I am called in Christ (Romans 1.6).
I was redeemed in Christ (Romans 3.24).
I reign in life by Christ (Romans 5.17).
I have eternal life through Christ (Romans 6.23).
I am a joint heir with Christ (Romans 8.17).
I have victory through Christ (1 Corinthians 15.57).
I am a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5.17).
I have liberty in Christ (Galatians 2.4).
I am crucified with Christ ( Galatians 2.20).
I have put on Christ (Galatians 3.27).
I have been blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1.3).
I have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and without blame before Him (Ephesians 1.4).
I have been created in Christ for good works (Ephesians 2.6).
I rejoice in Christ (Philippians 3.3).
I press toward the mark of the high calling of God on my life in Christ (Philippians3.14).
I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4.13).
God supplies all my needs through Christ (Philippians 4.19).
I am complete in Christ (Colossians 2.10).
I am dead with Christ (Colossians 2.20).
I am risen with Christ (Colossians 3.1).
My life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3.3).
Christ is my life (Colossians 3.4).
I have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2.16).
I have the attitude of Christ, choosing humility (Philippians 2.5-7).
I am preserved in Christ (Jude 1.1).*
Jesus: Who do you say that I am?
Peter: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God…
Jesus: Who do YOU say that I am?
In Christ Alone…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: That I may know Him…Know Him, press in to knowing Him…song: “becoming like Him in His death, so that in me there’s resurrection life…”
*adapted from the book by John Eckhardt, Prayers that Rout Demons
Yesterday, October 9, on Hunter’s actual turning-four-years-old birthday, I was once again explaining how his mommy had been my baby and I remembered her turning four and how now he was her baby. The concept is still mystifying to him in some ways, but he pondered, “So that’s why you love us both so much?” Yes, pretty much – that is why.
Hunter is four. Happy Birthday, Magoo! I really really love you! Isn’t turning four fun? You’re having a whole birthday week! Monday you got your new trampoline (mommy and daddy were too excited to wait – so they led him to it, eyes closed. He liked it, he smiled, he jumped. Then he said, “I really wanted a motorcycle.” ???). Wednesday, on my birthday, all the cousins were at your house and you were more excited about that than your own birthday!
Then yesterday, we got to spend the day together and wow was that fun! Shapes and colors and letters and school-work and cousins and play and indoors and outdoors and making funny faces as we sat in Pa-pa’s big leather office chair. You were my cuddle-bug and silly man. You asked a million questions (your favorite being “why?”) and you watched some Sprout and jumped some rope and had plenty of candy and Rice Krispie treats and snuggled with me and made me chase you around the house and made me laugh! But the best part? When we got out the old vinyls and how much you love the ceremony of changing a record and learning how you must be careful not to scratch them or bump into the player (NOT an I-Pod!). And I love how interpretive you are in your dancing, from marching your head off to “76 Trombones” from “The Music Man” soundtrack to an aggressive, very modern and physical rendition when I introduced you to “Footloose.” Kevin Bacon had nothing on you, my little man! Seriously! I’m so glad we had this time together…
pictured: I knew I had, within the past two weeks, taken lots of pictures of Hunter, but when I went to look at them – they are ALL a blur. I swear he is looking me in the eye and looking cute when I pick up the camera to shoot, but by the time I press the button-he is already long gone. But this is the current view of Hunter, in reality.
Pictured: Finally, I snuck up on him as he was side-by-side with his cousin, Gavin, one of his all-time favorite people, and I was ready as I whispered his name and he turned his head! Yea! And on the right-Hunter’s first day of pre-school with Nonna, juice mustache and all.
We are still celebrating you, Hunter,because we love and adore you! Chucky Cheese with mommy and daddy last night and your party still coming up (“I hear a train cake comin’…”). I love your deep, inquiring melancholy side, your gruff little voice and the cowlick right on the front of your head. I love your greenish-blue eyes and brown skin and your little M & M toes. I love that you know a million songs and lots of scripture and that you still determine whether or not you are going to be flying today based on whether you have the Superman cape on or not. You ARE a superhero to me!
Happy Happy Birthday week, Hunter Magoo. I love YOU!…Nonna
NOTE TO SELF: More “Footloose” and other great movie dance sequences for Hunter while he is still living and interpreting the music unabashedly and with great passion!
It is COLD out today! It is also overcast and funny-looking and I fear the rumors of a spittering and sputtering of snowflakes arriving this weekend may, indeed, be true.
I just went out and walked among the gardens, which are slowly but surely finishing up their work year. There are gazillions of tomatoes left and just yesterday, bright yellow zucchini flowers were still trumpeting their intent to produce. But today, all bets seem off and I think the zucchini has resigned itself to closing up shop.
But they are the winners! The zucchini wins for the garden of 2008. I have never had zucchini last into mid-October (I am calling it mid-October even if we are still in the first third – they deserve that). Usually they are wondrous for a month or so and then get some sort of zucchini-acne-powdery-weird disease and die off, which is why an attentive gardener will do successive plantings and why I am usually kicking myself for not doing so. But these sweet 5 plants, roundabout the yard, tucked in here and there as if I weren’t expecting much, have consistently outdone themselves, and oh how I have loved turning my nose up at their grocery store cousins! For I have harvested the best.
So, tonight: what shall I do? Shall I throw floating row covers over the green beans and cucumbers and tomatoes and zuchs – knowing full well that in a few days we could be back into the higher temperatures again (the beautiful, little-known secret of the Rocky Mountain Region)? Or “should I,” as Doris Day sings in Pillow Talk concerning Rock Hudson, “surrender?”
The garden – is it over or is it not?…TBD…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Enjoy the gorgeous dazzling-orange-red Maple leaves strewn about the yard, even though they are from the neighbor’s tree!
pictured: the garden shutting down; see the blackbirds eating the decrepit sunflower’s seeds?
Several of my family left Friday for the Home of Refuge in Venezuela. Our deal is: if they go, I pray. There is an awesome group of 11 who went including Mary Jean (my co-mother-in-law) and Tredessa who are leading the group, my baby girl, Stormie, my niece, Elise, and Stef, who worked so hard alongside us for Heaven Fest that I have practically adopted her.
Here are some things you can join with me in praying about as they are already there and hard at work:
That the kids in the neighboring village will hear the good news of Christ and be eternally impacted through the day camp they are having.
For wisdom and guidance for Mary Jean and Tredessa in leading this team of 9 young adults. Pray Ephesians 1.17-19 for them and for Tony & Rosa, the leaders fo HOR in Venezuela and Honduras.
For supernatural energy coming off of these busy last few months, and especially just following Heaven Fest-during which almost every single member of the team was intricately involved.
For unity as a team. No offense or problems.
That God would awaken His vision and unique calling for every team member on this trip.
Pray for the physical health of each team member – with all the change, demand and even shock that a mission trip can bring, a vulnerability is created which wears down the physical body. Also, the heat and humidity can be draining. Pray for wisdom for each of them – that they would listen to their bodies and take proper care of themselves. At least 2 team members were dealing with health issues before going. Also, the scheduleis to be very demanding.
Inflation is completely out of control in Venezuela. The rental for an OLD bus – and gas at 18 cents a gallon – is costing $1000 one way. 1 chicken (for dinner) costs $30. Pray for continued provision.
They are focusing their efforts on leadership development of the older kids at HOR. The kids will be assisting the team in running a 3 hour/day “camp” for the younger kids at HOR plus the kids in the surrounding neighborhood.
Venezuela has passed some new laws which make the country more tight, more controlled, more corrupt and more dangerous. Pray for safety and freedom from harm.
I miss you, my ones, but I also hear your cry toward heaven to be sent out. He has sent you and so I pray…Jeanie aka mom
NOTE TO SELF: “May the Lamb who was slain receive the reward of His suffering,” (the Moravian cry). Those sweet orphans are His reward.
A quick sampling of Heaven Fest through the lense. Thanks to my good friend and HF Media Director, Kori Verspohl, for the sneak peek!
And the day is just getting started!
We were all shaking our heads: they heard – they came. They actually showed up!
This sepia has got to be one of my favorites. You can see the cloud cover we got from the sun, almost feel the movement of worship toward heaven.
My son-in-law, Dave (the heart of the festival), praying with a Skillet guy
Your Kingdom come, Lord
Your will be done
On earth – as it is heaven!
The nameless, faceless band at Main Event? Not nameless, nor faceless in heaven, nor to their mama! My kiddos: Dave and Tara, Steph and Tris, Rocky and Stormie, along with Dan and Marianna (we’ve grafted them in to the family), Louis (Proxy) and Tammy and about 30 of their closest, praying friends!
The enemy has been defeated
Death couldn’t hold You down
We’re gonna lift our voice in victory
We’re gonna make our praises loud!
Note: I have already written about Heaven Fest, here (where I tell how I got here, as well as what happened personally for me there) and here…
PS – on my operating system, at least, if you click on the picture, you get an enlarged look!
I was 12 years old and struggling to make the transition from little girl being raised in the strictest of Christian homes to some one who had her own relationship with Christ. I probably could have gone either way.
My dad, aggravated about how much time I spent in my room (listening to ungodly music, mind you), forced me to the living room one night to watch the first of a 3-night televised production of what was later dubbed “The Christian Woodstock”. I didn’t want to. I heard it had something to do with Billy Graham and thought, “Oh, no-what kind of church thing is he making me watch?” But I was told I had to and so I did. At least it was music, which I always loved.
It was Explo ’72. And oh-my-goodness, it was awesome. It was amazing. It turned out there were normal-looking people who loved Jesus. There were hippies who loved Him and there was “Christian Rock” which, believe me, was widely thought of as heretical in the church. It impacted me so much. I truly think it was the first time I realized the vast beauty of the Body of Christ in the world. Because of sort of the smallness of my denominational upbringing, I believe it was the first time I had ever realized that Jesus had such a huge following. Jesus was actually a movement. There were Jesus people!
Over 100,000 people showed up in Dallas at The Cottonbowl for Explo ’72. It was where i first saw and heard the crowds responding with gusto to outbreaks of “Give me a ‘J'”…”J!” Give me an ‘E'”…”E!” until the screaming masses would spell out and then begin to chant: Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!
Imagine my surprise when recently, as preparations for Heaven Fest were in full-swing, I got to thinking about that televised event in 1972 and how it had so influenced my life and when I googled it, I found articles telling how that same festival had deeply impacted the life of a then-17-year-old Mike Huckabee as well.
One way. Love Song (with Chuck Girard). Larry Norman (the “grandfather of Christian Rock”) with his very long, shaggy blond hair singing, “Sweet, Sweet Song of Salvation.” Andrae Crouch and the Disciples. Danny Lee and the Children of Truth. Randy Stonehill, “Didn’t He?”. These and more reached me at a crucial crossroads.
I sent away for the album, Jesus Sound Explosion, which was never made available in stores and is now a collector’s item. My dad sold the copy i listened to like crazy all through my teens years in a church garage sale, but after years of searching, my husband found one for me the Christmas of ’06 – just months before I would become involved in Heaven Fest.
God dropped the Heaven Fest vision in Luke’s heart on July 6, 2006 as he was driving home from Cornerstone. But Heaven Fest was planned way before even that and I truly believe every single person who participated was ordained long ago. A seed was placed in my heart in June of 1972 for what took place two days ago.
Dick Mills and the prophetic word in the early 90’s.
We were making a big change in ministry and attended a service where Dick Mills was speaking. He called Dave and I to the front and began to speak an intense prophecy over us using scripture after scripture. One of the notable things he said was that God was going to put Dave and I smack-dab into the middle of teenagers and young people and college-aged people coming to the Lord by the thousands. I remember at the time I got a picture in my heart of a blanketing of people on a field. A friend of ours asked afterwards if that word meant we were going to go back into youth ministry. I could not comprehend the meaning of it.
It was about that time that I began to recall the passion of the days of the Jesus Movement, the Jesus people and the way the Holy Spirit was sweeping the earth in the early 70’s. I came across an article in Charisma magazine, which I believe was titled “Jesus People-Where are They Now?” and I was stirred for my own children’s sake. I began to realize I had witnessed amazing things, experienced a certain and real wave of the Holy Spirit. I’d worshipped with long hairs and hippies and nuns who sang their praise in unknown tongues, right along with Episcopalians and Presbyterians as the Holy Spirit brought them together under the holy umbrella of One. The One.
So I started praying for my kids to see a move of God in their day. I started asking God specifically to allow my children to be involved in something eternal, to be part of igniting a flame that would burn our city and this nation to purity, to life. It became the rallying prayer of my life: “Lord, I have heard of Your fame, I stand in awe of Your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known…” (Hab.3.2). O God, I saw You come and move this nation. I heard You, I heard from you at that young age-come, Lord-do it again in my lifetime-let my children see Your glory in the earth.
Heaven Fest.
Saturday night, during the Main Event, after thousands and thousands fell on their knees and faces in the field in personal repentance, my son-in-law, Dave (a modern-day Psalmist and a leader into the Presence through praise) asked them to stand and boldly proclaim what God had said to them and the commitments they had made and I got to lay hands on the entire front row 2-3 people deep and declare the blessing of the Lord over them and call forth God’s plan for their lives. Some wept, some thanked me as the word came for them that they were “orphans no more.”
One 20-something young man who was standing back aways from everyone with head low, almost seeming as if he’d rather not be noticed, caught my eye. I nearly turned away-not wanting to disrespect his stance, but the Lord didn’t let me. I breathed a quick prayer for sensitivity and how to honor him and as I stepped toward him, he looked at me and asked, “So-are you praying for people, or what?” As I assured him I was and he said, “Well, I need you to pray for me,” the Lord showed me what a strong call of God he had on his life and that he had been running from it. I could see his heart was aimless, but had never been at home outside the love of God. The favor and love of the Lord for this kid was so apparent I felt honored just to be standing next to him. God gave me much to pray for him and he stood in the night rededicating his life to God and you could almost visibly see a love-cloud jetting straight from the heavens to wrap him up. He seriously had the smile of God on his upward-turned face as he stretched his arms toward a Father whose love had not, he discovered, ever let him go. Arise, shine, Gabriel-for the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
Revive Your great works in our day, Lord.
A few months ago, I was reminiscing about some of the early artists who impacted my life and I ran into a recent project that reunited many of the early Christian rock artists in CD/DVD form, The Beginning Concert: The Jesus Music Reunion. We were already neck-deep in Heaven Fest prep and it was only on paper, but we were asking God for something that would live beyond the day. None of us, Dave and Tara, Luke, me – wanted a concert and just a fun day for Christians, but rather to see eternal kingdom things: the lost found, the lethargic re-fired, a revival ignited. I mentioned The Beginning Concert on this blog and the producers so kindly sent me a copy.
When I heard Chuck Girard, whose music had influenced me from the time I saw him appear at Explo ’72 with Love Song and through the early 80’s, I was moved to tears with how God has been preparing my heart all along, He was leading my steps. Chuck Girard said on The Beginning Concert DVD, concerning the early 70’s and beyond:
“People look at me with a blank stare when I mention the Jesus Movement.
Back in those days, what drove the music was – what drove all of us was a zeal for souls. You know, we had a lot of zeal, very little knowledge.
I knew two things back then. I once was blind, but now I could see, and ‘Jesus loves me this I know.’ And that was about it, you know?
But we got out there and we did it and in the 1980s came the teaching movement and we got all really cerebral about the whole thing, but we lost a lot of the zeal, and my prayer is to bring that combination of knowledge back with some of that zeal of the early 70s and seeing another Jesus Movement.”
The reunion concert ended with Chuck Girard leading the audience and other artists in the song that categorized the unchanging message, a song from the 70s that summed up our hearts for Heaven Fest ’08, too:
“It’s the Name above all Names
And we will declare it, we will declare it
It’s the Name above all Names
And we will shout it to a dying world!”
This is the legacy, the path that will bring my grandchildren and their children into their assignment…Jeanie
NOTE TO MY KIDS: This is why you weren’t raised on irrelevant, churchy music, but purposely trained to enter the presence through praise. This is why I immersed you in the song of the Lord, whether it was a 200-year-old-hymn or the latest sound. Because through worship, through the song you sing – you will declare His name to a dying world. You will bring life. This is part of the story of the legacy I leave with you – a partial explanation of God’s preparation for your life story.
We’re heavily into set up and details, calming fears and being calmed. Tomorrow begins the 77-hours of straight-through worship leading up to and during HF, in The Burn Tent on the grounds. Friday is the Cardboard Campout for the Homeless.
Gates open at 10 am Saturday.
Heaven Fest is here. What happens, happens. But we are asking God for thousands to find Him here. We are asking for re-commitments throughout the Body of Christ. We are seeing prayer warriors from ministries across the state join to pray for today’s generation, “We are a chosen generation-Mothers and Fathers, Sisters and Brothers, Sons and Daughters, we are are!”* We’re not putting on a concert for fun, though it is a concert (or as the promo fliers say, “A one-day massive Christian music, worship and arts festival”) and will be fun, no doubt, but our aim is to ignite something in our region and declare Jesus from the highest metropolitan city in the U.S. Our prayer continues to be:
“Come, Lord, would You come? Would You make Your habitation here? There is no other artist or band who is more important to us than You. Lord, we invite YOU to be our most honored guest at Heaven Fest. Walk among us. Heal the broken, the hurting, seek out the lost. We are repenting, Lord, we are crying out to You. Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
It’s where I’ll be for a few days…Jeanie
NOTE TO SELF: Ready, set…
*lyrics from “We Cry Out” by Brian Johnson of Jesus Culture, www.jesusculture.org
Hosea, a book recording the repeated unfaithfulness of Israel to God, also reveals a God who woos and draws and pursues with a permanent, tender and unfailing love. He even uses the language of a marriage covenant:
“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy;
I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord” (Hosea 2.19, 20)
How can we refuse a faithful God’s offer to know Him like that, to really know Him? He further promises us:
“I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love,
And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck [burden lifter]
I stooped and fed them.” (Hosea 11.4)
Last night as our our worship and prayer time wound down, the sun having just set over the mountains, while splashes of hot pink and brilliant orange still dotted the sky, my friend Cheryl Rios popped a song in the CD player. The music fell freely out into the summer’s night air like a beautiful ribbon blowing in a gentle breeze.
It seems a fitting response to a God who has drawn us with “gentle cords and bands of love…” The gift was His love through His Son, but he tied it all up so beautifully with ribbons of gentleness and love. Here is the song* I am singing today…
NOTE TO SELF: Continue this “Summer of Love and Worship” after Heaven Fest, offering my song of praise…
*”Give You My Praise” by Grace Williams, www.gracegrace.com. Sunset photo is a Google.com image. It is similiar to what we saw, except that ours was reflected on the water, double beauty!
“See Me, can you see Me? Can you sense My love for you?” These are roughly the words of a song I have listened to on one of my favorite websites, www.soaking.net.
The words were posed as from Father God. And I was like, “I’m having trouble seeing You and I struggle to feel You near.”
This what I heard Him say:
You know how when you have TIME – there is nothing pressing – and one of your kids come through the door and you’re happy just to sit with them and be with them and listen to their joys?
Well, I’m like that with you, except TIME belongs to Me. I hold it all in My hands, so you don’t have to wait for My calendar to clear for you.
6.30.08
I re-read that today and had to smile because God has indeed proven this very word to my soul in the past 2 weeks. He is showing me that He eagerly awaits my arrival, my presence. He’s revealed He isn’t peering at me, bothered by the interruption, over the evening paper or too busy with some one else.
It is the summer of our first Heaven Fest and there is much to do and accomplish and yet, right in the middle of it, God my Father has provided rest, repair and renewal. From my morning time in The Tent (www.thetendenver.com) to as many evenings as I can make it at the prayer and worship leading up to HF, I have been covered to saturation in amazing music and worship, the Word of God, His miraculous provision for HF and more. He is everywhere and everywhere He is, He welcomes me. I am starting to see You, God. And I am glad to have been seen by You…
