12-12-14

A number of weeks ago, Chris, one of our prayer team, came to me saying that The Holy Spirit spoke to him about praying in our nations Capitol on December 12.  This word truly struck my spirit when he told me that day.  We began to pray into that word asking The Holy Spirit for His direction and leadership on this.  Since that time God has confirmed that word  and now we are calling people to pray with us for our nation on December 12!  

As I began to pray, asking the Father for His desire in this day of prayer He gave me direction on how to pray!  My hope is as you read this you hear the heart of  the Father and His desire for this nation.  I believe true prophetic unctions are meant to be acted upon to change the atmosphere.  When a prophetic word is given, it's up to us to be obedient to that word to see transformation at any level.  

We are looking for people who will answer the call to prayer on 12-12-14, with no agenda except the hope for our nation.  

Repairing the Breach & Rebuilding the Faith of America. 

Isaiah 58:12 / Jude 

The mandate for this time of prayer is to first, answer the call to hopeful intercession and asking the Lord to heal our land.  Jeremiah 33:3 / 2 Chronicles 7:14

We are ambassadors of the Kingdom.  Our assignment is to pray that the will of the Father be made manifest in the earth today.  2 Corinthians 5:20 / Matthew 6:9-15 

Here are the 5 areas that we are targeting for this time of prayer:

1.  Repentance  

personal purity, regional responsibility, and national awakening 

2.  Rebuild the Altars 

restoring the foundation of faith. accepting the assignments on our lives.

3.  Intercession 

We are asking for the watchmen to return to the walls in prayer.  

7 Mountains of influence:

Government 

Media 

Education

Religion 

Family

Arts and Entertainment 

Business 

4.  Future of America 

hope for our nation.  healing of the divides in our country.  maintaining a biblical world view

5.  Awakening & Revival 

Reformation begins with the church not in political institutions.  As the church turns back to righteousness, so will our nation.  The hope of America is Jesus Christ and Him glorified!  We are not praying for "extended services".  We are praying for personal, regional and national TRANSFORMATION!  

I want to encourage you to take time to pray with us on December 12, 2014 and believe God with us for healing our land.  As many as will, join your faith to ours as we believe God for an outpouring of The Holy Spirit in our nation!  Our hope IS Jesus Christ!  

Please spread the word and let us know that you are in prayer with us by going to the Prayer Culture section of bobbylemley.com and post that you are praying with us!  If you use social media sites use #prayerculture so we can link together in faith, believing that the best is possible for the people of America! 

Thank you in advance for answering the call to prayer!  

The Posture of Prayer

I recently had a woman come to me and say very gently, "I love what you are doing in the area of prayer, but it will be contended." 

For a moment I wasn't sure how to respond or even process that statement, but since that moment I have come to realize a little more of what that looks like.  It was most definitely an encouraging word within the context of our current cultural mentality about prayer.  As much as something may need to be reformed within the church, at the same time, our mentality about this reform must constantly stay on the altar so that we may see things from heavens perspective. 

To contend the culture of prayer within the church culture doesn't mean it will be opposed as saying, "we don't want this, or we don't like it", but it means there will be lack of understanding its movement.  

I believe prayer from the posture of humility and founded in love can be the most creative, powerful and shifting force that the believer has been given.  From this posture of prayer I believe the deepest places of faith can be activated.  

Being a student of revival cultures and places of awakening means you can not deny the moment that happens in the spirit through a praying people.  

Duncan Campbell of the Hebrides Revival said, "It is ridiculous to say that I brought revival to the Hebrides, the people in prayer long before I arrived brought the revival to the island"

Jonathan Edwards one of the pioneers of America's Great Awakening said, "You can't have revival without travail" 

Leonard Ravenhill said, "I have often prayed prayers, but have I ever really prayed?"

All of these quotes by men who experienced a measure of revival said it was only from the backs of a praying people that you can experience a "revival".  It's easy for me and others to say, "We want revival", but how many of us are willing to commit ourselves to the place of prayer, night and day, until we see a breakthrough in our communities?  This is the place that we must say, "YES," in our hearts in order to position ourselves for more than what we see right now.  I believe prayer should have two parts: We must encounter the heavenly perspective that John had in the book of Revelation and we must have a missional mindset toward the earth.  

Prayer isn't hiding from the world, but it's finding a secret place FOR the world.  Any true form of prayer will have an immediate obedience behind it.  Any form of intercession and prayer that doesn't demand our obedience to act on is limiting what is possible from our encounters with Heaven. 

I believe the last days outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Earth is based upon two things: the will of the Father and the obedience of His people.  We are called co-laborers with Christ Jesus, this means that we are now the mobile force of Heaven in the Earth.  Not so we can do what we want, but so we can activate the desires of Heaven for His people on the Earth.  You and I are called ambassadors, which means you are called to represent what the Kingdom says about a specific matter.

We must embrace what I like to call the posture of prayer - a place in His presence where we own no titles but we must have a posture before our King.  Our walk with God must be clothed in righteousness and rooted in humility.  Without either of those we can not experience the fullness of His Spirit in us as described in the book of Ephesians.

Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know."

I see this as an invitation into Heaven's vantage point about your situation.  There are three unavoidable things about this verse.

1. Call to Me - indicates that you must have an active pursuit to access what God wants to do through your life.  This is a word that invites us to engage Him.
2. I will answer you - gives you great assurance that He will meet you in the place of prayer, and that He not only hears you, but He desires to answer you..
3. I will show you great and mighty things - is the ability to exchange your vision for His vision.  Jesus alone is the Miracle Maker, but He promises that He will do great and mighty things with a surrendered vessel.  

"The Constitution of your community is more important than the passion of your prayers " - Lou Engle  

This means, passion and intention isn't enough to fulfill the posture of prayer.  We must position ourselves in communion and agreement with the standard of Heaven to activate His will on the earth.  I believe in a passionate prayer, but I also believe it is critical that we understand that the mandate of prayer should release a shock wave of obedience into the hearts of the people.  

One of the effects in the Hebrides Revival is that it was said, "It just seemed like God was everywhere." What a radical testimony of true revival.  That a praying people could somehow release such a presence in the community that there seemed to be no barriers between Heaven and Earth. 

Acts 5:12-16 is a place that we can see presence from a prayer life. The narrative says that miracles were done through the hands of the apostles and many wonders were done among the people.  It says in verse 15, "they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them." 

There was something so powerfully overshadowing the life of the apostles and especially Peter that the people anticipated that even the shadow of Peter could bring health to their body!  What if we would live in such a way that people knew the presence of The Holy Spirit resided upon us so much that it is possible they could get healed just by our shadows.  We must always understand that what overshadows us as believers will always fall on them who are in need.  We must be a people constantly living in the shadow of the Almighty. Peter wasn't "special", he had just been contending in the place of prayer and His life was filled with the Holy Spirit.  

It's important to see that there was even something so attached to the prayer life of Jesus, that the disciples asked Him to teach them to pray.  Not to do the miracles or to be a better speaker, but to teach them how to pray as He prayed.  So Jesus taught them the all familiar prayer in Matthew 6:9-13 

"Our Father in heaven, 
Hallowed be Your name.  
Your Kingdom come. 
Your will be done. 
On Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, 
As we forgive our debtors. 
And do not lead us into temptation, 
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the 
power and the glory forever.
Amen." 

This prayer was more than the typical rabbi teaching a form of prayer, but it was an insight to the posture and promise in prayer. May we all take time today to understand, The Father desires daily communion with His children.  Learning to abide with Him will teach us to dwell in His presence all the days of our lives.  Psalm 91 is our secret place in Him, and from that secret place we find the secrets of heaven and release them to those in need. 

Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of the law."

May we be faithful in the place of prayer, not to hide from our reality, but to change our reality. 

The Frontier of Domesticated Christianity

What does it mean to be domesticated? 

To be domesticated means "to take from the wild and tame."  We train what we tame and most of the time we correlate taming with animals, but what does it mean for us to domesticate our Christian walk?

At times we have all been guilty of domesticating our Christian walk.  Whether it's the subtle complacencies stealing from the place of personal devotion to creating a system that governs our relationships.  We have all had things that we have allowed to steal the zeal of true and pure religion before the Lord.  

What happened to the wilderness?  What happened to forging faith that results from the place of pressing or the place less desired?

It seems that today we have gotten away from things that test our faith and we have turned to things that sooth our conscience.  We have taken comfort and made it mandatory to our version of faith.  Now don't get me wrong on this thought, I don't believe this is some form of "punishment holiness" where you don't think you are living right without suffering.  That's not what I'm talking about.  What I am talking about is the thinking that the promise doesn't come without the process or that transformation comes without transition.  We ALL love and want the transformation.  But how many of us are willing to embrace the transitions that carry us to the place of transformation?  Once again, I'm not talking about salvation.  That transformation occurs the moment we say, "YES," to the sacrifice for our sins.  What I'm talking about is living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit.  I'm talking about the pioneer spirit that was birthed in The Upper Room in Acts 2. These people didn't have a format or blueprint to how it was going to work out.  The only thing they had was the blueprint of prayer and repentance that positioned them to release revival.  There was no "church growth guru," and "no program coordinator" coaching them toward success.  There was only a desire to surrender and be filled with the paraclete (helper, advocate, intercessor, The Holy Spirit).  

Today, I believe we have leaned so heavily on the price paid by others, that we have neglected to advance beyond their sacrifice.  We have forgotten what a nation of revival looks like.  Revival indicates that there is "new life," not business as usual.  Revival means that you have a new expectation, a fresh outlook, a new joy toward what's in front of you.  The expectation of the upper room culture wasn't one where they knew what was going to happen, it was an anticipation of "what's possible?" When was the last time you as a believer asked The Father, "what's possible today?"  

I believe this is the mentality of the pioneer, the plowman, and the miner.  When you look at these as occupations, you may lose the wonder of the assignment.  But, when you look at what they represent then you realize how much they forge into new possibilities.  

The Pioneer presses into lands unfamiliar hoping to discover places of great value or influence.  This nation was built on the backs of pioneers.  These are those willing to press the boundaries of limitation and possibilities.  Today we need pioneers to go beyond what is expected and go to what's possible.  The pioneer goes into new territory with no thought of cost.

"With God all things are possible" - Matthew 19:26 

The Plowman prepares land gained or given. They are willing to dig up the surface to prepare for the seed being planted.  If you don't have a plowman, the harvest will be limited or hindered.  His/her job is to go out in the field and prepare the unseen. If we don't recognize the need for "the plow" in today's church, then we will have no right to complain about the lack of harvest in the pews. The plow is prayer.  Nothing in the kingdom is prepared or purposed without prayer.  Where are those willing to plow through the dirt of repentance, intercession and daily devotion?  

The Miner goes underground to dig in the darkness. There is nothing of value when looking from the surface, but when you go underground you are looking for the hidden value.  This should be the constant view we, as believers, have when we see a lost world.  We should see the value under the surface of every individual.  A miner does a dirty, thankless job.  From the underground search of the miner, so many benefits surface to the believer.  In fact, in the 1700-1800's there were a company of people called Circuit Riders that left the shores of convenience and refused domesticated christianity.  One of West Virginia's early Circuit Riders said;

"Circuit Riders are like miners and souls are our iron" - Kevin Keplinger 

I believe it's going to take a reevaluation of our current condition as a people, a willingness to reform what we have allowed to become apathetic, and to invest into what is unseen.  I believe it's a reestablishing of the modern day Nazarite.  A covenant people who have it in their heart to ask God what they should give verses asking God what they can keep. In today's streamlined, well defined, convenient, demanding society I believe we need to ask God for the undomesticated view.  We must be willing to go where no one has gone to do what few desire to do to bring in a harvest that is waiting.  There is a frontier within our domesticated view of christianity.  We must be willing to confront that which isn't baring lasting fruit and constantly prune what is.  We must be a people who embrace wilderness for the sake of obtaining victory through it.  I declare we must seek beyond seeking and press beyond pressing.  There is always more in the heart of the Father than what we see, so our yes must be our obedience.  

I challenge each and every reader to examine your walk with Jesus.  Ask yourself if there is an area that has become tame? Is there a daily newness and expectation?  If there are some places that you have stopped adventuring with God, you can turn that current reality by asking God, "where can I pioneer?, "what needs plowed?" and "what needs mined out?"

You are saved not just to go to Heaven, but to cause Heaven to be known on the Earth.  You are made from the wilderness!  You are made for more!  Have a "YES" in your heart, and "MOVE" in your mentality!

Use this verse to target your prayer;

"Turn away my eyes from looking at the worthless things, revive me in Your way."  
Psalm 119:37

Picture of Discipleship

Matthew 28:18-20 "And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen'"

Jesus is the perfect embodiment of the plan of the Father.  He not only came as the substitute and sacrifice for the sins of humanity, but He also came to establish the identity of the believer. As He sets the framework for identity, He also gives the church its missional mindset.  The body of Christ is meant to be a living organism and a mobile force, not a passive form without produce.  We, the believer, are called "The Body of Christ" which indicates all that is in Jesus is available to us today. 

What Jesus brought in the form of identity to the believing church can be activated by the seed and harvest concept of discipleship.  Jesus said, "Go and make disciples of all nations," which indicates that He has equipped us to do exactly that - make disciples.  God will never call you to something He won't equip you.  He is not only giving identity but He has partnered a mandate to come from that identity.  He has equipped us with every spiritual blessing to see Heaven create a partnership on the earth by planting Jesus as the seed for the harvest in humanity.  Our mandate is to take the identity that He has given us and multiply it in the earth.  Jesus said in John 4:35, "Open your eyes and look at the fields, they are ripe for harvest".  Recognizing our times from a heavenly perspective will initiate our hearts to see the harvest of souls that Jesus said was in front of us. Matthew 9:37-38 "Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.'" We must accept both the identity and mandate of the harvest to understand biblical discipleship.  

The principle of discipleship has been lost in our modern, cultural view of today. I used to picture discipleship as simply making a duplication of the original, which doesn't sound so bad when you recognize our model is Jesus.  I though that if we were doing discipleship correctly, we would have raised a generation that looks and sounds like the model lived before them.  Obviously scripture tells us that an element of discipleship is to "imitate me, as I imitate Christ", but that's where most of us get off course thinking that the imitation is of me and not Christ.  If you imitate me, you will find an incomplete, sometimes off target effort from humanity that is based on human limitations. But if your imitation is that of what you see in Jesus through me, then you will find a strength to accomplish, beyond human limitations. What you see in me, you see in a fruit form.  This means you see it in it's full manifestation and not it's seed form.  I see my fruit in a seed form, meaning that I know the beginning stages and the power of the planted seed to produce fruit in your life.    

In Matthew 10, Jesus gave the disciples power. This power was to effectively change the condition of anything they came in contact with on earth.  If they encountered a demonically possessed person, they now had authority to cast it out.  If they encountered someone sick, they could release power to raise them out of their disease.  This is an amazing idea - that Jesus would give His authority to His disciples.  Many people say that we don't have that authority to do such things anymore, but if that were to be true, then the very heart of the kingdom would be missing.  John 14:12 "most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and GREATER works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." This is a radical Kingdom indicator for us from the Lord.  He said in Matthew 13:31, "that the Kingdom is like a seed." This means the Kingdom was never meant to be DUPLICATED but rather MULTIPLIED each time it's planted.  A seed goes into the ground and produces much more than a seed when it grows forth from the ground at harvest time.  It releases a multiplied reality because of the harvest held within the seed.  Jesus uses this seed and harvest reality to mirror the Kingdom reality.  The activating force in the seed of the Kingdom is The Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit filled the church in the upper room and gave life to everything Jesus deposited for the three and a half years that He walked the earth.  The Holy Spirit gave life to the believer and gave POWER to change the environment.  

The upper room will activate what discipleship initiates.  

Here is one quick illustration;

Mark 1 highlights an encounter that happened at Simon's house following an appearance in the synagogue.  Jesus comes to Simon's house where his mother-in-law was sick with fever.  Instead of it being business as usual, Jesus was told about her condition and decided it.  In verse 31 it says, "He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her."  Most people pass by this simple encounter and mark it as "another good thing" Jesus has done, but this Peter's story lays the a very distinct framework for discipleship. If you fast forward all the way through the earthly ministry of Jesus to the upper room, you see the conclusion to the Peter's story and the finished framework of biblical discipleship.  

Acts 3 gives a narrative of Peter and John on their way to prayer when they come across a lame man at the gate of the city.  The story says that the man looked upon them expecting to receive something.  Peter would go on to tell the man, "silver and gold have I not, but such as I HAVE, I GIVE TO YOU, in the Name of Jesus rise and walk". This is such a powerful statement because nothing in scripture is wasted, especially our experiences with Jesus.  This is the first recreative miracle mentioned following the upper room encounter. Acts 2 activated what Mark 1 initiated in Simon Peter.  The fruit is Acts 3, which is a perfect picture of discipleship.  That which Simon Peter received in his house with his mother-in-law, He was now positioned to give at the gate to the lame man.  Peter saw  Jesus reach down to lay hold of her, and therefore did the same to touch the man in need.  The first miracle that Peter walked in was the same kind of miracle that Jesus did in his own life. He saw the touch of Jesus effectively change the condition of someone in need,  and therefore, followed the Master is action at the gate of the city and received the same power from above with the same result - healing!

True discipleship is multiplying the seed that has been planted, not just being a duplicate of the seed.  What one generation invests in, the next is destined to multiply.  Jesus desired that we understand the price He paid on Calvary and the freedom that is truly in Him.  He has so much more to give to His believing church than a pass to Heaven.  He has power, authority and identity to release through us on the earth.  Focus today on being a living testimony of what God has done in your life to change both the environment and the people around you.

Let the upper room activate what discipleship has initiated. 

BLESSED ARE

In the eyes of God you are much more than you realize.  

This statement has never been more true than in Matthew 5 as Jesus speaks one the most powerful, identity defining messages of His earthly ministry - The Beatitudes.  I once heard Lou Engle tell an audience that every believer should read Matthew 5 at least once a week to allow the identity of the reader to be measured by what Jesus says.  Once I heard those words spoken, I began to spend time meditating on the truth that was in this message.  The way that The Holy Spirit illuminated this passage to me really began to shape the way I pursued God every day.  Matthew 5 is what I call the "Blessed Are" chapter of the Bible.  It's a little open ended in it's "title" because I see it having a partnership from us in it's message to cause it to have a fullness in our lifestyle.  Blessed are...tells me that there is certainly more to follow and I must constantly examine myself to find out who I am in Christ.  Many times as believers we are more BLESSED than what we see in our lives.  We are often too afraid of the examination process that is necessary by Heaven to see the release of that blessing in our everyday lives on earth.  My goal is to show you how the The Holy Spirit opened the BLESSED ARE... to my life.  

When you want to understand any chapter in Scripture it's important that you don't just read that one Scripture; we must understand the frame work going on around that text.  For example in Matthew 5 we could easily conclude that it stands by itself, but the truth is, everything Jesus does connects to the whole subject of the Kingdom and doesn't stand by itself. He is Alpha and Omega (and everything in the middle), which allows us to understand that from the beginning to the end, HE IS! 

It's important that we understand that in order to see the whole of the Scripture in Matthew 5, we must look at the earlier chapters for the set-up.  In Matthew 3 there was an earthly ministry transfer that was going on in the Earth.  Up to this point, John the Baptist was the "Voice" that people sought for direction. Jesus arrives and is baptized for righteousness sake.  He who is 100% God is also 100% Man and chose to walk in oder, because glory was getting ready to be released.  God's Word is eternal and His principles unlock the glory in every area of our lives. In the Old Testament the temple had to be set in "order" before the presence of God would reside there.  It's important here to embrace a vital Kingdom dynamic - Order precedes Glory!  So when Jesus stepped into the baptism with John, the TRANSFER OF HEAVEN'S VOICE was complete. 

In Matthew 4 Jesus steps into the next position of walking in the fullness of His purpose on the Earth.  He was LED BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS!  We would love to skip over this chapter if we would ever assume that we would have to follow the steps of Jesus.  In today's society we have somehow come to the conclusion that we won't have any measure of wilderness if we say, "YES" to Jesus.  But the truth is, when we say, "YES" to Jesus, we say YES to being led by the same Spirit, that sometimes will walk you through a wilderness, to see what we truly stand upon.  Jesus in Matthew 4 does what Adam did not do, He defeated the temptation of the adversary by putting His position of righteousness and His dependency of the Word toward every accusation of the enemy.  When Jesus defeats Satan in the place of the wilderness, it was a battle that was necessary to win as the Son of Man, because it would pave the road of victory for all who will choose to follow.  The remarkable thing is that when Jesus comes out of the wilderness He is clearly walking in a highly recognizable authority.  Matthew 4:23-24 says that He preached, healed, and delivered all who were oppressed from various demonic attacks. As if that wasn't enough to get excited about, Jesus goes one step further in Matthew 5 by showing us that He never desires to give us "enough", but He truly wants us to know He is the God of MORE THAN ENOUGH.  Especially when it comes to the IDENTITY of His Children. 

In Matthew 5 He blows the defeated door of our identity wide open. You have to imagine that up to this point, the identity of Israel had nearly been lost as a "chosen people".  Jesus takes his followers the mountainside in order to speak into them all they would need in order for them to understand what it means to be His.  He opens up by saying, "BLESSED ARE the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of Heaven."  It doesn't sound so impressive or prosperous when you just read it from a Western culture perspective, but here is what this verse is saying.  First of all He opens by declaring BLESSING!  This word "blessed" is a greek word, "makarios" which indicates that it is something, LARGE in it's quantity and LONG in its duration.  It's a word indicating that a "congratulation and applause is in order".  WOW!  What God is saying to the hearer, is I don't have anything small or weak to give to My people.  I have something to give them that will last!  The second part is the qualification, "poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven". Poor in spirit is a statement of humility.  The Father requires humility to receive the Kingdom of Heaven. The proud and the "know- it-all" attitude cannot receive what is of the Kingdom of Heaven.  It's important that the BLESSING of Heaven requires our hearts and lives to be in the right position to receive the fullness.  One thing I want to reiterate is that ODER ALWAYS PRECEDES GLORY.  

Here is how this subject fits into the life of a believer;  One of the greatest questions, statement or situation in the life of most believer is, "What am I called to do or be?"  It's an important question to ask, but we have to understand that the same principle within Matthew 3, 4, and 5 apply to our purpose and identity within the Kingdom today.  God will not always lay it all in front of you to understand at the beginning.  He will have you stand in righteousness and walk through a wilderness to ultimately release a powerful IDENTITY on your life!  

God is more concerned with your POSITION BEFORE HIM than what you try to ACCOMPLISH FOR HIM.  He will always demand POSITION BEFORE DIRECTION.  If you are struggling in the area of direction for your life, family or ministry, I encourage you to go into Matthew 5 and see yourself from the context of this passage. The Father has nothing but good for you!  Position your heart and life before Him in humility and watch Him release a greater identity upon you than you could ever imagine.  This understanding is what gave the identity that we are a "CITY ON A HILL THAT CAN NOT BE HIDDEN".  What God desires to do for you and through you isn't small or even enough, but He wants to reveal Himself to you and through you as the God of MORE THAN ENOUGH!  

The Lion and Bear

Every young person who has ever attended one Sunday School class has heard the story of David confronting the Philistine Goliath.  I would say that even a vast majority of secular society has some concept of the story.  You hear the analogy used in sports every time a "nobody" is taking on a perennial favorite.  The story line is always the same.  The underdog  who doesn't have much of a chance at all is going up against the one who is most likely going to crush them.  We see the illustration in terms of a miracle, against all odds, cinderella type of story that creates an imagination of "what if".  What if the underdog can actually pull this off?  What are the chances they can actually stand a chance?  

The illustration that we've learned in Sunday School about David and Goliath is a powerful example of what happens when God is for you!  Nothing is impossible!  It's a very true perspective.  But I believe there is another perspective of this story that needs to be told, even more than the story of David and Goliath.  I believe the real story that needs to be told isn't the one where David is valiantly taking on the enemy in the valley between the two nations at battle.  I believe the real story of David and Goliath is seen in a narrative much earlier that is told in 1 Samuel 17:32-37.  

David arrives after to the battle field to bring relief to his brothers after being anointed by the prophet Samuel.  David was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel, but David's heart remained faithful in the simple things.  It's important to note that David didn't change his assignment, even though he had been anointed by the prophet.  Being faithful is one of the greatest characteristics of any true leader.  Samuel arrives to see the giant Goliath attempting and succeeding in intimating the children of God.  He saw Goliath parade himself in front of them, knowing they wouldn't send anyone to confront him.  His size and reputation was enough to keep them at bay.  But in 1 Samuel 17: David volunteers his services to go and confront this giant who defied the God of Israel.  David recognized that someone was going to have to do something for this to change for the people.  Intimidation, fear and anxiety is no way for a people who had covenant to live.  David presents himself to Saul saying that he would confront Goliath.  When looking at this from the natural perspective, Saul looks at this as laughable.  How could a young boy ever be able to contend with the champion giant?  David qualifies his position, not by pleading his skills in combat, but in what he's done in private when he was tending to his father's sheep.  David says, as if it was a normal thing, that when a lion or a bear came to take a lamb out of the flock, that he would strike them down.  As if killing a lion or a bear isn't impressive enough, David goes into a little more detail by saying that he would "grab it by it's beard" and would kill it!  Take a minute to contemplate what he just said.  He said, he would physically grab a lion or a bear and strike it!  That takes major courage or a supernatural measure of love to place yourself in between sheep and certain destruction.  It was all for the sake of saving the sheep of his father, who treated him as if he was the forgotten child on the hillside. From this narrative I've asked the Lord many questions, but one of them would change my depth in viewing David. 

I asked the Lord, "Why would someone stand between lions and bears, just to save some smelly sheep?"  Very gently, He would speak back to me, "BECAUSE I WOULD". 

Looking at it from that vantage point, it revealed to me, what it means when it says, "David was a man after God's own heart"  

When asking people, "What does it mean to be a man after God's own heart" when it pertains to David, most people have a different conclusion.  Most people will reference the fall of David when it comes to illustrate his heart for the Father.  They would say that his heart was so sensitive to right and wrong, that he was quick to repent.  But it took Nathan the prophet to bring to light the issue within him that caused him to fall into sin with Bathsheba.  So in that we see the humanity come alive when he ignored personal responsibility.  He should have been out to battle with the other kings, but instead he stayed at home.  This became an open door to the enemy. If the enemy can have an open door, he can blind us even from the things that matter the most to us.

I would say that the better illustrating why David was called "a man after God's own heart" is better seen in the story of the lion and bear.  At the core of David's heart was a desire to do what was right, no matter what it was going to cost him in his own life.  When it came to protecting what was his father's he was willing to stand between the sheep and destruction. You can't help but see the certain parallel to Jesus!  How great was His love for the Father and His sheep that He would endure the cross to save us from certain destruction!  That was always at the heart of salvation!  

Looking back to the story of David and Goliath;  
David didn't try to strategize a battle plan against Goliath.  He simply knew what side of victory he stood on!  He knew that God had used him before with the lion and the bear and would use him again against the giant. The key for each of us from this story is this.  Before you are ever qualified to go against a Goliath, you must first kill the lion and the bear.  It's easy for us to think that we will have a moment where God will use us to slay some giant for all the people to recognize and sing our praises.  We all want to be used to deliver a nation from oppression.  But are we all willing to fight the fight that qualifies us for that battle?  Are we willing to fight the real fight, when no one is watching?  The fight with the lion and bear is much more personal for us than we realize.  I asked the Father, "What does the lion and bear represent to all of us "Davids" who want to be used to defeat Goliath?  He said, there are two enemies you must defeat to ever be used like that. 

Lion's typically travel in "prides" and bears are synonymous with the concept of hibernation or sleeping extended periods of time.  He spoke to my heart and said to me that we are no different.  Each of us will have to fight against PRIDE and COMPLACENCY before we are ever qualified to slay the giants in the land. Pride tells us, that it's about us.  Complacency will cause us to not do anything to change our condition.  



What fear would you have of an oversized human, when your background is in defeating vicious animals with your bare hands when there was no one to witness your struggle?  To someone who has grabbed the beard of an animal, seen it's teeth and even felt it's powerful breath, what is a man that you would fear him?  The real story isn't David and Goliath, the real story is the lion and the bear.  David understood that, so he didn't have any fear concerning Goliath.  

I want to encourage you, the reader to focus on the "lions and bears" in your life.  What areas of your life have you let pride keep you back or complacency keep you passive?  If we are ever going to see a nation delivered and living in freedom as David did, we must have the courage to confront the wilderness.  We must be willing to win the battles in private before we can ever win the ones in public.  When David won against the lion and bear, no one was watching, but when he defeated Goliath, a nation was set free!  

I say, do it again Lord.  Bring the David's off the hillside who have killed the lion and bear and willing to bring down any enemy that stands against God's people! The time is now when a nation needs set free!  DAVID COME OFF THE HILLSIDE!

Grace and Holiness

So much of identifying who we are as believers is framed by two different truths;

1. What we experience 

2. What we receive from Scripture

One of the great attacks on the body of Christ is a lack of identity which has a direct result on fulfilling the call of God on our lives. Many people in the world today struggle with their identity and don't even realize it.  The two truths I gave as the frame work of the believer are powerful independently, but they are radically transformational when they are combined.  This is the duality of the kingdom - each part working together to shape identity. 

I used to have an issue with the word, "balance" when talked about in the life of the believer.  I always said, "the last thing we need is balance", and that was because I was looking at the issue from the wrong vantage point.  At that point in my life and ministry I saw balance in a "one or the other" lens.  In other words I saw the word balance as a compromise of the fire of the Holy Ghost.  As if someone was saying that balance meant less of the Holy Ghost and more of a watered down approach to the gospel.  Although that is a very real scenario played out in the modern mentality of the church as a whole, it doesn't speak of the true meaning of the word balance.

A true understanding of the word balance isn't the meaning "one or the other", but rather one WITH the other.  It is working in equal parts and not diminishing one for the other.  One easy illustration is our understanding of the Fruit of the Spirit or the Gifts of the Spirit.  Many would debate on their importance in the believers life, but I would rather demand that it's critical for BOTH to give proper impact. Balance is two walking in unison versus walking in a greater or lesser area.  Instead of looking at balance as a horizontal line working as a seesaw, look at balance as two vertical supports working as legs.  They must each carry their weight in order to support the structure.

We see this conversation arise when members of the body begin discussing the subject of Grace and Holiness, as if one can stand without the other. Each view comes with it's own stigma or level of isolation that creates an automatic disconnect from the other side. It is critical in light of the scripture and our experiences that we see the mandate for the understanding of both of these in our daily lives.  The conversation must stop being, "Grace or Holiness".  It must be GRACE FOR HOLINESS.  

GRACE is truly amazing! Grace is the unmerited, unfathomable, and undeserved favor in our lives.  There is a freedom in understanding that it's not earned nor distributed by our human ability.  Knowing the grace of God is knowing that today we have an opportunity to experience the heart of the Father without barriers through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.  Grace isn't up for debate or argument.  Grace is how we live, we move and have our being. To know the scripture, "while we were in our sin, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8) is enough to see the great depths our Father's love.  Jesus doesn't equate our salvation as something we are good enough for, but instead something He gives freely without thought of return.  This is truly amazing grace!

HOLINESS in the same manner is without question critical for the believer to embrace.  Not holiness as a strict set of "dos and don'ts", but as a heart that is completely surrendered to the love of Jesus.  Many people see holiness as something that restricts you instead of realizing that holiness is a beautiful marriage to the heart of the Father. We have been given this special unity with the Lord as an earthly concept to gain identity in the idea of holiness.  In the most basic of definitions, holiness is embracing one without giving yourself away to any other. The idea that holiness is a restriction is the same struggle as someone saying that marriage to their spouse is a drag. It should not be difficult to be in a relationship with the ONE who has vowed to love you.  Perspective doesn't see the term of holiness as a restriction, but a position of surrender and relationship.  In the same way that it shouldn't shock you that a spouse should be faithful to one wife/husband in a marriage, instead of entertaining various relationships; our relationship with Jesus should be seen through the same eyes, monogamous and not distracted in any way.  After all, He is our first love!   

The shift in our thinking has to be like the women with the alabaster box (Matthew 26:6-13).  When she felt the wonderful weight of Jesus' grace and mercy, it didn't excuse her to go away just feeling better.  She responded to His grace with holiness.  She brought to Him her very best and most expensive offering.  She brought back to Him something that would cost her everything.  She was willing to waste it all on Him.  Everyone around her couldn't comprehend that kind of waste, but Jesus recognized it as her worship.  

Our view has to move from grace OR holiness, to GRACE FOR HOLINESS!  

To realize that the ONLY appropriate response of the redeemed heart is the alabaster box.  Today, I challenge you to recognize the unmerited and undeserved Grace of God and respond with a heart surrendered to Him.  Don't leave anything outside of His touch.  Be willing to live separated FROM the world and its cares and yet at the same time separated TO Jesus and His Holiness. 

Awakening & Revival

There are two words that should reverberate through the life of any believer that desires to see the glory of God cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. 

AWAKENING & REVIVAL 

Although these two words are prevalent in the church conversation, we rarely understand what we are declaring in these two.  Here is a little context that will help us understand what we are asking for. 

The book of Isaiah, among other significant truths, is a text that gives us a prophetic picture of the person of JESUS. 

Isaiah 58:12 states, "Those from among you shall build the old waste places, You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to Dwell in" 

As followers of Jesus Christ, our identity has to be firmly set IN HIM. Outside of His heart we are empty clouds that hold no rain.  We miss the mark of who we were made to be. Isaiah gives us a picture of Jesus and in the person of Jesus we find who we were made to be. 

Matthew 4: and 5 illustrates this perfectly.  

In Matthew 4: Jesus is entering His earthly ministry by the way of the wilderness, led by The Holy Spirit. There not only does He encounter the temptation of Satan, but defeats Him there!  Coming out of wilderness Jesus is clothed in authority and reveals Himself in a powerful deliverance ministry. As He reveals Himself to the hurt, broken, oppressed and diseased, He restores them to a life that without the curse that bound them. 

In Matthew 5 something equally powerful occurs.  He begins to release the message of the Beatitudes that every young person raised in church has learned.  I call it the "BLESSED ARE" message of Jesus.  The reason being, that Jesus addresses the condition of the heart that can be used and then declares IT BLESSED.  More than just a feeling, BLESSED is a power word in scripture.  After declaring blessing upon the condition and position of the heart He says in verse 14, "You are the light of the world, a city on a hill that can not be hidden". 

This is profound and powerful to the identity of the believer because HE endures the wilderness and comes out setting people free and giving identity to ALL who would position their heart before Him. His promise was that if people would get "positional" with their heart, then He would give identity and "direction" to their lives. 

What is illustrated through Jesus in Matthew 4 and 5 is declared in Isaiah 58:12.  It states that when Jesus comes, He will RESTORE to the believer a new life that is not only significant to themselves, but to all who will take notice.  In many ways, the church has walked away from their mandate to be a "city on a hill that can not be hidden". 

Jesus didn't give identity to the believer to be lost or to be lived out in silence.  He restored identity to the follower so we would be a beacon of hope, power and healing to all who have been diseased by the curse of this world.  The church is meant for more than hiding in a building, but a shining lamp in the darkness of a broken world. When Jesus said, "these things I do, you shall do and greater works than these will you do" (John 14:12), He was empowering us to breakthrough the darkness with the light of the gospel.  

Awakening & Revival is necessary today more than ever because each one of these words speaks to different roles within the church today. 

#1. Awakening is a word associated as the contrast to slumber, complacency or apathy that hides itself behind the mask of religion.  Many times we become so comfortable in our religious routine that over time, we actually begin to lull ourselves to a spiritual haze.  We contend that we love Jesus, yet our identity doesn't match the one He declared in Matthew 5. Awakening, is removing any form of religious pattern that keeps the demonstration of the power of The Holy Spirit at a distance. Awakening is when you as a believer choose to position your heart before The Father in constant relationship with The Holy Spirit.  Awakening isn't hype, it's constant relationship that creates demonstration power!  We need AWAKENING. 

#2. Revival is the resurrection power causing what has no life, to regain life. Ezekiel was given the mandate of revival.  In Ezekiel 37: the valley of dry bones, stood with breath and new life as an army. Revival isn't a set of services or a season in the church. Revival is the prophetic declaration of the surrendered believer. Ezekiel was asked, "Can these dry bones live?". Then with the proper response, Ezekiel says, "Only You know".  Finally God says, "Prophesy". As Ezekiel begins to release what was in the heart of God, LIFE BEGAN to be restored to the army that has lost all significance. From the Upper Room you see revival being released in every encounter.  Anytime the possibilities of heaven touch earth, REVIVAL has begun.  

The conclusion we should have is this...

The church needs to AWAKEN to righteousness by humbly positioning our heart in full consecration to the life of Jesus.  When the church has an AWAKENING, the world will see REVIVAL, because those who see Jesus, will declare Jesus to that which has lost hope.  Just because the world appears to be in darkness, doesn't give the church the right to fall asleep in sorrow.  It's the alarm to the believing church to arise and declare LIFE! 

Prayer Culture

"Pray without ceasing" is the mandate in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, that strikes at the core of our culture of prayer of every believer. 

In 2008 while in our Saturday morning youth prayer meeting the Lord began to deal with me about prayer in our generation.  He showed me that it's critical that we teach this generation that prayer isn't the "last resort",  but rather the central constant in our daily lives. I heard the Lord tell me, "build a prayer culture". It would be easy to take a word like this and make it a "ministry", but I believe it's a mentality that needs addressed by the church today.  

In the approaching time of Jesus' earthly ministry, it took a forerunner of John The Baptist to declare, "Repent, for the Kingdom is at hand".  

Repent = to change or adjust your mindset.  

I've heard it said that culture is a greenhouse to any seed that goes into the ground.  The environment that a seed goes in will determine the growth possible of that seed.  Today if we desire to see the rich fullness of the Kingdom in our lives, we must live in constant fellowship with the Holy Spirit in the avenue of prayer.  Prayer should be the communion of the believer with the Father that provides a place of the Kingdom seed to flourish.  

Matthew 18:19 "Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven."

Agreement is a symphony of faith that comes together to make one powerful release toward heaven.  As we build a prayer culture, let your personal faith be added to others faith, to see the powerful release of heaven upon any situation.  As we build a prayer culture, here are some statements that help frame our faith in prayer.  They are intended to build your faith and passion toward prayer.

PRAYER CULTURE IS...

"the agreement of believers that sets faith to faith to see mountains move and Goliath's fall"

"the symphony of faith, making one sound to heaven. Many parts blending together for one sound"

"a launching pad for righteous living through a surrendered vessel" 

"a relationship that desires His presence and demands consecration"

"a momentum of faith that crashes down on the hopelessness of human limitation"

"anything but passive.  It's a society of faith that sees God without limits and releases praise as a weapon"

So from this place we begin to build a prayer culture in our own lives.  When we get a revelation of Jesus, we must begin to pray from that revelation toward our situations. 

Welcome

Welcome!

I wanted to introduce this page to you and the heart of the ministry behind this site so you can connect to what God is doing with our lives. 

First, I want you to know, I am a FOLLOWER of Jesus Christ.  I am not perfect, but living in pursuit of the genuine presence of The Holy Spirit in my daily life. I believe it's important to recognize the simple call to a personal flame of devotion that shapes the very fabric of your being.  Many times I see ministers and ministry members pursue the "call" of God on their lives while actually forsaking the personal relationship that is critical to any form of "success" through ministry avenues. A critical part of my personal ministry is to empty the pool of lukewarm living, by pointing out the need of personal devotion before public exploits. 

Second, I am a thankful husband to a beautiful Proverbs 31 woman named Jessie.  I realize that outside of my personal salvation, my marriage is the first assignment I have in ministry. I believe in the partnership that is marriage.  I am thankful that I have someone that can keep me grounded, love me and keep me balanced everyday.  The thing that attracted me to my wife as much as anything is by seeing the way she served the Lord behind the scenes with honor and integrity. We met as we both were beginning ministry and one of the lessons I've learned is that the call of God truly is a family plan.  In this life, family can represent the "cares of the world", or they can be an amplifier to the mandate on our lives.  Jessie is truly a perfect example of the grace of God on my life. She doesn't complete me, she balances me and for that I'm grateful. 

Thirdly, I am a proud Father of a son that truly inspires me to live more fully everyday.  Samuel is a gift that God announced to me a full year before we knew he was on his way.  I remember being in one of our youth camps and the Lord spoke to me, "name him Samuel", so at that point I realized God was about to do something incredible in our lives.  Jessie and I embrace the responsibility and accountability of raising a man of God from birth.  Each day is a day to lead him and learn the simplicity of the Kingdom from him.  

Finally, I am consumed with seeing this generation to see Awakening and Revival. Not a come and go "season" of revival, but a sustained outpouring that resinates throughout history.  The heart of this website and blog posts are to shine a light on who we as the church are called to be, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. I believe that it's important to read Matthew 5 and see ourselves in this passage.  Jesus speaks to the heart of all Christianity when he says, "Blessed are they that..." and then qualifies where His blessing abides.  In verse 14 He continues to give identity to His church.  He says, "you are the light of the world, a CITY ON A HILL THAT CANNOT BE HIDDEN".  When I read this I realize this is the heart of redemption, to see Gods people radiate with His presence on our daily lives. 

I pray that this site will connect to your heart and challenge you to leave all behind and chase after the heart of God!  There is AWAKENING and REVIVAL that is hitting this nation and I believe we are living in the greatest times in history!  This site is dedicated to seeing the name of Jesus glorified and His church edified.  Remember, you are a CITY ON A HILL!