India Report # 6

What do you do when you are backed against the wall? You draw your sword and start fighting your way out. I have awoken this morning at 5 a.m. with each of my last 3 teachings absolutely living within me. They are longing to come forth. I desire for each one of them to be a lethal blow into the gut of our Enemy. It burdens me to have to suffer physically here and he is the one who brought sickness into this world. It burdens me to be separated from my wife during this time of grieving Grandma Cecil and he is the one who desires death for all of us. It burdens me that Palmer is having to continue to suffer in his healing and that Amy has to continue her long suffering, the enemy dances in our dark nights of the soul.

Well, here I am again. War is at my doorstep and I am suiting up. Today I will speak on the invitation of the Father to a life of intimacy. Tommorrow I will speak to the seminary students on pastoral ministry as spiritual warfare. On Tuesday, I am going to a local village gathering of pastors to plant the infectious virus of small Kingdom communities (house churches). If God allows, I want them to see an alternative model of planting missional small churches that can spread through villages without the limitations of physical space. That meta idea is bigger than any 2 hour counsel I could give but I want to see them set free to love their neighbors and invite their people into the eternal Kingdom Community.

If all goes well, I will visit the Kerygma Coffee House in Bangalore on Wednesday or Thursday. Johnny Baker pointed me to this urban student ministry and it sounds like my flavor of Kingdom. That would be icing on the cake.

Discouragement may have its time, but it doesn't stick to Jesus Followers very well. Sickness passes, heartbreak goes away but I feel filled with Resurrection Life. I walk in the Ways of the Christ who touched the coffin of the widow's dead son and he awoke from the entrapment of death. I walk in the ways of the Christ who disguised himself on Christmas evening as an innocent baby, but in reality was invading our world with the keys and the power of the Eternal Kingdom of God. I walk in the Ways of Christ who walked this earth and had demons cry out for mercy, wanting to be cast into a herd of pigs rather than deal with the Reality of Kindom Come in Him. Where I see the enemy today, I will thrust my sword into his gut and will not relent until he departs squealing like the swine that he is.

peace to you and your house today,