Experience God’s proximity & power in every area of life

💭 You’ve ever wondered if “there’s more,” that is, if somehow the message of the church is leaving something out…

💥 You feel God is better EXPERIENCED than explained (even though you agree than doctrine and theology and finding what the Bible actually says matter— as a way to check the “experience” and make sure everything checks out)…

✝️ You want to stay grounded in Scripture WHILE ALSO growing and exploring… You don’t want to “deconstruct” or abandon your faith. You want to grow WIDER AND DEEPER at the same time.

👀 You’re nervous about some of the “nonsense” you’ve seen in some kinds of churches. Yet, at the same time, you’re also curious… about what you might be leaving out if you just took a deeper dive into the Scripture….

🔥You want to experience God’s presence and power NOW— and believe it can affect every area of your life.

In this first book of the 4-part LifeLift series, Identity, we outlined who we are in Christ— 

🦋 We are new creations— so radically different NOW than what we were before— that there’s no evidence in the former than we ever COULD become the latter (like a caterpillar become a butterfly) (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).

🔥We are newly-made alive— totally included in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ that the life we now live IS actually Him living through us and expressing Himself to the world around us (see Galatians 2:20).

💥 We now live His presence and power on earth— with the promise that we will do “greater works” than He did because He has gone to the Father (see John 14:12). 

If that’s true (and I believe it is)...

THE BEST habit we can develop is living in the presence of the Holy Spirit, with a constant awareness of His nearness… 

I grew up in the church. I had a great experience, but— particularly as I got older— I wondered why some of the things we read about in the Bible didn’t happen today.

For instance— 

📣 The Bible tells us that Jesus’ sheep “know Him and hear His voice”(John 10:10), yet I always second-guessed whether or not I actually WAS hearing Him.

💥 I read about doing those “greater works” than Jesus did— because He went to the Father and sent the Holy Spirit to be with us (John 14:12), but my life seemed “less powerful” than the average person’s…

🏆 Paul wrote that “we are MORE than conquerors” AND “we reign in life” (Romans 5:17), yet I always felt one step behind…

📈 John said we will “prosper in ALL things” (3 John 2), yet everything seemed like one massive struggle, one LONNNNGGGG grind.

💭 We’re promised God can do MORE than we can “ask, think, or imagine” (see Ephesians 3:19-20), yet as much often as I ASK and as much as I ENVISION, everything seemed to fall a habit short of expectation. 

(I’m just being honest.)

When I was a young pastor (in my late 20s, teaching every Sunday evening to a group of 20-and-30-somethings in a renovated warehouse) I found myself teaching verse-by-verse through the book of Acts. 

I’d finally had enough. 

I called SEVERAL pastors of other denominations and backgrounds (who were older, far more experienced, and MUCH wiser) and asked them to meet with me.

“What I’m experiencing isn’t matching what I’m reading— and teaching— in the text!” I confessed.

Each of them met with me.

And, they old shared their stories with me…

Growing up, I somehow thought I had to choose between my head and my heart— that I had to make a conscious decision to choose one or the other. 

When one of those kind shepherds told me, “You grew up letting your experience dictate how you read the Bible… but, there can be a synergy here. You CAN let your past inform how you interpret it BUT YOU CAN ALSO let it pull you forward— and show you what to expect… and then, pray, and anticipate that God will reveal MORE to you…”

One of them even said, “God WILL reveal Himself to you. He wants you to know Him.” 

So, I set on a journey… 

… a trek of self-discovery, Scripture-unveiling, and Holy Spirit-exploring. 

At some point, I “got it.” 

(Not a “once-for-all-time-I’m-done-growing” type of thing, but enough to let me see that there was MORE.) 

I discovered that— 

✅ I wasn’t the only one— historically— with such questions  

✅ Every question, in time, has a great answer

✅ We don’t need to FEAR those questions

✅ The answers are ALL SAFE— and there’s a GREAT degree of agreement amongst the answers, even if we arrive there a different way

The Kingdom of God is closer than you think…

… and it’s portable. It goes everywhere you go. 

Or, to say it another way...

God wants us to experience His PRESENCE + POWER right now, in every area of life. 

Two stories in the New Testament highlight this reality...

Story 1 = we can go to Heaven

During the days of Moses, people visited the Tabernacle to experience God’s presence AND connect with His power. 

From the days of Solomon onward, they went to the Temple. 

Both had an “inner sanctum” known as the “Holy of Holies,” the special place God’s presence manifest. 

But it only happened once a year on ONE day. 

And only ONE man— the high priest— truly encountered it. 

The Bible tells us that when Jesus died on the Cross, the veil in the temple— the massive curtain that kept people OUT of that inner sanctum— was torn in two “from top to bottom” (see Matthew 27:51). 

The word in the Greek language is schizo— a term that means “ripped,” or “shredded,” and “impossible to put back together.”

This showed ALL people have access TO GOD.

Story 2 = Heaven has come to us

But there’s another story we don’t think about too much. 

At the beginning of His ministry, Jesus traveled to the Jordan River to be baptized by John the Baptist. 

As He emerged from the water, a voice from Heaven declared, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him” (Mark 1:11).

And- Mark says that the Heavens, at that time, were torn. That is, they were schizo (Mark 1:10). 

I think that THIS rip not only shows that we have access to God, but that the Kingdom of God is now accessible everywhere HERE on planet earth. 

This is why Jesus declared “the Kingdom of God is among you” (see Luke 17:20-21). He assured us we can experience God’s presence and power now.

I wrote PRESENCE b/c so often we often miss it what God is doing in the present…

We get busy, life happens, and things move on… 

But it doesn’t have to be that way. 

In Presence, you’ll discover THREE things it means to walk in God’s presence and power. 

Paul described them in 2 Timothy 1:7, when he said “God has not given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of POWER, LOVE, and SOUND MIND.” 

That is… 

💙 The more we walk in love (because God Himself actually IS LOVE, per 1 John 4:8)

🔥 And to the degree we access God’s power for every area of life (as Paul said there will come a day when people have a “form” of Godliness but deny His power— see 2 Timothy 3:5)

⚙️ And the more consistently we walk in discipline— not to earn God’s favor but to “walk out” our alignment with His provision and principles to bless us…

… the GREATER we’ll experience Him THIS SIDE of Heaven. 

(And that REALLY IS what God intends.)

CONCEPT 2 = 💥The Holy Spirit is given to us to EMPOWER us to out-perform our natural human capacity.

Discover how to activate “spiritual gifts” and learn how they empower you to serve at a supernatural level… 

CONCEPT 3 = 🤔 You clearly KNOW who Jesus is— including what He does and HOW He does it.

(After reading chapter 7 you’ll find it odd that religious people— even today— get so offended when they see God using someone they think isn’t qualified, yet that SEEMS to be EXACTLY how He does things throughout Scripture.)

CONCEPT 4 = 🔥 Four foundational facts about the Holy Spirit that we often miss.

Once we understand these it’s SUPER-EASY to walk with awareness of His presence— and access His power for every area of life (chapter 8).

CONCEPT 5 = 💦 What you need to know about the baptism of the Holy Spirit...

... as well as how most caricatures of the Pentecostal church get it wrong AND most stereotypes of the Baptist church (or Presbyterian or whatever) miss the point as well (see chapter 9).

CONCEPT 6 = 📓How to “bulletproof” your life by heeding the advice God gave the kings in the Old Testament.

Most of them did ALMOST THE EXACT OPPOSITE, but we can learn from them and get it right (see chapter 10).

CONCEPT 7 = ➡️ FIVE THINGS you clearly know are God’s will for your life.

A lot of people are looking for “next level” revelation but they skip over these FIVE THINGS God has already clearly outlined for each of us. The other stuff most often comes AS WE step into these.

The 136-page paperback

You’ll want to read it straight through AND likely refer BACK to specific points. This will be a “go to” guidebook for you and you pursue the practice of experiencing God’s presence and power. 

Three online assessments

Take the (included) assessments (3-5 minutes each) that equip you to discover your personality design AND your spiritual gifts.

When you do, you’ll unlock personalized videos specifically FOR YOU, based on your answers. You’ll see how God uniquely designed you to not only experience His presence BUT ALSO take that presence and power to others. 

Assess & re-asses as often as you'd like with this free resource.

The ebook 

You’ll receive instant access to the eBook— in both PDF and ePub versions (works on most eReaders). If you’re like me, you likely made resolutions and promises to yourself about tapping back into the reservoir of God’s presence. But, you got busy. 

So, while you’re thinking about it, here’s an on-ramp to BEGIN NOW!

Optional audiobook upgrade

Learn on the go, hear it in the author’s voice. Includes added commentary and insights that didn’t fit into the final book.

The vitals… 

📑 @130 fast-reading pages, with all the main ideas highlighted so you can follow along easily

🎨  25+ pictures and illustrations— because it often helps to “see” what you’re reading

📳  Instant access to the eBook— PDF and ePub (works on most devices) = start reading rights way!

🖥️ Upgrade to the course after claiming your book, for more training!