You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:2-3)

There are lots of people who want God to bless them so that they might have the things that people have in the world.  “Please God, bless me with a car like my friend has” or “Please God, give me a house with 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms in the nicest part of town.”

Well, why would God do that?  He can see the motivations of our heart.  He knows our motivations better than we do.  Covetous prayers do not get heard.

The better way to pray and receive is to ask God what He wants and then ask Him for the abundance to be able to do what he says.

I know people who are waiting for a cheque in the mail, or for someone to drop a lot of money in their hands but they don’t really know why they want it.  They are even praying that it will happen.  These prayers never worked well for me, although if someone wanted to drop a lot of money in my hands I probably would still take it, unless of course, God told me not to.

The most important thing is to please our God, so my prayer becomes: “Show me what you would want me to do.”  When He shows me I understand the course that I am to take.

My bank account does not stop me from doing the things that God has called me to do.  I step out in the things He shows me and provision follows.  He knows what He wants me to do and is pleased to give me the resources I need to do it.

In essence, my money does not determine my course but my course determines my money.

I look at the Kingdom as a place where I can make many investments and I am always asking God where He would have me invest.

The other night I had a dream.  In it I saw a well-known minister.  When he came up to me I said, “Oh yes, I owe you $500.00.  I will get that to you as soon as I can.”  When I woke up, I realized the Lord was showing me what He wanted me to do with my money.

I will be honest with you, I don’t actually have that money in my bank account right now, but I do know that money will come for me to invest and it will be soon.  I know that when I pray asking for this money it will come because I believe by faith that God showed me that He wants me to sow it into this man’s ministry.

I actually get excited when this sort of thing happens because I know that if God wants me to sow then I am going to reap something as well.  It might be money, but my hope is that it will be a portion of the anointing that this man operates under, which is much more exciting to me.

I pray that God will download to you a greater understanding of Kingdom finances today.  I ask the Lord to rain down abundance upon you today and to meet all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19).

Meditating on the word of God has a way of binding the thoughts of God to our hearts.   We become people of the word because the word goes deep within us.   It is not that we have every scripture memorized to be able to tell exactly where such and such is said, but His word we hide in our hearts that we might not sin against Him and that we might live for Him.

The word becomes my comfort and my strength when hard times come upon me.  As I read the words of David in the Psalms, I find the language to speak to God when I am in my own distress.  As I read the prophecies of Isaiah regarding the restoration and rebuilding of Israel, I am convinced of my own restoration and recreation.  I learn that God is creating a clean heart within me and establishing me in my generation in such a way that I will shine as a righteous star before the darkness of my time.  I know this by the word of God.

Even when fear rises up within me, I know that it will not remain because God is my strong tower and my strength.  He is my rock that is much higher than me.  As I wait upon the Lord he renews my strength and I am able to fly with the power of the Spirit into greater things than I ever imagined.

I know that I am not limited because the people in the stories of the Bible were not limited.  They seemed to do things that were superhuman or supernatural, and as they were in the world so can I be to my world.  All this I understood as I meditated upon the word.

I knew that if I cried out as Solomon cried out for wisdom, that I would be given much more than wisdom just as Solomon was granted much more.  I knew that if I trusted God as my sword in the face of the enemy just as Gideon trusted him, then I would advance against a troop and jump over high walls and scale great mountains.

And as I meditated upon the Gospels I began to see a possibility for my own life.  As Jesus was in this world I could become.  Just as Jesus was a healer, I knew I could be a healer.  I knew that as Peter walked on water, so could I walk upon water.  Just as Paul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus, I could.  Just as Paul walked in the Spirit I could walk in the Spirit.  I could dream and have visions.  I could see the heavenlies, encounter angels and overcome the flesh.  This I understood because I meditated upon God’s word.

The intimacy that John had with Christ I could have.  I could become something much more wonderful and loving than I once was.  I began to understand from the word of God that my mind was being transformed on a day-to-day basis so that the thoughts of Christ were becoming my thoughts.  I knew that I would not be bound by my old nature but that I would overcome, not by my own strength, but by the grace of Christ living within me.

I knew that I could operate with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit because the people in the word operated in tremendous ways.  I knew that if I exercised my faith, then I could do even greater things than I ever imagined doing.

And each day as greater things come toward me I know that I will see greater things still because in Christ I am not limited at all.  All this I understood from reading the word of God.

I pray today that you will begin to understand who you are in Christ.  I pray that a great hunger for God’s word will arise in you and that you will not rest until great revelation floods your heart like a spotlight in a dark room.   I pray that God will open your hearts and minds to the things of Jesus Christ so that you understand who you are in this world and the great authority that you do hold.

Even when you are a revivalist like me and you have seen tremendous signs and wonders and outpourings in many places, you come to understand that you are nothing and that God is everything.  Moreover God has not created me as an island unto myself but created me to exist within community.  In community I flourish and together with my brothers and sisters we reach our generation for Christ.

When our time on earth is done, history might look back at a few people and remember them as something special (like John Wesley or Charles Finney). But really every person who is doing anything for the Lord knows that these special ones are just products of the hunger of many persons working together to see revival poured out into the earth.

It is within the body of Christ that each of us comes to fruition and freedom.  I can no more take credit for the way the Spirit moves through me than I can take credit for the way my car drives.  I just really enjoy the drive.

My friends that surround me also have incredible anointing upon their lives.  I believe that when we work together the anointing on each of our lives sparks more significantly and together we pull on heaven’s cords for outpouring in our generation. 

We cannot do it alone.  We must work toward revival together and I believe that the spark that is inside each of us will alight a generation for the Lord.  Not one spark alone but many sparks in the many hearts of people.

And as we come together in larger and larger numbers I believe we will see greater manifestations of His presence.  It is not about us and never will be.  But I believe that God in me and God in you is pleased when you and I come together seeking His presence and demanding heaven to move. As we seek Him we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts.

And so together we can become a revival generation.  We can become a people that generations will look back to and comment about how they were a generation that changed the world. 

A revolution doesn’t come from the sound of one voice.  A revolution arises inside of the hearts of a people who have had enough of the way that things have been.

Such darkness lurks over the hearts of our generation.  Collectively we have taken a lot from the evil one, but together as we cry out to God and demand our countries to be touched by the power of God, the power of God will be poured out in a new way even in this time and innocence and purity will be restored.

There are times when it will seem that God is moving more through someone else and then there will be times that it seems that He is moving more through you and me.  It is not for us to lecture God on His choice of servants.  We must rejoice with those who rejoice and support them when God is using them powerfully.  Just as we rejoice when He uses us for His glory.

God will use you powerfully.  Trust me, I have been around long enough now to see God use many hearts to glow in the earth.  Each one is His choice instrument for glory.  Together as we burn we can set a city aflame.  Let’s let God be God and let Him burn more brightly than ever.

I love this season that we are entering.  God is about to burst through ordinary people like you and me and we are about to see a generation shifted into the purposes of God. In the process we will be propelled into our destiny as well.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.(Romans 12:2)

The peeling back of the broken layers of the heart is a process I am not sure will ever end on this side of eternity, but it is a process we must submit ourselves to in order to become the perfect bride of Christ without spot or wrinkle.

The renewing of the mind is a substantial thing.  It is not a momentary “bang” and it is finished and over.  Jesus died on the cross for our sins once and for all, but our minds are renewed out of the ‘old man’ and into the ‘new man’ on a day-to-day basis.

There are so many fears that entwine our hearts.  We are not even aware of many of them.  These fears have a way of leading us into compromising situations where we surrender the best that God has to offer us for inappropriate relationships and company.  Our fears have the power to trap us with the great swath of humanity that is headed into darkness and death.

The darkness causes shadows to manifest within our heart and shadows have a way of looking bigger than they really are.  Our hearts manifest any number of fears which empower our own hearts to compromise but also set fear in the hearts of others.

One person’s shadow is another’s brokenness and fear.  The sounds of fear that come from my own heart become the foundation of fear for generations to come.  If I am not set free from fear then it is likely that my own family members will be bound by the same fears.

But Jesus came to set the captives free.  He will set me free and he will set the generations that follow free as well.  The captivity of my heart is greater than I first imagined.  Even last night I was in the mansion of my mind and within it I saw shadows that set fear deep within me, but then the light was turned on within that mansion and I realised that my fear had no substance other than the sound coming as a cry from my brokenness.

Inside of my dream the lights came on and I began to wander into the rooms of my fear, where nothing was that fearful at all.  Within these rooms was plenty and even comfort.  I was surprised to see that hell did not reign within my broken heart.

God wants to unveil every secret shadow of your heart.  He wants to show you that there is no reality that is greater than His love and peace inside of you.  Perfect love casts out fear and love has a way of making us feel safe in our Father’s arms.  In fact love is one part of the arms of God.  When I am in God I am in love.  There is no difference between God and love.

Where fear reigns inside of our brokenness we must allow God to turn on the lights and expose the lies within us.  The truth sets us free.  Many times when God reveals the truth of our fears we are shocked to discover the unreality and the lack of substance of that fear.

We had convinced ourselves that our fears were menacing creatures that lived in our closets when in fact they were just thoughts that bound us.  When the lie is exposed the truth does come and then freedom like a rushing wave washes over our hearts.

I pray today that God will open your heart to His wise counsel.  I pray that He will expose the lies that bind you to every fear that has a hold upon your life, including poverty, loneliness, infirmity and lust.

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”(James 4:7)

Each one of us in Christ can have the lion’s heart in the face of fear.  But how do we resist the devil.  I was actually asking God this myself this morning and then I was reminded of the confrontation of Jesus and the Devil in the wilderness.

And if we look at this confrontation as a type of battle between man and the devil, then we can understand how man can defeat the devil by resisting him.  In that scripture the devil comes to Jesus tempting him with things that might satisfy a fleshly man.  The way Jesus seems to have overcome in those moments was with the word of God.

Satan, knowing the heart of Christ, uses the word as a part of the temptation process.  He gives him enough truth to try to overcome him.  This worked with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and has probably worked with most of mankind since that time, but it did not work with Jesus.

Jesus resisted the devil with the word of God.  You might say, “But Jesus knew what was in store for him in eternity, therefore the devil’s temptation was shallow.”  Maybe, but in order to inherit what was in store he had to endure the cross and we know from his moments in the garden of Gethsemane, that this was a great trial for him. 

You and I are not much different.  We know the promises of God for our own lives too, but the process can be hard.  We don’t want to die to our own ways, so if a quicker way presents itself that seems to cost less, it can be a real temptation.  And yet, there is no achieving the will of God in our lives without remaining in the Vine or by submitting ourselves to God. 

We have to be able to recognize the devil when he approaches.  And many do not.  Many confuse the devil for God and jump into his bed like it is filled with roses.  That bed is a bed of suffering, shame and guilt and those who are seduced by it will be overcome.

There are seasons that you will be pursuing God in a marvellous and real way and the devil will come to you at that time to present to you a counterfeit that seems so seductive you will have to have the gift of discernment in order to know that it isn’t God presenting it.

I have had friends who have pushed into the deepest places of revival fall because they could not recognise the seduction of the enemy when he came. They settled for something smaller, less wonderful than what God had in store, and deep in their hearts they know it.  In the hour of temptation they failed.

There have been times in my own life when I have been tempted by the enemy to short cut the process that God has to cleanse my life.  But I have come to understand that there is no avoiding the refiner’s fire. You have to submit your life to the fire in order to glow with a passion to reach nations for the Lord.  You cannot take a shortcut to Zion.

The way was paved by Calvary and when we submit ourselves to the Cross we will enter into the fullness of Christ by the hand of God.  Christians will experience the temptations of the devil, but by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and the power of God working through them they will overcome.

We must become people of the Spirit because when we walk in the Spirit we will overcome the flesh.  Learning to hear God’s voice and walk in the sound of it will keep us from hundreds of temptations because the people of faith will walk a different path where temptations are beneath their feet.

Learning to overcome temptation is a key to achieving your greatest destiny in Jesus Christ.

See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:25-27)

I have found that every time that God wants to do something new in my life there comes a season of shaking.  I was talking to a friend the other day about the nature of God.  During that conversation I got a glimpse of the unchanging nature of God.  To think that God is unchanging is an amazing thought in the light of my own need for change.

Man changes day-by-day.  For this I am actually very thankful.  I am glad that I don’t remain the same but that God is in the process of changing my brokenness into His glorious image. The more of God in me the more I will be happy, and the more people will see Jesus in me, the more they will come to Christ.

So times of shaking in our lives do come and this by the Grace of God.  God rebukes His sons.  He disciplines us so that we might become mature.  John 15 says that He prunes us that we might become more fruitful.

I remember that the thought of the discipline of God use to hurt my heart because I felt that He was rejecting me when He disciplined me but now I rejoice in it.  I rejoice because I know that God is changing me.  He is changing me for His glory.  He is changing me so that I might be more fruitful.  And I also know that He is changing me because He loves me.

We must allow that discipline to come upon our lives because only when we allow God to touch the deep parts of our lives will we walk in greater freedom.  The first and most important reason we want God to change us is so that we might be free, and “he who the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36).

The freedom of God in our lives is our greatest asset.  People who are bound by fear, depression and anxiety will be drawn to us when they see that freedom of God in our hearts.

When fear is cast off of us, we become powerful for the Lord.  We are able to stand in places that we once were not able to stand.  We are able to shine for Him in ways that we never would have been able to shine.

I can sense the desire of many to become greater lights for the Lord.  I pray for you today and ask God to shake off everything that has no eternal value from your life.  I ask Him to open your heart to His precious Spirit so that sanctification and cleansing might come your way on the road to your destiny.

“Where the word of a king is, there is power; and who may say to him, “What are you doing?” (Ecclesiastes 8:4)

God chooses the manner in which He moves in the earth.  We might like to think that our part in it is greater than it really is, but at the end of the day each of us only plays a small part.  We must bow our heads to Jesus and allow Him to have sovereignty over our lives.  When He begins to move in the earth in a new way we must come into agreement with it or we could become persecutors of it.

It is up to us to come in line with what God is doing and not for God to come in line with what we are doing.

Jesus came into the earth and the religious leaders did not like the package that they were seeing.  They got nervous with the power and influence that Jesus was having over the people.  Instead of coming into line with what God was doing they decided that they would kill Jesus, so that their power would remain.

And many of us are the same way.  When God begins to move we allow our own desire for power to get in the way of what God is doing.  We must bow our knee to God and ask Him to help us to see with His eyes.

The things that God does astound the wise and those that are of impure heart cannot see God in the midst of His moving because only the pure in heart will see God.

There are times in my own life that I have cried out to God and asked Him to make me clean so that I can stay in the midst of his moving.  I don’t want to miss revival.  I don’t want to sit on the sidelines and watch as God is moving in other places.  I want to catch the same flame and the same spark and begin to move into the things that God has in store for my own life.

Just because God is using one instrument for His Glory does not mean that God does not have a plan for your own life.  A person may be designed to bring revival and transformation into one place and you might designed to bring it into another.

One of the reasons that we get upset when we see God moving in other people’s lives is because we feel that He might move in theirs more than ours.  And this is a lie from the enemy.  God has different ministries and activities for His people.  They don’t all minister the same way and yet each one’s part is important for the Kingdom of God.

It takes great humility to humble ourselves and walk into the flame of His moving.  We have to die to our own desires and beliefs and let God’s desires and ideas take precedence in our lives.  Only when we do this will we remain in the sound of His voice for our lives.

I pray for you today and ask God to strengthen you so that you might walk in the midst of His calling and revival for your life.  I pray that you will see with God’s eyes and do what might seem impossible for your flesh to do, but die to this world so that you might live for Christ in freedom.

May many lives be transformed as you continue to walk toward your destiny.

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.” (Acts 2:17)

Many times as I prophesy over people the Lord shows me that He is about to speak to them in an increased way through visions and dreams.  This is often received with tears by many of the people who hear it.

I remember when I first started telling people that I had dreams of heaven, Jesus and angels, some thought I was crazy.  I even had leaders around me say that perhaps that I was talking about my dreams too much.  This will happen, but it is not only biblical to have dreams and visions (Acts 2:17) but it is also biblical to speak about what you have seen (Matthew 10:27).

Visions and dreams are a communication form that God uses to speak into our hearts.  When I see something in a dream or vision, it solidifies my understanding of what God‘s word says.

In a dream one time I saw a number of books.  I picked up one book that had a scripture verse on its spine. It was John 8:36 which says, “He who the son sets free is free indeed.”

When I woke up I went to the Bible and read that scripture.  The truth of it sank deep into my heart and became a life verse.  I know that I am set free because God showed it to me in a vision and dream and then confirmed it in His word.

We know God’s voice by what it produces in us.  For me His voice always comes with peace and joy.  There are times that He warns me and corrects me, but when I come into agreement with what He says, my heart returns to peace.  Even if I must repent at the correction of the Lord, I am happy because He knows what is best for my life.

So dreams and visions become vehicles that God uses to strengthen His people.  They are also used to give you direction and understanding.  He will even communicate to you in dreams about the fears that you have deep in your heart.  He does this so that He can heal you of those fears.

God directed Joseph to go into Egypt with Mary and the baby Jesus.  He warned the magi not to go back to Herod after they saw the Christ Child.  He directed Paul into Macedonia through a dream.  He showed Peter that the gospel was to spread to the Gentiles through a vision.

Dreams and visions are powerful tools that God uses to touch lives deeply and reveal destiny.  I am always asking God to speak to me through them.  I believe that God doesn’t mind us asking Him for a dream or a vision.  We should desire this Godly form of communication.  It is supernatural and shows us that God is real.  When we encounter God through a dream and vision it strengthens our faith, so begin to call out to Him to strengthen you in this way.

I know that my life has never been the same since I started to have God dreams.  There is no way I can doubt that He is real.  He speaks to me often and His voice is good.

I pray that you will begin to experience Him in greater ways as you sleep during the night.

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

A whole generation of Israelites perished in the desert because they were not courageous to believe that God had ordained for them to inherit the Promised Land.  When Joshua and Caleb spied out that land they saw that it was filled with abundance and they believed that God would be with them as they entered in to take that land.

But there were 10 other spies who just did not believe that they could take the land because of the giants that were in it.  Because of this, a generation wandered in the desert for 40 years until unbelief could be purged out of a nation.

When Joshua went into the land to take it God promised that he would be with him and Joshua believed God and took the land.  Yes, he had to fight his way into that land, defeating the enemy as he went, but the promise of God was that he would win the battle and he did.

As they marched around the walls of Jericho, which might seem to be a very unlikely military tactic, the walls came tumbling down and the renown of the Israelites’ God went out into all of Canaan and the Israelites took the land.

Many of us wrestle with unbelief in the face of the promises of God.  There are many times that I write a statement on Facebook like “God is going to defeat the obstacles in your life,” and people will respond with a very defeated, “Well, I hope so.”

This is not faith.  Faith rises up in the face of the obstacles and the enemy’s lies and proclaims the truth of what God has spoken.  No matter what comes against faith, faith understands the truth of God’s word and that it is impossible for God to lie.  Faith will take great steps toward every word of the Lord that has been spoken because it knows that it will overcome by the word of the Lord.

Do you have promises that have been spoken over your life by God?  Can you feel the truth of those promises deep within your being?  Have you been wandering in the wilderness of dissatisfaction and fear?  God has a day for you and it is called “now,” so prepare yourselves for more.

But more sometimes comes with a price.  Many people want things to be handed to them on a silver platter, but this is not the way God seems to work.  He makes us step into the direction of His promises and says, “The path before you may be difficult and the enemy may seem to be strong, but I am with you and together we will defeat his plans for your life.”

All you have to do is step into the Jordan, and then march around Jericho.  You must step into the place that God has said to go and as you do victory is not only certain but most assuredly yours.

I pray that you will have the strength to believe God in the face of your obstacles.  I pray that God will embolden you to believe that you are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus.  May the Lord bless you with a new hope and word in this hour.  Get ready for more!

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21)

 When your heart is as much for my church as mine is for yours, then I believe we will see a greater outpouring of God’s Spirit upon the churches.

I remember one time meeting a young man in one of my meetings many years ago in Korea.  This young man had a great talent for music ministry.  I said to him that he would be a great asset to the man that I was working with in Korea, but then this great pride came over him as he began to state that he wouldn’t work with this man because his own church was the greatest church in all Korea.

This kind of pride is not of God.  When we put pride in our church and our ministry above our God, we are actually living in idolatry, because the Kingdom of God is greater than any one person’s church.

The building up of our own church should not be our main goal in ministry.  That is small thinking.  We need to be ambassadors of the Kingdom pointing people to Jesus Christ every day of our lives.  We should not be worried about where they go to church. 

I have led people to Christ who decided that my church was not the place for them.  I have learned to be fine with this.  Perhaps another church is the place where they will blossom and grow in their lives.

In fact it is impossible for me to actually pastor everybody that I have led to Christ.  I cannot counsel all of them.  There are too many of them.  I have to trust that the Holy Spirit is able to keep them and sanctify them and train them.

It is going to take every church working together to bring in the harvest that is coming.  My church and your church are the same church.  We are all a part of the bride of Christ.  We must walk in unity.

One of the words that comes often in this hour is how God is forming a net to bring in the fishes.  I don’t know if you have ever seen fishing nets.  I am from Newfoundland where fishing was a big part of our culture.  Fishing nets are made up of many little squares that are knotted together.  Fishing nets may have as many as a thousand knots, but each knot is important.  If one knot breaks some fish might get away.  If many knots break the entire harvest might be lost.

Each church is a knot in the net and each church is important.  We cannot give up on one church but we must pray that they will become one like Jesus and the Father are one.  As we become one with each other and care for each other and prefer one another this harvest will come in and each church will experience salvations and movements of the Holy Spirit.

I can see it in my heart–thousands of churches worshipping at the same time in different locations and each one worshipping in their own way Jesus Christ as Lord.  They may not sound the same or look the same.  It doesn’t matter.  What matters is that Jesus is lifted high.

I pray that you will receive this vision today and that you will begin to pray for the great outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit upon all the churches.