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In a time when many are seeking a deeper connection with the heart of God, the 'Presence-Centered, Prayer-Based' church model offers a return to the essentials—prioritizing worship and prayer as the foundation of ministry. Discover how this approach, rooted in the example of the early church, places the person and presence of Jesus at the center of all we do.
The Church, particularly within the non-denominational and charismatic traditions, finds itself at a great inflection point. We are navigating through a tumultuous period marked by a significant leadership crisis, fundamentally rooted in a lack of accountability and authenticity.
We are currently in the season where we reflect on Jesus' First Coming, an event heralded by angels proclaiming, 'Glory to God in the highest, and PEACE on earth, goodwill toward men.' I hope these notes inspire your heart and assist in your study of the significance of God’s peace during this season.
We are once again on the verge of another election cycle and this time my tune is very different. I shouldn’t think it strange, but God has completely surprised me. My worldview has not changed, but God has done something that is causing me to wonder, in a fresh way, what He is offering America and what He wants to do in American politics.
In the history of the world, there has never been a gathering of fasting and prayer of this magnitude for the nation of Israel. What an amazing time to be alive!
A lot must change in the church today. I believe we are at the beginning of a reformation in the way the church is understood and expressed. I believe we are going to see an incredible shift in how the church functions over the next decade.
It’s a difficult truth to digest, but if we’re honest, the format that most of our churches follow today doesn’t remotely reflect the pattern that was established in Antioch and then reproduced throughout the New Testament.
They were operating as priests ministering to the Lord, who then heard the prophetic word, and then moved into apostolic ministry. This pattern is incredibly instructive for us today.
When thinking about the formation of the New Testament Church, it’s helpful to get our minds around the context the disciples were coming from as it relates to the gatherings of the synagogue and the Temple in their day.
The greatest thing David gave the earth was the Tabernacle that hosted the glory of God in ceaseless, music-led worship.
For many years David’s Tabernacle occupied a place of obscurity in the mind of the church at large and was only thought of as a fringe topic. This trend has shifted dramatically in recent years. I have seen in the last several years a great increase in interest surrounding the Tabernacle of David and specifically how it relates to the life of the church.
It’s the beginning of the year and many of us are ready for a change. The beginning of the year affords us the opportunity to address areas of our lives that we want to be different.
Jesus’ coming heralds great joy for mankind and at the same time the announcement of His coming starts the clock ticking to His death, burial, resurrection, return, and His Reign.
Since returning from my sabbatical, I’ve had numerous leaders reach out to me with questions on how I prepared personally and how my team and I prepared for my absence. Here are some thoughts that may be helpful for you if you are considering taking a sabbatical in the future.
As I mentioned in the last blog in this series, Jesus emphasized to His disciples that He wanted them to be filled with joy and peace on the very night he was betrayed and arrested. No matter how many times I refer to this it always surprises me. He truly gives us peace in the midst of the storm.
On the night Jesus was arrested He gave His last address, known as the upper room discourse (John 13-17). The themes He emphasized are surprising and reveal much about how He thinks, what’s important to Him, and how different He is from us.
Mercy isn’t just something He does, it’s who He is. We experience Him as showing mercy, but the truth is He can’t be anything different than Himself. God is merciful because God is mercy.
If you didn’t know, my nine-month sabbatical ended in mid-August and now I am gradually re-entering the ministry world. So let me answer that question up front for all who are wondering.
God designed the ground to lay fallow after seven years or else it would lose the power of fruitfulness. Our human frames are similar, since we are made from the ground. No matter how called, anointed, or gifted we may be, we are not made for constant work. We have to sleep a third of our lives just to function. We are commanded to rest one out of every seven days of our lives in order to worship and rest. Seasons of sabbatical are required because our frame, though wonderfully constructed, is essentially weak. I am no different. Starting November 15th I’m taking a nine month sabbatical.
I’m beginning to believe that vulnerability is as much a currency of the kingdom as spiritual hunger.
Rather than writing another teaching article or something that is currently a hot topic, I’m just going to bare my soul because at this moment I’m compelled to be brutally honest in humility.
I have met many Christians over the years who I share a precious and deep desire with - You long and ache for more of God. You want to go deeper. You want an encounter. You want revelation in the Word. You want to see with your own eyes the things the Bible promises. You’re looking for the real thing and you’re not satisfied with just going through the motions. I just want to tell you that you're not alone.
What are the promises you have received from the Lord?
Often when the Lord speaks something that He is going to do in our lives we imagine the fulfillment of the word to be immediate. However, there is always a process that He takes us through to bring His word to fulfillment.
I woke up this morning with this phrase on my mind and I instantly knew the Lord was inviting me to consider His desires for what the church can be. I began to get clear thoughts about the necessary changes we need to make to see the church become “the city set on a hill” God has destined her to be. In this blog, I want to share some of these thoughts with you.
I wrote last week about Christian Nationalism and our great need for humility in this hour. I have been concerned and preached about the danger of this mixture for the last decade. National allegiance isn’t wrong in and of itself. There is a godly and healthy version of patriotism that the bible encourages and there is an unhealthy pride and national allegiance that the bible repudiates. If our national allegiance supersedes our allegiance to Jesus and His Kingdom we are on dangerous footing and we need to re-evaluate where our devotion truly lies.
There has been a lot of stir recently about comments Beth Moore made regarding mixing Christianity with Nationalism. She took a lot of heat for calling out this mixture. She said it was dangerous and then further explained that the singular essential allegiance for Christians should be Jesus and not a political party or either of our most recent presidential candidates.
For a believer with a “kingdom of God first world-view’ (Mat 6:33) those sentiments seem obvious enough. I understood her statements to be a warning that anything that we exalt above Jesus is an idol, including our president and our president-elect.
“This is the way He governs the nations … 32 He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. 33 His thunder announces the coming storm…(NIV) Job 36:31-33
When you search what God says about storms in the Scriptures you find 1) He governs through storms, 2) He is the shelter in the midst of the storm, 3) Shockingly, He IS the storm!
God is not surprised at the challenges of this year. He has been behind them. He is not behind the rage and the vitriol that has been the human reaction, but He is setting the context in our nation, through pressings and trials, so that men will grope for Him.
The past year has brought deep challenges to the House of Prayer movement, calling us to embrace a new humility in our worship and prayer. As we face trials and moral failures within the church, we’re reminded of David’s journey to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Just as David learned that God’s will must be done God’s way, we too are being called to center our prayer rooms on the presence of Jesus, with humility and obedience. This is a pivotal moment for the church, where prayer and fasting must take precedence, and we must carry God's presence as a kingdom of priests.