Saturday, September 8, 2007

From Occupation to Expansion

Ever have that feeling that your wasting lots of time? Lately, I've been feeling the weight of responsibility to be a good steward to what God has given me; to run the race with perserverance and and passion. I came across this article by Bill Johnson that really speaks into the heart of this matter....answering the question why we must be faithful with what God has given us. What do ya think?


"One of the warriors of old made this statement: "The purpose of war is victory, and the purpose of victory is occupation." In the Kingdom, we add one more step to the process: The purpose of occupation is expansion. The Lord would not give all of the Promised Land to IsraelKingdom of Heaven. The man who was given the one talent and buried it simply occupied and protected that accomplishment, but suffered tremendously because he did not take what he had and position it for increase (Matthew 25:15-28).
It's important that we view life with the perspective of expansion and forward motion. When we think this way, we are positioning ourselves for increase and promotion. It's not healthy to simply find a place you want to stay in and occupy.
at once because they did not have the ability to occupy all of the territory. By only giving them the amount of land they could occupy, He positioned them for expansion. Expansion is vital to advancing the



The moment you have found a leveling-off place is the moment you begin backsliding. When your passion begins to decline, you already start to die. You were born to burn. Elisha came to the king and said, "Please strike the ground with these arrows." And he struck the ground three times. The prophet became furious at the king and said, "If only you had struck the ground five or six times you would have annihilated the enemy, but now you're only going to have three temporary victories." Because the king did not live out of passion, he couldn't carry the anointing that God wanted to give him, and it cost the nation. When leaders don't have passion, it costs everyone who follows. Passion and the anointing run in parallel courses. A person with passion will take risks. Everything you want in the realm of the Kingdom is found through this veil of difficulty by stepping into the realm of inconvenience. You don't get it by coasting on yesterday's breakthrough. You were born for expansion."

I don't really have anything else to say. Jesus, I pray that the fear of failure that so cripples us is broken by the gloriousness of you and your sure ability to accomplish what your Word speaks of! Let us move from Glory to Glory, and not from fear to shrinking back....Raise up a generation that boasts in you, one that doesn't turn away from pain and suffering, but rushes into to dark situations with absolute faith that your Word is true, and that once glance of your eyes changes everything!

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Another Sunday Afternoon...

It’s another Sunday afternoon. Church is over, my belly's full, my house is quiet, and I have nothing planned to do. This makes me restless for some reason. I find myself sitting at my computer, hoping to escape to the portal of the outside world. The comforts of life don't feel so nice to me. I wish I could replace my full stomach and air conditioning house with the open sea, the breeze of the wind, the vast expanse of sky, and a little bowl of soup with stale crackers. Or how bout' a dirty Mozambiquan hut filled with people dancing wilding about for hours - otherwise known as church.

Bottom line, I'm restless, and I wonder why I am this way...but when I sit silent, I feel the comfort of my Father in heaven saying this is the way he created me to be. The longing to be caught up into a grand epic story, one of battles, far-away places, love, sacrifice, joy...to live for something far grander than myself - in my heart, there's a longing for my King. I know He will return one day soon. When He does, His Kingdom will be established on the earth, just as it is in Heaven.

I'm not a good writer. That's partly why I'm going to start blogging again. I want to be able to write what's on my heart. I question whether what I write is even real...words can be crafted and comforted to say whatever I want; I hope that this blog is an avenue for me to write honest and true things. Most of all, I hope that people may see a reflection of Jesus in all of this...to be encouraged to pursue Him to the end.

Here's a parting thought. Read this quote from a guy named Kevin Deadmon.

"If I offered to take you to Hawaii on an all expense-paid vacation, would you get a little excited as you thought about the white, sandy beaches, the coconut aroma on the tropic breezes, and the mesmerizing waves lapping towards your lounge chair as the rest of the world is washed away? Well, what if I told you that I was going to be flying the plane, and that I had never actually flown a plane, but I had read the manual and know everything there is to know about flying. Would you still be excited about going to Hawaii with me?

If you answered “yes” to that question, then you are crazy! You should never fly with someone who has never actually flown a plane! Yet, how many suffice to just read the manual (the Bible), thinking that doing that alone will enable them to have a personal relationship with God. And then we think that the world is going to want to fly with us to the Kingdom of God, when we have no personal experience."


Ouch! I was really struck by that sentence. My desire is to lead people into God's Kingdom, but people won't be drawn to it unless the Kingdom I speak of is real in me first. It can't be limited to reading the words of Christ...these words must change my very nature until I am living fully in His Kingdom! As Bill Johnson would say, "the Kingdom inside becomes the Kingdom around me." Righteousness, peace, and joy is my inheritance, and to be stuck in depression, fear, shame means I am stuck in Egypt again...again I am a slave. I must experience this Jesus! I must know who He is, and from the place of encounter, I will be a witness of Him...