulated it, until someone else did that for me.  An old fatherly preacher said first you are a part of a move of God and so is everyone else.  Then you fall flat on your face, and that’s a move of God too, and so did everyone else.

Between the years of 2013-2016 or around there I noticed so many people encounter very challenging or hard circumstances.  I’m referring to the sold out crowd.  The whole-hearted ones.  We had followed God–Holy Spirit–to the best of our growing ability and it led us right into heartbreak, setback, disappointment, confusion, or disillusionment.

So people are still figuring out which way is up, many people are forever changed through these experiences.  And we should be.  That’s why we have them.  But pain is a hard thing to choose willingly.  I know for myself I wondered how I had heard wrong, or gotten off track, or the lingering question of why?

God works healing, restoration, recovery, strength, and endurance in the midst of our inability to fix things, mend things, turn back time, or undo what’s been done.  Sometimes this happens overnight but more often than not it happens as the seasons pass by one after the other and the sting is gone and we can hear truth in the peace.  Or at least feel love in it again.

This may be the time to start again my friends.  Us, the family of God that has been learning so many things with our paradigms, communities, and living situations having changed so dramatically since back then.

So do we dare to open up ourselves again to a God that seemingly led us into a crash course with something we didn’t sign up for?  Will we be wholehearted again when it feels like we don’t even have our whole heart anymore or don’t know where we lost pieces of it along the way?

Our minds know he’s good.  Our minds know he’s faithful.  Our minds know he has a plan.  It’s the time of our hearts thawing towards him again.  We may look more secular, we may speak more secular, we may live lifestyles where religion can’t be detected much anymore but we are right where he’s invited us all.

He really is a wise orchestrater and he knew all the outcomes before all this happened.  You’re not off track.  You’re not lost, because he knows right where you are.  Myself included, I feel like this is the time for affections to be repaired and emotions to be restored.  In him, towards him, for him, and with him.

You have overcome.  You are equipped.  You are gifted.  You are included.  You are loved.  Maybe your dreamer got broken.  Maybe your believer ran out of power.  But there is life within you.  There is purpose in your breath.  There is glory in your experiences, maybe the failures more than successes.

God never invited Jesus into comfort, acceptance, celebration, the loyalties of those around him, freedom from pain, or glory among men during his life.  God has a much different value scale than you or I.  You may not know that every purpose that God had in the midst of your experiences has been accomplished.

He doesn’t want you as a worker anymore.  He does miss me.  He does miss us.  Maybe we are ready.  Maybe we are ready again to say yes.  All of us just know we will never say yes again to the mistakes or pains of our past.  There is glory in that.

We’ve heard all along in our involvement with Charismatic circles that God is moving towards doing wonders and miracles beyond our wildest imaginations.  We carry the memory of the hope we had of being in the center of that.  I think we still are.  I think you still are.  God knows what he’s doing on a global scale in exact timing.

Don’t respond to him in duty.  Don’t turn him away from a place of pain.  He is a lover.  He wants to share his love with us.  He wants to experience our presence.  Share our excitement and our pain.  He wants to comfort us and cause us to believe in ourselves again.

The winter perhaps is over and gone and new leaves are sprouting again.  The warmth is returning, the river is thawed, and life will grow. And we will see it and feel it in our own lives.  A lot is accomplished during the winter and you prime for fruit bearing in your renewed surrender.

The pain, the disappointment, distrust, or broken normal may not ever repair itself to life as it once was but we will have a different understanding of who God is and who we are in its occurrence.  Hope, Faith, and Love have become even more untouchable within us by the circumstances without us.  We have grown.

I can’t promise it won’t hurt again.  Continuing to follow him without understanding or being able to see what he sees about yourself.  I can’t promise you won’t experience or disappointment again.  But I can assure you your fullest life–not coasting by denying your numbness as time passes–the reason you were created as you were, lies in your renewed yes, your renewed faith through confusion, your willingness in your weakness, your availability in expressing and receiving love once again.

Beautiful army bearing the scars of maturity, dare to feel safe in his arms, rather than our avoidance or control once again.