The Accelerating Wildfires of the Spirit

Those of us living in the northwest part of the United States have been surrounded by massive wildfires all summer. Just two days ago, a new fire erupted south of the Oregon border and north of Redding, California. It exploded in size and became so dangerous that a section of Interstate 5, the main north-south freeway on the west coast, had to be closed. The freeway has been shut down for the last two days.

This morning, I read an article where a professor of Fire Science said a moving fire preheats the vegetation in its path as it pushes through steep canyons. When the fire reaches a new fuel source, it explodes as drought-dried trees, brush, and grass ignite. These fires are challenging to fight and contain in mountainous terrain.

In my travels, I minister in churches where people talk about the fire of God. This is a fire of holiness and purity that consumes all the things that stand in the way of our ability to receive the love of God. This fire of the Spirit is only destructive to those things that want to destroy us, and our relationship with God. The flame of this fire is always empowered by love.

If the fire of God has been ignited in your life, get ready for this Spirit-empowered fire to accelerate the speed of its burn. The wind of the Spirit is directing this fire to strategically consume each point of opposition in your life and calling. God wants to set you on fire so that He can burn through all the religious and relational underbrush that has accumulated over time. This underbrush, if left unchallenged, can choke the life out of your relationship with God and His Kingdom. Invite the fire!

A Commercial-Free Life

Jan and I said goodbye to cable TV about 8 years ago, and we have never looked back. We did the same thing with a landline phone. We now only use our cell phones. 

Right after our cable TV service was terminated, we went to Netflix, Hulu and now, Amazon Prime. We like to watch TV series, mostly drama with a bit of spy intrigue. Some of these series are several seasons long. 

Yesterday, I noticed something. A show that is played on cable television has about 42 minutes of actual show time. The other 18 minutes are commercials. There is no comparison between watching a show that is continually being interrupted by commercials and one that runs straight through without interruption.  Sometimes a story can be lost in a sea of commercial product presentation and a continuous fear-based appeal for your money. TV shows with lots of commercials are like the lives of some people who no longer hear the voice of God because they have allowed other sounds to fill their thoughts – continuously. 

Where is your commercial-free zone? Where is that place where you can get the straight scoop on life from the Spirit without commercial interruption from religious or political pundits? This is more than a morning devotional time or a church service. It must become a cultivated lifestyle, 24/7. 

The story of this wonderful life being played out before you in plain sight. It can be missed if there are too many voices pulling on you for the attention of your intellect, choice, and resources. This never-ending cacophony has created such a level of frustration in some people they have checked out and closed their ears to all things, even the voice of God. 

Make a choice to turn off all the voices in your life that are vying for your time and attention. Do this until you are left with only the voice of the Spirit. In that quiet moment, rest. Fresh and surprising revelation is waiting to be released to you if you can find a commercial-free place in your life where the voice of God can actually be heard. When the clutter is removed, the revelation will come. God's most significant revelations are spoken in a quiet tone to those with discerning ears who wait for Him in a quiet place.  

“So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them” (Luke 8:18).

Memory Triggers

Yesterday, a song from 1970 began to play on my Pandora account while Jan and I sat in our living room working on our computers. The song was, Wild World by Cat Stevens. When the song started, we both smiled and turned to look at each other. The song sparked a journey down memory lane from the time when we first met in Portland, Oregon. It also triggered memories of long walks to Laurelhurst Park and drives up the Columbia River Gorge to Crown Point. 

When the song finished and we went back to working on our computers, that memory took me to other places in my memory that God wanted me to visit. In those places, I gave thanks for some things and in one case, was reminded of a commitment I made of something I did not want to forget.

We have the ability to make our life of faith into something otherworldly to somehow validate the experience. In reality, God can use any and everything to remind us of His goodness. He will take us back to memories that affirm the choices He asked us to make or He will use our memories to help direct us into the future. Whenever and however God chooses to speak to us is always a supernatural event.

Forty-eight years ago, as two college kids just getting to know each other while listening to Cat Stevens and Elton John, we wondered where our relationship would journey. The memories of that time have always reminded us of God’s faithfulness and mercy. A lot of life has been lived in those intervening years.  We have had sorrow, joy, hope, and despair and every other human emotion you could imagine. In the middle of it all, God was always there loving and encouraging us. Our redeemed memories will always contain a reminder of God’s goodness, even the memories sparked with a song by Cat Stevens.

Today, when a song plays, or a fragrance passes by, and old memories come to visit, follow their invitation to the places and people that were part of the memory. Some of you will arrive at a painful past. Others will find joy. No matter what greets you at the destination of your memory, you were taken there to see that God never left you or abandoned you. He was always there loving and encouraging. That is the sweetest recollection you will discover on a journey down memory lane.

The Danger of an Audience

Every voice has an audience, and every audience has expectations. This applies to a stay at home parent whose life is focused on kids, a prophet with an international ministry platform or a local pastor who speaks before a congregation each Sunday. In the relationship between our message and the expectations of our audience is where our integrity will be tested and the depth of our character discovered.

The expectations of an audience are a rut of familiarity. A familiar and predictable messenger affirms their current beliefs and worldview. This allows people to settle into a way of life that gives them a sense of security. Disturb this equilibrium, and your audience might begin to question their allegiance to your message. When you deliver a message that is not on your historic menu of revelation the challenges that come with having an audience will begin to make an appearance. At this point, if we are not careful, our allegiance can make a subtle shift from pleasing God to pleasing people. 

The size of our following doesn’t really matter to God. What matters to Him is the condition of our heart and whether or not our message is buffered with enough integrity to not be affected by the demands of an audience that has become accustomed to the familiar sound of our voice and the recognizable content of our message. 

Ask God for the courage to step out of the ruts of expectation and speak with confidence the word the Lord has given no matter what the consequence. Being faithful to these courageous acts of obedience is actually your prophetic calling even more than the distinctive tone and content of your message that has made your voice unique, recognizable and comforting to your audience.

Logically Spiritual

Life can become a perilous journey when we choose to ignore the logic of Scripture and its historical context to affirm a favored theology or a point of doctrine. God gave us the gift of logic to keep us safe and sane when life around us seems dangerous and crazed. Don’t be afraid of Spirit-inspired reasoning. It is not anti-supernatural. God’s kind of logic helps us wisely navigate through the weeds of discord and disagreement that seem to always be present when people have differing opinions about God and His Kingdom.

It's Time

When I wrote the book, Prayers from the Throne of God, little did I know it would become an emotional and spiritual source of encouragement highlighting our freedom and authority as believers. Yes, the book is about a different way to pray, but it also creates a way of thinking that will set us free from feelings of dismay, discouragement, and helplessness in those moments when life seems to be going sideways.

When I wrote the book, I spent a lot of time in Ephesians unpacking the significance of our position in Christ at the right hand of the Father. Scripture tells us we already live there enthroned in a place of victory. Our victory is not some future reward that will come at the end of time. We are the fruit of Jesus’ victory enthroned with Him at this very moment in Heaven. It is your reality even as you read these words.

Today, when you are faced with social turmoil or a personal challenge, ask the Lord to reveal the power and privilege of your real-time position in Christ at the Father’s right hand. From this place look down on the issue or challenge that stands before you and do these three things:

DECLARE the heart of God. Declare God’s preferred outcome. Declare how He sees the person or situation from His heart and heavenly perspective. This is like a master artist standing in front of a blank canvas and inviting a protégé to come and see a yet-to-be-painted masterpiece and creating its reality with each brushstroke.

DECREE the victory of Christ. This is your Kingdom search warrant that gives you the authority to kick down the doors of darkness to rescue people and institutions held captive by dark agendas. A decree declares that no weapon formed against us will prosper.

PROPHESY a new future. Once you declare the heart of God and then decree the victory of Christ, the Spirit will begin to reveal prophetically a word of encouragement, a point of revelation or the next step toward freedom needed to transform the issue of your prayers.

Right now, your dual citizenship on Earth and in Heaven gives you the supernatural potential to shift any environment where your faith is alive and active. If you live from a heavenly perspective while still engaging the reality of life on Earth, that realization will begin to change how you see and interpret everything. In the end, it will radically change how you pray.

Exploding the Grenades of a Political Spirit

Lately, my dreams have been intensifying. The level of reality and color in what I dream is becoming high-definition in nature. Each night, I kneel at our bed and pray for the night. I pray for protection, and I pray for revelation in my dreams. 

Two nights ago, I dreamed I was walking alongside a lake. I was holding two hand grenades. I felt very uncomfortable and wanted to get rid of them in private not wanting to be caught and charged with a crime. One grenade was standard size. The other was the same diameter but a few inches longer. I placed them in my coat pockets to hide them while I walked around the lake looking for some deep water where I could toss them unexploded.

The problem I was having was the lake was too shallow. If I haphazardly tossed the grenades out into the lake someone might discover them, and the resulting explosion would cause death and injury. By now I was wading out into the water ruining my shoes and getting my pants wet. I was becoming concerned I would never be able to dispose of the two grenades. Then I came upon a man who was an expert in the disposal of bombs and military grade weapons.

I handed the man the two grenades, and at first, I was concerned how casual and confident he was when he handled them. It was like he did this all the time and it was no big deal. He turned a hidden knob on each grenade and one at a time he pushed them down into the wet sand at our feet. They fizzled out like a dud firework. Then the dream was over.  I asked the Lord what the dream meant and if I was free to share its content. He gave me both understanding and permission.

In the dream, I represented a composite image of people within the Church from both sides of the political aisle that realize a new way forward must be discovered or our nation will not fulfill its God-ordained role in world affairs. The man I met on the lakeshore who knew how to deactivate the grenades was the Holy Spirit. The grenades would remain lethal if not handed over to Him. What really caught my attention was the mission and definition assigned to each grenade.

The smaller grenade was called Remnant. It contained old accusations and condemnations being brought against our President. They were a carryover from a previous life. Similar remnants exist in every life but have been highlighted in our President’s life as an attempt to keep people focused on the lesser issues as a diversion to what is taking place the world stage - issues that will have a more devastating consequence than bringing up a forgiven past.

The larger grenade was called Disdain. This grenade is waiting to explode within a mindset that cannot see any good in what our President is doing. Disdain has created a spirit of dismissal. This larger grenade is potentially more dangerous because it has wider audience appeal, one that has been brilliantly crafted through a never-ending onslaught of negative information.

The next two months in American history will either be an explosive moment of destructive power or an acceleration into a new and hope-filled future neither political party could imagine or produce. I have trusted friends who voted differently in the last election who represent both political parties for reasons each felt passionate about. 

As the Church representing the will of God in the world, no matter what our political persuasion, trenching up remnants of the past and creating disdain in the present, is not the way forward. 

This is an Ephesians 3:20 moment of time. The Lord wants to accomplish something beyond what we could imagine possible in the middle of the overly-heated public debate where people from opposing opinions are tossing grenades into our cultural dialogue. These grenades have been handed to them by an enemy who knows his victory will only take place on a battlefield where division and dishonor are the weapons of choice.