Acceleration - it's time for the stiff leg of the church to step into the waters of "GO!" and "DO!"

The beginning of this year (January 2012), God began to speak to me with urgency about a shift in the spirit that was coming. In short, these are the things the Lord spoke to my heart that I felt were to be themes for the year 2012. I wrote them in my journal on February 7th – the majority of these principles come from a handful of military training manuals that I felt impressed by the Father to read, digest, and apply to daily spirit-filled living: 

1. Identify your terrain (your place of influence and impact) and then train aggressively in it!

2. ABANDON your No-Risk Solution – whatever it is: “Does the risk of doing nothing outweigh the risk of going forward?” Do you believe it is possible to successfully complete anything significant that you are only partially committed to?

3. Eliminate all maintenance from you daily schedule (non-essential “spiritual” activity that gives the sensation of forward motion but is actually just wasting time. If it is not moving you toward the design of God for your life, then it is distracting you from it.)

4. Adapt and Adjust

5. Get comfortable with chaos

6. Get used to making decisions

7. You probably already know what you should do

8. Success does not equal perfection and is often messy. Embrace the messes.

9. Avoid moving out of fear

10. Avoid NOT moving out of fear



As I reflect on the last 8 months, I can see that these are in fact prophetic words for this year – not only for myself, but for many others as well.


My first thought as I woke up this morning was, “I miss Joel.” I really do. Though I hadn’t seen him in-person since he had left for the nation of his destiny, I am acutely aware of the loss of my brother over the last 5 months. His absence is felt consistently. As I thought about him this morning and began to write about my life and what God has in store for me this year, I was reminded of these 10 principles. Little did I know that just 6 weeks after writing them in my journal, Joel would be killed primarily because he committed himself to living out these values with his family and teammates.


Since Joel’s death, I have noticed a…sort of…acceleration in the spirit. The pace seems to be speeding up as pieces of the puzzle that for a long time were missing or out of focus are suddenly beginning to fit together to create a beautiful picture only God could have designed. Relationships and experiences that have up until now felt fruitless or disjointed are beginning to show signs of life as they synchronize with a holy moment that seems chosen by God to bring EVERYTHING full circle. I miss Joel and I don’t understand the “why” – the truth is, I’m not even asking. As time passes, the “why” of his death is being overshadowed by the “what” – what now? What is the Father saying through this? I’m sure there are other factors at play in the divine plan of God to move each of us into our destinies. But I also feel that somehow Joel has played a roll in tipping the scales that are causing the acceleration so many of us are feeling in the spirit. If there was ever a time where these values need to be applied to daily life, I believe it is now.


A few days ago, I had a dream. In it, an older woman was beating me on the chest and yelling “GO! GO! GO!” At first, I thought she was upset at me. I was embarrassed and wasn’t sure if I should be defending myself. But then I realized she was prophesying over me. As I listened to her words, I felt the presence of the Lord rest on me and I got a little dizzy and closed my eyes. Somehow, I felt a strong hand pick me up by the back of my head and I was taken out of the room. When I opened my eyes, I was hovering over Pennsylvania…almost as if I was looking at a map. Standing on the state was a massive foot that covered all of PA. I could still hear the words of the woman as the picture unfolded before me. She said that the night prior at a Burn Service (that’s what we call a prayer meeting we have Friday nights) I had been prophesying to the “stiff leg of the church”. I commanded it to step into the waters of “Go! And DO!” Suddenly the huge foot in front of me began to move, stepping directly into the Atlantic Ocean. This is when I realized that for some reason, something was different about this map. PA was a coastal state. There were beaches on the east coast of Pennsylvania. I somehow knew that with only one step, this foot would be on the beaches of Normandy. Then I heard myself say, “Father, take me from the east.” At this point in my dream, I opened my eyes and found myself back in the room with the old lady. It was like I had woken up from a dream, but I was still dreaming and she was still beating me on the chest and yelling “GO! GO! GO!” She started to jump up and down and told me that when I had asked the Father to take me from the east, her crippled leg had been healed on the spot, right in the middle of our prayer meeting. She muttered something about how beautiful the kitchen is going to be. And then I woke up.


There are many things in this dream – too specific, I believe, to be the result of a late night pizza craving. But there are some parts that do not need much interpretation. For years, it has been prophesied that Lancaster is to be a launching pad. I agree with this word. However, I am concerned that we not become so distracted with the building of the launching PAD that we become too fat to actually launch. It is time for the stiff leg of the body to step into the waters of “Go!” and “Do!” And as PA moves into its destiny, which I believe has something do with a battle to be fought for the liberation of Europe, it will be all the more important for us to remember the ten principles Joel died living that I heard from God at the beginning of the year.  At times, the price feels pretty steep - especially in light of the loss of my bro.  And just what is the price?   Control.  Plain and simple.  Control of what God wants to do with all that I have given Him.  As I examine the past 30 years of my life and consider the legacy I long to leave behind, I will never regret the control I surrendered to my Father and the sacrifices I have made on behalf of His Kingdom.

My sense is that “It’s Time.” I find myself saying this daily – to myself, to others, and to the Lord. I don’t know what that means to each of you personally, but I do feel it is both a specific word to our individual lives as well as a more general word for PA and the global Body of Christ.


So today, on my 31st birthday, I am reminding myself to simplify and get FREE…To:

1. Identify my terrain and then train aggressively in it!

2. ABANDON my No-Risk Solutions!

3. Eliminate all maintenance from my daily schedule!

4. Adapt and Adjust!

5. Get comfortable with chaos!

6. Get used to making decisions!

7. I probably already know what I should do!

8. Embrace the messes! Success does not equal perfection and is often messy.

9. Avoid moving out of fear!

10. Avoid NOT moving out of fear!

The Parable Of My Life

Are the circumstances of my daily life really a prophetic explanation of the truths my heart is not yet innocent and child-like enough to receive as direct revelation from the Father?

John 5:20 says that "the Father loves the son and shows him ALL that He is doing."  We are his sons.  And true sons SEE!  We do it naturally - as an overflow of our relationship with the Father.  Part of what makes a son more than a slave is that the Father shares with us what He is doing.  He wants to be known by His children and longs to reveal the deep parts of His heart to us.

But sometimes, vision is slow in coming and hazy to say the least.  My sin, woundedness, disappointments, cynicism, suspicion of others, cultural biases, worldly paradigms, and a host of other issues numb my heart to the intimate words God wants me to hear.  It's what Paul talked about, I believe, when He spoke of seeing in a mirror dimly.  I sometimes see only enough to know that I am a son, but quite often I find that the veil of my flesh prevents me from seeing as clearly as I ought.   Jesus said that the pure in heart are blessed - for they will SEE God (Matt 5:8).   So is that the problem?  What is this lack of purity that dims vision and how do I get rid of it?  Is it always a struggle with sin?  I am convinced that quite often the lack of purity in our hearts comes from an absence of innocence in our approach to God as a Daddy.  The filters of our life experiences jade us to Kingdom reality, causing us to be blind and deaf to the deep things of God.

So what happens in these moments where my spiritual eyes are dim and I cannot perceive what the Father is doing?  Does the Father just stop speaking?  Does He become offended by my issues and in a sort of silent pout, withdraw His heart and close His mouth as punishment for my condition?  I do not believe this is how the Father loves His children.  I have found that when my ears fail to hear and my eyes will not see, that my loving Father has another way of getting my attention - one that seems to take significantly longer and is often more painful, but that I am certain not to miss.  It is called the circumstances of my daily life.  I wonder how often God is using the seemingly random details of my day - both good and bad - to explain truths to my heart that He longed to share with me in a more intimate way, but that I for whatever reason was unable to perceive in communion with Him?  He is that committed to whispering deep secrets into my heart that reveal who He REALLY is, that even when I outright reject Him, He will not remain silent.  Instead, He finds an avenue into my heart through my daily life and pursues me through what often appears to be a story that is quietly and slowly unfolding in the background of my busyness.

Do I feel He is angry with Me when this happens?  No, I don't believe so.  But I sense a longing in His heart this morning to speak plainly with His son in a way that does not need to be explained through the parable of my life?  Where are those whose hearts are pure - not spotless or void of sin altogether - but rather guileless, who fear God above the rejection of men, unafraid to take risks, whose identities are rooted in the love of their Father rather than their ministries or careers, who live from their hearts and passions, who do not replace faith with human wisdom and rationale, those who aren't afraid of making messes, who will not quit, whose finances do not dictate their decisions, the ones who love and release others instead of attempting to maintain control for their own purposes.  These are the ones who see God.  The ones with whom God can reveal all that He is doing.

I want to be one.  I want to hear the Father speak words no human ear has ever heard.  To see what no eye has ever witnessed.  I want to be trusted with the secrets of my Father, to have his mysteries change me into His image.  I want to be close to His heart and to satisfy the longing in Him for intimacy with a son.  I realize there is nothing I can to do to deserve this privilege.  It is not mine to earn.  But because of Jesus, it is my free gift from the Father.  And I want to experience it now.