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Reasons why you feel mad at God:
1) You feel like you were tricked
2) You're disappointed at your life
3) He isn't performing as you want Him to
4) You feel a disconnect between what is preached and reality

 

Signs you are disappointed/mad:
1) You don't want to serve
2) You let your fear make your decisions
3) You start to doubt, lose faith
4) you have no influence, no sense of purpose or destiny

We don't understand what He is doing so we don't believe but we don't believe because we understand, we understand because we believe. We can't hold Him hostage to our questions; He doesn't owe us an answer.

If you don't have your mind on the ultimate you'll be driven by the immediate.

It's supernatural if your faith is increasing when all you see is disappointment. So when you start to feel depressed, do the opposite and glorify Him even when there is nothing to glorify Him for. Hope causes you to act differently than your circumstances. When you're supposed to be down, hope causes you to be up. Be child-like and dream big.

Don't be afraid of losing the promise He gave you. You didn't make the promise. He did; it's His responsibility. Let Him deal with it.

Don't be afraid of screwing up the promises. The promises are still valid even if you've made mistakes. There are consequences, but He actually uses your mistakes for the promise to work out because His promises are eternal.

 

Illuminate

He wants us to live a real life, not in hiddenness. The enemy wants us to put on the mask and hide our identity. We become ashamed when we think that there is something wrong with us. The enemy wants us to cover up our uniqueness and become like one another. But we are meant to be unique, there is no one like us. There is freedom when you take off the mask.

We are forgiven, but not perfect. He never requires us to be perfect. His grace is sufficient for our lives. But we all feel shame, fear and we hide. We need to know our real identity as His sons and daughters.

Adoption means that He chose us. His picked us out to be in His family, He looks at us, no matter what state we are in life and He chooses us. We are heirs and we get all the goods. Inheritance doesn't have to wait until we die. We need to stand in our position now. We need to start living in our position not based on our condition. We should never be governed by our condition. Whatever promise you are contending for, He will give to you because He is faithful. He can come and deliver you from your situation, it doesn't matter how you feel. It's not about what you feel but who you are.

Our brain is the battlefield, but you can win the battle. The enemy wants to take our blessing out but tell him that you're in! We are seated with Him on the throne. We can start to see what He sees because we are in on the plans and we need to understand His heart. If we do not become seated we will be defeated. We are with Him in His glory. Don't go to Him as a slave, He has already accepted us. Survive the walk by not giving up. No one can condemn us because He said, "it is finished." Don't judge others, think about how you are representing the father. Don't treat people like they are not sons and daughters because they don't know they are. Don't miss out on the party.

Cities of Haven

You gotta finish the job. You only have one life to life, it's only a small window, a tiny dot in eternity. But this life can impact your whole eternity. Look forward to the day where you'll see Him and He'll tell you, "You shall bow to no one, for you are my friend. Not only are you my son/daughter but you are faithful."

The purpose of the promise land is to give glory to Him, give everything back onto Him. Whoever has the son has everything. Everything you do is to give you a platform to give glory to Him.

You are cities of refuge. Take off your old calling and let Him give you a new one. Then wherever you step, He will be with you.

In order to be a city of refuge you must have easy access. There has to be large signs and bridges so it's easy to get there. People need to know that you are a city of refuge. The direction to the refuge cannot be confused. The truth must never be compromised. Have courage. Have boldness.

There is no waiting period - you are forgiven instantaneously. The place of your greatest failure can be the place of your greatest victory. However, if you try to take things into your own hands the consequences of your disobedience will be that you won't receive any land in the promised land. But He can make your consequence into your destiny. You may have gotten the worst deal but it can become the best deal. He doesn't forget.

The spirit and flesh are in opposite direction. Your victory is in direct opposition to your weakness. The place of your greatest mistake can be the place of your greatest destiny. Stay in the place of refuge, you are safe as long as you stay there. Lay hold of hope before you. If you lose hope you lose the place of peace, place of protection and place of where empowerment is given. In order to hold onto the horns of salvation you have to let go of everything else you're holding onto, so what is it that you're holding onto?

We have skeletons in our closet. He wants to breathe life into our skeletons. He wants to build up soldiers. Something you want to hide will become something you're proud of. He will use your greatest failure and make it something great. You can't escape your consequences but it will become your destiny. Laugh at the devil. Don't flaunt your sin but flaunt the redemption that's going to come from your sin. Put some action into it. Don't wait for someone else to tell you you're okay, look in the mirror and tell yourself that you're okay. Don't allow the devil to hold you down because he can't.

One day, your skeletons will speak. Conquer your mountain and tell the devil to shut up.

I will

Destroy the enemy. Conquer the land and occupy it.  Don't just overthrow it, fill it with something else and transform it. Subdue the will of the enemy and don't give the enemy any motivation to fight back.

Purity crushes the enemy's morale to fight you. The enemy will keep coming but they know they will lose. Don't give the enemy room or excitement. You have a choice to exasperate the enemy with your obedience or excite him with disobedience.

There are no perfect leaders. But ignorance is no excuse. Be desperate for more guidance and ask for more counsel. If you mess up, don't compound your mistakes. This is the key to redemption. Don't compound your sin with another sin. Take some responsibility. He can use your humility and present integrity to accelerate your destiny. You may have done the wrong thing but do the right thing now. Walk in integrity now. Take some consequences for your life. You are not stuck in your decisions. No way out can become the best way out. You don't earn your way back into glory. Just turn around and you're there. He will pick you up and place you by His right hand. You can experience your greatest miracle after your greatest fall.

Don't let your past mistake define your present authority. He is faithful. He keeps His promises. He's on you. If you come into a relationship with Him He takes it seriously.

Choose one direction or the other or else you'll be stuck. The more He is made alive in you the more you will desire covenant and the more you will desire deeper relationships. This life is about more commitment. You experience covenant when you lay down your life for another.

Things may not happen in your time but He remembers you and He keeps His covenants. Trade in your old bread, old shoes, and old wine for new food, a new calling and new joy. Trade in your old purpose for a new purpose. You need desperation to go to a place of revival. Don't let your one mistake define you.

The Lookback

Looking forward may be scarier than turning back. But we are a community and we are all watching one another. When one person grows we all grow with them. Lead by your actions, you can set the bar. Don't just look at the bar and hit only the bare minimum. You need to do everything with excellence in order to influence people.

Don't look back. Don't look at old defeats that will get you down. We cannot let past failures define us. We have to go forward. Falling is a part of life, but we can all start over again. Failure is not final. Failure is not fatal. Don't look back at old conflicts that will get us bitter. We need to run towards the goal. We need to get rid of our baggage or else we'll be dragged back and people will start passing us.

With your hurt - don't nurse it, don't curse it and don't rehearse it. Don't speak life into your hurt. Don't pick at the scab when it's starting to heal. Release it so He can disperse it. He can remove our hurt. He can turn our disappointment into a new appointment. He can make our tomb stone into a stepping stone. Just take the first step and He will give us strength to forgive.

Don't look back at old victories and think that you have arrived. Trade in the good for the even greater. Forget what's behind and strain towards what's ahead. It's not easy and it may be scary. But He gives us a lamp to our feet, so we can only see a few steps ahead. That's why you need faith. If you can see the whole way you wouldn't need to trust. Your destiny is forward. Your future is forward. The best is yet to come. So trust, fully lean into it.

Deal with your 'Achan'

Live backwards. Bring the kingdom to earth. We are living in the days of acceleration. Only people who are dependent, who are focused on grabbing the train and holding on will make it. Things are happening in the kingdom and you don't even know it. When the walls come down, it'll be like a domino effect. Go out and take over.

Your stumbling blocks and obstacles are always the small things. It's the small things that bring you farther away. It's so easy to step out of obedience and stray away. So stay focused.

There is a greater responsibility for obedience when you are in the presence. The more you know, the more you're accountable. Now that you've heard it, you're accountable. You can't compromise your stay in His presence. The river is flowing in the presence but it is shallow. To stay in, you need to lie down prostrate in humility. He's gonna tell you the same thing over and over again. You'll keep going around the mountain until you listen. He wants you to move on because He has something better for you.

He reveals one thing at a time. He's working and he's asking you to partner with Him. If you can't do this one thing the you can't do the great thing. He's not asking you to do a hundred things; He's only asking you to do that one thing. He's not nagging you, He's reminding you so He can take you higher. Every time you go into the presence it's that one thing. Are you really living? He wants you to live because He has a future for you. Don't get rid of your future by disobedience. Reaping and sowing are heightened when you are in great intimacy. He's just testing you to see if you trust Him for the greater thing. If you can't obey Him for this one thing then how can you obey Him at the top of the mountain? If you can't overcome it here how can you overcome it there?

Repentance is changing your mind. It's saying "no more from now on." It's not worldly sorrow. Focus, we have a kingdom to take. We have a corporate destiny, a corporate responsibility. You are accountable to one another. We are part of a body. We are not joining a club, we are joining the body and along with it comes blessings. We are all being blessed together and we all fall together. Confrontation is your valley of hope. It's better to be exposed than to be hidden and die. He wants to bless us individually and as a whole.

His will is clear, there is no confusion about what He wants you to do. Before Him there are no excuses. He just wants us to take the first step. Just humble yourself and start. He will help you finish. You can cry all you want but He will not change His mind. It's called partnership, just take that one step.

He brings order to chaos. The more heaven is invading your life, the more clarity you will have, the more 1+1=2. The sea will be glass. Everything will be clear. Just wake up and say you'll do it. A generation's curse is actually an opportunity for the next generation to reverse it. Rise up and say, 'enough!'

What is your one thing?

Don't forget Rahab

Rahab was a prostitute but she had reverence for Him. He sent out spies because there was one that He wanted to save. He was preparing Rahab. There are people out there who He is preparing for you. Sometimes He gives us the privilege of completing the work that He has already started. He says, "Hold on. Go save that one."

There's a purpose for every act of obedience. You just never know, there could be that one around the corner. If He's telling you to do something, you better do it.

The enemy is more scared of you, than you are of him. You need to watch the right news so you don't feed off fear. We have the tendency to overestimate the enemy. It's not a battle, it's already won. The most powerful position is to be resting in Him. The enemy is trying to intimidate you because he is afraid that you will understand and recognize who you are and then it will be over. The enemy is melting with fear the moment that you get saved. Every tactic of the enemy is in fear that you will start to walk in obedience. That moment that you start to believe, start to have hope - the enemy is afraid.

Your current direction is more important than your past footprint. You can change your direction now, it doesn't matter what you were thinking 5 minutes ago. Your present obedience is more important than your past obedience. Don't be embarrassed or ashamed of your past. He has already redeemed it.

Change the way you look at people. Everybody is chosen so you better partner with them. You need to give everyone an equal opportunity. Don't measure people by their pedigree. Don't be offended when He chooses someone else. It's not about you. It's about the kingdom and the king. It's about building his kingdom and the people in it.

Don't use people, serve people. There are no black sheep in His family. It's not about your past, it's about where you are going now. When you choose Him, He will see you in a totally different way. It doesn't matter if you make mistakes, just get aligned. Forget about what you did yesterday. Don't let your past define you.

We should know the end of the story. Go all in, bet everything you have because it's already been won.

Memory Stones

Everything that is visible was created from an invisible realty.

Information without experience keeps you at immaturity.

Life is hard, but never boring.

Those who don't learn the mistakes of history will miss the victories in the future. Reference points in the past line up to your future. So if you want to align your future, you gotta redeem your past. How you see your desert determines how you'll see your promised land. Your destiny is determined by how you see your past. One of the enemy's tactics is to distract you from your glorious past.

You go where you look.

Once you have a breakthrough, it breaks through for all of us. It belongs to all of us. Once the portal is open, it's open. You are not a victim, but a victor. Reclaim the past and redeem your personal history.

Trials and failures in your past impact you more than your successes. Therefore there's more opportunities for growth in your failures than successes. When you are in a vulnerable state you are more hungry. When these things happen, ask for what you were meant to learn. You can be bitter or better, it's your choice. Sometimes He is teaching you humility when embarrassing situations happen. There is always an opportunity for learning, you are never a failure. Change your reference point so you can head in the right direction.

You need to learn how to handle opposition in your past or else you can't handle the present. There is something around the corner that He wants you to see. Learn from the past so you can act appropriately in the present so you can return to your home in the future. Take every thought captive and make it obedient.  Don't intermingle your thoughts. Too many options may not be good. The secret is to be clear because you have no other option. When you are focused you have no other option except to trust in Him. When you are distracted by other options, that's when you lose.

You don't want more information, you want the right information. Don't be like a lake that's so wide but so shallow. When you think too much you miss the opportunity for intuition to come out and to hear His voice.

There is just one way, don't get it twisted. What's popular isn't always right. We are not here to tolerate, but to love. We need to make a decision every day, who will you choose to follow?

Seeing is Believing

Renew your mind - not your feelings. Your feelings don't tell your mind what to do, your mind commands your feelings. Tell your flesh to shut up, it's time for your sprit to rise.

Hopelessness is never a situation, it's a relational aspect. If you're on the road to hopelessness there's something about Him that you don't believe. He is always with you, you might not see Him but His presence is always there. When situations overwhelm you then you have a functional relationship with Him because He is not functioning as you think He should. You become judgemental of His character and you lose hope quicker.

It's never over, if you think it's over you're leaving the movie in the middle of the movie. You're leaving before the story is over. Don't assume that it's going to happen a certain way. It's never over, it's over when you're dead.

He's not here to fix you. You're a new creation, you don't need fixing. You just need to see who you are. He doesn't patch you up so you can function. He is not looking for a functional relationship either. When you're in a functional relationship you can't handle mystery, everything needs to be efficient. We always want the obvious. But if you can't accept the fact that He's mysterious then you can't believe in Him.

Once you focus on one thing and block other things from coming in, your mind only focuses on that one thing and other conclusions cannot enter. You could be right at this moment but wrong in the future. He is not concerned about the "why" or "how," He is concerned about the "who" and "what." "Why" and "how" are future-oriented questions.

He hides things from us because we are not ready. There are some things we can only figure out if we come closer, if we become more intimate with Him. When He's silent in your life He wants you to stick around and listen. Confusion is a normal part of life, but it can't change your confession. You can be confused but still confess right. His will and wisdom are always available to you. The promises are in Him; the will is in Him; the wisdom is in Him. Are you in Him? Is He in you? The promise He gave you is not in the situation you're in, it's not in the land or place. He has the responsibility to take you to your destiny and your responsibility is just to believe. The best over is the left over.

He is not rational, He is relational. If you are rational you can't be creative.

How you get to the top of the mountain is how you'll be at the top of the mountain. Know His heart and what you want will be what He wants. He wants you to tell Him what you want. You can go until He tells you to stop. Stop thinking. Stop rationalizing. Just go.

All the things you've put off, all the dreams you shoved into the back of your drawer, all the goals you gave up on because you lost motivation - this is the year to do it. A week has already gone by since the new year and I know this year is just going to fly past. I'm going to pass this year with flying colours. There's just something different about this new year. I'm not going to start things and not finish. I'm not going to make goals and not commit to them. I'm going to stay focused and continue believing even if it means I'll have to struggle. 

2012

This is the season of leadership, of overturning and of new governments. If you get an opportunity to lead, take it! Take the word into your heart, align yourself and you will slip slide into promotions. He is waiting for you. It's not, "when is He going to do something?" It's "when are you going do something?"

This is the season of responsibility. Be the light in the darkness. Don't just overthrow, occupy. Don't just complain, occupy. If you're not willing to occupy then don't complain. If you overthrow it, you own it so you better rule it. Don't just protest, take responsibility.

If you want revival you better be ready to get down and dirty. This is going to be a year of agony in your heart. Agony is the window to your anointing. When you agonize it gives you a glimpse of His heart. It is time for hope. Have hope for all the things you've been agonizing about. In the time when you shouldn't have hope, have hope. He's been working, you don't see it, but He's been working in your life. The enemy will distract you so you don't hope and you'll miss out but He wants partnership. Don't fall into this trap.

This is the time to sleep during the chaos and rest in His presence. This is the time to rest more than ever because you will need an upgrade in your relationship with Him since you will have an upgrade in responsibility.

Pressure is good, it causes us to go deeper into His presence. The government is on His shoulders, not ours. Just obey, when you disobey you are carrying your own burden. The only person who can give you peace is the wonderful counselor. If you don't upgrade your relationship or rest, you'll pop yourself out of your destiny. If you are exhausted physically or spiritually you will quit or you will downscale. This is not a time to shrink back.

There will be opposition. You will face disappointment. This is good because it reveals the true sources of your trust - that you were trusting in someone or something. You can never be disappointed if you trust in Him. Disappointment is an opportunity for humbling, for you to move higher.

What you are overwhelmed by will determine the source of your path. Be overwhelmed by what He has in store for you. Do you just want to watch? Or do you want to be in it? Choose to participate and have assembly in your life. You have to listen to His counsel. Do not negate the word of the cross in your life. Seek wisdom above all earthly treasures. He is ready to drop on you and download the strategies of heaven onto you. The people who are looking for wisdom will catch it.

You were born to lead, to influence; not to follow. This is not a democracy but a theocracy. Give to the season what belongs to the season. Don't fall into the greatest temptation of independence, the temptation to come out of alignment. The season where the greatest temptation to come out of alignment is the season of success. The greater the success, the greater the desire for independence.

We need to be a separate nation, set apart. We need to be an example. Don't be gray. Be the light and people will come to your light.  He wants you to govern yourself. Influence not by force, but by freedom.

I'm excited for 2012. I'm ready to pick up my forgotten, neglected passions and focus on responsibility. I'm excited to see what has been planned ahead of me. This is just the beginning.