| …And To the Ends of the Earth. (Israel to New Zealand) |
| Written by Sean Feucht |
| Tuesday, 31 January 2012 |
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…And To the Ends of the Earth. I just love how God orchestrates the seeming chaotic moments of our lives into one beautiful tapestry of divine destiny. Psalm 139:16 declares that “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” This means God knew about every single detail about our lives – every decision we would make, every city we would visit, every conversation we would have before we existed on this earth! The omniscience of God still confounds and perplexes me. That He would give up His only Son for mankind while knowing how each of us would reject, refuse, ignore and despise Him is the great mystery of the Gospel! Prayerful Planning When my wife and I pray and plan for the upcoming year’s itinerary, we ask the Spirit to “lead us into all truth” (John 16:13). There are so many “good” opportunities presented before us in many different cities, nations and with some of our favorite people on the planet! We aren’t after the “good” but after the “God” open doors. So we really press into God’s desires and not just randomly choose events, summits, conferences or tours. Of course – I feel God aligns us to His heart in this process and maybe even “factors in” elements of our stupidity or ignorance! His perfect equation accounts for and even supersedes our “margin of error” we could potentially add in the mix. I am now beginning to see how this kick-start into 2012 is already filled with God’s masterful intentions! He’s unfolding something before us that He divinely planned and knew about before the foundations of the world! We can no longer think of these moments as another “bump” in the road or just another year. These days are divinely pre-meditated and orchestrated from above since the beginning of time! Dedication from Mt Carmel, Word from Jerusalem Starting off the year as family in the nation of Israel was more significant than we’ll ever know. I believe every trip we go on, every city and nation we visit in 2012 will somehow come back to the beginnings of this first visit to Israel. Even as “All roads lead back to Jerusalem,” so do all prophetic journeys and the epitome of the faithfulness of God through His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Genesis 12:3). Not only were we able to witness the lives of 20 worship leaders, musicians and young revivalists from 5 nations get absolutely blasted by God and the revelation of His beloved nation Israel, but we also dedicated our baby girl Keturah Liv to the Lord on Mt. Carmel. We had been waiting for over 17 months since she was born to dedicate her in Israel and believed it was part of her prophetic destiny to be “commissioned” from the “mountain of burning!” (1 Kings 18) It was also significant to release this new sound to the Lord from the very birthplace of the day and night worship in the City of David! “Kingdoms” carries a fresh word from the Lord for the body across the world. It’s not just another live worship project to chalk up on the discography list, but embodies and carries language for the government of God being established through our praises! As declared below out of Isaiah 2:3, there was only one perfect place to send out this new word: “…for out of Zion shall come forth the law, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” In Jerusalem…and to the ends of the earth. As I write this from our dreamland Bed & Breakfast nestled in the New Zealand countryside of the North Island, even more revelation is flowing on the prophetic timing of this trip! We arrived here after 37 hours of travel (with a toddler : ) yesterday and will spend the next three weeks pouring out everything we have across New Zealand (7 cities), Australia (4 cities), Indonesia and Singapore. We visit this region at least twice per year and always encounter some of the most hungry and fiery hearts in the “Great South Land of the Holy Spirit!” In Acts 1:8, Jesus speaks His last words before being taken up to Heaven in a cloud. As was always with the suspense of Jesus, He kept his followers hanging on every word and saved the best for last! “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This was the commissioning moment that led to the original “Upper Room Burn” that catalyzed the flame of the Holy Spirit to come and rest among men! From their baptism of this fire, Jesus was calling them to become witnesses (or best interpretation “martyrs”) even to the ends of the earth! At the very time Jesus spoke that word from Jerusalem, the most distant and farthest country by boat (transportation method of the day) was and still is….NEW ZEALAND! So you could further interpret that to say “you will be witnesses to Jerusalem…Judea and Samaria and even to the nation of New Zealand.” Going back to my beginning statement of God orchestrating divine destiny out of the chaos…I cannot think of a clearer example! We would never have been smart enough to plan our trips to coincide to come directly from Israel to New Zealand! But I believe Heaven is making a definite statement through all of this. The power of the gospel to continue to “bear fruit” (Colossians 1) all over the world and even touch the “ends of the earth” with the fire of God is astounding. From Jerusalem to New Zealand, “witnesses” (martyrs) are being raised up who will JOYFULLY give even their very lives for the message of the Gospel! Pray for us as we continue to live in the confluence of this “prophetic swirl” and seek to see God use our weak and feeble efforts light up these nations like never before! Allow this simple word to encourage and strengthen you today! Sean Feucht Founder, Burn 24-7 |