A Revealing Move of God

A revealing is taking place. This revealing is happening in the mix of the COVID-19 virus, a heated election cycle filled with social discord, and evolving worldviews. This reveal has been developing over time and remained undetected until uncovered in these challenging times. No longer will the distinctives of a denomination or a familiar circle of fellowship be what motivates our future affiliation or involvement.  Something personal and redefining has taken place as we have been absent from the familiar.

Those who lead groups of people into the future will be challenged as to how they can lead a group that now possesses an unusually wide variety of interpretations of what each individual considers a valid expression of faith and community. Leaders who assume their followers will continue to walk in continued lockstep when it comes to their understanding of theology, worldview, and values are beginning to realize the fallacy of their assumption. 

Not all of this newfound diversity is healthy or biblical, yet some of it is a work of God's Spirit and will reveal the way forward. What is taking place must be discerned over time. Be careful not to prematurely judge what is not yet fully understood. 

The Lord is stripping away layers of our assumptions to reveal a new, and in some cases, uncomfortable reality. This stripping away will reveal where we really stand with each other and ultimately before the Lord. All of this is taking place to set up the next move of God, calling forth participants we would never expect to come into the Kingdom to radically follow Jesus and eventually become the next generation of leadership within the Church. 

This defining move of God will bring needed clarity and understanding of the essentials of our faith.  It will also help us off-load the excess baggage of our assumptions freeing us up to engage this unique moment in history.

The Smell of Smoke

It is 2:00 a.m. as I write these words.  I awoke an hour ago to the strong smell of smoke. We have experienced smoke from forest fires before, but this was the strongest yet, almost like a billowing smoke warning us that fire was near. Since we are surrounded by forest, I was concerned. As I rustled in bed, Jan said, “I smell smoke.” Immediately I was out of bed trying to find the source.

After a few minutes of checking our property, I got in my truck and drove the roads around our home to see where the smoke was coming from. After about 30 minutes, I returned home. No flames in sight. We were officially “up,” so I put the coffee on and went through my mental checklist of evacuation plans just in case. I called the non-emergency number of our fire department. I was told no reports of a fire. All is well at this point. 

It is amazing how simple things get when you think you might have to evacuate and run for your life. In an emergency, my go-list is simple and prepared. Jan, our dog, a briefcase filled with important documents, a few survival resources, and out the door we would go if needed. I am ready. What I am not ready for is the unknown that would follow. That is in the Lord’s hands. 

If you had to do a spiritual or emotional evacuation with no time to spare, what are the essentials of your faith? Do you know where they are stored? Are they ready to go? While it can a bit disconcerting having to think through the basics of what you would need to take with you in a natural disaster, it is an important exercise to complete. It is also a valuable exercise for a believer if the familiar trappings of your faith are ever removed from your life. 

 

This morning, I am thinking about smoke, fires, and possible evacuation in the natural. Spiritually and emotionally, in this pandemic/riot/election crazy time, I have once again boiled my faith down to just the essentials - love God and love people. It keeps me mobile and unencumbered, able to move with the Spirit wherever He leads. As a result, I have defined what I need to live my faith on the run. That has been a refreshing and affirming exercise. 

The New Sons and Daughters of Issachar

The Lord doesn’t want to define us by the obedience of a past generation. He is calling men and women in our day who will be just as honored in history as “…the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do” (I Chronicles 12:32). What made the sons of Issachar so unique was not just their accurate understanding of the times. They also had insight for what Israel should do in response to a prophetic word from God. A prophetic calling is not only the ability to see and understand what is taking place. It is also the ability to offer the next steps required to lead people into the will of God. 

The Demise of a Packaged Faith

Over the last 40 years, I have seen faith come in a variety of packaged forms. These packages of faith are created geographically, socially, and by the requirements for employment. This packaging takes place in local churches, denominations, and groups with shared affiliations. If you want to be in the group, you signed on the dotted line of a statement of faith and its corresponding worldview.  

Something has been taking place in the last few years. People are questioning the need for such things. This is not to devalue good theology. We need it now more than ever. What I am seeing, especially since the cultural lockdown, are people questioning the value of some of what they believed with unquestioning loyalty before this time of isolation. This is not a challenge to the truth itself. It is the unwrapping of our package of faith to see if its contents actually represent God's Kingdom with clarity and function in a rapidly changing world.

Jude wrote about the faith once delivered to the saints. When he wrote those words, he did not have in mind our current interpretation of faith in all its unique representations. He was describing a faith so simple it cannot easily be packaged and bowtied with our personal preferences.  The current unraveling of a packaged version of faith is actually bringing us back to something simple and agile – the faith once delivered to the saints. It is a good thing.

If you are a leader who offered a packaged form of faith and required strict allegiance to that package, you will face some challenges when people return from this time of quarantine. Before you demand people adhere once again to the previous package you or your organization offered, give people time to share what they are sensing. It might actually be the Lord speaking.  The way forward for you and the group you represent could be discovered in that exchange. 

Made Ready To Hear Something New

My 16-year old pickup truck has a CD player. It was part of the truck’s original equipment installed at the factory. A couple of years ago the CD went on the fritz. It makes funny noises when it’s turned on and then it keeps repeating the same song without moving on to the next track on the CD. On some occasions it stutters, repeating a single syllable sounding like a rap song on steroids.

My CD player reminds me of the condition some of us might find ourselves. We can play the same song or the fragment of a song without knowing how to move on to something new. There are new songs the Lord wants us to hear but until a new system is installed, we are only able to play a single track of a much larger message.

I have written a number of books and each day I typically post an article on social media, but I know there is more. The more will not come from my existing understanding of the world and God’s Kingdom. It will come from downloads of fresh revelation. Sadly, many of us can resemble the broken CD player in my pickup. When we hit the play button, we play our opinion and reveal our limited understanding. We are not alone. This is the deafening noise being produced in our culture on any given day.

God wants to produce new content for our message. No one is an expert in God’s Kingdom. Experts are dangerous because they sell their terminal understanding as a complete revelation on a subject.  Just this morning, the Lord showed me something that hit my passion button. I began to write about an issue of which I am somewhat informed. In the middle of writing, I realized the subject needed more research and revelation than the hour or two I might give to something like this article you are currently reading. I put that writing project aside to allow the Lord to show me the next steps and fill in the blanks of my understanding. 

In the process of learning and listening to the Lord, our spiritual and intellectual CD player will be replaced. This will allow us to hear and play tracks of revelation and insight into subjects we could not hear before the process of installation began. 

As it has been for me this morning, so it will be for you if you are willing to let God do an install. He has new soundtracks to play through your life, but first, He must replace your old spiritual CD. Once the installation work has been done, you will be amazed at the sound that will come through the speakers of your life. 

God is Commissioning Scouts

As a new season approaches, the life-assignments of some will make a transition.  God is calling a new breed of spiritual scouts who are willing to explore beyond the boundary line that separates the old from the new. Accepting this calling will change everything.

The Spirit is stirring these scouts to explore territory that has opened up during the last few months of the global shutdown. These are scouts who sense something new is now upon us, and they want to go and take a look. Some scouts will discover ancient trails that are overgrown, out of sight, and long-neglected. Others will blaze entirely new trails into the future. 

If you are a scout, you have been sensing something new that exists beyond the horizon line of our current understanding. You are compelled to venture out to explore a way forward for others to follow. This exploration will require that you break camp with any mindset that would hold you back from your mission of discovery. Your decision to break camp with the status quo will not always be understood by those who consider the current encampment adequate. 

If you are a scout, you have been called and commissioned for this adventure. Travel wisely and always carry with you an assurance that God will reveal the way forward when the obstacles on the trail seem overwhelming. The way forward will be revealed as you walk in a moment-by-moment dependence upon God’s Spirit.  

The Final Gear Check

Every life-assignment requires some form of gear. Gear is that equipment you make sure is ready and functional in case the stuff of life hits the fan. Before an operation, a special forces operator does a final check of their gear to make sure everything is in place and ready to go. It can save their life, the lives of their team members, and ensure the overall success of a mission. An empty magazine, neglecting to bring along a breaching tool, or a malfunctioning communication system is a recipe for death and disaster.

Gear is not always tangible. It can be a mindset. It's having the right personnel on the right team.  Gear can be a mission statement in place and operable. The idea of doing a final gear check applies to a business venture, a government initiative, maintaining an emotionally healthy family unit, or anywhere people are on a mission.

When Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he listed the full armament of a soldier of God. Before he inventoried the gear of a spiritual soldier, he made this statement, “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:13). The part of the verse that stuck out to me was “and having done everything.” In other words, it is wise to do a final spiritual gear check before battle to make sure the right gear was on board and ready to use. Paul then went on to list the spiritual gear needed to engage spiritual battle – truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the Word.

Before your next spiritual engagement, do a final gear check. Is truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and God’s Word on you and ready to use? You will need all of this gear to come out alive. Every spiritual conflict will use all of this gear. Having done everything - a final gear check, you will then be able to stand and survive the coming days of spiritual warfare no matter what comes against you or your spiritual team.

A Restart Line is Forming

A cultural restart line is beginning to form. In the coming days, this line will become visible to those who view what is happening with the eyes of faith. The Spirit is sending out invitations for people to begin lining up at a place called “Restart.” What began as a very confusing and desperate situation will morph into expectancy as people begin to respond to the Spirit’s call to line up. 

Once all the responding individuals and institutions are assembled, a release date will be revealed.  That date will not be announced by any news organization or government entity. This will be a God-call to begin moving.  The release will be called a move of God as people follow the leading of the Spirit into a hope-filled future.

Those who have allowed their ears to constantly be filled with a message of fear, dread, and cynicism will be unable to hear this call of God. Those who moved forward in faith and responded to God’s invitation will be the starting point of a restorative work of the Spirit that will lead us into a new future, not return us to the past. 

Springing the Trapdoor of Evil

The gallows of control and subjugation of God’s people are being constructed by the spirit of Haman in an attempt to destroy the work of God’s Spirit. While individuals are being used to build these gallows in the political and economic sphere, do not focus your attention on them. These individuals are only a diversion, pawns used in a broader strategy of evil. The real battle is taking place in the second heaven, the realm of spirits.  

Above all this intense warfare, Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father, the place of supreme authority. No plan of hell or an evil plague will have the last say if God’s people will pray. The spirits motivating people toward these evil agendas will soon fall through the trapdoor of their own devices. Some of the individuals held captive by these spirits will see the error of their ways and turn to God in repentance. In this time of unusual conflict, focus on the end game, not emotional diversions, and you will see the glory of God released in the Earth.

“So, they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai (Esther 7:10).

Fighting in a Dark Place

When I was a cop, I was so familiar with each weapon at my disposal, I could run the weapon, break it down and reassemble it in a dark room and not miss a beat. I didn’t need natural light to know the feel and function of what I carried.

In times of personal or cultural darkness, a similar principle is present. If we become familiar and regularly train with our spiritual weapons in times of light when life seems to be prospering, then when things get dark, we will still be able to function while others stumble in the darkness. We will not become dysfunctional based on what we cannot see or understand.

Some of the social angst taking place in the community of faith in this dark moment is because many did not make themselves familiar with their spiritual weaponry while it was still light.  The spiritual weapons God gave us to fight off the assault of fear and faithlessness do not depend on the natural light of human understanding to function. They work anywhere and all the time, no matter what is taking place.

Overwhelmed

This morning the word “overwhelmed” floated across my mind. I sensed this was a nudge from the Spirit to engage the word to see if the Lord had something to say. So, I checked out overwhelm in several dictionaries. 

Overwhelm has been used to describe something being submerged, sunk, engulfed, covered with water. It also means to be overcome by emotions or perpetual stimuli. One definition was especially interesting, considering the coming of Passover and Easter, “to pass or go over something.” The interpretation of the word can be good or bad, depending on what is doing the overwhelming.

We will all be overwhelmed by something. Many are beginning to realize how easy it is to be overwhelmed in a negative way at this time, especially if your job is affected and your family is trying to keep the kids educated and the bills paid. We can begin to feel alone and isolated. We can drown in these uncharted waters feeling like we are being submerged without our permission, buried alive, and emotionally suffocating.

With sensitivity to you and your situation, I want to make a suggestion. Jan and I have learned a life-principle that has never failed us in those times when it felt like we were being submerged in despair, and our life was descending into dark depths out of control. In those instances, we got down on our knees and worshipped. We did it out loud, not with cute Hallmark card kind of religious slogans, but with gut-wrenching words of honesty, praise and declarations to the goodness of God, especially when what we were feeling was anything but good.

There are times in life when the way forward is only revealed through worship.  We will either be overwhelmed by the presence of God or the disasters of this life. We will leave behind a testimony of our response and interaction with this unique moment in history. That testimony will be crafted from the choices we made that determined what we allowed to overwhelm our lives. 

Layers of Understanding

Every event in life has layers of understanding. As we explore the depth of these layers, we begin to see things not realized when an event first began. We can park at one layer, thinking, and in some cases hoping, we discovered the deepest layer. Fear, deception, fatigue, and cultural pressure are all motivating factors that can cause us to park at one level and not dig deeper.

Once we begin to explore the depths of an issue, we begin to see things we may have previously written off as the undisciplined imagination of a conspiracy theorist or the storyline of a pulp fiction novel. At that moment, a battle with our pride and self-image is engaged. Truth seekers must push past that stalling event if they want to dig deeper to discover what is actually taking place. 

There is so much going on in our world at this moment. It is not wise to allow our thinking to park at our current level of understanding and think we have discovered the bottom-line for any issue or event. Only God knows the depth of what is taking place. Follow His lead, and you will see and hear things only the Spirit can reveal.

“But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets” (I Corinthians 2:10).

The Danger of Relevancy and Credibility

As warm and embracing as our faith might be to us personally, to some, it will come across as strange, insignificant, or even foolish. One reason why we are seeing unhealthy doctrines entering the church is that, in some cases, our core message has been compromised in the pursuit of relevancy and credibility. For some, the highest compliment of their faith is to be accepted by all. The record of Scripture paints a different picture.

The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers listening to Paul in Athens said of his message, “What’s this babbler trying to say with these strange ideas he’s picked up? When they heard Paul speak about the resurrection of the dead, some laughed in contempt” (Acts 17:18,32). These Greek philosophers were the thought-molders of the culture in their day.

The Roman court dismissively referring to Paul’s faith, “It was something about their religion and a dead man named Jesus, who Paul insists is alive” (Acts 25:19). This “something about their religion” attitude conveyed a feeling of irrelevance toward the message of Christ in the highest civil court of the day.

The believers in Corinth, who in some ways resemble the Church in Western culture, faced a similar issue. In his first letter, Paul let the Corinthians know their faith will not always appear credible to the surrounding culture. Paul wrote, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the very power of God” (I Corinthians 1:17).

So, how then do we live? We live with an on-going tension between actually wanting to be relevant and credible in the right way, yet not compromising truth. There was something the Early Church carried with them each day that allowed them to move through the rejection of the message they preached. They carried anticipation of the supernatural.  The signs, wonders, and miracles of God confirmed their message in a way that legal or social acceptance could not.  The same is true for us today. An expression of faith without the expectation of God supernaturally confirming our message will always lead to compromise because we will seek an unhealthy expression of relevance and credibility as our solution. This compromise happens because the confirming element of what we preach is something we produce, not God.

“And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose” (Hebrews 2:4).

The Keeper of the Keys

From time-to-time, I will hear a simple phrase in my spirit that I know is the Lord speaking. This morning, I heard the words “keeper of the keys.” When I heard those words, I also received an expanded application. The phrase is a reminder for each of us who carry the keys of God’s Kingdom that those keys have a purpose. Jesus described the keys to Peter, “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven” (Matthew 16:19).

We have some unlocking to do. This unlocking will take place in what Paul described as the second heaven, the realm between earth and the highest Heaven where Jesus sits enthroned alongside the Father. Jesus gave us the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to do our most significant form of spiritual warfare in the realm of the second heaven and ultimately take the fruit of that battle into the realm of earth to declare (forbid) the works of darkness.

Some of us are trying to insert our heavenly keys into natural locks in the first heaven - earth, and we wonder why nothing is opening up. The keys we possess have the power and authority to confront the activity of the dark powers at work in the second heaven that hold individuals and cultures in a place of bondage in the first heaven. 

The “forbid on earth” part of the Lord's instruction is our declaration of a victory that takes place after a lock has been turned in prayer and spiritual warfare in the second heaven. Once we turn Heaven's key in that realm, we will be able to confidently declare a victory on earth as it is in Heaven.

Moving with the Wind of the Spirit

When I read the book of Acts, I discover a group of people who did not slavishly follow a plan or remain in a single direction without frequent course corrections. I read about people who followed the Spirit at all costs. They arose each day and allowed the Spirit to set the course for their lives.

Back in my 20s, I used to crew on a sailboat in the San Francisco Bay. The boat was a flat deck Cal 25 owned by a friend of mine. The boat was equipped with a spinnaker rigging. A spinnaker is a large billowy sail that hangs off the front of a sailboat to catch as much wind as possible. It is a sail hoisted when a vessel runs before the wind. In other words, when you are sailing downwind. It increases the speed of the sailboat. What I always liked about running before the wind was the sense of calm that came with that rigging. The crew could talk in a normal voice and not have to yell like it was when sailing into the wind. Sailing with the wind was different. It was quiet, fast, and powerful. 

Perhaps one of the most important things each of us should do each day is to ask ourselves, “What direction is the wind of the Spirit blowing today?” To the planners and those trapped in slavish human logic following the wind of the Spirit can be considered a form of intellectual compromise or flippancy. The planners want us to stick to the plan at all costs. The logical ones have no place in their thinking for anything as whimsical as following a wind. Throughout the history of the Church, the decision to follow the wind of the Spirit has faithfully led believers to supernatural outcomes not possible when plans and logic demanded an unchallenged allegiance to their direction.

Which way is the wind of the Spirit blowing in your life today? Turn the course of your life to align with the Spirit's flow and set your spiritual spinnaker to catch the wind. Your choice will accelerate your effort, and you will enter a beautiful place of calm that only comes when the wind of the Spirit is leading the way.

God's Pause Button

God is about to push the pause button on the circumstance of your life. The pause will cause all the confusion and surrounding spiritual noise to settle down and fall in place under submission to God's will. 

Right now it doesn’t feel like a pause button could possibly be pushed because the unsettling things in your life are making so much noise and drawing more attention than ever before. This upheaval needs to be reinterpreted. These sounds are the last dying gasps of the diversion tactics of hell just before they submit to God's pause and come into order. 

After the pause has served its purpose, the Lord will hit the spiritual play button and you will be amazed at what the Lord did for you in the pause. A tremendous peace will enter your mind and that peace will begin to direct your steps into a reordered future. 

You serve the God of the possible in all things. He wants you to know and experience that possibility especially when the desires of your heart look and sound like an utter impossibility.

Chain Reaction Resurrection Life

The day after celebrating the resurrection of Jesus it is important to realize His death and resurrection were not single, isolated events.  The life and death of Jesus are so powerful they created a spiritual chain reaction that continues to confront death and despair throughout all the realms of human existence. Consider the relationships and situations in your life you now see as dead and gone forever. The graves holding these things have the potential to open and release their contents to the voice of the Risen One. 

This morning, I read Matthew’s account of Jesus’ death that took place three days before His resurrection. Imagine the power released when Jesus rose from the grave and defeated death! 

Matthew wrote,  “Then Jesus shouted out again, and he released his spirit. At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people” (Matthew 27:50-53).

What we once considered dead and lost forever has the potential to walk back into our lives more alive than at any time before. What happened on the day of Jesus' death has the same potential in our day. Imagine the scene in Jerusalem when dead and departed loved ones knocked at the front door of their homes where those inside were still mourning their passing.  

The death and resurrection of Jesus are not events lost in history. These are eternal events free from the constraints of time and space - free from the grip of death. The announcement of the death and resurrection of Jesus traveled through the known creation past the farthest border of outer space to the edge of nothingness and declared His victory. 

The evidence of Jesus' death and resurrection will be walking toward you today. Ask the Lord to help you see the evidence of this approaching resurrection life. It is all around us if we choose to see this life with the eyes of faith.

God is Watching Over You

This morning, my daughter, Anna, returns home after three weeks away. Anna and a friend led teams of writers in Spain and Morocco. She flies home today from Paris. In the image of my computer screen you can see the flight-tracking program I use that lets me watch the progress of Anna’s flight. Her aircraft is the little airplane icon depicted on the right side of the dotted flight path. Jan and I have always prayed our kids home whenever they are away.

As I watch Anna’s return flight progress, I thought of Jacob and the dream he had at Bethel about a stairway to heaven. During the dream, the Lord spoke to Jacob and said, "I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you" (Genesis 28:15).

There are times we can feel alone in this life like someone flying in an aluminum cylinder 30,000 feet above the Earth through a dark night sky over a vast ocean. We are never alone in these alone times. God is watching over us no matter where we may travel in this life. He will stay with us on the journey and bring us back home because He is faithful to accomplish what He promised. 

My New Best Friend

On November 27, 2017, a best friend of mine died. Abby was my Australian Shepherd. She lived just a few days shy of 15 years. To say I was devastated at her passing would be an understatement. I cannot remember grieving like that in all my life. A few weeks ago, the same breeder from whom we purchased Abby let me know a new litter would be coming this month. We will bring our new puppy home around the first of June. 

Loss is like a dull ache without borders. It bleeds over into all areas of our lives and sets off tearful emotions at the oddest of times.  Loss needs time to heal and process. I am ready. The healing of Abby's loss is taking place with the thought of a new Aussie. I want a girl. Unless something changes her name will be Lady.

Our new dog won’t be Abby, but she will be what I need in this season of my life, just like Abby was for all those years when she was part of our lives. With God, He knows just the right time to fill a strangely quiet home with the sounds of a new life. God is good and so are the creatures He gives to us who become our faithful companions walking with us along the path of life.

Breaching Realms

I watched a video of a whale breaching the realm of water and entering the realm of air just before falling back into the ocean to continue his journey. Flying fish also breach the realm of water, as do Manta rays. When I trout fish, I know the fishing will be good when I see a trout breach the surface of a mountain stream.

Breaching is not limited to creatures that live underwater, Paul breached the limits of this realm and soared into the realm of Heaven. In II Corinthians 12:4 Paul described his experience, “I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.” Paul was caught up. He didn’t go there on his own initiative. These are God-appointed experiences, not something we schedule because we want them.

The purpose of spiritual breaching is to provide a revelation that does not exist in this realm. Some believers do not think this breaching is possible today. Still, others feel anyone who talks of such things should be viewed as suspect bordering on fanaticism. That would place Paul and most of the early Church in the same suspicious group.

Imagine how our lives would change if we lived in the expectation that something supernatural could take place at any moment. Embracing this expectant lifestyle will keep us looking up at the surface of this life realizing something exists above us - something that “cannot be expressed in words.” This kind of faith believes when the time is right, God will be faithful to catch us up in the Spirit to see what is described in this realm as impossible and unbelievable. All things are possible for those who believe - even breaching the separation between realms.