A little bit about my church and church family... Blazing Fire in Pleasanton, CA.

Being under the wings of Brent and Suzanne Lokker is like being in the express lane to restoration, healing, love, blessing, destiny, and all that the Father's heart holds for us!!! Blazing Fire is a beautiful place to be, where the leaders really have given over complete control to the Holy Spirit and are just excited to follow HIS lead! Every week I see the Kingdom expanded in glorious ways; the increase of Jesus' rule and reign is exponential in this place! Every week it seems we go to new heights, and heaven comes down in greater degrees! Brent stands like a beacon, declaring Daddy's awesome love and favor over every single one of us, giving us permission to be who we already are! Suzanne's beaming face and beautiful smile (not to mention some of the most loving, imparting hugs available on earth!) are such a healing force that many find themselves basking in the warm glow of an open heaven just from being near her! We feel so blessed and priveledged to be where we are in this moment, this very special, historic moment. Everyone keeps feeling a sense of awe, one that is growing stronger by the week! The elders here remind me of those in John's Revelation, because they're always around the throne, always worshipping, always with the High praises of God in their mouths! Carla, Dan and Amy just *glow* in the Spirit!! The faces of so many beautiful people that I know and am getting to know at Blazing Fire will often come to mind throughout the week, and I find myself rejoicing and interceeding and thanking God for them! Every Saturday night a room full of Pioneers in the Spirit, Trailblazers, Lightning Rods, and World Changers gather, and boy, is the air SUPERCHARGED!! Last week I ended up in the floor before the soaking time even started! This is church like I always dreamed it could be...and I hear the Lord saying, But wait!!! There's more!
Thank You LORD! We want MORE of You!
Lisa-Anne

An Evening of Firsts

Saturday Evening was Night of Firsts. I gave my first altar call and my first sermon (in that order!) and I got to help ordain two new ministers! Since I've only been ordained for 23 days myself, I'm pretty dazzled by what the Lord has done! I've also already been away and come back from my first mission/ministry trip in another state where I got to watch first hand as the Lord accomplished mighty deeds and wonderful acts among the people there!
I want to share with you a little bit I wrote about my first First on Saturday. I had the incredible honor and priveledge of serving communion with my beloved fellow minister, the Reverend Lani Langlais.

"As we began serving communion, I was completely unprepared for how staggeringly, _stunningly_ beautiful and ravishing the *Bride* is, walking down to aisle to receive her *Beloved*... I know His heart must be completely undone at the sight! ( Just one time on the other side of the table can seriously change a persons life!) When you serve communion, you are standing in the place where the Groom stands in a wedding; the signifigance was not lost on me, watching all the beautiful, glorious ones coming down the aisle! I could feel the passion of the Lord for His precious people as each one came up and I could see the *blazing fire* of *love* reflected in their *eyes* as I put "His Body" in each extended hand..I could feel His DELIGHT ... I was very nearly overcome! After Lani and I served each other, and sat down, I was just unable to contain it and sobbed silently for several minutes from the sheer depth of the longing He has for His Bride and His overwhelming love for her.... "

The Spirit and The Bride say COME, Lord Jesus!

In Omnia Paratus! (or, Ready for Anything!)

Ya know, being a Christian means ya oughta be ready for anything! Expect the unexpected...
believe the impossible is not just possible, but *probable*! Now, I don't mean that we should be BoyScout-prepared, or have an earthquake kit handy (that'd be a blizzard/tornado kit for the rest of y'all back home!)... What I mean is just that we should be eagerly anticipating the next awesome "surprise" our Daddy God has in store for us! We of all people should view life as the greatest adventure ever known, and make the most of every minute!
I watched a show where a young girl away at college is allowed to join a secret group for a newspaper story. She was blindfolded and driven away to a remote location. (NO! Don't leave, it isn't CSI or anything like it! I promise!) When the blindfold came off, she was shocked to find a beautifully set up campsite complete with feast and individual tents and even lanterns on a table to light their way. There was much singing and eating and dancing and playing of intellectual games (and quite a bit of drinking too, but hey, it's a show about a girl in college!) The thing that struck me most was the passion for living a full life that this group seemed to embody. The next morning, the girl is surprised to find a beautiful blue dress and scarf under her cot, perfectly suited and fitted to her! Nothing was left undone... there was even a bowl and pitcher with water and towels in her tent. Everything was provided! She emerged, dressed beautifully (without even knowing ahead of time that she'd be there overnight). There was much celebration and revelry, and more than a few shenanigans. I found myself LONGING to be friends with these folks, even forgetting for a moment that they're just actors on a screen and not real at all. The most amazing moment came when the young girl, being challenged to climb to a great height (in a Paris Couture gown and slippers!) took a huge risk. She and her male escort made their way to a high platform and were "buckled" onto a contraption designed by an engineering student. (note: MSU students, do not try this at home. The engineering department is not that great!) The fella told her she could back out, but she replied, "You jump, I jump, Jack!" and with umbrellas in hand they jumped 80 feet to the ground below and landed beautifully! (I understand the hydraulics involved in this stunt, and yes, it is indeed possible! It brought my days of being a Bungee Jumper and Instructor vividly back to mind!)
The girl, quite giddy, turned to her friend and said, "That was a once in a lifetime experience!" and his response ( which so shook me that I've written this long blog all about it!) was, "Only if you want it to be!"
WOW!
There was so much spiritual truth in that episode it'd take me a month of Sundays to preach all the points! But here are a couple!
WE are those people! At least, we're supposed to be! We're supposed to be the happiest, most joyful, vibrantly alive people on the planet... like pockets of daylight walking around in a world that only knows night! Everywhere we go, we should light the place up, as if a spotlight tracked us from heaven! (it DOES, ya know!!!)
We SHOULD be feasting... Feasting on the Bread of Life and the New Wine that makes us so incredibly inebriated from drinking deep the drafts of the Spirit!
We CAN live life fully, and fully live life... everything is brighter, richer, deeper, lovlier, sweeter, more fragrant and more alive because the Spirit of God has come in and breathed His life into us!
We're supposed to be more merry and have more fun than folks who don't know Jesus. The somber days of the Religious are over (THANK GOD!) and the new days of walking in freedom are here! (it was for freedom that He set us free!)
SO LAUGH! Dance with wild abandon! Drink deeply from the river of His delights! Our GOD is alive and passionate for His Bride! Get carried away, in His arms! Get DRUNK!!! (in the Spirit! You know what I mean!!!) It's so hard NOT to be intoxicated by His love!
DRESS UP!!! Let His glory SHINE from within you!!! Go to high new places in the Spirit and follow His lead!!! Tell Him... "You jump, I jump, Jesus!"
I promise you, it'll be the experience of a lifetime, but just the first of many that He has in store for those who love Him enough to look Him in the face and see the fire in His eyes for His Bride!
In Omnia Paratus!!!!
Lisa-Anne

Jessica, Lani, and Lisa-Anne... Praising God and having fun in the Saguaro Forest!  

Me and my bff Jessica, once again, I'm the blonde!  

Aaron

Holiness on the head,
Light and perfections on the breast,
Harmonious bells below, raising the dead
To lead them unto life and rest.
Thus are true Aarons dressed.

Profaneness in my head,
Defects and darkness in my breast,
A noise of passions ringing me for dead
Unto a place where is no rest.
Poor priest thus am I dressed.

Christ is my only head,
My alone only heart and breast,
My only music, striking me ev'n dead;
That to the old man I may rest,
And be in Him new dressed.

So holy in my head,
Perfect and light in my dear breast,
My doctorine tuned by Christ (Who is not dead,
But lives in me wihle I do rest),
Come people; Aaron's dressed.

--George Herbert, from "The Temple" published in 1633.

I selected this poem because it speaks to me so wonderfully about the condition we are in... priests in a glorious Kingdom, having to trust completely in Jesus alone to clothe us in His righteousness. In the Old Testament, descriptions are given of the clothing and accoutrements the priests were to wear. On their heads was to be a gold pendant with the words, "Holy to the Lord" written on it. In the pocket of the Ephod, the Urim and Thummim were carried, whose names mean, "Lights and Perfection". The priests had bells sewn into the hems of their garments so they'd jingle as they moved about. If the music stopped, it meant the priest had died in the presence of God Most Holy.
I think Herbert hit the nail on the head with this one! Only with the mind of Christ and the precious Holy Spirit (our perfect light!) within us can we be rightly dressed as priests and ministers of the Lord, to lead His people into life and rest.

New Year Update

Hmmm, it's been entirely too long since I posted here!
I have some news. It's good news, and no, I'm not in the family way! I am, however, now officially an ordained minister of the Gospel. How's that for mind-blowing?
God is so good! I'm excited about the idea that I get to go around blessing people in His name for the rest of my life! I know I could do that without being ordained, but this way is just so much better! Having that covering and authority over me as well as the impartation and blessing and releasing to move into my calling and destiny is such a wonderful thing!
Now I can serve in prison ministry, be a hospital chaplain, and marry happy couples. I can baptize believers into the Body, I can bless and dedicate sweet little babies to the Lord, and I can ordain other ministers!
I think we're going to need all the ministers we can get, because the harvest is white in the fields and the workers are few. I'm thinking now that 95% of the folks in church should be ordained ministers and the other 5% should be the newly saved! (Being a "minister" doesn't mean you are limited to being a pastor; being a minister can be many other necessary things in the Body!) A dear friend of mine was praying about this recently, as to whether she should be "ordained" or not, and the word she heard from the Lord is this, "I would that all My people were ordained!" That makes sense to me!

My name means "Consecrated to the Lord, and Grace", so in one way I'm just living up to my name, being set apart as a minister of His grace. In another way, I've thrown myself with abandon into His arms, and declared that I where He goes, I will follow! I'm absolutely undone at His amazing Love and Goodness to me, and I marvel at how gently and tenderly He leads me! Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!
In His everlasting arms,
Reverend Lisa-Anne Wooldridge