I awoke today feeling a little “disconnected”. I am not sure the cause but something feels different. Even though, as I have for over 20 plus years, awoke with a song running in the background and people on my heart. That part is the same. But I thought about people who are “missing” out on His goodness because of fear.

Why that today?

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to give words to a number of people in a couple of other countries. It was interesting to see the different reception to a word a culture or country will have.

Here were a couple of words that I felt were viable for many.

1-As I prayed for you, I saw the Father’s hand come down towards you. At first I thought it was a time of removing you but, what happened is I saw the hand gently touch your head and say ” you got this!” I see the removal of fear as a knowledge of His love for you increases.

2-I saw a picture, much like spinning a plate on a table. The plate starts slowly but as gravity pulls down on it, the speed increases. I can even hear the noise. I declare over your life that the “gravity” of circumstance shall not pull you down nor increase “noise” in your life, but the place of peace be seen and established by you.

Ironically, I was challenged. Many people preferred judgment and works over love.

How different to the group of people prayed for yesterday in our fellowship gathering. They were hungry. Receptive. Wanting to see God move and empower them. I have to tell you, I could stay in that atmosphere all day!

Why? Culture. Atmosphere. What makes a spiritual culture? The same as does a business or an entity’s environment. People. How people relate and how people speak. I am sure there is something about hunger that draws God as well as people. Recently I have watched people like myself move to our region. Why? What draws them?

Over the years I have described a phenomenon that on many levels is a mystery to me. I noticed that because of the transience of our fellowship, many are the people who drive a distance to get there. Now this makes for great Sunday gatherings, but I and others discovered over time the return is the more difficult part.

Often I used this analogy. I found myself coming to Keene. I had my own level of God moving through my life and then I would gather up with people. It was if I got given a “cup of water” to refresh me. But somewhere in the middle of the week I hungered and thirsted for more. I had “run” out. I was mature enough to know that “out of my belly” ran rivers of living water but it was not quite the same…

Many would show at our home fellowship, The Village Church, and say the same thing. It caused a number of people to move closer.

I spent a long time with God about it.

Over the weekend I thought about the source of information as well. Over the years I find myself saying “who told you that?” For instance my grandson was afraid of the “dragon flies” we saw in a bog over the weekend. “Why?” I asked. “Because they sting.” “Have you ever been stung?” “No.” “Then how do you know that?” I found out that to 13 year old everyone is credible. (BTW-dragonflies and all those creatures can do this. If they got to the really soft skin, you might be startled by a “bite”. But they only “sting” when they are laying eggs. So, unless you look like a tree trunk or something or have not moved in a while, they are not going to think you are a good place for eggs!)

Bill Johnson mirrored with this post what so many of us think. I will not sacrifice my knowledge of the goodness of God on the altar of human reasoning so I can have an explanation for a seemingly unanswered prayer.

I wrote this over the weekend as I thought about what people believe. So where does your information come from? Do you accept advice from those who have not walked, not seen? This morning I thought how many will make a choice based on friend’s “counsel” who have never walked it or experiences that allow fear to rule. Do not look for the “pink cloud” or the “rose colored” glasses but in fact seek out the bedrock of God’s heart and His promise.

So many rely on experience and not God for their answers. (Many of them believers!) I get you do not want to trust, you do not want to hurt, but as I spoke over one yesterday, “it is time to remove the limitations. Time to take down the fence posts.”

And while in worship yesterday, I saw the following picture.

I saw a well producing or releasing water. Somehow that well was “moved”. The soil was different, the aquifers plentiful and more abundant in waters. I saw that moved well begin to produce. It was then removed and put back in the world it had come from. It produced longer and more abundantly then it had in the past. It was then moved again to the abundant place. The same thing happened. It was returned to its beginning place. This happened multiple times.

And as I meditated on it, I felt the Lord impressing me with this.

We all have an inherent amount of goodness or water. That measure is determined by what we believe. When we enter into an atmosphere of collective worship and goodness, we feel the increase. The empowerment. And what we see is when we return to a home “atmosphere” we are strengthened, but it is “not the same”. Two things happen over time, may be three. We are strengthened and “get better”. We get hungry for the presence and the atmosphere. And if do not do something about it, either growing or going, we become disappointed. (How many times have I seen a person healed in a meeting only to return home and “lose” what they gained?)

There are always levels of adjustment, layers of goodness encountered and changing atmospheres. Someone said “do you believe it can be good all the time?” Yep. I do. If I were to believe the opposite I would believe the opposite of heaven. “Where does your information come from” is an important question. And atmospheres of goodness make it more possible to see the possible from the impossible. (There is an atmosphere on the inside. It is heaven.)

Today, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, something is “up”. Something wants to change the atmosphere, change the belief. The big question for me and you, is will we allow it? God is saying there is a place of peace to be found in me. That there is a belief in us that He has to change things and not only has He given us authority, but He has empowered us.