The God Who Speaks Newsletter - with Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - Jan 2012 by Brad Jersak

2012-01-27T13:35:00.001-08:00

The God Who Speaks – Jan. 2011

GOOD NEWS - EBOOKS NOW AVAILABLE!

Even as we speak, Chris Barton (YWAM Scotland) has just completed www.bradjersakebooks.com. We've built kindle and ebook versions of Can You Hear Me? and Rivers from Eden. They ought to be ready for download right now!

LISTENING IN UPS AND DOWNS

Hi friends,

It's been a heavy month of seminar travel, book projects at Fresh Wind Press, and studies. I'm finally getting a little breather and the thoughts that came as I've paused seemed appropriate to share.

I shared the following with my intercessors today:

I'm learning to accept that my circumstances of life will include great ups and downs most weeks. It's emotionally impossible to feel the full spectrum of highs and lows that would mirror those events. I'm aware of the tragedy and the glory in my friends' lives most days and am trying to find my place of peace ... not always sure if it's peace or just numbness. I think the question is 'how to be' through each instance, and also, 'how to pray.'

TODAY’S LISTENING PRAYER QUESTIONS

Rom. 12:15 "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn"

So, I offer those rather obvious questions as a reminder. Whether you've been listening to God for decades or just learning the joy of it, take time to remember specific reasons to thank God. Think about friends you can rejoice with deliberately thank God for the good you see happening in their lives. And then contact them to say, 'I'm so happy with you about these good things.'

Then think of those who are struggling -- whether in their health, their relationships, their finances, their hearts -- and let them know: I'm sad for you. I'm mourning with you. This sucks, but I'm with you and I'm praying.

Then we turn to God and pray, 'Show me how to be. Show me how to pray.' Remember to give God his turn ... let him show you. I think we'll find ourselves emerging into a spiritually spacious meadow where we can laugh or cry without losing sight of the Good Shepherd.

Brad Jersak - The God Who Speaks - Dec. 2011

2011-12-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

The God Who Speaks – Dec. 2011

Hi friends,

Before I forget, my wife, Eden, wrote a beautiful sermon on how waiting for Christ as Simeon did creates a powerful opportunity for God to reveal himself and for God to expand our hearts just as He expanded Mary's womb with the presence of Jesus. You can access the sermon HERE.

"Merry Christmas!"

Today while picking up a last minute birthday gift for Eden (yes, it coincides with Christmas Eve), I overheard a shopkeeper expressing his frustration. Someone had been deeply offended for wishing them a Merry Christmas. He figured they were annoyed because they weren't Christians. His coworker suggested, "Well, then why not just say, 'Happy Holidays?'" The first worker, flabbergasted, replied: "Because then the Christians get offended." Hmm. True story.

Apparently it's also now politically correct to refer only to the 'holiday tree,' but I discovered it was actually English and American Puritans who originally punished people with fines for making Christmas 'frivolous' by decorating such a sacred day with any kind of trees, bobbles ... or joy for that matter. Strange season.

Meanwhile, the IMF (International Monetary Fund) just issued a warning to Canadians, expressing concern with our household personal debts. They were worried that our overspending endangers us from being good consumers! Seriously. In other words, they were worried we were spending too much money, which could hinder us from spending enough money. Uh ... so ...

TODAY’S LISTENING PRAYER QUESTIONS

While the culture warriors clash over what words we must and must not use this weekend, at a deeper level, we are all tempted by the swirl where the 'spirit of giving' is married deeply to the 'spirit of consumerism.' Many feel conflicted about spending too little and too much at the same time. And while most believers try to give Christ his due, even celebrations focused on Jesus' birth can become exhausting.

We all know this. And probably the most successful call to pause in the last century was 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' (it debuted in 1961!). Why not pause for seven and a half minutes now to remember the heart of it, by clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, here's a little dialogue for you to try with the Lord.

Let's start with these verses:

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11-12).

I love reading this slowly, pausing between each phrase, asking and waiting to hear a message for myself.

These words jumped out at me:

"Do not be afraid." Of what? Why not?

"Good news." What is the Good news? Why is it Good news?

"Great joy." What is this joy? How do I receive it? or step into it?

"All people." Really?

"Today." What fresh spiritual birth do you have for me today?

"Saviour." Saved from what? Saved for what?

"Born to you." How is Christ born to me?

Prayer: Prince of peace, provide for me a hiding place from this hectic week. Show me a place of peace where we can meet today.

Upcoming 'Listen Up' conference in Abbotsford

2011-10-15T07:43:00.002-07:00

LISTEN UP ONLINE REGISTRATION HERE

Brad Jersak Listening Prayer

2011-10-01T13:11:00.005-07:00

Brad Jersak - The God Who Speaks – Oct. 2011

Hi friends,

FREE LISTENING PRAYER STUFF

I’ve got some new tidbits for you that I hope will be really helpful.

I’ve created some video teachings on listening prayer for youtube. They are 4 – 6 minutes long and highlight ch. 1 of Can You Hear Me? (by Brad Jersak) They are simple, including help for those who need encouragement in listening to God. They are suitable for sharing with friends, family or home group discussions, etc. The teaching is obvious enough to aid those who doubt that they can hear God.
You can find the videos by clicking HERE.

TODAY’S LISTENING PRAYER QUESTIONS

I’ve been meditating on Jesus’ surprising Gospel principles that defy the world’s way of seeing reality. Some refer to this as an ‘upside down kingdom.’ E.g. Jesus taught that you save your life by losing it. It makes no sense unless God’s Spirit illumines our hearts. And never mind ‘the world’ … these sayings seem impossible or even offensive to many believers. Jesus’ commandments may not even be doable apart from the Good Shepherd’s direction and the Spirit’s life empowering us. Through listening prayer, the Father makes these principles practical.

Here are three listening prayer questions that will activate the Kingdom life in you today. Perhaps God will highlight one for you to focus on.

   1.     Jesus, give me an opportunity to overcome evil by doing good.
   2.     Jesus, show me how to receive your blessing by giving away a blessing to others.
   3.     Jesus, grant me a chance to move from self-serving to self-giving.

Please try to resist vagueness here. Journaling helps (online or in my paper journal). For example, I would love to see your journal your response in the comments section below.

Go with what Jesus shows you.

And if you’d like to join me in a together-project around overcoming evil with good, here’s a simple way to make a big difference.

I need your help again (vulnerable moment) … don’t worry, not money.

We know the internet can be very bad or very good. I love how we can instantly connect with our missionary friends to get prayer requests for immediate intercession. Very good!

One bad thing is that people can anonymously say anything they want about others, true or not, and publish it for the whole world. In my case, this has had a profound effect on our ministry and our family, not just because it hurts feelings, but because churches and schools who want to invite us to teach listening prayer see the hate sites, get nervous and the shut their doors to avoid conflict and controversy.

But I have also discovered something quite wonderful about the internet. Believe it or not, it enforces the God’s truth that we cannot overcome evil with evil. We overcome evil with good. Practically, this means that visiting such websites to ‘fight back’ or to try to refute the authors only drives their sites up the search engines and makes them more popular and obvious to seekers. Viewing those sites out of curiosity rewards them because Google notices. When we see websites like that, the only effective way to resist their slander is not give in to the urge to open them. Constructive critiques of any ministry come from those who have first hand knowledge of them and are accountable for what they say.

This system is actually good because the only ways to overcome the problem are positive and constructive. The very best way I can overcome the evil of internet slander is by creating helpful videos and articles that are accessible for free to anyone who can make use of them. Positivity pushes negativity off the front page. I’m trying. These are the very kingdom principles we asked about:

   1.     We overcome evil by doing good.
   2.     We receive God’s blessings by giving away blessings to others.
   3.     Self-giving is better than self-serving.

So that’s what I can do. There’s also something you can do … and I guess I’ll boldly ask for your help, given the big kingdom picture.

Two simple ways to help me a LOT:

Briefly pop into my sites, subscribe, comment, and/or hit the social media buttons.

It really helps if you visit my sites, even just once – even more if you comment – and even more if you hit the Facebook, Twitter or Google+ buttons. Here are some sites you could click on … And there should be some neat stuff that makes it worth your while:

My home site: www.bradjersak.com - there are links to audio and video resources, including some podcasts, if you’re into that.
My Youtube video channel – this is where I’m gathering video stuff. http://www.youtube.com/user/bmjersak?feature=mhee
My articles at Clarion Journal online can be found at: http://www.clarion-journal.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/brad_jersak/
The online version of this newsletter can be found at: http://the-god-who-speaks.blogspot.com/
Here’s a blog I run that relates to my PhD studies on George Grant and Simone Weil: http://theowlgeorgegrant.blogspot.com/

Besides those, I’ve created other sites just to direct people who search either ‘Brad Jersak’ or ‘listening prayer.’

http://listeningprayer.wordpress.com - an intro to listening prayer
http://bradjersak.wordpress.com - an intro to me
http://bradjersak.blogspot.com - this is a listing of my books and articles
http://listening-prayer.blogspot.com - an intro to listening prayer
Link to my sites and add tagged photos:

To boost the overcoming goodness even more – far more – you can link to my sites from yours. If you have created any kind of a site where you can embed a link to one or more of me sites, this really helps push the hate sites off the front pages when people search me. There are many ways you can do this:

You can include one or more of my sites in your links column, if you have such a thing on your blog. You could include a reflection on what you heard in one of our listening prayer exercises and mention something like: I found this question in a newsletter from Brad Jersak, author of Can You Hear Me? about ‘listening prayer.’
If you link each of those phrases to one of the sites (as I just did), it really helps. You can even just copy and paste the above sentence in. Cheesy? Maybe. But helpful? Super!
Even better, you could do a brief book review or even a 1 sentence endorsement of any of our books. Again, even if you just link the book title and author’s name back to one of our sites, it makes a big difference. It can be this simple: I read a book about ‘listening prayer’ called Can You Hear Me? by Brad Jersak. It helped a little.
Finally, if you want, you can embed any of the listening prayer videos from my Youtube channel or republish any of our articles in your website. Yours for the taking.
So, that’s our bold request. Thanks for tracking with me.
New questions to come next month! Sincere blessings,

Brad Jersak
Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/bmjersak?feature=mhee

Brad Jersak youtube video channels

2011-09-30T22:26:00.000-07:00

Brad Jersak has been creating a video channel of brief teachings on listening prayer.

You can see them by clicking HERE to link to the site.

Does God Care? by Brad Jersak

2011-09-20T08:21:00.004-07:00

God, do you care? by Brad Jersak

Questions of the Week

This week I was contemplating the story of the resurrection of Lazarus from the point of view of his grieving sisters. It's too easy for us to hover above the story, remembering too quickly the powerful happy ending. Mary and Martha had no such viewpoint. They certainly had faith in the midst of grief and tragedy. They knew Jesus could have done something to prevent Lazarus death. But he hadn't. And they knew that Jesus could raise Lazarus to life on the last day. And he would. But in this in between time ('between the graveyard and the garden,' as Jason Upton would say), there is grief. Especially grief about what God has allowed. And it gives rise to the question, 'Don't you care? You could have ... but you didn't.' If you've ever experienced that same question, then asking God these questions is order:

1. God, do you care?

Don't be afraid to be gut level honest with God. You can think of the particular times when God seemed to abandon you to the cruelties of life. Then close your eyes, look Jesus in the face as Mary and Martha did, and ask him outright. 'God, do you care?' and see what he says or does. In the story, Jesus wept. What does he do in your story?

2. God, how do you care? How have you cared for me?

I find myself able to say, 'God cares,' but what does that mean in real life. There are a few pitfalls for me: First, I can start creating expectations of exactly how God MUST care in my situation ... and then be quite upset when he doesn't care in the way that I prescribed. Second, I can accept that he cares, but only by way of sympathy from afar, even while he appears idle or powerless to actually help.

But the kind of care God offers is not like either of these options. He is a present and active caregiver -- not just a sympathetic observer -- and yet I cannot dictate how that will look. But it WILL look like something. So we can ask him, 'When you say that you care, HOW do you care? How have you cared for me?'

When our congregation asked God about this together, we noticed two general categories of God's active care came out the strongest: external care through others and internal care through the presence of God's Spirit in us. When he cares for us through others, he has often inspired their hearts (where he dwells to) to compassionate words and helpful acts of kindness, to friendship and encouragement, comfort and companionship. When he cares for us directly from within, we may experience God's love, peace, and joy, but also words of life and hope or wisdom and insight. Listening prayer is really all about making space in our hearts to receive and notice God's care, isn't it?

3. God, how have you cared through me?

Being part of the Body of Christ means that through you, God can care for others in a way that they will be able to witness and experience it for themselves. He borrows our ears, eyes, mouths, hands, feet, wallet (!) and so on. Rather than rushing around doing what we think Jesus might want us to do, again, listening prayer is simply pausing to ask, 'How would you like to care through me today? Who would you like to care for? If you need to borrow my life to actively care, here I am.' This is what we were getting at in Kissing the Leper ... a lot of amazing testimonies of what it's like to see God's care coming through others. But if we keep listening, we'll get to make our own fresh testimonies! Let's be that open this week.

blessings,

Brad Jersak

God Help Me Be Myself - Brad Jersak

2011-09-20T07:46:00.001-07:00

"God, help me be myself."

A few weeks ago I sent a request to my intercessors. I asked them to pray me through some ugly feelings I was having that, if left to fester, would leave me off balance and would no doubt affect how I relate to people. Maybe you can relate to this statement: When I felt 'off,' I didn't know where to stand ... I didn't know how to 'be.'

Thankfully, the Lord answered by giving me a simple prayer and a series of questions that very day. The answer came through a friend who was one step ahead of me down the same path. We concluded that quite often, our emotions get 'hooked' by something someone says or does. Immediately, the 'old self' starts 'beaking off,' trying to instigate a reaction from us. As I listen to that voice, it reminds me of the self-obsessed 'George Castanza' from the TV show Seinfeld, who starts to panic and obsess over minor incidents until he does something completely foolish. My old self is just like Castanza. In other words, it never functions from a place of peace and never offers wise counsel. It is the lord of reactive behaviour and the cause of much grief.

The advice that Jesus gave us was this: Whenever we start to feel or hear the old self starting to demand a reaction, we could take a deep breath and pray, 'God, help me be myself.' Inherent in those words is the fuller meaning, 'God, help me to be my true-self-in-Christ in all my interactions.' Since Christ dwells in my new self with all the fruit of the Spirit, being myself should give rise to the very best responses from me, without having to pretend I am someone who I am not. And of course, we need God's help for this.

Here are some interesting follow-up questions that I've been asking God. They might be of some help to you: What is 'myself'? When am I most myself? How does myself stand in contrast to my old self? When myself interacts with others naturally, what does that look like? And so on. At the most basic level, I can see how the true self is a 'blesser.' And so the follow up prayer can be, 'Help me be a blesser today, as I am being myself.'

Speaking of Blessings: Summer Readings

Speaking of blessings, a friend of mine has written a beautiful book for adolescents that has really blessed me. It's called 'The Unlikely Alchemist' (by John Van Vloten). It reminds me a lot of C. S. Lewis's classic story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It is suitable for children and adults. I've written a review of it here (www.clarionjournal.com) and it is availablehere (http://bytheunlikelyalchemist.blogspot.com/). If you're into Lewis and Tolkien, I recommend it.

A free favour that would bless me

If you've read any of my books (by Brad Jersak or Eden Jersak) and found them helpful, it would be a great favour if you'd like to visit Amazon.com or Amazon.ca and rate the books there (a star rating, 1-5) or even better, do few sentence review there.

A free favour that might bless you

For those who enjoy podcasts, I've been part of a free podcast called 'Enjoying God' with S. J. Hill and Russ Hewett. You can hear what we've done so far at http://www.enjoyinggodpodcast.com/. Enjoy!

Blessings,

Brad Jersak

The Biblical Basis for Listening Prayer

2011-06-06T12:01:00.003-07:00

The Biblical Basis for Listening Prayer

Brad Jersak

We are often asked about the biblical basis for listening prayer. This is largely what Can You Hear Me? attempts to share. Reading that book in its entirety will give readers a fuller sense of the biblical, historical and practical foundations for listening prayer.

First, while I absolutely believe there is a biblical basis and New Covenant expectation for listening prayer, the Bible itself never demands a biblical template for every kind of ministry God calls us to. Further, in our experience with Christian skeptics, those who demand a biblical proof text seldom satisfied in any case.

Having said that, I would point those who are open to what the Bible says about listening prayer in these directions:

1. Check out the many biblical promises that God will speak to us. Note those texts that describe conversation with God, especially where they are embedded within the New Covenant promises. I.e. What has been provided for every believer because of Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension and the outpouring of his Spirit. E.g. Jer. 33:1-3, John 10:1-5; John 16:12-16; Rev. 3:20. These passages and scores of others suggest, model and even command us to listen to God’s voice and converse with Him.

2. Second, check out the many passages promising and commanding us to see God with the eyes of our heart. The Bible actually treats ‘beholding the Lord’ as a primary means of transformation (2 Cor. 3:16-4:6). I often start with a word study of the terms 'Behold' and 'Lo,’ words which most often mean, 'Gaze, on purpose and with love, using the eyes of your heart' and especially 'at the Lord Jesus.' Again, beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus is an invitation and prescription found in John 14, John 16 (the words 'see'), Eph. 1 (eyes of the heart), Heb. 12:1-2 (fix your eyes on), or Col. 3:1-3 (set your 'minds' on). In Rev. 3:18ff, we are commanded to ‘get eye salve so you can see,’ and then immediately beckoned to 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock.’ In Rev. 4:1-2, John obeys, 'So I looked, and there was a door…' where he is invited to ‘behold the throne and the one sitting on it.’

3. Once the Bible convinces us that we are to hear and see the Lord with the eyes and ears of our hearts, the question is ‘where?’ In our hearts. Within our hearts, we have the privilege of prayer life marked by an ongoing interactive meeting with the Lord Jesus. Our hearts are a context or venue where we can commune with God. We see many examples of this in the Bible: Often, writers welcome us to come before God on his throne, in our hearts: Dan. 7, Col. 3, Eph 1, Heb. 12 and Rev. 3 ... All of these describe the throne room of God as a meeting place with him, but the encounter is happening within our hearts or minds. Other passages describe us ‘seeing’ the Lord at the Cross (esp. Zech. 12, and also Heb. 12).

In Psalm 23, this type of in-heart interaction is exactly what David does: He meets with the Good Shepherd in contemplative prayer through various contexts: green pastures, quiet waters, paths of righteousness, valley of the shadow of death, banquet table, and the house of the Lord. We can copy David’s practice by visiting all of the places he describes, but also, we can do better than that: we can emulate David’s practice and live it by establishing our own heart-places. God reveals places within that are familiar and safe for us, in the same way David experienced them, but tailor-made from our own lives.

4. So now we're hearing and seeing the Lord in a context of our hearts. Question: would he also want to be Lord of the places in my heart that are damaged ... the memories where I store pain, shame, anger, etc. I.e., What does MY ‘valley of the shadow of death’ look like? When Jesus says, 'Lo, I am with you always,' we learn this: a. ‘Lo’ means look with the eyes of your heart; b. ‘Always’ means ‘always has been and always will be’; c. ‘Always’ includes my painful past; d. I am commanded to 'Lo' (look for) Jesus in those places. How? By asking, 'Where were you? Would you show me? What do I need to know there? What do you want to do there?’

5. What is the biblical basis for the what, the why and the how of God’s healing work in our painful pasts and hurting memories? I typically look to such messianic passages as Isaiah 53 (forgiveness of sin and removal of sorrow), Isaiah 61 (lifting burdens and giving gifts in their place), speaking truth to our lies (Jesus said, ‘the truth will set you free’ in John 8:32), and freeing from every kind of bondage (Isaiah 58:6-7). In this last passage and in Luke 4:18-21, we see this as the ministry of Jesus and later hear him commission us: ‘As the Father sent me, so I send you’ (John 20:21).

6. I would also add that even without any of the above, we still have the John 14-16 Last Supper promises where Jesus is very clear about the ministry of Christ’s disciples (including us): the Holy Spirit would counsel us, guide us, speak to us, and lead us into all truth. Although I am thankful for God’s written word, Jesus' promises in the New Covenant never mention the Bible's guidance or instruction. It is Jesus’ guidance through the ministry and voice of the Spirit to the Church. The Bible says a lot about inner healing ministry, but that is not where we learned it. The Holy Spirit showed us as we stepped out and followed the living Jesus into it. How do we know that it was the Holy Spirit? Jesus again gives us a biblical basis for knowing:

7. We know by the fruits that come from listening prayer ministry (John 7:16-21). I would look to this and other texts where we are told to judge ministries by their fruit. As listening prayer is practiced, are people being healed and delivered and transformed? Are they listening more attentively to Christ and growing in character, obedience, faith and love for God. If so, then it is a work of God. This has been our very consistent experience over the last couple of decades, such that we believe God has called us to both do and to share and to train others in this ministry. If you sense a similar call, please look further into ours and others’ resources on listening prayer.

GOOD FRIDAY CONTEMPLATION by Brad Jersak

2011-04-22T09:36:00.002-07:00

Thus declares the LORD who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him... "I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look at me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn" (Zech. 12:1, 10).

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).

THE LOOK THAT HEALS

I have spent much of my life trying to understand the Cross, thinking hard to figure out what happened on Good Friday and how it works for our salvation.

When I wrote my masters thesis, I knew that whatever I studied, it would be for two whole years and require thousands of pages of reading. I asked myself, what could I meditate on that long that would not throw me out of balance... something that would be healthy to think about day and night over that long a period. The Cross of Christ seemed to me the safest path. So I studied and dissected and calculated and wrote. Thankfully, I would often find myself in a place of gratitude and worship. But whatever I 'figured out' at that point, I had to completely discard eventually. It all made perfect sense, but in a way that seriously warped my image of God.

But I couldn't let it go. Twenty years later I put out a call to my favourite theologians, teachers, and practitioners of restorative justice. I asked them for essays that would again address these questions. Some of you may have got hold of Stricken by God? and a few of you might have even had the patience to wade through it. It was good to see some of the church's finest teachers wrestling with what happened on Good Friday, pondering why Christ died and how his death is part of the Good News. But such a heavy book, and certainly not accessible to anyone who would have been standing at the Cross that day.

I'm just about to enter a third round, contemplating for the rest of this year how the Cross addresses the problem of evil in the world. How can a Good God allow so much tragedy and wickedness in our world? But this time, I won't be trying to figure anything out. I don't think that's really possible. Whatever answers we give from human reason usually end up painting evil as good or God as evil. I opened this newsletter with two passages that suggest that the Cross transforms and heals and saves us simply as we behold it. Don't figure it out. Don't create a theory. JUST LOOK in wonder, "How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me."And JUST LISTEN (carefully, slowly, personally) again to the seven last 'words' of Jesus on the Cross:

THE SEVEN LAST WORDS OF CHRIST

"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do."
"Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise."
Jesus said to his mother, "Woman, this is your son." Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother."
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
"I thirst."
"It is finished."
"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."

ARRESTED

What I see and hear there is the perfect goodness of God in a perfectly just man and the horrendous affliction of humanity's sin and suffering, coming together in one place and one moment. I am not to sort it out. We can't. Beware of those who can, who have all the answers. My confession: for too long I had Jesus pinned like a specimen to my theological petrie dish, thinking that my best theories are the Gospel. Never have I seen anyone approach the Cross with the attitude of a theological scientist or lawyer, and receive the Spirit of supplication or mourn as one mourns for an only son. Maybe such a posture is even a form of denial or deflection. Certainly nothing that heals us like those who looked to the bronze serpent on the pole.

So now, I am simply arrested there. Or at least open to it. Gazing and listening, believing that God's promises in Zech. 12 and John 3 might somehow be true for me... undergoing the revelation of God's love for us all. I would welcome you to spend some time at the foot of the Cross with me today in listening prayer.

Blessings,
Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks (Feb 2011)

2011-02-17T16:58:00.005-08:00

GOOD NEWS ON SEVERAL FRONTS!
Brad Jersak

Greetings!

We just got word that a ministry that works in correctional facility in Canada would like to start a reading and listening program with children of the inmates. Here's how it will work: they will supply copies of Children, Can You Hear Me? to the inmates. They will then record the inmate reading the book out loud. And then they will give both the book and the recording to the children so that the kids can hear their own parent read it out loud to them! This is such a wonderful idea and I'm so happy that we get to be part of it. Would you please pray that the children would clearly hear the voice of God as their mom or dad reads the questions to them? Imagine what could happen! Well, just about anything!

NEW TEACHING ON 'EYE-SALVE'

Sitting in church recently, I was people-watching while we were singing 'You're Beautiful!' I was especially moved by the beauty I see in our 'friends with exceptionalities' who attend from the various care-homes in Abbotsford. And I believe the Spirit of Truth may have been trying to teach me something.

First I recalled Jesus say 'Get eye-salve so you can see' (Rev. 3:18). I've always taught that this 'eye-salve' is not for our physical eyes, but to heal any damage that's been done to our spiritual eyes. He wants us to be able to 'behold' him standing at the door of our hearts (3:20) and of course, John responds in 4:1, 'So I looked...' I've usually connected spiritual sight with the vision of Christ promised in the New Covenant. And of course, some of us whose hearts and minds are less visual do have more difficulty.

But what came to me this time was that Jesus was referring to something more than our ability to picture him in our hearts. He seemed to say, 'The eye-salve is love.' And he show me the crucifixion. If we look at the Cross with worldly eyes, we should see nothing more than the torture and unjust murder of an innocent man in the most gruesome way. It should be nothing but repulsive--no more inspiring than the photos that came out of Abu Ghraib a few years ago. Yet those whose eyes have been healed by love see something else, something beautiful. When we look at the Cross, we see the self-giving love of God, the radical forgiveness, and the sacrificial mercy of our Saviour. We look at the Cross and we see beauty.

Finally, as I came to myself and again reflected on the broken, the weak, and the downtrodden among us (Jesus' 'least of these') I realized that with fleshly eyes, I should be seeing nothing but affliction, disfigurement, and all manner of nasty medical conditions. But I don't any more. Somehow God has been healing my eyes with the balm of love so that I see the hospitable welcome of generous lovers. They ask, 'Will you love me?' and 'Can I love you?' I see their eyes glow and their smiles widen and I behold the beauty of the face of God shining from their very human features. Perhaps it's heightened in those who live with chronic painful conditions because I see their identification with the sufferings of Christ.

It's just hitting me now that Christ's eyes work perfectly. They are glistening with love even when he looks through my considerable brokenness and dysfunction ... and maybe they even say, 'You're beautiful too.' Hmm.

I'm still trying to get my head around it, but a good prayer for this month could be, 'Lord, salve my eyes with love.'

WHO'S LISTENING?

Wisdom from my mentor

I was chatting with Ron Dart recently on the topic of discernment. My focus was on the continual need to sharpen our sense of whose voice we are listening to. If God is speaking, his voice will take on a different content, tone, and function from that of the old ego, the world system, and the Adversary. They are pretty consistent in 'spouting off' with messages of self-hatred, self-pity, and self-importance. God's voice, on the other hand, is full of his love, truth, beauty, goodness, and justice.

So far, so good. But then Ron, ever the faithful Rabbi, delivered a real zinger. He said, 'Just as important as discerning who is speaking is to discern who is listening.' To which I replied intelligently, 'Huh?'

Ron explained that whatever faculty of the soul we might be using to listen--whether reason or imagination, contemplation or action, even charity itself--can be employed by either the old self in Adam or the new self in Christ. To which I responded, 'Huh?'

To summarize his explanation, even if I am listening to God, if it is the old self doing the listening, what will happen? Maybe I will having trouble hearing anything. Maybe I will be more vulnerable to the other voices. Maybe I will twist what he is saying. And certainly I'll be listening for condemnation instead of conviction, sympathy instead of compassion, and flattery instead of encouragement. The theological word for this is, 'Icky.'

So what to do? I don't know. Ask Ron. Or at least ask Jesus. Maybe something like this: 'Lord, as I listen to you, strengthen my new-self-in-Christ to be present and attentive for your good news. I want to hear the true heart of Jesus speaking to my true heart.'

A CHANCE TO HELP

Another bit of great news is that 'The God Who Speaks' newsletter will continue to be a free gift in the service of training and encouraging God's people in listening prayer. We feel like that's one area where we'll never need or want to charge. A way for us to give, no strings attached. I hope to keep them coming bimonthly as time and energy allows.

Finally, an update on what we've been up to. Eden has been team leader at Fresh Wind since 2008. She shines in whatever God has called her to! Some have asked if any new books are forthcoming. In fact, I'm about half-way through my PhD studies and when that is done in 2013, I foresee that work producing a series of books. In the mean time, prayers are welcome as my tuition is (ouch) over $1200/month. Unfortunately, I was declined for a student loan this year and yet somehow, God has been providing month to month ... we have not had to fast involuntarily even once! Part of that provision comes as I try to fit in a couple of seminars each month. Invitations have continued to come in so all is well so far. In fact, if your church or school would like to host a seminar on Listening Prayer, etc., just let me know.

Still, one dear friend has encouraged me to put the opportunity out there to give a gift towards our work of seminars, publishing, and studying. But no pressure! And sadly, no tax receipt. But if you'd like to take part, here's your chance. We've got a button below if you'd like to donate online with credit card or paypal. For those who'd rather send a cheque, our mailing address is: Brad and Eden Jersak, 2170 Maywood Crt., Abbotsford, BC Canada V2S 4Z1. For those who are thinking, 'What?' ... I know how you feel. :-)

Merci.

Blessings,

Brad Jersak

Clenched fists, limp wrists and open hands

2010-04-14T10:35:00.006-07:00

GOD QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Brad Jersak

BIG Q: How do I wait when God seems to wait? When do I act as your hands?

How do I wait for God's grace when I am an agent of God's grace?

"For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay." (Hab. 2:3)

"God sees the truth, but waits." Leo Tolstoy

To me, this is a much more difficult question than those I normally offer, because rather than just asking God for a direct answer, the question itself puts us into a posture or place of waiting... potentially awkward or even painful waiting. But here's a little prayer exercise that may lead you into seeing what I'm seeing:

Step 1 - The Clenched Fist: With your right hand, make a tight fist and just look at it. This fist represents our acting independently of God. When we don't see God acting as we had expected or hoped, we are tempted to take matters into our own hands. Or we may try to force God's hand (as some think Judas did) by triggering a chaotic series of events ourselves. It's the raised fist of revolution--of force. Some words that I see in this fist are grasping, clinging, scheming, manipulating, mastering, making, taking. It's not a waiting hand. It's not a serving hand. It's the impatient fist of self-will that says, "If God won't do something, I will." It can masquerade as initiative, boldness, and courage ... as we make a suicide-charge out of the foxhole into the minefield of life. But there's an old saying, "Discretion is the better part of valour." Or in Jesus' words, "The Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing" (John 5:19). Of course, some of us learn the hard way. As one of my mentors once said in his southern drawl, "I've been bit by that dawg."

Step 2 - The Limp Wrist: Once bitten, twice shy. I.e. When acting independently of God goes very badly, the opposite temptation is paralysis. Hold out your left hand in front of you, palm down and let your wrist go as limp as possible (like Adam in Michelangelo's painting, "The Creation of Adam." This limp hand represents resignation. We may refuse to participate in the kingdom life, expecting God to act independently of us. When we don't see God acting as we had expected or hoped, we are tempted to sit on the sidelines as depressed observers or cynical critics. Words that I see on this lethargic or wounded hand are fatigue, despair, passivity, abdication, acquiescence, and relinquishment. It's the hand that says, "If God won't do something, why should I?" It can masquerade as patience and reflection ... as we numb out to the suffering of broken people and the darkness of our deteriorating cities. We've heard it said, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" (E. Burke). But of course, that proverb has been used all to often to rally the masses back to the clenched fist.

Is the dilemma obvious now? How do I wait for God's grace when I am an agent of God's grace.

[For keeners, the underlying problem is How is God immanent in the world when God doesn't intervene in the world? Hint: the mystery of the Cross]

Step 3 - The Open Hands: Finally, take both hands and open them in front of you, palms up like an expectant child. These are the hands of receptivity, waiting for grace in the person of Jesus. Open the eyes of your heart to see how he would come to you. Expect HIM but don't project onto him what he must do. On any given day, in any given circumstance, he may (i) hold your hands in his wounded hands as you wait together; (ii) he may place a symbolic gift in your hands that represents a grace he is offering (e.g. peace, patience, endurance, etc.); or (iii) he may ask to anoint and use your hands for some kingdom purpose (giving, serving, loving, healing, comforting, etc.). We may even become highly active and effective, but by waiting and listening first, our actions will be rooted in the Spirit rather than the self and thus empowered by grace to be grace in the world (as seen in the Sermon on the Mount).

So, how does Jesus come to you today? What does he do with these open hands? God's grace to you.

WHAT'S REALLY WORKING FOR ME

Cathy Hardy has a beautiful new song called "Love Shines." All about the source of all Light shining on us. A beautiful soaking song and definitely worth a listen. You can preview the whole song there for free or buy it as a single for your IPOD at http://www.cathyajhardy.com/love-shines-single.php.

A LITTLE TREASURE

My dear friend, Karin Dart, shared this poem with our SoulStream group. God's grace touched us as she read the words aloud. If you get a chance, read this aloud to yourself and then ask God if there's someone else you could read it to as a way to practice being an agent of grace.

My Sweet, Crushed Angel

You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to hold hands with the Beautiful One.

You have waltzed with great style,
My sweet, crushed angel,
To have ever neared God's Heart at all.

Our Partner is notoriously difficult to follow,
And even His best musicians are not always easy
To hear.

So what if the music has stopped for a while.

So what
If the price of admission to the Divine
Is out of reach tonight.

So what, my dear,
If you do not have the ante to gamble for Real Love.

The mind and body are famous
For holding the heart ransom,
But Hafiz knows the Beloved's eternal habits.

Have patience,
For He will not be able to resist your longing\\

For long.

You have not danced so badly, my dear,
Trying to kiss the Beautiful One.

You have actually waltzed with tremendous style,
O my sweet,
Oh my sweet, crushed angel.

~ Hafiz ~

Blessings,

Brad Jersak

TRUSTING GOD: Guest Post by John Van Vloten

2010-03-09T08:40:00.008-08:00

Yeah, I was there when it happened. I was weeding my garden when I saw Noah go into his toolshed. I could hear him messing around making an unholy racket so I sauntered over to see if he needed a hand.
“Hey neighbor-eeno, whatcha up to?” I asked.
“Oh, hi Flanders. Nothing really, just getting some tools…”
“Gonna build something?”
“Yeah…”
“Need some help?”
“Uh not really…”
“Aw come on, I’m pretty handy you know?”
“Well, do you know where I can get some gopherwood?”
“Gopherwood? What are you fixin’ to build? A swing set?”
“An ark.”
“An ark? What’s that?”
“It’s a big boat.”
“A boat? What do you want to build a boat for? We must be a hundred miles from the sea!”
“It’s supposed to rain.”
“Rain? What’s that?”
“It’s when water falls from the sky.”
“Oh Noah, what are you talking about? Water doesn’t fall from the sky! Have you been drinking?”
“God told me that he’s going to make it rain for forty days and forty nights and that I have to build a big ark to rescue all of the animals.”
“You’re going to build a boat big enough for all the animals?”
“Well no, just two of each.”
“A boat big enough for two of each kind of animal? How big is this boat going to be?”
“Massive… three hundred cubits by fifty cubits by thirty cubits.”
“That’s a lot of gopher wood, neighboureeno!”
“Yup.”
“So, how are you gonna get all these animals?”
“Well, God didn’t say…”
(sarcastically) “Maybe, he’ll just make them all march here two by two.”
“I suppose so…”
“Noah, I was being sarcastic. You can’t possibly expect all the animals to come to you! This God of yours sounds like he’s a little loco, if you catch my drift.”
“Goodbye Flanders.”
_______________________
Good morning, neighboureeno’s and neighboureena’s, I’d like speak this morning on a subject close to my heart: Trusting God.

Hear the words of Proverbs 3-5,6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your path.
Let’s break that down shall we? Trust in the Lord with all your heart: God is calling for something rather whole-hearted isn’t he? (What is he, a religious fanatic?) It makes me ask: can he really be trusted? Is he content with something half-hearted? Remember our old friend James, he had something encouraging to say: he said that when you ask God for something you shouldn’t doubt otherwise you’ll be a double minded man and God won’t give you squat! Ouch. So trusting must be something whole-hearted. Now don’t freak out, Jesus is rather more understanding.
Guy comes to Jesus to ask him to heal his kid, Jesus tells him to believe. The guy says I do believe but help my unbelief! Jesus heals his kid. My message is not designed to make you feel bad for lacking trust.
Trust is a growing thing and it depends on getting to know who God really is. Okay? Back to the Proverb. Lean not on your own understanding. Guess what? You don’t see the whole picture.
My friend Eric was homeless a couple of weeks ago. We prayed that God would give Nicole and him a house for their very own. We prophesied God’s heart to him that God wanted to give him a house. Did Eric see it? Of course not! Did we see it? Yes! We were looking into God’s heart and God’s heart was to give them a house. That’s just what God is like. Leaning on your own understanding is like using crayon instead of a computer. Leaning on God’s understanding is getting the biggest possible picture. It is agreeing with him that he knows best. It’s choosing to give him the appropriate glory. Back to the Proverb: In all of your ways acknowledge him…what does it mean to acknowledge him? It means to listen to him, to recognize his authority, to fix your gaze on him. Kind of like you are with someone you really love, isn’t it? Trust is all about having a right relationship with God, I think. How can you trust someone that you don’t really know?
It begs the question, why do we find it so hard to trust? Just so you know, we aren’t alone in struggling to trust. After Abraham left home in search of a land flowing with milk and honey he got a little sidetracked. Half way to the promised land, he spent 40 years in Hebron waiting for his father to die! Forty years! Brad was still in elementary school forty years ago. When he was afraid to trust God that he would be a father of nations, he tries to make it happen by impregnating one of Sarah’s slaves. If Abraham is the father of faith, then maybe God is okay with baby steps. You know those wonderful Ethiopians who win all the marathons, they started life taking baby steps too. But they did not stay there!
Maybe we find it hard to trust because we have been hurt by untrustworthy fathers, mothers and other authority figures. We have trusted and been let down.
May I suggest that trusting God is a process, like falling in love. The more time you spend with God, the more you listen to him speaking, the more you’ll realize that he is 100% crazy about you. How could you not grow to trust someone like that? Consider the alternative: everything is on your own shoulders, life depends on you not making any mistakes. Ouch. That would be very unpleasant.
Another story:

Abraham
Abraham was piling luggage on top of his station wagon. How in the world was he going to get all his stuff on top of the Country Squire? He reached for another bungee cord, and…
“Good morning, neighboreeno.”
“Morning Flanders.”
“Whatcha doing?”
“Getting all my possessions on top of old Bertha here.”
“What for?”
“I’m moving…”
“Oh that’s too bad. Well, good luck! Is it a nice new place?”
“I hope so.”
“Whereabouts is it?”
“I don’t really know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, God hasn’t told me.”
“God is your realtor?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“But you don’t know where he’s sending you?”
“No, Flanders, now if you don’t mind….”
“Wow, Maude would freak out if I came home and said, ‘Pack up honey, we’re going to a land flowing with milk and honey, God knows where!’”
“I’m sure…”
“Wow! What did Sarah do when you told her?”
“Um”
“Did she freak?”
“Well…”
“Oh my Goodness, you told her didn’t you?”
“Well…”
______________
My old pastor Gary used to use this illustration when talking about trusting God. He said it’s like a man stepping up to the diving board and looking down and noticing that the pool is empty. Does the diver shake his head and get off the board? No, he swallows and springs, trusting that God will fill the pool before he hits it!
A little disclaimer here. You must not jump unless God tells you to. Let me tack on another disclaimer, you must not jump unless you have shared what God is telling you with mature brothers and sisters. Here’s a hint, Jesus did not cast himself off of the wall just because the devil dared him to!
Can I repeat myself? Learning to trust is a process. God will be patient with you as you learn to trust. I used to think that God was very impatient and would dump me if I was slow to obey. Then one day he took me up to a high place overlooking the Sumas flats. He indicated a meandering stream and the straight lines of the TransCanada highway. He asked me, which of these do you think I am like? As soon as he asked it, I recognized that God is much more like the stream bending here and there always following the lowest ground. He is in no big rush. You are his treasure and he will wait for you to realize it.
-----
Brad's Introduction: John Van Vloten is an author, garden designer and professional tutor, registered with the BCCT. Some of you will remember him from your school days at M.E.I. in Abbotsford, BC and esp. the Spring Break missions trips to Haiti.

Show the Heart of the Matter / Don't Weary Yourself - Brad Jersak

2010-02-22T09:00:00.006-08:00

Hi Folks, Two quick phrases today: one is a prayer I've been learning and one is a message I think God spoke to me: 1. The Prayer: "LORD, SHOW ME THE HEART OF THE MATTER." Whether faced with a family crisis, a glitch at work, struggles with school, a personal issue or the latest news scare, I believe that this simple prayer may really help us from getting hooked into a knee-jerk reaction. In fact, I feel like the enemy of our hearts often counts on these reactions and uses them to easily manipulate us. Rather than being so predictable, if we pause and ask God to show us the heart of the matter, THEN LISTEN, I think we'll avoid a LOT of unnecessary conflicts and worries. We'll give God a chance to introduce the "wisdom that comes from heaven" (James 3) that leads to peace and to just living. Speaking of worries...

2. I have been hearing a phrase to ponder for myself and maybe you and I are similar enough (in our desire to manage things well) that it will help you too. The Lord (I really think it was him) said to me, "DON'T WEARY YOURSELF." I am finding that I need to focus on each word ... what does he mean? Sometimes we have to work hard. Yes. Sometimes life's demands leave us weary. Yes. Taking up a cross doesn't seem like a light yoke. True. And so on ... and after all that ... "Don't weary yourself."

"DON'T [A command? I can choose? I can obey?]

WEARY [a verb, not an adjective! Something I am doing or how I am doing something.]

YOURSELF." [something I do to myself. Others aren't the issue; workload isn't the issue; how do I do it?]

In my own case, it strikes to the heart of how I worry and then how I try to manage what I am worried about. Worrying REALLY wearies me. And managing my worries wearies me. But Jesus says, "Don't weary yourself." I'm feeling like I will be looking at this for a lifetime, but when I really listen, God's peace comes like ... permission? Maybe this is His word of permission to you too. It's probably just another way of saying, "You can trust me."

Big sigh!

Blessings,

Brad Jersak

p.s. If you haven't picked it up yet, we still have first run copies of my latest book, "Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hell, Hope and the New Jerusalem" at www.bradjersak.com.

Discernment: Testing My Own Voice - Brad Jersak

2009-11-02T12:05:00.007-08:00

After nearly a year in a wilderness hiatus, given mainly to healing work and homebound research, I’ve been hearing the call to re-emerge as a messenger given to preparing the way of the Lord. This call came largely through my friends, intercessors and healers so I’m peaking my head out tentatively with a personal discovery for you to consider.

First, I want to let you know that during my hiding time, I’ve completed a new book entitled Her Gates Will Never Be Shut: Hope, Hell and the New Jerusalem. In it, I try to tackle head-on the difficult issue of how we reconcile the mercy of God with divine judgment and hell. Is there hope? You can have a look at the summary and endorsements or even order the book at my website by clicking here: www.bradjersak.com/hergatesfeature.html.

Now to the matter at hand: I have been thinking about our dialogues with God and how we weigh them. What I started noticing is that when the prayer conversation alternates: God, then Brad, then God, then Brad, and so on, I was diligent to test what God was saying. Is the voice of God really God or not God? I would test that voice according to the three-legged stool of the Word, the Body and the Spirit, as recommended in Can You Hear Me?

But I neglected to test MY voice. And why should I? After all, it’s my own voice, isn’t it? Or is it? But when I began to categorize the themes that came under the umbrella of ‘my voice,’ I noticed something. On the one hand, there was the voice that agrees with and responds to God in faith. We could call that the voice of my ‘true heart,’ or the voice of the ‘new creation,’ or the ‘new me.’

On the other hand, there are these other voices that I assumed were my own as well: The voice of condemnation (beating myself up) that would then trigger the voice of self-pity (feeling sorry for myself), and the voices of shame, self-hatred, fear, worry, anger, and so on. In my head, I would hear and say, ‘I am afraid; I am angry; I don’t like myself; I’m not worthy,’ etc. Perhaps you know those voices as well.

And then it occurred to me, esp. as I read the dialogues from prayer journals of about sixty Bible school students, if the voice of my true self loves God and responds in faith and love to the voice of Christ, what are these other voices? On occasion I suppose I could have been hearing an unclean spirit. Or I suppose I might have been dealing with a wound in my heart. But mostly, I found these voices could not be cast out like a demon nor could they be healed like a wound. In fact, my greatest discovery was that those voices were NOT ME at all! ME is my true self. ME is the heart Jesus gave me. ME is the new creation. So what was I hearing that masqueraded as ME?

The Bible calls it the old nature (Rom. 8), the old Adam or Eve, the flesh or desires of the flesh (Gal. 5). In modern terms, we refer to the false self, the ego. My mentor, Ron Dart, calls it ‘the craver’ that underlies all of my cravings, demanding that I feed it but knowing it’s a bottomless pit. It is that vacuous demanding echo of something that was crucified with Christ; something to be reckoned dead (Rom. 6) but still far too talkative in my head; something to be disowned and discredited; marginalized and silenced as far a possible.

How do we silence the voices of the flesh or ego? We’re half way there when we begin to recognize that voice and declare, that’s not me. That’s not the beat of the new heart Jesus gave me. We can step back and hold it at arm’s length and begin to make a practice of disowning it—even to the point of refusing to call it my ego or myflesh. It is an ‘it’ of days gone by.

Besides disowning it, we can discredit the ego’s voice by challenging its motives and its fruit. The flesh or ego always has a motive. For example, when it is accusing you, its motive is pride and self-righteousness and it is punishing you for not living up to its standards of perfection. Your stumbles embarrass and offend the ego, triggering a barrage of condemnation. OR when the flesh lapses into self-pity, its motive is to seduce fleshly sympathy out of others—a deadly counterfeit of compassion that brings death rather than life. The ego can multi-task, both accusing and sulking at the same time, but when we step back quietly and watch that ludicrous inner dialogue, it ceases to be credible.

We also discredit the ego/flesh by challenging its fruit. Jesus called us to test everything, including every voice, by the fruit it produces. In testing the fruit of the ego, we see that when we have listened to it, NOT ONCE has it ever produced a smidgeon—not the slightest sliver—of goodness in our lives. So why give it a voice at all, much less the freedom of speech it currently enjoys under the guise of being ME just because I hear it beaking off inside? It is as if we’ve said, ‘As long as you don’t claim to be God, you can say whatever you want. By pretending to be me, you have free rein because I don’t discern MY voice. I only discern God’s voice.’ The resulting fruit has been most rotten.

I have also noticed that when the dialogue is between God and my true, restored heart, God tends to take the lead in the conversation and I find myself following, responding, led by the Spirit to listen. Conversely, when the ego/flesh dialogues with God (when it lets me, for it aggressively tries to unplug from the conversation through doubt or shame) it consistently tries to control the conversation, attempting to argue God into corners, silence or defensiveness. Here I see his relentless patience on the one hand and the complete waste of time on the other. I want to say, “Ego, would you just get over yourself and listen to what God is saying?” Of course, it never does. The flesh/ego does not really listen and its innumerable arguments are a distraction from where God would like to take the prayer time.

Finally, I do not silence the voice of the ego/flesh by obsessing over it. That only feeds it. Rather, I am learning to give it a brief, passing nod: “I see you, you blood-sucker. But I know what you’re up to and I’m not listening to you today.” And then I quickly move on to listen to the voice of God’s Spirit interacting with the responsive, faith-filled and loving voice of my renewed spirit. 1 Cor. 6:17 goes so far as to say that in uniting with Christ, his Spirit and my spirit become one. I.e. I don’t even need to distinguish between the Holy Spirit and my spirit, because they are in an ascending spiral of heavenly agreement.

True discernment simply means refusing to listen to all that is not God AND all that is not me. To me, this latter half was an ‘aha moment’ that I hope will upgrade our discernment and bring readers fresh freedom as well.

Thanks for reading,

Brad Jersak

p.s. If you found this helpful, please consider forwarding it to others.
For more resournces, visit www.bradjersak.com

The God Who Speaks - Nov. 2008 - Brad Jersak

2008-11-09T21:36:00.001-08:00

To those who have ears, grace and peace!

Just a brief newsletter this month. As always, I'm the gadfly who doesn't hesitate to remind you to keep listening!

At Fresh Wind, it's been an interesting month of transition. In case you missed it, I now call my pastor 'honey.' I.e. My wife, Eden, with the wonderful support of our leadership team and congregation, is getting the hang of being the 'team leader.' She is taking hold of her calling while I'm learning to let go of the pastoral thing. Currently, I'm working on some book projects for others and travelling a little more ... my way of resting, believe it or not.

In the midst of these changes, it came clear to us that at any given moment God is calling us to 'take hold' of something and to 'let go' of something. For example, we take hold of God's promises in prayer, while at the same time, letting go of control of how the forthcoming answers need to look. This absolutely requires that we are listening carefully, because in the flesh, we will take hold of the wrong things (e.g. we strive, we manipulate, we dictate) and we will let go of the wrong things (e.g. our faith, our hope, our love). When that happens, we end up disappointed and disillusioned, even with prayer itself.

So here's the simple exercise to keep us on track. We ask God these questions:

1. Lord, is there something specific right now that I'm meant to be taking hold of in prayer or in life -- an area where I'm meant to hang in there and keep knocking on heaven's door?

2. Lord, is there something specific right now that I'm meant to be letting go of in prayer or in life -- an area where I'm meant to leave it in your hands and simply release the burden to you?

Both are real acts of faith based on this premise: God is good and what He says is good. As usual, test what you're hearing with the Scriptures, the Church and the Holy Spirit.

Meanwhile, for those interested in the prophetic swirl around the American elections, you may want to have a peak at the last two submissions to www.clarionjournal.typepad.com. Each has a youtube clip that I think are worth seeing in terms of content and tone (regardless of your political affiliations).

Finally, book of the month -- Pilgrim's Process: Essays from the Journey by Brian West (one of my mentors). There's a description of it here: http://www.bradjersak.com/pilgrimfeature.html

Til next time, shalom!

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - Oct. 2008 - Brad Jersak

2008-10-10T22:10:00.003-07:00

I believe these are the days when God is calling for a very intentional renewal of prophetic purity. One could argue that this is always the case. But then at the very least, it's time for those with ears to hear what such a cleansing entails. Peter Helms and I have presented an article on the Clarion website, entitled "Beyond Cynicism: the Renewal of Prophetic Purity, diagnosing some dysfunctions and offering some proposals re: the whole prophetic movement.
One issue we didn't cover was the problem of mistaken prophetic words. I say 'mistaken' rather than 'false' because I would regard false prophecies as pertaining to drawing people away from Jesus and his Way or from 'the faith once delivered to the saints' through Jesus' apostles. By mistaken prophecies I am referring to those who prophesy in good faith--sharing what they believe God has shown them--but sometimes get it wrong. This seems to be part of the learning curve where we step out in faith to give a word of encouragement (for example), yet find out later that we were mistaken. Such an error does not require a good old public stoning in the New Testament model, but it can still be very painful when we give a word of hope that ultimately proves wrong.
To illustrate, I'm thinking of times when prophetic words about healing did not come to pass and the ailing one or their loved ones were left disappointed or devastated. In those times, we're very vulnerable to despair or cynicism about God's voice... all the more so when the messenger sweeps the error under the carpet, or spins the situation to make the word fit, or blames the mesengee for somehow not facilitating the message's happening. When a mistaken word goes unacknowledged, is this not the true meaning of "taking the Lord's name in vain"? That needs to stop ... especially so among public ministers. But then what shall we do when we inevitably blow it?
How about a simple, straightforward admission and apology. The easiest way to teach this is to model it. About sixteen months ago, while preaching at Fresh Wind, I shared a sense that for some of our families in crisis, the tide was turning. I presented this as something I believed God was saying and I mentioned several specific people. In retrospect, one of the couples I mentioned did NOT see the tide turn (in their case, financially). Some have kindly suggested that perhaps it was a timing issue, but in my mind, there is no spinning or justifying the error. I created an expectancy that something was in the midst of changing and I was plain wrong. It has been disappointing to them and to me ... we've grieved the journey together. Much too late, I have apologized, asked for forgiveness and been released. The fruit is that we continue to listen together, share what we're hearing and weigh it all. It seems to me that mistakes are not nearly so damaging as failing to acknowledge them.
Can I leave that with you as a listening question? Lord, in renewing my prophetic purity, are their any words that I've shared that were simply wrong? Is there anyone who needs an apology for my mistake? Give me grace to boldly make it right.
blessings,
Brad Jersak

Double or Nothing! Anouncement from Brad Jersak

2008-09-14T22:46:00.002-07:00

For those who haven't heard yet, we made quite an important and wonderful announcement at Fresh Wind on Sunday, Sept. 15. For those who only have a moment, if you just skim down to the bold letters below, you'll get the basic idea. Let me begin by sharing a visitation that I experienced the night before the announcement that finally gave me some perspective on it.

I came before the Lord in prayer and engaged with something he had been speaking to me through the writings of Hans Urs Von Baltasar. I sensed him say, 'Gaze on me and I will gaze on you. I will see you and see through you and into every part of you. I will open up every door and every drawer of your soul and I will evaluate you. I will judge you thoroughly, even where you would not dare judge yourself. I will see and know what you cannot even see and know. And I will render my verdict of mercy, my sentence of kindness, and my gaze will be adoration.'

Even as I engaged with those words, it was as if the entire front part of my body, soul and spirit opened like doors and drawers ... Things I would never want others to see or know were fully exposed to Jesus' gaze, yet without shame or condemnation. I could sense strongly the character defects of fallen kings like Saul, David and Nebuchadnezzar ... all there within me in their fullness, but available to the Spirit's searchlight. I could feel the deep lack of character, unmasked for him without fear, and the truth that I have been measured and found wanting ... But even in that, my willingness to open my heart and show it to him, hiding nothing, seemed to receive his generous approval.

In that place, God began to show me his secret wisdom. It was amazing because for months and months I have been told to stay in the mines and dwell in the darkness and receive God's secret wisdom. I had no idea what that was and no glimmer of it until now. It finally came ... things to be shared freely with the church that have been utterly inaccessible to the enemy until now. What I saw involved such a blindsiding / ambush / vengeance of the Lord against the accuser that I was became rather euphoric. The two secrets that came were allowed to be unveiled as part of our announcement at Fresh Wind.

First, I saw the intense suffering that so many in our midst have experienced this year. Physical, emotional, spiritual, marital, financial, vocational crushing has overwhelmed so many (just as the Lord forewarned in January). I saw the enemy behind it, pushing, pushing, pushing ... and that we have been pushed to the point of only two options: We would have to either give up (and some have, to the enemy's joy) or let go (which looks the same but is the very opposite, to the Lord's joy). The Lord has taken the terrible risk of allowing this horrendous trial by fire to lead us all the way to this letting go. For those who let go, they are surprised to find that God is waiting to pass them a baton of great purpose. Happily, in their poverty of spirit, they find themselves with empty hands, available to receive God's gift. They could not have received it without having let go and they would not have let go without the suffering.

I've already watched many among us picking up their baton: Eric J picking up the prophetic role, Charles and the Langtons joining the leadership team, Lorie stepping onto the pastoral staff. But others too, like the Collies (and their prayer tent) and Robin at LIFE Recovery or Heather getting healed and starting school to be a nutritionist. And so on. Many have already endured the fire, taken hold of their baton and it felt to me like they had utterly blind-sided the enemy. In his folly, he did not and could not see the courage of the elect. He failed to understand how our blood and God's light create gold of character in the alchemy of Jesus.

And then I saw my baton. I don't know what it is exactly, but I want it. But to have it, I needed to join in the faith of letting go ... And if I let go, let go of what? The prayers and prophetic words of God's people, mixed mysteriously with both the injuries and desires of own my heart, have led me these past weeks to lay down two batons.

After five years, I have now laid down the baton of team leader at Fresh Wind. And after twenty-one years, I have laid down the baton of pastoral vocation. Fresh Wind is still my home and family. I'll continue for now as part of the team and stay on the teaching rotation. I'm not planning to leave, but I've laid down my role as pastor. But there is more. Remember first that Jesus is the leader of our church and that our team operates on a consensus of hearing his heart as best we can. But we also recognize the validity of having a team leader.

To whom would the team offer that baton? Surprise: Unanimously, it seemed good to us and to the Lord to pass it to Eden! (my dear and faithful wife) ...

And here is the secret wisdom in that. In picking up her baton, God is unlocking an enormous storehouse of kingdom strength that had not previously emerged. I believe we have no idea of what she carries. I have no idea. She has no idea. But there is a powder keg that has been lit and I believe what is emerging is a New Testament Esther. The last thing we need is a queen or a high priestess ... but just as the enemy has assaulted the church with the spirit of Jezebel (marked variously by manipulation, domination, control and/or seduction), God's answer far, far surpasses that strategy. He trumps the enemy with the spirit of Esther, by which I mean authority that only comes forward when summoned by her husband, her King and her God in order to minister deliverance of a people. The Esther spirit only lays hands on the King's scepter when invited and never grasps at it or takes it from his hand. Her authority comes because she has the King's ear.

It sounds grandiose, but I believe Eden bears this spirit. The beauty of God's wisdom is this ... the Jezebel spirit often functions to control leaders (like Ahab) or to take them out completely. Even Elijah withered before her. As I sat under God's evaluation, I saw how vulnerable and fragile my own character is ... But with Eden? Well, she smells that stuff a mile away and sees through it (always has). And now that God, through the team, has offered her the baton, I witnessed the enemy receive a serious drubbing. As best I can tell, this way of framing the role-shifting at Fresh Wind came not by reason but as revelation to my open-drawered soul. It left me cheering the wisdom of God. When I shared this with the congregation, they received and affirmed her, then prayed and prophesied over Eden as she received her baton. It was a holy moment charged with surprise and excitement. Just one highlight for me was hearing John Van Vloten say, "We as men welcome your leadership," granting simultaneous submission AND covering. Another joy was to hear Heinz and Doreen Borck saying, "We can follow you. And we have your back."

As for me, I fell asleep again after the visitation, not as Brad the pastor or leader but Brad the man and Bradley the boy, the son. I fell into an old recurring nightmare that always signals inadequacy and I woke up sucking my thumb (for real!), which signals insecurity. And it felt so good. Out of the safe place, out of my comfort zone and in full realization that I'm in over my head again. I'm launching into something I have no idea about. On waking, I heard Brian West's (our founding team leader) cheerful voice chiming inside ... 'Here we go again. Double or nothing!' Oh Lord, you mean I get to risk again? Between God and I, there has never been a guarantee. He has only and always said, 'I'll risk it if you will.' I am a long shot and I know it. I am a high risk investment and that's just how it is. So for now, I retreat to be his boy. I will plug away at the little projects he's given me and wait on the promised new baton..

So that's my story. A new chapter has begun in my family and in my church, entitled, 'Esther emerging.' This should be good.

The Beatitudes are Cross and Resurrection ...

2008-09-01T00:14:00.001-07:00

The Beatitudes are the transposition of Cross and Resurrection into discipleship. But they apply to the disciple because they were first paradigmatically lived by Christ himself. -- Pope Benedict XVI

I loved the quote by Benedict. If the beatitudes are the Cross and Resurrected transposed into the life of discipleship, then each "blessed are they that ____" gives us the character and fruit of the company of the crucified, specifically crucified to the demands and dictates of the ego.

And each "they will be _____" shows us what resurrection power infuses into the emptied cup of self.

All of the Beatitudes are therefore really encapsulated in the first one. Poverty of spirit is the Phil. 2 kenosis of the disciple.

We disown and detach from the old Adam (ego, Satan internalized?) and drink a new cup, a bloody cup, a covenant cup.

The promises of the kingdom that follow are not about someday hopes (at least not entirely). They are about access now to the kingdom of heaven dimension where true life is found.

But here was the zinger for me:

As you play out the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, virtually every practice (giving away cloak and tunic, forgiving and blessing enemies, cutting off hands, letting go of stuff, renouncing anger, faithfulness to spouse, and all manner of sacrificial love) ... all of these are consistent deliberate acts that go deeper than a profound social ethic or a way of overcoming the perceived external enemy with meekness. While they ARE that ... what I see is that they are a program that thoroughly strips the ego of all it's attachments, cravings, lusts, pride, impressiveness, etc. ... impoverishing it, assaulting it, and finally detaching from the ego itself ("I am crucified with Christ").

In other words, I use my perceived external enemies to defeat my real inner enemy. The Sermon on the Mount is a Way to become poor in spirit and the fruit of being poor in spirit. It's brilliant. Every handle, every bit of leverage that the flesh could grasp is taken from it systematically.

In that kind of disciple, the Holy Spirit's resurrection life is then given space to be infused.

Gnostic versus Mystic

2008-08-31T23:49:00.000-07:00

Thoughts re: Gnosticism versus Mysticism

While both the gnostic and the mystic may embrace a heavenly experience, the gnostic rejects the immanence of God in this realm as impossible and inappropriate. They try to escape this realm because it's very materiality is unclean or illusory (and historically
rejected the incarnation for that reason).

But while I am not a gnostic, I am unapologetically a mystic. That is, I believe in direct interactive fellowship with God both in the heavenly realm (beholding him and approaching him boldly as a beloved child) AND in the earthly realm ("Lo, I am with you always.") He is Lord of heaven and earth and is utterly immanent in our daily lives. I take Jesus' promise, "I will be with you and in you" very literally and seriously.

What has made the presence of Christ real to me -- a constant, conscious awareness of his "withness" -- is the opening of the eyes of my heart to behold him. Peter, quoting David in Ps. 2 said, "I saw the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." He goes on to speak of how he has been filled with joy in the Lord's presence. 'Presence' is good, but the word translated is more specific: lit. "face". So too with 2 Cor. 3-4 where we get this idea of hearts unveiled, "beholding the glory of God... in the face of Jesus Christ." Modernism would reduce this to an idea, a concept, a notion. The mystic (esp. the Apostle John and his lineage) would say, "No, we really mean it. Our hearts truly see him." This is what made their fellowship with Christ so real ... and how it has become so for me as well. This is not the esoteric, elitist experience of the gnostic, but rather, the promised inheritance of all of God's children.

Discernment then means continually saturating oneself with the Jesus of the Gospels to ensure that the Jesus I behold in my heart or the Jesus I encounter in the streets in the poor are in alignment with the true Lord Jesus of Nazareth. And this is such a joy because then life in the Word, in prayer, in worship -- or in the grocery store or the nursery are all full of the fellowship of 1 John 1!

I thought I'd offer some little quotes by Symeon the New Theologian. (942-1022) By way of background, Father George Mahoney says, "The battle of two opposing views of theology centered around St. Symeon and his mystical apophatic approach of the experiencing of God immanently present to the individual, as opposed to the 'head trip' scholastic theology as represented by Stephen of Nicodemia, the official court of theologian in Constantinople. Stephen represented the abstract, philosophical type of theologizing while Symeon strove to restore theology to its pristine mystical tendency as a wisdom infused by the Holy Spirit." N.B.: the problem with the scholastics was not their love of scholarship, but rather, that they opted for a mediated knowledge of God that denied direct experience. Symeon on the other hand spoke, esp. in the Philokelia (the Eastern Church's favorite theological collection) and in his discourses of his experience of seeing the glorified and risen Jesus:

"[A Christian is] the person who has come to see with the eyes of the spirit and who has beheld the true and quenchless light."

"The person who has not consciously invested his intelligence and intellect with the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly one, man and God, is still but flesh and blood."

"Most men believe in the resurrection of Christ, but very few have a clear vision of it. Those who have no vision thereof cannot even adore Christ Jesus [!!] as the Holy One and as Lord... That most sacred formula which is daily on our lips does not say, 'Having believed in Christ's resurrection,' but, 'Having beheld Christ's resurrection, let us worship the Holy One, the Lord Jesus, who alone is without sin.' How then does the Holy Spirit urge us to say, 'Having beheld Christ's resurrection,' which we have not seen, as though we had seen it, when Christ has risen once for all a thousand years ago, and even then without anybody's seeing it? Surely Holy Scripture does not wish us to lie? Far from it! Rather, it urges us to speak the truth, that the resurrection of Christ takes place in each of us who believes, and that not once, but every hour, so to speak, when Christ the Master arises in us, resplendent in array and flashing with the lightnings of incorruptible deity. For the light-bringing coming of the Spirit shows forth to us, as in early morning, the Master's resurrection, or, rather, it grants us to see the Risen One Himself. ... Those to whom Christ has given light as He has risen, to them He has appeared spiritually, He has been shown to their spiritual eyes. When this happens to us through the Spirit He raises us up from the dead and gives us life. He grants us to see Him, who is immortal and indestructible. More than that, He grants clearly to know Him who raises us up and glorifies us with Himself, as the divine Scripture testifies."

Symeon, as an apophatic theologian, tends to emphasize the transcendence of God to the nth degree, speaking more in terms of knowing God by what he is NOT. Apophatic theologians are careful to not make absolute statements about what he IS because that would be too categorical and could put God in the box of our intellectual capacities. However, I would say that we CAN say something of who God is by virtue of the incarnate and resurrected Christ. So without reservation we say, "God is exactly like Jesus. All the glory of the divine godhead has been poured into Christ as eternal living image/icon. And we DO know this God as we know Jesus and we know this Jesus as we behold him."

Further, I'd say as we behold him with spiritual eyes in the heavenlies, our material eyes are invested with spiritual vision to behold him in the HIV baby, the autistic child, 'the homeless, penniless Jesus the Son' (to quote Jason Upton).

Judging versus Judging

2008-08-31T22:48:00.002-07:00

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. " Matt. 7:1-2

"Do not put out the Spirit's fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. " 1 Thess. 5:19-22

"The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment." 1 Cor. 2:15

"For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God." 1 Pet. 4:17

I've been thinking a lot lately about how we must learn to walk in greater discernment these days without stepping into condemnation. Discernment and condemnation are really two types of judging; one is commanded, one is forbidden. Personally, I always tend to come back to "the measure with which you judge will be used on you." I know I want to be loved with tender mercy and a good dose of truth.

More specifically, I think this is what I want for myself and for the ministries where I serve:

1. Personally, I want those who love me (a good prerequisite for judging) to be very very tender, kind, loving, merciful, long-suffering and even careful with my heart. And I want them to be ruthlessly truthful with my ego and its selfish, self-seeking, self-centered, self-aggrandizing, self-debasing, self-sabotaging ways.

2. Corporately, I want those who love us to be equally tender, kind, loving, merciful and long-suffering with the people involved in our ministry and with the authentic revelation that we carry. But I want them to be ruthlessly truthful in sifting through the wood, hay and stubble of any part of our fellowship that represents a system built on sand, engages in spiritual abuse, or binds and blinds us from God's kingdom in any way.

With this in mind, these are the days to examine ourselves and the whole realm of Christendom, resisting the powerful urge to quench the Holy Spirit by condemning the fallen, by being cynical rather than open, or by rejecting the authentic ministries that always come via vessels of clay.

At the same time, we say an emphatic NO to any aspects of our Christian cultural systems that measure a movement's 'anointing' according to the drawing power of the masses, or to the charisma of its leaders, or to the glam of sensational ministries. We ought to resist every measure of spiritual success through typical capitalist criteria: e.g. size of crowds, increase in growth, structural power, dollar figures, etc.

There is a new openness to correction across the whole prophetic movement right now. We dare not squander it by scapegoating individual leaders who are struggling as if the system that built their pedestals were just fine.

This begs a broader and important question: what are the marks of a revival? What is revival? What are the fruits of a revival? Are revivals something Jesus taught us to pursue?

I've been really pondering Jesus' vision of the kingdom and his response to questions about that in Luke 17: "The kingdom will not come with signs you can observe. You will not be able to say 'here it is' or 'there it is'. The kingdom is within/among you." It is as if Christ foresaw revival theology as a poor alternative to his kingdom theology and was trying to warn us, right?

Jesus' mustard seed parables make the kingdom out to come as grassroots movements that emerge from below like seeds spread in fields of humble hearts. By contrast, even the healthiest looking revivals are more like centers where you go to get a bite of magic bread that someone brings back from heaven, hoping you can bypass character growth and the riggers of a discipleship journey in favor of a fix. We call this shortcut an 'impartation.'

Now large meetings where Christ is preached, the sick are healed and the oppressed are set free are not necessarily the problem. Jesus had such meetings. And often a pilgrimage does the heart good. But the issue is the mindset of the crowds who come seeking ... what? A miracle drug to fast-track discipleship or provide a periodic liver-shiver ... unto what? Or conversely, there are the promises of the marketeers. "Fly here and get the power; receive the experience and take it home." I.e. the kingdom is over there and is observable with signs (the very opposite of Jesus' own words).

This needs more thought.

The God Who Speaks -- Aug. 2008

2008-08-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

Dear God-seeker,

Lately, a couple of friends each left me with a principle of discernment that suggested some important questions that we might present to the Father. I thought you might find them helpful too.

First, there is a principle of faith. It suggests that when God speaks, it will usually be a call to faith--a call either to greater or deeper trust in some aspect of who God is (e.g. greater trust in his faithfulness or his care for us, etc.) OR a call to follow God outside the boundaries of my personal comfort zone. This is challenging since our natural tendency is self-protection ... but the voice of God calls us beyond ourselves so that He can offer us as gifts to this world. Will we follow?

Two questions follow this principle:

1. God, what is it about you that you want me to believe in a deeper way? And why?
2. God, is there some kingdom territory beyond my comfort zone where you want me to follow you? Another way to ask this could be, "If you could offer me as a gift to the world, what would that look like?"

Second, there is a principle of fellowship. 1 John draws a direct connection between truly walking in the light, fellowship with Christ AND walking in fellowship with each other. Check this out:

"3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 5 ...God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

I believe this goes further than simply saying, "No lone-ranger prophets." Sometimes sincere seekers expend a lot of time, energy, travel and money to pursue a prophetic message from the "big guns" regardless of any relationship with them. Perhaps we feel validated by those words we receive from famous or popular or powerful ministers. Question: How's that working for us?

What I am getting at is that EVEN IF the prophets we follow are genuine, credible, accurate and specific--I mean TRUE prophets--there is a real issue of fellowship when it comes to how much authority we give them in our lives. What we hear from them can be very encouraging and comforting and confirming. But it ought NOT be our daily bread. The biblical norm is that walking in the light of revelation happens in community fellowship.

By following this principle, we refrain from setting the Christian celebrities on pedestals that we will later kick out from under them in our frustration or disillusionment when things don't go our way.

This principle is especially true when it comes to words of correction, discipline and rebuke. I've learned the hard way that the words that come as a blow ought to come from a friend. If I know they love me and watch my back, then the sword of the Lord can penetrate my heart without abusing it.

This leads to our third question:

3. Lord, where and with whom is my fellowship solid enough that I can receive both words of direction and words of correction? I.e. Where would you have me walk in the light of fellowship?

Blessings all!

Brad

The God Who Speaks - July 2008

2008-07-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody,

Still listening?

I continue to ponder the importance of ensuring that the God we hear is one and the same as the Father of Jesus. Usually as I weigh and test what I’m hearing, I listen first and then run what I hear through the plumb-line of Christ’s teachings in the Gospels. When they don’t seem to line up … uh oh. Time for adjustments … all well and good. But for this month’s exercise, I want to invert the process (after experimenting throughout 2008 on my own). I found it to be a good stretch.

First, we actually start with the Gospels. Begin anywhere that Jesus is speaking or teaching. Often, we assume we sort of know everything that Jesus said—this is because we stick to the familiar and gloss over the parts that we don’t understand or don’t like. But in this exercise, begin reading Jesus' words and keep reading until you hit a verse that creates a reaction in you. For example, an “aha” moment, or something that seems confusing, or challenges your assumptions (culturally or theologically), or even kind of bugs you. Or maybe you'll see something unusual that causes a bit of a double-take.

Rather than zipping past those verses, rest on them. Pick one verse. and then read and reread. Memorize it, letting it bore into the part of your heart that feels resistant. Take the key phrase with you and let it expand the frequency at which you are currently tuned in. The function of the exercise is two-fold (at least): it will open your ears where you have heard only what you prefer to hear. It will expand your heart to receive more of what God has for you. In short, it is an exercise in purposely surrendering and submitting to the original voice of Jesus. Your ability to hear God’s voice will become sharper and safer.

Just by way of example, I landed on this phrase where Jesus says, “For everyone will be salted with fire.” What? Why hadn’t I seen that before? What does it mean? Over the last few months, it has gone from troubling me to intriguing me to challenging me to deeply comforting me. Because of that process, I believe I’m hearing more clearly and what I’m hearing sounds more like Jesus. So, give it a go, perhaps starting with one of Jesus’ great sermons (Luke 6:17-49) or most intimate talks (John 14-17).

On another note, you might have a look at the latest articles by me or Eric Janzen (our prophetic coordinator at Fresh Wind) at the Clarion Journal website (www.clarionjournal.typepad.com). I recommend having a look at:

“I must diminish”: Humility as the Prophetic Benchmark by Brad Jersak

“When I walk into the room”: Confessions of a Burden-bearer by Eric Janzen

Some good news: I think Children, Can You Hear Me? may be coming out in Dutch, Norwegian and Thai before long. And Kissing the Leper will be appearing in German before long. But if you know someone who should be picking them up in English, please refer them to www.bradjersak.com (where they can also get my newsletter).

blessings,

Brad Jersak

"The God Who Speaks" - June 2008

2008-06-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

Dear God-listener,

A fairly brief note for now. I just want to encourage you with a Scripture from John 3, where John the Baptist says:

"The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less." (John 3:29-30).

No matter how well or how poorly we actually hear the voice of God, the "friend of the Bridegroom (Jesus)" is the one who simply waits and listens for him... even I can do that. And then when we finally do hear him, we are filled with joy!

A simple listening prayer question for this month would be to ask:

"Lord, I want to be your friend. Tell me more about friendship. What is it to be your friend? What is it for you to be my friend?"

When I asked him about that, the first thing I heard was that for friends of Jesus, obedience to the Father trumps everything else, as it did for Jesus. I'd sure like to get there.

For some additional readings this month, I've written three brief articles for www.clarion-journal.ca that you can weigh carefully. They are:

"Follow your heart! Really?" -- by Brad Jersak
"Unconditional love. Really?" -- by Brad Jersak
"On crucifying the prophetic ego" -- by Brad Jersak

Also, I have a favour to ask. When I visit churches, I always intend to let people know how to sign up for the newsletter but then I almost always forget. If I have been at your church and forgot to do that, would you mind checking with your pastor about whether it would be okay to remind people through your church bulletin that they can still sign up at www.bradjersak.com. No pressure--just an invitation.

blessings,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - May (barely) newsletter

2008-05-24T21:54:00.001-07:00

Dear Listener,

Just checking in with this months newsletter... I've been up to my ears in prayer, pastoring, researching, lecturing and listening. Our fellowship continues to face the bombardments of life. The most pressing biblical texts have been the words of Jesus, "For everyone will be salted with fire," and the quote from Hebrews/Haggai: "Everything that can be shaken, will be shaken." Sigh. Please pray for Fresh Wind, even just for this moment.

In this midst of this, we've heard a few sobering (but not condemning) messages from the Lord. I've included two of them at www.clarion-journal.ca. One is a message reviewing FORGIVENESS (the featured article) and another recalls our ALLEGIANCE to the Kingdom of God (the second article - via Eric H. Janzen). Please give them a read. They lead to the following questions which, if pursued carefully with Jesus, should lead to MAJOR breakthroughs in our communion with Him.

1. Lord, is there anyone from whom I am withholding forgiveness and mercy (and thereby creating distance from you)?

2. Lord, is there anything that is directly competing for my allegiance to you and your kingdom? Kind of heavy questions. The type that leads to a wrestle... but perhaps also to a new place in my life with God!

Finally, if you REALLY want to open up your ears to hear more clearly, I recommend Jason Upton's new release, "1200 Feet Below Sea Level." It's coming on CD and already available on ITunes. Jason's commitment to hearing God's voice shows up all over the album. He's a prophetic voice that I trust because he is so committed to the Jesus of the Gospels. Simply put, he helps me hear God better.

Blessings to you,

See you sooner next time I think,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - April 2008

2008-04-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Dear reader, after laying low through all of March, I've emerged from my cave to check for signs of spring. Well, I'm not so sure, but my little church is coming to a conclusion that is helping us listen to God:

When it seems most like the enemy is attacking you, the first question is not, "What is the enemy doing?" but rather, "What is God doing?" Take a moment to think about those times when you felt most bombarded by the world, the flesh or the devil and pause to watch what God is doing above the warfare and below the radar. I think you'll see that those really intense times are God's great opportunity to relay faulty foundations or, to use the biblical metaphor, plow the soil to prepare it for sowing.

In Isaiah 28, God explains,

23 Listen and hear my voice;
pay attention and hear what I say.

24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?

25 When he has leveled the surface,
does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,
barley in its plot,
and spelt in its field?

26 His God instructs him
and teaches him the right way.

God is not the author of our tragedies, illnesses, quarrels and battles -- often it isn't Satan either. For example, when we say that the devil is really attacking our families right now, what is ACTUALLY going on? Probably we're just not being kind and patient with one another, right? Is that Satan? Or is it my own stubbornness? When we say the enemy is attacking my health, is it a spirit of infirmity, or should I eat less deep-fried fast food and go for more walks?

In any case, during any kind of trial period, let's be Jesus-focused rather than enemy-focused or even overly self-focused. The bigger question is what God is up to. Not, "Why are you doing this God?" but "Where is God at work in this field?" These questions might help:

1. Lord, in the midst of the swirls and tensions of my life, what are you up to?
2. Are there cracks in my foundation that you are repairing through this?
3. As my heart is being plowed again (ouch!), what seeds are you hoping to sow? What revelation is my heart being prepared to receive? What harvest might come from this season of life? Bring it!

If you know someone involved in deep trials, pray about whether this message will help or whether it'll just sound like the advice of Job's friends. If you get a go-ahead from God, please pass it on and invite them to sign up for the newsletter at www.bradjersak.com. Also, this is obviously a plug, but I honestly believe that my wife's book, RIVERS FROM EDEN, brings very deep comfort to those who need to God is with them and for them. It's also available at www.bradjersak.com/store.html

Blessings to you,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - Feb. 2008

2008-02-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

My most excellent God-lovers,

I know it's only been a couple of weeks, but I thought I'd bring you up to speed from this end. Today, just three quick things, hopefully all helpful.

1. Listening Prayer Hints of the Day: Of late, I've been struggling with a sense of dread which seems linked to my feelings of inadequacy in meeting the demands of life. Hmm. First hint: consider getting a spiritual director! Feeling the dread, inadequacy and demands quite strongly, I was so blessed to have a spiritual director who would listen with me.

Now I know this, but he reminded me that I'm to be living in response to God's calling and leading, not in reaction to the ever-present demands that come up at home, at work or at church. Today, after meeting with a friend about this, I pictured all those things that have been "put on my plate." I imagined sitting at a table, sort of slumping over this food that I apparently had to force-feed myself. Then I looked over the plate, across the table at Jesus. He didn't seem much appetized by it either. He invited me to push it across to him and to my delight, he discarded it. Then I asked him, "Well, what do YOU have for me?"

I'm trying to be a little kinder to myself... letting God choose my menu, even if it includes some hard things to swallow. But this notion of "demand"... you know, that doesn't seem to be a fruit of the Spirit or a sign of God's voice. We might well be a little more aggressive about testing if those "demands" are from Him at all. We might be in for a lighter meal!

2. News: Apparently I'm appearing both today and tomorrow on "It's a New Day" with Willard Thiessen to discuss the meaning of the Cross of Jesus. Sorry, we already started yesterday. If you get the show, you might want to tune in. Personally, I'm not up to watching myself on TV, but I'm excited about sharing how God's love and mercy trump wrath and judgement in our lives.

3. Resource: For anyone interested in a new kids book, Fresh Wind Press has just released "Little Bird's Song" by Emilie Isaacson and illustrator, Ken Save. It really helps children to walk through issues of bullying and abuse in a powerful way. It's available at http://listeningprayer.ca/. You can also see sample pages by clicking on the book cover at that site.

Well, that's it for now. Take hope in this message from Jason Upton: "Maybe God is whispering because He's just a step away!"

Blessings,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - Jan. 2008

2008-01-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

The God Who Speaks newsletter – Jan. 2008

Dear friends,

I’ve waded a little way into January before generating my newsletter. I didn’t want to just send out “filler.” As I’ve been waiting on what to share, things at home have been crazy.

On the one hand, there’s been an unusual outpouring of prophetic dreams, visions, words and other messages from my church family. We’re just compiling and distilling this input into major themes. They relate to huddling tightly in love within the protective walls of God as our mighty fortress and deliverer. While storms rage and opposition mounts outside the walls, God’s love in and for and between us will in peace, joy and security.

Meanwhile, it feels like we’re under tremendous assault… members and their families have been pounded by very serious accidents, life-threatening illnesses and tremendous testing. Indeed, we’ve had no choice but to huddle and cuddle. Your prayers for God’s impenetrable wall of fire (Zech. 2:5) around Fresh Wind would be most welcome! Even a quick, “Save them!” would help.

As for you, I’ve seen a couple of obvious, but super-helpful tools that might come in handy as you listen to the Lord… simple questions to ask yourself and the Lord that his messages deeper into our hearts. Here we go:

1. What message is God sending me? My excellent bride, Eden, recently shared that for those who don’t literally “see” a vision, “hear” a voice, or get a “word” are nevertheless continually receiving messages from God’s Spirit. This often requires that we put words to what we’re feeling or sensing—and then acknowledging those words as God’s message. Even when we do have a clear internal audio or video from heaven, we might still ask, “Okay, so what’s the message? What’s God getting at? What point is he trying to drive home?”

2. What if it’s true? What if the living God really did just say that? What if he really was talking to me / us just now? Just yesterday I was participating in a service at Cityview Church in York, PA. At some point, one member took the handheld microphone and shared a prophetic exhortation. This fellow hadn’t gone to the stage, so I couldn’t see the person attached to the voice I was hearing. Since the message given was worded in first person as if God was speaking (as per 2 Peter), I imagined that we were all hearing God’s audible voice interrupting our proceedings. And then it hit me, “Isn’t that exactly what just happened?” Given that the message conformed in tone and content to the God that Jesus has revealed, what if I were to treat that voice as The Voice. The pastor was having the same experience as I was, which led him to speak out our follow-up question:

3. What immediate response can I offer? Pastor Steve pointed out that we don’t merely listen and smile and give a little “praise-clap” if God has truly spoken. If we are to take God seriously, does this not invite a direct (and perhaps immediate)? And so right away, he simply asked the Lord what kind of response he wanted? A nod of consent is rarely life-changing. Faith acts on what is heard, even when the message is about what God is doing or promising (Heb. 11). So we pursued the Lord down that path rather than simply affirming the word and moving on to the next item of business. And God responded to our response! It seemed as if he unzipped the roof and began pouring in MUCH MORE. I realized that the words effects were proportional to our response. I.e. when God is pouring our soup, don’t pull away the bowl too quickly.

Sometimes that response is simply to say Yes! and then to posture ourselves to receive, refusing to get up or move on until the Father says “that’s enough for now.” At other times, there will be an attending, “Go!” that finds us following Jesus into his history-making activities.

4. Bonus question: If this were true, how would it affect the way I live tomorrow? What would be different if I KNEW that this was God’s message for me?

Let’s practice: I think I have a prophetic message for you today. You don’t need to send me money to get it or buy one of my books to receive it. But I would ask you to respond by asking God the above four questions as you hear it. This message is a good example because it’s directly from God and directly from the Bible, and might even explicitly tell you HOW to respond. But God must speak to your heart and you must act in order to activate the message. Here it is:

Exodus 33:17 And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name."

Now I'm not saying, "Ask him for anything and he'll do it," (although Jesus DID say that - Matt. 18:19)... but there's something here for you. Something special about him knowing you by name. Hmm.

Messages for 2008

I mentioned the messages that our prophetic community are receiving for 2008. There’s this tradition of asking God for a New Year’s message. We want to know what the famous prophets are hearing about the next year. Why? So that we’ll know what to expect and how to live. This isn’t bad in itself—imagine how that might embolden or comfort you. But you can probably sense how that might also function like nothing more than somebody else’s fortune cookie. Such predictions can be so broad in their scope or specific to that prophet’s ministry that we need to question whether they even apply to us personally or to our local congregation. At worst, they can be supremely disillusioning if we act on them and they turn out to be mistaken! I wish more mistaken prophets would admit to it and take responsibility when they are in error. I also wish that we would stop treating them as our psychics. It’s not fair to them.

But don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Jesus himself promised that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth, even telling us what is to come (John 16:12-13)—the proper response is to ask expectantly. My suggestion is that this best done within the local body where we fellowship, listening together for the message that emerges from the community gathered. By way of example, I’ve included three messages that arose from and/or for Fresh Wind in recent weeks. You can see them at these links:

1. “What’s Coming?” by Eric Janzen (for Fresh Wind 2008) http://clarionjournal.typepad.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2008/01/whats-coming-by.html

2. “Message for 2008 – to the Church”
http://clarionjournal.typepad.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/2007/12/message-for-200.html

That’s all for now. But if you need some more reading, I’ve posted the following articles this month on the Clarion website at http://clarionjournal.typepad.com/clarion_journal_of_spirit/brad_jersak/index.html :

1. “Those the Father Gave Me” – Sermon by Brad Jersak

2. “You are what you pretend to be” by Brad Jersak

3. “Gems from Tilly” - Interview, review and excerpt by Brad and Dominic Jersak with Meg Tilly

thanks so much,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - December 2007

2007-12-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Hello dear readers,

Phew! I’m sitting on the airport runway awaiting my final flight of the year. It will be good to get home. This will likely also be the final newsletter of 2007, so if I don’t pop in later this month, have a blessed Christmas.

Just so you know, I am praying that all who read this (including those to whom might forward this issue) would experience a fresh visit from the Lord in this Christmas season. He comes to us in many ways; often in disguise… imagine worshiping before a first-century refugee couple’s baby!

Sometimes he comes to us in dreams. I recently had a “Jesus-dream” that I thought I should share simply because the message is so central to our gospel. I’m also hoping that it will trigger visitation dreams for many of you.

In my dream, I was at the Orthodox Monastery, just arriving at a “Not by Bread Alone” seminar with Archbishop Lazar and Ron Dart (two of my mentors). A third fellow approached and while still in the dream, I recognized two points:

1. He was a simple priest in plain robes. His introduced himself as “Father Mastix.” In the dream, I was aware that mastix is the biblical Greek word for “scourge” and is symbolically used for “suffering” or “affliction.” I knew that this very tender, compassionate priest was not here as a scourge to inflict pain, but rather that he had endured scourging and affliction himself.

2. I was also aware that this “wounded priest” (a book title I’ve been playing with) was Jesus himself. He was far more gentle and humble than I could ever imagine.

When he came, Father Mastix / Jesus shared two very important points—he exhorted me to take care to remember them. When I woke up, I realized they were identical to a message that one of my prophetic intercessors had sent me two days earlier. He said to me:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

a. From the beginning the Father’s heart and intentions toward the Son were exactly the same... not a moment exists where this is not true. God is Love.

b. From the beginning the Father’s heart and intentions toward all of His sons and daughters has been the same. God is Love.

I was to remember these points, but I can also say that I deeply FELT them as the Lord conveyed them. His demeanour was the ultimate humility that comes from deep brokenness. I felt strongly that while God is truly transcendent and infinitely complex, the One I met and the message He brought represent the Gospel that He has revealed to me and authorized me to share.

So, there it is. Here’s a prayer that I would suggest for the month of December:

“Father, please give me eyes to recognize your visitations this month. Help me perceive your presence even when you come disguised as a baby, a peasant, an immigrant. Whether I’m awake or asleep, my heart welcomes you! Let me be the inn where you find rest amidst the insanity of holiday consumerism. Stay in the humble manger of my heart. Come, Lord.”

Blessings to you all,

Brad Jersak

For my internet homepage: www.bradjersak.com

For my latest articles: www.clarion-journal.ca ( e.g. my review re: Meg Tilly's novels)

The God Who Speaks - November 2007

2007-11-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect." 1 Peter 3:15

About a week ago, Andy asked me to share with him the reason for the hope I have within me.

He was obviously pondering the above verse. I became familiar with Peter's exhortation in the context of Christian apologetics (apologetics is the task of defending a particular idea or belief system and answering its critics). I thought Peter's "giving a reason" meant having good arguments for the existence of God. But ironically, it was an apologetics prof (Glenn Runnalls) who challenged me. He said, "Brad, be a witness, not a lawyer." A witness is someone who testifies to what they've seen and heard. This reminds me of 1 John 1 (in the Message):

1-2From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we're telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us.

3-4We saw it, we heard it, and now we're telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!

The hope that you have in you will probably relate, not to philosophical arguments or even biblical proof, but to stories of what you've seen and heard with your own eyes and ears -- stories of redemption and transformation and answered prayer. Could I suggest that you take significant time this month to ask God the following:

"Lord, would you remind me of what I've seen and heard? Would you please show me where my hope comes from?" Then watch and wait for your own testimonies to surface. What I'm hoping is that you'll be filled anew with HOPE that is noticeable ... hope that leads others to ask you where it comes from. Then be prepared to share it, just as Peter says.

Blessings,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - October

2007-10-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

I've been doing a little more writing this month. Here's a listing of articles that I've posted at www.clarion-journal.ca. To find the articles, just click on my name on the left side of the page under categories.

1. CYNIC OR PROPHET: What's the difference?

This is a discussion on how cynics can be called forward into their prophetic gifts and how to help prophets who have been disillusioned to the point of cynicism.

2. METHINKS HE BUDGED: An evening with J.I. Packer

This is a reflection on the meaning of the Cross in light of Dr. Packer's call to stay faithful to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement.

3. WATCHMEN VERSUS WATCHDOGS

This article contrasts true, God-inspired discernment with the pseudo-discernment that drives self-appointed "watch-dogs."

As for today's listening prayer exercise, I share a simple practice that I've been using more and more, esp. with those who are burden-bearing for friends and loved ones. In prayer, I take those for whom I'm concerned by the hand and lead them to the Cross. There, I find the living Christ and offer my friends/loved ones into His arms. Then I just watch Jesus hold them. He may also speak to them or sing over them or lay hands of blessing or healing on them. My task is to simply witness and bless what I am seeing and hearing. Right now, I am doing this as an act of prayer for a couple whose marriage is falling apart, a friend who is walking through the valley of the shadow of death, and for others whose pain is way over my head. The Lord assures me that this is effective intercession and that grace is released whenever I practice it with love. It's something we can do when words fail us.

Something else that has blessed me this month is the worship video of Jason Upton singing "Into the Sky." I recommend sitting and watching it on www.youtube.com (type in Jason Upton sky in the search box) and asking the Lord to minister to the depths of your heart. Take note of what God says to you.

Many blessings,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - Sept. 2007

2007-09-05T16:26:00.001-07:00

Dear friends of God (for that is what you are):

Before I forget, in addition to this newsletter, take note that I've added two new articles on www.clarion-journal.ca. One is entitled, "Cynic or Prophet? What's the Difference?" Another article (4th piece down the page) is a tribute for my dad on his 70th birthday. Now to business...

After taking August off from blogging / newsletters, I've returned and am preparing for the fall schedule. I hope your summer went well... mine was rich, but not as restful as I like. I did a couple of seminars in England that allowed me to take the family there. Wonderful! I did a little mountain-climbing in the Rockies as well--my first time on a harness, crossing glacier fields on the way to the peaks of the Jupiter range. We also enjoyed some time in Westbank with friends.

Today, I have a few suggestions re: re-tuning our ears to hear God's voice... something that we need to be sure that we don't neglect through familiarity.

First, do you ever feel like you're fighting a losing battle with wandering thoughts? It's one thing to meander around in day-dreams with the Lord, but I'm talking about getting completely side-tracked by spiritual ADD (attention deficit disorder). For me, it has been rather severe of late and I realized I needed to address it when I found myself suffering increased anxiety. It's as if we create ruts in our mind that draw us away from the place of peace. What to do?

Here's what I'm doing with it: I have taken to digging new mental ruts that lead me back into the Lord's peace. Specifically, I've memorized (again) the words of Isaiah, "He will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is fixed on God, because he trusts in Him." I repeat that Scripture, using it as a mental shovel to re-direct my path back to focused attention on the Lord. A simple "mantra," but I'm finding it unusually effective... I actually picture burrowing my way past my anxious thoughts back into the throne room of God.

The other exercise that I've used many times this summer with every group that I meet is the following set of questions (I probably shared it before, but here goes):

1. Lord, what image of God do you want me to focus on this fall? Why that image? (There are so many! From Father to Shepherd to King to Saviour to Rock to Fortress and so on). Autumn is a new season and may require that we meditate on a particular facet of God's character.

2. Lord, what false images of God do I carry that hinder my friendship with you? (The most common I've heard over recent months is "God the punisher"). Lord, where did I first pick up that false image? True Lord Jesus, would you come remove and replace that false image with yourself? Watch where He takes you and what He does with it.

God is often not the way we've imaged / imagined Him. We need to continually renew our minds to cleanse them of projections of God that come from our own brokenness. It's my sense that some of this relates to our theology of the atonement. For those interested in the meaning of the Cross, I'll recommend our newly arrived book, "Stricken by God?" (edited by me ... 524 pages, 20 authors). You can order it from www.bradjersak.com. It's something that I think your pastors, elders and teachers might especially appreciate (both female -- I mistakenly reduced all pastors to 'he' in my last newsletter. I apologize.).

If these newsletters continue to be of help, please consider inviting others to sign in at my homepage.

blessings to you,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - July 2007

2007-07-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

Dear God-listener,

I'm spending much of my time pondering a few simple phrases and questions that seem to be good for my soul. Perhaps you'll be encouraged too.

My friend, Dwight, challenged me to listen to God concerning this statement:

"God loves me. Period." (with a very big PERIOD).

He asked me, "Can you stop at the period? What pushes you past the period? What are the 'but, but, but' objections that arise in your heart? Can you present them to God to see how He responds?"

Then, his wife, Lorie, sensed the Lord saying, "It's time to start believing again." "Believing what?" I thought. The Lord reminded me, "Believe the Good News." And this reminded me to keep asking Jesus, in every situation, "What's the good news?" and to listen. I'd like to remind you as well, "All the promises of God are YES and AMEN in Jesus." That's very, very good news.

Did you notice how much "remembering" and "reminding" calls us back to listening? Here's a tip the Lord gave us recently: You can use a memory of a time you connected with God to reconnect with Him in a fresh way. Rather than wishing for those great times you've had in the past, you can simply meet God afresh in your memory of those times (even long, long ago). It's not that you are traveling back in time, but rather, you are traveling to a place in your heart that God has already won and where He still resides. Give it a try!

Finally, thanks for all your prayers re: the book on the Cross that I've been assembling. We called it "Stricken by God?" and it ended up being over 530 pages consisting of 20 essays (I wrote the opening chapter - 45 pages).

I want to let everyone on the mailing list know that it will be out in one month, but that you can already click the following links to have a look at the cover, chapter titles and reviews. AND if you like, you can even pre-order it for a $5 discount (which covers your shipping) and I'll cover the taxes myself... just cuz I appreciate you. Come to think of it, I'll try to put an excerpt from my chapter online today at www.clarion-journal.ca so that you can get a taste for it.

For those who aren't too sure about getting a "theology book," I'm almost sure your pastors could, should or would want to give it a read. If you'd let him know about the website, I'd be grateful. Thanks!

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - June 2007

2007-06-20T13:50:00.000-07:00

"Listen"

Greetings friends,

One would think that I could finally get the point re: LISTENING and then move on to other things. And while I am pursuing other avenues of thought and prayer, God continues to call us deeper and wider into the discipline of listening. Here are some highlights:

1. God is reminding me to give great care to listening to others. Whether I am called to teach a lesson or to share the gospel or to offer prayers for healing, God is really nudging me to give greater care and attention to the stories of those with whom I'm engaging. Sometimes I tend to rush into listening for God's voice so that I can share what He has to offer, but the Lord seems to be saying, "You won't ask me the right questions if you aren't listening to their stories." The wisest counsel, the most effective evangelism and the most anointed healing arise as a response to the life stories of those to whom we listen best.

By way of application, can I suggest that you take and make enough time this week to ask someone, "What is your story?" As they share, can you hear the hidden prayers inherent in their desires and their frustrations?

2. This notion, offered by Steve Imbach, blows my mind. The question is not what I should pray or how I should pray, but rather, what AM I already praying (what messages is God hearing) through my fumblings and failings. For example, when I am consumed in my busy-ness, what deep-hearted request is my spirit shouting to the heavens? What's the prayer behind the madness? If we LISTEN to the underlying passion that God would hold us, save us, rescue us, etc. then we could perhaps and actually ask Him for what it is we REALLY want. He might meet us right there and then.

3. God is also calling us to listen to our lives more. What does this mean? I heard a quote the other day, something like this: "The moments of our lives are a revelation from God." Living today -- living in the moment -- we begin to hear God's messages through day by day events. My friend Lorie recommends this exercise:

Write down the plans of the day, then ask the Lord to highlight a particular moment when He intends to meet you. You can ask Him ahead of time where He'll be and how he wants to share that time with you. What does He want to show you. When the time comes, you'll be in tune to pick up the revelation that that event offers. The fruit that we'll find here is primarily "divine friendship."

If you would like to further cultivate DIVINE FRIENDSHIP, I'm recommending a new book that my friend, Fr. Mike Stewart, just published. It just arrived from the press yesterday. It's titled, "NO CROWDS PRESENT: Reflections on Contemplation and Divine Friendship." It's a great little devotional consisting of 12 refections on friendship with Jesus. Each chapter ends with a special question for God. You can order it from my website at www.bradjersak.com.

Thanks for listening,

Your prayers would be welcome as I make my first trip to Holland this afternoon. Pray that ears would be open to the voice of God... and for strength for the journey. Many blessings,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - May 2007

2007-05-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

God's grace and peace to you,

I'd like to share some new questions that I'm wrestling through re: listening to God. They are really two sides of one coin:

Question 1 (heads): Does God always and only share good news? Or is there still a place for exhortation, correction and rebuke?

Question 2 (tails): Is the conviction of sin always from the Holy Spirit, or does the Enemy sometimes slip in accusations under the guise of the Spirit?

These are questions of discernment that need our attention.

Part 1

On the first question, I am reminded of Jeremiah 28 where the prophet challenges the good news of peace and deliverance that Hananiah was predicting. It is no service to the people of God if we only hear affirmation of our own plans when a loving warning is in order.

Perhaps "loving" is the active ingredient. Too many alleged prophets forecast doom accompanied my threats, condemnation and fear-mongering. All too often I've seen a certain self-righteous glee attached to such words... a personality-type that seems to need to beat up the Bride.

Jesus model is far different. His most dire apocalyptic warnings were accompanied with the tears and love of a Father whose heart was breaking for his children... His warnings of judgment were invitations to escape from destruction into the Father's refuge rather than portraying the Father as the destroyer.

In short, God does issue words of warning... but in tones of love and invitation to a better place. And it will be attended by the fruit of the Spirit, which we must remember includes patience, long-suffering, gentleness and kindness. It will often come in the form of penetrating questions that disturb the comfortable but comfort the disturbed. Even the most severe critiques of the seven churches of Revelation end in powerful promises that make the good news VERY good.

Part 2 (sorry so long)

On the second question, I think the Lord has been pointing out that those who are truly open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit need to remember that the Spirit is our Advocate. This is the opposite word to Accuser. Remember, the Advocate defends, the Accuser condemns. I'm afraid that all too often, the Accuser is able to deliver a counterfeit conviction because we forget (a.) that where sin abounds, grace much more abounds, and (b.) there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is not to say that the Holy Spirit does not convict for the purpose of removing guilt and shame. Jesus himself sent him for that purpose (John 16). But what if... what if 80% of the conviction of sin preached in the church is simply the Accuser being given a green light? I'm not saying this is the case... I'm asking, "How would I know the difference?" This is something we ought to ask the Lord about. Part 1 above might give us some clues.

In addition, aside from the Accuser, we also deal with the conscience. Oddly, in Romans and 1 Corinthians, Paul treats a STRONG or robust conscience as LESS condemning, LESS restricted, MORE free. The conscience is to serve the Lord in directing us to a life of love and grace in this world, but our conscience might also be rather religious and seek to chain and condemn us when God has not. Remember 1 John, "Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts." Of course, others have killed or seared or twisted their conscience, ignoring it until it's on strike. But what I'm addressing here is the conscience that seeks to accuse under the guise of conviction of the Holy Spirit. Again, how would I know the difference?

We ask God, who, being a Good Shepherd, will take us on a journey from condemnation and accusation into the world of grace, mercy and true conviction that leads to freedom from both the lure of sin AND the law.

If you've stuck with me this far, can I recommend asking the Lord a few questions about this?

1. Lord, where am I experiencing condemnation right now? From where did it come? Would you show me the path to freedom? What needs to happen?

2. Lord, I will resist the Accuser and call the conscience to serve you (rather than displace you). Would you show me the Holy Spirit as Advocate? From which accusations would He like to defend me from?

3. Lord, is there someone who lives under condemnation that needs to read this today? (please consider forwarding it).

To conclude, as my friend Corinne says, "The conviction of the Advocate makes me seek restoration and forgiveness and the Accuser just makes me feel bad and want to withdraw."
blessings,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - April 2007

2007-05-15T12:59:00.001-07:00

Grace and peace! (REALLY ... please receive it!),

I've been holding off for a few weeks, waiting for something to share that would truly be of help to those who are trying to listen to God. Here's what finally came:

First, I sense the call to listen to God more attentively while out in public... the goal would be to stay tuned in continually without necessarily needing to continually ask God questions about every step. Rather, could we at least be alert enough to notice when He taps us on the shoulder?

Second, I believe this comes with the challenge to step out and ACT on what He says. Truthfully, I find this intimidating at times... still a sign of "the fear of man". Oh dear. But when we listen AND obey, the Lord honors our faith.

For example, I attended conference on Saturday evening because my friend, Murray Dueck was one of the speakers. It was quite the party... all these Korean intercessors showed up and when they matched up with the folks from Samuel's Mantle (Murray's prophetic community), all heaven broke loose. It was wonderful, but the best part came later.

Murray and I went to Tim Hortons (coffee and donuts) to dial down for a bit. When we went to the counter, there was an East-Indian woman taking our order. Murray turned to me and said, "the Lord is telling me that he wants
to heal her. She has a problem with her neck and shoulders" (but nothing was apparent to the eyes).

After ordering, he asked her, "Do you ever have pain in your neck and shoulders?" She replied, "Oh yes. I was in a bus accident in India and I injured my leg. I can't bend it any more, and that has affected my shoulders and neck too." Murray asked if he could pray for her and she said yes. As he prayed (right at the counter), her eyes teared up. He asked, "How does it feel?" And she said with a smile, "Better!"

We went and sat down, but she came over and said, "It really IS better." And she said, "And I couldn't do this before," showing us how now she could bend her knee too ... totally healed.

She told us how she had been in so much pain and couldn't drive her car and that her children said, "You need to go to a doctor," but now she said, "Who would have thought that God would send someone here to heal me!"

She said that she loved God but didn't know Jesus, but recognized that now God was introducing Jesus to her and that she should learn more about him.

A wonderful testimony ... but take a moment to think about how easily Murray could have ignored his initial impression or let fear disuade him from asking her about her condition or simply promised to pray for her in a general kind of way.

So to review:
1. Stay tuned in to God in public.
2. Act on what you hear (allowing yourself grace for learning).

By the way, it needn't always be a stranger. Perhaps there's someone you know from beyond your church or family that could use a word of encouragement today from the Lord. We all know this, but if you've forgotten to actually live this way, consider this a guilt-free, friendly reminder. Don't miss out on the joy of it!

blessings,

Brad Jersak

p.s. We're noticing lately that a new wave of interest has arisen in "Can You Hear Me?" from those who haven't yet seen the book. If you know someone who might benefit, please consider lending them your copy or directing them to www.bradjersak.com for their own. Thanks.

The God Who Speaks - Feb. 2007

2007-02-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

Dear ones,

I've well and truly entered the busiest part of my year, just returning from Wales and preparing to head to Thailand. In between, I've been trying to write articles, edit a book and do layout / cover design for Fresh Wind's first novel, "Chrysalis Crucible" by Wayne Northey. I realized today that you haven't heard from me in about 7 weeks.

In the midst of all that, a children's pastor in Calgary tried out a prayer exercise we suggested previously (1. What fruit is God growing in your life? 2. What will hinder it? 3. What will help it?). In fact, he tried it on me! Here's what he heard:

"God is nurturing the fruit of patience in you. What hinders it is when you get overwhelmed by requests for your time and when you have trouble discerning when to say 'yes' or 'no'. What would help is if God would provide you with a personal assistant to pray through your requests and organize your schedule."

I was encouraged but bewildered. Encouraged because he was accurately describing something I had complained about more than once just that weekend! But I was bewildered about trying to find a P.A... esp. a volunteer who I could trust. But the pastor prayed for me and I promised to keep my eyes open.

I believe it was that very afternoon that a friend, Julia, from Alberta emailed. Her and her husband had been among those with whom I'd confided my scheduling problems. I had shared that I felt my concerns re: my family, my church, and the needs of those who asked for seminars or prayer often muddied my hearing and I was making mistakes. In fact, I'd double-booked some things and now, I didn't even know when my next flights or trips were. Now, Julia was contacting me to say, "I checked your schedule. Here's whats' next. And by the way, I checked flights and here's the itinerary. And did you notice that you're schedule includes 38 days one month?"

My response: "You're hired." At first I was joking and then I realized, "This is God's answer!" Within a few days, it was all set up... an online P.A. from another province... perfect.

I say all that to introduce today's L.P. questions, because I actually picked them up from Julia after she'd tested them in her study group. It's an excellent exercise for individuals, pairs or groups:

Setting: God has given us all a cup of life which he graciously fills with gifts, so that we may live life abundantly and to the fullest.

Take a moment and picture the cup God has given you. Take note of it's appearance - what does it say to you? About your life? About God?

Prayer and response time: ....Lord, sometimes we feel as though our cup in life is empty but we know that you want to give us good gifts. Please show us one of the gifts with which you would fill my cup.

...and then of course, pursue the Lord with follow up questions of what it might mean, etc.

So, friends, give it a go!

On another note, for those who are into "myspace," I now have a site there at: http://myspace.com/bradjersak ... For those who care, it shares a bit more about who I am and what I'm passionate about.

Much love,

Brad Jersak

The Prophetic Word: Shelf Ornament or Treasure? by Eric H. Janzen

2007-01-12T16:16:00.000-08:00

I was having coffee with a friend recently and he asked me the following question: “So, what do you do with ‘Big Words’?”

I began formulating an answer and said, “Well first...,”

“You put it on the shelf,” he interrupted.

Ah. There it was. A phrase so common to those familiar with the prophetic that it has become a part of that language known as Christianese. This phrase embodies a deeply engrained attitude towards the prophetic word that assumes an appearance of wisdom. But what is this wisdom? And is it wise?

A prophetic word, Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 14:3, is given to strengthen, encourage, and comfort. A prophetic word can bring counsel, wisdom, clarity, instruction, discipline, and direction as well. Paul also warns us in 1 Thessalonians 5:19-21: Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. In 1 Corinthians 13:9 Paul also tells us that we now know in part and we prophecy in part. We should understand that there are limitations to the prophetic that we must live with. Prophetic words are often partial and require further unfolding, revelation, and time to play out.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned about prophetic words is something that Murray Dueck, teacher and founder of the Samuel’s Mantle Prophetic School, once taught me:

The prophetic is not as much about revelation as it is about invitation. The Holy Spirit gives prophetic words to us in order to cause us to seek God. They are meant to draw us into deeper relationship with our Father, for no prophetic word can be walked out in its fullness without walking its journey with Jesus. If prophecy is given in part how will we discover the part(s) that we need yet to discover? The invitation contained in each prophetic word is to discover more of what Jesus is saying to us by connecting with the very giver and source of the word. As Revelation 19:10 tells us …Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

The common response to prophetic words is to hear and receive them in the following manner: Amen. Put it on the shelf. Let’s translate that response so that it is a little clearer. Amen: We know and have experienced enough of the prophetic to believe that the gift is real, so we accept that something prophetic has been said to us. Put it on the shelf: We have also learned that the fulfillment of prophetic words cannot be accomplished by our own efforts. They cannot be rushed or forced to come to pass before God accomplishes their fulfillment according to his will. By setting words on the ‘shelf’ we believe that we are avoiding this pitfall, which leads to frustration and disappointment. So, on the surface there seems to be something wise in loading up the shelf with our prophetic words. But, underlying this wisdom are some problems.

First, is that it is rooted in the fear that we will be disappointed, that the word will go unfulfilled. We use the shelf as a way to insulate ourselves from this outcome and to protect ourselves. This fear reveals that in our hearts we do not trust that Jesus is both able and committed to accomplishing the promises he makes to us. We fear that either the words we have received are inaccurate or that we will not live up to some standard we feel is required in order to have such prophetic words fulfilled.

Second, the shelf is a place of unbelief. If we genuinely believe in the gift of prophecy we must approach it with faith, as well as wisdom and discernment. To simply put it aside and ignore it requires no response on our part, and thus no faith.

Third, the shelf is where we put things and forget them. As time passes, words stored on the shelf fade from memory. They become something that sits in the background of our spiritual lives having little or no effect on our faith, our lives, or our relationship with Jesus.

Underlying the shelf is the stark reality that we do not value the prophetic words we are given. We risk treating prophetic words with contempt by ultimately disregarding them, that which Paul has warned us against not doing. We also risk not testing the words and holding on to that which is good. Instead, we store them away and let them gather dust. How sobering is it that Paul equates such contempt for the prophetic with quenching the Spirit's fire!

One potential consequence of using the shelf can be seen in Proverbs 13:12: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. With each prophetic word comes a seed of hope; a hope in the word of Jesus to us; a hope that the good things that he has spoken to us by revelation will be fulfilled. All seeds must be cared for in order to grow into what they are meant to be. They must be watered, planted in good soil, get enough sunlight etc... Too often we treat prophetic words as inevitable events, and we do not respond to the invitation they imply. Because we tend to put them into storage on a spiritual shelf, we ourselves create the potential condition described in the first part of the above verse. If there is a seed of hope in the words we are given, we delay its growth and fulfillment by using the shelf. Our hearts become sick with disappointment, frustration, and even worse, bitterness. We begin to see that the shelf is not a wise place at all to put our prophetic words. There they sit unheeded, devalued, and gathering dust, instead of becoming trees that give life when they are fulfilled.

Let us return to the conversation between my friend and I, and let me suggest what I feel is a better response.

“You put it on the shelf,” he interrupted.

“No!” I replied, pounding my fist on the coffee shop table.

“Well, what do you do then?”

“First, burn your shelf,” I told him.

“Burn it?”

“Burn it until it is nothing but ashes,” I affirmed.

This is the first step. We need to turn away from this response and change the way we receive prophetic words. Prophetic words are immensely valuable and ought to be treated as treasures. They are powerful, for they can avert disasters in our lives, they can give us the wisdom necessary to deal with difficult situations, they can be the counsel that helps us to make right decisions, they can confirm what we have felt the Lord already might be saying to us, they can even change lives entirely and convince those who do not know Jesus that he is alive and loves them. They are given to us because God loves us and they are gifts from his very heart. They do not belong on a shelf.

I was once given a prophetic word, some years ago now, by a trusted friend who is one of the most gifted prophetic men that I know. It was a 'Big Word' that I would have most likely discounted if it had not come from him. I share it here hesitantly, but I want to show that I am familiar with the issues at hand, there are reasons why I have thought about this particular subject. My friend began to pray for me and said “Eric, the Lord has given you a significant anointing. He says that you will be like C.S Lewis. You are a deep thinker and you will write things like he did, both stories and teachings that will effect the church and the world.”

Big Words? You bet. My initial response was, of course, Are you crazy? What do you say to something like that? How do you even begin to respond? Well, I responded in my spirit in the only way that I knew how at that time. I took it to the shelf. What else could I do? But before I could put it down, and feel safely relieved, I felt Holy Spirit say “Don't you dare do that!” So I froze, and I asked,

“Okay. What do I do with this then?”

“You treasure it,” he whispered back.

So, after some pondering I decided to do as he said and I asked if he would give me a treasure chest in heaven to put the word in. He did, and this changed the way I responded to the prophetic from that day forward.

Step two then, after ridding yourself of the shelf, is to ask Jesus for a treasure chest, or some other symbol that for you means treasure, and begin keeping your words there. I have many treasures there now. I keep a record in my journal of words given to me, so that I will not only avoid forgetting them, but also so I can revisit them. When I do, I open my treasure chest and I invite Jesus to look at them with me; to speak to me about them. How are they coming along? What is the good in them? Are there any that need clarification? Even, are there any that don't belong?

In this way we are not only valuing and treasuring what he has spoken, but we answer the invitation to be with him in walking the journey of these words out. We experience more freely the hope words are meant to impart to us. We move to a place where we will see the tree of life that will arise as words, both 'Big' and small, are fulfilled. By treasuring Jesus' words to us we act in faith and we express our belief that he is absolutely trustworthy. The result of such trust is described in Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

I hope you are convinced to some degree that prophetic words are not shelf ornaments, but are great treasures.

Eric H Janzen

The God Who Speaks - Jan. 2007

2007-01-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

Welcome to 2007. As our community has listened to God about the coming year, we believe He told us that He would reveal Himself to us as Deliverer.

That would be nice. Many in our community have gone through severe testing in recent months and we've been asking where to stand and how to stand through it all. This is important when we face trials because sometimes the Lord wants us to hunker down and wait for the storms to pass over us (e.g. the Passover in Exodus). At other times, He calls us to stand up and do spiritual battle in prayer (Ephesians 6). On occasion, we need to deal directly with the enemy while at other times, it's merely a distraction (e.g. Nehemiah).

In our case, for this season, we've been looking for the eye of the storm. Now we're waiting for our Deliverer. The important thing is that our lives revolve around His plans and activities, rather than "letting Him" find a place in the periphery of our crowded lives.

Maybe you'd like to try out some of these same questions:

1. What revelation of God should I be watching for in 2007?
2. Where should I take my stand in 2007?
3. How will that look? (e.g. intercession? rest? worship? lament? etc.).

Many blessings to you all.

Brad Jersak

p.s. Your prayers would be appreciated as I compile reader on the atonement this year. The various authors are coming together wonderfully. We're hoping to give people a fresh look at the Cross and its power to save.

Please consider inviting others to sign up for the newsletter at www.bradjersak.com.

The God Who Speaks - Dec 2006

2006-12-07T11:42:00.000-08:00

Hi there faithful listener,

I've just returned from a travel month where I got to witness the kindness of God to his children many times over. When he begins to speak, his voice is so often accompanied by an outpouring of his love.

I've got just a couple of new questions to share that proved to open important doors for people in prayer in the last while. Can I suggest you give them a try?

Series One (compliments of Geri Pauls):

1. Lord, what fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5) or Beatitude (Matt. 5) are you working on in my life right now?

2. Lord, what would hinder that fruit from growing as it should?

3. Lord, what would nurture its growth?

We've found that this template is working well when praying for others as well... and it seems unusually easy to hear God in this regard. Because the second question mentions a hinderance, it's very important to approach it gently with a 1 Cor. 13 worldview of love (as Murray Dueck wisely cautions) so that we don't slip into the role of the accuser. However, I do welcome the warnings of God through loving friends, so with some care, this is helpful.

Series Two (compliments of Brita Miko):

1. Lord, you reveal yourself in the Scriptures in so many ways: God the Shepherd, the Lamb, the Lion, the King, the Servant, the Baby, the Pillar of Fire and so many more. Which revelation of you do you have for me today? Why do I need that image of you today?

2. Lord, what filters or false beliefs would distort my image of you today? Are there ways that I regard you which our hindering our friendship? What truth do you want to bring that would remove that filter / falsehood?

Note: God may need to show you where you picked up the filter in the first place. And he may want to meet you in that moment to heal what was broken. If the Lord seems to be leading you that way, I'd suggest praying with a support person who can be there with you through it.

Finally, I have a suggestion for those who'd love to grow in their prophetic gift (or even to seek that gift as instructed in 1 Cor. 14:1). For the first time, Murray Dueck's prophetic school, "Samuel's Mantle," is offering their course online. I attended the school for two years and found it to be a powerful equipping tool with a strong biblical core. You can get a free taste of it at http://www.samuelsmantle.com. This is a dear friend that I'm happy to commend to you.

Have a good Christmas everyone,

Brad Jersak

p.s. If you feel that this newsletter could help your church members, you might consider asking your pastor for permission to make mention of it in you church bulletin. Thanks!

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The God Who Speaks - Nov. 2006

2006-11-01T19:53:00.000-08:00

Dear friends,

I was directed to Jeremiah 7 today. What a shocker! And again, it is an urgent call to listen.

When praying with individuals who need to hear God’s voice, God consistently comes with comfort, gentleness, and encouragement. He is extremely careful not to crush us or treat us harshly (cf. Isaiah 42).

However, when He sent prophets like Jeremiah to the nations, God’s tone is often a lot tougher. He addresses our corporate inattention with dire urgency because He recognizes the destruction that ignoring His voice has wrought in our churches and nations. This havoc and chaos we create through our rebellion is often called “wrath” or even “God’s wrath.” If we were to get technical, we could say “the wrath we create by ignoring God’s voice.”

Let’s watch this and listen for the Word to us today.

Jeremiah 7 (NASB)

21 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh.

22 "For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.

[Jeremiah is actually questioning whether God told them to offer sacrifices?! The NIV tries to “fix” this by saying “I did not JUST give them commands about burnt offerings…” We ought, rather, let the text as it stands disturb us and challenge us].

23 "But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you.'

[This is in line with the classic prophetic charges: 'To obey is better than to sacrifice' and 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.']

24"Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.

The God Who Speaks - Oct. 2006

2006-10-06T17:36:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,

Thanks for tuning in... I realize that I'm six days into October, but I delayed writing as a discipline. You might ask, "How is being tardy a discipline?" No, I've been tardy before, but this is something else. It relates to the first listening prayer tip that I want to share today:

1. "Don't let deadlines bully you" -- What I mean by this is that, in general, when a deadline for a decision or action is looming, if the Holy Spirit has not given your heart the green light of perfect peace, then don't be bullied into pressing ahead. Often these deadlines are self-imposed: "I need to..." Who says? God? "But I need to know by..." Really? And if God doesn't give you peace by then? What? Normally, the absence of God's peace in the face of a deadline can be interpreted as either a "No," or at least a "Not yet." As I've tested this through the years, staying put until God has led us forward has borne good fruit. Letting deadline-based anxiety lead the way... not so good. This rule of thumb is not an absolute--as always, keep listening.

2. "Read between the prayers" -- On a different note, I've been meditating on the Psalms lately, particularly the ones in which David cries out to God with a complaint, then without telling us God's answer, David has a shift in perspective that is evident later in the Psalm. I am exercising my ears in the art of hearing God through the silence between the prayers. Allow me to illustrate:

a. Psalm 6 - David is lamenting some trial that he's experiencing. In those verses, who or what does David see as the source of his problems? He appears to source his pain in God's discipline, anger and wrath. But as we continue to read, the perspective shifts... in verse 7-10, David locates the problem in his foes and those who do evil, whereas he reckons God as merciful and attentive--his true rescuer. What did God show David after verse 1-3 to cause this shift. What might God have said?

b. Psalm 13 - Again, David is complaining, "How long?" and actually accusing God of forgetting and forsaking him. He groups God in with his tormented mind and voracious enemies. Is he right? Should we make a theology of this experience? Apparently not, for out of the blue (it seems), David has a reversal in verse 6. Apparently God answered him and led him to conclude that God is good and has been good to him. We're missing some revelation here... or rather, perhaps we're meant to listen for it. What might God have said to launch David into this new awareness?

c. Psalm 22 - I lead up to this. I'm currently researching in preparation of co-writing a book on the atonement (i.e. the meaning of the Cross and how it saves us). In Psalm 22:1, we read prophetically about Christ's cry of "dereliction": "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Unfortunately, rather than reading on carefully, for roughly 400 years, theologians have wrestled to develop a theology of this verse. Many of them concluded that while Christ was being crucified, this cry was evidence that God the Father turned his face away. We sing this in the modern hymn, "How great the Father's love." In fact, it became the basis for my now forgotten M.A. thesis.

BUT... as I read the Psalm again, looking and listening for the Father's answer to Christ, much to my surprise I come to verse 24:

For he has NOT despised or disdained
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has NOT hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

And I ask myself, "What did David and then Christ himself HEAR or SEE or FEEL from the Father that would bring them to the revelation of verse 24?" Wow! And I realize (with the help of Bob Ekblad), that the initial cry was a cry of identification with every man, woman, and child that has felt forsaken and abandoned... BUT there is an answer forthcoming! What is it?

I'll leave that question with you to engage with God YOUR Father.
He has some good news for you today!

May God bless you, keep you, shine on you with His beautiful face until you are filled with peace,

Brad Jersak

p.s. Please consider passing this on to others and inviting them to sign up at www.freshwindpress.com.

p.s.s. Within about ten days, you will be able to order my new book, "Shades: Nuancing Listening Prayer" (co-authored with Sean Davidson) from our website. This work thoroughly scrutinizes the theology and practice of my first book, "Can You Hear Me?" in ways that bring out fresh insights on listening prayer and answers some it's critics in a Christian way.

The God Who Speaks - Sept. 2

2006-09-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

I'm coming out of a 3 month period of restful listening... and although it doesn't feel like I need to hit the ground running, perhaps it IS true that I'm now seeing some of the purposes of God bursting out dramatically. What's come clear to me through this period is that we must NOT treat the voice of God like another handy evangelical tool to add to our tool-kit to be pulled out on an as-needed basis. Rather, his voice--his word--are to be our daily bread (emphasis on daily... as often as you pray, listen!).

This hit home last Sunday. I was teaching on the phrase, "Word of God," and had noted that Jesus exhorted us, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." This includes Scripture, but much more... EVERY word that proceeds...
So I looked at Deut. 8 (which is the chapter Jesus was quoting). At the end of the chapter, there's a notation in vs. 19-20:

"It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the LORD your God." (NASB)

Not that I wanted to make it a "big heavy," but simply to emphasize that the Scriptures say:

1. listening = living, and
2. forgetting or refusing to listen to the voice of the Lord = perishing

At this point, Eddie, a pastor in our church, gave me a big, "AHEM!" and was pointing to a particular text in his own Bible. Eddie isn't able to read, but the Spirit had [once again] guided him to a passage which he wanted me to read RIGHT THEN. As if to confirm the importance
of this message, he had me read Isaiah 28:11-14:

"Since they refuse to listen, God will speak to them through foreign oppressors who speak an unknown language! God's people could have rest in their own land if they would only obey him, but they will not listen. So the LORD will spell out his message for them again, repeating it over and over, a line at a time, in very simple words. Yet they will stumble over this simple, straightforward message. They will be injured, trapped, and captured. Therefore, listen to this
message from the LORD." (NLT)

Ouch!

I won't theologize about this. I won't try to harmonize it right now with other texts or current events. That's not the function of the passage. The reason this Word is in our Bible is so that we'll do it, so we'll listen and obey... and it's given in urgent tones, not so we'll beat ourselves up or get paralyzed with guilt. The tone is urgent because God has a Word of promise or blessing for you today that if heard and heeded will 1. fill you with life, (whatever that looks like) and 2. keep you from "perishing" (whatever that means)... Just reading Psalm 119 again should make the point.

All that to say that I sense God is rousing us with a fresh call--an alert--to listen to what he is saying... And you'll need to be hearing it from HIS mouth with YOUR heart. This fall, can I please ask you to beware of living off the crumbs of someone else's bread. Of course we want to hear the word of the Lord together and be open to each other. BUT there are also many false voices and a horrendous amount of prophetic fluff out there right now (esp. on the internet)... it's essential that you spend the time listening to the Lord for yourself and exercising your discernment. Having said that, simply NOT listening doesn't protect us from deception... so whatever it takes, stay tuned in to the Wonderful Counsellor and Good Shepherd.

Do I sound more urgent than usual? I am... but I am also confident that as we take time to incline our ears to heaven, the Lord will have a good word for you. So here's a couple of questions you might present to him:

1. Lord, do you have any urgent warnings for me as I enter the autumn months? [remember: Fear No Evil... just listen and obey] How shall I respond to this warning? Do you have a strategy for me as I navigate these waters?

2. Lord, do you have any urgent promises and blessings that you're longing to pour out on me? How can I best receive them? What shall I do with them?

For some further reflection on "the Word of God," feel free to check out my article at www.clarion-journal.ca titled "the Word of God." Also, just below it is an excellent piece on the "Silence of God" by Erin Buczkowski... If you want to know what God's silence means, other than a "celestial cold shoulder," that's the article for you!

Thanks for receiving this newsletter and for your encouragement as we share the good news that God speaks and his Word's name is Jesus! If you'd like to invite others to receive this newsletter or to pick up one of our books on "Listening Prayer," etc., please refer them to www.bradjersak.com. We'd appreciate it!

By the way, can I ask you to breathe a prayer about our foreign translations: Can You Hear Me? is out in Korean and will be appearing in German this fall. Please pray that God would cause the fire of his Word to spread throughout those two nations.

Many blessings,

Brad Jersak

The God Who Speaks - July 7

2006-07-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

Grace and Peace... and even more peace to you this summer.

I'm currently one month into a time rest from itinerant ministry. Retreating to my little church, my favourite coffee shop, and to the hilltops for weekly hikes has been good for my soul. A sabbath in the Hebrews 4 sense of rest, restoration, and time with God. Thankfully, as I launched into this time, Cam, a local spiritual director reminded me, "When you enter a time of rest, just remember that you'll be giving your issues a chance to surface. You need to prepare for that."

Oh. Great.

I didn't really want to spend my sabbath time "working" through my junk. I was gearing up for soul-restoration, not issues-exploration. But Cam is usually right, so I kept my eyes open and asked the Lord for a strategy. Sure enough, not long into my "breather", up came some "stuff" that wants to bully me towards isolation. How do you rest when old insecurities, temptations, or "demons" rise up when you finally still your heart? Or am I the only one who didn't automatically get all his shortcomings washed away at baptism? If not, read on:

The Lord showed me that during a time of rest, first of all, I don't need to go digging for my issues. They will surface on their own, thankyou very much.

Second, when they surface, I don't need to work at fixing things. Rather, I can sit WITH them in His presence, allowing them to RIPEN. That way, instead of running around the tree of my life picking off bad fruit, I can sit at the tree of HIS life (the Cross) and let the fruit simply rot and fall off. I found that this took some patience and a little courage. But to extend the tree analogy, it was a reminder that Christ is the Pruner... not me. And if you give Him a chance, He is faithful to do it. I hardly had to help him; my role was to simply ripen in His presence. SOOO restful... in fact, the biggest breakthrough came just this morning through a one-minute dream. It was Jesus, teaching me "the unforced rhythms of grace" (Matt. 11:28 MSG).

And third, it dawned on me, "Why don't I ALWAYS take this approach?" Perhaps there is a time to take the initiative and really pursue one's healing ruthlessly and thoroughly... but I'll ask Jesus about that later. After my rest. In the mean time, can I challenge you to ask the Lord if there's anything "in your face" that He'd like to have ripen in His presence.

In terms of news, just two things:

1. You might want to check out an article that Brita Miko wrote which incorporates and interacts with some of my thoughts on Christ's open table and narrow way (which I expand on in Kissing the Leper). You can view it at www.clarion-journal.ca. It's entitled, "Die with me: Pickton, Jesus and Me."

2. I've finally decided to release "Fear No Evil" in the U.S.A. Current events continue to warrant a proclamation of Jesus' call to "Be Not Afraid." It's available at www.bradjersak.com.

Many blessings,

Brad Jersak

p.s. If these newsletters are helpful, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up at www.bradjersak.com.

The God Who Speaks - June 24

2006-06-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

"Mysticeti Discernment" by Brad Jersak

When it comes to discernment, we are and should be like the mysticeti. What are the mysticeti? Some sort of mystical magi? Not at all... that's just the technical name for our friends, the baleen whales. I believe that with those great baleen strainers of theirs, they have the corner on discernment and we might learn from them.

They do not swim around looking for a particular fish to bite, hoping that they don't accidentally get something yucky in our mouths. And neither do we, really. Life doesn't work that way. You can't pick up a Time magazine and only read good news or turn on a television and only see good pictures or go into town and only expose yourself to good sights. Every time you read, look, experience… everything in the magazine, movie, ads, and on the streets, in the malls, etc. enters your ears and eyes and senses... I.e. the whale opens its mouth and it all goes in. In fact, when a whale wants to eat, it doesn't just open its mouth... it dives to the ocean bottom, opens wide, and scoops gargantuan amounts of water, shrimp, mud, fish, sticks, weeds into its mouth... We do this from morning until night just by living in the world, leaving our house, engaging with people. Then the whale begins to push everything back out of its mouth, straining it through the baleen apparatus: the strainer doesn't keep bad stuff out... it PUSHES bad stuff out while keeping even the most microscopic bits of nourishment... and it keeps so MUCH krill, plankton, shrimp, etc. that these meals can nourish and grow the greatest mammal in history. From somewhere on the internet:

Baleen whales (also known as Mysticeti, or mustached whales) are filter feeders that have baleen, a sieve-like device use for filter feeding krill, copepods, plankton, and small fish. They are the largest whales and have two blowholes. Baleen whales include blue, gray, humpback, minke, bowhead, and right whales. Many baleen whales species are endangered. [yes, they are]

What we have here is not “garbage in, garbage out,” but rather, ”everything in, garbage out” with an understanding that even the whales develop a sense of where the best feeding routes are and that it’s wise to avoid oil slicks. As my friend, Colleen Taylor, wrote in a recent email:

I don't think "everything in" works if you're going to include ENTERING places like the porn store as a potential source of nourishment. However, walking by the porn store is another matter and fairly unavoidable. Of course there are people who are CALLED to enter porn stores, red light districts, etc., looking for Christ the way Mother Teresa did. Does that mean it is okay for everyone to go there? Does everyone have the same spiritual baleen capacity to sift and spit? No. Even that is part of the discernment process.

The question is what our own spiritual baleen consists of and how effective it is. But the big point here is that you don't strain by not eating for fear of getting something bad. Rather, we take it in and then begin to sift outwards, holding on to the good (as per 1 Thess. 5).

This reminds me of the spiritual exercise that I tried for myself: trying to discern my way through the Nag Hammadi Library (the famous Gnostic collection). Some won't read the library for fear of getting mud in their mouth. Others just scan it looking for every error (as some do with my books). But the baleen whale type of Christian is straining for nourishment... what is the truth here? What seems like delicious? What is only edible? What is poisonous? As I read the library, I encountered a spectrum of writers ranging from Spirit-filled to delusional. I found that with God’s help and sound mind, one could distinguish small-r revelation from capital-H heresy.

I also noticed this perspective alter my approach to preachers: instead of waiting to pounce on the two or three little errors that I supposed I was hearing (and needed to protect others from believing), I changed my question to, "What did God say through this messenger?" I was straining for truth, not error, and it helped me to hear others, engage others, and sometimes win others just by hearing the truth in them. This is why I can enjoy (without swallowing everything), not only the Gospel of Thomas, but the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna... which is the same process that Solomon used in compiling the Proverbs. He allowed himself to strain other streams, cultures, and even religions for truth and included the “best of” in his collection… a collection now recognized as Scripture. Yet he was not regarded as a syncretist because he knew that Truth and Wisdom are sourced in God and he endeavored (with varying success) to spit out the rest. With God's Spirit as our reliable Guide into all truth (John 16), so might we.

The God Who Speaks newsletter - June 2006

2006-06-06T15:50:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends of the God who speaks...

Before I proceed, I want to let you know that my new book, "Kissing the Leper: Seeing Jesus in the Least of These," is finally available... in the end, Eugene Peterson (the Message Bible guy) graciously did the foreword. If you'd like more information or want to order the book, just click here: http://www.bradjersak.com/ktlfeature.html.

So thanks for tuning in once again and for the many responses to my last newsletter. Are you still feeding regularly on the Bread of Life--listening for the Voice of the Living Lord Jesus? I was surprised to hear some song lyrics recently that addressed our hunger to hear on Paul Simon's new album, "Surprise." He sings an interesting song entitled "Wartime Prayers" in which he asserts, "People hungry for the voice of God hear lunatics and liars." Wow... just a little cynical! But rather than being shocked and defensive, I choose to hear his passionate demand that we who name Christ as Lord be more discerning in what we hear and how we act in the Saviour's name. We need to continue to examine the fruit (i.e. results and consequences) that comes from hearing God's voice and doing what He says.

Recently, while in Maine, USA, some wonderful Christian pastors there shared a tip with me about "testing the fruit" that I found to be so relevant that I figured I'd better pass it on to you. They talked about something called the "faith and pain gap." This involves two facts that make it important to be patient as we wait for the fruit of the Spirit to come:

1. Fact 1: Sometimes, even after we have begun to listen to the Lord and follow His ways, we may still be bearing bad fruit now from seeds that we aren't sowing anymore. There can be a gap in time while we wait for the "old tree" to finally wither and for the bad fruit to stop appearing. Be patient.

2. Fact 2: Sometimes, even after we have begun to listen to the Lord and follow Him, we are not yet bearing the good fruit in the natural world from the seeds we've sown in our spiritual lives. Again, there can be a gap in time while we wait for the new, good seeds to grow to maturity and start bearing kingdom fruit in a consistent way.

The reason that I bring this up is that in the short-term, sometimes listening to God's voice appears to bear bad fruit. An obvious example of this is when someone chooses to follow Jesus (into faith or into service or into a new lifestyle) but whose family or friends react badly to the decision. Sometimes obeying God creates immediate chaos in our lives and relationships, disrupting what had been a rather comfortable way of life before we took up the Cross of discipleship. In fact, the charge of being "lunatics and liars" can come when we have actually heard God correctly. It happened to Jesus... would we say that the Cross brought bad fruit? So let's be patient and watch for God's hand over the long haul. On that note, here's a question you might send heavenward:

"Lord, what seeds are you sowing in my heart and life that just need time before they inevitably sprout, grow, and bear fruit? I.e. Where do I need to patiently wait and watch for the results that I'm longing for? In what areas should I stand firm and not give up?"

Habakkuk 2

1 I will stand at my watch
and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

The LORD's Answer

2 Then the LORD replied:
"Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it.

3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come and will not delay.

blessings,

Brad Jersak