Transformation: From Common Sense to Revelation

Today, eight days into a new season, I had a breakthrough in my thought processes, in my belief system, and ultimately a deeper understanding of how I was built to operate.

Even now, as I write this, I am overcome by a sense that the Father is pleased that I am, on a higher plane than ever before, seeing myself in the Kingdom, closer and closer to the place that He intended for me to dwell.

Now, to let you into what I am referring to – actually.

I for several months now have been holding out on posting a blog about common sense, and how it relates to believers, and how I’ve thought everyone needs to rapidly increase in knowledge and understanding of the Kingdom so that we can do this culture thing, and get on with establishing the Kingdom thing in greater measure in the earth, etc., etc. I mean, after all, there is this ethereal goal of holiness, and a Heavenly standard or living out the Kingdom, right?

Unfortunately, I have related this to what I think God has revealed to everyone, or to that which they ought to be asking the Lord, and how to live out salvation, and even more indignantly suggesting everyone walk in the highest possible calling in the Kingdom – OR ELSE!?!

And God responds, “Or else, WHAT?!?” And this is where I get humbled – BIGTIME.

Last week, I had a session with a father of this house (Bethel), and as a result I now have a confidant and friend also. The intention was to have an encounter with Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit, which we did. The whole point of the encounter was to create a vantage point that would, in essence, give me a reading of what I am believing (whether true, or not) where I could work on repenting, worshiping, and praying into further revelation and a closer connection with God in a safe environment. 

After realizing that my past is amazing, my upbringing much more productive spiritually than I give credit toward, and the development of my spiritual disciplines and relationship with the Lord much further along than I allow myself to think about, I found out that I’ve been bored for some time, on some level, and I haven’t been passionate according to the King’s desires, but merely out of my own comprehension to believe, and simply live a humble lifestyle. The latter is fine, however, I haven’t really been moved to be passionate about the King’s agenda for his Kingdom, and was reminded that I can’t continue this way – that I must begin to allow myself to feel the moving emotions of anger and extreme joy for the things that God has put in my heart.

Throughout the three hour ‘meeting’ I was made aware of an incredible gift of ‘revelation’ that I seem to have about the way I view things in general, the way I picture truth, and the way that I process the things of the Kingdom. I was trying to obtain some sense of gratification from the flattery, but I couldn’t find it in me to accept it when these things seem normal, mundane, almost routine to me in the way I capture the ideals of the Kingdom, and live them out according to my world-view.

Things get interesting. . .

Not until today, one week later, did I realize the brevity of what Holy Spirit set in motion, according to the desire in my heart to partake in a spiritual ‘cleansing’, or routine ‘check-up’, as some might call it. I was sharing with a dear friend some of the things that I encountered last week during this special meeting, and realized. . . that there are folks that feel I operate, according to them, in an ‘incredible’ gift of revelation, in the way I see things, say things, and articulate my heart and Heaven. I said, I wish I could feel like these things are profound, but most of the time these thoughts don’t hit me that way, “It’s just the way I see things! I just say it like I see it, and it seems normal.”

This is where it hit me – revelation is not mostly, and for me in fact is rarely a grandiose impartation or empowerment where I see Heaven opened. Revelation of truth is a result of a pursuit of a relationship with King Jesus, and to desire to know God’s ways and how the Holy Spirit administrates the goings on of the Kingdom and all it’s vision and purposes. According to a wise proverb, it is the glory of Kings to search out [revelation/God’s ways].

So evidently for me, revelation is somewhat common, and has become a sense of truths that often seem common. This is a huge breakthrough! For so long I’ve formulated walls and soap boxes of agenda that have everything to do with the Kingdom – this is good – but my expectation of others and the church is that they should know these things also, and we should be operating by a much higher standard corporately than we are! Although this could be considered true also, the delivery has been aimed at keeping the bar raised high with holiness in mind, but not about helping steward the transformation in me and others, and certainly not assisting or coaching those in my influence to be interested solely in intimacy with Jesus, as this is the only way to know and understand the ways of the Kingdom.

In other words, I have continually engineered the translations of my revelation with a manipulative tone to provoke people to a higher level of something Kingdom based on my expectation of their works (which I previously would argue are what prove faith) with only the end result in mind. I haven’t really intentionally sought to communicate to my brothers and sisters how valuable revelation is, and how it relates to the process of growing in intimacy with God, the process of growing in intimacy and vulnerability with other believers, and operating in a growing sense of value for process itself. Such a value for the process can in turn increase our ability to see Jesus as He really is all day, every day, and what He desires the most, a renewed mind, a continual transformation of the heart by continually believing with deeper conviction that He is God. He has indeed provided us a means to intimacy with God in a fashion that is absolutely identical to the way that He Himself communes with God and the Holy Spirit (so that we might be ‘seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father.’)

I want to offer a public confession that I believe that I have been operating in a lesser truth, valuing the future over the now, and I want to ask your forgiveness, as a brother who has been called by grace to greater things. I thank the Lord that He has offered me as much favor as is necessary to allow me to go as deep into His heart as I am willing to go.

I want to pray a blessing over you, that you would continue to receive the mind of Christ, that you would have as much grace as you need to be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and that you will indeed continue as you have been, approaching God’s throne with confidence. I also pray that there would be a breakthrough in your heart to receive more of the revelation of God’s love, His truths and His promises given to you through the Word, in prayer, and in various other ways. There is simply no greater joy but to know Jesus, and understand that there is no one closer than the one who will lay down their life for friends.

Please continue to grow in your ability to place a very high value on the process of transformation.

Blessings to you in the name of Jesus, and I’m hoping you have a wonderful Christmas!

Freedom’s Responsibility – An Unquenchable Fire

Jesus,

I must know You. Forgive me for identifying with your work for vain purposes – like promoting my own identity in You to leverage my own agenda. Know it is not my intention to merely be known by my words and works displayed through my means and discretion, but known by association and loyalty to Your throne, Your Kingdom, and all things derived from Your perfect design of authority and all it’s power.

I desire only to know You and be loved by You, so help me know more that this is all you desire as well, even before you enabled me for more.

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I want to begin a discussion that has been working in my heart for a few weeks now, in that I believe that if we have any understanding of The Truth, that we are sinning against God if we are not oozing the good news of Jesus Christ at all times. Think of it as lying by omission.

If I believe in Your perception of my destiny, Lord, and have been brought into change, I must believe that I’m a new creation, and that I am who You say I am, not a possessor of what I think I can manage such as any level of moral or value driven principles – for You only give gifts proportionate to faith in carrying out your works to display freedom in its most accurately and originally pure form to affirm hope. Likewise, You offer Your now “merited” favor and super-natural ability to dispense to the world the same freedom I’ve been freely given because of the power displayed and transferred in the resurrection of Jesus. Heaven invaded earth once again with Jesus, and now the outcome looks grim for darkness, as we, ambassadors of Heaven in Jesus are carrying out Jesus’ work of freedom in greater measure than ever before! Hallelujah!

We are free because of freedom – naturally, and supernaturally; a revelation of freedom truly begets freedom. There is no other alternative to idolatry, meaninglessness, death and ungodliness except receiving and accepting and believing a truth revealed perfectly, and in a perfectly whole and timely fashion. We cannot really manage any dispensation of freedom if it is the very thing that had the power to change us – especially since it did not come to conquer us, but show itself as a servant to the destiny that God designed in us.

Jesus is Lord – not only to those who believe – but to all creation. It then by faith should be widely accepted that I may move from a place in grace which is my anointing (to provide a motive for works) having believed in Jesus as my Savior, to a new understanding that I am designed as a vessel to be a living declaration of truth. Therefore this Spirit in me proclaims truth because its true, not because I or anyone needs to “possess” it, but to provide communication that can be “heard” and so believed. (It is said that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.) If I’ve been brought by a force outside of myself from darkness into Light because I believed in the whole goodness of God in Christ, then that same motivation and means for freedom in my own life ought to invoke that same Message to others. It is by believing The Truth and having any level of faith in the nature of a good God that that one is saved, and not ultimately by my ability to display what His goodness looks like, but simply in speaking that which has been imparted to me so that others might find themselves simply able to hear and believe what has been spoken according to the Spirit of Christ in me.

At this point, it is the responsibility of Truth to display it’s power, through signs, wonders and miracles that accompany the words that testify to God’s goodness, and desire to be in relationship with those who hear.

Blind but now I see. Holy Spirit is sight. I can now see and tell others what they can/should see. When what I tell the next blind person what I see and it matches up with what they know ought to be true and they believe me because my eyes have been opened with the gift of sight, they too will see truth, in the very way it was intended to be viewed.

Likewise, if I see, I don’t possess sight, nor the ability to see, but in seeing my perception provides a means for me to carry out a greater responsibility to steward more carefully what I see in the way God created things to be seen. In other words I am entitled or enabled (by a higher authority or enabler) to proclaim truth in greater measure (having seen and believed), because of a more refined and more realistic perspective of truth, which is now more visible than I previously had the ability or opportunity to see. For it is not by my own understanding that I am able to believe that Jesus is the Christ, but by an offering of revelation from God the Father Himself.

Praise be to Jesus, our God, for the gift of the Spirit which leads us into all Freedom and Truth.

Going on Mission - The Deep South of Alabama!

Hey all!

I want to inform you that my wife and I are going on a mission - to the DEEP SOUTH! Hooray!

All students at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry are selected to travel on one of their dozens of mission trips around the globe to practice what they've learned - extending the hand of Jesus and His Kingdom into the earth. It is our mission to carry the Message of Good News that God is GOOD, and offer God's power in love (aka signs/wonders/miracles).

The heart and passion at Bethel International is to raise up a generation of world changers that will be known simply for their reckless abandonment to see that Jesus is Lord in all the nations. As we are building relationships with various regions around the world one of the main goals that we have is to make the nations look like geniuses. Our strategy is go to and raise up influencers in their own nations so they begin to run with the inheritance that God has given them to transform their nation.

All of our Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry trips are partnered with Bethel International’s vision for transforming nations. This mission trip is all about returning to the foundation of “One Nation under God.”  We will have the opportunity to share the love and power of Jesus with people from all different walks of life.  We will be ministering to those who have been incarcerated and are undergoing drug rehabilitation, students at the local university, and to those that hold both political and judicial offices.  We have a huge heart for what God is doing throughout this nation, and are looking forward to being a part of that in Alabama.  

Carrie and I will be traveling with our Revival Group Pastor, Sheri Downs, to Gadsden, AL, and potentially do some ministering on campus with the Wesley Foundation at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. Several churches in the area have recently joined the Global Legacy (www.igloballegacy.org), a network of individuals and organizations that have committed to partner with Bethel Church and it's message and mandate. 

If you have any other questions, or are interested in hearing more about the trip and what we'll be doing, please feel free to ask. We're going to be traveling a total of eight days (MARCH 10th-18th), and are looking to raise $1300 each, for a total of $2600 for both Carrie and I, which will include round trip airfare, room/board, and transportation for the eight days we are in Alabama.

Financial gifts may be made online at www.ibssm.org (the links are posted below). This gift is tax-deductible and you will receive a statement at the end of the year for your tax records. If you wish your gift to be anonymous, please check the anonymous box. This will allow you to receive an end of year statement, but will not allow the student to see your name. This gift is non-refundable, and if for any reason a team member or team does not go, the money will support another mission trip sponsored by Bethel Church.

If online payment is not an option, you can make out a check to Bethel International, and leave the memo line blank. Also, make certain to attach a note to the check that denotes that it is for Brandon/Carrie Snell. Donations can be mailed to:

Bethel Church
Attn: Bethel International
c/o Brandon & Carrie Snell
933 College View Dr.
Redding, CA 96003

Below are the links where you can donate to both Carrie's and my accounts. 

https://www.ibssm.org/?action=donate&target=missions&student_id=211700 (Brandon Snell)

https://www.ibssm.org/?action=donate&target=missions&student_id=211709 (Carrie Snell)

Blessings to you in the name of our precious Jesus, who calls us forth into our destinies as sons and daughters of THE Living God!

The Nature of a Gift

Salvation is not mine, it is the Lord’s. If I truly treasure His gift of renewal, salvation, new birth, and revelation, I must loose my hold on them. Once I can unlearn the habit of holding on to things and ideas I can grasp, God will be able to reveal to me their value, and I'll really see the need to invest these treasures in Heaven’s 'Treasury. It seems that stewardship is more about adopting your value system to God's, and trusting what He says He can do.

Generosity is not just about giving compassionately (in sympathy or empathy), or worse, only in and out of excess, but learning that gifts and blessings are not for my personal use but if I really have seen and discerned the heart of a generous God, it will be evident, and I will be compelled to give those same gifts away, and with heavens best interest (and supernatural increase) in mind.

(Disclaimer: This doesn’t mean that I won’t find benefit in the gifts I’m given or treasures I find. It means that Heaven and Earth are two different paradigms if you will, and Jesus tells us to ask the Father for Heaven, which would signify that Jehovah has given us access to those treasures we are taught to lay there.

One way to picture this is to say your bank account or love language for receiving gifts is a square hole, and only God’s gifts that are square are really going to fit there. So if God is pouring out another shape of gift into your life right now – say a star shaped peg, pay attention to the places where there is a star shaped hole around you. If you have to make an effort to get there, make sure you do it, and pour that blessing into it’s rightful place.)

I think it’s safe to say that Heaven’s economy is an endowment. Heaven’s treasurer is Generous (aka Jehovah - Jesus), Heaven’s government is not a regulatory system based on manipulating and trading the value of its gifts or its ambassador’s strengths to deliver the goods – nor is it a holdings company expecting unreasonable and lucrative earnings and results from its ventures. The responsibility of growth and increase in the Kingdom is up to Jesus, and always consistent according to the Father’s plan. The trends show favorable for all of us.

I believe the problem is not what anyone lacks, or what excess they have and how the stuff ought to be stewarded, but what can be stewarded with what one has, what one can give, what one can teach or express. God and His Kingdom has never known lack, never known sin, dishonor, death, nor has the Kingdom known excess. Nor does it’s Treasurer withhold the dispensation of good things that He promised, and is promising. Amen.

Common Sense – Synergy or Catastrophe?

I want to express some extreme frustration in my heart that I have for the situation of the world in which we live. First, it is NOT my intention place any blame, deny responsibility, or claim to have intrinsic wisdom on the matter; however, I am not holding back in my statements to keep from offending. It’s time for us to grow up.

Second, early morning coffee is a crutch for those that want an excuse to not have to hit the grind hard, on purpose, first thing every morning. I am not against early morning coffee. I enjoy it. Just get over yourself and your self-made addiction that contributes to and enables your small talk reservoir – that’s right, I said it.

Third, if we are children of God and are instructed to be about the King, and the King’s work – why would we do ANYTHING ELSE!?!?

Okay, let’s get a couple things ironed out: 1) I am not angry, 2) I am not manic, and 3) I often think and do things that do not relate to the Kingdom – but my core values and actions representing those convictions about them should continue to increase, show themselves as a solid pretense to all my doings, become more frequently repetitious and synonymous with the purposes of the Kingdom already at work near or around us.

There are tons of references that we use to explain away our actions in Kingdom ‘Living’ or ‘Work’, and we talk about Jesus, and we talk about Paul and the Apostles and we regurgitate their words as though we have a clear and strong grasp on what it is they were REALLY trying to communicate. Realistically, most haven’t, and it’s why we have to have ‘draw people to church’ conferences, and publishers that cater to church leadership, and sexy names and formats for everything we do as ‘Christ-like’s’. Let’s just get this one fact straight, there were a bunch of men led by the Holy Spirit to collect many teachings and letters now called ‘The New Testament’, and they picked the cream of the crop to pass on through the generations for the generations (canonization). Within these teachings that they incorporated into one abridged explanation of the Gospel (and I’m not implying that it is in any way incomplete, but the contrary), and it’s application to a constantly changing and evolving world. The Jesus centered worldview has not changed (contrary to popular thought), nor will it ever change from being the unequivocal, infallible, and absolute truth. NEVER. You cannot win a community, a city, a state or a nation over with seasonal concepts of charity – you’ll only create a sense of hyped up Easter eggs and Halloween candy (Harvest Festival alternative? BULL!).

So back to the word ‘common’. Basically, I’m vexed in how so many streams can converge and turn the Word sour with a single experience. I’ve also got so much concern in my heart for the apparent need to create rules to accompany our ‘religious convictions’. This is NOT freedom, and I am gaining a sense that freedom was never about incorporation of rules, and that religion has never been about freedom. You cannot love both God and yourself. You cannot have both freedom and regulation. They are polar opposites, and your heart must serve the system of the world, or the freedoms of Heaven.

If I’m not mistaken, it seems that the first church was birthed as an expression of faith by people with a common experience, and had no intention of copying, or operating within the confines of the direction of the Sanhedrin (Pharisees & Sadducees). They were finally free, finally given the chance by Jesus himself to enter into an intimate relationship with God in Jesus, and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to not only share this message, but to actually share love in faith with fellow believers (also known as receivers) and to all those in bondage in any way. VERY SIMPLE. First two, and only two commandments that Jesus offered to those that would accept His hand in salvation.

The way that I see it, if you are waiting to do ministry until people can give with a tax write off (501©3 in America), trying to raise enough support to do your thing full-time, or if you are selling shirts to end poverty in Haiti, or if you are buying ‘Tom’s’ to help kids in Argentina, you are participating in a massive lie that the Message of God, and the offering of Jesus isn’t enough – and that we must join the humanitarian and religious efforts of the world’s way of doing things. Jesus didn’t have to do ANY OF THOSE THINGS and saw EVERYONE He touched and prayed for healed. No exceptions.

If God has given you an impossible dream, go chase it. Also, It is my opinion that He will make a way. It is also my conviction that you better take that dream to the prayer closet and ask God to clean up (perfect) your identity in and your perception of His plan, so that there is no way that you could mess it up, because you hear directly from Him. If He does good things, and He is 100% good, and he makes 100% Florida Orange Juice good, I’ll let Him make the plan to grow, pick, and squeeze the oranges. I’m certainly not going to tell him how to deliver the juice to the market either. Now, just insert revival for oj, and you’ll get where I’m going with this.

SO, in a nutshell kind of way – I desire to open a ‘can-o-worms’, and challenge you, the reader, to open your heart up, and ask yourself which system you serve. Do you serve the purposes of man? Or do you serve the purposes of Jesus for the sake of His Kingdom? God won’t be mocked. Let’s just say this – until you are fully willing to serve the purposes of God as His son/daughter, because of His Son, He will never be willing to serve your purposes as a priest on the earth. God will not pour out His love, revelation, resources, or favor into a lukewarm vision. He cannot. God is interested in people that have given themselves into the wholeness of goodness, and His nature. He doesn’t overlook anyone, but is looking for those that are willing.

PLEASE, please, hear my heart, in that I hope that we can begin to find some synergy, operating as the body, in unity because of God’s agenda.

Jesus prayed that we would be one (John 17), as He was one with the Father. Jesus was so absolutely reliant on God’s spirit, so addicted, that the moment the Spirit was removed from Jesus, He perished. He should have had a long painful death as were common to a crucifixion, or perhaps Jesus should have even come off the cross were it up to Himself. But it was the will of God, removing Himself from the sin of the world, putting it away forever that killed Jesus, drawing yet another line in the sand. And then we must associate most directly with this – that we MUST identify with the resurrection of Jesus, which proves the nature of sin and death powerless, giving us hope, giving us freedom, and an opportunity to move with the same reliance on the Holy Spirit Jesus had! I want MORE! I’M NEEDY GOD! I WANT MORE OF YOUR HOLY SPIRIT!

PLEASE DO NOT continue to walk out a vision in your heart without taking the thoughts, concepts and visions to the prayer closet for years, allowing Papa to sift it, refine it, and mold it to be of the highest impact possible. We have Papa behind us, and we have forever, so we must be considerate of His calendar. We must be honoring of the culture that HE wants to build. Please be sure to write down your visions, but allow the Lord to describe it, give it wings, and establish it as an extension of His Kingdom in the earth. 

Jesus, it is my desire that you would establish the most firm foundations of freedom in my heart. And I love you, Jesus, for coming alive, so I could come alive.

Do you pray in private?

I encourage you to spend a moment, clearing off your table, sitting still for a few moments, and put your mind, heart, and hands at ease - even stop what you are doing, and sit in the middle of a room or the middle of your yard for a moment and be still. Wander into an open area, but find yourself alone, and you'll realize you are not so alone.

Do we pray with expectancy? Do we pray with vigor? Do we pray without ceasing? Do we pray until our prayer is answered? Do we pray because we are supposed to? Do we pray the right things? Do we pray as though my next breath was dependent on an answer or some kind of breakthrough? Will you contend that God would bring forth your destiny to be manifest in your life?

Perhaps the most important question to be asked is, "Will you pray in secret and allow Him to go where no one has gone before?"

I am here to tell you that you must pray in secret. You must pray alone. You must put EVERYTHING down, even your toys, and tools, phones, to-do lists, and your agendas, and your obligations to your own time commitments. It may mean that you even need to put down your instrument of worship, and your soaking music. Unless you learn to be alone with the Lord, you will not be able to portray nor testify of an intimate relationship with Jesus, or the Father, or create a frame of reference in which the Holy Spirit can operate.

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Oh Lord, your ways are so perfect, and I declare publicly, now that I have spent years in secret honoring you, asking You for the desires of your heart, that You would reach deeper into the hearts of all of those people I know, and have influence into their lives, that they may have an encounter with the Father's love that goes beyond being able to tell someone what happened! Lord, I do pray from the bottom of my heart, that your overwhelming presence would invade our homes, the roots of our governing systems, and that You would bring inspiration to those who have been patient, and I pray Lord, that I might provoke You to begin to release your reward to the saints that have found their home in their prayer closet, in your humble royal chamber.

Oh precious Jesus, let my desires be as bold as yours, and Lord, give me strength to pray longer, harder, and Holy Spirit, give me grace to pray as long as I need in order to see the Father's will played out in every arena of my heart, my family, and any other influence in which I have been given authority to govern. Don't hide your face Lord - I can't stand to imagine one day without your hand in my life. If I am too blind to see it, Lord please heal my sight. If I am too busy to notice it, strip me of my self-made dignity and humble me with it. Lord, if I won't identify it, teach me to know more sincerely the purity and boldness of your works.

Oh Holy Spirit, You are so kind, and You are so benevolent to reveal truth in as much measure as I can handle. May the incense of your words be carried on my person all the days of my life, to remind me of your endless provision of insight to the way of Freedom, and teach me to be as benevolent with it as You have been to me.

Let your love, oh Lord, be as a seed that I plant into the fields of the earth, and let me be expectant that I will reap a harvest because of the abundance that was first dealt toward me, and I pray that this abundance would in turn, be harvested by seed sowers in as many generations to come as You can promise.

Your love is better than anything that I have ever experienced, and your love carries more weight in my heart than I could ever have imagined on my own, so I thank You for expanding the borders of my heart, and I will forever thank You for the gift of perception, that allows me to realize transformation, count my blessings, and sing of your endless goodness for You alone are great, and greatly to be praised.

Oh ageless One, I will speak of your great and wondrous ways all the days of my life, and I will dedicate all of my heart, mind, and soul to believing all of your promises, seeking You and finding You, obtaining grace and freedom, operating in faith to produce works that are worthy of your approval, and providing You with avenues to bring you glory in my life, wherever, whenever, and to whichever degree You find pleasurable, and satisfactory.

Blessing and honor to You my King, Jesus, as You are worthy to receive the reward of your suffering. Hallelujah!

For God SO Loved the World

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

“This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

“This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

I’ve had a revelation recently – God Loves US! I’ve been spending a lot of time with the Lord, thinking, meditating, praying, desiring, asking for healing to flood my unbelieving heart, and crying out for glory to be released among those that have desired more for so long.

On my long 1900 mile journey a couple of weeks ago, the Lord showed me something that I had never seen before – perhaps never even thought before – and I almost had to pull off the road because of the magnitude of what this spoke to my heart. Exodus 20.

Do you remember this passage? Every human has it written in their heart – it’s a code – the code to the gates of heaven. Hint: It’s a bunch of ‘THOU SHALTS’ that have shaped, molded and imprisoned generations of multitudes, their cultures, and their religions.

My point is not to bring up the improper interpretation, but the original one, which leads me to what the Lord told me. It goes something like this: “I gave you these ten commandments to tell you how I always have, do, and will love you. I will not put anything between you and me, so I ask you to do the same. I will never speak against your identity as my son or speak of you as less than you are. I will always take a Sabbath so we can spend time together, life is about more than the pursuits that seem to be made available. I will always keep my word and provide for you when you honor your parents. I would never murder you in cold blood, I will not go behind your back to fulfill my emotional/physical needs but wait patiently for you. I am a gentleman, and I won’t take from you what is truly of any value to you. I will never testify against you.  And please know, that I won’t desire anything of yours that I don’t have the right to touch.”

Seems pretty basic, yeah? Somewhere along the way, through all of the things I’ve experienced and reasoned my way through, I think that I’ve allowed this Message from God himself to become muddy, complicated and I’ve devalued it’s deepest interpretation. I’ve tried to interpret interpretations, pray prayers that I thought were deeper in meaning, and cried out for revelations – that apparently I’d forgotten I’d been given some time ago.

God gave us the 10 commandments to tell us about His moral code, about Heaven’s honor system, and the secret to long life and success. He told us how He loves us. He told us how free will works. I heard it said recently, that freedom is not about doing whatever it is you please. Freedom is about doing what is right. He told us that if we will do these things, they will be our testimony, our love language, our story – and in this story we become re-presentation of His reputation. Maker of all things good. “God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good!”

Father, you are good, and your covenant is perfect – better than any other vow that could be made or agreed upon, so please let it play out in my life in a way that is honoring to your gift of free will, as well as your even better gift of forgiveness, and let me know your voice, as you surely know mine.

Jesus, you are good, and your obedience is perfect, so please let it change my life in a way that is honoring of the Father’s perfect covenant to do only what is good, and let me love others in the way you’ve loved me with the Father’s love – even unto death – furthering the conviction that God is good to countless others.

Holy Spirit, you are good, and your guidance is perfect, so please let it bring freedom and healing to my heart in the places it has neglected to believe that the Father’s love is good, and that Jesus’ sacrifice is perfect – even unto madness and infatuation with something that can’t seemingly be seen.

Oh perfect Lover, come inspire me again with the story of why you made me, and let my restless heart be settled in knowing that you are Good, and even your judgments are full of righteousness, and your reproof full of a longing and desire to see me choose not only what is right, but what is best according to and in serving the covenant that you made with man when you breathed your first breath into the dust.

Oh Lord most high – let my declaration of love and belief in your compassion be heralded from all corners of the earth – and let your glory be established in my heart – and let my expectations be full of good things – and let my hands not be idle in obedience but accept that you delivered me from evil that I might see your kingdom come and become everything you intended for it to be.

What do you really want?

Do you even know what you want?

Do you think you have a good idea about what it is that you think will simply make you ______________ (insert your verbiage for bliss here)?

I've been processing a lot lately. I think about big issues a lot, but actually processed much more cause/effect oriented material in the past month or so - my head hurts. But now, my heart is starting to hurt.

There have been some pretty massive breakthrough changes in my life (including my wife's), which include things that deal with the desires of our hearts, things that have broken my perception of what faith is and cast light on even more beautiful things than I could imagine, financial outpouring, job situations, and a cross-country move.

Let me just say this - I don't think that I asked specifically with big faith for any of it, let alone, all of it at once. This is just what asking the Father what He wants looks like sometimes. (Disclaimer: If you are asking the Lord what He wants - you better make sure you know it's what you want to let Him get what He wants. . . . .)

First, I want to give you an opportunity to let the Holy Spirit overcome you before reading any further. This is where it all begins. Sit, close your eyes, and assume a receptive posture, and ask Him to search your soul, and open up your heart to the things you forgot about, or thought were all too sacred to access.

Now, if you didn't get whacked yet, and you have the means to continue reading, I want to tell you what started all of this new season for me and my family. GRACE. The tangibly genuine power of God which allows you to do what you couldn't do a second ago. Jesus. The spoken Word of God presented as a means for faith and reception of God's power. Holy Spirit. The comforter, the one who reveals to us Grace (The power of God) in Jesus, granting us the ability and strategy of opening our heart to the Father's work - which is for His Glory. Glory. The pinnacle of Heaven, a currency whose value is assessed only by the Father and Creator God.

It is only by God's power (Grace), that was given to us through Jesus (a means of restoration of belief), for the works of the Kingdom (His Glory), that we exist.

I'm here to tell you, that even though I know that there are things in my life that look like they benefit me at the moment, I have NO release to believe for one second that I am the first recipient of this blessing, AND I an not the end user of this blessing. I cannot believe that I am more fortunate than others, nor have I fought longer and prayed harder than another. What I wish to convey is that for years now I have continually submitted my heart and my desires to those things that I believed were the Lord's. And now, the Holy Spirit, has allowed me to see what I have been praying into, and has also aligned all of my future to fit this path ahead of me, a pilgrim's progress, for the sake of the goal - making every bit of my life holy, pleasing, and fit for One who is worthy to receive everything I am.

Even our Savior, who was fully man, flesh from the dust, submitted His every breath to steward a glorious gift of perfection, the most beautifully restorative means of Grace to not only those who would accept, but to all before and since the Cross. Imagine such an amazing Royal Ambassador, having come from both Heaven's courts and our ranks of men, that would ask us to join in His suffering so that the Lord of Hosts would be glorified! What an incredible invitation to do God's work in the way He wants it done! All sin has been covered by Grace (the final authority of Heaven), because all man's ways have led to destruction, and are in need of recovery from their own demise. Who out of their own will has changed the color of their hair or determined the color of their children's eyes? Who in their own doing has kept a river in it's path? The Lord has done great things, and the greatest of all things accomplished in Heaven or Earth was not done without Love, but for His Glory, and for the Glory of all those who have been welcomed graciously into the destiny of Heaven.

We surely know who differs from our opinion and demands taxes and yet we will not support one agenda that does not suit my insatiable desires to be greedy in every form. But who will call out and proclaim that God is good?

My heart burns and yearns and groans for all of those that I know and have known, know and will know, all those who have surpassed and should have surpassed me, that they all might receive a summons from Jesus himself (as I have) to come and suffer - not as a punitive sacrifice for sins committed, but for the reward of a life laid down for the lives of their friends. Love beckons deeper than the deepest ocean, calls from the furthest corners of the universe, and desires from us a payment in the only currency of any value - a life lived in belief that God is good, God is righteous, and that God will has made a way for me to come to Him.

My prayer for you reader, is that you would begin to desire to not only have, but desire encounters with the Spirit of Christ, our Holy Ghost, that you might begin to be taught the nature of our loving God, and understand your role not as a just a 'believer', but as a SON or DAUGHTER of our God, and in this revelation catch a glimpse of the pleasure of our God in your committment to embrace the man, the Royal Ambassador, Jesus, as a means for it all, not just forgiving your your sins, but making provision to purge all your short-comings from your consciousness!

And I will ask who is this King of Glory? His name is Jesus, and He wants to take you to your full potential. Here is some advice - don't ask for provisional means in pursuit of the desires of your heart, and expect to use them in the way that you think they ought to be utilized or spent. Say 'Thank you Lord!' and then ask where the hole is that He's fashioned for that specific peg.

Blessings and peace to you my friends, blessings that change you, forge you, and make you who He wants you to be.

Culture Stewarded Leadership

"Those who long for the development of a particular culture will draw lines in the sand and seemingly jeopardize community for the sake of their hope in that culture. Don't make friends because you need them - make friends because you desire to obtain the same things as those individuals (i.e.: peace/trust/hope/faith/mercy/justice)."

Hey Leaders - Yeah - I'm talking to you.

I want to discuss some things that have been ruminating in my heart for some time now, and I feel like I am finally beginning to have the words to discuss what it is that I've really been after. Basically, I'm realizing that I've really desired culture where I thought what it is that I desired was called community.

What I'm finding is that there is an incredible amount of teaching, coaching, preaching, development, and economic stimulus aimed toward creating community, working to change the current circumstances to fit our idealistic view of how we ought to interact and how we ought live out our civil duties, human services, or spiritual obligations. We consider this cultural development, but we're only developing communities that fit our priorities, therefore creating opportunity to share our agenda, connect, and in effect move forward with others looking down the same tunnel.

Don't get me wrong, I think that community is an incredibly important element of any lifestyle, but I also think that there is too much emphasis placed on this particular organization of societal structure - regardless of it's orientation or how much measured good can come of it. I believe that community is something that can be acquired, happened upon, and even developed as a part of daily regimen. I do believe that the importance of developing community is a good thing, but not when sought as a short term solution - forgetting about what might be good for generations to come.

I've been a part of many movements and involved with many organizations that are stewarding, working toward creating community (and I think accidentally, and to their benefit, some are producing some sort of sub-culture). Some of these are local entities, and some are national or international networks working toward extending their influence to a few that will (in)formally commit themselves to the ideals these organizations are presenting to those who are willing to listen.

This is where my discussion gets messy, and I think that even a part of my own thinking is jogged in the following statements. Prepare to be offended. I am most definitely not an expert on social trends and development, so please don't think that I'm here to be 'righteous', because I am only expressing my heart - so hear me out. FYI - I'm particularly speaking toward the American Christian church - from perspectives I've experienced in or around a Christian worldview.

There are a whole slew of hungry, lonely, and dying people in the American church. Most of you don't even know it. Many of you do. Many of us have charismatic and even pentecostal leadership that is feeding to us the idea that there must be more, and with the anointing and calling on their life are able to produce some pretty awesome experiences that affirm their stance. I think this is good, and somewhat beneficial to the body, in that we are able to be a part of something bigger than ourselves - and create an atmosphere of worship that is reliable, stable, and for the most part honest in our offerings of worship.

However, there is a lie that is being fed to us that says things should be a particular way that's not the way they currently are, and we need change, and the lie says that we're supposed to create communities to help steward that vision of the church leadership, or denominational umbrella. It encourages groups of like-minded people to assemble and further digest what can't be given to them during their short attention spans at church - all the while incorporating some hype about how they need each other and let's see what happens - oh, and let's make them feel important by telling them they are discipling each other by being open about our sexual sins, debt, and honestly discuss how I treat my family.

NEWSFLASH - If people are not active in a community on their own accord based on their various associations or affinities - IT WON'T HAPPEN ANYWAY. What makes us think that 'cell' or 'life' or 'fellowship' or 'home' groups (not to mention short term missions) are going to produce a foundation for our churches that will in turn prime the pump for the 'more' in which we are supposed to be living and operating? I've been in church my whole life - I'm not convinced. Community is not a bad thing, but c'mon - the 'more' we're being told that is out there is out there - and I'm pretty sure there's only one way to get it.

According to Barna, people are leaving church by the droves. New people are coming to church as well, it's just that those that have been a part are leaving dissatisfied and doing what they know in their heart is right (and feeling ostracized), or turning to other available spiritual alternatives to the affirmation they seek. They desire to actually be a part of something that is actually bigger - way bigger. There are more reasons that we could apply to this than we could talk about in ten years worth of board meetings and coffee dates.

I'll sum this up - The desire that I have been given to seek first the Kingdom is heavy, and it is invading, and I've tasted and I've seen things that I cannot deny. I must find others who have found what I've found - I desire it more than anything, and I believe with all my heart I don't have to try at community to find them. I think that wanting something bigger than yourself means that you have to say no to things and people that you know are not willing to go where you know you've been drawn. Our lovely Savior desires to give us all our inheritance now - and I'm going to get mine.

I do know that there are a lot of people that come across our path that we find enjoyable, relatable, and we find that we have what it takes to be what they may need at certain times. I am NOT saying that we remove ourselves from communities or friendships that we have. What I am trying to communicate, is that we need to consider what it is that God is saying, what He is doing right now, and that we need to consider those things before we create another program (or friendship or support group) that needs more attention that we can give, and steals from us the much needed time and energy and joy that we need to seek first the Kingdom. 


I am telling you, and urging you, being an advocate myself for a Jesus Culture centered on the high authority of Jesus' glorious throne, that you ask for an encounter from God, to show you His love, which will reveal your purpose in the earth - which is to become a part of a culture that doesn't seek ministry opportunity, but seeks an invasion in the earth of Heaven. On earth now as it is in Heaven now.

Continue to ask the Lord for more of Himself every moment of every day, and I guarantee He will reveal Himself in a way that He can be found. In this, find yourself asking for the salvation of nations instead of how tomorrow could end.

I dare you to go beyond what you thought was possible. I dare you to realize that Heaven is a culture that revolves around the throne of our Almighty God, and nothing happens outside of His worship. Dare to believe that our faith is what pleases Him, not something that gets us through this life. Dare to abandon community for the sake of joining the ranks of Heaven's culture of redemption. Dare to pray the bigger prayer. Dare to believe in the compassion of our precious Jesus - our intercessor - our only viable route to the heart of the Father - which is your destiny. Dare to believe in the Gospel of Power. 


Dare to let yourself go and let the Holy Spirit reveal to you your destiny in Jesus, our beloved Savior. Dare to let God love you. . . . .

This Language of Love

Hey everyone, I am determined start living dangerously, as I know that I desire more than anything to release this truth that has somehow set itself deep within me. Perhaps it isn't me that desires to see it manifest in/out of me - but itself looking to flow through me as though there were nothing that could possible inhibit it's natural flow, where it is only a matter of time before it's evidence creeps out, oozes, flows, even explodes with glorious fury from my being into Heaven in response to the gift of honor that Love has so graciously given to me! Oh, how wide and how deep and great is Love, for it cannot be controlled, it bears the convict's heaviest load, and rids those deserving of punishment of their transgressions and debts - and ONLY for the sake of the revelation of the power of God which creates freedom from chains, and transforms meaningless chatter into beautifully crafted, ornate poems that decode the nature of the universe and it's Creator.

How can we hold back once we come to the realization that there is a God whose love chooses to race through the earth searching for those who will recognize it? How can we hope to attain any sense of revelation, or dissect any mystery without giving up every sense of a value system that is self-centric? What mystery is there in myself that I can break down that says that I can save me from me or anyone/anything else? I MUST destroy and forget the concepts that I think I protect myself with - where I seek protection from things that are certain to harm me, and I must embrace humility, honoring the call of Love that beckons always, and desires ONLY that I require myself to give to Love what it has given to me.

Love has come with hope, vision, belief - and with those things comes a whole set of unmistakable gifts that keep giving endlessly, unselfishly to prove each other lovely, prove each other necessary and if for nothing else but to reveal that Love desires to do only what Love does - LOVE.

Oh, how the one I love stirs me with His love. Oh how great is our God, who has lifted me out of my curse, into a realm of unconditional love that changes me, that creates a clean heart in me! How great is this transformation that serves as a testament to the work of God, and how He never changes - but always works in radical ways to show others how He uses those who submit to Love to work all things out for the common good.

Hallelujah to the King called Jesus, whose loving kindness is patient, slow to anger, and always faithful to prove to me that what He offers is flawless, and how I am offered a position as an ambassador, a vessel for His character to give hope to those who have no hope, to offer a home to those who have no home, a blessing to those who have been cursed.

This love that the Father has revealed through Jesus is powerful, and may it's mercy follow me all the days of my life, offering honor to all those that it encounters, healing to all those who are broken, and life to those who are dead.

Jesus, I have been overcome by your love, and my heart, soul and mind are consumed with You, oh Lord. May your Kingdom come, and Your will be done in the Earth. Hosannah. Amen.

What is my purpose?

I believe that so often, I think to heavily on what my purpose is, what my destiny is, and place an unbelievable amount of pressure on myself, and on the Lord to know exactly what it is I am about right now.

Oh, how I am mistaken in what I am to pursue!

The will of God in the earth for EVERYONE is to know HIM, and to be known by HIM. PERIOD.

My destiny lies in the ability to get past myself and my needs to look toward the face of God, and know Him. That's it. This is why Jesus came, not just to set us free, but in freedom show us that we are to be one with Him, as He is one in the Father! What a beautiful intercession!

It's been a while. . .

The morning glory is coming. . . . .

OH MY GOD!!!!!! HOW HE LOVES US!!!!!!

I want to write a few things that hopefully will bring an increased sense of the nearness of the Lord and what he is doing among us.

First, I love you all DEARLY and want you to know that you have my FULL SUPPORT in the things that God has given you to do, in this season, and in the next. Know I would give and am giving everything to see the fullness of the Gospel come to life in the things the Father has for you.

In that, I want to let you know that from now on, as friends, brothers, sisters, and ministers of the Truth, that you have NO EXCUSE not to follow completely and wholeheartedly the desires that the Lord has made aware to you in your hearts. See this as encouragement, and see it as me 'pushing your buttons' to pursue more, and when you think you have gone the extra mile, keep going.

We must press in to what God is doing, and we must come into the place where we are made aware that the face of Jesus has been burned into our vision, marking us for glory, and making our atmosphere/beings where His Presence rests in and upon us. THE GOSPEL OF JESUS IS THE POWER OF GOD FOR THOSE WHO ARE BEING SAVED!!!!

Remember that He promises to fulfill His word in our lives if we will dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. If our delight is in Him, He will grant us the deepest desires of our hearts. Give EVERYTHING over to Him, and HE WILL DO IT.

I am incredibly stirred that we are about to embark on a journey of discovering the honor and inheritance God desires for us to receive - which goes way beyond the shame of the prodigal and anchors us in our positions as royalty, the carriers of the Word of God which is Hope, and bring this Kingdom culture to the forefront as a result of our faithfulness to remain in Him - desiring all of what He has!

This is no joke, and I dare you to dare the Lord to show up, now, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of your lives. Let's open our hearts, and He will expand our capacities for the authority that He hopes to rain down upon us, placing upon us mantles to fulfill His purpose in the earth, for Jesus' sake!