|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

Because Samantha and I pray in corporate prayer meetings so often, we actually pray/sing (and usually discuss sometime after) one another into a shared view of what the Holy Spirit is saying. We usually apply whatever God is saying in different ways, since we are different people, but we hear the same Spirit because we talk to Him together. 1 Corinthians 12:13-14 NKJV — For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. On my own, I would take from the Bible and go off on a tangent that is different than being honed into truth. A different viewpoint is necessary to keep me from thinking God sees things my way. I have to learn to conform to Him, not edify my existing viewpoints. No one person can possess the fullness of who God is. He made us to live in a family. Hearing the same thing with Sam actually balances my emotions out of what I ...

  On April 30, 2011, I had a supernatural encounter with Jesus. That night, after a long day, I reached into a kitchen drawer for nicotine gum. ​He said to me quite simply, "You don't need it anymore." ​I withdrew my hand and believed Him. I had been a smoker from the time I was 15 until I was 30, smoking a pack a day through much of college. I'd throw packs of cigarettes away and dig them out of the trash a day later. I'd buy cigarettes I hated only to find I liked them better than no cigarettes. ​Finally, after we started having kids, I quit smoking to try to be a good example, but nicotine I couldn't quit. I started chewing nicotine gum. From about 2000 until 2011, that was where I settled. ​But that night, I withdrew my hand and never reached into that drawer again. Nicotine gum is still in there I think, but I've never searched it out. I literally was delivered, supernaturally, that night. ​That isn't the point of my story, though. That night I th...

Jealousy, pride, fear of losing influence (what the Bible calls selfish ambition), and self seeking all prevent believers from being able to receive the very minimum amount of information needed from God to actually be saved. James 3:13-18 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. 18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. These common expressions of doubt about God's willingness to lead us into something better than we would carve out ourselves s...

Self-righteousness is a wide-open door to the fear of man. If I fear what people think of me, fear missing out on the opportunities people can offer me, or fear what man might do to me, it's because I am self-righteous, or relying on my own self, and my own judgments... My own leadership... To be seen as good. Proverbs 29:25-27 NKJV — The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe. Many seek the ruler’s favor, But justice for man comes from the LORD. An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, And he who is upright in the way is an abomination to the wicked. True righteousness comes from God. True goodness comes from God alone. It does not depend on, nor can it be diminished by, anyone else. If I live in this truth, all fear of man fades out of my thinking. This is how I know I really live in God's love: I am able to love even enemies because I see God as sovereign over all people. I love just because God loves me, not for what anyone...

Everything in the true kingdom of God is free. Isaiah 55:1-4 NKJV — “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you— The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people. David is the example.  Jesus is the root and offspring of David. He rules on David's throne. This has major implications. The person I want to be in God isn't developed from hard work, discipline, faith, opportunity, heritage, etc. No.  Whatever I want to be in God is only obtained in requesting it. Requesting is more than wanting, but it's much le...

This morning, the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "do you know what I look for in a man?" Then He took me to Lamentations 5.  He said, "brokenness." No one is innocently broken.  I cannot conjure up brokenness.  I can't put it on like a costume.  That is the opposite of true brokenness. Brokenness is simply seeing my actual state.   A huge portion of brokenness is simply seeing that all the consequences of living outside of this truth... This truth that I am nothing without God, are pain. Lamentations puts a fine point on it. +Selfish ambition flies in the face of my true state +Arrogance and pride fly in the face of my true state +Shame flies in the face of my true state +Striving, planning, self righteousness, "helping," discipling...  Embracing any of these on my own is to live a lie... completely separated from the true nature of my being, which is broken without God, and intentionally so. God designed man this way!  The fall of man was simpl...