This Friday in New York City on Military Island (across from MTV’s corporate office) in Times Square, a group known as God Chose Israel is gaining support from many people including those living in Israel for an important prayer event beginning at 1:00PM EST and lasting for ten minutes this Friday, September 25, 2009.

We are in the Days of Awe. This will open with 7 trumpet blasts from seven shofars and reading of the Hallel (Psalms 116 to Psalms 118 in Hebrew and in English). Robert Weinger of ShofarSoGreat is flying in for the event.

Rabbis, Prophets and Pastors will assemble with their respective congregations to pray until 1:10PM. A video introduction to Israel will also play on the Fox Astrovision digital sign in Times Square located at 43rd & Broadway.

I realize the healing subject is a touchy one and somewhat problematic for many folks. Believe me; it’s far easier to resign yourself to the idea that whatever happens is God’s will. If He wants me well, He knows where to find me and He can heal me anytime He wants. If He wants me strong financially, He is well able to turn my driveway into gold or have a rich relative leave everything to me instead of their undeserving children who don’t even love God. It’s easier because you never have to take responsibility. That’s how Hindu’s believe.  You might be poor and sick but at least you don’t have to struggle with issues of doubt and unbelief.

Well, that’s not for me. Which one of you having a child writhing in pain from cancer or some other disease would withhold healing if you had it in your hand to do so? Which one of you with a child who has Muscular Dystrophy wouldn’t trade places with your child so they could have a healthy and full life? If you, being less good than God, know what to do in these matters, how much more does God desire to give you the same?

In fact, He has… That’s what the cross was about. Salvation from sin and all of its ravages, including disease which was laid on Him for our benefit. But we struggle, and why? Because of our unbelief. We want God to do things on our terms. We want to tell God that He CAN heal us anytime and that will be fine with us. But God has said He HAS healed us and that He made full provision on the cross. He also gave us access through His Word and through communion.

The problem is that God tells us to reach out and take what He has given us and we tell God that’s not good enough. We don’t want to reach out and take. We want him to do it our way which is to say, we want Him to act apart from His word. We don’t want to develop or exercise our faith. We don’t want to face our doubt and unbelief. (You can have faith and unbelief at the same time.) We don’t want to expose just how little we really believe certain things He has said.

Therefore, we ask God to heal on our terms, to provide our needs on our terms. When He doesn’t, we either blame God or we tell ourselves and anyone who will listen that it isn’t God’s will for us to be healthy and well or to prosper in our work. If we really believe that, then we should quit going to the doctor when we’re sick. Why fight God?

Listen, I don’t pretend for a moment that I have arrived. I can tell you that I have left the station and am on my way. As I travel on down the tracks, I am seeing things I never saw before. For me, it is an exciting journey and one I am happy to share with you and receive your feedback on. With love and peace always…

My dear brothers and sisters… Last week I began to share with you what amounts to a sea change in the way I view many things. Many of you posted comments of support and anticipation of my upcoming blogs and others took exception to what I had to share.  No worries.

I see through a glass darkly and use this blog to share with you what I see with the hope that it will help you on your journey. I see more today than I did yesterday as I continue to grow in my understanding of His Word. I have no interest in arguing with anyone about any point of doctrine, nor do I wish to convince anyone of a particular perspective. However when an honest question or misunderstanding arises that cries out for more information, I will on occasion respond if I feel it will help the larger body of people reading this blog.

Here’s one example… One of the brothers posting a comment said he believes that God can heal, but that we cannot demand healing from God. I would agree with those statements. However, believing God CAN do something is quite different from believing He WILL do something. And that is quite different from believing that God has already DONE something.

Demanding healing or anything from God is folly. It’s right up there with not believing what He says is true. That brother made the point that his wife’s health problem was not a result of a lack of faith on her part. I do not doubt that his wife has faith either. Does her condition invalidate the word of God? Do we adjust the clear meaning of so many passages of Scripture on this topic?

When we reconcile Scripture to adjust to what we see with our eyes, we are reconciling the wrong thing. My wife argued for years that she had plenty of faith and took issue with those who said her physical ailments were because of her lack of faith. Since then we have both come to realize two other things. First of all, you can have faith AND unbelief or doubt at the same time.

Unbelief will quench faith. Jesus could do no mighty works in his home town because of their unbelief. Imagine that. Limiting the Son of God through unbelief… yet they did. The man with the demonized son being cast into the water or fire often, told Jesus he believed (had faith) but acknowledged having unbelief at the same time. Mark 11:23 tells us to believe without doubting. So, while my wife had faith, she has become aware of the unbelief and doubt in her heart as well. The same is true for me.

Secondly, you can have faith in the wrong thing. Believing God CAN heal you will never get you healed. That’s the wrong thing. Nowhere does God indicate just that He can heal. In Psalms 103:2-3 we read, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases;” It does not say that He CAN heal all your diseases. It says He does heal all your diseases. Our problem comes because that does not match our physical reality, so we assume God must mean something else.

We have no problem believing the first part of the verse, that He forgives all our iniquities, perhaps because that doesn’t show up in the physical realm the same way that being healed of a disease would. And listen, the Scripture says that God is willing that none should perish, yet many do. That’s like so many of His promises and provisions. He has made eternal life available to all, but folks don’t believe it. He has made healing available to all, but doubt, unbelief or wrong belief causes us to miss it. The same is true for natural provision. Our unbelief or wrong belief does not invalidate the truth of His Word - just its effectiveness in our life. Our loss. With love and respect to you all.

How many of you are dealing with financial stress? A bunch, I know. And it’s not just the recession. If you think about it, for many of you, it’s been a trend of feast and famine, with the feasts being short lived and not too extraordinary and the famine lasting for years at a time. What I am about to share in the next few blogs is going to be painful. I am going to attempt to straighten our way of thinking on some crucial things and it won’t be easy for most of us. Perhaps I will only straighten myself out and if successful, it will have been worth it!

Let me first give you some background. My wife has had significant, prolonged health issues for too many years. Back injuries, chronic pain and more. She began watching Andrew Womack’s teaching series, “God Wants You Well” and a second DVD, “Healing Journeys”.  One of the testimonies on the Healing Journey’s DVD set was from a young woman named Niki.

Niki had become an invalid after a car wreck and couldn’t so much as lift her legs over the side of the bed. She was deteriorating in her health and her prospects were very dim. She listened to one of Andrew’s teachings about God wanting her well and struggled with it because she and her family had prayed for healing many times without effect.

On that day however, she says that Jesus came into her room and showed her His back. She says what she saw was more like deep gashes than mere stripes! Then He got in her face, up close and very personal and she saw His visage, how marred it had been. She noticed that one cheek bone was higher than the other. The signs of the brutality done to Him were clear. He was healed up, but scarred. He then said to her, “Niki… I did this for you”.

In an instant she knew that Jesus had already done what He was going to do for her healing and He had done that some 2000 years ago. The truth of 1 Peter 2:24 “Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on

the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed” came rushing in. That day, Niki the invalid, who had to be carried to the bathroom for her most basic needs, was dramatically healed. She came to believe that the Scripture was true.

So the obvious question arises… How do you reconcile the fact that so many good Christian people are not healed? The same could be asked about financial issues… How do we reconcile the Scripture that says, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” when our needs seem not to be met?  Watch for my next blog as I begin to share with you the revelation God brought to me through my wife. It may astound you.

I’ve known for decades that God loves me, but it seems that only very recently am I coming to terms with that experientially. My wife has been reminding fairly often that God loves me and it’s beginning to sink in. Of course, I have experienced God’s love my whole life and have marveled at many of the things He has done in my life. But now, the truth of that simple statement, that God loves me, is becoming far more personal.

Just yesterday we had a call at our office that was enough to create a mountain of stress. When I hung up from hearing about that call, I sat down in my private office, wondering just what I should do. That’s when my eyes caught the message on my screensaver which says God Loves You! I felt the love of God in an instant and I knew that I knew that I knew that He really did love me. And if He loved me, I wasn’t alone in this.

God wasn’t blindsided by the events of that day and it was as if He came into my office just to remind me that He loves me before I got all into a twist. It worked. I realized that God did really, really love me and that He wasn’t planning on leaving me alone to solve this issue. In fact, He already had solved it and the solution is found in His word.

That solution is not a formula. That solution is simply the truth. But there’s where the problem begins to be exposed. We don’t really believe what we read in His word. We believe God can heal or can deliver or can supply our needs, but we rarely believe He will, or that perhaps He already has. We believe God can deliver us of $4 million in debt as one pastor recently shared with me, but do we believe He will? Do we believe He already has?

What on earth could I be talking about when I say “Do you believe He already has”?  Absolutely nothing (on earth). Stay tuned for more.

“But faith which works by (is energized by) love”

I believe one of the biggest reasons our faith is weak in this age is because we really don’t know how it works. Faith receives its power, its impetus, its force, its effectual working power from love.  While I have spoken on this before, for the first time I am seeing it differently. Hear me out…

If we really, really knew how much God loved us, I believe we would be bursting with faith. Our problem has a lot to do with not knowing or not believing how much He really loves us. Many of us believe He makes us sick to teach us a lesson or that he afflicts us with horrible circumstances that we may mature. Would you do that to your child?

Bottom line is that if we had any real clue as to just how much He loves us, we would not blame Him for evil and more to the point, we would believe everything He says. God wants a better life for you than you do for yourself. God loves you more than you can think or imagine. When you and I get a hold of just how much He loves us, and that He would never lie to us, then faith will arise like a mighty bulwark.

If you want to grow in faith, spend time reading about His love in the Scripture. Spend time reflecting on all the ways He has shown you love. Understand that the best you can imagine is pitifully short of the truth. When you know… I mean really know… how much God loves you, your faith will immediately strengthen and grow. Have a blessed weekend my dear brothers and sisters.

“For He, God Himself has said, ‘I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake, nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]‘ So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5 - Amp)

Do you ever feel distant from God? You know He’s real and that He loves you but it feels more theoretical than experiential. You read His word, but don’t get too much from it. You go to church and leave wondering why you were there that day. Can anyone relate to this (besides a few pastors I know)? (o-:

Here’s my advice for today… If you’re not feeling too connected to the Lord right now, cast that aside and go with what the Scripture says. Jesus said He would never leave you, nor forsake, no never! Take Him at His word, regardless of how you feel!  Just the other day, I was fighting that battle myself, when it occurred to me that I was believing a lie simply because I felt down. (Or perhaps I felt down because I was believing a lie.)

I realized I had bought into a lie that God was distant, that He didn’t have much too say to me. I was earnestly seeking God to speak something fresh to me, to give me a “now” word. That was when I realized I have had plenty of “now” words both by the Spirit and from Scripture over the years. I simply needed to respond as though they were true, because they are. I began to praise Him and thank Him and let Him know that while my emotions were on a low ebb and my spiritual senses were apparently on snooze mode, that I knew His word was true and the problem was not with Him, but with me.

That day I chose to believe what God had spoken in times past regardless of how I felt at the moment. As I confessed the truth of His word, hope sprang up and faith arose. I repented for basing my beliefs and words on what I felt or didn’t feel and set my heart hard on the baseline of Scripture. Friends, I write this today because I know many, many of you are struggling in a similar way. We all do at times. I just want you to know there is a way out.

Put your trust in God and what He promised, not on how you feel. It will set you free!

Good afternoon my friends…  I want to give you a jolt with some powerful statistics. If you care about reaching the marketplace with your message or even your product and you want to be in business 36 months from now, I suggest you read these stats, then watch the video below found on YouTube. It tells the story.

• 1 out of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met via social media
• It took 38 years for radio to reach 50 million users, 13 years for TV, 4 years for the internet, 3 years for iPod users but Facebook added 100 million users in less than 9 months!
• The fastest growing segment on Facebook is not teenagers. It is 55 - 65 year old females. If Facebook were a country, it would be the 4^th largest in the world!
• Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres have more Twitter followers than the entire populations of Ireland, Norway and Panama!
• 25% of search results for the world’s top 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content.
• 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations - Only 14% trust advertisements
• In the near future, we will no longer search for products and services… they will find us via social media
• Social media isn’t a fad. It’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate.
• Successful companies in social media act more like party planners, aggregators and content providers than traditional advertisers.

When you’re finished watching, you may need to revisit the webinar we did with David G. Johnson a few weeks back. Hundreds of you watched it. If you missed it, I suggest you check it out here after you watch the video. You’ll be invited to participate in David’s upcoming Social Media training for small business. The sign up deadline for that training is next Friday, September 11th.  Don’t miss out. Have a great weekend!

I am very excited to invite you to an important event being held next week, September 11-12 in High Point, NC at which I will be delivering two key note addresses.  It’s called the Christians in the Marketplace Conference, sponsored by the Wisdom Training Institute of Evangel Word Ministries, Inc.

The conference opens Friday night with Pastor Otis Lockett speaking passionately and powerfully on being Anointed for Business. I can hardly wait to hear him on that! Following him that evening, I will be sharing powerful strategies gleaned from the most productive, diverse and abundant ecosystem on the planet, the rainforest on how to survive, then thrive in our current economic environment.  The insights God has been giving me on this topic are fresh, powerful and life changing! It will also be the world premiere for what I believe to be the most powerful online learning and coaching tool on the planet. You won’t want to miss it!

On Saturday afternoon, I will be sharing on Biblical Laws of Promotion for Marketplace Success.  I have a fire burning in my bones and can’t wait to release that word. Please make sure you bring anyone interested in taking back the gates of commerce for the kingdom of God. I especially want to invite 18 - 30 year olds to come. God has a word for you in this hour!

I am honored to be invited to join Pastor Otis Lockett, Sr., and Julius Koonce at this strategic event for significantly strengthening and empowering marketplace warriors. Want to get in the game and win? Join us next week. Click here for registration details.

Can’t make this conference?

Two weeks later, on Friday, September 25^th at 10:00 AM, I will be speaking at the Biblical Entrepreneurship Conference, sponsored by Nehemiah Project International Ministries in Fort Washington, MD. I have been asked to speak on Abundant Thinking in the Midst of an Economic Crisis. I will be continuing that theme again on Saturday morning at 9:00 AM. Click here for details.

Please plan on joining me at one or both of these events if you can. I look forward to meeting you there!

“But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; you give them to eat. And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them here to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and broke, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.” (Matthew 14:16-21)

Here’s the situation. There were about ten to fifteen thousand people listening to Jesus and now they were hungry. Jesus tells the disciples to feed them, but of course, they didn’t have enough food on hand. Instead of taking rocks and turning them into bread or turning sticks into cinnamon roles, Jesus MULTIPLIED the bread that was on hand and filled twelve baskets full of scraps after they had all eaten.

At a different time and place, when the fishermen had caught nothing all night, Jesus told them to throw their nets in on the other side. They caught so many fish that it just about sunk the boats! I believe He MULTIPLIED the fish and filled their nets. Here’s the point… The fisherman needed provision and God worked through their natural means. He multiplied their fish. He didn’t turn their boat anchor to solid gold. When they needed bread, He multiplied what they already had. So stay with me….

When you are faced with shortage and fear is raging within, the first thing as I mentioned last time is to feed on His faithfulness. Lose the fear by feeding on things that feed your faith. Then, ask the Lord to show you how He can take what you already have and multiply it in ways you have never imagined. Just today, He showed me a way to do that with something that will be a huge blessing to many of you. I was really stuck on a problem with no clear way out and it was causing plenty of anxiety.

I spent time feeding on His faithfulness, then got with my wife and we began talking about how God used the things people had in their hand (bread, fish nets, etc) to funnel His solution through to them. We began to see how God wants to meet needs through the things we are often quite familiar with. He wants to not only meet our needs, but also and more importantly perhaps, the needs of many, many others as was the case with the fish and the loaves.

So here’s my word of advice to you today. Feed on His faithfulness. Shut down the voice of fear. Then brainstorm with the Lord. Maybe it should be called Spiritstorm?  Trust Him to show you something simple that when applied will meet the needs of many, including you!

Have a blessed day today!