I’m not sure if I’ll EVER get the honor again, of producing a story…THIS POWERFUL. This is one of the most radical and terrifying Christian transformations I have ever heard. I met Steve at a 3 day Men’s retreat, where he was asked to tell his story, for the very first time. Before he sat down, I heard “I want you to tell his story.” When you see it, you’ll understand why!

This is a powerful and very surprising personal story that recently happened to me, which led me to freedom, through a dramatic period of grieving and forgiving. If you or anyone you know has ever been hurt deeply, by a loved one, I believe you will find tremendous comfort and hope from this story.

In this video, I talked Larry “The Life Coach” and Counselor, into sitting down with me and sharing his incredible insight on the 3 primary barriers that he sees, standing between people and intimacy with the Lord.

One of the most important questions, we can ask ourselves, before we take any action or make any major decision is “What’s My Motivation?” Having said that, there is one particular area, that I was shocked to discover my actual motivation in, and it’s an area that ALL Christians must keep in check. In this video, I’m going to pose a scenario to you, that may reveal a very surprising and almost subconscious motivation that most of us have, that prevents us from living an obedient and fruitful walk with God.

The Tornado that levels a city. The Earthquake that kills thousands. The two year old that gets cancer. The senseless murder of a loved one. The unexpected and shocking diagnosis. These are all things that seem to bring senseless suffering and pain. Where is God in these things? Would a loving God, really allow these things to happen? Let’s explore the answer to this, in today’s video.

So here I was at Barnes, thinking about that. I picked up a book called “The Cause Within You”. It was by a young pastor in L.A, named Matthew Barnett, son of the famous Pastor in Phoenix, AZ, Tommy Barnett.  Matthew had started the Dream Center in L.A., helping the “helpless” and “homeless” in a bad area. He talked about the sheer joy of giving his life to the Lord’s purposes and how incredible it feels to help and serve others.

While I was reading this, I began thinking more and more about going over to those projects and finding some people to just talk to. Even though it sounded so scary, I visualized myself, just sitting around talking to some folks and taking an interest in them. At one point, I even thought that maybe I could eventually do some part time counseling over there and just help them. I actually got chocked up and started to cry a little, sitting right there in the book store, thinking about it. I felt like God was really softening my heart to this idea and I was beginning to desire it even more, even though it was scary and probably a dangerous thing to do.

Knowing that I got emotional about it, I said “Ok, Lord, I’ll go try it out.” On the way home, I had some anxiety but the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had to do this.  While I was driving towards the project, I had a vision of me sitting down with a group of them, and just hanging out and talking and then I said, “Hey, is anyone hungry for some dinner?” I even visualized taking one of them with me, to go get a big ole bucket of chicken and then just sitting around having dinner with them and making new friends. I started to cry very hard, thinking about this, even while driving.

So off I went, I drove over and drove past the front of the projects for a once over and realized that not many people were outside, like I thought. I said, “Oh, well, I’ll drive through and see what I can see, because I know the Lord wants me to do this”. I drove down one street and saw two ladies and teenager sitting outside on their white plastic chairs and I said, “Ok, here I go.”

I pulled up by their unit and they watched me pull up. They looked at me very carefully to see if they could figure out who I was. I was the only white person in the whole neighborhood, so I suspect they were wondering why I was there. I was wearing my dress shirt and blue jeans from church, but I wasn’t over dressed.

I started walking towards them and they looked very uncomfortable. I walked up and said “Hello…I know this must seem really weird to have a complete stranger just walk up here, but I can assure you I’m a nice guy and I don’t want anything from you.” I told them that believe it or not, I had driven past the neighborhood several times and I felt drawn to it and that I felt God maybe just wanted me to come over and meet some new people, hang out and hear about their stories and maybe even buy dinner.

Even as I’m writing this, I can see how this seems VERY weird that I actually did this, but my heart was just so burdened to do this, I had no choice. I have a tendency to be able to do the things I’m most afraid of. It’s like hitting the big jump at a motocross track the first time…something in me, just says GO FOR IT and I almost ALWAYS do…even more so, when I know the Lord has asked me to do it.

So, as I was trying my best to tell them why I was there and that I was just wanting to talk and maybe even buy them dinner, the middle aged black lady, said that she was actually getting ready to go.  She barely made eye contact with me.  Ironically, they seemed to be afraid of me.  The teenager got up to walk away too, and said he needed to make a call….I could tell that he wanted to get out of there, probably because I mentioned God.

They barely looked me in the eyes. It wasn’t going anything like I hoped or had imagined. My sincere heart and desire to be kind to them and make friends with them and offer them a free gift of dinner, was being rejected. When they had all but rejected my offer, I asked them if they knew of any family or elderly lady, close by, that might appreciate a meal and some nice conversation. They said they didn’t know of anyone. I could tell, they really just wanted me to leave. I was so bummed but I said, “Well, thank you very much for chatting and I’m sorry for interrupting…God bless you guys.” The older black woman said, “Alright, well thank ya.” I felt like the older lady, was actually starting to realize that I was a sincere young man, just as I was leaving.

I drove around the neighborhood looking for any other possible families, I could do this with. Everyone stared at me, cause I was white I guess, but I just waved and smiled at everyone. I passed an old man on his porch and waved at him, he waved back and I thought… “I should stop and just talk to him and tell him what happened…maybe he could give me some help.” But, I just decided to keep going. I drove past a few more places, but nothing jumped out at me and said “stop here”. I felt so defeated and so confused.  All I wanted to do, was love on some people and do something nice for them.  I pulled out to the main road and just sat there saying “God, what happened here…this didn’t go ANYTHING like I thought it would…why did you burden my heart to do this and then have me be rejected like this…I know I heard you on this…I just know I was supposed to come here?”

I got home, still just perplexed about how it went down and trying to make meaning out of what happened. I felt almost depressed about it. About 2 hours later, I decided to just lay on the floor in the living room, and meditate on it, while listening to relaxing music. I asked the Lord to teach me what happened and to give me insight. Not even a minute later, I began hearing this in my spirit.

“Michael, now you have a better understanding of how I feel, when thousands of people reject my gift, every single day, the most valuable gift ever given, my crucified son, Jesus Christ. Those people didn’t trust you enough to receive your sincere heart and your gift to them. The same is true of my gift. People do not trust me and because they do not trust me, they won’t accept my free gift of love to them”.

I was so moved to hear this and even now, I could just sob if I wasn’t sitting at this Starbucks. For the first time in my 21 years of being a Christian, I could actually empathize and feel a sense of the pain, God must feel when people constantly reject his love and his free gift of eternal life, through Jesus Christ.

This is a side of Christianity and God, that I have never really thought about or been able to emphathize with. The God head and his unbelievable love and FREE gift is rejected every single day, by thousands of people. It breaks my heart, but now I know why God wanted me to have this experience. This is a story that I suspect I will share for years, to help people understand that they are rejecting the most valuable gift they could ever be given, simply because they don’t trust him.

This morning during my quiet time, I realized that the lesson above also applies to Christians who don’t fully know him or walk w him. They do not fully trust God and thus they refuse to accept his gift of spiritual intimacy and the amazing joy thereof. Instead they hold on to what they have with a death grip…missing the greatest gift of knowing HIM…simply because they refuse to trust HIM.

I think you are going to be truly blessed to hear what’s in this video and how it can help you dramatically improve your relationship with God. There are certain things in life that are absolutes, like gravity, and any other of God’s laws. That’s why I feel so confident in sharing the steps I went through, that helped me transition from just knowing about God, to actually Knowing and Walking with God. If you are seeking him and you want more of him, I KNOW this be very helpful for you. What are you waiting for…I dare you to watch this WHOLE video and not feel blessed. Here’s the link in case clicking the title doesn’t work. RIGHT HERE

IMPORTANT! I accidentally put the videos up out of order. If you haven’t watched video 1, yet, please CLICK HERE and do so, first. Otherwise, if you aren’t already at my site. CLICK HERE to watch VIDEO 2

“This is absolutely the most amazing thing I have ever seen in 48 years of my life.” – Comment from Bobby P., after previewing this video.

“Thank you Michael…just so you know, this video brought me to crying out loud…it has made me feel so terrible and unfit as a person of God. And I mean that in a good way. It has to be the beginning of now looking at life with my eyes wide open. Why can’t I stop crying after watching this…what is happening?” – Comment from Crystal, after previewing this video.

This is the second video I’ve sent out, since starting the new blog. I noticed that the last email that went out, didn’t have any links…sorry. You can view that video on my site, if you want. HERE is a direct link to this week’s video, titled above.

If you are not already at my site. CLICK HERE to watch VIDEO 1

At one time people used to believe with great conviction that the world was absolutely flat and that if you sailed far enough, you would fall off the edge of the earth. New experiences forced them to change their beliefs and reconsider what they counted as truth. What if your experiences end up revealing that what you currently believe about God, the Bible, Success, Life, and Your Purpose is a lie, rather than the truth? Would you rather hide from the truth and remain in denial or would you rather leverage the opportunity to KNOW the truth and truly set yourself free? I know what a wise person would do? What would be your choice? Watch this video to hear more…there’s some great news in it, I promise!