Voicing Heaven in Earth's Language

The people of God will be defined by holy audacity: 1. Audacious humility 2. Audacious boldness 3. Audacious love We must take audacious steps of courage. It's like cliff-jumping or sky-diving. We get the vision of what we are supposed to do, and then we go do it without giving it a chance to sink into the mind of our flesh and activate fear and resistance to it. I pray for you to lay many audacious and clear steps before us and that You would establish the necessary foundations in our souls to be obedient to them Father.

Father, I believe that we imperfect and hypocritical people will boldly approach Your throne in the name of Jesus whom You gave for us and I have the audacity to believe that the impossible requirements which You require of us You will fulfill in us by Your grace alone. I believe that You will take Your people, weak and imperfect but they trust You, and place them on the narrow path that few ever find (Mt. 7:13-14), and then You will make that narrow path a wide highway under their feet, so that they would not stumble off of it (Ps. 18:36). Thank You LORD, that You do the impossible and actually perfect people for Your kingdom. Thank You that we have only to endure to the end, because those who do will be perfected and saved. When we can do no else, just let us hold on. Your boy, Nathan

Two prevalent, but thankfully fading ideas in the church today are ideas along the lines of sheer human initiative and sheer human practicality in getting anywhere (humanism anyone?). Initiative has to do with human decision being supreme and practicality has to do with human effort being supreme. The key words are sheer and supreme , because human decision and effort are out of bounds when they presume to be sheer and supreme . These two assumptions are based on two myths: God does not speak anymore and God does not act anymore (at least not the same way as He did in biblical times). The two greatest cries of life calling are that God does speak today and God does act today, just as He did in biblical times, yea He speaks and acts through the Scripture in our daily existence. My greatest moments in life were when God went from being the dead God of a "Christian religion" to a living and active God who governs all reality and this happened when God spoke to me and acted aroun

I say to our heart, "Be careful! There is a real place of danger and a real risk of falling from God's kingdom if we abide in lawlessness. We will never have peace except as we remain at peace with Jesus. As it says in the Scriptures, "'They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.' Therefore I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest (Ps. 95:10-11, ESV).'" What a heavy hand of grace and discipline You carry oh God, to corner us into the perfect inheritance which Jesus secured for His people in the cross, resurrection and ascension! Is it not so good of God to corner us so, in such a way that the choice is simple. Either we receive this grace to fully enter into His kingdom and all of its values, or we turn from it and go the way of destruction. And as the scriptures say, "'Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Fathe

Endurance is required of the people of God. The knowledge of God that will explode with light and illumination in the earth and the lives of people with dynamic power will only come by faith-a persevering faith with blood, sweat and tears. It will come when the people of God love the Lord their God with all of their existence by faith-that is, with all of their past, present, future, with all of their thinking, with all of their imagination, with all of their emotions, with all of their thoughts, with all of their decisions, with all that they control, and with all that they cannot control. It will come when people, by faith alone in the grace of God, stop being victimized by wickedness and instead overcome it by the power of God through the name of Jesus and by the active power of God's Spirit invading their entire existence. It will come when people, by a persevering faith of blood, sweat and tears, stop being offended by God and instead meekly receive the implanted word of God,

So the craziest thing happened tonight, something very atypical for my times of prayer. I was confused about some things and so I said to the LORD, "LORD, I just need to see something." So I closed my eyes, focused, and in my imagination I saw myself hacking, coughing, and with shortness of breath, having trouble breathing. I was not sure what this could mean, although I know that breathing and breath are related to the Holy Spirit (see the original Greek and notice that spirit and breath come from the same word; they are pictured together). And then the words "spiritual emphysema" came to my mind. I was not sure if I was being random or the LORD was trying to speak to me, but I hopped on the internet to look up first "emphysema" and then "spiritual emphysema." Lo and behold, there are actually people online who write about "spiritual emphysema" and I was amazed at what I found! In short, God has shown me some truth this weekend about m

Investment of my finances is something I've been interested in for about 4 years and am only now in a position to start looking into. As a result, I've been thinking and praying for a foundational philosophy to govern my investing, which in essence means I want the guidance of God in all my investing. Here is what I've arrived at so far: God is one day going to shake every man-made system on earth and nothing man-made will last through it. Only the eternal will last. And we can only produce anything eternal through our heart-level faith in the eternal (namely, God Himself). In the long run, a billion American dollars may not mean a hill of beans. In the long-run, right before God finally establishes His kingdom on earth, all transaction in life, including financial transaction will be based on allegiance, either to the antichrist world ruler coming on the scene or to Jesus, the Anointed One of God. The antichrist system will utilize a universal currency that will rest

I have a friend who has had it difficult for much of his life and I have watched circumstance after circumstance knock him down over the past couple years that I have known him. I have come to realize that he is likely mad at God. He won't go out and say it or admit it, but it seems obvious to me. I think he's holding a lot of bitterness against God and life in general. So, one can imagine the conversations we have about the difficulties of life and God's involvement (or lack thereof) in them. The problem with my friend's mindset is that He thinks God is responsible for his bad circumstances when actually, many of them are his own doing! I shared with him once the following: "__________, God is not ignoring evil, suffering, and difficulties in your life. He gave the answer to the presence of evil and suffering already. The answer is Jesus. Jesus spent His whole life overcoming and defeating evil in his day-to-day living and then in an ultimate sense in His death an

God is bringing a brand new expression of Christianity to the earth that is rooted in the ancient; another time, another age. The God of Israel is exalting Himself over all nations once again. The day is coming when the nations will flock to Zion because the wellspring of all life and wisdom resides their and we'll turn to the completed Jews who have received Yeshua as their Messiah and we will ask them to teach us His ways. God is raising up John the Baptist and Elijah like people who will walk in the capacity of the Spirit of God who prepares the way of the LORD. They will prepare the earth and God's Church for Yeshua's second coming. They will preach and proclaim a message that brings DIVISION to the earth, because what they say will be like a sword cutting between spirit and soul, making all things black and white; plain, so that they will be seen for what they are. By the word of God preceding from their mouths, they will raise high the valleys and make low the mountai

This has been a years-long epiphany to me and there are so many people I want to shake and wake up with this, but that's something that only the Spirit of God can do. I mentioned a coworker in the previous entry who seems to epitomize many of the attitudes that I see many people in the world carry, but this coworker refuses to see what I'm trying to say. This coworker and another person I once talked with both said the same thing when I started talking about Jesus. Both accused me of self-righteousness and said, "How can your way be the only way?" In addition they added that they believe in God or Jesus in their own way. They have their own way to practice faith. I wanted to slap them awake so bad, not in anger or bitterness to hurt them, but it's like I wanted them to see what they were really saying, because I cannot count the number of times I have explicitly told them that I have no self-righteousness in and of myself, that only Jesus is self-righteous and tha

Sometimes, especially recently, I get tied up in analyzing everything including God. I start to wrestle with and grapple with all the idiosyncracies and inconsistencies of life and become overwhelmed by them. I start to get angry at everyone, including God and especially at myself for being so overly analytical. I get so angery at God for being so big and inconcievable that He does not even seem to make sense. Nothing in the world makes sense. It's in these moments that I begin to see that I'm thinking of life the wrong way. I started to learn long ago that I'm not supposed to go through life analyzing and figuring everything out. I'm supposed to enjoy my life and enjoy my God intimately. God relates to us in relationship. "When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done on earth, how neither day nor night do one's eyes see sleep, then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. H

Father, I'm so afraid, but You command me not to fear. I come to Your name boldly and with confidence. Show me what it is to overcome and to have the downpayment of that in my soul-mind, will and emotions. I must have your sustenance. Otherwise, I will not stand in the day of the LORD. Where is the patience of Christ? Where is the confidence of Christ? Where are the fruits of righteousness? Where are the fruits of faith? Where is the grace of God? You are good and full of mercy! You are good and full of mercy! You are good and full of mercy! The day of Your wrath comes slowly, for You are slow to anger! Your are patient, that we might repent! Your anger is but for a moment, but Your mercy endures forever. You show Your favor to us and sometimes rebuke. I shall not walk in hopelessness or fear! Father, in the name of Jesus deliver me from a spirit of mockery toward Your coming. Break my agreement with it and fill me with Your Spirit of expectancy, sustained by Your f

I'm so thankful for the many people the LORD has blessed me with and the many friends who wished me a happy birthday. People just recognizing and saying those words makes the day so special. I had the chance to do what I wanted to do most on my birthday and be a recluse (after work that day anyway)! Much needed rest was in order and I have enjoyed the opportunity to have it. I have spent a couple of days this weekend on a "stay-cation", house-sitting for some friends who often call on me to do so, and it was so funny. I was restless, and wondering, what to do this morning after sleeping in. I was having trouble "figuring out" how to rest! I could not pray, I could not enjoy reading my Bible, and I just could not figure out how to get relaxed, so I finally did what rarely ever fails. I went on a run on that heavenly loop of 3 miles with a golf course on one side and a lake on the other. About halfway through the loop, God started speaking to me and giving