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Theology has the ability to dictate how we think and how we think dictates what we do. If our theology is one of escapism, we will not see any value in remaining here on earth and casting out the darkness. This theology was prevalent during the church age in America, who then distributed this theology to the nations through missionaries. But what if this is a doctrine of demons, not the word of God. What is escapism is not God’s plan, but rather overcoming is what He had in mind for us?

Genesis 1 says, God created them male and female in His image and in His likeness and then commanded them to subdue the earth, rule over it and be fruitful upon it. Doesn’t sound like God put Adam and the woman here to escape, but to cultivate. Joshua was told to lead the people of God into Canaan and remove the giants in the land, so they could settle down in what God called the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Again it sounds like cultivate not escape. Jeremiah prophesies to Israel they are going to be taken from the land into Babylonian captivity for 70 years, but then says, “Thus says the Lord, For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, to give you a future and a hope.” I am seeing a pattern in scripture of cultivate not escape. David defeated enemies to the point where Israel had rest on every side, then Solomon penned in Proverbs 2:21-22 says, “For the upright will dwell in the land, And the blameless will remain in it; But the wicked will be cut off from the earth, And the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.” Sounds like more of the same messaging to me.

Now the New Testament is the better covenant, so I am looking not to escape from the earth but to cultivate the land, so how to do we read Matthew 24? Take off your escape theology for a minute and let the word of God speak for itself. “For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Who got taken away by the flood? Who is the them? Is it Noah and those in the ark or the wicked in the land? Genesis 8 says, “Then God spoke to Noah, saying, “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.” Noah was put back in the land to cultivate it and received the same command as Adam and the woman in Genesis 1. Cultivate not escape.

Theology matters. If you have an escapism theology you will completely miss the move of God happening right now. The move of God building as we speak is not one of escape it is one of cultivate, overcome, stand, build, plant, prosper. Light is shining in the darkness and darkness cannot comprehend it. The dark has no idea what the Light is doing. We are people of the light, the city set on a hill. My friends, we are about to receive a massive theology overhaul of the likes we have not seen since Luther’s reformation. It’s time to cultivate not escape.

Anyone that knows me or follows me here on Facebook knows I am a football fan. I love watching sports in general, but I really enjoy playing and watching football. It is also no secret that I am a Kansas City Chiefs fans as I spent 21 years in that city, before moving to Nashville. Now with that said, I want you to know I do not just watch football for the game alone when it is a big game like a Championship game or the Super Bowl, I am also listening for what the Lord is saying. In 2020 when the Chiefs went to the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers, the Lord spoke to me and said, ”National Jubilee”, it was Super Bowl 54 and the three colors between the two teams were red, white, and gold/yellow. I wrote a whole blog on this.

Now during this AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and the Bengals last Sunday, the first thing that stuck out to me was the final score, 20-23, we are in the year 2023, so there is something about this year that is significant, I believe this will be a year we will not forget for many reasons. But since sitting on this game for the past 3 days, I have sensed the Lord highlighting the play the Bengals are furious about. It has been called “The Do Over!” Meme’s have given the referees the MVP of the game, the city of Cincinnati is furious, the coach and players were very upset, and rightfully so. But what happened was the “TIME” was wrong, so the referee on the sideline came running out, blowing his whistle, but no one heard him because of the “CROWD NOISE”. The result was the Chiefs got a “REDO” on a third down play of which there was an incomplete pass.

Here is what I am hearing the Lord say about this, “I am resetting the timing, for people have been out of sync in their timing.” When the referee reset the clock to the right time, the Chiefs ran another play and got the first down, which was the first thing that led them to winning the game (it wasn’t the only thing). The Lord is putting us back in right timing and He is giving us a do over, now that the time is right. The enemy always wants to get us out of God’s timing, Daniel 2:21 says, “It is He (the Lord) who changes the times and the epochs…” The Lord is the judge of all, or in our parable the referee of the game. But there is one more thing with this time issue God is highlighting.

1 Chronicles 12:32 says, “Of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command;” I don’t know if you will think I have lost it, am stretching it or what, but the Lord has been telling me ”I have put My people in the right timing, so now everything is going to move rapidly”. I read this verse in 1 Chronicles and it is the Super Bowl teams and timing. “Their Chiefs (Kansas City) were 200; and all their Brethren (Philadelphia- city of brotherly love – Eagles) were at their command.” God loves to speak to us, and confirm to us what He is doing and my friends this is such good news, we have been put in correct timing! Everything is about to work now for we are in God’s timing, not the enemies, ours or anyone else’s. He has given us a redo and we are about to win, celebrate and win some more.

We are in a voice war. It is truly an invisible war, of which cannot be seen with the eyes, but is heard with the ears. This is the war that began in Genesis 1 when the serpent said, “Did God really say?” Voice war. The devil and his demons are not ghosts floating around the earth, they are voices speaking in our minds. This is why the war is invisible, because people are in a voice war and it remains invisible until something is said or done that reveals the invisible voice war they are fighting.

The only weapon the enemy, our adversary has is his voice. He speaks to people to make them think things about other people in order to divide us; he speaks to us individually to weaken our confidence in what God has said; he speaks into circumstances things that are not true so we misinterpret what really happened. The devil is a master at this voice war, for he has been speaking to people since the Garden of Eden and convincing them he knows the truth, when the truth is, he is the father of lies.

We find the voice war, the invisible war alive and active in nations, cities, regions, churches, companies, families, individuals, it is no respecter of persons. The only way to win the voice war is to know the voice of God, who is Truth, and value, prioritize, believe that voice no matter what the voice of the enemy says. This is not easy, but it is doable. Psalm 31 says it this way, “Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which You have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues.” When we trust in the Lord and His word, we are hidden from the strife of tongues, the voices of the enemy coming through people.

We must win the voice war individually for the voice that wins in us comes out of us and causes problems for those around us. Proverbs 18:21 says, “Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” The fruit of life coming out of our mouth is evidence of our victory over the voice war, the invisible war inside of everyone of us. Win the war.

People go to Bible school or to seminary to obtain a degree so they can be ordained as a Pastor and have a position in a church. The school they attended taught them a doctrine they would operate out of. Many men and women who genuinely loved the Lord and His people went to Bible school or seminary, the challenge is they went in with a love for God and people and they came out with a doctrine of man.

The Pharisees were a school of thought, as were the Sadducees. John 7 says, “Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” Jesus was taught by God therefore had the doctrine of God not of men.

The same was said of Jesus’ disciples who became apostles as stated in Acts 4 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.” The apostles didn’t go to their schools but they were taught in the Word of God!

The church age was all about the doctrines of men, based on what school you attended, how many people go to your church. The church age is over and the kingdom age is here. In the kingdom people recognize your authority not by a title or by your education but by the authority you carry from spending time with Jesus. This threatens titled and schooled people because in the kingdom titles don’t equal influence or authority.

Jesus carried authority; those who spend time, lots of time with Jesus have authority so they aren’t seeking a title or a certain seat, a microphone or a position, they know who they are in Christ so don’t need to be clothed in all the trappings that come with the doctrines of men. Jesus taught in the synagogue and when He spoke everyone knew He was different even the title people. Welcome to the kingdom age!

Believe it or not, I never saw myself as an intercessor. The reason being, because I thought it meant I had to be one that prayed all night, woke up in the middle of the night to pray, or had to rock like Lou Engle. My idea of what an intercessor was and the view I had of it, was not me, so I never considered myself an intercessor. I even remember telling the Lord I don’t even feel like I know how to pray. Now, people contact me to pray for them, pray for their neighborhood, the sale of their house, their spouse, and I have even been invited to pray for cities. How did I get here? I got here, because I am not locked into to a formula, a model, a title or a ministry, I am locked into a Man and whatever He wants from me, I do it.

Ezekiel 22:30 says, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” God and people are always looking for someone who is available and has authority to stand in the gap for them. Intercessors operate in word and spirit. They do prophetic acts, they fast and pray, they are seen, heard and invisible. We all are invited to be intercessors, but not all have the time, maybe one of the ways God is calling us to make room for Him is by having time to stand in the gap for others, for nations, for whatever He invites us to do.

I got introduced to a couple who live in Delaware this week. They are wanting to sell their house and ministry properties there, so they can move to the Nashville area, but it is proving challenging to sell their house. I tell my friend who introduces us, I have a track record of helping people sell their house, I pray and God brings the buyers. She said, oh I have to tell LuAnne about you, so she connects us and I tell her I am going to pray for your house to sell on Saturday, this was on Thursday. Yesterday, I get a message she has someone coming to look at the house for the second time today (Saturday). I said perfect, I will let you know what the Lord says.

Today is Saturday and I am asking the Lord what weapon do you want me to use in prayer for the sale of their house in Delaware, and the Lord says, “Easy Strike”, I knew immediately it was the arrow from 2 Kings 13:18. I grab my arrow head to the prayer garden and strike the ground for each property they want sold. The ground was so soft, it was truly an “Easy Strike”. I then hear the Lord say one more time, “Easy Strike” and I drive the arrow into the ground with ease and it hits bedrock. Now I wait for the report of their properties selling. Do I benefit from doing this for them, no I don’t, but I do get the pleasure of standing in the gap and partnering with God for their breakthrough sales of all their properties and I will have a new friend when they get to Nashville. I pray we all become gap standers for others!

The difference between strong believers and weak believers has to do with fear. Fear is a powerful word, just the mention of it makes people sit up and take notice. The Bible describes two prominent fears, one is the fear of man and the other is the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man will prove to be a snare…” I am pausing in the middle of this verse on purpose, because I want us to really realize how truthful this statement is. The fear of man will prove to be a snare. Have you ever feared someone and did what they wanted out of fear of their response, reaction, or resistance to you? I have and the Bible is right, it proved to be a snare.

What is a snare? The Hebrew word for snare is moqesh and means a bait, lure, barbs, trap, noose, hook. That means when we have the fear of man we will go where they tell us, we will be trapped in something we feel like we can’t get out of, we will be lured in, it will be like a noose around our neck. The fear of man will prove to be a snare. It does not start out as a snare, but it will reveal itself eventually. This is not what someone else is doing to you, this is what happens to you when you operate out of the fear of man. Fear of what they think of you, fear of how they will respond to you, fear of what they might do to you. Fear is a punisher when it is attached to man (mankind). People pleasers have the fear of man for example.

Now listen to the rest of Proverbs 29:25, “The fear of man will prove to be a snare, but those who trust in the Lord is safe.” This ties to our second fear, the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is your safe place. The fear of the Lord is not about living as a monk in a cave, it is about where your are rooted, what foundation you are standing on. Psalm 27:1 says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” The fear of the Lord makes you strong internally, so you can be generous externally with people. Fear of man is a shaky foundation, but the fear of the Lord is what makes you strong. The fear of the Lord is trusting God, obeying God, being rooted in God and the fruit of this foundation is loving people, giving grace to people and serving people, not for their affirmation, but from the affirmation you receive because you fear the Lord.

Jesus is continually trying to bring us into supernatural thinking, and we continually default back to natural thinking. The natural is predictable, explainable, identifiable, it is actually really boring and we were made for adventure. Addictions are created in people because they are bored with life, pain has taken precedence and adventure has somehow been lost, stolen or forfeited. The ache of boredom is real, the desire for adventure is obvious, but the willingness to leave the familiar and come into the foreign takes courage, faith, risk, and willingness. No wonder we stay in the familiar, the foreign feels funny, but it is an adventure of the likes only God can bring us on. It is childlike faith, it is awe and wonder and it is exhilarating.

I was reading John 6 this morning and Jesus said something to one of his disciples to test him and what the disciple responded with was a natural answer. Listen to this, “Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him, He said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” Philip was one of the 12 who would become apostles, so no criticism here, but how much is he like us. Defaulting to the natural, not even recognizing the supernatural in our midst. Jesus, the son of God, was asking the question to test him, to test whether Philip understood the supernatural or not and the answer was no, not yet.

I wonder how many times Jesus “tests” us to find out if we comprehend the supernatural God we say we believe in or are we still stuck in what is familiar? The supernatural life can feel foreign at first, because it is mystery, it is invisible upon arrival, it is the presence of God, not a person you can touch physically. It can feel scary, but oh my friends, the reality of this God, who proves the supernatural is truly superior to the natural. God is abundance, God is divine health, God is truth, God is life, God is light, everything we need He is, but we must recognize the supernatural in our midst. Take the risk, step out in some way with God, you will feel the wind on your face, the fire in your belly and the song of the Lord singing. You will find yourself learning to love the supernatural and seeking it out and the foreign will become familiar, but you will have advanced in faith and adventure. This is how we fight our battles, we find the supernatural in our midst.

Last night I was invited to a worship and prayer night with some women, some I knew some I did not know. The woman leading worship is a friend of mine and she brought out a song I have known for years, but it carried so much more depth of meaning for me last night. It is amazing how our lives change day by day as we spend time in the word of God and prayer, for Lord is the one that changes us into His image daily. We don’t recognize the changes He has made in us until there are moments where if we will listen we will her our hearts singing a song we know but with a different depth than we have had before.

The line in the song was “You provide the fire…I’ll provide the sacrifice. You pour out Your spirit…I will open up inside.” Even thought the rest of the room kept going on in the song I was stuck on these words. You see these words used to sound good in a song, but now they are the cry of my heart, the desire of my innner most being. Songs can be prophetic words we speak, not realizing we are seeding our own souls while we sing them. As I was meditating on these words, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Fire only falls on sacrifice, it does not rest on flesh.” I saw myself laying on the altar as a living sacrifice, singing, “You provide the fire…I will be the sacrifice.” Romans 12:1 says, “I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service fo worship.”

I laid on the altar last night as a living sacrifice, and I let the fire of God consume me again. I don’t want to become familiar with God, I don’t want to think I know every move He is going to make, I want to remain flexible at all times and last night, He provided the fire and I became the sacrifice, right there in that home when everyone else was onto the next line of the song. The more time we spend alone with God, just like with people, the more intimate the relationship gets and the more trust is developed, so when the invitation to be a living sacrifice in worship comes, we do not hesitate, we lay on the altar, for He provides the fire, we are the sacrifice. He pours out His spirit, we open up inside. Thank you Misty Meeker for choosing that song.

I got saved in a charismatic Lutheran Church in January 1989. This month it is going to be 34 years I have been a Christian. I still remember the day I sat in the back row of that youth group with my black leather jacket on, my Marlboros in my inside pocket, lost as can be and as they sang the song Sold Out and Radical, I heard the voice of God say, “I love you and I will never lie to you.” Those words have been the foundation on which I have stood for 34 years and still keep standing to this day. I love the word of God because I know He will never lie to me (numbers 23:19). People lie to me, people lied to me, but God never has and never will lie to me, that is why I trust Him with everything in my life. Withholding nothing.

One of the hymns we used to sing in that Lutheran Church on Sunday morning was What A Friend We Have In Jesus. I would sing it from the bottom of my heart, hands raised, not caring what others thought. I still sing with passion but now I alter the volume so as to not hinder whoever is next to me’s worship, for I can get loud when I get passionate. This morning, I was praying Psalm 24 and the song What a Friend We Have in Jesus came into my spirit, here is one line from the third verse: “Are we weak and heavy-laden, Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge— Take it to the Lord in prayer.” For you that know the song, it makes you want to sing along and oh the memories that return when we sing those songs we sang when we got saved.

Psalm 24 sparked these thoughts today, because the Lord reminded me that it is our responsibility to open our lives for Him to come in. He is not going to force Himself in, just like when I first gave my life to Him, it is still the same today. We have to “Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, The LORD mighty in battle.” He will even announce Himself, but we still must open the way for Him to enter.

34 years later, I am still saying yes to the King of glory. I still want to live with lifted heads, open gates and open doors for I want the Lord to lead my life, tell me what to do, show me where to go and have complete control of me. I don’t want to be in charge of my life, I want God in charge, just like I prayed when I got saved all those years ago, Here is my life, it belongs to you. Every anniversary of being saved, I make sure I am still saying the same thing in my heart, I give my life to you, do whatever you want to, I belong to you. This is how you stay Sold Out and Radical even after 34 years together.

Humanism is earthly wisdom. It has a form of godliness but it denies the power of God to transform a life. Humanism is what James 3 says is earthly wisdom. “If you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” (James 3:14-16). Humanism is what sparked the “self-help” revolution of which still is in the hearts of many humans. Not only is it is a multi-billion dollar industry, the fruit of it is exactly what James said, earthly, sensual, demonic, it is self-seeking, henceforth why it is called self-help. It does not benefit the person trapped in humanism and it does not help anyone who is the connected to the one who is self-helping.

This weekend I met a man named Robert and he is the brother of my friend Sharon Ward Shirley. We were discussing the root of all roots in our lives and Robert said, he believes it is selfishness. Both Sharon and I said, that’s it. Selfishness is the root of pride, fear, anger, a whole host of issues in our life. It was a powerful Saturday morning conversation and so when I read this in James 3 this morning, it actually was spurred from John 3. Listen to what John says about Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.” (John 3:30-31). Humanism is earth speak and it is not the wisdom of God, just look at the fruitof it.

If humanism stayed in its lane called the world, we would not have a problem, but humanism has invaded the church and brought confusion to believers about biblical wisdom, which is selfless, not selfish. Many in the church lack wisdom, not because they are stupid, but because they are selfish. We must repent of our humanism if we are going to operate in the kingdom. All kingdom activity is selfless, it is others focused and it is about laying our lives down. If that makes you nervous it is because of the humanism in you that God wants to detox out of you. It is time I to decrease so He can increase.