FINDING THE TRANSCENDENT WAY OF JESUS Beloved family. Stay true to the gospel of the Kingdom! Stay true to our King! Stay true to the cross!
Right now, heaven is searching for transcendent and unadulterated voices that will speak the truth of God to both the lost in the world, and the deluded in the Church.
It’s instructive to recognize that the voice of Christ – and the way of God – is almost never a singular, polarized antithesis to the way of godlessness. It is nearly always also a bur under the saddle of carnal, religious idolatry. History is packed with relevant examples:
A. In Exodus, there was the way of the Egyptians, the way of the Children of Israel, and then the way of God through Moses and Joshua. YHWH opposed the religious/idolatrous way of the Children of Israel (Exodus 32) as resoundingly as He did the paganism of the people of Egypt.
B. In Joshua 5, the Captain of the Lord’s armies declared He was not for the descendants of the Children of Israel, nor for the people of Jericho. He was looking for those who would “be on the Lord’s side”. It was a transcendent moment that moved Joshua (the man who would not leave the tent of meeting in Exodus 33) so profoundly that he fell at the feet of the Captain in holy worship.
C. In Daniel 3, there was the way of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, there was the way of the faithless children of Judah, and then there was the transcendent way of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego, who would not bow to the kingdom image that all the rest of the Babylonians, including captive Judah were bowing to.
D. In Jesus’ day, there was the way of the pagan Romans, and then the way of the Pharisees, and the crippled people of Judea. Jesus walked in a transcendent way above the rampant false gods of the Hellenistic world, and the false, religious zealotry of the Jews – calling all to repentance.
“Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)
E. Across the ages, kingdoms have risen in opposition to oppressive religion (ie. the Russian revolution, the populist movement in South Africa etc.), and kingdoms have risen up against virulent godlessness (the crusades, and many of the South American regime changes in the 60’s, and 70’s). In the VAST MAJORITY OF THE CASES the kingdoms that have risen against the ruling political power were NOT the way of Christ. (The Marxists weren’t the way of Christ replacing the religious elite in Russia. Pinochet wasn’t bringing the Kingdom of heaven to Chile. And Mandela wasn’t bringing the way of Christ to the people of South Africa.) There remained a transcendent way above, wedged and salted into the kingdoms that were in polar apposition to each other.
F. In the 1930’s, the Nazi’s rose to power promising to inoculate Germany from the godless ideology of communism that was sweeping the nations in eastern Europe. No one today believes Naziism was the way of Jesus. Nor would any Bible believer assert that the way of Stalin and Lenin were the government of heaven on earth. Faithful disciples of Jesus, the “ELECT” if you will, were borne and forged within the midst of the “trouble” (thlipsis – “tribulation”) of the intense cultural pressures that existed between these polarized ideologies. And so you had the Corey and Betsy TenBooms living for Jesus in spite of the Nazi opposition, and you had the Ivan (Vanya) Moiseyevs, living faithfully for Jesus under the thumb of communist Russia. BOTH LIVED FAITHFULLY FOR JESUS even though their secular cultural ideologies fought wars against the other…
It’s not so difficult to see the parallel today in America. There’s been a decades-long thrust of godless humanism that’s become virulent and oppressive throughout our culture, and now a strident, authoritarian nationalism that has taken aim at the evils of “the left”, and “the woke”. We dare (and it is a risk) to learn the long lesson of history – especially our own “people of God” history and realize that the Lord is most always NOT on one side or the other of these warring, political factions. His way is transcendent. His way is pure. His way is nailed to a cross to the glory of the One Who will one day rule ALL the nations.
Friends. Moses, Joshua, Jeremiah, Daniel, the John the Baptist, the disciples, Augustine, Luther, Wesley, and Bonhoeffer, all found the transcendent way of the “ELECT” of God. And it behooves the American Church to find it in our tumultuous hour as well.
The Moravians stood shoulder to shoulder with native Americans during America’s first great awakening.
Evangelists and abolitionists marked the second great awakening.
Azusa, was led by a one-eyed black man, and embraced nearly every ethnicity on earth.
Like the very first “revival” recorded in Acts 2, all the great nation-wide revivals in America also ushered in grand, societal-shifts toward heaven’s value for race.
The last bonafide, national revival we had was the Jesus People Movement of the late 60’s and 70’s. One of the reasons it was so pervasive was because it participated in the national humbling of the general populace re: our nation’s long history of racial sin, while casting a broad vision for the multiethnic culture America was becoming. The Spirit of the Lord touched all aspects of our society as a result.
Race was one of the chief issues that Jesus confronted through all four of the gospels. It was a perpetual component of the Acts of the apostles. It was an issue that was repeatedly addressed in the epistles. And it is a sparkling facet of the beauty of redeemed humanity in the book of Revelation.
To be racially tender (even toward Haitians, Afghanis, Central Americans, Canadians, Greenlanders, and Mexicans) is to make room for His Kingdom, even at the expense of our own kingdoms. To love with humility and empathy across convivial norms, and divisions is part of the warp and woof of what it means to be a New Testament Christian. It is to be like Jesus.
At the same time, the way of the devil is to ply self-justification, insensitivity, and a “look out for my own” mentality into communities. It is the way of antipathy, and the anti-cross. It plays on fear, rather than excelling at love. It is the anti-1Corinthians13 way. Neither does it value making oneself poor, meek, mournful, hungry for justice, peaceful, pure, or merciful. The way of the devil diminishes the distinctively deep, and wonderful elements of ethnicity. It is a form of “trashing family” as sure as sexual perversion, divorce and abortion.
With this in mind, with the callous, defensive, insular spirit that’s currently in vogue with so many of our MAGA evangelical leaders, I don’t believe we are “making a way” for the increased Presence of the Lord, and a modern, nation-wide revival. To the contrary – much of the neo-nationalist rhetoric seeks to shift our collective attitude in ways that grieve and militate against the Lord of the nations.
Racial celebration remains one of the most cherished elements marking great surges in Kingdom expansion. And right now, our ways are stained with indifference, unrepentance, and lack of compassion toward our neighbors’ racial wounds and inequities.
O, Father of glory! Give us a considerate, and contrite heart for Your magnificent design for race.
INTRODUCTION: There are ten heavenly, corporate declarations and anthems of praise in the book of Revelation. These corporate exaltations (Revelation 5, 7, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21 and 22) are like oases of joyous exhilaration and supernatural strength in the midst of raging fires of apocalyptic trouble and temptation. This lesson is about how to draw on the power of these “pools of jubilation”. Their waters will give us strength to stand, and overcome (Revelation 3:21) through difficult seasons of our life, as well as the heat and pressure that come with the end of the age.
THE UNIQUE PRESSURES AND THE UNIQUE NEED FOR THE END OF THE AGE
A. The end of the age will be jammed with the greatest temptation, with the greatest deception, with the greatest social pressure that the world has ever collectively experienced.
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.(Matthew 24:21-22)
B. It will require supernatural, Spirit-borne strength to walk through this intense hour of human history with our faith, and love for Jesus remaining vibrant and flourishing. This is the strength that Paul prays for the believers in the Church at Ephesus.
I pray… that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the with, and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.(Ephesians 3:16)
C. These intense pressures, or crises are meant to draw us into controversy. And these controversies are meant to draw the passageways of our hearts into deep, honest dialogue with the Lord about… 1. Who He is, and 2. His unique ability to purify, and bless us through these circumstances.
When (Revelation 8:10) hits, and a third of the world’s water resources are poisoned, and there isn’t enough to go around in your community, what will your heart attitude be? When politicians lie and want you to champion their lies, and their lies are helping you, but hurting other people, how will you operate? When millions die in a plague, and your unbelieving family members question the goodness of God in the midst of so much death, what will you say? What will your heart testimony be? Through the crises of the great troubles that are on the earth will you be able to grow in first-commandment love? Will you be a champion of Jesus’ beatitudes? Will the fruit of your life still be love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Will you increase in Christlikeness in this context?
D. Two questions that the Lord is most keen to confront us with through these afflictions are: 1. Are you growing in first-commandment love for Me? 2. Are you growing in vibrant Christlikeness? Are you coming forth, through the fires, looking like My Son? Are the beatitudes the attitudes of your heart? Is the fruit of your life, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control?
Later, in Ephesians 5, when Paul talks about Jesus removing every spot, wrinkle, and blemish in His Bride, (Ephesians 5:25-27), he’s talking about removing every impediment to first-commandment love, and brilliant Christlikeness. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
E. This purging, maturing process is what we see happening throughout the book of Revelation: 1. Jesus is confronting, and calling the seven churches to grow in love for God, and purified Christlikeness. 2. The pressures, (thlipsis = judgments of the Lord) crises, and troubles that are on the earth are forcing the issues re: the truth about God, and the worthiness of Jesus to reign on the earth. Who is God? Is He worthy of your love? Is Jesus worthy to rule the nations, AND rule your heart? Will your heart come into alignment with His will, emotions, plan, values, and priorities? 3. The Bride makes herself ready (Revelation 19:7). Through all the pressure she’s clothed in whole- hearted love, and she has taken on the heart and character of her Bridegroom King.
QUESTION: What are the great pressures and deceptions that we see mounting in our culture today? How are they tempting us away from Christlikeness, and first-commandment love for God? How are these great “troubles” able to help us cultivate Christlikeness, and first-commandment love for God?
F. The fact of the matter is, the great tribulation, (along with great sin, great temptation, great evil, and great delusion) will actually accelerate great first-commandment love, and great Christlikeness – unlike any other time/atmosphere in human history. Here’s the salient point: If we know this now, we can prepare ourselves (and others) for it now. The 100,000 question is, HOW DO WE DO THIS NOW? What is the Lord’s strategy for forging loyal, faithful love, and Christlikeness in the Bride?
II. WE NEED UNIQUE POWER IN ORDER FOR OUR LOVE AND CHRISTLIKENESS TO OVERCOME THE INTENSE AFFLICTIONS FLOURISH UNTO THE END OF THE AGE
A. This is what the Bible says about this overcoming power:
To him who OVERCOMES I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, AS I OVERCAME and sat down with My Father on His throne.(Revelation 3:21)
How did Jesus overcome?
Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, LOOKING UNTO JESUS the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the JOY that was set before Him endured the cross… and sat down at the right had of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The JOY of the LORD is your STRENGTH.(Nehemiah 8:10)
The kingdom of God is… RIGHTEOUSNESS (Christlikeness) and PEACE (SHALOM blessing) and (that comes through) JOY in the HOLY SPIRIT.(Romans 14:17)
B. What does this Christlike power look like in our lives?
Dallas Willard notes: “The human will has little STRENGTH to OVERCOME when it has little JOY to draw upon.”
JOY is the real, tangible, dynamic that explodes in our hearts as we give ourselves to 1. REVELATIONS of the GOD/MAN, CHRIST JESUS 2. PERSONAL EXPERIENCES of GOD INTIMATELY BLESSING US WITH DIVINE LOVE
C. When we give ourselves to these experiences, JOY will be the result in our hearts. And when the human heart is filled with this type of kinetic joy, our wills are clothed with strength to love, and strength to say “yes” to His ways, even through great threat and persecution.
The good news is, we don’t have to wait for “great threat and persecution”. We can fill our bank account with experiences of exhilarating joy, today – right now!
D. Again, the book of Revelation is all about the redeemed engaging these dynamics. As we see the judgments, and the great calamity on earth, we are also presented with the pattern and the norm of heaven – with the high praises of God in the mouths of the redeemed, and the created order. These dynamics actually lean, build, and draw upon each other:
The turbulence on earth stirs prayers in the saints. The prayers of the saints are received in heaven – mingled with the praise of the angels and the redeemed; the glory of God is released to earth; and the saints on earth are filled with confidence, joy, and love; they overcome the threats of the enemy; and Jesus is glorified on the earth; hailed as uniquely qualified to rule the nations and the human heart.
What happens on earth, moves heaven. And what happens in heaven spills onto the earth.
E. We absolutely want this heavenly strength. But, according to Jesus, it’s costly. The return-rate on our investment is out of this world, but the pursuit of wholehearted love, and vibrant Christlikeness does require faith, and intentionality. We won’t get it on the run.
I believe, cultivating love, Christlikeness and joy is what Jesus was exhorting the Laodiceans to do in Revelation 3:18 “I counsel you to BUY from ME, GOLD REFINED in the FIRE that you may be RICH.”
Again, the good news is we can give ourselves to these experiences now, prior to, or apart from being touched by deep tribulation, hardship, temptation and great deception. There is enough tribulation in our lives in 2025 in order to let them forge Christian gold in our hearts and lives today.
F. How can we do this? How can we “buy gold refined in the fire”? How do we“buy ample oil”(Matthew 25:4)?
G. Both, the Father, and Jesus promise that the Lord’s House, will be called a HOUSE of PRAYER, and the atmosphere of that house will be JOY.
“I will bring the nations to My holy mountain, and EXHILARATE (ושׁמחתים – rejoice greatly, delight, be made glad, jubilate, exult) them in MY HOUSE of PRAYER. Their worship and sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for MY HOUSE shall be called a HOUSE of PRAYER for ALL (peoples).”(Isaiah 56:7)
H. Because the Church has often starved herself on this vital, Kingdom oxygen, we find her gasping for breath, caught up in false forms of exhilaration that don’t cultivate either vibrant Christlikeness, nor first-commandment love. And when crises and trouble hit our world, or our lives, we don’t grown in love, and we don’t grow in His character – and sometimes, we even fall back into despair, or fall into false hopes for consolation.
The Lord your God is in your midst! He is warrior! Who can deliver? He takes great delight in you! He renews you by His love! He shouts for joy over you! (Zephaniah 3:17)
I. THIS is the primary dynamic that goes on in the House of Prayer. (In Matthew 21) Can you see why Jesus was SO put out when His Father’s House was turned into something else?) Let me say, IF THIS ISN’T HAPPENING in our lives, our fellowships, etc. THERE IS SOMETHING VITAL MISSING in the HOUSEHOLD of GOD. Something we need to be prepared for tribulation is absent!
J. As we come to the Lord in our tired, broken, dim, and imperfect state, engaging Him in the place of worshipful prayer, the Holy Spirit fills us with supernatural joy, exhilaration, passion, inspiration, unction, contentment, brightness, pleasure, gladness, and delight that is unlike anything else we can experience, and this EXHILARATION is what gives us courage to operate in the beatitudes, and not squelch the fruit of the Spirit in the times of uber-hardship.
In the House of Prayer, we do engage in intercession for all types of needs and issues, but it ALL flows from the atmosphere of exaltation and joy – because that’s the atmosphere of heaven. Exaltation and joy is the power-source to our prayers. And so, I could say, this is the atmosphere we chiefly aim to maintain; but it’s more like, what we focus on entering into.
Beloved, if we’re seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) we are in a realm of joy.“In Your Presence is the fulness of joy…”(Psalm 16:11)
K. This exhilarating, unified strength is precisely what Jesus prayed for His followers to receive when He prayed to the Father in the garden, just before His crucifixion:
Now I come to You… that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves.(John 17:13)
Jesus’ exhortation to the Church is not, “Sit at My feet and be joyful”. His extraordinary invitation is, “Let Me be your joy! Find joy in Who I Am!” In His presence Jesus delights to reveal that He, Himself is our joy!
Though you have not seen Him (with the naked eye) you love Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8)
L. As we respond to His Word, we are filled with supernatural exhilaration, so that have power to resist the carnal inclinations and temptations, and yield to the fruit of the Spirit, the crucifying work that produces Christ-like qualities, and make choices that cultivate first-commandment love. We have power to joyfully agree with God’s glorious purposes for our lives.And, as a result, we can’t help but sing His praise, and magnify Him with our lives.
Over the last several months, the Lord has provided a gracious, and sure way for individuals, families, and fellowships to navigate His judgment upon Houses of Prayer, and His own evangelical household in the United States.
Those who have given themselves to a.) the endless deprecation and devouring of others; or b.) the gamesmanship of defensiveness and pretense, will only have an “expectation of punishment” (Hebrews 10:27) for their determination to avoid this way of the Lord’s mercy and purification.
At the same time, the judgments of the Lord are primarily about the Lord bringing rewards to the Church; rewards that will encourage radical, authentic Christlikeness. Those who have navigated these judgments in the soul-searching spirit of mutual humility, lament and repentance, allowing the Lord to purge their unrighteous ways, can expect to receive great rewards for their intensive labor of dethroning self, and appropriating the way of Christ.
Here are the 10 blessings for navigating the judgments of the Lord under the deep, purifying grace of the Lord:
1. The joy-filled blessing of beholding the Lord in the beauty of His holiness. With our sensors “cleansed”, we are able to behold Him with great perception, and tenderness of spirit.
2. The blessing of the fearless spirit that comes from having been clothed with the preeminent fear of the Lord. If our hearts are rooted in the fear of the Lord, we become confident, and emboldened in every other context. We know Who is holding all the cards. And we tremble at His perfect authority to bring those who are playing games with His righteousness, into alignment to the sovereign majesty of His Son.
3. The blessing of the unassailable conscience that comes from walking with Him in the light. Peace abounds within those who know they have been brought to lowest of lows – having let the Spirit illuminate and purge the deepest of their wicked ways.
4. The blessing of increased Christlikeness. As we submit to crucifixion of self, we become unhindered in our attainment of Christlikeness. We are fully liberated from impediments to the formation of His character and power within us.
5. The blessings that are attached to all 8 of the Beatitudes. (You couldn’t navigate the judgments of these last few months with the Lord without touching all 8 of the dynamics of Matthew 5:3-12)
6. The blessing of a clean conscience that comes from having built humble, loving relationships upon the redemptive grace of the Lord, and not upon law, pretense, or the fear of man.
7. The blessing (and honor) of increased authority in the place of intercessory partnership with the Lord.
8. The blessing of “witness”, knowing that the way you and your company navigated the judgments of the Lord is an example to others about the way to respond to future judgments of the Lord.
9. The blessing of “witness” (part 2), knowing that the way you and your company navigated the judgments of the Lord is a testimony to the perfect, good, and just leadership of the Lord.
10. The blessing and pleasure of living in vibrant righteousness; knowing your heart, mind, emotions, behavior and relationships are being aligned to the right order of the King, and are fully alive to the purposes of God in this hour.
The question remains: Why would any follower of Jesus Christ (much less any leader within the Body of Christ), see the judgments of Jesus Christ, and choose the route that Jesus Christ DIDN’T choose – namely to “save self” – and thus forfeit the glorious rewards that come from being purely, and wholeheartedly aligned with Jesus Christ?
Here’s one more list of “Ten Things” surrounding the Lord’s current judgment of the House of Prayer. Each of these values has been established by the Lord, not only in the scriptures, but also via life-applied truth that has seen the marvelous Kingdom fruit of such emphases. Our House is asking the Spirit of the Lord to give us the grace to remain plumb-lined to these vital New Testament dynamics.
As a part of the orthodox, apostolic confessing, Bible-believing Church, we believe the Lord is calling our House of Prayer (All Nations House of Prayer Southwest) to press into these 10 realities without reservation, apology, or pretense:
1. In all that we are, and do, we exalt the God/Man, Christ Jesus as the priority of our duties. Above, and beyond all, it is the revelation of “Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2) that has power to pierce the heart of sinful men, and fulfill the mission of our Lord’s great commission. This is also known as the ministry of the forerunner; the friends of the Bridegroom. This priority entails living faithful lives that are established upon the “first commandment”: “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength.” (Luke 10:27)
2. Jesus calls us to bear our cross every day, unto His increase, and His return. “He must increase. And I must decrease.” (John 3:30) This means cultivating a tangible lifestyle of fulfilling Jesus’ most ubiquitous invitation into His Kingdom: “If anyone would be My disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23) This requires a preeminent love for the Person of Jesus Christ, that requires then, the subjugation of self to the increase of His glory, and dominion in our lives, and secondly in our ministries.
3. The Lord is a judge. And He justly, compassionately, and with great redemptive power judges His household (1 Peter 4:17), for the sake of our good, and (most importantly) the purification of His Son’s Bride. The corporate judgments of the Lord, are invitations to corporate repentance. This is the plenary message of the book of the prophet Joel.
4. We are called to sacrificially love, and mutually edify other praying, Spirit-filled, cross-bearing believers and communities, unto His increase, and the fulfillment of His great commission.
5. We are to operate by the full, Biblical, powerful leadership of the Holy Spirit. This includes relying upon His grace for evangelism, prophetic words, signs, wonders, mutual accountability, forgiveness, living Sermon on the Mount lifestyles, and walking in the light with humility toward one another.
6. We are called to engage in worshipful, intercessory partnership with Jesus, the Great Intercessor, unto His righteousness being established on the earth. We are also called to encourage churches and New Testament fellowships into the priorities of perpetual corporate prayer, meditating on the Word, with singing, and making melody in our hearts together for His glory.
7. We believe the scriptures (both Old and New Testaments) tell us it is wise and vital for believers to pray for the salvation of Israel and the Arabic speaking peoples in the land.
8. All Nations House of Prayer Southwest is specifically commissioned to intercede first, for the Lord’s Intended noble destiny for the Native peoples of the Southwest, and then the destiny of other people groups in the Southwestern United States.
9. We are called to live fruitful lives that stem from the gospel, that express themselves in vibrant righteousness (Psalm 37:6, and Daniel 12:3). These lives include walking in open, humble integrity, living the Sermon on the Mount, compassionately caring for each other – especially the least, and the overlooked; operating in contrition toward others, testifying of the beauty of Jesus, and offering our sin-cursed world covenant hope re: all matters of personal, relational, and social morality.
10. We engage in these mandates under the glorious weight of the fear of the Lord. This lifestyle, and these values are privileges that the one, true and living, holy God grants us to live in by His Spirit, and by His daily grace.
Over this long, last year of reflection, revelation and reverberation from the collapse of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, the Lord has faithfully led me, my wife, and our All Nations household through months of intentional confession, weeping, listening, repentance, lament and contrition. It’s been our “in house” Joel Assembly.
While it is important to understand the dynamics of how the organization, and individual leaders sinned against God and others, it is ESSENTIAL that we bring our own selves into His cleansing light, to purge us of our own sins, and the strong, endemic inclination to “jump out of the number”. I share in IHOP’s sins. I share in her abuses. When I can say that, AND understand WHY I’m saying that, I am free to walk in the light, as He is in the light. His light doesn’t shame me. His light is able to be “true life” to me – all of me.
At the same time, if I am not willing to walk in the light and let Him illuminate my sinful ways, I have no business dialoguing about the sins of others within the organization… Jesus condemned this haughty, critical spirit as “the blind leading the blind”. (Matthew 15:14)
With this in mind, here are 10 places where the Lord has specifically humbled me into honest confession, and repentance, so that I can heal, engage the process of renewing my heart and mind, and (where God permits) help others to do the same.
1. I let the hope of elevating “self”, and cultivating relationship with prominent personalities dissuade me from embracing, living, and teaching the the crucified life.
2. On too many occasions, I did not listen to others; and didn’t make space for them to simply and purely share, emote, weep, etc. re: their cognitive dissonance re: IHOP – because it was IHOP.
3. Too often I attached more weight to the narratives of those who had “achieved platform status” than those that didn’t. (That’s called idolatry.)
4. Too often I was more interested in defending a beloved organization than simply, and faithfully championing God’s best for the individual souls being shaped by that organization.
5. Too often I accepted IHOP’s Prophetic History stories because either it was Mike who was telling it, and “Mike wouldn’t fudge the truth”, or I simply wanted the specific story to be true. I didn’t apply the same rigor to these stories that I do to many other notable prophetic words.
6. I lived, cultivated, and taught a casual, latte-sipping, attitude about serving as a “priest” before the supremely holy God of 300 trillion galaxies.
7. I succumbed to the lie that a ministry could routinely injure a few people and families, and still be achieving great good for the purposes of God.
8. I let the IHOP model of prayer crimp my prayer-life; pruning me from equally needed prayers of confession, lament, repentance, and contrition.
9. I let go of my circumspection, and stopped objecting to where I was experiencing the white, nationalist, male, 21c American cultural lens, because it was IHOP.
10. I’m letting the Holy Spirit show me whatever 10 is; and 11, and 12… as He graciously brings light to my own soul.
In 1983 Leonard Ravenhill wrote: “There’s going to come an awakening. God Almighty doesn’t care if He sends America bankrupt. He doesn’t care if we have to stand in bread lines. He doesn’t care if our automobiles rust because we have no gasoline… The greatest impediment to this (awakening) will be a Church who refuses to give themselves to prayer and repentance.”
Awakening is a God thing. In our carnal, disengaged state we believers will sleep (and sleep and sleep…) It requires a supernatural response to the Word of the Lord for a soul to be awakened and remain awakened in Christ.
Awakening is also a Church thing. The world can’t wake up. Only those alive in Christ can wake up. The world is dead in their sins and trespasses. The New Testament call to wake up is to the covenant people of God who have had their souls dulled and weighed down by the paradigms, narratives and thinking of the flesh; thoughts that don’t stimulate faith, first-commandment love and the fear of the Lord in our hearts. This happens naturally in a fallen world, and at different times happens to all of us.
Waking up for a believer entails the same response to the Lord as being raised from the dead does for the unbeliever.
• Being Stirred by the Word of the Lord
• Responding with Repentance
• Being Filled with the Spirit
• Taking Up Our Cross
As the Church is awakened, she finds her Spirit-empowered voice:
A. The intercessory voice we use to bring the lost before the throne of God’s grace in prayer.
B. The prophetic voice that arrests the slumbering and those endangered by the crossless spirit of this age.
C. The evangelistic voice that makes clear the powerful message of the gospel, and has the power to raise the dead.
The fact of the matter is, these “voices” all have as their singular, magnificent obsession, a Man; a crucified, resurrected, Jewish God/Man. The declaration and acclamation of this beautiful Man is the ruling passion and preoccupation of awakened voices. EVERY TIME! EVERYTHING ELSE is a shadow, and an expendable extra to the increase of His glory.
Here’s the trick: (And in today’s politically supercharged culture it IS a trick) Don’t let someone (no matter how prominent and/or popular) wake you up to a SHADOW rather than THE ONE WHO is casting the shadow. Our waking up is to HIM – and nothing else; not political power; not deep spiritual insight; not even justice for the poor.
The Holy Spirit is wholly invested in waking us up to HIM. The Bride belongs to the Bridegroom. He’s the One (and the only One) you want to wake up to. There’s more than enough of Him to wake up to to keep us engaged and enthralled – for eternity.
The truth of the matter is, none of us are as “awakened” as we can be. In Christ, there’s always more to be awakened to. He’s that big.
The book of Revelation shows us how the mature apostle John was “awakened” to a new dimension of awe and fear and love for His “friend”, Jesus. Although John had watched Him heal the sick, feed thousands and refute the wisest teachers of his day; although John himself performed miracles in Jesus’ Name; although John was an eye-witness to His crucifixion – felt the earth-quake under his feet – and even walked into his Friend’s empty grave; when Revelation 1 happened to him John still fell “as though dead” at His feet.
There’s no shame in waking up to more of Jesus. Ever. The only shame is for us to assume that we are fully awake to Him and Who He is.
Come. Let’s let the Holy Spirit awaken us, all the more, to the glory of Who He is.
11 Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we first believed. 12 The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let’s rid ourselves of the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let’s behave properly as in the day… 14 (Let’s) put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 13:11-12,13,14)
JSB • May 2, 2022
POST-SCRIPT Living revelation of the beauty of Jesus is THE vital (Matthew 25:3) oil our hearts need in this age. More than a call to believe the right theological truths about Jesus, this is a call to a lifestyle that cultivates an adoring, faithful heart, that’s been awakened to His beauty.
Without being saturated with revelations of the truth and majesty of Jesus, our hearts will be vulnerable to…
the compromising lies of demons,
the rage of humanism,
hostile self-determination,
self-insulating pride,
phobic suspicion,
idolatrous worship,
shame-filled pretense,
and incessant (hellish) condemnation.
These are the true, toxic threats to our culture; dynamics that plague every human heart; liberal, conservative, apolitical, monk, wealthy and poor…
And there’s only one solution: the daily application of the revelation of the Person of Jesus that engenders first-commandment love, and self-crucifying fidelity.
Not a better argument, a more popular opinion, or a more detached and objective spirit…
ONLY life-activated exhilaration over the magnificence of Jesus will keep our hearts alive and loyal to Him through this turbulent hour.
SPIRIT WORD & CROSS 