I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Africa except for one thing. Everyone wants me to get them a camera or a video recorder or a computer, help with this or that, support for this or that.

A part of me is screaming. I am struggling to provide these things for myself and so these requests are quite wearing and leave a certain heaviness in my spirit as a sorrow of misrepresentation and of assumption and presumption over who I am and what I am doing here settles upon me.

Now I understand the misconception. My skin is white, I have a camera, I have a computer, I have made it all the way to Africa, I must have more.

But I don’t, and the logic is off.

And even if I did have more, would I be providing these things anyway?

I don’t think so.

I’m here, you see, for a much different reason, something much more important than tools of the trade, something that reaches to a much deeper level.

Thankfully, my own difficult years have cured me of rushing to fix things. I’ve come to see that we generally don’t need anything fixed per se, more importantly we must walk through things,

Do we want life to improve? Of course,

But this doesn’t come through by fixing, but by walking.

A large part of my work, what I am bringing to developing nations, is declaring in the spirit realm strongholds and bondage of heart and soul off of people. We break generational strongholds, inner vows that confound us, setting right the misalignment of soul and spirit.

It is a deep inner work, and results in profound freedoms for the individual (and for communities and nations) to reach for more, to make something different of their lives, to experience breakthroughs, as they may choose.

It is a part of bringing the Kingdom of God to earth.

And it is process, not fixing.

It is relationship with the living God, nothing more, nothing less.

It requires guts and stamina and jarring transparency.

It is hard work.

Brutal honesty with ourselves, heart-stopping risk, and a willingness for nothing to come out right but to toss everything, lock stock and barrel, at the feet of God and see what might come of it.

Nothing might come of it, and everything might come of it.

We are never really sure.

This is the work of transformation and of freedom, but few want it, even less will risk for it. We would rather have camera’s and computers …

When Jesus was on earth the Jews were under Roman rule and had been for some time. The oppressions were real, the darkness pervasive and hope was all but gone.

Except for that Savior that would one day show up. Thing is, they had their own ideas about what a Savior would be.

They expected, and quite frankly, only wanted … life fixed.

Jesus brought deep emotional freedom, core soul work, and profound spiritual regeneration, (a profound understatement) and they really wanted none of that.

They only wanted life fixed,

And they missed him. They missed the Kingdom of God.

“Instead of process, we’ll take the FIXING, thank-you very much!”

“Instead of character development, we’ll take the FIXING, thank-you very much!”

“Instead of taking responsibility, we’ll take the FIXING, thank-you very much!”

If only the government would do such and such, if the politicians would only get their butts in gear, if the school system would only … if the medical system would … if the church …

On and on, ad-nauseum.

But change comes from the inside out. There is no other way around that.

So yes, the way to get that camera that seems so very vital, is to take that part of yourself that believes you don’t deserve it, or the part of you that believes you will be great if you have it, the dishonest core that cries for significance through that material gain…

And put it all on the line,

That the fire of God might burn away the dross,

Every internal misconception, the lies the curses the motives that bind us, must be burned away,

For only then does life begin to work, only then do we have cameras and computers, only then do we have governments that work and school systems that serve our children,

Only then.

We can choose fixing, or relationship with the living God.

One or the other,

But not both

Maybe its time to get laid out on the table which one we’d really like it to be.