Tag Archives: healing

Serving Up A Feast

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The following message is one I gave a couple times over during my recent ministry trip to Mozambique:

I have a friend named George. He makes his living bringing out the best in other people. Every time I get together with George over a cup of tea I receive a great big hug and an ‘I love you’.

George makes it his mission in life ensuring that everyone he comes across knows they are loved. (Everyone gets a hug!) I have learned a lot from George in the time that I’ve known him.

Forefront for him is ensuring his wife and three kids know his love. There isn’t a time I have tea with George but he isn’t sharing the latest things he has been doing for his wife and kids. In his decisions and manner of being he is committed to serving his family well.

So we might ask, how it is that George can get away with hugging women who are not his wife? I tell you, it’s this: It’s because the feast, the real banquet of love and respect, of honour and regard, is happening at home.

The rest of us are just getting in on the crumbs from the table.

I propose that if we want to change our cultures and communities for God that we begin with a feast at home. Building a culture of regard, tenderness, compassion, acceptance, value, honour, mercy, dignity, justice, love, and understanding in our homes will in fact impact our world.

It begins between a husband and his wife. Men, you have more power than you know.

If you treat your wife with regard and respect each and every day she will shine. Look her in the eyes, acknowledge what she does, thank her for her sacrifices for you and your children. Take the time to ask her about her day and really listen to her. Be tender and understanding.

“In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.” 1 Peter 3:7

It has been said that a woman is a crown for her husband (Proverbs 12:4) and I ask you men, how shiny is your crown? For the quality of a man can be found in the light in his wife’s eyes, the countenance of her face, and how she carries herself.

A woman treated well, who knows she is safe and secure, is accepted and valued, will do most anything for her man. Women are naturally wired to open themselves to their man. Women are naturally wired to pour themselves out to their families and beyond. Who is pouring into her?

Perhaps you might pour into her so that she might continue giving out and opening herself to you and others.

There is a verse in Ephesians, “For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church.” Ephesians 5:23, and from what I can tell this means that men are given the awesome and terrifying responsibility to answer before God one day for the health and well-being of his wife and family.

It is his role to assume 100% responsibility before God. It is a grand opportunity to become like Christ and to lay down his life in service and sacrifice.

But how is a man to take on this terrifying responsibility successfully? Well, he has been given a helper. The same word used to describe the Holy Spirit. His wife.

“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” Genesis 2:18

She knows things and sees things that can help you as a husband and father. Women intuit how things are and they have particular wisdom that, if respected and regarded and listened to well, will enable you as a man to stand before God one day and hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.” She is uniquely designed to help you be wildly successful.

A man who takes on the challenge of setting an every-day feast of regard and respect, love and compassion, acceptance and patience, understanding and value, will not only have a wife who shines but will have children who also know these same things. Your children will be secure and settled and they will learn faster and they will mature easier.

A wife who is stressed, afraid, unsure, has children who are stressed, afraid and unsure, and the whole family begins to suffer. A wife who is not stressed makes a soft landing place for her children and her husband will one day reap the rewards of his due care and diligence as he watches the well-lived lives of his children.

As leader of the home you set the standard, you show the way, you model Christ. We are told in 2 Corinthians 5:19 that Christ’s ministry is one of reconciling the world to himself.

Reconciling is accomplished through careful listening, by taking 100% of the responsibility for the messes around us, and through understanding. Men are called to this same ministry of reconciliation.

And not only our men, but our churches too. What if your church was to commit to holding their women in high regard? What if you as a church made sure that you uphold the safety and security and value of all your women and those round about? What kind of a difference might this make in your community and beyond?

Christ calls us to be set apart and different from the world. Well, the world disregards women. The assignments against women have been long-lasting the world over and for centuries. We the body of Christ are called to be different.

While men are creating a feast at home it must also be followed up on by the church. Are we willing as a body of Christ to support our women? Are we willing to ensure they need not remain in abusive marriages?

Are we opening up all levels of leadership within the church so that they really know they are fully welcomed and wanted? Are our churches safe for women? Will we make the honouring and dignity of our women a priority as we create church policy?

For not only does all this hold a space of value for women but it holds a space of honour and value for our men.

For men are not just beasts to be obeyed. Men are not like children who can only see their own need. Men need not be given over to rage and violence.

Rather, men are called to enlarge and strengthen the lives of everyone around them. And out of this feast that begins at home everyone else round about gets in on the crumbs and we are all changed in the process.

The feast in the Kingdom of God is for everyone and our understanding of the gospel is ultimately reflected in our ministry to women and children.

“Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” James 1:27

The feast begins at home. The church carries it on. Everyone gets in on the crumbs. None of us remain the same.

“Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls
and a restorer of homes.” Isaiah 58:12

Agreement

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I’m always gauging agreement. What I mean is this:

‘How willing are people to agree with me in spirit?’

The path to freedom in Christ is not a difficult one, if we can agree. As a prayer minister I usher and declare freedom from personal strongholds, generational sins, and curses from people. It is my job.

Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead establishing the authority of this earth back where it belonged. In the hands of men and women and by the power of the name and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some months back I was working with a client who was hesitant to release and allow gone a substantial stronghold. I cannot even remember what it was exactly, but what I do remember is her asking me how much time it would take to ‘work’ through it.

My reply, “About 30 seconds.”

Praying deliverance and healing and freedom is easy. It takes no longer than it takes to speak a few sentences. The hard part… agreeing.

As a prayer minister I never lead anyone, or pray over anyone anything, that they have not agreed to and are welcoming and wanting.

The principle of agreement is strong the entire way through scripture. Jesus himself said, “Wherever two of you agree in my name whatever you ask it will be done.”

Simple as that, and as difficult as that.

It’s why I am always gauging the extent to which someone is willing to work with me.

And when I travel and minister in villages and towns to pastors, leadership teams, and congregations, the thing I am always watching for is this ability to agree in the spirit.

Not because I need people to agree with me, but because agreement marks how much work can be done in a place.

In the spring of 2012 I was in Uganda visiting many churches. Each church carried a different focus and expression of God, and each church had its own challenges.

Partway through the trip I was at a church up on a hill overlooking lake Victoria. It was a beautiful location with soft breezes blowing.

The church was primarily children (this was the same in a number of other churches as well – 49% of Ugandans are under the age of 15), with a small smattering of adults.

I was sitting in my usual place at the head of the room, surrounded by about ten other visiting leaders. One of the gentleman I was with suggested that we pray for the sick that afternoon, for we had just the day prior to this one been at a church where various illness’ were healed.

I took the suggestion before the Lord, waiting on the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. But what came to me, what slowly dawned during the morning and the worship, was that something was very wrong in that church.

The worship seemed evil, even though it was the same words and songs as many other places I had been. The children were ‘stupefied’, nearly asleep as I told them a story that morning. I couldn’t get it out of my mind that something was really wrong here.

When we broke for lunch I stepped aside for a bit to inquire of the Lord, to sort out the conflicting messages I was receiving, and to settle on what I was going to do that afternoon.

I really don’t enjoy bringing hard words. And when I am a visiting guest I really don’t like this part of my job. But I knew that we had no freedom for praying healing, for there was, from what I could tell, hidden sin in that church.

The afternoon session began and I, with my translator at my side, simply shared what I was sensing.

“We had been thinking to maybe pray healing this afternoon, but I don’t think we can do that today. Now I am new here, and what I am sensing could be completely wrong, you tell me (as I took in the leadership behind me, asking their input) but it seems that there is hidden sin here.”

A few of the key leaders shook their heads ‘yes’.

I went on to explain the dangers of deception over our hearts and in our journey with the Lord. Much as in a one-on-one prayer ministry session I’ll give some context about what seems to be at hand, always seeking to see if we can enter into agreement.

The people, listening to me, had gone quiet. No one was responding, and I couldn’t quite tell if they were ready to follow my discernment, to enter into confession, and to find healing and freedom.

But, like with any group, we ask for agreement through a physical action. Sometimes we stand, sometimes we kneel, sometimes we raise a hand. It is a simple way for people to say, “Yes what you are saying I agree to and enter into.”

That day, no one was moving. So I just led the way. I explained that for anyone who wanted to join me in prayer confessing this hidden sin, bringing it to the cross, could kneel along with me and my translator.

And because of the severity of the matter, I requested from the leadership at the front of the church that they join the congregation rather than staying at the front. I said, “This is not about leaders and followers today, this is about us all doing business before the Lord.”

There was still no movement from anyone, so I simply turned my back to the congregation and went down on my knees with my eyes closed. My translator did the same.

I couldn’t see what was happening, and I was already beginning to pray, but I heard the whoosh of many people moving and kneeling.

I’m not sure how long I prayed, maybe five minutes at the most. Leading by example and in modelling the process of confession, repentance, renouncing, breaking, cancelling, receiving and sealing that I use with every process of deliverance.

Nearing the end of my prayer I stood and turned back to the crowd and opened my eyes, and every single person, every child, every leader was on their knees. The people had come from the back, the leaders had come from the front.

This agreement allowed a great work of the Lord that day for those people. There was tangible deliverance and new freedoms given in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Agreement determines the amount of work that can be done in any one life, in any one place.

So I am always gauging levels of agreement. For those unable or unwilling to enter into and receive how the Lord works through me, little happens.

For those who enter into agreement, we just keep doing business and getting stuff right with the Lord. This is the work of inner healing and deliverance.

It began with the love of the Father, was established by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, is empowered by the Holy Spirit and is carried on as we agree.

“Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” Matthew 18:19

Capturing God’s Heart – Repentance – Volume 28

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There is a time for celebration and rejoicing and for worshiping God, and then there is a time for mourning and grieving and laying bare our deeds before the Lord.

Consider what James says,

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.” James 4:8-10

Admitting that we have done wrong is one of the most freeing experiences. Repentance is deep intimacy with The Father.

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Capturing God’s Heart – Holy Spirit – Volume 27

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In the Amplified Bible we find Jesus telling his disciples,

“But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.” John 14:26

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Capturing God’s Heart – Honest Prayers – Volume 25

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We find intimacy with our Lord through prayer, and yet for many of us we are unsure how to pray. We worry that we are not saying the right words. We may think that the burden of prayer lies with us. We may not understand how conversational prayer works.

While we do not have time for a full study of prayer here, we will look at a primary principle of prayer:   – Come before the Lord with a commitment to honesty –

“Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” Psalm 51:6

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Fasting Unto the Lord

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P1290233 compressedThis is the fasting that God wants: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

Then you will call, the Lord will quickly answer, ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

Isaiah 58:6-12

Capturing Courage Stories & Prayer from around the World

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You are Invited - April 21st

A Gift of Contrition

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P1340113 compressedGood Friday. A day of juxtapositions. A day of death and a day of hope. A day of torture and a day that frees our souls. A day of everything gone wrong and everything set right.

The gift of Good Friday is the gift of repentance.

A day that forever more opens up opportunity to put our lives out on the table, say it like it is, all the good the bad and the ugly, and find sweet relief.

It is a day that marks a new freedom to confess, to say ‘I did that’ and to be released.

Released from the guilt and the shame and regret. A day for new beginnings. Fresh starts.

We cannot talk about freedom until we have talked about repentance. For freedom only comes on the back-side of our admitting what has not gone so well; the back-side of our acknowledging where in fact it has gone very badly.

It is a crises of our psych’s to admit wrong-doing and less-than living. An incredibly vulnerable moment when we do not know if a sword will fall or a hand will be extended.

Before the cross, before the King of Kings, what is the verdict? In the deepest parts of our being our hearts are unsure.

It is only as we come with nothing left to lose that we find grace and mercy and freedom.

The blood of Jesus shed on Calvary truly washes away our sin.

We are new creatures. Fresh. Alive. Free.

We find upon repentance that Jesus has in fact already claimed 100% responsibility for your and my sin and all the resulting ramifications.

“You didn’t do that, I did” Jesus declares.

Bring to mind the worst thing you’ve ever done. It doesn’t have to be big, it may be very small, but it is that thing that won’t leave you. That act or word or decision that never leaves you. That haunts you day and night. That though you move forward in all of life that one thing feels like a mill-stone about your neck.

About that thing, Jesus declares, “You didn’t do that, I did. I’ve taken responsibility and though you cannot see it I am working behind the scenes of your life that all the ugly and the nasty might be leveled off and made smooth. Made right. You didn’t do that thing, I did.”

But of course, those denying and refusing to acknowledge whats gone wrong through them, will never receive this gift.

Life is for those who admit they are dying.

Denials of heart and mind are found in all walks and stations around the world. Some of the deepest denials are those of believers, those of Christians who’ve managed to live lives of restraint and caution and prudence, but cannot see their own hearts judgments and condemnations.

These are the worst sins of all. Believers impervious to saving grace.

Believers still counting on their good works and their prudent lives to save them. It doesn’t work this way.

At the cross we are all on level ground. Every single one of us. And where we are angry for the grace and mercy shown another, we will not receive it ourselves.

Think of the kind of person that offends you to your very core. Bring to mind the kinds of acts that disgust you. Imagine the depths of horrors perpetrated on innocents around the world.

And get it, that that one stands beside you at the cross. That one is right there, elbow to elbow with you. That one has access to the same grace that you have.

Two very different lives standing before the cross. One clean and unsmeared. The other filthy and degrading. Stand equal at the cross.

For those who’ve lived ‘good’ lives this should break us. We are no better. In fact, unless we can find the core of our sin we will be worse off.

For the cross is for those who repent. The gift is given only to the contrite.

“Jesus I come to you today with parts of my life deeply offensive to you. I am sorry. Today I give over my life and take on your life. You have shown us the way to God and I say thank-you. Please teach me how to live and in fact, I now depend on you to transform me from the inside out, something I’ve never been able to do myself. I welcome you Jesus into my life. Thank-you for loving me. Amen” 

Capturing God’s Heart – Scandalous Love – Volume 21

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God’s ways are not our ways.

It takes many years to really come to understand the heart of God.

Even though we have been given the Bible (God’s love letter to mankind), we tend to read the Bible through our own cultures, the lies and hurts that have been laid on us through the years as well as our own developmental process.

So our understanding of God’s ways are often inaccurate. We grow and move in understanding God in the same way we grow and understand ourselves and life.

When Jesus was on earth he met and spoke to people within their current understanding of life. God is still doing this today in and through and for all of us.

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Don’t Let the Bed-Bugs Bite

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time to say 'no'

Spiritual Authority rather is the influence that we carry within us to make a difference in this world and in the lives of others. It is the assignment or calling that would have us entering into something bigger than ourselves.

Spiritual Authority rests on the knowing of our position in Jesus, it is about confidence of who God is and who we are made to be. But let me tell you a story.

I was in Uganda for almost another week. Visiting another area found me in yet another beautiful woman’s home. Nice space, good bed, hospitality and gracious warmth, all wrapped around me in comfort.

Until I woke in the middle of the second night to find numerous bedbugs. On the bed and on my mosquito netting both inside and out.

So with my flashlight and my kleenex (I’m really glad I had experience with lice years earlier, it somehow prepared me) I scringed them all in my tissues. And then tried to go back to sleep.

This continued for the nights I remained there. I tried all sorts of things. I laid a mat I had been given on top of my mattress. I then tucked my mosquito netting under the mat (as opposed to around the edges of the bed), then laid myself on top of the mat. This set-up made a figure 8 of sorts that they would have to navigate in order to get to me.

Well, navigate it they did. Bed-bugs are smart. We settled into a routine of sorts. Sleep fitfully, wake up to dispose of bed bugs, sleep fitfully, then wake to dispose of more, each night until morning came.

Long story short, I made it out alive (and lived to tell about it), and managed to not bring one bed-bug home with me. Phew!

Three months later and I am heading to Uganda again. To the same home. For three weeks this time.

Back to the bed-bugs.

But the Lord had been speaking more and more to me about my spiritual authority. My confidence was increasing all the time, and the anointing and level of authority had been increased as well.

And we were praying. My prayer team and I silenced those bed-bugs all the way from Canada, weeks before I was to be there again.

We really didn’t know what we were doing per se. We just prayed a bit.

Upon my arrival in Uganda and settling straight away into this same home and same bed found me that first night setting the stage.

I got into bed and spoke out loud, “I declare myself covered in the name and the blood of my Lord Jesus Christ, and say to all bed-bugs ‘be still’ – insert praying in tongues here- Amen.”

No bedbugs. Days went by, a few weeks went by. Not one bedbug.

I was thinking, wow that is amazing. What did they do? How did they get rid of them?

We all know how impossible it is to get rid of bedbugs.

Until one night that I was woken in a nightmare and demonic attack. Three times I was woken, and the third time there were three bedbugs. One I had flicked off myself, killing it as I severed its head from its body, and two others clinging on the inside of my mosquito netting.

(sorry for the graphic detail)

There lay the one dead one, and there were the two on the netting, and I simply spoke to them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that they were to ‘be still’ (meaning not to get to me) and simply went back to sleep.

I never saw them again.

In all of this, the only element that changed from trip one to trip two was the power of prayer and the increased confidence that I carried, knowing that I could command these critters and they had to listen.

Not because of me, but because of who my God is.

And it made all the difference.

This is spiritual authority. Knowing who God is, understanding that ‘he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world’ and with the confidence to stand in that truth, to declare from that truth, and to rest in that truth.

Now imagine this same knowing, this same confidence, this same declaration made on behalf of the broken hearted. Imagine this same advocated for those who have no voice. Imagine angels released to heal, hope infused in the hopeless, freedom where before there was bondage. Imagine.

This is spiritual authority. It is first the place where we meet the living God ourselves. We find sufficiency and grace and healing and love and hope. We find confidence and our voice.

And then we bring this knowing to bear upon this world. We learn to advocate the love of God on behalf of others in powerful and effective ways. This is Spiritual Authority at its best. And this is what I am teaching.

To the bed-bugs, and to everything else that has ever gone wrong in this world, we say, “You will NOT bite. Your authority is cancelled here.”

God reigns.

Transformation

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P1080581 compressedFine-tuning the work has been a work in progress. While Capturing Courage is now four years old, the launch into overseas work is little over a year old, and as such has been in some flux as we figure out the scope of our work.

Thankfully we started with a really good sense of what we were to be doing and what we are not to be doing. All the same, even that sense has needed fine-tuning and honing in.

The most prevalent reality within which we are to work is the matter of selves or of money.

Like this:

1. Are we called to bring money upon peoples and communities or,

2. Are we called to bring ourselves to peoples and communities?

We’ve tried a few things to figure this out. Back in October we did a short fundraising blast looking to raise money to help build a toilet in Uganda.

We weren’t looking for a lot of money and took it on as a test of sorts to see if we were to be involved in projects. The answer came back loud and clear. ‘NO!’ With not a single person responding to our fundraising plea we saw loud and clear that we are not called to support projects.

Of course we kinda knew this already. Right from the start it had been stuck in my heart and mind the verse from Acts 3:6 where Peter says, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”

(and yet it is amazing how easy it is to get sidetracked)

More recently we have been raising money for a Bible School in Uganda. There was the money for the hosting and then the money for the curriculum (from another organization), and while we raised all of the money spot-on for the hosting not a speck came in for the curriculum.

So we are paying attention. Taking our cues. And allowing the scope to be determined by this very clear direction. Again we must ask, “Are we called to bring to bear our resources upon a people, or are we called to bring to bear ourselves?”

The answer is loud and clear. We are called to bring ourselves. End of story. Period.

And in the wake of this clarity we must take hard stands. We must continue to communicate what we can and cannot do. We are, after all, to move with the blessing of God or not at all.

We must move according to the Lord’s heart and plan for and through Capturing Courage, not our own good ideas, not others good ideas for us.

The hardest part is that we are pushing against a very long history and world-wide habit of financial aid and support to developing nations.

And so while we can say we are bringing heart healing of Christ, spiritual training and leadership development, there is still in the back of the minds of those to whom we take ourselves, the thought that maybe we will help with students and schooling, maybe we will build a building, maybe we will give money for this endeavor and that project.

But of course we are not. We are bringing nothing but ourselves and the healing power of Christ.

It is like trying to swim upstream against a very large current.

And yet for all the potential and very real misunderstandings of who and what we are about, this mandate to bring ourselves and Christ and nothing more has made things very simple.

In constraint is much freedom. In less there is so much more. In limitation we find bounty and sufficiency.

Long story short we realize we are not to be hosting Bible School, for in that we are merely a conduit for yet another project, and as good a project as Bible School might be, we are not called to projects in any way whatsoever.

Rather, with the power of relationships and mentoring, of leadership development but most of all deep freedoms of heart and soul by the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are all simply transformed.

Change from the inside out is the only long-term way of development whether in North America or in Africa or anywhere else.

Capturing Courage is called to transformation of heart and spirit, nothing more and nothing less.

It’s very good to have this straightened out.

Phew!