Greetings my dear friends and brothers in Christ! I love you dearly and am eagerly anticipating the return of Jesus with you!

I am yielding my heart to the moving of the Holy Spirit. God demands all of our life, no matter who we are. If there is not a significant difference in the lifestyle of a saint and a person in the world, that person is not a saint.

I’m deeply saddened by the wide acceptance among the people in the church of divorce, homosexuality, submersion into entertainment and the like. I long to be stripped of worldly desires and be wholly available to Jesus. I have an equal longing for the saints to step into the fullness of their calling, forsaking worldly thirsts and developing a hunger and thirst for the kingdom of God.

I had a dream recently:

I was in Heaven’s courtroom and a four-foot-tall clay jar appeared in front of me, suspended in the air. There were angels and people and creatures around in the midst of a cloud, humming a single minor chord. Their features were not distinguishable. Unseen mockers were on the sides of the throne room trying to interrupt the action.

Jesus appeared and smashed the jar in front of me with His staff, splashing the oil all over me! The mockers on the sidelines would quiet when Jesus moved. They started to get really loud after He smashed the jar and as Jesus stepped to the side He said, “The bowls are filled and ready to be spilled.” Then He began to sing, “So Pray, Worship, Pray, Worship” and all heaven joined him.

After the jar was smashed and He was stepping to the side, a full golden bowl manifested from the spirit realm a little further in front of me than where the jar had been suspended. The bowl was tipping back and forth to the rhythm of the music, dark boiling water sloshing up and down. The bowl looked like it was used over heat from fire a lot. It had a dark blue/black diamond shaped design around its rim. It was much larger than the jar Jesus had smashed and the bowl did not come from the jar. It only manifested near where the jar had been after the jar was broken. End of Dream.

What am I suggesting? If you are not walking with Jesus, start.

If you don’t read the Bible daily, get on it.

If you don’t set aside time for the Lord every day to just pray and let Him talk to you, figure it out.

If you’re in temptation, find the way out; if you've succumbed to temptation, find forgiveness, forgive yourself, be reconciled to God and fight for freedom with the strength He gives.

My brothers, don’t pretend like you’re the one person who has the unique situation that gives you an excuse to compromise your holiness.

It doesn’t matter if you didn’t have a good upbringing, if you landed a bad spouse, or you were dealt bad cards. No matter how low we find ourselves, we are all called to get back up, stop comparing ourselves to each other and run this race of faith to win the prize. Don’t feel like I’m kicking you when you’re down. Nothing I’m saying is carrying a mean-hearted or judgmental tone.

This is a cry for you to rise up- take your place among the saints of God and let no one and nothing hinder you.

I’m watching people step up their fasting, put their TV away for extended periods, majorly clean up their entertainment intake, set aside weekly days with no TV or video games, people committing to not be offended, reconciling with their offenders, being more generous than ever, opening their mouths with the gospel to people, cleaning up their speech with no gossip or cursing- there are so many areas and levels of our lives we can let the Lord perfect.

He’s not coming back for a sloppy bride, but a perfect one. And to the large number of saints who are asking after an encouragement like this, “Wait, that’s impossible. Doesn’t the blood of Jesus make us spotless? It’s not about what we do!” Okay, okay. Ahem... no matter how perfect or holy we are- we are nothing and not clean at all without the beautiful sacrifice of Jesus. But as for me and my house: I’m gonna do a better job for Jesus than I do for my dog, my friends, my boss, my country and even my wife! I’m not giving Jesus left overs! No half effort!

It is lazy to give room to our flesh and let sin and compromise fester, using Jesus’ blood as an excuse to not walk in new heights with Him!

The argument isn’t even whether or not Jesus’ blood has got us covered! It’s now that He has poured out such an extravagant gift for us, what do we give Him in return?!

Not to mention He doesn’t simply enjoy it when we live well, He commands perfection and holiness! We can do what He has commanded us, with His strength. I say all this not to make a theological point, rather I eagerly desire to live at the next level, and I eagerly desire for you to soar in the heights with the Holy Spirit as well!

Proper response: let the Holy Spirit convict you. Let that conviction sink in and put on the full armor of God to whoop the Devil, in Jesus’ Name! Do not get huffy and say, “Quit messing with my life Michael. You can’t be right. The things you’re saying are condemning and it’s not what God tells us to do.”

If that is what you’re saying, this is me hugging you...[hug]... and then saying, “Read the Book again, and literally sit there in the Presence and ask God what He requires of you.” O praise God! I love you.

See you on the next level!

-Michael