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Mat 18:23-28 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. "When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. "But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. "So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.' "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. "But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' "So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' "But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. "Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. "My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."

Unforgiveness is wickedness, and will cause us to spend eternity in flames. So often I have lived my life as if forgiveness happens when I feel ready to forgive. When actually by waiting, what I’m doing is allowing a root of bitterness to be planted inside of me. Heb. 12:15 “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;” That root of bitterness will cause me, or anyone in the faith to grow cold, and fall from the grace that God has given us; to be defiled. Unforgiveness leads to bitterness which leads to apostasy and defilement. Jesus says this about unforgiveness, “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matt. 6:14-15) Forgive and you will be forgiven, don’t forgive, you wont be forgiven, it’s that plain and simple. Jesus gives us a picture of why this is, in the Parable above. We forgive others because he forgives us from ALL our great sins. Based upon the Law, we deserve nothing but Hell, I’ll say that again, we only deserve Hell. Yet God has forgiven us our wickedness that we may be found righteous! For myself knowing the miracle of my salvation, and then choosing to harbor unforgiveness, or bitterness toward someone is wicked. Even if they have beaten me, hated me, and or scared me for life. I must forgive them, because God has forgiven me, when I have hated him, and despised him in my actions, he stands waiting to love me not accuse me.

This is such good news, and such a freeing way to live life!! We can forgive, receive healing for their wrongs, and walk free without bitterness and shame weighing down our hearts. If there is someone you need to forgive, don’t wait and let that root of bitterness go deeper and deeper. Forgive them, even though they don’t deserve it, because he forgives you even though you don’t deserve it.

I must say that I love him, My God is so wise, I love him for the way he runs his kingdom; backwards and completely unconventional as far as were concerned. He is truly worthy of my praise! Which is the purpose of this life, to love him. Which is hard to do if we hold on to any form of unforgiveness. Love him, and be free!

Oh and please leave comments cause I'm trying to get a handle for how many people actually read my blog.

Global warming? For real? A rejuvenated Al Gore, his plethora of Power Presentations, and his new documentary released at the Cannes film festival this last weekend, would have you believe it is. I will admit, as the headline from an April Time magazine sitting

on my coffee table screams “Be worried, be very worried” that I have been converted. I have drank the global warming “Kool-Aid” and believe that it’s a massive problem. The thing that I think is funny is that to most it’s “liberal”, “leftist” and very Diane Feinstein, to think that global warming is a problem. But really, Global Warming isn’t a farce, or propaganda toted by granola chewing, hemp sandal wearing hippies. It’s a reality. Friends it’s a non-disputed fact that Mount Everest, and Mount Kilimanjaro have lost a thousand or more feet in the last 40 years because the ice glaciers at the top are melting due to warmer temperatures. In fact inhabitants at the bottom of Everest in Nepal, have had to flee their towns because where they once lived has become a giant lake of water due to the melting of the once though invincible Everest. Alaska has seen in the last 20 years their average temperature rise 8 degrees, doesn’t sound like much, but tell that to Native village that used to be on an ice glacier that is now a lake. People are moving to Greenland because it’s becoming more inhabitable as the ice melts, Greenland, crazy eh?. Last point the Ocean level has risen 1 inch world-wide because of melting ice. If that doesn’t impress you much let me put it into perspective. If the water level of the ocean rises world-wide 2 more inches, places like Bangladesh, Indonesia, some Florida, and New Orleans would all be completely underwater. Which if the melting continues at its current pace they expected that by 2050.

Well for this main reason. I’m not one to hear something, and buy into, ask my family, and anyone whose leadership I’ve been under. I’m kind of a skeptic. When I heard about all this “Global Warming” non-sense I did some research and found that most of it is really happening. The reason why I bring it to you is this; you should know it’s real.

I say this, not because I care about people listening to Al Gore, or being a member of Greenpeace, selling their SUV’s (which I drive one) or switching to granola. I care because I can’t stand it when someone writes off truth because it has become a “political issue”. There is nothing politicians can do. I mean Mount Everest is melting, congress can’t pass a bill to fix it. Scientists now have said too that it doesn’t matter what they (congress) say or do at this point. They said in a report that even if the entire world stopped burning fossil fuel, things are already in motion in the eco system that there really isn’t anything else to do but learn how to adapt to the coming changes.

So my point is this, Global Warming is real, and not a political plank in some liberal doctrine, It’s a hard fact. The earth is warming up. Which is really interesting when you look at all the changes that it’s causing. So if you were in the dark and thought that all this was a myth created by funny hippies that want you to drive you’re SUV on vegetable oil, know that it’s actually a real thing. There are no solutions to this problem, and I'm not promoting any, except this one: Jesus is returning friends, Matthew 24 talks about the 'birth pangs' that happen before his coming, and drastic environmental changes are one of them. I want us to know it's real, and a true sign that his return is eminent. Global Warming is really happening, and it's a sign that he's really coming back. Study Matthew 24 and feel free to send me any comments you may have.

Growing up in the church, watching people get baptized had become about as common as singing “Father Abraham” in Sunday school, an inevitability. Once more, growing up in the church with parents in ministry, yes I was a pseudo “preacher’s kid”. My Mom was the prayer minister at my church, she and Dad were given the “task” of ministering at every baptism my church had. To be fair to my beloved parents, in my 11 year old mind it was a task, to them it was quite enjoyable. Though still, baptism services had become a monthly, sometimes weekly drudgery. I dreaded the months when my pastor, “Pastor Gary” got up in front of the congregation and joyously proclaimed, “We have 80 people getting baptized this month, as opposed to the 30 we had last week!” ... “sigh”, a response I learned from my Father no less, he never complained but would simply exhale rather audibly to expose his displeasure. My reaction was the same, “sigh, 80 instead of 30!? That means my sister Sarah and I are going to have to learn more games to play under the pews!” Our favorites, ranged anywhere from Tic-Tac-Toe, to “M.A.S.H.” we would occasionally welcome another pastors kid if they were to be found. Needless to say, you can understand, though many years have passed since those days, baptisms have become completely blasé.

I found myself in a situation reminisant those days last Sunday night at the evening service. Mike (my current pastor) gets on stage and exclaims, “We have 80 souls getting baptized tonight!” Sigh, grouping for my keys and Bible, I immediately contemplate my “exit strategy”. I made up mind to wait until the baptizing had commenced to quietly slip out. The assistant Pastor, Alan, does his opening speech before the submerging of heads, so to speak, begins. I’m confident my exodus will be swift and successful, until the unexpected happens. I’m stuck. I’m actually interested in what is going on. I walk up towards the front near the baptism tank, many had already gathered there to take pictures and such. Call it Holy Spirit guidance; call it reminisant curiosity. Either way there I was standing up front in front of the 800 or so, with my car keys still in hand, preparing to be a witness to the ceremony.

Honestly I’ve never experienced anything like what happened next. I felt incredible joy, yes, me the Guru of baptismal cynicism. (Don’t worry that isn’t an actual concept, it was only created for this story.) As each person was baptized I wept with joy, and with each one the weeping grew. I’ll be honest I am of the sort that’s not afraid to cry in public, but this was almost embarrassing. This wasn’t a misty eyed adoration, this was full-on, face in hands, shoulders shaking, tears gushing, nose running, well you get the point; weeping. A joyful, but so much so that the only physical way my body knew how to express this much joy, seemed to be uncontrollable sobbing. I swear in that time, I felt the father’s heart for each and every person. “God you have been waiting for this moment”, I thought to my self, “waiting for that one, and that one, to publicly declare their renouncement of sin, and their affection for your Son.” Stunning! Unbelievable! I was hearing Psalms 45, “the King is enthralled by your beauty” over every single one of them. I felt such camaraderie, as they declared their Love to the one that I also Love. I understood, in that moment, how the Apostle Paul, was able express such love toward the churches like those in Philippi, Rome or even the compromise filled church in Corinth. I was so proud of all of them, from the young 10 to 14 years olds, the 25 to 30 year olds. Whose stories of how they came into the faith still resounded in my spirit.

My view of Baptism has been completely changed. You could say I’ve been conveyed. Now I understand the great significance, not of being dunked under water, but of making a public pledge of love, and allegiance to God. As Paul would say, shedding off the old man and walking in the new. Needless to say, no matter what I’ve learned, Sunday’s baptism was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

Hello friends!!! I'm back! I finally have my laptop fixed thanks to my Dad, who had a friend who was able to fix it, so after three months of being out of commission. I'm back expect new updates and and hopefully some cool changes, and many more resources!!

¹⁶ I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust (sinful desires) of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts (wars) against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh… (Gal. 5:16–17) NKJV

In Gal. 5:17, Paul described the violent war inside every believer. The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit wars against the flesh (to the degree that we are actively engaged with Him). Paul exhorts us to “walk in the Spirit” which sums up our response to the Holy Spirit. Paul follows this exhortation with one of the great promises in Scripture, “You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” Walking in the Spirit is within the reach of every weak believer. We are not promised that all fleshly desires will be gone, or that the war will be over, but that we will have power to not fulfill or walk out sinful desires.

The fundamental and introductory way to walk in the Spirit is by maintaining an active dialogue with the indwelling Spirit. This is key to our transformation and renewal. It is so simple that is causes many to miss it. Words quench or release (activate) the Spirit in us more than anything else. If we just talk to Him, He will talk back. He will speak to us once He gets us in the conversation. He speaks to us by giving us subtle impressions that release power on our mind and heart if we respond to them. He will talk us out of sinning and or quitting.

We will not walk in the Spirit more than we talk to the Spirit. He will help us to the degree that we talk to Him. We will not obey Him more than we talk to Him. The moments that we dialogue with Him are the moments in which we are most aware of His power in our inner man. We talk to the Holy Spirit as the way to experience the release of His power in our inner man. He releases small measures of power on our mind and heart, but the power is real. We experience the Spirit’s power in small incremental ways like we do with food and water

The way we recognize His presence in us, is by thanking Him for it. We thank the indwelling Spirit for His presence, power and leadership inside us. We pray, “Thank you Holy Spirit, for your presence in me that is mighty in indestructible love, peace, patience, self-control, etc (Gal. 5:22-23)

In times of unrest, we say “Thank you Holy Spirit, for your peace.” In times of temptation, we say, “Thank you Holy Spirit for self-control.” The fruits of the Spirit are the manifestation of the Spirit, not what we strive to obtain, but the gifts we receive when we are walking in the Spirit.

So do it! This concept seems so easy, and elementary, yet maybe 10% of all believers actually commune (walk) in the spirit on a daily basis. (statistic not an actual fact, but my personal opinion) The goods news is we can do it! You do have to be called to be a mystic like John of the cross, or Teresa of Avila in order to walk in the Spirit. In fact Paul calls all of us to it as the only way to resist sin. Do it, and e-mail any encounters you might have!

“If a man would give for love All the wealth of his house, It would be utterly despised.” -Song of Solomon 8:7

Picture a young couple with five million dollars in the bank who own a five-million-dollar house. One day this couple learns that their five-year-old daughter has a terminal illness. The doctor informs them that it will cost everything they have to successfully treat their child – their entire bank account, their home, their stocks – everything. So they liquidate their home , their stocks – everything. So they liquidate their home and belongings and use all ten million dollars, and their daughter is saved. One day they meet someone who says, “That was incredible what you did for your daughter.”

With a gentle rebuke the parents reply, “No, what we did for our daughter was nothing, because we did it for love.” The same principle applies to this scripture. If a man has given up everything he has accumulated, he will despise the notion that it was somehow a noble act. He acted because he was totally preoccupied with the love of another. Next to such love, money has no value. He might answer such a question as follows: “I consider what I gave up to be worthless compared to the love I have for my daughter.”

The apostle Paul said that he considered his sacrifice for Christ rubbish compared to the excellency of experiencing the beauty of Jesus. (see Philippians 3:8) The people said to him, “Paul, you had such a brilliant career.” To Paul it meant nothing when weighed against what the savior gave for Him. The uncreated God became human because He burned with a desire for us. He crowns us with His eternal glory. So what if Paul gave up a would-be-famous career? True love despises the recognition for sacrifices made for love.

Why? Because it was the sacrifice of love. The reward of a true lover is the power to love. At this point of love, no self-recognition is sought or wanted.

In essence, the parents in our illustration were saying, “We love our daughter, and that is all that matters; the house and money mean nothing.” In the same manner, when men and women are so preoccupied with the love and beauty of Jesus, the power to respond in wholehearted love toward God is the only reward they want. Martyrs will gladly give their lives and see their act of supreme devotion as God’s gift of grace to them, which enables them to operate in supernatural love under pressure. The power to love is our great reward.

So two days ago I'm sitting in the prayer room, crying, encountering Jesus, when Stuart, (the man who's leadership I'm under) asks me, "hey can you teach class for me tonight?" I said, "sure when?", He said, "well it starts in 5 minutes." So I grabbed my Bible, stepped in front of the 20-30 eager to learn students and this what came out. It's definately raw, because of no preparation time what so ever. But never the less God moved, and what eventually came out, amazed even me. so give it a listen.

Blessings to all of you from the bottom of my heart, all of you who receive this letter are truly in my constant prayers. It’s been awhile since some of you have seen a letter for me, and I apologize for that. My computer crashed and died a month ago and I haven’t had the opportunity to type a letter. God has been doing many things in my life over the past couple months. So let me catch everyone up to speed!

My service in the House of Prayer has been incredible. I’m currently helping oversee the internship we have here at IHOP, called Fire in The Night. It is designed for young adults who want to take 3-6 months out of their lives fast, pray, and study in the Prayer Room. We teach classes on Biblical Theology, and create a context for them to fast and pray. So needless to say with about 70-100 interns, it has increased my work load quite a bit. A typical day for me right now is a 12-14 hour day. From 6pm (sometimes 4pm) until 6am, I am working at the Missions base. I lead discussion groups, pastor interns, fast pray, and work on the nightwatch’s website at www.ihop.org, where I’m also hosting a podcast, radio show for the website. (which can also be heard at this website as well, just click here Podcast) Its purpose is to supply people world-wide who are starting houses of prayer in their cities and, or countries, with resources, information, and encouragement. It’s truly reaching the nations as we have had literally 1.8 million ‘unique hits’ (that is individual people clicking on the website) from 178 different nations in just the last two months!!

So with all that excitement, throw 40 hours a week of just prayer on top of that, and you get a full view of the daily life I live and love. I am seeing people’s lives completely changed, young people steeped in addictions and compromise, come to IHOP, and are not only living productive lives, but lives in whole-hearted devotion to God. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by people who are wholly devoted to Jesus. It spurs me on to seek his heart more and more.

I would like to take time in this 'update' to appeal to you, to consider supporting me financially. I’ve been living on support, as a missionary out here for almost four years now, and I have been amazed at the gracious help I’ve received from so many of you. However, I need help again! I’m living off $500.-$600. a month literally. I would like to raise about $1000. a month which I think is possible. I have added a personal finances page on my website, (found on the support page) so all of you can observe exactly what my expenses are. If you are only able to give even just a small amount, every little bit really does help!

I thank all of you for your constant prayers, know that I am praying for you, and all your contributions are going toward spreading the gospel world-wide.

I have come across a simple and easy way to know and understand the Bible: pray and read the bible every day. Simple yet profound, but I’m telling I have had more understanding of the word the last month than I have the last four years of studying theology. If you read 10 chapters of the New Testament, 5 Psalms, and 1 chapter in Proverbs every day and you’ll read the NT, Psalms, and Proverbs once a month. Pray through what you read, then meditate on it all day (meaning where ever you go whatever you do, ask God how to apply it to your heart and life) the word truly begins to come alive in you! I’m for Real!! Sounds so simple, but I don’t lie; this has totally and utterly changed my life. I still take time to go back and study certain passages, and read through certain commentaries, but forming a foundation of having the word living in me is keeping me from sin and causing my heart to grow more and more in God. Psalms 119 says “How does a young man keep his way pure? He meditates on the word day and night” It’s a key Biblical value that I’m only just touching the fringes of understanding in. Try it will seriously change your life!

Well after promising to a wide new range of options on this site...My computer crashed. Yes, it is beyond repair, or so I'm told. I know a lot about software, but when it comes to hardware I found out I know nothing! No really, I found that out when the computer repair guy was like "your mother board link to your hard drive is burned up". HUH!? Someone named an important piece of computer technology a 'mother board' ? I thought at he was using some surfer, or snowboarding term. You know, like, "Dude I totally caught that wave on this crazy mother board!" So needless to say I am without computer, luckily my kid sis lives here with me in Kansas City, so I'm using her computer to update my site once a week. So keep checking back!

Also pray for me. Pray God provides a computer for me since I was starting to be able to provide some income for my self making websites, newsletters and what not. As I am a missionary here in K.C. Money is tight, so please pray that God provides. cause I know he will. So I'd like to ask you all to pray about supporting me, with any amount you feel you would like to give. $10 a month is awesome! So think about it, pray about it! Just click the support page on the home page. Love you all....I promise to write an actual article for next week!

The other day a man invited me over to see his house. We decided on a time and I traversed across the city to see this mansion of a “house”. I pulled into the driveway and walked, what seemed like a mile, up to the front door. Words could not describe this door. It was like 20 feet high, and had diamonds in crested along it’s frame. Precious stones, rare jewels adorned the beautifully polished cherry wood. I stood there for what seemed like hours, which turned out to be more like the entire day, standing gazing at the door. I got there in the morning as the sun was rising, and then it set. I did not move I just marveled at the door. Finally once the sun had completely set, at around midnight, the man who had invited me over opened the magnificent door. “Excuse me” he said, “but are you ever going to come in? I understand I have a beautiful door, I mean I put a lot of work into it, but I made the door that nice figuring it would excite people to come inside thinking it’s even better in side”…

I made this story up to make a point, God is waiting for us to “come inside”, to enjoy him. Hebrews 6:1-2 “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.” Paul is challenging us to move on past repentance.

God has one issue with you, one issue with me. It’s not first our sin, it’s not first our abrasive, or goofy personalities. It’s this: We hate what he loves, we hate ourselves, you hate you. We spend our lives at the “door” of salvation thinking “man this is awesome I’m saved.” But Jesus is burning inside saying the yes the door is great, But there’s a God in here!! Salvation is what gets us to him, it’s the doorway, not the end! Jesus Christ did not take on human flesh for all of eternity, die on a cross, and shed royal blood, just so we fuss over our sin and weakness day in and day out. He sees we are weak, Psalms 103 says “he formed us he knows we are but dust”. He did it, so we could be with him, encounter him, love him, know him. St. Augustine says this: “Love God and do whatever you please.” The problem isn’t that we sin over and over, it’s that we don’t do the one thing that keeps us from sin. Love him! Enjoy him! That is how we “go on to perfection”. We enjoy him. So enjoy him, Love him, encounter his heart, Song of Songs 1:4 “let the king bring you into his chambers” He set his son to die so you could!!

greetings from K.C. it has been a long couple of months since last I wrote you all! Many e-mails I recieved have been people asking this question:

So my intent is to answer that question. Briefly though I'd like to point you to three new features on this site:

Check out these new features....now to answer the impending question of the day:

In a nutshell, I pray while a team of musicians in the room is worshipping through song. I also join in and sing as I pray.

This combination of worship and prayer is referred to as ‘Harp and Bowl’ in reference to a verse in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 5:7 the elders are before the throne of God in worship and they hold a harp (representing musical worship) and bowls filled with incense which are the prayers of the saints. We believe that since God has combined these elements in eternity before His throne that combining them on earth is the best way to ‘see His kingdom come.’

Of course, the wisdom of praying through song is the most ancient form of prayer on the earth as well. Every culture on the earth that worships does so primarily through song. In the Bible the book of Psalms is the largest collection of prayers in Scripture, and is the hymnal of ancient Israel. The word Psalm is essentially equivalent to “Song”. Additionally, the monasteries of medieval Europe employed Gregorian chant as well as other forms of music into their lives of prayer.

Perhaps the most dramatic example of night and day ‘harp & bowl’ devotion occurred in Bangor, Ireland in 555 AD. This Celtic monastery eventually saw over 3,000 people praying through song for 300 years. It was this prayer movement that birthed the Celtic mission movement.

Of course, in our worship, we enjoy the luxuries of modern technology. This makes it possible to have a whole worship team with drums, guitar, piano, and four to six prophetic singers praying the Scriptures to God in unison.

Practically speaking, this creates a very enjoyable environment to enter into prayer. The focus of much of our prayer is blessing for the cities of the earth. We especially pray for the church to be filled with God’s Spirit of wisdom and understanding.

If any individual in the room has a desire to pray for a personal need, a city, or any burden on their heart they are invited to pray on a public microphone during our intercession meetings. There are also prayer meetings which are devotional with the singers and musicians praying and singing the Scriptures, especially from the Psalms, Song of Solomon or Revelation.

The House of Prayer is truly something that must be experienced to fully appreciate, if you think of a ‘church that never stops’ you get the basic idea.

If you’d like to experience “Harp and Bowl” simply email me, call, or write, and I can send you a CD recording of one of our prayer meetings to illustrate this worship format for you.

The Old Testament of the Bible is filled with seemingly conflicting depictions of God’s character. We see two major themes, a God of wrath, and a God of love. He is pictured as being filled with such jealous rage, that he wipes out entire people groups and cities, but also is shown as being patient and filled with an overwhelming love. Wrath and love, two separate concepts in our mind but in God’s they delineate the same thing., [1]“The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love, and great in power; But the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.” God’s wrath is an escort into his love. Jeremiah talks about this in [2]“Because of the Lord’s unfailing love we are not consumed…Men are not cast off by God forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” The purpose of God’s heart is to discipline us in ways that usher us into love. In order to come to this conclusion, let’s first look at the two characteristics individually.

God is a God of wrath. God’s wrath is never unmerited. From Adam to the Babylonians, he never expresses his anger

without first it being aroused by sin. We see his anger at it’s height during the flood. [3]Man’s wickedness and sin so great that God finds only one man (Noah) righteous. In his anger he destroys all of creation with a great flood, spares Noah, and his family. Later in Genesis, [4]God’s wrath is poured out on Sodom and Gomorrah. Their wickedness was so great that God could not even find ten righteous in those cities. Therefore God decimated that place with his fire, and spared only Lot and his family. God’s attitude towards sin is wrath, because he is jealous for man kind to worship him alone. Those found righteous he spares. His wrath was poured out on Israel and they were exiled to Babylon because they refused to turn their hearts. Yet Daniel was found righteous and was [5]exalted even under Babylonian rule. God’s anger is fierce, it is terrifying, yet it is the tsunami that chases us into his heart.

“Because of the Lord’s unfailing love we are not consumed.” God ultimately is a God of Love. Throughout the OT one of the main characteristics attributed God is this statement, “The Lord is gracious, and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” In the Psalms where the before [6]verse was mentioned, David says this of God, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve, or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him” It is God’s love for his people, that makes him jealous for their affections. His love is “a flame of fire” that burns deep within him. [7]Solomon tells us that this fire is unquenchable. He loves his people. We see this in his patience towards Moses and the Israelites in the desert, Also it can be found in the story of Hosea where he confesses his love for his people amidst their blatant harlotry. God’s love for his people is great, it is steadfast, yet “he will not leave the guilty unpunished”.

So we have a God of wrath, whose [8]righteous indignation could devour all of creation and be well merited for it. Then we have a God of Love, who burns with passion for his people. The question is how do we reconcile the two pictures of God’s character? Well let us look at the story of Jonah. [9]Jonah, a passively obedient prophet, gets the word from God that he is fiercely angry with a gentile city called Nineveh because of their wickedness. Jonah (After God practically drags him to Nineveh kicking and screaming.) declares to them that God is coming to overturn their city because of their great wickedness. They turn their hearts to God with fasting and prayer. God sees their repentance and spares their city. In this story we see God’s Sodom-like anger, quenched by his love for men when they turn from sin. These two emotions of God’s heart are reconciled in this way: It’s all unto love. If God did not love his people, he would not have anger toward sin. But God’s love is so fierce, so steadfast that he can not passively watch men give themselves to sin. So he brings the promise of his wrath upon mankind, but shows compassion if they turn from the sin that has overtaken them. Whilst shows destruction if they do not.

God is a god of wrath, but only because he is a God of Love. His wrath is the escort into his love. His wrath and fury chases mankind down, to where they have only two options, be overtaken and perish like those in Sodom, or turn from their sin and run toward his heart like those in Nineveh. He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, but as it was revealed to Nahum, he will not leave the guilty unpunished.

[1] Nahum 1:3;

[2] Lamentations 3:22 &31

[3] Genesis 6&7

[4] Genesis 19

[5] Daniel 2:48;5:29;7:28

[6] Psalms 103

[7] Song of Solomon 8:6&7

[8] Nahum 1

[9] the book of Jonah

In many places in our nation, chaos seems to be erupting. In wake of these last months, with hurricane Katrina, major shifts in our Supreme Court, Earthquakes in Pakistan, and the Iraq debacle. As a believer there is an inner grappling to find God’s wisdom amidst the confusion.
When such confusion arises, God gives us a simple solution that any believer can engage in: fasting and prayer.
This principle is well illustrated in the prophet Joel. Joel prophetically sees an army that is emerging to destroy natural Israel. In history this was the forces of Babylon which destroyed Jerusalem and put Israel in captivity for 70 years. However, this picture also represents a dark army which will assault the people of God at the end of human history.
When such dire circumstances arise for us as Christians we must return to the Scriptures and search out God’s solution. God declares to natural Israel (as well as to the Western Church at this time in history),
“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” Joel 2:13
First, we must believe that God is faithful and good to all who call upon Him. With that knowledge of His love for us, we must turn to fervent prayer and fasting, inviting Him to have mercy upon us.
Without prayer, the worst case scenario in our nation and government will certainly come to pass. But if we humble ourselves with fasting and prayer, perhaps the Lord “will leave a blessing behind” instead of the discouragement we now face.

Fall is here, the leaves are changing, the air is cool again, sweaters and hot chocolate mix are once again daily habits. As I reflect on this past year, though not over yet, it has been an exciting one. This summer was a time of continued growth for me personally in ministry and continued definition in my service to the IHOP Missions Base and to the city of Kansas City. I am continuing to do the night watch and this last July culminated my third year at IHOP. Three years of praying for you and our nation each night, and serving the poor of the city each day. I continue to grow in the Word and learn each day new aspects of God’s heart and His plans for the earth as I help lead young adults into focused abandonment to the Gospel. Our missions base continues to grow and I am blessed to be a part of such a committed and generous community of believers here in Kansas City.

So a question continuously posed to me by many of you is: how am I doing? With 50-60 hours a week of prayer, fasting, and leading young adults, are you holding up? I decided to use this months letter to answer that question. Well I cut my schedule down to 40 hours the last couple of months in order to, on top of everything else, go to our biblical theology school fulltime. I’m taking 5 classes, it’s hard but I love it. It’s such a blessing to go to a class for three hours, hear many opinions and dissertations about God, and who he is, then take all that back to the prayer room and unpack it in my heart and mind. It has been incredible. God is so amazing to me. I find the more I sit and pray, and study his word, the more my heart loves him, and the more I’m able to marvel at how great he is. The thunder rattles my windows outside, and my heart jumps within me, and says “God what are you saying?” I encourage all of you, if you get a chance to just look at creation, whether in the mountains, or at a park, and just begin to marvel at how amazing God is. Psalms 37:4 says to those that delight in the Lord, “he will give them the desires of your heart.” Tell him he’s amazing, tell him you love him… He loves it! That is how we worship him. That’s what worship is! Oh I love my God! I guess that should answer the question, Paul put it best in 2Cor. 4:8, I am “pressed but not crushed” because my God is great.

Well I am praying for all of you back in the Valley, and elsewhere. I pray that God would enlighten all of our hearts to truly know his love in greater depths. (Eph. 3:16-19) Please feel free to send me any prayer requests that you might have. As all of you know by now that I live off your financial support, and I thank you so much for that. Bless all of you as you head into this holiday season.!

a little update for everyone, life here in Kansas City is going great! God is doing so much in this city. every sunday I've been taking a team of about 40-50 people down to westport (a downtown area) and we've been standing and worshiping on the side of the street with drums, and guitars, and ministering to the homeless who are down there. six months have past after we started and we've built some real lasting relationships with the homeless community there. more astonishing though is what God has been doing in that area. We've been praying for the ministries surrounding that part of town, asking God to bless them, and praying for deliverance for drug addicts and alcoholics. They (the surrounding ministries) have been seeing the amount of people coming in to get sober, saved double and in many cases triple, some more than they've ever seen. Some churches have even had to recruit more volunteers because people are starting to file in like never before. Isn't God amazing! As we've been asking God to set people free, he is and churches are reaping the benefits. People are falling in love with Jesus, and are now completely sober! If that is not a miracle I don't know what is. so continue to pray for us, and pray for your city, or people in your life, because God will move in their hearts if you are faithful!

In life there are times when you just to a break, to get away, think about nothing, and do nothing. Just sit on a beach somewhere soak up the sun, eat shrimp, and watch the waves crash into the shore, over and over and over, then repeat. Well I recently got that opportunity in Florida. My friends Ben and Liz Voran were getting married and needed a DJ for the wedding, since that's what I do for a living they asked me to come down. They paid for my travel expenses and provided a beach house (yes that means on the water!) for me and a whole bunch of my friends from KC to stay in. I must say awwwwaahhh! It was the most relaxing time of my life. At night I laid on the dock in front of the house listened to the waves, and looked the stars. during the day I swam in the ocean, laid on the beach, dug in the sand for crabs, and looked for sea shells. It was incredible. My life feels so refreshed, that I feel ready to conquer the world. Something about relaxing in the sun gives your brain that endorphin boost that it's been needing. So I hope you look forward to next weeks entry because there will actually be one!!! no 4 real!! so my final thought, if your burnt out, tired, or just like being lazy, take a vacation to the beach it'll change your world!!

It was a sunny June afternoon in Kansas City. I was sitting on my porch drinking tea, as I often do. My mind continually racing, thoughts on life, money, God, what to eat for dinner later that night, when the thought came to me, nothing profound but none the less I thought, “I’ve never been to Boston!” Quickly I remembered my Wonderful friend Chrissie who lives just outside Boston. In the process of one sitting I decided, “I should take I trip out to Boston!” I pulled out my ever-faithful Franklin-Covey planner, searching to find a date for my excursion. I settled on August giving me two months to save up for the trip. Content that my “porch contemplation time” had ended in success, I retired inside.

The next thing I did was make the inevitable call home, asking for money. Sitting down, hoping my new found adventure would be greeted with excitement…and hopefully…generosity…I dialed. My mom answered the phone, delighted to hear from her long lost son, I was greeted with joy. I proceeded to tell her about my trip. I tried to convince her that it had been my dream to visit Boston, “I love Boston!” I said, “ they have Fenway Park, baked beans, that whole tea party thing...” Running out of good selling points, the convincing wasn’t going all that well. Admittedly my argument had as many holes in it as a tennis racket, still I felt confident. Her response was not the one that I had expected. My beautiful mother in her ever growing wisdom, did not answer my request for monetary aide. Instead I received an Aesop like fable. “Zack” she said, “ a couple of years ago, these scientists did a study on child behavior. They gathered together a group of kids from all different ages and backgrounds. They gave each child a marshmallow, and told them that they could eat the marshmallow if they wanted. But if they waited till after recess they would get two marshmallows instead of just one. Some kids couldn’t wait and ate their caramelized sugar treat right away, others waited and their treat doubled. So my question Zack, is do you want one marshmallow or two?” Tempted to voice neither, frankly I don’t really care for marshmallows and if I did, I could go and buy a whole bag if I wanted to. I chimed in, “ I don’t know” still trying to grasp the relation of the story to my request. She said, “ well you can take your little meaningless trip to Boston, or wait some more time, save up some money, and plan a trip to Europe, and get more out of the deal.” Needless to say I understood the wisdom she was conveying. “I guess I want two marshmallows “ I said coming down from my “Boston high”.

I was remembering this story earlier this week when I was contemplating the importance of living with an eternal mindset. How they relate you ask? Well life is a funny thing, most of us including my self look at life as a span of 80 years, then whatever happens after life, feels more like a myth than a reality. The truth of the matter, is that eternity is very real. We live forever! Think about that…weather it’s in heaven in the presence of the creator of heaven and earth, or in a lake of fire. When I think of life I think you have two choices; love God with your Whole heart, Mind, and Strength and make that the number one desire of your heart. The second choice is make anything else but God the FIRST desire of your heart. That could be anything from success, position, love, family, friends, money, happiness, joy, satisfaction…the list goes on. Philosophers for centuries have struggled with all their might and brilliance, to come up with the meaning of life. Confucius to Nietzche (Well Nietzche concluded that there was no meaning and died insane because of it.) the ancient Greeks, all races, all civilizations throughout human history, have suffered to concoct a meaning for life. In the end their efforts turned out to be futile. God is the overlooked factor, in his son we Live, Move, and have Our being. So Zack what is your point? My point is you can have success and even momentary happiness here on earth and make that your primary goal (one marshmallow) or you can make God the priority in your life…have happiness, and joy now, and for all of eternity ( two marshmallows). My point is not to convey any wisdom or a thought to add to the knowledge of God catalogue in your mind. Merely something to contemplate. How do you see life? Is finding meaning more important to you? Or is marrying your heart to THE meaning your priority?

How wise it is for us to put our trust and hope in God. I have come to the conclusion that life comes down to two primary principles, identity, and fascination. First identity, when we live a life that is found in God, we lay an unshakable spiritual foundation. This is where Isaiah and Solomon’s “all flesh is grass” philosophy comes into play. At the end of this life what can you take with you? How is your success measured? By what man thinks of you? By how man will remember you? What are the opinions of man worth? Isaiah 40:15 says, “the nations are but a drop in a bucket.” The reason why it’s so hard for us to find our identity in God and not in the opinions of man, is because we are not thinking eternally. We picture life as 80 years, when eternity is really what’s at stake. Wealth, position, entertainment, etc. are all worth nothing in God’s economy. A heart that is steadfast, and alive with love is worth more than gold. When our identity is found in God, and we forfeit all of our dreams and desires over to him, he is “able to do exceedingly, more than we could ever imagine or hope for.” Remember that, “ those who trust in the Lord shall never be put to shame.” John 15, Jesus tells his disciples to abide in him as he abides in the father. Isaiah 50 verses 11 & 12, say, “For those who walk in darkness, let them trust their God, and rely on their Lord. But those who walk in the darkness and light there own fires, and walk in the light of their own touches, I tell you this, in the end, the will lie down in torment.” Even though we have no idea what lies ahead in the future, I know that for the glory of his name, we are to rely on him, so that in the end, the praise will not be about how great we were…but how great God was when things seemed impossible. Trusting him, finding our identity in him, is how we honor him. By doing so we are saying, not my will but yours be done, and not just saying it but living it…truly his ways are higher than mine.

So how do you get the motivation to trust God whole heartedly? well you can’t do it with a heart that is not on fire. Which brings me to fascination, the other principle with equal value to Identity. If our hearts’ are not fascinated by God… then they are going to be fascinated by something else. Let me say that again, if you are not Fascinated by God, then what is fascinating you? and if it isn’t God, then what value does it carry? Fascination with Jesus is what will cause your identity to be found in him, fascination in him will keep you from sin. If your heart is not alive with passion for Jesus, then it’s dead. How do we become fascinated with a God that can’t be seen? the answer… by understanding his fascination with us. We have a God who passionately desires us. In John 17 the one prayer Jesus had was… "father I desire the they would be with me where I am”. How mind blowing is that to think about? ponder that for a second…ok done? The God who created the heavens and the earth, the who set the stars in place and holds the universe in the palm of his hand, has a desire!! and it’s us! Song of Solomon is a book loaded with God's affections toward us… check out SOS 8:6 & 7 “Set me as a seal upon your heart… For my love is as strong as death, Jealously as unyielding as the grave, It’s flames are flames of fire, A most fervent flame. Many waters cannot quench my love, rivers cannot overwhelm it.” That’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you want to understand the love of God read this book, meditate on it, own it, it will change your life… no doubt.

The key is to understand God’s fascination for humanity, his deep unyielding love for us, a burning desire for you. What happens is, our hearts become fascinated with him, and nothing else will be able to satisfy our desire for him. The desire for God is all ready in us. Which is why we search so hard to find fulfillment in success, money, position, relationships etc. Look up, when we are fascinated by him our identity will be found in him. contemplate that… find out for your self... get back to me…