The Lord Will Fight For You by Pastor Karena Lout

There are a few things about this scripture God has been highlighting to me that I want to encourage you with. In this context, the word salvation in Hebrew is yasha which means, “to make room or space.” The Israelites were under great pressure, squeezed between the Red Sea before them and the armies behind them. God sent salvation to come and relieve the pressure. Some of you have been under suffocating pressure lately. I pray that as you receive God’s yasha, you would experience wide, open spaces where you can breathe freely. Stress, worry, and anxiety can’t live in that space.

The other thing I felt to encourage you with is to allow the Lord to fight for you. Over the years, I’ve had to learn to ask for help when I need it. That can feel unfamiliar and even vulnerable for some of us who grew up believing that we need to take care of ourselves. But it’s important that we pay attention when it’s time to take the boxing gloves off and rest.  Laying down your sword can feel scary. If you’ve been fighting for a long time, it can be difficult to imagine what life would be like without it.  I encourage you to ask Jesus how He’s going to protect you and fight for you. One of the most comforting truths in this life is that we don’t have to face challenges alone. I pray that you can rest in that today.

                                                                                        

Welcome TO A Clearer Future by Pastor Brent Lokker

What Lenses Are You Looking Through?

Whether or not you trust God and allow yourself to get close to Him has a lot to do with whether you want to. If you have a belief system that He is unsafe, manipulative, or prone to going off in fits of rage, you will avoid that relationship at all costs. That’s called survival, and we were made with a degree of common sense not to put ourselves in perilous situations if we have a choice in the matter. However, since God is your Daddy who loves you, who is always for you, and who chooses to use His infinite power for your good, avoiding Him would be to your complete detriment.

We each view life through certain lenses that are colored by our experiences along the way. If you had parents or other significant people in your life who misused their power to hurt you, it will be much more difficult for you to embrace the truth that God uses His unlimited power for your absolute best, to do you good all the time. If you were told growing up that you were good-for-nothing junk, believing the Father’s comforting words that He’s made you exactly the way He wanted and He likes you will be more difficult to accept. If you got the message growing up that whatever you did was never enough, your heavenly Father’s voice of approval and acceptance will not initially seem to ring true.

Can I tell you something you must hear? Every time a lie was spoken that tarnished your beautiful image, and every time your innocence was robbed because of an abuse of power, your heavenly Daddy wept for you. It is never His intent for the precious ones He loves to be damaged and taken advantage of. We have an enemy—the devil and his army of demons—who seek to destroy us. When we attribute everything that happens, good and bad, to God, we fall prey to the enemy’s plan to steal from us the intimacy with God we were made to enjoy.

God is good and the devil is bad. It’s critically important that we don’t mix up these two facts.

God gives free will, which sometimes leads to pain and tragedy, but He also has a way of miraculously turning everything to our good as we stay engaged with our Father’s heart through the process of restoration.

"We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan." (Romans 8:28, Voice Translation)

Your Father knows every single thing that has happened in your life and He is more than able to override your pain with His love and compassion. He says to you, I’m going to love you the way you deserve to be loved. I will treat you as the prince/princess you are until you believe it and hold your head up high as My priceless treasure.

God is in the process of erasing the virus of past deceptions and lies from the hard drive of your mind and uploading you with His affirming words until you are left with your original programming. This will allow your operating system to function the way heaven designed it—clearly seeing the love of a Father who has always adored you and who has nothing but good in store for you. The amazing thing is, the more you receive His upgrades and believe them, the more you will live in the reality of His heart.

I am declaring the truth over you right now that Papa God is giving you His lenses of love through which you can more accurately look at yourself and the world around you. You are receiving your upgrade at this very moment!

With Much Love,

Pastor Brent

P.S.  This is an excerpt from my book Daddy You Love Me which is about to be relaunched as Always Loved.  In addition, the audio book version will come out shortly.  To the left is the cover of the Arabic version that will come out in a month!

            

Worship His Majesty by Pastor Todd Lout

Why does worship feel dull?  Are we going to a worship service and saying, “Meh, I don’t feel God…whatever.”  Do we feel agitated a lot of the time?  Irritable, crabby, negative?  Let’s snap out of it!  Let’s shake off the mundane, robotic execution of our busy lives and realized the glorious majesty of God again! 

There’s nothing like stopping the madness and recalibrating our focus by checking out what God has done, Who He is, His endless perfection in everything.  It’s a guaranteed brain enhancer.  Oh yeah! 

Here’s the deal, we were all made to worship God….to be loved and love back.  (Eph 1:11 & 12) It’s in our DNA.  It really is!  So when we’ve gotten in that slump where we let this thing become way down the list of priorities, we won’t be operating with our natural fuel.

Here’s some tips to get us jump-started. 

*Go outside and find a pretty flower.  Get really close to that thing and try to make out the details of it, ya know, just kinda get lost in it.  Then consider that HE designed all of that, right down to the detail, because He likes it, AND put it here for us to enjoy too.

*Follow and Instagramer who takes beautiful photos of nature all over the world.  (There are many to choose from)  Just look at some of those photos and realize the majesty of God in His creation.

*Think of the most horrific thing you know about yourself.  Maybe something you did or thought of doing.  Now think of the fact that this flawless Father already knows about that thing, (On a deeper level than you do, I might add), and loves you more than you’ve ever loved anything or anyone.

There’s so many things we can be intentional with to refocus onto the enormous, royal, perfect, shining love that is God.  From here, let’s turn our affections toward Him and worship all the time…every day…a lot!  Our whole being will come back into alignment with how we are wonderfully made and everything else will fall into place under that fact.  He is so worth it, and so are you!

                                                           Love, Todd Benjamin Lout

               

Men, Husbands and Fathers - Russ Fochler by Russ Fochler

Looking back on my days as a young man, I was vaguely aware of missing something important when it came to relating with women and children. Now, after years of walking with other men through their own disconnects with wives and children, I know I wasn’t the only one. And, I believe this is one reason why so many men avoid marriage and avoid caring for children.

As men, many of us absorbed the message that a “man” shouldn't need help and shouldn't ask for help. So, if we do have a family, we may try to bluff or bluster our way through family issues. Or we may just retreat and try to avoid being involved in meaningful ways with our wives and/or children.
But Jesus offers us a better way.

Isaiah 61 is a life chapter for me. It is about the beautiful work of Jesus. In Luke 4, Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 to publicly announce His ministry. He is bringing good news to the poor, binding up the brokenhearted (all of us in some form or another), declaring freedom for the captives and prisoners. And He gives us a beautiful turban, the oil of gladness, and a mantle of praise. Jesus is establishing us like strong oaks.

And then.....

And then we get to turn around and be part of the healing of Father God’s family. We get to be ministers of reconciliation with Father God. We get to actively repair the ruined cities and the desolations of many generations (Is 61:4 - NKJV). We respond to the New Testament Elijah call to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and hearts of the children to their fathers. (Mal 4:6).

We are empowered (as we ask Father God for help) to stop repeating the destructive, abusive, disconnecting, co-dependent, relationship-crushing ways that have felt like “normal” in our family lines. And to establish a new “normal” of life lived with Jesus.

In my talk last Saturday, I shared clips of Danny Silk’s Your “Normal” talk from his Defining The Relationship series. Until a revelation was given to his wife Sheri in a Sozo, Danny could not see how he was the source of much of the painful dynamics in his marriage. I’ve “been there” myself. While it took Danny and Sheri about 13 ½ years of marriage to see what the issue was, it took me 17 years of marriage to finally acknowledge my destructive behaviors - the ones that I firmly defended as “normal” up until then.

Jesus, we gratefully receive all You provide to heal our hearts and set us free. We embrace this “new normal” of having the capacity with You in us - to love and bless our families. And we join You in the glorious work of restoring the desolations of many generations.

Grateful for being in this family with you,

Russ

Freedom by Misha Quezada - Blazing Fire Overseer Team

Tonight I got home late after a looong day. It was about 11pm and I was very excited to crawl into bed. As I unlock the downstairs door to my dorm hallway I think I see a small bird at the other end of the hall trying to get out. I quickly go back outside and go around the building to open the door. Inside I see a small paper moving around and assume I was tired and obviously am now seeing things, but after almost reaching the door to the staircase I see the little bird flying straight for me! The next 45 minutes are spent frustratingly trying to free the bird. It must have been there for a while because it was having trouble flying for the extent of the hallway. Back and forth it went, letting me at times get close but then quickly hopping or flying away. I eventually used my purse to prop open a door, and got it out the door. Just as I felt victorious and was reaching to close the door, the silly bird turned around and flew back in! About 30 minutes in, I felt God giving me nudges, asking if anything about the situation felt familiar. I watched as the bird went back and forth, struggling as it reached the door, but not being able to get out. I often find myself feeling like that bird. I see where I want to go, or emotionally feel where I want to be. It’s in site, but I keep sensing walls in my way. God is there trying to help me get out, in His loving gentle way, racing in whichever direction I head, opening the door for me. I have trouble trusting that He knows the way; that He isn’t there to sweep me in the wrong direction. I start to head to where He points, but then second guess it and turn in the other direction. Sometimes I even get right to the edge of it, as if standing at the edge of a cliff, ready to take the leap, but my own fears or lies get in the way of seeing the truth. The story has a good ending though….The bird finally made it out! I gently closed the door behind it, thinking it was over but I returned a few minutes later seeing it still hopping around outside the doorway. Sometimes we make it out of our situation, but don’t know what to do next. It’s uncomfortable to step into something new. A bigger, freer world can be intimidating, and we don’t believe we are totally out. God told me to go outside and watch. The bird sat there flying, but returning. Then suddenly I felt my heart leap as I watched it fly high to the top of the building, turn, and fly away toward some trees. God is calling us into breakthrough. He knows what we’ve been longing for, the freedom we desire. It has felt like a struggle for many, feeling like you can’t trust what’s on your heart, like you’re going to be stuck in the place you’re at forever. You may even be mad at yourself, seeing that you had a chance or s moment where you felt out of it, but now you find yourself feeling as though nothing changed, like you’re right back where you are. I hear God saying FREEDOM!!!! The door is wide open, He is standing there, beckoning you out. He is a loving, patient Father, who is willing to stand there for however long it takes. Your wings are ready, the door is open, so turn around and feel the wind beneath your wings!!!

Choosing To Belong by Pastor Brent Lokker

When I was in 8th grade, I wanted to be accepted by the guys on the basketball team.  During lunch period one day early in the school year, I sat down at the table where they were eating and collectively, as one, they got up and left the moment I sat down.  Now that hurt!  Of course, I found other friends to hang out with over the course of the year, but that one stung for a while.  But do you know what’s even worse?  The very next year I was part of a group who did the very same thing in rejecting a boy named Ernie, someone we suddenly thought we were too cool to hang out with.   I’m happy to say that through the miracle of Facebook, I was able to get in touch with Ernie as an adult and ask for his forgiveness, which he readily gave to me, and we caught up on each other’s lives. We all have a deep, deep need to belong, but it’s no wonder with experiences such as these that we’ve all encountered in one way or another we’re a bit gun-shy when it comes to opening up ourselves to others in our relationships.  Will we be accepted or will this be another painful experience to endure? God is the Father of all (Ephesians 3:14-15) and it’s His dream for us as His children to love one another deeply as a family.  He’s not going to change His dream! He first loves and accepts us completely and then gives us the courage to learn how to live that way with each other.  He’s going to help us do this! Let’s face it, genuine love and commitment is risky because it involves opening up our hearts to one another. Yet over time, I have come to the conclusion that the reward of living wholeheartedly with others is totally worth the risk! Living connected to each other in meaningful relationships requires intentionality and commitment.  This is why choosing to belong to a church family is so significant.  It causes us to stick it out with others in a way we wouldn’t have otherwise. Should our Blazing Fire family be the one you want to connect with in order to learn to love others well, please read this description of our Blazing Fire Family Connectionand let us know. http://blazingfire.org/blazing-fire-family-connection (note: this is a new description—different from the Covenant of Belonging we wrote a few months back) If, upon reading the description you choose to embark on this relational adventure with us as part of our family, please let us know by responding to info@blazingfire.org.  Pastor Suzanne is the one who will see your response and pass it along to the elder team. On Saturday, June 13th, the next group of about 25 people will be recognized for their desire to belong to our Blazing Fire family.  Don’t worry—if you’ve wanted to respond, but haven’t done so yet, you haven’t missed the boat!  We will have future Saturday nights when others will do the same.  In other words, there’s a place for you to belong in our family if that’s your desire.  With God’s help, let’s be known for loving each other well!

A Testimony About Deep Peace In The Holy Spirit by Jen Bentley (Pre-School Ministry)

In early December 2014 I wrote this in my journal:

I always assumed that comfort involved feeling better, or not sad anymore....  As I cried over my sweet baby last night, I felt different. (A few years ago Pete and I were heartbroken over our baby girl Juliet after she died in my womb.  I continue to miss her.) I felt safe, cared for, carried, Jesus had me in His arms as I wept and it felt good.

It felt good to cry, to be sad.

In that moment, I knew I was being comforted by my Heavenly Papa and it was OK to be sad, even good to be sad.  For me, comfort doesn’t come from “shutting down” a painful emotion - it is simply a knowing that I am not alone, and therefore, it is OK to be right where I am and feel just what I feel.

A couple weeks later Karena spoke about Growing Pains at Blazing Fire. The next day, as I was thinking about it: God gave me a powerful revelation.  First He reminded me of something:

New Year's eve 2011 was the first time Pete and I attended any Blazing Fire service. Sean Smith spoke and one of the things he said really stuck with me... he said: "two-thirds of the kingdom can be felt... we know that the kingdom of Heaven is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." I just loved that.  I never realized this fact and I absolutely loved that I could feel 2/3 of the kingdom (peace and joy)!

God then began showing me what deep peace and joy in the Holy Spirit looks like... this is what I wrote:

True peace comes as a result of struggle, learning, and suffering. All those hard feelings - once felt, faced, and walked through (with Jesus and ever clinging to Him) lead to a deep peace in the Holy Spirit.  A peace that cannot be shaken, cannot be broken because it was born through the process of living life.  More living only increases its depth and richness whether that living is hard or easy.

Joy comes much the same way.  My joy has increased as I have faced pain, fear and suffering.  I have been opening my heart little by little over the last two years.   And in those hard, painful moments I often felt alone even though I knew with my mind that God was there.  Going back to early December 2014 when I felt the safety, the comfort of God for the first time... in that moment, I felt a joy come over me.  All of a sudden, it was so OK to be sad, and right to be sad - and I felt a joy in this confidence!  I think the joy also was an assurance that this too will pass. I believe what I experienced was a deep joy in the Holy Spirit after I bravely opened my heart and just cried before Him.

I thought of Karena’s message about growing pains. (see link below *) It is so hard to face painful things and feel all those yucky feelings.  But, what is born out of facing that pain is so wonderful.  My courage to feel those hard feelings and really allow myself to "feel" as I go through the day is increasing - because I know it will deepen and grow the peace and joy that I have in Holy Spirit.

With that experience of God's comfort, I became more courageous to face emotional pain.  I have found on the other end of walking through the hard things... is ever increasing peace and joy.  It’s not easy, but it's sooooo worth it!
 

(Jen oversees Blazing Fire's Pre-School ministry, "Little Royals")

*Karena's Message: http://blazingfire.podbean.com/e/karina-lout-12-13-14/