LifeLift

A strange bit of theology in this talk… We often “PUNT” the promises of God to the future. 🏈 Go back to the Bible, though, and they thought— most of them— that the promises of God were only for NOW— not later. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul had to go out of his way to remind the early church that they had hope in the afterlife as well as the present (they had the opposite problem we do— they...

A lot of people worry and press and push on to please God. But what if all the working and striving and staining can’t do it, because it’s already done? What if God ALREADY accepts you? And what if “awakening” to that reality has the power to change everything…?

In the ancient world, people worshiped gods to keep them appeased. They offered sacrifice so something bad wouldn’t happen… … or to amend and right a wrong that had happened. (Surely, the gods were angry?). 🤷‍♂️ The Bible presents something radical. Come to God for what you GAIN— not just for the punishment and penalties you push off… (For sure, a lot of preachers preach more like the ancient pro...

Sins, mistakes, blunders, mishaps, nonsense, chaos… and every other bad thing… all overflow from the inside-out. It’s who we were… But, we’ve been re-made, re-created into the image of something better. And that shift means that who we are now is BETTER than anything we do. Even the low points. In fact, you’re far more valuable than your lowest lows AND even your highest highs. Your worth has alre...

A lot of people are afraid of judgment… … and, at first glance, we have reason to be (it seems). However, God looks at us differently than we imagine. 👇 In the Bible, He always looked to the perfection of the sacrifice, not the perfection of the sacrificer… … that is, grace (by its very nature) kicks in at the moment we realize that we can’t / don’t measure up and need help. ❤️‍🩹 Judgment alread...

The Bible uses a seemingly odd word to talk about our freedom: redemption.  It's a word that refers to the slave markets of the ancient world. It denoted people the price paid for a person to be set free. But to understand it, we've got to go way back to the story of Exodus as well, because that's the first (and second) time we see the word used in Scripture... ... and the PLACE we find it re...

If you need a miracle, and it’s not coming, I want to encourage you to shift your thinking and— just maybe— see something “new” in this talk. 30 times we see “healing” in the New Testament, it refers to a supernatural in-breaking of Heaven. 40 times it doesn’t. Well, it doesn’t AND it does…   There are two different concepts presented throughout the Bible, both working TOGETHER and not separa...

Some people believe that if you don’t have enough faith, the miracle won’t— it can’t— come. They teach that, if you think about it, faith is the strongest force in the universe— even mightier than God Himself. “That’s why you’re not healed,” they proclaim (often with an annoying degree of confidence)— “you don’t have enough faith.” 💔 Here are two problems with that line of thinking… 👉 First, it...

Many times we don’t know why we’re sick, injured, or ill… … and it’s easy to blame God. When we do, we actually place things on Him that we don’t see attributable to Him from the Bible. It makes sense that we do this— on one hand. Quite simply, when we’re facing something difficult we want (we NEED) answers. But… If God causes people to be sick… then why go to the doctor to change it? Or if he bri...

Somebody asked me a few weeks ago, “Why do you teach natural health?” And, “Why teach practical stuff alongside the spiritual…?” 🤷‍♂️ By that, they meant something like this: “You teach grace and healing… why do we need natural health if we have supernatural power available to us?” It’s a great question.    The sarcastic reply would be, “Why do you need doctors and Western medicine if w...

A few years ago, I found myself sitting in a nearby coffee shop. (I find myself in places like that a lot.) As I finished typing a chapter for a project I was completing, I stared out the oversized storefront window next to my table. Outside, the day was perfect. It wasn’t one of those dreary, grey-colored days that makes you feel foggy. Yet, as a closed the computer (without turning it off, of co...

In music, the rests are as important as the notes you play. Life is the same way. There’s a definite beat to Creation that works well for us when we embrace it. We discussed this in the previous episode… 🌎 The created order is built on a rhythm of “off” and “on.” We’re designed for bursts of work and pauses for rests. 🌎 Part of living a life of balance means there are definite times of Sabbath a...

If you’re like me, you consider your day to begin when you wake up in the morning. Right before you— if you’re like me— prep that coffee. Or, if you stayed up to midnight, you may look at your watch and think, “Oh, gee… it’s already tomorrow… a new day. I’ve got to get in bed.” We’ve programmed ourselves to think of our days as "daylight first” and “nighttime second.” We get up to start the day; w...

In our culture we value productivity… … not the pause. But, the pauses are often part of the productivity. And, they’re how we find healing, renewal, and the energy to move forward. ✅✅✅✅✅ If you’ve own a cell phone (I know, the technical name is mobile phone, now, and everybody has one), you’ve probably had unresolvable issues with it, called tech support, and then heard them tell you somethi...

Unlocking your purpose changes everything. And, I believe your purpose is found in the area of your supernatural gifting… a topic we’ve been dissecting and discussing on the podcast for the past 4+ episodes). But… … as much as we’d like to “jump ahead” and “get it done,” we can’t just go from “here” to “there” without the proper foundation. More important that any of the “purpose” you’ll do i...

For the past few talks we’ve been working through the topic of “spiritual gifts” (even though, as we discussed in talk #1 of the series, that term doesn’t actually appear in the New Testament— something more powerful and insightful does, instead). There are FOUR misconceptions people have about these “spiritual gifts” (re-listen to installment #1 of the series for a better understanding of what th...

The first time we see someone “clothed” with the Holy Spirit to do something on God’s behalf— at the capacity of Heaven— is found in Exodus 31:2-5. Oddly enough, it’s NOT a reference to God gifting Moses to speak, to set His people free, to lead them through the Red Sea (even though we know God was present in each of those moments). Notice— “See, I have chosen Bezalel… and I have filled him with t...

A few years ago I was in a church service when the visiting preacher, at the very end of his message, locked eyes with me, and began talking. To be clear, in front of everyone, he directed his statements towards me. They were clear. They were concise. They were spoken in front of everyone— so all the people attending that morning could hear exactly what he said. They were laced with grace. 💙 The...

A few years ago I revisited a book my Dad wrote 20+ years ago, re-drafted it, and then re-published it. In the process I learned a TON about the subject of the book, spiritual gifts. Along the way, I discovered some “good news” and I stumbled into some “bad news.” 😳 The bad news is this… The term “spiritual gifts” that I heard so much about growing up in the church (a great church, a super-experi...

Who you are is greater than what you do. The fruit of your life is an overflow of the person you’re becoming. ⭐️ 💥 INSIDE-OUT Work on you while you work on the dream. That is, do BOTH at the same time— it’s not “either-or” but “both-and.” This matters… A Yale study affirmed that: * 15% of the people who succeed do so because of their education or skill * 85% do so because of their interpersonal...

Relationships are the currency of those who live in the realm of their inherent greatness. Walking in healthy relationships with whole people is essential to living your purpose… 🚌 BUSINESS example = In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins studied the factors that made companies— working in the same time period with identical market conditions and opportunities— excel towards “greatness” while oth...

Knowing your true internal motivation(s) for the life you’re trying to build empowers self-awareness (knowing who you are), as well as self-leadership (knowing how to move forward with faithfulness). Here are a few things you need to know about “the why,” that is, the third rung of the ladder in the Advance framework.   💙 The HEART is never neutral (it may be numb, such that you don’t hear w...

Saying “yes” to the great stuff in life often requires saying “no” to the good. That is, our most pivotal decisions don’t usually come to down a choice between “good” and “bad” but, rather, “good” and “great.” But… If we say “yes” and prioritize our process— the plan we’ve created to move from “where we are to where we’re designed to be”— and do those things consistently, we can relax about the re...

The first step to living a life by design (instead of default) is deciding where you want to go. The second step is owning where you are now… (Where you are NEVER defines who you are— it’s just your current location, your starting point. Nor is where you are where you must remain. However, where you are IS where you must begin. So…) Create a plan, and enjoy the journey. Here’s how… ✅ DREAM— and d...

Back in 2014, a child-therapist my family visited for a season described stress in a revealing way. Kristen, the counselor, likened our souls to balloons… “You can blow a balloon up,” she said, moving her hands larger and farther part as if an expanding party-type of balloon rested between them. “At first the balloon is fine with the air you blow in…” “At some point, the balloon reaches max capaci...