Holy Spirit In Our Weakness

On the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit filled many believers, moved through signs and wonders and many were set free! When we say "yes" to Jesus, we receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit TODAY and have access to His authority, power, and freedom! How amazing! In addition to all of these wonderful things, Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit as our friend and Advocate. This life God has given us on earth is a gift, but it is not always easy. Holy Spirit guides us and reveals Himself to us not only when we feel powerful and strong, but also when we feel weak and vulnerable.  Peter, the man who preached the Gospel in front of thousands of people on the day of Pentecost, did not start off as a "strong" disciple of Jesus. He came to Jesus, in the Gospels, with many questions and internal conflict before he was a foundational leader in the building of the church. Time and time again in the Word, we see Holy Spirit come and meet people in their weakness. In that place of great need he is more than ready to be the fulfillment. Holy Spirit does not shy away from the things we struggle with but welcomes us to come to Him in the midst of these challenges. Our weaknesses create an opportunity to experience the goodness and strength of God. We get to give our weakness to Holy Spirit as an invitation for Him to speak and move in our hearts and through our lives. Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 12:10b: "For my weakness becomes a portal to God's power (TPT)." We then welcome His power in our weakness and vulnerability!  To be transparent with you, this season of life has been wonderful, yet challenging for us. We've had a lot of time to grow in our relationship with one another and with Jesus, which is awesome, but we also have been challenged with the disappointment of our plans not falling into place at the time we expected them to and other hardships. Instead of trying to move on from our emotions or avoiding God in the midst of the disappointment, we have been able to be real and vulnerable with Him in the middle of the challenges and struggles. We have been learning so much about who we are and who God is as Holy Spirit has walked with us and spoken over us in our weakness. We still do not have it all together, but Holy Spirit has really shown His power and His perspective to us through being vulnerable and honest with Him.  We pray that in the middle of whatever you are going through, whether it is physical pain, sickness, depression, anxiety, loss, or disappointment, that Holy Spirit reveals Himself to you and reminds you that you can talk to Him and lean on His power in you. May you unashamedly be open with Him and receive victory as you journey with Him through the process in Jesus' name!!   And now we are brothers and sisters in God’s family because of the blood of Jesus, and he welcomes us to come into the most holy sanctuary in the heavenly realm—boldly and without hesitation. For he has dedicated a new, life-giving way for us to approach God. For just as the veil was torn in two, Jesus’ body was torn open to give us free and fresh access to him!  And since we now have a magnificent High Priest to welcome us into God’s house, we come closer to God and approach him with an open heart, fully convinced that nothing will keep us at a distance from him. For our hearts have been sprinkled with blood to remove impurity, and we have been freed from an accusing conscience. Now we are clean, unstained, and presentable to God inside and out! (HEBREWS 10:19-22) Love,  Elijah and Sierra

From Dry Bones To Faith In Believing

During my quiet time I was pondering the highly anticipated great outpouring of the Lord’s Spirit where we were going to see many miracles, healings and works of power. I recalled having ministered with Randy Clark in Brazil and how incredibly easy it was to pray for people and see them instantly healed. There was an atmosphere of open heavens every place we went. Having returned to America I was surprised by a distinct contrast of the Presence of the Lord. At my first service after returning the church was alive with worship, dancing, flags and general shaking and baking. However, I was overwhelmed with a feeling that I was in a deeply conservative, dry, evangelical environment. It felt non-charismatic. Though seemingly bathed in the light and joy of the Spirit I felt like there was a pall over the whole church in America. The Lord then reminded me of the scripture in Ezekiel 37 about the valley of dry bones coming to life and here is an excerpt: “Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.”   The Lord then said the faith we have now is the dry bones He is going to breath life into and revive. He is going to increase our faith by lifting the dome of unbelief off of America. He is going to lift the kibosh and a stifling of God’s move in our midst. We are going to have open heavens over us – clear skies – on Earth as it is in heaven. I saw in a vision a huge waterfall in the sky pouring water over the Earth, over us. Vast quantities of water from heaven pouring upon us is coming like Niagara Falls. We are going to see things we never thought possible. We are going to see miracles, healings, works of power which will build our faith and lift us to a new level of ease of praying for the sick, praying for miracles, praying effective prayers. A fresh breath of air is coming from His glorious Spirit! Blessings! - Bill Hernandez (Taken from my blog; whisperoflove.org)

What Do You See?

In John 5 Jesus says, “I only do what I see my Father doing.” It seems pretty important that our eyes are open to what is happening in the unseen realm. In 2006, a group of us were in Israel praying for our Saturday night service. As we were praying, I suddenly saw a picture of so many small gold crowns. During this open vision, I began putting them on young girls’ heads. These girls seemed to be 6-8 years old from a country in Asia. I was filled with so much love for these girls. As I put the crowns on their heads, Jesus began to show them their true worth and identity. Fast forward 7 years later, during my first trip to Cambodia, I was helping at a safe home for young girls who were trafficked (many sold by their own family). As I was praying about what activity I should do with them, I felt I should talk to the girls about the value Jesus has given them and buy gold crowns for them to decorate. It wasn’t until my team and I put the crowns on the girls’ heads that I remembered the vision I had 7 years earlier. Many things happen in the spirit realm before it’s manifest in our natural world.   “Faith celebrates as certain what hope visualizes as future. Faith alone explains what is not apparent to the natural eye; how the ages were perfectly framed by the Word of God. Now we understand that everything visible has its origin in the invisible.” Hebrews 11:1-3 (Mirror translation)   God asks, “what do you see?” throughout the bible (Jeremiah 1:11, Amos 7:8, Zechariah 4:2). Jesus challenged the disciples pretty often to see from heaven’s perspective. In our current time, it’s pretty easy to see what’s not going right in our world. But Jesus is always encouraging us to see from a different viewpoint. Our spiritual sight allows us to partner with what God is doing. It bypasses our limited understanding and temporal perspective to see the eternal; what’s lasting.   My prayer is that God would begin to awaken all of your senses to what he is doing and saying. He loves to communicate in ways that are personal to you. He is always available, accessible and faithful to share more with you! I encourage you to take some time to get quiet and listen to what he wants to show you today.    Love, Karena

Grace for Your Journey

Last week in worship I had a vision in which I saw Jesus standing tall, looking at each of us. His eyes blazed with light, his mouth wide with a smile.  Individual beams of light shown out from his eyes, each directed towards a person, straight and unwavering. I realized these beams of light were illuminating each person’s path, with God radiating His love and affection towards them, while at the same time drawing the person back to Himself.  Occasionally a person would get distracted or lose focus and wander off this “narrow” path for whatever reason.  When this happened, the path of light would widen out to where the person was.  Then a very subtle, gentle wind would start blowing them back toward the center of the path.  The wind was so gentle that it could be resisted, and not always recognized if you weren’t paying attention.  God was seeking to get their attention, but with a whisper.  And I sensed in His patience He would continue to nudge them as long is it took, without feeling anxious or upset with them.   When I was a young parent watching my children wander away from doing what I thought was best for them, I didn’t always respond with a “subtle, gentle wind”.  Often, out of fear or impatience, I would try to control the situation.  But our Jesus never responds out of fear or a need to control us.  And I could see, as He continued watching with those eyes filled with joy and affection, His smile never left His lips.  He wasn’t worried.  He had total confidence that the wind of His love would find His sheep, every time, with patience, with kindness, with truth.   His love is understanding, generous and constant.  His grace is sufficient, and He is gracious to extend help to us even when we don’t recognize the help for what it is, as He guides us along our journey in this world. I pray we all continue to grow in recognizing the grace that is extended to us every day.  As Graham Cooke would say, God is not looking for us to make a mistake, He is looking for opportunities to give us an upgrade! Love, Pastor Susan

Alive In Christ To Choose Loving Connection

Suzanne and I had the joy of going to four church services last weekend, one of them being Blazing Fire’s. Four different churches reflecting on the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus. Four distinct flavors and traditions all celebrating the indescribable gift of grace. It was the beauty of the Body of Christ—one body and many parts—each part fully alive because of the head, Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 12:27; Eph 1:22-23)   One of the many ways Jesus’ death and resurrected life has saved us is by making us one in him. By reconciling us to Himself, the Father’s dream was for his children to enjoy their oneness with the Trinity and thereby, enjoy their oneness with one another.   I share this because we’re living in a time when we’ve been very tempted by the enemy to make the choice to be right rather than choosing loving connection. Our flesh (i.e. our selfish ego) finds many reasons to divide. Far too many. Fear causes us to recoil and look for distance from those who don’t see life the way we do. The inherent problem with dividing ourselves from those who think differently is that we will isolate ourselves down to the lowest common denominator…and life with our own self can become very lonely.   We were meant to share life with people who are different than us which, by the way, would be every other person on the earth. Those who choose to be right over choosing loving connection with others will read this article and immediately begin to justify why protecting yourself from those who think differently than you is the better course of action.   Love is always the better course of action. Above and beyond the doctrines of what each of us believes about Jesus and about our own life’s purpose, is the person of Jesus Himself. What I’m saying is that the Scriptures were never meant as a weapon to cause division and disconnection, but to draw us more deeply into the very heart of Jesus who personally teaches us about the ways of love.   The Author of Love placed Himself within us because only love can overcome all fear (1 John 4:18) so that we can choose connection over isolation and polarization.   Jesus said, “I give you a new command: Love one another in the very same way that I have loved you!”   Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, said, “Above all, preserve an intense love for one another.”  (1 Peter 4:8). Above everything else, do this one thing!   Paul, the writer of most of the books in the New Testament who was radically changed by a face-to-face encounter with Jesus, said, “Love never does the graceless thing; never insists on its rights, never irritably loses its temper; never nurses its wrath to keep it warm. Love’s first instinct is to believe in people; love never regards anyone or anything as hopeless; nothing can happen that can break love’s spirit. Love lasts forever.” (portions of 1 Cor 13 in Barclay’s Translation)   Loving each other, then, appears to be the biggest deal to God.   Remember that all transformation in our lives—the living Jesus within us—happens by grace! So, if you are willing, pray this (out loud preferably):   Father, soften my heart with your tender love. I choose, by your grace, to love others with the very same love you have for me. Holy Spirit, show me where I’ve made being right more important than loving connection. I choose to turn away from my flesh and yield to your life in me instead. Jesus, thank you for demonstrating on the earth what love looks like. As your follower, I am a new creation—one with you and with your life flowing through me. I receive your grace to walk in the fulness of your prayer (John 17:21) that we would all be one just as you and the Father are one.

The Devastating Beauty Of The Cross

Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. - ISAIAH 53:4 & 5 -

There was a particular Saturday, a couple years back, when I was not feeling like I would be able to lead worship that night. During the day I was carrying several burdens, struggles and even wrestling with some internal things that I considered to be sinful.  I remember feeling overwhelmed and like I would be a hypocrite and performer if I attempted lead others to adore Jesus that day. My attempt to get out of leading failed.  Not all that long before the service I was crying out to God for help and repenting also.  There was this beautiful moment when God broke in with a clear picture and placed it in my heart and mind.  I saw myself in war trenches, covered in mud and as broken as broken can get.  My thoughts went to what it's like for men who have been in those trenches together.  They hold each other up.  They wildly encourage each other to keep going.  They see each other in the most vulnerable, broken and gritty place possible and still move to protect.  They still have a love for each other that's unique.  They come out of that situation with a bond unmatched by other bonds.  Jesus spoke to me that He was in the trenches with me.  He showed me that He is right there in the grime and agony of the struggle and He wants to walk me into victory....into freedom. Somewhere in this vision I began to see the cross. Jesus likened the devastation of the pain, suffering and intense burden of everyone's sin to being in the trenches with me...with us. I saw how beautiful this sacrifice is, how beautiful such a friendship is, how beautiful such a love is.  And I saw how devastating and absolutely gnarly the same moment is.  The overwhelming beauty of Jesus' acceptance of me right where I was caused my heart to become so so tender that I couldn't wait to worship Him as deep as I could. I felt so honored that He allowed me to take others with me, even on such a day.  We can talk about this every Easter season and always in between, but none of us quite grasp the fulness of what was done for us and how it is a reality right now, even in the muddy, scary trenches.  Bless you all as you reflect on what Jesus took away from you and how He did it...and as you rejoice in the new life that sprang up from the ground!!! Love, Todd

What Does It Mean To Be IN CHRIST?

I have a Rat-Terrier, Coco, who’s in her later stages of life. She can’t see nor hear very well and she’s most at peace when resting nearby me.   This morning, the continual pacing of her clickity-clack nails on our hardwood floor alerted me that Coco wasn’t quite at ease and needed something. I remembered we had moved some furniture around and her doggie bed was across the room in an unfamiliar place and too far away from me where she wanted to be. As soon as I repositioned her bed a few feet away from me, she instantly snuggled in and soon was resting peacefully again.   We too need a place to snuggle in or we will continue pacing and wondering why we can’t be at peace and finding rest. Jesus is God’s answer. It’s called being IN Christ.   It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God— that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.             1 Corinthians 1:30 (NIV)   We find our peace by curling up in the security of Jesus’ embrace. We belong to him and nothing can change that. In this place, any anxiety of not being enough fades away. Our regrets from the past and our future tripping fears take a back seat to enjoying Jesus in this present moment. Securely in Christ, we are positioned in the loving gaze of our heavenly Father who takes care of every need that we have.   Today, I pray for you a rest from any anxious pacing and the grace to rest in the loving embrace of your Savior Jesus. In Christ is where you were always designed to be!   With Love,                Pastor Brent