The Real You

Its incredible how good of a job the church has done at wrongly defining the identity of the saved. Now don't get me wrong, I love the church but we are constantly shocked at times by what believers 'believe' about themselves and how they came to certain conclusions about who they are.

Kris Valloton once said, "I have a sense that if you knew who you were, then all the stuff in your life that you struggle with would evaporate. I'm convinced that every single person from a child molester to a murderer, every single crime against mankind is rooted in, You don't know God loves you and you don't know who you are."

We have made the mistake of linking our identity to our behavior instead of linking our Identity to Jesus and then living out of that place.

We were never called to live from the outside in but from the inside out!

Just recently I had someone come to me and they asked me to pray for them to have freedom. As soon as they said it the Lord spoke to me and said 'the truth shall set you free'. The devil was running circles around this person simply because they did not fully know the truth of who they were. I told the person that I would not pray for them for freedom because it's the truth that sets you free. So instead I just spoke the truth of who that person really is and immediately their face started to change from sad to happy to overwhelmingly overjoyed.

He whom the Son sets free is free indeed!!

We are not sinners we are Saints (Eph1:1). We are not not servants, we are Sons (Gal4:5-7). We are not abandoned, we are Accepted (Eph1:6). We no longer have a sin nature, We have Christ's nature (Rom6:6-7, 1John4:17). We are no longer in bondage, we are Free (John8:36, Gal5:1). We are not defeated, we are victorious (1Cor15:57). We are not sick, we are Healed (1Peter2:24). We are not unrighteous, we are Righteous (Rom3:21-22). We are not unjust, we are Justified by Faith (Gal2:16). We are not depressed, we are overwhelmed with Joy (Phil4:4).

Thank You Jesus for the Cross!

Thank You Jesus for Truth!

Thank You Jesus for You!

This is the truth of the Word. This is who we are in the Spirit. This is our identity. The truth of our identity may not match our behavior at the moment but it will as we renew our mind to the reality of who we really are. Amen, Amen and Amen.

The reality of knowing who we are also produces an ability to recognize who we are not and therefore able to guard against the lies of the enemy. The enemy has ground in many christians not because he is powerful and took it, but because we don't know who we really are and have given the ground to him.

Many of us know and can quote John 8:32, "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" but we forget about the verse before which says, "If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;" IF YOU CONTINUE IN MY WORD.....then you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. The word is a perfect reflection of who we are in the Spirit.

Let's let the word tell us who we are and then live from that place of identity and freedom.

The Glorious Gospel Of Grace....The Too Good To Be True News!!!

"The Reformation was a time when men went blind, staggering drunk because they had discovered, in the dusty basement of late medievalism, a whole cellarful of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two-hundred-proof grace---of bottle after bottle of pure distillate of scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the gospel--after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps--suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started... Grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor badness, nor the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case."
-Robert Capon

Alegria

Today was the first day of class for Harvest School 15. We have almost 300 students here (including staff) who all love the presence so you can imagine what kind of a morning it turned into.

During Rolland's session he said, "The Holy Spirit is just in a better mood then you are". As we started to chew on what had just come out of his mouth we started laughing uncontrollably. When we would finally stop laughing, the thought of what he said would come crashing into our minds and we would begin to laugh uncontrollably again. This happened over and over. We would become lost in laughter and forget about what mood we were in previously because we had become undone with the mood of the Holy Spirit, Joy.

Why do we waste one second not walking in Joy? What good reason do we have to not be Joyful? Do circumstances determine our Joy or the Holy Spirit?

We saw a feature on CNN about 6 months ago about a nun that had just turned 113 years old and would visit old folks homes to do the polka with them. CNN asked her, "what is the secret to your longevity?" She looked at the camera, smiled and replied, "joy!". Imagine how many health problems are directly related to a lack of joy. Joy is serious business!

Romans 14:17 says, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost". If we are not walking in Joy then we are missing out on 1/3 of the kingdom! If Joy is part of the kingdom then I'm pretty sure its an important thing. Step into this joy by faith. Take hold of it and never go back. No longer will we be ruled by our wallowing and depression, they no longer have a room in our house.

The free gift of eternal life should be more than enough to overwhelm us with joy every morning we awake!

Mo·zam·bique [moh-zam-beek, -zuhm-]

Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts lately but we have been en route to Africa and have now been here for 3 days. The internet is as usual, a tad faster than a turtle, but we are blessed just to have a connection. We are busy setting up for the school and are super excited for Harvest School 15 and all that God has in store. Please be praying for the staff as they prepare for a lot of students to come and also for the school as we believe that God is taking it to a new place that it has never gone before.

We have been reading a really awesome book called, "In His Presence" by E.W Kenyon. God has really been rocking us with it. We want to leave you with a quote from the book to chew and meditate on.

"If we are new creations created in Christ Jesus, let us ask the Father to set the limits of that new creation, instead of allowing theologians to do it. Faith will lead you where reason cannot walk."

Family Ties

Throughout our travels and ministry times we have come into contact with some amazing brothers and sisters in the Lord who are literally changing the world. Ever so often we are going to be taking time to quickly post about them and give people a heads up on what is going on with amazing ministries all over the world that we have had the privilege of connecting with.

In this post is a video of a ministry called TRIN (Touch, Reach and Impact the Nations) whose founder and director is a man named Mattheus Van Der Steen. Mattheus and his wife are literally Touching, Reaching and Impacting the Nations causing a changing and a shifting world wide. They are dedicated to raising up revivalists globally and seeing generations of sons and daughters walk in their dreams and destiny's. You can read more about Mattheus and TRIN at www.mattheusvandersteen.com

I Have A Dream, Do You?

I think that perhaps the most important 4 words spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr out of all of the many speeches he delivered was, "I Have A Dream". What would have happened if Dr. King did not dream? The same thing that will happen to us if we do not dream, nothing. Nothing will happen if we do not dare to dream. Where are the dreamers of our day that will dream the dreams that are not corrupted by impossibilities and fear?

"If your memories are greater than your dreams, your already dying" -Mattheus Van Der Steen

It Gets Louder when You Listen

The other night Jes and I were laying in bed, with the windows open, falling asleep. The crickets outside were making their usual noise as the sounds of night filled our room. At that moment the Holy Spirit breathed through my lips and spoke something so profound that I would remain awake for the next 2 hours. He said, "It gets louder when you listen". It hit me like a ton of bricks because in that moment I no longer could just hear the crickets but as I listened it became a symphony of night that just had the volume turned up.

I immediately understood what God was saying to us as my heart bounced between joy and conviction. The difference between hearing and listening is when you are listening to something then you give your attention to that something. Its not the volume that God speaks to us in that determines how loud His voice is to us, its the attention that we give to His Voice. Yes, God speaks with a still small voice but if you would Listen to that still small voice then it wouldn't sound so small anymore. There is more power in a whisper to someone who knows how to listen then a shout in the ear of someone who only knows how to hear.

If listening to God's voice increases the volume of His voice in our ears, then it will also have the same affect for any other voices in our lives. Many of us wonder why the enemy's voice seems louder than Gods voice and struggle to wrap our heads around it. We must not forget that both God and the devil are speaking but we are given the freedom to choose who we listen to. If we give attention to the enemy and his lies then they too will increase in volume.

Our passivity to listening to the voice of the Lord has rendered His voice a background noise. If we would examine our prayer lives, how much of it is given to listening? How much of our attention is given to the Voice of the Lord? Whatever we give our attention to is what we truly value and what we truly value we give pre-eminence in our lives. Prayer is not only talking to God but also listening to God. Any healthy relationship is made up of good listeners. I believe that our prayer lives would be completely revolutionized if we would start to take time to listen.

"It get's louder when you listen"



Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick
to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak, slow to take offense and to get angry. (James 1:19 AMP)


Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. (James 1:19 MSG)

Never Ending Joy

"Christians ought to be celebrating constantly.
We ought to be pre-occupied with parties, banquets, feasts, and merriment. We ought to give ourselves over to veritable orgies of joy because we have been liberated from the fear of life and the fear of death. We ought to attract people to the church quite literally by the fun there is in being a Christian."

-Robert Hotchkins

Stewarding the Presence

Just a couple weeks ago we were in a worship session that was so sweet and intoxicating. A student from the school was leading worship and God began urging me to go to the front and release a word over the school. I stepped up to the front and was faced with one of the biggest responsibilities of someone in my position at that exact time. In that moment God told me to not just release the word but to "Steward His Presence". I can hear Gods voice, thats not what He was teaching me. He was teaching me to be a steward of his presence and to release that word in the midst of what He was doing, increasing the flow of what He was doing and not taking away.

stew·ard·ship

  [stoo-erd-ship,styoo-]

noun

the responsible overseeingand protection of somethingconsidered worth caring forand preserving.

We have been given the responsibility to oversee and protect the presence of God as stewards of God. To not hold the reigns but to oversee and protect the presence as He runs where ever He wants to run.

As the body of Christ, as His Church, as Gods own people we must learn that leading is stewarding. We have gotten so used to "the bit in the horses mouth approach", pulling and directing where we want our services, our flock our theology and our ministries to go. This approach has rendered God a visitor to our house instead of letting Him make our house His home. What we really need to ask ourselves is, have we placed higher value on our programs, timelines, idea's and the religious way of doing things, that God's presence now requires an invitation? Have we become stewards to our churches and ministries but not to the Presence?

Father I pray that we would all see that your presence is worth caring for and preserving. Teach us how to oversee and protect that Presence as stewarding Sons and Daughters.

"We must know that we have been created for greater things, not just to be a number in the world, not just to go for diplomas and degrees, this work and that work. We have been created in order to love and to be loved"
-Mother Teresa

Worship in the Son

We were worshiping in the kitchen last week on our morning off when we noticed that we had a little visiter that wanted to join us. Actually, as you can see in the video he had already joined us. Thank You daddy for the children.

Abba's Love

Jesus refered to God in such a revolutionary way that it would forever change not only how we approach Him but also how we relate to Him.  

With one word the religious leaders of the time were sent into a tailspin of religious furry, outraged at the idea of God being our Abba. In that moment, with one word, Jesus not only revealed who God is to Him but also who who God is to us, our Father.  We are no longer slaves under the law but Sons under grace.

The idea of relating to God as a Father has become not just a stumbling block for religious pharisee's but also for those who through the events of life have remained in an orphan mentality.  Every human being is born into the world with parents but many never walk or live as sons and daughters because their parents never knew what it meant to be fathers and mothers.  Bad experiences create bad memories which become the basis on which we then define what a father is or is not in our lives. As a result of this our view of God as a Father becomes a negative and not a positive and thus true sonship is never walked out.

One of the main roles and responsibilities of a Father is that a father defines with His words who His children are and with that, who He is. How does one deal with an established false identity of God, who is a good, true Father, when all of their experiences of fathers in their lives have been negative?
Firstly we must ask Holy Spirit to come and heal our hearts of all of the wounds that we have and establish a ground of forgiveness towards our fathers and mothers as well as ourselves.
Secondly we must fill our hearts with the truth of who and what a true Father is.
And thirdly, allow our heavenly Father to properly define us, His children. Having a correct understanding of what a Father is, and what our heavenly Father is, releases us to receive from Him and identify with Him.

Each of us are Abba's child. We are loved, perfect and beautiful in His eyes. He not only loves us but enjoys us and is delighted to call us Sons and Daughters.

He delights to call us Abba's child.

Harvest School Worship - Mozambique, Africa

The Beautiful Gospel

Jesus said that signs, wonders and miracles would follow those who believe. It's funny how we can make something that is so simple seem so complicated. The past two weekends have been filled with signs, wonders and miracles just like Daddy promised. Last weekend we had a conference in a place called Miezi where we packed out a large church with local people, pastors, harvest school students and many many children to worship in one accord. Throughout the course of the weekend Daddy manifested His love in many different ways. On one morning the kitchen was at least 1000 loaves of bread short, with no more bread to be found they blessed it and started serving it anyways. They were told to give one full loaf to every person and every person received their full loaf.

God multiplied the bread!

In a place of dependancy miracles break forth.

The same conference there was a young boy who had never walked before, who's name was Omar. After receiving prayer he took his first steps across the stage.

There was also a blind baby who's eyes were white until receiving prayer. Slowly the eyes turned from white to grey to brown and she looked at her mother for the first time.

Just yesterday a group of us prayed for lady that could not walk because of two club feet. As the group prayed we watched as her one leg grew 5 inches to match the other. Her calf muscle began to form and grow where there was only bone before.

All of these people did not just walk away with a miracle but with an encounter with the furious love of God.

"Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" Luke 12:32

If what your living for isn't worth dying for, then are you really living? God has called us to greatness! To see great things and to experience things that are beyond anything that we could fathom. But to step into our destinies we must first count the cost. In Luke 14 Jesus calls us to count the cost first before we start to build. God has been showing us the costs to fully living for Him and fully walking in our destinies and though the costs may be many, the promised reward outweighs every time. We say YES to you Jesus every time! The mission field has often been romanticized like a hollywood movie. Legitimate, amazing, joyful stories are told (exactly what people want to hear) but we tend to not focus to much on the cost of it all. Stepping into the fullness of what God is calling us to, carries with it a cost of being away from family, friends and comforts. As we dive deeper into His plans and will for our lives we do so knowing that there are costs to be paid but also joys to be obtained. The price tag has not changed but is rarely paid in full if even at all. The price is not silver or gold or precious stones. God requires of us what mankind required of Him.....our lives. May we visit the bank accounts of our hearts and withdrawal every cent and lay it at the feet of the one who will reap back one hundred fold return. May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.

"[But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!" Romans 8:18

Mozambique

We've been in Mozambique for just over one week now and it has been a wild ride. Our first trip to Mozambique began back in October of 2010 when we participated in Harvest School 13 with Iris Ministries as students. We never expected to be returning this soon but God knew better than we did. This time we are back as staff for the biggest missions school that Iris has ever had. The last school had around 150 students, this school will have around 260 students including many beautiful little children.

This last week was filled with lots of preparations, practical and spiritual. There is still so much to be done and students have already started arriving, but the Lord keeps speaking over and over again about our dependency on Him and how He has been preparing for this school long before we even realized it would happen. One of the leaders here keeps saying, if God could lead the children of Israel around the "Egyptian Outback" than I'm pretty sure he can take care of us. We were never created to be ruled by our circumstances but by the Word of God. Some see obstacles but others see miracle opportunities. The Word of God trumps our circumstances every time, if we would only believe that it is true.

Our dependency on God is directly linked to seeing the miraculous in the everyday. The children of Israel were led out of egypt by God to the wilderness, to a place that they had to depend on God. They were led to a place of dependency! When they were hungry he gave them manna, Angels food. As they walked, God made it so that their shoes would not wear out. He showed them where to walk with a cloud by day and a fire by night.

We are dependant on God not only for this school but for our everyday lives, believing that He will do what He said He would do and that He will provide for what He has called us to do. Why would we want to depend on anything else?

Voices Arise!

There is a very simple, yet profound, line in the movie "The Kings Speach" where the king admittantly cries out, "...BECAUSE I HAVE A VOICE!". This line keeps coming back to me over and over again because, in the movie, the kings speech therapist was not entirely trying to cure his stutter but to show the king that he had something to say. That he had a voice and when he would only believe in that voice then he could never be silenced, not by a people, a stutter or a war.

Throughout history we see a pattern of courageous men and women who let their voices be heard against injustices and religious persecution. They rose up with one voice saying, "we will not stay silenced!". I love how David put it in Psalm 45:1 when he said, "...my tongue is the pen of a ready writer". Could you imagine what would happen if we all not only had a revelation that we have a voice but if we believed in our voice? There are so many all around the world who have had their voices silenced by circumstances, fear and so on but God has given us the freedom to speak. We all have a voice and now is the time for the sons of the prophets to arise and speak out what the Spirit is truly saying.

Father I pray for a revelation of true sonship over your children and that we would no longer live in silence. We break all fear and isolation and release voices all over the globe.

You have a voice.
Arise and shine.

Heaven in Holland

The past week has been a beautiful time of heaven on earth. We were able to partner with Lighthouse Ministries at a conference in Holland enabling the youth to really experience the Fathers love and the presence of His spirit. We had such intimate times worshiping the Lord and allowing the Holy Spirit to minister to these sons and daughters of the King. These treasures were so hungry for more of the Lord and so open to the love of the Father, it really was amazing.

There was a real focus on intimacy with the Father and how He so desires relationship with each one of us. Some of the youth were so blessed and amazed that God wanted to talk to them personally and that they were able to hear His voice and sense His presence. On the Friday night the spirit of the Lord was so heavy in the room many were becoming filled with the Spirit, one young girl around 10 years old had a revelation from the Lord and was taken up into heaven. There were also others who experienced the healing power of God both physically and spiritually.

Thank you to everyone who stood with us in prayer during this time, we appreciate it immensely and can see the fruit of your support.
We have attached a small clip of spontaneous worship from one of the night sessions below. Our apologies for the quality.

Uncle Arthur

A couple years ago I sat down with Arthur Burt as he was passing through Florida. This video has been on our own computer, watched by ourselves many times but not yet shared with others. Arthur Burt is the last living preacher from the Welsh Revival. We pray that this video impacts your life as much, if not more, than it has ours.

The Greatest Force in the Universe

In the words of the Black Eyed Pea's, "Where is the Love?"

Mother Teresa wrote, "If we really want to conquer the world, we will not be able to do it with bombs or with other weapons of destruction. Let us conquer the world with our love. Let us interweave our lives with bonds of sacrifice and love, and it will be possible for us to conquer the world."

If we are really truly honest with ourselves, at the depth of who we are, we are all longing human beings. Longing to be longed for. Longing to be held. Longing to be loved. There is a quote that has been attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi that says, 'Preach the gospel always, and if necessary, use words'. Why is it that we expect to see change in the world if we ourselves do nothing to bring it into being? We talk of the injustices of the world but is not the greatest injustice committed by those who see an injustice and do nothing about it? 

We can spend our whole lifetime talking about Christ and His Love only to find at the end that we actually could have been living Christ and His Love.  To preach the gospel without words is to reflect Christ's love so much so in our actions that it permeates every social structure of society and tears down the walls of religious judgments, ideology's and theosophy's. 

Every day we stare into the eyes of the dying, the broken, the lonely, and the hurting and are faced with the decision, 'Will I Love? Will I stop for the one in front of me?'.  We have so twisted the word Love into an emotional lollipop that we have forgotten that Love means action.  Love looks like something.  

Love is the most powerful force in the universe that has no bounds or limits and as Paul wrote, It will Never Fail.  

 

"And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31

Primero

We would like to invite you into this snapshot of our lives, we hope this blog will reflect what is going on in our days and our minds but more importantly what is in the Fathers heart. We have both been captivated by the Fathers love and His relentless interest in every facet of our lives.

Our goal and aim with this blog is to allow us to communicate where we are and what we are doing as we follow the Fathers voice. This is just the beginning of Rooted in Love Ministries and we are so excited to have an outlet to be able to share it with you.