On this great morn!  As the son surely rises! I make a declaration!!!  
THIS COFFEE HAS NEVER TASTED SO GLORIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok seriously now, I just love coffee and felt the need to vent that 155 degree passion on to you.  But I wouldn’t do that if it was like a Mcdonalds cup of coffee.  That stuff is like radioactive acid brewed in satans french press.  Anyone who has ever spilled even a drop on your tan slacks knows that any region it touches is forever void of hair and nerves.  I theorize that my future kids may have been burnt by that stuff.
“Zach, why the heck would you start out your next post in such an obscure and odd manner?”
Well old chap, I have a bit of encouragement and plea for those in leadership (I’ll explain more about what I mean by “leadership” a little later in the post).
Now before I get deep in to this, I’m seriously preaching to myself here as well, so I’m not picking on you, I’m picking on myself…And you.  But just a little (unless you just spilled your Mcdonalds coffee on your crotch this morning.  Then irony commands that I giggle a bit).
We were created to be in relationship first, with God, and second, with each other!  We are meant to, as brothers and sisters in Christ, lift each other up, and then as individuals move “out” of our Christian bubbles to build relationships with people who need Jesus.  Heres where some of you may raise an eyebrow.  I don’t think we should start hanging out with someone or meeting with someone with the purpose of “converting them”.  The conversion is a heart change that only God can accomplish, so our role is to simply love on people!  SIMPLY LOOOOOOOOVE!!!!
Gay, lesbian, bi, drug addict, porn addict, angry, enraged, broken married people, whole married people, same sex married people, people who hate you because you are a Christian Etc.
WE ARE NOT CALLED TO JUDGE!!!  
As I’m typing this I really feel like a broken record because that statement has been said so many times by so many people.  But I’ll say it again, hoping that this VERY simple concept breaks through to some hearts.  When we leave out the judginess, everything simplifies!!!  WHAT A STINKIN CONCEPT!!!  SIMPLICITY!!!
SO!  As a leader in the kingdom (and that means if you have Jesus, you are destined to lead in some way)… JUST LOVE.
Talk with people, get to know them, support them, build relationships and just LOVE!  Let God work on their hearts through your willingness to simply love them!  

Carpooling is an awesome thing, especially when you are a one car family. One person drives, and the other helps out with gas, both are generally pretty happy. I love this concept because it gives me time to talk one on one with some of my favorite people! But it also gets me to work pretty early because I start 30 minutes after my carpool buddy. Since we try to get there about 10-15 minutes before he starts, that puts me at about 45 minutes before my shift. What a great chance to dig in to some podcasts!!! So I French press some coffee (cuz that’s how it should be done…Seattle has ruined me), and slap on the headphones.

This morning I started digging in to an amazing podcast about preparing for breakthrough. Without going in to all the details, it basically covers the different phases we need to go through as we begin fasting for breakthrough. I think there are WAY too many of us who start a fast and end up skipping meals without actively pursuing the breakthrough we need, so we miss out on what God truly has for us during those times. Well I tell you what, I’m not ok with simply being hungry. I want to see my breakthrough!!! Just the little bit I got through this morning has started messin’ me up! So here are a few little bits for you to soak in…

The first phase of breakthrough preparation is to hear (check out 2 Cor 5). We need to get ourselves to a place where we can hear the voice of the Lord, and then ask these types of questions.

What is it I’m breaking through to?

What is it I’m trying to break through from?

What do you want to see manifested on the other side of the breakthrough?

If we don’t know what we don’t know what breakthrough we are moving towards, we will miss it!

The second phase is to perceive (check out John Esther 4:1). We need to understand that there are things that we cannot co-exist with on the other side of breakthrough. So those things need to be ripped off of us! We need to perceive those things in advance!

Well, since I have not been through the remainder of the podcast, we will stop there for now. But there will be more to come! If you would like to check out some more amazing podcasts from the amazing leadership at Overcomer Covenant Church, please head on over to Overcomercc.org!