I spent years in music ministry. I grew up on stage, both leading worship bands and in secular choirs that toured and competed. I took private voice (and piano) lessons. I know music. And as I’ve watched the Christian music scene over the last decade I’ve been saddened. While the world is more broken, discouraged, hated-filled, and fearful than it’s ever been, the people we present ourselves to be through our worship lyrics aren’t much different. The overwhelming majority of worship music in the last decade, with its message of defeat and begging God to do what He has already done through Jesus, has lulled the church to sleep. We have favored slow songs in minor keys that depict us as a sorry bunch of suffering sinners still in need of salvation instead of celebrating our new nature and authority, the finished work of Jesus, and the reality that we will never be more saved than we are today.

But we keep trying to get more saved.

I do my best not to constantly come off like I hate the church, as though I’ve turned away from the church, or that I’m bitter after years of service to the church. I assure you that is not the case at all. I love the church. I’ve given and will continue to give, my life in service to the body of Christ.

But I am not afraid to speak up when the church isn’t acting like the church. And I do feel part of my mission and message is to shine a huge light on how we as a collective body have missed our mark. Even after all these centuries we still don’t see Him as He is.

If the church does not get up and discover for the first time the true meaning of the Gospel of Peace as presented in the original language of the Bible, she will not experience a revival or a great awakening. What you see taking place today in the church is not a revival. The church is too corrupt and compromised to bring about revival. The American church looks “like communism” more than revivalism, an observation by a woman from the underground church of China who moved to the United States. She was shocked to see how American churches look the same, sound the same, and move in lockstep as if they are still “sinners at the hand of an angry God” who wants to hurt them to grow them. We have successfully confined church to our buildings and programs. We haven’t made the body of Christ come alive the way Jesus said we could.

Revival is when we are revived to the message of the Kingdom and the Gospel of Peace, not the gospel of “maybe God will help me or maybe He wants to hurt me” gospel we have passed down from generation to generation. Revival comes when more than just the church is revived. When the church starts doing the greater things Jesus said she would, the world will catch the revival too! Revival isn’t about just us getting set free. It’s about setting the world free too! Revival should spill over airways and social media outlets, highways, and byways. The lame should be walking and the blind should be seeing. Oppression, mental illness, and fear should be driven out as our love for God finally advances toward maturity.

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because
fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made
perfect in love.” 1 John 4:18

God’s love has no need to be made perfect. Our love for Him must mature (move towards perfection, grow) and as a result, fear cannot reside. The world will come in droves as they finally see the full benefits of the finished work of Jesus manifest in us. They will see both the literally dead and the spiritually and emotionally dead be raised to life.

Revival is when the church can no longer contain what is inside of her.

We are never waiting on God to revive us. We are not waiting for the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is here, in the now, with all its resources, benefits, and promises.

And we can use our keys to unleash it any time we want.

But pointing the finger at our failures is of no value if we do not also evaluate the good we have done, what has worked to spread the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Since the massive shutdowns and manic pandemic response, many Christians have reevaluated what they have chosen to believe. Many have begun to see there is more to intimacy with God than what is coming from the pulpit. Many are beginning to ask hard questions and they want real answers.

So here are some thoughts on where to go from here:

• Don’t believe it just because it was handed down to you.

• Learn to hear the voice of God in your own heart.

• Be teachable. Be willing to listen to those you don’t initally agree with.

• Find a path to doing the greater things Jesus said you would do and don’t stop looking until you find it and get it working in your life.

As the world gets darker, we get brighter! Be among those who know how to activate faith that moves mountains. Practice it now. Build this in your life now. Don’t wait until the banks crash, housing is confiscated by the government, and communism sets itself up as god. Lean in. Move into a place where fear cannot abide regardless of how difficult the circumstances get because you have experienced abiding in Christ.

To abide in Him is to wrap yourself up in Him.

Abiding in Christ begins with seeing Him as He really is. My new series on the podcast (and a subsequent eBook) is called Profile(d). Profile(d) is a look into how God has been unjustly profiled and a Biblical look at His true profile. We take this journey by looking at the profiles of key Bible characters who have also been mis-profiled. You are going to see through the lives of Abraham, Jonah, Elijah, Deborah, and King Solomon how God is always trying to lead us in paths of righteousness and preventing destruction in our lives.

We have all been unfairly profiled at one time or another. We are generalized and misrepresented then censored, canceled, and oppressed. But at the end of the day, here is the declaration God wants to make to the church:

No one in all of history has been more unjustly profiled than God Himself.

And we cannot do the greater things Jesus said we would until we see God as He really is.

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Will the REAL God please stand up???!! I saw the word "profile" in a dream while having a conversation with God. He said the word "profile" but I read it back to him "profiled" with a D on the end. I was then given understanding that God wanted a convey a message to the church that He has been mis-profiled for centuries. We don't see Him as He really is. He wants to set the record straight, to introduce you to His real purpose and intentions toward you.

He wants you to see Him as He really is, probably for the first time ever.

He then gave me a list of several Bible characters. He wanted to speak through the profiles of those characters to reveal how they too, have been mis-profiled and to provide an accurate perspective on their character and actions, and God's interactions with them.

We have created a god we are comfortable with because the God of the Bible doesn't fit our preferences. We have accused Him of being the cause and even the source of our pain (which is accusing Him of the same thing) instead of reconciling the pain in our lives through the lens of the life, teachings, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

We think we have God all figured out. But all we really have is tradition that makes our faith of no effect.

In this new series, you are going to see how God has been unjustly profiled and discover the profile of a God as you've never seen Him before. When you see Him as He really is, you will see a path toward fulfillment and healing in every area of your life!