Blazing Fire's Encouraging Blog

“Encounter 1” I was awakened by Father God on Friday, 1/30/26 at 3:01 AM. He asked me four questions. The first three were: What if the Bible is real? What if the Bible is true—Truth itself? Do you BELIEVE what the Bible says? But when He asked the fourth question, I felt the weight of it in my whole body, my soul and my spirit. I knew this was not just for me, but for the Body of Christ. The 4th question was:     4. Do you BELIEVE what the Bible says about YOU? When God asks a question, He is not looking for information He is inviting transformation. I pondered this for a couple of days. Then on Monday evening, He got my attention again and said: “This is NOT a question—it is an INVITATION.” It’s an invitation to step through a door of  REVELATION , and to allow God to take you on a journey to become  who He created you to be . I believe many will begin to experience or see an increase in encounters with God. Whether through visitation, dreams, or their sanctified i...

In Matthew 5:5 it says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” From my perspective, this is about open doors both ways in relationships. It’s about receptivity. It’s about love. Other things that come to mind regarding meekness are strength under control, patience, long-suffering, forbearance, gentleness, peacefulness, modesty, humility, unpretentiousness, submission, and deference, among other things. Meek people are teachable, self-controlled, yielded to God, and they follow His instructions. It’s a posture of waiting, watching, listening, receiving, and inquiring. In James 1:19 it says to be “quick to listen, slow to speak...” In 1 Corinthians 13:9 it says, “For we know in part and prophesy in part.” No matter how smart or trained we are, we never know the full story of other people’s lives unless we take the time to meekly listen and receive them. In the same way, we don’t know more than God; therefore, we meekly come before Him and let Him bring understanding fr...

Last Saturday, we continued our journey through the beatitudes focusing on “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Matt.5:5 I can’t imagine how transformative this must have been for those hearing Jesus’ message. They were under Roman oppression so they only saw dominance and aggression as a means to gain authority. But Jesus was completely opposite. He didn’t assert his power. He used his power to heal and to love (and He still does today!) “His gift of grace is in direct opposition to the vanity of the proud mindset of self effort, whereby people strive to prove themselves superior to others. Gift and reward are opposites. Humility attracts grace.” James 4:6 (Mirror) The Greek word for meekness is Praus, used to describe a warhorse that was trained for battle. They had immense strength, power and courage in complete obedience to the rider. A warhorse is calm under pressure. Praus is trusting God’s ways and not forcing our own. It is not passive or timid but having se...

Hi everyone! First, I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words and prayers. This is not a goodbye just a see you later! It was truly an honor, and I’m so thankful for the chance to share what God has been teaching me. The topic of anxiety and control is something that feels deeply personal, but also something I know many of us experience in different ways. One of the main things I spoke about was how closely anxiety is often tied to our desire to stay in control. When life feels uncertain or overwhelming, our natural instinct can be to try harder, to plan more, manage outcomes, or hold everything together on our own. But over time, that kind of control becomes exhausting, and it can leave us feeling even more burdened. I’ve been reminded that God never intended for us to carry the weight of life alone. Scripture continually invites us to bring our worries to Him, to release what we cannot control, and to trust that He is present even in the unknown. While anxiety can make us feel li...

Last Saturday night, i felt privileged to facilitate a panel discussion with Elijah Breon, Karena Lout, Susan Fochler, and Diane Jung The panelists shared about their walk with God with vulnerability and pearls of life wisdom. Here is a taste of what you’ll find on the video: Elijah shared about things he set his heart on.  The kinds of things he hoped would give him a strong sense of identity and purpose. Karena shared about how deep grief surprised and overwhelmed her and how Jesus lovingly comforted her. Susan had longed all her life for emotionally healthy, life giving conversations with her mom.  And God helped her grieve this in a way that brought more wholeness for Susan while her mom was still alive. Diane realized she needed God to comfort her her after her father’s death - she intentionally chose to open her heart to God’s comfort from loving friends. With gratitude and affection, Russ P.S. I warmly encourage you to watch what was shared. Find the video for our Febru...

We’ve been slowly working our way through the beatitudes found in Matthew 5:3-14 for the past few months. We have a ways to go, but I was inspired to write down an artistic overview of this passage. This is not done phrase by phrase, but rather pulls in themes from the entire passage and communicates them in a seamless way: Jesus reveals that, much to our surprise, we’re blessed when we come to the end of ourselves—when we have nothing left and know how desperately we need to depend on him for everything. As we embrace our deep need for Jesus as well as when we mourn when crushed by loss and pain yet turn to him for comfort, a genuine humility arises and we develop a hunger and thirst for what is right. With this renewed heart and spirit, we discover the mercy, purity and deep peace of Jesus within us—evidence that we belong solely to him. Jesus assures us we will be his grace-filled seasoning and his love-light in this world, yet because light clashes with darkness, there will be time...