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/

Getting Past Our Past by Pastor Susan Fochler

One of the great mysteries of our faith walk is why Scripture does not seem to line up with our daily experience.  If we’ve spent any time at all as a believer in this unbelieving world, we have had to come to grips with this reality.  In my work helping people with inner healing, I am confronted with this issue continuously, in both looking at my own heart as well as seeking to help others.

New Creation???
I LOVE this scripture: “Therefore if any person (that would be all of us) is in Christ, he is a new creation (a new creature altogether): the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away.  Behold, the fresh and new has come!”  Amp 2 Cor 5:17.

Wow that is a wonderful and hope-filled promise.  Here is the problem: we want that scripture to mean things it doesn't.  So if I’m a new creation, life will be perfect and good and everyone will love me all the time and nothing hard or painful will ever happen to me again.  We certainly hope life will be like that, but it rarely is.

A New Creation that Needs to Mature and Grow
That scripture actually means this;  yes, you are a new creation.  Completely new, never seen before.  That means He put His DNA in you and created you to be 100% His son or daughter, with all the rights and privileges of heaven.  Incredible, brand new potential for fullness of life.  But this DNA is in seed form, and that will require watering, nurturing and care along the way.  We get “stuck” when there are areas of our old man that we don’t give God access to, and they remain encapsulated as the roots of the new man grow in other areas of our heart.

How Do We Let Go?
The areas we typically get stuck in are real, excruciating places, like shame, fear and self-pity.  It just seems so hard to live life without clutching onto these things.  How will I feel safe and cared for without them?  We know, in theory, that we can trust God who is Incarnate Love, but our heart struggles with walking out the implications of full surrender.  Surrender that requires we let go of control.

Facing Our Pain Takes Courage
God is willing to stoop low and come alongside us.  He won’t necessarily agree with our perspective, but His presence will not veer from the Love target He put on your heart the moment you said yes to Him.  Believe it or not, those parts of your heart that feel the darkest, loneliest, and most worthless are the most precious parts of your heart.  It’s scary and hard, but allowing Him just to be with us in our pain is the solution.  His presence carries nurturing power and tender kindness that transcends any measure of agony.

He Can’t Wait to Bless You
I would encourage you to continue to say this blessing over any area of your life where you know you are stuck, and allow the watering of it’s truth to go in deeper and deeper:

The Lord bless you and watch guard, and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious, kind and merciful to you;  The Lord lift up His approving face upon you and give you peace and life continually.  Num 6:24-7 AMP

To your Papa God and Brother Jesus, you are lovable and irresistible.  All of you.  And knowing that, heals everything.

Looking forward to the Full Revealing of all The Saints (that would be us);

Love,
 

Susan

Trust God by Pastor Brent Lokker

As you probably already know, this past month my family was contending together for my sister Karlin's life and then a week ago (with sadness on our part for the ways we will miss her in this life) celebrate her glorious homecoming with Jesus in heaven. So many of you joined right in with us declaring her healing and we are so very grateful for your loving and faith-filled hearts! This past Saturday at Blazing Fire, Suzanne, myself, and my sister-in-love, Julia, each shared some insights of our journey with God through the process (you can listen to that right here if you’re interested: http://blazingfire.podbean.com/e/loving-well-under-pressure-brent-suzanne-lokker/ )

Life’s trials and crises have a way of bringing to the forefront what is in the depths of our hearts like nothing else can. Our heavenly Papa uses these times to lovingly invite us into greater places of maturity and growth with Him, should we choose to want that.

James 1:2-3 in the Message Bible puts it this way:

Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

It’s important to remember as we navigate the complexities of our lives with the Lord that He is intrigued and fascinated with us, not frustrated or irritated with us. And always, He is 100% committed to our success (the way He defines success!).

Being very transparent with you, I want to share a bit of what has surfaced in my heart over the past week or so. I will share it in the form of questions that the Lord posed to me and ask that Holy Spirit brings deeper revelation to you for whatever situations you may be going through in your life at this time.

1. Is your trust placed in Me (God) alone or is it placed in the desired outcome of what you are praying for?

2. Just because you had a desired outcome in mind that didn’t work out that way, does that mean your faith was any less pleasing to Me?

3. Will you allow Me to show you subtle ways you are still, at times, trying to substitute a formula or the right way of doing things in place of a genuine, intimate relationship with me?

4. Can you celebrate with Me the process you are in and the progress of your relationship with Me to this point?

As you ponder these things with the Lord, and anything else He wants to show you, I leave you with this verse:

Why, my soul, are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and my God.

Psalm 43:5

With Much Love & Peace in my Heart,
Brent