As of two weeks ago, I have been serving IHOP-KC at the Forerunner School of Ministry for two full years; a long time at IHOP-KC. I have worked in the Academic Affairs Office as an administrator, and while I have enjoyed serving the school, I have always known that God would have something different for me.

For the past couple of months, I have felt that a change was coming, and Jocelyn even told me that she felt it would come suddenly. It sure did! A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to be the Project Manager for a new department starting at IHOP-KC called “IHOPU Press”. This department will publish theological books on the themes of the IHOP-KC message, and oversee the development of course books for classes taught at IHOPU. My current boss will be directing IHOPU Press so I’m excited to be able to continue working with him.

When I graduated from FSM, I felt that my “calling” was to teach at FSM, which was one reason why I agreed to work there. However, over the past couple of years, and having had the odd chance to teach classes, I have discovered that my joy is in writing and I want to have a voice through writing. (I know that I need to write more on this blog.) Working at IHOPU Press will allow me the chance to be involved in the process of developing books with the hopes of one day doing some writing of my own.

I’m really excited to help develop materials that will deepen and broaden our message. I believe that God is breathing on the message of prayer, intimacy and end-times throughout the church, and it will be fun to play a small role in seeing this happen.

I’m in the Prayer Room all day on Tuesdays. This may sound glorious to some, but to me, it feels like a prison. Today, I’m constantly reminded of my own weakness:

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9)

Long days in the Prayer Room always remind me of how weak I am, especially when I am fasting. It’s days like today that I realize that prayer is not about being strong, but about being weak and turning to God for His strength. It is about humbling myself and saying that I cannot do it. I just cannot give up.

Embracing weakness goes against everything our culture and my own flesh says. Yet resting in weakness and humility is the place where God can dwell, and where He loves to dwell. I have nothing to give Him today. Just my time and my weak prayers. Sometimes all I can give is the desire to desire Him. Is that enough? I sure hope so.

I had a revelation a couple of weeks ago that made me understand myself more. I have lived with this sensation for all of my life, only being aware of it when I was able to become aware of things.

I realized that I am not in control of my life.

Sometimes I will sit and contemplate all the things that are happening in my surroundings that I have absolutely no control over. Like now for instance. I am typing on a computer that is just working. Nothing I am doing is making it work. All of the parts are working together and I have nothing to do with it. One day, it will not work because something will break and then my feeling of being out of control will be enhanced and exposed.

That’s just a silly example. But it gets really crazy if you start thinking like this too long. It may sound like an exercise that could lead to hysteria, but I feel edified by it because it leads me to consider greater things.

What really matters is to consider the leadership of God in your life. When I think about all the things that are out of my control, I realize that God is in control. A person who denies God will either deny that he is out of control or boast of man’s ability to control the life he is living. That is destructive because it is a folly that leads to death.

The leadership of God over my life is so beautiful and perfect that I cannot explain it or comprehend it. It does not mean that my life is free from trouble or pain, far from it. What it does mean is that He leads my heart into faith, hope and love time and time again. He leads me to encounter Him in surprising ways that make me worship and love Him.

When I choose to go a way that is destructive, He does not let me go too far. He always leads me back and shows me a different way that is much better.

I’m really thankful to Jesus today because He has chosen me and loved me. He is working in me that I might be conformed into His image on that day. I’m really thankful that I’m not in control because that would be horrible.

Jocelyn and I are traveling to Arroyo Grande, California (outside San Luis Obispo) tomorrow for a week. We are visiting my brother and his wife and 3 boys, whom we have not seen for almost 2 years! The last time we saw them was right after our FSM graduation.

They live in a sweet little surfing town just down the road from the beach. It’s not warm enough to go swimming, but it’s such a pretty area. It will be nice to spend time with family and enjoy our nephews.

I read 17 chapters of Leviticus today, and 10 yesterday. I’m on a new schedule of reading 10 chapters of the Bible a day and Leviticus was it. Normally, I would kind of groan out of boredom while reading the book, but this time, I actually enjoyed it.

My big revelation is that to keep the Law, a Jew had to make a sacrifice for their sin. This means that built into the Law was the expectation that a person would sin. Does this mean that “keeping the Law” was not, to not sin, but to repent and make a sacrifice when you did sin?

If this is true, than the prophets cry of, “to obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Sam. 15:22; Hos. 6:6), takes on a new meaning. “Obedience” was to actually make a sacrifice with a repentant and believing heart, meaning, you possess the knowledge of God. When the prophets were negatively referring to “sacrifice,” they were not saying the institution itself was rotten, but that it was not effective without obedience, a repentant heart.

Anyway, that was my day in Leviticus. I can’t wait for Isaiah or Romans.

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I am in the Prayer Room this afternoon glued to 2 Peter 1. The whole chapter is about the hope we have in the resurrection and kingdom of Messiah at His coming, and the qualities we are to produce in preparation for that kingdom. Right when you think it cannot get any better, Peter throws out this little nugget:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty…So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:16, 19)

What is he referring to? The transfiguration. Peter is giving his firsthand understanding of Jesus’ transfiguration (Matt. 16:28-17:8). When Jesus said that some of His disciples would see “the Son of Man coming in His kingdom” (Matt. 16:28), He was not referring to the establishment of His kingdom. He was showing these three disciples that He was the promised Messiah who would one day come to establish the long promised kingdom.

As they were coming down from the mountain, He tells them how He would suffer. Yet they should not lose heart or faith in Him because He had shown them His ultimate and final calling. He was the promised Messiah, the seed who would crush the head of the serpant.

The coming of Messiah is no “cleverly devised tale.” It is the lamp we are to set our eyes on in the midst of a dark world. Our hope is to be set fully on the power of His coming because it is sure. When Jesus revealed Himself as the Messiah on that mountain, He was giving reason for the disciples to believe the prophetic word. So Peter says, “We have the prophetic word made more sure.”

No voice of doubt should dissuade us from this hope. No good idea or method should sway our focus off His coming. We are to live in preparation for His coming kingdom (1:11). We should not give up hope for “He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature” (1:4), that is, the resurrection.

Praise God! For real.

For the past few months, I have been growing uneasiness with the way that Christians, me especially, are far too friendly and cozy with our nation and our culture. I look at the book of Acts and see a group of believers who were confronting the world and unbelievers to expose sin and darkness.

I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that, in general, there is little practical difference between the Church and the rest of America. We have been swept along with the wickedness of our culture so that we are participants in it, not prophets exposing it. Instead of being messengers calling the lost from our culture, we have become a part of it.

I feel that in the days ahead the Church in America will directly confront the wickedness of the American government, the American culture, and the American dream. We will be forced to take a stand against our nation or be swept away in the wickedness and delusion. I fear that persecution against Christians in this nation is not too far away because we will not be tolerated because we will not tolerate wickedness.

In light of this, the Lord is calling His people to awaken and stand for truth. Where delusion has swept in like a flood, He will pour out a Spirit of revelation. Where we are poor in wisdom, He will cause us to abound in love in true discernment. We will be a people who boldly proclaim His coming and His will to turn hearts to Jesus. We will do it in love and we will be hated for it.

He is calling us to be a nation set apart. Pilgrims waiting for our King to come.

P.S. My intent is not to be negative, but to call us to sobriety, and encourage us to lay hold of a vision for wholeheartedness and separation.

For the past couple of months, I have been thinking about the kingdom of God. I have never seriously thought about the subject, always leaning on the popular phrase, “already, not yet,” when being confronted with the subject. Yet a couple of my favorite teachers, and a post-election theological think tank have led me straight into the subject.

I’m still trying to get my feet wet, but I’m creeping towards the conclusion that the kingdom of God is entirely future. That above mentioned phrase just does not cut it for me as I feel it lacks sufficient understanding of the kingdom of God.

The first reason I say this is that, in God’s purpose, the kingdom was always a physical kingdom that would be established by a God-appointed king, Jesus the Messiah. The earth was always the place where God intended to dwell with humanity. Even after the fall, His intention was that His government would be on the earth – a physical kingdom. So to say that the kingdom is “already,” is to say that the kingdom of God is not a physical kingdom, but a “spiritual” one. This is against the promise of the Old Testament and the expectation of the apostles.

The second reason ties in with the first because it has to do with the idea of hope. The primary expectation and hope of the apostles was the coming of the Lord. The reason for this is because they were looking for Him to return to resurrect the dead, judge the wicked, and establish His kingdom in Jerusalem where He would reign with His saints as their reward. They were not running around believing that they were somehow establishing the kingdom. They were preaching about the kingdom and suffering for the kingdom because they had hope that Jesus was the Messiah who would soon establish the kingdom.

I am seeing that hope is one of the most precious things that I possess. I cannot and should not give out my hope lightly. My hope must be placed completely on Jesus the Messiah and His coming kingdom. We do not hope in the next revival. We do not hope in Church buildings or programs. We do not hope in a president. We do not hope in a promotion or a fulfillment of our calling. We hope in our Messiah who will soon split the sky to resurrect the dead, slay the wicked, and set up His kingdom. This is our hope because that is the only thing that is sure.

“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” (Romans 8:24-25)

We are on day two of the onething08 young adult conference here in KC. 15,000 people are here for 4 days of being equipped and called to be forerunners. IHOP-KC has a real sense that this will be a strategic time in the forerunner movement.

The IHOP website has tons of materials on the conference if you can’t make it. You can actually view the conference for free via webstream, which is awesome. They are also giving updates through Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and more.

So check it out and join in with this exciting and historic event.