Worship Is Intimacy

Growing in our ability to hear from God starts with worship. Worship is not limited to sanctuaries or praise music. It is the intentional turning of our hearts and affections towards the Lord. Communicate your love, adoration, and praise to Him in your own special way. It is impossible for your Daddy not to respond.

My daughter has a habit of telling secrets to me. She will say, “I have a secret for you”. Then she gets really close to my ear and whispers, “Love you, Daddy”. It gets me every time. I thank her and then do the same thing to her. Then she wants to do it again and this goes back and forth for a couple minutes until we are laughing, snuggling, and kissing. This is the heart of worship. When we come to our Father as a little child, He is naturally drawn to us and eager to whisper secrets in our ear.

"Love you, Abigail!"

"Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:4

The Best Dad

Why does hearing God seem so difficult for people? One of the reasons is because there is someone trying to keep us from doing so. The primary objective of the enemy is to steal, kill, and destroy. The father of lies looks for every opportunity to deceive and keep us separated from God. I have believed or heard others say the following things:

“I don’t hear from God.”

“Only super-spiritual people hear God.”

“The Bible is all we need as Christians.”

“God doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“God has more important things to do than to talk with me.”

“Only crazy people think they hear from God.”

“It is my own voice and not God’s in my mind.”

“God wouldn’t say that or ask me to do this.”

“Satan is trying to deceive me.”

Some of these statements actually possess elements of truth. The enemy attempts to seduce and distort our beliefs so that a real relationship with God seems out of reach. The truth is Jesus Christ. He is perfect theology. He not only demonstrated that an intimate relationship with God was possible, he taught us it should be the norm. God is not only our Heavenly Father but our Abba or Daddy. The relationship a child has with his or her father is a shadow of what is available to us with God. It would be unthinkable for me not to communicate with my own children. It would be considered neglect and an unloving practice. God is the best Daddy ever and He loves to interact with His children.

Let us fight past the lies and declare the truth that we truly have the best Dad in the whole world. Faith is the foundation for our relationship with God (cf. Heb. 11:6). When we approach Him believing that He is good, it is an open door for the Father to prove our faith true.

Sing along to this song by Rick Pino and declare what every Christian should know!

"And do not call anyone on earth father, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven." Matthew 23:9

The Voice of God

As a child I was constantly exposed to classical music because my family loved it. Whether at home or in the car I would beg my parents to change the radio station because I thought classical music was so boring! When we went to symphony concerts I would usually fall asleep because it all sounded the same to me. Thankfully, my parents persisted and I started playing the violin and joining orchestras. I began to learn the subtleties of the music. Whereas before I would hear a jumbled mess, I was developing an ability to identify specific instruments, follow the rhythm, embrace dynamic nuances, and experience the heart of pieces. Today classical music is my favorite genre. I am moved, inspired, and uplifted by its beauty. It speaks to me. In the same way, God’s voice is like high art. Unintelligible and strange to untrained senses, those who are willing to pursue Him will soon become more adept at listening and understanding.

Too often people get frustrated and stop trying to listen for God’s voice after many seemingly failed attempts. My encouragement is do not give up! It is easy to get discouraged and start believing that God does not communicate clearly or that you are incapable of hearing Him. Faith is then reduced to one-sided prayers and obedience to a set of religious principles rather than a relationship based on love and communication. Make it a priority to get to know the Good Shepherd's voice. We are merely wandering without it.

"...his sheep follow him because they know his voice." John 10:4

Fall Is Here

The season definitely has changed. The days are getting shorter in terms of sunlight, the leaves are turning colors, and the weather is colder! Just in the past week we had a drop of about 30 degrees in the high temperature. My wife even wondered if we should turn on the heater this morning.

Normally, the end of summer is a depressing event for me because I love sunny and warm conditions. But I am choosing to enjoy the shift because of its beauty and timelessness. It is a reminder that God loves change and diversity. May this be a blessed season of joy, love, and growth in the Holy Spirit!

In honor of Fall, here is a video of Antonio Vivaldi's "Autumn" from his Four Seasons. The sand animation is performed by Hungarian artist Ferenc Cakó. Truly amazing!

"I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil." Deuteronomy 11:14

The Necessity for Prophets in the OT

Prophets are intermediaries or spokespeople between God and humanity. Prophets were not always present in human history. There were no prophets in the Garden of Eden because the Lord spoke freely with Adam and Eve. It wasn’t until they sinned and became separated from God that prophets were needed to bridge the gap of communication. A key example of this is in Exodus 19 and 20. After the miraculous rescue of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, the Lord spoke to Moses in the desert at Mt. Sinai. Exodus 20: 18-21 reads:

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die." Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.


Reminds me of Mordor

The Israelites were so afraid of God’s manifest presence that they did not want to have direct fellowship with Him. They thought they would die if God spoke to them so they told Moses to be their representative. Fear destroyed the opportunity for personal intimacy with the Lord and in one sense elevated prophetic ministry over individual communication with God. Thankfully through Christ, the veil has been torn and we now have fellowship with the Father in the Holy Spirit. Prophets and prophecy still exist but they are not our sole nor primary means of interaction with God. A shift has taken place from the necessity of prophets in the Old Testament because of fear to willing prophetic ministry based on a loving relationship with the Father.

Got Prophets?

What comes to mind when you hear the word “prophet” or “prophecy”?
Many people think back to ancient times where special individuals hear something from God and relay the message to others, often in regards to future events. There is a section in the Old Testament specifically organized by major and minor prophets. These include Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. The designations of “major” and “minor” refer to the length of the book not necessarily the importance of the prophet. Common perceptions of prophets may include being super holy, ascetic, reclusive, judgmental, moody, and downright strange.

Often our knowledge of prophets is relegated to Sunday School stories and an occasional sermon referencing a passage from one of these books. Growing up in the church, the only understanding of prophets and prophecy I acquired was a mysterious and almost mythical perception of prophetic ministry isolated to a time period before Jesus. Special characters were chosen to interpret dreams, predict the future, and perform bizarre symbolic acts as instructed by God. After Jesus was born it seemed that prophets were unnecessary and God discontinued this method as a way of communicating with people. This erroneous thinking was strengthened by a misinterpretation of Jesus’ own words that the “Law and Prophets were until John”. (Matthew 11:13; Luke 16:16) Jesus said he did not come to abolish the Law and the prophets, he came to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). I falsely believed there were no more prophets because they were no longer necessary. The truth is that prophetic ministry is still necessary and is meant to be carried on until Christ returns. God raised up prophets after Jesus ascended to heaven and He continues to do so even today in order to proclaim his Kingdom and guide the Church into the fullness of her destiny.

"It is you who are the sons of the prophets..." Acts 3:25 (NASB)

Beginning in the Prophetic

Here is an excerpt from the book!

The Apostle Paul makes a clear and intriguing statement in I Corinthians 14. On the heels of his classic passage on love, he writes, “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy” (emphasis added). Out of all the gifts of the Spirit that Paul mentions in his letter to the church in Corinth, he highlights prophecy as the gift which should be highly sought after. Although the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, faith, tongues and its interpretation, discerning of spirits, healings, and even miracles are amazing graces given to the body, prophecy was something that all believers were to covet. What is it about prophecy that prompted Paul to issue a command and not a suggestion for its acquisition?

Moses a prophet and friend of God

This book is meant to help introduce the prophetic ministry to those who have had limited or no experience with it. My prayer is that the Holy Spirit will encounter you in these pages and open your eyes to the importance of prophecy. May you eagerly desire the prophetic gift and receive it with gladness. I declare you are part of a prophetic generation that will boldly speak the words of God to hearts who desperately long to hear from the Father!

"Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." I Corinthians 14:1