How do you maintain a fervent love for God when you feel God has let you down. What do you do when you feel God has treated you unfairly, left you unprotected, undefended or abandoned. How do you respond to the seeds that lie within you questioning His love and your lack?

How do you keep the pursuit of God the main thing when you feel that the One you’re in pursuit of has, in someway, short-changed you and left you hanging out to dry? It’s not easy.

I have to admit, been there, done that.

The Life of David

The life of David encourages me. In many ways David faced the very same things I am talking about here. His life as a man after God’s own heart is filled with seasons of abandonment, unmet expectations and unanswered prayers.

Psalm 13:1 “How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?”

 

Psalm 69:1-3 “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in the miry depths, where there is no foothold. I have come into the deep waters; the floods engulf me. I am worn out calling for help; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.

Ever felt like this?

Even though David’s prayers are bold and brutally honest, he never allows his lack nor his circumstances to derail his love and pursuit of God. This is key.

Here are just two responses David gives when things go bad.

Psalm 13:5-6 “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.”

 

Psalm 69:30 “I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.”

Give Thanks

Personally, in the midst of my disappointment I find strength to do one thing: I look for an occasion to give thanks to the Lord and do it. Why? Giving thanks shifts the atmosphere in my heart.

Initially it’s hard, but the more I give thanks the more my mind is renewed and my spirit is refreshed. His love fills my heart and hope and faith are activated. This is exactly what David did.

Here are a few other things I do when I am struggling in this area.

1. I hold fast to knowing that God is love and God is good. I must hold on to these two convictions in every circumstance I face in life. His thoughts and ways are higher than mine. I trust who He is and know that He does all things well. His goal is to conform me into the image of Jesus not merely to make me feel good.
2. I continue to worship through my lack of understanding. There really is no other way around it. I display the depths of my love in the place of greatest suffering. Whether I sense injustice or not, I will praise Him.
3. I am real with God,honorably. I have learned to go to the Lord and put my thoughts and feelings on the table. I do so with the picture of a Heavenly Father who loves and cares for me. 
4. I embrace the pain to grow. While facing the circumstance I embrace the pain and try to squeeze every drop out of it to gain greater wisdom and revelation. I want to learn more about God and more about myself. I want the pain to make me not break me.

It’s Possible

Yes, it is possible to grow in your passion for God when you feel like He has left you behind. Your greatest reward is to thank Him in your weakest moment. To worship God when we don’t understand is the supreme offering we give this side of heaven.

Question: Love to get your thoughts on this. Agree or disagree? Share your own experience or what you have observed.  

Our mindset on how to approach God determines the confidence we have before God.

About a year ago, I was studying Luke 18 “The parable of the Unjust Judge”, trying to determine how it relates to God hearing our prayers and releasing justice. Here it is.

Luke 18:1-5
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’”

But I can never really quite understand the words of Jesus that followed the parable.

Luke 18:6-8
And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Suddenly the thought came to me. This parable is not a comparison but a contrast regarding how we should pray. The parable runs completely opposite of how we should approach our Heavenly Father.

RELUCTANT FRIEND

With this idea set in place, I quickly thought of another parable that Jesus shared. It’s found in Luke 11:5-8. The parable is given as another contrast on how we approach God in prayer. The story is told of a reluctant friend who keeps knocking and knocking on the door of his buddy’s house until his friend finally and reluctantly gets up, opens the door and gives him food.

We have to conclude from these two parables that God is neither an unjust judge nor a reluctant friend!

Now I realize that there is truth in the two parables but these can never be our standard for approaching God in prayer.

ESTHER

There is a better way to approach the Lord in prayer. When we read the book of Esther (Esther 5-8) we discover a living parable from Esther’s life. Esther is Queen of the country when she discovers that she and the Jewish people living in the land are faced with extermination at the hands of Hamond. Things become desperate and Esther seeks justice from the King. Time was running out.

Esther’s plan for justice did not include widdling the King down with continual demands and constant floor-pounding. Her approach is baffling. She displays her beauty to the King and reminds him of their wedding vows with two banquets (Esther 5:4-5, 7:1,2). That’s it. Justice was granted to Esther and her people from a King who could not resist her beauty and devotion. She did not beg him, she did not nag him, she romanced him into a place of justice. She reminded him of their love. (More on this provided in the link below)

I think this is the true essence of effective prayer. Justice is born when intimacy is expressed. Begging and pleading, nagging and reeling might get His attention but it won’t necessarily capture His heart. Love will.

MORE

I have provided a side by side comparison of these three stories in a PDF document found in the link below. If you would like the PDF copy of this simply click the link and you will receive it straight to your desktop.  *CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

Your Turn: I’d love to get your feedback on the article and/or the PDF document. Just add your comment below. Thanks! 

A leper came to Jesus, knelt down, and begged Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean” (Mark 1:40). This was a monumental event because the leper was asking the very question we all eventually ask. He did not doubt Jesus’ ability to heal, but rather His desire to heal. He asked, “I know you can heal, but do you want to?”

Jesus resolved the issue once and for all when He touched this outcast, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed” (Mark 1:41). This one phrase settled it. The heart wish of Christ was, is, and will always be to heal the hurt and destroy the pain of those He loves. This is why in many places all who were sick and demonized were set free.

Haight Ashbury Miracle

I will never forget the miracle I witnessed while street witnessing one night near Haight and Ashbury Streets in San Francisco.

We came upon a group of people congregated in an alleyway and noticed a couple huddled in the corner under a blanket. They told us they were homeless and had been living on the streets for several years. After sharing Christ with them, they gladly submitted their lives to Him.

When we asked how we could specifically pray for them, the husband explained that his wife had a condition in her legs that left her paralyzed. For three years he had been carrying her around from homeless shelter to shelter.

When we heard this, we all gathered around her and spoke the word of the Lord. As we helped her to her feet, God performed a miracle right before our eyes. We watched her emaciated legs gain strength as she marched down the street with hands lifted heavenward praising God. The look of exuberance on her face was priceless.

Many of the other street people stood in wonder, as they were well aware of her condition. It was an awesome miracle. Needless to say, we preached Christ with extra boldness that night.

Healing. The ByProduct of the Kingdom

Healing is a byproduct of the Kingdom and is available whenever the gospel is shared. Jesus is committed to healing the sick.

Nearly twenty percent of the gospels are devoted to the healing ministry of Christ, and over sixty percent of His ministry involved healing and deliverance. This is far more than any other activity.

If you are a minister who does not spend a good percentage of your time ministering to the sick, what are you waiting for? You are missing out on all the fun.

I am convinced there is coming a day in the Kingdom when no disease will stand before the people of God. Scripture seems to indicate that all disease will one day be eliminated from God’s earthly kingdom, and I want to be a part of the company of people that helps promote it (see Is. 33:24; 35:5-6).

D.Thomas Lancaster writes, “We would do well to let the rule of the coming Kingdom dictate how the servants of the King live now.”

Knowing that sickness will not be apart of the future kingdom indicates that ministering to the sick is part of Kingdom living.

Tips for Healing

1. Release healing. Have you ever noticed that Jesus and the disciples did not pray for the sick? They carried healing with them. In the marketplace, we are commissioned to “heal the sick” (see Matt. 10:8; Luke 9:2; 10:9). It is one thing to pray for healing; it is quite another to declare it. Try releasing healing by verbally addressing the injured body part and declaring Scripture over it.

2. Build faith. A testimony of healing has the ability to embolden our faith as well as theirs. Share a recent one and heighten their expectation.

3. Cure with care. Even when Jesus was physically and emotionally exhausted, Scripture records that he was “moved with compassion” for the crowds (see Matt. 9:36; 14:14; Mark 1:41). Our love for people must grow stronger than our insecurities and inhibitions. When we tap into the compassionate heart of Christ, we invariably tap into a realm of power.

4. Don’t panic if nothing happens or the person gets worse. When nothing happens, often there is a block or spiritual root to the problem (such as fear, rejection or unforgiveness). Remove the block by having them confess it and often healing will occur. If the pain increases or moves to another place in their body, don’t panic. The sickness is usually demonically linked. Cast out a tormenting spirit of affliction and infirmity, and you should see some positive results.

5. Don’t give up. Reading the accounts of men and women used powerfully in healing, most started out with little success. In fact, some even died of their conditions. God will often test us to see if we take the credit or the blame for the miracle. He wants to know if our compassion and obedience are strong enough to press past the question of why some do not get healed.

The give-away ends Wednesday, May 2nd at midnight. Go ahead and  subscribe to M1P and add your comment below. 

What do you think? Love to get your thoughts on this article.  

Three biblical words have my attention right now; faith, hope and love. We see them together in 1 Corinthians 13.

1Cor. 13:13 “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Over the last several weeks I have been on a quest to bring meaning to each word and discover how they work together.

I realize that volumes can be written on each of these words. My intent is not be exhaustive on each word but rather to see how these words work together practically as I co-labor with God.

I will start with faith and work towards love. Love is the foundation and faith is the end result. Hebrews 11:6 says, “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

So let’s start with faith.

FAITH

Heb. 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith is an assurance and belief that God will do what He’s promised. Faith accesses heaven and brings its reality to earth. Faith actually turns our hope into substance and looks into the heavenly realm to provide what is needed. Faith is determined and aggressive and relentless in its quest. So when hope is not present, faith has nothing to grab on to. And likewise, hope without faith is simply a wish.

HOPE

Now that we have established faith let’s look at hope.

Hope is an expectation of something good anchored in a trustworthy God. Hope finds confidence in a Spirit-given promise, prophetic word, dream or however way He has specifically spoken to us. When hope attaches itself to God, faith is born.

Hope comes alive and gains strength as the love of God is poured into our hearts. The hope of a son or daughter returning to the Lord. The hope of a loved one getting healed. The hope of a successful business venture; all these are awakened as we encounter the love of God.

Psalm 33:22 May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 62:5 Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him.

LOVE

Faith and hope can go nowhere until God’s love is active in our hearts through ongoing encounter with Him. Let’s have a look.

Romans 5:5 “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Hope is born and sustained by continually encountering His love. Now I am not talking about simply knowing God loves us but rather truly experiencing His love.

Without a continual encounter with the love of God hope will begin to fade into a distant wish. When hope fades, faith dies. And when faith dies, unbelief and despair are not to far behind.

SUMMING THINGS UP

Love empowers hope, hope equips faith and faith engages heaven.

Encountering God’s love creates the possibility for hope. Hope then creates a “scent” that attracts faith. Faith then believes all things are possible and aggressively goes into the heavenly realm with assurance that God can do what He has promised.

The result is the works of God for the glory of God in the life of the believer.

Here is how it works for me. I put myself before the Lord, with thanksgiving, and allow Him to minister to my heart. No lists, just rest. Love is the result.

In my uncertainty and doubt I find the verse, the promise, the prophetic word and realize what can be as I continue to put my trust in God. Hope is strengthened.

Faith follows as I meditate on both who He is and on the promises/words He has spoken to me. I find confidence and a “believing” that leads to bold asking and declaring.

I don’t know what you’re up against but I want to encourage you to put your hope fully in God out of the richness of encountering Him. Faith will be awakened and an unshakeable confidence in God will rise within!

Are there any other ways you see faith, hope and love working together? What’s been your experience?

Love to get your thoughts and/or response to this post.

There is a growing movement on the earth, a converging of Healing, the Prophetic, Joy with Night and Day Prayer, Intimacy and the Knowledge of God. This movement is a convergence of the first and second great commandment that is birthing a world-wide reformation.

I urge you all to join us for our first Convergence Conference which we believe is a historic moment (in the Spirit)  for the SF Bay Area.

Eric Johnson (Senior Leader of Bethel Church, Redding) and Allen Hood (Associate Director of IHOP-KC), will both be converging at Convergence House of Prayer on Friday Night and all day Saturday, June 1st & 2nd, 2012. Don’t miss this awesome conference.

Get more info and register here.

Guest Speakers:

Eric Johnson

Eric Johnson serves as the Senior Leader over Bethel Church in Redding, CA. He is a sixth generation minister and has authored Momentum: What God Starts, Never Ends. Eric and his wife Candace have a passion to see transformation take place in the lives of people, cities and nations. They have two beautiful daughters who make them extremely proud parents.

Allen Hood

Allen Hood (M.Div., Asbury Theological Seminary) serves as the Associate Director of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City. As the Associate Director, he is deeply committed to promoting the establishment of unceasing corporate worship and intercession in every tribe, tongue and nation. His highest call as an intercessory missionary and a leader of the prayer movement is to intercede for the fullness of God to be released in the church worldwide and to labor for the strengthening of the global prayer and missions movement. Allen also serves as the President of the International House of Prayer University. IHOPU’S mandate is to equip and send out missionaries as dedicated intercessors and evangelists who work to see revival within the Church and a harvest among those searching for God. Allen resides in Kansas City with his wife Rachel and their three sons.

We need to live the Christian life beyond faithfulness. Faithfulness is huge but it’s just not enough. This statement might appear strange but consider it for a moment.

Husbands and wives can be faithful to each other yet not be in love. This is not only possible but real.

“and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Faithfulness is about choosing committment and loyalty regardless of the level of relationship we are in. Again, it is right and admirable, yet it falls short of God’s intention for marriage.

Wendi and I have been faithful to each for over 27 years of marriage but our marriage goes beyond faithfulness. There is joy, companionship, passion, dreams and a desire to know each other more. These things surpass faithfulness and move the relationship into the depths of discovery and delight.

God loves our faithfulness but what He is really after is fulness (Ephesians 3:19). He wants us committed but more importantly he wants us consumed. He appreciates our loyalty but desires for us to love Him fully (Mark 12:30).

Your thoughts?

David built the tabernacle from a heart that cried out for the living God (Psalm 84:2) not from duty to the law. The tabernacle was built for love not law. Passion established and sustained a 24/7 reality. The Lord favored the Tabernacle of David because it came out of the heart of someone consumed with gazing on His beauty (Psalm 27:4).

The first priority of every revival in the Old Testament was to re-establish the 24/7 reality. Why? It declared Israels love and full committment to the Lord and not a prescription written from the law.

Radical lovers who will make it a priority to declare His worth is whom the Lord is seeking  (John 4:23).

Today, we as believers are a House of Prayer if indeed communion with God is found as our top priority. Also, we are establishing a House of Prayer where a community can gather to seek the Lord, encounter Him, then turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6).

Your thoughts?

It’s been interesting to see how a culture shifts within a church over the course of a few years. When the Lord spoke to us clearly about Harvest House Church becoming Convergence House of Prayer I really did not know what to expect.
What I do know is that this is what we are supposed to be doing. The Lord has confirmed this many times over with the prophetic word and in the hearts of leadership.

Knowing the Lord has spoken creates a stake in the ground where we sense His pleasure and are confident in the direction we are going.

Not too many leaders have taken a church and successfully shifted it to a House of Prayer. I think we are on our way, but believe me, it keeps us on our knees trusting Him as we navigate a shifting culture.

In my quest to better understand how church cultures shift, I just finished reading, “Cracking Your Churches Culture Code” by Samuel Chand. The author helps define a churches culture and what actually happens as the culture changes. I highly recommend the book.

Chand reveals a natural process that unfolds as a culture changes. In order for a culture to successfully change it will move through five stages

1. Entrepreneurial Stage – Discovery phase. This is when the Lord is opening the eyes of leadership and points them in a new direction. Leadership can now see what can be and that what the Lord is stirring in their hearts is actually possible. They begin moving forward, exploring what God is saying and experimenting with how it can actually  work.
2. Emerging Stage – Growth phase. Here the vision begins to grow in the hearts of a wider group. It’s important that leadership has solid credibility and can be trusted.  If these are not in place then the likelihood of a healthy transition is distant.
3. Established Stage – Stability phase. The direction is embraced and systems are being put in place. The course of action is met with a plan to move people from one step to another.
4. Eroding Stage – Survival phase. In every culture there is an eroding stage. I really don’t know why this is but nonetheless it is part of the flow. This is where the new culture is vulnerable.  It’s important at this stage to re-kindle the vision with fresh creativity that empower the core values.
5. Enterprising Stage – The re-firing stage. Here leaders must return to the Entrepreneurial stage to gain fresh vision and new ways to strengthen the culture. This needs to happen on a regular basis to maintain a growing and healthy culture.  New discoveries are experienced around the new cultures core values.

I realize that there is movement going on in every phase at Convergence. I sense overall we are somewhere in the Establishing phase.

I really don’t want to get caught up in the mire of structure, yet these “stages” help give me  a roadmap for the journey ahead.

I’d be interested in your input regarding this – 

When I embark on a 21 day fast I pray about what the Holy Spirit wants me to go after and sarcasm was not on the list.

I never thought in a million years that the Lord would highlight sarcasm in this fast. I admit that I was totally surprised by this yet I know when the Lord is speaking. So I submitted to the Lord and asked for both wisdom and revelation.

I love how the Holy Spirit teaches me and points out even the littlest details to make me a better leader. I believe this is one of them.

The items listed below I own as my growing conviction and don’t in any way want to put them on you the reader. Nonetheless, if the Lord uses what He is teaching me to reveal something to you, then be open.Here are a few things I sense the Lord showing me in regards to sarcasm and leadership.

1. Sarcasm uses irony to criticize. It introduces an element of humor to make the criticism less aggressive, yet the criticism remains cloaked in the sarcasm. Not good.
2. The original meaning of sarcasm in the Greek means, “to tear the flesh, to speak bitterly.” This original meaning was a bit shocking to me.
3. Sarcasm can be dishonoring and flows against how we are to communicate with others found in Ephesians 4:15 which says that we are to “speak the truth in love.” It’s better to be straight-up with love then to tear-down with sarcasm.
4. Sarcasm is not a good leadership skill. It can cause both suspicion and disrespect in the heart of those whom are following the leader. If not checked, the whole team will wind up being sarcastic.
5. Sarcasm is hard to manage. We will make mistakes. In light of our American culture, which is very sarcastic, we need to swim upstream by releasing both appreciation and encouragement.
6. Sarcasm cheapens relationships by keeping people guessing about what is being said and leaves them to think, “what are they REALLY saying?” You cannot build a level of solid trust and respect with this approach.
7. Sarcasm belittles people. Sarcasm makes people feel little, talked down to and made fun of.
8. Leadership built on sarcasm is controlling. If we are not careful we will use sarcasm to dominate those whom we lead. For some, this is their style of leadership, which ultimately communicates the possibility of bitterness and insecurity in the heart.

Leading through honor builds up, gives life, confronts in love, appreciates, encourages and brings people around you. Leading through honor respects the dignity of others while intentionally growing them. It’s a far better way to lead.

I’d love to get your thoughts on this? 

Revival is a word that is tossed around so much these days. Many churches talk about revival; some might say they are “breaking into revival” but I only know of a few that are truly there.

Revival in Ephesus

The church in Ephesus is one of the New Testament churches that were no-doubt in revival.

The Apostle Paul made his trip to Ephesus in 52 AD and stayed there about three years until 55 AD.

Ephesus was a port city having a population of nearly 300,000 people. It was home of the goddess Diana (Artemis) the daughter of the Greek god Zeus.

Legend has it that her statue fell out of heaven to Ephesus. Thus the city was known as the Seventh Wonder of the World.

Testimonies of Amazing Ministry and Changed Lives

We see in Acts 19 how powerfully Paul ministered in Ephesus. Here are some of the highlights.

• People were being saved (Acts 19:1)

• People were being baptized in the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:6-7)

• Paul preached and taught powerfully (Acts 19:8-11)

• Extraordinary miracles were happening through Paul. Handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses were cured and evil spirits left them. (Acts 19:12-12)

• Many confessed their evil deeds and burned their occult scrolls worth over 10 million dollars, publicly. (Acts 19:18-20)

About 5 years later in 60 AD Paul pens the book of Ephesians while under house arrest in Rome. The church is growing. Tons of people are converting to Christianity. Testimonies keep pouring in.

Yet, some 43 years later a rebuke comes to the church in Ephesus from the Lord (Rev. 2:1-7). Ephesus is chosen as one of the churches that the Lord rebukes.

What happened?

The church moved from the pinnacle of reformation to the point of having their influence (lamp stand) removed altogether. Revival was not sustained into the second generation.

Pauls Strategic Prayer

When Paul penned the letter to the Ephesians he prayed two great prayers, Ephesians 2:17-19 and Ephesians 3:16-17. These prayers virtually say the same thing.

Paul knew that the church could never sustain revival on just doing the second commandment alone.

The focus of the first great prayer in Ephesians sees Paul asking the Father to give the church a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that they may know him better.

The focus of the second great prayer is for the church to be strengthened so Christ may dwell in their hearts. To be rooted and established in the love of Christ. He concluded the prayer exhorting them to know His love so that they may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

No rebuke, just a plea to love Jesus more. No programs, just an appeal to continue to discover the depths of Christ.

Stay Hungry.

Go deeper.

Get revelation.

Live from the overflow.

Keep the affections of the heart squarely on Jesus and revival will continue to increase both now and into future generations. That’s it. This is the essence of the prayers prayed.

Shocking Result

What’s alarming is the rebuke that comes to the Church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation.

Rev. 2:4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

The church had forsaken their first love. They missed it. The affections of their hearts drifted towards doing ministry at the expense of intimacy. The lamp of influence was about to go out.

How sobering….

It must be extremely difficult to keep the priority straight in the midst of rapid city-taking ministry where the raw power is being radically displayed and lives are drastically changed.

As we move into a greater wave of revival we need grace to stay steady in pursuing God wholeheartedly. Our goal is not revival but the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). If we make the daily choice to know Him better we will have leaned the lesson the Ephesian church missed.