So often believers look to sources outside of Scripture to find principles to live by. Some of these resources can be helpful, but almost always they’re incomplete because they don’t take into account a Biblical worldview. 

In Psalm 145:5, David declared, “I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works.” Paul followed up David by instructing us to, “seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the earth.”(Col 3:1-2). Whoever came up with the idea that a person could be too heavenly minded to be any earthly good must have overlooked these passages!

I was thirty-three years old when God called me to transition from being a youth pastor to move my family to Kansas City to learn the message, model, vision, and values of the House of Prayer. I was working for an incredible church and just when things seemed to be peaking, the Lord called me away to seek Him in perpetual worship and prayer.

The Lord has been dealing with me about my own digital habits for some time. I have felt cautioned by the Lord from time to time to make sure that I wasn’t being controlled by my phone or iPad. At the end of last year I felt strongly impressed to do away with distractions and specifically get out of the habit of allowing my phone to control my time. Here are seven things that I’m doing right now that our helping me to overcome my phone dependency. 

I wrote the last couple of weeks about how the Lord has been speaking of our great need to overcome areas of superficiality in our lives. As I started the New Year in the prayer room, my heart and mind were literally buzzing were with the Holy Spirit’s presence. I felt the Lord’s nearness so freshly. As the Lord does, He kindly began to impress upon me several personal areas that He was inviting me to overcome superficiality in my life this year. Putting these in writing helps me to be accountable and hopefully, at the same time, it will encourage you.

I wrote last week about a leadership meeting I was a part of with thirty leaders from the prayer, worship, and mission movement where the Lord emphasized the issue of superficiality in the Church and the call to come out of it. In that meeting those gathered identified at least five key areas to address in our lives. I want to share them with you here and challenge you to consider these areas before the Lord asking Him to deepen your walk in each area.

Superficiality is defined as living with a lack of depth or serious thought. Richard Foster in his classic Celebration of Discipline states, “Superficiality is the curse of this age. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.”

The scriptures are clear that there is rest for our souls if we will come to Jesus. The fact that He calls the weary and heavy laden to Himself tells us they hadn’t been with Him. With Him is peace. Here are five steps to rest for your soul.

As we are looking toward 2020, I want to share six prophetic insights I believe the Lord is emphasizing for His Church in the coming year and beyond. I pray that the Lord witnesses to your heart through this writing and draws you into the center of His desires for the coming year.

Every human heart has been constructed with the same mystical framework – We all share an insatiable appetite for wonder. We love to be wowed. We love to be awed. Beauty enthralls us. Mystery captivates us. We continuously want thrill and shock. We are moved by a hardwired code in our hearts that demands amazement. All of this is divine design. It’s Heaven’s fashioning manifest in our being. 

How often do we hear a good word, but then don’t put the word into practice? James calls this being “self-deceived”. He goes on to explain that when we live this way, we lose our identity. Perhaps a key reason the church isn’t operating in the full power of our identity is because we are bound in self-deception.

Recently the Lord spoke to one of our leaders in a dream about the severity of self-deception in the Church. Before he had a chance to share the dream with me, the Lord put it on my heart to preach about overcoming self-deception! When He shared the dream with me the day after I preached about it, I was shocked by how specifically the Lord was emphasizing self-deception as a critical sin we must overcome.

I am fresh off of a historic meeting that has me captivated my imagination with the possibilities of what God can and will do in the LGBTQ community. I met with over 20 leaders of “once gay” ministries who are all coming together in unity and prayer right now for a mighty move of God among the LGBTQ community. I have gotten to know several of these leaders and their testimonies are all unique.

One thing they all share: They have all been completely delivered and live sold-out lives for Jesus.

I signed up for full time ministry because I wanted to love and serve Jesus. And hopefully, by the grace of God, I am serving Jesus in the way that He’s desired.