Today I was able to re-live a memory of a good friend of mine from back in College. Nick Boehle was a man that lived a crazy life filled with adventure, success and extravagance.  He was a self made millionaire by the age of 27 and had everything in the eyes of the world.  On April 23^rd at around 7:00am in the morning, Nick and two others crashed in his plane in Mesa Arizona.

The 23^rd was Nick's mother's birthday.  One week before her birthday someone asked her what she wanted.  She said, "I would like my family to come to church with me.....No I actually would like for my family to know Jesus in their hearts personally." Nicks mother received word that her son would not be coming back on her birthday.  

After long prayer with her pastor and friends, Nick's mother had two questions for God.  Is Nick in Heaven or Hell and why did this have to happen on her birthday? Through numerous confirmations in dreams and words of knowledge, Nicks mother new that her son had gone home to be with the Lord. Nicks death was a present from the Lord saying that He was taking Nick home to be with Him.

Watching the video of my dear friend made me think of millions of people just like Nick. Through the fervent prayers of Nick's mother and many others, Nick was brought home to be with His true Father. 

My heart cries out for millions to get this revelation. My heart cries out for people to realize how short life is and how we really aren't in control. Nick's mother had it right when she questioned whether her son was in Heaven or Hell? 

When you know where you are going when you die there is nothing in this world that can take that rest away. When you know how much your Father in heaven loves you, the thoughts of living an eternity in the scariest place imaginable doesn't affect you. God will never leave you nor forsake you.

Where are you going when you die? Do you have rest that you know that you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are going to heaven when you pass away? What is your salvation based on? 

It is time to go deep within the soul and ask the most important question of your life. Am I really a son or daughter of God?   

"If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.  It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work." 1^st Corinthians 3:13

What are you building?  Are you building your own kingdom, your own business, your own ministry?  If today were the day that you knelt before the King of Kings, what would you have to say for yourself?

No matter what anyone says, believers in Christ, non-believers, you name it, every knee will bow to the living God and will be held accountable for what they have done on earth.  I know that might offend some of you, but it is truth.  The King of all Kings will come to you and ask what you have done with your life.

Each one of us has been given gifting's and a purpose in life.  There is something within us that just makes us fill with life because that is what we were created for.  If you are a believer in Christ, we scream out and say, "God come and change me", "God have your way and not my way", "God I want to fulfill your purposes and not mine", "Make me in the likeness of your Son".  You know that you have prayed those prayers at some time.

The hardest part about it is the plain fact that we hate some answered prayer.  Some might be thinking, what are you saying right now?  Ok, what does it mean to be formed into the likeness of Christ?  It means that people will despise you, people will slander you, people will persecute you.  You will have to die to your will.  Do you hear this on Sunday's?  I believe you don't because thousands if not hundreds of thousands would run from the Lord.  They would say that this life is too hard, that message doesn't tickle my ears with what I want to hear.  I don't want it anymore, I didn't mean those prayers.

The fact of the matter is that we will all be judged.  We will come before God and he will look at what we did in life and it will be compared to straw, hay, wood, costly stones, silver & gold.  Will your business be burnt to the ground because it revolved completely around your dreams and your desires, will your ministry be nullified because you were building your own kingdom; or will you walk into Heaven refined like gold that is beaten 7 times until it is finely polished until Jesus can be seen in the reflection.

Most of the church will run when they hear this message.  What do you want to do?  Following Jesus will cost you everything, but the rewards will be everlasting.  Angels will praise you when you walk into heaven, and God will say, "Well done good and faithful servant."

"But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you." 1^st Peter 5:10

I could feel the Father's love pour down on me, I could feel his heart for me, for my marriage, and I could feel His pain for a generation.  I began to weep so hard that I had to pull off the road to sit in His presence.

As I sat, I was completely powerless; I was completely dependent on Him.  I had no control over anything; He was in complete control.  He showed me what He was doing in my marriage and how my job is to love.  He gave me a heart for my wife like I have never felt before.  I began to weep for my wife.  I could feel the Father's heart for Erin.  I could see what He wanted to give her, I could see who she is in the spirit, and I could see Him holding His daughter.

As I continued to pray in the Spirit, my heart was directed to an entire generation.  I could feel the pain that this generation is going through- rejection, fear, shame, anger, orphaned, fatherless. This pain was so heavy; my heart felt like it was being ripped out of my chest, but I didn't want to leave.  I wanted to feel the pain that this generation goes through; I wanted to know how the Father feels about us. 

I was reminded that Scripture promises us that we will go through suffering.  Scripture promises us that we will be sanctified into the likeness of Jesus, which means going through the sometimes difficult process to get there.

I began to see that this generation has been robbed of the gift of pain and suffering.  I am not a sadist, but previous generations have wanted to save their children from the suffering they went through and have kept them from being refined by pain and suffering.

This has given a generation a false reality of what this life is all about.  Yes it is about blessings, love, mercy and the fullness of Christ.  It is about identity in Him, but pain and suffering will come.  Pain and suffering must be experienced and Jesus must be found in them.  Pain is the greatest teacher- finding Jesus in the valleys, finding Jesus when life seems difficult, finding Jesus when your circumstances are against you.  Pain and suffering can not be avoided.
 

This generation should not be afraid of the hard places.  This generation must realize that following after Jesus is going to cost you everything.  This message is hard, but to gain your life you must first lose it.  This generation needs to be different and believe what the Word of God says.

Fear of the Lord is a message forgotten by a generation.  This generation does not know how to revere the Lord or how to look to Him with godly fear.  Why is this?

Some might be getting a little offended right now.  I say this because I have seen; and live in this generation.  I have seen many wander away from the Lord thinking they can do it on their own.  I have seen the Lord put men of God in their lives to encourage, mentor and guide them, yet they feel they can do it on their own.
 

I have been reading a book, "Spiritual Slavery to Spiritual Sonship" by Jack Frost.  I think that everybody should go out and buy this book, especially if you are between the ages of 15-45.  The book talks about an orphan spirit versus the spirit of sonship.  I don't want to detour from Fear of the Lord, but this generation has an orphan spirit, largely- I believe- because as a whole we are a fatherless generation.  44% of children in the US have no father listed on their birth certificate and that jumps to 77% of kids living in inner cities.

I believe there is a generation called the 42^nd generation that will rise up walking in the full authority of Jesus Christ.  I believe that we are that generation.
 

I believe that hating evil is only half of what the 42^nd generation will have.  I believe the other half is in "The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; he will not be visited with evil."  Proverbs 19:23
 

Why do I believe this is the other half?  Identity! Identity is the key to everything.  Whose son are you?  Do you funnel everything through your worldly experiences or do you believe who you are from Scripture?  The generation that understands this concept of identity will understand the Fear of the Lord and evil will not visit them.  Do you get this?
 

It is time for a generation to come together and cry out for the Fear of the Lord.  It is time to cry out for wisdom, for knowledge and for discernment.  It is time for a generation to realize who we are through Scripture and come out of the wilderness to the promise land.  It is time for a generation to come together in unity and fight rebellion.  It is time for a generation to get under authority, because if you are not under authority you have no authority.  If you can't do it in the natural, how can you do it in the spiritual?

Rise up generation and see what the Father is saying to us!!!

I pray that the revelation of the Fear of the Lord would flood your entire lives. 

God Bless

As I was sitting with the Lord this morning a thought passed through my mind, then another and yet another. I began to think how easy it would be for my thoughts to get out of control.

Then, a statement passed through my mind, you are what you think about. I then put that statement in terms of my marriage. For those that are not married, think about relationships that you have or friendships, I believe that it works completely the same.

Has your spouse ever done something that upsets you? I have only been married for a couple of months but there are a couple things that my wife just does to get under my skin. When she does something like this, I begin to think about it in my mind. Next thing I know, I have allowed this thought to spiral out of control and either I have bitterness towards her or we get into a fight later on.

The reason that I bring this up is because our minds have the power to consume us. Our minds can either work for us or against us. If we think positive thoughts then we are positive people, if we think negative thoughts, then we are negative people. Some estimates that I have seen say 70-80% of all the thoughts throughout the day are negative.

This is why Paul talks about renewing our minds. The only way to actually renew our minds is to wash it with the word of God. Lies are the only weapon that the devil can use against us. If we believe a thought and give agreement to the devil, we give him access to our lives in that area.

How many times has this happened to you? You get upset with your spouse and then your thoughts rapidly move to other things that upset you.  What if we change that pattern? What if we reverse that thinking and think of everything we love about that person at that time and say it over and over in our minds?

Yes we might not want to think about that at the time but what if we forced ourselves to think it? Would we begin to act in love and allow God to move on that person's heart, trusting that He is for us and not against us?









(Garden of the Gods Kissing Camels)

This is so easy to preach on, it is another thing to live. I bring this up because I believe that we need to change our thought patterns. We need to become what the word of God says about us. We need to live it, we need to breath it and we need to consume it. It will only happen by renewing of our minds daily, by washing the word through our minds until we believe in truth verses lies.

Labor Day signifies an annual holiday devoted to the recognition of working people's contribution to society. To commemorate this holiday I decided to give my dedication to the Lord. I spoke to the Lord and vowed to give Him the beginning of everyday this week starting at 6:00am. Why did I do this? 

There has been something deep within my heart that has been telling me that I have idols in my life. What is an idol? As scripture has stated above, an idol is anything that takes precedence before God. I am saved, I love God, well then how can I have idols in my life?

Idols can come in any form; wife, husband, fiancι, girlfriend, boyfriend,  job, possessions, dreams, worries, fears, family, money, TV, computer, phone, debts, Facebook and internet just to name a few.

I have seen over the past couple of months that I have allowed idols to creep into my life. Although I love God with all of my heart, I have allowed worries, concerns and thoughts to creep into my relationship with my King. I have seen that worries of finances and thoughts of providing have taken the thrown of my life. I have given my heart and my life to my Lord, but He was not first at the moment.

My thoughts and concerns are natural but they are never to take precedence to my relationship with my King; am I in control or is He. My days are supposed to begin with my Father, my worries, my concerns; everything is supposed to be laid at the foot of the Cross. I NEED to be a leader first in the spiritual by being a son of God. I have to allow my Father to pour His love upon me so every concern; every thought will come before His thrown.

I bring this topic up because it is so easy to get idols in our lives without even knowing it. Laziness creeps in, busyness takes our quite times away and wham, the enemy has us right where he wants us; disconnected from the Most High God not able to hear the whisper from our Father.

This Labor Day I want to give my commitment to my God. I want to bow down to my Father with reverence and receive His love and blessings. He has given His church everything under the sun. It is time to rest and receive what He is giving. 

May your Labor Day be filled with rest, peace, happiness and the Fear of the Lord.

God Bless.

The "Generation Killer" I get most kick-back on, the one that literally makes parents angry with me, some violent; the "killer" that most adults will not accept is Dating.

Dating has "Killed" more youth groups in America then any other issue! I have been the pastor of a few youth groups, lead international youth ministries and discipled thousands... every time we would gain momentum; kids praying, fasting and moving as one in the spirit – we would hit this wall called dating!

One person starts going out with another and then of course, they break up. What do you think happens to the unity of a youth group when two teen-agers hate each other? Groups of girls rally for their friend – boys gather around their buddy and the spiritual momentum is gone. One body, moving as one in the spirit, gone.

This may not seem like a big deal to you at all... I know it doesn't to most because of the resistance I get from parents on this. However...

The fruit of dating is divorce. The mentality develops that says, "I go out with this one for a while, try this one out; give my heart and emotions to someone that has NO right to have them"... young people, it's not enough to be a virgin when you get married, you cannot even give your emotions away! So, when I get married; when things get tough, I am out... the 67% divorce rate in the Church should wake you up!

We set high standards for our own boys and the ones we disciple. You are not allowed to enter a woman, with your tongue or anything else, until she is your wife! When you are in your 20's and possibly find that person God has saved for you; you will call and ask permission of their father to hold her hand or for that first kiss.

Our girls know they are protected and covered because of the same standards. Church, raise the bar for this generation and start bringing life, not death! We are their parents before we are their friends...

We love it and would have no other way – they teach us a great deal about life and how their generation thinks and we teach them how you limp thru as a parent just trying to get it right! Community living with our natural, blended and spiritual kids; I feel a good book coming...

As I mentioned in my last blog, entertainment is one of the ways we are killing this generation; iPods, computers, cable t.v., iphones; they have 24 hour access to information, pornography, video's, etc. In our Church's we have taught them to two extremes;  Either show NO emotion and sit there, don't embrace the fullness of God, what He has for us and what He expects – or, if you don't feel it, if your not emotional, if you don't speak in tongues, it's not God. We have made them bored or overemotional and taught them it is about them some how... this generation reeks of narcissism.

Another, more intense "Generation Killer" is Abortion. Abortion has stolen more of this generations' brothers and sisters then anything else in history. Why do we have this murder and why does it continue? The natural always follows the spiritual.

In the 90's I held hundreds of conferences with my ministry called Rock The Nations; countless parents, business people, pastors, etc would come to me at the end of the conference and say the same thing – "I love what you are doing with this generation; I was called as a young person to go to the nations, to give my life to something bigger. When I went to my pastor, parent, leader they always said the same thing; stay here, go to school, get a job and maybe go later".  Their own parents were consumed with fear, and religion, wanting them to be successful in world terms, more than life.

When I would take the time to go deeper, I would always find the same theme – pastors, youth pastors trying to build their own little kingdom; wanting, needing the big numbers so they looked good and had a bigger gathering. (I was rebuked by many pastors who said I was "Stealing" from their congregations when I would ask the kids to come get discipled or go with us to the nations)! Our only motivation was to send them back to their local church and community better, stronger, and greater. 

We as the Church have aborted millions of people's "Destinies" and "Calls" for our own selfish reasons... Many of these that were called are sitting in cubicles all around America, dying a very slow death; I personally know hundreds. When we can stop being what Paul calls "Teachers" and become "Fathers", and stop spiritually aborting our own, I believe, with all my heart, we can stop physical abortion in our land...