Adoption as sons of the Most High King

The past few months the Lord has constantly been bringing me back to Ephesians. The book is so rich in teaching that at times it is overwhelming to even begin to dig into. However, while I was working a week or two ago, repeating over and over in my head was Eph. 1:3-5. Specifically:

"adoption as sons". 

Growing up, I never really received the attention and even love from my earthly father to help me understand God as a Father. For years, even hearing such a thing as "God being my Father" just made me angry. I felt that it would never make sense to me and that I would never have the understanding of this concept.

A short background of my life: I grew up most of my life with my dad not in the picture. At times, here and there, he would try, but brought constant disappointment.

I feel that we could all relate with having constant disappointment come up in our lives. Whether from our parents, siblings, mentors, or whomever. Living in a fallen world, there is bound to be things that will always let us down. We are humans that haven't fully received our inheritance. 

The Lord told me to go back and look at each major disappointment from my past and to wait for Him to reveal to me where He was in the midst of it all. As I did, most of the major disappointments came up from my relationship between my dad and I. But then, I realized that in most of these, my step-dad stood up and tried his hardest to turn my disappointment into feeling supported. Yeah, he is human and we have had our rough times, but, as a whole he has been so kind by taking me in as his own and treating me as a father should treat his son. 

I've been looking for a car the past few months as my car completely gave up on me. Not feeling like I was getting anywhere, my step-dad and I were able to connect on trying to get the best car for me. As he has seen how much I have been hurt by constant lies and broken promises, he has worked his hardest to support me and help me out. I finally get what it looks like to be loved and supported by a father. 

As I look back toward my relationship with my step-dad I notice that he has adopted my sisters and I into his family as his own son and daughters. Overwhelmed by a multitude of emotions about how loved I am by my step-dad and my mom, the Lord continues to simply whisper in my ear "I love you even more! You have been adopted by ME! You are my son and you will NOT be disappointed in Me!" 

Man! -

"...having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." 

Seeing firsthand, adoption (whether legally or not) into a new family, I can now start to dig into this reality. Of course, we will have barriers in our path that the enemy will try to take us away from running into the righteous, eternal family. But, with a Father like the Lord, if we look to Him, He will keep us from danger. He will do WHATEVER it takes to keep us from getting hurt -physically AND emotionally! He guides us with His shepherd staff (Psalm 23).

He is a good Father and He LOVES us! 

Sitting. Waiting. Listening.

At the beginning of this year I told the Lord that all I really wanted by December was to look back and be able to say that I fell more in love with the Lord. With this in mind, I felt that I was going to jump right into continuing with ACTS (the program I just got done with). In my thoughts, I was going to do 3 more months of training (Advanced Track) and I planned on going back to the Middle East by the end of June.

As I was praying about the finances to come in for me to be able to continue, I asked the Lord that nobody would give the money if I wasn't supposed to do the Advanced Track yet.

So as you may assume, the money didn't come in. Nothing came. I mean, I got some money, but it was given to me personally, not through the program.

After this happened, I began planning for myself what was next. With a House of Prayer being pioneered in Pasadena focused on Ekballo ("send forth laborers"), I thought that maybe the Lord wanted me there. So I began running with that thought in mind.

The past couple of weeks, however, I have had time to pray and retreat with the Lord. In this time, I feel the Lord calling me into a season to just grow in deeper revelation of who He is. The 2 years I had thought I would be overseas is now looking like I will be spending stateside. I feel that He is giving me time to gain community and grow as an intercessor and as a worship leader.

With that being said, to be able to do this, I can really be anywhere. The more I pray about Pasadena, the less peace I feel that it is where I am supposed to be.

So, as of now I plan on getting a job and being more connected/involved in the church I have been attending. I will continue posting as the Lord leads me to. And I do plan on continuing with ACTS; I just feel that the timing is just not now.

Living for the Lord...

[I’ve been clothed in white,

I’m Your precious bride. 

And I will live with You my Lord!]

What if I told you that even from the beginning of creation God desired to commune with man? What if I told you that His story has always been that of love and marriage? What if I told you the book of Hosea is just a glimpse of what Jesus began the day at Calvary? What if I told you that there has been a proposal for marriage and you are part of the Bride; you are invited to the wedding feast!

While I was on outreach to the Middle East, I found myself one evening talking with a family smoking hookah in a Bedouin camp. They told me they were believers. 

Before introducing myself to them, I had this strong urge from the Lord the whole night leading up to meeting them; I felt that He wanted to express His love to them. 

When they told me they were believers, it made it much easier for me to talk with them. However, my heart began mourning with the response I received after talking with them about the Bridegroom paradigm. 

The oldest sister from the family was the only one really talking to me and she told me that I think too much and that there are aspects of the Lord that we just shouldn’t even try to understand; that He wants us to have a good time on earth and not to get caught up in the realms of figuring out more of who He actually is. I told her I disagreed with her and that over and over again, we see in scripture that the 

Lord constantly pursues and searches for a people that are wholly in love with Him. 

Before leaving, I challenged them - specifically her - to seek Him out for themselves, to ask Him to reveal Himself in a greater measure. 

Sadly, as I was telling a friend yesterday about this account, I was brought to the realization that there are many people who claim to believe and know Christ but they are so caught up in worldly success/things, they have no true desire to seek Him out.

First and foremost, I believe the most important thing that is sealed on Jesus’ heart for His beloved bride is that we simply sit before His throne and give ourselves in worship to Him. 

There are two passages that I have been soaking in while trying to understand this concept - John 17:20-26 and Luke 9:38-42. 

While digging into this, I have been convicted of the position of my heart. In a quiet time the other day, I heard the Lord softly say to me, 

“Are you focused on advancing My Kingdom, our advancing in My Kingdom?” 

After hearing this, I began to think I was slowly moving into a position where I was no better than the family I spoke to in the Middle East. They were just living their life how they wanted, and in a way I have been too - I have been like Martha in Luke 9. 

“But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.' ” 

I have - in a way - been caught up in advancing rather than caught up in His mercy. I so often act like Martha, doing things almost to impress Jesus. I think for me, I do this thinking it will advance my position in the Kingdom. However, Jesus is just looking for His friends, He is looking for His Bride! 

He is looking for ones like Mary, who will waste their life and pour their heart on Him. HE WANTS FRIENDS! Being an American, I have had in my mind that we constantly have to be striving to reach the top of the ladder. That success and happiness are found in our placement in our job, friend group, etc. 

But, I have to believe the Kindgom is much different. Our success is found in the reality of us knowing Jesus loves us, and that freedom is found in laying our lives down freely. 

So, to try to wrap this up, I see the importance of Jesus' heart is that His friends work with Him to advance His Kingdom by living a life of worship toward Him; that we begin to focus more on proclaiming His name to those who simply don't know Him, and trust that through this we begin to get closer to Him. 

The fact that He has saved us from darkness and has brought us into light should be enough to make our heart feel like it will explode! So, I challenge you to just be His friend and be excited that you will be with Him for eternity. 

Come boldly before His throne and waste your life before His feet and just love Him!

Yes, there is a truth in advancing in the Kingdom, but I have to believe that this shouldn't be the center of our life; what should be our main focus for ourselves is catching His heart for us, His bride. 

Beholding the Glory of the Lord...

“Our destination needs to be God. Our obsession needs to be bringing people closer to Him.”

-David Sliker

"Father I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." 

-John 17:24

     The past few weeks of teachings have strengthened my inner man in many ways. I feel that my foundational roots, grounded in the knowledge of who Jesus really is, have gone deeper than they have ever reached before. Last week, and the week prior, we were given the wonderful privilege to have Stephen Venable teaching us through Christology (simply the knowledge of Christ) along with the importance of Night and Day prayer. I am privileged to say that the reality of intimacy with the Lord has become the number one focus for me. Sure, there are MANY things I have yet to work on. But, intimacy has been something I’ve been praying to be more revealed to me for over a year now. 

     The Lord has welcomed me deep into His chamber of intimacy. (I don’t want to romanticize this in causing one to think that I view the Lord as my significant other or something) But, reality is, He has called us to partner with Him as a husband calls his wife (Eph. 5:25). I mean, simply look at the Godhead in the trinity: there’s the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Father initiates conversation with the Son; the Son responds (John 5:19-24, 36.); The Holy Spirit Responds to the Son’s plea. 

     This is where my mind was blown: Jesus came down, as a Bridegroom after His Bride so that the Bride may commune alongside Him in the Godhead (John 17:24 Genesis 1). This is not to be mistaken with the thought that we have taken the place of Jesus in the Godhead. All glory is still, and has always supposed to be, given to the Lord. But, we have the beautiful invitation to partner with Him, next to Him, to hear the initiation from the Father and to respond diligently to His voice so that the Holy Spirit acts on His behalf. 

     Love and choice go hand in hand; this is why there were two trees in the garden. The Lord gives man the choice to be diligent to Him, or succumb to this world. We can either grow closer to Him, or closer to the evil, seducing desires of this world.

     With this reality intercession has taken a high priority in my life. He is literally molding my heart with a burden for what burdens His, to love what He loves and hate what He hates. I am working towards learning how to quickly respond to the eternal initiator quickly. I want to be able to see Jesus face to face and hear Him say to me, “Well done”. To be real I still have much to learn, unfortunately my flesh often gets in the way and I don’t respond to His invitation all the time. But, I am seeking out a lifestyle worthy to His calling. 

     I am honored to be part of this program and to be given the opportunity to sit at the Lord’s feet and be like Mary of Bethany (John 12). This is such an important hour in history and I am excited to be a part of the historical event Jesus is beginning to lay before us. 

Prayer Focus:

*For me to live a sojourning sacrificial lifestyle

*The He continues to reveal to me the wounds of His heart.

*Divine strategy on reaching Muslims

*Dreams and visions to be released to my team

*Dreams and visions to be released upon Muslims about the Man Jesus Christ

*Boldness/Authority in proclaiming to Gospel

Interested in Supporting my team and me in our outreach to the Middle East? There is a PayPal link to the right of this blog, or to give with a tax-deduction follow the instructions below:

To give online:

1.) go to ACTSSchool.com/donate and click on the link for online giving.

2.) on the next page, enter you email address and follow the instructions for online going. 

3.) when entering your payment amount, make sure that "Luke 18 Project" is selected as the designation. (the program I am in is under Luke 18 Project) (if Luke 18 Project is not selected, the payment will not go toward my program). Also, make sure you are making a one-time donation, not recurring) 

4. THIS IS THE IMPORTANT ONE. Once the transaction is completed, you will receive an email receipt. Please forward the receipt to 'info@actsschool.com' with my name (Conrad Brown) in the subject line.

"Here am I, send me..."

Only a few more days to get $4,000! Want to help send me by sowing into world evangelism financially? There are two options... CLick on the PayPal link to the right of this blog, or here's the tax-deductible process: 

By check: (try to get this in the mail either today or tomorrow)
1.) Make checks payable to "IHOP-KC". 
2.) In the check memo, write "ACTS July 12 Missions". (PLEASE MAKE SURE NOT TO WRITE MY NAME ON THE CHECK.)
3.) Mail the check to me at:
Conrad Brown
c/o ACTS 
3517 East Red Bridge Road
Kansas City, MO 64137.

To give online:
1.) go to ACTSSchool.com/donate and click on the link for online giving.
2.) on the next page, enter you email address and follow the instructions for online going. 
3.) when entering your payment amount, make sure that "Luke 18 Project" is selected as the designation. (the program I am in is under Luke 18 Project) (if Luke 18 Project is not selected, the payment will not go toward my program). Also, make sure you are making a one-time donation, not recurring) 
4. THIS IS THE IMPORTANT ONE. Once the transaction is completed, you will receive an email receipt. Please forward the receipt to 'info@actsschool.com' with my name (Conrad Brown) in the subject line.

If you have any questions let me know!

email: cnrdbrwn208@gmail.com

phone: 573.253.3308

"Delight yourself in the Lord..."

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.." - Psalm 37:4

Tuesday nights we are given the opportunity to go with our outreach teams and evangelize throughout Kansas City.  My team goes to a predominately Muslim community. The weeks prior to this week I personally was getting discouraged because no one cared to hear about Jesus being the One true living God. This Tuesday, however, was much different. My partner and I began praying and asking the Lord to lead us where He wanted us. After walking around the area, we saw a little girl (about 5) run toward the street and we both had a sense that we were supposed to pray for someone at that house. Sure enough, a man came toward his daughter to get her away from the road and he was on crutches (we found out he had dislocated his knee).

As we got closer to the house, we saw an Imam (Islamic leader) sitting in front of the house. (What is important to note about this particular Imam is the fact that another group the previous week spoke with this same man. He was, in a way, shut off from hearing that Jesus is more than just a prophet). We decided to walk by and pray for the Lord to give us the strength and the boldness to approach this family and pray healing over the man on crutches. 

We walked up to the family and told them we were Christians and told them we felt that we were supposed to pray healing over his leg and that Jesus would heal him. The man accepted us and even the Imam allowed us to pray over this man. I began praying and asked Jesus to reveal himself as God to the family. I asked the Spirit to dwell in his house and that they would be brought to salvation. I asked to Lord to heal the man. As I was praying heat began radiating off me. I could feel the power of the Lord working inside this man. The funny thing is that the Imam helped translate my prayer, but the man knew some english.  I stopped and asked how he was feeling and the man said, "Less pain, less pain!" He seemed enthusiastic. I told him I wanted him to test it out. He got up and used his crutches and I told him to walk on the leg we were praying over. 

The man said again, "Less pain!" I told him that because there was more pain, I wanted to contend for complete restoration. So he allowed me to pray over him once again. As I was praying my body was on fire. It felt as though someone had dipped me in hot oil. At the end I asked him what he was feeling and he said with a very concerned face, "No pain, no pain." I told him that Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God was real, that He is more than a prophet and that he healed his knee. He seemed hesitant to take the brace off, as he kept looking at the Imam. I told him that he was completely healed and that even before he went to bed he would be walking without the crutches. 

I tell this story to encourage myself and to let those who read this know that there is fruit coming out of Kansas City. Signs and Wonders are being released over the people. 

Last night I did a night watch prayer time in the Prayer Room from midnight to 6am and a group of us were praying for financial breakthrough. As we were praying, we felt the Lord telling us to find our delight in Him. I was led to Psalm 37 and meditated over is a majority of the night. We began to prophecy over one another and just spoke truth. We told each other what the Lord wanted to say. He affirmed each of us, He met us all where we were. He is so faithful! I love that we serve a God that loves to love us. When we position our hearts, He is our stronghold; He is our provider. 

I do ask that you pray with me as I still need $4,000 to be able to go into the Middle East. I want to invite everyone who reads this to prayerfully consider sowing into the hastening of the Lord's return. 

Want to help send me by sowing into world evangelism financially? Here's the tax-deductible process: 

By check: 
1.) Make checks payable to "IHOP-KC". 
2.) In the check memo, write "ACTS July 12 Missions". (PLEASE MAKE SURE NOT TO WRITE MY NAME ON THE CHECK.)
3.) Mail the check to me at:
         Conrad Brown
            c/o ACTS 
  3517 East Red Bridge Road
    Kansas City, MO 64137.

To give online:
1.) go to ACTSSchool.com/donate and click on the link for online giving.
2.) on the next page, enter you email address and follow the instructions for online going. 
3.) when entering your payment amount, make sure that "Luke 18 Project" is selected as the designation. (the program I am in is under Luke 18 Project) (if Luke 18 Project is not selected, the payment will not go toward my program). Also, make sure you are making a one-time donation, not recurring) 
4. THIS IS THE IMPORTANT ONE. Once the transaction is completed, you will receive an email receipt. Please forward the receipt to 'info@actsschool.com' with my name (Conrad Brown) in the subject line.

If you have any questions let me know!

Praying people evangelize. . .

“Jesus didn’t say ‘go and make Christians’ no, He said ‘go and make DISCIPLES!’ ” 

-Brian Kim

It's almost been 3 weeks since I have transitioned into the IHOP-KC community. ACTS has fully blown every expectation I had for it out of the water. I must say that the teachings and teachers alike are some of the best one could receive on world evangelization. The position and desire of their hearts to make His name known throughout the world is definitely motivational to rise up as a generation and hasten the Lord's return. Walking alongside 50ish like-minded people has pushed and challenged me to go much deeper into the Word and in my relationship with the Lord. We are all here for the one purpose and that is to go into the nations and let incense arise in the darkest places. (Mal. 1:11)


We found out where we are going for our outreach portion of this track two weeks ago. I am honored to be part of a small team of 7 going into the Middle East (We can't specify the exact location due to the sensitivity of the location). I am very excited for this. We have spent the past 2 weeks during our small groups just allowing the Lord to speak to us pertaining our group and our time in the Middle East. There is much excitement stirring in my heart for just the continual growth He has for me. 


The first week we had Matt and Dana Candler in our morning class teaching on intimacy with the Lord. And Mon-Wed last week we had Corey Russell teaching on the formation of messengers. Corey gave us 4 facets to becoming a better messenger: 1. Having the knowledge of God. 2. Fellowshipping with the Spirit. 3. Revelation of intercession. 4. Knowing/understanding the urgency of this hour.  This week has dramatically changed a lot of our lives. Last week we began class praying in the Spirit for about 20 min. People were being delivered and were given prophetic words for the class. The rule was, if you feel like you got a word for everyone, you had to share it. What was supposed to be only like 30 min ended up being about an hour and a half. People receiving deliverance and restoration, repenting and confessing, and acting and obeying.