A true dream, one that is birthed in the heart of “old men dreamers,” carries with it authority and power. Only a person who has experienced the death of vision, who has nailed vision to the cross, has access to the power of resurrection. When he dreams again, he dreams the dreams of heaven. And a dream that’s birthed in heaven has power to transform earth, it can change a family, a neighborhood, a city, a nation, it grows exponentially and has eternal significance.

Discovering our Fathers pleasure is the most empowering thing a Christian will ever do. The opposite is true, believing Father God is angry or displeased will lead to an insecure and survivalist faith walk. Here are five signs you may be serving an angry or “displeased” God.

I believe God is always saying one thing: “I love you.” And He always follows up with a question, “do you believe me?” What would our lives look like if we could answer this one question that God is always asking?

And when the valley of the shadow of death is upon us, that’s when we must know to our core that our Fathers nature doesn’t change. God isn’t fickle. He hasn’t gotten tired of us or changed His mind about us. He hasn’t turned His heart from us; He’s not judging us or condemning us. He is still the same always-good Love He has always been.

“You know, I could control you, Ethan. I could force, manipulate or straight up shame you into obedience, you’re only ten. I can make him behave. But someday my boy, you will be a man and beyond my ability to control. But more importantly son, I don’t want to control you, I want you to control yourself. I want you to value freedom as the Holy Spirit does. Do you understand?”

You are the fruit of His suffering; you are the glorious resurrection generation. You are His will done on earth as it is in heaven. You are His pleasure, His beloved.

Perhaps most, Jason helped me grow in my understanding of what it means to live as a son of God. The thought that my Father has rescued me not just for service and productivity but for presence and intimacy…well, that changes everything. As Jason says, “It’s personal friendship with our Creator that satisfies our souls and makes us whole.”

The Father never turned His back, He never left, or forsook Jesus, He never abandoned, not even for a moment. His love was just as good as it’s always been.

Every test by God is an invitation to transition from one narrative to another, from control to love, from orphan to son or daughter, from bondage to freedom, from fractured thinking to wholeness, from our perspective to His, from our best thoughts about who He is, to the truth about who He is, from our story, to the whole story; the one He is telling.

Long ago, I made Jesus, sovereign love, my hermeneutic, my “methodology of interpretation,” (6) the lens through which my entire theology is defined.

I don’t know but God is good. That phrase has been one of our family and ministry mottoes for years. It’s a faith statement that has served us well.

The first half of that statement is extremely powerful only because we believe the second half with absolute conviction. We have made it our position on everything.

I interrupted again, “I’m not looking for what you know, here,” I said, pointing to my head. “When is the last time you experienced to the core of your being His unquestionable pleasure, His joy, His overwhelming love for you, here?” I pointed to my heart.

The power of the song “Come Thou Fount” is the revelation that we can always know His Love

When it came to a particular chapter in Prone To Love, one of my pastor friends raised an alarm regarding my thoughts about the sovereignty of God. I had written an entire chapter under the title, “God Is Not In Control” and that thought bothered him. He felt it was an incredibly flawed idea. He was also concerned it would cause distress and confusion in my reader. He suggested that promoting the idea that God is not in control would be the equivalent of “pulling the string that unravels the universe.”