Your Life is Not a Test

Your life is not a test. In Christ, it is a masterpiece that God is creating. Your calling is to surrender and discover that God is good regardless of your circumstances. If we will trust in the resilience that only Jesus can bring, the potential of what can happen through us in His name is mind-blowing. We would not need His perseverance if living for God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven was easy. God wants you to know that he is crafting an incomparable work of art with your life. That is not the same as creating a life of ease for you. This is not easy to accept. But, it is the truth. You and I were created for more than a life of ease. Left to ourselves, we would never fulfill our calling as God’s image-bearers. But, in Christ, we have joy in any circumstance because we know we are a part of his story, his workmanship. (inspired by Ephesians 2:10)

Christ is walking where you walk

I was reaching out to friends of mine this morning with a “stirring up” word. After I sent the message to them, I realized that it is an important word for all of us. We have come into a time of unprecedented harvest around the world. We have been sent as his children to do the harvest work. We HAVE TO get it done with Christ.

Wherever you place your feet, Christ in you is also placing his feet. Because he is in you and you are in him every place you walk is a place that the kingdom intends to show up. The Spirit has me contending for greatly improved vision for the eyes of your heart.

You and I can’t let the stubborn resistance of the rebellious world we are living in outwit us as children of God. It will submit to us in Christ if we remain present and enforce the kingdom (in love of course) wherever we go. The very places that resist us or that we don’t feel we belong are places that will be transformed by the kingdom soon! Jesus intends to do this with us as his family if we will keep showing up.

In Christ, you are a blessing!

Giving up our lives? – inspired by 1 John 3:16

King Jesus did SOMEthing that changed EVERYthing. What he accomplished re-launched creation. He gave up his life for us.

But, don’t let that overshadow the greater glory he achieved by rising again from the dead. By giving up his life, he actually opened a massive door for heaven to mesh with the earth that will never be closed. When he rose again, the life he had surrendered began to multiply. As a result, the increase of his government will never end.

What is our call… our response to this? God is awakening people and nations because King Jesus gave up his life. For all of us who say yes to becoming God’s daughters and sons, there is an expectation. It is more than an expectation… it is a fire that we fan with the wind of the Holy Spirit.

Because Jesus gave up his life, we must also give up our lives. It is time for us to blow up the myth that Jesus gave up his life so that we are free to live for ourselves. You and I actually get to give up our lives to increase the legacy of King Jesus… now and for generations to come!

Whatever it costs you today to give your life to what matters, it won’t go unnoticed in heaven. We praise God for you and for the life you are living for the glory of Jesus.

In Christ, you are a blessing!

Seeing differently

People often ask, “If God is real and present with us, why doesn’t he do something about the evil and destruction in the world?”. The prophetic voice asks, “Because God is real and present with us, what am I doing?”. Communing with the Holy Spirit will always change you into more of a living expression of heaven here and now.

God is talking to us today, revealing more of his dreams to us. He is focused and intent on his family in all nations finally growing up until the whole world sees King Jesus. The Holy Spirit is inviting you to trust him, not with the seemingly insurmountable challenges of tomorrow but in the middle of your next steps today. Invite him to show you where and how the light of heaven is streaming into your dim and dark places. God is building us together in Christ. Somehow in his incredible mercy and creativity, he is shining in us and creating a masterpiece on earth as it is in heaven. – inspired by Ephesians 4:11-16

Because Christ is in you, even your most challenging times contain the light of God’s presence. God is real, He is not avoiding your life or your space. Open our eyes, King Jesus to see this day on earth with the vision from heaven. – AMEN

SEEING IN 2020

I’ve been crafting and honing a prophetic word for 2020 over my own life. The phrase that has been coming to me is, “This year you will SEE in 20/20”. I’m working on a prayer that will express what I want God to do in me over the coming year. It involves restoring the eyes of my heart and renewing my ability to see clearly in the Spirit

According to the American Optometric Association, “20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can see clearly at 20 feet what should normally be seen at that distance. If you have 20/100 vision, it means that you must be as close as 20 feet to see what a person with normal vision can see at 100 feet… Having 20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. 20/20 vision only indicates the sharpness or clarity of vision at a distance.”

I want an inner vision that has been refined to “normal visual acuity” for a child of God living to see God’s kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. I want to see at 20 (spiritual) feet what I am supposed to see. And, I love the prophetic idea of having clear “vision at a distance”.

I feel like God is blowing on the fire in our hearts with a desire to see in 20/20 in the New Year. I am definitely intrigued. Has the Spirit been stirring up anything similar to this in your life? I am wondering if others have been getting revelation for the year to come.

I would love to hear your reply!

If you feel overwhelmed…

We are designed to be the temple of the Holy Spirit. Our bodies are created for the presence of King Jesus. God is intent on living in His family, His bride, the church. His church is people. It is you and me.

Something begins to happen as a result of surrendering our lives to Jesus. He starts changing things… changing us. The living Holy Spirit is constantly renovating and upgrading us BECAUSE we are the temple of the living God. For His glory to fill this temple, we need to be made ready.

God is right now renovating the church in all nations, preparing us for a more profound and intense manifestation of the glory of King Jesus. The challenging times and the unprecedented upheavals around the world are happening because all things must come into alignment with God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

As we, His temple, surrender to him we will shine with His glory and increasingly find others drawn to us to find hope. Lately, I have been experiencing more renovations in my own life. God has been aligning the attitudes of my heart and calling me to higher levels in prayer. He needs to do that in me because of what He wants to do through me.

Maybe you have been wondering why life has been harder than usual lately. In the middle of amazing times with God, things seem to be more chaotic. I want to encourage you. If you have surrendered your life to King Jesus, you are in his care and He is with you… not just surrounding you but within you.

He is not working on you out of frustration, but out of a passionate desire to prepare you to shine even more with the fire of His presence. I know it is hard and maybe impossible to find the courage to go on when you are looking at your own strength. We HAVE TO focus on Christ in us in order to find grace in our time of need.

I pray that right now, the eyes of your heart will be opened and you will hear from the Spirit of God that you are not alone. All of the perceived challenges in front of you are only there to make you more amazing for the glory of Jesus. You are not alone and today is a day when we win in Christ.

Healing my Spiritual Vision in 2020

Every November I ask God to give me a word, a focus for the coming year. It stirred in me this morning that I would love for the Spirit of God to bring healing to the eyes of my heart in 2020. I know that seeing everything more clearly as he aligns my vision will call for greater courage and surrender.

Over the next week, I will be crafting my word from the Lord for my life as it relates to 2020. My tradition is to have it ready for my birthday on November 13. I then submit it to King Jesus and surrender it to him as I start on another trip around the sun.

Maybe you would like to ask the Lord about 2020? If you feel like it is a year for him to heal the eyes of your heart, your inner vision, you are welcome to join me in that focus.

As children of God in Christ, we are prophetic people. The Church is called to be a prophet to all nations. May we surrender our vision to King Jesus over and over again so that He will be happy in his Church and his heart will overflow with blessing!

Heaven’s expanse and limits

One of the keys to the unprecedented renewal movement of God on earth is surrender to the ruling presence of God. I have done a lot of wrestling with religious rules and standards over the past 50+ years… both breaking them and keeping them.

In great frustration, as an eighteen-year-old boy, I came to a crisis moment of surrender. I prayed a simple but gut-level honest prayer; “Lord Jesus, I don’t know if this pleases you or not, but you are stuck with me because I can’t live without you.” I didn’t realize it at the time but from that moment, the Holy Spirit was able to establish God’s authority in my inner world. My allegiance shifted from a set of earthly, religious rules to a living, moving “alignment” with God’s presence.

Do you trust God’s presence to govern and renew all things including your being and doing?

Following Jesus means allowing the living, dynamic presence of God to rule in your heart. It means that your whole being and doing is governed by the peace and message of Christ. You will be forever blessed by both the expanse and the limits of God’s judgments. (inspired by Colossians 3:15-16)

The Open Door

There is always a massive reserve of wisdom available to us with Jesus. More than ever before, I am aware that God has reconciled all things to himself in Christ. Reconciliation is a gigantic word.

The unseen things are eternal and what is seen is temporary. It has taken a lifetime to learn, but I am convinced that I wouldn’t last a day without the Spirit of Truth connecting me to life. Somehow, I understand that it’s okay and that He is not in a hurry for me to learn all the lessons.
It is time for us to engage life with a spiritual vision. There is an eternal dimension in every moment of this day. In the simplicity of our routines on earth, heaven is colliding with us. Jesus became the open door for God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The jaw-dropping reality is that somehow He wants to prove it by showing up through you and me today in every ordinary thing we do.

So, maybe today I will more consistently let go of the anxiety connected with propping up my world in my own strength. This I know for sure… Jesus is the one who pulls it all together and He is our open door to more than we could ever imagine.