Divine Placements are Taking Place

This is a time when God will intervene in the affairs of our nation. Historically, He has raised up the likes of Esther, Daniel, and Joseph to accomplish His will in similar times. These are people whom God chooses and uses to influence the decisions made in the highest positions of an earthly kingdom and its institutions. 

As passionate as I am to see cultural reformation take place, to create a flourishing future for all, I realize this reformation will not come by the best of our efforts alone. God must intervene so that in the end, the glory that comes from such change is not attached to our best efforts, but to Him alone.  Only by the direction of God’s hand and by His divine placement of chosen individuals in the highest positions of influence within a society will a culture undergo the dramatic and needed institutional change it requires to ensure the inheritance of civil righteousness and justice for future generations. 

 

While the Kingdom of God is very different from the governments and institutions of the world, we are still called to be agents of change for the better whenever possible, whether that change takes place one-on-one in the marketplace or while influencing change at the highest office in the land. In the days ahead, pray and believe that God is at work in our nation. His intervention is taking place.

God Will Help Us Succeed

We are in a time like that of Nehemiah, a man called by God to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem. Behind the scenes and without the permission of potential dissenters, Nehemiah rallied allies and began the project as doubting eyes looked on. 

When his plan was finally discovered,  Nehemiah explained why he was taking on the project and why it would be successful.

 

“Then I told them about how the gracious hand of God had been on me, and about my conversation with the king. They replied at once, 'Yes, let’s rebuild the wall!' So, they began the good work” (2:18). 

 

Like those who initially thought reconstructing the walls was an impossible task, it only took a single word of hope to turn the tide. All creative work begins with an expression of hope.

 

To the natural eye, our culture may appear headed for disaster and social collapse. Still, for those with ears to hear the word of the Lord and vision to see God’s plan for restoration, this is a season of tremendous opportunity.

 

Reformers and restorers do not work from consensus. They work from revelation. Put aside the doubt and fear that has been deposited in your heart and mind and open your thinking to the possibilities of Heaven's environment being expressed on Earth. 

Against impossible odds, Nehemiah carried with him a victorious word of hope. He spoke that word to the listening crowd, “The God of heaven will help us succeed” (2:20). That is our hope as we venture into our culture to rebuild the broken walls of our nation and the broken walls of human hearts. God will help us succeed.

 

Redefining God

Over the last several decades in western culture, some have attempted to redefine God. The isolated halls of academia and a culture living insulated from much of the sorrow that afflicts the rest of the world has been a seedbed for this process of progressive redefinition. At the end of this process, an idol will stand before us, an idol forged by a misguided view of God formed apart from His word.

Some of these redefinitions sound appealing until they begin to stumble over Scripture. One example floating around and gaining some traction is the idea that when Jesus rose from the dead, all humanity was saved. We are told we no longer have to worry about the response of people to the Gospel since everyone will eventually end up in Heaven. After all, they say, the God we created would not have it otherwise. This version of God has no consequences attached to human action or inaction. Again, it sounds good until the Scripture gets in the way.

 

In the issue of personal salvation, words like “believe,” “receive,” and “accept” cause these redefiniions to stumble. John 1:12 is one example, “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.” All relationships require an invitation and a commitment. For those of us who have married, an invitation of matrimony was offered and accepted before we could enter into the life-long commitment of marriage. Love requires the exercise of our will.

 

When Jesus walked the earth, there were no altar calls or sinner’s prayers, but there was a point in each person’s life when they yielded themselves to the invitation of Jesus to receive the life He offered. There is a lot of freedom of expression offered in the exercise of our faith. But that freedom never lessens the importance of the exercise of our will when it comes to the offer of eternal life. 

 

In the days to come, those who actually take the time to read the Bible to understand its meaning and context, and remain teachable in the process, will be the ones who stay clear of the idols created by pop theology and the deceptions they produce. Even when we think we have it all figured out more revelation will come to challenge what we confidently thought was the truth, but sadly, was only an idol we created in the image of our limited understanding. 

Heaven's Intervention

For every issue, there are typically two camps at polar opposites of each other. Each side is entrenched in its narrative with supporting evidence to uphold its position as the only viable option. We are at that place concerning many issues in our culture. This impasse has created an opportunity for divine intervention. In the coming days, turn your eyes from the limitations of earthly solutions and look to Heaven. God is about to demonstrate His Lordship over the affairs of Earth in ways that will astound us all. My hope is placed only in the intervention of God. Without Him, all other options hopeless.

Disarming Verbal Snipers

Beginning in late May, someone has been shooting at vehicles traveling on Interstate 5, the main north-south freeway that travels along the west coast. The shootings are taking place on a 70 mile stretch of freeway in the area where Jan and I live. The shootings have only been bullet strikes to vehicles until yesterday when the sniper’s bullet struck a woman in her shoulder. We would appreciate your prayers. This person needs to be brought to justice sooner than later.  

Like all forms of violence, escalation is always possible because violence seeks to increase its presence when not confronted. Just as the freeway sniper has now escalated the deadly potential of his/her acts of violence, so it is with anything in life. Restraint, not the freedom to do whatever an evil desire demands, is the mark of an emotionally and spiritually healthy person.

While a freeway sniper is a real concern for the safety for those of us who live in southern Oregon, so are the contributing words and actions we might add as kindling to the burning fires of emotion now aflame in our culture. Like the progression of the mindset of a sniper firing at innocent motorists, so it is with us when we respond to cultural stimuli without the restraint of the Spirit’s presence.

I understand much of the frustration happening in this emotionally charged pandemic-election cycle-economic downturn social distancing-wear your mask culture. We want to fire off our disgust at someone. We may start by taking aim at the nearest moving vehicle of dissent, but at some point, our unrestrained words can escalate and become a deadly projectile that creates an outcome of harm, not healing. Words do matter. They can be as fatal as a bullet.

 

Today, take a break from what riles you. Walk away from your computer, TV, or smartphone screen and breathe. Bend down and smell a rose, or walk through your neighborhood and say a warm hello to everyone you meet, or simply stare out a window and dream about something you stopped dreaming about when all this craziness first started. 

When we take time to do these simple things, we interrupt the flow of our thinking and our focus shifts. We are able to redirect our thought process and become more willing to put down the weapons of our dissent. This gives the Lord time to speak to our angst and recalibrate our thinking. Under the influence of His love, a renewed sense of hope and trust will come to wash away our need to fire off comments at every passing opinion of which we might disagree. 

A Time of Defining and Refining

One thing that will emerge from this time of social isolation and cultural shutdown will be a clarification between the Gospel of Salvation and the Gospel of the Kingdom. 

Those who follow the Gospel of the Salvation believe that Jesus came to Earth solely to lead people to Himself.  While that is true, and thankfully so,  it is not the only reason He came. When Jesus spoke the Great Commission, the Lord instructed us to go and make disciples of all nations. The assumption is He must first bring people to Himself before they can begin to reach the nations. The Gospel of the Kingdom casts a much wider net. 

While the Gospel message includes the salvation and discipling of individuals, it does so with a mission in mind to disciple nations. A Kingdom-focused gospel will call people to Christ and then send them out to speak the truth in love to those institutions of a culture where the dominant sound may not reflect the heart of God. All of this must be done while keeping our eyes on Jesus, or it will become selfish, partisan, and self-centered.

 

Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ and Loren Cunningham of YWAM met in 1975 and spoke of the seven spheres of cultural influence where the Church needs to be involved if a nation is to be discipled. Much of their ministry focus that followed reflected that shared understanding. The areas of culture Bright and Cunningham discussed, where the Church is called to be a transforming presence, are Government, Religion, Education, Economy, Arts & Entertainment, Media, and Family. The current 7 Mountain understanding of the Great Commission mission flows from that meeting 45 years ago.

 

Each believer is already an influencing presence in the area of Family and Religion. Some who believe in a salvation only Gospel are not comfortable with believers involving themselves in areas like politics. Those same critics celebrate a recording artist becoming a believer and staying in the sphere of media as a witness for Christ or an educator who contends with a local school board that wants to introduce an unrighteous curriculum. It’s okay for a believing economist to attempt to direct tax funds toward an inner-city project by changing a funding policy. Still, somehow a believer “getting political” is out of bounds. It makes no sense when viewed through the lens of the Great Commission.

 

The Lord is currently defining and refining His Church. None of us will go through this process without stumbling, many times, offending each other. In this unusual time, our most challenging task will be to monitor the condition of our hearts and the character of our response to those with whom we disagree.

 

Jesus came to seek and save the lost so that once transformed, we could go into all the world and declare the heart of God under the influence and power of the Spirit. Hopefully, our efforts will lead to the transformation of the institutions within each nation to more accurately reflect the heart of God. As a result, each citizen will have an opportunity to flourish and prosper. If that freedom is ever taken from us, it will not stop the Gospel from being released.  The Church in China and Iran are current examples of that truth. While we have such freedom, we should use it. 

"The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

 

Keep Your Eye on California

As a native Californian having lived in Oregon now for more years than I spent in the state growing up, I have watched California's life and politics with interest. Yesterday, Kamala Harris was selected as Joe Biden’s running mate. Again, my focus was directed to California. 

I was born and raised in California. I love the state’s diversity of geography, climate, and culture. The state is now large enough economically to represent the status of a nation. It is also a state in trouble. Some of its cities are revealing deep despair. People are leaving California in droves. It is not the state of my youth. California has been described as a national indicator of the future direction of the nation. At this moment, it is indicating trouble. It is also destined by the Lord to become a spiritual indicator exhibiting potential for revival and transformation. God loves California, and its people and He has something good planned for the future of the state. 

Four months ago, I wrote a blog article titled, “Out From the Shadow” (linked below). At the time, I knew what the Lord was saying to me, but did not have permission to write in detail. My words appeared like a riddle by design. At the time, I told Jan I felt Kamala Harris would be selected as Biden’s running mate. In the brief article, I said, “One will come forth and walk in the shadow of another. This shadowed one is the primary, not the secondary.”

 

Like some have already expressed they believe Mr. Biden may not have an extended stay in office if elected, for whatever reason. Behind Vice-President Biden now stands Kamala Harris and behind Harris in the shadows, stands the Governor of California, Gavin Newsome. Harris and Newsome both came from the seedbed of the San Francisco political arena. Harris was the city’s District Attorney and later became the state’s Attorney General, and was eventually elected to the state Senate. Newsome was the mayor of San Francisco and later ascended to state politics as Governor. Newsome has been seen by some political observers as a person with presidential aspirations. Also hailing from San Francisco is Speaker Nancy Pelosi. San Francisco is a powerful and well-funded political machine that has produced state and national leaders.

 

What California is revealing to us is the course of a nation’s future in natural terms. Politics, whether you like them or not, do not accurately reveal a nation's spiritual future. Keep your eye on California, not for its politics, but for its spiritual potential. Politics are only natural indicators, not the future spiritual potential of a nation. People in office from any party are not an enemy. They are people loved by God who deserve our prayers. Look past the personalities and platforms to see what God is doing in the state. Begin to pray for those in power and those aspiring to power. Don’t limit your prayers to simply a change of those in office or a particular policy with which you disagree. Keep praying for the hearts of the state’s leaders to experience God’s love. Also, keep praying for God's justice to be revealed so that real change can take place.

 

I am believing in something beautiful and transformative to happen in my home state. God wants to show us that those we might deem as enemies of the good can actually become partners in righteousness. For some, this will be a leap of faith to believe it could be possible because they only know and have been led to believe a negative narrative, not a Kingdom narrative.

 

God is creating a new narrative for California, and that sound is being heard by those with ears to hear. That is the narrative we need to pray into and its where we should invest our resources and energy. Keep God’s heart for California in the forefront of your thinking and call to remembrance the prophecies of goodness spoken over her. 

www.prophetichorizons.com/2020/03/out-from-shadow.html

An Approaching Moment of Singularity

I listened to an interview with a scientist describing the concept of Singularity. Singularity is a moment in history when seemingly disconnected events happen at the same time with such rapidity, they seem to the human mind as a single event. It would be like all the scientific and technological advancements made in the last 100 years happening in a single moment. It will be an overwhelming experience to a mind not accustomed to such rapid revelation.

A moment in human history is approaching that will challenge our understanding of life and how the future will unfold. When this time comes, the Lord will be the only safe harbor as these events unfold, seemingly out of control. 

This is not another end-times scenario. It is a moment of transition where the Church will be revived and reformed to engage culture with hope and offer solutions that will solve many of the struggles faced by humanity. The opportunity these events offer will become gateways into Ephesians 3:20 moments in human history where God will accomplish more than we could imagine. These events will lead us to a hope-filled future.

On the world stage, events are beginning to cluster into what will become a moment of singularity. The prophets have spoken of these events many times but as isolated revelations. A moment of singularity is being formed that will bring together the fulfillment of multiple prophecies that seemed wild and questionable at the time of their initial delivery. This single moment of mass fulfillment will create confusion and in some cases, delusion for many whose eyes are not focused on the Lord, even among those whose faith appeared strong in the past.

 

As this moment of singularity appears, there will be only one way to survive emotionally and spiritually. As the psalmist said, “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (Psalm 16:8). As the world shakes in a moment of unexpected singularity, we have an opportunity to live with an unshakeable faith in the One who is never shaken by the turmoil and transitions of humanity.

 

Alone for a Reason

Some of you find yourself standing in a lonely place. You are in that place because you heard a word from the Lord and walked into its revelation.  That act of obedience has moved you in a new direction, not of your choosing. 

 

Previously, you followed the developing events of life, as many still do. It was easier then because you moved with a group where you experienced support and consensus. Now you seem to stand alone. You see the movement of culture and the transitions taking place in the Church from a prophesied future. It seems odd and frankly, a bit uncomfortable.  

 

The events that will take place to confirm what the Lord has revealed will bring clarity and answer some of your "why" questions. God is at work in the lives of those making their way to the revelation you carry. Give this process time to develop. The Lord is working on the hearts of people and adjusting their worldview.

 

You have been called to this lonely place to make announcements of hope as the culture and the Church move into a new and yet to be explored future. Hope will be the only safe pathway to lead people to that future where they will arrive, having experienced transformation and reformation. 

Words polluted by fear, angst, and despair will not lead people into the future God has planned. He has entrusted you with a message of hope that people will need to hear as they move through the unfamiliar terrain of change and transition. 

You were never alone. The Lord has been standing with you and speaking through you. Take heart. Your lonely place will soon be populated.

That All May Flourish

I remember the day when I found a word that accurately defined reformation. The word is "flourish." It is a word used by a group of men and women who had invited Jan and me to join them in a strategy session unpacking the subject of cultural reformation. We discussed how to fulfill the Great Commission, where Jesus instructed his followers "to go and make disciples of all the nations" (Matthew 28:19). That day my eyes were opened to previously unimagined possibilities.

 

What made this group so unique was that they actually possessed the collective wisdom, finances, and technologies to accomplish their mission. This was heady stuff because it carried the potential to direct the course of nations. Defining the goal of their endeavor was critical, or it could be highjacked by wrong motives and aim at a destination of results far from the heart of God. The purpose of the group was to positively affect a nation and its institutions to such a degree that it would begin to reflect the love of God no matter the social status, ethnicity or political persuasion of the recipient. They wanted to be the hands and feet of Jesus' prayer "on Earth as it is in Heaven."

 

This kind of reformation will seem impossible to those who look to human-inspired political solutions or the desire to make everyone look, talk, and live the same way. True reformation is not about creating our preferred version of an earthly theocracy. It is about creating an environment where God's love is expressed by seeking the highest good for others.

 

God's timing is impeccable. When our culture seems to have reached its lowest point of fatigue and distrust, the Lord is preparing to reveal templates for a reformation that will lead individuals and nations toward a hope-filled future. Committing our lives and resources to a mission that allows all people and all nations to flourish under God's loving hand will help us decide where to invest our energy and resources in the days to come. All is not lost, no matter how sideways our world seems at this moment. God is illuminating a path toward a future we cannot yet imagine.

 

"May the Lord cause you to flourish, both you and your children" (Psalm 115:14).

Cities Surrounded by Angels

Evil, like water, will find seek the course of least resistance. In my state of residence, Oregon, evil manifestations of a spirit of rebellion, have found that place of least resistance in some of our cities. Evil will continue to manifest if not challenged. It has now moved its activities from civic structures in the heart of our cities to suburban neighborhoods and has even threatened to destroy a cross that sits in the midst of a Christian college.

 

What I just described are the obvious realities of how evil works. Anyone can see and understand what is happening on a natural and visible level. A rational person knows evil must be confronted with all resources available, both spiritual and natural. What we can miss, as our fear and corresponding anger rises, is what God is doing out of sight as an answer to our prayers. If our faith is too practical and earthbound, we will not consider that angels are being commissioned and assigned by the Lord to stand between us and the forces of darkness. These are not nice or polite angels. They are powerful warriors who will aggressively slice through the works of darkness at the command of the Lord.

There are more angelic forces present in Oregon at this moment than we could imagine. Their numbers would boggle our minds. I have friends who will be prayer-walking today in the streets of Portland and Eugene. For every believer who walks in prayer and worship in opposition to these demonic forces, 10,000 angels will be at your side fighting an unseen battle. The evidence of that victory of that battle will be seen in the transformation of hearts and lives.

The reason why these evil spirits are appearing more volatile and demonstrative is that they can see what many of us have failed to see in the realm of the Spirit. They know their time is short and Heaven’s resistance to their activities will be swift and overwhelming.

Making a Righteous Sound

Speaking the truth in love requires sound. A silent church that hopes to get back to “normal” without addressing the elephants in the room will have missed an opportunity to express the sound of truth in this time of growing anarchy and censorship. Yes, we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but we are also to be His voice. An honorable protest is part of our rich cultural history. Violent riots are the work of a spirit of anarchy and never lead to righteous outcomes. Civic leaders who have abdicated their assignment to protect a community will have to answer to a higher authority for their compromise and complicity. Evil taking place even within the smallest part of a city is like leaven. A tiny bit of leaven left unchallenged will eventually corrupt the larger host. We need to find our voice as believers, or someday our descendants will ask why we were silent. The fear of man will not be an excuse that will stand the test of integrity.

The Arrival of Unexpected Miracles

To those of you who lead anything - a business, a church, or a family – God knows what you are facing. You are giving it your best, and yet you still have a lingering suspicion that your best might not be enough or that somehow you have missed an important step along the way. Everyone, this writer included, has opinions about what you should do, but not all we offer is the opinion of God. Sometimes, sadly, our opinions may not reflect the heart of God. 

The Lord knows what you are facing. While you struggle trying to discover your next step, the Lord has a hidden miracle planned, something secreted away from your current understanding. It will arrive unexpectedly and seemingly out of nowhere. These hidden miracles are hovering over businesses, churches, families, and even nations, waiting for deployment. When these miracles arrive, they will reveal the love of God in astounding ways. Choose to live in that expectation. It will bring you the hope you need to wisely lead in this very challenging season of life.

The Sword of Government

The older translations of Romans 13 tell us the government does not bear the sword in vain. In more contemporary language, we would read that phrase as “without purpose.” One noted translator rendered that portion of Romans 13 to read “'not to hide it (sword) in the scabbard, but to draw it.” 

The rule of law is in place so we can endure the violent swings of culture and remain intact as a society. As those swings take place, a government will attempt to keep social order. If you have never lived in the middle violent social disorder, it is hard to imagine what that feels like. While missionaries serving overseas, Jan and I lived through situations where social disorder had broken down to such a degree that we worried about our safety, and in a couple of cases, our very lives. 

Jan had this happen to her as a little girl. Her parents were missionaries in Central America. Rumors had been circulating through the small town where they lived of a violent uprising coming against them as Protestant missionaries. One night, a large mob assembled in front of their home carrying torches, Molotov Cocktails, and machetes intent on killing her family and destroying their home. Just as the mob was about to carry out their deadly mission, soldiers arrived with bayonets fixed and pushed the crowd back bringing an end to what would have been the scene of multiple grisly murders.

Social order is more than speeches, kind gestures, and political promises. Order must be maintained at times by force. Force can seem rough and out of proportion to those watching the news from the comfort of a living room sofa or from within the insulated halls of debate. When the “sword” of government is wielded, it is not a pleasant thing to behold. But at times, it is necessary. To those whose neighborhoods, businesses, and even their very lives are in danger from a spirit of anarchy, the arrival of those assigned to defend life and property is a welcome sight.

The Most Dangerous Person in the Room

When I was a young cop, my training officer taught me a lot. I watched how he moved through a hostile crowd of drunks in a bar. He was able to read a crowd. One thing he did was to determine who was the most dangerous person in the room. This is the person who, if not approached with discernment and challenged with wisdom, could do the greatest harm. When that person was finally engaged and disempowered, all of their followers who fed off that person’s bravado seemed to lose steam.

There most dangerous people in our culture are not always found in a dingy, smoke-filled bar. Some of them are within the Church. The danger they present is not bullying, but a lack of gritty realism. This problem developed in the last few decades when well-meaning people mixed Christianity with a misunderstanding of biblical reality. As a result, they created a context that was never present in the real world of the first century. Today, these people call Jesus a socialist when, in fact, he and his father ran a carpenter business and had to turn a profit to stay in business. They were more like compassionate capitalists than socialists.  

Content from the Sermon on the Mount has been plucked out of context to justify pacifism in the face of danger. In that sermon, Jesus said if our hand offends us, cut it off. If our eye views something it should not see, we are to pluck it out, and if someone slaps us, to turn the other cheek. All of these commands were issued in the same discourse. I have noticed there are a lot of two-handed, two-eyed people telling others that defending life and limb is not the Christian way. Perhaps Jesus was simply asking if we would be willing to be radically obedient instead of actually cutting off a body part, plucking out an offending eye or sitting idly by as violence has its way unrestrained.  The most dangerous person in the room is not the barroom thug. They can be believers who have created a form of Christianity disconnected from reality. 

People are becoming increasingly nervous. That unsettled feeling has arisen because of a lack of leadership, not just in the institutions of culture, but in the ranks of believers. This happens when we allow our faith to be diluted with an irrational interpretation of reality. Our world is now at a tipping point, more than most of us realize. Courage is not silence and passivity. It looks a lot like what my training officer did when he was outnumbered and surrounded by a hostile crowd in a late-night bar. Courage and truth can disarm the plans of a thuggish spirit before it creates a hellish environment that makes living a good life seem impossible.

A Stream of Distractions

A moment of distraction has been created by a virus and social issues, both of which are important to address, but they are not on the front line of a developing global confrontation. Where our eyes are focused will determine our place in the coming conflict.

At this critical moment in history, God is looking for people who are like the warriors in Gideon’s army who were about to engage the Midianites in battle. God winnowed down 22,000 warriors to only 300 by using a simple test. He told Gideon to watch how his troops drank water as the conflict was developing. The Lord instructed Gideon to select only those warriors who did not submerge their faces in the stream to drink but cupped the water in their hands and brought it to their faces while watching for enemy movement. As it was for the army of Gideon, so it is for us. This is a time to keep our eyes on Heaven, not bury our understanding in a stream of distractions no matter how painful they seem. 

This morning, I wrote to several pastors in Portland, Oregon, a city under assault by dark forces. I shared with the pastors that God is about to release a heavenly invasion in their city that will overcome the works of darkness. The Church carries the destiny of cities, not elected officials or the pawns being used to institute unrighteous agendas.

God will always have the last word and the last, game-changing move no matter how hopeless a situation might appear. Any thinking that does not include that understanding is flawed. Do not allow your thirst for an outcome, no matter how convinced you are that you have the right perspective, to submerge your spiritual discernment in a stream of distractions. Those distractions will keep you from seeing the greater battle about to be waged. 

Stay vigilant and spiritually aware at this hour, even when your thirst for results seems overwhelming. In the coming months, we will see world powers begin to flex their threatening muscles leading some to believe a global confrontation is imminent. While that may take place, what God has planned will dwarf the most fearful predictions, even when truth seems outnumbered. 

Taken by Surprise

We have always been at war spiritually. There has never been a time of peace between light and darkness. Jesus didn’t paint a rosy picture of how truth lives in a world of compromise and deception. Paul wrote about a battle waged in a realm not always visible to the natural eye. 

False battles are currently being offered to divert our attention, once again, from the reality of the actual spiritual conflict taking place on the world stage.  These false battles are waged with the wrong strategy, tactics, and weaponry. The weapons of our warfare are not discovered in the armory of the flesh. Our battle plan is not reactive. It cannot be discovered by watching the latest newscast or social media video of social unrest. How we are to conduct spiritual warfare is only discerned and implemented through revelation. 

What is taking many by surprise has been the sudden and intense manifestation of the current spiritual battle. What we see has been orchestrated and offered to us as a distraction. That offering is creating a reactive response by some, not a strategic plan for battle, or a wise response to the stimuli these events create. 

Today, examine your battleplan, tactics, and weaponry. What army do these components describe? It is not about winning. The Cross and Resurrection have determined once and for all the complete and absolute victory of Jesus. It's about advancing – advancing God's Kingdom in the face of an onslaught of lies and deceit. 

Truth spoken in love is the most dangerous weapon in our arsenal. For the last 2,000 years, that weapon allowed the Church to live and prosper even when oppression and violence tried to stall her mission. 

What Happens When a Bully Gets a Bloody Nose

There are times when a punch to the nose of a bully is all that will stop their quest for dominance. As a chubby insecure pre-puberty kid, I remember landing a punch on the nose of our playground bully after repeated calls for him to leave me and others alone. After that confrontation, he lost his place of dominance. Peace, laughter, and child-like joy returned to our playground.

A bully is prowling the playground of our culture. He is using fear to push people around. During this time, when the truth is being turned upside, redefined, and trampled under the hooves of a spirit of anarchy, it seems like the bully is getting his way. As this bullying spirit tries to gain a greater foothold, a group of David-like individuals is emerging. They will enter the fray and bring down the bullying spirit of deception with a single stone of truth. 

God’s mercy, justice, and compassion, all components of truth, will empower these men and women to execute a strategic punch that will stun and disempower the spirit of fear that motivates the bully.  God's truth will be the sword that beheads the false thinking of this bully. The bully of fear has had his way for far too long. It is time for peace and order to return to our playground. 

Beware of Smokescreens

Each city has dark spirits assigned to them to manifest their power and control in contradiction to the work of God’s Spirit. The identification of these spirits is not accomplished by natural instinct or intuition. They are identified by discernment empowered by the Spirit. The most visible works of darkness playing out in our cities do not always reveal the identity of those spirits. The dysfunction of a local government and social structures is many times only a smokescreen blurring the actual spirit fomenting discord.  

These smokescreens are offered to keep the Church reacting to their diversions and never really focusing their prayers and actions at the heart of these hellish emissaries. They desire to work undetected and unchallenged for as long as possible. 

You will not discover the identity of these spirits listening to yet another dark and despair-ridden newscast or following your favorite “end times” preacher. These are smokescreens, diversions from the real thing. This insight only comes by revelation - a revelation empowered and delivered by the Holy Spirit. 

“Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!” (Matthew 11:15). 

Confronting False Contentment

Every promise of God will have conflict associated with its possession. When we finally arrive in a place of promise many things will still stand between us and receiving the benefit of living in that new reality. It is in that place of tension that critical choices are made that will determine our future.

After a surprising defeat by a much smaller army, the leaders of Israel were dismayed. They did not understand why they were defeated by the small force from the city of Ai, the second of the ten cities Israel would need to defeat. The defeat came because of the sin of one man. That sin caused the entire nation to suffer and stumble in their mission.

Joshua, seen by many as one of Israel’s most courageous and faithful leaders, had his moment of doubt after the defeat at Ai. As Joshua cried out to the Lord wanting to know what happened, he said, “If only we had been content to stay on the other side!” (Joshua 7:7). The problem with Joshua’s comment was that it was made after Israel had miraculously crossed the Jordan River and were now standing inside the border of the Promised Land.

As believers in the New Covenant, we continuously live inside the Promised Land. Our Promised Land is not geographic or some futuristic heavenly dwelling. It is found in the person of Jesus Christ. We carry our Promised Land with us wherever we walk. 

The COVID-19 pandemic, the current economic problems, our unresolved racial issues, and the cultural dysfunction we see being played out on our smartphones and computer screens, is what all of us are facing at this time in our history. None of these problems has the power to defeat the plans of God for all people and all nations are to flourish under the banner of His love.

When we find ourselves wanting to go back to what life was like before these painful issues arrived and we find ourselves uttering similar words of despair like those spoken by Joshua, we need to stop and correct our negative response.  That correction will be sourced from the realization that we stand securely in the Promised One. Our act of faith is to bring every opposing thought into compliance with that reality. If we can do that, it will change how we view the current conflicts that can, at times, overwhelm even the strongest examples of faith.