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Home Page About Connecting Hearts Scriptural Foundation Meet the Director Counseling Ministry Vision Statement ContactSuzan's Books: EARS TO HEAR SEEK ME AND FIND ME Articles/Get Connected Healing Insights One Accord Promptings Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 27:19 As in water face reflects face, So a man's heart reveals the man.
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Everything Depends on Who and What You Believe
Hello my friends,
It has been a while since I have written, but here I am! I want to share something the Lord
has done with what I shared in a much earlier Newsletter. That was a dream about the City of
God, and what the Lord was saying to me about it. I will remind you of the dream and then share
what happened this morning from my journal.
Rev. 21:23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God
illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its
light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. (See also Gen. 12:1; Heb. 11:8-10)
I knew that the Lord was using the dream to show me about the city, and I had a great longing to
go over there. The isthmus before me was quite dark by comparison, though in some funny way it was
kind of lit up, revealed by the light of the city. The whole area behind me, which I was on the edge
of, was very dark. It was not the issue. I had left it behind and had no feelings of missing it or
being connected to it or troubled by it, particularly. But this isthmus ahead was a territory I would
have to pass through to get to the city. I knew two things about it:
I know that I made the decision to cross over, somewhat dreading the difficulties and wondering
how long the journey would take, though in the dream the city was not far away, a mile or so.
There has been a slogging through many things since that dream—a move of my residence, many hassles,
AND many victories. But lately I have been coming into a new level of faith with the Lord on the other
side of these things. I have not really related these things to the dream, but the time certainly has
matched what I saw about the isthmus area and the battle that goes on there. Now let me share my journal
entry with you from today.
Friday, September 03, 2004
I was talking to the Lord in my morning time, rejoicing in so much movement of the Lord this week.
Then having perked along about that for a while, I said: “Lord, if I stop yammering and listen, what
are You saying to me this morning?
Then He reminded me of something He has said lately that goes with my new faith level:
Everything depends on Who and what you believe. I can see that more plainly than ever, Lord, and I feel like I have just walked through a door and entered a huge hall that is full of riches. The riches represent the value and outcome of faith—the outcome of living in a place where I “only believe.” I need to learn to live in this great hall with You, Lord, where Your authority fills and holds sway. I guess the hall is Your kingdom realm, is it? What are You wanting me to see?
The enemy has accused you incessantly, sometimes soliciting My children’s help, but I am very pleased with you.
Come away from the old oppression and into the court of the King who loves That is very true, Lord. I only want to listen to You and live in Your presence. I come into Your court through the door You have opened for me and close it behind me—never to return. I live over here, in here. This is my inheritance, my legacy from my Father. Glory to You, Jesus, who are the light of the city. As I wrote that I realized that the door was not to a hall. Rather it was an entry into the City. The City is full of Your light. It’s a neat, wonderful city, and I am invited to live here. It occurred to me that this is where the remnant lives. As I pass through the entry and emerge into the light of the city, I am suddenly aware that there is no judgment or shame in the city. They are nowhere to be found, and it is because everyone believes the King and shares His heart. No judgment or shame. That huge weight of oppression is lifted and there is an experience of what it is like to live without either. Amazing! Several Scriptures occurred to me at that point.
darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9)
Rom. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are No judgment and no shame in the City of God. How amazing is that! I finally get what another Scripture, also in Rom 8 means:
I used to say when I read that: “lots of people!” I see that if we are believing HIM, however, it doesn’t matter. Verse 33 also speaks to this:
The profound freedom I have been feeling lately is all about coming close to and now entering the city, believing His light, and less and less troubled by anyone else’s. So, You want me to hear ALL the implications of: “I am very pleased with you,” and live there. Yes, Lord, I agree. I pray and invite You to fill my heart and spirit with that reality! You have told me that many times, but it hasn’t gotten all the way in. I am letting it in this morning, and I see how it goes with the foundational statement: “only believe.” I am finally getting it, Lord! It makes me want to stop participating in judgment of any sort myself. I am being freed from it, and it makes me want to free others. Website under Construction A dear friend (who prefers not to be named) has offered to build a website for PCM. It is in the initial stages of construction. I am writing things for it and we are talking about how to set it up. At this point it looks like it will have two sections. One will be called the “Nourishment Center” for those wanting to deepen their relationship with the Lord or who are needing their healing to continue. The other will be called the “With Jesus School” and will be an online school for moving into maturity and ministry with the Lord. The whole process of it coming together is so amazing and exciting that it is very difficult to describe, but I will keep you posted as to when you can go to it and see how it has come out, though it will change regularly. PCM is to Undergo a Name Change When I was beginning to write things for the website, and began with “About the Ministry” I found that it was cumbersome for me to try to describe the ministry through the name Pastoral Care Ministries. That continued to the point that I said to the Lord: “It is very difficult for me to talk about it through this name, Lord. Can we change the name. It doesn’t clearly describe the ministry now.” I realized that it was a very accurate name for Larry Bjorklund, the pastor who founded PCM in 1980, and who was making a statement about the nature of pastoral care. My vision links with that for sure, but it is about connecting hearts. So when I asked the Lord what we would call it, if we change the name to match the current ministry, what I was reminded of was the title of a booklet I wrote some years ago for people interested in ministering connecting prayer: Connecting Hearts to God. That will be the new name, the dba, as soon as we get the paperwork done and have it announced appropriately in the newspaper, etc. Once I started writing using that name, it flowed, and has since. You will see what I mean when the website is ready! Out of all these things, I realize that the kingdom proceeds in the midst of the battle, that the victories are won out of the great turmoil that surrounds them, and my prayer is that we all grow in being more aware of the presence and power and promise of the Lord, enabling us to “only believe.” We get in trouble very quickly when we get more complicated than that. Love in Jesus, Suzan
Suzan Jerome
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