General

Why Miracles Today

/ Jana / Leave a comment

To be frank, I am not sure how the church ever stumbled over the miracle question. How we dropped the training and expectation of miracles is disturbing. Let’s break this down with the old math adage:  Milk comes from cows. Butter comes from milk. Therefore butter comes from cows.

Salvation comes from Jesus. Salvation is a miracle. Therefore miracles come from Jesus.

“Oh, oh !” the unbelieving believers exclaim, “IF you only count salvation then miracles still happen today.”

Not quite. Remember the word “saved” is the Greek word “Sozo” meaning physically healed, emotionally delivered, and spiritually restored.  To know Jesus and to be known by Jesus unlocks the miraculous way of life.

“Freely you have received, now freely give.” Jesus said in Matthew 10:8

Wait. What have I received? What have you?

He gave these instructions first to the disciples and then the 72 and then to us.

“Go to the lost, confused people right here in the neighborhood. Tell them that the kingdom is here. Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.”  (The MSG)

He was instructing the very people who were the sick, the untouchables, the demon-possessed. In Paul’s words, “and such were some of you.” They had received the miraculous life of Jesus and there was plenty to share. In fact, they grew stronger and bolder and richer the more they gave away.

To know Jesus is to know miracles. It’s not a rare occurrence. It is the living, breathing expectation of heaven invading earth on the daily.

What will you speak and declare? And wait for?

From obstacles removed to bills being paid, to hardened hearts softened, to generational curses broken, to divine strategies, to bones being healed, to demons cast out, to fear and anxiety silenced, to sickness vanquished, all this and more Jesus has given to me and to you. There is no area of our life and this world that the healing power of Jesus is not available to radically transform.

Do you get stuck? Do you wrestle with unbelief? Do you have questions? Then do the work and clear the path for your faith to flow. The whole world is in need of the living water that exists in His followers.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:23-25

The Power of a Word

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Each year we ask the Lord for His word for us for the year. It’s an exercise we have been doing for a long time.  My spiritual father, John Dee, started this beautiful practice and now many of us have this rich history of seeing God reveal more of His heart to us and in us. So, first things first, have you asked the Lord for your word? Second, what do you do with it when you get it?

More than a faddish thing, these words become bricks in our soul’s structure. I find each word builds on top of one another. In fact, if you haven’t recently, go back to the last 2-10 years and locate your word. It’s amazing how one brick, one deposit or revelation, had to come before the other. While you are at it, look at your memories. See how God unpacked your circumstances through the lens of the given yearly word. I can say that 2022 was a bruiser. But through the lens of His word for me, it is totally different.

Next step, share your word! Give testimony about how God revealed Himself to you.  We are all strengthened by the movement of God in each other’s lives.

Last year my word, or phrase, was “Unveiled and Seen.” I look back over my year of death and disruption, letting go and taking on the new, and I am in awe. This year has truly been an unveiling and seeing a whole new way of doing life with God, new comfort in sorrow, and even a new focus in ministry.

Okay so brace yourself. This is vulnerable. My words for 2023: Unleashing miracles.

I mean what even is that? I didn’t want to write it down. BUT. GOD.

What if Unleashing Miracles is what God wants to do give me, show me this year??
I don’t want to miss that.  So here’s my testimony.  This is me putting on my seatbelt. Tag you’re it. What’s yours?

Let’s do this.

I Have A Surprise For You

/ Jana

You have read the words yourself. “Never will I leave you or forsake you.” The Old and New Testaments are full of these promises from our beautiful God. And yet, I wonder how we think about this Holy Presence? Is it begrudging? Is it out of duty? Is it out of fear of reprisal? Some cosmic shadow simply enduring the whole of humanity?

Oh wait, that sounds more like how we sometimes approach God rather than how He approaches us.

The life-giving Presence of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is full of delight, enjoyment, invitation. It is Their affection for us that draws us in to more of the Godhead. Think hide-and-seek. Think clues and breadcrumbs just waiting to be discovered by us. Think of Jesus’s face when we find one of His hidden treasures.

God started giving me hearts in 2010. It took me a little bit to catch on, but now, I see at least one every day. No matter the circumstance, the environment. Why? Because He is with me, He is with us. All the time. Forever. And His heart is bursting with affection and love for us to enjoy.

Ask Him for a heart (or whatever your thing is) and then keep a look out. He longs for us to experience His love.

Dependance Is A Dance

/ Jana

Something happened yesterday and it was simply incredible. I was talking to a friend about financial things. There was absolutely nothing emotionally charged about our conversation but I kept seeing something on her face. It almost looked like she had been crying. It wasn’t a mascara run but it looked like fresh tears without the glisten. I was becoming increasingly distracted by it so I finally interrupted her and said, “Have you been crying?”

She said, “What?”

I said again, “Have you been crying?”

She said, “No. Why?”

I said, “It just looks like you have been.”

She said, “Do I have makeup on me or something? Are my eyes red?”

I said, “No. Actually, this may be in the Spirit. Are you sad about something?”

She froze, “What?”

I said, “Are you sad about something? Is something bothering you?”

She said, “How did you know?”

I said, “I think I’m seeing tears on your face in the spiritual. Tell me about it.”

She proceeded to share with me a story about something that has been really causing her pain. She had wounded a friend and wasn’t sure what to do about it. She felt like she was swimming in a sea of grace about it but there was something about that that made her uncomfortable, she just didn’t want to depend on the Lord so much. She was believing a lie that He was disappointed that she needed Him so much.

Her words reminded me of a time when I was breastfeeding. I had seen all the successful moms who would breastfeed and pump enough to have freezers full of milk. I wanted to provide for my daughter and save some for later in case she needed it. It took me almost a year to be able to save anything. I distinctly remember standing at my kitchen sink in the early months of my breastfeeding journey and saying to Jesus, “I just don’t want to have to ask You every day to provide this. What is wrong with my body that I can’t seem to produce enough without asking You for help? I just don’t want to need You.” In that moment I heard the Spirit whisper, “I am your daily bread. I am your daughters daily bread. I love to hear you ask Me. I long to provide for you. I am drawn to the need in you.” I want to tell you that I swooned and feel back in His arms. The truth is I flippantly responded, “I guess” and kept washing dishes.

And there is the stick: I don’t want to need Him all the time. I want to rule and reign and run my little kingdom. I want to fix my problems the way that I think they should be fixed. I want to provide for myself and have extra so I won’t need faith to live.

But I was, and you are, created to need Him and when our need meets His provision, this beautiful dance happens. There is no lacking. There is no striving. It is perfect, whole and holy. Heaven comes to earth.

So, friend, may I encourage you with 2 things today:

  1. He sees you. He is putting people in your path who will see your pain and help you carry it. Most importantly, He is working in the unseen. What is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal.

  2. He wants to be needed by you. Your dependance on Him is beautiful in His eyes. Will you offer your lack to Him and wait on Him to provide?

    Crystal Freeman

 

 

Too Good To Be True?

/ Jana

If I am being really honest…I mean shockingly honest…the story of the cross sounds crazy to me. I’ve heard different iterations of it all my life. 

One man. A world of Sin. My debt. His sacrifice.

Then there is the part about rising from the dead. I mean, what even?

And then I met Him. Really met this Beautiful King. Heart to heart and Spirit to spirit.

 

 

Suddenly,  all of the pieces of this God sized, crazy-to-my-brain puzzle came in to place. I was reshaped. Or maybe, I became uncontorted by the world. Either way I found home and peace and this deep satisfying love.

The unbelievers say it’s a religion and a weakness of the masses.
The unbelieving believers say He is confined to a book and put in a box.

But the believing believers, the ones who “yāḏa” Him, who know Him intimately, are surely aliens in this world. Transformed by His love, we pour out our lives advancing an Eternal Kingdom and living for an Unseen King.

We are supernaturally alive in a natural world. Just like the power of love raised Jesus, He has raised us.

We have been raised to life again. Sound crazy? There are millions of witnesses, millions of miracles, millions of redemption stories that make crazy look like the sanest, truest thing ever.

“You will know the truth and truth will set you free.”

We celebrate you today Beautiful Jesus. Be honored in our hearts this Resurrection Sunday.

Singing, how marvelous! how wonderful!
And my song shall ever be
How marvelous! how wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!

Prepare the Way

/ Jana

I have a deep call from my spirit to yours. This Holy Day season, don’t get lost in the bunnies and eggs, and spring flings, proms and Final Four.

Instead, remember the call of Mary and Joseph to make room in the inn. Take to heart the call of John the Baptist to “prepare the way of the Lord.”  Now. Today. This moment is the moment to see the Coming King.  Prepare your heart for His embrace, His affection—bow in reverence for His sacrifice. Point your families in the direction of  Mercy poured out on an unprepared, unaware, and even unwilling world.

How great the Father’s love for us…

This is no religious or political dictator. There is no gold star for pious duty.

This is His Holy eyes locked on mine, and yours, so that all our sin is washed in His love. But we are not just free of sin, but we are finally free to be all that He created us to be. How creation groans under the weight our slow revealing.

 

 

To know and be known by Eternal Love is the true meaning of Resurrection Sunday.

The Veil was rent. For me. For you.

Will you prepare your heart, your attention and step into this True Living with a Loving God?

The Lion’s Roar

/ Jana

I still remember it. I took my daughter to the zoo. No big deal. I had been there so many times.  It was almost a ho-hum parent box to tick off.  But this day, this particular day was very different. We came up to the big cat area and we heard this sound that shook the ground. Literally— it shook us. We didn’t see the source but we felt the presence of the lion.  As we rounded the corner, there he was. He roared again. My daughter covered her ears and pressed closed to me. I just started crying.

 

 

That moment is fixed in my spirit.  The irony of this majestic creature inside a cage. The realization of “why” lions are called the king of the jungle, that mere roar invokes fear 5 miles away. The tears, however, were spiritual tears. The reality of the presence of Jesus hitting me as powerfully as the sound of the lion shook the ground.

CONQUERING LION.  This is who we love. This is who loves us.

Not a weak, passive, meowing kind of love.
But a fierce roar kind of love that breaks every chain.
Breaks the bones of the enemy.
Shakes the ground we walk on.
Shakes the hearts of those who fear Him and comforts every heart protected by Him.

Do you know what we are going after at the Roar Encounter? A deep spiritual wake up for believers and not yet believers alike. We want to get near enough to the Lion of Judah to feel our fears and lies and apathy shake to the ground as His presence washes over us.

Let the Lion Roar.

What’s In It For Me?

/ Jana
 

 

If we are honest, this engine is always humming in the background of our lives. It is, after all, part of what helps us survive.

So, let me get straight to it. The Restore Intensive is February 19th. What’s in it for you is a long pause with the Lord. Maybe you have done the hard work in your heart and now the question is, “What’s next?” Restore is next. You will have the opportunity to explore how you can rethink and rebuild places in your life that look a lot like ruins, or underdeveloped landscapes.

Soar is March 5th. May I be candid? In our staff retreat yesterday we identified that our annual women’s encounter is for kittens and lions, and everything in between. It is for women who have been shut down, shut up and shut out of their own voice for so long that they don’t recognize themselves, or God.  And it is for lions who have grown in their love and life with God so that when they roar the enemy shakes.

We gather all these women, different ages and stages of life, different walks with God, churched and unchurched, and then we do the most important thing together. We seek His face.

There are real women telling real stories of real mess and how God showed up. It gets honest around here real fast.

So if your starving, stone cold, or white hot, both of these offerings are for you. Hope you’ll join us.

Raring to go,
Jana

God’s Good Gifts in 2021

/ Jana

When the Lord says “Follow Me” the adventure is indescribable!

Here is a brief highlight of God’s beautiful presence among us in 2021:

Laura Collins’ vision of a ministry school just keeps blessing as we celebrated the Graduation of Kingdom Access First Year Students.  All of the local students returned for Second Year.

Jana was thrilled to ordain two new ministers for Kingdom work.

Our band of merry women, and some faithful men, transitioned us to a beautiful new location at Baum Drive that also hosts other ministries and businesses. What a joy to support other women as they go after their dreams and callings.

And life transformation? There are no words to capture what happens when people encounter the Living God at retreats, small groups, events and classes. We consider it the highest honor to create a space for the Holy Spirit to radically heal and set free and change the trajectory of people’s lives.

GT’s first-ever matching campaign was a humbling success. Watching God’s people join the vision of GT with their finances truly strengthened our faith and resolve.

And 2022?

We are ready for one or more interns, specifically looking for social media experience and video/podcasting savvy. If you know someone that could fill those spots, please send them our way!

We are building marriages through a retreat and small groups.

We have brand new events for those ready to do intensive heart-healing work.

We are preparing ways to influence a distracted and lukewarm culture.

We are raising up more leaders to use their voices and walk in their callings.

Thanks to the matching campaign, our studio will be up and running for those gifted in music and podcasting.

For myself, I am ready to pour out through spoken and written words as well as through music all that God has walked me through in recent years. I have several projects that I am praying will come to completion in 2022.

As I said, “follow Me” are wonderfully loaded words. I would not be anywhere else but with Him in all these things.

Thank you for being a part.
Thank you for inviting other people to come to the table.
Thank you for living your God-life out loud.

He is our one true gift and prize. I can think of no reason to do anything, to be anything, to want anything greater than enjoying being with Him.

He is all the motivation to live this life full steam ahead.

May you dream dreams that only God can fulfill.

Jana

Thanks, Mom.

/ Jana

Today I licked the icing off the beaters and said out loud to no one, “Thanks, Mom.”

Thanks for letting me lick the beaters from so many cakes and icings as a child. It’s one of those traditions I passed on. And there are no children around me to fight over who gets the spatula and who gets the beater, but still, I remember.

Thanks, Mom, for teaching me the “why” to cook. I had to learn the “how” to cook after a left her home, but what I learned was the love expressed through a homemade spread of favorite dishes. To be honest, I know I don’t cook the way she did. In fact, her frequent thing to say when eating the Jana version of her dishes was “well, it’s different.”

Yes, that is a kiss of death from the judges. Smile.

But now, making my dishes, still differently than hers and laughing as I hear her kiss of death comment, I am grateful. To know that more than one way can still be the right way. To know that I can honor her recipes and methods on some die-hard dishes like Thanksgiving dressing and cornbread, and to know that I can discover my own flair with equal success.

Thanks, Mom for the beauty of folks gathered around a table. These days my table is filled with friends more than family. It is a happy and a sad reality.  The changing seasons take getting used to, but she taught me, without ever saying a word, that Jesus loves to hang out and dine with friends. Some of my hardest and most tender conversations have been over a well-prepared meal.

I wonder sometimes if every time we dine, we re-enact the Lord’s supper. Bread, drink, friends.

Thanks, Mom. I understand better why you cried when you made Granny’s coconut cake the first Christmas without her. I did the same thing with your beef stew and oatmeal cookies. And yet we cook. Because we love. Because we remember. Because it’s worth the effort.

Thanks, Mom.