Category: Uncategorized

Many words mean what they mean at face value, but many words have deeper meanings and those who understand the meaning behind the words find reading enjoyable. The Bible is filled with imagery, it evokes in us a sense of awe and wonder if we can read with a childlike heart and see what it is saying.

For example, in Matthew 13, Jesus speaks of a farmer planting seed. These words invite a picture in our minds, but then it goes deeper and the seed is not actually corn seeds, wheat seeds or even poppy seeds, but rather the seed is the word of God. It invites a picture in order to take us deeper.

I was walking the dog this morning and we came upon a river that is usually very quiet and unassuming. If you did not know it was there, you would not even see it through the trees. But this morning, the river was making a sound that cannot be denied. The sound commanded my attention. As I walked closer to the river, the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “The more rain that falls, the louder the river gets.”

Rain in scripture is connected to teachings, narratives, and so when we read in Zechariah 10:1-2 we see this, “Ask rain from the LORD in the season of the spring rain, from the LORD who makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field. For the household gods utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies; they tell false dreams and give empty consolation. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they are afflicted for lack of a shepherd.” Notice the tie between rain and diviners, both releasing a narrative.

What I heard the Lord say this morning was, the more the rain of the narrative of the kingdom of God soaks the earth, the louder the rivers of God inside of us will get. The drought is over, meaning, Amos 8:11 is over, “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.” The voice of God is increasing in volume and people are hearing His voice again. Let it rain!!!!!

Do you remember the original movie called the Karate Kid with Ralph Macchio? Do you remember how Mr. Miagi had him wax on and wax off on the car; how he had him paint the fence, up and down and up and down. Do you remember how Daniel did not understand what his sensei Mr. Miagi was teaching him? Well, the Lord just showed me this is what He has been doing with so many of us and we did not understand it.

We have waxed the car and painted the proverbial fence, not understanding what God was asking us to do. For you that did the jobs the Lord asked of you, not understanding at all how this had anything to do with what He has called you to, I hear you. This morning, the Lord revealed to me what He was doing in the waxing of the proverbial car and painting of the fence.

I don’t know what you have been asked to do, but your faithfulness is springing up from the ground, like a fountain that is sourced in the deep places. What seemed like chores, what felt mundane, uneventful and even frustrating at times, was training you to do what He created you to do. I can’t stop the flow of tears falling from my eyes right now as He is revealing what it was all for.

Psalm 85 says, “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground, and righteousness looks down from the sky.” This is a poetic way of saying what Genesis 7:11-12 says, “On that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened. And rain fell upon the earth!”

When we are faithful we are the fountain of the deep on earth that springs up and He, the Lord is the righteousness in heaven that pours down and together us and the Lord flood the earth with glory according to Habakkuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” This is not a future hope, this is a current reality as the Lord is tapping his faithful ones and they are springing up even now, which means He is also opening the windows of heaven and pouring out.

The drought is truly over!!!! It is raining!!!!! We are the spring, He is the window and the earth is being flooded with glory right now. It is truly a holy visitation.

I don’t know what you enjoy doing, or call relaxing, or consider fun, but for me, I love a road trip. Getting on a highway and just driving for hours uniterrupted with various scenery on my right and on my left is one of my favorite things to do. What makes a road trip so enjoyable is when I do it alone, I have time to pray, listen to sermons or just roll down the windows and listen to the wind blow. But if I am with my best friend or other people I enjoy doing life with, oh the joy of conversations that happen on those highways.

I was reading Psalm 84 this morning and it reminded me of my love for road trips when it said, “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.”

The Psalmist remembered a road trip to Zion and even though they went through some valleys of weeping to get there, the joy of Zion, the rain that fell and made pools of water, the stories they shared along the way, made the roadtrip enjoyable for them. Israel went on a roadtrip with God Himself through the wilderness with a cloud leading by day and a fire by night. Joshua took his military on a road trip around the walls of Jericho with a shofar in their hand. David took a road trip from the pasture to the battle line where he met, Saul, his brothers and Goliath. And Jesus took many road trips with disciples from the North to the South of Israel.

I sense God has us on a roadtrip with Him and even as we go through valleys, take rest stops, and need a snack break, I think He loves road-tripping with us, either alone or with us and others. I hope there is a highway inside of you that is leading to the city of God, because God loves a roadtrip and He knows how long until we arrive, but I hope we are mature enough to enjoy the ride and are not in the backseat crying out, are we there yet? Christianity is a roadtrip, and I am here for it. Maybe I’ll see you at a rest stop along the way.

There is a lot of talk about an awakening that is happening and will continue to happen around the globe. Many historically have called it the Great Awakening, because they saw masses of people “wake up!” But do you know what to look for when you hear of an awakening happening? It is easy to say big words like revival, awakening, harvest, new wine, outpouring. Great words, but do you know what it looks like when it starts happening?

I was reading Matthew 13 this morning while waiting in line at the DMV, if you have been there you know what I am saying. I arrived at 7:30am for an 8:30am opening and the line was already around the corner, so I sat on some cinderblocks and read my bible. While reading verse 15 jumped out at me, where it says, “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.” Matthew is quoting the prophet Isaiah in this passage.

The signs of the awakening are seen in this verse. When people wake up from having their eyes closed to God and His word, they begin to see, hear and understand, which then manifests in them turning to God, so He can heal them. This is not a salvation message, this is a call to the church. These were religious Jews, the people of God, Israel, who the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Matthew are addressing. The awakening is for a sleeping bride, a slumbering body of Christ, a shut eyes Christian.

You will see signs of the awakening, when those who have said a prayer, who go to church on Sunday, who would say they believe in Jesus, turn to God. When they turn they will see God and God activity, they will hear the voice of God and the people who speak for God and they will understand with their heart, for the dullness will give way to life. This is what the awakening looks like.

It is not more church services, it is a people who want to know God, people who say they can now hear God, people who will obey the word of God and who will adjust their life to what God calls righteousness not what they want to do, say or be. There are a few signs of an awakening beginning, but it is happening with church kids, churched young adults, but my question is where are the sleeping Christians who have been “saved’ for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, when will they wake up. This will be the sign of the great awakening for they will turn to God by the masses for their dull hearts will come alive.

80% of our walk by faith is underground, it is hidden, it does not get applauded by the public. If you are not willing to be unseen, not heard, then you will struggle to walk by faith. Faith is more hidden than it is visible. Faith is seen in the secret more often that it is seen in the public. This is hard for people because they don’t know who God is and therefore they don’t know who they are.

Luke 18:1-8 speaks of a parable where there is an unjust judge and a widow who is seeking justice against her adversary. The parable is about prayer, and it ends in verse 8 with these words, “I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” What a powerful question. This is a selah moment, especially in a culture that loves to be seen and heard.

There has been a lot of things happening underground that most people have not been aware of. Prayer assignments, military operations, conversations between God and man. All underground, all out of the pubic sight, all doing the work, of what the Lord has called special operations, for the sake of nations awakening.

Victory over the enemy has been building not on platforms, behind pulpits, in stadiums, but in prayer closets, in kitchens, in tunnels underground, in off the beaten path locations where others have not been aware of. Piece by piece the Lord has been dismantling the enemies strongholds like a game of Jenga and the masses are about to see the fall of Babylon.

Bablylon’s fall will bring great rejoicing for some and great trouble for others. But the fall is not the end it is only the beginning of an establishing of another dimension of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. Faith is the foundation of everything, and the foundation will always be 80% hidden and only 20% seen. The kingdom of God is still at hand!!!!

Beliefs are a powerful tool in our hearts and minds. When what we believe is working to our advantage, we love our beliefs, but when those beliefs do not work to our advantage how quickly we dump them as not believable. Think of it in the realm of healing, we can say we believe in healing, but if we or someone we love doesn’t get healed we question whether or not God heals today. We will never say it out loud, but we question it in our hearts and minds.

Beliefs are established with evidence externally. Little to no external evidence erodes our belief about whatever subject we are believing. Is it any wonder the minute something we are believing for doesn’t happen the way we think it should, we question our belief about it.

Today is traditionally, on the church calendar, the day after Jesus rose from the dead. The Pharisees, the ones who believe in the resurrection from the dead, are the very ones who created a narrative to deny the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 27:62-64 says, “The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”

The very people who believe in resurrection created a narrative that said “Jesus can’t be raised from the dead.” It never ceases to amaze me how we shift the narrative in order to benefit us in some way or the other. Church, this is religion at its best. Religion alters the truth to fit their narrative, rather than stepping into the narrative of God, even if it means they must pivot.

Matthew 28:12-13 continues after the verifiable resurrection from the dead saying, “And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.”

This is an example of paying people off to create a narrative for the masses to believe, but truth has a way of coming out, for Jesus is risen from the dead and no other narrative can change that reality. Truth is coming from heaven to earth in the form of a drill that is piercing our faulty narratives with truth that will set us free. Receive it or reject it, the truth will never cease to be the truth about Jesus or any other truth Jesus has spoken. He is risen!!!

Today is a day of erie silence in history. Imagine the man you thought was going to be the king of Israel who would conquer your oppressors and promised to set you free, just died last night. You saw his bloody, dead body being taken down from the cross on which he hung. You heard the words he spoke, “It is finished!” What was finished? Your hope of a future kingdom ruling and reigning with him on earth? Your friend, master and God? What exactly was finished.

Saturday was a hard hard hard day for those boys, those women, those people. So many questions, so few answers. So many words He spoke and now He is dead. They questioned everything they thought they knew about Him, because He is now dead, He declared it is finished and then was no more on earth with us. I call it Silent Saturday.

How many of us have had Silent Saturday’s in our life, when our expectations were not met; when our dreams did not come true; when our desires did not come to pass; when things took a turn in a direction we did not see coming? We all have silent Saturday’s where we question everything we thought we knew. It is a hard day to navigate. Job endured some Silent Saturday’s as he wrestled with God concerning how he went from abundance to cutting himself with clay pieces in the dust.

When we are in a silent Saturday season, it feels like it will never end. The thoughts that torment us seem so truthful in the moment. The earthquake that happens in our soul is loud and the gap it creates is real. Silent Saturday Seaons are painful, difficult and revealing on a very deep level. Don’t rush the Silent Saturday, don’t medicate the pain of it, don’t ignore the reality of it. Silent Saturdays are needed for they are where we recalibrate.

On this Silent Saturday, for the boys that walked with Jesus it was a rough day, so they went back to fishing. But little did they know the Silent Saturday was going to give way to Resurrection Sunday. If you are in a Silent Saturday season, fear not, be still, listen to what comes out of you, the Silent Saturday is detoxing what is not coming with you as you enter the season called Resurrection Sunday. I know it is a hard season, but what is finished is needed for abundant life in your next season.

Remembering history is crucial to knowing who we are, who we serve and what we have been given and who we are called to be. On this day in history, according to the church calendar, we remember the death of Jesus the Christ, the King of the Jews. We call it Good Friday, but how often to we recall what was so good about it. Let me share with you a few verses that remind us why this day in history was such a good day.

Matthew 27:50-55 “Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!””

1. No one killed Jesus, He yielded up His spirit, He gave Himself completely to His Father’s will, withholding nothing. What an example He is of obedience even unto death.
2. The curtain of the temple tore, which gave the Jews and Gentiles access to the Holy Place, which is why 1 Peter 2:9 says, we are kings and priests to our God. Now it is not just the Levites who are priests, but all of us.
3. The earth shook and the rocks split. This is a nod to the water that came from the rock, the provision of God in the wilderness and a reminder that He still provides for us in desert places.
4. The tombs were opened. Remember Lazarus in John 11, Jesus’ death reminds us that He is still calling us out of our tombs of unbelief, so we can live the abundant life.
5. The sleeping saints were awakened. Jesus is still waking up the sleeping church, the sleeping nations, the sleepers are waking up even now at a pace we don’t even understand.
6. Centurions (Romans, Gentiles and Jews) are seeing Jesus as the Messiah and declaring, Trully this was, this is and this will always be the Son of God.

These are just a few of the reasons why today in history we remember it was a really really Good Friday.

Church we need to be delivered from short term memory loss. We live in such a fast paced world, we do not stop, ponder, meditate on all that God does in just one day, so it literally goes in one ear and out the other. God is doing amazing things in our lives and in the lives of other people around us everyday, but when the winds of adversity blow, we start complaining, doubting and fearing the God who still does miracles.

The world has us on this roller coaster of emotions, so that if we hit a speed bump we feel like God has left us, does not love us and is not for us. This is not biblical faith, these are worldly emotions. Faith is solid, it is stable, it is consistent, it is trustworthy. In the world, we get tossed to and fro, thrown between this and that, whatever comes up we do it. We cancel commitments or see them as no longer important when something new and flashy or more fun comes up. We must stop this.

Our running to and fro is causing us to miss the goodness of God in everyday, so when the winds of adversity blow, we can lean on our history with God to stand in the midst of a storm, a breeze or even an invitation to self-indulge in anyway we like.

Reading Psalm 77 made me realize again, God must be remembered if we are going to prevail over culture that calls us to conform to its whims. We must remember the Lord. “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. You with your arm redeemed your people.”

Make time to remember, write down what God does so you have a record of rememberance. Your memory is your history with God that keeps you walking on water when the wind begins to blow. He is faithful always. It is time to remember what He has done for He will do it again.

When you preach to humanity they can accept or reject the word of the Lord. Jesus said, the Pharisees rejected the plan of God for them and missed His visitation (Luke 7:30). We as people miss much of God wants to do in our lives because we reject the truth that can set us free. But creation does not reject the word of God. When creation hears the voice of God coming out of the sons and daughters of God it responds to the word of God gladly.

Creation knows God is good; creation knows God is a liberator; creation knows God wants to set it free from its bondage (Romans 8:22-24). Some people wonder why I blow the shofar; why I salt rivers; why I pour oil on the soil; and why I go to destination locations to make decrees. The reason is because the Lord spoke to me in 2015 and said, “I have enough people above ground but very few underground, will you go underground and heal the land with Me?” I gave a resounding yes and the Lord has shown me how to liberate the land.

A healed land is a healed people, then a healed people will speak life over the land and each other. Israel and the Jews understand the connection between people and the land, why do you think they fight so hard for their land? With all this said, “While I was in Dry Ridge, KY yesterday the Lord told me to put an arrow in the ground and decree the opening of the wells of healing for our nation. This city is known for its mineral springs that had healing properties.

I believe God wants to release the wells of healing in our land. Healing of so many issues that will set us free. I see healing springing up in city after city all over the world. Physical healings, emotional healings, national healings, gender healings, marriage healings, financial healings, church healings, it is going to be a healing spring in which when you dip in it you will be healed. I decree to the wells of healing in our nation, spring up oh well!!!!!