Enter In

The invitation is clear. In fact, I sense that it is becoming clearer. Don’t you feel it? Aslan is on the move. The invitation to listen, to join our God in the epic battle looming over the earth is upon us. A shift in the power structures is upon us. The earth is physically groaning. World leaders are being challenged as never before.

Where is Jesus going with all this? What is the larger story perspective here? And then, what is your role to play?

Remember when Jesus met the disciples on the beach after the Resurrection? He told them to put their nets on the other side of the boat to catch fish. When they recognized who he was, Peter jumped in the water and swam hysterically to the shore and then soaking wet probably embraced Jesus. Then, they had breakfast after counting the 153 fish. Where is Jesus going with all the rumblings and strife and pain experienced in the world right now?

In the same direction he was headed after the cataclysmic shift in the spiritual power structure of his day…towards Relationship with you. On the beach, he had breakfast with his friends. Soak this in. Our God is Relational. He has come to us, to rescue us. Has any of that changed?

Be careful not to get swept up in the rebellion to fix the State. However, do get swept up in your Renewed Love for Jesus.

Then he will provide you with the Power to rebel against the tyranny experienced by our brothers and sisters across the world. As you know, persecution is rising in every corner of the world. But your Role to Play is directly dependent on your Love Relationship with Jesus. He sees you. He knows you. He first loved you. Above all guard your love relationship with Jesus. Have breakfast with him, everyday. Take a deep breath. Go fishing. Listen to Him.

Then, as he did the disciples, just weeks later, he will give you the power of the Holy Spirit, to move into those places of need. And whatever the opposition you face, Jesus’s love and his cunning and his power will sustain you.

Enter in. Aslan is on the move. Get your love relationship with Jesus in its right rhythm. Get in Step with the Spirit. He is waiting for you, to empower you for Himself. Then offer the Invitation to others around you. Will you introduce Jesus to your closest friends? What are you waiting for. Enter in.

Panic

Panic.

It’s setting in. The financial strain is beginning to erode my sense of purpose.

What happens when panic reigns? Why does God allow Christians to experience levels of fear which destabilize our faith and paralyze our ability to make sound decisions.

 

I’ve heard him say, “I’m coming for you. I’ll rescue you.” 

 

When? Am I meant to go down in defeat? Am I meant to drag my family down. I just want freedom from one house. We have prayed everyday for six months that a buyer or tenant would come along. 

 

Panic creeps in. First there is denial. I’m a risk taker and I see things from an optimistic perspective. So it’s hard to admit that things are going south. Second, there is negotiation. Lord, I’ll do this. I’ll stop doing that. Third, anger offers an outlet. Sin offers a bit of distraction. Your conscience and spirit rear up in protest but your not thinking clearly anymore. Finally, panic suspends reality. You’ve entered the zone of vulnerability and narrow-mindedness. 

 

Then, at is point, the normal options of reason and logic fade.  It’s hard to make a fresh decision to climb out of the hole. You need to be rescued from yourself.  I feel like I’m there now.  What ever  happened to my dream? 

 

Wasn’t Joseph in one of these places? His faith sustained him, regardless of abandonment, slavery, or imprisonment.  Am I supposed to learn the Joseph story? If so, where are my dreams? What vision do I hold on to as I scramble money around like a rat arranging slices of cheeses on a sinking ship?

 

Panic sucks the life and joy out of me faster than anything. It is also contagious. It spreads like wild fire from spouse to spouse, and can be triggered by the slightest speed bump.

 

So, the lesson is…. Do not give up. I’m not in a prison camp. This is why we have faith.  It is to be exercised. In fact, Christians should be experts on Panic. Because the reality is that, we do see the whole field. We do have a Hope and a Future. We do have the promises of Jesus to never leave us nor forsake us. 

 

But the world does not. Will they see you give in to Panic, or will they see you lean forward, and let your faith be shaped by the grindstone of life? 

 

The whole world is in Panic today. All of the foundations of government are failing. The world economy is in shambles. We are all on the brink of war and total collapse. Read the papers for a full week and you will see the fierce demonic spirit of Panic beginning to reign. 

 

But not in my heart, nor in my home. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 

 

I surrender again all that I am and all that you have given me, to you Jesus. 

The Uncertainty Factor

My work is overwhelming full of uncertainty. One day, everything is settled, the issues are known, and decisions are made, money is allotted, operations move forward. The next, everything changes. Some ego comes in to disrupt the flow. To disrupt your life. It’s not just change, that is feared. Change is good. But this kind of change, is so unpredictable, so disruptive, it can only come from one ultimate source. I’m not talking about the beautiful disruption which Jesus brings to your life, in order to shape you.

I’m talking about the destruction of your faith, your confidence in the current system of life. Like a terrorist act, or the current status of our country. I have been swimming in uncertainty and my faith is being tested. Personally, I’m being stretched financially like I’ve never been stretched. One of our houses hasn’t rented in six months. Nationally, we are witnessing the disembowelment of the free market system and the slouching of American into oblivion.

The uncertainty factor rules our lives now. Regardless of your political affiliation, you see everywhere. People are uncertain of their jobs, their future, and the way their children will turn out.

Every nation on earth is groaning as oppression, bondage, and fear take over like a tsunami waves, bringing devastation without prejudice.

You are uncertain. Admit it. Its like the Matrix. You can’t escape without a miracle. Its why we listen to music, go to the movies, play video games, watch football, drink coffee, and become conveniently addicted to food, alcohol, sex, drugs, or religion.

You are hoping that all this is just a nightmare. You can’t wait to wake up.

I’m here to tell you that it will only get worse. This is a nightmare which you can’t wake from. It’s clutches are deepening. It’s resolve is tenacious. And your very heart, your sense of liberty, eternity, freedom is its direct enemy.

Because, deep, deep down, you are really certain of one thing. Jesus is who he said he was. He is the real deal. He is the one central FACT of human history. Just talk to him and you will learn.

Let everything self-destruct. But hold on to one certain fact.

Jesus is the Lord over all. He holds everything in his hands and He is coming for you, to rescue you from your incredible spiral into uncertainty. He is the Rock of Ages.

Why is everything else uncertain? Because the Enemy wants this place to burn and wants to see you enslaved to sin. If the Church doesn’t wake up and see that the entire world system is literally hell bent on self-destruction and recognize the evil source behind it, we will continue to walk around in the dark.

Wake up my brothers and sisters. Today, be certain that you belong to Jesus and hold on tight.

Beautiful Outlaw

Eldredge brings to life the shrouded personality of Jesus in his latest book, Beautiful Outlaw. I wept throughout the book, as my heart jerked back an forth between his fierceness with those champion religiosity and his playful genuine spirit. My ultimate take away, after listing to the audio version several times, is that Jesus is crazy about me. I am the object of his desire. All that he harnesses to find himself among us, all that he endures, and all that he accomplishes is for me. Loving Jesus in return does not involve an institution, it does not involve tradition, a building, or ritual. The sheer purity a my relationship with Jesus depends on the violent overthrow of everything that gets in the way. What wages war against your soul tonight? What is interfering with your oneness with Jesus. Oh, the depth of his personality. Imagine being singularly focused on the restoration of a lost relationship. He has found you. He wants to be with you. He is beautiful in all that does. Beautifully fierce. Beautifully cunning, and kind. The power of his life, to live without fear of man, unencumbered by the selfishness of sin, is meant for us. I must behold him, and follow him wherever he goes. He is my life.

The Art of Play

We’ve lost the art of play. Even though it’s instinctual to laugh and dance in the mud and climb trees and run forever, we’ve managed to suppress each unfocused and out of the box tendency and slice of imagination like it was Ebola virus.

Is there anyone who disputes that we have lost the art of play? Look at the malls, everything is don’t touch, don’t run, don’t look. It’s too expensive, it not yours, you might get hurt if you ride this or that. Outside, all I hear is wear your helmet, wear your seatbelt, don’t get into the poison ivy, don’t climb too high, let’s go to the store, again, and no you can build a fort, or play at Johnny’s house, or what about this, wear your sunscreen, your hat that grandma got for you at Christmas.

What about for you? Aren’t you often roused by feeling you grew up too fast, had too many rules, watched too much TV, worried too much about money, etc? It flushes over you like a dark shadow when you jealously eye someone else lost in a fit of pure play. You know it when you see at least.

So you became a Christian. Then you became not fun. You worried about how to act, how to be successful, etc.
You put your playful things aside. A friend of my once told me that he felt that God wanted him to stop playing golf. The news broke my heart. Where else can you captivate the attention of three other men for five hours at time and
really dream….
Then you had kids. You witness their joy and decided to
crush it since you saw it was contagious like a virus, and since your joy of play has melted with meetings and deadlines and to do lists on your crackberry, you absolutely can’t allow them to have any real play. So you enroll them in structured music lessons, soccer camps, after school programs, and then drill down on them for not meeting your own expectations for 2nd grade homework excellence.
Look in the mirror, your turning into the Grinch, with a heart, two sizes too small.

The art of play is the very rhythym of God which He had placed deep within every child. It is the very essense of creativity and imagination of the Trinity. Picture the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit at play and you have the continual creation of the universe.

When you see the sunrise, when you the mountains and the stair and the beauty of this majestic world, He says, “I made this.” Then comes the invitation which you have been waiting for your whole life. “Come play with me Steve, come play with me, Jennifer.” The freshest, most juicy fruit in the world has just been offered to you. And what do you typically do with this invitation?

Your become a Martha instead of a Mary. You go to church and pay your taxes and and take the blue pill, instead of the red one. Why? Because the worries of this world are crushing you, you skinned your knee one time and don’t want to get hurt, or you’re afraid of losing yourself and losing control and then being shunned and not invited back.

Lord, free me to play with you in the surf like we did last weekend. Free my heart so that I receive your genuine invitation to play. Forgive me for coming up with excuses. Help me to give my boys and wife permission to play at all costs. I celebrate your creativity, laughter, joy, and imagination. Pour out your Spirit of Life and Play into my heart. Amen

Play. What are you waiting for?

Welcome to Reality

In life there are a few steadfast, scientific and moral laws which by definition apply to everyone at any time. One is the Newtonian Law’s of gravity, motion, etc. Another is that there are consequences for our actions. A shy sixth grader moves in for a slight kiss at a year end dance with a blushing redhead girl, and suddenly he gets his clock cleaned.  A Wall Street brokers cuts corners and makes millions, but is eventually caught. If you smoke, the chances you will die of lung cancer are increased exponentially. If you vote for Democrats you feel good during the rousing party and then wake up with a splitting headache and new taxes uncontrollable debt.

And then of course, there are random acts.  Consequences which sever our understanding of reality. A law student graduates and begins to embrace a bright future as a gifted public defender.  She is later found mutilated beyond recognition with only her torso discovered.  Men and women of the US Armed Forces embark on deadly missions as did our founders and forefathers before us in order to secure our borders and push back against the tide of terrorists whose twisted fate engulfs innocence at every turn. Random acts like your plane going down, your Dad dying of cancer, or your neighbor being raped by a friend.  A man looses his job and kills his family.

I’m casting about for a step upon which to stand here. The reality you see is one which is by automatic default shaped by what happens around you.  IF THIS IS ALL THERE IS TO SHAPE YOUR WORLD VIEW, YOU ARE CONDEMNED TO THE TRUTH THAT THERE IS NO HOPE, NO STEP TO STAND UPON, AND NO ONE TO RESCUE YOU FROM IT.

Or, could there be another reality, which lifts, changes, cajoles, heals, and frees men and woman from every nation, every tongue on earth. Another alternate reality, which redeems, and ultimately brings HOPE, SOLID, GROUND, AND RESCUE to your life no matter what has happened or no matter what you are now facing.  This is not a reality of escape, not of drugs, or of fantasy.  It is THE REALITY. And it comes to you in the PERSON of JESUS CHRIST.

Don’t knock HIM until you try HIM. He is the one who alters and redeems every reality, whether you are on death row, in a concentration camp, facing a rapist, or watching your baby die at birth.  He and He alone comes to those places of absolute despair. He comes to the places of darkness and pain and misunderstanding. His reality lifts you and heals you and makes everything they way it was supposed to me.

You can’t even out dream Him. Your wildest adventures of joy and life are only a crack in the window of what He has in store for you. He creates the laws of the world. He creates you for a purpose. All of your reality is waiting for you to turn and see Him as your Savior. Please surrender before the world’s tragic reality comes upon you and you lose heart. And if you have lost heart, turn today and surrender to Him and watch Him bring healing and hope.  You don’t have to be addicted to porn, you don’t have to be bankrupt and divorced. You don’t have to surrender to the perishing reality of what the world brings. He is waiting for you today. Come to a new Reality.

Earthquake: Japan 2011

I was meeting with a client in Tokyo and was immediately thrown sideways, back and forth in my chair, while the floor and ceiling rippled like fabric being shaken. We expected everything to subside. But no. Each wave compounded the last until several minutes later while we were outside on the street. Then another wave. The earth shook, the towers swayed. We watched and waited for total disaster.  But Tokyo survived because of the incredible engineering of the most populace modern city in the world, home to nearly 35 million. And they all walked home that night.  In droves, they took to the streets and committed themselves to the bitter cold, stopping for beer at Seven and iHolding stores along the way. It took me nearly 7 hours to drive home, and I was fortunate.  Softbank was down. AU was down. But the internet was up. So I used my Skype line and left a message at home that I was OK.  I wasn’t able to reach my family until later.  Thank God, they were safe. As I embarked, the road in Roppongi rippled as it coasted my vehicle through town.

I had no knowledge of the tsunami as it crashed and wiped out over 20,000 people.  But God knew.

He knew about everything. He knew the names and personal hearts of everyone who lived through and died during that incredible display of terror.

Don’t attribute this disaster to God’s hand, although He has ushered earthquakes upon this globe before.

This may be interpreted as a result of the fall. Our sin, in other words has wrought an unending cycle of evil and destruction upon the world ever since we were kicked out of Eden.  Fact One.

Fact Two.  Life has a beginning middle and end on this earth. Men are appointed to live and to die.  However, in between, we do our part, don’t we, to do everything under the sun that is imaginable, except to SERIOUSLY PONDER OUR FINITENESS and ultimately consult our CREATOR in order to learn how not to perish.

Japan has been closed off to the Gospel of Jesus Christ for many years. Now is the time, for Japan to turn to Jesus, not the one of American vintage, but the One True God of the Bible. Jesus breaks all boundaries of race, creed, experience, status, and location.  Whether you are trapped in a tower in Tokyo or stuck in the worst job you’ve ever had, or just got caught shooting heroin, HE is there.

There have been hundreds of aftershocks including dozens greater than 6.0 and 7.0. My apartment is shaken right now, as we sway back in forth under the absolute mercy of a physical reaction to plate movement over a hundred miles away.

The Word of God does not depart from His mouth without having accomplished what He has proclaimed.  It’s how the world was formed and it may be how He speaks to Japan. “Wake up.  I am coming to Rescue you. I love you.”

If we could just have hears to hear the Voice of God, whether in a storm, in an earthquake, a good book, a smile, or pat on the back.

Japan, please listen. Call out to Him to be rescued today.

Rage

Surrender your Rage.

It builds inside you. Like a smoldering ballon. Then you reach a trigger point. Anger bursts forth, at first controlled and then, a sliver of hell is unleashed.  God protect those on the other end, the recipient side of your rage. The effects can last physically and emotionally for years, indeed, forever.  In one moment, everything can change.

As I have examined my life, there are series of moments, when anger has become a nature vehicle for expressing myself.  The latest is with my managers at my job.  Bottom line, I’ve been lied to and betrayed and suddenly without warning accused of make poor choices.  However, I was acting under the authority of my supervisor, who now denies he even remembers what happened. The trigger point was reached this week and I’m trying with all my might to not throw a chair or heap slanderous comments around the office. Inside I feel it.  Rage.

But why? For some reason, I have this sense of betrayal because I first anticipated relating through trust.  Trust. Its simple.  Someone trusts you and you trust them.  Simple? Right?

As a Christian, I completely trust God with my life, with my family and finances and my  afterlife.  But on a daily basis, I too, betray the trust that God has given me with my little “k” kingdom.  I’m so blessed and each time that I begin to ignore His greater freedom and Holiness for my life by taking control of things or arranging for my life on my own… I betray the trust that we have established together.

Lord, forgive me for raging at others when I have first betrayed You. Thank you for unleashing your righteous wrath upon your Son, instead of upon where, even though I deserve it.

Then Lord, be my advocate when I am slandered.  Take the reigns of justice into your more capable hands.  Rescue me from this sickness I feel of being betrayed. Rescue me and heal my heart, so I can live freely.  Free me from the authority of my supervisors, who do not know you and are operating within a lost worldview.  I pray that they would know Your Grace and Salvation.  Even though, I feel like lashing out with accurate, justified anger like the lawyer I am, I give this rage to You. Defend me and Your servants in this dark world of injustice.  And let me be a shield for those who also need protection.

Instead, let my rage be a righteous one, where I’m fighting clearing and within your power to overcome evil with good, the way You did. And so Lord, I surrender my rage to You.

Expect Miracles

You know the story about Peter walking on water. Remember what Jesus says to him as He is reaching down to pull Peter out of the water after he slips in the drink. Oh you of little faith. The difficult lesson to receive here is well beyond that fact that we need to trust in Christ. That lesson strikes to the core of me already…the deeper lesson comes from asking whether you would even think about getting out the boat to be with Jesus.

Would you? Wouldn’t you rather have Jesus put some more fish back in the boat, than jump out into a raging sea?

If the Enemy can, he will make you too busy to care to notice or too complacent to comprehend that your life is full of predictable activities. I feel like I pray the same, talk the same, and generally expect the same in return everyday. Am I nearing spiritual insanity?

I’m at fault. Walking in step with the Holy Spirit is the greatest adventure of all time. There is nothing predictable. There is no laziness or fear or normality. Normal is what you left behind when you took up your cross.

Therefore, expect miracles. Dream about how God can intervene in a situation, ask Him to do so, and believe with fervent expectation that He will engage.

Isn’t God greater than you can imagine? Doesn’t He have grander plans for you? Or have you settled into a routine where God has become predictable in your life?

Admit it. Then move into deeper surrender to Christ. His arms are open wide and He forgives. I want to chase this Awesome God we serve. I want to see Heaven open up and our God move in powerful and mighty ways, like healing and revival and restoration. I want to see marriages working, I want to see the bondage of sin destroyed.

Who is He looking for send to His Message, to be his hands and feet? You and me. Isaiah was ready even though he knew his own sin. Are you ready to follow this Wild Goose?

Maybe your expectations of God are too low because you know the pain of being let down. I’m sure the great martyrs of our faith thought the same at some point. But remember this from 2 Corinthians 4:17 “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

4:18 says, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Therefore, expect great things from God. Expect miracles. They come from the unseen world and crash into the seen world. Encourage others to open their eyes so they too can see our Great God move in might ways everyday.

Your adventure in God is shaped by your faith in God. What needs to change in order for you to stop living for yourself in total predictability and start expecting God to bring beautiful disruption?

Who is sick of Christmas?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas….ohgghhhh! Who is sick of Christmas? I’m not talking about the truth of Christmas, I’m talking about the commercialization of it.

Are you perpetuating the masking of the truth by stumbling along with the music, the shopping and the general deception of the holiday season? Do you say happy holidays or Merry Christmas? Why? Seriously, does the average Christian even know the Spiritual Reality behind the Babe being born in Bethlehem?
Here is a Christmas story that you haven’t read before during this season.

Revelation 12
“1 A great Sign appeared in Heaven: a Woman dressed all in sunlight, standing on the moon, and crowned with Twelve Stars. 2 She was giving birth to a Child and cried out in the pain of childbirth. 3 And then another Sign alongside the first: a huge and fiery Dragon! It had seven heads and ten horns, a crown on each of the seven heads. 4 With one flick of its tail it knocked a third of the Stars from the sky and dumped them on earth. The Dragon crouched before the Woman in childbirth, poised to eat up the Child when it came. 5 The Woman gave birth to a Son who will shepherd all nations with an iron rod. Her Son was seized and placed safely before God on his Throne. 6 The Woman herself escaped to the desert to a place of safety prepared by God, all comforts provided her for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 7 War broke out in Heaven. Michael and his Angels fought the Dragon. The Dragon and his Angels fought back, 8 but were no match for Michael. They were cleared out of Heaven, not a sign of them left. 9 The great Dragon—ancient Serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, the one who led the whole earth astray—thrown out, and all his Angels thrown out with him, thrown down to earth.

10 Then I heard a strong voice out of Heaven saying,
Salvation and power are established!
Kingdom of our God, authority of his Messiah!
The Accuser of our brothers and sisters thrown out,
who accused them day and night before God.
11 They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb
and the bold word of their witness.
They weren’t in love with themselves;
they were willing to die for Christ.
12 So rejoice, O Heavens, and all who live there,
but doom to earth and sea,
For the Devil’s come down on you with both feet;
he’s had a great fall;
He’s wild and raging with anger;
he hasn’t much time and he knows it.
13 When the Dragon saw he’d been thrown to earth, he went after the Woman who had given birth to the Man-Child. 14 The Woman was given wings of a great eagle to fly to a place in the desert to be kept in safety and comfort for a time and times and half a time, safe and sound from the Serpent. 15 The Serpent vomited a river of water to swamp and drown her, 16 but earth came to her help, swallowing the water the Dragon spewed from its mouth. 17 Helpless with rage, the Dragon raged at the Woman, then went off to make war with the rest of her children, the children who keep God’s commands and hold firm to the witness of Jesus. “

Christmas is the celebration of the greatest event in human history. It is the Invasion of God into the hell bent world. It is a time to understand the greatest covert operation ever accomplished. This Man-Child is the Son of God who has come with a sword, because he has come into a world at war. We celebrate Christ’s birth because it’s when the tide of the war changed, when we finally had hope, when we began to see and taste full life and freedom; it’s when He showed us how to wield His Power to fight the bondage of the sin and death and to defeat the Dragon.

Are you sick of Christmas, the way the world understands it? You should be, because its the way the Dragon wants the world to think. If your neighbor knew that God invaded the world in order to save us from destruction and to teach how to live a resurrected life, what would happen? Giving gifts would have a whole new meaning wouldn’t it?