How to Do a Powerful Spiritual Reset in 2 Steps

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Starting in late February 2020, during Lent, our church embarked on a sermon series called “Reset: Next Generation.” We sought God through congregational fasting about if and how the Holy Spirit wants our church to change. We found out later that many prophetic voices across Christendom in that same time period received similar words. Reset.

Then covid-19 hit. Talk about a reset! It is pretty much resetting the whole world, which is not necessarily a bad thing, although it’s certainly painful.

I am in no way playing down the seriousness of covid-19, or the tragedy that has played out all around the world, from China to South Korea to Iran to Italy to Spain to France to New York. Nor am I downplaying the longer-term danger of this hour, where dark forces in our government are testing using this opportunity to steer America toward socialism. If history is any teacher, surrendering “rights” for “security” is a good way to lose both.

But, except for our indirect voice in voting, those decisions are way above our paygrade for most of us. So while, yes, all of that is in play, I think God is doing something else on a grass roots level, where each of us lives as individuals. God is offering every church, and more importantly each of us individually, own personal “reset” during this season.

If we, the people of God, correctly discern this season and reset accordingly to the opportunity God is affording us now, then everything else will fall into place. Because all those “bigger” things are just made up of people. So if people will reset, the churches will reset in intimacy. The government will reset in righteousness. Corporations will reset in integrity. Society will reset in godliness. Resets in all the “big” things above our paygrade start with resets in us.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. – 2 Chronicles 7:14

The best thing about 2 Chronicles 7:14 is it doesn’t matter what the pagans do. It matters what God’s people do. If we take this opportunity to hear the Holy Spirit and reset our lives, God will take care of the rest and heal our land. I think God is inviting us to partner with him in ushering in the Third Great Awakening.

So how do we reset? We perform resets on our devices every day. I think we can learn a lot for this season by the way computers reset. In particular, here are two ways we can perform a godly reset during this golden opportunity.

1) What Memory Do You Need to Power Off?

We’ve all had the experience of working on a computer when either the power goes out or our laptop battery dies. Doh! I just lost all that work I didn’t save! In the computer industry, we have a saying: “There are two types of computer users: Those who have lost critical data, and those who are about to. Save often.”

When the power bounces and a computer resets, the first thing that happens is volatile memory is lost. Everything on the hard drive is still there, but whatever was actually inside the working memory of the computer is gone.

When God performed resets in the Bible, there is often something that needs to be forgotten. Not “forgotten” in the sense of “not remembered anymore”—it’s important to remember where we’ve come from and what God’s done for us so far. But “forgotten” in the sense of “not lived out anymore.”

For example, look at some of God’s resets in the Bible:

  • Israel’s Deliverance from Egypt through Moses. The people of Israel needed to forget how to live under oppression as slaves. Their inability to forget that lifestyle caused a lot of problems.
  • The Captivity in Babylon. God’s people needed to forget their godless, pagan practices and lifestyles.
  • The Cross. The greatest reset in human history so far, we could now forget legalism.
  • Jesus’ Return. Still to come, we will be able to forget injustice as he sets everything right.

What do you need to forget in your life? What godless lifestyle and/or practice do you need to leave behind? Going deeper, what pain is that thing medicating? What sin against you by someone else, what oppression, what injustice, does God want to heal?

2) Reset Your BIOS

When a computer boots up, the first program to execute is the BIOS, the Basic Input/Output System. Most computers display a splash screen while this is happening. A computer’s BIOS sets up the basic stuff it needs to operate—all the input/output devices, like the hard drive, the keyboard, the monitor, the mouse, the USB ports. A computer can’t do much without input or output. Neither can you.

In fact, all of a computer’s output, everything it does, is a function of the input it’s given. That’s why we say in the computer industry “GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out.” As humans, we work the same way.

Use this period of God’s reset to refresh your BIOS. What inputs are you allowing into your spirit? What media do you watch? What media do you listen to? The input you consume directly affects the output of your life, even if you don’t see it.

Often, tragically, we hold ourselves back from the fullness God has for us by the media we consume. Because we don’t experience that closeness to God, we don’t know what we’re missing. We think we’re fine but in reality we’re only living a shadow of what we could be.

Use this opportunity to re-evaluate all the media you consume, from video games to TV to movies to music. Don’t take anything for granted, but ask the Holy Spirit what that media looks like through God’s eyes.

One real simple litmus test for godly media: Does it contain or promote sex outside of marriage (between one man and one woman)?

If your favorite TV show has people sleeping together who aren’t married—or homosexual or transsexual characters where that lifestyle is portrayed as acceptable—watching that show is harming you. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the world is watching it. It’s moving you further away from God.

Does the music you’re listening to degrade women by reducing them to sex objects? Modern rap is notorious for this; although, there’s good rap out there too. Every generation has its unredeemed music. There’s a reason you’ve probably never heard the words to Glenn Miller’s 1940s hit “In the Mood.” You’ve probably only heard big bands play the instrumental version. Although the music is awesome, the words are straight lust.

Now I’m a musician, and I love secular music. There’s a lot of good stuff out there. So no legalism here, just fact. I’m just saying as the people of God, we need to be discerning about the media we allow ourselves to consume. Not to win brownie points on some legalistic checklist, but because it’s taking us further away from our lover-God.

The Question before Us

I believe, in this season of God’s reset upon the earth, he is wanting to launch the Third Great Awakening by drawing us back to himself. Will you turn off the TV, put down the headphones, silence your phone, and spend time with the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the God who loves you? Will you unplug for a moment and reset your life centered on Jesus? What an exciting time to be alive!

Letting Go of What We Love That’s Killing Us

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Sometimes we hang onto things that hold us back from our God-given destiny. They hold us back from the very thing we were created for and would be happiest doing. But we love those things and can’t let go.

These things have a name in scripture, but it’s a name our modern world doesn’t like. It’s an extremely offensive name, by today’s sensibilities. It’s certainly not politically correct. Many churches have even stopped using this name for things, to the great harm of their congregants. That name is this: Sin.

Sometimes we hang onto our sin like our lives depended on it, when in fact the opposite is true. In reality, our lives depend on letting it go.

Usually we know what it is, but sometimes it’s hidden. Here’s a clue. If there’s something in your life where you say, “Lord, you can have anything but this one thing! Can’t I just have this one thing?” You’ve probably found it. It’s possible it’s not even a bad thing, in and of itself; for example, watching sports.

But if it’s an idol in our lives, then it’s sin for us. If we sacrifice serving others for it, then to us it’s sin. If we sacrifice intimacy with Jesus for it, then it’s sin in our lives, and it’s silently destroying us.

Or not so silently. Often, we think we’re hiding it pretty well, when the only one we’re fooling is ourselves. Everyone else knows. We might as well admit it.

How to Get Rid of It

Remember at the beginning of Lord of the Rings (specifically The Fellowship of the Ring) when Bilbo the hobbit is about to leave the Shire? He’s leaving his fancy hobbit-hole and all his possessions to his nephew Frodo. Although he also intends to leave his magic ring behind, he has great difficulty doing so.

In this scene, you and I are Bilbo, and the ring represents sin in our lives that we want to let go off. But it’s hard. Gandalf represents Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father.

Friendly Reminders

Bilbo’s got his backpack on and is ready to leave the Shire for good. Gandalf asks him if he’s leaving everything to Frodo, even the ring. “Yes, of course,” answers Bilbo. “The ring’s in an envelope on the mantle for Frodo. Oh wait, it’s here in my pocket.”

Even though Bilbo intended to leave the ring for Frodo, he still had it in his pocket. While we often desire to let go of our sin, our good intentions mean nothing by themselves. Our actions are what change our lives for the better, or the worse.

Gandalf asked Bilbo where the ring is. It’s only then that Bilbo realizes he still has it in his pocket. The Holy Spirit starts by giving us gentle, friendly reminders.

Self-Justification and Rationalization

Then, confronted with the fact that he’s not following through on his commitment to leave the ring behind, Bilbo starts to justify himself. “Why shouldn’t it be in my pocket? It’s mine. It came to me after all. Why shouldn’t I keep it? It’s precious to me.”

This is very unlike Bilbo. He is beginning to display the character of the ring, rather than himself. When we refuse to let go of the sin God is pointing out in our lives, it will infect our character. The character of the sin will be on display in our lives, hi-jacking who God created us to be.

Gandalf is very concerned, because this is not like Bilbo. He knows the ring is not good for Bilbo. And while he certainly has the power to take it from Bilbo, he also knows Bilbo has to choose to give it up himself. Otherwise, it would continue to have power over Bilbo like it does over Gollum. Forced from him, it would continue to pull Bilbo toward it. This is why religion can’t free you from sin. Only your repentance, freely given and not guilted out of you, can do that.

Far too many of our churches operate under law. But that just drives our sin underground. We get sneakier about hiding it. We pretend we’re working on it. But we never actually let it go.

Anger and Accusation

Gandalf does not like the way things are going and has to say something. “I think you’ve had that ring quite long enough.”

No condemnation, just simple truth. The Holy Spirit will do that. Because presenting truth presents a choice.

Bilbo chooses to get angry. “What business is it of yours what I do with my own things? You just want it for yourself!” Do we do that? Do we accuse God to distract from the truth about us?

Gandalf changes. The room gets dark and he grows big. “Bilbo Baggins! I am not trying to rob you!” This shocks Bilbo out of his self-deceptive spell. Sometimes God has to do this. Sometimes God allows difficult circumstances in our lives to shock us out of our self-justification and denial.

Gandalf shrinks again and the room lightens up. “I am trying to save you,” says Gandalf as compassionately as he can. “Trust me as you once did.”

Bilbo tears up and hugs Gandalf. “I’m sorry, Gandalf! You are right, of course. The ring will go to Frodo.”

The Final Letting Go

“Well, that’s a relief!” says Bilbo. “All right then, I’m off. Goodbye Gandalf!” Bilbo starts to walk out the door.

“Bilbo,” reminds Gandalf, “the ring is still in your pocket.” The choice is still Bilbo’s. But Gandalf won’t let him “accidentally” walk off with the ring. The Holy Spirit will do this, giving us as many reminders as we need. God’s not going to let us “accidentally” keep our sin. If we decide to keep it, he’s going to make sure we know it’s a conscious choice.

Bilbo takes the ring out of his pocket. While slightly different than the book, director Peter Jackson did such a phenomenal portrayal of this in the movie. Bilbo puts the ring on the flat palm of his hand. Begrudgingly, slowly, he turns his hand so the ring can fall to the floor.

But the ring clings to Bilbo’s hand far past the point when natural gravity would have taken it. The ring doesn’t want to leave Bilbo, and it’s hanging on for all it’s worth. Sin does that with us. It doesn’t want to leave. It makes itself very heavy and hard to let go of.

Finally, gravity does take over and the ring falls from Bilbo’s hand to the floor. Bilbo is free! And you can tell in his countenance that he feels 100 pounds lighter.

That’s what repentance does for us. That’s when freedom comes. And we feel a million pounds lighter, wondering why we fought so hard to hang onto our sin. Although the Holy Spirit helps us, at the end of the day, the choice is ours.

Your Turn

Have you experienced these different stages? Are you still fighting through one or more of them? Tell us your story in the comments or shoot us an email. And please share this post if it would bless others.

A Tale of Two Sons

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This post is based about Jesus’ parable of The Prodigal Son.

If you’re not familiar with it, read it first here.

Here’s my paraphrase of this story:

Younger son wants his due.
He wants it now.
It’s his just right.
Just ask him, he’ll tell you.

Father knows best.
But consents to give worst because
He knows younger son needs to discover for himself.
Discover the poison of his own desires.
Discover the selfishness of his own heart.
Discover that he’s hurting himself.
Discover he had it best with his Father.

So Father gives and waits and watches.
And waits and watches and waits and watches.
Younger son repents in the pig slop.
Father flies to him and restores.
Yes! Father’s heart cry is heard and fulfilled.

Older son wants his due.
He wants it now.
It’s his earned right.
Just ask him, he’ll tell you.

Father knows best.
Entreats his son who does his work
To also have his heart.
No! Father’s heart cry unheard by a deaf heart.

Who’s the main character in this story, The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)? Which son is this story really about? The younger son, whose rebellion we so readily identify with? Or the older son, too stuck in religion, too busy doing his father’s work to have his father’s heart?

Neither son! Trick question! This story’s about the Father and his heart for both of his sons. The Father is the main character.

The Younger Son Trapped in Rebellion

The younger son didn’t know who he was. He was rebellious and selfish, without love for his Father. His inheritance is what he would get when his Father died. Asking for it while his Father was still alive was saying, “I wish you were dead! You’re dead to me!”

He was deceived by living in the pleasure of the moment. It took a hard crash in the pig slop for him to come to his senses. To the younger son, the Father says, “Son, your sin has separated you from me and it’s breaking my heart. But I’m waiting. And when you turn, I’ll carry you back.”

That’s where the analogy breaks down, because God does more than just wait. In the movie Furious Love by Darren Wilson, Associate Pastor Kris Vallotton from Bethel Church in Redding, CA, describes God’s passionate love like this:

I’ve watched that over and over and over in people’s lives, where they go, “I don’t like God anymore.” Something terrible happens in their life, maybe their spouse dies or they lose a child, or all the crazy stories we hear, and they go, “That’s God’s fault, I blame God for that.” And they walk away. But God goes, “I still love you. I still care about you. And I will set up circumstances so that you will have to try very hard to not love me back. Because, in this marriage, I’m the bridegroom and you’re the bride. And in this marriage, I’m the one pursuing you. I’m the male in this relationship; I’m the pursuer. And I love you way more than you love me. You can try to reject me and play hard to get, but you have no idea how hard it’s going to be to not love me.”

God doesn’t just wait. He meddles. Constantly.

The Older Son Trapped in Religion

The older son didn’t know who he was, either. He was a loyal employee, with no more love for his Father than his younger brother. He was trying to earn by hard work what he already had by inheritance. And he wasn’t longing to celebrate with his Father, but with his buddies, deceived by the promise of earning future pleasure.

To the older son, the Father says, “Son, everything I have is yours and always has been. You can celebrate with me anytime you want. I am so here for you. But you’ve been too preoccupied doing my work to have my heart. I would rather have intimacy with you than 100 acres more crops.”

God is looking for lovers.

So often we minister out of our wounding, rather than out of intimacy with the Father. Ministering out of wounding, we can pursue the wrong calling and miss what he really had for us. How tragic to have spent a lifetime sacrificing and pursuing the wrong calling, constantly wondering why nothing’s working!

God is looking for lovers. It’s only in experiencing the ecstasy of intimacy relating to Jesus and the Father’s heart that we know who we really are and what we’re really for.

Your Turn

Do you want his heart? Will you give him yours? Which son have you been? Tell us your story in the comments, and share this post if it would bless others.

The Missing Attribute of God

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In every situation, no matter how jacked up it is, the thing we need in the heat of that moment is an attribute of God. In fact, God intentionally engineers every negative situation, and every encounter with difficult people, to show us and teach us another attribute of himself.

In the Bible, showing means knowing. In the Bible, there’s no knowledge without experience. In Hebrew thought, and in the Kingdom of God, there’s no such thing as head-knowledge, there’s no such thing as academic knowledge, there’s only experiential knowledge. In fact, the Hebrews had a word for someone with head-knowledge but without experiential knowledge, and that word is all over the book of Proverbs – Fool.

Do you know God is patient? All of us would say “yes”. But am I patient? If I’m not, then I really don’t know God is patient. Do we know God is merciful? All of us would say yes. But do you show mercy, or do you rejoice when people get what’s coming to them? If we laugh and say, “That’s what you get!” then we really don’t know God is merciful.

Take mercy for an example. God will teach us his mercy by putting us in (1) situations where we experience it, and (2) other situations where we get to practice it. Maybe someone will wrong us and we’ll be justified in letting them have it. But maybe we’ll hear the Holy Spirit say to let love cover over this one. Maybe God will give us his heart for that person, that difficult boss, that frustrating co-worker, and we’ll understand their wounding and practice mercy.

I have Graham Cooke to thank for this topic. In his Living Your Truest Identity audio series, Graham asks, What if we can never be challenged by a negative? What if we can only be challenged by the fruit of the spirit? What if, for example, you’re not really frustrated, you just don’t know how to be patient (or self-controlled, or whatever fruit of the spirit or attribute of God he wants to teach you next). What if God actually engineered that frustrating situation because he wants to give you his patience?

I think Graham Cooke has a good point. We are created in the image of God. So if there’s no, say, frustration in God, then there shouldn’t be any in us either. (Actually there is frustration in God – read the OT prophets to see what God gets frustrated about – being out of relationship with his beloved people, even us.) But the point is, if God’s not frustrated at this situation or at this person, if God’s heart for this situation or for this person is not frustration – and we’re created in the image of God – then we must not really be frustrated either, even though we’re acting like it out of our own wounding.

So God is using this frustrating situation or person to move us out of believing the lies brought on by our wounding and our fear, and into the healing and freedom brought by believing his truth. The cure for wounding is healing. The cure for fear is freedom. God wants to give us both, and he does it by expanding who we are into who he is. When we come to understand the character of God, not just in general but specifically for this situation, we understand what attribute of God he engineered this situation to give us.

That’s how Romans 8:28 can say that God works in all things for the good of those who love him. All situations are designed to teach us an attribute of God. All of his attributes are good. Therefore, yes, he’s working for good in all things, because all things are engineered to show us one of his attributes.

Does this resonate? Share an instance in the comments where God used a difficult situation or a difficult person to show you more of himself. Or share a situation you’re currently struggling with – what attribute of God do you need? And please share this on Facebook (or your favorite social media) if it blessed you – just click the share buttons below.

4 Ways to Live as Royalty

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What does living in freedom look like? We are, sons and daughters of our Father, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We are princes and princesses, destined to be kings and queens ourselves. In fact, we are kings and queens now in our spheres of influence. Do we act like it? Do we speak like it? Do we know, as Christians, the ways of royalty?

We write a lot on this blog about identity and who we really are in Jesus. We write a lot about how to pull down the vicious lies that, even as Christians, keep us bound up away from the amazing, adventurous life God has for us. We write a lot about how to replace those lies with God’s truth. But what does walking in God’s truth, the freedom Jesus died and rose to give us, actually look like on a practical level?

The children of Prince William and Catherine (formerly Kate Middleton) are given a tutor to instruct them in the ways of royalty, protocol, and honor. Protocol is a way of formally dispensing honor, but that’s a subject for another post. (Frankly, our American culture is currently suffering from our own politicians, on both sides of the aisle, being unschooled in the ways of royalty, protocol, and honor. Amen! But I digress.)

Have you ever had someone teach you the ways of royalty? I am learning them. I learned some of them growing up from Christian parents. And I’m learning more as God brings healing to the wounded and unevangelized parts of my heart. I want to share with you 4 practical tips I’ve learned so far to live like the Kingdom Royalty we are.

1) Don’t Call Names

I recently saw a Christian friend on FaceBook that we’ll call “Patrick,” I believe correctly, rebuke a Christian leader for calling the socialist freshman congresswoman from NY, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a liar and other names. One of my other friends, a strong Christian, rebuked Patrick, sarcastically commenting, “…because Jesus never called anybody names.” He was using Jesus calling the Pharisees a “brood of vipers” to justify calling people names when we don’t agree with them. That is not the way of royalty!

Before Jesus blasted the Pharisees, Scribes, and Sadducees in Matthew 23, he spent 3 years trying to foster relationship with them. He sent them healed leapers as a testimony to them (Luke 17:14). He paid the temple tax for himself and Peter to not offend them (Matthew 17:27). He healed a man with a crippled hand in the synagogue right in front of them (Mark 3:1-5), and was frustrated by their stubborn hearts. He reached out to them over and over again.

Ecclesiastes 3 says there’s a time and a purpose under heaven for every activity. There is a time to bless and a time to curse. There is a time to blast like Jesus did in Matthew 23, but only after every other attempt at reaching out and building relationship has failed. And even then, often the Holy Spirit’s strategy is to walk away, not casting our pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6).

I’m not saying we sugar-coat our disagreement with unrighteous policies or people. But we can’t win a Kingdom battle using the weapons of the devil. Usually, name calling is a hellish tool, not a heavenly one. Royalty gives the other person honor, not necessarily because they are honorable, but because we are. Royalty behaves and speaks in an honoring way whether the other person does or not.

2) See People Like God Sees Them

If a politician or someone on the other side of the aisle lies, they are not a liar. They are lying. There’s a difference. God did not create them as a liar and does not see them as one. He sees them as the potential he created them for. So should we.

By the same token, God does not tolerate unrighteousness. If someone’s lying, we should call out the statement for the lie it is. Abortion. Sex outside of marriage. Homosexuality. Transgender. Cheating on your taxes. These are all lies the culture accepts that we need to call out unrighteousness as unacceptable, offering the forgiveness of a loving God. We need to teach them that true repentance means a change of lifestyle. Repentance is no longer doing the thing, not just being sorry about the consequences while continuing the lifestyle.

3) Respect Someone’s Right to be Wrong

You’ve heard the joke, “I respect your opinion. You have the right to be totally wrong!” But seriously. Being “right” does not give us the right to steamroll over someone else. It does not give us the right to post hateful memes about them on FaceBook.

I saw a meme, posted by a Christian and shared by a friend who I know is a strong Christian, about Ilhan Omar, the new Muslim congresswoman who’s been so anti-Semitic in the hateful things she’s been saying. When she was sworn into office, she used the Koran instead of the Bible. The caption of the meme was, “If you’re not willing to be sworn into office on the Bible, then get the h*** out of America!” Except the meme had the full profanity, not the asterisks I used. This is not the way of royalty!

When Jesus encountered pagans acting like pagans, he told them the truth in an honoring way. He found a way to compliment them (he complimented the woman at the well, see John 4:18). He honored them by eating at their houses (eating with tax collectors in Matthew 9:10 and Luke 19:5). He rescued them from the religious people who were all about name-calling and blasting them for their sin (see the woman caught in adultery in John 8, and Jesus at the Pharisee Simon’s house in Luke 7).

4) Remember They Are Human Beings Jesus Loves

They’ve just forgotten, or never knew, who they really are. It’s our job to remind them. How? By beating them over the head with the Bible? No! By sharing the same sacrificial love when they don’t deserve it that Jesus gave us when we didn’t deserve it. We still don’t deserve it, by the way. But Jesus can’t stop loving because that’s who he is. It should be who we are, too.

Your Turn

Does this resonate? Have you had someone call you up to a higher standard of behavior by their good behavior toward you when you were being nasty to them? Have you done this for someone else? How’d that go? What transformation did it bring? Tell us your story in the comments, and please share if this post would bless someone else.

MLK’s 6 Keys of Nonviolence the Church Needs to Learn

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., changed the world. Pure and simple. MLK is an American hero on par with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

In his 1958 book Stride for Freedom, MLK outlines 6 key principles of nonviolence. These are all Christian principles found in scripture. This post is based on a summary of this work published online here by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute of Stanford University online encyclopedia.

The Church needs to relearn these 6 key strategies and practice them, whether we’re debating on FaceBook or protesting injustice at a rally. We can’t defeat the world by fighting with the world’s weapons.

1) Resist Evil without Resorting to It

Fighting fire with fire just makes a big fire. The Apostle Paul understood this.

“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” — Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 10:4

So often, even in the Old Testament in actual warfare, God had a strategy for his people that made no sense.

  • “Joshua, march around Jericho blowing trumpets.” (Joshua 5:13-6:27)
  • “You have too many men, Gideon. Lose 99% of them. Of your 32,000 men, only fight with 300 of them.” (Judges 7:1-8)
  • “Don’t fight at all, Jehoshaphat, just go pick up the plunder.” (2 Chronicles 20:1-25)

So while conventional wisdom often offers good strategies, the Holy Spirit always has the best strategies.

For example, in the pro-life movement, actually killing abortion doctors is wrong. Although some misguided individuals have done that, you can’t defeat legalized murder in our society by committing murder yourself.

The Holy Spirit had a much better strategy with life tape. Pro-life protestors would simply stand with red tape over their mouths with the word “LIFE” written on it, silently praying, symbolically standing for the lives of those who could not speak up for themselves.

2) Understand, Not Humiliate, Your Opponent

While our opponent is talking, if we take the time to actually listen, instead of just waiting to talk, we often get the key to turn opponents into allies. Solomon understood this. We state our case; we think we’re right. But then the other person speaks. There’s another side.

“In a lawsuit the first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.” – Solomon, Proverbs 18:17

So often when we face unrighteous opposition, it comes from people motivated by fear. Listening to them to understand their fear goes a long way.

We can then acknowledge their, often, legitimate fear. At that point, we’re no longer an enemy in their eyes. We understand! Now we can show them another way to mitigate that fear. Having taken the time to understand, we have their ear.

Think of it this way. Before you can take someone to your bus stop, you have to go pick them up at theirs.

3) Evil Is the Problem, Not the People Committing It

Again, Dr. King brilliantly understood something straight from scripture.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” – Apostle Paul, Ephesians 6:12

The godless world believes that we, as the people of God, are the enemy. But we know that people trapped in godless deceptions are not the enemy. The demonic forces of evil in the heavenly realms are the enemy.

Therefore, we can truly love our enemies, because we know those people are not our real enemy, although they are deceived and being used by the enemy. They are prisoners-of-war, and our charter is to set them free, not conquer them.

4) Suffer without Retaliation

Dr. King exemplified this principle. He was willing to go to jail, and did, but did not retaliate. He didn’t lead a mob to burn down the jail or the police station that unrighteously arrested him.

He stood his ground and took the consequences, unrighteous as they were. Such action moved heaven on his behalf.

“I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” – Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:39-41

That’s crazy talk! But it works.

I had a friend who, in high school, got beat up by a bully. Afterward, driving away from the school in his air-conditioned car on a hot day in California, he saw the bully walking home, sweating and carrying a ton of books. He slowed, rolled down his window, and asked if the bully wanted a ride.

The bully at first thought my friend was mocking him, but was blown away when he realized my friend was serious. He gladly accepted the ride, asking my friend, “Why are you doing this?!?”

“You looked like you needed a ride,” my friend answered. They were close friends from that day forward.

5) Avoid Both External and Internal Violence

Dr King understood that external violence starts with internal hatred.

“The nonviolent resister not only refuses to shoot his opponent, but he also refuses to hate him.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Stride for Freedom

This is a Biblical principle. Jesus said, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45). All actions and words, good or bad, start in the heart. To put it another way, our actions and words are the fruit, but the root causing the fruit, good or bad, is in our hearts.

Yes, bad behavior needs to be addressed. But to get to the real issue, we need to go past that to the heart. As the people of God, we should be the experts at this. I pray that we continue to grow into that place.

6) Hope

I love this one. Dr King expressed it by writing in his book Stride for Freedom that we must have a “deep faith in the future” because “the universe is on the side of justice”.

Despair is the devil‘s playground.

As the people of God, we have the hope the world desperately needs, even though they don’t realize it. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28).

As the people of God, if we forget our hope and give ourselves over to despair, we will do and say things that are counter-productive, playing right into the enemy’s hand.

The hope we have in Jesus is far stronger than the fear our enemy propagates. And, at the end of the day, it’s hope that gives us pause. It reminds us to stop and ask the Holy Spirit for his strategy. And it gives us the patience, fortitude, and wisdom to carry out those divine strategies, no matter how bleak or hopeless it looks in the natural.

Our hope in Jesus is our unshakable, unstoppable, and undefeatable secret weapon.

Your Turn

Did this post resonate? What do you think? Share your thoughts, experiences, and insights with us in the comments, and please share this post to bless others.

How to Unlearn the Church’s Worst Habit

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Loving Jesus, I love God’s people. I love the church. This is not a church bashing post. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of that going around. It’s always easier to attack someone else’s faults than deal with our own, and sometimes the church is an easy target.

So while I love the church, there’s something we need to talk about. Can we have a family meeting? The church has a nasty habit we need to unlearn.

We all say we want the church to be a safe place, a strong tower people can run to in the midst of their brokenness. A safe place for people to repent and come to Jesus. A safe place to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). But is the church a safe place for people to make mistakes?

The church’s worst habit is throwing out everything someone has ever said or done, or will say or do in the future, because of one mistake. Let’s look at a current example.

Cancel Culture Christianity

Many voices have recently given prophetic words about the recent presidential election in the United States that don’t appear to be happening. And many in the church are verbally shooting them for it. Regardless of what side of the political spectrum you’re on, that’s not ok.

The pagans do this. It’s called Cancel Culture. A celebrity makes an insensitive tweet, and they get fired from their sitcom. Their concert gets cancelled. Their speaking gigs get canceled. “They made a mistake! How dare they! Off with their head!” This just makes everyone live in fear. But the church is called to freedom. We need to stop “cancel culturing” our prophetic voices if they make a mistake.

Do we realize how much courage it takes to put yourself out there and give a prophetic word? To share with others, especially on the dangerous Internet, what you think God is showing you? Do you know how embarrassing it is to share, “I think God is telling me this,” and have it not happen? Prophetic voices are taking a huge risk! Courage and vulnerability are godly qualities we should be encouraging.

Yes, we also want to encourage accuracy. So what do we do with prophetic words that don’t happen?

(1) Let it play out without judgement. For the current prophecies about the election, although at the time of this writing it’s looking bleak for some prophetic words, the jury’s still out. Anything can happen over the next month or two. Wait until it’s an absolute impossibility before judging. (Please don’t get hung up or triggered on politics; this is not a political post. That’s just an example.)

People who don’t believe in prophecy jump on the bandwagon whenever a prophecy goes awry. “See, I knew it all the time! I knew they were a false prophet, that all this prophetic stuff was hogwash” This negative pre-judgement reveals more about the person judging than the person who missed the prophetic word.

God doesn’t wait for us to make a mistake so he can say, “See, I knew it all the time!” So let’s stop treating each other like that.

(2) Don’t reject the person as a false prophet. I’m talking about people rooted in Jesus, loving Jesus, who just missed it. I’m not talking about people who encourage others to sin, or condone immoral lifestyles that break God’s heart. Those are the “false prophets” the Old Testament has strong admonitions for.

Here are some true prophets in the Bible who actually missed it. (Taken from a great Intercessors for America article, here.)

  • Nathan. David wants to build the Lord’s temple, and Nathan wrongly tells him to go for it. The Lord later sends Nathan back to David with a correction; Solomon is to build the temple, not David. (2 Samuel 7:1-13)
  • Agabus. He bound his own hands with Paul’s belt, and told Paul, “In this way the Jews will bind the owner of this belt” (Acts 21:10-11). Although Paul was bound, it was by the Romans not the Jews (Acts 21:33). Agabus got it mostly right, but missed a detail. Prophetic voices today do the same thing. That does not make them false prophets any more than it did Agabus.

(3) Consider the conditions. Now, yes, sometimes people add conditions after-the-fact as a way to blame shift when they miss it, and that hurts their credibility. But sometimes prophetic words come with legitimate conditions. If we as the people of God respond in a certain way, often repentance, then God will do something. We shouldn’t discount the prophetic word if we didn’t fulfill the conditions.

(4) Consider the timing. Also consider the timing. Joseph and David were both given prophesies decades before they were fulfilled. Maybe the person giving the prophetic word wasn’t wrong. Maybe they were just early.

(5) Be teachable and admit mistakes. On the prophetic side, we need to admit it when we miss it. I know getting tarred & feathered by the rest of the church can make this difficult and scary. It’s embarrassing. But it’s the right thing to do. It’s ok to say, “I don’t know what happened. I thought it was God, but I guess I missed it.”

And to the rest of the church, enough with the witch hunts already! Put down your pitchforks, and let’s encourage people genuinely trying to hear God, like we all should be, to try again.

Mistakes are not sin. Mistakes are learning.

Recently, Kris Vallotton from Bethel apologized for a prophetic word he believes he missed. That took a lot of guts and humility! Regardless of whether you believe in modern-day prophecy or not, regardless of what you think of Bethel, we should commend him for this. Rather than saying, “See, I knew it all the time!” we should commend him for having the humility to admit what he believes was a mistake.

Fallen Christian Leaders

Recently, some high-profile Christian leaders have walked away from Christianity. What do we do with that? Don’t throw out every book or song they’ve ever written. It doesn’t mean nothing they ever did was anointed by the Holy Spirit. It means Satan is having a field day in their lives right now. Pray for them, don’t gloat over them. “See, I knew it all the time!” Don’t do that.

I went to a church for a long time where the pastor had an affair. Anyone who knows me knows how strongly I feel about sexual purity. I wrote a book on it. But I learned about the Holy Spirit in that church. I learned how to worship there. I got so much from his teaching and grew so much in that church.

That pastor’s sin does not invalidate the good God did in my life through him and his ministry. We need to realize the calling of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in someone’s life is greater than their mistakes, even greater than their sin.

Yes, we should call out mistakes, especially public ones that could harm others and lead them astray. But let’s stop throwing out everything someone has ever done or said, past, present, and future, because they made a mistake. Or even sinned. God doesn’t treat us that way. Let’s stop doing it to each other.

Your Turn

So what do you think? Please share your thoughts and story in the comments. And please share this post to bless others.

How to Hear God Like Your Radio

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Hearing God in your life is a lot like listening to the radio. In order listen to your radio, you’ve got to 3 things. You’ve got to turn it on. Then you’ve got to tune it in to the station you want. Then you’ve got to set your volume—turn it up! Listening to God in your life regularly is a lot like that. Here’s how it works.

Turn It On with Faith

Faith turns your radio on. Without faith that God actually can, will, and wants to speak to us, we’re not going to hear anything.

Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

I hear non-Christians say all the time, “Yeah, right, Christian, I’d believe in God too if he talked to me. But I’ve never heard him.” It doesn’t work that way. Of course they’ve never heard him. Their radio’s off! They have no faith.

The station can be broadcasting at full power, but if you’re radio’s off, you’re not hearing it. The exciting adventure of hearing God in your life all starts with faith.

Tune It In with Consistency

Personally, I listen to 91.9 FM, WGTS, one of our local Christian music stations here in the Washington, DC, area. I also listen to 107.7 FM, WWWT, for news. Say my radio is set on 107.7, and I want to listen to some Christian music, not news. So I turn on my radio, and all I get is news. Then I get mad at WGTS. “Why don’t they broadcast? Why can’t I hear Christian music like everyone else can? I’ve been listening all day!”

You’d probably say to me, “You goof! You’ve got your radio set to the wrong station. Tune-in to 91.9.” And you’d be right. There’s nothing wrong with WGTS; they’ve been broadcasting just fine. The problem’s with me. I’ve got my radio set to the wrong station.

I’m not going to hear the Christian music station if my radio is set to the news station. Duh! That’s pretty obvious. None of us would really do that with radio stations, webinars, or Pandora. But we do it all the time with God. We think he’s not speaking to us when in fact he’s speaking all the time. We’re just not tuned-in to his frequency. So how do we tune-in to God’s frequency?

Consistency. We are listening to whatever spiritual radio station we consistently spend our time at.

If we consistently watch secular TV shows or movies, where godless behavior (like sex outside of marriage) and lifestyles (like LGBTQ) are portrayed as good and acceptable, we’ve tuned into the world’s frequency. We’ll have no discernment when it comes to elections or other important things in life. We’re deceived by the spirit of the age because that’s the frequency we’ve tuned our spirits in to.

But if we consistently spend our time with God, in worship, reading his word (the Bible), listening to teachings, meditating on him, we’re tuned in to his spirit.

I’m not saying don’t watch TV or movies or listen to secular music. I am saying filter what you watch and listen to through the Holy Spirit. I don’t care how funny or hip it is, if it’s portraying godless behavior and lifestyles as good, desirable, and acceptable, then watching it is harming your relationship with Jesus. And hence it degrades your ability to hear God.

If you want to hear God, tune into Heaven’s station, not Hell’s. You are tuned into the station you spend the most consistent time with. Simple.

Turn It Up with Focus

Now that your radio is turned on and tuned in, we just need to turn it up. The volume on your spiritual radio is focus. Here are 3 specific things you can do to focus your life on Jesus so you can hear God better. I’m sure you can think of many more.

1) Baptism. If you haven’t been baptized since making Jesus your Lord and Savior, then it’s a great thing to do. It’s a public declaration of dedicating your life to Jesus. Going under the water and coming back up again is symbolic of dying to the world and being alive to God.

2) Communion. This has different names in different denominations, like the Lord’s supper or the Eucharist. It’s like coming over to your parent’s house for dinner. You don’t do it to check a box (hopefully), but to spend time with them. Communion is dinner at God’s house. It’s a special activity with a community of other believers where the veil between Heaven and Earth is thinner. Taking communion regularly with the community of God’s people is a great way to turn up your spiritual radio.

3) Fasting is taking the time you would have spent doing something, and instead spending that time with God. Fasting food is the most common, taking the time you would’ve spent preparing, cooking, and eating and giving that time to the Lord. But if you’re diabetic, pregnant, or have some other medical condition where your doctor advises against it, do not fast food.

There are lots of other things you can fast besides food. Fasting TV or media is excellent. Again, it’s not just not watching. It’s taking the time you would’ve spent watching and spending that time with the Lord. You can fast sports. You can fast video games. You can fast just about anything.

Pro Tip: It’s usually best to set a well-defined timeframe at the beginning, like “I’m going to fast sports for 2 weeks.” It’ll be easier if you’re clear about the duration up front.

Don’t you feel special when your spouse or special someone sets aside time just for you? God loves fasting, and will often meet you at a deeper level in that place.

So There You Have It

You turn your spiritual radio on with faith that God will actually talk to you. You tune in to his frequency with consistently spending time with him more than spending time on things of the world that detract from him. And you turn your volume up by focusing your life on God. Three great ways to do that are baptism, communion, and fasting.

Your Turn

Where are you at in your spiritual journey? Do you hear God regularly? Are you hungry for more? Do you identify with what we’ve talked about in this post? Tell us your story and thoughts in the comments, and please share if this would bless someone else.

Morality and Integrity Won’t Change the Culture. Character Will.

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I always thought morality, integrity, and character were all the same thing. Turns out they’re not. I just read an exceptional book called The Noticer Returns by Andy Andrews that has taught me the difference. It’s an important distinction. Our culture is suffering because the church doesn’t know the difference.

Morality vs Character

I believe the Holy Spirit spoke to me when I read this:

“While morality is not doing what is wrong, character is actively doing what is right. … Without the spine to do what is right, it is possible to be a moral person with weak character.” – Andy Andrews in The Noticer Returns

I felt like I heard God saying, “Your culture is suffering because the church is moral but with weak character.” While not being deceived by the Spirit of the Age ourselves, in many ways we’ve compromised with it through our silence.

For example, do we allow media (TV, music, movies, etc.) in our homes that glorifies unrighteousness or sexual immorality? Even though we don’t participate in that behavior ourselves, do we let our children watch it and listen to it?

The latest Star Trek reboot movie had a scene at the beginning where Sulu left his daughter with his homosexual partner before departing on the Enterprise’s next mission. It was only 30 seconds. It didn’t matter to the rest of the story. Most Christians tolerated it. But we shouldn’t have. We should have walked out of the theatre.

It’s my fault that scene was there, me and Christians like me. You see, I grew up watching James Bond, Top Gun, and similar movies. They were great movies although they had a lot of illicit sex. But I tolerated it because those scenes were only a couple minutes long and weren’t key to the story. I had the morality to not participate in that wrong, but did not have the character to take a stand against it.

Morality in a culture does not stand still. It is moving one way or the other. Because we as Christians tolerated those movies we grew up with, we now have to tolerate homosexual scenes in something as innocent as Star Trek. Disney is also starting to include them.

Morality in a culture does not stand still. It is moving one way or the other.  If we tolerate homosexual and transsexual scenes, however insignificant they seem, within 10 to 20 years we will be tolerating scenes glorifying pedophilia. Possibly sooner. The seeds are already being sown in our culture today with the phrase, “Love is love.” Although today it is meant to justify same-sex marriage, it also justifies pedophilia.

Need more proof? Pedophiles are starting to rebrand themselves as “minor-attracted persons.” Yes, I realize that term is correctly used by child abuse prevention organizations to enable people to get help, but the media is already starting to misuse it.

Although the church has the morality to not participate in homosexuality (mostly), do we have the character to take a stand against it, loving the people while taking a stand against self-destructive, immoral behavior?

Being moral, not doing the bad thing, is good. But it’s not enough. We need to risk the disapproval of the culture and have the character to actively stand up against what’s wrong and stand up for what’s right.

Integrity vs Character

“A person of integrity, trustworthy and reliable, is prepared and capable of performing the task for which he was created, but it takes character to speak up, step out, and perform that task.” – Andy Andrews in The Noticer Returns

A church in my city displayed their character beautifully. There was a young, non-Christian woman who came home from college pregnant. Her parents helped her with the pregnancy, but required her to go to church with them. She would sit in the back corner, obviously pregnant, and bolt out the door after the service was over.

The pastor noticed this behavior and asked some of the women in the church to make sure they talked to her. They did more than talk to her; they loved on her. She was amazed that they liked her and showed friendship toward her. They didn’t condemn her or try to fix her. She was blown away by the massive baby shower they threw for her. Through their love and generosity, she met Jesus. She now sings in that church’s worship band.

Integrity is worthless without the character to act on it. The women of that church had the character to act on their integrity. Will we?

I’ve often heard it said that “Integrity is what you do when no one’s looking.” I would submit that character is what you do when the culture’s looking and disapproves.

As the church, as God’s representation on the earth, we have the answers. Will we act on them and stand up, by word and deed, for what’s right? Will we show love to the ones the world throws away? Will we testify to the world with tears of love that its immorality is destructive?

But What Can I, Personally, Little Old Me, Actually Do?

Will you commit to this action pledge with me?

In the situations and conversations I find myself in, at work, at home, around town:

  • I will speak up for what’s right. I will not tolerate racial jokes or injustice against any group.
  • I will speak up against what’s wrong. I will turn off media that portrays unrighteous or immoral behavior as good.
  • I will show love to everyone. Even if they hate me, I will choose to see them a person for whom Jesus died and loves.
  • I will ask the Holy Spirit how to speak life into every difficult conversation I find myself in. I will not be silent and let good be spoken of as evil, or evil as good.

If we will personally commit to these 4 things, we will change our little corner of the world. And all those little corners will change the world at large.

Your Turn

What do you think? If you disagree, please leave a (respectful!) comment, and let’s have a conversation. If this post resonates, tell us your story in the comments; it will bless others. And please share this post on social media if you think it will bless others.

How to Find Meaning in Your Pain by Doing These Two Things

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[Author’s Note: Many thanks to Elijah House. Many of the concepts in this post are from their teaching on The Spiritual Development of the Believer.]

There’s a part of the Gospel that we too often neglect. It’s uncomfortable, and our modern world is all about catering to our comfort. But this forgotten part of the gospel is critical to living a deeply satisfying, fulfilling, and thriving life. That type of life only comes from spiritual maturity. And maturity, spiritual or otherwise, only comes from this.

Suffering and pain. Doh! There, I said it! Don’t bounce! Please keep reading!

What if Laura Story was right?

“What if the trials of this life, the rain, the storms, the hardest nights, are Your mercies in disguise?” – Laura Story, from the song Blessings

What if God works through the pain we suffer in this life—whether from our own sin, someone’s sin against us (which is never your fault!), or just the pain of living in this fallen world—what if God is working through it all for our good, to bring us into maturity? Isn’t that in the Bible somewhere? (Hint: See Romans 8:28.)

“Maturity and wisdom only come through a suffering experience.” – John Sandford

In my youth, I used to be very judgmental and very naïve. I was judgmental toward people I didn’t know well. Why can’t they straighten up and fly right, and live righteously like me? After I suffered through a 20+ year emotionally abusive marriage, my wife left, and I found myself getting a divorce, then I had a lot more compassion for people with broken marriages.

Conversely and naïvely, I gave a blank check to people I knew personally. I took for granted they brought the same objectivity and selfless motives to the table that I did. I found out very painfully, both through my divorce and in a failed church I was part of, that people aren’t always trying to solve the problem in the best way for everyone involved. Sometimes people are just trying to win.

Experience is a cruel teacher of both compassion and truth.

That sounds contradictory, but it’s true. Suffering makes us:

  • More humble, yet more bold.
  • Less defensive, yet more vulnerable.
  • Repent quicker and forgive quicker.
  • Give up self-centeredness in favor of self-sacrifice.
  • Able to speak the truth in love.

Although we try, we are genuinely not able to speak the truth in love until we’ve experienced suffering.

There’s nothing like a cruel dose of reality to drive all the fanciful rainbows and unicorns out of your head. Experience teaches us truth. Without truth, we’re just all permissiveness and victimhood.

But experience also gives us empathy. Because we’ve actually been through the hard situation, we now have compassion for others in that same situation. Without love, we’re legalistic.

Neither permissiveness nor legalism are the gospel. God brings us through suffering to work these things out of us, and replace it with maturity. Maturity is not a spiritual gift. It is earned through suffering.

Without maturity, spiritual giftings are actually dangerous. A lot of damage has been done in the church by immature people with tremendous giftings.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23

Maturity is marked by the fruit of the Spirit, not the gifts of the Spirit. The fruit of the spirit are attitudes, not behaviors. Look at that list again. Those are all internal character qualities. Yes, they produce outward behaviors. You can fake the outward behaviors, for a while. But if you don’t have an inner attitude of patience, for example, you’re not going to be able to fake patient behavior for long.

Here are two things we can do to find meaning in our life’s pain.

1) Get healing

Your pain needs healing. God doesn’t want to remove the memory of the pain. Healing doesn’t change history; God doesn’t give us holy amnesia. But God wants to heal the memory of the pain, and its effects in our lives.

God wants to give you beauty for ashes. I encourage you to pursue healing for the pain you’ve been carrying. Here are some resources for you. If they are not local to you, they can probably recommend something that is, or at least point you in the right direction.

Elijah House (inner healing)

Dominion Virginia Counseling counseling and inner healing)

The Church Unchained: LukeNine1&2 Ministries (deliverance)

Rachel’s Vineyard (post-abortion healing)

Grief to Grace (sexual abuse)

Restoration 1:99 (sex trafficking, sexual abuse & other trauma)

2) God, who do you want to be for me in this?

Everything we need in this life is found in the person of Jesus, in the character of God. So in every trouble and pain in your life, God wants to reveal something about himself. He wants you to experience some attribute of his character, maybe something you know about him intellectually but have never experienced at a heart-level.

“The only struggle we have is against the goodness of God.” – Graham Cooke (my paraphrase)

Graham Cooke says, as believers, we can’t actually be challenged by the enemy. As if! Graham says we can only be challenged by the goodness of God. In this horrible situation in my life, is God still good? Is he still faithful to me, even in this? Is he still strong for me, even in this? What attribute of God’s character is he revealing to you in the middle of your dark night of the soul?

I’ve asked that question over and over, with many tears, in the blackness of the night, in the heat of the battle, in the middle of all the pain. Because even the darkness is not dark to God (Psalm 139:12).

Your Turn

What has the pain in your life taught you? Share your story in the comments; it will help others. What are you going through now? Tell us in the comments; there’s a community here to support you. Or shoot us an email if it’s too personal. We’d love to pray and stand with you. And please share this post if it would bless others.