Idolatry and Sonship

I recently found out that I was going to have some extra income. It was a significant amount and my heart rejoiced. Even though it was going to be dispersed evenly throughout the year, I began to make plans for this extra money even though none of it had been deposited into my bank account.  I thought to myself, "Wow I can give more, save more and I won't have to feel guilty about grabbing a cup of coffee, or spending too much money on my lunch break."

Then, almost without warning, it was yanked away. I felt like I had failed my wife and my marriage. Soon, the condemnation turned to anger against the alleged "perpetrators."  In my "righteous" anger I was going to confront those who took away the income that I needed so desperately. I even had a scripture verse to justify myself. 

"His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord,  for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
Judges 14:4. 

I felt like maybe the Lord was using this occasion for me to expose the evil in those who had unjustly taken away my income. 

Later in the week I met with my mentor, Tom.  I knew I needed some wisdom on this issue because my emotions were running high and I was still very angry.   At one point in the conversation Tom said something like "sometimes our basic challenge as sons is to worship the Giver, not the gifts."  I said to him "this discipleship stuff is not as easy as it I thought it was."

Later that morning as I was driving to work the Lord spoke clearly to me. He said the evil that needed to be exposed was not the evil in the people with whom I was angry.  The evil that needed to be exposed was the idolatry in my own heart. My anger, my condemnation, my frustration, all pointed to something that was wrong in me, not in my alleged perpetrators. I was an idolator. My heart had so quickly had begun to worship the gifts and not the Giver. As I wept before the Lord, I was reminded that He is a good Father who will expose everything in His sons that prevents them from enjoying the Father.  God is aggressively angry about idolatry because it prevents us as sons from enjoying the good pleasure of a good God. He wants me to know that He is good and He is the ultimate Father who will not withhold what is good from his Children.  As my friend, Tom pointed out, God did not dangle this income in front of me and yank it away because He's bad.  He allowed this to happen to expose me and reveal Him in His glory and goodness.

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly." Psalms 84:11 ESV

"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32 ESV

As of this writing, the income has been restored. He is really good all the time with or without more income.

Written by Joel, The Colony, Texas

Keep It Simple Stupid

“If you abide in My word you are truly My disciples.  And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31&32)

Abide… My word… My disciples… The truth will set you free.  Sometimes I read things like this and they just echo throughout my head like, “what… the hell… does that mean… In my life.”  How?  What does that look like?  And why the disconnect resulting in my question?

I have been the recipient of the greatest gift that could ever be bestowed upon a human heart — God’s Love.  I know Him.  I’ve experienced His love.  It has plastered me to a couch cushion for hours. It has swept me off my feet, and caused me to give my entire life to Him without reservations.  I KNOW HIM.  He is magnetic.  His love is intoxicating.  He is like adrenaline pumping through your veins at times, and like a pot-brownie that sends you to another place and state of rest that you didn’t know existed.  (Obviously, the Real Thing, a.k.a. Jesus, far surpasses my earthly references, but you get the picture)

He’s SO good.  He has demonstrated faithfulness again, and again, and again.  He has mended my broken heart.  He has done miracles in every corner of my life.

And I turn my head.
If only for a moment… and can experience what one novel refers to as “Shadow Sickness.”*
I have tasted the marrow of Life, and in the next breath I am eating the rotten fruit of despair, selfishness, and fear, and all those other nightmarish nouns that come to claim our life.

Years ago, I was in Berlin on a mission trip (This is how and where I met Chuck & Della Magnet, Re-Generation).  There was a man from Israel with a crazy-amazing prophetic gift.  I observed as he delivered spiritual arrows of hope and destiny straight to the hearts of friends and strangers all around me.  I was one of the last ones that he spoke to, but it sounded so different than prophetic words I had heard until that point, and still to this day.  It was like an urgent warning.  Honestly, it was as if my life DEPENDED on what He was saying.

He said, “You have to learn to renew your mind”.

It was the way he said it.  It was the fact that He said it so many times. It unnerved me a bit.  I thought, ‘okay.  I mean the name of a nation, or some cool calling would have been awesome, but thanks for the tip, buddy!’
I am laughing now at how ignorant I was.  Not that I have fully grasped the significance and full weight of it, but I’m certainly starting that journey.

My life DOES depend on this.  This is life or death for me.  See a few paragraphs up.  We are talking about the difference between Dark and Light. Truth and Lies. Walking in Truth, with Truth — or Shadow Sickness.

I choose which reality I live in. I make that choice based on trust. 

Can I look Jesus in the eye and accept what He says about me, how He sees me, how he sees my circumstances, or others, and choose to believe those things because its the Truth?  Because HE IS TRUSTWORTHY.

When thoughts, feelings, emotions, circumstances, and sometimes the devil is raging in my ear and my head - and seems pretty damn real, can I just choose to trust what God has said - and live from that place?

When we see with His eyes, when we walk through the door of Truth and Life - we experience rest, and peace, and joy, and love, because we are face-to-face with Him.  If we ABIDE in THE WORD (which is HIM) we will know the TRUTH and it will set us free.

Free to laugh with Him.  Free to find joy in the midst of our crazy circumstances.  Free to rest while all else screams otherwise.  Free to play!  We get to discover His perspective, and explore His amazing plan on using this wild ride to bring us into even greater intimacy with Him.
It is not easy to choose this - I know.  I know so, so well.  I have lived with shadow sickness.  Way to long.  It’s not easy, but it is SIMPLE.  And that gives me such hope.  It really is two-plus-two-equals-four-simple. When we focus on Truth: which is HIM, we experience Life abundantly! We taste the kingdom, the fruit of love, the life that Christ died for - all because we Trust Him.

Life.

When we believe a lie, and it captivates us - we are towed-under by anxiety, frustration, fear, isolation, insecurity, and the like!

Death.

It’s life or death.  It’s truth or lies.  It’s the daily work of Trust.

But I know - if we choose to trust what He says about us, about who He is to us, and our world - it will change EVERYTHING.  We become ONE with the mind of Christ.  We partake of ONENESS.  One heart, one mind, one body.  We live in the Kingdom.

And then… we spread that Kingdom.

*”Eve” by Paul Young

Written by Justine, Los Angeles, California

No Regrets or Forgets

After my Freshman year in college, I was home for the summer and we had some overnight company come to town. We could have all squeezed in and found a place for everybody to sleep--but I knew a much better option. My grandparents lived in our little family hometown about 20 minutes outside the city where we lived. 

Their house was one of my favorite places in the whole world to be. They lived in the big 2-story house on top of a hill where my family had lived since the close of the Civil War. It was always a magical place to be. A rambling, old, 5-bedroom house filled with the relics, treasures, and possessions of 6 generations of our family. My grandmother never got tired of wandering from room to room and telling the stories of the people who had owned and used those things. There was a long balcony upstairs where we would drag out some old rockers that my grandparents began their marriage with in 1915. We'd sit in those rockers until late in the night looking up at the stars. Those very rockers were the ones that my "Nanny" had sat in while she rocked her babies...including my dad. One of those rockers is in my study today. 

Mattie, the woman who had been their housekeeper and cook since long before my parents met, heard I was coming and had cooked all of my favorite foods for dinner that night. That meal would always crescendo with a thick slice of what our family, with awe and respect, simply referred to as "Mattie Cake"...three incredibly moist layers of yellow cake with a rich chocolate icing. I can close my eyes decades later and almost taste that cake! 

After dinner, Nanny and I went out to a patio under the big trees beside her house. We sat there and watched the sun slowly set. She told me again of the people who had made their lives on that hill. She talked about her mother who had died of tuberculosis there when Nanny was just a girl. She told me again of her sister who had died the same slow, suffocating, death less than a year later. She talked about her only brother who was on his way back there from a trip to Galveston. He was running to catch the train that had started to move. He slipped on a wet spot on the train platform, fell under the moving train, and was instantly killed. She talked about raising four children there during the darkest days of the Great Depression. She gave birth to all four of them at home. That was the only option for women in that time. My dad came breech birth. I had heard the stories that you could hear her screams for blocks in all directions as she nearly died giving birth to him. 

Finally, I had to ask her the question that I had wanted to ask for years. I said: "Nanny, I really don't understand you. You've had enough horror to walk through in your life to kill most people. Why hasn't all of that just crushed you? How have you managed to not only survive, but thrive, through all of that?!" 

I usually carried a little plastic covered New Testament in my hip pocket in those days. She asked if I had it with me. I told her that I did. She asked me to turn to Romans 8 and start reading it to her. 

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son..." 

But, Nanny, all of that death, and loss, and pain, and work, and struggle--where's the joy in all of that? She just smiled, looked off toward  the horizon, and told me to keep reading. 

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed..."

"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all---how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?...Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?...No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 

It was my first time to really hear those words in context...all in a row. It would take me a lot of years to finally begin to understand the principle that "our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us". It's one of the toughest truths for people to absorb. It's one of the hardest promises to claim. How do we look back at all the pain and mess of our lives and smile? How do we face today without regretting and forgetting? 

One of my favorite stories of the power of remembering our pain is in 1 Samuel 7. For 80 years the Philistines had constantly tormented Israel. Two of the Judges that God had selected to lead His people, Samson and Eli, had been powerless to do anything about it. When Eli died, God appointed Samuel to lead His people. 

The 1st thing he did was to begin freeing Israel from themselves. The Philistines had stolen the Ark of the Covenant and put it in one of their pagan temples to their god Dagon. There are some great stories about the grief that caused them in 1 Samuel 5-6 that are worth the read! To say the least, the Philistines were more than ready to be rid of that creepy magic box of the Israelites and were more than happy to send it back home. Samuel put the Ark back where it belonged. God was restored to Israel. Israel was restored to God. Now they're ready to rebuild the "covenant" relationship between God and His people that is built on his Promises. 

The 2nd thing Samuel did was to remove all of the things that the people had held on to instead of God. He toured the land and tore down all the altars they had built to other gods. He re-installed the Word of God, their Faith in God, in the hearts of His people. Now they're ready. "So, Israel put away all of their idols and served the Lord only." (7:4) 

The 3rd thing he did was to lead them into battle. For 80 years the Philistines had brought pain and horror down on God's people. The strong man Samson had slaughtered 1000s of Philistines--but he never actually set his people free. The Priest, Eli, had taught wonderful lessons and improved the moral climate--but he hadn't set them free. Now, the people of God are God's People again. They're ready to face the battle. 

Once all of that was done, Samuel stayed on the mountain to pray. He sent the people down into the valley to fight. Listen to how it works: Samuel prayed...Israel fought...Philistia fell. In the circles of recovery where I live my life we're taught that it takes all of those things to win our battles. First, "we seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God...praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out." Then, "we carry the message to others...and practice these principles." Without both of those, in that order, we're going to lose. 

At the place where they won their victory they erected a stone monument so that they would always remember where they had come from...so that future generations wouldn't forget what a God had done. 

 "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far the Lord has helped us'." (7:12) 

But, John, I'm really, really, bad. I've done terrible things. I'm so guilty. Okay, I'll buy that. I believe that's true. You are...I am...they were...we are...Guilty. The heart of our Good News is that those of who live "in Christ" live our lives in a Guilt Free Zone. "But God demonstrates His own love for is in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) 

Do you remember how Jesus was criticized by the self-righteous church folks for hanging out with the likes of us? Do you remember His answer? He told them: "Healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do. Go and learn what this means: I have not come to call righteous people. I have come to call sinners to turn back towards me." No doubt those people deserved to suffer. So do I. So do you. I thank God for an Ebenezer. I thank God for a monument of truth that sinners like us don't get what we deserve. I learn from Ebenezer the completeness of God's forgiveness. 

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly". (Romans 5:6) 

When God promises us that "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)...He doesn't mean just the good things, or the smart things, or the happy things. He has the astounding ability to take even our worst things and work them together for His good and ours. Some of my greatest blessings, some of His greatest gifts to me, have come from directly from the fact that I come from those dark places. He has used some of my greatest pain to do some of His greatest good...in me and with me. Between Gilead and Mizpah God had his people to erect an Ebenezer so that they would never forget that they jumped into a very dark pit...God loved them even there...and lifted them out. He used all of that for His good and theirs. 

So, today, I will not regret the past--nor wish to shut the door on it. In the words of a great old hymn: "Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I've come. And I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home."

Written by John, The Colony, Texas
Follow His Journey Here
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Unmerited Favor

Have you ever run into those people who have favor with everything and everyone? I have. They are successful at almost everything they do, always have crazy things given to them, or even something so trivial as always winning your favorite game as they ask God for a number each time they roll the dice...and get it. I know someone that it happens to. It almost seems like everything they touch in some way or another turns to gold, so to speak. Ever wonder why this happens to some people but not others?

I had been closely watching a friend of mine that I worked with.  Her demeanor was always so confident and trusting of the Lord. She always did so well at work, and seemed to have favor everywhere she went.  I saw her faith in the Lord.  It was so childlike, so trusting, and knowing that good things were always going to happen,  even when times were bad.  She knows she's a daughter of the King! And she rests in that fact.  I then began to wonder, "God, what does she have that I don't?"  He began to answer softly as I listened to the song "Good Good Father" by Housefires.  Knowing that He truly is a good, good Father is the beginning of it all.  He showed me the meaning of grace.  Grace-"The free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings." It all started with Jesus' blood shed for you and I.  We were blessed with unmerited favor, grace upon grace, when he came and set us free. The debt we all should have paid with our lives in eternal agony was ripped from us and instead bestowed upon the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, once and for all, fulfilling the wrath of God and returning us back to a place of sonship. We all know this story.  But how many act as the child running to their father knowing he'll come to them and fill the desires of their hearts?  I, like so many, muddy the glory of Jesus' sacrifice by trying to do things on my own.

Reading the definition of grace I was caught by those two words. Unmerited Favor.  Simply put, unworthy approval. That's what He bestows on us day after day, after day.  And I began to realize in a new way, my life is in the hands of my papa.  I, too, whether or not it manifests in the same way as others, have unmerited favor wherever I go and with whatever I do.  But do I see it?  That doesn't mean I'll always get what I want.  It's not magic.  It's God's love, which is perfect.  And even when he is disciplining his child in order that they grow, his favor is always present. Because it is not just what He does for us in the present, it is His goodness to have saved us in the first place. And we get to come boldly before His throne as a child, knowing their father is good!

Ephesians 2:8 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."

Written by Gena, Bellingham, Washington

Forgiveness, A Pleasing Aroma

If you’re like me, you have to ask God every single day for forgiveness for something. And every single day, He forgives.

If you’re like me, you have to forgive someone else for something they did today that hurt you or for something done in the past that reared its ugly head today. Old offenses, even those we have forgiven before, have a way of breaking through to the present to hurt us again and need a fresh round of forgiveness.

If you’re like me, this constant forgiveness thing can seem like such a drudgery!

I’ve just realized I’ve been thinking of it all wrong!

I eat everyday. I definitely drink coffee and water everyday. I breathe all day and all night. There are many healthy, helpful, even vital things I do for me everyday. I need to think of my forgiving others as equally vital to my daily life as these things, because it is!

Forgiveness has been in a category for me like– going to the dentist, getting an immunization, washing dishes, doing laundry, taking out the trash....

Forgiveness belongs in a category like– smelling a flower, watching a sunset, hearing a child laugh, getting good news, seeing an old friend, getting a hug...

Or better yet like – winning the lottery and being able to share it with others everyday.

I meditated on some quotes that helped me come to this conclusion.  Listen to this one:

“The true Christian is like sandalwood
which imparts its fragrance to the axe which cuts it,
without doing any harm in return.”
-Sadu Sundar Singh

Kathleen Dillard says, "forgiveness isn’t natural– it’s supernatural, so we must ask God for His supernatural power."

Only God can turn doing work into giving gifts!

Written by Linda, The Colony, Texas

Linda pictured on the left.

The Journey to Re-Generation

This is a brief history of Chuck and Della. It's been such an amazing journey so far..

Even before we were married in 1991, we had a sense of God’s call on our lives. And it became apparent to us that He had something great planned for our lives.

Chuck became the music director at a church in Richfield for an internship that was required for his music degree in college. When that was completed he stayed on for another year. Richfield was the first church position that Chuck held. But it turned out to be more than just a college church job. It was the first place that Della and Chuck, together, found a family. The people of Richfield Baptist Church welcomed us and made us feel a part of the family. We had such an amazing time there, learning how to love the family God had blessed us with.

After a serious head-on collision that we escaped uninjured, we saw God’s protection over our lives and that we had been saved for a purpose. After being married on June 1, 1991, we began to explore what that meant for us in a deeper way.

We moved to Texas for Chuck to go to seminary. The first time we lived in Texas we were there for 8 years. Again, we found a home. This time it was at a church in the North Dallas area called Colony Park. Chuck ended up as the Worship Leader and Youth Pastor. As we look back over our time at Colony Park, we realize that this was training for where we are now and where we are headed. We grew up spiritually at Colony Park and our lives were totally ruined for anything other than God’s best for us: in family, in calling, in life, and in Him. God developed a heart for the Nations in us while we were in Texas. Through our youth group, He also gave us a heart for spiritual kids. God gave us friends, younger and older than us, that continue to walk out this journey with us today. We laughed and cried a lot together as a church and as a family. We were being trained for our future and we didn't even know it. This was more than a job, this was goodness revealed in family.

During this time, Della fell in love with a girl named Carolyn that was the foster child of some of our friends. This prepared her heart for her own kids and spoke about the adoptive children of the future. We watched our first two children, Josiah and Emily, come into the world, changing our lives forever. We will be forever grateful for our family in Texas.

In 1998 we felt that God was telling us to move back to North Carolina. God confirmed this through different ways. We packed everything in a truck and headed off across the country, only to return to Texas 8 months later, this time to Waco. We were a part of a missions training program at Antioch Training School. At the end of a year-long training time, we went with our team on an outreach to Berlin, Germany for 8 weeks. This was our first time to Berlin. On returning from Berlin, Chuck went to work as a manager for Starbucks Coffee. This allowed us to move back to North Carolina and make a living until God revealed the next steps. During this transition time we learned a lot about ourselves as we navigated through so many different opportunities, including helping with new church plants and leading worship in an already established church. It was during this time that we also had to say goodbye to our third child, JohnMark Elisha who was stillborn on January 14, 2003. This was one of the most difficult times of our lives; a time in which we came face to face with what we really believe about God and His goodness and His faithfulness. A time to really understand the depth of the importance of family and the depth of love God has given us to share. But the amazing thing about this time of sorting through our emotions and our grief was the way God kept revealing His love for us over and over. One of the most amazing ways was through a pastor and his wife, Bill and Karen. We decided to try a new church that was close to where we lived. The first Sunday we were there, Bill came up to us and said, “I really believe that God wants me to tell you just how much He loves you, your family.” From that point on we developed such a special relationship with Bill and Karen, and New Beginning Church. Family, again was being established with us.

Later the same year we went back to Germany to help with a summer outreach. It was this trip that we met a couple from England, Nigel and Karen Rivers, and by "accident" saw the house in Berlin that we would some day live in. Over the next two years we developed a friendship with Nigel and Karen, while continuing to grow with our church family in North Carolina. During this time we also spent a lot of time getting to know our own extended families again, celebrating holidays and birthdays with each other. By 2004, God had made it clear that we were to join Nigel and Karen in moving to Berlin. This year taught us a lot about provision and trusting in God’s voice. With no sign of a place to live in Berlin, we decided to put our house on the market and make our way to Berlin. It was in early 2005 that Nigel and Karen called to tell us that God had provided the money to allow us to purchase the house that we knew God had been speaking to us about. Not long after this, we welcomed Micah to the world, celebrating with such joy the gift God gave us in Micah. So in July 2005, with 3 kids (Micah only 4 months old), we moved to Berlin. God really used this time of transition to show us once again how valuable our relationships are, with family and friends.

What we didn't know about Berlin was that it was to be our 7 year boot camp to prep us for Los Angeles. We learned what living in community is really all about, the hard times and the good times. Our vision to raise people up and send them out was solid, but the way that played out was not as we had imagined. We were blessed through supernatural provision with a huge house that we began working to renovate. Meanwhile, trying to learn German and function in a foreign culture with a whole new set of rules taught us flexibility and focused us in on listening to God's voice in a new way. We were spread all over the city for our first 4 years there, involving ourselves in different ministries and building relationships. We did not know why we never could stay involved with just one ministry or group for very long, and we began to question our own commitment. We seemed like an odd fit for a country that valued staying committed to a particular group or church.

In 2007 we experienced the birth of our fifth child, Benjamin. When he was 2 weeks old, he contracted RSV, a virus that is deadly to newborns. After Jesus literally raised him from the dead through Chuck's quick fatherly instincts, Benjamin and Della spent 10 long days in isolation in the hospital. This again showed us the value of the lives of our children.

In 2009 God connected us with the BURN 24-7 ministry. Through this, we were able to extend 24-7 worship and prayer to the city of Berlin. All those years of disjointed ministry were brought together in unity through worship and prayer. And, God began to send us other groups from all over the world to participate. One group in particular called "The World Race" was used by God to show us who we were really being trained to be. In fact, they recognized us as spiritual parents before we even understood that role. God filled our hearts with deep love for these people and we didn't understand why. But, God's love is supernatural and undeniable. He was calling us out into who we are now. He has called us to lead people into an understanding (within family) to their rightful place of leadership. Berlin was the final stage of training for us, and after 7 years, and an established ministry that continues to reach people to this day, we left the city in July 2012. Our plan at the time was to launch a BURN in Dublin, Ireland.

After 6 months of intense travel throughout Europe, meeting with other leaders of Burn 24-7, we headed back to the USA in 2013 for 6 months of rest and to visit with our partners and family. During this time, we heard God speak that we were not to return to Europe permanently and that we were needed here in the United States. God reminded us that our desire to be agents of change in culture, combined with our gifting as spiritual parents, had put us in a unique position to care for other people who would influence and change culture all over the world. After some time, He confirmed to us that Los Angeles was and is the gateway of communication to the world. That is where He wanted us to be, to provide an oasis for those He had already given to us, and to extend that to others He would lead to us. A place where people could come and learn to be a son or daughter. A place where no one would be seeking after them for anything. A place of rest and of knowing Jesus' love. This oasis was not just a place, but our home and our family. God had been showing us through the years the importance and strength of our family. He had been breaking us down and building us up all at the same time.

So, He sent us out from our family and friends in North Carolina. He told us to go to Los Angeles and He would provide a house for us to create this oasis of His love. To train people up and send them out to every area of the world. To care for spiritual orphans and to train others to be spiritual parents. So we came, and we have been here since December 2013, walking out Re-Generation.

That's our story and we are sticking to it...

Written by Chuck & Della, Los Angeles, CA

www.re-generationnow.com

Trust Within

One month ago today I left for a mission trip to Ukraine that changed my life forever. My team and I went to the TB centers for children, a TB center for adults, a special needs center for adults , a refugee camp, a mental institution, orphanages, and churches to bring unconditional love and healing prayers. Every day was beyond amazing as we became His hands and feet. I was in awe. Every day somehow topped the previous day and I can not even explain that in words. However, I do know that is how amazing our God is. With our team unity, love, and compassion, we were as one, as we brought signs, wonders, and miracles to each day that God unfolded for us. Each day was a true gift from above!

God really brought my intercession to a whole new spiritual level that was extremely intense and powerful. I did more weeping, travailing and birthing then I ever have in the past. It was beyond amazing to be used by God! Not only did I intercede throughout the day, but every night God woke me up from 3:00am to 6:00am to intercede more and download His heart to me. Two nights I stayed up for the entire night after God time and He gave me super natural energy so that I never missed a beat. This time was beyond precious to me. Not only was I honored, but I was elated with the depth of intimacy we had together to change atmospheres. He downloaded messages for me to write down, deep intercession for His people, visions and words of knowledge that allowed me to be a vessel for Him in a more powerful way then I had in the past. I grew spiritually more in the ten days on this mission trip then I did the entire year.

One of the many amazing, powerful things I learned on this trip, that I believe God wants me to share with you, is to trust Him with all that you have. I learned in the most difficult of situations, through things that, in the natural,  were mind blowing and intense, to show up with trust in Him. I had to empty myself daily of all flesh. He gave me this revelation and wisdom. There was one situation that brought me to a stand off … “Will I really have full trust that God will show Himself strong within me.”  I received understanding of this at a deeper level when He asked for my full trust when we visited the mental institution in Ukraine. This is when I received a true, deep revelation of trusting Him. I was declaring and decreeing for the healing of a man that had a blank, lost stare…he was completely dead within. I was compelled and led by a deep compassion and a deep love that caused me to reach deeper then I have ever gone within myself before. I cried out loud with tears running down my face for God to completely empty all of my flesh, every last debris, to bring His glory and healing love to this man. “I can do nothing with out you!” This act and cry from every part of my being changed me and did something deep inside of me. I still can not put it into words to this day. I was forever changed. 

This brought me to a new heightened level of trust in Him that is off the charts. I want to convey to you what God had shared through me for the people of Ukraine. I believe God now wants me to bring home this same message to you. His message was not just for the people of the Ukraine, but for all His sons and daughters. I believe God was telling me that He sent our team there to help ignite the burning ones that will then carry this beautiful country to restoration and fullness in the healing of the lands, restoring the hearts of His people back to the Father.  He told me that I am helping to build up an army that no darkness can hold down and the gates of hell will not prevail. This coming army will break every chain…break every chain!

God has not forgotten you, and has heard your cries. He is asking you to trust Him with all that you have, to enlarge your trust, and give Him everything you have.

I believe God is saying:
“I will not forget you.  I will not forsake you.  I will heal your hearts and your land for my Glory.  I will fill the earth.  I will restore the land and the hearts as beacons that shine with my Glory for all to see.  I will not be mocked.  My love casts out all fear, all trauma, all pain.  I will stand with you.  Trust me.  Join me as one,  to bring healing restoration,  peace,  love,  and joy to the hearts of my people.  I am asking you to trust me with the very trust that was taken from you.  I am asking you to dig deep in your heart to find that which you have buried, that was shot down by the darkness, and allow it to rise up, restore and resurrect within your own hearts and trust me to pull you out by my own hand.  Allow me to reach down into the darkness that runs so deep and allow me to pull you out to prove my love that runs so deep.  So I may heal you and your land.  I need you to stand in the gap for this country.   Trust me. Trust me.  My power and glory will rise up as a beacon of my love.  Your trust will break every wall down and every chain will be broken.  It will no longer have a hold on you.  The light will be birthed and it will be my Glory as a sign to you…
-Well done my faithful, good servant.  Your Father is well pleased.
-Your trust beholds the highest honor
-Your trust destroys all barriers
-Your trust allows me entry into your hearts and into your land
-Try me, test me
-Let us boldly, as one at the foot of the mountain, having an encounter with the King of Kings, speak to this mountain and it shall be moved.  Allow me that trust so my Kingdom come, my will be down on earth as it is in heaven.
-I ask you to rise up with me
-Hold your chin up high
-You are my beloved
-You are my children, my sons and daughters of the most high
-Be proud
-Be strong, for it is I who lives in you
-Take your place in my Kingdom at my right hand.  Come to the throne room and take your place that I died for, your inheritance to my Kingdom as my beloved children.  You have all power, all authority with the Christ Jesus that lives in you.”

Trust in the Lord with all your strength, with all your might, and lean not on your own understanding.

This message from God speaks deeply to my spirit and it is a treasure from above.  I pray and hope this will be encouraging to you and your walk with God as it is to me!  I know this is just the beginning to the levels of intimacy God has for us to walk in by day and in the cool of night with Him.  My cup runs over…

Written by Nancy, Prior Lake, Minnesota