A Year of Restoration
When I stop to think about these past nine months here in Redding at Bethel, lots of things come to mind.
I've been telling people for months that this year has been about restoration of all the things that were stolen, rebuilding what was broken down, and redeeming back what was lost. Looking over this year at Bethel, I have experienced so much restoration, empowering, and grace. I've experienced the goodness of God which was poured out on my life after burning out on the mission field. I've remembered again that I'm a son, royalty, loved, and I've discovered Who it is I carry inside of me. I've tasted freedom in a new way. And I feel like I've reached a new place of living out of rest instead of working to be loved. Lots of my fears have been confronted this year, and time and time again I hear that perfect love really does cast out all fear because fear has to do with punishment. I've seen, encountered, and experienced God in a whole new light this year. I've always believed that God is good all the time, but so much of my thinking that I used to have about God has changed this year. It's so simple, but we complicate God so often. God is good, the devil is bad. How could a good God give sickness to people? He doesn't. How could it be God's fault that tragedy happens? It's not. God's always good. He always has our best interest in mind. Being full of the Spirit is so much about being like a child. Children believe without seeing, laugh without shame, and take risks without looking back. They live without regret and get up after falling down.
I've once again reached a milestone in my life where Your faithfulness shines brightly, where Your peace fills my soul, where Your goodness is so real and Your restoration and redemption is so thorough. As I look back on this less than a year that I've been at Bethel, You have pulled me out of the miry pit that nearly swallowed me up and You have set me back on the solid rock. I love You so much. I am more convinced in my heart of Your goodness now than ever before in my life. Thanks so much for taking so many chains from me this year and giving me freedom in return. Thanks for every time You've hovered over me like a blanket with Your sweet presence that feels like oil on my head. Thanks for the countless people who have been forever changed because You flowed through me when I prayed for them. Thanks for the Moms and Dads You gave me this year, as well as the brothers and sisters. Thanks for making me a leader and empowering me to empower others. I'm just thankful. Thanks for Your abundant provision to me. Thanks for the army and family that I've become a part of this year who champions each other to fulfill all You have for us. Thanks, thanks thanks God! You are always good. I really believe that. You're so good at taking the worst of circumstances and transforming them into the most incredible things! Who else is like You? You're unbeatable, unbreakable, unstoppable, unchangeable, untamable, unmovable. You're a great Dad. Thanks. I set this stake in the ground as a monument to You so that I can look back on for years to come and remember Your goodness, faithfulness, and love. Thanks, thanks, thanks!
This year has been a year of testimonies of Who God is and what He's done for me and for so many other people. I've seen impossible diseases healed, lives transformed by the raw power of God, miracles, signs, and wonders that point to a real God who has given us His authority to bring heaven to earth. It's such an honor to be a part of this move of God that is continuing to increase in intensity and extending geographically to more and more of the world. Sometimes I think about what the word "revival" really means. When something is revived, it implies that it was once alive, but somehow lost its life somewhere. When it's revived, life comes back into it. We're calling life back into people, businesses, families, homes, churches, nations, schools, hospitals, airports, the arts, and every other sector of society you can think of! Revival is not just preaching to the masses, but bringing the dominion of God to all parts of life. There is no separation between the "sacred" and "secular." God wants the kingdoms of this world to be His Kingdoms, and He's entrusted the earth to US to do that.
One of the most simple ways to actively release the Kingdom of God on earth is by thinking the way God thinks. Once we start thinking like Him, all of a sudden it will be easy to raise the dead, to see AIDS healed, to see poverty eradicated, to see legs grow back, and every other obstacle moved out of the way. For God, it's no harder to heal terminal cancer than it is to heal a headache. We need Holy Spirit to highlight the areas of our thinking that are actually houses of lies that empower unbelief and fear instead of faith and love. We're all hearing God's voice so often every day, but we just need to become more aware of it so we can hear what He's saying. It's not that God's not speaking, it's just that we need to listen. So much of what it means to bring heaven to earth is simply waiting on God to hear what His thoughts are about something, and then responding to that instead of us attempting to devise some sort of plan that looks appealing.
I've learned so much this year about this simple phrase that I hear tossed around so often at Bethel: "When we pray, God comes." Something is bound to happen when we let the Kingdom inside of us out! Somebody's going to get healed, somebody's going to get free of lies, somebody is going to feel loved in a way that they haven't before. Something good is bound to happen when we pray because God comes when we pray!!