Last week I got the privilege to get in on the last public service they hosted at Asbury University. It was such a powerful experience…yet it was also unassuming. As you may have heard, there wasn’t any flash or fanfare, it wasn’t driven by contrived hype—it was an auditorium full of people who wanted Jesus. God was pouring out His Spirit and I was grateful to be in the room. In this article, I want to share some thoughts on the Asbury Revival of 2023.

Have you ever heard of weightlifters whose upper body strength is like Arnold Schwarzenegger's back in his heyday, but their legs look like Olive Oyl’s from the old Popeye cartoons? (Wow, I just hugely dated myself). What was their problem? They worked excessively on one area of their body while neglecting another. This is where I think many in the body of Christ are. We’ve focused greatly on one area, neglected the others, and have ended up as lopsided believers!

Part of our nature as believers in Jesus is to demonstrate the power of God. A powerless Christianity is no Christianity at all. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever and He is still doing His work of saving, healing, and setting people free. Although some may have apprehension about the power of God moving because of a negative experience, it doesn’t change the fact that God is still in the miracle-working business. His heart is that there would be powerful believers who walk in holiness and integrity as they reveal the reality of God.

It’s no secret that the enemy is after the next generation—from the abortion epidemic to gender confusion, school shootings, mental health and anxiety issues, and the like. He’s going after their identity, destiny, and mentality. The fact is, today’s youth are tomorrow's leaders. If we, as the church of Jesus, don’t reach them, someone else will. And the results will affect the future condition of the world we’re living in. God loves the next generation and wants to use you to reach them!

I recently returned from a mission trip to Malawi, Africa. We saw thousands of people give their lives to Jesus, we witnessed many miracles and participated in humanitarian aid. I believe that the gospel should affect the entirety of a person—spirit, soul, and body. And that’s what happened! Hungry stomachs were fed with food and the void in people’s hearts was filled with Jesus!

Here is an excerpt from my favorite chapter in my new book “Fierce Peace.”
Jesus exemplified what it looked like to live in peace—not while everything was going perfect on the outside. He was found sleeping while there was a raging storm threatening their lives on a boat filling with water. It wasn’t irresponsibility, it was trusting in His Father who is above the storm. In every storm of life, we can choose to draw from the raging storm or the resting Lord.

I recently released a new song entitled “Curse Reversed (It Is Finished)” and I just wanted to share a bit about it and where it came from. It’s a declaration of praise proclaiming the fullness of what Jesus did for us at the cross. It’s vital for us to keep the melodies of truth in our mouths while falsehood and fear are filling the world. Not only is it the same theme of the new song in heaven, it’s an anthem you can sing in the here and now, giving God the glory due His name and receiving of His finished work.

I believe we’re in a season where God is restoring the Spirit of the fear of the Lord back to the church. You can either fear God or you can fear whatever the world is fearing. God is saying, “Choose this day whom you will fear. Whoever you fear, you give preference to. Will the people of God tremble before Me once again?” When you fear God, darkness is confronted and the name of the Lord Jesus is magnified.

Lately, I’ve been seeing some posts about the phrase “Holy Spirit, come” and how it is wrong theology to pray that because God is omnipresent. If He’s everywhere at all times, then why ask Him to come? The reality is, God is always omnipresent but He’s not always manifest present. In fact, He’s not always welcome everywhere. But when He is manifest and He is welcome, amazing things take place. Not that He doesn’t move in places of resistance - because He does. But as seen demonstrated in the life of Jesus, a place that welcomes Him receives much more than those who don't.

There is a current in our culture that is working to pull us contrary to the ways of God. It’s working overtime to get us to go with the flow of its tide. Just a few moments spent in the media, news outlets, or advertisements and you can feel the sales pitch vying for your attention and submission to its narrative. But there is the higher reality of God’s narrative and a victory that overcomes the sway: it’s called faith.

God’s heart has always been for the nations. From the beginning to the end, we see it - He wants every nation, tribe, tongue, and peoples in His kingdom. Somewhere along the way, we’ve gotten comfortable in our own “tribes” and we’ve forgotten the pattern of heaven’s worship! If we really want our worship to be “on earth as it is in heaven” then we’ve got to worship with every nation!

According to Jesus, heaven sets the pattern for what God wants to happen on earth. In part 1 of this blog series, we looked at what worship looks like in the throne room - prophetic, God-centered, and beholding Him who sits on the throne. This week we move into Revelation 5 where a new song erupts in heaven - the song of the Lamb that was slain to redeem mankind. The message of the cross is the theme of heaven’s new song!

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He said to pray that earth would look like heaven - that what’s happening there would happen here! One of the things that is directly impacted by that prayer is our worship. The issue is, many times the church is impacted more by earth’s culture than by heaven’s glory. We’ve cared more about being relevant than reverent. God wants to reset our hearts to heaven’s standard of worship where it’s all about giving honor to the King!

This week I’m sharing a guest post from my good friend Taylor Jensen. He’s always full of fresh revelation and amazing testimonies of what God has done in and through his life. I was blown away at what God did as Taylor walked out the love of Jesus to a North Korean guard. If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to demonstrate love to a supposed enemy, or just how God’s love looks in a practical and impactful way - this blog is for you.

Do you remember those times when you’re learning a new board game with friends? Someone tries to teach everyone how to play and after a few minutes you kind of get it (but not really) and then you all end up saying, “Let’s just play and you’ll get it as you go.” This is how it is with healing ministry...and in fact, all ministry. There’s only so much you can get from books and writings. You’re just gonna have to start doing it and you’ll get it as you go.

If supernatural healing really is God’s will (as it is), then why is healing ministry not a normal part of every church? Bringing it even closer to home, is it a normal part of your walk as a believer? God wants to raise up an army of healers, who walk in confidence of God’s healing power and release it as they go through life. This is our inheritance as followers of Jesus!

All throughout Scripture and all throughout history God has released healing in various ways. From the prayer of faith to an anointed handkerchief to a text message - there’s no limit to how God can release healing. All things are possible to those who believe! In part 2 of this series on healing, I want to talk about some of the various ways God releases healing.

Healing was an essential part of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Everywhere He went He released the healing touch of God. Not just emotional, medical, or inner healing - although that’s great and something God does - I’m talking about healing miracles that remove the pains, sickness, and diseases in people’s physical bodies. If you’re in need of healing or want to step into healing ministry, the first thing you need to know is that it is God’s will to heal.

In the world we live in, there are all kinds of voices that try to tell you what you should think and what you should do. But you weren’t made to be tossed here and there like a tumbleweed blowing in the wind of everyone’s opinions! You were meant to stand upon the truth of God and influence others for the sake of Jesus. You are called to be a thermostat, not a thermometer.

It’s important to identify who is telling your story. Whoever holds the narrative in your life holds your perception of reality. And out of that - your functionality, and ultimately your destiny. Many times, mainstream media and news outlets have an agenda - showing you only what they want you to see because they know that what you see determines what you perceive as reality. In other words, they want to tell your story! So the question then becomes, what voice is telling your story?