Blazing Fire's Encouraging Blog

-Brent Lokker - Jesus didn’t come to the earth and die on the cross to undo what humanity had gotten wrong. He came to inaugurate what the Trinity had covenanted to do for us before the world even began in order to make all things right.   God’s covenant promises to include us in Christ and to care for and nurture us into wholeness wasn’t in reaction to correct something that happened, but rather it was fully his decision based on his unchanging nature of merciful love—a decision to open our eyes to his beauty and to our beauty created in his image, a decision we weren’t there to vote on.   Let me show you from the Scriptures: “God has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.” (2 Timothy 1:9 NIV)  And   “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” (...

Last Saturday we began a journey together to become more aware of the heart of our Father through the book of 2 Corinthians. We will likely be in this book for a good part of 2025. The backdrop to reading this very personal letter written by the Apostle Paul, who was a spiritual father to the dearly loved church he started in Corinth, is that Jesus had to first radically transform his heart. Paul, who was born Saul was a super devout Pharisee (a Jewish law cop) who thought he was doing God a favor by imprisoning and killing Christians who were teaching this grace ‘garbage’ from a Savior who was all about love. Saul was sincere in his devotion to God but had the wrong God in his sights, and sometimes we can fall into the same trap.   What each of us needs and even requires are transformational moments when our beautiful King and Savior reveals himself in a way that is so much better than we ever imagined, so far beyond what we thought grace could deliver, that it opens kingdom dimen...

2 Corinthians 3:7-12 in The Passion declares, “Even the ministry that was characterized by chiseled letters on stone tablets came with a dazzling measure of glory, though it produced death. The Israelites couldn’t bear to gaze on the glowing face of Moses because of the radiant splendor shining from his countenance — a glory destined to fade away. Yet how much more radiant is the new and glorious ministry of the Spirit that shines from us! For if the former ministry of condemnation was ushered in with a measure of glory, how much more does the ministry that imparts righteousness far excel in glory. What once was glorious no longer holds any glory because of the increasingly greater glory that has replaced it. The fading ministry came with a portion of glory, but now we embrace the unfading ministry of a permanent impartation of glory. So then, with this amazing hope living in us, we step out in freedom and boldness to speak the truth.” But wait, there’s more….it keeps getting better! A...

I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions, I think because—at least for me—it’s often an attempt to try harder to change myself which, though it sounds noble, is not possible to do on my own, which is what the Lord told us.  But just before the New Year, Suzanne was reading an article about our intentions for this coming year. While the two words have some similarities, I see our intentions as a cry within our hearts that echoes God’s own heart for us. And then, like everything that is of God, it is only a gift of the Spirit that makes it happen.   Yet, our choice to listen to that cry in our hearts and to agree with God is a big deal and an important one in our growth from glory to glory. So here are a few Scriptures and intentions we spoke out loud last Saturday. Whether or not you were there, I encourage you to speak them out loud today.   Galatians 2:20 (NLT) My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I ...

As a reminder  from Him, I believe the Lord is working on the depth of our relationship with Him in preparation for the next great outpouring of His Spirit. For decades there has been prophetic words about a coming revival that will be so powerful and amazing beyond anything we have experienced in history. For us to contain this, He is anchoring us in intimacy with Him. He is encouraging us to be fully honest and frank with Him in all things. He’s our best friend no matter what. Like it says in Proverbs 3:6, “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Now, He is making it clear about how important it is to be candid with Him without fear of rejection since He knows it all anyway. As we do, He reveals His glory, His lovingkindness, His compassion, His patience, His empathy, His presence and all of who He is which is love. As this becomes clear to us, we become like Him. We become those things. We reflect His nature. We feel like Him, act like Him and th...

Needless to say, there’s been a heap of turmoil in the world, and in America this rose to a crescendo during our recent presidential elections as it has a way of doing every four years. Because we all hold fiercely at times to our cherished opinions of how the world ought to be as well as how it’s going to happen, half of the United States was poised to be incredibly disheartened with the election results. Yet, regardless of whether you were devastated or exuberant with the outcome, God is equally in the midst of each of us doing something much deeper in our hearts…   “We are all in love with our own opinions, convinced they’re correct. But the Lord is in the midst of us,  testing and probing our every motive.” Proverbs 16:2  (TPT)   Because of his tender love for us, he brings to the surface areas of our hearts where we have placed our trust in people or situations or outcomes rather than himself and the goodness of his heart toward us. Then he invites us to explore...

Welsh Revival (1904-05) Less than 20 people (17 people) gathered at Moriah Chapel October 31, 1904 when Evan Roberts preached. All present gave their lives to Christ. When these 17 people came to Christ, Roberts knew that the revival he had been praying his whole life for had come. In less than six months, over 100,000 people got saved and the entire nation was radically transformed. This later became known as the Welsh Revival and released impartation for the Azusa Street Revival. Roberts, only 26 years old at the time, led that first catalytic meeting with less than 20 people present.   Azusa Street Revival (1906) On April 9, 1906 in a little home on Bonnie Brae St. in Los Angeles, less than 20 people (around 15 people), many of whom were on a 10 day fast, gathered together with one agenda, to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. They wanted to tap into what those at the Upper room waited for. As William J. Seymour preached on Acts 2, the Spirit fell upon them, baptizing several of th...