Have Fun, Play and Be Kind by BF guest contributor Sarah Yang

“Jesus undid everything that Adam did, and did everything Adam failed to do.” - Sinclair B. Ferguson -   What would you do if you knew you already crossed the finish line?  If you knew you were enough?  If you weren’t busy trying to improve or prove yourself?  No more morning ritual of setting the bar super high and trying to meet it in order to somehow please God and meet His crazy high expectations of you?  Because the truth is, YOU ALREADY HAVE.    Because of Jesus, you always measure up.  You are always enough.  You have already surpassed all of His wildest expectations of you.  For one simple reason: Jesus is our righteousness, holiness, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30).  According to Romans 5:15, Jesus restored us back to our original state in the Garden of Eden prior to the Fall.  News flash: you have already crossed the finish line!  As David Crabtree put it, “Christianity starts where every other religion aspires to end, at holiness and enlightenment.”    Now that we know that we are holy and the “enlightened” light of the world, what do we do now?  Well, we get to fulfill the desires of our hearts.  But you might be thinking, “No!  My heart is evil.”  Actually, according to Scripture, your heart is good and your heart’s desires are good.  God would not make His home in your heart if it wasn’t good (2 Tim 1:14).  And God would not fulfill the desires of your heart if they weren’t good.  God promises to give us the desires of our hearts when we delight ourselves in Him (Psalm 37:4).   So what are the desires of your heart?  What do you enjoy doing?  Roller coasters?  Improv?  Painting?  Interior design?  Basketball?  Being a comic?  A chef?  Go do it.  God loves to fulfill the desires of our hearts.  Why?  Because then we become a tree of life to everyone around us.  Proverbs 13:12 tells us, “a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”  When we fulfill the desires of our hearts, people get to enjoy the bountiful fruit and shade we produce as we’re rooted and grounded in His love.  The greatest gift I can give to the world is to flourish and thrive with life.  As Howard Thurman put it,   “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”   So what makes you come alive?  God is inviting you to the great adventure of unearthing the wellspring of life that is your heart by discovering and fulfilling your God-given desires.  We get to have fun, play, and be a kid again at this wonderful carnival of life… brought to you by Jesus Christ (Matt 18:3).   To listen to the full message, please go to this link:http://blazingfire.podbean.com/e/your-heart-the-wellspring-of-life-sarah-yang/ Love, Sarah

Turning Wastelands Into Gardens by Pastor Karena Lout

REFUGE youth ministry led our service last Sat. night and several of our teens shared how powerfully God has moved in their lives. I was so proud of them for sharing so vulnerably. God has come through for them and encountered them with His transforming love time and again. One of our youth shared how God took away the shame that tormented him for so long. He has a desire for others to experience the same breakthrough he received. I love how God takes the very thing that’s been the darkest valley for us and turns it into our mountain of greatest victory. God demonstrated this with the blind man in John 9:6 & 7  “Jesus spit on the ground, made some saliva and put it in the man’s eyes. Go, He told him, wash in the pool of Siloam. So the man went and washed and came home seeing” Those suffering with leprosy or blindness were thought to be under a curse in that time, so were often spit upon. Jesus took the very thing that was used against this man to bring healing. God has a way of bringing restoration. It’s who He is. He makes the desert like Eden and turns wastelands into gardens (Isaiah 51:3). Jesus surveys the land, accesses the damage and then transforms the ashes into something beautiful. In other words, He stays present with us, acknowledges our pain and restores the broken places back to their original design. He’s faithful to do it. Standing with you for your breakthrough!                                                                    Karena

God Cares About Our Struggles by guest BF contributor - Matthew Guillot

I was very encouraged this last Saturday night when Blazing Fire hosted Dr. Susan Richards. There was healing and deliverance happening all over the place. So many people were set free of their ailments and afflictions. My wife and I had the privilege of seeing three people with deaf ears open, countless headaches gone, knees healed, spines straightened, and pain gone just to name a few. Someone in the prayer line even saw a growth literally shrink and disappear. Praise Jesus!!! It is always encouraging to be in a place where God is clearly moving and showing Himself. But what about the people who didn’t get healed? This question used to send me into a tailspin where there was no recovery. One of the most difficult things I have had to tackle within my heart is when I have legitimate pain, and it seems like God isn’t answering my prayers. Sometimes this pain is physical and sometimes it’s in my heart. What am I supposed to do with seemingly unanswered prayers? Is God even paying attention? We all know in our minds the right answer is “yes” but our hearts may not always be aligned with our mind. Here are some things I have learned along the way…  When we are in pain, the enemy sometimes comes to lie to you and give you ways to cope with your pain. Often his strategy is to get your heart and mind to be offended at God or even to a place of accusation towards God. It is a position of pride, that if we were all really honest with ourselves, we have all been at, at one time or another. The enemy wants to get us to “defend” our position of offense with pride (overt pride/self-pity). 1 Peter 5:5-7 (NKJV)(emphasis mine) 5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”  6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. We can see in the scriptures that God does care for us. In fact we should cast all our cares upon Him. In the very next verse 1 Peter 5:8, Peter warns about our adversary prowling around and “seeking someone to devour.” The enemy wants us in pride so we willingly participate in blocking God from blessing us and healing us. The scripture says that God gives Grace to the humble and that He opposes the proud. Has God stopped loving me if I fall into pride? Certainly not! (Rom 8:38). We are His children (Jhn 1:12), and He will never stop loving us. He just won’t endorse the pride we have chosen to embrace to cope with our pain. When we act out of that pride, it is not something the Holy Spirit can work with. So what is something Holy Spirit can work with? Humility is a key to breakthrough  What is humility? It is an attitude of the heart or a state of being that is free from pride, having a confidence in God’s Goodness and Love that removes the need to defend oneself and exalt one’s own opinion or way over another’s. When we choose to cloth ourselves in humility, we position ourselves to receive the healing and blessing that God has for us. It is not a coincidence that the apostle Peter attached “casting all of our care upon Him, for He cares for you” to the end of the verse that says to “humble yourself.” Peter knew that much of the time when someone is in pride, it is because they feel their needs are not being met. Peter had a purpose to reassure us that God does care for us, and does know about our struggles. God does care, and your breakthrough is coming! How can I know this so confidently? It is who He is. He is a good Father (Mat 7:7-11). If you have asked, He already has your breakthrough planned (Jer 29:11). Humility is one of the keys to breakthrough and encountering God’s Grace and Love. When we are in pride, our hearts are hardened towards God, but in humility our hearts are ready and expectant of His Gracious Love. I encourage all of you to cloth yourselves in humility, and I pray that God showers you with His Love, Healing, and Blessings. By His Grace & Love,                           Matthew Guillot                           (My name is Karis, and I approve my husband’s message. :)

Love is a Choice by Pastor Brent Lokker

Throughout history, the enemy has always tried to pit us against each other in some way or another.  There are factions against each other because of nationality, political party, class status, gender, religious affiliation, and the list goes on seemingly without end.  Here’s the truth: Fear is usually the culprit that can lead to hate.  But nobody can make you hate another person.  Period.   Be real with God and talk with Him about your fears, your biases, your struggles and even the times you find yourself hating others.  Ask Him for his help.  His answer is, “So glad you asked! I’m the Father of all of my children around the world.  My dream and plan is for love to flow in every direction.  I will help heal your heart and fill you with a pure love to be able to see all of my children the way I see them.”   We made these declarations last Saturday during our worship service.  I encourage you to speak them out loud: I choose not to hate another person who has been created in the image of God just as I am. I choose not to villainize, demonize, devalue or trash another person. I will not let fear rule over me. I choose to treat others exactly the way I want to be treated. I choose to align myself with heaven.  I am a voice of hope. I choose to build others up. I choose to see the treasures in each child of God on the earth. I choose love.   You can hear Pastor Brent’s message from last Saturday night here: http://blazingfire.podbean.com/e/choose-love-brent-lokker/