Road Trip Experiences, part 2

Just as we were getting into our cars to leave the Conference, a member of our group heard the woman next to us making calls asking shelters to take herself and six children in for the night.

I looked at her. She was dressed cute and looked like any other attractive suburban woman. I approached her and told her that we had overheard her conversation and wondered if we could pray for her. She looked at me, and said, "Yes, please."

Her name was Marina.

She told me that she had to divorce her husband because of his abuse, and three months ago, he stopped all the alimony and childcare payments. She had six kids and they literally had nowhere to go for the night. They had everything they owned packed up in a truck. They had enough money for two more nights at a motel, and then they would have nothing.

She told me that her name meant "Safe Harbor." She said that she has taken in homeless people and now she herself was homeless. How ironic was that.

We began to pray for her. We asked the Lord for a miracle. We began to press money into her hand. Rosemary, a member of our group, who seems to be able to multiply food like Jesus, handed her a full bag of food for herself and children to eat for lunch.

One woman in our group had a special gift of money that someone had given her and she was waiting to spend it for what the Lord showed her to do with it. She gave it to Marina.

It wasn't much, but it left a desperate woman feeling that God had heard her prayers and that he had provided for the next step.

It didn't take much for us to be his ambassadors. Ambassadors live in embassies which are Safe Havens for people to come to. When we follow the ways of Jesus, we are a safe haven for people to experience a glimpse of heaven on earth.

Lord, how are you providing for Marina today?

Reflections on the Tree of Life - Reproduction

“The Tree of Life: Reproduction”

We got a crop of apples off of our stick apple trees in our backyard this summer. They filled our trees and delighted us when we picked one and ate it. It was a gift to have a harvest because it had been two years since we got apples on the trees.

It seems that we’ve had to wait for long stretches to see harvest happen both physically and spiritually. But, things are changing. The Spirit is moving very intentionally right now; we are in a season of greater breakthrough in many places within God’s people.

I keep returning to two passages that make my spirit leap with joy. The first one I mentioned last week in Ezekiel 47: Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing” (Ezekiel 47:12).

Trees go through seasons. Right now the leaves are turning beautiful colors of red, orange, yellow and gold, but soon the leaves will begin to fall off and the trees will stand naked with nothing to attract us to them. They lie dormant so that they can begin the process of growth, fruit bearing and harvest again.

But, notice that in Ezekiel 47 the leaves never turn brown and fall. The trees will keep their leaves for all seasons. The next statement is astounding: “There will always be fruit on their branches; a new crop will grow every month.” This doesn’t follow the natural rhythm of reproduction; it is very supernaturally exponentially multiplied.

Just so we won’t miss what God says in Ezekiel, he tells us again in Revelations 22:1-2: “Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street. On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit,[a] with a fresh crop each month.”

There it is. The tree of life will bear twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month.

How can this be? How can trees which are meant to bear a harvest once per year suddenly start producing a crop every month?

Look at what Revelations calls the tree: The Tree of Life. God created the Tree of Life to give us life! He put in the center of the Garden of Eden so that when Adam and Eve ate from it, they would live forever. The more that they ate from it; the more that it multiplied.

It doesn’t surprise me that we will find the Tree of Life again in heaven as we all know that we are meant to live forever in heaven. But, it does surprise me that the Lord showed Ezekiel earthly trees that will produce fruit monthly! It seems that the Lord wants us to experience “Heaven on Earth.”

He wants us to experience life in the way that he designed us to live. He wants us to swim in the river that both Ezekiel and Revelations speak about. In Ezekiel the river started out as a trickle but the more that the Lord was present, the deeper the river got until all they could do was swim.

Swimming is about letting our body go into a position of submission and rest. When we swim we no longer stand on our own two legs, but we trust the water to hold us up. It is much like that as we live life with Jesus. We have to be willing to let go so that he can move us through the river to the Tree of Life where we can experience the fruit of the harvest and to eat the leaves for healing.

Ezekiel 47 finishes the paragraph by stating that “the trees will bear a new crop every month, for they are water by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”

Revelations 22 finishes by stating “The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.” There it is again. Repetition. The leaves will be available for healing. Healing of our bodies, our souls, our relationships, and even entire nations. Could it be that the world could even live in peace with one another? Oh, the dream of a world that resembles heaven.

That is God’s dream. It happens as we swim in the river of life, eat from the Tree of Life and pick the harvest of monthly fruit. It happens as we understand that the leaves of the tree are meant to restore of the Garden of Eden, Heaven, to earth today.

How about you?

Where do you long to swim in the River of Life?

Where do you need to take the plunge rather than staying rooted to your comfortable and safe spot?

Where do you want to see a harvest of fruit every month? What dreams are you praying into? Not dreaming? Then ask the Lord to awaken your lost dreams.

Where do you need to eat the leaves of the Tree of Life so that you can live again?

Taste and see that the Lord is good, and that he wants to bring you life. Not just life in heaven, but life today! A life on earth that gives us glimpse and experiences of heaven.

Healing Prayer Team is Taking a Road Trip

The alarms will be going off early tomorrow for 9 members of the Healing Prayer Missio Community. We are going on a road trip!

We are leaving for CA and will be attending an "Open Heaven Conference" at Bethel Church in Redding. It will take about 12 hours to drive there, so we are meeting to leave in carpools at 4:00 a.m. I wonder if I will get to bed tonight!

This trip came up suddenly, but it is one way that we are learning to be responsive to God's voice, as we "throw our nets to the other side of the boat."

It happened one morning as I felt the Lord caution us to postpone our start date for the training. We were to start last weekend, but the leader of one of the groups who is coming was unable to be present for the first weekend, and our daughter was coming home rather suddenly from college.

But, at the same time I felt that I was to go to the Bethel website after two team members had been praying and felt the Lord was calling us to go there. When I did, this conference popped back at me in practically neon lights. I knew that we were meant to attend.

That was only about 2 1/2 weeks ago; but in this short amount of time God put all the details together.

I don't know what God has in store but it feels good to be responsive to his call, even with short notice!

Please pray for our trip~ and look for an update when I return!

Reflections on the Tree of LIfe: the Importance of Water

Everyone who knows me knows that I love water! I always have a water bottle with me. In fact, if I get separated from water, I actually get anxious. The first thing I do after going through security at an airport is go to the nearest store and buy two bottles of water: one to drink on the plane and one for when I deplane.

I am not the only one who loves water. Trees love water and actually begin to wither when they are deprived of it. The writer of the first Psalm knew this and wrote about it when he stated: “Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, but they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. 3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.” (Ps 1:1-3).

As you know, our visual focus for Missio Lux this year is The Tree of Life. We are discovering all the different components of a tree, and how our lives can reflect a healthy tree when we take care of soil of our inner life with God, deepen our root system through learning to hear his Written and Spirit Voice. One of the ways that we are to sustain healthy life is to soak up the Living Water through our roots.

Jesus told his followers in John 6:35 ”I am the bread of life. Those who come to me will never go hungry, and those who believe in me will never be thirsty.”

He tells us that our encounters with him will quench our thirst for all time. I think about all the other ways that I try to quench my thirst because it often seems easier at times than trying to connect with Jesus. But, in reality, at the end of the day, I still fall into bed thirsty. Nothing satisfies me like the One who promises to quench my thirst for eternity.

I think it is really easy in the US to find “earthly things to satisfy us.” Alcohol, prescription drugs, materialism, even relationships can all be attempts to fill the void God created us to have. We have enough “stuff” to distract us very often for a very long time.

But, usually, at some time in our life, we are given an opportunity to recognize that the earthly attempts at quenching our thirst aren’t going to cut it. We will still be extremely dehydrated and if we don’t get filled, we think that we might die.

These “opportunities” come in many forms: a challenge at work, a crisis in our marriage, a death in our family, trauma, the word cancer; the list goes on.

Yesterday as I was contemplating all this, I felt directed to read Ezekial 47.

In my vision, the man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple. There I saw a stream flowing east from beneath the door of the Temple and passing to the right of the altar on its south side. 2 The man brought me outside the wall through the north gateway and led me around to the eastern entrance. There I could see the water flowing out through the south side of the east gateway.
3 Measuring as he went, he took me along the stream for 1,750 feet[a] and then led me across. The water was up to my ankles. 4 He measured off another 1,750 feet and led me across again. This time the water was up to my knees. After another 1,750 feet, it was up to my waist. 5 Then he measured another 1,750 feet, and the river was too deep to walk across. It was deep enough to swim in, but too deep to walk through.
6 He asked me, “Have you been watching, son of man?” Then he led me back along the riverbank. 7 When I returned, I was surprised by the sight of many trees growing on both sides of the river. 8 Then he said to me, “This river flows east through the desert into the valley of the Dead Sea.[b] The waters of this stream will make the salty waters of the Dead Sea fresh and pure. 9 There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows. Fish will abound in the Dead Sea, for its waters will become fresh. Life will flourish wherever this water flows. 10 Fishermen will stand along the shores of the Dead Sea. All the way from En-gedi to En-eglaim, the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun. Fish of every kind will fill the Dead Sea, just as they fill the Mediterranean.[c] 11 But the marshes and swamps will not be purified; they will still be salty. 12 Fruit trees of all kinds will grow along both sides of the river. The leaves of these trees will never turn brown and fall, and there will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing.”

It’s all about water.

Ezekial got in the water of life and it started as a trickle, then went to his knees and to his waist, finally getting to the place where he could no longer stand, he had to swim! This reminds me that when I give up control and start to swim in the ways of Jesus, I get to experience the adventurous life!

There is transformation in the water. The salty water of the Dead Sea comes to life as it becomes pure water and life begins to happen again. The dead fish become live fish!

Life will flourish wherever this river flows. Imagine the trees lining the shores of the river. They are beautiful, grand and stately, and they are tall! The amazing thing about these trees is that they have fruit that harvest every month! Psalm 1 tells us that its trees bear fruit in their season, but when we swim in the River of Life that Jesus gives us to us, we will harvest and harvest and harvest fruit!

When you think about what you want your life to count for; isn’t that it? To know that our lives made an impact upon another? Wouldn’t it be awesome to die knowing that we were able to start a whole orchard that multiplied many times over?

We were created to be thirsty, but it goes beyond our bodies. Our spirit cries out to be in the river of life that only Jesus can provide.

Take an hour this week to spend in the river. Go to a place that calms you. Begin to dream about what your river is and what the fruit you desire to produce from your tree can be. Consider if this is the fruit that is truly growing on your tree.

If it isn’t, what changes do you want to make?

Joshua told the Israelites to “Choose life or choose death.” Today, make a choice for life; for the abundant life Jesus offers to everyone that is willing to dive into the water and take a swim.

Soup Night in Fall City

We are learning that it is so simple to be a witness and to offer the loving, welcoming hospitality of Jesus. The Kraft family is practicing this in Fall City when they offer Soup Night to their neighbors.

One Thursday night a month, they invite the neighbors around them to come to their house for a simple meal of soup and bread. Last week, six families came to their home for Soup Night! One woman said, "I've lived here since 1983 and this is the first time that it's felt like an actual neighborhood."

Now the neighbors are beginning to take initiative to offer up their homes. One family is going to have a cookie exchange in December; others want to start bringing soup. It's beginning to multiply in a natural, organic friendly way.

A few years ago I was part of a team in my church that held an evangelism conference to equip people to be witnesses for Jesus. But, we never thought of how simple it can be and natural when we are willing to open our home and provide a cup of cold water and hot soup to those around us.

I am thrillled with the change taking place....maybe you would like to try it out too! If you do, let me know how it goes.

Missio Lux Weekly Reflection

Missio Lux Weekly Reflection
October 5, 2010

“The Tree of Life: the Bible”

I’ve been studying the brain the past few weeks and I continue to be amazed at how our thoughts, our responses to our thoughts and the commandments of the Bible are integrated. I have been repeatedly reminded that when I follow the ways that the Bible teaches me to live, I will have a healthy brain, body and life.

Deuteronomy 30 tells us to choose life or to choose death. I am coming to understand that our thoughts are vital in this commandment. When we think a fear thought, it actually sends a negative chemical into our body that helps to build a bush (the technical word is dentite) that becomes black and mangled. When we think a faith filled thought, it releases a healthy chemical into our body which builds healthy trees. Dr. Caroline Leaf, a neuroscientist who is also a Christian, calls our healthy thought “a breeze through the trees.” Healthy trees create healthy forests in our mind and body which build a strong foundation for which to live.

Do you remember Joshua? He was Moses’ right hand person and when Moses died, the Lord came to Joshua with a message. He was to lead the Israelite Nation to enter into the Promised Land. Joshua needed to be building healthy trees in his brain through faith filled thoughts so he listened carefully as the Lord gave him the key to being able to fulfill his huge calling.

This is the key: “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

The key for Joshua to carry out his assignment was to follow the Scripture (which at that time was the Law). He was told that if he carefully obeyed the law, not deviating in any way from it, he would be successful. Then, just to make sure that he heard that word, God told him again: “If you meditate on the Scripture, you will be prosperous and successful.”

It’s an equation that makes sense: God’s way to live found in Scriptural instruction + what we are called to do = success.

It may make sense, but I find myself wondering how seriously we take Joshua’s commandment? Wasn’t that just for Joshua, after all he had a big job to do? It surely doesn’t fit into my small job as an office receptionist, or a stay at home Mom, or even a Microsoft or Boeing employee.

Or, does it? Have we gotten so far from what the Scripture tells us to do that we aren’t even sure what it says? Have we chosen to base our guidance on other things? Information is at an all time high right now, but our knowledge of how to live successfully, not just in terms of finances, but in health and relationships and integrated lifestyle, is actually declining. Information doesn’t equate to success, it can at times overwhelm and mislead.

If you like the idea of living a successful and prosperous life, then make the intentional connection to following God’s guidance to Joshua: know what the Bible says, think about it through your day, and follow it wholeheartedly!

So, I hear the question, how do I know what it says? Where do I start?

Missio Lux held a training at our kickoff for ways to engage the Bible. Keith Ferrin from “”That You May Know Ministries” led the training (www.thatyoumayknow.com)

Here are a few of his suggestions to help get you started:

Build a Foundation through reading the Bible;

Pray before you start asking for God to reveal his Word to you and pray after that God would continue to impress his Word into your thought life.

Read Continuously: read a book from the Bible in one sitting/look for natural breaks in longer books/read for purpose, theme and context/be consistent in reading it!

Repetitious Reading: read it over and over again. Read the same book or passage over and over again: perhaps 30 times in 30 days.

Independent Reading: don’t turn to all the helps in our reading, ask God to reveal his Word. Resist the urge to seek understanding of specifics during this phase.

Thoughtful Reading: work at not letting your mind wander/read out loud/think about what it says/ change your perspective on what you read with questions like:
What was the author thinking as he wrote?
What would the recipients be thinking as they read this letter?
What would the ramifications be if the purpose of this letter is carried out?

If reading the Bible is a new thought to you, here are some of my thoughts:

Set yourself up for success by choosing a reachable goal: make a decision to spend 10 to 15 minutes a day in the morning (or at night) reading. Decide to do this five days a week, so that if you miss a day during the week, you don’t give up in frustration or guilt.

Tell someone about your goal: Ask that person to encourage you in your goal and pray for you, as well as ask questions about what you are reading.

Keep track of how you see God being more present in your life; when you remember one of the things you have read and share it with others, and look for opportunities to multiply it with those who are closest to you.

Celebrate your success. Do something special for yourself each week when you accomplish your goal.

My prayer is that we can all understand that God’s call to Joshua is also to us. We have an important mission to live out on earth and we will be successful and prosperous when we follow the direction God gave to Joshua to meditate on the Law day and night so we can be careful to follow it.

The First Celebration Dinner

Last night Missio Lux stepped into new territory. We took our once a month worship service and turned it into a dinner in our home. It was a dinner with no agenda other than to make space for relationship: with one another, with God, and with those in our lives who are hungry to experience what we are authentically living.

I prayed about what to do before the meal and this is what I was given: throw your nets over to the other side of the boat. Remember Jesus standing on the beach after his resurrection asking his disciples if they had caught any fish during their long night of frustrating fishing.

They hadn't. God doesn't bless us when we try to go backward in our lives when he has shown us a new and living way. He wasn't blessing our Celebration Services because they looked like every other church service. It seems he wanted us to take our hands off of the plans and let him lead the agenda.

I asked a simple question before the meal: "Do you have a celebration to share from this week?" It was such a gift because the first one to answer was a 7 year old boy who was the
Student of the Week. It went from child to child as each one answered spontaneously the good things that happened in their week. Then, a couple of teens shared their experiences. I was thrillled, how simple for the family of God to be loving one another in the real places of our lives.

Our last celebration was one that will forever change us as people. It was from a very successful businessman about his transformation to becoming an authentic Jesus follower. He encountered some very challenging darkness and through it the Lord came through shining his light and offering his invitation to LIVE!

He was able to tell his story in all its rawness and the community was able to embrace him, celebrate his new life and to ask him about it through the night.

We are at a point in our lives of following Jesus that we are openly praying for one another. One man is starting a new job on Wednesday and we spontaneously gathered around him and prayed for his new start.

When people began to leave, many of them said, "I could bring my work friend here." Or, my favorite, "This is a church that I can get excited about."

And, you know what, I agree!