Adding Your Value by Pastor Karena Lout

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Matt. 20:28   I love that Jesus used His authority to love and serve. He didn’t lord it over His disciples as a cruel task master, but He demonstrated the heart of our Father. He paid the highest price and laid His life down for us. Who wouldn’t want to follow a King like that?!   Making Room There’s no doubt that Jesus is moving in the earth. He wants His kids back and many are finding their way home. We’re seeing this happen at our Refuge young adult group on Thursday nights. Over the last year, we’ve had countless young people show up on our doorstep, searching for the real, tangible love of Jesus. Todd and I have felt challenged to make room for what God wants to do, not only in our home, but in our every day lives and in our hearts. It’s not always easy or convenient but it’s always worth it.    A Challenge for the Church/ We’re Family  When we view church as a business, we often ask, “What can I get? How is this going to benefit me as a consumer?” When we view the church as a family, we ask the question, “What can I give? What’s my part in adding value to what God is doing?” God’s intention has always been for the church to be a family. I’ve found that there are some beliefs that often hinder us from stepping out and adding our part:   1). We often wonder if saying YES is going to require more than we’re willing or able to give. It can feel pretty unsettling when we’re afraid to have boundaries, as if anyone can come into our garden and take whatever they want, whenever they want. I pray Jesus would give you courage to put the appropriate boundaries in place as you say YES. You’re worth it! 2). There is a fear of “missing out.” When we’ve done without, it can feel that there won’t be enough to go around. If we invest our time in one place, will we somehow be lacking in another? I pray you would know the extravagant love of our Father who holds nothing back from you! As you take care of His, He will take care of you. 3). We’ve been “staring in the mirror too long.” What I mean by that is sometimes we become so self-focused, that we lose sight of the world around us. While it’s so important to take care of our hearts and receive the healing we need, taking a time-out to bless someone else can be a huge part of our healing journey. I pray that God would remove the spotlight that you’ve put on your perceived failures and weaknesses and show you who you really are in Him!   4). We believe we’re not healed enough to step out. The truth is, some areas that we still need healing won’t surface until we actually do the thing God’s asked us to. There’s been several times that I’ve felt inadequate or afraid of failure when I’ve chosen to do something outside of my normal comfort zone. I wouldn’t have known I still believed that if I hadn’t stepped into that unknown territory. I pray Jesus would speak truth to those areas of your heart that need it most!   You are each such a vital part of this family. Thank you for making each person who walks in our door at Blazing Fire feel welcomed and valued week after week. Thank you for choosing connection when everything in you wanted to run. Thank you for adding your value and being such an integral part of what God is doing. I love being on this adventure with you.                                                                                      Love, Karena

When God Calls Us By Name by Joanne Moody

“But now, this is what the LORD says-- he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Is. 43:1   Our Agape team was ministering two weeks ago in a marvelous worship filled church and as I got up to speak I felt the Lord prompt me to release the name Thomas. He had given me the name of Thomas that morning when I asked Him if there was any particular person he wanted me to highlight. I felt the Lord had said Thomas was a son.  As I asked the congregation if there was a Thomas among them nobody responded. I said, “I believe he is someone’s son and may not be here.” A woman from the back of the room spoke out; “It’s my grandson.” “What’s going on with Thomas?” I replied, “He’s a heroin addict and has been for 9 years.” The entire church joined in prayer together to intercede for Thomas’ freedom in the name of Jesus. We spoke aloud together and asked for Thomas to encounter the Father’s love so profoundly that he would never again be enticed by the spirit of addiction.             This morning, I received a message that Thomas has agreed to get on a plane and go to a Christian treatment center. There, he will receive Christ focused care for one year. Hallelujah. We stand together again to give praise to God for calling his beloved child by name.   When the God of the universe, the Great I am, the one who set all the stars in their places and named each one (Ps 147:4) sends a message from his heavenly throne room calling one of His children here on earth by name, everything changes. That God would take note of us amidst all of the things he keeps track of is for most of us, mind-boggling.  This is the kind of knowing referred to in Amos 3:2 “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” The Israelites God chose, as His people were no better than any others.  God loves us no matter where we are or what we are doing. He knew us before we were born, and He alone knows the great destiny we were born to fulfill. Calling us by name is affirming that destiny.   Another time the Lord gave the name of Tristan and the message was that God really liked Tristan’s hair. The young man was not at the meeting but his friend called him and gave him the message during the meeting. The friend then reported back that Tristan was completely shocked. Apparently, Tristan had shaved his head the night before because he hated his hair. That’s how much God loves Tristan.   A young woman was called out by one of our Agape team at a meeting last week. She had never been to that church before or in an environment where the Holy Spirit was present in a palpable way. As our team member spoke the words the Lord had given him over this daughter of God she was moved in a way she later reported was life altering for her.   A young woman learning to hear the voice of God in one of our training meetings told me that I would meet a flight attendant named Lisa on my flight later that day. Yes, there were exactly three flight attendants on board and Lisa was one of them. We were able to deliver even more very personal messages to her from the Lord including where she lived and the number of horses and children she had.  If God is going to tell someone Lisa’s name you can be sure he has a greater message for her. She confessed to having believed in God but had given up because of pressures and disappointments in her life.  After this encounter she was overwhelmed with how much God loved her that he would send two ordinary people on her last flight of the day to tell her. The other flight attendant’s were also deeply impacted.   In both ministry settings and simply in daily life, the Holy Spirit has given many of our Agape team members the names, numbers, children’s names and yes, even the names of beloved pets. We ask God for these specifics not because we wish to be right or have attention drawn to us but because this is what Jesus modeled. The woman at the well in the gospel of John, chapter 4 is an example of how personally Jesus engaged with strangers. After meeting and listening to Jesus reveal the truth of her life she was forever changed.   Identity is the key to healing the human heart, mind and soul. God is our Father who desires relationship with His children and at the deepest core of who we are created to be is the need to be known, accepted and seen.  When we do not know how much God loves us, we look to be known and accepted in the world in ways that leave us empty, disappointed and even arrogant. Eph. 1:4 says, “And He chose us to be His very own, joining us to himself even before he laid the foundation of the universe. Because of His great love, He ordained us as one with Christ from the beginning, so that we would be seen as holy in His eyes with an unstained innocence.” His love and approval are free by faith in Jesus and only here will we find the acceptance that brings us complete peace.   Our mission as Agape Freedom Fighters is to help others first know their identity in Christ and then to experience the riches of an ever deepening relationship with God and that through the power of the Holy Spirit to help call other children by name and into the glorious healing embrace of the Father.   Today, may your ears hear the beautiful whisper of the Lord of hosts calling your name.   Love and  Joy in Him,                                     Rev. Joanne Moody   Visit us at www.agapefreedomfighters.org

Looking At Our Perceptions & Judgments by Pastor Russ Fochler

Jesus: The Judge Who Brings Life I loved Susan Fochler's talk on May 20th and follow-up encouraging email last week.  She shared beautifully about the way Jesus judges – a way that brings restoration and reconciliation to our hearts and relationships.  We so need Jesus’ help because we tend to perceive and judge in ways that are very destructive.  Ways that bring separation and death instead of life.  This dynamic started with the Fall of Adam.   This is a major reason why we need Jesus to renew our minds. (Romans 12:1-2)  And, it is our re-birthright to share in the mind of Christ! (1 Cor 2:16)   Last Saturday, May 27th we explored two passages from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5 - 7 where Jesus taught about perceiving and judging:   “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!”   Matthew 6:22-23 The Message     When the Greek culture of that time spoke of someone having an “evil eye”, it meant someone who was stingy and suspicious.  Just after this passage, Jesus goes on to talk about choosing to serve God instead of wealth/money -- living generously instead of being stingy.  And then Jesus talks about not worrying about our basic needs – about how well God provides as we simply ask, seek, and knock.  Our Heavenly Father knows how to give good things to His children.   “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” Matthew 7:1-2 NKJV   Please note: Jesus is not saying we should ignore evil or turn off the discernment Holy Spirit gives us.  In the next few verses in Matthew, Jesus tells us to be wise about not offering precious things to those who have no capacity to value them.  And just a bit further, Jesus calls us to discern false prophets by the fruit of their lives (evidence of a heart relationship with Jesus).   When Judging Becomes A Snare However, judging becomes a snare when the story I’m telling myself about a person leads me to decide what they deserve and don’t deserve, and what their value and worth is.    Have you ever sensed God challenging a story you’ve been telling yourself about someone?  It’s a good thing!  It means that we’re invited to “die to self” – to let go of our self-centered/self-protective projections and become open/vulnerable to Jesus’ true and life-giving perspective.  This happens to Mackenzie during the cave scene in The Shack.   How This Problem Started C. Baxter Kruger writes vividly in The Shack Revisited about what happened when Adam and Eve believed Satan’s lies about God and then ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  This is where our problem with perceiving and judging started.  I’ve italicized or bolded some of Baxter’s words for emphasis:   “His (Satan’s) chief deception is to invite us to doubt the Lord’s goodness, creating insecurity and anxiety in us -- which in turn drives us to independent action.  All of this is then shrewdly woven into the lie that we are separated from the triune God.  Adam and Eve believed the whispering doubt about the goodness of the Lord.  In the place of trust, love, and security rose doubt, and then fear, which inevitably turned them upon themselves.  They became self-referential and “chose independence over relationship” (Shack pg 125).  They became self-centered, making themselves and their own judgment their point of reference and discernment rather than relationship with the Lord.   …in the believing the lie of the evil one, they became blind.  They could no longer perceive the real truth about God or about themselves.  They hid from the Lord.     Why? Clearly they were afraid, but afraid of what?  Of course, their hiding comes on the heels of their outright disobedience, and most people would assume that they were afraid of God’s punishment.  But then again, how could Adam and Eve stand in the garden, the recipients of such astonishing blessing and love, and be afraid of the Lord?  Had God changed?  Had the Lord who created Adam and Eve out sheer grace and love, and poured such astounding blessing upon them, suddenly made an about-face?  Had he ceased to love?   Adam projected his own brokenness onto God’s face.  He tarred the Father’s face with the brush of his own angst.  He took a paintbrush, dipped it into the cesspool of his own double-mindedness and guilt and shame, and painted an entirely new picture of a god with it.  And it was this god, created in his own darkened imagination—not the Lord—that he feared and from whom he hid.   Adam was scared to death.  How could he not be?  He believed himself to be standing guilty before a divine being who was as unstable as he.  From this moment, our shame will disfigure the Father’s heart.  The projection of our fear will rewrite the rules of his care.  He will continue to bless us beyond our wildest dreams, but in our mythology we will never see it.” The Shack Revisited by C. Baxter Kruger   God's Punishment or Our Darkened Projections? Many of us were taught that God needed to punish mankind because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience; that God separated Himself from us until Jesus received God’s wrath and punishment on our behalf.  I believe the truth is, our loving Creator never separated from us.  Instead, our skewed perceptions, the projections of the darkness of our hearts upon God -- led mankind to emotionally separate from the eternal Trinity.   This lostness, this blindness is why our loving Father sent His cherished Son to Earth as a human – to reveal His true heart to us, as one like us.  Jesus absorbed the full force of our fears, hatreds, and rejections into Himself on the Cross.  Jesus came into our darkness so we can perceive God's light and love.   This is astoundingly good news! With trust in Y'shuah's love and goodness, Russ Fochler