Prince of Peace

One of the names given to the Messiah is "Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6), and as you stroll through the New Testament it becomes apparent that peace is a hallmark of Gods government provided to us through a covenant in Jesus.


So what is peace, what does it look like, how does it show up?

Many of us (including me) have a default definition that makes peace simply the absence of  turmoil, or perhaps the quiet that follows a relational battle, but the word as used from heaven means much more than this,  peace is much more than the absence of conflict, Biblical peace is NOT defined by a negative, it is intentional and active.

As I am exploring the concepts of honor and covenant, a culture of royalty and treating people in new and powerful ways I am struck by the fact that many believers have a concept of peace that is really just a passive response that is not anger or retaliation, this is not what heaven means when it talks about peace, peace when it shows up is more powerful than war...think about that for a minute, Gods peace is greater than a storm or a war, or a conflict...it must be more powerful than those things in order to displace them.

To often I have heard (and said) "I have a peace about it" or "I HAD a peace about it" referring to decisions and actions that many times as I evaluate the long term significance of those events the result was anything BUT peace...this is typically what modern believers mean when we say "I have peace".

More often than not as believers who have been trained in a culture of non-confrontation we substitute the absence of conflict, (connected to a posture of passivity), with "peace"...but that is like defining light as the absence of dark, which it is not, light (and peace) are stronger than their opposites and there is never an argument between light and dark when light shows up...darkness simply leaves.

The Hebrew concept of peace is much bigger than even that, the word used is "Shalom" and it means "well being", "health", "prosperity", "security"...so when I look at the times I've said "I had a peace about it..." I must  be honest and say that the Hebrew definition was NOT what I felt, what I actually meant was "I do not feel conflicted or in turmoil about this decision"...


But here's where it gets difficult...the current popular model of peace is that we don't make waves, we don't stand up for ourselves because that creates conflict for others and mature people don't ever cause conflict or controversy...hmmm....the problem is EVERY mature person in the New Testament was controversial in some aspect and created conflict, sometimes just by showing up.

When Jesus cleared the Temple with a home-made whip, or called the religious elites a bunch of fancy looking zombie houses, he was walking in perfect Shalom, He was in fact expressing what Shalom is meant to bring,... "well-being, prosperity, and security:...

Gotta say I am not a fan of confrontation...don't like it, can't see how it could be fun, or how it is possible to make others powerful through it, but this is probably because I don't fully grasp that well-being starts with honesty and ends with hope, if you cannot be honest and must mask your true feelings, true hope, or become a different person than you are in your core, then it is almost impossible for the best version of you to show up.


Peace, at its core, must allow you to show up in the best version of yourself that is available, how can you be at peace when you are not allowed to be you?

As I look at my life I realize I have had  a tendency to allow dominate voices to determine how I respond and which version gets to show up, primarily in the name of "peace", because we all know that telling the truth means only one side gets to talk, only one of us gets to be hurt/right/powerful/truthful...the other person must be "mature", "selfless", "grown-up" etc...

But that's not "Shalom" kind of peace, that's "end conflict" peace which is something altogether different than the Peace that Jesus brings.


The peace that Jesus offers us starts with allowing us to be ourselves, and to be powerful in His presence, that's why worship is so exciting, its not that God needs the attention, it's the joy He gives us by allowing us to touch His heart, to move Him to tears, to excite Him to passion and respond to our singing and affection towards Him...worship is an act of a powerful person being themselves in voluntary adoration to the object of their affection...someone so worthy and loving you cannot help yourself.


When the Bible says "And the increase of His government of peace there shall be no end...(Isa. 9:7)" it is telling us something about the way the Holy Spirit wants to do church and life and kingdom...God wants peace to increase, His very government is based upon peace, so lets substitute the bigger meaning here, God wants an increase of prosperity, well being, health, soundness, abundance, fruitfulness, wholeness...and the best version of YOU that is possible...THAT is the definition of Gods agenda, His plan and what peace looks like.


Lets take it a step further, Gods government as expressed through the laughing Holy Spirit, for you...is you get to be the person you are in your core, you get to live a powerful life of freedom, to always be yourself, you get to be whole and dream and follow after your dreams with complete support at all times from Heaven and you get to do it with the people you love...that's what Shalom means for you...


That is quite a bit different from "I have a peace about it"...


So this makes me ask the question: "If the definition of peace is so extravagant, then how come when I have made decisions in the past based on my old "peace" model, God didn't intervene, or at minimum show up and warn me that I was simply being passive and not actually walking in the intentional peace from heaven?"


Good question, it's the kind of question I asked God myself and here's the limited answer I think I heard:


I felt the Lord tell me "I can only give you, what you are willing to receive"...


We know that God is not willing that any should perish, yet every day people perish without choosing to know Him, or choosing something altogether different than the salvation He has provided, so God is all powerful and has an obvious will to do good for all men, yet He has limited Himself to our decisions and our freedom to choose, He will not violate what our wills engage in...


Think about that, God who is all powerful, all wise, all good, has limited His power, His goodness, His gifts and wisdom, and subjugated that aspect of who He is to our willingness to receive it.


And if we are unwilling to accept a peace that is bigger than simply a lack of conflict, He will not impose it upon us, He will not violate our decisions or even our desires...


And since He is always good, always seeking our best, then He chooses to use the limited definition of peace to the very best that He can, at least until we are willing to embrace a higher definition and really...the heart of it all...a deeper relationship with Him so that we can enjoy a greater more abundant kind of peace...


See the Shalom kind of peace that makes me powerful, only comes out of a relationship with the "Prince" of peace, and as I choose to trust Him, to explore the potential He has for me by becoming vulnerable to Him and others, I become a candidate for the bigger kind of peace that excels just passivity...as I trust Him, I can approach others based out my identity in Him rather than how they perceive or project on me, I can become honest and transparent and at the same time can hopefully expect that others will share in the best version of themselves as we explore our potential together.


Peace is not the absence of conflict it is the solution to it, that is why Jesus did not hesitate to drive out and confront illegal passions and detrimental behavior, He knows that the peace he brings replaces the mask and fake identity that dominating persona's imposes on those who simply want wholeness but have not a clue how to get it.


So Kingdom peace offers us wholeness, hope, and a restful repose in our truest identity, unfortunately it will require a willingness to be honest, and stepping out into a more powerful version of ourselves than we are used to experiencing...this sounds like the opposite of peace...but its not, its simply the opposite of passivity, it is becoming powerful and free to be ourselves with each other...

This is Kingdom Peace, this is what a government of Peace looks like, this is my newest "current" definition of peace:
 
Powerful people engaging with each other, even through conflict, always free to be themselves, always hopefully pursuing  wholeness, soundness, prosperity and well-being, always growing in relationship with each other through a Royal Prince of Peace who leads us to be the best version of ourselves that heaven dreaming with us allows...

It is quite a bit different than my old model of "I have a peace about it..."

So...

Where do I sign up?

Home

I wrote a song many years ago called "Home", one of the lyrics read:

Home is more than just four walls with a view
Home's that special place with just me and you,
Home is more than just some pictures on the wall
Homes the sound that your heart makes when I call
I call you home...

I'm in Oklahoma as I write this, Oklahoma is where I was born, its where my remaining sibling and only parent lives, my blood relatives are mostly here...so in the natural world Oklahoma is "home"...

There will always be a portion of my heart here, its where I was raised, where a lot of my wiring and foundations were established, there is the natural Irish/Cherokee/Germanic/French etc, et al…family history and genealogy here, and coming here always reminds me deeply of my connection to the family of man...but is it home?

Where is home? The poet says you can never go home, does that mean you have changed or has home changed?

Then there's the human condition, where the plates shift and major upheaval is thrust upon you from those who used to be "home"...things like divorce, betrayal, death of someone so close their breath was your skin, or maybe you are like me where its a mix of those events and now the deafening reality that my kids (who were my home for the last 28 years) are not where I left them...everyone has gone out into the world to create their own "home" as it should be.

So now how do I define "home"?

Certainly not four walls with a view, and now unfortunately as well, home is not the sound that someone else's heart makes to call me to a place of safety and comfort, and that level of silence almost drowns out the other silence of no longer hearing "Dad I'm home"...

So sheepishly like a turtle out of its shell I feel both homeless and naked...vulnerable to silence in a way I've never been...

Because the silence is so loud I am redefining "home", and one of the headlights shining into my deer-in-the-road awareness is the reality that "safe" isn't all its cracked up to be...

"How has being safe and responsible kept you from the life you dreamed of?"-Gene Strite

The Lord told Abraham to leave his fathers house and go to a land that God would show him, and he went out not knowing where he was going...it must have looked really strange.

There's Abraham loading up the uhaul with his stuff, his wife, and getting ready to head out, the people all around him ask "where ya going Abe?'..."Umm...don't know all I know is I can no longer stay here, God has something for me..." "Really what's He got for you there that He can't do for you here? And whats the plan Abe?"...."Did you pack a map?"

That's the really scary part of going out, there are no maps, you make the map as you go.

This is a really important point for people who like safe, secure and consistent, there is no map, there is a really strong possibility you may get lost...but if you have no map, how will you ever know if you're lost?, especially since you don't know exactly where you're going to end up?

This reality of a map-less journey has incredible impact on us who have a history of not expressing or knowing what we truly want, it has the power to paralyze us into inactivity and passivity, expecting God to give us "Great things" because after all God is good, if we just hang out and wait long enough all our dreams will come true, its the "waiting on Superman" syndrome...but here's the problem...

...waiting on God to do great things for you when He has told you to "get out" "leave" the safe/secure/and looking responsible, is really...well...honestly...its rebellion.

Ouch!

I've always defined rebellion as some kind of angry action of independence, rebellion is like Korah challenging Moses, but that's not the only way God defines rebellion, He talks about Israel asking for "food of their fancy", in other words they wanted something they had developed a taste for that was not available on the journey...

The really tragic judgment that fell on those rebels was simply this:

"Therefore their days He consumed in futility, And their years in fear" (Psalm 78)

Wow! It wasn't that the earth opened up, the judgment was they just kept doing business as usual everyday, always expecting the promised land over the next hill, the check in the mail, the knight in shining armor, the lottery ticket, the revival to fall like fire and what actually ended up happening was...well...nothing.

Nothing and fear...which is just the reality in the back of your mind saying "what if the check doesn't show up, what if they never understand and appreciate me, what if it doesn't work out?

That sounds...like one of the worse judgments ever written and its all because of rebellion.

So here's my new definition of home:

Home is where my treasure is, its where God is leading me, but mostly its that free falling sense of following Him.

That means its not a place, its not really people anymore, because people cannot control me or make me happy. Home in the Abrahamic sense is a journey, and sometimes you don't actually own the real estate of your promise until your wife dies and you bury the past...yuck! (Abraham never owned anything in Canaan until he bought a cave to bury Sarah in, so her death was a turning point in his ownership of the promise)

I'm not sure I like my new definition, but I know this much, I know where I cannot stay, and the familiar fancy food I've always enjoyed, the things that were a major part of my personal culture might not make the journey, as a matter of fact A LOT of what was familiar and favorite is not going to get into the promised land.

So home is not familiar...its not geography...its not safe and predictable...

Home is dangerous, exciting, and risky, home is where God is taking us as long as we don't insist on having our favorite dish (cooked in the house of slavery) given to us when we demand it.

"These all went out looking for a city whose builder and maker was God...

I do have to make a point about the song "Home" and the nature of communion between two souls:

I believe it is one of Gods primary designs that we experience security and safety in the eyes of other people in particular our spouses, covenant is Gods map for intimacy and is designed to protect powerful people by defining the boundaries of value we have for each other.

But many times we redefine covenant to be contractual and demanding rather than a journey of discovery, covenant has the potential to become one-sided and abused especially when the value system centers on only one side of the covenant, the best definition I've heard of "enabling" is when I care more about your problem than you do.

God has designed our world to run on the rails of covenant because He wants us equally powerful...think about that for a moment, God wants you powerful even in your relationship with Him, that's why He requires faith to have actions, actions put a demand on another’s behavior that words cannot, God loves that from you.

This dynamic becomes especially critical in the most intimate of relationships and anything that requires more than a surface level of knowing others, if you want to grow as a person in covenant with others you will be required to take risks...unfortunately the reality of risk "feels" greater in this arena than we like to admit, and most of us react to risk by retreating into "safe"...

Many times when we get here we like to default to predictable ways of relating to each other, (which feels safe but unfortunately is dishonest, we fail to tell each other the naked truth because it requires us to all be powerful and that's just not normal) and tragically we probably will end our days in futility and fear because God doesn't simply call us to leave physical geography...

...an entire realm of Gods call on us requires us to leave emotional geography as well, and for that journey we have to risk reaching out and being rejected or not knowing who/what/how the land will look...there are no guarantees, but there is also no other way...

It is here we must leave the familiar land of our fathers and get out into emotional landscapes we have never been in before...and it will taste completely different than those fancy foods we crave...

So you can risk loving, make changes in yourself to explore new country...or you could just stay safe, keep doing life in your favorite way, only eating the fancy dishes learned in Egyptian slavery...

let me know how that works out for you...


Home

There's the dangerous way your eyes light up,
When I know you're really mad.
But I know if I can make you laugh,
Then it won't turn out all bad.

And the last one to bed
Has to kill the lights
That's the way the game is played

Unless of course,
I get there first,
And you pretend
You're not awake.

'Cause Home is more than just four walls with a view
Home's that special place with just me and you,
Home is more than just some pictures on the wall
Homes the sound that your heart makes when I call
I call you home...

Sometimes its us
Sometimes its not,
But one and one did not make two
I can't recall if you found me
Or babe did I find you?

You laugh when I cry
I cry when you laugh,
And there's always in-between
You tell me words
I've never heard
And I know just what you mean,

'Cause Home is more than just four walls with a view
Home's that special place with just me and you,
Home is more than just some pictures on the wall
Homes the sound that your heart makes when I call
I call you home...

-Mark Pixley (unpublished work)

Like water

The phrase "Like water poured out" has been going through my mind lately, it reminds me of when King David wanted a drink from the well of Bethlehem and three of his mighty men broke through the Philistine army's line and brought him a pitcher of water from the well.

David refused to drink it because basically he knew that only God was worthy of a life sacrifice, instead he poured it out on the ground as an offering to God.

Sometimes it feels like the things/people we sacrifice towards have no reciprocal value, no one notices or somehow you begin to feel like people take a sacrifice for granted or worse yet, simply use you for their own advantage be it intentional or not.

I've decided that I want to GIVE people an advantage from my life, but that's different than letting them TAKE an advantage of you.

So to help keep my heart aligned I spend time in His Presence, the ultimate wasted sacrifice...see there are a lot of people who go to hell and waste what Jesus freely offered them...

Like water poured out

On a dry and thirsty ground here is my heart.

Like the mother of a newborn waiting
For the faintest sound, well there You are.

You pick me up,
You dust me off,
You set me on my feet again.

You make my heart to beat,
You set me free,
And then you call me friend.




Dark the days when I forget how kind You are,
Dark my heart when I let fear take me that far,
Bright my path when You show up and sing my name,
And call me friend...(this joy will never end)




A thousand suns shining
At the brightest time of day would seem to dark.

When I compare it
To the brilliance of Your love and who You are.

If all the sea's were ink
And the sky one giant scroll.
It'd be a place to small to write all the love You've shown.




Dark the days when I forget how kind You are
Dark my heart when I let fear take me that far
Bright my path when You show up and sing my name
And call me friend...(this joy will never end)





Like water poured out
On a dry and thirsty ground here is my praise.

I long to move You, long to touch You, leave my kiss upon Your face.

You rule the heavens,
Rule the oceans,
Rule the beating of my heart.

I long to know You, long to see You and to be right where You are.




Dark the days when I forget how kind You are
Dark my heart when I let fear take me that far
Bright my path when You show up and sing my name
And call me friend...(this joy will never end)

Male and Female Created He Them

I've been tracking some fairly interesting relationship/communication teachings and while on the surface this may not seem overtly spiritual I think its amazing how God has designed the different aspects of male and female to coexist and function together.

I think we are headed to a very prophetic season where knowing these differences can help us navigate a better result in our church culture, we must make women more powerful in our models because without them we will never experience the fullness of being the Bride of Christ which is the ultimate expression of the church in the earth.

If you know me you know I have 4 incredibly beautiful and powerful daughters, here are the amazing lessons I have learned from my girls:

• Sometimes emotions are simply that, strong feelings that do not need to be analyzed, a big part of life is "feeling" without it our experience is incomplete...as a Dad, I've had to set aside my desire to understand with my head and learned to do it with my heart.
• Adventure is essential to growing in yourself, sometimes its simply a challenge, but its about discovering who you really are...without a bit of risk life is boring, every one of my girls has sought out some form of adventure and it has made them powerful.
  
• Men should never be passive, sometimes making the decision for my girls has been more about creating a comfortable zone for them to live in than it is anything else, some decisions allow a woman to be herself in a safe place without controlling her, this does not make sense to anyone but women.
• A surprise is a subtle way to keep life from getting dull and mundane, surprises should be included in every relationship that matters...it should look spontaneous, but feel thought out.
  
• The small details give the big details meaning, remembering to order "non-fat" instead of "low-fat" Frappe-chino's may seem insignificant but its not. Its the small details that reveal how much you really know about others, or at minimum how much you really want to know about them. The small details are another way of saying "I love you and thought about you enough to write a poem..."
  
• My girls were always their own worse critics, they found it very easy to pick apart their own shortcomings, at that moment, a specific and non-general compliment can provide the essential restoration of esteem and validation that self-inflicted head noise has destroyed.
  
• The purpose of listening is to hear, not to talk, hearing is not simply about the words, most of the time content is secondary to emotion and non-verbal communication, hearing means I connect with what you are feeling, not simply what words you used.
• A healthy man initiates, and healthy women respond by setting up obstacles and hoops for men to jump through, not sure why this is but it is. As strange as this behavior may appear it is actually the essence of a dynamic and normal Adam/Eve connection.
  
• Love at first sight and getting swept away are not simply childhood dreams, they are a longing in the heart of healthy "Eve's" and while it sounds like a misnomer, they are events that should be possible at any moment once "Adam" truly wakes up to what God has created...every woman I know still believes in these things to some degree.
• We are only fully human as men and women when we value and love others.
• All relationships experience ebb and flow, high tide/low tide, hiddenness/manifestation, failure to understand this makes us crazy.
• Love makes you want to change yourself, not the other person.
• Every woman wants to be both powerful and vulnerable, this dynamic in my estimation makes women the most incredible aspect of Gods creation, because in truth every woman is both of these...men...not so much. As a Dad I've learned that I do not lose power by giving it to my girls, I increase it.
• Submission does not mean that one of the parties involved disappears or goes silent, it means that everyone comes to the table with everything they are and a voice to declare it. True biblical submission is always given freely and never demanded... anytime submission is demanded it cannot show up, compliance will show up instead. The heart (where submission comes from) cannot be forced or controlled, you cannot make another person love.
• True beauty is a condition of the heart.

I think its amazing the differences between the male and the female, it makes me realize how majestic God really is and how romantic Jesus longs to be...it cannot be possible that the Creator of Love would be less romantic than His creation...think about it and rejoice that you get to be His girlfriend!

101 Dreams

Recently listened to some seriously good bible teachers talking about dreams, the first one described how we are all Gods dreams, that each one of us represents a dream that God had and we are now a fulfillment of something from His heart. The second teacher talked about the difference between slaves and sons, and one of the primary differences is that son's dream, and they dream with their Father.

So it got me to dreaming again...the teacher (Danny Silk) talked about the Lord requiring him to write down 100 of his dreams, and what amazed me is that there were a lot of items on his list that God had already let him do...

...so...

...without any further ado...

...here's my list...

...(it only goes to 76 right now)...

1. Spend a week in Paris with my best friend (taking applications)
2. Release 3 worship CD's and 3 secular CD's
3. Kill a lion and a bear like David (Ok they will need killing and I will not do it exactly like David)
4. Spend 2 weeks sailing and living in a sailboat
5. Travel to Scotland and Ireland and visit revival sites
6. Write a love song that makes women cry and gets used in a great movie
7. Do sand art at a Holy Spirit Conference
8. Take my kids (all of them) to Hawaii for a week
9. Heal Cancer 100% of the time and see it cured in my lifetime
10. Invent a new musical instrument
11. Create a mixed medium art exhibit and have a show
12. Prophesy over a nation
13. Write a classic Christian book that changes millions of readers
14. Heal a blind person
15. Create a new way to store information
16. Go to the Holy Land
17. Spend a few weeks in Apai (New Zealand)with Pastor Mitchel teaching in his Bible School
18. Meet and pray/prophesy over Peter Gabriel and Sting
19. Witness to Madonna
20. Go on a hunting trip in Australia and learn to really use a boom-a-rang
21. Create a gourmet dish
22. Grow my own coffee where I live
23. Do a prophetic worship conference with my kids and covenant kids/family in 10 cities
24. Prophesy over a President
25. Own a city block
26. Direct a music video that breaks the top ten
27. Write a novel
28. Write a musical
29. Ride a train across Europe
30. Create a new style of chair that is beautiful and extremely comfortable
31. Create a new fashion style
32. Discover a planet and have it named after me
33. Experience a miracle that has never ever been seen before
34. Give away 5 new cars
35. Go deep sea fishing with my friends
36. Cliff dive into the ocean
37. Own a Jaguar (car)
38. Write a children's book series
39. Release a Christmas album
40. Develop an easy to make yet comfortable shoe for both third world and western culture
41. Bring back the popularity of the kilt as a normal fashion
42. Build a bedroom with moving walls and exotic elements using waterfalls and lights
43. Record a worship album using indigenous music and recordings from every known musical culture
44. Own a Harley and go on a motorcycle trip with my Nephew and any of my kids that want to go
45. Take my Grandkids to Disneyland for a week, (just me and them)
46. Preach at Bethel
47. Spend a week with Graham Cooke
48. Preach at Joseph Garlingtons CHurch in Pittsburg
49. Record at Abby Roads Studio
50. See an opera in the Sydney Operahouse
51. Learn to ballroom dance
52. Spend a month with Heidi Baker in Mozambique
53. Visit L'Abri (Francis Scheaffers Commune)
54. Pray at the grave site of John Lake
55. Marry a God-filled babe forever
56. Create a classic piece of audio gear
57. Learn to speak 3 languages
58. Release a worship album in a foreign language
59. Do a mens conference that heals and sets men free
60. Help release and support 3 women apostles
61. Give $100,000.00 to Iris ministries
62. Create a touch phone app that updates and testifies about miracles happening all over the world
63. Create a multi-media mentoring and training series (discipleship)
64. Own my own studio with video and audio capabilities
65. Create a new microphone and speaker technology
66. Spend the night in an ancient castle somewhere
67. Give a presentation at TED
68. Ride in a hot air balloon
69. Find some buried treasure
70. Spend a night under the sea
71. Preach to a people that have never heard about Jesus ever...
72. Heal an amputee
73. Worship in Jerusalem
74. Snorkel in 3 tropical locations
75. Send 100 orphans to college/or Bible School
76. Stop a storm

...so you can see some are God dreams some are childhood and some are just things I think are cool...you may think its silly...but I gotta ask...

What do you dream?

Like my oldest grand-child Alden says..."imagining things will make you happy, and maybe they could become real."

Majesty from the dust

Many of you know that recently my brother lost his earthly battle with cancer and went on to his reward, he was younger than me so there is the taste of injustice in my soul but the Lord was ahead of me so let me rewind for you the events of late:

My brother had already defeated Crones disease, he was a man of faith and determination, so when he got the diagnosis back in Dec. he became resolute in his confession and his course of action, and never once did he ask "why"?

We had many conversations over the last 6 months, times when he was wavering in his confidence and moments when he needed a reminder of Gods faithfulness, I found it a joy and delight to encourage him, to remind him that God had given him a word of healing and the only real course was to remain steadfast in his faith. He was, and he did.

Even up to the last he never faltered in his confession, it was his core belief that God would heal him completely...and then July 2 at 4:30 in the a.m. he died...apparently not having obtained the promise.

Everyone at his house (I was there at the moment he breathed his last) had said, "he waited for you Mark", all day long my mom, and his wife, and my sister told him, "Mark is coming" he had lost all ability to respond but his breathing always changed, or he would indicate by moving his arm or leg that he understood, it was the only thing he responded to in his last 48 hours...

Of course when I got there I was shocked by his physical condition, but I immediately began to pray in tongues and held his hand, told him I loved him and just sat...about 6 hours later he took a few large breathes and finally died...but it was kind of obvious that IF he was waiting on something it must have been me...and I already knew why...

See on the flight over I had fallen asleep, it was about a 3 hour flight and I was listening to "You came to my rescue" by Hillsong United on repeat, and as I dozed I had a dream.

In my dream I was going to a train station, the trains were flying by very fast going all kinds of directions, and a gentleman whom I knew to be the Holy Spirit took me into a small waiting room attached to the station. Inside the waiting room was my brother and my dad (who passed away in 1994), and Jesus... they were all sitting on benches and Jesus was polishing a silver sword with a small white stone. My dad looked incredible, he was buff like he had been working out and I told him, "You look great, much different than the last time I saw you" (I have seen him before in a dream). He said "Yes I've been growing in the love of God", and he and John continued making small talk and laughing while Jesus finished polishing the sword.

John was completely whole, he looked young and vibrant again, and I could tell he was finally home and he and dad were excited to do some things together for the Lord but they were waiting on me to come to the station so that the two of them could leave and get on with their plans.

Finally Jesus finished the last bit of polishing and handed me the sword, I looked at him kind of shocked because I knew that it was Johns sword, it was his faith for wholeness, it was his battle with cancer and I also knew that the small white stone was Johns identity (*see Rev. 2:17), it was his name that was being applied to the sword, so I asked Him, "This is Johns doesn't he need it?", Jesus smiled and said "No, he gets a much better one here, besides its of no use in heaven, but it had to be dipped in heaven so it can be used on earth"...then the dream ended and when I woke up we were flying in a cloud (for real).

This is one of those prophetic dreams, where you know stuff without asking, where timing is more important than time, where understanding flows between you and everyone in the dream without any effort, and communication is clear and sharp, it was a God dream and probably as real an event as the airplane ride itself, because when I got to Johns house even my nephew commented that John was there but it was clear that he was somewhere else even more.

The day before I flew out I had gone out into the desert of Tucson to pray, my heart was heavy and as I walked thru the dusty desert landscape, I passed by an old beat up penny...the Holy Spirit immediately said, "Go back and pick that up", I protested saying "Its just an old penny", and the Lord corrected me saying "I never waste anything"...and my mind immediately remembered the feeding of the 5000, where they took up all the left over fragments, so that nothing was wasted. I knew God was speaking to me about what I was getting ready to encounter, He wanted me to prepare my heart and save every part of the experience because He does not waste anything.

Which means Johns faith and confession cannot possibly be wasted, it must be collected and passed on just like the faith of Timothy had originally resided in his grandmother Lois and then his mother Eunice, faith is apparently something that can be transferred (2Tim. 1:5) and for some reason Johns faith had to be "dipped in heaven" (which is part of the dream I have not sorted out yet).

If you are skeptical (God help you, He's the only one who can), and believe that John died and his confession and faith was wasted because he failed to obtain the promise then let me leave you with one last verse:

Hebrews 11:39-40 "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received NOT the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect"

The basic principle here is that it is possible to go on to heaven never seeing on earth the fulfillment of the promise, so that perfection comes through others who are left behind...

The sword of his faith had to be dipped in heaven...somehow in that waiting room that place between heaven and earth, it was finished, and it was left here for us...my basic belief is that I have been given Johns sword, I am going to pray even harder and with more faith than ever before for cancer patients, and I know in my heart, that I will see them healed, because my brothers faith will be made perfect.

I believe God has already given him the victory sword and his reward for winning over cancer in heaven and I'm sure they are celebrating his victory...which we get to enforce on earth...you watch in the next 5-10 years cancer will be a completely defeated disease, both by the church and by the science community, its days are severely limited and my brother gets credit in heaven that we will use on earth.

God wastes nothing...not a dusty penny in the dirt, and certainly not the trial of faith, He makes it Majestic and in His infinite wisdom spreads the victory around so that all of us get to participate and enforce the victory that the First Son purchased through His death and resurrection...majesty from the dust.




Post Script:

As I have played with my niece and been the best goofy, dorky uncle I know how, I have watched joy begin to replace sadness, it is gradual but unavoidable, children have a contagious resiliency that is wrapped up in the joy of living in the moment.

The weird thing I am noticing is my mind wants me to feel guilty for joy...let me make this perfectly clear, joy is NEVER illegal, as a matter of fact it is the core of rejoicing always which is a command in the New Testament.

The enemy (and our own predisposition to depression) would like to make us feel guilty that we have joy, can laugh and smile even when pain is so obviously near, because if the devil can steal your joy, he can rob you of the blessings that come with it, you should never, ever, under any circumstances feel guilty for joy, if you do, just rebuke that feeling since it is not from the Lord.

If the joy of the Lord is your strength, why on earth would He ever make you feel guilty or depressed for having it?... it is not God when you feel guilty for joy, it is hell trying to make one final stab at your heart...

I recommend you use some "kung-fu-ninja-karate-girl" laughter to ignore and rebuke that nonsense it is not from God, joy is a door into His favor and blessing that will never end, please choose to go through it...for the sake of the ninja girls!

Praying out of our Identity

All of us have multiple identities, for me I am a father, a brother, a covenant friend, a worship leader, a teacher, a builder, an uncle, a son, an American, a middle aged male, an Arizonian, part Choctaw, a musician, etc...

When we encounter different people we respond based upon our identity to that person, I am completely different in my approach as a grandfather to my grand-kids than I am as a son, or as a builder.

We also have multiple identities as believers, we are the Beloved, we are the Bride, we are Joint-heirs, we are sheep, we are the light of the world now and salt, we are also soldiers in the good fight as well as the body of Christ and members in particular, we might be prophets, we might be teachers, some of us are evangelists and all of us should be worshipers and the assembly of the first-born, we are redeemed, holy, sanctified and chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world so we are also timeless and eternal and surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

So when we come to pray, it becomes important to recognize what our identity is when we approach the Father, and even more than that it should be our intention to find out which identity the Father is highlighting in our lives as we make our approach.

Your prayer as a Bride should be different than your prayer as a warrior in the midst of the battle, but to often we find ourselves defaulting to the same kind of prayer in all our identities, and typically that is the prayer of petition.

Lately I pray much less petition than I do prophetic proclamation, I seem to be exploring the power of a lament as it is joined with the prayer of submission, and more and more I find myself in simple conversation and then responding with spoken prayers that I have been crafting out of my "life-words", and these crafted prayers are being refined and pushed as I explore everything that God is calling me to be in my prophetic identity.

My point is simply this: If you have encountered a staleness in your prayer life, then change your prayer approach by moving into a different identity, this is how God approaches you so why should your approach to Him be any different? How do I know this is how God approaches you?

Easy, He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, He is the Light of the world, He is the truth that sets you free, He is wisdom, He is peace, He is your provider, He is your righteousness, He is I am, He is your healer, He is...well you get it...

He approaches you in any of His different identities to you and He as Creator wants you to do the same for Him, He wants you to come to Him based upon an identity that He is currently highlighting in your life...and if you have encountered staleness, then perhaps it is because you are not being everything to God that He wants you to be for Him.

So explore a little, try on a new identity in prayer, its ok, its not like He's gonna smack you for being who He called you to be...

Try it and see...see if perhaps the default mode of petition is really kind of bland for a Bride and Lover, see if perhaps supplication is a little weak for a soldier and warrior, and see if perhaps a lament is a pure from of worship that touches His heart in ways you have not known.

Faith cometh by hearing...and hearing by the Word of God...but you get to choose which one of your identities is doing the hearing and maybe, just maybe a lover has a better ear than a soldier...I don't know try it!

Easter Prophecy 4/5/2010

This is a prophecy I received from the Lord during my recent Easter prayer time:

There are no accidents in my kingdom. There is no such thing as a “random event” everything in your life is intentional from me. When I tossed the stars up into the night sky it was not “random” it was not haphazard or unintended, it was planned and purposed, it was designed and a delight, so if the placing of the stars in the heaven was not random or accidental, how can you suppose that any event in your life is random or an “accident”, are you not more important to me than the stars which are not eternal?

Everything in your life is intentional from me and everything in your life is useful to me. The world provides “insurance” for accidents and unintended events, but I do not need insurance since I give you “assurance”, assurance that with each and every event there is a pocket of provision tucked away waiting to be used by you for just such an occasion.

These pockets of provision are filled with, faith, hope and love for every event, and every eventuality.

I haven’t left you as orphans with no provision for your daily needs, I couldn’t possibly leave you alone, it is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE for me to abandon you, I would have to tear the fabric of my very nature in order to abandon you, and since I have already torn my nature on the cross there is never ever a need for me to be torn again. This is so you will never ever need to experience me forsaking you; I cannot forsake you anymore than I could now forsake myself.

The dreams you have in your heart…these are from ME!!! I placed them there for you to enjoy, delight in and experience in the fullness of joy…but you have barely scratched the surface of those dreams, you have barely left a fingerprint on those dreams why are so you hesitant to believe that I have given them to you and want you to enjoy them? What is this poverty of asking that is so prevalent in your heart?

I want you poor in spirit not in a poverty spirit and the reason for being poor in spirit is so I can fill you up with myself. The things you imagine as most wonderful are simply the top of the iceberg of my purpose rising out of your subconscious, the real heaviness, the real depth of my dream for you lies well beneath the surface of your experience.

I call you to dream large with me; I call you to dream big with me I call you to dream huge of me. I call you to dream with me and dream of me. You have dreams of me, that I would be a Father, that I would be a lover, that I would be a redeemer, but even those dreams are far below the reality of who I am and only form a faint outline of my shadow in your world, I am so much larger than your dream of me, it cannot be apprehended by your natural mind, you need an anointing to dream just to see the dream in the first place.

I long to bring the substance of who I AM into you very soul, I long to bring the substance of WHO YOU ARE to the surface of your experience, so that you become enraptured and in awe of all I AM and all I AM IN YOU.

Your asking reflects the shallow nature of your dreaming, your asking defines the perimeters of your relationship with me and you barely ask for anything at all, why is that? Do you think I will say “no”????, did you not hear me when I wrote it down for eternity that everything is “Yes and So be it”????

I wrote in my word so that it would go into eternity with you that anything you could ask or think, even beyond you ability to dream is “Yes and Amen”…yet so far you have barely asked anything of my graciousness, barely anything of my nature, and know without a doubt I am a giver and the very spirit of giving, it defines a part of who I am to give. I give because I am a giver and for no other reason than I love to give.

Ask of me and I will give you the nations, ask of me and I will give you the world, for the promise to papa Abraham that he would be heir of the world was not based on his performance or his ability to dream, it was based purely on his response when he said “yes” to my dream for him…and this became the source of his eternal righteousness, the yes to me when I told him my dream for him.

So if you want to be like your papa Abraham you need to learn to say “yes” to my dreams for you, you need to say yes to the impossible, the improbable, even what might feel like the “improper”, it will almost feel inappropriate for you to ask of me the dreams I have placed deep within your soul so dig them out and ask knowing that my heart is always “yes” to you.

I want to give you “grand” things, it should be like children circling the toys in the catalog right before Christmas in your heart, for I tell you before Christmas comes I AM, I AM the heart and spirit of Christmas, the giving and the hope, the joy the abundance of laughter, the fun and the delight that is all of Christmas is a normal day in my house. It should be a normal day for you to have a hard time going to sleep because you are so excited about what I am doing and giving you tomorrow.

This is how I want you to live… as little children so rowdy with expectation that you wake up the world with your joy. I want you to live in the giving goodness of my nature that is so extravagant you become inebriated with my love and my blessing on your life. That’s right I want you drunk and giddy with joy, laughing so hard your sides hurt for I am a funny God, I created humor and laughter and I know how to laugh and want to teach you the joy of laughing with me…not the nervous laughter of embarrassment, no I want you to laugh the laugh of joy and sweetness so profound you actually cry with tears of joy, as a matter of fact the ONLY tears I want you to have are the tears of laughing so hard you beg me to stop.

This is where I live in the space between laughter and joy, and I have never had a depressed thought or a “down” moment in my existence and even the cross was a pleasure for me, the pleasure of paying for your dreams and the pleasure in my Son for becoming the payment for your dreams and think about this, if my son became the payment for your dreams, then what is owed on them? Nothing.

So know that your hopes your dreams have been paid in full and when he said “It is finished” the final payment for your life was made in full and the Holy Spirit immediately took the title deed of your life and sealed it with a kiss to preserve it until you could come to me and experience all I have dreamed for you. It was my pleasure to bruise the Son for you…for I knew that he would do it “right” and by doing it right then His “rightness would be your righteousness once again and that righteousness would be a righteousness that would be worthy of heaven since it originated in heaven.

Did you know that the righteousness you now have originated in heaven? And since it came from heaven it is always welcome in heaven. Did you know that the righteousness you now have is not only welcome in heaven but guarantees you access to my Throne, and not only to the Throne but also to everything the Throne stands for?

The righteousness I have given you grants you full access to all of heavens resources, from the court room to the storehouse, everything is yours.

Did you know that the righteousness you now have grants you access into the court room of heaven where you can obtain full restraining orders and punitive damages upon the enemy? You can make demands for restoration of everything that has been lost or stolen from time to things, including relationships, dreams, toys and people.

You can make demands for restoration because now you are righteous and you can now ask for “damages” to be repaid and I will insure that your claims are enforced, I actually have “enforcing angels” who’s primary duty is to exact payment from the enemy for all that he has stolen from you. This is what is known as “declaring to principalities and powers, making known in the heavenlies and the judgment written which is in fact your heritage as my child. And I long to hear you make these demands on me and my throne.

To long has the enemy held sway over the kingdoms of this world, to long has the enemy polluted my planet with his lies and hypocrisy, to long has the enemy enslaved my children with depression and apathy, and to long have the letters of his judgment sat idle while he exploited my family.

Vengeance is mine, and it is a day vengeance I want to give you, not a vengeance on the sons of men, but instead a vengeance on the enemy of your soul and I want to give you a day of anger, and wrath and tribulation upon the kingdom of darkness it is only fair since this is what he has given my children for so long.

I want you to trouble the trouble-maker, depress the depressor, I want you to harass the harasser, I want you to defang his lies and lie in wait for his schemes so you can turn every one of his weapons back against him. This is the purpose of my vengeance, to exact damages and retribution for every rape, for every lie for every murder for every stolen blessing, for every broken promise or shattered dream for every wound and disease I WANT MY VENGENCE UPON THE ENEMY!!!

And vengeance will look like a miracle to you. It will appear glorious, it will seem as the sun rising from a long dark dream and your soul will breathe freely again. Vengeance is glorious and it is joy and it is food for your soul. For the weary one, I will make their enemies food for their soul. The beat down and tired will find new strength as I prepare a table for them right in the midst of their enemies, and the feast they enjoy will be the victory I give.

So prepare your heart and wash your hands of double-mindedness have a single eye for the victory and not defeat, for this is a battle you cannot lose, for I have already won it. I have already won the battle for the miraculous, I have already won the battle for provision, I have already won the battle for love and relationships and all you have to do is simply stand and receive.

And this standing I call you to is not like the isolated standing of a solitary guard in the night watches, no the standing I call you to is to stand in the winner’s circle to receive the prize. Like an Olympic champion standing on the winners block to receive the gold medal I call you to stand and receive the prize that was purchased for you when it was finished long ago. It is not by your might, it is not by your strength, it is not even by your power, but it is purely by my Spirit that I grant you the victory.

And with every grant there is a resource, resources from heaven to accomplish my dream for you.

And my dream for you is far grander than any dream you could imagine, it is far more fun, far more joyous and much more intimate than you could ever imagine or hope.

I know you. I know exactly what you need. I know exactly how to give it and I enjoy giving it to you, one of my favorite things to do is to give you the dream I have and watch joy invade you life as you run to it.

So enter into my joy, the joy I had with my son and the foundation of the world, enter into the joy of my rest in the complete and total victory that is my dream for you