Inviting God to Disturb us by Pastor Susan Fochler

Dear Family;

We recently spent some time in the Point Reyes area, where Sir Francis Drake made landfall in 1579 at Drakes Bay in Marin County.  I was struck by the prayer Sir Francis prayed as he was leaving England to make the second circumnavigation ever of the world. During a time when any travel by boat for any distance was very risky; long before GPS, satellites, cell phones, or gas-powered motors, Sir Francis recorded this remarkable prayer:



Disturb Us, Lord

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess
 We have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity and in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wilder seas where Storms will show Your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the Stars.

We ask you to push back the horizons of our hopes; and to push back the Future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ.

What Was Sir Francis Thinking?

I find it shocking that he would pray such a prayer at a time when there were none of the comforts or ease of transportation and communication as we find with todays rapidly expanding technology.  This prayer deals with an issue of our modern lives that can so lull us with it’s familiarity: the security of the known.  It is so easy to take what we have for granted.  Nothing was very safe or predictable 400 years ago in the day when Sir Francis lived.  Long before electricity, reliable transportation, medicine, communication, and safe food and water supply, he asked to be “disturbed” from playing it safe!  Clearly he was listening to a wooing from deep within, to step into an eternal destiny that was given to him by God alone.  Any other journey would never satisfy.  May we each so listen and respond to that deep calling unto the deep places in our own hearts!

Disturb us with Your Kingdom, Lord!

I propose that this prayer is an invitation to embrace the Kingdom of Heaven as that place that is not familiar, predictable or controllable.  Yet, how can we choose a lesser path?  We belong to the Lord of Heaven, we answer to a Higher King than the prince of this world.  His ways, His thoughts are so beyond, so much better than ours; yet, He invites us in, higher, to dream and imagine a world beyond this, where Faith is the entrance and Love is the currency.

We thank you, Lord, that through our Precious Jesus we are all “in” and qualified already!  You faced the worst discomfort imaginable so we could know unending belonging in You.  How could anything else of this world compare?  Give us eyes to see, and ears to hear the bounty of Your goodness and the very near reality of Your Kingdom as never before.  And give us the courage to enter in boldly, knowing we truly can trust You, the source of all Love, with all we hold dear.  Thank you, sweet Jesus, for choosing us first, to be Yours, forever.  You are our only safe place.

With Love,
Susan

Saying goodbye to Lonnie and Angelas Ellis by Pastor Brent Lokker

Let's face it, none of us particulary cares for big changes in our lives that seem to upset "the way things were." Especially when "the way things were" were pretty darn good. But our loving heavenly Father--who is outside of our timeline (that we like to thing we're in control of)--knows all things, knows the very best for us, and knows how to get us exactly where He wants us to be for the sake of His Kingdom plans to bless the whole earth.

Sometimes that's kicking us out of a comfortable nest we'd happily stay in the rest of our lives. That's actually how and why I planted two churches, the last one being Blazing Fire Church that God has used to transform the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of lives over the past 13 years--but that's a story for another time.

In a similar fashion, Lonnie & Angela Ellis, who have been on staff as our elders and pastors (Lonnie for the past 10 years!), have been coaxed out of this nest called Blazing Fire Church to venture out where the Spirit of God is leading them next. It's a bit scary for them, but the adventure of leaping out under the direction of the Holy Spirit and having to trust entirely upon the goodness and faithfulness of God will give them deeper roots in the Lord than they could possibly imagine--the kind of roots needed to go to the ends of the earth any time they are called to do so.

Lonnie & Angela will be preaching tomorrow night, Saturday, September 7th at Blazing Fire Church. They will be sharing their hearts and bringing us some encouragement, as they always do. And we will have the privilege of sending them on their journey with blessing, not because we want to see them go, but because we want to see Jesus get everything he paid for on the cross for the sake of the world God so loves, and He is sending them into the next phase of the journey He's already planned for them.

I have a big favor to ask of you--Would you help us bless them with a generous financial gift from our Blazing Fire family? We can never give to someone financially what they are worth, but please help as you are able for us to give Lonnie & Angela an over-the-top blessing for their many years of pouring into our Blazing Fire family.

This is going to be one of those extra memorable family night together, so please join us if at all possible. If you can't be there, you can still bless them by sending a gift to Blazing Fire Church, P.O. Box 1599, Pleasanton, CA 94566, and put their name in the memo or send something through Paypal onhttp://www.blazingfire.org, noting that it's for them.

I will end with a short segment from my friend Myles Weiss who explains the Jewish year 5774 that we just entered into on Wednesday night. This is for Lonnie & Angela and for each and every one of you reading this!

5774 – Ready to go through the Open Door?

The decade of “70” is coming into its 4th year. We are celebrating the Fall Feasts and beginning the year 5774. The Hebrew letter “ayin” which is the word associated with 70 is pictured by the eye. A door pictures the Hebrew letter “dalet”, the 4th letter. This coming year will include many opportunities for us…as God is opening doors.

As the seasons pass from Rosh HaShanah to Yom Kippur, let’s not lose the symbolic importance of the “day of blowing” —the Feast of Trumpets. Beyond the heavenly sound of the physical ram’s horn, there is also the picture of who we are to be as His representatives in the Earth. In our generation, we are to sound the alarm, the Good News, and the call to war as watchmen on the wall.

When we allow God to have His way, we are the voice of God lifted up and released into His purposes. It is time find your destiny … and walk in the specific calling He has for you. This year, 5774 God intends for you to look for open doors of opportunity for you and I to speak words of wisdom and grace to those around us.

You are a shofar in His hands in this generation!.