The God who speaks - Feb. 1, 2005

Welcome to this edition of the God Who Speaks.
Thanks for tuning in!

Just a reminder before we get started. Our new book,Fear No Evil: Breaking free from the culture of fear,will be available by the time you get your next newsletter. You can order it directly from our website at www.bradjersak.com as soon as it arrives (Feb. 14th or so).

For today’s newsletter, I’d like to direct our attention to what God is saying to and through our children. We noticed this amazing prophecy in Zechariah 10 this week:

The people of Ephraim will be famous, their lives brimming with joy. Their children will get in on it, too-- oh, let them feel blessed by GOD! I'll whistle and they'll all come running. I've set them free--oh, how they'll flourish! Even though I scattered them to the far corners of earth, they'll remember me in the faraway places. They'll keep the story alive in their children, and they will come back. (Zec 10:7-9 MSG)

As I meditated on this passage, I sensed the Lord speaking a message to me. Would you weigh it with me? Does it resonate in your heart? Here it is:

“The Father is sowing seeds in the hearts of the children. Those seeds can either end in “pretend” or sprout into revelation (and ultimately into destiny). It will depend largely on how parents and other adults respond to those seeds. Woe to Christian adults if they should become the birds who steal away the seed of God’s word from the children’s hearts!”

Here’s what I am seeing: when we call on the Lord and He speaks to our kids, initially it will be very easy to dismiss what they are hearing as “pretend.” We will be tempted to pass off what they are hearing and seeing as “active imaginations” or “make-believe.” But if we water those seeds even a little bit, often with a listening ear or a simple question, the Lord will speak a strengthening word to His people through the kids.

Today, let’s ask the Father these questions:

1. Father, is there a child’s heart that you’ve been sowing seeds into? Who is it?
2. How would you like me to water those seeds?
3. Would you show me what they will sprout into? What fruit will they bear?

God bless as you meet him in the kids you know!

Brad Jersak

p.s. If God gives you a green light, please go ahead and alert others to this “blogsite.” I’m also grateful when readers recommend our books on “listening prayer” to others.

The God Who Speaks - Jan. 17, 2005

Welcome to the Jan. 17th edition of "The God who speaks." And a special welcome to newcomers. Thanks for joining us in our quest to hear God more clearly and to gaze together into the glory of God in the face of Christ, His Son.

For today's newsletter, I wanted to share just a couple of tips re: inner healing that we've found helpful in recent days.

1. Tip number one: When the Lord leads you to recall very painful memories, rather than assuming that you must relive the entire memory and re-experience the pain before you can get healed, try asking Jesus this: "Lord, must we do the healing within this memory, or can we take a snapshot of it to the Cross [or to my safe place] and do the healing there?"

Since I started asking this, we've found that the Lord allows us to do the healing work at the Cross up to 80% of the time. I find this to be a much less traumatic experience for those we pray for.

2. Tip number two: When we are aware of old memories that hold tremendous amounts of pain, but can't do the healing work just yet, we've been asking Jesus, "In the mean time, would you bring that part of me that experienced that pain into a safe place and store the pain until we can get to the healing work. Again, we're finding that Jesus is willing to do that most often until we can get to the actual healing work. The fruit is that those who need further prayer can stay far more functional until their next prayer time.

I know that not everyone on our list is involved in prayer ministry with others, but perhaps you can take these suggestions as a renewed call to live in the shadow of the Cross and to meet Jesus in a safe place today.

blessings,

Brad Jersak