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.

 

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.

Pickup Your Memorial Stone

Amid all the noise, clamor, and disruption taking place in our culture, God wants to reveal His love and power. That love and power will be visible to those whose eyes have been trained to see His goodness.

When Joshua was leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, they had to cross the Jordan River, which at the time, was running at flood stage. The Lord stopped the river’s flow allowing the Israelites to cross over on dry ground. When the miraculous passage was complete, two memorials were constructed.

The Lord instructed Joshua to tell the people to choose a leader from each of the twelve tribes who would select a single stone and build a stone memorial where they would camp the first night after the crossing was complete. This would be a forever memorial to future generations of God’s faithfulness to deliver His people. 

The second stone memorial was built by Joshua. His memorial was built on the dry riverbed, in the middle of the Jordan. When all the people finally crossed over, the river began to flow again, and Joshua’s memorial would be submerged.

The crossing of the Jordan is a word picture for each of us.  We are making a crossing from what we once knew to a future yet to be defined.  Today, we have been given an assignment similar to the assignment that Joshua gave the Israelites. Stop and look for your stone of remembrance of God’s love and power displayed in the last few months. This stone is somewhere in your life. Only the eyes of faith can see this stone. Pick it up and carry it with you as you journey forward. It has a place on the other side of this time of transition where your stone will be placed with other stones of remembrance to remind you, your friends, and your family of God’s goodness.

If you are leading a family, a business, a church, or an entire movement of people, you also have a memorial to construct. Your memorial will be like the one Joshua assembled.  Place your stones where you stand today on the dry ground of your passage. When your passage is complete, it will be submerged and out of sight. In future generations, leaders will remember that your memorial to God’s faithfulness is there, somewhere underneath the future floodwaters of transition. It will give future leaders who follow in your footsteps the courage to step into the floodwaters of transition, knowing that God will always be faithful to reveal a way forward.

“Today, you will know that the living God is among you” (Joshua 3:10).

Choosing to be a Reconciler

If division among believers is not reconciled, dismemberment will soon follow. The Lord does not want His body slashed, cut, and abused by the blade of our most heartfelt opinions, no matter how valid those opinions might appear. As the physical body can heal itself, given the right diet, exercise, and environmental conditions, so it is with the Church – the body of Christ. If we are willing to contribute to those health-producing conditions, God will position us amid strife to accomplish the most profound works of reconciliation.  We seem to forget our Lord was a reconciler, even among those who fervently disagreed with His opinions.

We Are Being Setup

We are being set up by God. This set up will bring us to the end of human reasoning as a way to correct the problems currently facing our world. In that place of realization,  God and His love will become our only viable option.  We are being set up to no longer rely on or be satisfied with outcomes created apart from the will of God. Live expectantly! The setup has begun.

A Matter of the Heart

Every follower of Jesus has an anointing given to them by God to accomplish what He has called them to do in His name. That anointing can lift if our hearts and not aligned with the heart of God. Experiencing success of any kind can become an illusion if we think in our success, we can overlook the small things that are, in essence, the big things to God. 

Aimee Semple McPherson, the woman Billy Graham said, was the greatest evangelist of her century, exampled the kind of heart God loves to work with. I remember talking with an oldtimer in the Foursquare Church. He shared a story about Aimee. On a typical Sunday morning, multiple services of 5,000 people were taking place. It was standing room only. Many were getting healed and saved. The nation had its eyes on Aimee and her profound ministry. 

On one particular Sunday, as Aimee was making her way to the platform, she became brusque with a young woman who was part of the ministry team at Angelus Temple. As Aimee was getting ready to walk upon the platform, the Lord told her to go back and make things right with the young woman, or He would lift His anointing from her ministry that morning. Aimee's heart was so in tune with God that she immediately turned around and searched out the young woman to ask for forgiveness. When she finally arrived on the platform, the power of God fell on the meeting.

In this time of isolation, when our emotions can experience fatigue, and our responses might resemble a less than loving response, we cannot move forward if we let our negative responses to people remain unresolved. On our way to re-engaging as a culture, we need to make sure we make things right if we have wronged each other. It doesn't matter who is right or who is wrong.  It's a matter of the heart. The anointing on our life and ministry depends on it. God has some profound things to accomplish as we re-engage. He needs our hearts right so we can move forward under a fresh anointing for a new season.

Selling the Bike

A few nights ago, I had an interesting dream. In the dream, the Lord asked me to sell my recumbent bicycle and buy a mountain bike. I thought the request to be odd since I enjoy the laidback riding position of a recumbent. It’s like peddling while sitting in an easy chair.  

I knew the image of bicycles was a spiritual metaphor, so I asked the Lord to help me understand the message. He said, “You have new terrain up ahead. This transition will require that you explore new and challenging trails. I need you in a terrain-appropriate vehicle.” Yesterday, I put my recumbent on Craigslist as a prophetic act of obedience.

Many of us are about to enter new and unimproved trails of our calling. The vehicle we used in the past may not allow us to navigate the terrain of an unfolding future. 

I know I'm not alone in this feeling. God is preparing new vehicles of vision, mission, and calling for many of us. As we enter a time of social re-engagement it's important to know we are riding on something that will allow us to navigate through this time of transition and arrive in the future God is about to reveal.  

The Release of Dormant Callings

In this time of cultural pause, unrealized callings empowered by a prophetic promise will rise to the surface to be discovered and released. God never wastes a season, no matter how challenging it might appear. Each chapter of life is filled with the potential fulfillment of a promise. Dormant promises rising to the surface and being released in the middle of the painful seasons of life has been the history of God working in His people since the Creation.

22-years ago, I stepped off the platform at the De Bron conference center in Holland when a prophet named Jean Darnall, reached out a took me by the arm and said, “Young man, you will write for God.” To be honest, writing anything was the last thing in my bucket list. That word remained dormant and unattended until ten years later when, as a tired pastor in need of spiritual refreshment, I was invited to a leadership gathering at Bethel Church in Redding, California. During that visit, I had a deep and profound encounter with God. In that encounter, the word about writing was ignited and released. That was 8 books and 2,000+ blog articles ago.

Prophetic promises have seasons attached to their fulfillment. Those seasons are used by God to release the most impact once a promise is activated and engaged. Each of us carries these promises. Some of them are forgotten. Others are put on the back burner of our memory because they did not align with our desires at the time of their delivery. 

In the coming days, expect promises either forgotten or neglected to come to the surface of your consciousness and ask for your engagement. In the challenging and stressful seasons of life is where God does some of His most unique promise-fulfilling work. 

Emotional Solitary Confinement

When I was 12-years old, I went pheasant hunting with my dad and brother near Los Banos, California. We saw a promising field and asked the landowner for permission to hunt. He was gracious and took us out on his property to show us where the birds hung out. 

On the way to the field, we passed an old, abandoned farmhouse. The house was where the landowner stored some of his farming equipment. As we approached the house, a deep and threatening growling and barking began. The farmer kept a guard dog locked up in the house to deter theft. I saw the dog in the window and called out to say hi and was told by the farmer not to address the dog. He said he wants no one to speak to the dog so it would not become accustomed to human contact and remain aggressive to strangers. Even as a kid, I knew that was wrong on so many levels.

That guard dog reminds me of what happens to people who are isolated and alone for too long. They lose contact with reality because they lost contact with human interaction. As this time of social isolation deepens, make sure to reach out to the people you know and might not have seen in a while.  It is good for a person’s emotional health to know they are not forgotten. 

They say solitary confinement in prison can really mess with our mind and turn us into someone we would not recognize before the isolation took place. Maybe before the farmer isolated the dog, he was a friendly family dog and not suspicious of every stranger who approached his prison cell of life. 

Practicing Peace

We have entered a domino moment in history with the fear of a deadly virus spreading around the globe. If another significant domino falls, like the outbreak of a major war, a global financial collapse, or a natural disaster of national significance, our sense of cultural stability will vanish. What seemed so secure and lasting in one moment will fall in the next.

When we allow our emotions to have their way in times of peace, we will only have emotions to fight with when we engage in a real battle. Paul listed self-control as one of the fruits of the Spirit. It’s in the mix with the other fruit because the rest of them don’t have a chance to emerge if we don’t have control over our emotions. This is not living without emotions. It’s controlling their ability to form our response to the negative issues of life. Self-control is self-training ourselves in times of peace so that when a major conflict or global disaster comes, we will be led by spiritually wise battle tactics, not by crippling fear.

We have been called to practice the presence of Jesus at all times.  We do this so that when a dark and dire moment of human history does unfold, His peace will guide our actions and keep us from joining an unbridled emotional stampede that can lead an entire culture over the cliff edge of social and spiritual disaster. 

Spiritual Combustion

Spiritual combustion takes place when we step over the threshold of an obstacle in faith, and enter a new realm of the Spirit. It is like an explosion of fire in the natural when smoldering embers deprived of oxygen are suddenly exposed to increased oxygen, and accelerated combustion takes place.

I remember watching a video of a house burning. A firefighter was working through the house and opened a door behind which a fire was smoldering. When increased oxygen flow entered the room the fire exploded. Fire is a chemical reaction that requires fuel, heat, and oxygen. Those three components are called the Fire Triangle. Flammability increases as the level of oxygen increases. 

Never underestimate the potential of a simple act of obedience. Your “yes” to the voice of God may have you to step across a spiritual threshold where a smoldering promise has been waiting for the wind of the Spirit to be released by your obedience.  The fire God does not kill or injure when it accelerates in intensity. The purpose of God's fire is to burn away the lies and plans of hell that stood against the potential of a promise becoming a reality. 

God wants to open a door in your life to allow the wind of His Spirit to go before you. The Spirit will ignite a promise that has been smoldering out of sight behind a closed door. He has been waiting for your “yes” so He can open the door. When your "yes" becomes an act of obedience aligning you with a promise from God, supernatural combustion will take place. 

Sad Battles

There are times when the environment of spiritual conflict is more deadly than the weapons wielded in actual battle. Environments, whether social, familial or work-related carry life and death potential.

In II Samuel 18, David’s army entered a battle in the forest of Ephraim against the army of Absalom. 20,000 soldiers died that day. The text reads, “The battle raged all across the countryside, and more men died because of the forest than were killed by the sword” (II Samuel 18:8 NLT).

The forest of Ephraim was thick with oak and terebinth trees limiting the ability of Absalom's army to retreat. If the trees were not enough, the forest was filled with bogs, thickets, and wild animals. It was a dense, hostile place. Perhaps the saddest part of the battle was the fact that the opposing army was David's own people who had rebelled and came under the command of Absalom, David’s son.  Absalom died in that battle when his hair was caught in the limbs of a tree while retreating on the back of a mule. As he dangled from the tree, he became easy prey.

The battle in the Ephraim forest weakened the kingdom. The conflict resembled a civil war. Civil wars are so negative in their outcome that the Romans would never allow a celebration of triumph for a victory in a civil war. They knew civil war only weakened the empire. 

Civil wars between Christians have a similar weakening impact on our relationship with each other and our testimony to the surrounding culture. This weakening takes place when we put each other in places of conflict where death, not life is the outcome. Our negative thoughts, words, and deeds become relational bogs and thickets that catch people and make them easy prey for a loveless expression of our faith.

Of late, the Lord has impressed upon me more and more the importance of the environment of my heart. Any toxic attitude or desire to punish an opposing opinion must be dealt with immediately, or my relationships with fellow believers will become a place of sorrow resembling the forest of Ephraim.  

The Power of Inquiry

What made King David such an effective leader and a man after God’s own heart was his willingness to inquire of the Lord for direction before he took action. On the few occasions when David did not inquire of the Lord, death, sorrow, and heartache took place. Each of us can be effective in our particular Kingdom assignment if we are willing to inquire of the Lord before we speak or act.  On the other hand, like David, we will sow death, sorrow, and heartache when we rely on our own wisdom or follow our unbridled passions without first inquiring of the Lord.

Uncanny Timing

Today, Jan baked a blackberry pie from blackberries our daughter picked last summer. As the house filled with the aroma of a baking pie, I could sense it was getting done. I got up and walked into the kitchen just as the oven timer counted down the last few seconds, 3…2…1, then the beeping sound of the timer began letting me the pie was ready. The pie looked fabulous. As I sat the pie on the stovetop to cool, I got the sense this will happen for some of you in matters of the Spirit. 

In the coming days, the Lord will cause you to move toward the completion of something before any outward sign alerts you that the time has come. In the next week, expect unusual timing events to take place. Some of you will be prompted by the Spirit to move with uncanny timing to experience a supernatural alignment of your life with what the Lord has been preparing. 

A Revival of Rest

A revival is coming and it will begin in a place of rest. This is not a revival limited to a church gathering or conference setting. It will take place across the board in all areas where we live and work. Families will be revived. Corporations and mom and pop stores will be revived. Personal vision and bright hope for the future will come alive with a new purpose. 

Rest has been the great untapped source of spiritual awakening. This is not the absence of doing. It is actively choosing to say no to what is not needed, unnecessary, and a continual drain on our energy, our joy, and our resources.  One translation of the word sabbath is “to exterminate.” When we enter a place of rest, those things that have occupied our time and stolen our Kingdom potential will come to the surface. We will begin to see the thieves of our rest for what they are and be able to remove their dangerous flotsam from our life.

Rest will produce a new clarity and simplicity, allowing us to hear the word of the Lord in ways we could not have imagined before rest was entered. Some of you will hear things that at first will appear too simple to be true, but that instruction will carry with it the very revival you seek. The next great move of God is already among us for those who choose to rest.

Mockers and Mockery

Those who mock you are mocking from a place of personal sorrow. They are not sure they will ever have what you have, so their defensiveness uses mockery as a form of emotional insulation distancing them from their sad reality. Be willing to look past the mockery into the heart of the mocker. The insight that comes from that Spirit-led understanding is where God wants you to engage your mockers. Some who mocked Jesus would eventually become His followers. That transformation could only happen because Jesus did not take the mocking personally. He saw through the human brokenness and defense mechanisms into a heart where the hidden human turmoil exists. He spoke words of love and hope to his mockers. Those words, not a witty rebuttal or a well-crafted putdown, went into the heart of the issue and that response changed everything.

Your Case Has Been Settled

The court of Heaven will always have the last word over the affairs of Earth. Heaven's court is eternally in session and never takes a recess. There is only one righteous Judge, and He adjudicates the cases of humanity with mercy, grace, and love. 

Look to God for the final disposition of your case, no matter how much the odds seem to be stacked against you, making a fair earthly trial seem impossible. Seek the peace that comes from relying on God's merciful judgments above the temporary and short-sighted judgments made by angry and unforgiving individuals and the lynch mobs of culture that blindly follow the heat of the latest hot-button issue. 

God's peace will allow you to contend for righteousness and honor even if it appears that justice is not possible, and the hangman’s rope is being placed around your neck. That choice will open the door for you to experience rest in your soul no matter what judgments are issued from individuals or the institutions of society. Peace comes because you know your case has been settled in the court of Heaven, and nothing that transpires on Earth can change that final judgment.

Led by the Impulse of God's Spirit

For the last few months, the Lord has been directing Jan and me by the impulses of His Spirit. While we have tried to live that way all of our lives, it has not been as purposeful as it has become of late. A shift in the spiritual realm is taking place. We believe living only in response to the impulse of the Spirit will position our lives to be of greater use to God and His Kingdom purpose.

Our understanding of the way God is prompting us to live was given greater clarity by the Passion Translation's interpretation of Romans 8:5, “But those who live by the impulses of the Holy Spirit are motivated to pursue spiritual realities.” The word “impulse” jumped out at us and captured in words what we have been experiencing.

Our world is filled with impulsive reactions and reasonings. Not all of these impulses are from God. To discern the source of an impulse, we have to step back into the protective enclosure of emotional and spiritual rest where God’s peace can surround us and become a buffer to the constant onslaught of negative impulsive reactions. Even well-meaning believers can fall prey to these impulses, wanting us to join with them in a slavish response to every impulsive newscast, advertisement or invitation we receive.

When I read about the life of Paul and the other early disciples, I do not see a frenetic form of faith running in all directions responding to each impulse offered by a nervous culture or dysfunctional people. They lived waiting for the impulse of God’s Spirit to direct their steps. They refused to live under the influence of the unsettled emotions and the undisciplined responses of other people.

Choosing to live in response to the impulse of God’s Spirit will bring a peace that is hard to explain to those who continue to live each waking moment in slavish obedience to the constant tug of impulsive people and unsettled cultural institutions.  Today, choose to enter a place of restful waiting and only allow the impulse of God’s Spirit to draw you out and to offer your response.

Writing the Story of Our Life

Whenever I write, whether it is a short article or something more substantial, like a book, I do two things in the process. I write the piece first, then I read it. In the writing part, it’s not that I don’t actually read while I am writing, it is just a different phase in the process. When I finally read the finished product, I read the text as someone reading it for the first time. I read as a seeker. It is in that final reading where I see problems with my logic, the delivery of an unhealthy tone, or at times, the need to hit the delete button and start over.

We all write (live) portions of our lives before they become a readable text. In the writing seasons, we are living things out for which we have no prior experience. It is a messy process filled with mistakes. We use the wrong punctuation and words that created unclear text. Because of these error-filled seasons, we can begin to think we will never be able to publish a worthy life. It is in these early stages of editing where our life develops the content of its story. In this private place where we work with the Editor of Heaven, we are fine-tuning the content of our life so that someday it will become a readable testimony bringing hope to others as they write the story of their own life.

I’m hard on myself when it comes to my writing, and unfortunately, I am also hard on myself during the first draft seasons when God is doing something new in my life. We all need to give God the time He needs to turn an immature and incomplete first draft manuscript of our life into something that is easily read by others. In these gut-wrenching times of editing, we develop the text of the finished manuscript. This is where the text of our life becomes readable and relatable and without a lot of fluff. Being willing to work with God through seasons of intense life-editing is where the best sellers in His Kingdom are written. Keep writing. Your story is still developing.

Depositing Sweetness

Our marriage is filled with small rituals. Each morning after Jan and I greet each other, we enjoy a long hug and a kiss. Then we move to our second daily ritual of morning writing. Jan heads off to her chair in our bedroom, and I enter our living room where my writing chair awaits. After about an hour of writing, I make breakfast and take it to Jan. Every morning, I place a small piece of chocolate on Jan’s plate to be savored after breakfast as it melts in her mouth under the warming influence of her last cup of coffee. 

It’s that little piece of daily chocolate that I am thinking about as I write these words. In case you might have some idyllic thoughts about our marriage, it’s that little piece of chocolate that I hope will create some relational equity when later in the day I say something stupid or hurt Jan’s feelings. 

Buying your wife flowers for no reason - just because, or doing the dishes without being asked or putting a piece of chocolate on a breakfast plate is what I call “depositing sweetness.” Anything we do to express our love to another person is like making a deposit in a savings account. Over time it collects interest.

My father was a rough and tumble kind of man. He grew up in the depths of the Great Depression, just trying to survive. He hopped freight trains to find work and boxed a few rounds on Friday night for a $5 purse. Yet, in all his manliness and strength, as a young boy, I watched how he tenderly treated my mom with on-going expressions of his affection. He did the little things that mattered.  When he did fail as a father or husband, it was the interest gained from those loving acts deposited over time that kept our family together in the tough times. Witnessing those small expressions of love given to each other over time created a respect that my brother and I have for our parents who have long-departed this life.

It’s never too late to start expressing your love. Today, look around and discover a place to deposit a little sweetness in the lives of those you love. That deposit may seem small, but it will not go unnoticed.

A few weeks ago, I got busy with our breakfast preparation and forgot to put the little piece of chocolate on Jan’s plate. When I walked out of our bedroom to return to my writing chair, I heard Jan say, “A little piece of chocolate would be nice.” Nothing we do in love for those we love ever goes unnoticed.