Indescribable!

There IS a sound, a new sound coming from the heavens, it is a sound no one has heard before. Awake oh sleeper and hear the sound that will shake the foundations of the earth! This sound will change hearts and lives everywhere! There is sound, There is a sound, There is a sound, There is a sound that will shake those on shaky ground, it will awaken slumbering hearts to arise and shine and give God the glory. It is a sound that will shoot fire into ready hearts and cause passion within to deepen for the Lord God almighty. It is an indescribable sound, there are no words to convey, its the sound of the fire of His Love, the sound of the Joy of His love, the sound of the Purity of His Love, the sound of the Royalty of His Love, the Sound of the Friendship of His Love. It is the sound of covenant, mercy and grace! It is the sound of freedom, it is the sound of rain in the distance that will fall all over this place! No one will escape this sound for everyone will hear this sound and ask what is it! It will be unexplainable yet the spirit of those that know Him will understand the sound and arise and be made ready for their coming King! It is the sound of Revival rumbling through the earth. It is a New sound no one has ever heard before so Awake Angels, awake Servants and friends of the Most High, Awake children, daughters and sons for it is time to hear that new sound that I am ready to pour upon this earth!

Jewels, Blazing Fire and other fun stuff!

As I drove to Pleasanton to attend my favorite place in the world, I was listening to some songs, I cannot for the life of me remember what but I ended up drifting into another world, yes while driving and started singing after praying for Blazing Fire Church. What I began to sing was what God was speaking to my heart about jewels. I asked Him to show me more! He proceeded to show me and explain to me this. Each person starts with a heart of stone before they are born again, as they enter into the Kingdom the stone around the heart is chipped away and you have a heart that looks like a dull stone. The eyes of fire, His Love begins to purify the dull stone until it starts to sparkle and shine. The heart has turned from the heart of stone to a heart that looks like a precious jewel. The one I saw was a ruby and the next thing I heard him say, I will etch my name upon this jewel which He did and the light from from His eyes etched the word JESUS and the light hit the precious stone and reflected off the stone everywhere. I suddenly thought, Lord if you do this to each heart, what would that look like from your perspective? I got the image of each heart a shaft of light in different colors going straight to Heaven and back down and it was glittery everywhere. I sensed Him say, each of you are a precious jewel that shines with my glory! I was wowed because what he sees are jewels everywhere, all different kinds, some were diamonds , others ruby, Sapphire, emerald and amethysts and many others. We are His treasure, beautiful to Him, each heart He sees its a precious stone! It is only by His transforming us that we can ever shine like this!
I proceeded to continue singing and worshiping Him and arrived at my hotel then got something to eat and headed over to Blazing Fire Church where Beloved Lisa-Anne was to lead Blazing Fire Writers Group before church began.
The Writers group was fabulous as Lisa-Anne shared her ideas that would help us move forward in our gift of writing. She shared a word that was from the Elijah List that brought tears to my eyes. Much of was Lisa_Anne shared during the meeting made me want to cry! I know it was rather strange for me but much of what was shared about Grace and how we need to write from the platform of Grace, the publishers are starting to want to have the things we write about in this stream. She mentioned Prophet of Grace and it finally clicked what my gifting was. I always prophesy grace words never tear down words but I didn't have a name for it. Now I do. I cannot tell you how much this meant to me! I was thrilled!
Lisa-Anne had us do an assignment, ah she makes things so fun! :) We did the assigment and mine was the word Jewel, the opposite was junk, the closest meaning was precious stones, then I wrote on the left renewed and on the right beautiful. I was a bit stumped what it meant and Lisa-Anne shared what she saw. Later on I was thinking about this assignment and went oh duh! I cannot believe i didn't see this but it goes with the story I shared at the beginning of this blog! It is funny how God does things! I truly enjoyed listening to Lisa-Anne share her stories. She is one of those people I could listen to all day about her stories of the supernatural and never get bored! :-) I know Papa is so proud of her! He sure does love to share with her His Kingdom!
After the session, church began. Todd lead worship! It was wonderful! I just wanted to stay there! Helen shared about her trip to Mozambique with Iris Ministries and Global Celebration and it was so beautiful to watch the video! It was wow to see that drinks multiplied as well as food and many other divine things that happened there. It was perfect introductory to Brent's message on the supernatural which I thought was hilarious because the book I am reading is called Shifting Shadows of the Supernatural power and I just recently found out an online acquaintance chose to toss everything that had to do with people of the supernatural into the garbage because he felt it was false. It was so sad to see the deception which was described in the book mentioned.
Brent's message was really powerful. He shared how we are to be a supernatural people and to walk in it daily! Jesus certainly did this and would do whatever His Father told Him to do. He had a direct connection with His Father and the power flowed through Him from Heaven. We can also access that same power and do greater things that He did! Why don't we? Many are afraid of the Supernatural and fear it would come from the enemy. Anyway Pastor Brent shared the different things that were done on the earth, we truly do have a Supernatural God, everything HE did was Supernatural! He could bend the laws of nature! That is so wow but the greatest miracle is being born again into the Kingdom of Heaven! You cannot get more supernatural than that! We ended up having someone enter the Kingdom of Heaven by asking Jesus into his heart! It was so wonderful to see! What was even more wonderful is that afterward we all stood up and clapped and welcomed Him into the family! It was precious to see how we give honor and respect and incredible love to the new ones in Christ! This reminds me, when Pastor Brent went up to speak we also stood up and gave him honor as well! This is a regular thing at this church and it is so beautiful to see! There may be people that may not understand it but it truly is a way to honor your pastor for all he does and shares and it is true grace and love! I never saw this before I came to Blazing Fire! I love the new things I learn but especially honor, respect and grace! I wish everyone would get that message! As I was listening to Pastor Brent and even to Lisa-Anne earlier, a theme emerged in my mind. There are so many people out there that are afraid of learning things that are out of their comfort zone. For example, the message of the supernatural or the message of the Power of Grace and the Finished work on the Cross. These two things truly mess with the mind and many do not understand because they look at it in the natural instead of through the spiritual eyes! Much of it needs to be experienced, not just read about! Lately I have been on a forum and have come under attack by some people who call themselves Christians but have called me not so nice things.
When Lisa-Anne was describing how we need to write from a platform of grace and that God is not a mean God, He is a Happy one and Pastor Brent pretty much said the same thing but these two people that have attacked me do not see it that way. They see the harsh, mean, sawing a person in two, killing kind of a God. It is sad and I constantly share the message of Grace and Love and they choose to tell me that its not all lovey and nicey nice and they proceed to come across harsh and we have unbelievers on that forum and many have come to me saying they prefer my message than theirs. It goes to show you how powerful the message of Grace and Love is! People are sick of hearing how bad they are, they just want to be loved regardless of their sin and many of these unbelievers used to be Christians at one time but walked away for different reasons. There are a SMALL handful of us that speak from the platform of Love and Grace! I didn't realize HOW small this was!
So between Lisa-Anne and Pastor Brent and their messages. It made for one powerful night for me personally! I am so thankful for their precious and amazing hearts! It is so wonderful to have people like these two who are so in tune to the realm of Heaven, I yearn to be like them which in reality they are like Jesus so I yearn to be like Jesus! I come away more hungry and thirsty for His presence, for more of Him and I want to add that the book I mention earlier that I was reading, If I didn't know any better I would have though Pastor Brent quoted out of it, the part about it not a being about the gifts but about Him and His presence. If we want to walk in the supernatural we need to have more of HIM in our lives and remain in His presence daily!
Each one of you that reads this is blessed and highly favored! You are so loved by the most high God and amazing Father of this universe! You are precious and adored and loved forever more! May each day be a fresh revelation of who He is and who you are in Him! May your eye be continually opened to the supernatural realm of Heaven! He has so much to show you and so much to teach you. May you get the message of the Power of Grace and finished work on the Cross! He truly does love you and wants more of you, may you be hungry and thirsty for more of Him! I speak upon you, More Lord, give them more of you day by day and night by night! Blessings to all! Amen and amen!

I truly hope this blessed you as much as I am blessed to share it with you! :-)
©Jennifer Shannon 8/24/2009

Promised

I remember long ago
I promised forever
I promised I would stand here
Never to leave you
I am standing here still and
I always will
I will wait; I will wait
I promised friendship
And unfailing love
I said I would be here
I wouldn’t walk away
But stand here listening
To what you have to say
I will never say goodbye
But I will wait; I will wait
Until you return or until the day I die
I promised forever I did say
I would never leave you
So here I will wait, I will wait
Forever true

© Jennifer Shannon
Summer 2009

For a dear and beautiful friend whom I will always love…she exited my life, closing me out for who knows how long, but I choose to wait, forever even if it means waiting until Heaven, I will wait! That doesn’t mean I won’t move forward but it does mean that my heart will never ever close her out, the door will always be open for her. A True friend never walks away but is faithful and loyal to the very end. I will be just that friend. I will wait!

Gracious Tongue

I have on my heart so much yet I think I am going to expand on something I learned when a friend shared a passage out of the book of Philippians. It is so profound and something that we all should practice. Paul is someone who shared the heart of God to the people and heard His voice. He had a huge heart and sometimes I think I can relate to Paul.

Ok so I go to find the scripture and I read the first one in the first chapter of Philippians first and it really goes with the one I wanted to share with. I am going to share it in The Message and NASB

Philippians 1

Thanksgiving

1 Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including the overseers and deacons: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, 5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ

Jesus. 7 For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. NASB

Philippians 1

1-2 Paul and Timothy, both of us committed servants of Christ Jesus, write this letter to all the followers of Jesus in Philippi, pastors and ministers included. We greet you with the grace and peace that comes from God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.

A Love That Will Grow

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at

it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears. 7-8 It's

not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way from the time I was thrown in jail, put on trial, and came out of it in one piece. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. Sometimes I think I feel as strongly about you as Christ does! 9-11So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well.

Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings

so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

Do you see how Paul treats those he loves? He is excited to bless them and honor them. There are no words of discouragement from his lips. His memory of those he loves is dear to his heart. The things they have done for him. I am sure we can all think of someone we love and miss yet remember the impact they had on our lives. We can continue to praise God for them and pray for them as often as the Lord leads! There is nothing wrong with feeling this way. In matter of fact we ought to toward our brothers and sisters in Christ! This is how covenant relationships are built. Do you know that when someone leaves the faith, God longs for them, loves them and misses them as well? Paul shares Father God's heart. This is how He thinks upon us!

We are to live a life that loves others and encourages them to be all they are in Christ! Wow, that really is incredible isn't it?

Next scripture, chapter 4 of Philippians is this. I really love this passage

Philippians 4

Think of Excellence

1 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved. 2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Indeed, true companion, I ask you also to help these women who have shared my struggle in the cause of the gospel, together with Clement also and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God,

which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in

Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. NASB

Philippians 4

My dear, dear friends! I love you so

much. I do want the very best for you. You make me feel such joy, fill me with

such pride. Don't waver. Stay on track, steady in God.

Pray About Everything

2 I urge Euodia and Syntyche to iron out their differences and make up. God doesn't want his children holding grudges. 3 And, oh, yes, Syzygus, since you're right there to help

them work things out, do your best with them. These women worked for the Message hand in hand with Clement and me, and with the other veterans—worked as

hard as any of us. Remember, their names are also in the Book of Life. 4-5 Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

6-7 Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

The Message

I really love how this is expressed in The Message. It really brings out the passage so well. Paul was concerned for these two women. He knew they were having a disagreement and yet he never said anything bad about them but wanted to love them to life and for them to reconcile. When we have Christians who fight don't we want to be an encouragement to both and encourage reconciliation? Sure. Paul loved these two so much, he remembered how much they did with him and did not want division happening so he sent someone to help these two ladies. I love that the Message says to iron out their differences and make up. God does not want his children holding grudges toward each other! Paul said these two women are on the Lamb's book of life! Wow! He never said one hateful word but had a Gracious Tongue toward those he loved.

The last part speaks of how to speak and The Message lays it out so well. We are to fill our minds and have our speech be positive in every way. Speak out the best things not the worst, the beautiful not the ugly and to praise and not curse! God promises all things will work out well when we speak graciously, encourage graciously and above all Love abundantly! The main theme here is loving your brothers and sisters no matter what encouraging them and speaking words of life over each on. Work out the differences and be one with one another and His Spirit will flow through us! On a personal level I am learning so much how to bless people no matter how I feel. I am still in deep pain but I take the things God puts in my heart and bless those who are in need. Although Bill Johnson was speaking of financial things I think it also applies to this situation. He said give out of need and in time you will be able to give out of abundance. So for this situation, bless out of need and be ready to soon bless out of abundance the words you speak over someone’s life. You may be in need but out of that lack God can give you things to say and then you are incredibly blessed once you give the word of encouragement. For example... No matter how deep in pain I am in emotionally, how much I still cry, I look for some to bless anyway and I give praises to God anyway! It is so much fun and I start to feel a little bit better. I have to remind myself how to write and check myself my own attitudes toward people. The bible says that what you sow you will reap. Sow words of life and that you will reap in return whether it is from a person or from God Himself! More people would get a hold of this, I think we would see a lot less hurting people and more people rejoicing because Joy of the Lord is with them! Let us put into practice what Paul taught and see how many people we can bless. It is never about us but about others! Let's see relationships flourish because someone had the heart to come and say work it out both of you, God loves you both and does not want you two to hold grudges and to be free in your relationship with each other! I believe if more people did this instead of gossip and tearing apart of relationships, the church would look a lot healthier and will grow and the Bride of Christ would look a lot whiter and more whole!

Lastly, I to thank my God for you and I bless you honor you and extend the hand of grace to you. You are so loved and so precious and Lord for those that may never see this you know who I am referring to... I bless, honor, extend the hand of grace, forgive and love no matter the wrongs I felt done toward me, I will do no wrong in return! Anoint me with a gracious tongue. Anoint others with the same as well! May Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven! Amen!

©Jennifer Shannon 8/13/2009

God is Gracious

Today I was surfing the web and for the first time ran across a hebrew meaning of my middle name Shannon, which is "God is gracious" ! That had a profound affect on me. Grace is something the Lord has been teaching me and I have had to extend a lot of it lately. What is beautiful about grace is that it is propelled by love. Love propelled Grace to die on the Cross for the sins of the world. Love rose up and now flows into the hearts of the people. Without Grace, without Love, we are truly nothing. As I walk this journey, I cannot help but think of the people who have impacted my life and taught me how to love. One particular gal who had a profound impact on my life often would speak words of love into my heart. it is something I will never forget. She often told me who I was in Christ, she never told me who I wasn't. It was a precious part of the friendship that we shared that I will hold dear to my heart!
I am grateful, I am blessed and I am thankful for that gift of love. God is indeed gracious to me and I can be gracious to many because of His Grace and the power of His incredible love! My heart yearns to touch lives deeply as mine was touched by this sister in Christ. I want to take what she taught me and share it with others! I can only thank God for this gal and wish her the best He has to offer her, which happens to be the whole Kingdom of Heaven!
Well thats just my blurb for the day. I will write more I am sure as He leads! :-D

Life: A mind of its own!

Life has a mind of it's own. You never know which way it will go sometimes. Mine has been a whirlwind of events that have been painful ones. It has been a sad summer but I look forward to a new season where things will die in Autumn and get ready for new life in the Spring. God has a way of orchestrating things that sometimes we do not understand yet it has drawn me closer and deeper into His heart and presence. His Love beats in my heart every moment of the day, His hands take the tears and put them in a place safe where they do not fall and shatter on the ground below. He places them in a bottle to be filled up for reasons I will never know nor would I understand.
I lost two beautiful friends whom I loved and adored. They chose to no longer have me in their life for reasons I cannot understand. One was a 9 yr friendship, what a beautiful one it was. It was full of life and love and a closeness that I do not know I will ever attain again. It was full of trust and honor and respect. She shined in a way that I never seen someone shine before, she has the beauty of the Rose and the precious heart that loved so deep and cared so wide. It all changed in the blink of an eye for me. We met finally and everything crumbled before my very own eyes. The enemy finally succeed it breaking up the one relationship that was a threat to his kingdom. Oh Im sure this wasn't the only one but it was not his first attempt in destroying what we had and I hope it is not the last. Only God can pave the way to restoration and reconciliation. I must remain fallow in my heart, with softness , tenderness and compassion. It would be too easy to become angry, bitter and unforgiving but that is NOT the Father's way.
The second friend was just entering a new phase yet it crumbled before my very own eyes as well. I do not know why and may never know why. My heart is so big and so loving yet it was crushed. Papa whispered, I will take care of it all, just remain in Me and I will lead you to a place you do not yet see. So while I still hurt from these two major events that were like someone dying, I remain hopeful that both will be resurrected again and the Joy will abound and the Love will flow. Oh yes I am a dreamer and I dream big things, real or not I believe and have faith in all things! These two precious women of God will always be loved and cherished into eternity. If we are never friends again on earth, we will be in Heaven for there will be no such thing as having an enemy! That will be a glorious day! Yet I perfer not to wait that long! :-)
As I said earlier God has a way of orchestrating things in our lives. We may not understand or know why it is heading a certain direction than what we expect, we must trust the Savior within our very own heart and know that He sees all!
It has been a learning curve for me yet I do miss my friend terribly. I loved talking to her and hearing about the things in her life, I loved sharing my heart and she even listened and loved me through it. Oh I will never forget the precious words of life she spoke into my heart and I into hers. I truly truly miss her, I cannot express with words how my heart feels but God knows and is walking me through the pain and sorrow of such a loss! I thank Him so much and love my Lord more than anything in the whole wide world. Without Him I would not be here today to tell you this story! Well I think I will end here and I will do my best to blog more. I am called to write but what and how is a different story! :-)