Terror states rage against the USA, governments fight over immigration, speciesism, socialists and LGBT fight gain legitimate power to normalise their philosophy,  others fight on behalf the unborn and the unheard. Nation rises against nation and kingdom against kingdom. It’s a battle of words on earth revealing a war in heaven. Words are spoken through human lips yet beyond the eyes of men, ancient powers are stirred. Peter spoke words in a jail, the church prayed words from the house down the street, and angels from another realm appeared in the jail. Words move unseen beings.

When David faced Goliath in the valley, it was a battle of words, not swords. The giant cursed David by his gods saying  “I’ll feed you to the birds,” but David didn’t allow himself to be cursed by the enemy. If David had of agreed with the words of the giant, David would never have fulfilled the unique purpose God had for his life.  He refused to entertain those paralysing words from a dark source because he knew that spiritual beings are empowered by faith. Therefore he roared back his declaration of faith in the power of God to save, and God came through.

Apostle Paul stood on the heaving deck of an endangered ship and declared the promises he had heard from God, to counter the beliefs, of fearful sailors, who thought they were about to drown. They were all saved just as God had said.  Gods promise is "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.  For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Isa 55:9-11. Gods words spring from His thoughts and only His word is guaranteed to be fruitful. Agreement with His word, is only illuminated logic. But agreement with His thoughts, takes attentive discernment.

The thoughts we agree with and the words we speak matter.  We can’t listen to doubt and walk in faith. We can not talk fear and live boldly. A generation was kept from Gods promised land by their unbelieving words. Jesus gave the example of cursing those things outside of the will of God. He also told us to speak to mountains that should be moved and to absolutely believe the effectiveness of what we say.

  When Peter was in jail the disciples prayed for God to move.  As they agreed with Gods will in prayer, God sent the delivering angel to Peter. The doors of our current prison are opened by declarations of faith, never by agreeing with the jailer that there is no escape.  And let’s expect an answer.  When Peter was let out by the angel, he went straight to the prayer meeting but they couldn’t believe their prayers were answered and never opened the door.  Someone’s faith had opened the prison door but someone’s doubt kept the church door shut.

 Friend, who’s thoughts are we listening to? How much of what God has planned to bring into our lives, is still bound in the heavens by the words we have said or not said. What hasn’t changed because we haven’t spoken? And what has Father released to us that is still outside the door because our doubt has kept the door shut and kept the answer from walking in?

On Grand father duties last weekend I got to watch the Lion king 2.0. Pumbaa said some pretty funny things one of which was, “You got to put your behind in your past.” Well so long as you are moving forward, I guess that is always going to be true, but I think we know what he meant. Our past could have been awesome or average. The problem with the past is that it is exactly that; the past. Isaiah the prophet speaks to us for God, “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert” (Isa 43:18-19).

New things from God can only spring forth today or tomorrow and the only place He promises to make a road in the wilderness is in your future. Even God cant change the past he can only change the meaning of the past.  He can’t change what happened but He re-interprets it, changing the impact of what happened and uses it for our good. While we can’t undo the sad and painful events of our life, thank God, He can totally remove the guilt and shame of every mistake we have made. .

But even the great things that have happened to or through us, are already just a memory.  Some people and even some companies, bask in the success of the past and it limits them. It may be a great memory but it will fade fast.  To live focused on our history rather that our destiny will mean we will only ever be what we were. Does the past have any value at all?  Of course, because God uses difficult pasts and amazing pasts to make us long for Gods “new thing” and bring us to the place where we were ready for Him and the bright future He is planning for us.

The past is set but the future is flexible and flowing with Gods river. The future is your future. Your unfulfilled dreams can only come to pass in the future. The place you can make things different and the only place you can meet with God is in the future, starting right now. 

Friend, Its time to dream again. Don’t settle for what you have become or where you are, but look for the road He is making into the wilderness. You shall know it because, as you focus on Gods future, although it will be a road you have not been on before, you'll find that He is there, His rivers flow there and as you stay focussed on Him, you'll find yourself there too.

The Pharisees mumbled in their beards and complained that Jesus was a friend of sinners. Jesus told them the parable of the prodigal son. The story ends with the rebellious younger son returning and being gladly received by his father; but the older brother was not pleased.  “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His Father came out and begged him, but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. (Luke 15:17-32). 

There are two prodigals in this story but only one ends up in the right relationship with the father.  Both sons were disrespectful and rebellious but only one repents.  The younger begged the father to be allowed to come home while the older brother had to be begged by the father to come inside. The young prodigal said he was not worthy to be a son, while the older brother thought his father was not worthy to be treated as a father.  The younger was happy to join the unrelated servants, while the older prodigal was unhappy to join his own brother.  The younger said that he deserved nothing, thereby relying upon grace, while the older thought his faithful “slaving” deserved a reward.  The younger son only wanted the father’s presence but for the older son, the father was not enough.  We can easily see who was more “prodigal”

Coming Home means we value what He has done for us, more than anything we think we have done for Him. It means believing He is more interested in restoring us to son-ship than He is in our perfect performance. It means receiving our Fathers love now; not slaving to find favour or trading our service for blessing.

Friend, lets go inside.  It does not matter whether we are coming from the pigsty or a busy field near Father’s house, if we are not inside the house with our Father and feeling Him celebrate over us,  we either haven’t understood His heart or heard His voice yet.

The success of others can often be our greatest test. As David became popular and honoured by the people, Saul began to eye David with fear and jealousy.

“Now it had happened as they were coming home, when David was returning from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women had come out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments.  So the women sang as they danced, and said: “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands.” Then Saul was very angry, and the saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?” So Saul eyed David from that day forward. And it happened on the next day that the distressing spirit from God came upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house. So David played music with his hand, as at other times; but there was a spear in Saul’s hand” ( 1Samuel 18:6-10). 

An evil spirit came upon Saul from that day forth and the anointing of God began to lift.   Security means an inner strength inside your heart that acts as a fortress against the need to find popularity, position, recognition from men or women, or to have the things that the world says is important.

Insecure people don’t have that inner strength in their soul so they feel uncertain, vulnerable and defensive inside. And so they feel a need to be recognized and promoted.  They need the type of people around them that will help them feel good about themselves. Insecurity leads to codependence or independence; you either need people badly to make you feel good or you reject people out of your life, so you can continue to feel okay.  Insecure people don’t want anybody to correct critique them or speak into their life.

We see insecurity in the life of Saul. His insecurity shows up in fear of the people’s reactions.  His insecurity showed up in independence; he never asked for advice or listened to the words of those around him. He got used to having his own way and exercising power. He couldn’t admit he made a mistake and obviously was threatened by others who are popular or gifted.

Friend, all this ends up in jealousy, envy and some sort of assassination be it literal or character assassination. We cannot give in to insecurity and expect the anointing to increase on our life. Instead lets find our security in our calling and our relationship with our Father and rejoice in His plans for us and others.

It was midnight when the disciples got down to the edge of the lake. There was a cool breeze blowing and some were wondering if the sea was going to get rough.  Once in the boat, they had crossed most of the lake by three in the morning when the storm struck and this time Jesus was not in the boat with them.

They had been rowing with all their strength and were probably disappointed that Jesus seemingly had left them to cope alone and that they were making no progress towards the other side. But as usual Jesus was planning progress in their walk of faith. Their stationary boat represented their life; difficult, uncomfortable and seemingly pointless. They were rowing hard but getting nowhere, representing the best they could do with who they were at the time but Jesus planned to take them further by getting them out of the boat.

Sometimes when God is trying to shift us to something new, the things we used to be able to do, the status quo, just seems to get harder. We wonder why we struggle so much to do what we’re used to doing. We think it must be a phantom but it’s the wind of God and what seems to be the enemy opposing us, is actually Jesus assisting you to a new level of faith and walk in the spirit.

Jesus is always calling us to a new position, to a new perspective and a greater experience of His presence and power. But we can only to get to that new place by getting out of the boat. Maybe you feel that your boat is in a storm, that you are rowing as hard as you can but with seemingly little progress.  

Friend, Jesus is drawing near- listen to His voice above the storm and hear His invitation because I have found, that when Jesus wants you to go further than you ever thought possible, you will probably need to get out of the boat.

This week my wife slipped on the floor at church and broke her kneecap.  After an adventurous journey by fire brigade and ambulance, she arrived at the hospital where she still waits for the operation.  It looks like our ministry in Europe this year, will be cancelled.

During the week a friend of mine rang to say that his wife was flat on her back and he had lost his voice. Their new church plant was only six weeks old and Easter Sunday approaching.  It was a challenging time for them so I encouraged them from Mark one.

This week I had been reading where John the Baptist went from an outdoor revival to the inside of a prison.   Jesus was publicly acclaimed as the Beloved Son of God and ends up in a wilderness for 40 days being tempted by the devil.  God had my attention. The intriguing key and hopeful thing about that story is that Jesus is led there by the Holy Spirit.

Your wilderness or your prison is not a sign that God’s love and favour has shifted from you.  The reason Jesus went into the wilderness was to establish his authority over the Serpent as the last Adam and the Second man.  The troubles we face in life are never a reflection of God’s love and care for us, but always an opportunity for us to establish our authority over the enemy by an attitude of faith and a steadfast conviction that the devil is a liar and that God can always be trusted.  Jesus came out of the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit and having established His authority over Satan on the earth went straight into the synagogue to teach.  The immediate reaction of those who heard Him was “Where did he get that authority?”  He got it from His father. Father's love is declared and inevitable Fathers authority must be established.  Jesus then turns His attention to an unclean spirit and took authority over it.   After church, He goes across to Peter’s house and had authority over Peter’s mother in laws sickness.

My friend went on to have the most awesome Sunday because he refused to be intimidated by Satan’s temptations to fear or doubt.  My wife and I are expecting that God will release a new level of authority, greater than and as a result of, any trial or trouble the enemy brings upon us because we trust His character and believe what He has written.  I'm sure "New levels - New devils" is true but certainly saying,"No devil!" brings new levels!

Friend, you too are His beloved child in whom He is well pleased. Father said that to Jesus before Jesus had done anything.  Because God is love, He can only love you. Never question that.  All the enemy can do is tempt you to disbelieve it, to keep you from assuming your rightful authority over him.   Father isn’t stopping the testing and tempting because it’s your opportunity to rise to new levels of authority but His angels are with you to minister to you.  Stay strong, receive His refreshing and come out in the power of the Spirit. Your new ministry is about to begin.

One day God told Jonah to join Him in a great mission. God wanted to take God wanted to take Jonah to a greater place in him and for him to grab hold of His fuller purpose for Jonah's life but Jonah didn’t want to go there because it didn’t sound like an easy thing to do.  To go up may mean we have to face difficulties and hardship and like Jonah we don’t always want to go there. We know it’s not as easy to walk uphill as it is to walk down.  So Jonah went down to Joppa which means beautiful and as people, I think it’s fair to say that we that we prefer the beautiful life.  Jonah paid his small fare to Tarshish but the cost of the ride would be far more. You could say “his decent” was continuous.  He went down to Joppa, down into the depths of the boat and finally down into the deepest sea and all God wanted, was for Jonah to go up. There were great storms and impending disaster until Jonah admitted he was running and was tossed overboard.  Jonah braced himself again the wall of the fish’s stomach, it was very hard to breathe and slippery under foot.  While amazed he was still alive, he wondered how much longer he would be.  As his soul began to grow faint, he remembered the Lord and began to pray.    But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD." So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Jon 2:9-10What seemed like a grave was Jonah's transport to dry land and eventually Jonah is vomited up by the fish.  Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you" (Jonah 3:1-2).God spoke to Jonah a second time.  This is not the same as a second chance. God is the God of the second chance and many more chances beside but the “second time” is something different.  Let’s think of the other places God spoke the second time and notice it is always about breakthrough and blessing.When Abraham was about to offer up Isaac in obedience God spoke the first time to stop from offering Isaac!  Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven(Gen 22:15), and said because of your obedience I’m going to bless you!When Solomon had offered up a thousand bulls as a sacrifice to God in worship, God spoke to him a second time. Again God said He was going to bless and establish Solomon with a new level of favor (1Kings 9.2).When Jeremiah was in prison “the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time (Jeremiah 33:1), saying, I’m going to heal, restore and favor Israel.  As Peter was on the roof, he was assured that God had declared even the gentiles to be clean.  And a voice spoke to him again the second time, "What God has cleansed you must not call common" (Act 10:15). The second time was a new flow of revelation to Peter.The significance of the second time is seen by the fact that all of these people weren’t running from God or disobedient like Jonah. So rather when God speaks to Jonah the second time it is not a second chance but the promise of total restoration, complete blessing and the giving a new commission with a new level of favor.  The second time is not just a reluctant reinstatement to the place we fell from but the pronouncement of favor and a new level of authority and purpose.If you need a second chance God will give you one but He wants to speak to you the "second time."  The book of Hebrew says “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, (Heb 1:1-2)  Our Father has spoken to all of us the second time.!Friend, are you ready to go up? Are you ready to follow God into a new place? You can’t decide when God will talk to you but you can decide to offer yourself to him a living sacrifice.  When Abraham offered his best, God spoke the second time. When Solomon offered his best, God spoke to him the second time and when Jonah offered his sacrifice to God in the fish Gods favor and purpose came again to Jonah.

God is great in so many ways. God is great as to His strength and power but also great in His dimensions, and His extent. Actually His greatness is immeasurable along with His excellence and glory. He is not great in comparison with anyone or anything. He is great by Himself; there is no other like Him.  He is not just first, He is the only God and beside Him, there is no God.  He is great as to His age, being without beginning or end; the Ancient of Days but age doesn't apply to Him. God is great as to His abundance and all that He does. The Greek word for great is mega. He is Mega in His pre-eminence. On top of all that, all His attributes are great.  So He has attributes like great mercy.  Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this person, from Egypt even until now." Num 14:19  Now when you have greatness, it is yours to give away.  King David said  “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, The power and the glory, The victory and the majesty; For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, And You are exalted as head overall.  Both riches and honour come from You, And You reign over all. In Your hand is power and might; In Your hand, it is to make great And to give strength to all. 1Ch 29:11-12 You can only give what you have so God is able to give greatness to His people.  He gives His kingdom to his people; He gives His glory in John 17, He gives power at Pentecost and He gives His greatness to His people. He took the apostle Paul and made a great murderer into a great missionary and it doesn’t matter who you are today, Gods plan is to put His greatness inside your heart and life.  “To know what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power”  But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, Eph 1:19,  Eph 2:4    God is placing his greatness into our lives! And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all. Act 4:33 . Even while the apostle preached with great power, great grace was deposited into the heart of those hearing. Grace is really Divine influence upon the hearts of men. So when the resurrection was preached in great power by the apostle, great grace (Divine influence) came upon the people. As the resurrection of Jesus (The miracle-producing power that can bring something that is dead, back to life) was preached in the power of the Spirit, the same grace or life-giving resurrection power came upon those that heard until faith was born in the faithless, those that were hopeless began to find hope and those who were discouraged believed again. Even the dead in spirit come to life. Great Grace comes into our lives when Gods great power is talked about.

Friend, what you hear about God and what you can see of God is what you experience of Him. In other words, when you see His greatness, greatness gets inside of you.  God is revealing His greatness to us so He can work some of His greatness into us.  Not great skills necessarily or great talents but a great heart, a great attitude, great character, great vision, great purpose and great faith.