KLOVE Radio Features – April 2023

ALL-IN MOMENTS

Hebrews 11 provides a Faith Equation that challenges us to discern the “All-In Moments” God is sending our way. The chapter begins by asserting “…without faith it is impossible for us to please God,” (Hebrews 11:1) affirming the reality that the more we step out in genuine faith, the more God is pleased. The greater the challenges, the greater faith required. So, if, as Jesus promised, “In this world you will have tribulation,” then, as greater challenges come in our lives, the marriage of great faith and great challenge becomes a necessity. It is at that moment a realization should occur. We are in an “ALL-IN MOMENT,” and either we step up and push our chips to the center of the table, or we will sadly miss a glorious opportunity to please God. 

COURAGE INFUSIONS

One of the greatest ironies in life is that we need the greatest faith when we feel like we have the least. These moments of weakness are the breeding ground for ambivalence and indecisiveness; the battlefield for opposing feelings and attitudes. We want to step up, but we’re afraid to step up. We’re uncertain and indecisiveness as to which course to follow. Only God’s Word and Spirit can provide the “courage infusions” we so desperately need. If we can train our soul to believe that crawling in weakness, walking in weakness, and eventually running in weakness is the normal Christian life, then at last we can be delivered from relying on our own wisdom and strength. It is the intended void God wants to fill if we choose to let Him.   

THE COMING REVIVAL

In my 51 years of following Jesus, I have never seen a season like this one. In one month, a move of God filled a university of young people, Asbury, and touched millions around the world. It was immediately followed by a movie, Jesus Revolution, that sublimely recalled the last great revival, the Jesus Movement, that swept millions, including my wife and I, into a torrent of blessing that transformed our lives. These two recent supernatural witnesses affirm that Heaven is beckoning Earth to, once again, rescue its beleaguered inhabitants. King David wrote, “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 27:13) Don’t lose heart. Believe to see “that a cloud the size of a fist is going to send an abundance of rain.” (1 Kings 18:44) 

THE PRICELESS LIFE

How we navigate the ebb and flow of life will either leave us feeling full or empty. These destinations alert us to where our emotions have been and provide a hint as to what is feeding them. Fear takes; it robs us of hope. Faith gives; it fills us with anticipation. It takes far more courage to overcome by faith, than be overwhelmed by fear. Each option is our choice. They can be traced back to what we have allowed in. What have we been filling our heart and mind with? A priceless life is built on believing the Words of a Holy and Healthy God more than the values of a Broken and Bankrupt world. The fact that stepping up and walking by faith costs us a lot, means that our courage has true value.   

JUNK DRAWERS OF INFORMATION

How do you change junk drawers of information into reservoirs of hope? It’s one of the great questions of this age. The avalanche of input besieging each of us, every day, from the mediums of the age, can either make us worthlessly crazy or wittingly crafty. We either become skilled at directing rivers of verbal and visual runoff into turbines of truth or we periodically awaken to realize we’ve been smothered by a mudslide of words. Those who navigate this sensual siege of senseless stimulation, will be graced by God to guide a generation of emotional orphans into healthy communities of care. May the Word of God alone provide safe parameters for your soul and spirit, for only He knows what godly health looks like.  

PREPARING TO RUN OR REIGN

I have found at different seasons in my life that I am preparing for the wrong thing. I’m hoping to survive when I should be believing to thrive. I’m fixated on running when reigning is just up ahead. One of my daughters had an empty pond on her land and we wondered, during the drought years, if it would ever fill up. Until a rainy year when it overflowed so much, we went from praying for rain to interceding for it to stop. We want revival, for people to come to Jesus, en masse, but are we preparing our lives for that level of increase? Am I personally healthy enough that people could feed off the fruit of my life? The Good God of the Universe wants to bless us more than we can ever imagine, but He’s looking for healthy sons and daughters to contain and overflow with His favor.