Exporting Love by Pastor Brent Lokker

Four of us from the Blazing Fire family just got back from two weeks in Uganda where we had the joy and privilege of meeting beautiful people and releasing what has been entrusted to us by God. Tomorrow night (Saturday, August 31st), Pastors Brent, Lonnie & Angela and Fred Long will be sharing with and releasing to you what we experienced and received and we will encounter the Holy Spirit together!



(A Ugandan family that Blazing Fire supported two years ago with a coffee farm to give them hope for their future)

Most of the Ugandan people are very poor financially, yet their tropical land is loaded with the juiciest, sweetest pineapples and the biggest, richest avocadoes I've ever tasted! As God brings Kingdom transformation to the infrastrucure of Uganda, they already have the goods to export to the world!

That got me thinking about how you and I have been loaded up with the riches of God's heavenly Kingdom. And the more He transforms our inner lives to flow effortlessly according to our original identity as His sons and daughters who carry His glory, the more we will export His goodness everywhere we go.

The greatest mark of maturity in the Christian life is love. Love is the greatest quality of God that we carry. Love crosses all cultural barriers. Love changes things. Love wins. And love is our biggest, sweetest and richest export to the world!

This Saturday, in addition to sharing with you what happened as we exported love to Uganda, we will also be sending off Joe & Eva Medina who will be exporting to Redding, CA the love they've absorbed from the Blazing Fire family over nearly a decade. The following week, September 7th, we will be sending off Pastors Lonnie & Angela Ellis to export the love of Christ to Sacramento and the world! Please do what you can to be there these next two Saturdays to express the love, honor and deep appreciation to these beautiful friends who will always remain part of our family, but who are following the Lord's leading into the next chapter of their journey with Him.

Finally, I want to remind each one of you that you carry the riches of heaven right inside of you! You carry the greatest change agent ever created that is God's answer to all that you will encounter...LOVE! Freely give what you've freely received. Freely export what has been freely imported by God into you!

Ephesians 5:1-2 (The Message Bible)

"Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that."

2 Corinthians 5:14 - "For Christ's love compels us..."

Let the love of Christ compel you to export His love and goodness everywhere you go!

With Great Love for Each One of You!
Brent

Encouraged by Nelson Mandela by Pastor Karena Lout

 

“You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9

“Gracious words stream from your lips.” Psalm 45:2 NLT

I’ve been reading a really great biography on the life of Nelson Mandela. Mandela had many teachers in his life but he says the greatest of all was prison. The 27 years he spent in prison taught him self-control, discipline, maturity and focus. In prison, he learned that he couldn’t control anyone or anything. The only thing he could control was himself. He says it taught him how to be a full human being. The injustice he endured being sent to prison became the catapult to set the enslaved free, wanting to make South Africa a symbol of reconciliation. If that doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what will!

One of the greatest lessons I’m gleaning from Nelson Mandela is that he always chooses to see the good in others. This is one of our core values at Blazing Fire: “Seeing the treasures in one another and causing each other to soar into our destinies.” This has been the foundation for all that we do and is what has caused so many to soar into all the Father has for them. When I first came to Blazing Fire, I can recall times that Pastors Brent and Suzanne spent time calling out the treasures in me before I could see it for myself. It was like hearing a new language for the first time. I’m so thankful for the life it breathed back into my heart and spirit.

One of Nelson Mandela’s values is that he views everyone as virtuous and chooses to believe the best in everyone. He believes that seeing the good in other people improves the chances that they will reveal their true, better selves. Though at times his critics have told him he’s too trusting, Mandela has chosen to take the risk anyway.

I have to admit, for me, it’s pretty easy to see the treasures in people I love, have good relationship with and even those I just met. But I feel challenged as I read about Nelson Mandela’s life. He chose to believe the best and see the treasures in even the prison guards that treated him poorly. I’m reminded of the life Jesus lived on the earth. Mandela would say that he takes emotional risks, making himself vulnerable by choosing to trust. This is an area I so want to grow in more but know it’s only through healing in my own heart first and by the Father’s tenderness and leading.

I pray that the Father would begin to show you more what treasures lie within you, that you would see yourself rightly, as He sees you. As the truth sinks in deeper, I pray that God would give you more opportunities to see the hidden treasures in people who can tend to be more challenging in your life. I pray for courage as you take steps to open your heart to trust Him at a deeper level and lots of grace in the journey!

With lots of love, Karena

His Glory In You by Pastor Suzan Fochler

Dear Family;

We recently enjoyed time as a family visiting some of the most amazing sights California can offer; the mountains, trees, ocean and waves of Monterey and Santa Cruz. While there we went to the Monterey Bay and Seymour Aquariums, and enjoyed the vast array of species that dwell in and around the ocean.

Who Would Dream Up Such Creative Diversity?

For example, one of the species that amazed us was the Sea Dragon. It’s a kind of Sea Horse, but looks much more like a plant than an animal! Who would dream up such a weird, whimsical creature? There was also an exhibit on Jelly Fish, all kinds of sizes, shapes and colors. Altogether there are something like 2,000 species of Jellies.

Our Creative God Delights in His Creation!
I doubt all of those species of Jelly Fish are absolutely essential for keeping the ocean’s ecosystem in balance, but I think it says something about the heart of God. Clearly, He was pleased to create this incredible diversity of species. I think God must enjoy the surprisingly distinct colors, sizes, behaviors and shapes of all those Jellies just as we do. What a wild and crazy imagination He has! What a sense of humor and fun! It is clear that God loves life, thoroughly enjoys the work of His hands, and adores the fruit of His own imagination. It is evident that he takes great pleasure in His creation, and the deepest pleasure of all from His premier work of art: we humans, created in His own image.

Each One of Us is an Important Part of His Creative Genius
It started to dawn on me; as amazingly varied and unique each plant and animal species is, when it comes to humankind, each individual human being, one to another, is just as unique and one of a kind as each species of the animal kingdom is, species to species. There are millions upon millions of different kinds of species, but within each species, most of the creatures look and act pretty similar, if not identical. When we look at human beings, however, we see a completely different aspect of diversity.

Christ is In You: Illuminating His Glory from Within
Human beings not only have unique personalities, but everything else about us: our appearance, the sound of our voice, our food preferences, our talents and interests; all distinct and one of a kind. Irreplaceable and unmatched. God chose to fabricate each one of us from a unique facet of His own personhood such that He will never make any of us a copy of anyone else! We each reflect a piece of His glory, in our own way.

Being Who You Are Is Enough
That aspect of God’s glory that is reflected in your life is unique and indispensable. Who you are, how you think, what you enjoy. What makes you laugh, what makes you cry, what drops you to your knees. There is nothing about you that is a mistake, an oversight or an afterthought. Who you are, and how you do who you are, matters. It matters to God, and it matters, in some mysteriously and deeply interwoven way, to the rest of creation. The whole earth, including each and every one of His created beings, is filled with the Glory of God!

With Much Love, and enjoying Him in each of you;
Susan

Choose to Belong by Pastor Brent Lokker

Last Saturday I shared a message about how God is inviting us to live whole-heartedly, not just with Him, but also with one another as a family.

Check out Hebrews 10:25 in the Mirror translation:

"In the light of our free access to the Father, let us extend that embrace to one another. Our gatherings are no longer a repetition of tradition but an essential fellowship where we remind one another of our true identity."

More than ever, we need to resist the enemy's attempts to isolate and separate us and instead come together as a family to remind one another continually of who Papa God says we truly are. You are not and never will be an orphan who doesn't belong. You are and always will be a son or daughter who belongs to the family of God!



Here is a link to the amazing video I showed last Saturday that perfectly represents how we are adopted into and belong to God's family:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rztYMMhMT2Y

In order to not be isolated or keep your heart safely walled off from others, you must choose to enter in and belong to a family where you are known, celebrated and loved! Learning to be real and vulnerable can be scary at first, but it is essential in living as the wholehearted son or daughter you are created to be.

I am inviting you to choose to belong to Blazing Fire. Or if you feel you already do, to come in closer still. Practically, this means:

1. Let us know you want to belong--for your sake (stepping over the line to say you want to belong is a way of committing your heart to the process)

2. Make gathering with the BF family a priority. You can't be known and go deeper with us if you're not with us!

3. Enter in wholeheartedly. By this, I mean choose to let God into the deepest places of your heart (it starts there) and then begin to let in others in as well. Take the risk of being yourself.

4. Give to the family. The Blazing Fire family is not only a place to receive love and acceptance, but it's a place to give what you have as well. We need you! Others in our family need your encouragement! Others in our family will be blessed as you step out into the dreams God has placed on your heart! And as you contribute financially to our family, you are helping support the dreams and visions of the Blazing Fire staff which, in large part, is about creating a family culture where we all grow and heal and thrive and make a genuine difference in this world.

There is a special place for you in our family! Choose to belong!

With Much Love,
Brent