Yesterday I had the opportunity to hear a man named Dave Edwards speak on subject that touched home for many people…. FRUSTRATION! Who in their life can say they have been frustrated… everyone! We are human people that have expectations and then they have their realities… and when your expectation don’t meet your reality… it becomes your frustration. It what Dave Edwards calls “living in a chapter 40.”

In Genesis 40, Joseph was living in his frustration (his chapter 40) when his expectations and reality didn’t meet up. They collided head on… Joseph’s destiny was the throne but he had to go thru the chapter 40 process to get there. God will sometimes take you through a chapter 40 situation that helps you prepare for a new place.

“What looks like a dead end to you is a doorway to God!!” – Dave Edwards

Have you ever been in a situation where you are so frustrated you give into old habits or bad habits because you are mad at people, at the church, at God, or at yourself? We compromise… we give in! We allow our frustration to cause us to compromise… it becomes our excuse to do things. Don’t use your frustration as an excuse to compromise because you just might miss out on the blessings of God and prolong your Chapter 40.

In our life there will be a chapter 40 time but there is always a Chapter 41 right around the corner. God is always preparing a 41!!

“God give me the courage to stay with you in my head, in my heart, and where you have me!” – Dave Edwards

Read Genesis 40 and 41! Ask God for the courage to know him in a new way today!!

We are excited about the upcoming young adult conference happening in OKC at the end of August Ignite!!

The word Ignite in the dictionary.com means “to set fire or to take fire.” What does it really mean to set fire to something or Ignite a flame in you that cannot be quenched?

What have you not being doing lately that you know you SHOULD BE? What passion is inside you that you have had laying dormant deep within? You need to IGNITE the flame that is inside you! Go FOR IT!

What gave the Olympic Gold Medalist, Samuel Wanjiru(the long distance winner of the 2008 Beijing Olympics), the desire to continue to run, practice and BEAT records at the Olympics… A passion! He had passion! There is no way he could practice all those hours, run all those miles, distribute all that strength, to just walk away or give up half way. He ignited his passion within which kept him strong for the Distance!

God has given you a passion deep inside to not only use your talents for him BUT a passion to IGNITE this world for Christ… He called the young, the elderly, the rich, the poor, the businessman, the athletes, healthy and the sick! We have a obligation to shine Jesus bright everywhere we go. I always like to say to people “If no one knows your a Christian (in your work place, hair salon, walmart, etc), then your a bad one!”

Ignite the Flame that is inside you to shine Jesus BRIGHT!!!

Read Psalms 119:105… tell me what you think about it?

For more information on the conference and to register visit us at: www.thecathedral.tv/ignite

We have more technology at our fingertips today than any generation before us.  How many times have we heard our children and grandchildren are living in a world we truly have never known until now.  I believe that completely, however, there are a few values that I have come to realize it doesn’t matter how “convenient” the world becomes I do not want to lose these things…one is my family dynamic!  I believe God is all about families…the Bible teaches how “He sets the solitary in families…”.  The Body of Christ is a family.  In my home I know that our family could easily get taken up with not only receiving texts at all hours but sending responses at all hours, we could easily fit the mold of the termed “modern family” that doesn’t even sit down to enjoy a meal together whether home cooked or not.

Since I know we could be this way…we have internationalized not to be!  In our house my husband and I do what we call “a family check”.  This is when we check for the pulse and rhythm of our home…We ask ourselves questions like,

“Are we taking advantage of our time together both as a couple and with our children?”,

“Are we telling our kids the stories of our childhood the good and the bad”,

“Are we streamlining our daily duties so they don’t become robotic and cold?”,

“Are we making sure that we are responding to our children as individuals not just collectively?”

These are just a few questions that we ask internally and to one another at times to just grade our performance…not a parenting performance but our value performance.  Are we valuing what we say we value or has our routine dictated what is important.  Take a few extra minutes this week to internationalize some things for yourself whether it is with your children, your spouse, or just for yourself (go get that pedicure or go fishing)!  Enjoy!

A. Conner

Have you ever heard the statement… “One word from God can change your life”…? Well, if you have been to Dale Gentry meeting or service… you have heard it!! And that that is TRUE! One word can change your life!

I believe revival is going to spread across America and it will be a FIRE that cannot be quenched! We need the presence of God like never before and we need him to SPEAK to us like never before!

I believe HE is sending the FIRE and he is sending the FLAME! Elijah said…”The God who answers by FIRE, He is God…” (1 kings 18:22-24). We need to call down the fire from Heaven to reign across our cities, our states, our governments, our schools, and our homes!

Just one word from God can change any situation we are going through! Let the voice of God be loud and true!

What an awesome time we have had in Oklahoma City in experiencing the Fire of God but we believe it will carry to every church in this nation!

Bishop Tony Miller will be in Clewiston, FL this coming weekend! Let the FIRE of GOD reign down in that city!

Indiana Bible College singing “Sending the Fire”  Awesome Song!!!

Indiana Bible College singing Sending the Fire on youtube

God is an awesome builder. He is the architect of my life. He lays out the best plans, the best blueprints, but it is always up me to follow them. Even following them, there are still many decisions that are up to me.

A laborer, when following blueprints, knows that he also has a written set of codes that tells him how to build a wall or roof. These codes tell him how many nails are required, where he’s allowed to alter the structure and where he’s not. Then there also things that technically meet both the blueprints and the local codes, but may not be built the best that it can be. It is up to the laborer how many times he will square a corner or plum a wall. It is up to the laborer how many times he will check his work against the standards. A great worker will not only follow the blueprints and meet the building codes, but also go the extra bit to check his work against the given standards. Making walls plum, corners square, and plaster smooth.

Two workers can have the same blueprints, build in the same area with the same codes, even work with the same tools, and yet produce two very, very different buildings.

The choice is up to me, what level will I hold my life to? How closely will I follow the Master’s blueprints and the codes that He has established for my life? It’s not up to God how my life is built. He already gave me the master Model and detailed blueprints of how to build my life. Will I follow them? Will you?

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature…

(2 Peter 1:2-4, emphasis mine)

Nathan K.

It’s a little known fact that one of  Bishop Miller’s favorite snacks are Fig Newtons.  I’m not a fan.  Out of respect for him, I’ve shared a few with him in our travels.  They, nor the funny little fruit they are derived from, don’t do anything for me.

I have to give it to the Bishop, however, figs are a biblical fruit.  Jesus himself went hunting for a fresh fig snack.  Figs happen to be the first named fruit in the Bible.    The familiar story of Adam and Eve “sewing fig leaves together and making themselves garments” tells us that the fig tree was in Eden.  Unfortunately for our fig friends, this was not a good omen.  In the story of our first parents, fig leaves come to represent our own efforts to cover our sins and present ourselves acceptable to God.  As was true for Adam and Eve, and equally true for you and me today, fig leaves are never sufficient.

In one of the most beautiful pictures in the Bible, God responds to this first inception of man-made religion.  “The Lord God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.” (Gen 3:21) “Your leaves won’t do”, says God, “I’ll provide you a skin covering”.  The story of redemption told in a single sentence:  “Let go of your man-made leaf covering and receive God’s bloody skin covering.”

Several thousand years later, Jesus becomes the ultimate fig-banisher.  He is God’s ultimate and sufficient skin covering.  So when He arrives, it’s no surprise to find him calling disciples away from fig trees.  He saw Nathaniel ‘under the fig tree’ and called him away from it (John 1:48).

Has it ever occurred to you that the only thing that Jesus ever cursed while he was here on earth was . . . . . a fig tree?

That’s really what Jesus is all about, isn’t it?  Cursing fig trees.  His prophetic act wasn’t just a manifestation of anger because he had a hankering for  a fig flavored snack—He was symbolically speaking to the world – to you and to me – That he came to bring life to the world, and he came to bring death to man-made religion that tries to produce coverings for itself.

So what about you?  Got any fig trees still alive in your life?  The tricky thing about fig trees is that they can look like the best trees in the world.  They dress up in religious garb — extra fasting, extra praying, extra serving, extra giving.  All wonderful if they are not an attempt to make me acceptable to God.  He’s already provided all that’s necessary for that.

So let Jesus speak a final death blow to all the fig trees in your life.  Like the tree he cursed, they are a fruitless bunch.

As I’ve been trying to tell Bishop all these years, life really is better ‘fig-free’!

When we think of being imprisoned we immediately think of something negative and when we think of Christianity we certainly don’t think of being chained to anything.  I agree with all of our sermons that encompass the freedom we are to experience from sin and the enemy.

However in our freedom there is still a call for us to be chained or imprisoned to something…even Paul wrote in Ephesians, “For this cause, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ…”  Paul had a cause to be chained up and it was beyond breaking the law of the day, it was a “cause ordained by God”.

If this passage had been written in the 21st century it probably would have read like this, “Because I know the truth, I have made myself a prisoner to Jesus Christ to never escape His grace and mercy”.

People often put up walls when someone tells us we have to do it this way forever…we don’t like that.  But there are some things we should do forever, not because anyone tells us to but because God tells us to…It may not be trendy but it is biblical.

We are always to:
Love our neighbor
Love the Lord God with all our heart, soul and body
Pray continually without ceasing
Give just as our Father gives

You wouldn’t necessarily see these things as imprisonment; however, they do bind us!  But the great news is that they bind us to Jesus Christ and His likeness.  Just like Paul wrote, “I Paul, the prisoner of Christ”.  I have chosen through the expression of my life to chain myself to His call, His life, His leading, His grace, His mercy, His covenant, His righteousness forever…I could go on and on.  There is freedom in being bound to Him.

Let’s be chained to His truth not cultural trends.

I was listening to a video by Kim Walker, a worship leader for Jesus Culture (Bethel Church- Redding, CA) this morning and it inspired me. She made a statement on the video that made me think: What kind of worshiper am I? I have always known worship as 2 to 3 fast songs, a transition song, and then a couple of slows songs, and that will take me into the presence of God. Instead, she challenged people to live a LIFESTYLE of worship- not waiting on the worship leader or pastor to reconnect us with God but coming ready and prepared because we are never disconnected from him.

How many of us can say that we wait for Sunday to come around to “rejuvenate” and get us back on track again? I have totally been there- where you feel like someone might have to lead you into a song or a prayer because you can’t do it on your own- but no, we can! We have the power and ability to enter into worship anytime we want- during our lunch break, on our way to work, or just simply in our living room.

I encourage you to watch this video. It will be challenging to you I promise!

Also, take the time this week to read about David and his heart of worship he portrays in the psalms. Go For It!

Kim Walker- Discussing Worship!

Click if video does not upload:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sikZ6PIgvPI

A few weeks ago, I was in a conversation about people being “happy” in life. In the conversation, I began thinking about how many people I know that have used “I’m not Happy” as an excuse to make major life decisions.

We have made happiness “cheap”. We have made it into an emotion that can be given to us by people, circumstances, and general life events. We get a new car… it makes us happy. We get a new job… it makes us happy. We get a new phone… it makes us happy. The list can go on and on. However the new car grows old, the new job becomes routine, there is a newer phone that comes out. This can even carry over into relationships. We are no longer happy in our marriage….get another spouse….no big deal…. “Do what makes you happy!”

Happiness cannot be given to you from external sources. It must come from within! When Jesus was teaching in Matthew 5:1-11, He began to list many things that would cause us to be blessed. We know this chapter of the bible to be the Beatitudes. They go something like this in the Message Bible….

3 “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. 4 “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. 5 “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. 6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat. 7 “You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘careful,’ you find yourselves cared for. 8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world – your mind and heart – put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. 9 “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family. 10 “You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom. 11 “Not only that – count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable.

According to Strong’s,” Blessed” can be substituted with “Happy”. So read the passage and trade those words out.

“You’re Happy when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. 4 “You’re Happy when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. 5 “You’re Happy when you’re content with just who you are – no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought….”

Happiness is something that only YOU control. It must come from a decision inside, a trust and peace in GOD, and a desire to find contentment in life. There are people all over the world that can’t own an iPhone, an HDTV, may not have a car, or even a home. There are people who can’t go to church, don’t own a Bible, and are killed for being a Christian. Yet they are HAPPY. When asked most of these people would describe their life as Blessed!

Go today and realize God is good, life is what we choose it to be, and I choose for it to be HAPPY….

A few years ago I was attending Destiny Bible College and had the privilege of sitting in a session with Francois van Niekerk, he talked about the 5 levels of commitment or mindsets in an organization; more specifically commitment and mindsets in the church. What he said has changed the way I think, forever. Here are some thoughts and comments on the principles he taught:

1. The first level is the PUBLIC or POTENTIAL “ATTENDEE”; these are people who have either attended or are in the realm of influence. There is minimal or no commitment or involvement at this level.

2. The second level is CONSUMER (also patron or “church attendee”); these are the people that attend on a fairly consistent basis. There’s little buy in from these people because there is a low level of connection or involvement.

3. The third level is VOLUNTEER; these people usually attend consistently and also have a moderate level of serving or volunteering.

4. The fourth level is, for lack of a better word, a STAFF or EMPLOYEE. At the most recent Affecting Destiny Conference, Dr. Sam Chand made this statement, “a paycheck doesn’t make you a staff member”….it’s all about your level of commitment. Many people with this level of commitment or responsibility may not receive a paycheck.

5. The fifth and highest level of commitment is that of an OWNER. These are the people that “the buck stops with”. At the end of the day the responsibility falls on their shoulders because they take ownership of whatever they are doing or have been called to.

I’m sure most people would think it’s only possible to be an ATTENDEE, CONSUMER, VOLUNTEER or STAFF member, based on your own commitment or faithfulness. However that is not the case, it is possible to be the OWNER; you can take ownership of the church you are a part of. You can shoulder the responsibility of the area of ministry or the organization God has called you to.

When I understood this revelation, it changed me forever; I could be an AARON to MOSES! I believe God intends us to carry the weight of helping fulfill the vision He has called us to. The world can be changed by the real church (the body of Christ)….and I am vital in that “church”. Each person is vital. So go today…. Take OWNERSHIP! The Buck Stops With ME!