This the first blog post for Esther since she joined our team! We're so excited for her perspective, gifts and talents. May you be blessed! -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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There are a million things God is doing right now. One thing He is doing in me is drawing out what is in my heart.

Someone mentioned that this time of seclusion that we are in is like Jesus‘s time in the wilderness. (Lk 4) For forty days he prayed and fasted and then was tempted by the devil. I had felt the similarities in that it has been a time of prayer and fasting for us. But now I am also beginning to feel the similarities in the temptation.

It has definitely been a time of testing for me, and he is drawing out what is in my heart by the testing. He brings me through the wilderness to try me, to humble me, to know what’s in my heart. To see if I will do what he commands. (Duet 8:2)

He refines me as silver is refined. (Ps 66:10) He prunes me that I might bear fruit. (Jn 15:2) He is so gracious not to leave us where we are, but to transform us! Not to leave those things in our hearts that are opposed to him, but to draw them out and make them bare.

When I see how beautiful his work is, I realize that I am not even worthy to be pruned! It is in his grace that he prunes us. Yes, it is a loving hand that turns up the heat.

So, if you are also being tried and tested during this time and you begin to see ugly things come out of your heart, do not be discouraged. He uses fire and water to bring us out to rich fulfillment. (Ps 66:12) He is using this time to make us READY! May we, like Jesus, come out of the wilderness in the power of the Holy Spirit! (Lk 4:14)

Esther

It's time for a revolution. Love demands it. 

Jesus is a radical. He baffled the religious leaders of His day... and HE'S STILL DOING IT! Jesus hung out with prostitutes and tax collectors, people who were at the bottom of the moral social ladder in their day. 

Jesus sent out His followers when they hardly knew what they were doing. They didn't go to bible college, they didn't spend years, studying His word... in fact, they didn't even have the New Testament!

Jesus started a revolution. He didn't say, "Be nice people that everyone likes and respects." He said things like, "Take up your cross and follow me, whoever wants to save their life will lose it, love your enemies, become a servant, blessed are the persecuted..." and so many things that were unheard of in their day, and still are today.

This revolution was, and still is, the pure embodiment of love. Many have twisted what love is, but Jesus' life defines it perfectly -- see also 1 Corinthians 13.

So, let's go back to our first love, Jesus. Let us live like Christ.  Let's wake up from the slumber that is brought on by the world and all its' cares.

Let's join the revolution He started. 

Today (April 19, 2020) is the 245th anniversary of the Revolutionary War. God is using the current state of the world to awaken His bride, the Church. People all across the world are coming back to their first love, Jesus, and are joining Him as He runs into the darkness. 

"Do this [LOVE], knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep" (Rom 13:11). The darkness of our world is getting more and more pronounced. As followers of Jesus, we are called to go into the darkest places and bring freedom and LIGHT. Jesus said that we are the light of the world.

It's time for a revolution.

Love demands it.

Josh & Mary

*** This is Part 5 of 5 of our story about why we're going to Nashville. It is a supernatural story and we're so excited to be a part of God's work in Nashville! Since writing this post a few days ago, Nashville has had a devastating Tornado rip through the city. Besides the things we mention in this post, we are going to absolutely help with the recovery effort going on in the city. God's love should flow through the hands of those who follow Him. With that said, here is part 5. Please read the first 4 blogs leading up to this for specific context!***

We came out of Bend, Oregon like a slingshot! But not before one more supernatural experience happened. It was Sunday and we had parked our skoolie in a church parking lot for the previous four days.

That morning I (Josh) woke up early, at about six. As soon as I opened my bible, it was like I was being directed by the Holy Spirit. I believe I was reading Joshua. God has shown us over and over again that we are not only to bring the Kingdom of God to people in various ways, but we are also to take back land.

Joshua was the one who learned under Moses and brought the people into the promised land. We believe this is a huge part of what God has called us to do. We are to bring people into the promised land--a relationship with the Father, through Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I had been thinking about surrounding a city in prayer and worship for months. I had been thinking on and off about what a modern day Joshua taking Jericho would look like. I remember thinking about RVs, buses, cars, etc. circling a city in prayer and worship. I also felt like the term “occupy the city” applied to this idea. I thought it was my idea... until that morning.

As I was reading and praying, I distinctly heard, “Deuteronomy 20,” in my heart. I flipped there in my Bible and quickly saw there was only 20 verses. This alone was significant because the Lord had spoken to us months before that the vision He had for us would be clear by 2020: 2020 vision!

However, it was 2019 still, so instead of starting at the beginning of the chapter, I started in verse 19. It starts like this, “When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it…”

I’m not sure I initially even was able to read past, “When you besiege a city,” before the tears began to roll down my face. The Holy Spirit testified in my spirit that this was confirmation that the term “occupy the city” was not my idea. It has been His plan all along.

We love the story of Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20. The people of Judah are outnumbered and scared. The king proclaims a fast and they seek the Lord. His words at the end of the prayer say it all, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”

The Spirit of the Lord comes upon a man and he prophesies over the people. The man concludes by saying, “The battle is not yours, but God’s.” There are so many great lessons to learn from this, but without going into too much detail… God wants to fight our battles. He just wants us to know Him and trust Him. When our eyes are on Him, He will fight for us!

We have always desired to see God move like He did in the early church and the Old Testament. He is the same God He was then! He can do it!

Now, we didn’t know what city this game plan was for, but we now know it’s Nashville. He may have us do the same thing in another city at a later time, but we don’t know that for sure. He always wants relationship, and we do too. He wants us to stay connected to His heart so that we know what He is doing in a particular situation or place. It’s a beautiful thing!

There’s more to Deuteronomy 20 that I won’t go into in this post. I’ve read it probably 25 times since October. However, I’m going to finish up with the story of that morning in Bend, OR.

So, I end up taking all the kids into the pre-service prayer while Mary got ready for church and had some prayer/worship time. Mary loves to just worship and be in God’s presence. She is truly like Mary of Bethany. Many times her intercession is just dancing/singing/crying/praying/ministering to the Lord. It’s part of her calling and I know it does things in the heavenly realm that we can’t even begin to understand. She had a wonderful time with the Lord while the kids and I were in His presence with a few others from the church.

God continued speaking throughout the church service, and needless to say, we were filled to overflowing with the Spirit. Not only that, but we were excited and confident of what God was going to do in the future. We are partnering with the Lord in what He wants to do. It’s not our agenda, it’s ALL HIM. Why do we try to do it in our own power? I tried for many years, It stinks! His ideas are so much better!

Ok, so Nashville. Are we going to besiege the city to make war against it? Absolutely! I was so excited to hear that over 700 churches mostly in the Nashville area were fasting and praying for their city and the state of Tennessee in January and February of this year. God is doing something there that is so much bigger than us. We are just doing our part. 

Now, obviously we’re not going to destroy everything in the city, but we are going to tear down strongholds in the city. There’s been books written on this subject, but look at 2 Corinthians 10:4, “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.” 

It sounds like a physical war, but it’s not. It is, and has always been, a spiritual war. Jesus came to defeat the enemy in the heavenly places. He made a way for us to step into His victory and see the enemy defeated everywhere we go. Our weapons to tear down spiritual fortresses begin with the Word of God, our sword. Intercession, fasting, acts of justice, redeeming the land, worship etc. are all part of God’s plan for bringing a city back to Him.

Nashville isn’t Ninevah, but God did save that whole city as they humbled themselves in repentance. We don’t yet know the extent of why we are going to Nashville; the Kurdish people coming to salvation in Jesus and tearing down the spiritual strongholds are the pieces God has given to us. 

I know I have said this is blog 5 of 5 on Nashville, but we will continue to write about what God is speaking and doing there in the future. 

Thank you for joining with us in prayer for the Kurdish people and city of Nashville. There’s a new song coming out of Nashville. It is far superior than any song a person could write. It’s the song of the redeemed!

Suprisingly, we have basically no physical history in Nashville. Besides being stranded there for 3 days, while our bus got new pulleys after they fell out of the engine, we have spent no time in Nashville. Scratch that... There was one time, 15 years ago, that Mary's parents and us took a 36 hour straight, grueling road trip to Orlando.  We stopped in Nashville in the middle of the night, went to music row, and I ran down the street yelling. That is probably another story altogether, but suffice to say, I was in a band and loved music... and was probably a little delirious from the long haul by that point.

We've literally traveled over 25,000 miles on the road in our skoolie (and previously rented RV) in the last year and a half. We've almost matched that mileage in the air, in places like Turkey and Spain, but Nashville, although beautiful in many ways, did not strike a lasting impression that we would be spending a lot of time there in the future.  We did believe we'd be back, but not like what we're planning now!

God is amazing! Never, when He called us out of traditional pastoral ministry, did I think we'd end up all over the U.S. and on both sides of the Mediterranean. As I write this, I can see the "Great Sea" that was the avenue of many of Paul's journeys. It's like we jumped into Biblical history, physically and prophetically.

Back to Nashville. I didn't  know that breaking down on a hot stretch of I-24 could be a good thing, but it was the beginning of God paving the way. We got taken in by a couple originally from Iowa that use to host bands and set up drums for Cornerstone Music Festival 'back in the day'. They let us stay with them for 3 days while our bus got fixed and even let us drive their pretty new Prius around.

When the $2812 bill came, it was a hard pill to swallow, but well into a year long prophetic journey with the Lord I immediately looked to the bright side of things. As I did that, I heard in my heart Deuteronomy. So, I looked up Deuteronomy 28:12 (NASB)-- not even knowing if the verse existed. Here's the gem I found:

"The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow."

I was pretty dumbfounded. Did you know that much of what looks terrible in the world's eyes is a blessing in the Kingdom of God? I could write a whole slew of blogs on this thought, but God is good and as His word says in Romans, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Now, I will be clear... I did not think this verse had anything to do with Nashville itself, only the ministry that God has called us to. However, I now believe it was one of multiple prophetic signs that God had/has a much bigger plan for Nashville.

Finally! I'll get to October. A very large turning point came for us in October 2019. After marking the 70th anniversary of the Billy Graham Crusade in LA in September of 1949 (to the spot where the tent sat... another story I'll have to tell :-), we drove to Keystone, SD for what would be the most advanced classroom training we've ever received as followers of Christ.

Nashville was nowhere on Mary's or my radar at this point. We knew God was bringing us to this little tourist town in the shadow of Mount Rushmore for something that was going to change everything. The keystone is stone that's in the top of a roman arch. It holds the whole arch together, and if removed, the whole structure crumbles.

God spoke to us in early September that this is what our keystone training would be. The last piece, so to speak, of the arch... but the most important piece, which we later found out was disciple making movements. We have talked about this already a bit, but we're going to be writing and vlogging much more on the subject. 

So, the first week, the Keystone Project people asked us to pray about an unreached people group to reach. Now, we know the importance of unreached peoples. There are many countries that you will get killed for sharing the gospel. But, up until this point, God had called us to America, and so we weren't thinking much about unreached peoples.

As we were talking and praying about it over a couple days, I heard in my heart, "East Nashville." What was weird to me was that it was EAST Nashville, and of course, why was that coming into my head in the first place? Well, God speaks quietly sometimes and we began to wait and pray. It didn't take long!

The story continues soon!!

Only a few months ago I sat in our converted school bus watching the live broadcast of a funeral. As you might suspect, it wasn’t a normal funeral. It was a celebration of one of my heroes--Reinhardt Bonnke. He’d most surely argue anyone telling him he’s a hero. In fact, he said in Even Greater, "there are no great men working in God’s Kingdom. Rather, there is a great God at work in human beings who have childlike faith.”

Why is he my hero? He has a very large auto biography I could never add to, and won’t try. A short synopsis of his life would never do, but most people say something like, “The Billy Graham of Africa”, “79 documented conversions to Christianity”, etc. But, I don’t think anything you could say in a sentence could really define a life… any life, really.

One of the many reasons I look up to him is that he had vision, and it drove him relentlessly. This simple vision he said many times. It was a slogan he repeated again and again. A sort of force that drove him. A vision he would not let go. “Africa shall be saved!”

You see, he took the great commission seriously. He devoted his whole life to it. Look him up on YouTube or CFAN (Christ For All Nations) website. You will see videos of endless hundreds of thousands of people like a sea in all directions. God used this man mightily.

As I watched person after person say kind, honoring words about this man, I realized, like he did, that he was just a man. A man who took the word of God seriously. A man who followed and obeyed. A man who persevered through many trials. A man who was wholly devoted to God. That’s why I loved him and I never met him.

What does all this have to do with Nashville? Well, I know it’s been awhile since we have blogged. This is part 1 of our blogging return! OK, it might not be that exciting, but this will lead into where we are headed in March, and why.

Back to the funeral. As I watched this tribute to a man, everyone kept saying: Africa shall be saved! America shall be saved! The world shall be saved! And I shouted out, NASHVILLE shall be saved!!

Why? Well, that story starts back in October 2019, and that is where we’ll pick up next time ;-) ​

God is so big! The Zulu word for God is Unkulunkulu which literally means Big, Big.

Looking back on over a year on the road, God has done so many amazing things through us and in us. We would not trade the last year for anything. The people we've met, the way our family has grown in our faith, and so many other things are just indescribable.

It's so much bigger than us. God's plan is one tremendous love story, but so many times we get it all focused on us. But truly, it's ALL ABOUT HIM! He is the beginning and the end. He is outside of time and space, in fact, He created time and space! He is perfect in every way and His ways are so much higher than ours.

We are so blessed to be walking (and driving) the way He has made for us. We are overwhelmed with joy to be part of His plan... but the key, is it's His plan, not ours. I (Josh) have tried so many times to make my own plans that I even think honor Him, but it wasn't FROM Him. Things done in our own power and not at His word, are just works of the flesh.

But... when we take time to get to know Him, the Creator of ALL things... the one who started billions of galaxies from nothing, we find that it's really not about us. His purpose and plan is perfect. If we will lay aside EVERYTHING to follow Him, to wait on Him, to walk in the Spirit, we will be filled with abundant life and the gift of God, the Holy Spirit.

As the Holy Spirit directs us in the next year and beyond, please pray with us that we walk with Him always... not trying to things out of our own strength, but His. There is no God, but Him. He is not just big, He's bigger than big. He is beyond what we think or imagine. He is what we need. All things are from Him, through Him and for Him! Amen!

What a beautiful story of legacy. What a clear picture of building on a solid foundation. What a testimony of planting seeds for future generations to reap a harvest.

My earthly father laid aside a "normal" life to pick up and carry whatever God would have for him. My dad came to California as a Jesus-loving hippy and followed God back to Minnesota. Back home, God brought him a wife and they raised 3 daughters and a son.

I'm 1 of those daughters. Our little family of 6 have picked up the torch my father was carrying and we are running. We are running hard after God and releasing His LOVE in California and beyond.

My dad laid a foundation of pursuing Jesus. We are the direct result of that pursuit. Thank you, Papa Roy. And, thank you Papa God. You are always faithful and every seed planted will yield a harvest!

​with love,