Where religion ends…and the reformation begins…

Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain. !!!  How many times have you heard this spoken concerning someone saying “god damn it”. Or “gosh”  It has nothing to do with that at all.  I’ll explain why.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am not condoning swearing by all means. I believe it is immature and useless. 

But whenever I hear scripture quoted, I listen well, and I like to really see what the scripture means, and how it applies to us.     I believe much of scripture has been misinterpreted to match mans opinions over the decades.

Take this verse for example..

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Exodus 20:7

Now we must look at this verse through the blood of Jesus, meaning punishment is longer applicable to us today. However the principle I believe is in this verse still applies to us today.

In this verse the meaning of “name” is…
a) name
b) reputation, fame, glory
c) the Name (as designation of God)
d) memorial, monument

The meaning for “vain” is 

1) emptiness, vanity, falsehood
a) emptiness, nothingness, vanity
b) emptiness of speech, lying
c) worthlessness (of conduct)

You can use most any word or phrase of vulgarity, but the moment you say the g-d word, most people think you have crossed the line so to speak, and you are now in blasphemy.   
 I think it is good to have Gods name reverred, it is just that this reaction to some one saying g-d does comes from a skewed understanding of this verse.

This verse was never written because God cringes whenever someone uses his name in anger, or in excitement, but I don’t believe it makes him happy.  

Looking at this Just from an objective view. It is simply asking god to damn something, which is not really non biblical, in the old testament they damned people, it’s kind of the opposite of blessing some one.

Even the word “god” is not the Name of God, it is used to describe thousands of deities. If someone stubbed their toe and said “Yahweh damn it” most people would not take offense, simply because they don’t know the Name of God.

The nations the Israelites were going to,  were really superstitious people, with gods such as Baal, animals, trees, ect.
When their prophets proclaimed something, they would add a name to it to give it weight, if they used their own name it gave what they said some weight, but to add the name of a god, demanded people’s attention and instilled fear, and demanded action to whatever pronouncement made.    Adding a name of a God seemingly gave what they said more power, authority.

Such as saying, “In the name of Baal, their will be no rain for 30 days”, or “in the name of Baal you will win this war”.  Of course we Know there is no Baal, and therefore Baal never made such a pronouncement therefore making these statements empty, powerless, and lies.

God didn’t want the Israelites doing the same thing. He didn’t want them to say his name simply to invoke false authority behind statements. Simply God didn’t want them to use his name and say things he never said, skewing the character and nature of God. Or taking his name as their God and then livng a life that completely misrepresented his character.

How many times have you heard people saying, “thus saith the lord”, or “the lord told me to tell you”, when they spoke of either something that they believed God told them, or they really felt intensely they had a word of the lord for you?

Have you ever had someone anyone tell some one else something, that you never said? Doesn’t it hurt and frustrate you? Because your character, heart, and will may have been misinterpreted? 

I am not saying it is wrong to say these things, in the right place, there are times when it is awesome and right to say. I am just saying that I have heard it misused so many times, when people had gotten so used to attaching “God told me”, or “thus sayeth the lord”, in an attempt to be more profound, or more have more spiritual clout, but actually did way more damage than good.

There is even more people, who take the name of the Lord as their identity, religion, and life’s commitment to represent, who look nothing like Jesus, (radical love, healing the sick, setting the captives free, preaching life and the kingdom of God accompanied with signs, wonders and miracles).  The result? Is taking Gods name in “vain”.  Rendering Gods name and reputation powerless, empty, useless, false, ect.

But there are Christians all across the world that would never dare utter the words “God damn”, some because they love God, but most don’t utter the words from fear of some righteous or holy wrath/judgement that might strike them, and they fully expect saying such a thing will “spiritually jinx” there life, yet they take the name of the lord in vain on a regular basis.

I myself have taken the lords name in vain, and am still guilty at times. But I am striving to live like home more and more in both word and deed.

We just need to  be careful to truly portray the heart of God, if we think God told us something, how hard is it to say “I believe God told me this”, or “I think I have a word for you”.

See this allows and empowered the other person to think for themselves, and weigh what you say withs scripture and talk to God about it, instead of removing any possibility of error or misinterpretation of the one speaking or prophesying….”Thus saith the lord”.

We are all learning and growing in our relationship with God and each other.

I just wanted to expose a much misused scripture and bring out a principle that is very much needed in the Christian church of today.

Be blessed,
Dennis

This is not a teaching article, this is simply a handful of testimonies of passion, truth, devils, God, Power, fearlessness, and it is meant to inspire and move you to action.

It’s 4am, I can’t sleep, and these memories keep playing through my head like a movie. So I am writing them down.

There were over 25 of us packed into a tiny little house in South Africa, they were all between the age of 8-16 years old.  It was my first visit there

I will never forget that moment or many more like it, they were all singing on the top of there lungs, some had their eyes closed others were either laughing or crying, but they all had a glow about them, like they were bathed in pure love. Their faces were shining, and pure passion surrounding them as they sang out their hearts to the One that had given them this hope, this this pure and unadulterated passion that gave them this fearless, bold, furious love.  

One of the girls walked out back, I heard a scream, and banging and yelling. I walked out back, she was on the floor writhing, and a wall of fear hit me. It was a devil. See in this moment, I don’t care how much you think you know, I don’t care what university you went to or where you preached or led worship at, I don’t are what degree or pastoral papers you have.  All that matters is that you set her free.

I just got down on the floor and held her, I whispered in her ear and told the devils to let her go. And she was free, the love of God filled her. And we walked back into the place where they were praying and worshiping.  You should have seen this girl worship, it makes me tear up thinking about it.

There was such an expression of sheer thankfulness, freedom, and joy on her face. She had encountered love, and love set her free, it was more real than anything else in the world. 

No one had talked them into this, actually most of them were abused verbally and some physically by their families for being this radical and passionate about God, that would change as their families were impacted by God as well.

There in that place that night the battle between dark and light was so clear, so evident. The devil hated these kids, and he tried everything he knew to kill them.   In the 2 months I spent there, I never seen so many blatant attacks on a group of youth.  Why?

I believe it wasn’t because they were Christians, or even that they were radical for Jesus, it was because somewhere in that time, these young people found out why they were alive, and they started to set other people free and they became a real and in your face threat to the powers of darkness

Just a few nights earlier, I was awakened to hissing and my bed being shaken by a devil. I woke up and again the fear hit me, I was paralyzed for a few seconds till I felt the authority of God rise up in me, I pulled back the covers, jumped out of bed, and with fire in my eyes and pure passion I yelled, “are you kidding me?!!!!!  I came here to destroy your works! And by the power of God pumping through me know, I let you know that there is a god that lives in me, and i will make you pay for the harm you have done!!”. 

This is an all out war, that is won by pure love. Pure love is unadulterated, it only speaks truth, and it sets the captives free.

Here in america, the line between dark and light is so blurred that in most churches, no one is even aware of the battle going on, and the destructive works of the devil working even in their midst.

I have many times been in churches, where I prayed for people and I sensed a devil, and the person I prayed for would start to act like a normal “Christian charismatic”…crying, speaking in tongues at times, and so on.    But when I asked them to look on my eyes, and I let the spirit of God look into the windows of their soul, all hell would break loose. 

One sweet lady was crying and blubbering, and there were other people thinking she was just “letting it all out”. However when I walked up to her and looked into her eyed, and said “hi my name is Dennis, the spirit of Hod is upon me to set the captives free, her face turned into a snarl and other voices started coming out”.         

Why am I writing this article? Because I get tired of complacent christianity, where people think everything is just hunky-dory and they completely loose sight of the people dying around them, often in the pew right behind or in front of them even.   why? Because they have lost love, they have lost the very element that drives them to action. Compassion will drive you to go places where reason dares not tread.

Those African kids became my ministry team, why? Because they fearlessly went where ever we felt we should go, no fear. Most times not even hesitation.

 I went places the normal white person and Christian just never go, guess what? It made me come alive!! I burned with power and passion in the midst of darkness.   Why? It let me know I am still alive, it let me know that the fire of God was in me!!  How do we know that we are the light of the world and that’s the power of the light is inside of us? We go to dark places.

Trust me, when your light shines, darkness flees, and the creatures of the darkness at times make a scene.

I understand people may disagree with me, there are people that don’t understand when I talk about devils. I knew plenty of this people myself. But when those eyes flipped around and turned color, and other voices came out of a human body, there instantly isn’t one person on the room who disagrees with me.  

Why? Because the battle becomes real, oh we win. Trust me. But it is real.

I was super inexperienced and knew very little, but a lady came to me that needed freedom, and I had my two interns and my sister with me. I started to pray, and she started to growl, the more I prayed, the more she growled. Then she started trying to attack me. 

I just looked her in the eyes, even when she pulled back to hit me, I told the devil, you can’t touch me, you could see her muscles straining, (but we set the rules, if I would have resisted physically, thens he would have been able to fight physically). Don’t believe me? Try it. There are such wards, you can find plenty there.

Like I said i had no idea what to do at the time, but like 3 hours later, she was finally free, and we prayed together, took communion and she went home.

We went out to the parking lot, and started praying I have never seen the like before. My sister was on her knees praying, my intern andrew was running around praying and singing on top of his lungs, jumping up and down, sheer fearlessness and passion on his face. This went on for about 45 minutes till we were wore out, we just all knelt there in that parking lot, not saying anything we just had our faces uplifted, in awe of God, in complete love, our faces shining with the presence and power of God.

See the battle between light and darkness had just become real!! It wasn’t even faith anymore, it was REAL, and in the present of in your face darkness, comes on your face light. And something in these young people came alive, that something was the Holy spirit. 

He lives in you and me, and he longs to set people free. But he moves through you and I. Thee only thing that stops the holy spirit from reaching out and touching the people around us…is us.  

There is a power inside of your chest, it us waiting to fill your very being with light, expressed in every aspect of you, even your features, and shining from Your eyes.  

 I was leading worship at a women’s AGLOW retreat and during worship this one lady kept singing really extra loud and shrill. And she would blow her little horn thingy cause I guess that was the “spiritual” thing to do, idk, maybe it gets God in a better mood to do stuff for us.  (I’m being sarcastic FYI).    Anyways, it just wasn’t right, it was super distracting and it felt weird.  But everyone else was just going along with it, so I let it go for a bit. But it kept bothering me. 

I looked down at her and in an instant I could see it, it was the devil of hate. Don’t ask me how it just became real, it was hiding before, but now I seen it.  I could care less what people think, I laid my guitar down, walked down to her. And quietly asked her, “do you hate someone?”, she as we’re “yes”.
 I asked her “are you willing to forgive them”. She said “yes”
So I just put my hands by her head, and told the devil of hate to scram!! She gasped a bit and went limp.

A month  later I found out, she was actually a pastor and her life was falling apart, but from that moment on, everything changed, her marriage, her family , her ministry. She was free, she could think, ect.

What am I saying? WAKE UP!!

Conviction is born from passion, and true passion comes from compassion. Jesus was a man of passion and conviction, and everything he did was driven by compassion.

Galations 2:20 ” it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me”. 

As I am sharing these testimonies some of you can start to feel something 
Inside of you coma alive.

I was in East London, South africa to do a “conference” and they had brought in a lot of sick and hurt people for the event. 

They had about an hour of worship before I was supposed to teach and minister. I sat down, closed my eyes and began to run scripture through my head, and renew my mind to the word of God.  I would picture the worst case I could imagine and then it being healed, if there was any doubt or what My good freind Brandon lee calls “blips” in my head. Than I would consciously remove them and continue to renew my mind.

This is soo exciting, this verse has multiple things going on. 
1. We CAN prove the will of God on the earth. What is the will of God? Gods will is “let it be on earth as it is in heaven”.   How do we do that? Renew your mind.
2. This is the only place in the bible where it tells you how to be transformed. “be renewing your mind”.

Anyways, when I stood up, I asked for anyone sick or hurt to stand, as they stood I commanded them to be healed and they were healed, every single person.   I was shocked to be honest, it kinda scared me.

I figured well, why not, I asked for the worst case in the room, I asked for a person that had been prayed for many times before that was never healed. 
A lady stood up, she had been stabbed, shot, and run over by a car. (now that’s a bad day, if you ask me). She was stiffened up, and couldn’t lift her left arm, it was fused in place, and she was wearing dirty clothes.  I told her to lift her arms in Jesus name, she tried, and nothing happened, so I said again, “be healed in Jesus name”!! 

This time she lifted her arms above her head, And she broke into years and started sobbing, she cryer and prayed the rest of the evening.  

The next morning a lady in a nice outfit came to me, hugged me and asked if I remember her, I said no? Should I? She had a big smile on her face as she told me she was the lady that got healed the night before!! 

I was shocked, she was a completely different lady, she was was walking with a spring in her step, she was beaming with joy, and she had a beautiful outfit on. I asked her what had happened.

She told me, “I have been cropped for a long time, and I heard about your God, my Christian friends all told me God loved me, but I could never believe them. How could a God love me and I be this crippled.” she said, “but the moment you said be healed, a wave of the love of God came over me and my arm made a popping sound, and my body was so instantly completely restored!! And in that moment I realized for the first time in my life that God truly loved me!”.

This is probably one of my favorite moments in seeing someone healed, because of the love of God that touched her.

As you read this testimony, something comes alive inside you, something inside you begins to burn, why?

 I was in a car accident one time, where I was T-boned by a fully load Peter Built Semi truck, I know it was a Peter Built because the emblem on the front grill of the Semi was the last thing I saw before the window glass exploded and I was being pushed across the road through the ditch and I thought it was never  going to stop.  See if I tell you that story in detail, my heart rate actually pics up a bit and my breath gets a bit shallow.  Why?  Because I am reliving that moment.

When I share these testimonies and I retell you these moments when the Holy spirit in me and I seen the kingdom of God triumph something in you comes alive, when you hear stories or testimonies of radical healing or such this often happens.

Why? Because the Holy spirit is reliving that moment, he was there, he was there when the 3,000 were saved in acts, he was there when that lady was healed, and he lives inside of you. And that “something” that is coming alive… That is the holy spirit!!

You have everything you need found in him, you need nothing else. You may never seen people pulled people out of a wheel chair, raised the dead, or preached truth on front of people who may not like you for it. But…he has…and he lives in you!!  Go get em.

I couldn’t sleep early this morning, and these moments and memories kept running through my head, and at times I want to cry and at times I had so much fire in me, I wasn’t sure what to do. But I wanted to write this, because some people need to hear it.

Be blessed.

I went through a very hard time in my life when I was a pastor in a church for a year. And in that time, the only reason I made it through it and walked in love was my relaitionship with the Holy spirit.

I had a room in my house, I called my Jesus room. I know we have the holy spirit with us at all times, but I needed some time with no distractions where it was just me and him. Sometimes I spent 30 minutes, and some nights I was there till the sun came up the next morning.   But I must say those times shaped my life and who I am.    I would go in there at times and just cry, but my one main purpose was to experience Jesus. I wanted to see him, I wanted to hear him, and I did it every day, I pursued getting to know him.   I would at times lock the door and tell myself “I will not leave this room till Jesus becomes more real to me than the air I breathe”. 

In genesis we read that we are created in Gods image. And in Romans 8:29, it says we are to be transformed into his image.  This is awesome, because God is love, he is the embodiment of peace, love, wholeness, freedom, and everything good, everything our hearts long for.   In him there is no fear, no anxiety, no depression.

I could probably give you a whole bunch of scriptures and formulas for getting rid of these issues. But I don’t think I am supposed to. I want to tell you the heart of what I burn for, what I live for.

See when I am in that place where I am so focused on God and the Holy spirit is all around me and in me, and the world around me and crap that was hirting me before starts to disappear.  I begin to see the one in whose image I am created.    And when that happens, all the false identities of the world and lies start to fall off of us. And we begin to become who we were born to be.

I believe that in every person there is a dream, God wrapped a body around it. We are his dream, the world around us and the devil has tried to destroy that. But it is there.   And when we are beholding Jesus and spending time with him, and we begin to become like him, then Gods dream, comes true!!

This is awesome for me.  In the beginning I had to discipline myself to spend this time with God, but over time, it became my favorite time, it was my passion, it was my antidote, my remedy, and it began to transform me.  The goal ultimately is to live this out in our daily lives.  But for me it started there.

This isn’t a rhetorical question, but If I asked you, “if people knew who you really were, would they still look at you the same, would they still like you, love you and want to be your friend?”. What thoughts start running through your mind?

If the first thoughts going through your head are negative thoughts, then you need to discover who you really are.

A few years ago, if I answered that question I would have been quite doubtful that any of my friends would still have wanted to be my friends. Because I didn’t know who I was.  I associated who I was, with what I did, what I had done, all the negative aspects of me.    

Lets say there was  a prophet was in the room, I was worried that he would see my “crap”.       

Most often, the way we perceive our “real” selves, is the way we believe God perceives us.

When the fact is, if your friends and people around you REALLY knew who you were, they would all be fighting to be your best friend, and they would be in awe of you.

Who you are, and what you do or deal with, are two different things. I am sure you know this, but I’m just gonna say it anyways:). Cause it is exciting.

Before the cross, God dealt with people according to what they did, because they were under the law, a works based system. But now since Jesus fullfilled the law and works are done away with.  Jesus deals with us according to who we REALLY are.   He treats us according to thee amazimg people we really are.

This is allso why it is impossible to look at a person with cancer, cickness, hardship, or any horrible thing, and say that God allowed it or planned it because of their lifestyle or sin. Because God no longer deals with us according to what we do.  But who we are. The REAL us.  The Me and you that he created.   This was the reason for the blood of Jesus!!;). Yeeee, it gets me all excited:)

 You are a powerful person, created amazingly, perfect, no flaws, free, no fear, no issues.    That is who you REALLY are.  This is how God sees you.

I know this is a lot of words, but what i am trying to paint here for you, is I am not interested in saying a special prayer that will solve it all. (i believe in prayer, trust me).   But I want to encourage you, and put a desire and hope in your heart to really get to know the one who created you.  Because only he can quite your fear, he can equip you, and set you free.     

There are miracles and there are healings, I believe a miracle is instant, a healing is over time.  The beautiful thing about simply getting to know Jesus more and more is that as you get to know him and as the false identities fall of of you, you don’t need to worry about falling back into your old patterns, because you have actually completely left them, and you have become healed. It is no longer a fear, There becomes a foundation of your identity in christ that is built under you, and there is a strength built in you that doesnt let you go back.

My encouragement is, get a solid determination in you to get to know Jesus at any cost, no matter what, don’t worry and fret about “getting it right”.   just allow your heart to burn with love and passion. Let knowing him become the goal. 

I’m not focusing on a radical boom bang thing.   I am simply talking about Jesus.

Oh, he is so good my friend, he is love, and it fills your being, it fills you with so much life and wholeness that joy just bursts out of you.   

Sometimes it seems that thee biggest battle is the first 1-20 minutes when I am setting aside time to spend with him specifically.    But when I make that switch where the affections of my heart and mind turn from the world around me and onto him, I remember, I remember who I am, and it fills me with hope, puts fire in my eyes, makes mountains flat, makes impossibilities possible.

Is it a fight? Yes, but you can win.   How? Love. 

Love always wins.  Take 1 Corinthians 13, put God in everywhere it says the word love, that is how he is towards you.

Sometimes it is a journey, but, if you don’t give up and you never stop, you will always win. Always.

Get a vision in your heart of what you want. I wrote mine down a few years back, I posted truths about who I was, and where I was going all over, the mirrors, the doors, my cell phone, car dash, notes, computer background.

   And I would set aside time to “dream with God”, in this time I would picture what I wanted my life to look like, stress free, no fear, no pain, ect. And I would imagine myself living it out, I would feel it. And I would do this a lot. And keep the vision in my for front.

Vision gives pain a purpose, if you have no vision, than the challenges in life that come against us will bring us down.  We need a vision so big that everything else in life we encounter that tries to bring us down has to bow down and serve it!! 

Be blessed.

I need to make a Public Apology.

This is to those in my life, to those on Facebook, and anybody I have interacted with over the past months.  I am not addressing any one situation, but an over all of my life and actions.

Tonight on the beach outside our condo the holy spirit talked to me and showed me the error in some of my ways and how I have affected others.

His chastening is so gentle, so loving, but it cuts to the heart, and lifts us up to who we were truly meant to be.

Please hear my heart and my sincerity. I’m not sure how to put this into words, but I will try.

In have given my life to seeking truth and setting people free. That is my passion. It has consumed me and will till the day I die.

But I have often at times honored my desire to find truth and portraying that above honoring people.  As a result I believe I have at times hurt, offended and judged people unjustly.  Because I did not honor them for who they were and who God created them to be, instead I treated them according to what they did, what they said, or what I perceived of them.

In doing so, I have been wrong. 

God treats people not according to their past, their actions, their words or even their intentions. God treats people according to who they ARE, their true identity, who he created them to be. I believe this is love.

I have not always walked like Jesus in this aspect.

1 Corinthians 13, is the embodiment of who Christ is. In this aspect, I have fallen short, the Holy spirit showed me this.

Honor I believe is on a personal level, given and received, shared between people and God. Not what people believe, not even what they stand for, not what they say or do. But honor is given based on the the awesomeness of who God created someone to be, no matter who it may be.  

I am a direct person, blunt, I have very little fear, and I believe in being confident and passionate about what we believe. But it cannot come at the cost of dishonoring another individual.   

I am not talking about disagreements, theological or otherwise. I am talking about not speaking in a way that honors an individual for who they truly are.

What I say and do should not condemn, put down, or belittle anyone. Instead my words should reveal the goodness in my fellow man, it should reveal the beauty and the truth placed inside them as a person created by God.  

I am in the process of learning, and I may have to learn this again, and be reminded, I may at times fall short again.  But with the grace of God I will strive to walk in the fullness of the love of God.

There is much on my heart tonight, and I could quote many scriptures that have been running through my mind on this subject.  But I want to keep this short and straightforward.   (short is something I am not the best at).

I am asking for forgiveness from anyone that I have not treated like the person they truly are. And I ask for grace from you in the following days, months even years, as I continue to give my life for the cause of my king.

My life must be one of no compromise, no faltering, radical obedience, and selfless servanthood to the body of Christ.

Sincerely,
Your brother in Christ, 
Dennis

Gods son, Mans servant, and the devils master.

Chapter two
 A phrase I hear in Christianity a lot is “I’m just wore out by the battle”, usually referring to Christians that are wore out by the battle between good and evil. I just laugh at them, because honestly there hasn’t been a day in the past 5 years of my life that there wasn’t passion burning in my heart.  If you are wore out by the “battle of life, or a spiritual battle”, than my friend you are probably fighting the wrong battle, and you are definitely fighting with the wrong mindset.

Let me ask you a question, if you stepped into a ring to fight a warrior like back in the days with gladiators. And you had a choice between two warriors to fight, the one warrior was scared, insecure, and had crappy equipment, and the other warrior had a gleaming sword, oiled armor and had a grin on his face and a gleam in his eye. Which one would you rather fight to the death?  Exactly, no one wants to fight someone who lives for the battle, and who loves to fight.    Don’t get me wrong, this book is more about love than war.  But I am talking about a mindset.

We are in a war every day, sure there are battles around us every day in the natural and the spiritual, but the biggest battle you will have to fight is between your ears. 

As a christian we need to change our mindset, haha, come on, get that gleam in your eye, you were born for this, you love this!  The moment you change your mindset, it will change the way you see everything.  The fastest way to strike terror into an enemies heart, is let him hear the confident laugh of his foe, and see the excitement and passion burning in your eyes. 

 I went through one of the hardest times of my life for 11 months and 11 days, I will write about it later, but I would get up in the morning and walk to my mirror and repeat over and over things like, ” I was born for this, I was born to fight, I love this fight, bring it on, I was born to be a love warrior, and love always wins”.  I said it till I changed my mindset and I believed it.

So listen whoever is reading this, first of all, change your mindset, you are born for greatness, if you don’t give up you will win!!! No matter the size of the mountain in front of you, or the fight you must tackle, get that crazy grin on your face, let’s roll people, destiny awaits, live or die, win or lose  we will have lived with passion and history will remember us.

I have people that come up to me and ask me to pray for them for boldness, I tell them “No, I won’t pray for boldness, but I will equip you with some truth that will empower you, the natural result will be  boldness”.

I have grown up in the mountains of northwest Montana, and few weeks ago I took my little brothers backpacking miles up in the rocky mountain wilderness and little did I know that one of those worst little fears that I had always had in the mountains would come true. 
 
 I became aware of a loud growling close by our camp, I looked up to see a large grizzly bear shaking it’s head and snarling at me about 25 yards away, my blood ran cold and I grabbed my lil brothers and my puny little 22 caliber rifle as we slowly backed out of our camp as he advanced into our camp and made himself right at home. 

 We later found out it was a problem bear that had been relocated from Glacier park and I was extremely poorly equipped and had no real defense against the bear. 

 He won that day, he was king in the situation and he knew it, he seemed to taunt us as he pushed our camping gear around looking for food.  Now when we look back on the incident and share memories we laugh, But in the moment of our hearts racing and wondering if we were his next meal, no amount of wishing could bring us our large rifles and bear spray 35 miles away in civilization.
 
What am I saying in this story? I’m saying, My boldness was based on what I knew I had, and all I had was something that would only put the big bear in a very bad mood.

 If I stuck you in a cage with that bear and a two butter knives, you would be quite the scared little person, boldness would not be the first thing going through your mind, BUT, if I placed a fully automatic 50 cal. Machine gun in your hands, I’m guessing your attitude would change,  ”bring it on bear”. Why?  Because you are confident of what you have.  
 
When you become 100% confident of who you are and what you have, boldness will never be an issue. You won’t find your self spending hours praying and fasting or pursuing some great teacher to lay hands on you and pray hoping you will suddenly become a fearless warrior like Leonidas in the movie “300″ when he faced the Persian  king and his armies of over a million men, with just 300 soldeirs.

Like I said earlier, I want to take you within me on my journey to find the taste of truth that I have had, and in the process of doing that I will be spending quite a bit of time unmasking and exposing lies that have imprisoned people, and then as we crack some of the shells open, truth can shine in and bring life!!

Did you know that many deserts-places, which have less than 25cm (10in) rainfall a year-are, in fact, dry for years and then a freak storm causes floods. Or heavy rains can transform some deserts, as in Namaqualand, South Africa, into a sea of flowers, bringing new life to seeds, which may have been dormant for years.  

That’s what’s about to happen, there’re so many dried out walking skeletons, and we want to bring refreshing real truth,  and see the radical potential placed there from since before time began burst into full color!!

Chapter one.
  Who are you? Why were you born and  what are you doing here on planet earth? 
 These were the questions running through my head on June 22 2010 in the mid afternoon as I was leaning up against a brick building in downtown Denver colorado turning my face towards the wall to hide the tears on my face from the passerby’s on the busy streets.   The 5th person I had prayed for that day in a wheelchair just wheeled their chair away from me with a smile on their face because they had truly encountered love which is awesome, but they were not healed.
 A couple close friends of mine had come to Denver to meet with a man who we heard had truth and who had results of the sick being healed, and real evidence of Jesus in his life. We could not meet with him for a few days so we did what had become the normal for us, we went downtown to the busiest part of Denver and started making friends in the city center, praying for any one that looked sad, sick, or hurt.
   By the second day we had begun to build some relationships and people were actually bringing friends that were sick and hurting as well for a touch from Jesus, they had experienced a taste of something real and they wanted more.  
  Yes we were seeing aches and pains go away, we seen broken bones and some other ailments healed, which was awesome and exciting, but there had seemed to be a lot of wheelchairs in this specific place, and for me personally I love people in wheelchairs, each one has a story and a dream, and also simply because it challenges everything in me to pray for them and truly believe that they would be impacted and hopefully healed or see improvement of their state of being in a wheelchair.
  Up to this point I had seen hundreds of healings, from headaches to significant and doctor verified healing, but I had never seen a person in a wheelchair healed healed. 
  In frustration and disappointment I found myself here asking myself these questions, reminding myself of who I am and why I am here. This is what I gave my life to, truth, at all cost. 
  I had an opportunity here, I had a decision to make. I could either blame God that these people were in suffering  and walk away with a heavy heart and an offense towards God, or I could turn from what my experience was screaming in my face at me and hold true to that yearning desire in my heart to see what I had heard about and read about in the bible come true, that yes, the sick could be healed, that the broken could be made whole, that there was more to life than just existing, just surviving, more to Christianity than sitting in a padded pew listening to some guy make me feel good about sitting there, and then ask for my money to fund his next building project that would seat a couple hundred more tame, quiet,  and clueless  Christians.
 But I had made a core value deep in my heart, that I would never allow my experiences to tell me what the bible said, instead I will be radically obedient to what I read in scripture and no is true, until my experience matches the word of God. 
   No, I will see what I know to be true I determined in my heart, as I wiped away tears and turned from the wall. Just then a young man wheeled his wheelchair past me, and I had  decided in my heart that truth must work and I would see it.
  I walked up to Him and asked him what happened, (as my past failed experiences were screaming in the back of my head). He said he had been in an accident, it wasn’t serious but he had pins in his leg and his left leg was twisted, and it was several inches shorter than the right one.
  Despite what theologies I might have made at the time or what I had been taught, I forgot it all, and I found myself announcing to him some thing I had never said before. I said, ” I am a healer and I am going to get you healed”, I lifted up his left leg and commanded it to be healed in Jesus name, instantly to my utter shock the leg straightened out, popped loudly and grew out to it’s proper length. 
  The young mans eyes were about popping out of his skull, I told him to get up and walk, he did and started freaking out. I probably didn’t help as I was as freaked out as he was. He took off down the sidewalk pushing his wheelchair, I followed him asking for his name or number, he turned and told me thanx, but he was pretty freaked out and and needed space. I was like “bro, you are pushing your own wheelchair!!”  
 I admit I had no idea how to handle the situation at the time, I should have got his contact info or got his name, but I just sat there on the sidewalk, stunned.  I had just seen something real, I had seen what I believed to be true happen. It was bigger than me, it was what I was born for.
  Why do I share this event with you? Because you may not believe in miracles, or going out of your way in this manner to see other people’s lives touched, but deep inside you do believe in something. You have dreams, and you have a destiny that is just waiting to be fulfilled, and at times life will have disappointments, failures, and things will try to discourage you. But if you can 
 We went back to our hotel room that night and it was around midnight I was sitting in the bathroom praying, crying and writing as the faces of all the different people we had met that day kept going through my mind, the hurt, the pain, the hopelessness.  I had to find the truth and I had to help them. Here is what I wrote, the composition is a bit rough and it’s written poorly,  but I left it just like I wrote it…

June 22, 2010
I look into the eyes of the desperate, hungry young people on the streets, my heart breaks, you can see Jesus in their eyes, I feel afraid, or inadequate at times. How do I desciple them? Will I ever see them again? how can their lives be transformed? I was never taught this….but…I give my life to becoming the answer…to learning to truly be a real Christian. Will you? Guys, this is real!! WWJD. I’m learning….that I have no idea..

Jesus didn’t have cd’s, books, or training material. (it’s not wrong) I’m just saying he didn’t have it. And he brought real transformation everywhere he walked. I mean, we are not even to model our lives after the desciples we are to be like Jesus.
Jesus didn’t build church buildings, he didn’t host conferences, he didn’t do a Christian event.
  He lived a constant lifestyle of being the answer to the worlds needs.Healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons. He loved unconditionally, radically, and was persecuted by the ” religiuos church” of his day for it. It required “everything” from those who wanted to follow him, yet they did so with passion, and he spoke truth and truth set people free.
  We have become experts as Christians ministering to other Christians. I beleive in fellowship and building each other up, yes. But if what we teach inside our churches does not work outside church, than it is not truth, it is simply christian fluff, and flakiness meant to keep Christians happy about their own powerlessness and living in Godless situations.
 Tonight in downtown Denver, I held homeless people, prayed for rich people, healed sick people, ministered to girls who were practicually naked, who probably never had a guy look them in the eyes with absolute purity, love, and power and tell them they were beautiful, and they experienced the true love of God as they were touched by the presence of him who created them. Preteens asking to be delivered of addictions, asking if you can make their parents dissapear because their home life is so bad. 
  The only veiw of Christians that most people ever see  is people yelling from the curb with signs saying, ” you will burn in hell”, or of properly dressed pew sitters who condemn and judge almost instantly, and would never venture to their side of town.     I’ve been in dark places and events recently, and on one Sunday afternoon/evening i overheard a couple young people talking, they were saying “I hope the Christians don’t come harrass us today,” the other replies,  ”they won’t, they never do strenuous things on their holy day”.
  Am I seeing hundreds healed and touched?..yes. But I have also prayed for probably around 100 wheelchair patients in the past months, and only seen 1 of them healed. I have seen people encountered by God weeping, and dedicating their lives to him. And even after obtaining their contact info, never see them again. 
 I have watched babies die, and their parents devastated. And my friends sickness is ALWAYS the devil, and every time I see a wheel chair I feel like it’s the devil making fun of my Jesus.
 Jesus never said pray for sick people, he said heal them. He never said gather and cry out and pray for revival. He said GO!! 
 We need to stop asking God to do what he told us to do. We need to take responsibility and become “Christians” that truly look like and live like the Christ we profess to serve, the one who died out of radical love for the people around us every day.
  Its 4am, I’m sitting in a hotel bathroom praying and writing. I am gripped with the reality that the world around us is dying, and we are doing nothing about it. And very few christians have any idea what being a Christian actually means. I could preach from scriptures for hours, but I’m just baring my heart and saying, come on peoples!!! We must learn!!!
  We must become like Jesus on the earth. It is not very popular, or always pretty. But it is not an option to me, it as a mandate.

That is what REAL looked like to me at the time and still does, it was not an option for me, it was a mandate that had gripped me, all of me. What does it look like for you? 

You may not even believe in God like I do, thats not the point here, the question is, do you really know why you are here on the earth?   

The one thing I have never done is tried to talk people into believing in God. From the time every human being on earth is born there is something inside them that believes in God. Sometimes it just needs to be awakened, but I promise you, whenever a person encounters a facet or demonstration of the real God something in them comes alive, and they cant ignore it.   So when I talk to people I don’t try to talk them into believing how I do, I tell them “You can feel him when I talk to you”!!  

Because when I talk I do not talk about something I think, I do not speak of something I have heard about. NO!!  I speak with passion, that is born from a deep conviction that embodies who I am,  a confidence that is burned into my very soul.
  And when I look into the eyes of a person they can feel what I am saying without me even saying anything, why?    Because, my friend, I have found something REAL, I have experienced it, and I burn with a radical passion, and it makes me come alive, and it’s contagious, haha. You can feel it even as you read what I am writing.
  My dear reader I wish I was face to face with you know just to share my excitement with you, words can’t do justice for the freedom that pumps through your veins when you find truth. Aaahh.

For almost every truth I believe there is also a lie, or a “lesser truth” which may as well be a lie because anything less than truth will limit you and create false walls in your life that will keep you from reaching your destiny.  Truth will set us free, always, so if we are not experiencing the freedom and passion we so desire then we must come to believe that their are either lies that are operating in the way we think or have been taught or there is a lack of truth operating in our lives.

Truth can be thee most liberating thing that can happen to us, and it can also be the most painful.  If your love for comfort and desire to hold on to what you have been taught and come to believe is greater than your hunger for truth, than my friend you will not enjoy the process.