Category Archives: Family

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The World Outside the Church

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At the foundation of God’s plan for people on earth is the family.

Our family is where we discover relationships.  Real relationships.  Relationships built on love; the most powerful emotion and motivator human beings have.  Family demonstrates God’s ‘love plans’ to care for, protect, and nurture so that we might be raised up in His perfect image.  My wife often reminds me that the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world; she is right.  The family is where we learn to love, work, and steward God’s blessings. 

‘Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it.’  (Proverbs 22:6 AMPC)

This is why Marxism/Socialism/Democratic Socialism and Christianity CANNOT go hand in hand.  I’m sorry to bring the truth to bear on the world outside our church doors, but it must be done.  There is a reason why every government that has implemented marxism/socialism makes the destruction of the free worship of Jesus AND the abolition of the family as its top targets.  

In case you haven’t figured it out God is shaking everything, especially His people, right now and He is not finished.  The grey area most have comfortably lived in is shrinking at an exponential rate and everyone is discovering a side must be chosen;  Good vs. Evil.  This isn’t about politics, race, or gender.  This is about truth vs. lies, and love vs. hate.  The spiritual war we are in the midst of is only played out in the culture we are living in; therefore we see the clash in politics, education, the media, and the rest of society.  Our weapons are not weapons the world fights with, they fight with curses, propaganda, and hate.  We fight with weapons from heaven, and the greatest of these is LOVE.  We fight with the power of the good news of God’s Kingdom.  A Kingdom whose fruit is love, joy, and peace.  A Kingdom whose foundation is RELATIONSHIP.  At the end of the days Jesus will gather the nations, all people, and we will all will face judgment, but the only thing that will matter will be if you have a relationship with Jesus.  He will separate sheep and goats.  The goats will highlight the mighty deeds done in His name and He will simply tell them that they are not welcome in His Kingdom because He does not know them, i.e. no relationship.

There is a cry from heaven to repent and honor the relationships God has entrusted to us.  This starts at home; your family.  It then branches out to your neighbors, your co-workers, your community.  What all human beings desire is unfailing love (Proverbs 19:22).  The darkness and evil screaming today is void of love, and void of life.  The Bride of Christ, the ecclesia or called out ones, His Body is the source of all love.  We are the one’s being called to arise and shine and let the world see the glory and love of God.  We have what the world needs.  They must see it.  We cannot tell them and then live a life that mirrors theirs; a life void of love, void of relationship.  The church for far too long is seen saying one thing and living like the world.  The world recognizes this and rightly labels it hypocrisy.  Our only choice is to repent and live what He has called us to; Love.  The greatest commandment is to love God and the second is to love your neighbor as you love yourself.  If you do not love God you cannot love yourself.  If you do not love yourself you cannot love others.  

God is calling people everywhere to align themselves with His will and plans for their lives.  It starts within; our hearts.  Honor the relationships God has entrusted to you.  Let your life be heard, let your light shine in the darkness.  You are a city on a hill, you are the salt of the world.  You (and His Spirit in you) are the world’s only hope.  It’s time to get in the game.  Quit ignoring society, start relating to it from Heaven’s perspective.

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God Can Unscramble Eggs

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God can unscramble eggs; think about that!  His power is beyond our comprehension.  He can make shadows go backwards, raise the dead, heal the sick.  There are no bounds to His goodness, power, and authority.  His little finger is stronger than all other strength combined.  I celebrate His might in absolute awe, then I face a struggle to make it somewhere on time.  Oh, I’m ready on time, but my 6 year old daughter is a different story.  I have learned in my family we are only as fast as our weakest or slowest member.  When it comes time to put on shoes I just want to tie them for her, rather than wait what seems like an eternity for her to tie one shoe then tell me about a dinosaur before tying the next.  Talk about frustrating.   I serve a God who can unscramble eggs yet I struggle bearing with my daughter tying her shoes.

When Jesus sent His disciples to heal the sick and cast out demons, He gave them “power & authority” (Lk.9:1).  The power comes by the Holy Spirit working to confirm the word of God (Mark 16:20). The authority comes from being seated with Christ (Eph 1:20-22 & 2:6).  Power and authority are different and most believers live seated with Christ in authority but somehow lack power from heaven and no real answer as to “why.”  This is a difficult life to live.  We know as long as the heir is a child then he is subject to guardians and trustees until he matures and grows stronger, at which time his Father gives him power to go with his position of authority (read Galatians 4:1-2).    God can give authority but strength comes through exercise.  Power and strength go hand in hand.  As children grow they get stronger. 

Strength in the world is exhibited by being able to dominate and enforce your will on others; ‘only the strong survive’ is the mantra of this world.  Strength in the Kingdom is exactly the opposite.  If you study Jesus, then you’ll discover Kingdom strength.  Jesus never enforced His will on others, but rather He bore their weakness.  He was patient.  He understood strength is not about how much you do, but how much you bear the weaknesses of others.  His disciples were routinely exercised in bearing with weakness and therefore were growing in the strength of the Lord.

When I understood this, my life changed.  I am no longer frustrated with opportunities to bear with other’s weaknesses.  I am excited, knowing this exercise is building true strength; Kingdom strength, and this is exactly what I and the world around me needs.

His strength knows no bounds; He bore the weaknesses of all humanity on the cross.  We think ‘be strong in the Lord’ and envision overflowing in Godly knowledge, wisdom, good works, prosperity, and on and on.  All the while Jesus sees us for who we really are; weak little children in need of true strength.  As He bears with us in our weakness, He is interceding we grow up and leave the ways of our youth, the ways of the world, and begin to exercise and walk in Kingdom strength, bearing with others in their weakness.  He is calling His bride to stand up in true strength, seated in authority, showing ourselves to be His disciples.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

John 13:35

It is time to walk in His ways.  For far too long we have tried to bring the world’s ways into our relationship with Jesus.  When we are weak, then we are strong; hear His call to true strength.  Rejoice in weakness and watch God move mightily.  It is time for the world to see the God who can unscramble eggs.

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Love

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Have you ever been loved? I mean like LOVED! Every single empty space inside you just shifts and fills up with this amazing feeling of being loved. Well I have and I want to share some of this love story with you.

I recently returned home from seeing my family in Kentucky. I had such an amazing time and made so many memories that I treasure. This got me to thinking about my family. I have a huge family. My dad was one of 11 children. They all went on to have families of their own and now those kids are making families of their own. I know, that’s what usually happens, but it is on such a large-scale that there are people I have never met. And that seems unacceptable to me. But it is true. I will work on that 🙂 All of these people from literally all over the country come together usually the second weekend in July. The reason we do this is because of love. The person who taught us the most about this love was my Granny.

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