Month: March 2025

Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s on the Northside of Minneapolis, we knew all our neighbors. We knew when the street lights came on we had to go home for the night. We knew the sound of everyone’s mom’s voice calling them in for dinner. We spent so much time outside, playing kickball, kick the can, hide and seek, so much fun from the moment we got home from school until those street lights came on each night. We rode our BMX bikes, jumping man holes in the street and we skitched behind the bus on those snow packed streets of Minneapolis. I loved those days with those people.

This memory came to my mind this morning as I was reading Proverbs 8 when it says in verse 14 “You will find true success when you find me, for I have insight into wise plans that are designed just for you. I hold in my hands living-understanding, courage, and strength. They’re all ready and waiting for you.”

Wisdom is playful, she loves to play hide and seek. She doesn’t hide so we can’t find her, she hides so we can show we love the pursuit of finding her. She says of herself in verses 30-31 “I was there, close to the Creator’s side as his master artist. Daily he was filled with delight in me as I playfully rejoiced before him. I laughed and played, so happy with what he had made, while finding my delight in the children of men.”

When we find wisdom we find enjoyment in life. When we discover who wisdom really is, we will find our lives filled with laughter, delight and a childlike joy that others will see in us. Wise people are fun people, they love to laugh, dance, rejoice and they delight in others. If the church needs anything it is wisdom, because wisdom will make us fun to be around. I pray the Lord gives you a spirit of wisdom as Paul said in Ephesians 1.

If you want to join me, I am going to play a game of hide and seek with wisdom; then we will hit the dance floor and sing, I got joy; before ending our day smiling at the people God has placed in our lives because games are more fun with others than they are alone. Come on friends, let’s pursue wisdom, she is a lot of fun, I know you will like her, she adds value to everything we do.

The landscape of the world is changing in such a way it will be unrecognizable to those who lived in the world before this change of epic proportions. There are massive earth moving shifts taking place behind the scenes which are going to change the landscape above ground for the better beyond all we could ask, think or even imagine. There are no words to describe the kingdom of God activity happening on earth right now.

No one has seen what is coming, no one can plan it out, prophesy it, or even prepare for it, for this is a God plan not a man’s plan. This is not some past awakening, revival or healing movement, this not anything we have seen in the past, this is a kingdom invasion with a love we have never known before and it is tailor made by God Himself.

Psalm 37 gives us some insight into how to navigate all we are seeing, hearing and sensing. “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.”

Those who will govern the new world of love God is establishing on earth will be meek (humble, gentle, those who put themselves after others in importance); they will be peacemakers for they are people of peace for they do not fret (burn, blaze up, kinde, angry, zealous or jealous).

Love covers a multitude of sins, that is why Jesus the Prince of Peace was sent as God’s only son as the exact expression of love the world needed. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. This is the world God is establishing on earth as it is in heaven. We are not going to heaven, heaven is coming to earth. Peace and love is the air we must learn to breathe.

Whenever there is a building project under way, there is a lot of movement. Something’s are being moved out of the way, others things are being brought in to help prepare the way. When you hear of and see a lot of movement that means a building project is under way.

People who have been in a place of stagnancy will be surprised when movement begins to take place. Not because they will not like what is being built, but because they have been lulled to sleep by the narrative of retreat, rather than seeded with the narrative of build and plant.

The awakening is a building narrative of hope, joy, peace, prosperity, truth and healing. In a land where nothing changes, decay advances, neglect is obvious, it takes a minute to make the shift to new life coming forth. Some people are suspicious and out of their mouth comes seeds of suspicion; others are skeptical; still some are apprehensive. These are all natural reactions to major changes.

Not everyone can get a Birds Eye view of what is happening, that is why it is drip, drip, drip of changes taking place in every area of society. Television is changing, government is changing, education is changing, ministry leaders are changing, business is changing, entertainment is changing, the media is changing. It was a slow turn away from one thing, but it is a quick pivot to the new thing.

Isaiah 57 says, “And it shall be said, “Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners, creating the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and to the near, says the LORD, and I will heal him.”

God is building not tearing down, planting not uprooting, harvesting not rapturing. Everything is becoming new, shake off the old, open your eyes, the kingdom of God is at hand!!!!

God is no respecter of persons. We all have the same access to Him through the blood of Jesus. The same offer of intimacy and authority is given to every person. There are not favorites in the kingdom of God; there are not some are chosen others are not. God loves and chooses all of us, He has already made His choice.

People wonder why some people seem to walk in favor, while others don’t. Others notice certain benefits yielded to some and not to others and wonder why is that? The answer is not in whether or not God is for us or not, the answer lies in our choices. Not everyone chooses the same thing, that is why not everyone accesses the same things.

Our choices about who we spend time with, what we speak, how we treat people, how much we want or don’t want God, is all our choice. Some people forgive quickly, others hold grudges. Some people prioritize time with God, other people do not. Some people are generous on all occasions with all things, others withhold unduly. The choice is ours.

We are very powerful people, so powerful we get to choose what we do. However, we are also so powerful we are responsible for our choices. If we don’t have what someone else has, it is not because we are less loved or favored, it is because have made other choices than someone else. The best news is, if we want what someone else has, we can have it if we want to make the same choices they made.

Cain was jealous of Abel in Genesis 4, Saul was jealous of David in 1 Samuel 20, but both Cain and Saul could have made different choices and had the same favor Abel and David had. The hardest pill to swallow is the truth that our choices are our responsibility. No one chooses for us. No wonder Moses said in Deuteronomy 32 “Choose Life!” The best thing about choices is you can change what you are choosing. I did, years ago and now I am living really living.

It all began with a choice to love, to forgive, to be generous always and to invest in people. I chose to speak life, to find the gold, and to be generous on all occasions and that choice has changed my life. Choose wisely friends for our choices yield fruit we eat either sour fruit or fresh fruit. I have eaten both and I will never choose anything but life ever again for the fruit of the tree of life is so good, I have no appetite for the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil anymore. I am so grateful I could make a different choice and so can you.

Shaking off man made theology is difficult. We absorb more culturally than we realize and we don’t recognize our culture until we live in another culture. This goes for people who have lived over seas or for those who have chosen to live in the kingdom after being dipped in religion.

Our culture is like our skin, it is so much apart of us we do not even realize what we think, what we say, what we believe is cultural not biblical. Western culture has taught us that the end of times is the darkest of times. We have been dipped in a left behind theology, a fear mongering messaging that has altered our way of reading the word of God.

When the scales of culture fall from our eyes, when the kingdom awakening happens in us, we will see the Word of God in a way we have never seen it before. The Word will actuallly be able to say what it says to us, not what man has taught us.

Proverbs 4:18-19 says, “The ways of right-living people glow with light; the longer they live, the brighter they shine. But the road of wrongdoing gets darker and darker— travelers can’t see a thing; they fall flat on their faces.”

We don’t like demarcations, for we have been dipped in cultural socialism in a way we don’t even understand. The kingdom of God is not diminishing it is increasing at least that is what Daniel 2:44 says, “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.”

This morning I am singing a new song, I am singing, “I shake it off and say You are good; I shake it off and say You are good; I shake it off!” Maybe you want to sing along, for it is time to shake off cultural theology and join the kingdom awakening.

Can you hear the sound of the Lord in the midst of us? Can you discern His distinct voice among all the other voices? Are you able to tune your heart to the frequency of His sound, to the reality of His voice? Individually and corporately, we tend to be one volume people.

Churches tend to have one volume. For some churches it is the roar of the lion of the tribe of Judah, for others it is the resting dove who is gently cooing. Both are the sound of God, but He is never just one volume, never just one sound. We can miss so much because of our preferences, proclivities or even personalities.

Psalm 32 says, “You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance.” Some people will miss God’s deliverance today because they are not used to the shout of deliverance. It is not their preferred way of deliverance. This is not the only way God delivers people, but the Bible says it is one way.

1 Kings 19 says, ““Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.”

In some churches today, there is going to be a still small voice, a whisper in the midst of the noise, it will not be a shout, it will not be loud, but it will be God. It will not be hype or emotional, but it is 100% God.

No matter if you worship with the roar of the lion of Judah or if the resting dove enters the room, listen for the voice of the one that calls you by name. It may come with a shout of deliverance or it may come in a still small voice. It is our God who wants to speak to His people and have them hear Him.

Ecclesiastes 5:1 “1Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen.”