BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE!

Hello Amazing Saints!

Yes, YOU!!

Don't let the world tell you who you are. The world doesn't know the first thing about your astounding new nature in Christ! The angels are looking on in awe at what the Lord has chosen to do to make you a carrier of His divine glory!

Colossians 1:5 in the Mirror Transalation says this:

"Heaven (the spiritual realm) is the limitless reservoir of your expectation. The announcement of the goodness of God is not far fetched or too good to be true. The word you heard is absolutely true!"

Do you know what this means? It means that the goodness and love of your Father towards you, who absolutely adores you and is proud to call you his son or daughter, is absolutely 100% true!! You can bank on it!

Colossians 1:10 explains what you get to do with this exceptionally Good News:

"Go on a walkabout tour to explore the extent of the land that is yours under His Lordship. Now you can conduct yourselves appropriately towards Him; pleasing Him in every harvest of good works that you bear. Meanwhile you continue to increase in your intimate acquaintance with God; this results in the most attractive and fulfilled life possible."

Your singular job (if you want to call it that) is to draw in closer and closer to the One who wants you with all of his heart! As you do that, the deepest longings within you find fulfillment as the Lord saturates you with his tender love and mercies every day of your life. This is what you have to look forward to for all of eternity!

You are truly blessed beyond measure! Get used to it!!

We love you!
Brent & Suzanne

Jesus is Holding it All Together!

With all of the upheaval and apparent uncertainty in the world, it is more crucial than ever that we have a firm grasp on the immensity of Christ who is the certain hope of the world! Check out Hebrews 1:1-3 in The Mirror Translation (with some of my thoughts in blue):

"Throughout ancient times God spoke in many fragments and glimpses of prophetic thought to our fathers.

Now, the sum total of his conversation with man has finally culminated in a son. He is the official heir of all things. He is, after all, the author of the ages. (Sonship, as represented in Jesus, is the crescendo of God’s conversation with man).

We have our beginning and our present being in him (Christ in us, the author and perfector of our faith!). He is the force of the universe, sustaining everything that exists by his eternal utterance! (did you get that?? He is THE one and only force of the universe, sustaining everything! Keep yourselves firmly fixed on that truth whenever you are feeling unsettled by what you see going on around you!) Jesus is the radiant and flawless expression of the person of God. He makes the glory (intent) of God visible and exemplifies the character and every attribute of God in human form. This powerful final utterance of God (the incarnation) is the vehicle that carries the weight of the universe. He is the central theme of everything that exists. The content of his message celebrates the fact that God took it upon himself to successfully cleanse and acquit mankind. (acquittal means that the case against you was thrown out of court for all time because there is absolutely NO evidence against you!!) Jesus is now his right hand of power, seated in the boundless measure of his majesty (where you are also seated with Him--WHOA!). He occupies the highest seat of authority, in which our innocence is represented."

Uncertainty on the earth? It's true that everything that can be shaken is being shaken, but nothing could be any more certain than Jesus Christ who holds everything together! He alone holds the keys to His unshakable Kingdom and invites us to rule and reign with Him!

"For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body." (Colossians 1:16-18, The Message Bible)

Church, we are in EXCELLENT hands!

Much love you to all!
Brent & Suzanne

Phrases from a Good Papa!

Last Saturday, I shared about our amazing Papa God (who also has a Mamma's comfort) who has uplifting things to say to you. Receive these words of encouragement straight from His heart to yours. And as you receive them, you will have the very same words to share with others who also need His encouragement through you!

So...Papa God says to you:

* "I'm proud of you!"

* "I celebrate you!"

* "I will never, ever give up on you!"

* "I am always for you, never against you!"

* "I see the treasures in you and I will continuously call them out!"

* "I am cheering you on!"

* "My ceiling is your floor! I am committed to your success!"

* "I will allow you to make mistakes and learn, but I will not enable you!"

* "I will discipline you because I love you!"

* "I will make sacrifices to assure your success!"

* "I love you!"

What you have freely received, you get to now freely give away!

The Empty Tomb Is Our Launching Pad!

It's the week after Easter.

Last Saturday at Blazing Fire, we filled you with the unchanging, spectacularly Good News that because of Christ’s sacrifice, you are perfectly right with God and you have access to His presence ALL the time!

Admittedly, we can begin to lose sight of this truth when the long list of "to do's" and the circumstances of life start chipping away at our peace and joy. BUT WAIT!! We can choose to seek first God’s Kingdom (which is defined as Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit!) and all these things that we were worrying about will be added unto us (Matthew 6:33). We can go about our routine and still stay out of the rut because we know our lives have been forever redirected by heaven's power and Jesus' abiding presence. We will not allow circumstances to steal away the assurance, encouragement, and hope of what Christ finished on the cross for us! We will remember that the empty tomb is our launching pad for hope, transformation, and victory!

The Lord isn’t dead! Christ lives in you! He lives for you! His victory is yours! Nothing will ever change that!

Here is my paraphrase of Titus 3:4-7 that I read to you last Saturday night at Blazing Fire. Read this out loud and fully agree with the truth that never changes!

“Because Papa’s outrageous love and extreme kindness were undeniably displayed through Jesus’ sacrificial death on our behalf, it has become crystal clear that this action was all God’s doing and had absolutely nothing to do with us earning His acceptance and approval. We were completely and perfectly saved for one reason alone—God’s faithful love and desire for us compelled Him! We have been purified and made holy through and through with complete access to enjoy God’s glorious presence as a brand new creation of Christ-like glory! Because of Christ’s death on the cross--doing for us what we could never do for ourselves in a million years--we have already been tried and found not guilty. As a result, we are filled with child-like, giddy joy, knowing that everything Jesus purchased is already ours--especially eternal life with Papa who loves us, desires us and wants us to be with Him forever!”

The empty tomb is our launching pad to transform the earth with the love, joy and power of Jesus that fills us every day of our lives!! GO FOR IT!!!

Seeing From Heaven's Perspective!

Enjoy this encouragement from Karena Lout (captivatedbytheking@gmail.com), an elder of Blazing Fire Church who, along with her husband Todd, are amazing pastors of our on-fire teenagers!

We've all heard the saying "Some see the glass half empty and some see it half full." Perspective is everything. Do we only see what's missing or do we see an opportunity for more? At the beginning of March, Jesus encouraged me to keep a journal for 30 days, writing down three things.

1. Something I'm thankful for

2. Something I saw God do that day

3. A declaration of something GREAT to come

I have to admit, I haven't always been very consistent with keeping a journal but this seemed pretty feasible. And after all, how could I say no to being encouraged! I soon found myself being thankful for rain on days when others were less than happy about it. I saw God do some pretty amazing things that I may not have noticed before I began looking for His goodness. When you focus on what God IS doing and not on what you think He isn't doing, you see everything through Heaven's perspective. This isn't to say that we ignore difficulties, pain and tragedy that so many are facing. But when you contemplate on what Christ has done, you become part of the solution that so many are looking for. You can't help but be encouraged! Jesus is after all, the eternally extreme optimist! His glass is ALWAYS FULL! And so is yours!

So I encourage you to take some time to thank Him for the simple things, the monumental things, the ways He's moving in your life and on the earth. Believe me, it won't be difficult and you will not be disappointed. Each day is an opportunity to breathe in and savor the goodness of a God who is so in love with you!

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever" Psalm 107:1

"Becoming affectionately acquainted with Throne Room thoughts will keep you from being distracted again by the earthly realm" Col. 3:2 (The Mirror Translation)

Here's to a BRILLIANT New Year!

The New Year is traditionally a time of reflection where we examine where we are, where we are going and what we would want life to be like in the near future. We think about change and we make a wish list of resolutions that usually fails to make it beyond January.

I think it fails because we make the wrong sort of list for the wrong motives. We usually make a list of what we most want to change about our situations or ourselves. Most of the items on that list are negatives.

"I'm not going to be a doormat for people this year. I'm going to lose all this weight. I'm going to stop being angry. I hate the fact that I'm so impatient. I really need to stop being so anxious. Why am I so pessimistic?! I need to change that?"

Our motive is improvement, increase, upgrade. We want something better and more of it. Our difficulty is that when we focus on a negative we become drawn into its cycle. We become obsessed by what we are not. We fall back into the pit from which we are trying to escape.

We cannot change a negative by being involved with the negativity. Our lives can never be distinguished by the absence of something. When we focus on a negative we make a feature of an identity that is in itself debilitating. It is easier for us to repeat a defeat, step into denial, and disagree with our own potential.

A negative in photographic terms is an image from which positive prints can be made. Therefor in terms of personal change we must have a process by which our negative image goes through a series of steps in order that our vision of ourselves can be upgraded positively.

Firstly, make a list of the negative things you would like to change about yourself.

Secondly, convert each item on that list into a positive.

For example:

"I'm not going to be a doormat for people"
becomes: I'm going to have a bigger sense of my own worth and value.
"I'm going to lose all this weight"
becomes: I'm going to enjoy getting fit and getting healthy.
"I'm going to stop being angry"
becomes: I am going to practice being more loving.
"I hate the fact that I'm so impatient"
becomes: I'm going to make better use of my own time; smile more and be kind.
"I really need to stop being so anxious"
becomes: I am going to enjoy being more trusting, carefree and happy.
"Why am I so pessimistic?"
becomes: I am going to live a life that attracts joy and laughter to me.

You get the picture. Convert the negative into a positive and then deal with who you want to be; not who you are not. (The CD Turning Passivity Into Prophecy deals with this at www.BrilliantBookHouse.com)

Thirdly, please remember that the old you is actually dead. As we convert the negative list into a positive one we move our focus from your old nature to your new nature in Christ. Read Romans 6:2-14. This is a template for walking in newness. If we are going to be successful, happy and powerful then this passage is the basis for all of our story and journey in Christ. In Him we are already dead to the old (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) which has passed away and everything is new. Be alive to your new self in God and crucially do not allow people to resurrect the old you. Take joyful possession of your new self in Jesus and have fun establishing that reality.

Fourthly, don't try to become the new person. Accept that in Christ you are already there! You do not become a new person by changing your behavior. You accept the person you already are in Christ and behave accordingly. Abiding is the key new testament desire and delight. Stay, dwell and remain in Christ. Do not allow yourself to be moved away from His reality within your heart. As you focus on Him, it is His peace, love, joy and calm wisdom that will surface in every situation.

Lastly, enjoy the journey! Remember that you do not live in your circumstances. You live in Christ. Stay there! Focus from there. Practice life from there. See from His perspective. That is the nature of Abiding! Let joy walk with you this year. The joy of the Lord shall be your strength, courage, firmness, health, stamina, energy, power and intentionality.

Have a Brilliant new year!

Graham

Letter From Jesus!

"I no longer call you servants...I call you friends!"
John 15:15

I Am so excited to spend this life with you! Thank you for accepting My invitation. I hope you will enjoy this lifetime of love and romance that I have created just for you. You are the one I dream of, my heart is overflowing with love for you. When you look at Me, I can barely restrain Myself! You ravish Me with a single one of your glances!

“The King greatly desires your beauty, He is your Lord, the One you adore!” (Ps 45:11) Please join me every day in this celebration of our love! Look into My eyes and you will see just what you mean to Me!

“The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is pleasant fruit, both new and old, that I have prepared for you, my lover.” (Song of Songs 7:13)

Oh, my beautiful one, will you come to my table? I have prepared a feast for you, designed to delight your senses! Your perfume has
captivated me, love is in the air! Taste and see how sweet my love is for you, let me woo you daily!

“He leads me into a banquet room and looks at me with love.” (Song of Songs 2:4)

Darling, you are My guest of honor! Sharing a love feast with you is the desire of my heart. Seeing your shining eyes smiling at me across the table makes my heart beat faster! You are the Princess-Bride I always dreamed of, no one but you will do for Me! Your beautiful feet are perfect, you are the very one I've been searching for. I love you with all My heart. I AM Your Knight in Shining Armor!

"...as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, So your God rejoices over you." (Isa. 62:5)

I cherish you, Beloved, I have written your name on My hand. I can't take My eyes off you, even while you sleep. Your beauty enraptures Me! All day long I dream of ways to show you how great My love for you truly is, and all night long I sing love songs and lullabies over you while I guard your sleep. When you smile at Me, I am undone! I long for you to know the depths of My passion for you, my Sister, my Bride!

How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (Ps 119:103)

How wonderful you are, My Love! Before the world was created, My love for you overflowed like a fountain, like a spring that could not be contained! My thoughts dance like light on the water as I plan our future together. You are the delight of My Spirit, You are the apple of My Father's eye! My family is your family. I Am eagerly waiting for the day when you dance with Me before My Father's throne! You are my Joy, and I love you beyond forever.

“I have entered my garden, my treasure, My bride! I gather myrrh with My spices and eat honeycomb with My honey. I drink wine with My milk. Oh, lover and beloved, eat and drink! Yes, drink deeply of your love! Your love delights Me, my treasure, My bride. Your love is better than wine, your perfume more fragrant than spices.” (Song of Songs 5:1, 4:10)

My radiant one, my precious Bride, thank you for saying Yes to me. Thank you for loving me with abandon, for not holding your love back from Me. Thank you for taking My name as your own, and giving me every part of yourself. My vows to you are stronger than death, and I promise you, nothing will ever come between us! You are everything to Me. Come away with me now to the secret place, to the garden I have created for us. Come and rest in my arms, lean on me and let me carry you away. Draw close to Me and you will find that I Am closer to you than your breath. Stay with Me awhile, dream with me among the lilies.

I Am your husband, the Lover of your soul! ~ Jesus

This amazing letter was penned by Lisa-Anne Wooldridge, OpenHeaven@gmail.com