flyer than angels

the cost of fruitfulness

I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in John 15:13, when he says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Love and intimacy with God and with others always results in fruitfulness - and that love is always a result of laying down one’s own rights for others. I’m also reminded of Ptr Robert Daniels’ revelation that Adam in the Garden did not know his own needs - he did not know he was alone until God told him so - but rather had to trust God fully to meet it!

If Adam would not have trusted God to meet his need for a companion, Adam would still be walking alone in the Garden, and Eve would not have brought forth any children (fruit)! Adam had to die (be put to sleep) and give a part of himself (his rib), that his loneliness and real fruitfulness would be solved! We must learn to lay ourselves down, and allow for God to take from us what he may - that is when we will see the birth of real, genuine connections, and the birthing of powerful ministry!

John 12:13 - They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”

This same story is reflected in Mark 11:8-9:
⁸ And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. ⁹ And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

I want to emphasize something.. we’re called to lay down our lives! When Jesus came into Jerusalem, the people laid down their cloaks, and spread leaves from the fields on the ground - actions fit for a king! The actions symbolized that the people were laying down their desire to protect themselves (their cloaks), and their own ability to produce for themselves (the branches from their fields) before Jesus.

There is such deep revelation in this passage. The word “hosanna” means “save now” - before you can start crying out for God to save, you have to relinquish your right to save yourself!  We’re going out asking God to save our land, to save those around us, but we have to lay down our desire for self-preservation and self-actualization first! We can only go out and assert the King’s dominion (the Kingdom) when we’ve renounced our own right to rule in our own lives!

receive it, sucka!

Catch this!

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³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. ³⁹ Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Verse 38 is a very popular and well-known verse, but I want to focus on verse 39 - “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”

Each one of us long to see God do a mighty work in us and through us in our lives - and that work can only come through the power of the Holy Spirit. However, what you and I need to understand is that the Holy Spirit is only given when and where Jesus is glorified! We have to learn how to glorify - which in the Greek means to “magnify, to think of, to hold a high opinion of” - Jesus Christ. We have to hold Jesus high in our minds, in our hearts, and with our proclamation/actions in every area - and that is when we will see the Holy Spirit come!  In fact, the Holy Spirit’s chief mission is to glorify Jesus, and to take what Jesus has and to make it known to us (John 16:14-15).

Think of it like this: the Holy Spirit takes what is glorified about Jesus and makes it known on the Earth - he takes what is proclaimed (the Word) and makes it manifest (Gen 1:2-3, John 1)!

You want to see the Holy Spirit come in power? Then magnify and exalt Jesus in your mind and heart as the King of Kings, Lord of Lords - the one in whom all power and authority rests! You want to see the Spirit come in all truth? Then you gotta believe that Jesus is the truth! You want to see the Spirit come to heal? Then you have to glorify Jesus as the Divine Healer! You want to see the fire of God? Then believe that the Holy Spirit will manifest the one that we glorify who has eyes like flames of fire (Rev 1:14)! You want to see the Spirit bring peace which transcends all understanding? Then you have to exalt Jesus as the Prince of Peace! You want to see the Holy Spirit break chains? Then magnify Jesus as the one who came to destroy the works of the devil!  The Holy Spirit is given to manifest that about Jesus that you and I glorify!

You have to learn to wrap your heart and your mind - and your actions - around the full revelation of who Jesus is (from the Word), and not simply by a partial revelation from the past, or by what we see or feel in the natural. I notice that many times Christians seem to have only experienced the Holy Spirit as the one who convicts us of sin, and that’s because we only know Jesus as judge! But there is so much more!

I want to challenge you to expand your understanding of who Christ is - and with that, learn to exalt him in new areas! Don’t just see him as Lord over the headache, but see him as Lord over cancer, over the lame! Don’t just exalt him as the meek and humble shepherd, but worship him as a man of war! The Holy Spirit longs to be given, to manifest new aspects of Christ! Receive it, sucka!

Amen? AMEN!

Life in the Spirit

It’s good to be back on Tumblr! I haven’t written anything in awhile - but I hope that these next posts will bless you! Over the past few weeks I’ve been preparing to go to Thailand with my church, New Philadelphia (you can support me here —> Support Thailand), and each day I’ve been sharing reflections from the book of John. God has been revealing some deep revelations, and I want to share them here. Be blessed!

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John 2:19-20 - ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,and will you raise it up in three days?”

It’s amazing how Jesus operates. The Jews had no idea what he was talking about when Jesus said that he was going to destroy the temple, and to raise it back up - they couldn’t comprehend that what had took them 46 years could only take Jesus 3 days. But Jesus wasn’t talking about in the natural - he was talking purely in the Spirit. He was pointing to a spiritual reality that was going to come to pass - the physical temple wasn’t going to be destroyed, it was just going to be spiritualized and redefined - Jesus was talking about his body (v21). He was talking about what was going to be done in the Spirit! It is in the Spirit where we see acceleration in the purposes of God.

What takes man 46 years to build by his own hands, it only takes God an instant to do in the Spirit. Many times it can be so easy to get focused on what we see in the natural - whether it a person who is unbelievably broken, disillusioned, and hurt; or maybe a nation that has been ravaged by idolatry and sin - but what may take centuries and generations to revive in the natural can happen almost instantly in the Spirit. We have to learn to walk in the Spirit, to be led by the Spirit. Zechariah 4:6 says clearly, “‘not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

It is by the Spirit that Jesus takes our sinful flesh, destroys it and makes us a new creation - a new temple that is filled with his presence. A new temple by which rivers of living water flow, as he spoke to the Samaritan woman, and as Ezekiel saw in his vision - one that would reach the multitudes. But it is all by the Spirit - not by the flesh! When you or I begin to fall into trying to rebuild the things of God with our own hands I promise you we will just fall into fatigue, frustration, and failure. But when we are set on the Spirit, there is life and peace (Rom 8)!

When we walk in the Spirit, obstacles that seem to take a thousand years (in the natural) are removed in a day, and blessings that seem to only last for a day (in the natural) instead last a thousand years! We’re called to release and do thousand-year work in the nations!

I challenge you not to see things in the natural - but to allow your mind and your heart to be renewed, and to believe God for what he can do through you in the Spirit! Walk in the Spirit! Live in the Spirit!