For over 30 years, I’ve had the honor of traveling to incredible places all around the world. I’ve seen the most memorable architecture and eaten at immaculate restaurants. Seeing the beauty of God displayed in places from Austria to Uganda has given me a picture of just how majestic God is. As much as I love the adventure and passion to bring the light of the gospel to the darkest places on Earth, one thing remains for me; there’s no place like home. When I finally get home and get to kiss my wife and sit down with her for dinner, it fills my tank. Nothing can compare to this. When my children are home for the holidays, how the heart of this father swells. I am in my happy place. There’s nothing like being in the space that we have cultivated together. Let’s not forget my dogs. Sookie, my boston terrier, is like my own personal little ambassador of love.

If you’ve heard me speak, you can tell right away that I am not from the United States of America. I was born and raised in the beautiful country of Norway. Some would even call me a Viking. I have not lived in Norway in many years, but I enjoy every trip that I make back home. To return to the place of my birth and see my family always fills my tank but I’ve made the USA my home for now. Because of my busy travel schedule, I spend a lot of time in embassies around the world. 

There’s something about walking into these embassies no matter what country I am in, like when I walk into the Norwegian embassy in Washington DC. I feel at home. They speak the language of my family and on a given occasion, I may even smell some of my favorite Norwegian food. When I cannot go home, sometimes I can experience a little taste of home in this space. It’s the same way when I’m traveling, and I miss my wife or my children. All I have to do is make a call so that I can connect with them and hear the sounds of their voices. 

The Lord has put something deep within my heart. It’s a part of this holy ambition that I have been given by the Father to bring the light of Jesus to the darkest corners of the Earth. The world needs to experience a God that looks like Jesus. Some people have never even heard of His first coming, though. They do not know that there is a place called home that’s prepared for them by our beautiful Jesus. 

Do you remember the first time you met Him? Do you remember the first time you said His name when you believed, and you experienced the grace and love of the Father wash over you? There is nothing like the experience of our Father in those moments. It is the taste of home with a good Papa. I’m so glad for the gift of His presence being everywhere with us. I’m so glad that we can experience our heavenly home wherever I am. \

I have this dream in my heart. It’s a dream that people in the darkest nations will begin to have the experience of heaven in their neighborhoods, businesses, and organizations. People will come into the awareness of the love of God because the presence of Jesus has filled the houses of believers who have allowed God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to make their home with them. These houses will become like embassies of heaven. They are a taste of home. They are places where the hopeless receive hope, the orphan finds a home, and the sick are healed. Here is where everyone gets to come to taste and see that Abba, our Father is good. 

These places are lighthouses of love. Their light shines in the darkness and when people might not know what to do, they will know who to go to. These beacons of light call people home to an encounter with Jesus and into the heavenly family. It calls them safely to the shore to come and feast. Can you see it? Here is where they meet one they’ve been waiting for their whole lives and didn’t know it.

My heart rejoices that at the moment, we have 104 lighthouses all over Cuba where needs are being met as sons and daughters of God are representing the family of heaven. This is how heaven comes to Earth. This is what God is doing in Cuba, and this is what He wants to do in Afghanistan and Pakistan. As a kingdom family movement, we are supporting these lighthouses to see a harvest of sons and daughters. We have a goal to establish 1,000 Lighthouses of Love in the nations. Will you join us as we invest in love, the one thing that changes everything? 

Please pray and consider partnering with the GMA Lighthouses of Love movement. You can donate by clicking here.

Without doubt, the greatest hindrance to our ability to step into our destiny is fear. Fear, which is rooted in unbelief, holds us back from the purposes of God. Unbelief thrives in a heart that is not in alignment with God’s nature, purpose, power, and presence. Because of this, every believer must confront unbelief and come face to face with fear. There is no way around it. To step into freedom, we need to deal with unbelief and fear—first within us and then around us.

Thankfully, our heavenly Father has given us everything we need to defeat fear (2 Tim. 1:7). These three gifts—power, love, and a sound mind—are the keys to saying no to fear in our lives.

1. The first key to overcoming fear is learning to walk in the power of God. When we face overwhelming circumstances, we can respond to them in one of three ways—we can run from them, we can ignore them, or we can face them. The first two options are rooted in fear. The third option, facing our circumstances, is the choice to step into God’s gift of power in our lives.

2. The second key to overcoming fear is love. According to the Bible, love is the antidote to fear (1 John 4:18). Love deals with the roots of fear. It disarms and dissipates it. This is true, first in our relationship with God, and, second, in our relationships with others. First, we allow God’s love to chase out the fear in our hearts—the fear that He will let us down or punish us when we fail, as well as the fear that others will hurt us. Second, through our experience of God’s love, we learn to fearlessly love others.

3. The third key to overcoming fear is cultivating a sound mind. A sound mind can be defined as “wisdom and understanding that leads to Kingdom lifestyle choices, habits, and mindsets.”  In other words, a sound mind is a mind that thinks according to Heaven’s perspective. The Bible promises that we have been given a sound mind, or the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds. This doesn’t happen overnight or by accident. Little by little, day by day, as we do the things that bring glory to Him, we will experience transformation in our minds (Phil. 4:8).

Fear can seem like an unbeatable opponent. It is one of the giants that overwhelms and sidelines most people. But fear doesn’t have to win. Love is all it takes to overcome any amount of fear (1 John 4:18). When we are made perfect in love—when we receive a full revelation of God’s love for us and what His love entails—we are freed from the grip of fear.

Take some time and think of areas where fear is holding you back. Then, ask the Holy Spirit what His strategy is for you to overcome these fears.

Have you ever gone swimming in a river? If so, you’ve stood at the edge and taken a first step in. Immediately, you are ankle-deep. Wade a little farther, and you’re up to your knees. Keep going, and the water is waist-level. Then chest-level. Then up to your neck. And if you really want to go for it, you let yourself go all the way under. 

Intimacy with God is much like that. You can go ankle-deep. You can keep going and let the water flow past your knees, your waist, your neck, or even over your head. You can keep pressing in for a day, a season, or a lifetime. But many people don’t go that far. They stop when they’ve had just a bit, a trickle, a little affirmation that yes, God is there, you and He are connecting, and all is well until the next time. 

God gave Ezekiel a prophetic picture of this kind of river. The prophet was shown waters coming out of the temple in Jerusalem that gave life everywhere they flowed. At first, the river was just ankle-deep, then it was knee-deep, then waist-deep, and then it was too deep to cross. This is how the Father’s love and the Holy Spirit’s power works in our lives. This vision has several meanings at different levels, but one one of them is to represent our experience of the presence of God. And if this river represents God’s presence, it must also represent the flow of love into our hearts. 

Some people think they are satisfied with a taste of it. Others cannot be satisfied with just a taste. They know they need more. Some keep on going because they can never get enough. They want total immersion, a baptism in an ocean of love in the depths of their spirit. But they also want more than a baptism. They want an ongoing flow. 

God has enough love for that. You can swim in that ocean of love. There’s enough for you to go to the nations and represent His heart to the multitudes. I encourage you to dream big like that, but also to go ahead and start representing love where you are. You can envision huge revivals and movements sweeping across nations and regions and the world, but there also has to be enough love in you for your wife or husband, your children, your boss, and your neighbor. 

Many people long for the kind of love that transforms nations but have trouble with the kind of love that reaches out to a difficult relative or neighbor. They want the Father’s love for ministry purposes. All of it is available, but it does not work well just to go for helpings of certain kinds of love like they are items on a buffet. If you want to go for it all, then it is very important to go for it all.

But you will also need to recognize seasons in your life. Revelations of love come in waves, with God preparing you for the times that are coming and then giving you more when you are entering into a new season. And a least some of His reasons for doing that are up to you. You often get from Him whatever you are prepared to give to others. 

Remember God’s purpose from the very beginning–to fill the earth with His people who bear His image. To put this another way, to fill the earth with His glory through the people who will carry it. 

This is why the heavenly family of love created human beings, why the Son of love became Love in the flesh, and why He breathed the Holy Spirit into His followers. 

You were made for this mission, but you cannot carry it out unless you meet God in a place of intimacy and let Him love you. This intimacy may begin with droplets and trickles of His presence and love, but an increase is always available to those who steward these foretastes.

 

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Do you remember why you are doing what you are doing? Let me ask you, do you have a clear end goal in mind from where you stand today? When I think of Jesus, I am humbled and grateful that He always had the end in mind. There are two instances in the scriptures that fill me with joy and gratitude. One is when Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy set before Him. He envisioned being united with us, freeing us from the curse of sin and death, and that kept Him going. The other instance is when we are told that the Lamb, Jesus, was slain before the foundation of the world. This means that the Father had the end in mind from the beginning. I am grateful that His vision is much greater than ours, and that He allowed us to experience the fullness of His love.

In a conversation with his disciples, Jesus gave an important response that is often overlooked. I want to emphasize its significance because it forms the foundation of my biblical worldview and the reason I am writing this blog today. In Matthew 24:3, the disciples asked Jesus when certain events would occur and what sign would indicate his return and the end of the age. They used the word “sign” in the singular form, but in Matthew 24, Jesus lists several events that will occur leading to his second coming. 

In Matthew 24:14, it states that the “gospel of the kingdom” will be shared around the world as a witness to all nations before the end comes. The end refers to the coming of Jesus in power and glory, which is exciting. By reading further into this chapter, we can see a beautiful unfolding of events. The term “nations” in this passage refers to various people groups, as the Greek word used is “ethnos”. For instance, Pakistan has 463 people groups that speak different dialects and accents. The gospel of the Kingdom will not only cross regional, religious, and racial boundaries, but it will also take root in every nomadic tribe, village, and every nuance of humankind. This is truly remarkable!

Jesus will soon enter His Kingdom and you are an important part of His grand plan. As a redeemed member of the Church and a messenger of this Kingdom, you have a role to play. I urge you to choose to live each day in the reality of Jesus’ Kingdom and His glorious return. In this Kingdom, perfect love will reign and all fear will be eliminated. Let’s make this choice together and prepare for the coming of our King. 

While we wait for the second coming of Jesus, there are many people who have not yet heard of His first coming. They must know. Jesus wants them to know.

Ask the Father today, “What can I do to play my part?” and practice simple obedience. That’s all it takes. Together we will usher in the reign of Jesus by making sure that Earth looks a little more like heaven and that every nation will hear the good news of Jesus Christ.

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I spent years in Chair 2 (rooted in fear) before I experienced a baptism of the Father’s love that changed my life. His love went to the deepest roots of fear in my life that caused me to live with an orphan heart. His perfect love cast out fear and made me feel His pleasure, not pressure. I felt His liquid love pouring over me and driving out the deepest root of fear in my life. As His perfect love went in, I was delivered and cleansed. 

I heard an audible voice that said, “Leif, you are Mine. You are my beloved. I love you. I like you. I delight in you. You don’t have to do anything. We will do much together, but I don’t value you for what you do. I just want you for you. Come home.” 

When I came out of the encounter, I wept for several hours and expressed myself in ways Norwegians normally don’t do! I had been stoic before; now, I was a son. My Father loves me! He likes me! Something shifted. Many doors of opportunity opened before me that had never opened before. When I was in Chair 2, I needed opportunity in order to feel valuable and significant to get my needs met. But once I knew I was a son, I didn’t need anything! The whole world began to open up.

In simple theology, Jesus took my F and gave me an A+. He took my report card and gave me His. What is true of Him is now true of me. When I woke up to that grace, it was overwhelming. He did not treat me according to my mess and give me what I deserved. He treated me as a son in whom He was well pleased. Then He said, “This is the way I want you to treat the world. I have forgiven you; forgive them. As I’ve loved you, go and love them.” He sent me out to change the environment in the same way the environment inside me had been changed. 

When I am in Chair 1 (sonship), I am focused on the Father. I am overwhelmed with His goodness and kindness. I can see His face, hear His voice, and sense His love. It is a place of rest. I am energized and empowered by the Dove (Holy Spirit). 

When I am squeezed, love comes out. My desire is to bring heaven to Earth and see the Father’s kingdom come where I am. 

When I am in Chair 2 (orphan heart), I experience restlessness. I don’t see His face or hear His voice very well. I may know about His love, but I don’t really feel it. I am trying to live off of my own energy and power and end up drained and fatigued. Instead of the Dove, I have pigeon religion! When I get squeezed, something other than love comes out—anger, frustration, bitterness, or something else that doesn’t feel very good. Rather than bringing heaven to Earth, my focus is only on getting myself and others to heaven, without any confidence that He is doing something amazing in the here and now. 

If you find yourself in unrest, unable to be at peace, and constantly striving toward who you think God wants you to be, then you are in Chair 2, and that’s where the enemy wants to keep you. He would have preferred to keep you in darkness in Chair 3, but having lost that battle, his next best strategy is to keep you in Chair 2, where you can know about your Father but not really know the depths of His love. In that place, you will continue to be restless, striving to perform and become, but wearing yourself out.

God has a baptism of love for you—a place close to His heart. From this intimate place, you will be able to see the world as God sees it, feel what His heart feels, and operate from the depths of His love in the midst of every challenging circumstance. The closer you draw to the Father’s burning heart of love, the more it will change your inner environment, equipping you to change the environment around you. Instead of constantly being impacted by the world, you will be the one doing the impacting. 

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We are living in a season when the gospel, the good news of the kingdom, will be preached as a witness and testimony to all nations. The knowledge of the glory of God is going to cover the earth as the water covers the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). The kingdoms of this world are going to become the kingdom of the Lord—through those who know who they are, whose they are, and what they have in Him. Everything God has is made available to you in order for you to fulfill your destiny. 

I know many believers who are running after their inheritance and destiny before entering into the rest of their identity and intimacy with God. They are striving to achieve rather than realizing what they have received. Most of the world believes they have to do something in order to have something so they can be something. That is not how we were originally designed.

In God’s design, we are something, so we have everything, and then can do anything. To be specific, we are in a covenant relationship with the Father because we are sons and daughters, and with that inheritance, we fulfill our assignment, our destiny. Being, then having, then doing. You will find that your natural tendency as a result of the fall is to do in order to have, and to have in order to be. That is why most people in the world are trying to find their identity in what they do and what they have and are always falling short. They never get to the place of true identity. They don’t know how to be sons and daughters of the Father. They invert the order by doing, then having, then being. 

It all begins with identity—seeing ourselves as God sees us, thinking and feeling about ourselves as He does, and loving ourselves as He does because we can never love Him or others until we’ve experienced His love ourselves. Then we grow in intimacy with Him. We become what we behold, and whatever we become we are then able to release. The world’s system of doing something in order to become something doesn’t work. Our minds have a hard time grasping the truth—that we are and then we do. That’s one of the primary reasons we have to step out of conformity with this world and let our minds be renewed (Romans 12:1-2). It’s the only way to recognize who we are and whose we are. 

I know I am a beloved son. My Papa loves me, adores me, and delights in me. I’m His happy thought. He is for me and not against me. This is the starting point, the beginning. Knowing this enables me to experience the presence of Father in His home and live in a place of peace—shalom. We have communion there. We are together, united in a covenant of love and intimacy. I gaze at His face, and then when I look in the mirror I see myself totally differently. I hear His voice from a place of love. In the resting place, as I commune with a God who loves the world, I begin to love the way He loves, and then I can reign with Him as He reigns. Fear is gone because perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Love begins to motivate me to do what I see the Father doing. Only from identity and intimacy do I begin to realize the inheritance I have. 

There is abundance in the Father’s house, more than enough in the family account to have everything I need to do what I have been called to do. Jesus paid for everything on the cross. He inherits everything, and I am a co-heir with Him. His inheritance is my inheritance. With this knowledge, I can begin to grasp my destiny. Yes, the world is dark, but in the middle of the darkness I am going to rise and shine with the glory that is rising upon me, just as Isaiah 60 says, God is raising up culture changers in this generation who will tip the balance in the current war on worldview. Light is penetrating darkness because we are getting new glasses that change the way we think. Our minds are being renewed. From the resting place—knowing our identity, intimacy, inheritance, and destiny—we reign with Him and begin to change the world.

On the way to your destiny you will acquire Kingdom skills that will change you and in turn change the world around you. You will learn what it means to enter the hard work of rest, to see the way God sees, to hear His voice, love the way He loves. With a renewed mind, in this place of intimacy, love replaces fear and problems become promises as you reign with Him as He reigns. Want to read more about this topic? Purchase Called To Reign by clicking here.

The power of the truth of God is unmatched. Take that truth and put it into song form and before you know it, you’ve been hijacked by the love of God. Isn’t He wonderful?

I was sitting in the office one day when the song “No Longer Slaves” started to play and the Holy Spirit stopped me to call truth into remembrance. This song so beautifully depicts this reality: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15)

Because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, we do not have to ever be unsure of our status with God! Our confidence is established through faith in Jesus. We do not have to fear judgment. We are free to live in the freedom that was purchased. 

According to scripture, we are children of God, born not of the will of man, nor the desire of the flesh, but of God; of HIS desire. (John 1:12,13)  We are born again into the family of love. Into a new covenant.

This is good news! This will make you want to dance. We are not subject to sin. We are not fatherless and left on our own through this journey of life. We have no fear in the commitment of this relationship because we didn’t keep up our end of the bargain, but Jesus Himself has fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law. 

Not only this, we are not strangers to God! We have the intimacy of family; Sonship through adoption, not slaves to the fear of separation of God. We are joined with the one who loves us now and always.

Beloved, if you have any fear in your life, any lack, look to Jesus. Remember that you are in Him. You are a son. You are a daughter. Say it outloud and remind your soul. We cannot afford to forget this in these times. The truth of who and whose we are must remain at the forefront of our minds.

 It’s His truth that reminds us that we have nothing and no one to fear. 

We belong to Jesus and we shall not lack any good thing.

The first reformation restored grace, and the second power. This new reformation will restore love. 

A new reformation is coming. The church is in a time of transition. We are no longer who we used to be, but we have not yet become who we are supposed to become. That is true for us as a body and as individuals, and many are feeling the tension. No one is surprised that Chair 3 is being shaked, but Chair 2 is being shaken also. The kingdom in Chair 1 is unshakeable, however, and Jesus is unchanging. Our mission is like playing a game where we already know the final score. We can be perfectly content because we see the end. I can go into the darkest places of the world and be at peace because I know what is happening. It’s like inside trading, but in the kingdom, it’s legal. We have a new way of fishing—not making an intellectual argument but helping people have an encounter with Jesus and experience His love. That’s the focus of our worldwide mission in the third reformation. 

The core value in this next reformation is not the gifts of the individual. In the previous reformation, people came to the family table to eat whatever the anointed ones brought to it. Those with the strongest gifts were the focus. Now leaders are adding value to others by investing in their gifts.  They are realizing that anyone can do these things. They are creating a ceiling for others to use as their floor. The generations will unite just as the Lord said they would. The Old Testament ends with a promise of the spirit of Elijah, which will restore the hearts of fathers toward their children and children toward their fathers.

Restored love will stop the curse in the land. Love will take ‘self’ out of the worldwide orphanage and put family in its place.  Jesus prayed that the perfect love the Father has for the Son would be in each one of us (John 17:26). Then we will love ourselves the way He loves us, which will enable us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. When that is coupled with the power of the second reformation, we will see a love that changes everything. That has been the missing piece. 

Bringing the best of each reformation into your assignment and adding the love of the Father to the power and the Word are what it takes to be a culture changer. 

Most Christians throughout history have understood that love is a vital part of the Gospel. This is very plain in Scripture. But I cannot think of any generation of Christians for the last two thousand years that has lived out this message of love the way God has intended. Rarely have believers made it their priority to bring the love of Heaven down to earth so people can experience the environment of the perfect family from before time. We have not made our world feel like the Father’s living room. Now is the time. In fact, I believe this is one reason that we are seeing so much hatred and polarization in our world right now.  The enemy is sowing opposite seeds in the world, like he has done even from the beginning. He senses that this message is about to be revealed. He wants to divide because love will bring unity. The tsunami waves of love are coming soon! 

We are seeing signs of this love reformation in many places around the world, even if they are not very visible to many people yet. Papa God is inviting His people to encounter His love, live from a whole heart, and walk in the power that supernatural love brings. 

This will mean pursuing His love, asking for and preparing for encounters, and stewarding the seeds of love faithfully. But when Papa God’s children are immersed in His love and allow it to touch and heal the deepest areas of their lives, the seeds of reformation have been planted. I could tell you many examples of this. Agape love has always worked powerfully in the world.