Life in the Spirit by Pastor Russ Fochler

In John’s Gospel, Jesus tells His disciples that they are about to receive the Holy Spirit.  While prophets and patriarchs had longed for millennia to see this “Promised One”, “The Prophet”, “The Messiah”, only a few close disciples actually lived life with Him for three years.   And now Jesus explains that He must die a sacrificial death and return to His Father.  Astoundingly, Jesus tells them: “It is better for you that I go” -- so they can receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7).

From the disciples’ perspective, what could possibly be better than living in daily fellowship with Jesus?

Jesus lived intimately with Holy Spirit and the Father.  As a human being in a mortal body, Jesus had limited Himself to be one place at a time.  But, as Jesus’ followers receive the gift of the Holy Spirit; each one now enters into “new life” – life in the Spirit.  We now have continual access to Jesus and Father God through the Spirit.

Here are two quotes from C. Baxter Kruger’s book “The Shack Revisited” about what Holy Spirit means to us:

“The Holy Spirit walks with us as we are, not as we are supposed to be or as we pretend to be on Sunday, but as we are in our strong-willed blindness, independence, and judgment.  And she works in the invisible world of the heart in order that we may encounter Jesus, and experience — against our own prejudices — the life he shares with us in his relationship with his Father.” (pg 86).

“According to the Scriptures, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, baptized in the Spirit, led and empowered by the Spirit, given great joy by the Spirit, cast out demons by the Spirit, heard his Father in the Spirit, and offered himself to his Father by the power of the Spirit.” (pg 89)

As I shared in my talk last Saturday, each one of these experiences of Jesus with the Holy Spirit are also meant for us!  This includes being conceived by the Holy Spirit.  Really.  Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:5-6: “Most assuredly, I tell you, unless one is born (Greek γεννάω gennáō – procreated/conceived of the father and by extension; born) of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (NKJV)

What does “Life in the Spirit” look like for you?  How have you experienced the Holy Spirit leading you, empowering you, giving you great joy?   Are you aware of the Holy Spirit setting people free from evil spirits through you?  Have you been “in the Spirit” and heard your Abba speaking to you/about you? 

Like you, I desire more.  I know one key is “tuning in” and noticing the Spirit’s ways with us.  This life in the Spirit is meant to be both adventurous and grounded in God’s love for us.  

What adventures await you each day?  Stay tuned….

Fresh Manna by Pastor Susan Fochler

  

Years ago while taking a class on inner healing, a woman told me that if a person wasn’t excited about reading the Bible, their heart was hard.  That comment offended me, because, at the time, I wasn’t all that excited about reading The Word, but I sure didn’t want to think my heart was hard.  So I shrugged off her comment and decided she was wrong and went on my merry way.  But her comment stayed with me.

You Shall Know the Truth and the Truth Shall Set You Free!
Since then, I’ve come to appreciate how much the Word can be an incredible source of healing and inspiration.  The Word is Truth, but it is Spirit also.  When I open up my heart to really hear how much God first, understands and empathizes with what I am going through, but then, secondly, shows how His truth trumps my limited perception, I am set free.  Both His compassion and His answers are amazingly woven together throughout the Scriptures.  In receiving what He has to say, however, my heart must be yielded and ready to receive.

More than Words: Spirit and Life
The BIble says it is the “Sword” of the Spirit  in Eph. 6:17, a literal spiritual weapon that we all have access to.  It is so powerful that Jesus used Scripture to counter satan’s every argument when He was being tempted in the wilderness.  When Jesus told satan, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes down from the mouth of God”, He wasn’t just quoting Scripture, He was feeling it, believing it, living it.  He knew, from the depths of His being, that His Father’s words would sustain Him in a way nothing else could.

Do you have a problem?  It is written...
I was going through something recently when I got in touch with old pain and feelings of inadequacy and “not being enough”.  I asked the Lord to show me in His word what I needed to know.  He led me to the parable of the loaves and the fishes, where the little boy offers all that he has to Jesus; a few fish and loaves of bread.  I could so relate, seeing the need, but feeling I had little to offer.

More than Enough
The truth of the Kingdom far outshines reality on earth.  Those few morsels fed a multitude as Jesus blessed it, with overflow.  As I meditated on these verses I could feel the Truth touch me deeply.  I was no different than that little boy.  My few fish and loaves really were enough.  More than enough.  It didn’t make any sense in the natural, but in our King’s Realm my weakness will always be enough.  God’s words of life have the power to conquer the words of death that have been spoken over you.

I bless you all to be able to open up your hearts to the Truth in a deeper way as you open up the pages of your Bible.  Not by trying harder, but by yielding more.
May you all be mightily blessed with knowing how tangible, how powerful and how custom-designed for you His truth is!

                                                                  

Love Is Taking Down The Walls! by Pastor Brent Lokker

This week, I received an email from someone in our Blazing Fire family who wanted to share with me what she saw and experienced during worship this past Saturday night.  It paints a picture of where the Lord has so faithfully been taking us these past few years together:

The walls around our hearts - the blanket of discouragement - was tangible to me when I entered the church, but our worship that Eric Perales lead us in changed all that!

As we sang the first song about how everything in our lives are tied to praise because of how much bigger & stronger Papa is than the darkness & difficulties we face - I could feel the place many of us were in - the blanket of heaviness that dulls our hearing & our receiving if we stay focused on that heaviness - but we didn't! 

We sang "Spirit, break out, tear our walls down". I saw a rainbow stream burst forth from our bellies that completely encompassed each of us, swallowing up the walls. This stream is a picture of our true self - one with Holy Spirit breaking out of the confines of the soul to take its place of prominence. The picture represents the restoration of the soul to its rightful place of rest & dependence upon Holy Spirit.

When we sang about tearing down the walls, I was feeling uncomfortable with the idea of tearing down walls that were placed there to protect me - even when they are actually harming me. But seeing Holy Spirit break out from the depths of my being to completely surround and engulf those walls made me feel so very safe and truly protected. Fear is consumed by Love; discouragement by Hope, and suddenly the sound barrier is broken. Suddenly the words that convey hope and truth to my inner parts are finally heard deep on the inside! By the end of the evening Truth, Hope, Love was washing over us as a congregation!



What an incredible journey we had as a family!! I'm so honored & thankful to be part of such an amazing community. Thank you and the rest of the leaders for living the core values, for risking transparency so that we can be real together! Thank you for the call to return to our first Love, Jesus.

As the worship was winding down last Saturday, Pastor Karena felt the Lord's heart to heal and so we took time to pray for each other.  Later several people shared with us they experienced great relief of pain or total healing of their backs and necks!  When the God of Hope and Peace and Joy and Love invades our hearts and our minds, it impacts our physical bodies as well!

Thanks for continuing to go on this journey with us into the depths of God's heart!

Much Love,

Pastor Brent