The Word…Moved into the Neighborhood
“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.” (John 1:14, The Message) My step-Dad has a beautiful picture book about Jesus’ life called He Was One of Us by artist Rien Poortvliet. I can stare at the faces for hours, paging through scenes of Mary, Nicodemus, Peter, the woman caught in adultery, and the crowds […]
Side Effects of a Relationship with Jesus
Back in 2007 when I first made my Facebook profile, I distinctly remember pausing a bit when I saw the “religion” options. I scrolled through them and felt like I didn’t really fit into any of those neat little categories anymore. I’m pretty sure I settled on “Christian/other” and then in the About Me section […]
Turning On Your V-C-R
Last week I had an incident that caused some emotional pain and I wasn’t sure if I was triggered or not. The gist was that I felt accused for something I did not have in my heart, and it hurt. Most of the time, I tend to think of these kinds of painful bumps as […]
Adoration: Living Life Aware of Immanuel's Presence
Through our 40+ years of church leadership, Terri and I never felt as though we “fully fit” into the spiritual cultures into which we entered. We adapted ourselves to serve them and sought with all our hearts to help them and our beloved fellow leaders to be successful in our stated visions and missions. In […]
5 Steps to Talking with God on the Good Days
“I don’t want to talk about you, like you’re not in the room… I want to look right at you, I want to sing right to you”. When the worship leader sang these words, everything changed for me. I realized that there have been many times when I “prayed” that I wasn’t aware that God […]
Developing Presence
Driving on a Florida two-lane road recently, I got behind someone behaving erratically. The car was swerving from one side of the lane to the other. Not maintaining the speed limit, a line of traffic had build up behind this car. Every once in awhile there would be a tap of the brakes for no […]
Joy-Plants Becoming an Invasive Species
On the bottom of my website, you will find a statement about my Life Coaching that says I “utilize philosophies from Life Model Works”. You will also discover the concepts of joy and relational skills woven through my entire business. Every client I meet with, every group I run- I am implementing, practicing, and teaching […]
What to Do When You are Upset and Alone
All of us have experienced events that caused us pain. All of us will continue to experience difficulties. The good news is that we don’t have to stay in that place that allows the traumatic event to continually affect us. Jesus has provided a way out—He Himself and His presence are the way out and […]
How I Went from "Cradle Christian" to "Woe is Me"
I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5) I feel like I’m going through a mini version of what happened to Isaiah when he saw God […]
Interactive Gratitude: When God feels far away
Knowing that Immanuel is the “God who is with us” has impacted my life more than anything else. The knowledge that He is with me has given me the permission to interact with Him instead of just “thinking” about Him as a far off and distant watcher. The conversations that I get to have with […]
Two Reasons You Might Not Be Experiencing Immanuel
For the last few years I’ve been learning how to practice the presence of Jesus and also I’ve been teaching others this wonderful way to pray and live. In my small groups we do Immanuel Prayer at each meeting, asking Jesus to show us where He is in the room and asking Him what He […]
Feeling God's Feelings
Kim Campbell with be the special guest on tomorrow’s Roundtable conversation about Immanuel Moments. Register here! This post captures one of his favorite Immanuel comments. One of the fondest Immanuel stories I can recall is from one of my favorite activities – sitting on the couch, looking out my front window when I (and the dog) are the […]
Don't Miss the Last Roundtable of the Year!
Tuesday, December 15th will be the last Roundtable JOYstream of 2015. The topic is Living the Immanuel Lifestyle. Our guests will be Life Model Works board member and Immanuel Trainer Kim Campbell, as well as John and Sungshim Loppnow and Anna Kang, Immanuel Trainers and the authors of Joyful Journey. This talk will focus on sharing joys from walking with and learning from […]
Immanuel Moments: A Key to Interacting with Jesus Everyday
What is an Immanuel Moment? Central to our approach to helping people mature and grow is learning to have an interactive relationship with Jesus. Like any relationship, we seek out special moments of connection and communication. We like to call these “Immanuel Moments.” The name “Immanuel” means “God with us” and is one of the […]
"Jehovah Sneaky": A Story of the Immanuel Process
We were first introduced to the ministry of Life Model Works and the “Immanuel Process” prayer sometime back in 2009. Our friend, and Terri’s Kansas City life coaching colleague, Kim Specker, had been offering some of her coaching skills to their non-profit organization. But…I must digress to tell a bit of the back story. Finding Favor in […]
Is a "With-God Life" Really Important?
One individual who comes to me for Spiritual Direction is responsible for an organization with 330 staff and a large budget. He is in and out of meetings all day and constantly interacts with people. He asked me, “is it really so important that I talk to God about things—even little things—all day long?” My […]
How an Immanuel Lifestyle Has Shaped My Life
Karl Lehman M.D. is one of the primary Presenters at The The Immanuel Life our 2015 Annual Gathering. Dr. Lehman is a board certified Psychiatrist who has focused on the integration of faith-based emotional healing with insights provided by psychological and neurological research. Learn More about Dr. Lehman Here. Two Fundamental Elements of a Joyful Life We have been […]