The Bigger Picture

Anxiously awaiting great moves of the Holy Spirit gripping every part of the globe, many of us are feeling largely like we are in limbo. Life as we once knew it a few months ago before the coronavirus outbreak has been severely disrupted, plowed over by circumstances beyond our control. This has been very trying universally and globally across every nation. In the midst of this, the Lord has been speaking to His people. The world is in His hands and He just recently showed me that He will turn the affects of the virus around for good. There is hope ahead and a way out of this into something far better than where we were before. The virus has an expiration date and when time is up, it will be time for an amazing future to unfold with unexpected victories. During this time the Lord has been showing me how very important it is to engage Him in relationship in the deepest, honest and intimate ways. He’s calling on us to be proactive and to prepare ourselves. This is the time to load up on things from His storehouse for the world; things like compassion, mercy, miracles, healings, hope, restoration, love, joy, peace, wisdom and divine objectivity. We are being imbued with all of these and more everyday while we engage Him and acknowledge His friendship and tenderness. He shows Himself most tender and loving the more honest we are with everything. He is teaching us deep, tender love in the midst of our  drawing close to Him. The postman goes to the post office depot first to get the mail and packages to be delivered. Just so, we postmen and postwomen are being called to the depot (our relationship with Him) to get all the goodies we are going to bestow upon the world. We are at a purpose and destiny crossroad. He showed me that we are being prepared as a massive army of light to assault the forces of darkness in the world. We are getting readied with weapons of love and compassion. Many of us are going to be called up to be captains, lieutenants and generals in this coming push back of the enemy. It’s going to look like a revival we never expected. Some parts of it will look like things we’ve seen in the past, but there are new experiences up ahead. He showed me people in the market place across the world will be experiencing His touch and coming to us for explanations. We are being prepared for an evangelism explosion like no other. This will be the answer of the Lord to a world ravaged by the virus and darkness. Stay in intimacy with Him. Welcome Him in all you do. Tell Him everything - every secret - every mistake - every desire - every joy - every little thing. He is the Great Psychiatrist for sure. He will embrace you with His warmth, tenderness, understanding, wisdom and insight. Nothing nor accusation can possibly separate us from such a bond of friendship. Such was the result of the blood Jesus poured out for us. Make intimacy a habit in every part of your day. We can focus on all the trauma going on around us if we want to. It’s a choice. That will only serve to exhaust and discourage you. I know it takes time to shift our attentions away from what appears to be an unrelenting catastrophe. Focus on the bigger picture and find peace and courage. He has won. We are His glorious army of light that He is perfecting. We get to bless the world with treasures from our storehouse of intimacy with Him and it’s going to be alright. The more we see Him, the more we become like Him to the world.

Ephesians 6:10-18  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Love, Bill

The Light That Leads Us Home

Recently a good friend of mine was praying for me. She (and Holy Spirit) acknowledged times in my life as a young teenager that I had to make some very difficult decisions without any guidance. These were painful and traumatic experiences. I didn’t know how to ask for help and I didn’t know who to ask even if I could. Since Todd and I have become foster parents, we’ve found many children and teens in the system have the same difficulty. They often feel they have to be overly responsible and have trouble acknowledging when they need help because they’ve become so accustomed to caring for themselves.  A few years ago, Jesus said to me, “I don’t only want to be your Savior. I want to be your King.” He wants to lead us. Our American culture often gives us the message that we need to be self sufficient and muscle our way through life. It requires a great deal of vulnerability to invite Jesus to lead. Control can appear more appealing than trust because it gives us a false illusion of protection, especially during these times of uncertainty. I’ve found that surrendering areas of my life and in my heart that still feel “in process” can be scary. But Jesus continually reminds me that my unanswered questions are just as important as the answers I’ve already been given. He wants to meet us in the middle of our stories, in the middle of our “messy” and guide us through.

“I will stay close to you, instructing and guiding you along the pathway for your life. I will advise you along the way and lead you forth with my eyes as your guide. So don’t make it difficult; don’t be stubborn when I take you where you’ve not been before. Don’t make me tug you and pull you along. Just come with me!” Psalm 32:8-9 (TPT)

“The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

When you know the true nature of Jesus, inviting Him to be your King is the safest place to be. For those who don’t know the goodness of who He is yet, there is an uncertainty about how He will use His power. In the earthly sense, we sometimes associate power with control or even abuse. But Jesus always uses His power to heal, to love and to make all things work together for our good. We may not fully understand His ways, but when we know His true nature, surrendering becomes much more inviting.  I pray that in the middle of uncertainty and unanswered questions, you would find Jesus lighting your path. I pray you would have courage to acknowledge any area that self sufficiency has taken the driver’s seat and allow Jesus to show you a different way. Your needs are valid. You don’t have to muster up strength and do life alone. Jesus is right there to guide you, to care for you, to lead you back home.  Love, Karena

Straight Ahead

Admittedly, I was such an Amy Grant fan back in the day. (still am, actually) Yes, I saw her in concert about seven times when I was a teen.  In 1984 she released an album called, “Straight Ahead”. That thing played on my record player and my cassette player, (That’s right boys and girls. I said cassette player), over and over and over again.  That whole album reached me deeply, but all the more so the title song.  Every time I heard it I committed my path to the Lord, again and again. “Straight ahead, I can see Your light. Straight ahead, through the dark. Straight ahead, there’s no left or right. Straight ahead to Your heart.” I just knew that nothing would ever make me look to the left or right…… ….But life has countless things to look at on the left and on the right.  In fact, there are voices on both sides, and behind, calling us over.  I’m convinced, now, that there are millions of distractions in this life, trying to steal away our time the the One Who Is, the One with all the right answers, the One Who loves us more than we love us. Social media has got us looking everywhere but up much of the time.  For me, it’s very disheartening to see Jesus followers bickering back and forth, looking over to the left to see what this one’s saying, looking over to the right to find more fault in what that one’s doing.  We’re looking toward media and what they are bringing us. We’re numbing out in various ways because all of this is so overwhelming. Yet, the Maker of the Universe is still ahead of the path we said we were going to take in the first place.  He’s got a big bucket of peace to pour over us.  He’s got the know how to navigate through everything. What if we all stopped looking at each other and started looking only at Him?  He is looking at all of us with perfect love, so when we look at Him, we’ll start seeing what He’s seeing. Part of that would be seeing each other rightly.  Also, strife would disintegrate. This has been on my heart so much that I’ve been thinking of writing about this for all of you this week.  Interestingly enough, (and not a coincidence), a dear friend messaged my wife and me this morning and said this: “I dreamed that I was in the middle of a search on the internet.  I wanted to get back to the original screen, so I kept pressing the left arrow over and over but I couldn’t find the screen I wanted. Then I heard a voice say, ‘You can’t go backward.  GO FORWARD.’ I woke up, and as soon as I opened my eyes, two Scriptures came to me in a flash":

I would say that God is confirming my writing this email today.  I believe He wants us to recommit to looking straight ahead toward Him. He’s there with a constant invitation to “Come up here. Come up now.” no matter how many times we wander. Praise God for His desire to see us live a better life!                                                                                                         Love, Todd

The Winds Of Change Are Here

As we’ve all been experiencing this time of extended uncertainty and upset, it’s also been a partial “break” from normal routines for many.  God has been inviting us to look with Him at hidden dynamics of our heart.  And at our cherished opinions and judgments towards others.  Has this been true for you?  It has for me.  For several years, many have had the sense God is fixin’ to move.   One of the key ways to prepare for this  -  is to let Holy Spirit “in” to the messy gardens of our heart.  I believe the fruit will be: Changed Hearts (sensitive to God’s heart, and to our neighbors instead of hearts of stone) New Wineskins for the new wine of the Holy Spirit New Freedom to trust God more fully, to live from God’s goodness rather than focussing on self-protection and self-survival During a recent phone conversation, Tim Vogel exclaimed to me “Winds of Change Are Here!”.  As Tim shared more, my spirit began to vibrate with Holy Spirit.  Below is part of what Tim later wrote out.  Tim is dad to 2 children, a practical businessman, and what I would call a “mystic” - a prophet.  He is humble, thoughtful, kind, and passionate for God’s beautiful will to be established on earth as it is in heaven. Warmly,            Pastor Russ Fochler

As I write this, I am at the beginning of an encounter with God and the fullness of what He wants to say hasn’t been revealed yet. The beginnings of the word started with the wind.  Followed by a stirring in my spirit for His arrival.  I feel like there was a shift in my own life today and I sensed something shift in Heaven’s realm as well.  I also sensed a divine push towards His will. The part of God that moves upon a nation, or a region.  I don’t know what the move is, but I know there was one.  God doesn’t give prophetic people all the information.  Sometimes He just says “I’m moving” and then it’s suddenly upon us. I was having a stressful day at work and was dealing with some emotional stuff.  The concoction of the two, made it difficult for me.  I pushed through it and went on a run.  I certainly didn’t break my previous day time record, but I went nonetheless.  As I was running I began to realize I was being carried.   Deep things began to open up in my heart.  Experience has taught me to give permission.  It’s fun if you do!   Yes to God, yes to His ministry, yes you can do whatever you wish, God. And thank you God.  I am always brought to tears by His tenderness as he meets with the emotional part of me.  That part has required a serious amount of time and love. He has been so faithful to my sprit.  He is truly “good”, “all the time”.  The Ancient of Days within my soul resonates as He meets my longing to be well of spirit.  Thank you God for meeting me today!  Your confidence is better than any amount of worldly power.   As God began to meet with my heart and help me work through some junk, I experienced a dramatic shift in my sprit.  The old was gone and replaced with new.  The new within me was revealed.  Scales left my eyes, heaviness lifted and I began to see clearly. The change was sudden.  The shift was quick.  Many times when I experience God in this manner I am also shifted into a different realm. Many of you are suffering with the scariness of the times we are living in.  You’re struggling with circumstantial stuff in your lives, maybe news has got you down, maybe something more difficult.  I want to remind you that we serve a huge God and he is all powerful, loving and fully capable of bringing to pass all the prophetic words you have been given.  Do not pay attention to what the world is telling you.  God is still working for your good!  God still loves you.  His justice is restoring every violation of love.  Disconnect from skewed and tainted information sources - and connect to the frequency of Heaven.   You will shift into heavenly realms and ride on the wind of the Holy Sprit.  Shift what you are listening to and connect with His Presence.  He has many things that He wants to tell you and it’s all different from what you’ve been listening to.                                                                                                                Love, Tim

Pastor Brent Shares Recent Testimony / I Need A Waterfall

Hello Friends! Brent here. Last Saturday on Facebook live, I poured out my heart a bit regarding God’s grace that I am still alive (after an emergency angioplasty last Tuesday) and shared how my experience in the natural has distinct parallels to my kind Father’s ongoing surgery deep within me: “The message God spoke to us in Christ is the most life giving and dynamic influence in us, cutting like a surgeon’s scalpel, sharper than a soldier’s sword, piercing to the deepest core of human conscience, to the diving of soul and spirit; ending the dominance of the sense realm and its neutralizing effect upon the human spirit. In this way mankind’s spirit is freed to become the ruling influence again in the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12, TMT) In the end, this is what I know to be true at the core of my being: God is astoundingly good; and our lives really are all about Jesus! With all that’s happening in the earth, we can forget what our spirit knows to be true. Take in this message from my dear friend Jason Clark and find your way deeply back into Jesus. It’s the only place you were meant to be! Click to Watch Brent's Message - Saturday, June 20

I read a meme online this week. “Some poor phoneless fool is probably sitting next to a waterfall somewhere totally unaware of how angry and scared he’s supposed to be” And I thought, “I am exhausted.” And then I thought, “Oh Jesus, forgive me. I have been outraged. And rightly so. But along the way, I’ve become angry and scared.” Racism has been the primary focal point of my righteous outrage. But even as I’ve focused there, I couldn’t help but notice in my peripheral other great injustices. There’s the systematic racial abuse of millions in China, there’s the new outbreak of Corona Virus in our overcrowded and broken prison systems. There are thousands of children enslaved in the brickyards of Pakistan. Inequality is ravaging our world. And I am outraged! Then there are the approximately 11,00 babies aborted in the US this week. This means there’s 11,000 mothers and fathers who lost their sweet little ones this week under the devastating pretense of a better future. And I am outraged! Then I read about a new injustice at our southern border, about the abuses perpetrated on impoverished nations by big pharma, the newest disgusting Trump tweet, the newest gross Biden controversy, another story on how my city is a hotbed for human trafficking. And I am outraged! And I’m exhausted.         I need a waterfall. I need Jesus.  And not the outraged, flipping tables, calling out Pharisees and exposing religious and corrupt government systems, Jesus. And also not the, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, calming the storms, raising the dead, Jesus. I need Jesus, the personal, cry together, laugh together, relational connection with my best friend, Jesus. I need the triune Jesus. The “it is well with my soul” intimacy of the indwelling Holy Spirit, Jesus. The confident knowing of the pleasure my Father takes in my presence, Jesus. I turned off my news feed today. I found a waterfall and gave Jesus all my anger and fear. It wasn’t helping anyone, and it was killing me. And Jesus replaced it with grace and love. And it flooded me like mighty rivers… His grace filled me and reminded me that my only focus today is to be one with my best friend, to receive and grow confident in the perfection of His love. And then to love others in the compassionate expression of His goodness, to live as a response instead of a reaction. In grace, I can weep with those who weep, but I can also speak to Lazarus, “come forth!” In grace I can flip tables in outrage, but only because I am also willing to lay my life down for those behind the tables. The outrage that changes and saves this world is the outrage of love. And so I lean into His love, a relational grace; the empowering evidence of my friendship with Jesus. And now, no longer exhausted, I am ready. Full of life, I am ready to love in all the transformative ways love does. Turn off your news feed for a minute. Go find your waterfall today. Grace.

Follow Jesus Away From Your Comfort Zone

Navigating through the current goings on in our society and in the world can be confusing and frustrating, to say the least.  Some say this, others say that and so many are attempting to take the lead.  But which way do we go? Who do we follow?  JESUS, that’s who!  I guarantee He’s not arguing with anyone on facebook, bashing anyone for not agreeing, worrying about what to do and so forth.  Reminding ourselves that we are “Jesus Followers” is a daily necessity. However, when we remember that, we also need to do away with trying to lead Him or have Him lead us where we want Him to lead us. He just ain’t gonna do that.  He’s got bigger and better plans and it’s most likely going to take you to some places you wouldn’t have gone on your own.  In John, chapter 4, we see that Jesus decided to leave a bunch of religious leaders, who were trying to stir up dissension, and go elsewhere.  He made a stop at a well in Samaria.  Others wouldn’t have made this stop because the Samaritans were looked upon as lower than and even hated.  Jesus isn’t like that though. His dad is LOVE…He is LOVE.  He encountered a woman who was an outcast among the outcasts.  After his time with her, she felt seen and loved.  Jesus let her know that He saw that her life matters.  Not only did this impact and bring a shift to her life, but she told the news that this man of love from that "other race" came to their territory with a message that they matter. Another time we see Jesus go out of his way again, surprising His followers once more.  In Luke 19 he calls on the tax collector, Zacchaeus to come down out of the tree and have dinner with him….at Zacchaeus’ house!  This man was an oppressor of the people…the bully…the lawless law!  Though grumbling complaints began to come from the crowd around, Jesus kept His course and blessed this man, letting him know that he is worth loving.  This very act, this detour Jesus made, brought Zacchaeus to a place of repentance and even repaying wrongs he had done to the people. If we are following our own agenda, or our own opinion, or some angry person on social media, we will keep going and miss the turn with Jesus.  We’ll just walk right into oblivion while Jesus is bringing hope, redemption, identity, compassion, love and healing where it was needed.  Of course we know that sowing seeds like that always produces a great harvest.  Let’s not miss our opportunity to sow life-giving seeds. Today, how about we humble ourselves, turn to Jesus and say, “I stopped following close behind and became arrogant.  Show me what I can learn today.  Teach me how to take care of something that will produce good fruit, rather than a whole bunch of nothing.”  He will so lovingly take our hand and tell us, “Come up here. Come up now.”, no matter how far away we went.  It’s time to really trust the Lamb who is a Lion because He knows exactly where to walk through all of this.                                                        Love, Todd

Every Life has Infinite Value / Justice

As so many of you, my heart has felt incredibly heavy and grieved over the pain our world is sitting in right now. Our African American friends are hurting deeply (and have been for many years) from racial injustice. So many are suffering from the effects of the pandemic. Cities need to recover from rioting and looting. Only Jesus can make the wrong things right again. He doesn’t only execute justice; He IS justice. Justice is the restoration of everything that would attempt to violate or hinder love. It’s what Jesus paid for on the cross and He is more than able to take the weight of every heavy burden you’ve been carrying.  I have had some hard, but healing conversations with some of my beautiful black friends and young adults in my life this past week. Recently I heard a pastor say that we need to learn to sit and listen before we take our place and “stand with”. Sometimes we’re hesitant to approach topics like racism for fear that we’ll say the wrong thing, adding further pain to an already deep injury. But for many of our African American friends, silence can be very painful and feel like apathy. I want to encourage you that you don’t have to say everything perfectly. In fact, the best thing you can do is simply listen and offer empathy right now.  Nehemiah wept over Jerusalem. He was fully invested in seeing the wall rebuilt around it to protect the people from enemy attack. If we want to see real healing happen in our communities, we need to invite God to close the distance between our own discomfort and the pain our black brothers and sisters are feeling. We sometimes dismiss others’ pain because we haven’t experienced it ourselves. It can also cause us to look at our own hearts and the blind spots we may have. Let me encourage you that this is a great opportunity to allow God to highlight those areas and bring truth. Taking a posture of humility, laying our defenses down, leaning in and listening to the cries of others is the doorway to the healing Jesus wants to pour out on the earth right now.

"If others are weeping, join with them. Work toward unity and live in harmony with one another. Avoid thinking you are better than others or wiser than the rest." - Romans 12:15 - 16 -

To our African American friends: We are sorry for the ways we haven’t used our voices enough to speak up against the injustices you experience. We are sorry you’ve had to defend yourself and expend so much emotional energy trying to convince others that racism is still such a prevalent problem. We are sorry your pain has often been dismissed and overlooked. We are sorry for the ways you haven’t felt fully seen or known.  Jesus, we ask that your love would cover every heart. We pray that you would bring healing like only you can. We pray for the families of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and the many others who suffered injustice before them. Show us how we can be part of the solution that will bring lasting change. We pray that EVERY person on the earth would not be given anything less than the infinite value you’ve placed on them.  To quote Lisa Meyer-Jones, “IT’S TIME!” Love, Karena