A Year in Review

I am amazed at how awesome the christian life is. It really is the most amazing adventure. We can be going in one direction completely content, and then with the gentle whisper of God's voice, everything changes. Allison and I experienced this excitement in our decision to attend the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. We were loving life, enjoying our time at JH Ranch, and planning our future when God impressed upon us to move to California and attend Bethel's school.

We did not necessarily know why we were attending. We knew Bethel believed that miracles are for today and that miracles should be the "normal" christian life but we did not know His exact purposes for us in this decision. We came with excitement and out of obedience. We prayed for this year Romans 12:1, that the Lord would renew our minds to know His good will.

As we have witnessed, Bethel attracts people from around the world because they see the supernatural on a regular basis. However, upon people arriving, they discover Bethel's core message is actually the love of God and His goodness which overflows into the supernatural. It seems so elementary to be learning about the love of God and His goodness but yet it has transformed our lives.

We discovered that it is God's kindness, not His judgement that leads people to repentance. He isn't angry at us or disappointed in us but He loves to encourage people and complement their strengths. His love truly knows no end in that He will send someone half-way across the world to pray for one of His children's needs. He is a good Dad.

Perhaps these revelations are not new under the sun, but this revelation is powerful and transformational when it goes from your head to your heart. For Allison and me, we have begun to realize what it means to be an adopted child of God, to co-reign with Christ, to be seated in the heavenly places. We are princes and princesses.

What does this mean? This means we don't have to worry about our significance because we know who we are, and this frees us to help others. We don't have to worry about finances because our Father owns everything. We have the privilege of honoring people, not based on whether they are deserving or not, but because we are honorable. And as a result of discovering our identity in Christ, we are living our dreams.

We have realized we are friends with Christ, and therefore get to co-labor with Him. Just as we desire to help Him with His goals, He likes to help us reach ours. As a result, Allison and I have gotten to spend this entire year growing together in our marriage. I am amazed when I reflect on the fact that the Lord actually impressed upon us to take a year off from work to pursue after Him and to love one another. How awesome it has been for Allison and me to read the same devotional books, read the same passages in the Bible together, and grow together spiritually in this first year of marriage. He knows what it is best for us and He also desires to bless us. Oh, how awesome it is when we are obedient. He is a good God, in a good mood.

Central Asia Adventure

Thank you all for your prayers. We feel like we lived out Luke 10:1-9 during our outreach in Central Asia. In one of the rural villages we entered, we saw two new brothers added to the family. It began while in the home of local unreached people group when we asked them if they needed prayer for anything physically. At first, everyone said they were alright but then someone spoke up and said they had stomach pain. We prayed for this gentleman and his pain left. Then a lady spoke up about her headache, and when we prayed for her, the headache left. Next the grandmother had us pray for her partially blind left eye. Upon praying no change occurred but she said she felt a soothing feeling come over her eye. We prayed again and this time full healing occurred. She joked that she had already been to several doctors with no results and was now thankful because she did not have to pay us.

After seeing and hearing about these miracles, two men whom the local missionary, John, had been sowing into for several years became believers in Jesus as their Lord. We watched, not understanding the language, as these two men got down on their knees in front of John, the missionary, and declare Jesus as their Lord. They had gotten down on their knees without John even prompting them to do so. It was an amazing sight to see and be apart. We went to bed that night with joy overflowing. We thought to ourselves, “it sure would be neat if word spread about the goodness of God and people come to us to receive prayer tomorrow.”

The next morning we awoke to a lady waiting for us to pray for her stomach and shoulder pain. She found relief upon receiving prayer. We then went to a young man’s home where he had asked us to come pray for his family. Again everyone we prayed for was healed. The most memorable testimony was seeing the grandfather’s leg healed. He said his right leg had been numb for 15 years. Upon praying and asking him to test it, we watched him do a little kick, making this expression of amazement upon realizing he could now feel his foot. It was incredible to see. We had seen everyone we prayed for healed, and we are still in awe over our experiences.

About the People:
The people we visited in Central Asia are some of the most joyful people we have met. As we walked through the village, everyone would wave and say hello. We came unannounced and upon arriving to their home, they stopped everything to host us, feed us, and house us. They brought out their best food, and they ate only after we were full. This welcome was humbling to Allison and me as these people are poor farmers. Their diet consisted of rice, potatoes, pork, and eggs. The homes had no plumbing, and the home we stayed in had goats and pigs in the basement with chickens moving throughout the home. Salted meat hung from the rafters because of no refrigeration.

Sadly, these people have been influenced by Buddhism. Above the village was a lake in which they believed an evil spirit resided. They feared this demonic spirit and would make sacrifices to appease it. They believed if they entered the lake they would die.

Treasure Hunting

Evangelism...When I used to think of this word, I thought door-to-door salesman, handing out tracks, reminding people that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.

Anytime opportunities to go evangelize presented themselves to me, I usually declined, reminding myself that I consider my gift sets to be one-on-one discipleship, leading Bible studies, and developing relationships long-term. That is until Allison and I discovered Treasure Hunting.

Treasure Hunting? Yes, searching for God's treasures, people. We are discovering that God's treasures are everywhere. They are in malls, workplaces, street corners, grocery stores. Everywhere, these "treasures" are inwardly crying out for an encounter with God, waiting for God to come to the rescue. And just as the Word became flesh 2000 years ago, we too have the opportunity today to re-present the Word as flesh and give these people an experience with the love of God.

So how does one begin Treasure Hunting? It's actually quite simple. Ask God who He wants you to search for and He will tell you. Well, when I first heard this, I thought, "You mean God speaks? To me?" Yes, we are the sheep in His pasture and we know the shepherds voice. We have all have been driving along and impressed to call a friend. Upon calling the friend, we learn that the phone call was a huge encouragement to them because of their current situation. That was God's still small voice impressing us. So when you are searching for God's treasure, ask Him to tell you where to look for them. Then write down the impressions God gives you.

Do you remember Ananais? He was the "Ultimate Treasure Hunter". While praying God told Ananais to go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and look for a man named Saul from Tarsus. Ananais response was that God must be crazy. Does God not know that Saul is killing Christians? But God knew that Saul was the "Treasure" to be found and was primed to be one of the greatest Apostles. Had Ananais not listened to God and instead gone by his impression of Saul, Saul might not have become an apostle.

Allison and I have now been Treasure Hunting for 6 months. During this process we have discovered the love of God. We are amazed at the number of Believers God sends us to because He wants to encourage His people. We are amazed at the number of people God sends us too that reject us, which so reminds us of how much God loves them and continues to pursue after them by sending people like ourselves to attempt to minister to them.

One of my favorite stories of us Treasure Hunting is ministering to a Pastor's wife on a rainy day at a local park. We had on our Treasure map a lady with a baby in a stroller, glasses, and the local park. It was raining outside that day and we thought there would be no one at the park. We drive up to see a minivan with a lady putting her baby in the stroller. Allison gets out of the car to tell the lady that we are Christians and believe God has highlighted her to us to encourage her and bless her. She immediately started crying, telling us she is a Pastor's wife that has been struggling in her church. She told the Lord she was frustrated and despite the rain had to get out of the house and go for a walk. We drove up, ministered to her, and left. She knew that day that God loved her, and she was God's treasure.

We have now had many such stories. For more information on Treasure Hunting, read "The Ultimate Treasure Hunt" by Kevin Dedmon.

Are Miracles for Today?

The most amazing revelation occurred to me one day while reading Hebrews 13. Here the author, possibly Paul, is writing to the Jewish believers about 30 years after the death of Christ. He says,

"Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith."

I can imagine the Hebrew audience reading this and thinking just like us. "What do you mean imitate the faith of our leaders? Our leaders are Peter, James, John, Stephen, and the other disciples. Don't you know they spent time with Jesus! They walk in miracles because they spent three years with him." Does this not sound like the excuses we hear today? Miracles ceased with the apostles. Miracles are no longer for today.

I believe the author knew what their response would be, and therefore, his very next statement is,

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

Jesus is still doing miracles today.

God is good…Can we really say this?

Looking upon the devastation of recent earthquakes in Haiti and China, could you look into the eyes of the people and tell these broken people confidently, “God is good”.

What if a natural disaster happened in your neighborhood? You might be left with nothing because Insurance Companies have exclusions in their policies for these violent acts, “Acts of God”?

Are these natural disasters really Acts of God? What if we are attributing to God the very works of the Devil? I personally do not want to be standing before the God of the Universe accusing Him of being the Devil. Yet, I feel we so quickly seek to justify life’s disasters with a solution that we can wrap our minds around.

“God must be judging Haiti for their witchcraft, and God must be judging China for their “one child policy”. What about when one is sick? Oh, that is God teaching someone patience and perseverance.”

Our need for “leaning on our own understanding” has replaced our mandate to “Trust in the Lord with all our heart.” As a result, we have taken the nature of the devil and assigned it to God.

Scripture says that the job description of the devil is the devourer, the father of lies, the one who comes to kill, steal, and destroy. The description of Jesus, the image of the invisible God, is the one who has come to give life and life more abundantly. Jesus heals all our diseases and forgives all our sins. So why then do we think Jesus gives us cancer to teach us perseverance?

One scripture that has caused us confusion is Romans 8:28, “God works all things for good for those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes.” This scripture affirms that God is a better chess player than satan. No matter the attack satan makes against us, God has a chess move to triumph over satan. As a result, when someone gets sick, God can turn this for good. Through sickness, people can draw closer to God, learn patience, and perseverance. The mistake we have made is that because the “Outcome” (patience and perseverance) is good, we think the Origin (sickness) must have been good too, but we cannot confuse Outcome with Origin. Because of this misconception of Outcome and Origin, unfortunately, we have attributed to God sickness, which is the very work of the devil.

I’m slowly beginning to recognize my misconceptions of God's character and am beginning to worship God as He truly is, good. God is good and He is in a good mood. The wrath of God has already been poured out on Jesus on the cross. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation, to not count the sins of people against them. So why do we then continue to sit in judgment on others and on ourselves? We are to declare that Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. Jesus came to declare life and life more abundantly.

I am confident that when I stand before the throne of God I am not going to have to apologize to God for believing that He is good. I have this feeling that I am more likely to stand before Him discovering He is so much more amazingly good than I could ever realized. After all, He does more than we can ever ask or imagine. He satisfies our desires with good things. He renews our youth like the eagles. He makes our paths straight. He turns our mourning into dancing and our weeping into joy. He gives us beauty for ashes. He restores the age old foundations. He restores the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. He crowns us with love and compassion.

God is still good and He is in a good mood.

Are things getting better or worse?

While flying over the Atlantic to Israel two years ago, I turned on CNN on the plane's tv to discover Israel had just launched an offensive in Gaza. Our tour group would be landing in Israel during the middle of war. Needless to say these turn of events caused some fear among us. After all, are not things getting worse? Don't we hear of wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines, and falling away from the Lord. Is not tv getting bad, isn't there also an increasing use of alcohol and drugs, and what about crime?

But fortunately for us Christians, we have a winning lottery ticket called the "Rapture". We know it is getting bad, so thank goodness we get to escape this hell on earth. And if we are really, really good Christians, we are also going to bring some people along with us. If we will just "Each one, Reach one."

Isn't this how it goes?

Perhaps, this is an over exaggeration but I feel like this is the consensus of the church portrayed in the media. After all, where does much of our End Times teaching come from? The Left Behind series?

Well, I believe this pessimistic view of the end times had left me defeated. Where was the hope that my Savior promised for this life. I had lived a life based on a Gospel of Salvation, but had not Jesus promised much, much more. Did He not promise a Gospel of the Kingdom coming to Earth?

My life and perspective got turned upside down when I discovered Revelations 19:7, "Behold the wedding of the Lamb has come and the bride has made herself ready."
Hmmm... the bride has made herself ready. I have heard all my life about Jesus returning for his bride but I never had given much thought about the bride making herself ready. And then I discovered more about the Jewish wedding:

In the Jewish culture during Jesus' time marriages were typically arranged, often when the children were very young. When the children were grown, a father would send his son to the daughter’s father to ask about the dowry, the amount to pay to marry his daughter. The price her father asked from the man simply said, “when the man is willing to pay this price, his love is worthy of my daughter.”

Next the bridegroom presents the vows to the bride in front of the bride's father. The bridegroom and bride then drink a cup of wine together, sealing the covenant. Then the Bridegroom pays the dowry, paying a great price for the love of this woman. From that day, the couple is legally married even though the wedding and consummation would not occur for months.

The bridegroom returns to his home to prepare a new home for his wife. His wife does not know when he will return. The bridegroom can only return when his father gives him permission to get his wife. The bride is confident that the bridegroom will return because of his promise (vow) and the price he paid (dowry) to marry her. When the son's father believes their new home is ready, in the middle of the night he gives permission to his son to go get his wife. The son would go steal his bride in the middle of the night adding to the romance. He would then take her back to his father’s house.

Taking a closer look at scripture we see that Jesus fulfilled this Jewish wedding custom to become our Bridegroom:

God arranged for our marriage by sending His son. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus paid our dowry by giving his life sealing the covenant with communion. "In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” Luke 22:20

Jesus promised to return for us. "There are many rooms in my Father's house. I wouldn't tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. " John 14:2-3

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." Mark 13:32

But we know when Jesus comes that the " day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." 1 Thessalonians 5:2

Discovering that Jesus is truly returning for His bride, I began to ask, "Is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords going to return for a weak bride? NO! My King of Kings and Lord of Lords is not going to return to a weak bride.

Unfortunately, I believe the Church has taken on an end-times view that says we are defeated on earth and everything is going to get worse. As a result, we often serve the Lord out of obligation versus love. And because we focus on the negative events in the world, we do not have eyes to see all the God is doing.

Jesus prayed in John 17 for the unity of believers. Now we know Jesus did nothing but what He saw the Father doing. And in 1 John 5 it says that if you pray according the the Father's will, we have what we ask of Him. So if Jesus, God's son, who does nothing but what He sees His Father doing, prayed for the unity of believers, do you think it is not going to happen? Is He going to return to the most fragmented Church ever? I don't think so.

What about the Parable of the Mustard Seed? The Mustard seed is smallest of all the seeds but when it grows it becomes the largest tree in the garden. (Matthew 13:31 ) Jesus started with 12 disciples and now 2 billion people claim Christianity as their faith.

What about the Parable of Wheat and Tares? It seems to me we have focues on the tares. Well, what about the wheat? The scripture says to first burn the weeds, then collect the wheat when it has grown to maturity. There is to be a harvest of righteousness, not just wickedness. The wheat and the tares both grow to maturity. So yes, things may be getting bad, but even better is that the church will get stronger.

What about the scriptures that says the Spirit will be poured out on ALL flesh? Or ALL of Israel shall be saved?

I don't believe God intended the Book of Acts to be a history book but instead a foundation for where we are headed and surpassing. In a relay race, is not the fastest runner saved for last? I thought Jesus said that the least in the Kingdom are greater than all the prophets before.

But unfortunately our focus has been not on "the Christ" but instead "the anti-Christ". Did you know the "anti-christ" is only used in 4 passages in the Bible and that none of them are in the book of Revelation? These occurances of the word "anti-christ" are in 1 John and 2 John when the early church is dealing with a heretical religion called Gnosticism that denied Jesus came in the flesh.

Or consider that perhaps things are much better in the world today than they were 2000 years ago when Jesus came into the world.

"Two thousand years ago, in Italy approximately 40% of the population were slaves. Throughout Roman empire homosexuality was a commonplace especially between Master and slave. The Roman and Greek people worshipped many gods. In North America they had no revelation of the Messiah and in South America they worshipped a blood thirsty god in which they sacrificed many people to. Only a tiny nation in the Middle East had a revelation of the true God.

In the United States 200 years ago, there were 5 million immigrants of which 20% were slaves. Alcoholism and Prostitution were at much higher rates with estimates that for New York City there was a prostitute for every 64 men. Abortion was legal for much of the scenery. The west imported Chinese for slave labor. The Gold Rush produced vile and dangerous communities. Indians were forced off there land and in some cases murdered. Thousands moved west and in most cases did not have churches till later years.

And today, the gospel is being preached around the world. More than 200,000 people become born again everyday. More than 1 million per week are becoming Christians. From 12 disciples more than 2 billion people on the earth claim to be Christians." (Excerpt from "Victorious Eschatology," Eberlee)

It's all about how you view things. We don't need to neglect the crisis that occur around the world, but perhaps we should have a balanced perspective.

I serve a God who is bigger than satan. Therefore, I should have hope in all circumstances. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords is not returning to a weak bride but one that has dressed herself in white.