“Meetings are like beatings, sometimes you just have to bend over and take ‘em,” was a saying I found myself repeating as a Junior at Oral Roberts University. I had 11 meetings per week (4 of which I led), worked 3 jobs, was taking 18.5 credit hours per semester and still somehow did almost every intramural sport. I was addicted to busy, and it wasn’t sustainable. . . .

Have you ever been so overwhelmed that even trying to find peace felt overwhelming? That’s a head scratcher, but it’s also common to the human experience. The place of peace was like a stranger to me – I ran so fast for so long I didn’t even know what it felt like. However, I survived and in many ways thrived during that season, because I felt like God told me, “Master what’s directly in front of you.” That phrase replaced the first one, and it became the mantra in my spirit that illustrated this life changing principle of peace . . .

• Be present – In conversation – look people in the eye, stay locked in to them, listen to what they say. A huge tip for being present – next time you’re in the car – just drive. Don’t call someone, don’t listen to the radio, don’t tell Siri to text someone. As you drive – listen for God, refocus on what’s important, let God’s peace reorder your thoughts and mind.
• Why? Because God is present. His presence is powerful and wonderful and . . . peace-filled. He is Immanuel – the God who is present. He’s given us the ministry of presence in people’s lives – people who are sick, grieving, angry, etc. When we are present with them – I mean fully present – Holy Spirit inside us is present also to bring healing, help and . . . (you guessed it) . . . peace.

Be present today, that’s your secret sauce to peace. That will probably mean you’ll have to get good at writing stuff down to deal with later. The God who is present is with you.

“Running with a boot on? Really? . . . REALLY?” (Smiling and laughing) I found myself joking with one of my daughter’s 9 year old friends. She was running through the school yard with a medical boot over her entire foot and ankle! “Ummm, I think you’re either not that injured, or you’re making it worse, either way that plastic boot is a few more steps from cracking.” You can see the scuff marks on it, I’m scratching my head . . .

Have you ever had a moment to realize how little you actually know? I realize that every time I try to understand what’s going through the head of my 9 year old daughter and her friends, especially when they’re together – haha! I also realize how little I know every time I pray – and that puts me (and you) in good company . . .

“We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. . . . And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Rom. 8:26-28 NIV)

I don’t know how to pray, almost every day. It’s important to know what you don’t know! But God does not leave you and me helpless in what we don’t know. No, He gave us The Person who does know – Holy Spirit. He knows exactly how to pray in every circumstance. In fact, lately I find myself doing a lot more listening than talking in prayer. Not surprisingly – my prayers have been more effective and powerful than ever! Listen, pray with Holy Spirit, allow Him to pray through you – then you are positioned for all things to work together for good. Embrace what you don’t know, so that you can lean in to the one Person who does – right now.

“He only likes to tinkle in the woods.” Yep, I got THAT line, from THAT song, from THAT movie stuck in my head tonight – LALALALA – get it out of my head (Frozen’s “Fixer Upper) . Funniest part is that my mind was happily singing that line on repeat for, oh, at least 15 minutes before I even realized it (What does that say about my subconscious??? – don’t tell me – I don’t want to know). Don’t smugly read this as if you’ve never gotten crazy lines from songs stuck in your head – that if played too long on repeat might drive you into an ape-tastic rage.

Anyway, there’s a spiritual point here, and it’s simple. We can change the channel . . .

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. (Heb. 3:1 NIV)

A couple tips . . .

1. Jesus is worth fixing your thoughts on – He’s the only one who’s image, story, life, sacrifice, love and power are truly worth keeping on repeat.
2. Fixing your thoughts on Jesus crowds out the nonsense – yep, even the “tinkle in the woods” level nonsense. Jesus is truly captivating.
3. Start with that verse – Jesus is an apostle (sent one, messenger from God, who produces God’s kingdom on earth) and high priest (altogether human and holy, paving the way for us to have perfect access to God) AT THE SAME time. I see Him having a giant pope hat on (high priest) and running as fast The Flash to bring wholeness to people (apostle).

I know what you’re thinking . . . “Jared, you’re so darn weird.” Maybe, but you won’t quickly forget this blog, especially the next time you take a tinkle in the woods – hehe. So, the best way to get rid of that song is to get it stuck in someone else’s head (haha – sorry about that). No, for real, the best way is to change the channel. Fix your mind on someone way more awesome and way more catchy. That would be Jesus. Fix your thoughts on Jesus right now.

Awkward laughs, sideways smiles, quick glances to either side, everyone thinking, “Are we ok to do this? Is this allowed? Who’s watching? Are they going to get angry? Maybe we shouldn’t be talking so loud…” This was the scene at the start of a public school teacher’s prayer meeting this week. I had been invited and was starting to pray when the Holy Spirit began to infuse my heart with His words and pictures. As God’s words started to flow, the tide of faith began to rise in the room. Because of God’s activity I knew I was on home turf.

As I was praying about the experience I began to realize, “I’m always on home turf.” Holy Spirit is inside me, He’s the one who created the world, and He’s knows exactly how to break through in any environment. As we continued to pray throughout the building, God spoke many more times, to individuals and groups, there were tears of release and healing and enjoyment of God’s presence. It felt like a church gathering – and it was – a gathering of God’s people in His world. We were on home turf. In fact, that was the word God gave me to the office staff at the school “You’re on home turf for God to move here.” That is the shift that has to take place in your spirit for this season. The awkwardness started to dissipate, the openness to God increased.

Here’s the truth, God said . . .

“Every place where you set your foot will be yours” (Deut. 11:24 NIV)

And if you’re thinking that’s just an Old Testament thing check out Matthew 28:18-19 – it gets even better – haha.

So here’s the challenge and the shift in thinking for you that will make you effective today – Think – I’m on home turf today for God to move. Every place I set my feet is my home turf and God will speak through me. I will set the atmosphere for God’s outrageous goodness to become obvious to my world today.

Everyone had told me not to – friends, parents, brothers, teachers, enemies – yet there I was with my tongue stuck to a frozen tetherball pole – haha. Have you ever been in the moment, making a bad decision, knowing full-well that you’re making a bad decision, and yet still proceeding? I had seen someone else do it and leave part of their tongue on the pole, and all the pain that goes with it – yet there I was. I had imagined the agony, considered the finger wagging I’d get from all of the people who warned me, literally had no one goading me on to do it – yet there I was – tongue stuck to a frozen pole. And I lived with the consequences – all food tasting like rubber for a few weeks – people acting like I was a bozo (which I was). To this day I still can’t fully pinpoint why I put my tongue to that darn pole (some of you are wagging your finger at me in your heads right now – it’s ok – I’m good with it).

This is the reality that our world finds itself in daily – we know full-well about God and His best plan for our life and world . . .

“What may be known about God is plain to [people], because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities– his eternal power and divine nature– have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Rom. 1:19-20 NIV)

. . . Yet we fight against His plan, pretend He doesn’t exist, try a different plan even though His is amazing – like reaching out our warm, delicate, perfectly designed for tasting, tongue and putting it to a frozen metal pole – like a bunch of bozos.

Here are some keys to winning in that moment of decision . . .

• Reconnect with your conscience. Holy Spirit is raising up in you and saying – go this way, go this way, go this way. Empower His voice in your heart – let Him become the loudest voice in you.
• Follow the way of peace. Peace is an umpire that will guard your heart and your mind and help to lead you into better decision making.
• Seek good counsel. Not all counsel is created equal. There is wise and foolish counsel. Wisdom is proved right by her actions. Don’t seek relationship counsel from someone whose relationships are unhealthy (duh, but we do it). It’s time to seek wise counsel, and then follow it (that is, if you ever want to get honest counsel from that person again – haha).
• Align with your end game. God has already won, you’re on His side – you’re going to win. You can’t lose this battle. In fact, this battle is over before it started. Align your decision making process with that truth and make the right one today. This is your moment.

What do you do when in one seven day period someone gets healed of plantar fasciitis, another of stiffness and scar tissue from foot surgery, another from a sprained ankle (with supernatural clicking and popping noises – so fun), and I got healed of a bruised and strained ankle myself. Why do we all have problems with our feet? Wait – wrong question. Try again – Does God have a thing for feet this week? Hmmmm – Getting warmer :-). What is God trying to say to us through all of these similar healings? Ding, ding, ding, ding – now we’re on fire!

Anytime there are similar supernatural threads, themes and “coincidences” it is time to start asking the question – what is God saying to us? Maybe it’s not a real spiritual connection. Maybe it’s just a normal coincidence – but four foot healings in one week deserves investigation. God calls us to investigate, God calls us to connect the dots, here’s why . . .

“The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God . . . What we have received is . . . the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.” (1 Cor. 2:10,12 NIV)

A couple thoughts God gave me about this . . .

1. God wants you to connect the dots of the spiritual “coincidences in your life”
2. If you need healing in your feet, let your faith rise, because God is doing that NOW.

The last one came from Abby Warner and I believe that it is a spiritually discerned truth that God is speaking to the church as a result of these healings. The truth is based out of this Scripture from Isaiah . . . How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news (Isa. 52:7 NIV) God is healing your feet so that you will bring good news everywhere you go.

Journey Life Church – we are moving forward, we are bringing good news with us, and this just in (again), that news is infused with supernatural energy! Move forward into your world today, take this good news with you, and see God move through you!

There I was – responding to every yell from my kids, hovering over them to keep them safe at the play area. Holding the baby so she wasn’t running into danger. Trying to socialize with people on our block, but having to break out of random conversations instantly to make sure that the kids were not distracting at all. Why? Because I was being an enabler.

Becoming an enabler is bad, right? If you’re enabling someone to cheat, self-harm, be abusive, do drugs, abuse alcohol, etc – enabling is very bad – horrifyingly bad. But what if we’re enabling something else? That night I had to be an enabler. That night Holy Spirit was calling me to be an enabler. It was awesome! I felt so fulfilled, so energized, as if I were the one having the breakthrough myself. But I wasn’t. My wife was having a breakthrough moment.

Her conversation had gone from small talk – to complaining – to deep talk -to spiritual talk – to praying, prophesying, crying and breakthrough all in the same time that I had to be the first and only responder to my kids. I knew that my role was to enable my wife’s conversation to happen, and as a result Holy Spirit had a moment with someone who had never experienced Him before!

In Acts 6 the early church created a ministry role called waiting on tables (Acts 6:2). It doesn’t sound glamorous, but these people became enablers of the work of prayer and preaching that was happening with others. As it turns out, those who waited on tables became some of the most powerful ministers of God’s presence in the early church also (See Stephen and Philip in Acts 7 & 8). Each of us have the opportunity to become enablers of the work of prayer and preaching, whether that be at church, or at our block party. Sometimes it’s planned, sometimes Holy Spirit just thrusts it on you. Do not miss the moment to allow Holy Spirit to transform a life, especially if it’s through someone else. Enabling my wife to have that powerful God moment was one of the most thrilling times I can remember. Try it, try becoming an enabler of the work of Holy Spirit through someone else – you might just get hooked!

Have you ever gotten annoyed when someone was trying to hype you up? Like if someone walks into your bedroom at 6 AM screaming, “ARE YOU RRRRREADY TO RRRRRUM-BLE????” That person is likely to get what they ask for – but not the fun way – haha. That’s because getting annoyed at hype is natural. Hype is when a person or organization tries to artificially generate excitement where it doesn’t naturally exist. It’s necessary for momentum and marketing in so many places.

However, there is a hype-less zone with God . . .

• God doesn’t need to hype anything, because HE IS all-powerful.
• God doesn’t need to prove authority and excitement because HE HAS all authority.
• God doesn’t need to generate excitement because He’s THE SOURCE of all energy and life.

I believe that His hype-less zone includes you and I. Here’s how . . .

• When we know our identity – WHO WE ARE as son’s and daughters in God’s kingdom and . . .
• When we know our authority – WHAT WE HAVE (Matt 28:19-20) and . . .
• When we’re tapped into THE SOURCE of life and energy – the Holy Spirit . . .

… we don’t need to hype ourselves up either. When we’re fully tapped into Him it’s natural to be full of life and energy for Him. When we stand firm in our identity and authority through Him, it’s natural to be confident and boldly ask people if you can pray for them (because you know He has your back). Try it – try asking to pray for someone. You’ll be surprised how God’s authority infuses the situation with life, and that’s BETTER THAN HYPE.

I have to admit – I’m an inconsistent parent sometimes. Earlier this evening my baby girl Jolena was being cranky. Normal cranky – the “I can ignore this and hope it goes away” kind of cranky. So I just kept looking at my computer, but I was NEVER unaware of her whining – haha. Eventually she looked me. At that point I looked over and smiled at her. She went back to pouting. Then looked again. My smile got bigger – and so on until finally she smiled back and started warming up.

I was inconsistent, because I was truly only interested in looking at her when there was delight to be had between us. I could have looked at her when she was cranky and (from experience) she would have gotten more cranky until I gave her . . . a cookie, let her run around atop the counter, let her consume soap, stick her finger in an outlet, jump off the top of the coffee table – you get the point – bad, worse, death. I was inconsistent, but there was purpose in it – I was rewarding her delight with delight of my own. All it took was to catch her eye.

Here’s the problem – most people don’t want God looking at them. They think He’s only looking for sin, and I promise He can transform us, and kill off our sin. However, I truly believe He’s waiting for us to look at Him without cranky eyes, so He can give us His full delight and smile. He’s got the corner of His eye on us always, just longing for that moment when we give Him a window, so He can delight our soul. The Bible agrees . . .

“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.” (2 Chr. 16:9 NIV)

So, you want God looking at you today. Here is the key to getting His gaze – look at Him with delight. Leave the cranky, entitled child-like attitude behind, and give Him your child-like, humble and charming smile. He longs to reward that smile. So look at Him. Smile. Right. Now.

“Our baby has Trisomy 13 – We came to you for help.” WOAH – that’s a lot of pressure! But I knew exactly what they were talking about! Trisomy 13 is a rare genetic disease that is a death sentence to babies within the first year of life. The doctors had suspected that Jaren had it, and so we had prayed against it, in loud and passionate prayer meetings with extended family for weeks until he was tested and we found out that he never had it in the first place. We guessed our prayers were wasted, had expired, the termination point for those prayers had come and gone. We had wasted our time – or had we? What if our prayers didn’t expire?

Now, their son DID have this horrific death sentence. They had heard about Jaren coming back from death multiple times and had come to us rather than having an abortion like the doctors suggested. We asked if the doctors were sure – and they said – 100% positive. Something strange happened in that moment – we didn’t have to reach for extra faith, we didn’t have to drum up emotion – Jessica and I’s prayers were locked and loaded. We contended in the spirit with them for a few minutes and spoke life just as we had so many times with our son. There was breakthrough – everyone knew it.

The Bible records a church prayer meeting in Acts chapter 12 that was demoralized and faithless. The church had prayed powerfully and passionately for James the apostle when Herod took him – but he died. So the night before Peter’s trial the church was praying, but no one was believing the way they had for James. The Bible records that even when Peter showed up at their door they weren’t believing it! But what if their prayers for James hadn’t expired?

Was Peter more important than James and that’s why this happened? No. Did God need another angel and so he picked James to take him to heaven? NO. What happened to James was simply natural life, after sin entered our world. However, Peter’s deliverance provided hope, it raised the tide of faith again, and a surge of people came into the church (Acts 12:24).

Back to the baby in our story – 3 months later their son was born completely healthy!!!! The incurable had been cured by the Great Physician! The doctors were scrambling to figure out what had happened. His chromosomes had gone back to normal. Haha – so cool.

So your prayers for a job, a relationship, or a healing have seemingly expired. But did they? I would encourage you to go back to those places of passionate prayer in your spirit and allow God to infuse your prayer life now with renewed faith. I believe that God has a purpose in that process and that those prayers are still ready to produce in your life for the next situation. Allow God to rebuild your faith right now.