|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

Romans 12:6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; There is coming a time when all who know Jesus will prophecy and dream in a powerful anointing...an outpouring...the Joel 2:28 outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh. This is the time of the fullness of the "greater things" Jesus promised. Righteousness matures in the end. Therefore, faith matures in the end...and prophecy WILL mature in the end: John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. What started as a down payment at Pentecost will be released in full in the generation the Lord returns to...in INCREASING measures... in the years leading up to His return. I should be "contending" for the increases now. As faith increases, prophecy WILL increase. We should all prophesy...it is availab...

There is a divine pattern established in the Bible of earth agreeing with heaven, and a "corridor of glory" being created...heaven invading earth...in response. This is how mankind was designed to live, in "dominion" (leadership) over the earth in partnership with God. This is what Adam was created for: Genesis 1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” This is how the Psalmist put it: Psalms 115:16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord ’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men. The Bride is Jesus' final expression of this reality. One generation will walk in agreement with heaven to such a degree that it will see the outpouring of the Holy Spirit...heaven invading earth...in such a measure that the whole world will have to admit that Jesus is who He claims to be,...

The news of this week is full of amazing information. Events in the middle east are moving so quickly, yet many people do not recognize that the stage is being set for the assembling of the most dramatic two coalitions of nations described in the Book of Daniel as the precursor to the antichrist empire. Daniel is one of the most accurate foretelling books known to mankind. In fact, its incredible accuracy led most Biblical critics to dismiss it until 1948. The prophecies in Daniel regarding Babylon, Persia, Greece, the appearance and order to crucify Jesus (to the day!), and the subsequent destruction of Jerusalem were SO accurate, Bible critics said there was no way it could have been written in advance. Then in 1948, when the Dead Sea scrolls were found, definitive evidence was available to demonstrate Daniel was written before these events took place. Daniel 11:36-45 is an amazing pretelling of soon to come military movements involving the antichrist, and two coalitions of nations a...

Psalms 119:36-37 Incline my heart to Your testimonies, And not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way. We go where we are looking. Take your eyes off the road for very long, and the car is sure to follow. David knew this. The man after God's heart often as God to turn His heart toward God! This was His secret, David knew what James knew: it takes God to love God! It is our willingness, demonstrated in our reach with words requesting agreement with God that He uses to bring obedience: James 4:2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. Jesus said if I love Him, I will obey Him. I always got this backwards...i need to obey Him to prove my love, i thought. What Jesus meant is that to know Him is to love Him. And once you fall in love with Him, you can't help but obey Him! This starts with looking at Him! Just like my first glance of Samanth...

God hasn't called me to be responsible. God has called me to be obedient. There is a huge difference. Many people will be deceived into missing out on what God has for them by clinging to their own earthly idea of "responsibility." This has always been the case: Matthew 19:16-22 Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ” The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have...

Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. God cares about our intentions. The world judges by results, but God cares about the "why" behind the "what." God measures the heart. He is the only one qualified to do so, because He is the only one who sees everything. He knows what is in my heart and WHY I do what I do. The more I get to know God, the more I realize that my own heart is very tricky: Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? I, the Lord , search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. To get to know, and then conquer, my heart is THE biggest challenge in my life. The more light God shines on it, the more surprised I am to see what is hidden there. The Bible says there are reall...

Mankind wants the tangible…the logical…the easy. In our impatience, humans generally don't want to wait for the good thing, and when it comes right down to it, we really don't like to be different than everyone else. The cliché my mom loved to use is so common because it is so necessary: "would you jump off a bridge because everyone else was doing it!?"…maybe… In Sept. 2001, God sent our country a massive wake up call. Since then, we have been responding in exactly the wrong way as a nation. Sure, in the first week we prayed and asked for strength to endure, but even this was off-the-mark according to the Bible. When terror touches our shore, there is a reason. When calamity falls on a people it MUST pass through God's approval process. Job's story definitively tells us that nothing happens on this blue and green sphere without God’s permission. I know this is unpopular to say, but it is true, when God allows terror to touch a nation, there is a reason: Leviti...

Part 2 Daniel and John (author of the Book of Revelation) were given great insight into the events of OUR day: Daniel 12:4 “But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Daniel's prophecies have proven to be so detailed and accurate that many scholars actually used the accuracy of the Book of Daniel to discredit it. They used to say there is no way Daniel could have been written before the events it describes, because no one could be that right! The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 was a gift to the world to demonstrate that Daniel was, in fact, written well in advance of the events it described. Daniel and John were told specifically of the last empire that would try to control the earth and dominate Israel. Both Daniel and John were given the same image. This empire, unlike any other the world has seen, will be a fierce creature that devours everything that disagrees with it, and...

Part 1 There is so much information in the Bible regarding the political alliances and geopolitical shifting in the years leading up to the return of Jesus. It is really staggering how much detail was given to Daniel and to John regarding the events of the day. If you have eyes to see, it is easy to begin connecting the Bible to these events. We live in a truly exciting time. If we are the generation that will see the physical return of Jesus, and I believe we are, then we have a "once in creation" opportunity to respond with wholehearted zeal in the areas the Bible clearly lays out for this generation: to press in to a Sermon on the Mount lifestyle that hungers for obedience and loyalty to Jesus with our time, money, and energy; to join together with other's loyal to Jesus in Biblical unity in "one accord" to raise up the Tabernacle of David in all its glory and to establish our region as a "city of refuge"...a land of Goshen in the coming storm. A st...

Jesus is fully man. Though He is also God, Jesus became a man to win back all of creation, which God had given to mankind at the time of creation. Jesus didn't put on an earth suit for a minute, do the work He was given to do, and then go back to being only God...no! to be fully man means to be fully man forever...but still God. Right now in heaven, at the right hand of the Father, there is a man...Jesus...on the throne. Hebrews 2:17-18 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. Philippians 2:6-9 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges ; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in...

I write often about the "valley of decision" the world is entering. This phrase describes the narrow place that Jesus has planned where each person in the world will choose whether they want a man-based planned for hope and change, or they want Jesus' plan for change. Jesus is coming back, not as a baby in a manger, but like this: Revelation 19:1-2 After these things I heard a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God! For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.” 11-16 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He...

God is the Author of Life. He also calls Himself a Father, and a Husband. These two relationships are based in love. Because of love, God has fully committed to free will. I can choose to come near God, or I can choose to drift from Him. Believe Him or reject Him. Love Him or hate Him...it is up to me. Everyone gets what they want in the end. The closer I get to the Author of Life, the more life I will experience. The further I withdraw from the Author of Life, the less life I will experience. The lie of this age is that the fullness of life is possible on my own terms. This is impossible. God Authored, and even upholds life moment by moment. Many do not believe this because of God's mercy. In His mercy, God allows the sun to continue to shine on those who have rejected that the sun is fully His: Matthew 5:45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. Like the immature and rebel...

Isaiah 52:8 Your watchmen shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together; For they shall see eye to eye When the LORD brings back Zion. Jesus has a plan to establish night and day worship throughout the world before His return. This sounds like an outlandish idea to many, because they have not heard it before, but the truth is, it is a very clearly developed idea throughout both the Old and the New Testaments. The Isaiah passage above is describing the role of night and day worship in the maturing of Jesus’ Bride. Someday, the Bride, appointed as watchmen, will sing together and “see eye to eye.” This happens during the events described in the Book of Revelation. Right now, there are many things the Church does not see eye to eye on, but in one generation, that will change. I believe we are that generation. The Bride needs to see eye to eye for a few reasons. Not the least of which is that it is one of the last things Jesus prayed for….did you hear that?! JESUS ...

Jesus is about to allow something very intense to happen. There is a fire He is fanning the flames of right now. A fire He kindled 2,000 years ago, that is fanning into a full blaze right before our very eyes: Luke 12:49-51 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. This fire is just beginning to mature. The wood is dry, and the heat in the center is building. Soon, as unpopular as it is to say, all the wood will be engulfed in flame: Luke 23:30-31 Then they will begin ‘to say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!” ’ For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?” The division Jesus described bringing to earth is the "valley of decision." The whole world in one generation will be given a very clear choice to ...