Adam Short's Blog

Here's an excerpt from Shane Clairbore's book I just started called "Irresistible Revolution": "It's what always happens to the saints and prophets who are dangerous: we bronze them, we drain them of their passion and life and trap them in stained-glass windows and icons, confining them safely in memories of the past.

St. Francis becomes a birdbath, Malcolm X is put on a stamp, and Martin Luther King gets a holiday. And Jesus gets commercialized, whether it's the plastic night-lights or the golden crucifixes. (And now there is a bobbing-head 'Buddy Jesus' for your car and the 'Jesus is my homeboy' T-shirt.) It becomes hard to know who Jesus really is, much less to imagine that Jesus ever laughed, cried, or had poop that smelled.

I can remember when Christianity was still safe, comfortable, trendy. I grew up in the Bible Belt, in East Tennessee, where there's a church building on nearly every corner. I can't remember meeting anyone Jewish or Muslim, and I distinctly remember being dissuaded from dating a Catholic girl because she 'prayed to Mary'. I attended two or three different youth groups, whichever had the best entertainment and drew the largest crowd. Church was a place where there were cute girls, free junk food, and cheap snowboarding trips. I discovered a Christianity that entertained me with quirky songs and velcro walls. (I'm hopeful that not everyone reading this grew up in the same bizarre world of youth-ministry entertainment, so for those unfamiliar with the velcro wall, it's a giant inflatable wall of velcro that you wear a special velcro suit for and bounce up and stick onto...all for Jesus."

--Shane Clairborne, "Irresistible Revolution"

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They talk about him as if he has his own personality; they chase after him as if he loves to be pursued, but yet oddly enough it seems that nobody ever gets enough of him. He comes up in conversation as this sneaky, elusive character who is so often the source of untold numbers of fights, quarrels, disputes, and wars.

People of all walks of life flock towards him to try to really see if his promise to deliver hope and happiness actually is true. Whole nations go to war in an effort to get more of him. It's as if there's no limit, but yet nobody ever fills the bottomless pit of emptiness in their stomachs with him. Vanity cloaks itself as comfortable status-quo, and even beyond that, a little indulgence won't hurt anybody, now would it? But no! He disguises himself and craftily convinces one generation after another that he really is worth chasing after. Except the problem is, he sprouts wings at the most inconvenient times and flies away to somebody else's pocket, far and near.

Who is this? Where did he come from? Is he infinite? Some say he is. What can he really do for you? Is he your pet who you think you have tamed enough to fill your barns with? Do you think he will remain unrebellious as you attempt to store him in your vats of vanity? Do you not know that the very tanks that store him will burn holes in themselves and this fleeting one will be off to somebody else's barn tomorrow?

Others say you can make him work for you. But really, aren't you working for him? Aren't you enslaved by what he tells you at every passing quim and fancy? What if you say no? Will you disappoint him? Will he punish you? Will he judge you? I urge you to ignore his voice and begin listening to Another. Resist that voice and embrace One who liberates instead of enslaving. Be done with cheap imitations of pleasure and find the Source of all goodness. Stop fleeing something that never stops running away from you...something you'll never catch...and consider answering the beckoning Jesus.

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There are several nuggets in the Word that I want to write out which give some clarity to the leading of the Lord. I sensed the Holy Spirit tell me to read Psalm 5-7.

The first part of Ps. 5 pinpoints my heart's cry to the Lord today:

Psalm 5:1-3, "Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my groaning (meditation). Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, for to You I pray. In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch."

Proverbs 4:13, "Take hold of instruction; do not let it go. Guard her, for she is your life."

Psalm 46:4, "There is a river that makes glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High."

Psalm 16:11, "You will make known to me the PATH of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever."

Psalm 45:1-17, "My heart overflows with a good theme; I address my verses to the King; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon Your lips; therefore God has blessed You forever. Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Mighty One, in Your splendor and Your majesty! And in Your majesty ride on victoriously, for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let Your right hand teach You awesome things. Your arrows are sharp; the peoples fall under You; Your arrows are in the heart of the King's enemies.

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the OIL OF JOY above Your fellows. All Your garments are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia; out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made You glad. Kings' daughters are among Your noble ladies; at Your right hand stands the queen in gold from Ophir.

Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear; forget your people and your father's house; then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him. The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; the rich among the people will seek your favor. The King's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is interwoven with gold. She will be led to the King in embroidered work; the virgins, her companions who follow her, will be brought to You. They will be led forth with gladness and rejoicing; they will enter into the King's palace. In place of your fathers will be your sons; you shall make them princes in all the earth. I will cause Your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the peoples will give You thanks forever and ever."

This Psalm is in celebration of the king's marriage (I believe King David), and written by the sons of Korah. But the Psalm also reminds me of the language of Song of Solomon between the us the Bride and the Bridegroom Jesus.

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I want the flame of desire to be fanned in my heart. I built a fire in the woodstove here in the log cabin that I'm at seeking the Lord for a few days, and I've taken some time to watch the flames, and in the process I feel like the Lord is speaking to me about Himself through this fire.

Heb. 12:29, "...for our God is a consuming fire."

When I look at this fire, I see that it is always moving, constantly. It's not a solid or liquid, but it is unpredictable in the sense that you don't know where the flame will move to next. Maybe there will be an ember catapulted out far away from the actual fire itself. Or maybe one log will fall down after being partially burned and consumed. The Lord's fire is so much like this. The fire of God is moving constantly, and unpredictable. You cannot necessarily know where His fire will touch next (you can know to a certain extent by walking in the word of knowledge or in the Spirit). Another observation is that the fire has to be stoked and refueled and tended to. It won't just automatically go on by itself, unless it escapes the woodstove.

I have to put more wood on it, rearrange the logs, blow on it, and sometimes restart it. The flame in my heart takes such a similar pattern. On the one hand, of course God will never die out...He was, is, and is to come...and His eyes will always be flames of fire. But on the other hand, there is a need to have our flame in our hearts stoked, kindled, blown on, refueled, etc. The Holy Spirit dwells in us always, and we are united with Him one in Spirit, but the tangible presence of God fluctuates. And so does hunger and desire. I've noticed tonight that the fire goes in cycles. When I fuel it and tend to it, it flames up and becomes large, but then after a while it will die down.

I was asking the Lord how the flame is fueled in our hearts...particularly how desire and hunger is fueled. Then I noticed that some of the wood in the fire was kind of moist, and I felt like the Spirit said to me that fasting is like drying out the wood. When we fast, we deliberately place our heart in a position to be much more flammable to the Holy Spirit! So when even a mere ember or spark comes from Him, it will ignite far quicker than if our heart was not hungry and covered over by a "wet blanket" of sorts (that's what Adam Cox calls it).

There is a divine mystery and relationship between us positioning our hearts in such a way that we WILL kindle and fuel the flame in us...and the other side is simply resting and dwelling in the presence of God, being confident that it is Him alone who ultimately can increase our flame's intensity.

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These are some insights from Amos chapters 6-7 dealing with God breathed intercession.

I will first quote all of Amos 6-7 (both chapters):

Chapter 6: "Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria, the distinguished men of the foremost of nations, to whom the house of Israel comes. Go over to Calneh and look, and go from there to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, or is their territory greater than yours? Do you put off the day of calamity, and would you bring near the seat of violence?

Those who recline on beds of ivory and sprawl on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who improvise to the sound of the harp, and like David have composed songs for themselves, who drink wine from sacrificial bowls while they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, yet they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, and the sprawlers' banqueting will pass away.

The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of hosts has declared: 'I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, and detest his citadels; therefore I will deliver up the city and all it contains.' And it will be, if ten men are left in one house, they will die.

Then one uncle, or his undertaker, will lift him up to carry out his bones from the house, and he will say to the one who is in the innermost part of the house, 'Is anyone else with you?' And that one will say, 'No one.' Then he will answer, 'Keep quiet. For the name of the Lord is not to be mentioned.' For behold, the Lord is going to command that the great house be smashed to pieces and the small house to fragments.

Do horses run on rocks? Or does one plow them with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood (bitterness). You who rejoice in Lodebar (a thing of nothing), and say, 'Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim (a pair of horns) by ourselves?'

'For behold, I am going to raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel,' declares the Lord God of hosts, 'and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.' "

Chapter 7: "Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king's mowing. And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, 'Lord God, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?' The Lord changed His mind about this. 'This too shall not be,' said the Lord. Thsu the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land. Then I said, 'Lord God, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?' The Lord changed His mind about this. 'This too shall not be,' said the Lord God.

Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. The Lord said to me, 'What do you see, Amos?' And I said, 'A plumb line.' Then the Lord said, 'Behold I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will spare them no longer. The high places of Isaac will be desolated and the high sanctuaries of Israel laid waste. Then I will rise up against the house of Jereboam with the sword.'

Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jereboam king of Israel, saying, 'Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is unable to endure all his words. For thus Amos says, "Jereboam will die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile." '

Then Amaziah said to Amos, 'Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying! But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence.' Then Amos replied to Amaziah, "I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs. But the Lord took me from following the flock and the Lord said to me, "Go prophesy to My people Israel." Now hear the word of the Lord: you are saying, "You shall not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac." Therefore, thus says the Lord, "Your wife will become a harlot in the city, your sons and your daughters will fall by the sword, your land will be parceled up by a measuring line and you yourself will die upon unclean soil. Moreover, Israel will certainly go from its land into exile." ' "

Wow. This passage is absolutely bull's-eye for everything that the Lord is speaking to me this season concerning intercession, prophecy, justice, etc. As I read this passage, the Holy Spirit was giving me insight and revelation.

First of all, back in chapter 6, the whole proclamation begins with a warning that reminds me a lot of how Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. WOE to those who are at ease in Zion...comfortable, complacent, secure, thinking that all is well and that everything is fine. In the Message version, this is what it says, "Woe to you who think you live on easy street in Zion, who think Mount Samaria is the good life. You assume you're at the top of the heap, voted the number-one best place to live. Well, WAKE UP and look around. Get off your pedestal." The Lord begins to speak to Israel through Amos sending a crushing blow to their pride, arrogance, and blindness to the lie that they are FINE and STRONG. Little do they realize that the Lord HATES their arrogance and pride, and He intends to send them into exile.

As soon as I started reading that first verse in chapter 6, it was like I was reading a prophecy over America. In plain language, God is declaring His anger towards the lazy comfort-worshipping false god of convenience and arrogance. We in America fit that description to the T. We think we're fine, just like the Laodicean church thought they were fine (Rev. 3:15-17, " 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked...' ").

The fact of the matter is that we are NOT fine. The Message version of Amos 6 continues with shocking warnings from God, "Woe to you who are rushing headlong into disaster! Catastrophe is just around the corner! Woe to those who live in luxury and expect everybody else to serve them! Wo to those who live only for today, indifferent to the fate of others! Woe to the playboys, the playgirls, who think life is a party held just for them! Woe to those addicted to feeling good--life without pain! those obsessed with looking good--life without wrinkles! They could not care less about their country going to ruin."

The thing that shocks me is that the majority of us Americans (including myself) have ingrained in our thinking and lifestyle THIS VERY way of living. We think that we are the kings of the nations, and we have built a nation on conspicuous consumerism where the whole world literally is enslaved to producing STUFF to make us wealthy and comfortable, to give us a life (even as Jesus followers) who try to worship God and money at the same time. We are blind to the devastation that is coming. We think that it will continue in perpetual bliss, cushioned by peace forever. WRONG!!!! It screams worship to the idol of possessions and comfort. Excessiveness and unnecessary consumption, ignorant to the Lord God of heaven.

What is the so-called "American dream" anyway? It's so predictable. Start small and poor, get married, rent a little house somewhere. Have a kid or two, build up some equity, buy a bigger house further from the hustle and bustle of they city. Have a couple more kids, get some job promotions, take advantage of the increase of your property value, sell your house again, and buy an even bigger one. Your kids leave for college and grow up, move away, and you have a huge house, some luxury cars, and a quiet piece of land to relax from the rat race of vanity. All of a sudden you and your wife have a huge house, empty from the kids being gone, and now empty hearts, just as empty as your house.

In 6:6-7 it says, "...who drink wine from sacrificial bowls while they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, YET THEY HAVE NOT GRIEVED THE RUIN OF JOSEPH. Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, and the sprawlers' banqueting will pass away."

God's discipline for Israel was exile. What pierces me is a taste of what has pierced Lou Engle concerning abortion...the murdering of millions of babies...in America. Here we are, fueling this world of comfort and pleasure and luxury, and WE HAVE NOT GRIEVED OVER THE RUIN OF 50 MILLION BABIES WHO HAVE BEEN MASSACRED IN AMERICA ALONE SINCE 1974!!! We are not grieved by this. We go on with business as usual, seemingly oblivious to this unseen people group of nearly as many people as who live in the whole nation of France...who are DEAD. God hates it. Wake me up, wake us up O God. Rend my heart, let me grieve over this. Me and thousands of others. We need to be awoken into intercession and repentance.

The Lord continues by declaring His HATRED for the arrogance of Jacob/Israel. He swore by Himself that He is about to give the city over to Israel's enemies. For some reason that I don't understand, it says that the people were saying that God's name must not even be mentioned in that desecrated place of death and destruction...i.e. Israel. That shows the extent of how bad it got.

God continues His declaration of destroying houses in Israel, both large and small. What Israel's sin (and America's sin) looks like in the eyes of God is illustrated by this parable: trying to do a horse race in a field of rocks and plow the ocean with oxen! NOBODY in their right mind would do that! What would happen if you tried to hold a horse race in a field of rocks? The horses would end up crippled! What would happen if you tried to plow the ocean with oxen? It's so ridiculous! The oxen would drown! (6:12)

What did Israel do? What have WE done in America? This is what we've done: We have "turned JUSTICE INTO POISON and the fruit of RIGHTEOUSNESS INTO BITTERNESS." (6:12b). What in the world have we done? Justice in America is becoming like poison, and that's not exaggerating. It is LEGAL to kill babies. And that's not the only thing. We've so overturned justice in our world that it's like poison now. What does it mean to turn righteousness into wormwood or bitterness? If I think about it, it's like righteousness has so taken a back seat in our modern world that not only is it UNWELCOME and UNPOPULAR to stand for the righteousness of God, but it's DISTASTEFUL to the point of making people sick as if they were eating something unbearably bitter. The Message translates 6:12 like this, "And yet you've made a shambles of justice, a bloated corpse of righteousness, bragging of your trivial pursuits, beating up on the weak and crowing, 'Look what I've done!' "

The indictment of God continues in 6:13. Those who rejoice in Lodebar, which means "a thing of nothing" and say, "Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim (a pair of horns) for ourselves?"

What is God going to do? He says that He is going to raise up a nation against Israel (6:14), and they will be afflicted.

OK, what happens in chapter 7 is astounding. It shows the righteous, yet merciful heart of God that will turn and relent if we cry out to Him. God has already pronounced His indictment and judgment on Israel, and He has spoken this to Amos.

So the Lord gives Amos this vision, a vivid imagery of what is throbbing on the heart of God in regards to Israel's idolatry that has taken them far from Him as a nation. Amos saw this locust-swarm heading for Israel, and it actually ate up the vegetation, all the plants...nothing left. When Amos saw this, he cried out to God that He would forgive and pardon Israel's sin: " 'Lord God, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?' " (7:2). What astounds me is the tender heart of God here! It says as plain as day, "The Lord CHANGED HIS MIND about this. 'It shall not be,' said the Lord." !!!!! (7:3). This is absolutely incredible! The Lord shows Amos what He intends to do in judgement against Israel, and Amos beseeches God to forgive, and He DID!!!

What will happen if we listen to the heartbeat of God to the things that He has planned to do in judgement, and we seek Him out and ask Him to turn away in His anger and forgive? The SAME thing will happen as what happened with Amos! God will relent and change His mind! That is way outside of the normal box of our version of Christianity. But this IS the God of the Bible.

This happened AGAIN! The Lord showed Amos a fire that He was going to send to consume Israel, and Amos said to the Lord, "' Lord God, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?' The Lord changed His mind about this. 'This too shall not be,' said the Lord God." (7:6). This is what will happen when we cry out to God and see/hear what is on His heart, and intercede back to Him, and the Lord will relent and hear from heaven. THIS is what I want to give myself to in intercession.

The vision continues (7:7ff). This time, the Amos saw the Lord standing beside a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. The Lord said, " 'Behold I am about to put a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer. The high places of Isaac will be desolated and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste. Then I will rise up against the house of Jereboam with the sword.' " (7:8-9).

So the Lord decides that despite the two times He relented, that was the last time He was going to spare them from judgement. Here's how the Message translates what God is going to do, "Isaac's sex-and-religion shrines will be smashed, Israel's unholy shrines will be knocked to pieces. I'm raising My sword against the royal family of Jereboam."

It gets me that hundreds and hundreds of years after Isaac died, God uses ISAAC'S name with the judgement declaration against these shrines. I don't understand why He said Isaac. It makes sense that He would use the name Jacob, because that's often interchanged with Israel of course. Hmmm.

As usual, the word of the Lord that Amos proclaimed was not well-received by Amaziah the priest. He brewed up a slander against Amos to King Jereboam, changed his words around, and Amaziah told Amos to get out of Israel and go to Judah to prophesy. His reason to prohibit Amaziah from prophesying in Bethel was: " 'But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence.' " (7:13).

What a lame excuse to send a prophet away. Here's what Amos told Amaziah in response (Message), "But Amos stood up to Amaziah: 'I never set up to be a preacher (prophet), never had plans to be a preacher. I raised cattle and I pruned trees. Then God took me off the farm and said, "Go preach to My people Israel." So listen to God's Word. You tell me, "Don't preach to Israel. Don't say anything against the family of Isaac." But here's what God is telling you: "Your wife will become a whore in town. Your children will get killed. Your land will be auctioned off. You will die homeless and friendless. And Israel will be hauled off to exile, far from home." ' " (7:14-17).

Man those are some heavy words. I don't quite understand how prophecy today is usually NOT like this...proclaiming harsh words like this over people. But yet I know the Lord speaks loud and clear through certain prophets like Bob Jones about coming natural disasters. Anyway though, with this...it's interesting to me that Amos was a shepherd kind of like Moses before God ambushed them and called them. I can relate to that myself.

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I wanted to shoot out this quick testimony of the Lord's abundant amazing provision that happened this past weekend while I was down in Columbia, South Carolina at my sending church Forest Drive Church having a support gathering there.

I have had an extremely difficult situation financially regarding our trip to Africa in the fall of 2006 where I ended up being in $2000 of debt from the costs of the trip. Well Sunday I was telling stories at a luncheon about what Jesus has been doing in Africa and France, and one of the men there named Steve asked me at the end what my financial support status was. I was very honest with him and told him that I was in debt. He asked me how much. I said, "$2000."

After the lunch was over, he and his wife Sheryl came up to me; Steve began to cry because he was so moved by what God is doing in/thru my life. They began to tell me how I have only seen a tip of the iceberg of the signs and wonders that will happen thru my life, and that I shouldn't be surprised for one minute at the greatness of God that I will witness in the coming months. They told me of their wholehearted commitment to interceding for me and made themselves available to me as a Mom and Dad in the Lord who I can call anytime when stuff is hard. The amazing thing is that they've been interceding and supporting me financially through Forest Drive Church anonymously all this time without my even knowing it.

Right before I was about to leave to go have lunch with my good friends John and Terry Goodfellow, another precious Mom and Dad in the Lord of mine, our missions pastor Bill White came up to me and said that Steve had something to tell me.

Steve approached, and told me, "I just wanted to let you know that your debt is paid."

I literally stood there and looked at him with my mouth wide open. I was speechless. What do you say to somebody who responds to the leading of the Lord to give somebody $2000 to pay off a debt?

I am so full of love for Jesus because of the way He has miraculously provided. Jesus promised back a month ago to me thru a prophetic word that Tyler sent to me saying that my debt will be paid. He did what He promised, and I love Him for it. Not only that, but Jesus has provided much, much, much in these past several weeks through so many of y'all. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. What God we have.

This promise from Numbers 23:19 has been etched on my heart thru this: " 'God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?' "

The ways of the Lord are higher than mine, and He is abundantly full of provision.

Love,
Adam

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The Call/The Cause

Last night I went to this Holy Spirit gathering at MorningStar being spearheaded by Lou Engle, along with Jim Goll, Mike Bickle, Jason Upton, and others who have been marked by God to the lifestyle of prayer and fasting for the coming of the Kingdom of God in America, seeing a nameless, faceless army of teens and 20 somethings raised up into the Spirit of Prayer and Fasting to be captured and enthralled by the beauty of the Son of God.

It is a violent spirit that is taking ahold of many my age and even younger who are being marked by the Lord to set their faces like flint, at all costs, and enter into desperation for the MORE of God until our whole nation is transformed. The Holy Spirit has so been moving on my generation to raise up thousands upon thousands of young people to take the Nazarite Vow and enter into the lifestyle of Daniel who said NO to the legitimate pleasures that everybody else his age was enjoying, but chose a far greater pleasure in this One who ravishes our hearts and who, in Lou's words, "hotly pursues" us.

Jesus has charged Lou Engle to sound the trumpet as a voice just like John the Baptist, calling forth to prepare the way for the Lord...and to summon 1 million people to gather on the Mall in Washington, D.C. who will not stop interceding until revival comes to America and until abortion is stopped.

Everything that came out of that man's mouth has been burned and wrought into my heart by Jesus over the past several months of my life...I want nothing else than to be captured, fascinated, and enthralled by Jesus to the point that nothing else has any appeal. This cry in Lou Engle's heart is straight from God, because I see this same cry that has been placed into my own heart, out of desperation and intercession, and hunger that there is MORE. It's the same cry that is in Mike Bickle's heart, and so many others across America, and I believe across several other key nations, specifically South Africa, Australia, England, France, New Zealand, USA, and Canada.

This cry is in my heart, and the imagery that the Lord has shown me is a net that He is dragging across these nations where thousands upon thousands of 20 something year-olds are being raised up as a nameless, faceless army of Worship Harvesters, those who have come to the point of absolute desperation and hunger for MORE of God, that it will bring revival and transformation to the Western World. Then I believe that this transformation will spread into the unreached nations of the earth, the 3rd world nations, where we Westerners once again are propelling the fire of God to the earth, instead of a lukewarm, compromised ember that has nearly died out.

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Revelation 22:17, "The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost." The culmination of history will be when the Son of God breaks forth in the clouds with radiant manifest glory which will astound every eye (Mt. 26:64; 1 Th. 4:16).

He will come back to earth to His Bride and Body which has been made ready for Him without spot and wrinkle to reign with Him for eternity…a people who have been captured and fascinated so much by this One that every other thing pales in comparison. Numerous times, the writers of the Bible who were privileged to actually gaze upon the Lord Jesus of Heaven with their own eyes, described Him as the One who has eyes of flaming fire, hair as white as snow, a golden sash around his chest, feet like burnished bronze, a sword coming out of His mouth, a voice that sounds like rushing water, and His face radiating as bright as the sun (Rev. 1:12-17).

This is a glimpse of the beauty of the Son of God who is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, and this is the One who we proclaim both here and far. Those of us who follow Jesus are being invited afresh this New Year to enter into intimacy with this beautiful Jesus and to gaze upon Him, to be captured by Him, and to be fascinated by Him. When Jesus ascended back to His Father after being raised from the dead, He stood by His promise to send THE Promise of the Father to us, the Holy Spirit Himself (Jn. 14:16-17; Acts 2)!! The Holy Spirit has been sent to earth, and He is being poured out in these days. I urge you to take time to sit at the feet of Jesus this year and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to you. Jesus told us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, and He will reveal to us Jesus!

If you are hungry to go deeper into intimacy with Jesus, I recommend that you find a quiet room somewhere, and begin to contemplate who Jesus is. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill You and come and draw Your heart into intimacy with Him. There is absolutely nothing that compares with being loved by this One. The Holy Spirit is mighty…mighty enough to raise Jesus Christ from the grave, but yet He loves when we invite Him to fill us and take us into the heart of Jesus. Don’t let busy-ness and distractions keep you from saying YES to Jesus’ invitation to be intimate with Him. I recommend fasting as well…choosing Him over food, entertainment, and whatever competes for our allegiance to the Son of God.

I’m very interested in knowing how the Lord will draw you into deeper intimacy with Him this year! Please share with me about your journey with Him, just as I’ve been able to do with you. Life is about being a carrier of the presence of God. There is a divine relationship between being simply a carrier of the presence of the Holy Spirit and pursuing the flame of God in intimacy with Him! As you experience this intimacy, you will be transformed, and you will pour out the goodness of God on other people around you.

That is my heart’s desire as I return to France and Africa very soon. I yearn for nothing else more than what David said in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to BEHOLD THE BEAUTY OF THE LORD and to meditate in His temple.” What will happen in our world when we as the people of God are so enthralled and mesmerized by Jesus’ beauty that every other thing is empty and lifeless in comparison?!

What did Isaiah see (Is. 6) when he saw the train of the Lord’s robe filling the temple of God? I want to see what Isaiah saw. I want to gaze into the eyes of fire. No wonder the angels fall down before Him night and day for eternity crying out “Holy, Holy Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Is. 6:3). They cover their face and feet with their wings so as not to be consumed by this God who is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29). The people of our world need encounters with the living God like this. You and I need encounters with God like this. The people of Africa, France, and America need encounters with God like this. As the people of God fan out across the nations CAPTURED and TRANSFORMED by this One, our world WILL be changed. People WILL bow their knees to the name above every name (Phil. 2:9-10).

So, it’s true that you do crazy and radical things when you are in love, and falling in love with Jesus will motivate you to WANT to follow Him radically. Some people look at me with a blank stare when I say that I’m moving to Côte d’Ivoire in a slum to join my family in Jesus to see the glory of God spread there. Yes, it sounds foolish and dangerous to live in abject poverty in a country like Côte d’Ivoire that is at Civil War and visit other areas of West Africa which are being persecuted by radical Muslims or suffering from famine. But I’ve been so drawn into love with Jesus that it seems altogether normal to do this! Sometimes I think I’m crazy, but then I remember that God uses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Cor. 1:26-28).

Read Hebrews 11 sometime and it will reveal how radical those who went before us lived because they KNEW that they were “strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own…a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.” (Heb. 11:13-14,16a).

Either Jesus IS the Son of God or He’s NOT (Jn. 5:20; 10:30). Either what Jesus said IS true or it’s not (Jn. 14:10-11). Either people ARE dying and going to hell every day or they aren’t (Rev. 20:15), which means they need to hear about the Savior (Rom. 10)!! Either Jesus DOES have the power to heal the sick (Mt. 9:20-22) and raise the dead (Jn. 11:17-44) or He does NOT. Either God WILL set the demonized free or He will NOT (Lk. 11:20). And either the Gospel of Jesus IS the power of God unto salvation for whoever believes or it is NOT (Rom. 1:16). We are commanded by the Lord to make disciples of all nations in the earth (Mt. 28:18-20), and to bring His Kingdom to earth as in Heaven (Mt. 6:10).

Practically speaking, your yes in your heart to pray and give sacrificially to support the ministry God has called me to is an act of faith declaring that you DO believe that Jesus IS the Son of God, and the people of the earth must know Him. I have been astounded yet again in the past few weeks being back in America how the Lord has surrounded me with so many people who He has given me who love me. I am so thankful. This would be so hard without you. So your role is vital and huge in the Kingdom of God coming in France and Africa. Thanks so much.

Please intercede for the 6 friends of mine (Kevin/Angie/Kasey from Canada, Ken from Scotland, Allison from Colorado, and Meredith from North Carolina) who are on their 3 ½ month outreach churchplanting trip in Marseille from January to mid-April. We will be together seeking God together and ministering together in France.

Also please continue to pray for Maria who returns to Côte d’Ivoire January 10th from the USA. Abel and the other believers there are recovering little by little from the sea flood that hit in November, so please continue to pray for them too. If you are interested in donating financially to help in the relief process there (specifically to contribute towards securing a house for Abel since his was washed away), please email me or let me know. The Lord has provided through several of you a total of about $1,500 for Abel’s house, and I just found out that it looks as if he has been able to put a deposit on a house! Thank Jesus!

And please pray for me as I return to France Lord willing on January 18th. I will be there approximately through the end of February or early March. I am excited to have the CPx outreach team in Marseille, and we will minister some together too! After this, I will return to Côte d’Ivoire for several months. Maria, Abel, and I will begin teaming up together churchplanting, holding regular evangelistic and healing gatherings, training and mobilizing Africans there to spread the glory of God elsewhere in Africa. I/we will be traveling as well back into Niger to help pioneer churchplanting with other missionaries amongst the Fulani Tribe in the Sahel Desert region.

We intend to find a “house” in the slum in Côte d’Ivoire to live in as community together, a place where the presence of God will dwell, and a place where we want to model simple Holy Spirit breathed community, so that it can be reproduced. We also have the orphans of the slum on our hearts. Jesus loves the poor, the widows, and the orphans.

This summer (early July), I will be returning to Marseille for a few weeks for an evangelistic outreach that will happen there with a rather large team from the USA (between 25 and 40 people). There will be street evangelism and healing, prayer walking, sports ministry, and other evangelistic thrusts during this outreach.

Above all, my heart’s desire which runs deeper than I can find words for, is to just be with Jesus. I’m hungry for Him, long for Him, fascinated by Him, and am enthralled by Him. I want to go deeper into intimacy with Him and be captured by His love. I’m tasting His love now in this season of my life like I never have before, and everything else in the world is so pale. Even ministry pales in comparison to just being with Jesus.

Please intercede and pray for me according to how the Holy Spirit leads you. Pray for the sea of Africans that we will live amongst who don’t know Jesus Christ and who will go to hell unless they come to know Him. Intercede for us as we step into darkness and bear the Light of God. The enemy threw some big attacks at me while in France and Africa this past year, and I need prayer warriors who will hound heaven on my behalf and on behalf of the people I’ve been sent to. There were specific times where I was under such attack from the devil that I almost gave up. But then God sustained me, and I later found out at that EXACT time, the Lord has spoken to several friends of mine to pray for me. It worked and still works. I don’t take your prayer support lightly. I’d rather have less than full financial support and have a solid team of prayer warriors behind me than vice versa.

Please also email me (shortadam@mac.com) or call me (704-257-4359) anytime to share with me how I can pray for you. It’s a priority for me to know how to encourage you and minister the love of Jesus to your heart. Thanks SO very much.

“May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.” (2 Cor. 13:14).

Love, Adam

Posted by marseille at 07:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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You are Almighty, but gentle, fair, but rugged, unpredictable, you come and go touching feelings and chords of hunger in my heart that augment and wane.

My soul longs for You, my soul longs for You; nothing else will do. Every glimpse of Your beauty sends me reeling again wanting yet again permission to go into the chamber of love that I've never been to before. Can I go? Can I not just sit at Your feet for eternity? Can I not just waste my life on You? I don't even want to go anywhere else or do anything else but be with You. I want to gaze upon Your beauty every day for the rest of my life. Your face is like the sun shining in its strength at midday. You radiate with brightness that will kill anyone who sees it.

I continue to experience this season of unprecedented intimacy with the Lamb of God, who is so beautiful. I am just head over heels in love with Him, I can't get enough of Him, and it is like I have tapped into rivers upon rivers of His manifest presence. I feel the tangible oil of the Holy Spirit on my head regularly now...like honey sometimes!! O I love His presence. There is nothing on this planet that even remotely compares to Him. It's so sweet to be drawn into the intimate place of His heart, and I hunger for even more. O ravish my heart my Lover with Your love that is better than any wine. I long for You alone My King.

This is my one heart's desire that I could gaze upon the beauty of God for eternity, and I actually get to do it!! It's too good to be true, except it is true. Not through somebody else's eyes will I look upon Him, but through my own eyes. I will get to look at Him until my heart is content, and my heart will never be content because there will always be more beauty to be enthralled by and to take in. I tried to look at the sun this morning, in it's unbearable brightness and glory. John described the face of Jesus as radiating like the sun. You can't look at the sun without going blind. You can't gaze at the Son of God without being consumed.

I have no other desire than to gaze upon You. I don't care about the pearly gates or the diamonds or precious stones or crowns or sea of glass or thrones or the living creatures or the elders or even the angels. The only thing I care about looking at for eternity is this One who is incomparable, to whom everything is pale and brittle and stale. Any shadow or glimpse or reflection of pleasure or goodness in this earth is a dim, dim derivation from the Son of God Himself, incomparable. To see this One and live is impossible. Not in His fullness. We will be consumed. Untold bliss.

Posted by marseille at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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I asked the Lord what He's asking of me in responding to this immeasurable injustice in our world. He sent me to Isaiah 57-60, particularly Is. 58. This is the REAL fast that the Lord requires, where justice rules and unrighteousness and unjust gain do not.

The very first sentence in chapter 58 gives me permission to unapologetically speak wholeheartedly with zeal and conviction about this injustice, so that myself and others might be convicted by the Holy Spirit of our sin, transgression, and contribution to the injustice that maligns the name of God. Here's the first part of the passage:

Isaiah 58:1-2, " 'Cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, they delight in the nearness of God.' "

I/we have not only the permission, but the mandate to both proclaim this message of justice to the people of God at large, but we have the mandate to HEAR it and take heed in our own hearts. The Lord is saying that His people DID seek Him and DID delight in Him and DID consult Him for justice in decisions. But it's possible to seek God (this is what convicts me), but to NOT be moved by His heart into being people who act out of the justice of God in the earth. The passage continues:

Isaiah 58:3-5, " 'Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?' Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers. Behold, you fast for CONTENTION and STRIFE and to STRIKE with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one's head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call THIS a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?"

Here, the prophet describes a people who fast to try to get God to notice and somehow reward them, which is the worst reason to fast. And plus, the whole image of sackcloth and all that is not the ultimate object of fasting...it's often a byproduct posture of humbling yourself before the Lord. But of course, in the meantime all this injustice is going on, and the people of God have transgressed against God (we are included in this). DESIRE is such a huge part of this. Basically I'm understanding that even during these fasts, these people that Isaiah addressed were doing it to GET WHAT THEY WANTED. So they slave-drove their servants. It's all non-God-initiated. And the million dollar question from the Lord comes, "Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?" You can hear in the question that the Lord thinks about way more than going without food when we fast.

So, in Isaiah 58:6-7, the Lord of Justice describes what a fast IS:

"Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed free and break EVERY yoke?!?!?!? (Adam comments: HOLY COW!!!) Is it not not divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you seek the naked, to cover him; and NOT TO HIDE YOURSELF FROM YOUR OWN FLESH."

Then I believe the next section is key because this is exactly what Jesus said to do in Lk. 14:12-14, "And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, 'When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invited your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you wil be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.' "

Speak and act on behalf of those who are either subjected to injustice, or they are simply oppressed by poverty, war, EVERYTHING. Jesus loves these people a LOT...the rich people too.

I want to have banquets with the poor, crippled, sick, etc. when I get back to Africa. Maybe we can even have one in France too.

THIS ISAIAH 58 PASSAGE CONTINUES WITH TONS OF PROMISES FROM THE LORD...

If we posture ourselves like the Lord tells us to by fasting HIS way, loosening the bonds of wickedness, undoing the bands of the yoke, and letting the oppressed go free, and breaking EVERY yoke, then look at the promises of God that follow!!

Is. 58:8-12, " 'THEN your light WILL break out like the dawn, and your recovery WILL speedily spring forth (Adam question: Recovery from WHAT?); and your righteousness WILL go before you; the glory of the Lord WILL be your rear guard. Then you WILL call, and the Lord WILL answer; you WILL cry, and He WILL say, "Here I am." If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, THEN your light WILL rise in darkness and your gloom WILL become like midday. And the Lord WILL CONTINUALLY GUIDE YOU, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you WILL be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those from among you WILL rebuild the ancient ruins; you WILL raise up the age-old foundations; and you WILL be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.' "

These are huge promises from the heart of God IF we will respond to what He asks first. The wells of the Spirit of God that Tyler and I have consistently called forth in both Shelton and Marseille WILL be uncovered and they WILL gush forth IF we remove the yokes of oppression, the judgemental self-righteousness, and IF we give ourselves to the hungry and IF we satisfy the desire of the afflicted. THEN, the Lord promises that our light WILL rise in darkness and our gloom WILL become like midday! The guidance of God Himself is another fruit of this promise. The rebuilding of ancient ruins and foundations and breaches is descriptive of redemption, restoration, and renewal of things that have been lost which must be recovered. Every part of life as God intended it is restored and redeemed when we begin with the revelation of the heart of God in His justice, and we enter into fasting and prayer LIKE THIS. We must begin with revelation and not a desire to take vengeance into our own hands by attempting to correct injustice. We are not the ones who determine what is just, God is. Injustice is not cured or eradicated by activism, but yet we also must not hesitate to " 'CRY LOUDLY' " (Is. 58:1). And, we must not HOLD BACK (same verse) in any way. We must raise our voices like a trumpet (58:1). Trumpets are invasive by nature. They precede and bear a proclamation and declaration by the very nature of their sound. Lord teach me and show me how to be a trumpet blast declaring Your zeal for justice in the earth O righteous One.

There's more IF and THEN promises that follow in this passage.

Isaiah 58:13-14, " 'IF because of the Sabbath, you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure and speaking your own word, THEN you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. ' "

Just more promises from the heart of God towards us...choosing God over our own ways, and the result is finding DELIGHT in Him.

Posted by marseille at 07:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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