Lifestream Going Mobile – Update

A lot of you have asked about our travel plans this spring, and it seems we have a little more clarity on where we might wander.  To be honest, these are “windblown trips”, without a lot of fore planning because of the spontaneous opportunities that seem to come up wherever we go. They are a mix of vacation for Sara and me, as well as time helping people process things we’ve spoken about on the podcast or written about in my blogs or books. It’s a great mix of wonderful conversations and time alone for us as a couple.

So, you get to pick our brains and hearts about learning to live in love, dealing with religious abuse and rejection, finding relational community, living in the river of love, finding your way through trauma, the call to the Bride, or anything else that will help you process your journey.

As I previously announced, we are headed to the Austin area to see the total eclipse, skies permitting at the beginning of April. We’re also hanging out with some fellow travelers there before turning more eastward toward Alabama and the Carolinas. We not sure of our routing here, other than to get to Anniston, AL.  As of now, we are planning on going all the way to the east coast. We have some invitations in Richmond, VA and near Baltimore, MD that will be the furthest reach of this trip before turning back west. We’re going to try to get to Lexington to respond to an invite, but how we get back to visit our son in Colorado from there is still up in the air.

Why do I share this?  In case you’re somewhere along this path and Father puts anything on your heart about a connection, or you want to come meet us somewhere if you’re not. If so, please get in touch.

Lifestream Going Mobile – Update Read More »

Chapter 2: Is This Really Where It Ends? 

NOTE: This is the second in a series of letters written for the bride of Christ who are alive at the end of the age. I don’t know how often they will appear, but once complete, I’ll combine them into a book. If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to make sure you don’t miss any, you can add your name here. The quotes that begin each chapter are a compilation from the many letters and conversations I receive and are not from the specific person I’ve made up to hold those words. They are designed to express the heart’s cry of those who are yearning to be part of what God is doing in our day and open the door to the content of that chapter.

_________________

Do you really think we could be living in the last days and that Jesus still may come in your lifetime? I’ve heard all that talk for over fifty years, and I’ve got to say I’m a bit jaded at the thought and surprised to hear you joining those ranks.

—Lloyd, 77-year-old retired engineer in Texas

Lloyd,

Even Paul, the Apostle, was concerned that too many expectations of Jesus’s coming by his followers would lead to discouragement if he delayed longer than their hope could last.

Like you, I’ve lived through a lot of false predictions of the Lord’s coming. As a child, I heard there’s no way this planet could survive the anger, drugs, and open sexuality of the 1960s and that Jesus would certainly come by 1970. I hated that talk, because I would turn 17 in 1970 and I hoped for a taste of adulthood before the end of it all.

Hal Lindsay convinced many that The European Common Market would provide the seed of the one-world government as it resisted the power of Communism. Then, of course there was the 88 reasons Jesus would come in 1988, and when that failed, the same author told us he got it wrong, and he now had 89 reasons why he would come in 1989.

Many predicted Y2K at the turn of the century would lead into a worldwide depression out of which the end of the age would come. Various Rosh Hashanah dates in the 1990s and 2000s were identified as dates for his coming, usually tied to some astronomical event to affirm the date. I even had some friends quit jobs and forego their daily responsibilities convinced that his coming was a month or two away.

All those dates turned out to be dead wrong, well-intentioned though they may have been. What I learned from all of that is anyone who sets a date is a fool. They may be wealthy fools with so many buying their books and attending their seminars, but fools, nonetheless.

So, no, I don’t have any aspirations to join those ranks and I am not making any predictions about him coming in my lifetime or the next hundred years. I don’t know if the times we are living through now portend the end, I’m merely asking myself, what if they do? I don’t have a sign. I don’t have a word from Jesus. I’ve not got some new interpretation of Scripture that finally reveals the secret.

So, let me assure you up front that I’ll not be telling anyone to quit their jobs, sell their homes, stop paying taxes, give up their dreams, buy guns, move to a private island with me, or to neglect any of the regular activities your days require. We won’t need to preplan, but simply respond to him as circumstances might unfold.

When the Jewish leaders asked Jesus for a sign, he thought it remarkable that they could so easily predict the weather by the color of the sky at night but couldn’t read the signs of the times. He indicated that spiritual indicators were easier to read than the weather, and yet, Lloyd, our generation has been fooled by so many false predictions and timetables ostensibly given by God or encoded in the Scriptures.

Today, we have apps that track the weather down to the minute with surprising accuracy, and yet we seem less discerning about what Jesus is doing behind the curtain of our daily lives or in world events. And when we lose sight of the Head, we’re only left to extrapolate our interpretation of Scripture or events into conclusions that prove false.

However, it is growing more difficult for me to ignore that many of the indicators Jesus gave us are aligning in some interesting ways. I listened to a podcast called The End of the Earth, which unpacks from a purely scientific perspective the dozen or so existential threats that humanity will have to solve in the next 150 years to survive. Some of those threats come from forces outside our control, such as asteroid impacts, super volcano eruptions, stellar explosions, or the collapse of a vital ecosystem. There are man-made risks such as nuclear war or radiation from a dirty bomb, environmental damage, climate change, an engineered pandemic, or artificial intelligence. Any of these could render humanity extinct or wipe out huge numbers of people in the quantities the book of Revelation attaches to the end of the age.

To be certain, the odds of most of these risks are infinitesimally small and there is always the possibility that some technological advance may reverse or overcome some of them. More concerning, however, are the handful of these that could be unleashed by a singular rogue scientist or desperate despot. And, to overcome some of them would require a level of unselfishness across a broad swath of humanity that we’ve not seen in our history. And yet, so many people I know rarely think about how humanity has plundered the planet with so little care for future generations.

In addition, we are witnessing four significant international conflicts that are more fraught with peril than that which spawned our first two World Wars, and this time nuclear weapons are in play. Two of which are already full-scale wars with mass casualties and two others could easily escalate to that. Furthermore, the international cohesiveness needed to resolve such conflicts is currently at a low ebb.

Of course, if I had been alive in 1940, I might have been convinced that Adolf Hitler was the Antichrist and the armies of good and evil were lined up in battle. Who in history was more set on world domination and committed genocide on such a massive scale? He used people’s religious fervor and feeling inferior after the Great War to seduce a nation into his narcissism and the evils it perpetuated.

But I would have been wrong, so I am reluctant to draw any firm conclusions here, I simply have my eye on what may yet unfold. What if our democracy fails or the current animosity degenerates into civil war? What if China triggers a war over Taiwan or their claims to South Pacific shipping lanes? What if our system of law and order breaks down into the tribal alliances we toy with now or collapses with an onrush of refugees from failed states?

I also can’t ignore other troubling trends in the rise of autocratic governments, terrorist activities, gangs, and cartels as well as increasing mass delusions fed by misinformation campaigns. Leaders focus on amassing power any way they can without regard for morality and goodwill. Our societies are becoming ever-more polarized and hostile with a bent to force others into the “right” way of thinking. Journalism has given way to advocacy and click-seeking content such that there are no longer any resources that enough people trust to even begin to build a common ground.

Many of our societal systems have broken down or been corrupted by the wealthy so that people have little hope of justice. Honesty is at an all-time low since everyone spins to their own desire or profit. Mass shootings continue to proliferate, and world debt is reaching unsustainable highs.

I also find many descriptions of last-days behavior in the Scriptures, to be as current as the morning news, like this from 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NIV):

“There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

Doesn’t that describe most of our social media, as well as our politicians, celebrities, and Wall Street bankers, as well as those who would be like them?

What’s intriguing to me is not any one of these things but all of them converging in our time. It is difficult to imagine a way out of all these challenges without the intervention of the One to whom all authority belongs. Is Jesus at the doorway to finalize his redemption of the Creation or are these only another set of birth pangs for a distant resolution? If these are not the beginning of those days, someday the beginning will look a lot like this.

Two thousand years ago, the early believers lived with an eye toward the day of redemption of all things, when the earth would be liberated from decay and God’s glory would make all things new. If that was true two thousand years ago, how much more today? That’s the joy growing in my heart, whether it happens in my lifetime or not.

Yet, with all the missed predictions and seemingly endless delays, I understand, Lloyd, how  hard it is not to give in to cynicism, especially when such talk has been filled with the immediacy of fear and threats of what would happen if we are an unworthy follower when he shows. These letters are for the bride, however. These are not days of gloom, but anticipation of joy. The groom just may be at the threshold and his coming is not a day of sorrow or anguish for his beloved; it’s a cause for celebration and unbridled joy. Like the Creation itself, we long for the day of the redemption of all things with expectancy and wonder.

What would it be like if Jesus’s coming comes in the next decade or two? The bride will emerge from all over the world, made ready by his love and dazzling the world with her beauty amid its chaos. That is hard to imagine if you’re thinking of Christianity as the religion it has become—broken and competing institutions trying to make people righteous with their rules and rituals. Instead, think of it as people from around the planet who are learning to live deeply in his love and are being transformed by that love to embrace others around them, both fellow-believers and those lost in the world.

I find world events curious enough to at least ask the question, “What if?” What are world events telling us? Is there a shift in the Spirit’s working to prepare hearts for that day? In the rhythm of the Spirit is there a fearless call for his bride to come closer? I’m holding those possibilities in my heart, but my expectancy is not on his second coming primarily, but how he wants to come now to share his life with me.

It’s time to lean into him more intentionally, listen to his heartbeat more carefully, and follow joyfully whatever he shows us. When I do that in light of his coming, I have greater clarity and make better decisions. I’ll not be writing here about geopolitical politics, identifying the antichrist, or decoding what the mark of the beast might be. These letters will be about who Jesus is for his bride and how we can live deeply in him so that we’re prepared for anything that may come.

I will write as if we are that generation, and if we’re not, perhaps some future generation will find these thoughts helpful. By publishing these letters, I want to put my voice alongside others who may be sensing similar things. My hope is that this spawns a wider conversation in the comment section or through emails that will allow us to look together at that which God is doing in our day and how these times may play into his purpose for the redemption of the whole Creation.

Blessed are they who don’t lose their hope in the Lord’s appearing because of the disappointed hopes of days past. And blessed are those who are not so distracted by what the future may hold that they miss his voice today. Realizing that the future of everything is in his hands, we can with delighted hearts invite him to continue to appear in us until the day he makes himself known to all.

As I’ll discuss in the next letter, this is not a time for fear. Even if the days of humanity’s indulgence are drawing to an end, Jesus will not let the world come to naught and he will not let you be devoured in the chaos. Challenging times will come at the end, but when we trust him, we will have all that we need. Our part is not figuring out the big picture, but responding each day to how he draws us to himself and that will prepare us for when the plan of redemption reaches its final page.

Then, the end will come with shouts of joy from all the beloved who have yearned for his coming.

Chapter 2: Is This Really Where It Ends?  Read More »

Managing Sin and Having Faith

I think we got it backwards when I was growing up.

We were told relationship with Jesus depended on us managing our sin well—sincerely trying to abstain from it, meeting with accountability groups, and when we failed, we had to make sure we confessed by telling God how sorry we were and (nobly, though falsely) promising we’d never give in again. The only problem was none of that worked.

Now I know it wasn’t meant to.

I also learned that my relationship with God depended on me trusting him completely. I had as much success with that as I did managing my sin. Certainly, I wanted to trust him that way but every day demonstrated that I was incapable of doing so.

That made the Christian journey either exhausting game of pretending to be better than I was, or a frustrating, self-condemning slog through

The part we missed was, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

We were never meant to conquer our sin or convince ourselves of a faith we didn’t have. That’s how the New Covenant flipped everything on its head. Instead of managing our sin or trying to trust more, he only wants us to learn how to live alongside him in the reality of his love. I now know that as I learn to live in his love, the power of sin loses its grip on me and my trust in him grows by his power instead of by my effort.

Christianity is afraid to give that freedom to people for fear that they will simply use grace as an excuse to indulge their flesh and serve themselves. We keep twisting up the gift of redemption by trying to find Scriptures that will scare people back into self-effort. I addressed that problem in Chapter 18 of He Loves Me.

We make a fatal mistake when we try to force Scripture to offer redemption to those who only want to go to heaven, but who do not want a relationship with the Living God. By trying to offer them some minimal standard of conduct that will also allow them to qualify for salvation while continuing to pursue their own agenda, we distort the gospel and destroy its power, and we concoct legalistic games to give them a false sense of security.

In fact the New Testament has nothing to say to people who want God’s salvation without wanting him. The Scriptures are an unabashed invitation to live as a child of the most incredible Father in the universe. As you do, you will yearn to be like him. You will discover that God’s way is better than anything you can imagine and you’ll lay down your agenda to embrace his.

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Righteousness doesn’t produce relationship. Relationship produces righteousness.

We’ll be talking about all of this at our next gathering of the He Loves Me Book Club, which will meet this Saturday, March 16, at 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.  We will be focusing on chapters 18 and 19—how living loved gives us a different approach to sin than human effort could ever achieve, and a real grasp on trust that we can’t muster on our own. Even if you have not joined us before, you’re welcome to join us tomorrow and process how you can live more freely in love as well.

If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live now on my Lifestream Ministry Page, since a new glitch in Zoom is not allowing us to post them to my Facebook Author Page. I will, however, post it to the Author page once the conversation has ended. You can see it there as well as all the previous discussions we’ve had about He Loves Me.

Managing Sin and Having Faith Read More »

The Water Is Flowing

This is a special thank you for all who gave or prayed with us to find the resource to help restore water to one of the tribes in Kenya whose solar array was destroyed by high winds and blowing debris. They had been without water for three months.  We were able to raise enough to get the well repaired and water flowing again.

This is what we received from our friends and co-laborers in the Gospel there—a video and a message:

Overflowing water from borehole

The Pokot people are very happy and they are thankful to God and Lifestream for the big support. Now the water is ready and they are completing to put the protection to prevent future damage.

May the Lord bless you abundantly.

You have enriched the lives of a starving people in the northern reaches of Kenya, who only a short time ago were nomads wandering in the bush and warring with other tribes. Today, many of these people have come to embrace Jesus as their Savior through the love of those who came to serve them in his name.  It’s a great story!

The Water Is Flowing Read More »

Chapter 1: A Call for the Bride

Wayne, a couple of years ago you posted a video from the remains of a wildfire about something God put on your heart regarding Creation groaning in its futility for the sons and daughters to be revealed. What you heard was, “It’s time.” Do you remember that? I have had the same stirring on my heart. What do you see now looking back?”
— Layna, 25-year-old college student from North Carolina

Layna,

I don’t know how you find time to write me as demanding as your university courses are these days but I’m glad you did. Are you still thinking of starting on your doctorate next year?

Knowing these same words stir in your heart in the midst of your studies encourages me. To find young people with a heart for God’s reality in this ever-darkening age makes me rejoice. You are a treasure and I pray God continues to draw you closer to his heart and reveal to you the mysteries of his love and care for you as the future unfolds.

Few days go by when I don’t contemplate the message behind that video I recorded on March 29, 2021. As I stood in the burn scar of the Creek Wildfire that destroyed 400,000 acres of forested mountains in the Sierra Nevada mountains around Shaver Lake, the devastation and sorrow of Creation disturbed me. That’s when those two words popped into mind: “It’s time!” Like a cool, refreshing breeze on a hot day, they raised the hair on my arms, and caused something deep within to rise.

At that point, I had no idea what they meant even though I felt hope that new life was already at work beneath the ashes surrounding my feet. I knew seeds were already germinating unseen, but in a matter of weeks, they would burst forth out of the charred landscape and over time replenish the forest with trees and wildflowers.

I held the mystery and anticipation of those words overnight. Where did they come from and what was I supposed to take away from them? On a walk the next morning through an unburned part of the forest, I invited God into my musings as I happened upon a small meadow. “It’s time for what?”

Instantly, the words from Romans 8:19 sprang to mind, “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.” In an instant, I knew what had troubled me the day before was not just the devastated landscape I witnessed, but also holding it as a broader metaphor of how broken humanity has devasted God’s Creation. Not only have we scarred and polluted the physical world, but we have also wounded each other with the jealousy, greed, and hostility that shatter human relationships. Even more, those who claim to follow him are not shining lights in the world as they demonstrate the same anger and arrogance it does.

Do those words still stir my heart today, Layna? They do, and even more deeply than they did at first. I can sense the Creation cheering for people like you who are finding a growing hunger to live deeply connected to him. As I see it now, “It’s time” is a tender invitation from Jesus to his bride to draw closer, to let our love and trust in him deepen so that his glory can once again be revealed on the earth.

So, what have I seen in the almost three years since?

I have watched the darkness expand, working its way into every stratum of our culture. I see it growing in the polarization and animosity of politics as well as in global hostilities. We now have two active wars and two ever-heightening conflicts, any of which could escalate into World War III, or provoke a desperate nation to go nuclear. The planet is convulsing with natural disasters unthinkable a decade ago. The COVID pandemic, possibly escaping from a lab, showed we are only one simple step away from a madman or careless scientist unleashing a virus that cannot be disarmed so easily.

In addition, God’s name continues to be disfigured by many of his self-proclaimed followers who have no idea who he is nor has their inner life been shaped by his nature. They filled their lives with religious busywork, and when it did not satisfy, they became fearful and angry people, desperate to leverage the power of a fallen world to achieve the hope that eludes them. Thus, there has been a great falling away by many who hide behind a religious veneer and by those who deconstructed their spiritual life so completely, they no longer can see God in it. They have gone their own way, having never met a God more engaging than the failures of their religious leaders and institutions.

In contrast, I also see an undeniable hunger growing in others to have an authentic connection to God, unmediated by human convention and ritual. Their religious constructs failed them at the time they needed God most. No longer able to mask their doubts, ignore their discontent, or pretend the false comfort of empty rituals, their hearts still seek to be united with the God who made them.

And I am greatly encouraged by young people like you, Layna, who sense the same breeze blowing. I see more people becoming attuned to God’s whispers and fingerprints in their daily lives as they learn how to trust his love and wisdom above their own. They are discovering that he can guide them through any disaster or hardship they face and, in the process, make them freer as they embrace his ways. They now know that Father’s purpose, and their own, are best served not by changing their circumstances to make life easy but by embracing a love that will stand with them in the darkest places.

The winds of his Spirit are shifting. As I walk the hills where I live, rising amidst the rustling leaves and the quiet of a starlit night or the warm glow of a burgeoning dawn, I hear the refrain of the song the Lamb—Jesus calling to his beloved. You can hear it too in those moments of stillness just before you fall asleep, or sense it in the drawing of your heart to something greater when you’ve put aside your media.

It is a soothing melody with tender words and a restful rhythm. He’s not angry at those who got lost in the world or their religious performance; he’s simply inviting them to return to him. Some hearing that melody don’t even know it’s coming from Jesus. Their hearts are being drawn into the sweetness of his presence, even though they don’t yet know what to call him. They will eventually learn his name, but they are already following him as they yield to the growing revelation inside them.

Listen. Jesus is calling your name, even if you got lost in the world’s amusements and empty promises or the delusion of a religious fury that did not satisfy either. Like the Prodigal, you can return to the God you always hoped was there. You have heard his song too in the hunger you feel that quiet moments expose. He’s wanting to win you back, and when you turn again toward him, you will find healing from the lies of darkness that have shamed, condemned, and accused you.

He is revealing himself, and yes, that is a double-edged sword for those who dare to look. It often comes first with the disillusionment—the painful unmasking of false thinking and selfish motives. But soon, that is followed by the growing awareness of God present with you and a growing appreciation for the way he works, which is so different from our human expectations.

This is the best meaning of the word ‘apocalypse’—the fresh unveiling of God’s hand and purpose in these sons and daughters who are learning the power of love. I know it conjures up end-of-the age imagery for most, which may not be a comforting thought for many. However, the root of the word doesn’t mean judgment, but a “revelation” or “unveiling.” Apocalypse is the lifting of the veil from our eyes that obscures our view of God’s reality. It’s an apocalypse of the willing heart now, and someday soon perhaps, an apocalypse for the whole world.

Only Jesus can hold our tears, resolve our disappointed expectations, and show us how he perfects his love in us through the very circumstances we desperately resist. In years since I heard, “It’s time,”  Sara and I have been drawn into a deeper journey than we would ever have imagined, through the dishonesty and betrayal of people we loved and respected, then in the revelation of her trauma, and finally in the path to healing that only Jesus could have accomplished. We are finding a deeper faith that mere agreement with theological principles could never achieve.

When you find his faithfulness in those places where you had previously thought him faithless, you are on the cusp of seeing the path that love lights. That’s where his glory inhabits our lives in profound and wonderful ways and where that beauty seeps out of our hearts in spontaneous encounters, so others can behold it as well. Like those plants that were growing beneath the ashes of the wildfire-scarred wilderness, the beauty of his transformation will emerge more visibly. Each green shoot brings hope to the creation and as more of them let Father’s glory find a home in their heart, the flow of color from far-flung wildflowers will color the earth.

No, these followers will not be perfect, nor will they need to be. They’ll be fully human, even letting God be revealed in their weaknesses and mistakes because their character and words will reflect God’s kindness, compassion, and redemption instead of judgment, vengeance, and condemnation. They will not seek to gain and use power to advance their own desires but will graciously lay down their lives to serve others, even those who treat them as enemies.

So, yes, we are standing on the precipice of an apocalypse—a revealing of Jesus in the world and an exposing of those illusions that keep people captive from knowing God as he is. I don’t know if this is the final apocalypse John wrote about, but I am convinced that what the Spirit wants to stir in the bride won’t look like anything that has come before.

It’s time . . .

It’s time for the bride to awaken and find the rhythm of Jesus’s heartbeat for these days and learn to follow him fearlessly. The bridegroom is at hand; he is not only with you now but will also soon come in bodily form to reclaim what is his.

And it’s time for her to arise, not in human power and wisdom, drawing attention to herself with bluster and demands on the culture, but in the quiet reality of a love-transformed life sharing his goodness with those we meet.

It’s time for his followers to embrace…

  • a love stronger than anything someone can do to us
  • a light greater than the lies of darkness
  • a resilient faith that is only strengthened in adverse circumstances, and
  • an undeniable hope in a future of God’s choosing rather than chasing our own plans.

Over the course of these letters, I want to share with you how we lean toward him in these days, so the bride is ready to meet her groom. This is the time for you to listen and discern how he is making himself known to you. Don’t grab the old conventions or commit yourself to more Bible reading, church attendance, and prayer. This is about discovering him as he makes himself known to you, not jumping on the performance treadmill that will only wear you out yet again.

I am convinced, after great soul-searching, that Jesus has invited me to share with you the thoughts he has put in my mind about the times we live in. Honestly, I have resisted doing so for reasons I’ll share in the future. But I do want to offer encouragement to those who want to be part of reflecting his glory in the world. Thus, this is the first of a series of “Letters to the Bride at the End of the Age.” I’m calling it, It’s Time!

Subsequent letters will appear on this blog until I can combine them into a book. Each will respond to a different question and focus on what we will need to live in freedom and protection while being an ambassador of his love in these ever-darkening days. I’m going to respond to questions like yours, Layna, so you may want to follow along. Do I really think the end of days is upon us? What about those of you for whom that might provoke fear? How do we live at rest in uncertainty, trusting in Father’s care for us.

What if his coming to redeem the planet is meant to happen in the next 10-15 years? What might we want to know and how might we want to live? I don’t know if the real audience for this book is in this generation or if it will come eighty years from now when someone finds it on a lost corner of the Internet. Either way, I hope this little book encourages someone to respond to his call.

That said, I do know this: If following Jesus with a full heart and a certain faith will serve us well at the end of days, wouldn’t it also serve us even better today?

_______________________________________________

This is the first in a series of letters written for the bride of Christ at the end of the age. I don’t’ know how often they will appear, but once complete I’ll combine them into a book. If you are not already subscribed to this blog, and want to make sure you don’t miss any, you can add your name here

The quotes that begin each chapter are a compilation from the many letters and conversations I have experienced, and are not from the specific person I’ve made up to embody those words. They are designed to express the heart’s cry of those who are yearning to be part of what God is doing in our day and open the door to the content of that chapter. For each one, however, I have a specific person in mind who I know or have met recently.

Chapter 1: A Call for the Bride Read More »

A Life Lived in Love

This weekend we’ll begin the fourth section of He Loves Me, where I wrote about what it means to live loved. It’s one thing to believe God loves me with our head, and another to grow in that love as the defining reality of our lives. Knowing we’re loved as a belief will only take us so far; it’s living in that love that opens up a lifelong adventure that will hold you through any storm, give you direction in every circumstance, and tenderizes your heart from the inside so you can love others without having to try.

How has it changed me? This is how I expressed it in Chapter 17 twenty-five years ago; I can assure you it has only grown wider and deeper from there:

As you grow increasingly certain that his love for you is not connected to your performance you will find yourself released from the horrible burden of doing something for him. You’ll realize that your greatest ideas and most passionate deeds will fall far short of what he really wants to do through you.

I used to be driven to do something great for God. I volunteered for numerous opportunities and worked hard in the hopes that some book I was writing, some church I was planting, or some organization I was helping would accomplish great things for God. While I think God used my misguided zeal in spite of myself, nothing I did ever rose to the level of my expectations. Instead they seemed to distract me from God, consume my life, and leave me stressed out or worn out from the pursuit.

I’m not driven anymore. I haven’t tried to do anything great for God in more than a decade, and yet I have seen him use my life in ways that always exceed my expectations. What changed? I did, by his grace.

My desire to do something great for God served me far more than it ever did him. It kept me too busy to enjoy him and distracted me from the real ministry opportunities he brought across my path every day.

I used to start my day laying out my plans before God and seeking his blessing on them. How silly! Why would I even want God to be the servant of my agenda? God’s plans for my day far exceed mine. I can almost hear him now as I awaken, “Wayne, I’m going to touch some people today. Do you want to come along?”

It’s amazing how gentle that is; but all the more powerful because it is. I don’t have to go. God’s work won’t be thwarted by my lack of participation. He will touch them anyway, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world. He does things I’ve never dreamed of and uses me in ways I could never conceive. His focus on touching people instead of managing programs has revolutionized my view of ministry. It requires no less diligence on my part, but directs that diligence in far more fruitful endeavors.

If you’ve never known the joy of simply living in God’s acceptance instead of trying to earn it, your most exciting days in Christ are ahead of you. People who learn to live out of a genuine love relationship with the God of the universe will live in more power, more joy, and more righteousness than anyone motivated by fear of his judgment.

We’ll continue our conversations about He Loves Me this Saturday, March 2 at 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.  We will be focusing on chapters 16 and 18—how the death of Christ gives us a basis for growing trust in the Father’s care and how we find freedom from religious performance so we can be transformed by love. Even if you have not joined us before, you’re welcome to join us tomorrow and process how you can live more freely in love as well.

If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live now on my Lifestream Ministry Page, since a new glitch in Zoom is not allowing us to post them to my Facebook Author Page. I will, however, post it to the Author page once the conversation has ended. You can see it there as well as all the previous discussions we’ve had about He Loves Me.

My greatest passion for anyone who reads these blogs or anyone I’m in a conversation with is that they, too, would come to experience the joy and freedom of resting in the Father’s affection through the work of Jesus. There’s nothing else in this world worth more than that.

 

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To the Eclipse and Beyond . . .

Sara and I will soon be packing up the RV and heading out again with our two dogs—the first trip for our new puppy.

The total solar eclipse on April 8 is the catalyst for this trip. I saw one in 2017 with my son in Wyoming as I was helping him move to Denver. It was one of the most moving experiences I’ve had in nature and promised to get Sara to this one, since it is the last one in the U.S. in our lifetime. A favorite author of mine, Anne Dillard wrote a piece about an eclipse she witnessed years ago, and in it she captures the feelings I had myself.  She wrote, “Seeing a partial eclipse bears the same relation to seeing a total eclipse as kissing a man does to marrying him.” There’s nothing like that moment when the sun seems to go out. The stars appear; the earth cools; the birds go silent. It is surreal in its truest sense, and I can’t wait to get Sara to this one.

We’ll be heading south from here, through the southern end of Arizona and New Mexico in the first part of April, finally settling around Wimberley, TX for ten days. We will also be meeting with friends in that area and perhaps some from San Antonio.  From there, it looks like we’re going to make our way to eastern Mississippi along the gulf coast.  If you’re along that route somewhere and want to pull some people together, please let me know.

We’re not sure where we go from there; it will depend on where the Spirit blows us, where the early spring weather will allow us to go, and where there is hunger for us to visit. This is what travel looks like for me now. I spent many years mostly flying alone all over the world to meet wherever hungry hearts invited me for some conversation about living loved, finding the Church Jesus is building, and sharing life together. I usually stayed in people’s homes and enjoyed so much the connections God gave us. But now, since we are now dealing with the aftermath of Sara’s trauma, she likes me to be alongside her in the nighttime hours. So, we go together now, which allows Sara to be a part of it all as well as have some private space to process her journey. This has allowed us to have some amazing conversations with people in homes, restaurants, and parks as we explore the life of Jesus together.

So, if something is on your heart about touching base with us on this trip or a future one if we’re not coming near you, please let me know. For those who have done that for our previous trips, there is no need to, as we keep those on file in case we find ourselves in your area.  We look forward to seeing what God might have in mind for us on this, our third RV trip.   And if you just want to know if we happen to be having a gathering in your locale, you can sign up for my Travel List. Sign up here and make sure to include your physical address so we can contact you if we’re going to be nearby.

And for people we are not traveling near, I also do a lot of Zoom conversations to help small groups (or large ones) process their journeys of living inside Father’s affection, answer questions from my books or podcast, or help in any other way I can. All you have to do is ask, and then we can pray together and see what God might have in mind.

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He Loves Me Book Club Meets this Saturday, March 2

We’ll continue our conversations about He Loves Me this weekend by delving into chapters 16 and 17 this weekend on Saturday, March 2 at 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.  We will be focusing on how the death of Christ gives us a basis for growing trust in the Father’s care and how we find freedom from religious performance so we can be transformed by his love.

If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live now on my Lifestream Ministry Page, since a new glitch in Zoom is not allowing us to post them to my Facebook Author Page. I will, however, post it to the Author page once the conversation has ended. You can see it there as well as all the previous discussions we’ve had about He Loves Me.

 

Thank you on behalf of Kenya

Thanks to those of you who have given to help us restore an agricultural project there that was destroyed by brutal winds. It provided water and sustenance for an entire tribe in the region.  To date, we’ve taken in about $8500 of the $12,796 that we needed.

If you can help us raise this money, please see our Donation Page at Lifestream. Just designate “Kenya” in the “Note” of your donation, or email us and let us know your gift is for Kenya. As always, all of your contributions go directly to Kenya; we don’t take out any fees for administration or for transferring the funds. You can also Venmo contributions to “@LifestreamMinistries” or mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or, if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

 

To the Eclipse and Beyond . . . Read More »

Tragedy in Kenya

A few years ago we helped five starving tribes (over 100,000 people) in North Pokot each to develop a water and agricultural project to give them life. They had no water and had to travel overnight to the nearest well and bring back water to survive. We drilled wells, provided the infrastructure for people to get water, a trough so the animals could drink, and a field where they could grow their own crops. Each of these has exceeded expectations in the first five years. The generosity of the Lifestream and The God Journey audiences gave over three million dollars to help over 13 years.  It has blessed me beyond measure.

However, three months ago tragedy struck one of these projects. High winds and the debris in them damaged the solar array that drives the well. Since then, they have had no water for themselves, their livestock, and their crops. I found out about this yesterday when they sent me this video. It describes what happened and the impact it is having on this village.  

Fellow Kenyans have donated $1370.00 to help make it operational but that is well short of what it will cost.  They need an additional $12,796.00 US to complete the restoration. Would you please help me provide this for them? It is critically important to the survival of these people. Providing water allows them to grow their own crops and water their cattle so they can continue to live.

If you can help us raise this money, please see our Donation Page at Lifestream. Just designate “Kenya” in the “Note” of your donation, or email us and let us know your gift is for Kenya. You can also Venmo contributions to “@LifestreamMinistries” or mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or, if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

Thank you for your consideration of this need.

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We Are Following the Lamb

As Sara and I were walking our dogs through the neighborhood a couple of weeks ago, we noticed the license plate above on the front of an oversized pick-up truck.

We’ve lived in this neighborhood less than a year and it’s pretty clear where the angst-driven people live by their bumper stickers and yard signs. They glory in power, bluster in their anger at the world and seek to force change on their neighbors. I pray for them as we go by, knowing how tough it is to live with so much consternation and so little trust in the ways God works.

I don’t like a lot that’s going on in our world these days either. The overreach of government spending and power, imposing itself on every area of our lives is ghastly. But my hope for change does not lie in frustration or the political power it hopes to gain. I haven’t talked to the owner of this vehicle, so I don’t know what this sign meant to him, but I know there’s a meme out there among conservatives that we can’t be sheep anymore and just lay down and let the government, or the left, drive over us. We have to be lions, ready to avenge our grievances and force society to its knees. Sounds good, perhaps even Godly, but not if you’ve read the Book of Revelation.

Jesus does appear in the first chapter as the Lion of Judah, with fire in his eyes and a sword in his mouth. He’s worthy of that image. But every other time he appears in that book he comes as the Lamb of God. It’s the Lamb who was slain, who is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. It’s the Lamb in the Center of the throne, the one the faithful follow at the end of days, and the Lamb is the groom for the Bride at the final marriage supper.

What do I take from that? God’s way to redeem the world is counterintuitive to human convention. We are seduced by power and seek to amass it to accomplish what we think God wants. But Jesus is not redeeming the world with has overarching power but by the tenderness of his affection. He doesn’t come as the roaring Lion, but the slain Lamb. The power of love is the opposite of the love of power. We plug into his reality not by seeking protecting our lives, but in laying down our lives and letting love win the day.

That’s why Jesus told his followers, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves.” He didn’t send us out to be lions at war, but incredibly wise sheep who see everything differently than the world does. I know how ridiculous that can seem to people who’ve never tasted the awesome power of laying down your life instead of forcing your way. But there is no better time than to learn how he works we will need it in days to come. This is where words like gentleness, generosity, kindness, humility, and tenderness define our path, which those who seek power mock and belittle.

Yes, it can be a painful road at times but it is also the only road to the victory God seeks. It is what he has asked of us—to follow the Lamb instead of pretending to be lions. 

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Losing our Consciousness of Sin

It is horrifying that we took the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and used it to construct a sin-management system. Instead of freeing us from the power of sin, it only made us more captive to its longings and temptations.

I was preoccupied with my sin and failures most of my life, well into my forties. Most Christians I know today see their own sin and temptations as something they need to work on if they are going to get serious about their life in Jesus. Many fret over them, hoping they have confessed and repented enough, and can learn to try hard enough to defeat them, even though they’ve always been unsuccessful. They think their walk with God depends on it.  And, yet they have it exactly backwards—proximity to God is not gained through sinlessness, our closeness to God sets us free from the power of sin.

What Jesus accomplished on the cross was the destruction of sin in his love. Now, we no longer need to be preoccupied with it or spend any effort trying to win over it by our own will-power. We are and always have been, powerless in sin. Jesus’s grace and forgiveness now allows us to be present with God even in the midst of our worst failure, so that his love can transform us from the inside out. It’s the ultimate freedom from sin, both from having to manage it every day and in experiencing his transforming power that frees us from it. Yes, I know it sounds too good to be true, but nothing else will lead us to a life of fullness in God. 

Paul said in Romans 8 that a mind set on the flesh is death. That’s as much the mind seeking to resist the flesh as it is the mind indulging it. None of this takes away from the fact that sin destroys. Your sin dehumanizes you and exploits people around you. It isn’t pretty, but it does not distance God from you. He knows your frailties and he also knows that only his love can unravel the mass of hurt, ego, trauma, and insecurity that expresses itself in sin. Fight against sin and you’ll lose every time. Learn to live in the reality of his love and you’ll find the mind set on the Spirit to be life and peace, as Paul said it would be.

Yes, it is counterintuitive, but it does explain why centuries of trying to manage our sin for God has not produced greater righteousness among those who claim to follow God. Sin is as rampant in the so-called “church” as it is the world. Instead of helping people discover how to rely on his love, we bowed at the altar of human performance and it has failed us.

The third section of He Loves Me is designed to help people understand Jesus’s work on the cross so they will no longer be preoccupied with sin. Instead, they will relax into his love and discover how that love will reshape their lives and in doing so displace the power of sin to capture them. That’s the good news and it opens the door for us to live with Jesus and his Father without counting our sins and make sure we’ve confessed them all. They are forgiven. God’s not counting and you don’t need to either—not yours or your neighbor’s.

We will be discussing our freedom from sin this weekend in the He Loves Me Book Club, which will convene this Saturday, February 17, at 1:00 pm Pacific Standard Time.  We will be focusing on Chapters 14 and 15 to understand what happened between a Father and his Son on the cross that opened up this amazing door for our fullness and freedom.

If you want to join us in this Zoom conversation, you can get details and the link by liking the Facebook Group Page, or if you are not a member of Facebook, you can write me for a link to be sent each time we meet. For those who just want to watch, we stream them live on my Facebook Author Page and leave the recording up after the conversation for others to hear. (You can find past ones by scrolling down on that page.)

Here’s one of my favorite excerpts from Chapter 14:

In the pristine beauty of the undefiled creation, Adam and Eve couldn’t find it in their hearts to trust God and walk away from their own desires. But in the agonizing atrocity of the cross and the utter darkness that overwhelmed him there, Jesus consciously and continuously yielded to his Father’s desire.

At any point in the process he could have stopped the torture, called for a legion of angels and wiped out those who were killing him. What an amazing act! I don’t know that I have ever willingly submitted to the darkest tragedies of my life. I rarely feel in control when circumstances turn desperate or when people with evil motives take advantage of me. If I could have called a legion of angels to fix any of my painful circumstances, I would have. I have endured the painful seasons of my life not because I chose to, but because I could not do otherwise. The only choice I had was whether to respond to them in a Godly way or a selfish way.

That he would endure such hostility against himself with the full freedom to end it at any weak moment makes me appreciate the cross that much more. As free choice got us into this bondage of sin, so Jesus’ free choice would walk us out of it. His example also reminds us that we are not victims either. Even though disgusting things might be done to us by others, we still have the freedom to overcome evil by putting our trust in him. He still redeems the darkest moments of life with the wonder of his grace.

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