July 20, 2008

I believe with all my heart that breakthrough is coming to the members of this community. I wouldn't normally make a blanket statement like that because it would be too bold for me and even presumptuous but this time it's different. When I walked around the airport in Chicago sort of modifying my Long Walk plans as Jill and I tried to standby on flight after flight I sincerely heard the Lord speaking to me of breakthrough in our body here.

I saw this happening in a number of ways that I am still processing and beginning to understand. For example I saw how powerful love can be if we would but live in it. I saw the collective power of prayer that can literally push back the darkness. I thought about what it would be like to have tens of thousands around the world praying for breakthrough! Tens of thousands coming humbly before God and simply asking for less stuff and more Him. Less on our behalf and more on behalf of others. Less of us and more of the Kingdom. What would that look like? What would it bring? Breakthrough.

I'm going to take a few days in a week and wander before the deep Summer turns to Fall and things get really busy for me again and I'm going to ask God for the breakthrough He is promising. I want it deeply. Don't you? If I know anything about God since my walk with Him began it's that my ways are not His and nearly every time I assume I know what something means I find that I do in fact arrive wherever He was leading but it was by an unknown path and not the way I would have chosen. The irony is that He takes us through little walked meadows and lush valleys of restoration as well as parched deserts and wind swept peaks. It's all part of the journey and there is beauty in it all if we are oriented to God's will.

Last year at this time we began to walk out into the deeper waters of God. It was no longer good enough to know of Him, it was time to know Him. It was no longer acceptable to live comfortably in the shadow of His grace, it became time to mobilize and move deeper into His restoration work in our lives. This year I sense breakthrough. I feel it in my bones. It resonates all the way through me. I don't know exactly where God is taking us but I do know we are going there in part together and in part individually. Breakthrough is coming to the DAB and breakthrough is coming to you. I don't say this to hype you. You know me better than that. It's coming because Jesus is coming for your heart. I am weak with anticipation. I can hardly wait.

Onward Comrades,

Brian