New Life Is Upon Us

For the last couple of weeks I have been seeing the color green as the Lord has been highlighting it to me showing up in photos and television again and again. Recently I saw on TV a woman with a green gown, the furniture was green, the curtains were green, the wallpaper was green, a man’s robe was green, background imagery was green. I asked Him what all this green meant. He said that we are in Spring now where lots of green appears. From His point of view the whole Earth is in Spring even though now is Summer. In Spring all the plants wake from their winter slumber and start putting out new shoots, leaves, branches etc.. We are emerging like those shoots coming up from the ground. He said that we have not died, but had gone to seed over this past season and now is the time those seeds are sprouting. We are sprouting and coming forth. We have all been through a season of being pruned back across the globe. Every walk of life has been affected by the impacts of Covid. Many of us feel like we have gone fallow and have lost vision. It’s not over for us at all. We are in a season now of new life where callings and destinies will be clarified and that is just the beginning. Once all the plants spring forth with greenery then comes the flowers and after the flowers the fruit. We are being prepared for abundant fruitfulness. We had a healthy, fruitful lemon tree when I was a teenager and I pruned it back severely to practice my overzealous gardening skills. It just had stumps for branches and my parents were in shock and mom tearful. The next year the tree had so many branches with hundreds lemons they all had to be supported by boards and poles. Just so, this is a vision of what we can expect and will happen for us. Since we were fruitful before, we will be fruitful again. Be encouraged. Having been pruned and cut back in our ministries, careers, finances and everywhere else you will see the emergence of more than you had before. Our new Spring which we are in will spring forth an abundance we never expected. I see callings, destinies and gifting we never knew we had. Doug Addison says that a new season of authority is here. I agree. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day. Prov 4:18 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. John 15:1-2   Affectionately, Bill

Keeping Watch Over Our Hearts

Watch over your heart with all diligence,  For from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23 NASB

Those raised around American evangelical traditions tend to think of sin in a legal sense - as a violation of God’s law.  This “crime and punishment” framework can lead us away from experiencing God’s essence as our father.  He is our eternal good father.   What if we saw our sins as violations of the divine fountain of our being - the springs of life flowing in our depths?   Something which God gave humans when when He created us in His likeness.  In the Scriptures, Father God and Jesus warn us with specific examples of how our heart attitudes and actions either protect or harm the purity of our “springs of life”. One such warning is in the Matthew 7:1-2 passage about not judging others in a condemning way lest we be judged by the same measure.  I shared a message about this on Saturday night July 17.  By using scriptures and a story from Brené Brown’s book Rising Strong I hoped to clarify this sometimes misunderstood direction.  Has someone ever told you: Jesus said “don’t judge” so you have no place to judge me about anything?  We need the Trinity’s wisdom. You can watch or listen here on Facebook or here on Blazing Fire’s Worship Service youtube channel.

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To my encouragement and joy, I’ve received feedback from several of you.  This is from Ellie Torrens: ——————— Thank you again for sharing last Saturday night. As I was driving home last Saturday night, I was thinking about some of the things you shared from Matthew 7:1-2 about not judging. As I thought more about it with Holy Spirit, it seemed like Holy Spirit was revealing when we judge people harshly we are probably using that same standard (or worse) on ourselves. That “same measure” of judgement is so hurtful!  It’s even worse when it comes from ourself towards ourself because then we cannot escape the one condemning us.  Judging others creates a prison of cruelty for others and ourselves. This prison really keeps us in a box and keeps our relationships from flourishing. Judgement often times creates labels and results in us labeling others and ourselves incorrectly. By seeking to give others grace and not judging, may we also grow to love ourselves with the same measure.  Which in summary is .... loving your neighbor as yourself. ———————— Some freeing, life-giving truth right there.  Thank you Ellie. With affection,                     Russ Fochler

SING

Last Saturday night we talked about our song.  God sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17). We sing back to Him (Psalms 95 and all over the Bible). We sing to and over other people (Ephesians 5:19). Our song is powerful. It breaks things away that should be broken away. The song has creative power. There's life in it, redemption, testimony and so on.  We see it throughout the Bible, like when Miriam broke out into song when the enemy was swallowed up by the Red Sea. Paul and Silas were singing in a rotten dungeon they were locked away in and suddenly all cells broke free.  The power of the song is everywhere.   C. S. Lewis used this truth in the very creation of the magical land, Narnia.  In his book, the Magician's Nephew, the lion, Aslan, ends up in a dark void where he begins to sing.  The song reached out into the nothingness, bringing light and forming the landscape. That's how Narnia was born.  I wanted to share a testimony of my own about the power of the song.  We once lived right across the street from a house that hosted some pretty un-tame parties.  Even beyond the parties there was so much unrest coming from the household. It was not a pleasant situation for the rest of us neighbors.  My keyboard was in our front room where I could see the neighbors house. Eventually I started singing songs of peace and salvation over that house.  I did this pretty often.  Sometimes I felt really bold about it and other times I wondered if it was just silly and meaningless.  One morning I was singing a devotional set at our local house of prayer, East Bay Prayer Furnace.  At one point, two young adult ladies came in, knelt on the floor and entered into some deep worship to Jesus.  One of these girls looked so familiar to me but I couldn't quite place where I had seen her before.  Later that afternoon I was in my front yard at home.  A young lady from the house across the street came over to talk to me saying, "That was so powerful this morning. Thank you for leading us in worship like that."  My reaction: "THAT WAS YOU!!!!!"  She shared with me how she had recently found Jesus and that she was now praying for the rest her household.  Eventually I became friends with the whole family over there.  There's nothing in me that doubts that the songs I was singing over my neighbors were powerful prayers that helped lead to peace across the street.  It doesn't matter if you're a great singer or you're out of tune.  There is power in your song.  Let your heart and mind realize that the maker of the Universe sings over you. Let that song resonate in you and spring back up out of you like a fountain of life! Psalms 87:7 Those who sing and those who dance will say together, “All my fountains of joy are in You.”   Love, Todd

LOVE matters

During our worship gathering last Saturday, many people in the room got up and shared openly about the good things God is doing in their lives—breakthroughs, healings, acts of kindness, family relationships restored, and helping others to see and follow Jesus!   Listening to you all, I felt like the Apostle Paul who said, “You are the living letter of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, nurtured by us and inscribed, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God—a letter too passionate to be chiseled onto stone tablets, but emblazoned upon the human heart. 2 Corinthians 3:3 (VOICE)   I know this has been an extremely challenging season with so many frustrations boiling up to the surface all around us, but I’m so proud of the ways in which you are continuing to allow God to beautifully refine your heart through it all and how you are making choices every day to represent the heart of Jesus. It is the Spirit of the living God in you who empowers you with Christ’s love to reach out to others. His love in you looks like something, and your love and kindness are making a difference!   “So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, t he time will come when we will reap the harvest.” Galatians 6:9 (GNV)   Know that when you choose to encourage someone, connect with another’s heart, pray for another’s healing, share the good news of how Jesus has reconciled us to God, or a myriad of other ways you are advancing God’s kingdom of heaven here on the earth, it matters!    Love matters and love wins!   With Love in My Heart for You,   Brent

Awakening Hearts In Our Families

I was recently talking to my daughter Sierra about all God has done in this last year she’s been home from Australia. She shared that one of the greatest gifts has been spending so much quality time with family. In the last few months, we’ve seen God soften hearts in a profound way and begin to bring reconciliation and healing in our family and extended family. It feels that the great awakening we’ve been praying for and experiencing is beginning in our families first.   “Through our union with Christ, we too have been claimed by God as his own inheritance. Before we were even born, he gave us our destiny; that we would fulfill the plan of God who always accomplishes every purpose and plan in his heart.” Ephesians 1:11 (TPT)   Jesus sat around the table with Judas who he knew would betray him and Peter who he knew would deny him. It blows my mind that didn’t cause him to withdraw his love for them. Of course, there are times we need to have boundaries with those who continually show us the need for them. At the same time, God has been giving me more empathy and better understanding behind some of the more difficult interactions in my family. The more love and grace I receive, the easier it is to give it away. We can only work through relational challenges with the help of Holy Spirit.   As we took communion last Saturday night, we received all Jesus paid for on the cross, not only for ourselves, but for our families. That includes spouses, children, grandchildren (and future children and grandchildren!), sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and more! Your spiritual inheritance exceeds far beyond what you can see in the here and now. The blood of Jesus covers every conflict that seems impossible to work through and every family member that you may feel is too far gone. His blood speaks of a greater love, a call to come home, a beautiful redemption story that’s still unfolding.   I encourage you to take some time and ask Jesus to show you how he feels about each person in your family. And let’s continue to agree for that great awakening of hearts! Love, Karena