This is a short 15 minute teaching that Steve delivered right from his living room couch about Jesus our Super-Model.  In other words, He is our ultimate example.  This teaching lays this subject right out there in a fresh way that will challenge your thinking.

Ruined for the Better!

The word “Ruined” is strong.  It means damaged and the idea people get is destroyed to a point that whatever was ruined is changed forever.  The term is often used when a precious garment gets bleached or over-dried in the laundry.  The despairing person will often cry out, “It’s ruined!”  Sometimes they’ll even follow this statement with something like, “I paid $50 for that shirt!”  There is a strong sense of loss when something precious is ruined.

 I’ve spent time in places like Greece, Italy and Turkey looking at “ruins”… formerly grand buildings which are now in beautiful disrepair.  When I look upon those ruins, my mind goes back in time and imagines how great those structures were and how proud of them the people of those days must have been. 

There is no doubt that the devil is trying to ruin us.  He comes to steal, to kill and to destroy and he’s not kidding.  (see John 10:10)  Sometimes, he is successful.  When the children of God fail to operate in obedience and faith, when we give in and give up, the results can be disastrous.

As I have been contemplating my life so far… my 46 years on this planet, I have experienced much ruin.  I’m sure you have too!  But I’ve noticed something!  Whenever I get ruined, as long as I cling to Christ, I get ruined for the better!  Someone once told me, “the devil always overplays his hand.”  This is a poker term (a card game favored by serious gamblers).  It means that the enemy doesn’t really have the good cards.  We have the winning hand in Jesus Christ!  But that dirty devil is a bold bluffer.  He uses intimidation and other tactics to try to get us to fold (give up). 

I have news for you friend!  Based not only on my own experience but also on the Word of God!  If you won’t fold, if you won’t give in or give up, you will always be victorious in Christ the end!  (see Galatians 6:9)

Joseph was one of the guys in the Bible that was ruined by the enemy, using his very own brothers and many others.  But he never wavered and never stopped trusting in God.  Many years down the road after he had been promoted from a slave to the number two ruler of Egypt, he had these words to say:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:20 NIV)

Was Joseph ruined by the efforts of the enemy?  Absolutely!  The course of his life was directed negatively many times!  He spent a good amount of his life in jail!  But God turned it around!  And because Joseph never gave in and never gave up, he was “Ruined for the Better!”

I have many friends who have been ruined and not for the better.  Many used to be successful, had great family situations, fantastic businesses, careers, even ministries.  Then they were destroyed.  Ruined by situations, circumstances, bad decisions, attacks, you name it.  Today, they are empty, miserable, some have disappeared from Church, from life…  But this is unnecessary!  Sad!

I have many other friends that no matter what happened, they kept trusting Jesus, believing in God, persevering, working through the pain…  Yes, they were ruined.  Permanently changed, but because they didn’t give up, they became even better and more effective than ever before!  Stronger!

Job was ruined!  Completely!  But because he passed the testing, God blessed him all the more!

Many times in my life, I have been ruined.  Either through my own wrong turns, by seeming bad coincidence or through spiritual warfare.  But in those times, the voice of the Lord always broadcasts to my spirit that I will only be destroyed if I allow myself to be destroyed.  I will only be finished if I allow myself to be finished.

My encouragement to you is this.  Embrace the ruining process because it really is a pruning process!  Allow the adversities and the tragedies of life to change, mold and make you!  Don’t give up, don’t give in, keep trusting in Jesus, stay in the shadow of His wings!  Get Ruined for the Better!

I know some of your former friends want you to be ruined!  Former friends are worse than enemies, aren’t they? :-)  But it doesn’t matter!  I know they’re out there talking negatively about you, literally trying to assassinate your character & associate your name with scandal, but it doesn’t matter!  God is on your side and He will be the one to right the wrongs.  Stay positive, keep sowing positively, keep blessing, stay focused on Jesus!  Everyone reaps what they sow…

Everyone I know who is not in ministry anymore, allowed it to happen to them.  God’s calling is irrevocable… He will never take it away!  (Romans 11:29)  God still wants to use you, but you have to believe it and continue to go after Him without allowing the disappointments of life to derail you!  Allow yourself to be ruined for the better, everytime!

Becoming more Relatable means Becoming less Pretentious

Many people from my generation (I was born in 68') are having trouble adjusting.  We live in a new era and for those of us in ministry, it is especially important to be relatable which equates now more than ever to being trustworthy.  I'll explain.  The new generation, which I recently heard referred to as the "selfie generation" is all about being real & authentic.  Of course I don't actually buy the alleged authenticity of the reality shows which now dominate much of TV and I also don't believe the majority of what I see portrayed on Facebook.  These things do show us that authenticity is more valued now than ever before, but I still think most people are wearing masks.  These masks are just allot more realistic than they used to be.

So how do we become more relatable?  There are many ways, but I think the place to start is in the way we talk.  There is much pretension in our speaking.

To be pretentious means to exaggerate our worth, value, standing, importance or stature.  You guessed it!  It is to try purposely to be impressive to people!  This can be done by over-dressing, embellishing our background and a multitude of other ways, but many people do this in speech, trying to elevate themselves by using humongous, oops, complex, oops, big words.

Here's how to break away from being pretentious:

Don't use a complicated word when there is a simple one which expresses our thought just as well. Now of course if one of those bigger more impressive words really does say something the more common word cannot say, then by all means use it... not to impress, but to be more clear.  To be a balanced person is the key.  Balance in speech means we learn to be specific and simple.  This is relatable and trustworthy.  And believe me, you will probably notice that people will want to hang around you more!  This is good for making friends. (Proverbs 18:24a NKJV: A man who has friends must himself be friendly)

Now for the funny observation in all this.  In the past generation, to be more accepted, we needed to learn how to speak in a more complicated way.  But now, the opposite is necessary.  In order to be more accepted, we should learn to be just as clear, but in a simpler way.  It's time to unlearn again..

Buckle Up for the New Year!

As I was driving today, the red light on the dash was blinking at me.  It was warning me that I was in danger for failing to put my seat belt on.  It's obvious that it's a good thing to do to wear the seat belt because statistics prove that seat belts save lives.  The problem is that I had been affected by a rebellious streak that comes on me from time to time.  I didn't feel like wearing my seat belt!

But the red light was irritating me!  Irritating me allot!!  What was the solution?  To give in and put the seat belt on?  Or...  my thoughts went to the possibility to going to my mechanic who could easily disable the light so that I would never need to worry about that pesky warning light ever again!  I schemed for a couple of minutes, but then my thoughts went to "what if..."  What if I died in a car crash!  I would go straight to heaven, but what of my family, what of my friends, what of the people who I'm ministering to at this time if I left this planet pre-maturely!  I even thought to myself what I would say to the others in heaven when I arrived...  "um, sorry I'm early, but I didn't feel like wearing my seat belt!"

So I overcame my feeling, my irritation, my rebellious streak and I put on the seat belt.  And I determined that I will wear it and not finish this life until I'm really supposed to.

This was a silly episode, but it reflects human nature in many ways.  It seems that everyone wants to be a prophet but few want to be on the receiving end of a prophetic warning.  It seems that people like encouraging sermons, but when they hear a sermon that hits a nerve, we might not see them again.

Some time back, I was ministering in a Church as a guest and the sermon became quite direct & prophetic.  Too on point for the comfort of the Associate Pastor.  The Lead Pastor wasn't there...  At lunch, he said how blessed & challenged he was by the message personally, but that he hopes nobody was offended.  He said that if they lose people, that the leadership will be unhappy.  I have to admit that my human nature kicked in for a bit and I allowed his comments to affect me.  I went to my hotel wondering if I had somehow failed God.  After all, would God want me to share a message that would cause people to leave?  But in prayer, God assured me that I had been faithful and that I was following the example of Jesus & what  the Bible says to do..  to speak the truth in love.

Later on, I was invited back.  The same Associate Pastor said that they had lost a few people but that many were stirred to get right with God. Some of the Elders had asked specifically that I come back. In this case, the Senior Leadership was appreciative of that pesky warning light. It's not always that way...  You can look at it this way...  many in that congregation had been living their lives carelessly and at risk.  God loved them so much that He sent them a warning to buckle up!

On a personal level, I know that we all get warnings in our lives.  Some blatant on the dash and some like road signs that we can just glimpse.  Often we miss or ignore them. Sometimes they come from sources that we don't recognize or even like.  After all, that red light does irritate.  If we weren't irritated, would we act?

Was Jesus irritating?  Was Paul irritating?  Was Peter irritating?  What about Isaiah, Elijah & Elisha? You know the answer!  Some have said that if Jesus preached the way most preachers do today, that He would never have crucified. Maybe!  There is way too much ear tickling going on.  And it's not motivated by love or care.  It is motivated by kingdom building and I don't mean God's Kingdom.  A better term would be "audience building."  Were these men focused on making friends?  The Word tells us that "faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." (Prov 27:6)

When I evaluate my life & the lives of the others who I relate with, I've noticed that the greatest damage, the greatest losses have come from carelessness.  It's not that God didn't warn.  It's that we fail to heed the warnings.

In this new year, I and many in the community where I minister are fasting yet again.  We are wanting better spiritual eyesight & more.  I pray that we will become more welcoming, more cooperative, more alert towards the pesky warnings in our lives.  God has a fantastic year in store for us but we must be careful & pay attention in order to take hold of it!

Do You Need a Word??

Almost everyone that I know could use a word of direction, healing or encouragement from God.
But to the ones who don't seem to "hear" from God, they get frustrated as to how easily and frequently others apparently hear from Him.

People often come up to me after one of those meetings where the prophetic is in action and they say things like "I wish I could prophecy," or "hear from God," "like you do."  They have the tone of Eeyore the donkey from Winnie-the-Pooh in their voice, a look of empty longing in their eyes and they sound hopeless, as if they have tried and failed repeatedly.

For these folks, the scripture which says that we are God's sheep and we do hear his voice seemingly doesn't apply to them.  (John 10)  But it does!  If you belong to God and if you follow Him, then you can hear His voice!

So what's the problem?  There are many explanations for varying cases, but I want to single out the biggest one that will solve most peoples problem in this area.

If you want a Word, then read the Word!  Everyone that I know who is authentically prophetic is a student of God's Word and enjoys reading God's Word on a regular basis.  Knowing Jesus is the prerequisite and the way to know Him is to study the Word because He IS the Word!

I ask some of these well meaning folks what they do to try and hear from God.  Many say that they pray and pray and pray, refusing to get up off their knees until they give up.  Others worship and worship and worship, trying so hard to get raptured into a place where they lose themselves so they can finally and hopefully get a word from God.  And it is true that many times we get a word from God through fervent prayer and desperate worship, but the fact still remains that if you aren't in the word, not only is this less likely to happen, but you are prone to mistaking other voices or even your own inner selfish voice for the voice of God.  Because God will never go against His word and we must measure every prophetic thought against His word to test for validity.

Get a Word from the Word!  Get into the Word and study it and enjoy it!  Your future depends on it!

Psalm 119:104-106 (NIV)

¹⁰⁴ I gain understanding from your precepts;
    therefore I hate every wrong path.

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have taken an oath and confirmed it,
    that I will follow your righteous laws

 

1 Peter 1:10-11 (NIV)

¹⁰ Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, ¹¹ trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

 

 

Launching a Year of Consecration in 2014

It’s not even Christmas yet… 15 days until the New Year and I have already heard from the Lord about what 2014 needs to be for me.  A year of complete consecration.  He really got my attention earlier this week when He started speaking to me about it.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger?”  It’s not in the Bible, but the Holy Spirit spoke it to me.  He said, “you have been asking for more anointing, more power, more strength…”  He went on to say, “Consecrate yourself in 2014.  There are going to be attacks, tests and challenges more severe than any you have faced before.  And by the end of the year, you will either be at a new and greater level of the anointing than you ever imagined, or you will be dead.”

Now when the Holy Spirit speaks about death, it can be metaphorical, literal, or both.  In this case, considering the evidence of how the enemy has already tried to literally kill me several times in the last few months, I believe that it is both.

I know I lost some of you already because if you aren’t accustomed to this kind of extreme talk about what goes on in the spirit realm, you might be thinking that I have gone off the deep end.  But I’m tired… seriously tired of writing and ministering in ways as to not shake the tree.  I have been guilty, have repented and now I’m free.   I’m done with that.  This is a new season, a radical and a real season and I’m stepping into it.  I hope you will too.  If you want to read some user friendly sensitive nonsense telling you that God’s grace means you can do whatever you want and not pay a price for the anointing, then stop reading right here.  There are plenty of those kinds of ministries out there and this isn’t one of them.  And if you don’t want prophecy in your church, don’t invite me to speak.  I’m moving forward and I’m done wasting my own time by trying to tone things down.  J

I want you to know something friend.  This is the way those who authored the Bible spoke.  The Bible says things that seem far-fetched but end up being completely true.  How about this one?...  Many who previously partook of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner, in other words, they didn’t repent of their sins, are sick, weak, or have fallen asleep (I’m assuming prematurely).  That means dead.  Check it out for yourself in 1 Corinthians 11:17-34..  Do you think the Lord isn’t serious about making sure to examine ourselves before drinking that little cup of juice and eating the cracker?  He is serious.  Or what about this warning from Jesus in John 10:10 which tells us that the thief (devil) comes only to kill to steal and to destroy.  You’d better believe that literally because it happens all the time.

God is the filter on my life and He only allows attacks from the enemy to come that He knows will be for my benefit if I work with Him to be victorious.  And so He is going to open the filter up some more here in 2014 and is warning me to consecrate myself so that I will be able to not only withstand the brutality of it all, but grow through it and become stronger.   After all, I asked for it.

And so I’ve been discussing this with Him.  A year?!?!?!  Really???  Yes, really.  Oh my!

And so my friends, I am announcing to those of you who pray for me and follow my life for whatever reason that I am launching a year long season of consecration starting right now.  The reason now, is that when I started planning to begin on January 1, the Holy Spirit informed me that He is giving me a chance to get a running head start and that if I’m serious about it, why not start now?

What does this mean?  To consecrate?  Websters says this:  Consecrate: “dedicated to a sacred purpose”  Another way that I like to describe it is “set apart for the purposes of God.”  Look at it this way.  You are a vessel that is for a special purpose  Not a common vessel.  And so you reserve yourself to only be used by God, not cheapening yourself with the things of the world.  You are like a silver platter used for special occasions but now you want every occasion to be special.  Breakfast, lunch and dinner.

In the Bible, there are many instances where God asked people to consecrate, purify and prepare themselves for events ranging from religious ceremony to times of war.  They would cleanse themselves, spend time in prayer or performing sacrifices, they could fast from food and often wouldn’t even sleep with their spouses.  There were other ways they would do it as well.  The main thing is to set yourself apart for the Lord as the Holy Spirit is leading you.

So here is how He is leading me for this year.  I am to eat no sweets (even sugar free) &  I will eat no rice.  On a side note, if I were someone who drinks alcohol, then I would abstain, but I am not.  Furthermore, I will not attend movies, watch television and I will not surf the internet for entertainment purposes.  I will only perform tasks including ministry that I believe the Lord is asking me to do and will eliminate all of the busy-ness in my life that is possible.  My primary dedication will be to a cleansing and growing process as I read the Bible, pray, watch and spend time in the presence of God.  There are more promises for this year that I am making between God and myself as well, but you get the point.

I will of course continue to be a faithful Pastor to those the Lord has directed me to work with in Manila and will continue to minister everywhere that the Lord leads me.  I will also focus on being the best Father that I can be to my children, especially to the two boys, Chad and Ethan who are living with me in the Philippines.

It is going to be quite a year and I intend to live through it and come through it as gold and silver come through the Refiners fire.

But I have to tell you,  this is not only for me.  Prophetically, this is for many people and for many groups of people.  I sense in my spirit that this year, 2014 is going to be a very challenging year for God’s worldwide Church and that we all really should consecrate, purify and prepare ourselves.  For those who will do this, they will pass test after test and go from peak to peak, glory to glory in their relationship and empowerment with and from God.

As I preached in a Church in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia yesterday, the battle cry for 2014 must be “No Compromise!”

Prayer Partners and Friends, would you pray for me?  And would you consider joining me in consecration, cleansing and travail this year?  If so, ask the Holy Spirit to give you your custom plan, don’t follow mine.

2015 is going to be an even more amazing year as long as we set it up to be that way in 2014!!!  Let us plough the ground and set the stage, shall we?

Snake Attack!!

The first attack that came upon mankind was through a slithering serpent.  This of course has given these creatures a bad reputation and snakes have done little to help their own reputation as they do tend to bite people and sometimes kill them.  And so in the prophetic realm, I have not often heard an analogy of a snake used to the positive. They are usually negative, very negative pictures of attacks, temptations, spirits and more.

I used to be a pastor of a church which had many people who had migrated to America from Africa.  In that church, I heard visions and prophetic words on a regular basis about snakes and the ultimate thing that you didn't want was for a snake to bite you.  This was probably the case because many in the congregation had at one time in their lives lived with the very real possibility of being bitten by actual snakes. 

One example was of a member who received a word from a visiting pastor from Ghana which said, if you go out from under the umbrella of the covering of this church, the snake will bite you.  That guy proceeded to leave the church and what happened in his life certainly could be associated to the analogy of being bitten by a snake.  But he did recover.  I think that having received that word in advance, even though he went against it, helped him to ultimately recover.  God never does anything without first alerting some of His prophets.  (Amos 3:7)  So awesome!

The reason for this article is that I want to share with you some recent insights I have experienced in my own life as I have literally been bombarded (in a good way) with prophetic messages from many different sources about snakes attacking me and my household.

The first one came a few weeks ago that there is a green snake with a red ruby on its forehead and it is very angry at me.  It is gossiping and lying about me.  The reason is because in the past, when it has tried to get me, I overcame the attack, killed it, and lifted up its skin to expose it to the world for what it really is.  Of course not everyone chooses to see the truth, but at least the lies of the enemy are exposed for those who love the truth and are not blinded by their own ideas.

So the green to me meant, "green with envy", anger, etc.  The red ruby on the forehead meant something precious that is designed to entice me to reach for it.  If I would come out from the covering of God to reach for whatever that represents, I would be bitten.

A week and a half later, I was in a car accident in which the driver unwisely went through a light.  It was not technically his fault, but if I had been driving, I wouldn't have gone.  It was as if he was reaching for the red ruby on the green snake.  The red light.  The result was that we were hit by a van and a car.  The most serious impact was at the back door where I was sitting.  And so the word of warning was accurate.  Because the driver reached for something that he shouldn't have reached for, going through a light turning red, the enemy was able to try and kill me.  And he might have if God had not miraculously protected me.

I learned from this that the attacks do not even necessarily have to come from me stepping out from God's protective covering.  It could even be through someone that I am with.

But more prophecies about snakes kept coming.  Another one was that there was a black snake trying to gain access to my house.  It had tried the doors, the windows and any crack it could find but it couldn't go in.  So it went underneath the house and found a hole.  But just as it was about to go into the hole, a double edged sword was placed in the hole and the snake was not able to enter.  The sword represents the word of God and the Holy Spirit that should be on guard in my life 24 hours a day seven days a week.  If the sword is removed even for a second, that snake who is on stake out at that hole will slither in and do its destructive work.

Later on, I received another word that there is a hole in my life that the enemy would like to gain access through and it is a family member.  And so as the head of the household, it is my responsibility to continue to make sure that the word and the Spirit are being applied 24/7 in my family members life in order to protect not only him, but also myself and the other members of the household.

Then another prophecy came just a few days ago while I am in a different country for ministry. (even at the time of this writing)  Another black snake is in the shadows trying to hide.  I saw it and I was able to grab it and remove it, but what I didn't see is that it had already laid eggs.  Many eggs.  The purpose for the prophecy was to show me that snake eggs had been planted against me.  I discerned that they were seeds of discontent and little gossipy lies being planted by those who are jealous or who I may have rubbed the wrong way.  Some were there planted by others as a hedge or as a retaliation for things that had been exposed in their lives or ministries through prophetic means.

I was with a group of people including some from a team from the Philippines who were with me.  I said that I believe that this prophecy was referring to the Philippines where there are some who are against me that the devil is able to use because of openings in their lives.  Then one person said, "yes, but it's not just in the Philippines, it is here in this country as well." 

I didn't pick up on that in my spirit because ministry in this country has been really wonderful and I was not aware of any attack like this.  But then I got socked a few days later when it was revealed that I had stirred up a hornets nest...  or rather, a snakes nest.  But thank God for His warning so that my heart would be prepared for the attack.

How many of you know that when you go where God wants you to go and say what God tells you to say and do what God tells you to do, you're gonna get into some trouble?!?  Can I get a witness??  Amen!  :-)  He always is faithful to protect, lead, guide and He works in all of these things.  He is IN CONTROL!

The enemy is on a stake out just waiting for that moment when we might reach for something that we shouldn't or for us to get lazy for a moment and remove the protective sword of the word and the Spirit.  These are perilous times and the enemy isn't playing games.  he intends to steal, to kill and to destroy.  We must stay in grace, blessing, covering and we must stay in the word and walk in step with the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 26:41a (NIV) “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”