The Door of Trust

Protecting a place of personal brokenness at the expense of healing exposure will put the things you fear losing in a place of even greater jeopardy. Honorable people are able to handle your disclosure more than your fear would lead you to believe. Look for these trustworthy fellow travelers and open your life to them. Trust is the hinge upon which your breakthrough swings. Reach for the knob of this door and you will be amazed at what God opens up before you.

Framing the Revelation of God

God is adjusting our frame of reference for the release of increased levels of impact for prophetic ministry. Like a frame that surrounds and enhances a piece of historic artwork, the Lord has always desired to have us frame His revealed word with the unique wisdom and creativity of the Spirit. The result will be a delivery that is pleasing to the eye and a blessing to engage.

Most of us have written something in the margin of a book or a Bible. As we read along, we jot down thoughts and observations in the margins of the text that defines the text in a personal way. There is actually a term for this: marginalia. 

Marginalia originally described the intentional designs in the margins of medieval illuminated manuscripts. The margins of these manuscripts were filled with beautiful patterns and images in gold and silver that helped illuminate the text. The text would not be complete without the framework of the marginalia.

We can attempt to deliver a prophetic word prematurely and toss it out without the framework of the Spirit preparing its delivery. This framework was described by Paul when he defined the fruit of the Spirit to the Galatians.

“But the fruitproduced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions:

joy that overflows,
peace that subdues,
patiencethat endures,
kindness in action,
a life full of virtue,
faith that prevails,
gentleness of heart, and
strength of spirit.” (Galatians 5:22-23 TPT).

While the gifts of the Spirit may expand the Kingdom, it is the fruit of the Spirit that governs the Kingdom. We may release a prophetic word and the message of the word is true, yet its intended impact can be diminished because we did not allow the fruit of the Spirit to frame and govern its presentation. 

People are watching and listening to the words we deliver. They are walking through the gallery of prophecy discerning the verbal and visual artwork being presented. What hangs on the wall of these galleries is intended to be a blessing and carry greater authority when the message is surrounded by divine love. 

Before you release a word for public display, pause to allow the Spirit to give you the framework required to enhance the message of the word. Just as it can be in a high-end art auction where a work of art created by a master starts a bidding war, so it will be with a prophetic word framed by the heart of God and the fruit of His Spirit. People will be drawn to the beauty of a wisely framed message.

The Returning Fire-Starters

People are leaving certain expressions of the Church. Depending on how you see this exit, it can create concern or expectation. 

On the different summits of culture where God is doing His work of reformation are embedded some of those who had previously walked away. They are waiting. Many do not know they are candidates and untapped participants in the reformation that is unfolding in this moment of our history. God is about to issue a call to those who walked away. 

This call will deliver a reminder of God's love and an invitation. When heard, the call will ignite their hearts once again creating a fire of passion for what they thought was lost when they departed. This personal ignition will set a fire of reformation where they currently stand on one of the 7 summits of culture - Government, Religion, Education, Economy, Arts and Entertainment, Media and Family. 

This will not be a move of God like those in the past. To many, it will be unfamiliar because it will not look churchy or sound religious. Systems of culture will experience a Heaven-directed shift outside the sanctuary walls and the existing culture of the Church. The 7 mountains of culture will become a new sanctuary for the Spirit. 

This reformation is setting a fire in the hearts of people and systems that now seem to be burning alone and isolated, but over time they will join together in a conflagration that will produce sweeping reform, both within the Church and culture. 

Those who walked away will return with the fire of God in their hearts and the new thinking needed to reform our concept of a faith community and its role in the world. These returning ones will evangelize the minds of those still within the old structure and mindsets of the Church. That evangelization of thinking will ignite a fire that will begin to burn the underbrush and debris from within the current manifestation of the Church creating a new vision and a greater mobility of our mission.

In the Blink of an Eye

In the last month, some of my friends have experienced the suddenness of life and death. One friend was on a flight with his wife when a woman sitting behind them died. They had to finish the long flight knowing the dead woman’s body would accompany them to their destination. Just last night, Jan and I found out the husband of a couple we were getting to know passed away on Memorial Day unexpectedly. We met them for dinner just a few months ago and listened to all the plans they had for their future. I could tell similar stories of when unanticipated and deeply painful experiences suddenly take place in the blink of an eye.

I felt it was important to encourage some of you with the promise that God has a plan for these moments in your life. We can’t really plan for the sense of loss and separation we will feel in those overwhelming experiences. God knows what we will come up against when we receive the news we never wanted to hear. That is why He has a plan. Our plan is to make sure we have adequate insurance and that the affairs of our lives are in order. That is part of being a wise, loving and forward-thinking person. 

God’s plan really simple. It is trust. Trust must be developed. It can’t be purchased from an insurance agent or promised as a financial return on an investment. It is developed and matured each time we think of the unthinkable. The thoughts that take our breath away when we consider their harsh possibilities must be addressed and told where to park in our thinking. Trust will reformulate our concept of future loss.

God the Father is intimately acquainted with grief. He knows just what you will need when you face your last moment on Earth or when a loved one breathes their last and you stare death in the face and feel its cold and granite-like finality. As Jesus entrusted Himself to the Father to release resurrection life in His dead body, so it needs to be for each of us who follow Jesus Christ. We must trust that somewhere in the very real pain of a future loss, a resurrection will be the ultimate reality. That is our only real hope in this life. It is the only place where trust can be experienced.

A Fool's Errand

If someone continues to run with a fool they will spend their life running a fool’s errands. It takes courage to discern and eventually back out of these relationships. Many have learned this important lesson the hard and painful way. It is a lesson worth learning.

It is important to know what a foolish person is to avoid the sad experience of the life they offer to those who follow their example. A fool is someone who does not see the beginning and the end of all things. In their decision-making, they do not recognize the reality that they will stand before God someday to answer for the choices they made. A fool lives a reckless life without boundaries. They can even try to associate that recklessness and lack of boundary with faith deceiving the spiritually naïve.

Fools live an uninformed and undisciplined life. Uniformed about the ways of God and undisciplined by any outside source apart from their own vision of life. Scripture uses the word “fool” to describe someone who is “senseless” or “without reason.” There is no filter for their response to life. A fool’s foolish thinking will eventually lead to foolish conclusions that will deposit foolish people in foolish destinations.

It takes courage to disengage from a fool and the foolish errands they ask you to run for them. This is especially challenging if that fool is embedded in a community of faith.  This kind of Spirit-empowered courage gives you the freedom to become your own man or woman who stands before God and answers only to Him. It is a courage that will at times upset the course of your life, especially if the foolish person with whom you are associated is unaware of the error of their ways. They will announce your departure as an act of betrayal.  If this happens, stay strong. When you walk away from fools and their foolishness errands, Wisdom will be waiting to embrace you and walk with you into your place of destiny.

“Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble” (Proverbs 13:20).

The Power of Revelation

The farther we move away from the historical details of an event the more some people will take license to create a new and false narrative of that history. This is where the presentation of fact, while still true, will not steer the debate and bring about a correction of the error. In times of deep and entrenched disagreement, only a revelation of the Spirit has the power to steer the human heart toward truth. 

Don’t spend your time trying to argue with detractors of truth. Ask God to increase your ability to receive and transmit His revelation. When these revelations come and you faithfully deliver their content you will become someone God will use to help steer individuals and culture toward a place of spiritual, intellectual and emotional health. That is the power of revelation.

Disaster Thinking

I just returned from a ministry trip along the northern coast of California. I was driving through Eureka and stopped at a supermarket to buy some food when something strange took place. Before I share the story, I need to give you some background.

While driving along the coast, I noticed tsunami-warning signs were posted everywhere. I was advised when I was entering a low area susceptible to a tsunami and when I was leaving. These coastal communities are aware of a tsunami threat and have made appropriate preparations. 

I did some research on the subject and the warning is a real deal. A 700-mile long fault line called the Cascadia Subduction Zone is about 50 miles offshore and runs north from Eureka, California along the coastline of northern California, Oregon, and Washington and into parts of southern Canada. When the Cascadia Subduction Zone ruptures, as it has done many times in history, it will produce a 9.0+ earthquake that will shake the Pacific Northwest with devastating results and produce a tsunami that will decimate the coastal communities.

Back to the supermarket. While shopping, I was enjoying some classic rock music being played over the in-house sound system. A song came on that unbeknownst to me had a loud siren playing in the musical score that sounded just like a tsunami siren warning people to flee to higher ground. I noticed the other shoppers weren’t responding. They just kept shopping as if life was normal.  I started to move toward the exit of the store and out the front door when the song ended and another song came on. It wasn’t a real tsunami warning. It was only a soundtrack mimicking the real thing. I tried to quietly return to my abandoned shopping cart as cool, calm and collected as I could without looking too foolish.

That experience taught me something. While traveling along the coast with the knowledge that an event like the rupture of the Cascadia Subduction Zone is a reality, it offers a person two choices. One, which I did, was to pray the Shalom of God over the coast and the fault line. The other was to manage the subtle fear that wanted to come and paralyze me so that I would miss the beauty of God’s creation and live on edge 24/7 while on the trip. We can get so wrapped up in preparing to exit a potential threat to life that we miss living in the beauty of the moment. 

The reason the people in the store were not moving toward the exit when the siren in the song was playing was that they knew what a real warning siren sounded like. They were free to enjoy an afternoon of shopping. To them, it was just a song. To me, it was the approach of disaster. 

In the end, we all need to be prepared for the potential outcomes of life, but not allow our preparation to morph into a paranoia that can cause us to live in a mindset of perpetual fear.  Fear is a thief who robs us of our peace. Plan your life-strategy to keep safe. Always have an escape route to get to the higher ground of God’s peace when danger comes. Have a spiritual go-bag filled with the essentials of your faith packed and ready to grab when a real-life emergency comes and you have to move fast. Do all you need to do to be prepared to take action should you be faced with an event beyond your control, but never live in that preparation as a prisoner bound in the shackles of fear. That would truly be the greater disaster.