Delivering Dunamis

The forecast shows a chance of storms...

Such is life.

There will always be a risk of adverse conditions.

You cannot sit and wait for a string of sunny days or for all the stars to align before you take a step forward...

Your life will waste away in the hesitation.

It's impossible for the human mind to perceive what lies ahead.

That's out of our pay grade.

Only God knows.

And He's not asking for our buy in on the days when we feel safe and secure.

He's asking us to go ALL IN in faith and trust Him even when the road ahead seems uncertain.

He will reward our obedience.

He will be our cover when the storms arrive.

And on the journey He will reveal to us the depth of His love, power and compassion.

But we must first have the courage to trust the Holy Spirit.

Don't sit idle waiting for rain...

Be bold.

Step forward in faith and take hold of the life to which He has called you.

The world is continuously pushing us to do more and be more.

We can easily get consumed by the busyness.

And we can become very rigid in allegiance to our routines if we're not careful.

The reason that this is a concern is because often our daily commitments lack flexibility for God's spontaneity.

The Holy Spirit may be nudging us, but are we listening? 

Or are we drowning out that Voice in our loyalty to the chaos?

Before you resist the moment that God has you in, pause for a moment and think about HIS intention...

Perhaps He has you “Right Where You Need To Be”...

Create some space for His Will to be done.

And trust that He knows best, always.

"Words do matter."

This was a text that I received from my father a few weeks before his passing.

It arrived on day 8 of his initial 10.5 day stay in the hospital at the front end of March.

My dad was struggling with COVID related pneumonia, but the Holy Spirit was beginning to act in an extremely powerful way in his life.

He was on fire...

Touching the lives of every member of the care team that he encountered...

Blessing them with love, encouragement, wisdom and hope.

God's Voice was being magnified through him.

It was beautiful to witness.

On March 9th, my father shared with me that he had brought a member of the food service staff to tears simply by sharing his appreciation and allowing kindness to flow purely from his heart.

Words matter.

They sure do, Dad.

When we live by the Spirit, we bear Its Fruit, and God's Perfect Words flow freely from our lips without restraint in the very moments when our brothers and sisters need them most.

What a beautiful example you set for us…

Well done, faithful servant.

There will always be critics.

That's just a part of life.

And sometimes criticism isn't very constructive in nature.

It can be downright mean spirited at times.

That type of criticism can leave an awful sting, particularly when it originates in people whom we perceive to be in our corner.

Criticism, whether silent or in your face, can stir emotions and create doubt in work, mission and purpose.

But here's the good news...

We do have a choice in how we respond.

We can allow the outside negativity to discourage us and embody a defeated mindset...

OR

We can ground ourselves in The Truth, use the criticism as fuel and move forward as the Victor that God has called us to be.

We can take what the devil intended for bad and flip it on him by the Power of the Holy Spirit - rocket fuel for a blazing fire of faith that will allow us to surge ahead boldly and shower in God's Light all of the things that we may encounter in our journey.

Check out my book The Devil and the Children of God at the End of the World here

I didn't get here without help...

God has provided me the support to advance my mission at every stage.

Brothers and sisters from around the world have shown up in my life at the very precise moments when I've needed them most...

And perhaps, when they've needed me as well.

It's remarkable how the Holy Spirit draws these relationships nearer to us for the Glory of God.

So many of you have fulfilled incredibly influential roles in my journey.

And I believe that your support has been nothing short of Divine.

Thank you, truly.

You make my life full.

And you have contributed tremendously to the advancement of my mission in Christ. 

Perhaps today you find yourself in the valley...

You feel alone.

You feel forgotten.

Maybe you feel separated from God or perhaps you even feel that He has distanced Himself from you.

I want to encourage you in this season.

Because I've lived it myself.

And it's important that I assure you...

He has NOT left your side.

God disciplines those who He loves.

Perhaps He is using this period of your life to sharpen and mold you.

To prepare you for an even greater purpose.

God's love is patient and enduring.

Recognize that the valley is a vital part of your journey to ALL IN.

Stay on the path.

Continue seeking.

Keep maturing and refining.

And know that the lessons learned will pay great dividends down the road.

We must UNITE.

Satan's main objective is to distract and divide us.

And sadly, our world is on fire in division fueled by powerful emotions of anger and hate.

But understand this...

Your brother, your sister - they are NOT your enemy.

As Paul tells us in Ephesians Chapter 6 "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

Is the devil's influence present in people?

In places?

In circumstances?

YES.

But your target should not be what you see in your natural plane of vision.

You need to view the threat from a spiritual perspective.

What is the true origin of the dark encounter?

The enemy wants us to get caught up in emotion and react to things that we engage with in this world as if everything begins and ends with humanity alone.

That's deception.

Our enemy is spiritual.

And that is precisely why we need to take the battle to higher ground...

In the Holy Spirit...

United as brothers and sisters in the war against evil.

Lack is a weapon of the enemy.

It is a distraction.

Lack is divisive, inside and out.

It creates anxiety...

And that anxiety leads to emotional decisions...

Desperate moves that often result in greater captivity.

For the better part of a decade, I lived in that hole.

And I embodied that mindset.

I felt like I was always chasing.

I thought I'd never be free.

Then I encountered Jesus Christ, and everything changed.

I found that my emptiness, my lack, was less a reflection of the debt hole that I had established in my early twenties, and more a reflection of what was missing in my life spiritually.

In Christ I came to know fullness.

And my focus shifted away from lack.

I began to embody a completely new identity.

And, not surprisingly, my circumstances began to improve as well.

Week 1.

Enter the true freshman high school phenom for his first collegiate start at QB.

Surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, he takes the field.

The game moves rapidly.

It's chaotic and at times overwhelming.

The opposition is disguising its schemes and wreaking havoc.

Emotions take over the young signal caller.

Careless decisions are made.

Decisions that lead to grave consequences.

Cue the color analyst..."perhaps the stage was too big for him..."

Perhaps today...

But by midseason, his confidence will soar.

And he'll approach each snap with a new vision and preparedness for success.

He just needs the game to slow down.

And experience helps.

Life in the spirit realm is a lot like this.

The devil loves to create chaos and confusion.

To stir emotions and lead us to poor decisions.

We need to slow the game down so that we can read the threats of the opposition and prepare the most strategic counter punch...

We must draw on the Holy Spirit for clarity...

For It is the key to success in the arena of spiritual warfare.

The work that I do on this podcast isn't for the faint of heart.

Every day when I wake up, I pray for God's Voice to be magnified through me...

And then, armed with the strength of the Holy Spirit, I work to expose the lies of the evil one.

On this show, we go deep...

We go full transparency...

We get into sensitive matters surrounding mental illness and spirituality...

And the devil doesn't like it...not one bit.

He absolutely hates being exposed.

Because he thrives on deception and manipulation.

And here, we call him on his BS.

Here, his lies have no home.

But that doesn't stop his efforts at intimidation.

In desperation, he often comes harder.

Yet I remain ALL IN.

Each and every day I make the decision that will change the course of my life forever.

I affirm my commitment to my mission.

And I deny the temptations that seek to lure me back to captivity.

I will not ever turn back, I will only TURN UP.