Wayne Jacobsen

Just Love – Chapter 1

1 Comment / Lifestream News / March 1, 2026 / Gospel, Just Love, righteousness v. justice, tobie van der westhuizen, Wayne Jacobsen

All my life, I have sought an authentic Gospel that does everything Jesus promised. It would rescue those perishing in the darkness of this age and invite even the simplest people into an intimate engagement with his Father that would lead them to life—here in this age and the age to come. Connecting with him would unravel the darkness that twists our world into pain and bondage and lead his people into the ever-increasing joy of knowing him and the freedom of being transformed by his love.

Seventeen months ago, I got an email from a stranger in South Africa that told me there was a significant flaw in our English translations of the Bible. Tobie van der Westhuizen had discovered that the Greek word translated as ‘righteousness’ for the past 500 years is actually the word for justice. Early translators had chosen a word in English that had no equivalent in Greek or Hebrew, and using it had led to a distortion of the Gospel Jesus would have preached, and Paul would have explained. Admittedly, I was skeptical at first, but the more I explored his research, I realized that he was on to something. That led to hours of conversations and eventually an idea for this book called Just Love: How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the Gospel.

We are excited to release this book on Tuesday for others to explore this with us. It may seem like a subtle shift at first, but he implications are profound. I haven’t been as excited about a book I’ve helped to write since The Shack. And honestly, this completes the message of He Loves Me, which I’ve often said is the most significant book I’ll ever write—until now! This is how God’s love not only flows to us, but through us to change the world we inhabit. I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally see this book in print.

In advance of that release, here is Chapter 1 of what I hope will help us see the power of a Living Gospel, which was not just meant to save us from hell, but also to transform us by the power of Christ to change the way we live and love in this age.

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page15image65280512 Chapter 1

A MISSING PIECE

Buckle up—we are about to take you on a journey that has profoundly shifted our understanding of Scripture and, even more importantly, the trajectory of our spiritual lives. It just might for you, too.

What if you discovered that a mistranslated word in Scripture distorted its meaning for us today? And what if that one word was so significant that getting it right might alter not only the course of your life, but of Christianity itself?

We want to suggest to you that while the Reformation was a crucial step forward in freeing followers of Jesus from performance-based religion, the way it’s often misunderstood today may unintentionally obscure the best part of salvation—Jesus’s desire to transform us from within so we reflect his kingdom in this present age.

We reached these conclusions by very different routes. I (Wayne) arrived here relationally. More than thirty years ago, I encountered the Father’s love in a way that rewrote my spiritual story, especially after growing up in more legalistic environments. Tobie’s path was fueled by a hunger for authentic faith, guided by linguistic and theological insights that I had never considered.

When our lives intersected in late 2024, everything clicked. What Tobie shared explained how love had already been teaching me to live. Now I had Scriptural terminology for it. By resolving a mistranslation of a single English word in Scripture, I could finally see the map of the spiritual territory I’d wandered through for decades. The rich conversations that followed launched this collaboration—and ultimately this book.

If what we propose is true, it unifies Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, weaves salvation and the kingdom of God together, and clarifies what Jesus intended for our transformation. It doesn’t replace the Gospel I learned earlier—it completes it. Others throughout history have tried to call God’s people back to this simple, transformative reality, but the noise of cultural religion has often drowned out their voices.

So, we write in hopes that you’ll consider these things. Search the Scriptures to see if they hold up. If they do, you too can step into a fuller, more vibrant experience of the Gospel today.

When Something Doesn’t Add Up

Have you ever been in a situation where nothing seemed to make sense, only to learn later that it was because you didn’t have all the information?

I recently went through something similar in my marriage. Unbeknownst to either of us, my wife, Sara, had been sexually assaulted by family members between the ages of four and eight. Un- able to process her pain at such a young age—and having no one safe to confide in—her mind buried those memories deep within her. But in her fifties and sixties, a deep pain began to push its way to the surface. Erupting like a volcano, it manifested as complex PTSD and a deep self-loathing that pushed her toward suicidal thoughts. Unable to contain or explain her anguish to anyone, she hid it behind kindness and caretaking, fawning over everyone—including me—so no one would discover what a horrible person she thought herself to be.

During that time, our conversations made little sense to me. I sometimes thought she was being evasive, but my attempts to understand her only led to frustration for both of us. Caught in the torment of a trauma she did not remember, Sara said whatever she thought I needed to hear just to survive the moment. Eventually, the debilitating pain drove her to seek counseling, and she was told she must have been traumatized. Because she had no memories of her childhood abuse, the counselor wrongly concluded that she must be married to an abusive husband. She encouraged Sara to leave me, which she did while I was away on a twelve-day trip to the East Coast.

Imagine my shock when I got home to a letter sitting on the kitchen counter, saying that our marriage had been painful for her, and that she either had to take her life or leave me. Thankfully, she chose the latter, but the shock of her leaving devastated me. This wasn’t the woman I had been married to for forty-seven years. As far as I knew, our life had been wonderful, with minimal conflict. What was I missing?

It took five weeks and a change in counselors for us to find our way back to each other. That’s when Sara discovered that I had not been the source of her pain. The real “monster” came from a deep-seated trauma inflicted by her extended family decades earlier. I’ve since walked beside her as those memories have surfaced and as Jesus heals her heart and rewires her mind.

Discovering her childhood trauma was the missing piece we both needed. Once that came to light, we understood not only the pain she endured and why she coped with life the way she did, but also how even my most innocent actions could trigger her trauma. That insight is what we needed to walk into the future with increasing healing. Today, I get to stand by Sara as her husband, encourager, and confidant as she continues her courageous journey toward wholeness.

Over the past year, I’ve had a similar revelation in my theological journey. I have come across a missing piece in my understanding of salvation and the kingdom of God. Like discovering Sara’s trauma, this new insight illuminated not only my past and the struggles I’ve had with some aspects of Christianity, but it also gave me a renewed vision for what salvation was truly meant to be.

For years, I’ve wrestled with a troubling question: How could Christianity produce so many converts and so few deeply transformed lives? Too often, salvation is seen merely as a ticket to heaven, rather than the beginning of a new kind of life here. As a young pastor, I was discouraged by how many believers seemed to seek only the minimal commitment necessary to “stay saved.”

For two thousand years, we have been more preoccupied with fighting sin—and often each other—than learning to love our neighbors. Yet, Jesus said that the world would recognize us by our love. (John 13:34–35) Sadly, that’s not the testimony most people see. Dallas Willard described our approach to discipleship as the “Gospel of Sin Management”—a message that drives people to try harder, only to feel more shame when they fail. But that’s not the Gospel Jesus brought. It’s simply another form of the old performance-based religion he came to free us from.

What I’ve come to realize is this: There’s a vast difference between practicing a religion called Christianity and actually living in the life of Jesus. Somewhere along the way, I had missed a crucial piece of the Gospel.

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Just Love:
How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the Gospel
by Wayne Jacobsen and *Tobie van der Westhuizen
174 pages
Trailview Media
Available from Amazon, Tuesday, March 3
in Kindle ($10.99)
or in Paperback ($16.99)

*Tobie is a former pastor and holds a PhD in Higher Education. In addition to his work overseeing a private school in Bloemfontein, SA, he writes at JusticeofGod.com and answers questions on the Bible and spiritual matters at quora.com/profile/Tobie-28.

Hear Wayne, Tobie, and Kyle discuss their new book on the most recent edition of The God Journey.

Just Love – Chapter 1 Read More »

The Sequel to He Loves Me

Leave a Comment / Encouragement / February 17, 2026 / He Loves Me, Just Love, tobie van der westhuizen, Wayne Jacobsen

Love is not a commodity you can possess; it is a river of life, flowing from the Father in which he invites you to dwell.

It’s not just a doctrine to comfort the intellect, but a way of engaging God’s presence as you go about your day. Resting in his affection makes it easier for us to entertain his presence, and living in that flow of life will change you over time. Love will not only define how he engages you, but also how you treat others—all others, not just those who think as you do.

Those who seek to contain love in themselves will find that it will wither away like day-old manna. That’s why it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone—not because he needed a wife, per se—but because the love God poured into him needed a recipient to flow out to. God’s love is easy to preach or write about since nothing is truer in all the world than that God is love and that he deeply loves those he created. What I find troubling is that so many people who teach and write about love in the vertical sense are some of the worst practitioners when it comes to sharing that love with others. They treat others, even their own staff, with anger and impatience. They constantly push past other people to be noticed or to build a following. They can even ignore others being abused around them, because they only love certain types of people.

As you live in the love of the Father, you will notice that it cannot be apportioned out to people you like best. Love is love, and you can’t truly live in it without it changing you to be as aware of others as you are yourself. You don’t have to try to love; it becomes part of your being.

That’s why I’m so excited that this new book is finally finished. Just Love wasn’t even in my heart fifteen months ago. But through an intriguing email, I began a relationship with Tobie van der Westhuizen from South Africa, and out of that growing friendship, the idea for this book was born. His research into a mistaken translation in the Greek captured my heart because this was what love had been teaching me throughout the three previous decades. Now, I have biblical language to make sense of it and a better understanding of what Jesus accomplished to share his love with the world through people made just by their growing trust in him.

I’ve often said that He Loves Me is the most significant book I’ll ever write. If people only read one book of mine, that’s the one I would choose for them. It represents the most poignant shift in my spiritual journey—from trying to appease God so he would love me, to discovering that he already did. I didn’t have to wake up every day trying to be loved by God, but instead woke up as his beloved. That journey for me began over thirty years ago, and it continues to bear fruit in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I started. I want everyone to go on that journey.

However, in the last few years, when I would say it was the most significant book I’ll ever right, I’d feel a nudge inside saying, “So far.” I’d chuckle and dismiss it because I couldn’t think of anything on my radar screen of future writing that would come close. Now, I wonder where those words came from. Advanced readers of Just Love tell me that this is the most important book they’ve ever read, and I don’t disagree. While He Loves Me deals with our vertical connection to the Father through the Son, Just Love couldn’t be a more appropriate sequel. It is about how love flows through us to fulfill all that Jesus hoped for in demonstrating the glory of his kingdom amid the chaos of this age.

It is about God’s hope fulfilled in his justice, not by people performing better for him, but as the inevitable byproduct of people delighting in his love. How has Christendom missed this for so long? Because of an unfortunate mistranslation of a single word in the Scriptures took our focus off of God’s justice revealed in the world, and instead preoccupied us with sin management and personal piety. I can’t wait for you to read this book, not only how it will change your reading of Scripture to be more true to what the authors intended, but also because we outline this amazing process where love works out God’s life in us. This makes the connection between the Old Covenant law, salvation, transformation, and kingdom.

It has been an absolute delight to work with Tobie to coauthor this book, and I am excited to introduce you to him in this book and in future podcasts. I wholeheartedly embrace what he wrote in our dedication:

Whoever reads this book will soon realize it could not have been written by either of us alone. It is the shared witness of two lives who followed Christ on different continents for nearly a century between them. It reminds us that true community reaches beyond the limits of one mind or one lifetime. In these pages, two worlds merge—the world of reflection and the world of lived experience—and that meeting is no accident.

The publication date is March 3. In a few days, you’ll be able to pre-order the book on Amazon.com and have it delivered as soon as it drops. I’ll be sharing some of that content here in future blog posts, as well as the comments some of our advance readers made about this book.

Just Love completes beautifully what He Loves Me started over twenty-five years ago. I’m so glad this has come about, and can’t wait to hear what you think or take on some of your questions as you process this significant shift in our understanding of the work of salvation.

As Brad said in his endorsement above, the content of this book could really change everything.

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And a couple of announcements before I go.

We are updating our mailing list and have found a significant number that did not check “marketing permissions” when they signed up on our list. Yes, I know it’s crazy, but it’s a MailChimp issue. Even though you are signing up for a subscription to my blog or to The God Journey, you also need to check that box as their permission to send email on my behalf. I promise it wasn’t about including you in a lot of marketing emails. So, if you are not getting the email notices you signed up for, that may be why. Please go to your MailChimp account and update your preferences. (If you received this blog update in your email inbox, you’re all set.)

Also, I wanted to remind you that I’ll be in Bradenton, Florida, this weekend. If you’re nearby, you can join me. Check my travel listing for details. On Saturday, I’ll be hosting a six-hour conversation focused on It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the end of the Age. It will be broadcast via Zoom from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. If you’d like to join in, you can use the Zoom Link here.

The Sequel to He Loves Me Read More »

Chapter 21: And Then the End Shall Come

5 Comments / It's Time / June 25, 2025 / Apocalypse, End Times, It's Time, Lifestream. Letters to the Bride, New Creation, Second Coming, The End of the Age, Wayne Jacobsen

(Note: First, I am thrilled to announce that we’ve secured the necessary funds to rescue the water enterprise in Kenya. Thank you for your generosity once again. And now, here’s the last chapter of It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age. Whether he comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years, how do we live in light of his return? We have already released the first part of this book in print, and now we will combine it with the last part. You can also access the previous chapters here.)

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It has been 2,000 years since Jesus promised to return. How do you keep your hope up that he will? Do you ever wonder whether we’ve missed something here? Since I don’t have a clue when he might come, I don’t see how it’s relevant to the decisions I have to make today.
Janine, office manager and grandmother in Ireland

Hi Janine,

That has been my dilemma most of my life. In my younger days, people talked about him coming before I would graduate from high school. I dreaded the idea of judgment, and I didn’t want my life cut short here. As so many predictions of his return came and went without effect, the hope of his coming fell into the background, irrelevant to how I lived.

If we knew he was coming in two years, wouldn’t we make different decisions than we would if we knew it wasn’t going to happen for another fifty? Perhaps that’s why we don’t know. Anticipating his return is a matter of the heart, hoping in the final resurrection, rather than information for financial or career choices. I’ve known many who thought they had it figured out, only to make horrible choices that ruined their lives.

As these days have darkened with growing polarization, global conflicts, natural disasters, and environmental challenges filling every news cycle, his coming now seems almost a necessity to rescue us from ourselves. Now, I cannot wait for the moment when the same Jesus who walked the hills of Galilee, surrendered his life to the cross, rose victorious over death, and revealed himself to countless people throughout history, will bodily reappear on planet Earth. He, whom we’ve only known by presence, will become materially present, and we will know him as fully as he has always known us.

At his coming, Jesus will expose the dark powers that rule the earth, and the old order of those who compete for influence and power will dissolve into nothing. Kings, presidents, prime ministers, dictators, and CEOs will all lose their power, national identities will be obliterated, and suffering will cease at last. Though I have lost sight of it at times, I’ve never doubted that he will yet come.

That’s when God’s work of redeeming Creation will reach its climax. In the blink of an eye, all we have known will be reconstituted into a new heaven and new earth that will abound with his love and life. What we’ve known in glimpses, we will see in fullness when sin, fear, and pain are abolished.

Creation has longed for it since humanity crashed into the wall of its waywardness. The day of his coming is why the Psalmist pictures the trees singing for joy, the seas resounding, and all Creation rejoicing: God is coming to judge the world (Psalm 98). I know many of us were taught to fear his judgment, but Creation doesn’t, and I don’t anymore. On that day, he will set right all that has been corrupted on this planet.

The end of this age will also be the beginning of a new and better one. Jesus will take his rightful place as Lord of all, and Creation will thrive in a justice born of love and tenderness. The oppressed will go free, sickness gone, the lies we’ve believed will dissolve in the light, and we will forever be with him in his eternal kingdom. To those who find their fulfillment in the world, that day may be tragic. But for those who have found their home in Jesus, it will fulfill every unmet desire and unsatisfied dream.

Why Is He Waiting?

One of the great mysteries of human history is how slowly God appears to move by our perception. God’s purpose seems to unfold at a painstaking pace. People have navigated the darkness of human fallenness for centuries, and Israel bore 1500 years under the weight of a law they could not keep. The early followers thought his return was imminent over 2000 years ago. Even in the Incarnation, God was not in a hurry. Jesus came to rescue the world as an embryo in the womb of a maiden, then spent thirty years as an infant and young man before he began to share the glory of his kingdom and prepare for his atoning death.

All we’re told is that he came “in the fullness of time” (Galatians 4:1-5). Paul didn’t explain all that meant, but he compared it to children under a tutor who had become heirs and no longer needed to be schooled. Jesus didn’t come the first time at some arbitrary date, but only when events on the earth allowed the Incarnation to play out to maximum effect. Perhaps human culture had to grow in its capacity to appreciate grace for him to open the door of salvation. Before that, God used law and punishment to control humanity’s destructive instincts. And yet today, many who claim to be Christians still struggle to embrace his love as the transforming power of the universe.

I suspect his second coming will also come in the “fullness of time.” I doubt he is waiting for a prescribed date, though, by his foreknowledge, he would know it. I’m sure there are many factors that will determine when this planet is ready for the final act of redemption. Peter told us that any delay is a sign of his great patience to redeem as many as possible (II Peter 3:8-9). Perhaps the world must grow darker yet, or he’s waiting until our only hope is in him, not what we can do to fix the planet.

Jesus must reign, Paul writes (I Cor 15:25-27), until all his enemies have been subdued under his feet. Then he will abolish all rule, authority, and power and present the kingdom to his Father. Does that just happen at the end of the age, or is it a work he’s been doing behind the scenes? Honestly, I don’t know, but it does seem the forces of evil still prevail in human history.

Or it may be that the Bride herself has something to do with it. What if he stands at the door of the world even now, waiting for an invitation from the redeemed to step across the threshold? The bullies have taken over the house, and the world is in chaos. They know that those final days will be filled with pain, but they invite him anyway. “Lord Jesus, come quickly.”

I wouldn’t be definitive about any of this. We make a grave error when we assume we know the motives of God. Paul reminded us not to judge each other’s motives because we often don’t even know our own (I Cor 4:1-5). How much more difficult would it be to guess what motivates God beyond the fact that he loves us deeply and is taking the surest route to redemption?

Revival First?

Many of my friends are anticipating a worldwide revival before his appearing, like the Great Awakenings of old. They will chase all over the world if they hear any sign of one.

Am I looking for a revival? Not in the same way. While I would love to see a fresh outpouring of his Spirit to draw people to himself, I have no preconception of what that might look like. Most of what we call revival is people groveling in the shame of their failures through public repentance, rather than coming alive in his love. It’s easy to forget that all movements of God go to die in the structures we create to contain them.

Where I see people focused on revival through prayer networks and prophetic words, the life of Jesus is mostly absent. Their focus is largely on their own success and their efforts. They manipulate obscure passages of Scripture to bolster their hope and exploit crowds of people with false comfort. They find comfort in outlandish “manifestations” that are easily manipulated by crowd dynamics. I’m reminded how wrong the Jewish messianic expectations were when Jesus first came. Looking back, we can see how clearly Scripture mapped out these things, yet we often forget that we do so through the benefit of hindsight.

Jesus told us not to seek revival somewhere else. “The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs. Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:20-21).

I already see a fresh wave of God’s Spirit inviting people to a deeper touch with Jesus. Those he is stirring are not looking for a man to follow, a certain type of euphoric gathering, or the political power to dominate the culture. Instead, they are coming alive to God’s presence within them. They are learning to rest from their own labors, either to draw closer to God or to become more righteous. They are growing confident in his love and talk of Jesus as a real presence who is leading and guiding them.

This work of God is decentralized and lies beneath the radar of those looking for outward signs. These people are rising simultaneously all over the world because it is a work of the Spirit, not a fixation on a human leader, author, or influencer. As the Spirit of God draws them back to first love—how deeply they are loved by God—they become more at rest in him, freer to love others and more attuned to his voice as their life unfolds.

There’s a huge difference between being led by the Spirit and living by principles, no matter how good they may be. Seek revival, and you’re guaranteed to miss him because he will come in ways you won’t expect. Follow him, and you’ll find yourself an increasing part of God’s redemption in the world.

Living in Redemption

How do we live in anticipation of his return? I’ve seen too many people, focused on the immediacy of his second coming, forgo college, quit their jobs, and abandon their responsibilities because they think they won’t matter. That may be why God doesn’t reveal the time of his Son’s appearing. If he did, we would make poor choices based on our own presumptions rather than following his lead.

Anticipating his coming doesn’t fix on a date. The early Christians were invited to live that way thousands of years ago. Expectancy about his coming helps us hold on to him in the unfolding circumstances of our lives, to endure the unendurable, and to find his calming voice in times of trouble. It is less about our material concerns than it is yielding to his kingdom growing in us. Embracing the assurance of his ultimate victory will sharpen our priorities in the present.

Many seek to promote fear with false conspiracies and geopolitical predictions. They know how easily they can manipulate our fears to seek vengeance for the “other” and to seek retribution for those we perceive as our enemy. However, the end of the age is not about vengeance from God’s perspective; it’s about redemption. Give in to vengeance against evil, and it will blind you to God’s love, replacing it with hatred for those who aren’t like you and make you a party to the us vs. them theatrics that are tearing our world apart.

Redemption can happen wherever God’s love encounters the chaos of a fallen world. That’s what Jesus did in his living and his dying. If you truly anticipate his redemption at the end of the age, you will embrace it as it appears in your life today. You’ll wake up looking for ways God’s love in you can touch the agony of human failure and pain around you.

So, instead of trying to control the chaos of darkness or even defeat it, you can leave that to Jesus, whose task it has always been. Yours is to learn to live in the chaos, looking for ways God wants to make his love known in us and through us. Who is he giving me to love today, and how can I support them as they traverse the chaos? Where is he asking me to lay myself down to help alleviate the sufferings of others so that love can do its work?

For most of my life, the only strategy I had in facing the chaos of darkness was to ask God to fix it, whether that meant healing my diseases, changing my misfortunes, or punishing those who caused me grief. When he failed to do so, it was easy to question his love for me or if I was doing enough to merit the fix I wanted.

Now, I’m learning to negotiate the chaos around me inside his redemptive purpose. Isn’t that what Jesus did? He didn’t fix all the chaos around him, but submitted to his Father’s purpose in the lies of the Pharisees, the brutality of Roman rule, and even the betrayal of his closest friends. So, now I ask, how does loss draw me closer to him? How does my pain open a wider door into my dependence on his love? How do the unjust actions of others reveal the darker places still in my heart?

Yes, I talk to him about healing my cancer. I would love that. But when he hasn’t done it yet, I ask how he wants to walk with me through it. He can heal it at any time, but I have lived long enough to know that his miracles are not at our beck and call, and he has many other ways to love us when we are tormented by darkness.

That kind of love rearranges our hearts from the inside, making us more loving, gracious, and a comfort to others. Watching for his redemptive hand around me each day has become an adventure that sets me at ease in crisis and shows me how to sit with others in their pain. I don’t have to fix them; I just get to be present as love does its work.

And I anticipate with joy the day when all the chaos and conflict will be overturned by Jesus’s final redemption. I also look for that in every circumstance I encounter. Where does love lead me, and how will gentleness and kindness help me discover the better version of me?

I now understand that the work of redemption cannot be reduced to institutional programs or political agendas, where we strive to impose virtue on the reluctant. Jesus didn’t use such tactics, nor did he teach his disciples to do so. Those who seek to dominate this world in his name have no idea who he is. His kingdom is an invitation, never an imposition. People emerge from the darkness when they experience a love greater than themselves. You don’t learn that from books or in seminars, but only by facing your challenges with the love, courage, and wisdom of the Spirit.

I don’t know how he will sort out his redemption in the world. I don’t know how he works out justice in the life to come. I don’t know how he will make up for the incredible damage some people have suffered at the hands of others. Not all accounts get squared in this life, that’s for sure. How does the villain find his justice, and his victim her recompense?

But I know him, and I entrust all my unanswered questions to the Father I love and to Jesus, who will get the final word on everyone and everything. He is loving, kind, and fair in ways I could never imagine. I look forward to the day that all of this will finally make sense. What was life all about here, and what will eternity look like when chaos is no more?

Come, Lord Jesus!

Janine, we began this book with the call that it’s time for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed. Whether Jesus’s second coming is just around the corner or still a hundred years out is not in my purview. But it is for me to live the redemption I hope for in the way I treat people today.

Won’t you join me?

These pages carry a gentle invitation to draw into the deep places where our love and trust in him aren’t based on us getting what we want, but the simple and profound magnificence of his presence in us. This is how Jesus prepares us for whatever may come. Too many followers of Jesus are playing the world’s games, thinking they are following Jesus. They have been deluded by the lie that the kingdom comes by coercion. Their wounded hearts look to lash out at their perceived enemies. Their only hope is to be loved back into life, where the tactics of darkness hold no sway.

Throughout my preparations for this book and its writing, I have been gathering twice a month with a team from across the world. We gaze with him at the world as he invites us to learn love more deeply and share it generously, especially with people we have mistakenly seen as our enemies. We hope many others are doing the same.

We are learning many of the things you’ve read about in this book. We are continually drawn to the great need in our world for followers of Jesus to be more deeply tuned to his Spirit, finding their direction not from human reasoning, but by catching the wind of the Spirit. His victory is coming, and his grace will be sufficient for every challenge we face.

We share Creation’s joy for those who reflect God’s glory in the world. The time of his coming may be at hand; the time for us to reveal his love definitely is.

“Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20)

That phrase makes my heart soar in a way it hasn’t before. I’m convinced we live in the moments before the dawn. Certainly, darkness seems to rule everywhere we look, but for those with eyes to see, the skies have already begun to brighten ever-so-slightly on the eastern horizon.

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Order Part 1 of It’s Time from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

Chapter 21: And Then the End Shall Come Read More »

“A Tender, Urgent, Spirit-infused Call”

1 Comment / It's Time / June 9, 2025 / It's Time, Second Coming of Jesus, The Bride of Christ, The Longing of Creation, Wayne Jacobsen

First, I want to thank all of you who helped us save the petrol station in Kenya, which supports impoverished families near Kitale. As of last Friday, we were short almost $5,000 from reaching our goal. Someone called that morning and wanted to provide whatever we still needed. So, we had all we needed to help our friends. You have so often amazed me with your generosity, and it spills over into great thanksgiving to God for how he has helped us time and time again intervene on their behalf.

Additionally, I would like to share with you a review I received from Citi of Books regarding my new book, It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age. They have captured the heart in both the content and spirit of what I wanted this book to convey. For someone not associated with my book or familiar with what I do at Lifestream and TheGodJourney, I’m blown away by their gracious words:

Wayne Jacobsen’s It’s Time! is a tender, urgent, and Spirit-infused call to the heart of every believer who dares to ask: What if Jesus is coming back sooner than we think—and are we living like it matters? In this moving collection of spiritual letters, Jacobsen writes not with fear or fanaticism, but with deep love and prophetic insight—guiding Christ’s followers into readiness not just for His return, but for the kind of radiant, resilient faith needed in these final hours.
Drawing from the imagery of the Bride of Christ, Jacobsen paints a portrait of a people set apart—longing not for escape, but for intimacy with the Bridegroom. His tone is pastoral and poetic, rooted in Scripture and overflowing with wisdom born of experience and prayer. As he walks the hills near his home and listens to the whisper of the Spirit, he passes on that whisper to us—reminding us of what it means to live faithfully in an age clouded by darkness and deception.
This is not apocalyptic speculation. It’s spiritual preparation. With honesty and clarity, Jacobsen reminds us that whether Christ returns in 10 years or 150, there must always be a generation willing to:
Love beyond self-preservation
Shine brighter than the lies of the age
Walk in unshakable trust amid the shaking of nations
Anchor hope not in outcomes, but in God’s sovereign story
What makes It’s Time! so compelling is that it doesn’t scream for attention—it sings. It calls quietly, yet powerfully, to the Bride of Christ to awaken, to prepare, and to live as though eternity is nearer than we think.
Wayne Jacobsen has given the global Church a gift: a love letter from heaven echoed through the voice of a faithful servant. It’s Time! is not just about eschatology—it’s about transformation. It’s about what kind of people we’re becoming as we wait, watch, and witness. Whether you’re weary, wondering, or wide awake, this book will call you higher—to readiness, to holiness, and to Jesus.
Don’t just read it. Respond to it.
Because maybe… it really is time.

Wow! I am so grateful.

I’m currently writing the final chapter of Part 2, and then the book will be available in its entirety. If you don’t have your copy of Part 1, you can order it from Amazon on Kindle or in paperback. The ebook is only $4.99, and the paperback is $7.99.

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Chapter 20: Stand By

4 Comments / It's Time / May 9, 2025 / Apocalypse, End Times, It's Time, Lifestream. Letters to the Bride, New Creation, Second Coming, Stand firm, The End of the Age, Wayne Jacobsen

Chapter 20: Stand By

Note: This is the twentieth in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. We have already released the first part of this book in print. You can also access the previous chapters here. If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to ensure you don’t miss any of them, you can add your name here.

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I was hoping you would give more practical advice about what we need to do if this age is coming to an end. We can’t just sit around and wait. Don’t we have to do something?
Tyson, a farmer and father in the plains of Iowa

Hi Tyson,

Let’s imagine two warhorses in a pasture. Both are equally strong, but one stands quietly, grazing on the grass at his feet. Every so often, he raises his head and looks around, ensuring all is well. Then, he continues eating. The other stomps his feet on the ground and snorts into the morning air. He’s agitated and nervous, running one way, then another.

Which will be most valuable to his master when he comes for him?

Obviously, the first one. He does not need to bluster because he knows what he is capable of doing. He stands ready for whatever his master might need and does not wear himself out with his fears and insecurities.

My Greek professor in college told me the Greek word for meekness is a word picture of a warhorse at rest. Strong and fearless in battle, he is calm and controlled outside of it. Xenophon, the Greek warrior-philosopher, used that word for warhorses, not referring to their toughness in battle but rather to their standing calmly when they’re not. Meekness is not weakness; it is incredible strength without aggression, arrogance, or anger.

No wonder the meek will inherit the earth. That’s the way Jesus was. Though he held all power in his hands, he was gentle and tender, never having to prove it. I’m sure it took more strength and character to stand before the false accusations of the Pharisees and unjust tortures of Roman guards than to level them all with a legion of angels.

When the Time Comes…

That’s the picture I want you to have, Tyson, as we talk about those alive at the end of days. They will be like warhorses at rest in the company of their Master. They will act when he directs, not lash out in fear or anxiety.

This seems particularly important when Scripture talks about the end of time. After a series of visions that revealed a broad sweep of the future, right up to the end of the age, Daniel was overwhelmed. “When will these things be?” Daniel asked the angel who had appeared to him, and what was he to do about them?

The angel answered, “Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked . . . But as for you, go on your way until the end. You will rest, and then you will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.” Daniel 12:8-13

It’s a constant refrain throughout Scripture—don’t fret about the days to come, especially the last days. There wasn’t anything Daniel could do about it at the time, and he needed to entrust it all to God. Whatever part he had at the end would be revealed to him when the time came.

There’s immense curiosity about end-time prophecies, and many want to understand what they need to do before he comes. They want instructions and provisions well in advance of when they are necessary, I suspect, to reassure themselves. But God doesn’t work that way. It seems our trust is more important to him than any advance strategy. We talked about this in the last chapter—living with enough of Jesus on the inside that we’re free to roll with his leading as life unfolds. That will serve us well now and in the days to come.

Be Ready in the Moment

That’s what Jesus told his followers. “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them. But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All men will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. By standing firm, you will gain life.” (Luke 21:12-17)

All of that certainly happened to the disciples in the first century. It isn’t always easy for us in the Western world to remember that this is happening today and is likely to grow even more so as the age comes to an end. So, what can we do, according to Jesus?

“Make up your mind not to worry beforehand.” Anxiety is such a part of the human experience, especially when we confront potential difficulties of the unknown. But we can decide not to go down that road and bring ourselves back to confidence in him whenever we feel the tentacles of worry reach out for us. By focusing on him and his power, we can lean out of anxiety into trust.
Don’t be shocked when close friends and relatives betray you. Most humans cannot muster faithfulness to a relationship when their personal expedience is at stake. Now is the time to practice doing so whenever people treat you unfairly or accuse you falsely.
Stand firm in him and what you know to be true against every onslaught of darkness, regardless of what others might say about you. He will protect you, and in doing so, we’ll find his life and joy coursing through our veins.
Let the words you need come to you in the moment. You do not need to practice what you’ll say to defend yourself. He will give you words that will be irresistible and incontrovertible. If we have already planned our answers, we won’t hear his. I know it’s hard, but we’ll be better armed in difficult moments if we trust him to show us the way, rather than scripting our words in advance.

We don’t have to wait until the end of days to develop these spiritual muscles. Practice them now in whatever circumstances or challenges you face today. Since we have no idea what will unfold or what our part in it might be, preparing for specific events is impossible. But we can cultivate a relationship with God strong enough to hold us through anything that comes.

We have a great heritage of previous generations of followers of Jesus who stayed true to him despite persecution and threats. His grace and presence have always proved sufficient for the darkest days. It’s why Paul was singing in a Roman prison after being unjustly beaten, and it opened the door for God’s love to flow to the jailer and his family.

To stand firm means we trust the truth we know about Jesus and his love for us, no matter what our circumstances or emotions may be telling us. We all have those moments where angst tries to displace our trust in God. Returning to what we know to be true by relying on the Holy Spirit will ground us in trust. It means risking everything that God is who he says he is.

We Have to Do Something

When the Egyptian army bore down on the children of Israel with chariots and weapons after letting them go, Moses encouraged the people of Israel. “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:13

How hard was that? They could have panicked and fled for their lives, but the Egyptians would have slaughtered them. Standing still before the approaching army would allow them to participate in God’s plan to free them and demonstrate his greatness in the face of overwhelming odds. That lesson was critical for them if they were going to trust God enough to lead them into the Promised Land.

Scripture often encourages us to stand firm and wait for God to act rather than resorting to our own devices and ingenuity. That’s not easy for many of us, preferring to do what we can see to do, which often makes matters worse. Busyness and activity give us the illusion of productivity and safety, but that’s all. If we trust his love enough to wait until he calls us to act, we will find options we never would have contemplated.

The urge to do something, in the face of threat or fear, is one of the most significant deterrents to our life in Jesus. So many bad decisions happen in that moment between feeling threatened and God revealing his solution. Some of the worst things I have ever done on God’s behalf started with someone saying, “Well, someone has got to do something.” Immediately, that focuses on ability and wisdom, rather than standing firm until God reveals his. Beware the person who preys on that impulse by giving you things to do on God’s behalf instead of waiting for him. Follow Jesus, not your frustrations.

Life at God’s Pace

To help my wife heal from the traumas of her childhood, I’ve had to learn to live at Sara’s pace, which is much slower than my own. While pulling weeds one day in Sara’s garden, I hurriedly reached for a weed that was just out of reach. I didn’t realize that, however, until I lost my balance. Moving my foot to keep from falling, I stepped on a stalk of beautiful irises and crushed it. Knowing how much she loved those flowers, I felt I had crushed something in her.

“You need to slow down.” The words crossed my mind instantly. That’s where God began to teach me that my rapid pace wasn’t helpful to Sara’s freedom. Since then, “Life moves at the speed of Sara” has become part of my vocabulary. It applies to everything I do, from driving to preparing dinner to our conversations. I discovered I actually like living at a slower pace, making me more attuned to what’s happening around me or what others are feeling.

Slowing to her pace also helped me recognize how much I outpace God. I’d already noticed that he seemed to move slower than I would like, and many of my prayers were trying to get God to catch up to my ambitions or hopes. Learning to live at his pace, which is even slower than Sara’s, took some time. Waiting on the Lord isn’t a test of patience; it’s the recognition that we move more rapidly than he does.

When we’re having trouble seeing God or listening to him, maybe it’s because we are rushing ahead of him. Have you noticed he is far slower at doing things than any of us would like? His work is much more deliberate, incubated in love, not fear, in trust, not anxiety. He’s doing real work inside while we try to get him to plaster cosmetic fixes on the outside. Jesus invited us to follow him, which means we must walk a pace behind him. You can’t follow from in front. Then we can do what we see Father doing, just as Jesus did.

That’s why we’re told to be still and know that he is God (Psalm 46:10), and to discover “the unforced rhythms of grace.” (Matthew 11:29 MSG) Both require us to slow down and enjoy his pace.

In the Meantime…

So, how do we live with the end of the age in mind? Some have encouraged people to sell their goods and move into communities off the grid. I know people who have quit their jobs and gone on an evangelism binge because they think the time is short. But none of these ever bear fruit unless they come at his leading. We don’t know when the end is coming, so don’t make life-altering decisions until it is clear what he’s asking of you.

Like the warhorse at rest, we don’t need to be anxious about the days to come or devise a plan to cope with what might happen. Jesus indicated that those who would be most ready are not those focused on the date, but simply living in his goodness each day. That means loving your spouse and others around you, caring for your family and for others who cross your path, and growing in God’s goodness while encouraging others to do the same.

When you live at rest in God’s goodness, you’ll find the renewal that will keep you ready whenever God has something for you.

Actively look for ways to engage others near you—family, co-workers, neighbors. Practice hospitality, generosity, graciousness, and getting to know others, and all the more as the world convulses in the final birth pangs. People will need help with fear and uncertainty. Getting to know them now will make it easier to help them then.
Find the rhythm that lets you marinate in his love, recognizing it through your struggles and resting in the growing confidence that he will care for you.
Practice learning to listen to his thoughts and nudges in the challenges you face.
Let him keep untwisting what sin, the world, and trauma may have done to you. Discover the growing freedom that trust will lead you to experience, and how it will demonstrate his glory to the world around you.
Pray for other followers of Jesus that they will not be led astray by those who want to “do something” or are intimidated by others’ voices. Pray they will have the courage to trust what they hear, even if it contradicts the comfort of their friends and family.

Tyson, you don’t need specific instructions on what you should do if this is the end of days. He will show each of us what our part is when the time comes. He is preparing a bride for what is not yet. Now we need to learn to stand by, waiting for his instructions.

So, come sit with Jesus often and gaze with him at world events as the future unfolds. There’s no better place to bring your heart to stillness in the face of the unknown and to ready your heart to respond to him whenever he calls you.

Confident in his wisdom and power, you can be like the warhorse at rest until the time comes. Fearless about what may come, you’ll be quick to respond as redemption reaches its fulfillment.

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Order Part 1 of It’s Time from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

Chapter 20: Stand By Read More »

Chapter 19: Children of the Day

2 Comments / It's Time / April 30, 2025 / Apocalypse, comfortable in uncertainty, End Times, false political prophets, It's Time, Lifestream. Letters to the Bride, Second Coming, The End of the Age, Wayne Jacobsen

Note: This is the nineteenth in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. We have already released the first part of this book in print. You can also access the previous chapters here. If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to ensure you don’t miss any of them, you can add your name here.

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How can you write with such conviction about these things when you hold to a point of view a lot of other Christians don’t share? Don’t get me wrong, my heart is in sync with almost everything you’ve written, but I’m always second-guessing myself because I know so few people who see it the way I do.
Marcellus, basketball coach and father of two in Virginia

Marcellus,

First, if I had followed the Christian crowd throughout my life, I wouldn’t know Jesus the way I know him today. I didn’t start out to be a nonconformist. In my early days, I could work Christianity as well as anyone, and I so much wanted its affirmation. But the choices I was presented with kept knocking me off that path, either because I couldn’t compromise something I knew to be true or because Jesus invited me in a different direction.

That used to frustrate me. Why couldn’t I fit in like everyone else? It wasn’t because I thought I was wiser; I just could not do otherwise. I love that you second-guess yourself if that doesn’t overwhelm you or dissuade you from following him. Humility, as I wrote about earlier, is a gift, especially when we recognize that we only see in part. I hope this book encourages people like you to follow their heart without the arrogance of thinking they have all the answers. There’s much I don’t see and don’t know, but I try to follow where he leads.

At the same time, I don’t mind expressing what I see as honestly as I can and entrusting it to the reader to discern what is true. I know many will reject much of this book, but I am not trying to convince people who are locked into Christianity as a religion, but rather to encourage those who seek a more authentic faith in Jesus than what it can sustain.

Jesus warned us that the broad road leads to destruction; only the narrow path leads to life. I can’t help it if few people want to follow it. Twelve men went into Canaan to spy out the land, but only two thought God big enough to give it to them. No one would face the giant Goliath, except David, the shepherd boy. Jesus miraculously fed five thousand people, who abandoned him the next day when he spoke words they didn’t understand. At the end of his ministry, Paul said that “all in Asia” had deserted him, including some of the New Testament’s key congregations.

What it takes to embrace genuine life doesn’t seem to sustain crowds. Even Jesus wondered if he would still find faith on the earth when he returned (Luke 18:8). Resisting the darkness to keep our faith in him is challenging for any of us. It is not easy to deviate from the crowd and suffer the judgments of others. Because we mistakenly measure success in this kingdom by crowd size, book sales, or Internet followers, the temptation to distort the life of Jesus for popularity and money is ever-present, and the person succumbing to it can convince himself that God is leading them.

Whenever the person of Jesus is displaced at the center of our faith so that we follow a program or agenda in his place, we are on a road to disaster. That’s why finding our affirmation in the acclaim of the masses won’t draw us more deeply into him. Following him in whatever he reveals to you is not a matter of thinking you’re better or wiser than others; it is simply being genuine with the light you see. That will serve you well in the days to come.

Children of the Light

Paul warned us that the Day of the Lord would come as a thief in the night, taking many by surprise. “While people are saying, ‘Peace and security,’ destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” (I Thessalonians 5:1-3)

Those are ominous words and have been used to terrify many in Christianity’s relentless strategy to manipulate people’s fears. But Paul didn’t stop there: “But you are not in the darkness so that this day should overtake you like a thief. For you are all sons of the light and sons of the day; we do not belong to the night or to the darkness…. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him. Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.” (I Thess 5:4-5, 10-11)

“Live together with him” is such a beautiful phrase. That’s the theme of this book. We get to live with him no matter what comes, and he will take care of us. While we live in a time of great darkness, we don’t belong to it. We are children of the day. Our hope is firmly staked in a kingdom that embraces a reality far beyond this age.

The kingdom doesn’t come by human strategy and cannot be fulfilled by our religious institutions. Jesus didn’t give his followers an organization to protect, but his Spirit to follow. Yet, on the day he ascended, they were still looking for him to take control of the world on Israel’s behalf. If not now, when? His answer invited them to look in a different direction. “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” (Acts 1:7)

Those preoccupied with prophecies and dates are looking at the wrong horizon—where the sun sets, not where it rises. Children of the day have their eyes fixed on a different dimension where the kingdom of God thrives. Though it hasn’t yet come in its fullness, that is still their primary citizenship, and they are loyal to that kingdom above all else.

Instead of looking for political fulfillment, Jesus told them to wait! And wait they did, until the Spirit came upon them. They learned at the outset that God didn’t need them to bring the kingdom, but only respond when he does. What amazes me about the book of Acts is that nothing happened by their strategic planning or prayer meetings. Filled with the Spirit, they responded to what Jesus was doing around them. That’s what it means to live as children of the light.

Peter and John weren’t looking to heal a lame beggar at the temple; the opportunity crossed their path, and they were ready to respond. Afterwards, they weren’t tempted to start a supernatural ministry school to train others to repeat what they had done as a new evangelism strategy.

It wasn’t Peter’s idea to take the Gospel to Gentiles. God set up the circumstances through dreams and visions that Peter willingly followed, even beyond his prejudices. When the Spirit fell on them, Peter recognized that God had incorporated them into his kingdom. Then he had to come back and explain it to his fellow Jews, who were appalled at the story they heard.

Paul’s journeys did not result from structured itineraries, but from his willingness to follow the Spirit along the way. Everything helped shape that journey, from avoiding persecution to dreams that changed his plans. He even found passage to Rome as a prisoner, falsely accused by the religious leaders in Jerusalem, who had hoped to murder him.

Jesus wanted his followers to watch him work and respond rather than substitute their ingenuity and planning. They didn’t become champions of the political or religious world. They didn’t fit into either and were persecuted by both. They were lied about, stoned, imprisoned, and martyred, and yet the life of Jesus found a way through it all to reveal himself to the world.

Children of the light are not perfect people, but sensitive followers of Jesus, with a trust in him stronger than their own perspective.

Succumbing to the Night

It isn’t easy to live as children of the light when everything about this world seeks to draw us back into the darkness. It can happen so subtly that we don’t even realize it, until we feel empty and lost. Jesus warned his followers that the end of days would be particularly challenging to keep our hearts embedded in the light. “At that time many will fall away and will betray and hate one another, and many false prophets will arise and mislead many. Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” (Matthew 24:10-12) He added that the very elect would be deceived unless he cut the days short.

Whenever we abandon love for any other agenda, we are easily deceived by power, just like the Pharisees. They had divided the world into those who were acceptable to God and those who weren’t. They were more concerned about law than life and found it easy to hate those who were not like them. That’s why they didn’t recognize God’s Son when he stood right before them. They got caught up manipulating the politics of the day instead of looking for a city whose builder is God.

We already see false prophets leading God’s people astray, putting their hope in a political leader who advances their desires. Even though he is the moral opposite of Jesus Christ, those prophets have anointed him as the political savior of Christianity, and by doing so, their love for God and others has grown cold. Those who follow them are playing in the realm of human power and have lost sight of the day.

They still give lip service to Jesus despite losing touch with his nature and love. They are so preoccupied with the quest for power to fulfill their ambitions or seven-mountain mandate, thinking the eternal kingdom can come by coercion, manipulation, and arrogance. And don’t think the same dynamics aren’t at work in the political left. This is not a contest between liberal and conservative, but between darkness and light. This is not about what policies you prefer, but the fear and anger that an elite class manipulates to gain power over a nation.

The majority Christian view has almost always been on the wrong side of historical crossroads—from crusades and inquisitions to colonial conquest and slavery to racism and Apartheid, even to Hitler’s rise in Nazi Germany. Whenever Christianity aligned itself with the power of empire, it was seduced into tactics of the night, forsaking the priorities of God’s kingdom. There was a day when you could engage the democratic process without compromising participation in Jesus’s kingdom, but that’s nearly impossible today. The amount of money, lies, and anger that are part of our process on both sides negates the love of Christ.

That’s why many feel they just don’t fit in anymore—not to the religious environment they grew up in or the political party they championed at a younger age. Over the last thirty years, Jesus has been calling his bride back to himself, raising up followers who can see through the illusion of Christianity as a human-built religion made up of doctrines and regulations that emptied the cross of its power.

Sadly, some of those have gone on to try to recreate their own systems promising a more authentic experience and have been found wanting. But others have spent time in the wilderness of faith, looking for the truth and community that only Jesus can provide. That has taken many of them out of the institutions in which their faith was nurtured so that it could grow. They have been scorned and mocked, the quality of their faith questioned because they no longer conformed to the expectations of their family and friends.

In the process, however, they have reconnected to Jesus as a real presence. Their faith sent roots deep into God’s character and nature. Trusting in his love for them, they know how Father’s love holds them in the storm and how his presence and wisdom can guide them through anything. They have become children of the day without the fear or anger that others can manipulate.

Simeon and Anna

Children of the day were like Simeon and Anna when Jesus first came—two elderly people who hoped they would see the Messiah before death. Sure enough, in the temple courts, they saw an infant barely a month old and recognized in him the salvation of Israel. They saw in that baby a reality that more educated minds couldn’t recognize in a thirty-something man who had been healing and teaching throughout Israel.

They were tuned into a reality others could not see. Many in Israel were so focused on overthrowing Rome and claiming their country back that they missed him when he came with a greater redemption than political change could accomplish. They were not ready to embrace the infant at the temple, or the itinerant preacher who spoke wisdom they could not manipulate for their ends.

In the last days, people like Simeon and Anna will wait patiently for a promise against all hope. They will see the signs leading to his return. They will see him standing at the door, ready to fulfill in his own humanity what God had in mind from the Creation of the world. The darkness of those days won’t overwhelm them because their eyes are fixed on a brighter light.

The final chapter of redemption’s story is about to be written. This is a contest for the soul of the universe, pitting love and light against selfishness and darkness. Some live oblivious to this conflict, while others are discerningly aware.

In preparation for those days, he is calling a people who will bear his glory in the world. They will be known for their love and for upholding God’s justice in treating others with graciousness and compassion.

Comfortable in Uncertainty

The greatest joy of finding security in the presence of Jesus is that people no longer seek it from worldly circumstances. Confident in his love and care, they realize he can guide them through anything. Their comfort is set to his presence, not their desired outcomes.

Years ago, I began to meet people who were comfortable with uncertainty. I was intrigued because it seemed so foreign to me. My Type-A personality was more inclined to manipulate my circumstances, or more honestly, trying to enlist God to do so, for whatever I desired. It just so rarely worked because God was not invested in my agenda. Living that way was exhausting, borrowing anxiety from future events that never happened and for which there was no provision.

I was intrigued by those who could take each day as it came. They didn’t have a lot of resources in earthly terms, but didn’t seem to need them. They were confident that God would give them what they needed when the time came. They learned to hold their fears of the future in suspicion because they could rarely foresee accurately what was to come. Never panicking, never manipulating, and never fearful, they walk with a growing trust in the Father.

Through crisis and tragedy, they had learned that God was faithful to provide for them each day whatever they needed. Worrying about the future became unnecessary. They came to see that God’s grace, like his provision, is served up in daily doses. We can be so distracted by our imagined future that we miss how he wants to guide us today.

These were the people I wanted to be near, for they were at peace in times of extremity, able to listen and respond to Jesus’s leading. Also, they reflected his character invitingly, being people of compassion, integrity, and gentleness. Being with them constantly refreshed me and made me long to learn how to trust God like they did.

All the while, Jesus kept inviting me to find fulfillment in his desires and purpose instead of mine. That also came through moments of extremity and frustration when he provided answers I would never have contemplated. My anxieties began to whither, and with them came the exhaustion of serving them.

Children of the light are comfortable in uncertainty because their confidence is in the nature and character of Jesus, not their circumstances. How do you learn to live this way? It won’t come from a book; it will come from interacting with him through your anxieties, scheming, and struggles. As you learn how unhelpful it is to try to control the outcomes of your own life, you’ll discover a better life awaits.

Slowly, a growing trust in Father’s love will push aside the need to have circumstances turn out the way you prefer. Instead of being frustrated about what he isn’t doing, you’ll watch him care for you through times of struggle and pain in ways you’d never have imagined. On the day you realize he knows best about everything in your life, you’ll find yourself comfortable in the uncertainties of life.

That will allow Jesus’s character to find a home in you. Without the anxieties of what may come, you’ll be more present in the moment with his compassion and kindness toward others. Then you’ll not only live in that light, but you will become the light for others to see the glory of God’s goodness.

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Order Part 1 of It’s Time from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

Chapter 19: Children of the Day Read More »

When Systems Come Crashing Down

Behind the Scenes / April 15, 2025 / Lifestream, Love rest and play, systems come crashing down, trust in God, Wayne Jacobsen

Ian Campbell invited me to join him on his Insight Incorporated podcast, and the finished product dropped yesterday. It is called Love, Rest, and Play with God, but he also covered a wide range of topics and current events in my journey.

Here’s an excerpt from the podcast:

Our insecurities are like our fears; they will draw us into systems that promise to protect us in a false safety mechanism instead of finding our certainty in God. I don’t know what tomorrow holds. When people ask me what my plan is for this year, I don’t know yet. It’s going to be the same as this morning. I woke up to follow Jesus, and I’ll wake up tomorrow and follow him, and whether it’s through cancer or other difficulties going on, I’m going to live with God and trust that he has a way to navigate me through the things that happen.
So, I’m not a sitting duck for any system to be my God for me. The religious systems we created are very idolatrous in the sense that we teach people to put their trust in them, instead of finding our certainty in his love and care for us. No matter what happens, he will be big enough to guide me through it and hold me up in it. That’s what we need because the days are growing darker, and there’s no telling where the next ten years will lead us. Believers who have confidence in God will do just fine, but those who put their confidence in political or religious systems will be lost when those systems come crashing down.
This is a good time for us to find our security and certainty in him.

You can watch the video on YouTube:

Or listen to the audio on Apple Podcasts.

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Wayne’s newest book is designed to help the bride of Christ find her confidence in him, regardless of what may come, especially if we live at the end of the age. Order Part 1 of It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

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Chapter 18: Holding God’s Pain

4 Comments / Uncategorized / April 2, 2025 / Apocalypse, End Times, fellowship of his sufferings, It's Time, Lifestream. Letters to the Bride, Second Coming, The End of the Age, Wayne Jacobsen

Note: This is the eighteenth in a series of letters written for those living at the end of the age, whenever that comes in the next fifteen years or the next one hundred and fifty years. We have already released the first part of this book in print. You can also access the previous chapters here. If you are not already subscribed to this blog and want to ensure you don’t miss any of them, you can add your name here.

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As I have read the previous letters, I can’t help but wonder what God is thinking as he views the atrocities of human history. Is he angry at the wars we wage, or the power the wealthy hold over the poor? Can we even know what he feels?
— Ivanna, wife and mother who also operates a bakery in Ukraine

Ivanna,

I’m so sorry for what has happened over the past three years in your country. The uncertainty, devastation, and bloodshed must weigh heavily on your heart. You are in my prayers.

Of course, we can’t speak definitively about what God thinks or feels. His ways are much higher than ours; his perspective is beyond our finite view. He does not see death as an end. However, we get glimpses of his thoughts because he makes himself known to his people. I sense things about him when I pray for people or events. They are momentary glimpses, to be sure, but there would be no communion if there were no exchange of heart and mind.

Honestly, I don’t sense much anger in him, which is shocking for someone who grew up with terrifying stories about an angry God. When we’re victimized, anger rises quickly, and we want God to share it. But when Jesus lived among us, we didn’t see him angry or seeking vengeance. What we see is love, and in that love, sorrow and grief for what we suffer and for those who refuse him. He didn’t come to bring condemnation but forgiveness and salvation. Maybe we misunderstood those Old Testament stories after all.

His redemption is not powered by anger but love, meriting our trust, not our fear. This may be most critical for last-day believers. I want to share with you a personal encounter that has profoundly impacted me, and the doors it has opened in deepening my walk with God, and having more compassion for those who are lost in the darkness is profound. But before I do, let me remind you of that moment Jesus sought to share his anguish with his closest friends.

Watch with Me

The night before he died on the cross, Jesus was “consumed with sorrow.” He went to the Garden of Gethsemane to sort things out with his Father and invited three of his disciples to share that intimate moment. His pain was immense, distressed enough that his sweat became like drops of blood. What did he hope to gain by having them there, or what would it give them?

Perhaps it’s as simple as Jesus did not want to be alone, and their presence would comfort him? Could he also have wanted to show them something about his heart? We don’t really know because they slept through it, unable to watch with him even for an hour.

He warned them to “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” They couldn’t stay awake long enough and fell into temptation that night, abandoning their friend in his hour of need. Surely, they didn’t realize what was going on that night, and perhaps their slumber was a way to dissociate from the disconcerting talk of his leaving them.

The redemption of the world hung in the balance, and to accomplish it, Jesus had to choose to endure the most horrific torments of unjust humanity. He was distressed at the prospect and hoped there might be another way to redeem humanity. And yet, he settled it in his heart with, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.

Jesus did escape temptation that night, but I can’t help wondering what it would have been like for the disciples to share that moment with Jesus. Was sorrow and grief his alone to bear, or was there something for them to learn inside his suffering?

“Now You’re Ready to Hold My Pain”

Honestly, I would never have considered experiencing God’s pain except for an engagement I had with him over two years ago. I woke up early one morning for a medical appointment. As I got dressed, I felt deep sorrow and grief, which was strange since I hadn’t gone to bed that way.

The previous three years had been brutal. My wife encountered a previously unknown childhood trauma, only to be told by her therapist that she must be married to an abusive husband. She left me when I was out of town, and it took us weeks to sort through the lies and find our way back to each other. Also, I had lost a meaningful, lifelong relationship when some in my extended family spread lies about me.

Even though those situations had been mostly resolved by that morning, all the emotions were back. On my drive, I wanted to sort that out with God. I found myself praying, “Last year I lost every family relationship I valued to lies about me.” Tears streamed down my face as I relived it. And wanting to bring God into that pain, I added, “And you allowed it to happen.” As soon as I said it, I knew I was putting blame in the wrong place.

So, I repeated my pain again, this time adding, “And you watched it happen.” That was true enough, but again, not fair to him. He hadn’t watched as some dispassionate observer.

One last time I prayed, “Last year I lost every family relationship I valued to lies about me, and you were with me in it.” There it was! He had been with me through it all to bring healing where he could and guide me where others weren’t open to it. Into my pain seeped his love and even joy that I had not been alone.

After reveling in the sanctity of that reality, a strange thought ran through my head. Now you are ready to hold some of my pain. It seemed like God whispering to me, but I had no idea what it meant. What pain did he have, and why did he want me to hold it? Then, a second thought explained the first. I lost every relationship I value to lies about me.

It took a moment for that to sink in. From the serpent’s lie in Eden, down through history to those who reject him today because they don’t know who he is, God has been the victim of the worst lies. Thinking of what God has suffered by human unfaithfulness, I began to weep again, overwhelmed with a sorrow greater than my own. I know I only got a small taste of his pain that morning, but I find him inviting me there often.

The Fellowship of His Suffering

When Paul referred to the fellowship of his suffering in Philippians 3, I have always taken it to mean that Jesus comforts us inside our pain. He understands what we go through because he has experienced more pain than we ever could. Shared suffering lets us know him at a depth we would miss otherwise.

However, I never noted that it’s his suffering we fellowship in, not just our own. I skipped over that part since his pain was already past. What would he suffer now? My conception of God is that he exists in victory and dwells in peace and beauty. We hope to join him there someday. If the state of the world pained him, wouldn’t he just fix it?

Since that morning, I’ve learned that the world’s brokenness touches the Godhead deeply. Jesus didn’t just suffer during his week of passion. It wasn’t just Gethsemane, his trial, or the cross, but also at Lazarus’ tomb for the grief of his friends. Earlier, he had looked at the crowds with compassion and saw many who were “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” The writer of Hebrews told us he often offered loud cries and tears to God. (Hebrews 5:7)

As our empathetic high priest, he holds humanity with intense love even as many reject him. How could he not suffer, not just then but now? This broken creation offers up constant tragedy, war, abuse, oppression, disease, and lies that devastate people he loves. Wouldn’t that touch God more deeply than it touches us?

My greatest tears have been shed not for myself but for the pain or loss of people I love. What is worse, our own suffering or that of our children? That morning, I discovered the agony inside of God for the lostness of his Creation. It was not pain for his loss but for ours. He holds us in his heart, quite aware of our suffering, and it powers his desire to bring redemption in the most devastating circumstances. I have come to view the world through that lens.

Holding God’s Pain

In Chapter 11, I wrote about how learning to gaze with God changed my prayer life. I no longer found myself trying to convince him to do what I wanted, but to help me see the events in my life and the world through his eyes. Knowing a small measure of his loss in the broken creation has brought me closer to him. As I gaze with God at world events, I find greater freedom from my self-preoccupation, which allows me to find a deeper place in his heart.

How do I hold pain with God? I sit with him, gazing at the circumstance that concerns me, contemplating it from his perspective. I wait until I have a sense what he feels in that. Sometimes, it takes days or weeks, as I wait for him to show me.

As I get a glimpse of that, I reflect on the emotion or insight he brings. It has shaped my prayers in interesting ways. I don’t try to fix his pain or offer my ideas for a way out. I hold my heart alongside his and see what comes. I reflect on his power and wisdom as I remind myself that everything is in his hands. That helps me look beyond the pain to hear the refrain of his love seeping through. He is not alarmed or disturbed because his plan is unfolding. He’s the Redeemer in this story and will prevail overall.

This may not be for everyone. Indeed, don’t start here. Until you’ve tasted deeply of his love for you in your own anguish and learned to trust him, trying to imagine God’s pain will only draw you into despair. Let him share your pain before you look to share his. He’ll invite you in when you are ready, but I suspect I’m not the only one who has tasted this.

I find it curious that Jesus didn’t need a lot of people to do this. He only asked three of his disciples. I wish at least one of them had stayed with him through it. It’s a tender moment to be in fellowship with his suffering and to know his heart for lost people. Sharing that is a deep place of intimacy. I am intrigued and excited at what might lie down this road for me and others who feel a similar call.

How It Has Changed Me

Why would he want any of us to watch with him in this season of redemptive history?

I’m honestly not sure what it does for him. It may simply be what friendship does; it holds each other’s pain as well as their joy. The pain I felt when my wife was gone is my teacher here. What I felt for her then and now puts me in touch with what God feels for the brokenness in his creation. It has changed me in a variety of ways.

First, I see world events differently. A few decades ago, my world was conveniently divided into a home team and an away team. God loves those who acknowledge him. I could pray with passion for God to alleviate their suffering. God hates the away team, and we can pray down his vengeance on them, which gave me false comfort in my anger and helplessness. Dividing the world that way made it simpler to route my grief and fear in times of tragedy.

I just don’t believe any of it anymore. Love taught me how misguided I was. God’s heart breaks for the whole of humanity, for those who know him and those who don’t. Today, he holds the same grief for the Palestinian mom mourning her child as he does for the Jewish mom grieving hers. That doesn’t discount the horrible evil people bring into the world, but it does change the way I pray both for victims and victimizers. I’ve been invited to a different kingdom where love defines our responses, not vengeance or righteous indignation. Just how did we think Jesus would tell us to love our enemies and think God gets to hate his?

Second, I don’t want to add any more pain to the planet. I am more mindful in my engagements with people to treat them fairly, lovingly, and honor my relationship with them. I also want to live generously toward those in pain to help relieve my Father’s anguish on their behalf.

Third, I’ve discovered how these moments with him expose the deeper places in my heart. Solomon said, “Sorrow is better than laughter, for a sad countenance is good for the heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:3) We all crave times of joy, but it is sorrow and grief that allow us to drill down to the deepest places where we discover what is most important.

Fourth, I read Scripture differently, seeing an anguished Godhead rather than an angry one. While we may want to lash out and blame others for our suffering, Jesus is not inclined to do so. As I read the Old Testament prophets now, I see anguish for the wayward, not anger. This is the power of the laments. It is not just our pain being held there but his too. And at the same time, we see his capacity to spread redemption in the world amid human suffering.

Fifth, it has changed my heart for the lost. Now, loving my enemies becomes possible because I see them as those convulsing in pain for living outside of God’s reality. Truly, they do not know what they do to others as they compensate for their loneliness and believe the lies of darkness.

Ecstasy and Agony

Ivanna, lest you think holding some of God’s pain leads to a despairing life, I assure you it does not. Remember, God not only grieves for humanity, but he is also the most joyful presence in the universe. Jesus said he wanted his joy to be in us so our joy could be complete.

Because of him, I now know that agony and ecstasy can co-exist in the same space. I once thought they were mutually exclusive. Times of pain overwhelmed everything else and drove out my joy until they ended. Now, I can hold my pain before him and at the same time look for his joy to be there as well. I have learned that from watching him. As much as he feels the brokenness of humanity, he also delights in the redemption he brings to it.

One friend said, “It seems he wants us to hold in our hearts the agony of the world and the victory of the cross simultaneously.” I love that. That may not make much sense until you experience it, but once you do, you can find contentment in whatever situation you are in.

Jesus’s friends couldn’t hold his pain on the eve of his crucifixion, but we can today. Over the past two years, it has transformed my thinking—how I view others and how to find the redemption story in the unfolding realities of our ever-darkening world. It saves me from giving in to anger and vengeance and finding a place for love to thrive in my prayers and heart.

As the earth moves relentlessly towards its inevitable conclusion in Christ, we can partner with him by holding his pain and praying to advance his purpose in current events. If I don’t see what he sees, I’m only left to offer up fruitless requests for my comfort or agenda in the gathering darkness.

The people who will be most helpful at the end of days are those who know both his agony and his ecstasy.

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Order Part 1 of It’s Time from Amazon in Kindle or paperback, or read previous chapters online.

Chapter 18: Holding God’s Pain Read More »

When God Is Silent

10 Comments / Encouragement / March 31, 2025 / God's silence, He Loves Me, Lifestream, Wayne Jacobsen

I probably get the question in various forms two or three times per month. “Why is God silent?”

I understand, having had that same question in my younger years. I cried out in excruciating pain to hear anything from God and felt like I was all alone in the universe. Why is he sometimes silent, especially when we’re most desperate to hear him? Even the Psalmist complains about how long God will hold his silence.

All that angst, however, is sorely misplaced. Just because we can’t hear him doesn’t mean he is silent, and if you think he is, that will become self-fulfilling. Over the last few decades of learning to live loved, I have concluded that he is never quiet, and Jesus seemed to say the same thing when he said his Father is always working (John 5:17).

When he seems silent, it’s because our perception is off. He’s speaking; it’s just that we’re not tuned to the frequency he’s using. Something about how we view our circumstances is making it difficult for us to recognize him.

Last week, I was conversing with a friend. We were talking about the mob mentality that can form among a group of Christians when they give themselves to an agenda to change the world that doesn’t include his love. “I have been on the road they are on. And I have met that god and it bears no resemblance to Jesus.”

Having received an email yesterday about God’s silence, I saw a connection with my friend’s words. If we look for the voice of the religious god in our crisis, that god will be silent. That’s a good thing; he would come with blame and condemnation. When we look for the fairy godmother to fix all our frustrations, that god will be silent because she doesn’t exist. Instead of believing the true God is silent, re-tune your heart to him.

How do you do that? Remember how much you are loved, and let your heart go to him. In his love, surrender to whatever God might have in mind for you. Trying to force God to give you your desired outcome or to meet your expectations will limit your ability to hear him. Find that place of rest and trust where you can seek him with an open heart. And if you’re having trouble finding that place, invite a loving and wise friend alongside. Getting a perspective outside of your emotions can make all the difference.

When you find that place of trusting surrender, you’ll be able to hear what he’s been saying to you all along.

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Kicking Self-Righteousness out of the Park

1 Comment / Behind the Scenes / March 24, 2025 / justice v. righteousness, Lifestream, Martin Purnell, Off-grid Christianity, self-righteousness, Wayne Jacobsen

I was invited back to appear on a podcast in the UK entitled Off-Grid Christianity. Host Martin Purnell explores Christianity beyond the typical Sunday morning institutions. He has a probing mind and drills down into the last two years of my journey since I was first on his podcast in 2023.

Here’s their blurb about this episode:

Wayne is a returning guest from episode 30, which was released two years ago and my last question to him was where he thought he would be going in the next couple of years? What will Wayne say about his wife Sarah’s terrible trauma that was shared in episode 30? What health issues has he had to deal with? What does ‘I surrender all’ mean to Wayne? Why has the word Righteousness been used in most English translated bibles when others use a different word? What is Just and Justice? What about the only commandment that Jesus gave us? If you thought Episode 30 was challenging and yet absorbing, wait till you hear this brand new episode. Wayne doesn’t pull any punches but again shares in love.
You can listen to it here.

When Martin sent me the link for the current podcast, he mentioned that he’d already shared the podcast with a friend of his before it was posted. His friend responded this way:

Wayne’s world is a great place to be. Excellent podcast. Lots to think about. Really interesting about justice/righteousness and his views on sin and surrendering all. So realistic and kicks all the self-righteous stuff out of the park.

I’m glad that’s what he got out of it. I wasn’t intending to kick self-righteousness anywhere, though I know it can be a real problem. To follow our theme about righteousness and justice, however, it’s interesting to note there is no such thing as self-justice because self-justice is no justice at all, and I suspect that’s also true of righteousness.

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If you don’t have your copy of Wayne’s newest book, you can order it from Amazon on Kindle or in paperback. The ebook is only $4.99, and the paperback is $7.99. It is called It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age. You can find out more here.

Kicking Self-Righteousness out of the Park Read More »

Just Love – Chapter 1

The Sequel to He Loves Me

Chapter 21: And Then the End Shall Come

“A Tender, Urgent, Spirit-infused Call”

Chapter 20: Stand By

Chapter 20: Stand By

Chapter 19: Children of the Day

When Systems Come Crashing Down

Chapter 18: Holding God’s Pain

When God Is Silent

Kicking Self-Righteousness out of the Park

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