Unfolding Grace!

Papa is your greatest supporter and encourager. He wants you to rise to the top, to soar into your appointed destiny, to finish strong in this race to receive your gold medal with him on the winner's stand!

And he knows that along the way, it can be very hard at times. If you have been feeling overwhelmed, discouraged or disillusioned in any way, I want to bring you encouragement straight from the throne of God.

First of all, I want to assure you that through the battles, the Father is strengthening your faith in ways that would boggle your mind, if you only knew! I also want to encourage you to run into the arms of your loving Father who has always wanted you and who will never, ever give up on you! Go to that place of intimacy with God, no matter what it takes. Ignore the discouragements and enjoy the huge heart of the One who adores you! Lay your frustrations and anxieties on the One who has the broad shoulders to take the load and choose to fix your gaze on the Lover of your soul! He loves you so very much! He has chosen you to be His forever!

If you want to throw in the towel, listen to these words from the Lord to your heart:

"So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace!" (2 Corinthians 4:16, The Message Bible)

His unfolding grace! That is his astounding grace that keeps on presenting itself to you each time you require it. God's grace is enough! It is enough for you to make it through the difficult times. It is enough to give you hope when you are disappointed. It is enough to give you vision when you have lost sight of the goal of your faith. It is enough!

Papa says to you, His precious child:

"Don't despair. I am still for you. My heart hasn't changed one little bit. I know you don't understand all my ways. I haven't asked you to. But, one day you will see everything for the way it truly is, from My perspective. Until that time, know that I am with you and I am for you! I will be everything you need! I AM everything you need! Keep drawing into me. My presence will never disappoint you. My presence is everything you need. My presence is your ultimate destiny! Keep believing my good and tender heart toward you because I will never disappoint you!"

New Beginnings TODAY!

On Sept. 28th we entered 5772 of the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah). Here is the description of the New Year from Chuck Pierce:

We are poised to enter a new season where the Eye of the Lord is looking to see how His House develops. The Hebraic Year 5772 (Ayin Bet) actually conveys piercing into world structures to recover and restore Kingdom blessings that have been captured. Another way of understanding the season ahead is as a time of unexpected favor. This is when both Israel and God’s people aligned with Israel become the “apple of His eye.”

We are entering a season when the synergistic power of the gifts of the Spirit comes together. This is also a time when gender, races and generations come together in a new way. Begin looking for divided hearts to become one, before the Lord. Family will become more important than it has been in the last 40 years, and there will be a recovery of family principles.

We have all the reason in the world to be the most hope-filled, optimistic people on the planet! Our Father is for us and has given us the indescribable gift of Jesus--and with Jesus we have been given freedom, joy, love and every other part of His rich inheritance that is ours. Since this is a new year, why not agree with all of the promises for you that are set for 'Today' (Hebrews 4:7). Say this out loud...

"Today is a day of New Beginnings for me!! I am not stuck! Today is my day to agree that my past is past and my future in Christ is here right now! Today is my day to agree that Christ in me is superabundant and everything I could possibly need! Today is my day to agree absolutely nothing is impossible for me! Today is the day to bust out of old barriers that have held me down. It’s the day to rise up and break free from the bondage of addictions. It’s the day to declare and see miracles in my family, my finances and my personal destiny! It’s the day to revel in the resurrection that I share THIS DAY with Christ as a brand new, completely restored, massively loved, beautifully regenerated creation! No matter what has happened in my life to this point, my slate is wiped completely clean and my destiny lies before me as an attainable, well-lit path because Jesus is walking it with me! Above all, I agree today that I am loved and treasured beyond compare by this astounding Father of New Beginnings!"

Look in the Mirror!

What does it mean for you and me to be a carrier of God’s glory? I talked about this last Saturday night (you can catch the podcast at http://blazingfire.podbean.com/)

Here it is in a nutshell:

In the Old Covenant, Moses made a bold request to God in Exodus 33:18, “Show me your glory,” to which God responded, “All right, then, I will allow my character, the goodness of my nature to pass in front of you. I’ll show you how good I really am.”

Sometimes we read that story and say, “Dang, I wish I was Moses to see that!” No really you don’t—you have it way better than Moses in the New Covenant of Grace!

2 Corinthians 3:13 explains how Moses, after he met with the Israelite people to share what God had told him, put a veil over his face because he didn’t want them to see the glory fading. Why was it fading? Because it was external. Remember that God’s glory passed before him.

Now, you gotta catch this!

For you who are in the New Covenant of Grace, God’s goodness doesn't pass before you, but lives in you! That glorious goodness of God that Moses got to see the backside of as He passed by has made His home in you!! Have you ever really looked at people who spend a lot of time with God? They glow and leak all over the place—they can’t help it!

In the Old Covenant, when Moses said, show me your glory, God’s goodness passed before him. In the New Covenant, when we say, “God, show me your glory,” God's response is...

“Look in the mirror!!”

Have you ever really done that--intently looking to see Christ in you, the hope of glory? It's REAL, my friends! Many times and with much more frequency now, I look into my own eyes in the mirror and see God's glory. “Oh My! There you are Jesus! I can see you! I carry your glory! I release it everywhere I go!"

And so do you! Jesus said to his Father, "I have given them the glory that you gave to me." (John 17:22) The very same glory that the Father deposited into Jesus as the Light of the World, permeates and pours out of each of us as well!

So I want to encourage you today--right now if you can--look in the mirror, but before you do, ask God, “Show me your glory!”

And while you're at it, say out loud these declarations that we made together Saturday night:

I CARRY GOD'S GLORY!

I AM GREAT BEYOND MEASURE!

I AM MADE FOR INTIMACY WITH THE LORD!

I BRING HIS PRESENCE WITH ME EVERYWHERE I GO!

So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord's Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord. (2 Cor 3:18, Contemporary English Bible)

You Are Not a Failure!

If you're feeling like a failure, like you've let God down, listen to the voice of your Daddy in heaven...

"My child, I know everything about you and I have always known that you've needed a Savior--that's why I sent my Son to die for you and that's why I've left nothing to chance!

I rejoice over you! I am enamored with you! If you have forgotten who you are, I will remind you and bring you back to the path of life where you were born again in my Spirit to exist.

You are not a failure, you are my success story! Wait until you see the next chapters that I have written for you unfold in your life.

You are not a disappointment, you are a treasure to me! I invite you to look in the mirror and see what I see. Every time I look at you, I say, "Wow!" Actually, you so capture my heart that I can't take my eyes off you!

I am not "putting up with you," I celebrate you! I call over the angels and say, "Look at my son/my daugther! Aren't they amazing! They're everything I ever wanted! They are my dream fulfilled"

You are not a failure. Don't ever listen to that lie. When I made you, I knew exactly what I was doing and I was thrilled with what I had made! I want you. Come, rest your head on my chest and hear my heart beat for you. Listen closer. It sound like this...

I love you...I love you...I love you...I love you...I love you...I love you...I love you...I love you...I love you...and it goes on like this for eternity!

Amazing Revelation

(An encouragement from Tammy Von Horn who will be preaching at Blazing Fire this Saturday night)

Didn’t you just love Pastor Brent’s email last week describing Jesus as our most awesome and powerful King? Didn’t that email both remind you of truth you already know and challenge you to be amazed all over again at the absolute majesty of our Savior?

John the Baptist spoke something very similar in John 3. John’s disciples approached John with a tone of concern that more people were beginning to go to Jesus to be baptized instead of coming to John’s camp.

In response to their concern, John beautifully describes his perspective of Jesus and himself,

"You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for Him.’ It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at Jesus’ success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. Jesus has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but He has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else. He testifies about what He has seen and heard, but how few believe what He tells them! Anyone who accepts Jesus’ testimony can affirm that God is true. For Jesus is sent by God. Jesus speaks God’s words, for God gives Him the Spirit without limit."

Because of the amazing revelation given to him, John understood who Jesus was and also knew who he was. We, like John, are invited into this revelation where we also behold and understand the majesty of Jesus and in that knowing come to understand how precisely we were created and reborn into His likeness.

In the beginning when God created everything, He deliberately created you and I in His image. Now on one end of this spectrum, this may mean that some of us have His nose or His chin or even His ears. Or that likeness may apply to your mannerisms – do you laugh like God or sneeze the way that He does? But on the completely other end of the spectrum, you were designed to mirror your big brother Jesus, shaped to carry as He does, God’s spirit without limit. Aren’t you amazing?!

I am so excited to share even more about this very topic on Saturday. And just to let you in on a little tip, if you come with your Bible (we’ll be camping in John 3, 6 and 9) AND a hand mirror, you will be just as blown away as I’ve been lately at how unfathomably kind God was towards us when He simply conceived, shaped and presented us in His very image.

KING JESUS!

This morning I experienced the extravagant joy of knowing that Jesus is the King of the earth. Now that may seem really obvious at first, but in light of all that is happening, both in our personal lives and also in the United States and the nations around the world, it is easy to begin fretting about what's going to happen.

In a most glorious moment, purely by God's grace, I was ushered into a near euphoric state of bilssful confidence in my King Jesus! Jesus knows EXACTLY what he is doing! He can let me know everything that I need to know, but nothing more than I should know. He is the King and I am not!

My primary job is to remain in his presence and enjoy Him, fully confident in his strength, not focusing on my weakness. That's just extremely good news right there!

In light of that, I bless each one of you today with the deep peace that comes from knowing that your King is working all things out on the earth and that he is in your corner working things out for you at this very moment! I bless you with the joy of experiencing the depth of his very real passion for you that never changes! And I bless you with the grace of staying in this place of resting in the astounding goodness of God continuously.

We love you!
Brent & Suzanne

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