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The other day I found myself in an opportunity to minister with some awesome brothers of mine, to a person who was not a believer and whose experiences with Christians has been mostly negative. 

Have I not promised that you shall have anything you ask me for? Yet I did not promise to give it to you immediately. Are you accustomed to having anything you want without delay? Do you lose interest in things you have to wait for? This is impatience and it is a problem in your modern culture of immediacy. Some things of real value you can have immediately, but in most cases the greater things take the longest times to obtain. This applies not just to material things, but to desirable items like education and experience, and even to spiritual things, and so patience is a fruit of the Spirit. The wait is part of the value of what you want, and the process of waiting transforms you into my likeness. 

Question: As I counseled a troubled girl after one of my classes, her tearful passionate question was, "Why did my mom die last year of cancer? My mom believed with all her heart for a miracle of healing. There were prophecies by several recognized prophets who said she would be healed, and yet she died. I don’t know why. I need an answer!"

The other day I was in the gym when I looked through the window to see an older man limping down the sidewalk.  When I saw him I felt the familiar stir of the Holy Spirit and knew that God wanted to touch the man in some way.

The secret is DO IT MORE. The more you do it, the more you’ll hear him speak - and the more you hear his voice, the easier it becomes to believe it’s really him.

God I continue to walk around in stunned disbelief that this is actually happening. I still find it so difficult to believe that you are really and truly having a conversation with me – back and forward all day long. It’s crazy.

Mark do you want to know the simple secret of how to believe this is happening, and that you’re not just making it up?

Have you been through a church split? Most believers are familiar with these even if they haven’t experienced one themselves. Would you guess that all of these were unavoidable due to differences in non-negotiable core beliefs? Have you ever been through a church merger? You are correct in thinking these are rare. Yet in the fullness of my Kingdom there will be no denominational distinctions, for all believers will merge together, and there will be one head with one body, one God and one people. Until then do all that is in your power to accept and affirm what I am doing in others. Be as inclusive as you can. 

Do you find it easier to love those who are trustworthy than those who are not? Yet my word commands you to love everyone. It goes on to acknowledge that even sinners love those who love them, and it is easy for you to do this, to give kindness to those who are kind to you, but how do you respond to those persecute you? To show them favor in the same manner that you love those who love you is above and beyond the ways of this world, and it is a testimony to the greater realm and reality of my Kingdom. True love is not a response but a characteristic showing that you are the children of your Father in heaven.

[I'll be away all but one night for the next 10 days] 

I was scrolling through some Facebook threads the other day when I came across something that I just had to comment on.  You think I would’ve learned my lesson.  Just kidding, it was all good.

I have given you talents, abilities, and gifts. Do you think they are for you? I have given you the illustration of your relationship to others as members of a body. Every member of a body serves some vital purpose for the good of the whole. None exists in isolation, and none exists to serve its own interests alone. If you are gifted to write, it is so others may read. If you create beauty it is for others to enjoy. If you minister life, it is that others may receive life, even as you also receive life from them. You should be grateful for what I have given you and eager to use it. Be unselfish with it, for it is blessed to give.