The End Of Teflon Deceptions

There is an abundance of conflicting opinion coming from a wide variety of sources regarding the critical issues facing our nation. Listening to this noisy crowd can become a dizzying experience. Some are beginning to wonder who they can trust as a reliable source in the current news cycle of American politics.

While contemplating this dilemma in prayer, the Lord said, “This is a moment in your history when some in the political sphere will lose their Teflon-like ability to deflect truth by having it slide away with carefully crafted explanations and deflections. These surfaces have worn thin. Truth is about to stick to these worn surfaces revealing the motives of the heart. This will shake the false confidence many in my Church have placed in these man-made systems.”

“While this sticking is taking place do not delight in what transpires, but become humble in your heart realizing this same deception can exist in you. I will cause truth to stick to lives that feel immune and beyond the reach of my integrity. No longer will people be able to use a political spirit to manipulate and deflect righteous confrontation.  Truth is about to stick to the political pans that have been used to cook appealing meals of deception.”

Teflon Deceptions

There is an abundance of conflicting opinion coming from a wide variety of sources regarding the critical issues facing our nation. Listening to this noisy crowd can become a dizzying experience. Some are beginning to wonder who they can trust as a reliable source in the current news cycle of American politics.

While contemplating this dilemma in prayer, the Lord said, “This is a moment in your history when some of your politicians will lose their Teflon-like ability to deflect truth by having it slide away with carefully crafted explanations and deflections. These surfaces have worn thin. Truth is about to stick to these worn surfaces revealing the motives of the heart. This will shake the false confidence many in my Church have placed in these man-made systems.”

“While this sticking is taking place do not delight in what transpires, but become humble in your heart realizing this same deception can exist in you. I am about to cause truth to stick to lives that feel immune and beyond the reach of my integrity. No longer will people be able to use a political spirit to manipulate and deflect righteous confrontation.  Truth is about to stick to the political pans that have been used to cook appealing meals of deception.”

It is Time to Spiritually Rehydrate

Today, I was watching the beautiful Yakima River flow past our hotel room moving downstream to join with the mighty Columbia. In the river I saw an image. It was the image of a single gallon of water floating downstream hidden in the middle of the river’s massive flow. That single gallon carried with it an assignment to refresh a weary soul. 

At this time of year, the Yakima River is flowing at the rate of 1,000 cubic feet per second. The gallon of water only filled about one square foot of space in the middle of the other 999 cubic feet of water moving downstream. That single gallon of water is not insignificant because it is part of something much larger and flows within the same potential as the larger river. Contained in that single gallon of water is supernatural refreshment that will renew you enough to begin moving forward once again to engage the next leg of your journey. 

Today, step into the river of God’s presence and drink your portion. The dry feelings that you have recently experienced have caused you to dehydrate emotionally and spiritually. This fresh drink of God’s presence will immediately rehydrate your life and transform that negative experience. The immense river of God’s presence that carried your refreshment will now begin to flow from within your life to your family, your city and to the nations of the world. The refreshing drink you are about to take will have unimaginably positive consequences.

“If you are thirsty, come to me! If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow from within your innermost being.” John 7:37-38

The Greatest Truth

God is good. Those three words comprise the greatest truth a human being will ever discover about God. The spiritual giants of the faith discovered that truth time and time again throughout the course of history. The record of their discoveries is contained in Scripture and within the personal testimonies they carried into the far corners of the Earth. These people saw the goodness of God in the depths of their most painful experience and were changed forever. Because of that revelation they were able to confidently navigate through any storm of life that developed along the course of their journey of faith.  

The discovery of God’s goodness is the doorway through which we walk to experience deeper levels of revelation and encounter. If we fail to discover His goodness in each circumstance of life we will be blown from one sorrow to another without the hope of resolution. Our lives will become a rudderless vessel tossed about on the prevailing wind of sorrow.  

In this moment of your life, no matter how intense the storm, God’s goodness is present and waiting to be discovered. Once discovered, His goodness will redefine your present reality from an experience of overwhelming pain and sorrow to one of overwhelming hope and expectation. The rudder of God’s goodness may seem small in the face of the storm’s intensity, but it has the supernatural ability to steer the course of your life through the wind and the waves and deliver you to a safe harbor. In all things, trust God’s goodness. It will never leave you or forsake you.

A Room with a View

Jan and I are attending the Worldcast Ministries Conference in Yakima, Washington. Later today I am scheduled to speak.  As I sit in our beautiful hotel room going over the notes for my message, I am looking through a window at the Yakima River. The window is framing a visible metaphor for life and wisdom.  Looking out the window I only see the image before me – a window, a balcony, a walking path and the river. Had Jan and I not left our room for an early morning walk along the river we would have never seen the geese flying overhead or how the river forks and surrounds an island the boy in me wanted to swim out to and explore.  In order to see more we had to get out of our room and leave behind the narrow representation of reality our window provided.

At age 66, I am being overhauled. No, I am not getting a tummy-tuck, a hair transplant or a new wardrobe. I am having my understanding of God’s Kingdom overhauled. It’s time. I am in need of a spiritual tune up and oil change. I used to think at this time in my life I would have it all figured out, but now I realize how dangerous that way of thinking can be if left unchecked. The Kingdom isn’t static. It is always expanding. God’s Kingdom is continually tearing itself from the grip of people who think they have God defined and contained within the grasp of their limited understanding.

To understand this thing called the Kingdom of God requires that we become explorers who are willing to leave our room and its limited view of reality and walk outside to see the bigger picture. Staying in the room of our theological status quo creates small people with small views of God and His Kingdom. God is doing something large and ever increasing on the face of the earth. We can never see that expansive work of God if we stay holed up in the room of our assumptions. Get out and explore what is beyond your current line of sight. Outside, somewhere along the path, is where the next season of your life is waiting to be discovered.

Re-greasing the Axles of the Church

God is leading His people to a new place. This will require a fresh anointing of God’s Spirit in those places where we have allowed our experience with God to become dry. Without that fresh anointing we will remain immobilized and unable to move forward to complete the next leg of the journey set before us.

The covered wagons used by the early pioneers who settled the untamed American West were filled with all the items they would need to carve out a new life in the wilderness. If the wagon and its contents did not complete the journey with the pioneers they would not have the tools needed to create a new settlement. Hanging from beneath each of these wagons was a grease bucket. The bucket was filled with a mixture of animal fat and tar. The grease was used to keep the axles of the wheels lubricated so the wagon would continue to roll.  An axle that was not lubricated would eventually dry out causing the wheel to seize up. Every day before the wagons broke camp each wagon driver would make sure the wheels of their wagon were greased. To forget that one thing would put their family and the entire wagon train in a place of jeopardy.

On the Day of Pentecost the axle of the Church was supernaturally greased. The events of that day were never intended to be a onetime experience. The Church began to roll forward at Pentecost in the power and demonstration of God’s Spirit. God has not changed His methodology. We were not empowered by the event itself, but by the Person of Jesus Christ.  He was the one who initially greased the first wheels of the Church and He stands ready to anoint us again in this day. 

Each time in last 2,000 years, whenever the Church turned away from the empowering presence of the Spirit thinking we could complete the journey under our own power and ability we became dry, seized up and stopped rolling forward. Instead of calling on Heaven to freshly grease the wheels of our lives and ministries, we built encampments in dry destinations God never intended to become our final encampment.

It is into these dry encampments where the Lord is coming to re-grease His Church. There is too much at stake and too much taking place on the world stage for a powerless demonstration of the Gospel. It is about to get sloppy. Grease cannot be applied in a dainty fashion. It wasn’t a tidy process on the Day of Pentecost and neither will it be in our day. The circled wagons are about to get greased and the Wagon Master is putting out the call to, “Move out!”  To obey this call will require a well-greased axle.

The Jesus Nut

A friend of mine is a helicopter pilot. One day in conversation he referred to something called, “The Jesus Nut”. The Jesus Nut is a single nut that holds the rotor blades to the helicopter. If that nut comes off the helicopter will fall from the sky like a rock.

In our overly complicated world the most important thing you can do when life gets overwhelming is to make sure your understanding of Jesus is secure. Colossians 1:17 tells us, “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” In other words, our entire world from the force of gravity to the sustaining of life itself is held together and functioning properly because Jesus is holding all of it together.

The current political turmoil, the next wave of terror and each challenge you face on a personal level can be confidently navigated if you choose to believe Jesus is able to hold everything together even when the violent turbulence of life crosses your flight path. You may not be able to change everything that needs changing in this world, but there is one thing you can do - you can make sure at the top of your life the Jesus Nut is secure. With Jesus securely set as your only point of confidence you will be able to fly, hover and navigate through anything this life throws at you.

I used to watch my helicopter-pilot-friend conduct a pre-flight check of all the systems on his helicopter before each flight. He would always make sure to climb on top of the airframe and check the security of the Jesus Nut. When he knew the Jesus Nut was secure he could fly his mission with confidence knowing he did everything within his power to ensure a safe flight no matter what challenging circumstance might develop in route.