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Monday Musings – Tuesday Las Flores Edition

Jesus is alive.

There are such things as dangerous prayers. They are not the prayers that put people in danger, they are prayers that result in you being in unfamiliar places doing things that are uncomfortable.  Your breakthrough with God will bring more responsibility but not necessarily more comfort. I have made a series of casual prayers with a sincere heart asking God why I have not experienced His grace in a particular way. I was asking for a specific manifestation of that grace but He is taking me through it another way.

This has been a slightly more uncomfortable process then I thought He would use but I can tell you faith is increasing.

Because of that process I got to catch more of the worship then normal.  I was worshiping with a handful of people and when I got on stage the place was full. We should let folks know worship starts at 10:30 a.m.

Courtney got a prophetic song and it was really powerful. I think a good part of the reason it was powerful was that she just completely yielded to the Spirit of Christ and let it flow. It was really good.

It was Mother’s Day so I preached on how the heart is desperately sick. Take that hallmark.

Had some great ministry time at the end dealing with offense and other heart stuff.

Tried to take Tracey out to lunch at a local Cuban place but they decided to jack up the prices for Mother’s Day.

We left.

Went to a Mexican place instead.

That night at ASD was amazing. Among other things there was a prophetic word that came a couple weeks ago about someone in a garden with Jesus. When I brought it up again at ASD I knew there was a grace for it to expand. I told the person that it was about to happen. Then I told everyone else to close their eyes that Jesus would show them something as well. About a dozen of us had the exact same vision of heaven with flowers miraculously growing out of a barren ground. I heard someone’s testimony of that being just a small part of a tour Jesus gave them of heaven.

Jealous!

Got home tired and knocked out.

Things I Can’t Wrap My Head Around

We all do things that aren’t perfectly logical but we usually have a reason. I like to figure out that reason so I can gain other people’s viewpoint. However, there are things in this world that I simply cannot wrap my head around. Try as I might I simply cannot understand why people continue this behavior. If you have some insight, feel free to share it with me.

Folks who posts on someone’s Facebook status just to argue with them. When you quote scripture to rebut someone’s status you don’t show your intelligence or revelation, you show your lack of class. If your post is particularly spiteful, you show that you lied when you sent a friend request. We all know how frustrating it is when you find out that someone on the internet is wrong but it is not your mission from God to correct them publicly. You logged on to Facebook and insulted a nationally respected leader? I can’t wrap my head around that.

Buying an iPhone on purpose. I have a friend that bought a Galaxy Note and an iPhone 4s. The Note looked like an amazing piece of equipment and the iPhone looked like a bland watch. The iPhone also weighed as much as a coffee mug. I have a Galaxy S2 and it weighs a fraction of what the iPhone weighs and the screen is bigger! On top of that you are stuck with iOS so no native Google apps. Yet people still say the iPhone is the better phone. I cant wrap my head around that.

Decaf coffee. I cant wrap my head around that.

Christians who “don’t believe in the traditional church.” You can normally find these folks gathered in someone’s living room where one person talks for an extended period of time while everyone else listens…but it’s not church like “THEY” do it. Yeah, they have the talk after singing some songs and normally receive an offering but they are totally different then the people who are doing it wrong. I see nothing wrong with a house church. But to have church and say you don’t believe in church? I cant wrap my head around that.

Folks that claim the infallibility of Scripture but think the Holy Ghost no longer empowers believers. When you have a high view of Scripture you believe the plain teachings of the bible. When you don’t, you are a liberal. You can’t relegate whole chapters of the New Testament as ancient history and still claim to have a high view of Scripture. God is not the same today as he was back then? I cant wrap my head around that.

Macys Chat Transcript

Chat Transcript

My Official Reaction to President Obama’s Stance on Gay Marriage

Yesterday President Obama announced in an interview that he supports gay marriage. Several pastors both locally and nationally have gone on the record with their response.  I feel it is now time for me to respond as well. I hope this will not offend anyone.

It is my official position that even if people are legally allowed to engage in same sex marriage, I will stay married to Tracey Thomas, a natural born woman.

I do not feel that this will have any effect on my marriage or family. My son will one day still marry a woman, and my daughter will marry a man much, much later then that.

Keys to the Anointing: Key 2–Understanding What God Wants to Anoint

Many people seek the anointing.  Less people look to become the vessel God wants to fill.

In the last Key we discussed overcoming inner obstacles, these are the things in our lives that God has told us will keep Him far from us. I have found that tearing down your God blockers does not attract the Presence and Power of God in your life. You need to be a vessel He wants to fill.

Jesus told His disciples to learn of Him because He was, “meek and lowly of heart.”  He did not tell them to learn of Him because He was perfect, the Son of God, or even because it would keep them out of hell.  Jesus qualified Himself by being meek and lowly.

Becoming meek and lowly is not something that happens in the absence of outward sin, it is a state you have to strive to become. You have to set your heart to humble yourself and look for the situations God will give you to avoid gaining notoriety from man so you can get it from God in His timing.

If God’s grace is drawn to the humble then we need to look at humility as a grace (God’s power) magnet.  Those who want the anointing for the reasons God wants them to be anointed will do whatever it takes to be magnetized by the humility magnets of self-sacrifice, self-denial, and self-immolation (ok, not that last one, I just wanted a third self-hyphen).

This sounds like a super-spiritual and difficult task for people who hate themselves or monks in a mountain somewhere but it really isn’t. As you get free from pride you discover more peace. The more you live in that peace the more you want to readjust your life to keep that peace. The more you readjust your life to keep the peace the more grace God gives you to bring His peace to the earth. The more you operate in it the more it becomes a lifestyle.

If you want, you can learn to manipulate the anointing to have some power but you will never have it and the anointing without identifying with being meek and lowly of heart.

Quick Baptism Video

Quick Baptism Video

Monday Musings – Baptismo Edition

I encountered all kinds of drama Sunday morning.  I don’t take this as an indicator of anything.  For me, lots of warfare means lots of warfare. I am extremely uncomfortable when people talk about the enemy using people as obstacles because these are people that Jesus died for.  Needless to say, I had issues in the morning.

Part of the issue was getting a peace on my message.  I could not really get breakthrough so after the first song I decided to go with what I had and went out to worship.

The air was not working.  ufff

It was hot.  We were told by the school staff that it was working but it wasn’t.  Near the middle of worship I told Tracey to call the school district.  The last school we used to meet at did nothing for us.  We had to do everything ourselves.  They really had a good deal with The Mission.  This school has been great.  But because of our old experiences we know who to call to get things done.  Tracey made the call and I felt the air on within fifteen minutes.

The average person has no idea how many things Tracey oversees at The Mission. Most important are the things she is not directly overseeing but gently leading. She is my eyes and ears pre-service and I can trust that when I come out things will be in order. Much of fluidity of the Sunday service is because she implements my vision. I earnestly hope I can move her from her job at FAU to The Mission sooner then later.

Fellas, choose wisely.

Right there in the middle of worship Holy Spirit told me to have a altar call for healing. I did not want to because Khamille was killing it right then but it makes sense to minister in the anointing. It greatly frustrates me when people want to get ministry after the service is over. Get ministry while the Holy Ghost is flowing.

Preached on something. I bet it was good because God told me to preach it but at the moment I don’t remember all the details.  Is that being too honest?

Had a baptism after that.  I think twenty people got baptized. Anointing was definitely on the waters.  Good time. Saw some amazing deliverance. Robin graduated from Southeastern.  She took this pic.  Really cool. Had a couple people come up out of the water and begin to prophesy. (psst there might be more then one initial evidence. check the book.)

After almost everyone was gone I found one of the guys who is becoming a real faithful servant in the house said he was hoping he would get the baptism in the HOly Ghost in the water. I said, “You aren’t baptized in the Holy Ghost? We can take care of that right now.”

He got filled.

It’s the promise of the Father.

Went to the office and put the finishing touches on Isaac’s science fair project.  He got first place at his school and now is on to the district fair.

That night at ASD was just kind of amazing. I mean really amazing. There was a point that more people were on the ground screaming and shaking while being overcome by the Spirit then not.  I tried to get some video of the night three times but every time it did not work.  Guess God wanted to save that one for himself.

Taught on authority, leadership, and some other stuff. One of the course materials was this message by Bill Johnson. Get it while it is still up.

Got home a little after ten. I had been home long enough to change and get back to ASD.  I was exhausted and to be honest, my body is sore.

Such is the life of a Holy Ghost preacher.

Keys to the Anointing: Key 1 – Overcoming Inner Obstacles

There is no special formula for the anointing.  What many people fail to realize is that God wants you anointed.  He sent His Son to die so you could be a Kingdom agent on the earth.  Too many people never come into the anointing they were called to walk in because they never allowed God to transform them into a vessel capable of carrying the anointing. Many get touched.  Few are capable of ministering.

You receive the anointing by touching and spending time in the presence of the Anointed One.  The more you open your life to the Anointed One in His presence, the more of His presence and anointing you get to carry.  Many people get near God, but don’t have anointing-carrying encounters because they are unqualified to stand in His holy place.

The formula for encountering God has not changed since David penned Psalm 24:3-4:

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?   He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.

The difference between many believers and a demon is that the demons believe and tremble. Every Pentecostal preacher will tell you sin is an obstacle but only give a quarter of the solution.

The foundational part of overcoming inner obstacles is found in the second part of our verse; clean hands, pure heart, no idolatry, not a liar.  Get this in your spirit and watch God ignite you!

Clean hands:  This is where most holiness tradition folks stop.  This is referring to the obvious outward sins against your body and other people.  Peter talked about, “doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties.”  This is the easy stuff.  If you are wrestling with these things give up the quest to be anointed, you would be destined for a life of altar calls and disappointment.

Pure heart:  Wow!  This is a little more challenging and this is why so many folks don’t get past clean hearts.  The key to a pure heart is humility.  The majority of the issues Paul enumerates in Romans 1 stem from pride.  Pride is the killer of the anointing.  Whenever I start a discipleship class, prophetic ministry class, leadership class, healing school or ministry training I spend a good long time rooting out pride.  Pride is a killer.  Pride transforms you into someone God resists.  That should freak out any person who longs to be used by God.  Humility not only draws God near, it instantly qualifies you for more of God’s power.

Though many people think that the first step is dealing with outward sin, I firmly believe that it is the heart issues that are to be dealt with aggressively.  Outward sins flow from the heart.

Stop thinking you are so great and you will become great.

Idolatry (lifting up your soul to what it false) – Why do you dress the way you dress?  What is cool to you?  Where does that come from?  What or who do you have to be to be admired by people?  What is that thing, experience, recognition you are looking for so that others will see you as you see yourself?  The answers to these questions are the shortcuts to your idol identification.

Swear Deceitfully – If God can’t trust the words that come out of your mouth He won’t put His words in them.  Simple as that.

In short, if you desire to walk in the anointing of God, the first key is to drive pride and rebellion out of your life.  Do you you really want that worked out?  Ask a friend if they see either of these characteristics in your life.  Ask your pastor.  If you don’t have a pastor the answer is clearly yes.  Get clean relationships with people who love you but are willing to speak the truth and open your life so it can become a clean anointing-carrying vessel.

Monday Musings – Suffering Edition

Isaac riding with me in the truck after service.

So yesterday was a bit of a wild one for me.

First know that I have been battling a pretty bad cold the last two weeks.  As a matter of fact, Isaac is home with it today.  I have not slept well and had a really bad night sleep Saturday night.

Despite being sick, I had some really good time of prayer and study during the week.  No matter what my schedule is I have to make time for prayer and study.  This is not a discipline.  This is not a law I have made for myself.  This is a lifestyle.  I am unable to go for long periods of time with out spending time with God.  (I thought otherwise but realized I was wrong.  I hope to write more about this later.)

I had something I have been studying lately but never got a real flow with my message prep.  Sunday morning I quickly realized that what I had prepared would not be my message.  During the beginning of worship I was going over my notes when this realization was crystalized.  After I realized this I instantly heard the Father say, “I am with you.”  That phrase has a rich history between us so closed my books and went out to worship.

We did a new offering confession based on Deuteronomy 28 (the first half).  I thought it was great.  HOpe others did as well.

After that I realized it was not time for me to preach.  I tried to stall a little bit because I still did not know what I was supposed to preach, and then it just kind of started coming out of me.

I talked about how sometimes things are rough and it is not our fault.  Sometimes in this walk we are going to suffer.  It is not  a get up and shout and run around the room kind of message.  But it was the word of the Lord for the house.

I gave that word and felt no anointing whatsoever.  I did not feel any draw from the people.  I was getting absolutely no revelation.  There was nothing that lead me to believe that I was preaching anything other then what God was telling me to preach.  As a Spirit-filled preacher, you learn to track with the Holy Ghost at times and you learn to tune into what God is saying by the reactions of the people.  I was getting none of that.

All I could do was preach what God was telling me to preach.  I was giving a message based purely on obedience to the Father.  You could tell it was a miracle message because it was short. lol

At the end we sang a song, I lead the people in a prayer and since we still had a bunch of time we had a fire tunnel.

I went home having no idea if the message reached anyone.

A few hours later I was leading ASD and I asked if anyone in the room thought God had changed the message specifically for them.  Two thirds of the room raised their hands.

Wow.  I had no idea.

God knows.

At ASD I was pretty fried.  Between the cold and altar ministry I had almost no voice.  I talked about humility and the more I talked the better my voice got.  After that the Holy Ghost began to move. That got pretty amazing.  I was so spent that I let a key with Sam, left 20 people still manifesting the Holy Ghost and went home.

Monday Musings – ASD Edition

I have been fighting a cold all week.  I went to bed Saturday night praying the Lord would be merciful and grant me sleep.  Somewhere between here and there heaven heard, “Lord keep me up really late with an intercessory burden.”  I was contending late into the night and I am not afraid to admit part of my prayer was that I wanted it to end.

Woke up pretty tired and not feeling all that great, though better then I had been feeling.  I had a slow start but I was really excited about the day.

Khamille was in Brazil but she was supposed to be in service.  How do I know?  The Lord sent an American preacher to lead the service in English in Manaus.  That’s pretty funny.

Sergio lead worship on a bit of short notice.  My beautiful wife was on the team.  I love hearing her sing and watching her worship.  It is a serious effort for her to be on the worship team once a month.  In addition to all the other things she has to head up on Sunday mornings, on those days she has to get it all set up before she gets on stage for rehearsal and sound checks.  It’s nice to watch her sing though.

The anointing was so strong at the end of the worship set I did not know how I was going to preach.  The fear of the Lord was in the room.

I got on stage and had the super spiritual announcement that Lucas Pereira won the fly hat contest at the BBQ.

It was a close race and almost everyone else was in second place.

Preached a bunch of stuff I had no intention of preaching.  It is what it is.

Can I be honest?  It almost makes me laugh when I see someone’s demon manifest and they act like they are mad at me.  I want to tell them that they don’t have a problem with me, their demon hates God and they listen to the spirit more then they listen to the Holy Ghost.  I think that might not be very polite to say…from the stage.

I recently had to tell someone, “When that demon tries to kill you come back and I will cast it out.”

You can’t counsel a demon.

God’s grace is way more powerful then anything hell can muster up.

After service I did some premarital counseling.  I love pouring into young marriages.  Wish there were two of me so I could do it and nap at the same time.

Went home for 26 minutes then went back to the office for ASD (Advanced Spiritual Discipleship).

This is no exaggeration, this was one of the most anointed meetings I have ever been in .  I am looking forward to seeing what God does through this group of revivalists.  The pic above is how the meeting ended.

Gonna try to finish painting my bedroom this week.  This has taken way longer then I had ever envisioned.