Podcasts + Posts

It's a given that it takes time to learn to ride a bike, bake a cake, or even do a bit of public speaking. What's odd, though, is that we don't often extend that same grace to learn when it comes to matters of the Spirit.

(It's no secret that I believe in healing- in "instant"/Divine/miraculous healing and in health & wellness- lifestyle choices that make you better over time. In fact, I think they both work together- and that each works better with the other. I discuss that in great detail in our healing workshop.)

When it comes to healing, though, people think that you've either "got it" or that you don't. That is, it's either "your gift" or it's not.

(Incidentally, a lot of people think the same thing about hearing God’s voice when we pray… that you either CAN or you CAN’T, that some people are just born with it and some people just aren’t).

SOME PEOPLE HAVE THE SPIRIT, SOME DON’T?

Now, I do believe that...

It’s easy to look at our own pain, compare the cause of it to someone else’s story, then think, “Hmm… I’m crazy to be feeling like this over what’s happened to me. I’ve got it better than most people. Who am I to complain?”

True. Someone always has it “worse” than you. There’s always ANOTHER story with shadier characters and darker details. 

At the same time, the wounds we feel are REAL, regardless of how they compare to someone else’s. And, we don’t know. How they interpret the pain they’ve experienced, either. Pain is different for each of us.

You see, the things that “knock me out of the game” may barely phase you. And the things that bring you to your knees… well, they may barely be a blip on my radar. We’re different, so we experience hurt differently. 

That means this…

First, we should help each other. We’re both weak in some areas and...

Some people are hoping for a miracle. That's their health plan. And, let's be honest, sometimes that's exactly what's needed- a miracle. 

However, even if a miracle comes, you'll need to manage it, to steward it... in the same way lottery winners have to manage their money.

Ask the tough questions with me...

• Why do most of the people get a financial windfall- be it through the lottery, through a large inheritance, or through a huge sports contract- go broke within just a few years?
• And why do some people "lose" their healing?

I don't know about you, but I've seen people healed of something- radically, miraculously- and then watched it all go away. It's almost as if the healing never happened. Honestly, I struggled with this concept for a few years.

Why does the healing disappear?

One day it dawned on me...

I was watching an ESPN documentary about professional athletes- how many of them earn incredible sums of money (in the millions, overnight!),...

 In this talk, we continue the conversation on shame… and how it, left unchecked, can become our identity. Here, I shift the focus from what I’ve learned “by the book” to what I’ve gathered from experience.

It was a huge eye-opener for me when I learned that we could be radically affected by others sins against us. Sure, most of us understand this on a childhood level (that person took my toy, this friend called me a bad name, etc.). The lesson seems to take on an entirely new level of significance, though, when we place the concept in the world of #adulting. The stakes get higher, the sins get bigger, the harm becomes more lethal. 

It was ANOTHER level of insight altogether for me when I realized we could be affected by some of these sins that weren’t our fault… things done against us that require cleansing but not necessarily forgiveness (i.e., we bear no guilt, but we’re wounded). Sure, it sounds simple looking in...

Faith is something that usually penetrates our only. We think of it as belief- as something that happens in the head. Perhaps that's why we make theological fences, counting some people "in" and other people "out" based on how well their beliefs (their logical framework) lines up with our own...

That's kinda odd, isn't it?

Don't get me wrong- I'm all for truth. But when the Bible speaks about truth it calls us NOT into a relationship with facts and figures and data... not even to a relationship with a book. Rather, it calls us into relationship with a person.

Are relationships information-based or experience-based?

Solomon was pretty clear that "without vision people perish" (Proverbs 29:18). 

Or, they "cast off restraint." 

Or, to say it another way, they lose heart, motivation, and drive...

The word Solomon uses for vision here isn't the word Hebrew people in his culture used for "ideas" (read: logic). Rather, he uses the word they used to denote the...

Continuing the discussion on the Redemption… and focusing on shame (Jesus bled inside Himself to free / redeem the clutter inside of us), we stumble upon the story of the prodigal son. 

Turns out, there wasn’t a plan to talk about the son… or his older brother. But, here we are…

You see, shame causes us to choose to wear a mask rather than wearing our identity. It prompts us to be someone- or something- else, rather than being comfortable in our own skin. 

Such is the story of the younger brother. 

And, get this… it’s the story of the older brother, too.

Some of us choose the rebellious mask. A lot of us choose the “good deeds,” earn-my-way, show that I’m valuable and worthy mask. This last one… is the mask of the older brother.

Here’s the truth: your worst moments don’t define you. Nor do they disqualify you from the Father’s love. 

On the flip side: your greatest successes all...

I remember going to first grade and knowing that, every single day, regardless of how hard I tried, I was going to get in trouble. It never failed…

• I’d find myself talking to my neighbor at just the wrong time.
• I’d make a quick reply to the teacher that came across more as a smart mouth than a respectful student.
• One time she left the room, only to return and find me standing on top of my desk, mimicking a little dance another student had done (they had done their dance on the floor, of course). 

It’s like I had a propensity- a drive- to do wrong. I couldn’t help it. 

I know. We can look back at shenanigans like this and laugh. Some of the episodes are funny- in hindsight. 

The trouble is… well… we often find ourselves in those same situations when we get older. Except this: we’re older. The mistakes are bigger, so the stakes are higher.

Ever felt like you just can’t get it right? That the relationships are...

Fresh off the Advance, we walk into the subject of hiding. It’s something men are good at. Something, if we’re honest, we’re all good at. 

We all hide the secret parts of us. The dreams we have (for fear others will make fun of them). The wounds of the past (for fear that others will think less of us). The things we think and feel in the moment (for fear we’ll be judged). 

When we walk into the light, though, we can be fully known AND ACCEPTED by others. And, in fact, we can’t find that acceptance until we walk into that light…

I saw lots of walking in the light at last week’s Advance. Huge glimpses of transparency. Radical doses of grace and acceptance.

The strange thing about transparency… 

Well, it can’t exist where there’s shame. And shame can’t exist where there’s transparency. At some point, we have to choose one or the other. 

In this episode we talk through the theological basis of...

The Bible tells us, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Often, when we think of something that is new, we think of a “better and cleaner version of the old.” 

Let’s be honest. That WOULD be a great Gospel- the idea that we get a “clean slate,” that we get to start over, that the things we’ve done… well… we get a pass on them, that it’s as if those bad deeds we did and the good deeds that went undone never existed… 

However, the Gospel is better than that. Remember, the word Gospel literally means, “to-good-too-be-true-but-still-true-news!”

A DIFFERENT KIND OF NEW

The word Paul uses when he writes this verse of Scripture doesn’t mean “new” in the sense that we often use the word- it means “completely different.”

There are two Greek words used in the New Testament for the...

John wrote, “Beloved, I pray you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers" (3 John 2). He prays for prosperity… in all things… and in health. 

Notice, he wants us to abound in health and in "all things." Yet, it seems that THE SOUL IS THE MEASURE of how much we can carry- in the prosperity of “all things" and in our total health & wellness (which is far more than just physical, though physical health must be included here).

What’s the soul? The soul is the mind… and your emotions… 

Here’s the deal: we often “spiritualize” or “futurize” the blessings of God, believing they only matter in the after-life.  When we do this, we reduce the stories of Scripture to allegory, effectively punting the promises of God to a time and  place where we don’t  experience the full benefits of them.  John assumed we could experience these blessings...