Learning To Love Our Enemies by Pastor Russ Fochler

Learning To Love Our Enemies From Pastor Russ Fochler We've been considering the story of Stephen and the Council (Sanhedrin):  How Holy Spirit empowers us to speak before governors and councils.  And helps us have loving kindness (hesed) - even for our enemies. How we need Holy Spirit's help to live from softened hearts instead of hard hearts and "stiff necks"!   You can listen to "Stephen’s God Adventure Part 2" here. This coming Saturday July 27th, we’ll be hosting Ed Traut - a prophet originally from South Africa.  Look for more details about Ed Traut near the bottom of this email.   Loving Our Enemies - More Than Sentimental Words Jesus calls us to love our enemies.  Something no other faith tradition requires (to my knowledge).  Loving our enemies goes against our deep, self-protective instincts.  How do we grow into this? What if you heard Jesus asking you to love the people who murdered your father years ago and the very person who more recently murdered your mother?  What if you knew from God's Word and God's personal words to you -- that you were called to bring reconciliation and restoration after the Rwandan Genocide?  This is Fr. Ubald's story. From The Pandora Problem by E James Wilder 2018 pgs 251-252 The beginnings of the genocide killed Fr. Ubald's father when he was a child.  Later, "He escaped the first attempt on his life during minor seminary when Hutu students attempted to kill the Tutsis.  Ubald then lived as a refugee in Burundi.  When Ubald was called to be a priest, he returned to Rwanda teaching love for ten years before the next outbreak of genocide.  Fr Ubald again escaped, but 45,000 of his parishioners were killed at the parish by other parishioners. When I (James Wilder) talk with Fr. Ubald, I am always amazed at the ease and clarity with which he hears from God.  I think it puzzles him why others (including religious leaders) do not seem to hear God’s thoughts clearly.  Many clear conversations with God led Fr. Ubald back to Rwanda and revealed what God and the church community would do next. Fr. Ubald returned, teaching forgiveness and hesed.  The Christian truths that Fr. Ubald taught for ten years before the genocide had not produced an end to enemy mode or a change in character.  Fr. Ubald was about to try again.  Both the perpetrators of the genocide and the families and victims who escaped were still in churches and the community.  It was clear that their character was unchanged.  In 1998, Fr. Ubald went to the parish in Mushaka where he found a way for perpetrators and victims to be united as a spiritual family.   Since he arrived, over 200 enemies have become family.  Seven groups are now active.  The Mushaka Program takes half a year.  The first week, Fr. Ubald had one day each for: - Leaders of the parish (elders) - Charismatic renewal members (Godsight team) - Victims - Perpetrators - Everyone together Six months of teaching and healing for the perpetrators teaches them their Christian identity.  True, most thought they were Christians all their lives, but they never learned to love their “enemies” or God.  Now, for six months they examine themselves, confess their sins, and learn to share the suffering of their victims.  The victims participate during the final three weeks.  Victims discover they are people who forgive. At the end of the six months, the perpetrators and victims come before the whole congregation and reconcile with the church community.  After a church ceremony the community has a big feast.  The former enemies become family and help each other.  They also tell others about their stories and what becoming the people of God has done in their lives.  You can hear some of their stories in the film The Secret of Peace: A documentary on the Life and Work of Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga. We may not see our enemy mode as clearly as people who meet the families of those they killed or families who meet those who murdered their loved ones.  But, in Rwanda, no self-justifications are allowed, pain must be shared, God’s point of view discovered, hesed offered, and enemies loved.  Lions lie down with the lambs and neither hurt or destroy any longer.” Note: To learn more about this, get Fr. Ubald's book, or the DVD of this story, go to: The Secret of Peace Glossary of Terms: Hesed: Hebrew for attachment love that is secure, enduring, and bonds us forever.  God is hesed. Enemy mode: relationally disconnected state of hot or cold anger. Godsight: Being able to perceive with understanding what God sees in a person or situation. Charismatic Renewal: Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a spiritual movement within the Catholic Church that incorporates aspects of both Catholic and Charismatic Movement practice. It is influenced by some of the teachings of Protestantism and Pentecostalism with an emphasis on having a personal relationship with Jesus and expressing the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Narcissist: a person who cannot hear a correction to their identity without provoking self-justification and sometimes hostility or attack.  The narcissist uses fear and self-justification to avoid correction (healthy shame) and win. Reconciliation Ceremony between perpetrators, victims, and the whole church community. Copyright Information: All rights reserved.  No portion of the material taken from the book “The Pandora Problem” by E. James Wilder may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other — except for brief quotations in critical reviews of articles, without prior written permission of the publisher Deeper Walk International www.deeperwalkInternational.org Permission to use the above section in this Blazing Fire Weekly Email was given in writing by a representative of Deeper Walk International to Russ Fochler on July 21, 2019 Because Your lovingkindness (hesed) is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. Psalm 63:3-4 NKJV

Giving Holy Spirit Acces by Pastor Russ Fochler

By Pastor Russ Going through the Book of Acts, we're now in the story of Stephen — a man full of the Spirit.  I entitled last Saturday’s talk “Stephen’s God Adventure Part 1”.  You can listen to it here.  This coming Saturday July 20th, we’ll continue exploring what Holy Spirit was doing with Stephen and through Stephen when he was falsely accused and faced the Great Sanhedrin for their judgment. When Jesus walked the earth, he spoke a great deal about Holy Spirit.  He was excited that by his work on the Cross, the gift of the Holy Spirit would be given.  So now, when we find ourselves in high pressure situations like Stephen found himself - the Holy Spirit will give us what to say.  “And remember this: When people accuse you before everyone and forcefully drag you before the religious leaders and authorities, do not be troubled. Don’t worry about defending yourself or be concerned about how to answer their accusations. Simply be confident and allow the Spirit of Wisdom access to your heart, and he will reveal in that very moment what you are to say to them.”  Luke 12:11-12 The Passion Translation “Simply be confident and allow the Spirit of Wisdom access to your heart."  Jesus and Holy Spirit long to have full access to our hearts.  Giving Holy Spirit access to our heart opens the gate for rivers of living water to flow from our innermost being into the world.   Our capacity to trust Holy Spirit with full access to our heart grows as we gaze into Jesus’ eyes of hesed love for us, and as we experience His goodness and faithfulness in our daily lives.  "Hesed" is a Hebrew word that means “lovingkindness, steadfast love, secure attachment, tender mercies”. David wrote about this: Because Your lovingkindness (hesed) is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. Psalm 63:3-4 NKJV We see Stephen literally live this out — experiencing Jesus’ hesed for him while being stoned to death.  And Stephen lived out Jesus’ call to love his enemies — the ones who were furiously killing him. We’ll hear this Saturday night from Matthew Guillot about a brief but very powerful experience of God’s love. "Holy Spirit, strengthen our inner being so we can be yielded to Abba’s love for us and so Jesus’ life can be revealed through us every day!   May we hesed our enemies -- so they too are restored to Father God’s family." With Love, Russ Fochler

Roadblocks to Kingdom Influence - Pastor Chuck McCollum of Psalm84 church

Last Saturday Chuck McCallum shared brilliantly about God's plans to expand his Kingdom through us into every facet of society to bring His life-giving influence wherever we go. You can listen to that podcast here. As a successful CEO of a business as well as pastoring a church, Chuck brings his unique perspective of how we were never meant to keep our light inside of the four walls of a church building. Listen to his wisdom in response to this question: Chuck, as someone in the business world, how do you bring Kingdom core values and influence in your day to day dealings with people? Influence is an important part of leading and creating success. However there are a few roadblocks to growing influence: Judgment One of the first steps to increasing influence is avoiding judgment of others that separates. There are two types of judgment: 1) judgment that separates; 2) judgment as discernment.  To judge with discernment is walking with wisdom, but judgment that separates is a punishment and it removes your kingdom influence because when you judge another in this way, you can no longer connect with them. People can feel this separation. If you work in business and you want to influence people, chose connection instead of judgment. Judgment can arise when there is a disagreement between two people. Treat people in such a way that they know that you value them, even if you disagree with them. Many times while dealing with people, I can disagree with their opinions, but because they feel the value I have for them and their opinions, they allow me to speak into their lives because there is no judgment in my heart against them. There is a tension in the business world of maintaining values that are strong while working with people that don’t share the same values. So, how do you work with people like that? You simply begin to find out what they do carry that you can affirm in them. The prophetic ministry of Bethel Church in Redding calls that 'calling out the gold' in people. How you do that in the business world is to begin to see what makes a person amazing and to start calling that forth into the true identity of who they are called to be. Pretty soon, they start acting more like that person you are calling forth. And because there is no judgment, you now have influence and can speak into their lives as a result. An Inability to Learn From Others  Judgment is only one barrier to growing influence. Another roadblock is an inability to learn from others. Part of learning from others is to listen well. If people feel like you are not listening to them, you will lose the power of influence. Knowing when to speak up and when to listen is key to having influence. This is another example of living with tension. This takes true discernment to be successful in any kind of business relationship. People have a difficult time listening because they themselves are afraid they are not going to be heard. Listening first and knowing when to appropriately interject input into the meeting is crucial to developing influence with that group because that creates the intended impact within the room.​ Mismanagement of your Time Managing your time well is another key element to growing influence. Not managing time well creates another barrier to accomplishing this. Understanding the tension of harmony versus balance and the difference between the two is what will make or break your ability to do this well. Harmony is more important than balance. Many people try to only balance their time by doing a little bit here, and a little bit there. They find the 20 things they need to accomplish and that is how to get it done. But the most effective people learn harmony, because harmony actually focuses on doing the right thing at the right time….with the right people. Harmony is more about knowing the flow of what you should do in the present moment. It’s also a matter of personal balance. It’s like a pendulum. Sometimes the focus should apply heavier towards work, and more worked hours should be the result. While at other times, when the pendulum swings the other way, more family time is the order of the day. Sometimes people are not willing to put in extra hours of work, because they walk the fine line of balance, or dividing work and personal time evenly, even if more time is needed on one or the other. The reality in this is that there are times to invest in something more than usual (work or family/personal) and it requires more focus on that area for a season of time. Getting Sucked Into the Drama Finally, the last roadblock to be wary of is, DON'T GET SUCKED INTO THE DRAMA! So many things come at you each day that has the potential to create drama. I have a client who is threatening to sue us on errors and omissions on a particular project. When reading their material, I could get wrapped up in the emotion and be traumatized by the threat or I can actually focus and have the ability to see what they are saying has no legitimate cause. They are simply trying to manipulate me emotionally to get me to respond to their demands. Drama comes from people. It comes from miscommunication. It comes through fear, and from people who are more focused on themselves than they are on their teams. When we focus on the wrong thing at the wrong time (and sometimes with the wrong people), drama results. This is directly opposite of harmony. Beware of the blocks to growing influence, and remember to focus on the right things at the right time, which causes harmony in your life. How do you know when you are focused on the right things? You will see the fruit--When you are focusing on the right thing at the right moment in time you will see the fruit of your success, so that what you've been working towards grows into something bigger. It doesn't take effort to create fruit. The effort went into growing the tree or the roots taking hold beneath the tree where they are unseen. Then one day...you see the fruit, which is the beautiful result of that unseen work. You will have a sense of confidence in rest—There will be a peace to it all. When you feel anxiety and fear, pay attention to the voice you are listening to and it may be indicative of focusing on the wrong things. These should be your warnings to find that sense of rest. When you see people around you succeeding and doing well, you will build that sense of confidence quickly, because that is a sure fire sign of success and that you are focusing on the right things in a company. You will find momentum as a leader—When other people join what you are doing and are thrust forward into success, you will know you are on the right path. Helping others find success is an obvious sign that you as a leader are doing something right. You will find the potential in the situation and in people—When Jesus looked out on a crowd and looked at them being helpless, he saw a great harvest. One of the things that marks a successful person is the ability to see what other people don't see in the middle of things.

Finding God In The Journey - Pastor Brent Lokker

Last Saturday Bill & Linda Boone shared their raw and vulnerable stories of how God rescued and turned their broken and tattered lives around, how they found each other after suffering through many destructive relationships, and how God loved them into something beautiful. Here's a podcast of their Testimony to a Father's Love. Now, hear the heart of your heavenly Father in your own journey... "You and I are on a life-long adventure together—climbing mountains, forging streams, hiking deep ravines and valleys and even flying above the clouds at times. All of your life is before Me like a book.  Since I’m the author, I can promise you there are some amazing chapters ahead for you.  The plot has plenty of twists and turns, but it’s brilliantly written and has a spectacular ending! At times your life may feel like a thrill ride where you need to keep your seatbelt fastened.  At other times it may feel stagnant to such a degree you might be wondering if anything of significance is happening.  And then there will be moments along the way where such tragedy and heartache arise that it may appear to you there is no way to endure. Trust Me.  Come in closer still!   I have wonderful surprises waiting for you along your path.  Not all of life will be lived on the mountaintops—that’s not the way I’ve planned it. The subdued times are just as planned by Me as the more exciting ones. Even the difficult times will be transformed into something beautiful. Keep going on the path I’ve placed before you and ask Me for My wise counsel every step of the way. It’s a great journey and I will never leave your side. I’m holding you up and giving you My strength for the journey, My child. I’ve given you My favor every step of the way." (Taken from Brent Lokker's Always Loved Summer Devotional) Your God continued to support you, as a man supports his son, all along the road you followed until you arrived here ... going ahead of you on the journey to find you a camping ground, by night in the fire to light your path, and in the cloud by day.  (Deuteronomy 1:31, 33 NJB) A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life], But the Lord directs his steps and establishes them.  (Proverbs 16:9 AMP) However faint my spirit; you are watching over my path.   (Psalm 142:3 NJB) When you face stormy seas I will be there with you with endurance and calm; you will not be engulfed in raging rivers. If it seems like you’re walking through fire with flames licking at your limbs, keep going; you won’t be burned. (Isaiah 43:2 VOICE)