faith

Our Prayer for 2024 – Unshakable Faith

/ Jana / Leave a comment

I wait quietly before God,
    for my victory comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress where I will never be shaken.

So many enemies against one man—
    all of them trying to kill me.
To them, I’m just a broken-down wall
    or a tottering fence.
They plan to topple me from my high position.
    They delight in telling lies about me.
They praise me to my face
    but curse me in their hearts. Interlude

Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
    for my hope is in him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress where I will not be shaken.

My victory and honor come from God alone.
    He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.

O my people, trust in him at all times.
    Pour out your heart to him,
    for God is our refuge. Selah

Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
    and the powerful are not what they appear to be.

If you weigh them on the scales,
    together they are lighter than a breath of air.

Don’t make your living by extortion
    or put your hope in stealing.
And if your wealth increases,
    don’t make it the center of your life.

God has spoken plainly,
    and I have heard it many times:
Power, O God, belongs to you;
    unfailing love, O Lord, is yours.
Surely you repay all people
    according to what they have done.

Psalm 62 NLT

Childlike Faith

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Jesus loves a good party. In the Old and New Testaments are examples of good friends with good food gathered in the name of the Lord. This is the heart behind our annual GT Gala. We want to usher in Christmas by celebrating what God celebrates: Jesus.

He woke me up in the night with this year’s Gala “theme” if you will. Child-like faith. 

Being child-like might be different from our common holiday goals. Commercials, gadgets, and elvish personas promise to deliver giggles from little kids. And, to be honest, seeing their “eyes all aglow” does something to our insides. We spend a lot of money and effort so our kids get the counterfeit Christmas vibe. But let’s face it, we may or may not hit a home run.

Raise your hand if you have stayed up way past bedtime to assemble some random item. Bikes, car tracks, dollhouses, you name it. A million pieces finally come together and your kids look at the new contraption and. . . go play with the box it came in.

The Grinch taught us well.

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

‘Maybe Christmas,’ he thought, ‘doesn’t come from a store.

Maybe Christmas … perhaps … means a little bit more!,’ ”

 

The Lord told me that we think being childlike is something we grow out of. Whew. That stings. Picture the teen years. Once fun outings morph into sullen grunts and blank stares. The beaming children become bored spectators.

The Lord asked this question: Have you been talked out of your child-like wonder?

Are we eager children ready to be enthralled or are we awkward teenagers who occur more like entitled, ungrateful observers?

Jesus constantly calls us to become little children…like right now. Today.

Being Childlike starts with delight. God said that happy children are nice. But there is more.

My friends took their children to the local parade. The mom sent me a video of her 4-year-old trying to catch these huge bubbles. The joy on his face moved me. I kept watching the video. There it was. Sheer glee.

My other friend told me about strolling their almost 2-year-old through Christmas lights for the first time. Her face was beaming as she recalled her son pointing and repeating:  Wow. Wow. Wow.

Beauty does that to us all— if we let it.

God’s purpose in beauty, in surprises, in simple play, is to create moments of delight. Moments of remembering, we are all still His children.

I asked Him, “Why do You go to all this trouble to make such delights for us?”

He asked back, “Well why do you go to all the trouble to bring delight to others (ie, the Gala)?”

I stuttered for a minute. “Because we love inviting other people into beautiful moments?”

I replayed the four-year-old with bubbles and the two-year-old with Christmas lights. There was the delight of the children, but there was ALSO the delight of the moms watching their children. The dots began to connect.

The Lord enjoys us enjoying the things He has created for us to enjoy.

Can you imagine the Glowing Face of God as He laughs over the wide-eyed wonder of His kids? God enjoys us enjoying His gifts in the same way these parents enjoy their children. No needed outcome. No profit loss statements. Only for the joy it produces. 

This begs the question: Do we appreciate, adore, and enjoy His biggest gift, Jesus? It matters to God. It matters to your soul.

Another aspect of being childlike is belief.

God and I have gone through some serious challenges this year. He said He was training my Quick and Willing Yes. He wanted me to trust My Good Father whenever He asked me to do something no matter how outlandish. You can imagine, He has given me many chances to practice giving a quick and willing yes.

I see now that God wants to bless us with adventure. And. He wants us to bless Him back with our child-like response of delight and belief. A natural overflow of His life in ours.

Children believe so much easier and quicker. They don’t have all the mental noise and doubt to cloud their beliefs and thinking. You know this. Tell a child he is stupid and worthless, he believes it. Tell her that some guy in a red suit brings her gifts, she believes it. So guard your children’s ability to believe the truth and guard your own. This delights the Lord.

Jesus invited a little child to stand among them.

“Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children,

you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child

is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoever welcomes a little child like this in My name welcomes Me.”

Matthew 18:1-5

 

God is inviting us to reacquaint ourselves with childlike faith. Our FAITH causes God to rejoice in the same way we marvel over children with bubbles and lights. We are joining in a Heavenly reality that brings Him deep satisfaction.

Child-like Faith produces Expectation. We believe so we become eager to receive from Him.

Let me just put this out there.

If you can teach your kids to “expect” Santa, which isn’t real, please for the Love of God, teach your children to EXPECT to Hear and receive from our GOOD GOOD Father. Teach your own heart and those around you to Delight, Believe, and Expect all the beauty of Jesus.

God said childlike faith is a superpower.

He told me if we truly understood the power of childlike faith, if we truly understood the joy of dependence on God, we would pray more because we would realize the ripple effects we all have in the lives around us.

This Christmas, remember Your Father enjoys you enjoying this beautiful life. Remember to honor and celebrate Jesus, our perfect Gift. It matters to God.

Advent Reflections: Every Good Gift

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Chuck and I are going through lean times. Maybe you are too. New jobs, home repair, kids’ expenses, illness—many factors cause money to pass through all of our hands. Seen and unseen circumstances affect cash flow like the moon affects the ebb and flow of the tide. God planted three truths in our hearts to help us ride the ever-changing waves.

 

A couple of years ago I was whining, fretting, arguing, praying about God’s provision. This was His answer.

Asking Me to provide is like asking the waves to return to the shore.

Think about it.

Have you ever been to the ocean when the water wasn’t flowing to the shore? Sure, sometimes it’s thunderous and full and high tide. Sometimes it is lakewater flat and calm. But the waves are ever lapping the shores, returning, ever returning.

This word from the Lord is medicine to my shaky heart. It is also a shot of adrenalin to my spirit to recognize He is the Lord of the whole, dang ocean. God is the Maker of all the earth. He will care for me and you as constantly as the saltwater finds its way to the beach. We can bank on His Unfailing waves.

There is always enough to give.

We learned this powerful truth from saints who have gone before. As young believers, me and Chuck watched these gray-haired God lovers give testimony about the faithfulness of God in every season. “He’s been so good to us. We can’t afford to not give,” they would say as grateful tears ran down wrinkled faces.

Selah.

When things are tight, giving to God and others feels like the least appropriate response. It’s natural to grab and cling to what we have. But we are supernatural beings. We have access to all the resources of Heaven. We may not feel that way, but it is our reality nonetheless.

Chuck and I have learned to empty our pockets to fill our faith. We overcome lean seasons, hard seasons, even famine seasons— by giving. But why? 

It’s a declaration of trust that He will give us all we need. We give even though it doesn’t make sense on paper. It makes sense to God.

We are blessed to be a blessing.

Giving reminds us of our holy birthright, our eternal covenant. Our Good God will care for us AND give us enough to share. As you approach Christmas, as you plan for 2024, as you review year-end reports, remember your covenant God. Remember His desire for multiplication.

Everything we have is a gift. We may think we worked for it. We earned it. But revisit Deuteronomy 8. It’s all part of our covenant with God—through HIS giving, we become a blessed people group known on the earth for outrageous faith and generosity.

God-covenant-awareness changes us. It trains us. 

We see this year the Lord has taught us to trust more, deeper. The word is constancy.  He continues to take us through seasons of plenty and want so that we master the secret of dependence. Flowing in His favor, without all the drama. (Though we are still working on the no drama part.)

My counsel? Count your blessings. Then give them away. The ocean will bring you more.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

 

Bigger on the Inside

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Greater is He that is in you…There are some lessons that God never tires of driving home in our hearts. Since truth sets us free, it makes sense that He keeps flooding us with pictures and verses and revelations of who He is, and thus, who we are. We sometimes forget that God is ever working miracles in hidden places.

I have so many God stories about butterflies. I mean, c’mon. We all probably do. Here’s the most recent one. The other day, Lindsey and Christopher told me this story of a caterpillar that they got from their daughter’s school. And it did what caterpillars do, eat and grow and put itself in a chrysalis. Right before they went on vacation. 

So like all good parents, they brought the chrysalis with them. In a padded box. From Tennessee to Florida. 500 miles.

Somehow even this effort speaks to my faith. They KNEW that something amazing was going to happen. So they went to any length necessary to partner with the miracle.

Selah.

In Florida, they watched and waited and a beautiful butterfly emerged from this tiny case. They showed us this picture. It was Christopher who exclaimed, “It’s so big. I don’t know how this big butterfly could even fit inside this little cocoon.”

That’s when I heard the Lord. “It’s bigger on the inside than on the outside.”

I just let that phrase percolate with the Lord for several days. And here is what He gave me.

  1. Don’t settle for caterpillar living, when you are destined to be a butterfly.
  2. I must do whatever it takes to partner with miracles.
  3. There is radical transformation happening that I can’t see.
  4. God inside me is bigger than the little world outside me
  5. The afterlife with God is bigger than the chrysalis of death we all face.

    Maybe read those again. Let Him drive truth home one more time. It will set you free.


    You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them,
    because the     one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

    1 John 4:4 NIV

What are you waiting for?

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Are you in the middle of a waiting period? You have a promise, word, or dream and you think you have done all you can to make it happen…and yet that very thing is still out of reach. Yeah, me too. Houses, cars, babies, money, marriages, jobs, friends, you name it. We have all been stuck in the “Not Yet” loop. The tension in the waiting sucks. It sucks faith, energy, creativity, even hope. Unless we have some secret weapons.

 

 

I want to briefly unpack something the Lord is giving me these days. Every experience, good or bad, is an invitation to encounter God. Here is the catch. These encounters are not one-way encounters — only what we get from God. They are two-way encounters, both parties giving and receiving.

Don’t miss the huge truth-bomb here that God enjoys receiving FROM you. Yes, you.

(So what are you giving Him?)

There is a reciprocal relationship where I ask and He gives. He gives, I praise. He doesn’t give… I cry, pout, stall out. But c’mon, that’s kindergarten level. Maturity offers different responses. I ask and offer Him thanks in advance. He gives, and I ask who to give it to. We dance. We laugh. And, when things go badly, I look to Him. He doesn’t always rescue me but He gives me perspective. I have the opportunity here to test my thinking and believing in the middle of the tension.

What do I actually think about the LORD, instead of what do I think about the situation?

The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him.

Nahum 1:7 NKJV

The Lord gave this verse in a hard, hard season of waiting. I learned how to use three secret weapons from one verse.

1) The Lord is good. Every disappointment, heartache, delay, and faith strain is reframed by God’s goodness. When we come to bank our whole life on His goodness and His desire to be good to me, to you, it changes every result, or lack of result. We don’t minimize the pain, but we tell the pain it is not the final answer. God’s goodness will be revealed sooner or later.

2) Every trouble we face, we have a stronghold to run to. We don’t flail around helpless and hopeless. We don’t try to white-knuckle it. Heaven has provided a very real place for us to rest and recuperate. A place where we can escape the trouble and find wisdom and comfort.

3) He knows those who trust in Him. Listen, this verse stopped me dead in my tracks. HE KNOWS who really trusts Him. Remember the give and take? He looks at us in the hardest moment and asks, “Will you give Me your trust?”

I don’t know about you, but that verse compels me forward into faith. I may get knocked down but I am getting back up. And when I do, I want to be that kid in the classroom, jumping up and down, with my hand up, shouting, “Pick me, Pick me. I trust You! I do!”

But wishing doesn’t make that kind of trust in God real. When we are willing to go through the experiences, encounters, history, risk, failure, and do-overs, then we grow a kind of faith and trust that makes Him smile. Maybe I am a hard nut, but it has taken a lot of hard knocks to get me to child-like faith.

I have also loved this passage from Psalm 27. In the NIV, verse 13 says, I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. But verse 14 in The Passion translation takes it to a whole new level.

Here’s what I’ve learned through it all:
Don’t give up; don’t be impatient;
be entwined as one with the Lord.
Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope.
Yes, keep on waiting—for he will never disappoint you!

Psalm 27 TPT

Being entwined with the Lord means it is not just me trying to keep going in difficult times. He is with me in it. He gives me all that I need in the tension. So what to do with the disappointment I do face? This verse strengthens me to keep waiting. He is not done. I WILL see His goodness sooner or later. He is with me. So that means His goodness is already here right in the middle of it with me.

Bad outcomes, poor results, waiting in the tension… these can become places to be even bolder. “Okay God, show me your goodness again even in this yucky place. I am looking because I trust in You.”

Faith to Faith

/ Jana / Leave a comment

How do we get more faith?  It might be easier than you think and yet much more costly. Before you check this box, listen to my story.

 

 

I sat across the table from a prophet the other day. We came to celebrate a mutual friend who had told me about her crazy friend who was really prophetic.  However,  once he opened his mouth and began sharing God stories, I saw the stark difference between having a gift and having a mantle.

The prophetic gifting is the ability, granted by the Holy Spirit, to know or see a thing, and to declare a thing that will happen in the future. Think of God sending people postcards from far-off places. Only instead of saying, “I wish you were here,”  He sends them pictures, words, insights of places or things and says “You will be here.” 

Whew. That’s wild. It’s a lot to take in. And it is 100% biblical.

We all have the ability to be prophetic if we have the Holy Spirit. Even our kids! They have 100% of the Holy Spirit. Not some kind of  Junior Holy Spirit,  like a Whopper Jr. 

But, this guy at dinner, instead of just being prophetic, was a prophet. Meaning God would tell him things to tell other people. Good and seemingly bad things.  Even the bad things turned out to be blessings because God was always working for the hearts and the success of the people targeted by the messages. 

I noticed a couple of things as I soaked in every story he told.

1) God is alive and well and moving mightily all the time for those who will a) stop and ask Him and b) do what He says.

2) God doesn’t blink an eye at making humans uncomfortable in order to lead them to wholeness and outrageous faith. Whether it is the prophet speaking or the receiver of God’s message, God happily shatters our comfort zones.

3) God is supremely patient with stubborn and disobedient children who don’t listen, until He isn’t. He offers counsel and wisdom and then He practices holy tough love as we temporarily suffer from our self-made consequences.

4) We have permission to grab hold of every God story we hear for ourselves. I literally kept praying as the prophet spoke, “Lord I would like that too please.”  It’s part of the prophet’s reward.

5) God stories (or faith stories) beget other God stories. As the prophet shared stories, my mind filled with my own stories. I shared a couple of my own, and you could see both of us reveling in the power and mystery of this Beautiful God. 

There is a right standing with God. The bedrock of that right standing is faith. 

Do you need an extra dose of faith? Recall what He has done for you. Act forward on what He has said is coming. And. And. Share your God stories and listen to others. That will fill up your tank in no time.

For the righteousness of God is revealed in it from faith to faith, just as it is written, “But the one who is righteous by faith will live.” Romans 1:17 

Redeeming the Generations

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Chad, a dear friend and spiritual son, texted me some photos the other day. One prompted a mixed-emotion smile. When the second photo came through, I immediately began to cry.  The imagery too confronting, too powerful, and too tender.

He had been asked to make a cross for the Resurrection Sunday Celebration at New Wine Church. Chad explained how he had looked at his lumber options. He considered a beautiful piece of seasoned oak or a lovely piece of planed cedar. But the Lord directed him to a more humble offering. Here is the first photo:

This plank of wood is from my parent’s house and my childhood home. It was a shelf in my mother’s pantry that held all manner of kitchen goods. Mom was ever cooking wonderful meals for her family.  And, like every good Depression-surviving woman, she had to have ample supplies in her pantry.  “Just in case,” she would say.

Chad remarked about the shelf, “Under all the multiple layers of paint, dust, grease, and preservatives there was this beautiful slab of wood. It just took a little work to get there.” Selah.

This is sweet. Special, even. A symbol of my mother’s hard work and wisdom. However. Before it was a pantry, this small space was my bedroom. And before that, this small space housed both of my brothers in a narrow bunk.

In one moment, all kinds of memories blitzed my heart and head. Wonderful meals, cramped spaces, poverty as a child.

For reference, this is the room once the shelves were removed and the house was  “all dolled up” to put on the market.

My heart was in a blender already when Chad’s second photo came through.

I still can’t look at this picture without choking up. (Thanks, Chad.) The transformation is stunning. The metaphor is wrenching. It was the Cross that redeemed all that poverty, brokenness, and lack. God took my parent’s best efforts and worst frailties and shaped their offering into something beyond their wildest dreams.

It’s a prayer every parent can relate to. I can relate to.  Oh God, make us aware of our inheritance to our children, good or bad, and may the Cross transform it all.

God breaks very real generational curses, redeems relationships, and restores fortunes lost or squandered. But wait there is so very much more.

Look at where Chad placed the cross. All greater things are grown out of the cross.

Greater Things is literally grown out of God’s relentless love as well as the love of those who have raised us in the faith. It’s our joy and honor now to continue to multiply all that we have been given.

Don’t miss this.

All of us, and I mean ALL of us, are ALWAYS climbing on the root system of someone before us. Someone else sacrificed and persevered and believed to the point of tears.  Jesus himself believed to the point of blood.

The belief that God will bring beauty from our ashes, joy from our mourning, a double portion for our shame, and freedom from captivity is our unending anthem.  In a word, transformation.

One final kiss. On Resurrection Sunday, the families each brought a flower and adorned the cross. Not that we could ever add to God’s glory — but we celebrate the power and beauty of our Life-giving, Chain-breaking, Death-defying King Jesus.

How Much Love Is Enough?

/ Jana / Leave a comment

I seem to have a hard time loving. Even after all this time, some conflict or some person slams up against a brick wall inside my heart.  On this wall is a big neon sign that flashes “THAT’S IT! I’m done with you.”

To add insult to injury after the said collision, I then somehow conveniently build a case about why I am justified in my unlovingness.  I will even tiptoe into very dangerous territory about whether someone else is “worthy” of love.

Even after all this time, more than 30 years of being loved unconditionally and extravagantly by Jesus. I am still learning how to love.

I got in a tussle the other night and I was so mad. I was spouting off prayers left and right about how I had been offended and betrayed and how much I wanted God to defend me…

Holy Spirit’s answer stung like alcohol on an open wound.

“My blood is enough for you both.”

This is why I am so desperately aware of my need to celebrate the Resurrection every year.  I need the blood of Jesus to wash me clean.  I need the cross to remind me that it was Love that held Him there. He loved me more than my sin. More than your sin. The blood, the water, and the piercing of His side were not to fulfill some morbid code of punishment.

Instead, the cross demonstrates just how much love is enough to save the world.
To save my world and yours.
To save me.
From me.

Likewise, I need the empty tomb to strengthen my weak love muscles. His love in me is stronger than mine alone will ever be.  And just as the song declares, “If You walked out of the grave, I’m walking too.”

I was crucified with Him, therefore, I am raised to a whole new life with Him.  More is always possible with Him.

When Jesus said for us to love our enemies, (which at any moment might be our spouse, our family, our boss, or our neighbor) He wasn’t being cruel. He was telling us that He opened a door to a whole new level of Love that casts out fear. Love that cancels sin. Love that raises the dead. Love that takes down the brick walls inside our hearts.

So I will keep learning and practicing. I will keep going to His love tank instead of my own. He promised He will have His way in me and one day I will love as He does.

Until then, I will fall on His grace as He demolishes every brick wall that still exists in my heart.

Thank you, Jesus.

We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within,

so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours.

Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed.

At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option.

We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us.

We may be knocked down, but not out.

We continually share in the death of Jesus

in our own bodies so that the resurrection life

of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity.

We consider living to mean that we are constantly being

handed over to death for Jesus’ sake so that the life of Jesus

will be revealed through our humanity.

So, then, death is at work in us but it releases life in you.

2 Corinthians 4

Help My Unbelief

/ Jana / Leave a comment

The word stopped me dead in my tracks.  A friend was coaching us about decisions that needed to be made and he remarked, “it was presumptive of me to think God would take care of” the situation the way I had planned. He went on to give us much-needed wisdom and insight. But that word nagged me.

Presumptive.

What does presumptive mean?  It describes something that is expected to happen or become true.

I went back to the Lord and vented: “I am only doing what I think You said. Yes, it sounds crazy, but it doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else. And if that makes me presumptive, then FINE! But I would rather be presumptive and believe YOU, than never attempt anything because I couldn’t even get out of the gate.”

Whew. Snort. Okay then.

Once I calmed down, I realized my wise friend was trying to broaden our scope and options. However, years after the conversation, the word still comes up in my mind like a full-blown assault.

It goes like this. I will hear a faint whisper from the Lord about some action to take, or an invitation to some dream He wants me to pursue. As I rally up my faith to hit the first Domino, I hear a sneer from the enemy, “you are so presumptive.”  Translation: You really expect God to come through? You really think He WILL do that for you? This is a stupid idea. It will never happen. You are crazy for thinking you heard God.

Does this happen to you too? God invites us into more and our own unbelieving thoughts, or the enemy of God, tries to kill the dream before we even take the first step.

Sounds like the garden. Did God really say?

Well. As a matter of fact. YES — GOD DID SAY!

Now, after years of practicing trust and surrender, when I hear that word fire in my mind, it has become a bright flare, like a beacon of evidence.  Ahhh.  It MUST be God if there is this much opposition right off the bat.

I am calling us as believers to rise up in Faith and Boldness.  It’s not God who is weak, but our faith. We must rise up to activate His promises and goodness over our lives and our families and communities.

I want to bless you with one word: Storehouses.  There are storehouses of treasures in heaven. God is waiting for someone earthbound to pull them down. On Earth, as it is in Heaven. I remember Shawn Boltz saying God gave him a vision of a room with body parts with names on them. Creative miracles that God wanted to do on earth through our faith.

Just recently the Lord has been expanding that idea to me that there are storehouses of His goodness that He wants to release on earth and He wants to know who will do the faith journey to be a part of it.

Storehouses of relational healing, financial favor, healing and miracles, generational restoration. I don’t know about you. but I don’t want to miss out on heaven here because I would not believe God to Be God to me.

For the faint of heart (that’s all of us at some point), it’s not about just getting what we think we want. It is our transformation in the process, and being so close with this Beautiful God that we move to what He wants for us.

We bank our whole lives on the belief that God is working for our good. Presumptive. Yes, please.

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
Mark 9:23-25

 

Under New Management

/ Jana / Leave a comment

Chuck and I enjoy eating out. We have our favorite go-to spots and a list of got-to-try places. As we left Corner 16 the other night, we recalled this memory of eating there when the girls were little.  Only then it was a Ruby Tuesday.  We watched that Ruby Tuesday slowly die. Declining food quality, bad service. Every time we went in there you could tell the place was gasping for air. No one seemed to care. So no one was surprised it closed down.

It was, after all, a bad location. Nothing could ever really succeed there. Blah, blah, blah.

As we exited the packed parking lot of Corner 16, with a wait at the door to get in, I told Chuck it was amazing to see how new management with a fresh vision and creativity could turn something around.

Turns out it wasn’t such a bad location, after all.

This picture in the natural captures my spiritual attention. What areas of my life, or your life,  are slowly dying, and all we throw at it is neglect, hopelessness, and resignation?

Do we have dreams or incredible ideas God has given us that at the moment are hard, declining, or frustrating? Sometimes, we would rather make excuses instead of asking for radical help.

I find often instead of going to Him for “new management with a fresh vision and creativity,” I am blaming and quitting. How about you?

Here’s the point. Jesus changes everything. Can you even imagine how the lame man felt when Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?” (John 5)

Imagine if I went to the Ruby Tuesday management,  and I said, “Do you want to have a thriving, brand-new concept that will blow your mind? It’s going to cost you more than money. It’s going to cost your very belief system. You will have to rethink, reshape and re-order your whole life. You in?”

The lame man looked at the King Over All Impossibilities and — made excuses. No one to help me…While I am trying…Someone else gets ahead…

The crucial moment followed. Jesus gave the lame man specific instructions.

Get up.
Pick up your mat.
And Walk.

Or. Stay the same.

The last part Jesus didn’t audibly say. But the choice was crystal clear. Get up in faith and take radical action to go forward, or stay where you are in the same mess and hurt and sadness.

Look at your world and THE world. New Management is on the scene. It can’t help but change. Healing of every human wound and heartache and sin is on the scene.

Radical help and radical healing are ours. What can we do today to get up and walk?