|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

My private personal devotional life is the beginning of everything else happening in my life in Jesus. Without a devotional life, or what Jesus called "abiding in the vine", there is no real sap flowing to the things in my life that need to grow. John 15:1-2 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (2) Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Without first tapping into God, there is nothing flowing to really love my family selflessly, or organize my day well, or really pray what the Lord is praying, etc. Even my time in a prayer room actually depends on my personal devotional time prior to ever making it to a public prayer room! Same is true with church, choir, deacon board, etc....whatever my ministry is, its pointless if I don't have an active and vibrant daily relationship with Jesus. Often, because it is entirely voluntary, my devotional life is what gets mov...

Hebrews 12:1 NKJV — Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, When thinking of sin, it's important to realize the greatest temptation to sin is in the area of pride. Satan, the father of rebellion, is noted for pride leading to his rebellion. All other sin is rooted in pride. It's easy to console myself that I'm not giving in to impurity or theft or lying, but miss the glaring log in my eye of pride. Pride is slipperiest of deceptions. It often wraps itself in rights and a false sense of justice. Pride can justify self elevation because it "helps the cause of the kingdom". Pride hides in the shadows of our strongest desires for recognition, validation, and to have a positive impact. In Jesus' kingdom, the means justify the end, not the other way around. I am being refined. The means of that hap...

Why did Jesus come? ___________ *To reveal the truth to anyone willing to repent: Matthew 11:16“But to what shall I liken this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, 17“and saying: ‘We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’ 18“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.” ____________ *To fulfill the law and reward those who encouraged others to follow Him in the same. He will take away the reward of those who teach the church to chill out: Matthew 5:17-19 NKJV - "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass f...

2 Peter 3:13Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. As the kingdom of God comes, it requires new measures of new things...new measures of patience, new measures of peace, new measures of humility, new measures of Revelation. That is what Peter is talking about in this passage. This requires a fruit salad of character traits we would call the "fruit of the Spirit"... love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness...etc...these all mixed together taste like humility. To grow in this takes vision...looking for a new heavens and Earth. It takes vision to not quit when God is doing a new thing. Peter learned this the hard way in the Garden of Gethsemane...he didn't listen to Jesus' warning about how to not fall...how to not stumble. Jesus was about to do something brand new, although it was foretold, and Peter wouldn't get a soft heart to hear it, or a firm heart to bear the fallout of it. What Pe...

In February 1989, at a Vineyard Fellowship conference in Anaheim, California, Paul Cain, a prophetic minister from Kansas City, released a vision of the end time generation filling stadiums with worship and prayer meetings which would radically affect the nation's for Jesus. In the vision, Mr. Cain saw healings at a level that haven't happened since the Book of Acts. He declared that in the last generation there would be a move of God so powerful that ambulances would bring the sick and hurting to worship and prayer meetings, as they did in the days of Acts 2 and Jesus' ministry.  One of the aspects Jesus highlighted in Mr. Cain's prophecy was that of the character of the ministers God would raise up to cooperate in this dramatic moment in the maturing of Jesus' body.  Mr. Cain prophesied that those participating in this ministry would be "nameless and faceless.". This prophesied end-time move of God won't be about human personality, but rather th...