The Divine Exchange

On Good Friday as we remember the self-sacrificial act of our Savior Jesus dying on the cross, we marvel at the extent to which the love of our Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit went to include with them all of humanity into face-to-face communion. This isn’t just amazing, it’s what actually defines all of life, it’s what gives us purpose and it’s what points us to our eternal destiny of belonging with God for all eternity. I love the fresh, vivid language in the Mirror Bible from portions of 2 Corinthians 5:14-21. May I suggest that you sit quietly and allow the Lord to encounter you—his Spirit to your spirit—with the astonishing truth of the Good News that contains supernatural transforming power: “The love of Christ resonates within us and leaves us with only one conclusion: Jesus died mankind’s death; therefore, in God’s logic, every individual simultaneously died. Now if all were included in his death, they were equally included in his resurrection. This unveiling of his love redefines human life! Whatever reference we could have of ourselves outside of our association with Christ is no longer relevant. Now, in the light of your co-inclusion in his death and resurrection, whoever you thought you were before, in Christ you are a brand-new person! The old ways of seeing yourself and everyone else are over. Acquaint yourself with the new!  God was present in Christ when he reconciled the total cosmos to himself. Deity and humankind embraced in him; the fallen state of mankind was deleted; their trespasses would no longer count against them! He now announces his friendship with every individual from within us! This is the divine exchange: he who knew no sin embraced our distortion; he appeared to be without form; this was the mystery of God’s prophetic poetry. He was disguised in our distorted image and marred with our iniquities; he took our sorrows, our pain and our shame to his grave and birthed his righteousness in us. He took our sins and we became his innocence.” Oh, happy day! Oh, happy eternal life! We are blessed beyond measure!! With Love, Pastor Brent

Your Inclusion In Christ

We are approaching the week leading up to Easter Sunday on April 17. This is the perfect time to take a few moments each day to marvel at the breathtaking miracle that, by the Father’s choice before the foundation of the world, YOU were included in Christ’s death, burial and resurrection where you are now seated with him! Read all the scriptures below today and then re-read one each day next week, agreeing wholeheartedly with the truth as our Father see it—the only truth there is!   Sunday, April 10: “God [our loving Father] was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s sins against them.” (2 Cor 5:19)   Monday, April 11: “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.” (2 Cor 5:14, NIV)   Tuesday, April 12: “And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him.” (Romans 6:8, NLT)   Wednesday, April 13: “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, NLT)   Thursday, April 14: “For since we are permanently grafted into him to experience a death like his, then we are permanently grafted into him to experience a resurrection like his and the new life that it imparts.” (Romans 6:5, TPT)   Good Friday, April 15: “For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our ‘baptism into death’ also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. This ‘realm of death’ describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that ‘realm of death’ never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!” (Colossians 2:12-13, TPT)   Saturday, April 16: “Christ’s resurrection is your resurrection too. This is why we are to yearn for all that is above, for that’s where Christ sits enthroned at the place of all power, honor, and authority! Your crucifixion with Christ has severed the tie to this life, and now your true life is hidden away in God in Christ.” (Colossians 3:1,3, TPT)   Easter Sunday, April 17: “When the extraordinary compassion of God our Savior and his overpowering love suddenly appeared in person, as the brightness of a dawning day, he came to save us. Not because of any virtuous deed that we have done but only because of his extravagant mercy. He saved us, resurrecting us through the washing of rebirth. We are made completely new by the Holy Spirit, whom he splashed over us richly by Jesus, the Messiah, our Life Giver.” (Titus 3:4-6 TPT)

Open Doors to Create New Worlds

Last Saturday night during Blazing Fire Church’s worship service, the Lord gave Bill Hernandez this significant prophetic word to share:

To here this word, click here and go to 1:22:37

The Lord showed me an open door individually in front of every single person (in this room). He’s saying, “You are on the cusp of history in the making. This is a historical event where you will look back on it and say, ‘I remember back in 2022 when this door opened for everyone, and we were all ignited with the power and presence of the Lord.’”   During worship, I walked through the open door with lots of light around it. Each step that I took was like the Lord taking a step, and every place he stepped, new life emerged with trees, flowers and grass. Wherever he steps, he makes worlds. The Lord was saying, “This is what you’re going to be doing, you’re going to be making worlds where you step. Your destiny is that you’re going to create new worlds as you step out.”   I asked, “What kind of new worlds?” and the Lord said, “It’s not just for you, it’s for everyone—worlds of hope and courage and love. Wherever you step, you’re going to be spreading these virtues and creating these worlds. As a result, other people’s destinies will also be released as you do this.”   My Commissioning   We are being commissioned to do this. Above the door in front of each one of you, I saw the words, “My Commissioning.”   I asked, “My commissioning into what?” and the Lord responded, “What does that sound like? The Great Commission! You’re going to be more of me, more of Jesus, to the world.”   This is about an evangelism anointing on every single person like no other time. In the Jesus movement days of the early 1970’s, the talk of the town was Jesus-this and Jesus-that. Almost everyone was talking about Jesus and spreading the Gospel. I feel like this is what the Lord will be doing anew as part of this great outpouring. Another part of it is releasing people into intimacy with the Lord like no other time.   Bill then released this evangelism anointing: “I thank you, Lord, for this spirit of evangelism that you’re pouring out on us—a boldness and the testimony of Jesus on our tongues and on our lives, flowing through us into the marketplace and every place that we go—spreading the Gospel and life and hope and destinies. Thank you, Lord that you are commissioning! I commission each of you into evangelism, that your evangelistic gift would be awakened. I see preachers of the truth and the Gospel, so I release your tongue to preach the Gospel of truth. Thank you, Jesus!”

Our Loving Father's Provision When We're Distressed

Have you even seen a young child in distress?  Upset, afraid crying?  Until…  Until their father or mother appears, picks them up and carries the child around with them.   In many instances it’s almost like magic.  If the child has a stable, loving attachment with that parent or caregiver, they will quickly feel safe and calm down. The one dynamic in our nervous system to able give us stability when we are in fear, in fight or flight mode - is when we’re comforted by someone we have a secure, love-based attachment with.  When we are deeply distressed, our capacity for words, logic, reason, perhaps even our sense of identity (what it’s like for us to act like ourselves) may be partially or completely “off-line”.  God’s Hesed attachment love grounds our soul in His stability.  Then the fullness of who we are can be restored and strengthened through shalom and joy together When we experience Hesed love with God we receive His shalom when we feel afraid.  And God expresses to us his joy over being with us.  “The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph 3:17 NKJV Here are two quotes about relationally connected love and joy from the book “The Other Half of Church”.  I added bold italic text for emphasis: “Jesus refused to relinquish joy in the midst of His suffering on the cross. When we are able to stay relationally connected to others and God, we experience joy while we suffer. Joy does not remove our pain, but it gives us the strength to endure . Remember that joy is relational, so “ joy in suffering ” means that God and our community are glad to be with us in our distress. They do not allow us to suffer alone. We are able to bear our suffering like Jesus , “who for the joy set before Him endured the cross” ( Hebrews 12:2 NASB ) “It is important to remember that joy is not strictly an emotion . We might refer to it as a supra - emotion because it can go on top of and connect with other emotions. For example, if I lose my job , this is usually not considered a joyful occasion. Instead, I am probably feeling some combination of sadness, fear , and anger. However, when I experience these unpleasant emotions and can simultaneously feel that God is with me, I have added joy into the mix. If I have close friends who are also happy to be with me in my loss, my joy magnifies even more . Now I’m feeling sad and joyful. Fearful and joyful. Angry and joyful. Joy does not replace the unpleasant emotions; instead it combines with my emotions to keep me relationally connected in distress.” Heavenly Father and Jesus, please empower us to see your eyes, and feel your heart for us.  Especially when we are in deep distress!  May our hesed attachment to You grow deeper and wider.  May Your joy over being with us strengthen us inside.  Amen! You can watch or listen to last week’s service here:

Last Saturday - YouTube

Last Saturday - Facebook

Love,         Russ Fochler P.S.  Last Saturday night, I asked Monika Muller-Eberhard to write down some of the revelation she experienced.  May this encourage you to enter in to what God desires to do in us and through us! “As I interceded for the Saturday night service, I asked Him to show me how to partner with Him. The first thing  I saw  was the Lion, the Eagle, the Ox and Man.  These are the four living creatures in Rev  4:7. At first, the Lion was roaring over Blazing  Fire but as the worship crescendoed  I saw the Lion roar through our congregation over the valley and Bay Area.  It was clear Blazing Fire had a CRUCIAL role interceding for the Bay Area! Then I saw the eyes of the Eagle connecting with each person in the sanctuary.  This connection was lifting people’s perspective to higher realm.  It significantly changed people’s perception of their life situations. With it came gifts; a greater measure of discernment, knowledge, understanding, counsel and reverence. Isaiah 11:2.  The Eagle’s impartation then went out through your eyes and touched everything and everyone around you.  It was a beautiful! Later in the service when Russ was talking, I saw Jesus inviting each one of you to gaze  into His left eye.  The gaze was between your left eye and His left eye. I sensed a deep impartation of His love, security, joy and identity.”

Growing Hesed

God is described over two hundred times in the Old Testament as being חסד hesed/chesed, a quality God also desires from us: “For I delight in loyalty [hesed] rather than sacrifice” (Hosea 6:6). The Hebrew word hesed is translated as “devoted,” “faithful” and “unchanging love.”  It is also translated as “lovingkindness” and “mercy.  We rejoice with David in Psalm 23 in singing “Surely goodness (tō-ab) and lovingkindness (he-sed) shall follow me all the days of my life;” (ASV).  And it is this kind of love Paul the Apostle described in 1 Corinthians 13 How many of us have tried to will or think ourselves into having this kind of love for God or others?  How is that working?  I’m struck that my old dog Maisy probably had more of this kind of love than I do.  She was always happy to see me, stayed with me when I was struggling emotionally, and forgave quickly.  Unconditional love. How do we grow up to be like Jesus?  How does our character become like him?  While the “Christian Disciplines” - for example reading the Bible, praying, fasting, serving the poor, times of solitude, etc. can be helpful, they don’t automatically transform us.  This was the conclusion of Dallas Willard, an influential USC professor.  Dallas wanted to help the body of Jesus become more Christ-like through discipleship.  Towards the end of his life, Dallas was intrigued by the idea that salvation was more about  forming and growing a new “hesed” attachment with God - rather than simply a “left brain” endeavor to have correct knowledge, beliefs, and choices.  Time honored spiritual disciplines are most helpful for those who already experience God’s “hesed” love for them. Face to face joyful interactions is a key way we grow “hesed” based attachments to God.  We see this in “The Blessing” in Numbers 6: 24-26.  And also in 2 Cor 4:6 “For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness’, is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (NASB)  In the light of Jesus’ eyes, his face is fullness of joy. As we live attached to the heart and life of Jesus our True Vine (John 15), His love for those around us - even those who feel like “enemies” will flow to us.  He shares His mind with us - especially “right brain” feelings and images. I talked about some of this last Saturday night March 12th.  To watch or listen to the service - including Todd’s heartfelt worship, Susan’s meditation for Communion, and Gilbert Matsuoka’s prophetic message, please click the link below:

Saturday Night's Service

And here is a link to Gilbert Matsuoka’s notes for the prophetic message he shared:

Gilbert's Notes

With affection,                       Russ Fochler P.S. I plan to share Part 2 this coming Saturday March 19th.

Sitting At His Feet

One of the greatest themes / concepts / realities in the Word is that of sitting before the eyes of the ultimate master and just that. This goes against how we're conditioned to believe about what it means to be fruitful. The travesty is that business is hailed as the better thing. It's looked upon as a goal, when actually it's one of the many things that pulls us away from the better thing...from the thing that opens our eyes to the "more", to deeper reality, to our own identity and so on.  Along my personal journey I've had seasons of sitting at the feet of Jesus and others where I've allowed lower thinking to take over and become the higher ground. But ohhhhhhhhhh do I notice the difference after a while. It's not pretty! (I'm talking about when I sit at the feet of human standards or anything else.)  But when I return to gazing in His eyes, the eyes that know every answer and shines brighter than all those other things, even the very shame I feel from having wandered is melted away.  - LUKE 10:38 - 42 - AS THEY CONTINUED ON THEIR WAY, THEY ARRIVED AT A COUNTRY VILLAGE WHERE A WOMAN WITH THE NAME OF MARTHA RECEIVED THEM AS GUESTS IN HER HOUSE. SHE ALSO HAD A SISTER, MIRIAM (MARY) WHO BECAME GLUED TO JESUS' FEET, LISTENING TO HIS WORD. ALL THIS TIME, MARTHA HOWEVER, WAS DISTRACTED BY MUCH SERVICING; SHE BECAME ANNOYED AND WALKED UP TO WHERE THEY WERE SITTING AND BURST IN ON THEIR CONVERSATION, SAYING, "LORD, DO YOU NOT CARE THAT MY SISTER LEFT ME ALL THIS TIME TO DO ALL THE WORK? TELL HER, THEN, TO COME HELP ME!"  JESUS ANSWERED HER, "MARTHA, MARTHA! YOU ARE OCCUPIED WITH ANXIOUS AND TROUBLED THOUGHTS ABOUT MANY THINGS! THOSE MANY THINGS THAT CLUTTER YOUR MIND ARE ALL VER BRIEF AND OF LITTLE IMPORTANCE COMPARED TO THE ONE THING THAT OUTWEIGHS THEM ALL. THIS ONE THING DESERVES YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION. MARY HAS SOURCED HER PERMANENT PORTION IN THIS BEAUTIFUL CONVERSATION." This scripture really gets to me. It convicts me deeply. I see how easily we become like Martha. It's usually with great intentions even. But eventually we miss out on the river of life and peace that is flowing from He Who IS the Prince of Peace.  Even He is wanting us to settle down and receive the life-flow that is coming from Him.   Why would we sit at the feet of business that only produces more business?  Why would we sit at the feet of gossipers and take that in?  Why would we sit at the feet of youtube videos filled with theories, (most of which are specifically designed to distract us from the direct gaze into His face, where truth is.)? Why would we sit before worry, fear, anger, division and the continuous buffet of things that are lesser than, which is offered to us all the time?  As I write this, I, Todd Benjamin Lout, am confessing that I need a recharge and I know it can only come from calming down and allowing His gaze to become the thing that I'm looking at again. Otherwise I may collapse trying to stand on such unstable ground that is away from that spot on the floor, right in front of the one I get to imitate.  I won't be able to imitate Him if I'm not looking at Him.  "We become what we behold." I don't know who first said that, but they are so so right!   Below is a link to a song I've always loved called, "No Higher Calling", that says, "Down at Your feet, Oh Lord, is the most high place......"

"No Higher Calling"

Your Life Makes A Difference

This past Saturday at Blazing Fire, three astoundingly bright lights shared their stories of how the presence of Jesus within them impacts how they do what they do in their professions: Candy McCue in the healthcare field, Clayton Jung in the business field and Mary Jo Carreon in the education and political field. Their stories were giving all of us courage to know that we carry the light and love of Jesus with us everywhere we go! This means you are a full time missionary and a full-time minister of the Gospel (good news) of the grace of God! Be encouraged as you read these truths of who God says you are…every day of your life and in everything you do:   Matthew 5:14-16 (NLT) “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.   Ephesians 2:10 (Mirror) “We are engineered by his design; he molded and manufactured us in Christ. We are his workmanship, his poetry. We are fully fit to do good, equipped to give attractive evidence of his likeness in us in everything we do.”   Colossians 3:23-24 (TPT) “Put your heart and soul into every activity you do, as though you are doing it for the Lord himself and not merely for others. For we know that we will receive a reward, an inheritance from the Lord, as we serve the Lord Yahweh, the Anointed One!”