“The power went out. They are after us.” And then I looked at the clock. It was still lit and kept on moving. Even more concern. The very fact that I still had time with out power was a concern in the dream. I awoke and the only light in my room was on my clock.
I lay there and contemplated the reality of the dream. What it could mean? Continue reading Walking In The Geography Of The Kingdom
Like many, my wife and I have entered a different season. It is on many levels one where you question things. New seasons often trigger challenges, thoughts and reveal patterns of thought or new thinking entirely.
One of the questions I have asked my self is “have I not believed.” One topic is employment. In 20 years neither of us has really gone more than a week without something happening in the employment field. Believing for work has never been “hard” but seemed to cause challenges to fall to the wayside. Continue reading Have I Not Believed
Yesterday I shared two dreams. My “concern” after reviewing them was that people are separating and leaving love behind.
Within 12 hours or less, I “ran” into a couple of things that just “prove” my thinking AND my need to act in an opposite spirit. An opposite spirit is for instance when someone sows discord you sow harmony, peace and grace. Continue reading With Christ There Is More To Love
In one of my dreams a person had multiple choices before them and the words, “Caesar, Caesar” were being shouted out to them. Upon awakening, I came to the conclusion that the words were really “seize her” pointing out the answer to a choice.
When I was young I was told the story of a dog with two bones. In a nutshell it comes down to choices. The dog could not decide on which bone to choose, so it chooses none and does not eat. Too often in life we have a choice. Continue reading A Dog With Two Bones- A Tale Of Choice
I could be wrong, but I am feeling pretty secure in the fact that the weather is much nicer the last few days. The snow is melting out of yards and cellars may be a little damp, but the days are getting longer and I am feeling pretty excited that real motorcycle season is here. Oh, we may get a storm or two, but not enough to deter us. Many have already begun to rake yards and ready for gardens and flowers. I know my wife was out there making room for the plants breaking through. Continue reading Motorcycle Meanderings March 19th 2009
Do you know how long it takes for a one and a half year old to pick up 35 pieces of puzzle one at a time? I do! A very l-o-n-g time!
My son asked me if I would watch my granddaughter Naomi, while they went to do some errands. After she got done playing with various toys that included putting a scarf over my head and saying “hide Poppa!” laughing as it fell to the floor, she wanted to do a Barney puzzle. (Puzzles I like-Barney not so much.) She ended up much more interested in the “taking the puzzle apart” part than in putting it together. Continue reading Process, Well, It Takes Moment
What We Offer
I want people to move ahead. To get better. To be all they can be. Over time I have seen a lot of great moments where people “get it” and move ahead. I also have seen some disillusionment.
I want to help people. But through many interactions, I have learned the following thing. A lot of people want you to endorse their actions, their decisions, bringing “confirmation” to the direction they want to go. They want you to encourage them. (Ever have a conversation with a person who is going down the wrong path? “I know he/she is not saved…not sober…a drug addict…but I love them!”) Continue reading Encouragement Is What We Offer
[amazon template=thumbnail&chan=default&asin=B005C6FG0G]The last few days have been different for me. Not sure why. But as I 
have been putting together archives and older stories, testimonies and such I have been visited with a renewed sense of purpose. Let me be clear when I say I am not sure “what it is” entirely. Part of me feels like I have been relegated to a cave. With that left on the table…
I have cited the following story and teaching because I find myself back here every now and then. [amazon template=banner easy&chan=default&asin=B008TUE3WE]
Four lepers. Years ago my friend Jack Taylor shared from this passage 2 Kings 7. It is one of those teachings that never left my mind. “Can’t stay here. Can’t go back. Must go on. Got to tell somebody.” You need to read the story. Because the church clearly cannot be impregnated with the DNA of heaven and think it can go back or stay here. Impregnation connotes growth. Growth is a precursor to birth. And birth is a new creation. Your continued growth is because you were “born from above” and have to grow. Now the bigger question upon coming on such a collection of gems and treasures. (Like the lepers, their enemies had been scattered. You have authority as Jesus did over ALL the works of the devil. The devil is not strong but he is a liar. But you my friend are seated high above principality, rulers of darkness and all wickedness. It is time you TELL SOMEBODY.
Today I want to take a moment and talk about “you can’t stay here.” Sometimes when you are “up to your butt in alligators it is hard to remember that the purpose was to drain the swamp.” Too often we are going down the paths of life and interruption appears. It does not need to be the “elephant in the room” traumatic interruption, but sometimes it is just the “shoe string” broke. But depending on your focus and thought process it can stop you dead in your tracks.
Needless to say we have an enemy, but sometimes it is just life. Your car blowing up is not an attack if you never put oil in it. Regardless, you are stuck.
But I have found that often in our lives God changes His method of communication. He might take you from dreams to the word of God. Or from the word to listening for the still small voice. And that is hard. “Is anybody out there?!?!?!”
God never changes His purpose, but I suspect other things including His way of communication may occur. Sometimes we get so caught up in what we are doing He may have to “force” us off the spot. In our “old language” we used to say that “comfortable” season was a mountaintop and now it is time for the “valley” experience. I do not believe moves on us to be uncomfortable but like having a child I think there is a dynamic of being in “one position” too long. Sometimes you may need to move. I am not saying once you were an evangelist and now you are not. But is it not possible God might want to hang out with you a little and allow for things to change or to shift? Now granted that is part of my experience and the experience of others but it may not need to be yours.
So where “can’t” you stay? How about you cannot remain a baby all your life? Or mine? How about the process of growing up is happening, “like it or not”? “Ready or not-here I come!” (Said all unborn children and the expression of God through you!) Perhaps you need to make a geographic? Perhaps the season of your job has met your needs but was but a step in the purposes of God.[amazon template=thumbnail&chan=default&asin=B005C6FG0G]
As a prophetic voice I see lots of words given and received. I also see that there are lots of “wow’s” while it is happening. But let me tell you when a word is “truth” it may mean your life is about to change. Joseph had a dream. He announced it. How many years did it take from the pit to the prison to the palace? How many coats (bearing identity) were lost in the process?
Everyone wants a great God word! I do. But in the process, you might not be able to go back. I am going to share the following story with you. Let me tell you what changed.
As “Nick at night” (Nicodemus) once asked “can a man return to his mother’s womb?” Sometimes you just can’t go back. You got to move on. That is what happened to Tina and I.
A Quandary
Like so many these days, I feel as my life is a quandary. Perplexing. I read the news. I look at the changing events across nations. I watch economies shift and slide. And in the midst of it, my natural self rebels at the changes I am forced to “go through.” Why? Because I am caught in the issues of the globe! I have watched my business change as other businesses have floundered and gone out of business. I wonder what is going on as so many do. But I trust God.
A few years ago, my wife and I were the owners of a home. Two bedrooms up and 3 converted rooms down. The home produced income. A radio station paid for a small portion for their transmitter. We thought we would be there forever. A smaller home, beautiful views.
My then, handicapped son (God has healed him from the traumatic brain injury and given him a great wife!) was living there, as were my daughter and her three children (A newborn baby was one) and my youngest daughter. Family…
And then the enemy sneaked in. A contractor had been hired to remove the underground oil tank(Required by our insurance and mortgagor.) With in twelve hours of pulling away, my lower level was flooded. Three months of doing all that I could while I waded (Yes, pun intended!) through paperwork for insurance companies, etc., while I was working 24/7 to keep the water from the $50,000 transmitter. (In retrospect, I should have let the water destroy it. Had I let it be ruined, insurance would have had to kick in.) Finally respite came in the form of winter, drying up the water source. During the winter my wife and I gutted the destroyed living area. (Over $60,000.) That spring we had installed an inside drainage system.) We thought we had it knocked. And while we worked out of pocket waiting for insurance companies to step up to the table and did what we could, one night as I lay in bed I could not breathe. Black mold. The story goes on and on. (You can read about it at this Facebook link if you are interested.) The upshot was we lived off site for the next three years.
We devoted a lot of time and energy to this property. We never received a dime of insurance and spent all our savings trying to recover. We are in a a financial crunch as the result of it. 4 years later we still own the property, are trying to negotiate a way through with the bank, and may or may not lose it.
Why share a story like that? Because God is still Lord over our lives. He has not changed, was not surprised nor worried. And neither should we be.
Paul tells us in Philippians 4: 4-7 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Only last year many lost their homes and their properties in tropical storm Irene. did I have compassion? You bet!
I am reminded of the story of David on the run. 1 Samuel 21 tells us that upon inquiry, he finds the sword of Goliath, wrapped in an ephod. Two chapters later, we see David wrapped in the ephod, while all that is stolen is restored. Sometimes we need to be reminded of a previous victory to get over the hump, the quandary we are in to see the restoration. In David’s case it was the sword that slew Goliath.
My wife and I have had some down days, even some down weeks over our nearly 20 years of marriage.
Like so many, I could list many, many more. But the Lord is faithful and worthy to be praised. That scripture from Philippians has been worth it’s weight in “gold” to me over the last 20 years.
Some of you have faced death and won. Tell someone! People need to know that the Lord is still Lord over our lives. No matter what.
2014-It was to be the year of stepping out of the boat, grabbing the brass ring and changing the world.
What happened? As I watched the Broncos lose to the Seahawks, I was reminded that not everything goes according to plan.
You and I are here, because this is where we are. Whatever lead up to us being here, while relevant, is now in the rear view mirror. It is behind us. Forever destined to be nothing more than a stepping off place.
I get it. Over the last few months both my wife and I have experienced tremendous changes. Job losses, moves and few other things have brought us to this place. How do you correct that? Well, despite using my most “authoritative” tone, my “best posture” and a few other “tricks” I “know” the train is still running in a different direction. It has required me to once again be outside my “comfort zone.”
I do understand. Both of us understand rejection letters and changing life.
BUT-if you stop swinging the bat, putting one foot in front of another, you will not win. I could easily have envisioned Peyton Manning’s desire to just “have it over.” But despite the lopsided score he just kept going out. You may not want to go out, but sometimes that is where your miracle appears. You may not want to even be “there” but hiding your head will not accomplish what you desire to see happen. In fact, it may even be greater than you imagine.
Many years ago, following my salvation I decided it was time to clear the decks of debt and such. I owed a lot of money back then. $60,000 was owed to the IRS alone. I moved ahead and got met me miraculously. One of the things on the plate was a SAAB I had bought in a fit of whimsy. I had paid cash but now saw it as a stumbling block to moving out of debt. So, away it went. I was close enough to my main place of work that getting there was not a problem. But being 35 and carless was a stretch.
One Thanksgiving weekend a new friend from our church fellowship asked me to join him and his family. I agreed (If he would come get me!) and he soon was sitting in my driveway. Nothing would have prepared me for what happened. As we were finishing up the meal my friend handed me a key, a SAAB key. My response was “why are you making fun of me?” He and his wife looked strangely at me and pointed to the driveway. There in the drive was a 9000 Turbo SAAB with a bow on it. “Go ahead. Take it.”
Now it was easy then to make a performance orchestrated formula on “how to receive blessing.” And I did and I am not sure if worked quite like that again. Yes, I made some “right” moves. Yes, I had prayed for “deliverance” and prosperity and such. But, really some of the greatest miracles come when we least suspect it.
Oh, we may be positioned for goodness in our minds. But truly it is the “position” of being in Him that aligns us with goodness and God.
I know that Elijah was looking for a response in 1Kings 18:41. And he saw the response to that. God had revealed it to him. Surely. But how many await the “revealing” of a prophetic word to come to pass? And just what was the “word” that sent him to a cave? I am sure he was hanging on destiny and a belief that God would miraculously show up.
But what about the woman who had picked up the last stick to cook her death meal? What was her word? What was her rationale or thinking? How was she “positioned” for a drop out of heaven?
In our desire to encourage or “help” people we sometimes set them up for an encounter that is not on the radar screen. I find as a prophetic voice it is “too easy” to try and give a word to fix something when in fact God wants to reveal something. I know my own immaturity lead me astray. I have come to the conclusion that it is “rare” that prophecy cures immaturity and removes sinful actions. (Oh that I might not be so!) Have we not learned that just telling people to “grow up” does not work?
But faith in Him! When our faith is settled in our understanding that our position (With Him.) has already been established and our place is a place of blessing (For are we not the garden?) then the rest becomes so much easier.
Relax. In the words of The Carpenters, We’ve Only Just Begun. 2014 just barely got here. We have barely inched through 1/12th of it. The words of the prophets ring true. (Perhaps this is one of the greatest reasons I ask people to “Accept or Reject” a word early on rather than cluttering your mind’s closet space.)
I encourage you to revisit my 2014 word. Perhaps we are further ahead or slightly behind where we thought we were. It is okay. While “one game” makes a Super Bowl, it was many games that brought folks there. But for many their destiny of that “kairos” moment began in the hidden places of “chronos” time.
Today is your day with a now God in a now moment. Do not look across the table to the Lord and get swept away in despair for yesterday or concern for the future. Today is your day. THIS is the day the Lord has made… Embrace your today. Psalm 118:24
And let me be clear. Today may not be the kairos but the chronos timing of life. BUT where God is kairos to you in the sense it often prepares for the “wow” moments. How so? What about what you said about the “woman and the death watch”? Through the understanding that where you are so is the Lord. For whom is joined to the Lord is one spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17) Impatience too often is the sign of lack of trust. Whatever captures you from the rest is the enemy. This is the enemy we must overcome.
For the Broncos there is not another 2014 Super Bowl. But their response will dictate will there be another shot. The answer of course is “yes”. But keep in mind that is related to their performance and rightly so. But the ability to simply be is on you. Labor to enter His rest. Hebrews 4:1-2. Unite your faith today with the promise of God. I did not say “press in” or push harder but accept the gift of faith and the knowledge of position in Him to realize this.
Today in the “super bowl” of life mix your faith with the knowledge that you are there.
We’ve Only Just Begun
Sung by The Carpenters
“We’ve Only Just Begun” is track #6 on the album Singles 1969-1981. It was written by Nichols, Roger S. / Williams, Paul H..
We’ve only just begun to live
White lace and promises
A kiss for luck and we’re on our way
We’ve only begun
Before the risin’ sun, we fly
So many roads to choose
We’ll start out walkin’ and learn to run
And yes, we’ve just begun
Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talkin’ it over, just the two of us
Workin’ together day to day, together
And when the evening comes, we smile
So much of life ahead
We’ll find a place where there’s room to grow
And yes, we’ve just begun
Sharing horizons that are new to us
Watching the signs along the way
Talkin’ it over, just the two of us
Workin’ together day to day, together, together
And when the evening comes, we smile
So much of life ahead
We’ll find a place where there’s room to grow
And yes, we’ve just begun
Songwriters
NICHOLS, ROGER S. / WILLIAMS, PAUL H.
Published by
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, EMI Music Publishing
As a longtime believer and being on a ministry team one of the things I am asked about often is deliverance. Can someone have a demon? What does that look like? How does that happen?
My experience with “deliverance” is a long one. I put deliverance in quotes because some, perhaps a lot of what I believe now is not what I have always believed. Perhaps one day I shall pen the differences. Continue reading Deliverance From Fear It Belongs To You
