Change

I was talking with a friend earlier today, and it brought some things to the surface in my heart and mind.

I will probably string together a multitude of thoughts, some coherent and others possibly not. But there was too much going on in my soul to minimize it to a social media post - which is why I started this blog in the first place.

Thanks for reading.

For starters …

I don’t want to be like you. :) Or like any other human on earth. I want to be like Jesus. I want to be offensive in my own way - LOL - according to my own DNA and the assignment on my own life. So you go offend people with your DNA, and I’ll be over here offending them with mine. It’s inevitable, so we may as well accept it and get used to it. But let’s stop being clones of one another - in and out of the church.

Why is this even on my mind today?

I think it is human nature to want others to conform to our image. There is some sort of strange comfort in knowing someone is “like you.” There is also a sense of control in it, and you know we humans love to try to control everything.

That may seem random, but it has me thinking about CONFORMITY. We are called to UNITY, not CONFORMITY. We are called to conform to ONE THING … the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.

Which leads me to another, much deeper, thought process …

The Supernatural

I am thinking about this supernatural God we serve.

He is wholly other than.

And I am stirred up about this today.

This is the same God who created unique DNA for every single person who has ever lived and gave each of us a purpose. Talk about supernatural! You would think that countless humans, created in the image of God, living on purpose, filled with His Spirit, would make the earth shake with His Glory.

But … *shrug* … not happening.

This disrupts me because I have a God-given passion to see REVIVAL in the earth. Not just some cute little tent in a parking lot (no harm intended), but the kind of revival that happened when Jesus walked the earth … and what I see when I read the Book of Acts.

Revival is not temporary. It is not small. It is not insignificant.

When hearts begin to catch Holy Fire, the world changes. Period. There is no other way to say it.

The same Spirit that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells within the bodies of born again believers. THE SAME SPIRIT!!! THAT RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD!!! And we are “playing church” like it pleases God?!?

I almost apologized for my intensity, but I think that is the very problem I am having. Why do I even feel like I need to apologize for being intense? We have no idea how BIG our God is!!! The church has Him on a leash and calls it “appropriate.”

I’m tired of being appropriate for the sake of keeping the masses calm. This is NOT what I read in my Bible. I see MIRACLES, SIGNS, and WONDERS! I see BODIES BEING HEALED! Not through technology and sorcery (pharmaceuticals) … but through the HOLY HEALING POWER AND PRESENCE OF GOD! I see demons coming out (and going into a herd of pigs)?!? I see WATERS PARTING and the DEAD RISING! I see the LAME WALKING and the BLIND SEEING!

What has happened to CHURCH - to the BODY OF CHRIST - to His BRIDE - that lukewarm has become normalized??? I feel nauseous typing it. It is sickening. It is terrifying. And it is NOT who we are called to be in the earth for such a time as this!

WE NEED HIS POWER!

WE NEED HIS PRESENCE!

WE NEED HIS FIRE!

The church in Acts understood something the church of 2026 has clearly forgotten (or never actually known) … God is SUPERnatural! If the believers of today actually BELIEVED like those in the Book of Acts, the Church would be mainstream … in the news and on the minds of every person who hears about the mighty miraculous works of God.

When a football coach publicly prays in tongues, and people are flabbergasted to the point of debate, even within the church … we have a problem! This should be common and expected 2,000 years after the first church was baptized with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. Why is this so surprising?!

Crossroads

We are at a crossroads, Church.

The sermons are good, but one person on a platform is never what God intended. Yes, we need Shepherds and Leaders. Yes, we need community and accountability. Yes, the church, as a gathering of believers, is necessary and important. But the definition of INSANITY is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

The worship is amazing. The messages are powerful. The people leave edified.

But we are missing something here …

THE POWER OF GOD.

Why isn’t He meeting us in POWER?

Why aren’t we seeing the dead rise?

Why aren’t salvations happening by the thousands, and hundreds of thousands?

Something is not right … and I believe we need the fire of God as never before in history.

In the Upper Room, TONGUES OF FIRE fell on those who gathered.

Moses encountered God as FIRE in a burning bush.

We cannot escape or deny that GOD IS AN ALL-CONSUMING FIRE.

We need His BURNING LOVE to overtake us, and we need to go forth and set the captives free in miraculous and supernatural ways.

We have too much to lose if we don’t.

Shine

We are living in perilous times. I know we hear this, and I am sure many of us believe it, but this is our finest hour to shine.

I see worship leaders receiving awards, and pastors making a lot of money. I see churches growing in attendance and buildings getting bigger. I see social media promoting God in sports and culture like never before. The “world” is acknowledging God in the way the world acknowledges things, but if we aren’t careful, we can begin to look so much like the world that there is nothing about us that makes them want what we have. ← Read that again.

I am not denying that God is moving. I see Him.

But what I DO NOT SEE is the ACTS 29 CHURCH following in the footsteps of Jesus and His disciples.

What will it take to SET THE WORLD ON FIRE for His Glory?

What will it take to become UNITED & IGNITED?

What will it take to BELIEVE that God has SO MUCH MORE for us than what we can ask or think or imagine?

I want it.

I cannot settle for less. I will not settle for less.

I read the Book of Acts and get overwhelmed by what I see there. I want it.

2,000 years later … where are we?

What would happen if we corporately fasted and prayed on a regular basis (like other cultures and religions around the world)?

What would happen if we sold our possessions to help those in need? (There’s a headline for you … let the media get a hold of that one.)

What would happen if we took God at His Word and believed that His Spirit wants to ignite something supernatural in the earth … through us, His Body, His Bride, His Believers?

I am not suggesting that the church has failed. I am merely calling out what I sense, see, and feel … it’s time. It’s time for an upgrade. It’s time for a graduation. It’s time for a move of God like this generation has never seen. It’s time for UNITY in the Body that we have never known. It’s time for the FIRE of God to burn out everything that hinders love and IGNITE hearts for His Glory. It’s time for “ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”

I don’t want to live numbed out, chasing my own dreams, while souls are dying all around me.

I don’t want my name and my face on a conference poster. I want to see limbs grow back and prisons emptied.

I’m ready for more. Please tell me I am not the only one. Please tell me you’ll come with me. Please tell me you’ll do whatever it takes.

The Cost

The cost is high. I count it daily.

It is so much easier to follow the crowd. Jesus told us this would happen. Even in the church … church people follow church people. This church wants to be like that church. That church wants to be bigger and better than the other church.

Please hear my heart … I LOVE THE CHURCH. I love the church so much that my heart hurts.

But the church needs a total makeover.

She needs to strip the fake lashes and stop with the botox …

She needs to get her hands and feet dirty and have some holes in the soles of her shoes.

I know this will be offensive to some people I truly respect, honor, and love. That is not my intention. I KNOW you do the work. I KNOW you are boots on the ground. I KNOW you are doing the things … I see it, hear it, and know it. It all matters.

But are you willing to STOP with business as usual in order to have MORE?

Are you willing to change and shift and press in to ask God what needs to happen in order to usher in this next move of His Spirit?

Are you willing to let go?

There is a cost.

→ God has placed something in your hand. Ask Him what it is and how it is to be used going forward.

Jesus

I don’t want or need my name in lights. I don’t care if anyone clicks on my posts. I don’t seek followers or desire attention. I want to be set apart. I want to look different than the world. I want to hunger and thirst for righteousness. I want a pure heart. I want to weep in the Presence of the Lord. I want to pray until I cry. I want to hurt when God hurts and rejoice when He rejoices. I want to say what He says and do what He does.

This is not a popularity contest. We are on a mission.

And let me be clear … I am not suggesting obnoxious moves of the flesh that are off-putting to non-believers. I am suggesting we go so deep TOGETHER as a BODY that we become MAGNETS for HIS GLORY.

I am suggesting we pursue Him with such passion and zeal that others catch fire in our presence.

Jesus … help us.

Just meet us, Lord. We need You.

Forgive our sins and complacency. Forgive us for being so consumed with selfish ambition that we have missed You. Forgive us for division and back-biting. Forgive us for allowing anything and everything to consume us and distract us.

Would you revive us, Lord? Would you awaken us? Would you open the eyes of our hearts, Lord?

Final word …

It’s time for change.

If you are 50 years old and still doing what you did in your 20’s. It’s time for change. If you look back over your life and see a whole lot of worldly success but no progress in your walk with God. It’s time for change. If you are asking for more of God but have been unwilling to sacrifice or remove anything to make room for Him. It’s time for change.

It’s time for change.

Know this …

The deeper you go, the more set apart (and less understood) you become. It’s part of the price we pay for being conformed to His image. It isn’t some weird elite status in the Kingdom. Quite the opposite. The last shall be first. The least shall be greatest. This life requires incomprehensible boldness and courage to choose the opposite of what the world is doing.

I realize more and more that one reason I have always felt uncomfortable in this life - like a fish out of water - is because I am IN this world, but not OF this world. We are pilgrims in a foreign land.

The enemy would love to do one of two things - make us so comfortable that we never taste and see the Goodness and Glory of God - or manipulate the discomfort we naturally feel as spirit beings in carnal bodies and convince us to shrink back or bow down, again preventing us from encountering this Supernatural God.

I refuse both.

Let’s change. Let’s burn. Together.

Anything else is lukewarm.

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!” ~ 2 Timothy 3:1-5