Partnering in Prayer

Last Saturday night we spent time worshipping and praying over our region, joining in agreement with what God was doing during The Sound SF. We’ve heard some amazing testimonies of how God moved during the weekend. It’s such an honor and privilege to partner with what he is doing. One scripture we prayed over our hearts, over our cities and the world around us is Ephesians 3:16-21. I encourage you to do the same. God’s word is alive, living, active. As you pray this scripture, you are agreeing with what Jesus has already done and participating with what heaven knows to be true.   “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”   This scripture is meant to be experienced. I pray that your spirit will receive the width, the length, the height and the depth of his love for you more and more and more!    Love, Karena

Take A Jesus Break - by Brent Lokker

Back in the day when I was a kid, there was a popular phrase used by doctors: “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” It was told to patients who complained of a minor malady by telephone (notice I didn’t say cell phone since those weren’t close to invented yet!). Minor ailments often disappeared overnight and more serious ailments were tended to by the doctor the following day. But this phrase also started to be used as a joking way of telling someone not to bother you with trivial matters.   For what has been ailing us in this world, especially over the past few years, two aspirin certainly won’t do it. Only Jesus will. Though fear would try to convince us otherwise, we don’t have control over other people or world events that might disturb us. What we do have is the choice to trust Jesus over and over again with our hearts—to show us things we could not see apart from him. And not just what needs to be healed or taken out of our way of thinking, but also what’s good and true about who he says we are. This is the beauty of the transforming nature of Christ within us! And the exposure of our false self that allows our true self in Christ to emerge is what actually changes the world around us, one heart at a time, as we allow the light within us to touch others with our Father’s love and hope.   So, when we are feeling overwhelmed or discouraged or disappointed or a hundred other emotions that can bring us down. We need to turn to Jesus. We need a Jesus break! How often? Well, “as a way of life” is where Jesus is taking us! And, by the way, Jesus doesn’t see anything trivial about your life or what concerns you. On the contrary, he wants to be invited into every aspect of your life, even what others might think is trivial. He’s right here within you. How about a Jesus break right now?   “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)    “I will not leave you orphaned. I’m coming back. In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me because I am alive and you’re about to come alive. At that moment you will know absolutely that I’m in my Father, and you’re in me, and I’m in you.” John 14:18-20 (MSG)    LOVE,  Brent

An Exhortation from My Heartj

I really believe we’re in an opportune moment of time to see Jesus bring light to a hurting world in greater measure. Lately, I haven’t been able to escape this scripture. Every time I read it, my eyes well up with tears because it feels important.   “Don’t let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility and lift your heads to extend love to others. Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere and secure your neighbors’ interests first. In other words, adopt the mindset of Jesus. Live with his attitude in your hearts.” Philippians 2:3-5 (Voice translation)     The farther removed we are from people that we disagree with, the easier it is to criticize. Surprisingly, Jesus surrounded himself with young men who were often prideful, argumentative and didn’t always see from heaven’s perspective. Yet, he chose to sit around a table with them and fellowship. There are so many opportunities for us to choose unity and to toss “us vs. them” aside for good. There is no hierarchy in the kingdom. Heaven sees each of us as equals, even those who think and believe differently than us.     As we learn to lean in and listen to the real cry of people’s hearts, Jesus will show up like only he can. Compassion is an expression of love. It compels you to respond; not out of guilt or obligation but out of the overflow that God has put inside of you. Some of you may be feeling like you’re running on empty and that you don’t have anything to give. Maybe YOU’RE the one you need to give extra compassion to right now. Your needs are just as important as those around you.      I feel God challenging me to not only see those I don’t agree with through His lens, but to also be part of the change I want to see. I once heard someone say that it’s important and healthy to have three different types of people in your life:   1)  Someone who is pouring into you (a mentor, parent, boss, pastor) 2)  A reciprocal relationship (a “give and take” friendship) 3)  Someone you are pouring into     My prayer is that God will highlight these people in your life. We are living in a time where people are looking for connection, for authenticity, for loving mothers and fathers. You have something to give that no one else can. And lastly, I pray that we would be continually reminded that we are not unified by agreement, but by God’s spirit living inside each one of us.   With so much love, Karena

Groaning For The Glory

Each one of us are called to live out the Isaiah 61 mandate within our own sphere of influence. The Mirror Translation captures this passage so beautifully, “The Spirit of the Lord us upon me, because he has anointed me to announce glad tidings to a starving people; he has commissioned me to announce the freedom of forgiveness to those held captive at spear-point by their guilt and shame; also the blind many now look up and be restored in their sight! I am anointed to send out those who are bruised and traumatized, into the freedom of their redeemed innocence. I announce that the Jubilee year of the Lord has come! This is the liberation celebration of the Lord, embracing humanity home”. What is the promise? Jesus is our hope! He is the hope of the nations. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory, the hope of things to come (Colossians 1:27). Francois du Toit of The Mirror says it like this, “He is not hiding in history, or in outer space nor in the future, neither in the pages of Scripture — he is merely mirrored there to be unveiled within you! What God was now able to disclose in the saints is immediately equally relevant in the nations! Christ in the nations is the hope of glory!! This is the mystery of the ages! This is what we were waiting for.” Romans 8:19 in The Passion declares, “The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters!” The earth is groaning for the authentic sons and daughters to rise up. What is being unveiled? The Trinity is taking us back to the Garden where it all began. They’re restoring the garden in our heart; They’re restoring us back to the original design. We are being restored in Their image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). We are being restored and transformed to the place where we do life from, from a place of partaking from the The Tree of Life vs. the mindsets, paradigms and misalignments that attempt to cause us to partake from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He’s restoring communities, regions and nations backs to their original design, their original DNA; He’s setting things back in motion. What are we being unveiled with? The glory of Jesus Christ! Christ’s glory comes to us, enters us, fills us, envelopes us, then is revealed through us as partakers of the glory. I’ve heard people say that God will not share His glory with “any other” (Isaiah 42). We are no longer “another” for we are one with the Father, with the Son and and with the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus, just as we were with the Them back in the garden in the very beginning where it all began. When we look at Jesus dying on the cross, ultimately, it was to give the Father back His right to cover the earth with His glory. Ephesians 2:6 has given us the perfection and authority to be co-seated with Him. Jesus keeps looking at us, not as we see ourselves through our own filters and lenses, but turns and looks at us in the heavenly places seated with Him, gazing and focusing on us as complete and whole. A fresh baptism in the Holy Spirit, one of of fire and glory, is coming to encounter us and take us deeper into the heart of the Father—one that sets communities, tribes and nations back into their original design where they live from the place of fullness and glory. From this, God is forming new wineskins in us for the New Wine that He is pouring out like never before. Get ready for the overflow in your life from the intimacy and sustained connection in His heart that this new vintage will yield. May Ruach Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit in Hebrew), the Spirit of Truth, continue to set our souls on fire as we partner with him as He continues to lead and guide us into all truth. Love,           Joel

Out of the Grey

We truly have an amazing thing going on in us every single day. When some days we feel off or grey, think of this fact; Great, Big, Wonderful God of the Universe has a Spirit and that Spirit lives inside of us! Holy Spirit lives from the realm of the perfect: perfect peace, perfect revelation, perfect love.... That person, Holy Spirit is with us and for us. A constant companion, Holy Spirit, is willing to guide us through everything from the little stuff to the big stuff and more.   Romans 8:14 tells us that “the original life of the Father revealed in his Son is the life the Spirit now conducts within us.” WOW, what a privilege! One of our tendencies is to become dull or fogged over. Often, it’s because we forget the heavenly resource we have within. But as a permanent resident, Holy Spirit is right there, willing to help lift us up and shift us out of the grey and into vibrancy again. Even when we feel stuck about what to talk about with God, there’s help. Check this out: “The Spirit also sighs within us with words too deep for articulation, assisting us in our prayers when we struggle to know how to pray properly. When we feel restricted in our flesh, he supersedes our clumsy efforts and hits the bulls-eye every time. He who scrutinizes the heart understands the intention of the spirit. His intercession for the saints is consistent with the blue-print purpose of God.” Romans 8:26 & 27 Really, we don’t need to spin our wheels, wondering what to do, where to go and so on. We think we do. We even seem to think that it’s irresponsible to be more at ease when we’re facing things. But again, we have one Who knows it all and has our best in mind. He wants to take us from the grey area to where life is flowing. Let’s let him!   John 16:13 “When the Friend comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is.”

Never the Same

Pentecost is upon us, the time we celebrate the original dramatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit to signify God was no longer content to be present with his children as a cloud or a pillar of fire or any other external way, but had to live inside each one of us, collectively, within his bride.   In every way, when Jesus was in human flesh, he perfectly modeled the life of our original design. The way God purposed us to live can be seen in Jesus. In humility he was baptized to model for us the need to die to our independent and old ways of thinking and perceiving what we thought was true of God, ourselves and others. Jesus knew we would have no way of doing this on our own, but that God would miraculously include us in Christ’s death on the cross. This is why Romans 6:3 reminds us, “when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death.”   Then, when Jesus came up from the waters of the Jordan River, he was immediately filled with the Spirit, a gift from God. Jesus’ life was never the same after that. Once again, Jesus was modeling for us God’s purpose and design for our lives. Jesus, always the forerunner, experienced what his disciples were to encounter on the Day of Pentecost and what countless followers of Jesus have experienced to this very day—a dramatic and powerful encounter with Holy Spirit’s infilling of love and power, never to be the same again!   Alive on the earth fully as a human, Jesus could not have released his Father’s Kingdom with love, forgiveness, signs and wonders without being filled with God’s Spirit. If he could, then we would not need Holy Spirit. That simply isn’t true.   From the time Jesus was filled with the Spirit, he also modeled complete dependence and showed us what the Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life looks like for us to walk in the same.   Immediately after his baptism, Jesus was tested in the desert, a test of whether Jesus would listen to the lies of the enemy regarding his true identity, or whether he would trust his loving Father and rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit within him to declare the truth of his being the way God knew it to be. He passed the test and showed us how to do the same.   Upon his return from the desert, Jesus declared the purpose of his life as designed by his heavenly Father. By declaring this Old Testament prophecy as his own life’s purpose, he was inviting us to do the very same. As you read this, I encourage you to be aware of how the Spirit you are speaking of vibrantly lives within you. I encourage you to yield to the sweet, tender and powerful Holy Spirit within to brilliantly lead you to live out your life’s true design. I encourage you to follow Jesus’ example and declare what is true of yourself:   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to announce glad tidings to a starving people; he has commissioned me to announce the freedom of forgiveness to those held captive at spear-point by their guilt and shame; also, the blind may now look up and be restored in their sight. I am anointed to send out those who are bruised and traumatized, into the freedom of their redeemed innocence. I announce the Jubilee year of the Lord has come. This is the liberation celebration of the Lord, embracing humanity.”  (Luke 4:18-19 in The Mirror Bible)

The Choice Is Yours

Faith is a lens that changes everything! I liken it to my recent cataract surgery, where image and color were reborn through the new lenses. “I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone” is my latest song! The decisions we make daily aren’t isolated choices. They carry the potential to point us in the direction we are divinely set up to go or get us off track. Unfortunately, too many dreams, well-intended plans, and callings from God get buried with people who “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve,” but never did!        These people never found their courageous “Yes, I’m ‘gonna’ do this,” and gave up the fight for their confidence to say, “No, I will not walk away or accept defeat!” However, they may agree now that delayed obedience to God’s voice can be disobedience with a price attached.         As I sat on the restaurant patio looking at my friends, the Lokkers, an “Open for Business During Construction” sign was in their background above a huge deep hole in the ground. I heard in my spirit, “The deeper the hole, the greater the building.” Doing our Father’s Kingdom business can be a long and arduous process, and the digging can be painful, but if it were easy, everyone would do it, and there would be a crowd at the top of our mountain!         This month thirty-six pararescuemen graduated with my son, James, after conquering the rigorous “pipeline” training with an 80 to 100 percent attrition rate! “PJs” must endure the pressure of these cuts for two years while they complete each training segment of selection, combat dive school, airborne, free fall, survival training, paramedic school, tactics, and mastering the helicopter’s air operations. They are the elite Special forces who globally rescue military and civilians and work with NASA. Their mascot is the guardian angel, and their motto is “We do these things that others may live.” The correlation is prominent among believers who are trained as disciples of Jesus to fulfill the great commission; to go into all of the world, baptize all in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons,        Are you willing and positioned to be trained, sharpened, and honed with creative skills to set the prisoners free, bring healing to the wounded, and dedicate your time, energy, and life to aiding others?         The great stag in the forest wins by the strength of his antlers. Where he fed the season before will determine his defeat or victory!         When we offer God our willingness, He empowers us to take what He has given us and multiply that blessing to others. The process begins with OUR FAITH IN HIM to take the first few steps, and then the adventure begins as we awaken to the Divine Set-Ups He brings to our attention to demonstrate HIS FAITH IN US! Then there is character building, attitude shaping, and soul defining, all of which must take place for us to become what God intends. The step-by-step accomplishments are more than tasks. We are building a legacy ~ we are shaping God’s Kingdom and discovering the calling for our family and us.   Kathleen O’Donnell Dew is the Author of Divine Set-Ups, Coincidence or Destiny? She and Bill Dew ministered at Blazing Fire last Saturday where dozens experienced the healing power of God.