|City on a Hill - Writings for Refuge

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...

My thought life determines my reality.  I get to chose the way I think about life. If I focus on what is hard…If I think too much about it… It will govern how I see the world.  If I think on what is lovely, beautiful, and of a good report, then goodness will govern how I see the world. This is very important for faith. Noah built an ark because he believed in something no one else could see: Hebrews 11:6-7 NKJV — But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. This choice Noah made was in the midst of great hopelessness, selfishness, and fear.   Noah chose a hopeful direction because he spent time seeing the world God's way inst...

Worry and anxiety are rooted in uncertainty. My restless heart is naturally uncertain. This is the foundation of the sin in my life, because it is the basic argument in my heart for lawlessness: I should do things to solidify the future for "good." Sin is lawlessness, or self leadership. 1 John 3:4-6 NKJV — Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Sin begins at the emotional level where I feel stability and purpose depend on me. It ends in the physical actions I take to try to control the world around me instead of trust in God. Even in "serving God" I can be lawless. Matthew 7:22-23 NKJV — “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ “And then I will declare to...

God wants to grow my character MUCH more than my impact. The flesh thinks God needs us. The Spirit teaches us that God needs nothing. He wants us... Not to be impactful for Him, but impactful to Him... to be His. If I am truly God's, then my character must truly change. The main mistake humans that are trying to be helpful to God make is: trying to be helpful to God. L uke 10:38-42 NKJV — Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. “But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Much better to le...

The Kingdom of God is holy.  That means it is wholly unlike the way man runs things. God is love.    1 John 4:8 (NKJV) — 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. That means He is patient, kind, doesn’t parade himself… doesn’t demand His own way.   Prophetic revelation or an understanding of God’s plans for us TEST love.   They test whether or not I am truly interested in living in God’s ways, His Kingdom, or my own ways. Without love being the main aspect growing in my ministry, my ministry is growing bad fruit, not good fruit.   If the fruit is bad, the tree is bad.   If the tree is bad, it is cut off and thrown into the fire. Without love, there is no kingdom of God present.   Love covers a multitude of sin. To truly be a leader in God’s kingdom is to be a leader in patience and service, not impatient position.   Most will throw away their prophetic destiny for an unsatisfying bowl of soup because they cannot see ...

Heart-level agreement with God is what He wants: Psalm 51:5-7 NKJV — Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Practically, this means changing my behavior cannot make me clean in God's eyes. God making me clean will change my behavior, though. Because arrogance has taken root in mankind's thinking, when we hear what God wants, we actually approach the execution of God's requirements backwards! Romans 7:15 NKJV — For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. Knowing what God wants provokes man's arrogant flesh to try to be God, Instead of humbling myself and seeing I NEED God. This is the natural reaction to the awareness of the life God wants to give me, until it isn't. The g...

F alsely asserting peace, when God is judging and refining a people for their good hurts faith. Wrong expectations don't increase faith... They increase offense with God. God spoke through Jeremiah real vision that preceded real refining... 70 years of it, to be exact. Jeremiah 29:8-14 ESV — For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. ...

The wisest thing a person could do right now is ask God what to expect next. Things are not about to calm down. That is a wrong expectation. What is happening is a massive transition in the government of creation. Jesus is coming. His coming was always promised to be with tribulation. John 16:19-22 NKJV — Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. “Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will t...

God's authority is complete. Consider these two verses: “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” -1 John 4:4. “Behold, I give unto you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” - Luke 10:19 The implication of this truth should reach to my vision of what God is actually doing to rescue me from death. In the current circumstances, in the body of Jesus, I mostly hear teaching of a fear of man, the devil, and demons... With an asterisk on the fear of the Lord (and even the fear of the Lord being reduced to something other people that don't seem to know the Holy Spirit should somehow have!). If God is sovereign over all, then wasting any time pointing out any other being as problematic is a complete redirection. If God is sovereign, then truly the only thing that I have any say in that needs to be born again is ME. If I get the log out of my eye, then I can help others do the sa...

A church is barren and lifeless  where there is no Holy Spirit leadership,  although it may be extravagant and a huge production designed to engage the flesh. The lack of the Spirit's leadership = a lack of authority.  A lack of authority = a lack of power. You could attend every day of your life and nothing would actually change in your submission to God and enjoyment of His peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. We are born again by grace/power, not information. If you are in a barren church, don't just leave!  Ask God what to do. He might have you there to bring life!  Walking in power is simply learning to walk in authority.  Walking in authority is simply seeing God and what He is doing and submitting to His will in faith. Any Spirit-filled believer can bring life to a body of believers if they make their lives about God and not themselves, or even others.  Mostly we go to church hoping things will be the way we like...

When I ignore heavenly authority I do so unto my own death.  This happens mostly on accident.  It is why Jesus warns over and over, "do not be deceived." The reason we resist heavenly authority is our own will and the earthly authority structures all around us.  Satan is the "king of this world." John 14:30-31 NLT — “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of this world approaches. He has no power over me, but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going. Consider: Pontius Pilate was fully in His authority to execute Jesus.  He literally did nothing wrong and dutifully exercised his responsibility from Rome's perspective.  Same with the Pharisees.  They were within their authority and responsibility from Judaism's perspective. But they both violated HEAVENLY authority because they didn't understand it. John 18:33-40 NLT — Then Pilate went back into his headquarter...