Pure Love

All of creation groans for His returning. If this is true for the things of nature you can think of how much more awesome this truth is for His most valuable creations, mankind. He has placed in every one of us the ability for our hearts to yearn and to desire. We were created to have feelings and emotions, because if we weren’t than we would be mere robots.

Some affects of our hearts’ propensity to yearn, greatly desire, are the feelings of pain and anguish. It can feel like we are dying on the inside which is extremely uncomfortable. These heart feelings can be triggered by numerous stimuli and they tend to keep our minds wrapped up in the circumstances of life. One of the things that the Father is teaching me is to remember to take these feelings when they come and to direct them towards Him.

I believe that He is bringing mankind into an intense longing for His ways, where our hearts are irrevocably gripped with the deepest yearning and love for Him that we are able to withstand as humans, and even greater yet. Where our every thought screams to possess and feel His heart. I think that in the years to come that we will begin to dive into these deeper levels of healthy pain, where we love Him to the extent that it hurts, because He is preparing His bride for His return!

What does it mean to be refined by His holy fire? I think it means that He takes us through a process that molds us into beings that contain His pure love. He is transforming His bride into a body that is changed, and that changes the world with Him, pure love. A love that is void of ‘self’, one that is truly motivated by ‘others’, where the ‘hidden’ reasons we do what we do is to lift up Christ and broader mankind. When we think, speak, and act we do so with a holy purity that comes from Christ’s love alone.

He is searching for these righteous individuals, people that will allow Him to refine their hearts into a holiness that will draw His return! He isn’t just coming back for the sake of it; He is coming back for His pure and spotless bride. He is coming back for a people who have rallied together in the bond of pure love.

He is Returning!

A few days before I departed for Georgia Trisha and Myself found out that we're pregnant. The natural feeling was, 'this couldn't have been worse timing.' But rather than this I was filled with a joyous expectation that this child is from God and that the timing couldn't have been more perfect! After all God's plans are not always our plans.

While here in Azerbaijan I was filled for a longing to be home during Trisha’s pregnancy, and to be present during my child’s birth. During this time the Holy Spirit descended on me and I began to weep under an intercessory anointing. I sensed that God was saying, “I am coming back for My son. I am coming back for My children. I love My children and I am coming back for You.”

God passionately loves His children and I believe He is making His last preparations before His return! So what does that look like? The sense that I have had since the beginning of this walk, and I’ve made mention of this before, is that He is restoring the familial relationships on Earth. I believe He is greatly concerned with the relationships of, ‘fathers and their children…less He smite the land with a curse. Malachi ch 4: vs. 5,6.’ I think that these every day relationships are representative of God the Father’s relationship with His children, us. After all we are created in His image, and we do represent Him as His ambassadors.

So as I mentioned in the last posting, that He is coming for His bride, I believe that He is pressing on my heart that He is coming for His children. This repetition reminds me of His parables in the gospels. When He was making an especially important point He would tell numerous parables back to back that all revealed the same point except in different ways. This leads me to believe that what He’s saying is quite important! Again, I believe that God is saying that He aims at returning soon, and that He is sending forth the Elijah spirit to pave the way for that coming!

As the spirit of Elijah, in the form of John the Baptist, prepared the way for Jesus I believe that Jesus is sending the spirit of Elijah again, and that He is doing this now! Today, however, it is quite different because the Holy Spirit is here to bless all men. I think the spirit of Elijah that is going forth today is comprised of many of His children operating in a spirit of unity. What John the Baptist, as only one man, could do before Christ’s first coming, His children, as thousands today, can prepare a much stronger spiritual climate for His second coming. And that ‘coming’ is soon!

God's Anguish

Being apart from Trisha has been harshly depressing. The adverse feelings have regularly been setting in every evening. When this happens I withdraw and pray. God's consolation is the only breath of fresh air that there is.

However, it was during one of these sorrowful nights that God spoke through mom. She came under an intercessory anointing and began to cry from 'revelation'. He showed her that the anguish I'm feeling over being apart from my wife is a taste of his torn heart for the lost people of the Middle East. In a sense my participation could be a symbolic act that demonstrates the rift between the Lord and His beloved. I can't say it enough, His heart is torn. He yearns for His creations to become His bride. He is passionate for the lost, and is walking the Earth before He aims at recovering what is rightfully His!

When depression settles I don't rebuke the sorrow because it is a natural and healthy feeling of heart sickness, instead I intercede for both Trisha (that she would be filled with peace that surpasses understanding) and God's lost bride to be restored once and for all. The scriptures that come to me are Jesus' parables of the lost sheep and coin; where God is going to immaculately sweep His Earth for every lost sheep that is destined to be found!

God is good. We don't always understand why He asks us to accomplish the things that He does. One thing is certain; obedience is stronger than death! In the end we may, or may not, understand; but what we can be assured of is that He knows best, and that His ways are the best. He is good. He is love. He is coming!

Into Azerbaijan

It took us 3 to 4 hours to get through the Azerbaijan border. The soldiers were in their teens, many carrying AK-47s, and had the most genuine smiles. They were laid back, jovial, and respectful, and very repetitive in their work. I would consider it ineficient and chaotic, but I'm sure there is some sort of cultural reasoning behind their methods.

The terrain is dry, large rolling mounds of dirt and rock littered with trash, and completely void of trees or shrubbery (except what has been planted). Many of the dirt mounds are glazed with balding grass, but that has been most of the natural life so far. One main road stretches through the country, with small side roads that branch off.

The people have been extremely polite. I pulled into a small diesel station, looking for an AZ sim card, and they didn't have one but the manager's friend called another friend to pick him up and he went and bought me one with the 20 menot that I gave him! In the meantime the manager made me tea! God bless the AZ people.

The police regularly stop to talk with us. Many of them have been courteous, and genuinely interested with who we are, and what the heck an RV is. Ours is the only one in AZ; and tourism (that's what we are to the police because organized religion is persecuted in AZ) is virtually unheard of away from Baku.

However, many of the police and plain clothed officers want bribe money from us. AZ is in the top ten corrupt countries in the world. Bribery is unofficially accepted. So far we have simply been saying 'no' and they have left us alone, I'm sure being foreign helps. They have many checkpoints along the way and if you don't give them any bribes then they have the ability to not let you cross over. In a twisted way it's kind of fun saying 'no' to a police officer, and pretending that I don't know what they're asking for, when I know.

We are presently at a wonderful friend's home. She is a jolly American with a ready smile and laugh, and humorous story. She's an awesome servant who has helped us in more ways than we can count! A sweet AZ young lady is her roommate who helps foreigners learn the language.

May God bless these wonderful people, and may He bless Azerbaijan.

Exiting Georgia

Today is the first day we walked since I’ve come. I walked the first nine miles, and am now going to drive the RV so that mom can walk the next section.

The scenery has been very nice. Swelling hills that look much like the black hills of South Dakota speckled with herds of sheep, with their respective shepherd. There are also numerous donkeys that free-range along the way. Chicken yards are interspersed between old run down farming shacks. And farmers curiously eye us up and down as we walk past. They also boldly peek in the RV windows because they have most likely never seen one before, especially driven by grungy Americans. Stray dogs freely roam the land, flee infested and straggly, one bit dad in the hand the other day so they’re apparently non to friendly.

As I’m writing right now I’m waiting to drive ahead in order to pick up mom and dad at the 22 kilometer mark, so dad can have a quick break before finishing his 30 kilometer day. An I-Pod is plugged into a speaker and playing the type of music that makes you feel like you have all day to accomplish your daily tasks. At first I disliked the folksy music because it made me feel complacent, but I’m quickly getting used to this day by day lifestyle of focusing on prayer, walking, and preparing for common basic needs like: finding water, making food, washing clothes and equipment by hand, emptying out the sewage, and the list goes on. The music is actually quite helpful in enabling me to relax. However, I only let it play for half an hour before changing it to worship! Intense worship is playing right now, and yeah baby, this is what pumps me up!

I’m asking God on how I can pray for Georgia during this last day, as we are approaching Azerbaijan. Georgia is traditionally a Christian country, believe it or not; it’s the last Christian land for a very long time. Surrounded on all sides by Muslim and Russian territory, in these last days they could very well be a beacon in the midst of darkness. However, the Christianity here is stagnant; it’s more of tradition, I think, than genuine commitment. So my prayer has been for a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit to awaken this land in order for them to turn back to their first Love. May the Lord arouse their hearts and breathe life into the dry bones. May Georgia arise as a burning torch that draws the surrounding Muslim nations to life in Christ. May Georgia spiritually prosper. May Georgia encounter the crazy glory of God that will bring real revival to this destined land.

In Georgia

The plane flight to Georgia took a while, and the entire time I was consumed with missing Trisha. A massive hole has been burrowed in my chest, and as I talked with her today, on Skype, it was even harder to see that she too emotionally feels like a locomotive ran her over.

Wow, mom kept on saying today that God has been asking a lot from His people lately. In a manner this is very true, at least for us. I wonder though if perhaps we shouldn't view it as out of the norm. I wonder if He is calling out on a regular basis for His sons and daughters to leave their worlds behind in order to follow Him, much like He asked the disciples to do. I wonder if God regularly feels neglected by His followers when we say, 'not now, Lord', or 'No'.

While it is true that obeying Him can be the most difficult decision to make of a lifetime, I firmly believe with everything in me that when we choose to follow Him through the valleys of darkness and discomfort that the end result will be a heightened glory of living. Victory and blessings come to those who truly follow their King!

So, on a practical note, we will either be walking from Georgia and into Azerbaijan tomorrow or the next day. We applied and received our visas to enter Azerbaijan today, and the entire process took only two hours! God is good. We have encountered some lovely YWAMers based over here that have been a tremendous blessing with taking care of a lot of the logistics in advance. It really proves to show that when God calls us on a seemingly impossible task that He will sufficiently provide for victory. Again, God is good!