Whatcha Thinkin' About?

Our thought life actually takes manifested form.  It will make physical changes to our bodies. It will show up in circumstances, determining outcomes and so on. Brain scientists, who don't know God (yet), even know that this is true.  Carolyn Leaf, (a brain scientist who does know God), explains in detail what is happening and how this truth lines up with scripture.   Well how do we know this is true ourselves?  Blood pressure literally rises and falls depending on what's going on in our thought life.  People sometimes develop ulcers due to thought life.  If you take a couple of moments and think about this, you might realize other things that can happen to your body, instantly or over time, due to your thoughts. Positive thinking draws good things and negative thinking, the opposite.  God knows that we are complex because He designed us that way. In that complexity is the very ability to become the head and not the tail, above and not beneath. He give us tools throughout the Bible that show us how to be "transformed by the renewing of our mind". (Romans 12:2)  Check this out: "If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind;  and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way and then that. If you don’t ask with faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer." - James 1:5 - 8 - Wow, right? This passage is talking about faith, for sure, but faith linked to our thought life...a doubtful mind verses a believing mind. There are two different outcomes here, depending on what path we allow our thinking to go down.  TODAY we can, all of us, shift the way we think and start getting different results.  Many of us have a lot of "traffic" going on in that mind of ours. It's years of habit, teaching by society and so on.  BUT, we can change this. We can start by declaring the truthful Word over our minds; "I have the mind of Christ!"  (1 Corinthians 2:16)  When we realize that "Christ" is the anointed One AND His anointing, (God on flesh, doing what flesh can't do), this will begin to penetrate our thinking and start a good work.  We  can spend more time praying in the spirit, (1 Corinthians 14:15), which bypasses the defects of our human thinking and allows our flesh self to pray what the spirit is praying. And when our thinking strays away on us, we can actually take those thoughts captive and put them under God's own thinking patterns! (2 Corinthians 10:5).   Truly our Father is kind and offers us much training and solutions about our thinking. Now we need to practice those solutions, (meditate on His truth) with zeal for a better thought life and watch things get better right before our very eyes...and even everyone else's! Heeeeeeeeeeey! Love, Todd

Age of Enlightenment

Like when you turn the light dimmer up, so will there be an increase of light across the world for all people and it’s getting very close. He showed me there would be a suspension of darkness to a degree and I could see a great light above the Earth shining more brightly on the world. There will be an increase of grace, hope, tolerance, cooperation, understanding, insight. He said love is light that illuminates the darkness. He showed me that this will happen in all beliefs and all sectors of life. There will be a raising of conscience and mindfulness. The great move of His Spirit will be less about Christians and more about them who do not believe, never believed or denied His existence. This will be about sweeping billions into the kingdom as this will be the tipping point for them into salvation and being brought before His throne. I could see congregations bursting at the seams with new believers. For them that already do believe, we will be overwhelmed with joy and awe as many souls before us come into His kingdom. An increase in light will make the fields ready for harvest. This is more than just the prodigals, but for them who never had any spiritual connection or inkling and who presently walk unawares, oblivious and in complete darkness. Let there be light. Amen. I felt like He said that this would last for decades and not just a temporary outpouring. Society will change across the board for a very long time. BIG LOVE, Bill

New Life Is Upon Us

For the last couple of weeks I have been seeing the color green as the Lord has been highlighting it to me showing up in photos and television again and again. Recently I saw on TV a woman with a green gown, the furniture was green, the curtains were green, the wallpaper was green, a man’s robe was green, background imagery was green. I asked Him what all this green meant. He said that we are in Spring now where lots of green appears. From His point of view the whole Earth is in Spring even though now is Summer. In Spring all the plants wake from their winter slumber and start putting out new shoots, leaves, branches etc.. We are emerging like those shoots coming up from the ground. He said that we have not died, but had gone to seed over this past season and now is the time those seeds are sprouting. We are sprouting and coming forth. We have all been through a season of being pruned back across the globe. Every walk of life has been affected by the impacts of Covid. Many of us feel like we have gone fallow and have lost vision. It’s not over for us at all. We are in a season now of new life where callings and destinies will be clarified and that is just the beginning. Once all the plants spring forth with greenery then comes the flowers and after the flowers the fruit. We are being prepared for abundant fruitfulness. We had a healthy, fruitful lemon tree when I was a teenager and I pruned it back severely to practice my overzealous gardening skills. It just had stumps for branches and my parents were in shock and mom tearful. The next year the tree had so many branches with hundreds lemons they all had to be supported by boards and poles. Just so, this is a vision of what we can expect and will happen for us. Since we were fruitful before, we will be fruitful again. Be encouraged. Having been pruned and cut back in our ministries, careers, finances and everywhere else you will see the emergence of more than you had before. Our new Spring which we are in will spring forth an abundance we never expected. I see callings, destinies and gifting we never knew we had. Doug Addison says that a new season of authority is here. I agree. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day. Prov 4:18 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. John 15:1-2   Affectionately, Bill

Keeping Watch Over Our Hearts

Watch over your heart with all diligence,  For from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs 4:23 NASB

Those raised around American evangelical traditions tend to think of sin in a legal sense - as a violation of God’s law.  This “crime and punishment” framework can lead us away from experiencing God’s essence as our father.  He is our eternal good father.   What if we saw our sins as violations of the divine fountain of our being - the springs of life flowing in our depths?   Something which God gave humans when when He created us in His likeness.  In the Scriptures, Father God and Jesus warn us with specific examples of how our heart attitudes and actions either protect or harm the purity of our “springs of life”. One such warning is in the Matthew 7:1-2 passage about not judging others in a condemning way lest we be judged by the same measure.  I shared a message about this on Saturday night July 17.  By using scriptures and a story from Brené Brown’s book Rising Strong I hoped to clarify this sometimes misunderstood direction.  Has someone ever told you: Jesus said “don’t judge” so you have no place to judge me about anything?  We need the Trinity’s wisdom. You can watch or listen here on Facebook or here on Blazing Fire’s Worship Service youtube channel.

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To my encouragement and joy, I’ve received feedback from several of you.  This is from Ellie Torrens: ——————— Thank you again for sharing last Saturday night. As I was driving home last Saturday night, I was thinking about some of the things you shared from Matthew 7:1-2 about not judging. As I thought more about it with Holy Spirit, it seemed like Holy Spirit was revealing when we judge people harshly we are probably using that same standard (or worse) on ourselves. That “same measure” of judgement is so hurtful!  It’s even worse when it comes from ourself towards ourself because then we cannot escape the one condemning us.  Judging others creates a prison of cruelty for others and ourselves. This prison really keeps us in a box and keeps our relationships from flourishing. Judgement often times creates labels and results in us labeling others and ourselves incorrectly. By seeking to give others grace and not judging, may we also grow to love ourselves with the same measure.  Which in summary is .... loving your neighbor as yourself. ———————— Some freeing, life-giving truth right there.  Thank you Ellie. With affection,                     Russ Fochler

SING

Last Saturday night we talked about our song.  God sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17). We sing back to Him (Psalms 95 and all over the Bible). We sing to and over other people (Ephesians 5:19). Our song is powerful. It breaks things away that should be broken away. The song has creative power. There's life in it, redemption, testimony and so on.  We see it throughout the Bible, like when Miriam broke out into song when the enemy was swallowed up by the Red Sea. Paul and Silas were singing in a rotten dungeon they were locked away in and suddenly all cells broke free.  The power of the song is everywhere.   C. S. Lewis used this truth in the very creation of the magical land, Narnia.  In his book, the Magician's Nephew, the lion, Aslan, ends up in a dark void where he begins to sing.  The song reached out into the nothingness, bringing light and forming the landscape. That's how Narnia was born.  I wanted to share a testimony of my own about the power of the song.  We once lived right across the street from a house that hosted some pretty un-tame parties.  Even beyond the parties there was so much unrest coming from the household. It was not a pleasant situation for the rest of us neighbors.  My keyboard was in our front room where I could see the neighbors house. Eventually I started singing songs of peace and salvation over that house.  I did this pretty often.  Sometimes I felt really bold about it and other times I wondered if it was just silly and meaningless.  One morning I was singing a devotional set at our local house of prayer, East Bay Prayer Furnace.  At one point, two young adult ladies came in, knelt on the floor and entered into some deep worship to Jesus.  One of these girls looked so familiar to me but I couldn't quite place where I had seen her before.  Later that afternoon I was in my front yard at home.  A young lady from the house across the street came over to talk to me saying, "That was so powerful this morning. Thank you for leading us in worship like that."  My reaction: "THAT WAS YOU!!!!!"  She shared with me how she had recently found Jesus and that she was now praying for the rest her household.  Eventually I became friends with the whole family over there.  There's nothing in me that doubts that the songs I was singing over my neighbors were powerful prayers that helped lead to peace across the street.  It doesn't matter if you're a great singer or you're out of tune.  There is power in your song.  Let your heart and mind realize that the maker of the Universe sings over you. Let that song resonate in you and spring back up out of you like a fountain of life! Psalms 87:7 Those who sing and those who dance will say together, “All my fountains of joy are in You.”   Love, Todd

LOVE matters

During our worship gathering last Saturday, many people in the room got up and shared openly about the good things God is doing in their lives—breakthroughs, healings, acts of kindness, family relationships restored, and helping others to see and follow Jesus!   Listening to you all, I felt like the Apostle Paul who said, “You are the living letter of the Anointed One, the Liberating King, nurtured by us and inscribed, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God—a letter too passionate to be chiseled onto stone tablets, but emblazoned upon the human heart. 2 Corinthians 3:3 (VOICE)   I know this has been an extremely challenging season with so many frustrations boiling up to the surface all around us, but I’m so proud of the ways in which you are continuing to allow God to beautifully refine your heart through it all and how you are making choices every day to represent the heart of Jesus. It is the Spirit of the living God in you who empowers you with Christ’s love to reach out to others. His love in you looks like something, and your love and kindness are making a difference!   “So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, t he time will come when we will reap the harvest.” Galatians 6:9 (GNV)   Know that when you choose to encourage someone, connect with another’s heart, pray for another’s healing, share the good news of how Jesus has reconciled us to God, or a myriad of other ways you are advancing God’s kingdom of heaven here on the earth, it matters!    Love matters and love wins!   With Love in My Heart for You,   Brent

Awakening Hearts In Our Families

I was recently talking to my daughter Sierra about all God has done in this last year she’s been home from Australia. She shared that one of the greatest gifts has been spending so much quality time with family. In the last few months, we’ve seen God soften hearts in a profound way and begin to bring reconciliation and healing in our family and extended family. It feels that the great awakening we’ve been praying for and experiencing is beginning in our families first.   “Through our union with Christ, we too have been claimed by God as his own inheritance. Before we were even born, he gave us our destiny; that we would fulfill the plan of God who always accomplishes every purpose and plan in his heart.” Ephesians 1:11 (TPT)   Jesus sat around the table with Judas who he knew would betray him and Peter who he knew would deny him. It blows my mind that didn’t cause him to withdraw his love for them. Of course, there are times we need to have boundaries with those who continually show us the need for them. At the same time, God has been giving me more empathy and better understanding behind some of the more difficult interactions in my family. The more love and grace I receive, the easier it is to give it away. We can only work through relational challenges with the help of Holy Spirit.   As we took communion last Saturday night, we received all Jesus paid for on the cross, not only for ourselves, but for our families. That includes spouses, children, grandchildren (and future children and grandchildren!), sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and more! Your spiritual inheritance exceeds far beyond what you can see in the here and now. The blood of Jesus covers every conflict that seems impossible to work through and every family member that you may feel is too far gone. His blood speaks of a greater love, a call to come home, a beautiful redemption story that’s still unfolding.   I encourage you to take some time and ask Jesus to show you how he feels about each person in your family. And let’s continue to agree for that great awakening of hearts! Love, Karena