“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am.” (John 17:24)
The Lord is committed to His Bride being WITH HIM WHERE HE IS. (John 17:24) This petition from Jesus, is God asking God for you and I to walk in covenant fidelity with Himself. This isn’t merely about Jesus asking the Father for us to be seated next to Him at a wedding banquet, as uber-glorious as that reality is. It’s ALSO about us living submitted to, and aligned to all the ways of our Bridegroom-King.
Jesus has already pledged to be WITH US, EVEN TO THE ENDS OF THE AGE. (Matthew 28:20) If we are born-again, our Savior-King is faithfully with us in ALL circumstances: heartache, loneliness, affliction, persecution, poverty, abundance, applause, victory and judgment.
What Jesus is seeking, is for our hearts to be filled with divine might, insight, and passion to not be put off by all the noise and the shrapnel of the world, and find our place in the literal Presence of the good Shepherd-King Himself.
And not only this, but to also understand the nuances of His heart. We aren’t with Him as mere servants. We’re with Him as beloved friends, compatriots, allies – indeed as those who are betrothed to this beautiful resurrected, Jewish Man, Who is ordained of the Father to rule the nations of the earth. He wants us maritally yoked with Himself – meaning, that we share in the same authority, vision, thoughts, emotions, strategies, and spirit that He lives in, knowing that our destiny is inextricably linked to Him, and His way in the cosmos.
Right now, what is CHIEFLY on the heart of the Anointed-King are two thoughts:
1. “WHAT IS YOUR WILL FATHER?”
AND,
2. “WHERE IS MY BRIDE? WHAT KIND OF ZEAL, AND FEAR, AND NEED, AND FAITH IS SHE WALKING WITH? IS SHE WITH ME, AS I MOVE ON THE EARTH? IS SHE WALKING IN LOVE LIKE I AM? LOVE TOWARD HUMANITY, AND CHIEFLY LOVE TOWARDS ME?”
Family of God, we cannot BE WITH HIM WHERE HE IS without talking to Him in what He is doing in our lives, and in our world. And we won’t truly be all present to Him without dialoguing with Him about the real mysteries, falsehoods, temptations, and hopes that storm our hearts.
What does this mean practically? John 17:24 is Jesus inviting His Bride into the prayer. This is how, and much of where we ARE WITH HIM WHERE HE IS. Our King is first a Son, Who ever lives to intercede. (Hebrews 7:25) And, the fact of the matter is, we won’t align our hearts to His, on the run – or in a 90 minute Sunday morning experience, an altar call, a 15-minute devotional reading, or even a men’s group Bible study. These are all VERY GOOD things. But unless we’re in the sacred, focused, Word-centered space of honest, vulnerable conversation with Jesus; where we can hear His distinct Voice addressing distinct issues and needs in our personal lives, we won’t know the deep, authentic strength He wants to give us, so that we’re not moved, or swept up in the epic rage that screeches around us.
Beloved. HEAVEN HAS NO BACK-UP PLAN FOR PRAYER. If we thoroughly see the need for us to be close to Him through great seasons of tribulation, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR INTIMACY WITH HIM.
Jesus says: “Stay close to Me, as I move to save, judge, deliver, rebuke, encourage and dance. Watch, and honor what I do. I’m not lost. I’m keeping perfect pace with the Father. And We’re winning on the earth. Ha! (Yes, He laughs… Psalm 2:4) It’s not even a fair fight… MY BRIDE, I WANT YOU WITH ME, WHERE I AM.”
____________________ JSB • March, 2026
Family. Would you be willing to help us financially? All Nations House of Prayer Southwest is committed to meeting the unique spiritual needs of this hour, and a portion of the hunger of our culture to have holy space where individuals, families, and leaders may encounter the living Voice of the Father.
What If the Covenant People of God Prayed Isaiah 1 for Ourselves?
Today (Wednesday, January 14, 2026) Franklin Graham is calling our nation to a day of humility and prayer. And while I am glad for any call for the Church to pray, most of us won’t. It’s not been our way. Ardent, corporate prayer not our priority. Most of us will not gather. (Most of us won’t really pray by ourselves either.) What we might do is think about prayer – or be glad that one of our kind is giving a nod to something that sounds like stuff in the Bible. We might even do a podcast about prayer… But we won’t really cry out – not us, ourselves. We like the rhetoric of Joel. But the reality of Joel remains distasteful to us.
It has been my observation that when we have national rallies like this, we rarely humble ourselves about our own stuff. We’ll confess, and make moral pronouncements about other people’s stuff – the pagans; and the liberals. And we’ll tell each other that we need to hate the stuff that “they’re” doing, more. We’ll confess that the godless in our nation have turned their backs on God. We’ll encourage each other to be more intolerant of the evil in others. And then we’ll go home, consoling ourselves that we’re good. We’re on God’s side. And He is pleased with us.
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…
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And it’ll never occur to us that God wanted to talk to us about our idolatry. We’ll ignore the fact that He’s purging His Bride of our perverted definition of “greatness”. We won’t abase ourselves to repent of our lust for power. We won’t listen deeply enough to hear how he wants to cleanse us of our pride; our racial animosity; our political carnality and compromise; our hypocrisy; our winking at sin in our camp, and straining at a gnat in our adversaries’ camp. It’ll escape our notice that the Lord is grieved over the way we’re misrepresenting His Kingdom. We’ll not let the Spirit of the Lord trouble us about our malicious conspiracies, or our pro-militaristic narratives, our lack of compassion for the alien, or our deceitful and redacted nationalism, or the viral spiritual and sexual abuse that’s rampaging our own household. We don’t need to seek the Lord for any of those issues. Those are settled. Red ink. In the book.
But what if we DARED to really pray today?
What if we dared to cry out to the Lord for the full weight of our evil, pretentious and unrighteous ways? What if we agreed to the worst of what could be true about us, instead of fighting to prove the best about ourselves? What if we went deeper than the devil wants us to go? What if we made ourselves nothing on His threshing floor?
What if we opened our Bibles to Isaiah 1, shredded our religious spirit, looked into the mirror of the perfect law of liberty, and confessed everything that we see in this picture? How would the Lord view such sackcloth?
What if we prayed from this prophetic scripture with penetrating honesty and no thought of saving self:
O Lord, we humble ourselves before Your glory.
You have nourished us in every conceivable way – and yet we have rebelled against You. (v.2)
The ox and the donkey knows its honor, but we don’t know, and we haven’t even considered how we have spurned You. (v.3)
We are indeed, a sinful people. A people laden with iniquity, A brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! We have forsaken the Lord. We have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. We have turned away backward. (v.4)
We are filled with revolution. The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. (v.5)
From the sole of our foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment. (v.6)
On account of our faithlessness, our nation is desolate, devoured and burned with fire. (v.7)
We are a besieged culture; we’ve neglected the weeds within ourselves; and the vines of the enemy have grown up around us, and ensnared us. (v.8)
Unless You, the Lord of Hosts had been kind to us, our household would have become like the neighbors of Lot, and our country would have become like Gomorrah. (v.9)
Indeed, we have embraced the rulers of Sodom. And we ourselves are a “deeply rebellious people”. (v.10)
Forgive us for bringing You trite, religious platitudes, when You’ve wanted – Yes, “deserved” our very souls. (v.11)
We’ve come before You, time and again, with our assemblies, our conferences, our endeavors, and carelessly, thoughtlessly trampled around Your holy courts. Forgive us holy Father. (v.12)
We have refused to see Your displeasure. We’ve cared little for our great iniquity as we’ve come into Your sacred place. (v.13)
We’ve altogether blinded ourselves from what You hate; what You’re troubled by, and what You’re weary of bearing re: us, and our ways. (v.14)
When we spread out our hands before You, we have pretended that they were not filled with blood. Nor have we considered how You continue to hide Yourself from us, even when we bring our many petitions before you. We’ve not “read the room” – Your courtroom. (v.15)
We have not washed ourselves, and made ourselves clean; We have not put away the evil of our doings from before Your eyes. We’ve not ceased to do evil. (v.16)
We’ve not learned to do good; We’ve not sought Your definition, or manifestation of justice, We’ve not rebuked the oppressor; We have not defended the poor, the historically oppressed, nor have we cried out for the alien when they are unfairly treated. (v.17)
We have not even come to You, to hear the ways of Your heart. We have not reasoned with You. We’ve not let You show us the intense stain of our sins. We’ve not let You cleanse us. We’ve instead covered ourselves in fig-leaves. (v.18)
We have neither been willing, nor obedient to counsel with You. (v.19)
We’ve not considered that You are a God who ultimately brings the sword, and wrath upon those who continue to refuse and rebel. (v.20)
We have not considered how our faith has turned to harlotry. We’ve not acknowledged that our own righteousness, now embraces the ways of murder. (v.21)
We have allowed ourselves to become polluted, and our the power of Your Kingdom we have altogether watered down. (v.22)
We’ve championed thieves, insurrectionists, and extortionists. They do not care a lick for the “have-nots”, nor those broken by the curse in our midst. (v.23)
We’ve not affirmed that You are the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of America; a God Who ultimately takes vengeance upon His enemies. (v.24)
We’ve lived in blithe disconnect that Your fierce wrath may ever be aimed at us, or that Your hand could be turned against us, to remove our own dross. (v.25)
We’ve not wanted Your way of redemption and restoration. We’ve allowed ourselves to be distracted from Your vision of what a righteous, and faithful city looks like. (v.26)
We’ve cut deals with the way in which You establish redemption and justice within a people; How You build all righteousness upon radical penitence and thorough repentance. (v.27)
We have not promoted the fact that You are a God Who destroys transgressors and sinners. We have winked at the reality that You consume all those who forsake the Lord and His ways. (v.28)
We have not been ashamed of our many sins. (v.29)
We have incorrectly plodded along in our convention, believing we didn’t need the water of Your Word; (v.30) the piercing truth about our ways.
We have mocked the Words of Your own prophets who have looked at our adulterous ways and decreed, “The Word of the Lord will come like a spark and shall burn the work of the strong like tinder, and no one shall quench the fire of the Lord.” (v.31)
Father. Let our cry come before You. Humble us. Break us. Have mercy on us. Forgive us. Purge us. Establish us with Your steadfast lovingkindness. And fill us with a contrite spirit of truth, and peace, and holiness. For the glory of Your Son, alone, Father.
And what if some of us, so burdened by the depth of our rebellion, impatience and betrayal of God, stayed before the Lord through the night – trembling before His holiness – shaken by the true image of the wrath we deserve – “undone” like Isaiah. And what if a thousand – one hundred – or even two dozen preachers climbed back into the pulpit next Sunday – disheveled, messed up, tumbled, but touched by the Commander of the Lord’s armies. What would the Lord do with the fear of the Lord that burned in their words? What would He ignite in our family? What if that became the fire that were cast across our nation in this hour?
“Jesus! We’re here by Your mercy; wholly abandoned for Your increase, alone”.
Five things every American practically needs in order to navigate this hour of enflamed alarm, and warring perspectives on reality:
1. YOU NEED JESUS. If you don’t know Jesus as your King, your Lover, and your Savior, nothing else will make sense of our world, until you do. Jesus was not only “the reason for the (Christmas) season”, He is the reason for all of what is happening all around us. Everything that swirls around us is evidence that we NEED Jesus. 100%. 100% of the time. We need the One Who is “Immanuel” (with us); the One Who called Himself “the Truth”; and the ONLY One Who can Redeem us from the curse that rages all around us – AND within us. We also need the One Who will breathe the Holy Spirit into our wandering, luke-warm souls. What’s more, for those who have ears to hear, everything whirling around us is evidence that Jesus WANTS TO BE WITH US; AN INTIMATE, ESSENTIAL PART OF OUR EVERY DAY LIVES!! (Yeah, I know – wonder of wonders!)
2. YOU NEED THE BIBLE – the Word of God, written – dependable truth, on how to live life, with the vision of One Who transcends all human life, gives meaning to to life, and is zealous to lead us through life. On every page of the Bible there is a Man, a Divine Man Who is looking back at you. To read the Bible, and yield to its encouragement, exhortation and direction is to find life. There is, indeed, LIFE in the Word.
3. YOU NEED A CROSS. Martin Luther said, “Nothing pleases the devil more than a Christian with a Bible, but no cross.” The cross humbles us. It tells us that every one of us needs to be redeemed from the power of the curse, at every level of our lives. Our cross is what Jesus gives to everyone who says “Yes” to His Presence in their lives. It’s what empowers us through our reading of the Word into being transformed by the Word. It is the essential daily instrument that conforms us out from under the power of the curse, into the image of our King.
4. YOU NEED A PRAYER ROOM; a time and place to dialogue with the Lord. Jesus is the Word-speaking God. He does His transformational, and leadership work by dialoguing with His disciples, and friends. Prayer is where we share our hearts, emotions, opinions, fears, joys and dreams with the ONLY ONE Who is capable of giving us perfect guidance through the storms of life. Prayer is where we invite Him to reign in, and through our lives with supernatural power – power that exceeds abundantly beyond all that we can ask or believe. (Aside: for one hundred reasons, it’s all the more vital that we have times and places of corporate prayer… not only church service, but actually engaging in the give and take of corporate, holy listening, and speaking with the God of the universe.)
5. YOU NEED “SAFE OTHERS” who are walking with Jesus, the Word, the cross, and in prayer; a group of followers – fellow cross-bearers – who will walk with you; dialogue with you; speak the truth in love to you; encourage you; know you; cherish you; and love Jesus WITH you – even more than they love you, yourself.
I’ll be blunt. (Hopefully, you’ll hear this in love.) Without these five elements in this raging world, you AND I are ill-equipped to withstand the internal temptations, and external deceptions that are going to assail our lives in 2026. The Living, Speaking, Breathing, Redeeming, Guiding, Loving Presence of the resurrected, God/Man Christ Jesus is THE ONLY WAY you will have strength to survive the storms that are buffeting our world.
This is 100%, bonafide, time-tested, universal truth.
A Sober Warning from Scripture, and An Ardent Prayer for the Church in America As Our Uncircumspect Defense of Trump Beguiles Us Deeper Into Unrighteousness
As the days, the weeks, and the months roll on, and MAGA continues to do headstands to sweep the ongoing eruption of evidence regarding Donald Trump’s long, sick record of sexual predation under the rug, it has become tragically obvious: there is nothing that can be found in this man that will restrain our family’s cultish devotion to him. A vast swath of American evangelicalism remains slavishly entrenched in the fog of a very great delusion – defending and championing “Trump” in all circumstances. The facts, contradictions, dozens of credible accusations, and even the quotes from Trump himself, no longer matter. All statements about Trump are measured in terms of whether they paint this one man with positive glory, or negative pall. And negative pall, of any manner, need not apply. All forms of judicious objection are dispatched with assumption, and usually an unhealthy dose of condemnation. We do not suffer one word of criticism being uttered against our President. But we don’t mind issuing many words of criticism against those who bring criticism.
Day after week, and episode after Tweet, our family busies herself explaining away ludicrous, hate-filled, boastful and self-incriminating statements, and executive orders from a man who has lived his entire life in blatant opposition to the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. We explain away his maniacal aggression and pride. We fabricate story-lines to aid his ludicrous assertions about everything from culture, to religion, to economics to diplomacy. And when his pronouncements become too far-fetched (which happens with greater and greater frequency) we’ve become masters of turning a deaf ear, and a blind eye to the tumult and dysfunction that warps this man’s soul.
We spare no energy to keep this con-man’s golden image creditable. We have become the backstage enablers of Elmer Gantry.
The crux of the problem with this level of obeisance is two-fold. 1.) The redactions we prop up shape, and reinforce our family’s definition of what the anointing of God looks like upon a person, and/or this is how the Spirit of God moves in government; 2.) The way we defend and champion this man and his narratives tells our whole world, “this is what the Kingdom of God is like.'”
And so, when Trump announces that “I myself am peace.” (November 1, 2024 • Warren, MI) and the church remains silent, the world hears our consent: “The ways of Trump are what peace, and achieving peace look like in God’s Kingdom.”
When those around Trump claim that he is “saving Christianity”, and even “saving God” Himself, and our evangelical family give these statements a dismissive pass, we are tacitly declaring, “Our God needs aggressive, bold leaders like Trump to bully others into the honor and worship He is deserving of.”
When he and his administration rewrite U.S. history to diminish the truth about our “Christian nation’s” sins against blacks, and native Americans etc., our world hears, “Humility, repentance and contrition are not necessary to the establishment of a righteous nation.” Note that what’s of greatest concern to this Christian Nationalist argument is the glory of the nation – not the integrity of the Bride.
When he and his sycophants backtrack on exposing the truth about Epstein‘s human-trafficking ring, and millions of Christians, and Christian leaders ignore the cries of hundreds of sex-slave victims, while defending Trump from the plethora of incriminating evidence building against him, we are nakedly telling the world, “The Kingdom of God is OK with an individual engaging in sexual predation, chronic adultery, and even child prostitution, as long as he/she is fighting for our definition of “the well-being of our nation’.”
Our loud, confrontative, veneration of this man is the greatest subversion of the ideals of Jesus’ Kingdom in our generation, and one of the most consequential in the history of the Church in America.
However, the Lord has not been silent throughout this hour of hypocrisy and betrayal. The King of the universe has, in fact, been steadfastly judging, and disciplining a wandering Bride through this season. The Spirit has unveiled sordid detail after detail in this man’s character – patiently exposing the dissimulations between his unrighteous ways, and the righteous ways of God’s Kingdom. The length of this process has actually allowed for the fruit of our own unrighteous ways to become more and more evident to us – so we might see where our hearts, and arguments deviate from the way of our King, repent, This is what the judgments of the Lord are designed to do: a.) to show us the ways of righteousness (Isaiah 26:9), and to b.) increasingly pressure us into our own need to dialogue with the Lord (Isaiah 1:18), to c.) lead us to repentance (Revelation 2:21), and d.) to help us transform and renew our minds (Romans 12:2) bringing our thoughts and values into alignment with the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). We can either humble ourselves and wholly walk with intimate fidelity through His process of judgment in this midnight hour, or we can continue to make no room for repentance (Hebrews 12:17), bringing more and more dishonor to His Name, and risk losing our inheritance, being rejected by our King upon His return. This is a bonafide, Bible-based threat that looms before our evangelical family after a full, heated decade of adulterating ourselves to this man’s political power.
The New Testament is filled with references to those whose radical love for Jesus becomes diluted by other sanctities. We begin to fasten our allegiance to the promised results of lawlessness, and gradually, episode after episode, our devotion to the intensive, Spirit-empowered pathways of the Lord grows cold (Matthew 24:12). Eventually, we find ourselves drawing near to Him with our lips (Matthew 15:8), while the rest of our “selves” (dreams, expectations, strength, will, zeal and logic), remain enamored elsewhere, increasingly desensitized to the transcendent rhema of our King. The result is, our perspective regarding the health of our own faith becomes distorted, and our walk with Jesus becomes significantly out of step with what He, Himself is saying about our lives. This was the tragic condition of five of the seven churches that Jesus addressed in Revelation 2 and 3. (See Revelation 2:4; 2:14; 2:20; 3:1; 3:16-17). And it’s an arresting theme that is salted throughout Jesus’ gospel teachings.
In both Matthew 7:23, and Matthew 25:12, Jesus lays out two scenes at the end of the age when He will have bombshell confrontations with those who fully anticipate joining Him in eternity. He will end these conversations with the terrifying Words: “Depart from Me. I do not know you.”
These will be the most horrible face-to-face encounters in the chronicles of humanity.
“Depart from Me. I do not know you.”
Can you hear the deafening reverberation among the angels, and all of creation as the Lord of Life painfully, and with perfect justice, turns away church-member after elder, after prophet with this verdict?
Friends. It’s extremely wise for us to slow down, and consider these warnings from Jesus’ own lips. How does He mean for these alarming, future events to equip us to live soberly in the matters which are before us today, in 2026?
Notice. Jesus doesn’t make this pronouncement upon those who a.) don’t know Him, who b.) don’t seem to believe in Him, or c.) desire to be with Him. Jesus doesn’t say, “Depart from Me, you never knew the right things about Me.” He makes these determinations to those who have been doing the stuff in His Name (Matthew 7:23), and in the face of those who genuinely want to be with the Bridegroom. (Matthew 25:12)
In both of the Matthew texts, JESUS TURNS AWAY THOSE WHOM HE DOESN’T KNOW. This phrase may have one or two meanings. Both of them are terrible.
The first meaning of this statement could apply to those who, in spite of their rhetoric, their theological assertions, and/or their vaunted Christian ministries, actually end up thinking, acting, and looking nothing like Jesus. In essence, Jesus is saying, “I don’t recognize Myself in you.” These ones don’t value loving unconditionally. They don’t forgive. They force their own way. They don’t prize the fruit of the Spirit. They fudged on the holiness they could have enjoyed. They refuse to walk in the deep ways of lowliness. They never cultivated a love for the Father more than everything else in this world. Jesus is saying, “I honestly don’t see Me reflected in the way you live your life.”
The second potential meaning is even more intrinsic and personal than the first. Jesus’ pronouncement is saying, the ones He’s rejecting neglected to make themselves known and vulnerable to His holy and gracious gaze. They never discovered the wisdom of coming to Him with a broken spirit. They never applied the Words of the prophets. They refused to expose their baseline selves to the light of His purifying love. They devalued lives that were intimately pliable, and dependent upon the “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23) mercies of the Lord.
In essence, Jesus is saying to the ones He’s rebuffing, “You withheld your self from Me. You did not bare your soul, your sin, your proclivity to sin and unrighteousness to Me. You never let Me in to recalibrate your carnal way of thinking and treating others. You kept returning an eye for an eye – living according to the hostile, anti-meek, unholy spirit of the world that you were born in. You gave yourself to conspiracies, bitterness, idolatries, and self-exonerating rhetoric, and never let Me change the root-loyalties of your heart.”
Friends. These texts should trouble us to prayer, and a boat-load of honest counsel with the Spirit of internal Truth. … Selah ….
Am I saying that anyone who continues to defend Trump is doomed to hell? Or am I seeking to divide our Lord’s Bride?
This is what I’m saying. When Jesus breaks into our reality, (Luke 18:8) tells us that He will be looking for bonafide faith within His Bride; one that exalts, and trusts, celebrates, and looks like the values that exist in the heart of our King.
The Bible calls that which is not of faith, “sin”. (Romans 14:23) And all sin, is unrighteousness – it is contrary to the character, the ways, and the values of our King.
This is what Ephesians tells us about this unrighteousness. “Sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness or foolish talk, or vulgar joking, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that NO sexually immoral or impure or greedy person, which amounts to an idolater, HAS AN INHERITANCE IN THE KINGDOM OF CHRIST AND GOD. SEE THAT NO ONE DECEIVES YOU with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them; for you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), as you TRY TO LEARN WHAT IS PLEASING TO THE LORD. Do not participate in the useless deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them.” (Ephesians 5:3-11)
Ephesians also informs us that the Lord Himself is actively removing this disqualifying unrighteousness from His redeemed people – His Bride – through “the washing of water with the Word” . (Ephesians 5:26)
(1 John 3:6-8, 10) tells us, “No one who remains in Him sins continually; no one who sins continually has seen Him OR KNOWS HIM.Little children, MAKE SURE NO ONE DECEIVES YOU; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous;THE ONE WHO PRACTICES UNRIGHTEOUSNESS IS OF THE DEVIL; for the devil has been unrighteous from the beginning. THE SON OF GOD APPEARED FOR THIS PURPOSE, TO DESTROY THE (unrighteous) WORKS OF THE DEVIL… By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother and sister.”
In light of the vision that’s in the heart of Jesus for us, His Bride, it is supremely wise (Ephesians 5:15-17) for us to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), in order to fastidiously remain true to our King.
As the enemy of our souls continues to tempt us to pitch our faith in Christ, and embrace the wide, forceful ways of unrighteousness, my ardent prayer for myself, and our family is the one the apostle Paul prayed for the saints in ancient Turkey: “We do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” (Colossians 1:9-12)
The potential retribution for our faithlessness is great. But the rewards for our deep, and vibrant faithfulness to Jesus through this hour is immeasurably greater.
9 The LORD is not slow concerning HIS PROMISE, as some regard slowness, but is being PATIENT toward you, because He does not wish for any to PERISH but for all to come to REPENTANCE. 10 But the DAY OF THE LORD will come like a thief; when… the earth and EVERY DEED DONE on it will be LAID BARE… (therefore) WHAT SORT OF PEOPLE SHOULD YOU BE, CONDUCTING YOUR LIVES IN HOLINESS AND GODLINESS, 12 while WAITING FOR and HASTENING THE COMING OF THE DAY OF GOD? … According to His PROMISE, we are WAITING for new heavens and a new earth, in which RIGHTEOUSNESS truly resides. 14 Therefore, DEAR FRIENDS, since you are WAITING FOR these things, STRIVE to be found AT PEACE, WITHOUT SPOT OR BLEMISH, when you COME into HIS PRESENCE. (2 Peter 3:9-14)
The Lord’s preparation of the Church is one of the most overlooked, New Testament dynamics that is (day by day) impacting the people of God right now. Whether we see it or not, the truth is, the closer we get to the return of Jesus, the more the heart and the collective mind of the Bride is being refined to both understand and champion the reign of our King!
Jesus is not coming to “take us home”. If we’re in Christ, we’re already home! He’s coming to rule and reign on the earth, WITH HIS BRIDE IN GLAD-HEARTED CELEBRATION of the way He administrates His Kingdom.
Right now, the Church is still “working the issues out” in our collective thinking. Our narratives are not filled with appreciation for the ways of our King. We don’t esteem the values of meekness, holiness, patience, and mercy-giving the way our King does. In fact, we count much of what He wants to work into our world as foolish, unpractical, and/or too religious. Where Jesus calls us to “serve”, we want to dominate. Where Jesus calls us to “pray”, we want to rush to action with human power. Where Jesus wants to aim at relationship, we want to build laws and structures. This disconnection from Jesus’ mind is what both Peter (here in 2 Peter 3:14), and Paul (in Ephesians 5:26,27) call “spots, wrinkles, and blemishes”. This is where the Bride is operating unlike Christ – where we are not Christlike!
So, how does the Lord bring us into like-mindedness? How does He conform us to His image?How does He cultivate both an understanding and appreciation of the ways of His leadership?
He shapes us by employing two living and active realities. The first are the affairs of 200ish nations, and the pressure points in our own lives. These are actually “grinding bearings” that the Lord uses to drive us to Himself. Where the answers are “out of our reach”, and “beyond our under-standing”, He nonetheless calls us to bring the tension points to Him, in both humility, and honesty. This means that we don’t allow other players to become the primary “shapers” of our narrative. It means that we bring what we see, what we know, and what we feel, into the “tent of meeting” with Him, and allow Him to illuminate our minds, and our hearts about both the facts of the storylines, and the issues they create in our own lives. He may or may not want to tell us the details about the nefarious activities of globalists. But He will most certainly want to talk to us about how these true or false reports are shaping our trust in Him, and our love toward others. Make sense?
The second living and active reality that He’s using to shape the Bride is His own Word.
Paul writes: “He (Jesus) sanctifies her, and cleanses her by THE WASHING OF WATER WITH THE WORD, that He might present to Himself the Church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” (Ephesians 5:26-27)
Jesus uses both the crises in our world, and our daily, disciplined commitment to engage Him in prayerful dialogue with His Word, and in this kinetic mixture, He shows us how He leads, how He redeems, how He analyzes, how He rewards, and how He purges humanity, and the human spirit. And then He calls you and I, His Bride, to agree in prayer with Him about the ways and the intents of His government.
It’s in this turbulent forge that our Bridegroom King forms and purifies our thoughts, responses, attitudes, countenance, and will. As we bring our outrage, passivity, temptations, and promises in the context of these worldly, national and personal crises into His courts, with truthfulness, a spirit of yieldedness, a dash of expectation, and a will that is prepared to give Him the gift of repentance, He is faithful to remove the impediments (the spots, wrinkles, and blemishes) so that His authority can freely work in, and through our lives. This is how we, the Bride, are conformed to His Image. This is what it means to be aligned to the “true righteousness” (v.13) that He will manifest on the earth when the fulness of His Kingdom comes. We do this by faith, now, in anticipation of it fully coming when He comes. And this is, according to 2 Peter 3:12, (wonder of wonders) how we “hasten the coming” of that Day – His Day – when He rules in our physical presence!
Until that Day comes, 2 Peter 3 tells us to “wait” three times! This is an exhortation to a.) abide in, and not lose touch with this truth, b.) to walk in growing patience and peaceable confidence in the Lord, and what He is accomplishing, and to c.) give ourselves to these conforming dynamics with abandon.
However, the Kingdom of God is always a paradox. In the context of patiently “waiting”, v.14 also charges us to “strive”. (This paradox keeps us from turning the dynamics of the Lord into a math equation – and keeps us close, and reliant upon the nimble, intimate, breath-by-breath leadership of the Spirit.) It is by the Spirit that we “strive” toward coming to the place of “peace” with the Lord’s Bridal purification process. We are in His more than sufficient Hands. We belong to Him. We are in His care. He knows how to get ahold of us. He has our number. He knows how to call us out. He isn’t perplexed about how to bring you, your family, your Bible-study group, your community, and your nation into agreement with His ways. v.14 is the Spirit’s loud encouragement to “TRUST THE KING’S PROCESS!” He will bring us forth, into His Presence, without “spot” or “blemish”; purified; like a sacrificial lamb; ready to be offered up to Him; wholly yielded to His majestic reign.
This is His goal: that we come forth, by His power, united to Him, and each other, loving Him and His ways with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. (Mark 12:30)
This has massive implications for HOW WE “DO CHURCH”. It underscores the vital necessity that we become a people of daily, reliant PRAYER. WITHOUT BEING MUCH IN PRAYER THE BRIDE WILL NEITHER BEHOLD NOR YIELD OUR HEART AND OUR WAYS TO THE LORD’S REFINING WORK. NOR WILL WE LEARN TO WALK IN THE AUTHORITY OF HIS DIVINE ORDER.
This brings us to the other side of the coin. And it is the reason that spurs the apostle Peter to write these injunctions in the first place. Should we neglect, and/or withdraw from Jesus’ capable, prayerful, purifying process; should we instead, give ourselves to spiraling conspiracies, spouting our own opinions, -becoming rigid in our carnal thoughts, we will not come forth in mature love. We will actually come forth with a mutant love – shaped by our world, the devil, and our own corrupt soul. Perhaps, (or perhaps not) filled with “Christian-sounding” rhetoric – but no substance, and no fruit.
When we neglect Jesus’ prayerful, purifying process, and instead, give ourselves to spiraling conspiracies, opinions, and rigid carnal thoughts, we will not come forth in mature love. we will come forth with a mutant love.
The wretched truth of the matter is, when we refuse to give ourselves to His ongoing refining process, we are in essence saying to Jesus: “WE REALLY DON’T LOVE YOUR RULE AND REIGN in our world. We would rather continue to have our own way, under our own power, than have You remove the SPOTS and BLEMISHES from our hearts… We’d rather You NOT do what You want to do to manifest Your vibrant RIGHTEOUSNESS through our lives.”
This is the spirit of antipathy. This is the spirit Peter calls us to “strive” against. This posture will produce endless enmity (and never “PEACE”) in our lives. And, truth-be-told, it is the sentiment, and slant that accounts for SO MUCH of the hostility in the Church today.
Beloved, the Lord is not relenting. He will not let us sleep-walk through the fires that He has kindled in our world. He is a holy-disturber of our “false peace” Who is making every provision for us to be aligned to Himself, in joyful unanimity with His Kingdom.
Let’s go into the place of prayer, and wholly give ourselves to His refining process. Let’s hasten the return of our King!
The Holy Spirit is leading millions of believers around the world to accelerate intercession for Israel, and agree with the eternal promises that He has established with the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
7 Reasons to Pray for Israel
1. We believe the best thing that could happen in the Middle East is for millions of both Jews and Arabs to make covenant with the God of the Bible, through the blood atonement of His Son, Y’shua of Nazareth.
2. When the Lord touches the Jewish people with salvation through their Messiah, the whole earth will be provoked to wonder and receptivity re the unique claims of Y’shua.
3. The Lord is serious about intercession. He wants His own people (the Church) to partner with Him as He accomplishes His promises on the earth. He wants us to read about them in the Word, believe that He wants to do them, and then pray with faith, believing that He will do what He’s promised to do.
4. The more we look into the scriptures and see His heart for Israel (and the Middle East), and the more we understand Israel’s key role in the end times of this age, the more the Church will “purify” ourselves (1 John 3:3) “make ourselves ready” (Revelation 19:7) and “hasten the return” of Y’shua to the land.
5. We pray knowing the hearts of billions are gradually being drawn into intense contro-versy (Jeremiah 25:31) with the Lord re the promises that the Father has made to the Jewish people re His Son, Y’shua of Nazareth.
6. We pray out of respect and gratitude for what our “older brother” (Israel) has endured in order to display the love, the mercy, the faithfulness and the holiness of the Lord.
7. Praying for Israel prepares our hearts to learn how to yield, and trust, and celebrate the reign of a real Jewish Man Whose Kingdom is meant to be established in real human hearts, in preparation for His ultimate expected earthly reign in the Millennium.
NOTE: When we pray for Israel, we’re praying for the Jewish and Arabic-speaking people living in the Promised Land as well the Jewish people living in the nations (the Diaspora).
Scripture Prayers for Israel Listed below are numerous prayers we can confidently pray for Israel that come directly from the Word of God.
1. Father of glory, APPOINT WATCHMEN, who will stand on the walls of Jerusalem, WHO WILL PRAY ALL DAY AND ALL NIGHT. Give them grace to never keep silent.(Isaiah 62:6)2. Father of glory, how shall they hear without a preacher?RAISE UP REACHERS AND SEND THEM FORTH. As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring the glad tidings of good things!” (Romans 10:14-15)
3. Father of glory, POUR ON THE HOUSE OF DAVIDand on the inhabitants of Jerusalem THE SPIRIT OF GRACE AND SUPPLICATION; let them they behold Your Son today whom they pierced. Cause them to mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10)
4. “THE LORD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU [Israel]; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:23-26)
5. Father of glory, speak the Name of Your Son, Y’shua to Israel. “SAY TO THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, ‘SURELY YOUR SALVATION IS COMING… and His work before Him.’”(Isaiah 62:11) 6. Father of glory, ARISE AND HAVE MERCY ON ZION.. SO THE NATIONS SHALL FEAR THE NAME OF THE LORD… build up Zion; appear in Your glory… that a people may praise the LORD. Look down from the height of Your sanctuary… and hear the groaning of the prisoner, release those appointed to death, and declare the name of the LORD Your Son, Y’shua… and His praise throughout Jerusalem… (Psalm 102:13-21)
7. Father of glory, POUR OUT YOUR SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; cause sons and daughters to prophesy. Cause old men to dream dreams, and young men to see visions… Show them wonders in the heavens and in the earth… Turn the sun into darkness, and the moon into blood. Let all of Israel know that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. Assure them that on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance… among the remnant whom You call.” (Joel 2:15-32)
8. Father of glory, cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary… Incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name… because of Your great mercies. O, LORD HEAR! O, LORD FORGIVE! O, LORD LISTEN AND ACT! Do not delay – for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” (Daniel 9:4-19)
9. Father of glory, LET ALL OF ISRAEL SEE THE GLORY OF THE LORD, THE EXCELLENCY OF THEIR GOD.Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God… will come and save you.”Open the eyes of the blind, and unstop the ears of the deaf. Cause the lame to leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb to sing… (Isaiah 35:1-9)
10. Father of glory, for Zion’s sake DO NOT HOLD YOUR PEACE, and for Jerusalem’s sake do not rest, UNITL HER RIGHTEOUSNESS GOES FORTH LIKE BRIGHTNESS… (Isaiah 62:1-2)
11. Father of glory, RAISE UP THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID, which has fallen down… Raise up its ruins, and rebuild it… that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the Gentiles who are called by Your name… (Amos 9:11-12)
12. Father of glory, cause Your backsliding children to return… Remind them that You are married to them… Bring them to Zion.GIVE TO THEM SHEPHERDS AFTER YOUR HEART, who will feed them with knowledge and understanding… (Jeremiah 3:14-17)
13. Father of glory, RELEASE SINGERS THROUGHOUT ISRAEL WHO SHALL SING; FOR THE MAJESTY OF THE LORDand shall cry aloud… glorifying the LORD in the dawning light… Let the ends of the earth hear their songs: “Glory to the righteous!” (Isaiah 24:14-16)
14. Father of glory, LEAVE IN THEIR MIDST A MEEK AND HUMBLE PEOPLE… a remnant of Israel that does no unrighteousness… Cause all of Zion to Sing…rejoice… as You cast out their enemy. O King of Israel… be in their midst… (Zephaniah 3:12-15)
15. Father of glory, SHEPHERD YOUR PEOPLE… the flock of Your heritage. As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, show them wonders. Cause the nations to be ashamed of their might… and to be afraid of the LORD… (Micah 7:14-17)
16. Father of glory, SAVE ALL OF ISRAEL. Cause them to look to You, and be saved… Tell them that You have sworn by Yourself; the Word has gone out of Your mouth in righteousness… Assure them that to You every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath. Let them know that surely in You they have righteousness and strength. (Isaiah 45:17-24)
17. Father of glory, let wisdom and knowledge be the stability of Israel’s times, and the strength of their salvation. Show them that the fear of the LORD is their Messiah’s treasure… Arise, O LORD… CAUSE THEIR EYES TO SEE THEIR KING IN HIS BEAUTY. (Isaiah 33:17)
Instead of Protesting “NO KINGS” This Past Saturday, Our Little House of Prayer Came Before Our King In Prayer and Exaltation. Here’s 10 Things Our King Accomplished During These 3 Hours…
1. Our King amplified His glory and power in the hearts of 100,000 neighbors that we prayed for w/in our 100 mile radius. (One of my favorite times from yesterday was declaring 100 distinct, beautiful qualities about Jesus from the Bible into the atmosphere over our region.)
2. Our King humbled us under a contrite spirit of repentance, and the fear of the Lord, re: His judgments that are upon the earth – and upon all of us.
3. Our Lord filled us with increased zeal to bring ALL of our ways into obedience to His reign. AND He gave us increased power to do so.
4. Our King struck a blow against the rampant principality of rebellion and lawlessness in our hearts, in our relationships, and in our land.
5. Our King filled our hearts with increased tender loyalty to Him and His transcendent ways.
6. Our King manifest His tender mercies toward 100,000 individuals in our region: white, native, brown, young, old, believers, unbelievers, antifa, MAGA, and non-political
7. Our King gave many of us an increased vision of the eternal Kingdom power of prayer that He longs to extend through His Bride, in this age, and the next.
8. Our King fell upon us with a glorious love that fostered deep, humble, first-commandment love, unity.
9. We heard our King tell us that He likes us.
10. Our King prepared our hearts with a grace to bear our cross, and remain fiercely loyal to His heart through the intensity that’s mounting in our nation.
BONUS 11. Our King fortified a crystal clear resolve to take every thought captive against a tyrannical, antiChrist spirit that seeks to prostitute American evangelicalism.
