Today I was in a restaurant having breakfast with some dear friends before I took off to the airport. I spoke about doubt and unbelief. As I was thinking on this later, I decided it would make a really good post.

The bible tells us to not have doubt and unbelief. But what is doubt and what is unbelief? For some they assume they are one in the same. But they are two different areas that have two different outcomes in our life. If we are not to have doubt and unbelief, then we must have the opposites which are understanding and believing.

We all have times of doubt and unbelief in our lives. One of scriptures that always has stood out to me is in Romans 4 were it talks of Abraham. It says when he became fully persuaded, he believed the promise of God not doubting. Which means there was a time he wasn’t fully persuaded and had to go through a process to shift out of doubt. Being persuaded occurs in both the areas of doubt and unbelief. One deals with how we think of applying promise and the other of activation of the promise and the outcome if it. ,

Many people can have great faith but still have doubts if things will come to pass as promised. Others have deep assurance of promise, but their faith is lacking and hope the promise will come. If we are honest with ourselves, we all have been on both sides of this having doubt and great faith,  and also times having no doubt but lacking in faith.

When we think of doubt we are dealing with assumed facts in the mind and how we perceive those facts working out. Facts are only conclusions based on inputs. We may or may not have all the inputs because facts are the best educated guess. When we think of unbelief, we are thinking of truths not fully developed. Truths of God that are sovereign and even can be spiritual law’s and promises. I see these truths as non-negotiables. This means doubt cannot and should not negotiate the outcome truth is trying to bring.

We see Abraham became fully persuaded, meaning the facts he was faced with, which are stated as the deadness of both his and Sarahs bodies, had to give way to the truth promised by God. God wasn’t moved by the facts and could even create new facts to dismiss doubt, hence their bodies were regenerated into the ability to bring forth a child of promise. But this was created by faith. It came down to what was going to rule and how Abraham would submit. He had to bring the final doubts under his spirit believing what God said was true. When this occurred, he was fully persuaded. It’s amazing of the power both the mind and the spirit have to create or deny. 

Doubt occurs in your mind while unbelief occurs in your spirit. Doubt comes by your thoughts and the imaginations of your mind. It is how you perceive things and what you do with random thoughts. It is what you assume and what you fear. Doubt has a foothold in what we think on consider and ponder.

Doubt comes to diminish hope and even to dismantle hope. It comes to put hope aside. If hope is removed, then faith has nothing to create the evidence of things hoped for. You see doubt is as powerful as faith but has the opposite result. While doubt occurs in the mind, unbelief occurs in your spirit. Unbelief is not believing or engaging in spiritual truths that governor all things. Unbelief stops your faith working as well. It does this by not fully embracing truth by faith. Unbelief working hand in hand with doubt diminishes the possibilities of God and causes us to contemplate instead of engaging.

This is why Apostle Paul tells us to be careful what we hear. He also said to take every though captive to the obedience of Christ. Casting down imaginations and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. The knowledge of God is found in the truth of God. The imaginations are found in our mind. The real stronghold we are fighting is in our thought life. Whatever we allow to dominate will also create our reality. We can have facts, or we can have truths. We can have information, or we can experience life. We can have intellectual ascent or spirit ascent.

I hope this short teaching will provoke you to take a look at the possibility of your own areas of doubt and unbelief and turn them around to be assurance and full faith believing. Like Abraham its time we become fully persuaded of some things in our own lives.

This morning, I woke up and the Lord told me to write about kingdom centers, hubs, revival hubs, prayer hubs etc. I have written on this many times and even have a book on it many use as a handbook. All of these are titles for expressions of ministries outside of a typical church setting. Churches are places of nurturing for life. These centers are more for the advancement of Kingdom causes. Most offer more than a church can offer as well. In the 1970’s these were called parachurch ministries, meaning they stood alongside churches and did what churches refused to do, but more like what they couldn’t do or did not have the capability to do.

I started ministry with a church expression. That really was all there was in the 1990’s. If you were called to fulltime ministry, then you went this path. But after seeing the conflict in my people and coming to my own realization of my true call of apostle, I resigned from the church I started and told the people we were going to become an Apostolic Kingdom Center. Our current center has stood the test of time, first as a regional center in a corner of our state and now with a state wide call in the center of the state at the capital.

We started out as a center in 1995. At that time there was no center in my state of Iowa and few in the United States. I was persecuted by people, churches distanced themselves, people thought we were starting a spin off cult. I paid a high price to work through what I knew God wanted to do. But there were people who came. We started a accredited school, traveled our state doing meetings and helped places and people who had struggled with real answers. We invested into many cities and towns. We helped with church splits, churches dissolving and a host of issues. At the same time we were pressing for an awakening to come forth. But many rejected the apostolic and the center we had established.

I began traveling the United States speaking at conferences and finding others with this same heart. Over the years this has led me helping probably no less that 30-40 people start centers and give words to what they had in their heart. Some started Bbile schools as well for training. We helped with that as well, having an accredited school at one time. Today as I travel and speak I literally spend time talking to someone at every conference desiring to start a center or hub for their region. Some contact me later to discuss things in detail. This is the history I have to speak to the following.

So here is a description of Kingdom Centers, Hubs, Revival Hubs, Prayer Hubs or whatever title might be used. I’ll just call them Hubs since this is the current word being thrown around.  Hubs first should have a large vision that encompasses all the other visions of those attending. Unlike a church you go to serve the vision of the church, a hub has a vison for the person who attend. The vision of the hub is large enough to encompass all the other visions people carry into the hub. Hubs are looking to see how to release the hidden potential in a person. Some offer opportunities that cannot be found in a local church.

Centers all carry certain dynamics. These are just a few.

1. Deep kingdom teaching with generally a set teacher or a series of teachers. This comes many times by a school of ministry being formed from the teaching grace. Some have leadership training. Life skills and worship team development. Others may be focused on a specific area of culture. But all have teaching, and it is not just regular teaching of foundations. It is a kingdom focused revelatory teaching. This sets the hub as the standard.
2. Solid doctrine. Teaching is paramount but solid doctrine is more. Of all the things the early church fathers were concerned about was solid doctrine. The second generation of apostles were constantly fighting for authenticity. By the third-generation men were drawing people to themselves by words that sounded good but had mixture. You will find no mixture in a Hub. There is great focus upon a solidness in what is taught as it will be reproduced over and over.
3. Activation. If you are teaching, then you also need activation into what has been taught. This is making things have a certain reality that moves from concepts to practical application. Hubs look at each person as having  a place to be productive. There are not consumers but investors.
4. Opportunity. To activate there must be opportunity. With opportunity comes privilege. A hub creates opportunities of activation and responsibility. This generally comes through the activation of the dreams of the people. Their vision gets empowered, and the hub begins to branch outward in ministry.
5. Empowerment is by seeing the value in each person and who they can become. It is having a vision for them as an individual and also in a corporate body. It is believing in the person and knowing them.
6. Grace Dynamics. This is seen as all five graces of Ephesians 4 are seen to some degree or another. This mix causes a balanced approach and forms a true kingdom community of believers whose hearts are knit in love and concern. These graces are the catalyst to a creative atmosphere as well.

These are just a few of the ways Hubs operate. But most churches see them as competitive to their own vision, culture and community. Hubs are formed to bring and do what most churches may not have capacity for. Churches have boundaries to protect their culture. Hubs have boundaries to protect doctrine and truths. Some churches act like Hubs and probably will develop into them. I have helped many make this transition, to help them realize the struggles that come. Many times, you lose people due to the standard being raised. Commitment to a Hub and possibly a church also occurs. People become conflicted. Money is indeed another problem as most give to an institution than a Hub. Most Hubs fail due to lack of finances.

Many times, people who attend Hubs have no real church home and become the core group of a center. This will help with some of the problems and may create others. Why did they not fit in a local church. Are there areas in their life needing to be addressed? Possibly. Sometimes they come thinking it is a place they will shine or stand out.

Hubs each seem to have a specific assignment, and many have personal preferences of styles of worship, certain causes people rally around and maybe even a prayer focus. I don’t look at these as hubs because the vision is too singular and not all inclusive. Hubs are aware of all cultural issues and are looking at ways to shift or affect the culture. They are not looking for easing the problem but finding the root issues and addressing them. They encompass all the concerns and causes but hold them balance. The word and kingdom are foremost focus with Christ as the one orchestrating.

Many look at the church in Antioch as a model of a center or hub. But the real Kingdom center was Ephesus. Antioch was a culture crossroads and was filled with idolatry. It was actually a demonic center. Paul taught there and established a solid group of kingdom people. But Ephesus influenced Rome with its idolatry. Ephesus was also a place of cultural influence but was a crossroads to the rest of the known world. From Ephesus Paul would branch out and spread the kingdom.

Hubs should have an apostle overseeing them. All should be apostolic but that does not mean that an apostle is resident. It means they have come under an apostles grace a set apostle carries. That is key because apostles have been given authority to them within regions, territories states and even nations. They carry a certain grace pertaining to their assignment. Regions have graces to draw on that hold the answers people and leaders need. To deny this grace is to deny Christ set order.  Myself I know I carry certain graces, one being an advancing grace. I also carry an atmosphere shifting grace. This grace brings the Spirit of Understanding as well. These are just a few. These dynamics are what cause expansions for those who engage and embrace it. If people don’t the grace is still present, just inactive or not to fullness.

Hubs are started not by a need for them, nor are they started because of being offended at churches. They are not started because of opportunity, nor because you cannot find a place to minister. They are God ordained and spiritually confirmed by other leaders. Most require the apostles active grace to even begin properly on solid doctrinal foundations. Of the dozens and dozens of hubs and centers I have seen and helped the ones who made it were truly ordained by God. The others seemed to fade away over time. It takes a pioneering spirit, a building anointing, a prophetic visionary type person. It requires great faith as well. Hubs and centers become great places of resources to a region, especially in spiritual activity, equipping and teaching. They extend these activities into other regions as well.

What I have experienced is many times church leaders don’t want to embrace what hubs and centers have to offer. It can reveal lack in their own ministries and the fear of losing people seems to keep them at a distance. Yet what centers and hubs offer is a great resource to make the role of pastor easier because people have been matured. Centers and hubs maintain high standards and are places of doctrinal security. Especially if they have a ministry school, they realize what is taught will be reproduced over and over. They don’t want more error being taught so doctrinal standards are maintained. If centers and hubs were embraced, the whole Body of Christ will be better off. It becomes the training ground for future leaders.

The Lord took me in a vision of people standing in a room with walking canes. There were hundreds of people with canes and even thousands. Some had their canes raised in the air like “Here I am Lord” while others were using them to stand as they needed them. In the vision a great healing wind came into the room and people were healed of all manner of physical things, things that was the reason for them to have the cane. As they were healed, they either simply dropped the cane or threw it in the air. The bulk simply dropped the cane. I said to the Lord this is great. A healing wind has finally come. I felt the vision was over, but it wasn’t.   

Then the Lord took me into what seemed like a large room that was a large field covering thousands of acres. It was the room of the United States church. It held millions of people. He showed me the people standing with canes, but these were different than the first group. He said “they have much propping them up. Look what is helping them to stand.” I looked and saw many with canes again. Some were leaning on them and some sitting on them. But then I saw words written on each cane. Pride. Self-righteousness. Intellect. Rejection. Anxiety. Open believe. Almost any word you could think of was written. Some words that were good like humility, or goodness, etc. as well. I asked the Lord what about these words they seem out of place to prop someone up. He responded, “these are taken to extremes as well and have become out of balance. I could easily kick these canes, and they would no longer be propped up. But then the person would fall.”

I could easily see the masses that had things out of balance. Places of attaining and then no forward growth. Things that caused them to think they had arrived, so they settled there. I sensed a realigning with being held up by Christ alone and not all the things he brings us. I sensed a move of the spirit coming that would bring a plumb bob again. It would measure if you were standing upright or are propped up and leaning on your cane. God was going to correct this with a refocus. I could see a deep repentance coming, a deep metanoia that would occur. I saw many drop their canes once they realized they had not been given the full counsel of God. But I also saw others who hung to them. A move of God was emerging after the letting go to sweep the nation.

Then the Lord took me to another room. It too was a large field but not like the field or room of the church. It was behind the stage of the room of the earth. In this room I saw leaders of ministries again. This was the leaders’ room, it represented both leaders and ministries. I saw again the canes propping people and ministries up. This time different things were written on each cane. These were different than the church canes. These had multiple writings. Some were the same as the church room and I knew they had reproduced some of the people’s canes the church room had. But they also had things such as fame, importance, money, wealth, notoriety, prestige, accomplishment, and a long list of names leaders strive for, all very different than the church room canes.  

The Lord said to me, “Unlike the church canes, in this room I will kick the cane out from under them. They will fall and you will see in this hour what happens when what was propping them up has been removed. They fall so far you no longer see them.” I saw thousands of leaders and ministries propped up. I saw a few the Lord kick the cane, and they fell as if to disappear in the floor of the room. You never even saw them as if they disappeared. I saw the ones I knew in the last months who had fallen. I saw the names they leaned on. I saw others who were propped up or sitting on their canes. They were looking to see if the name on the cane that was kicked out was on their cane. If it wasn’t they felt, they were ok. But as far as God saw all were the same no matter the name. It was the fact they had allowed something to prop them up. I felt God really doesn’t need these who are leaning on the canes. What He will do, does not depend on their response. The contentment of this group to stay propped up was higher than the previous 2 groups. The first group seemed more desperate and serious. The second group was settled but not pursuing.

Then the Lord recapped it all to me. I saw the Lord was gracious to those in need in the first group. They had genuine need and were pursuing. It seemed they had found a cane that had no name on it. They saw it as temporary until the wind blew. They knew the wind was coming.  I saw those in the second group, the church group, had received a cane that was never addressed by a leader. It was as if not addressing issues created the cane. The ones who dropped their cane and got free were surprised when the wind blew. But to the leaders who knew better they had been given a chance of repentance. It was a high level of accountability. Many wanted the wind to blow because it was right but did not pursue removing the hinderances that were stopping it. Then the vision ended.

Afterwards I contemplated how easy it is to be propped up once success comes. Or even if you plateau to get accustomed to what is and never reach maturity. May God bring us understanding of what each of us must do. May God have mercy upon His Church and its leaders.