BRIDGING THE GAP - The Call & San Diego - "Birthplace of California"

A note from Anna ~ I do apologize for the delay in getting this update posted. It seems that November has flown by in a flurry of activity and suddenly we are on the brink of December! Please read on below about our trek to Southern California:

Our trip to San Diego was very good - and surprisingly more lengthy than we had imagined it might be!

The Call was taking place on November 1st and while Teruah and I had seen God meet our financial needs, we had just enough to be in San Diego for two nights, maximum. No more. We knew this was enough if it was all God provided - a two night stay might be exactly what He was leading us to do. We were able to share a lovely hotel room with Teruah's sister and her aunt in the section of San Diego known as "Old Town." Since we arrived late the night before The Call was to take place, we headed for bed right away.

November 1st dawned bright and sunny - a beautiful day as we all set out for Qualcomm Stadium. Upon arrival I was surprised at there not being a larger crowd in attendance. The Call in Nashville the previous summer had many more attendees, possibly due to the more central location and the fact that it was held during summer break. Whatever the case, the group that attended at San Diego were passionate worshippers and intercessors who were there with a purpose. That purpose was to "stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30 "I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land...") for our nation and for the state of California.

Major issues that our nation is currently grappling with were brought before those assembled. Our purpose was to fast and pray and to intercede for the United States of America and her people and I truly believe that the prayers we prayed made an incredible impact in the heavens. The unity among the Body of Christ in the stadium was beautiful to see. Having had my share of church politics and denominational bickering in my lifetime, I was so very blessed to witness many different parts of the Church in America coming together to bless and pray for our country. In Jesus' own words: "That they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." (John 17:21-23)

This was a day of coming together with one purpose - bridging the gap between all generations, all ages, and all denominations to glorify Jesus Christ in California and all of the USA.

During the afternoon on the 1st, while we were still at The Call, the Lord began to speak to me about our trip there, and kept impressing on me that we needed to stay in San Diego at least a couple more nights. I had no clue as to how this would come about, since we didn't have any contacts to stay with there, and as I mentioned, we had just enough for the two nights we had planned for. I began to pray and said, "Ok, God, I hear You - but You need to work it out for us, because I don't know how to do this one..." I think God loves it when we pray like this! When we admit we have no idea how to do something and we are relying solely on Him, He says "That's all I was waitin' to hear!"

That night, Tammy (Teruah's sister) asked us what our plans were. I told her that I wasn't sure and how God had been impressing on me to stay a few more nights there, including my own thoughts about not knowing how that was going to look. She proceeded to tell us then that God had spoken to her that afternoon while we were still at The Call to provide two more nights for Teruah and I in San Diego! Wow, God! I guess I didn't expect such a quick and convenient answer! It was a great blessing for us to be able to stay there in Old Town.

At first, I had no insight to our room being in Old Town. But that began to change as I read some of the brochures available in the lobby of the hotel which named Old Town, San Diego the "Birthplace of California!" As you might imagine, Old Town is the location of the original settlement of the city of San Diego. A settlement which began as a fortress and a mission in 1769 founded by Father Junipero Serra. The San Diego Mission is the first of the 21 Franciscan Missions located all along the coast of California. I knew upon arriving in town that we needed to go to the mission site and pray but I didn't know why. Slowly, things began to come into focus for us...

We visited Presidio Park and the site of the original mission, and viewed the museum there. It is built to represent the original structure of the mission, which is no longer standing on that spot. We felt we were to go in and look around and as we did, we began to pray and ask the Lord what He was saying for San Diego. What we found was one man's passion to restore and preserve his city's heritage and history...By the 1920's the site of the original mission and the 1st settlement was in ruins, and department store owner George W. Marston decided to change that! For nearly 20 years Marston purchased, planned, planted and cared for what is now known as Presidio Park. He also built the Junipero Serra Museum which would be San Diego's first historical society to document and preserve the history of the region. All of this he accomplished with his own personal finances. The site was scheduled to be handed over to the care of the city in 1929, but because of the Great Depression, they were not able to assume responsibility for it and so Marston continued to care for and support it until 1940. Teruah and I were both impressed with this man's vision and desire to leave a legacy for the future generations of San Diego.

As we wandered through the museum, taking in the history around us, I saw something that caught my eye. It was a case with several old Spanish style locks and keyholes. This suddenly jogged my memory and I remembered that the night before I had dreamed that I saw locks and a key and I had heard someone say to me "Teruah has the key - the key for San Diego!"

I had rolled over in the night and half-awake, tried to remind myself to tell Teruah the next morning. Surprised at seeing the locks and remembering the dream, I was happy nonetheless to know we were on the right trail!

We finished looking on the inside of the museum and went out to look at the actual ground site of the settlement and the fortress and where the first mission had stood. The park is undergoing some renovations and excavations are still being done to uncover the details about the early Spanish settlers. In one section, you can plainly see the outlines of a sort of structure, though now it is all grown over with grass, there is the definition of the layout of a wall and other structures.

We stood in that place, walking the outline of the wall and began to pray, asking the Lord what He was saying for San Diego. I began to feel specifically to declare Malachi 4:6 over San Diego - a turning of the fathers to the children, and a turning of the children to the Fathers. I felt that this was the anointing and call that Marston was operating under , even if he himself did not know it at the time. We began to declare a "turning" to the godly foundations, and to repent for rebellion and casting off the "Father's" covering. Restoration of ancient paths - that God would raise up men and women to restore and rebuild the walls of the city of San Diego. That a spirit of Ezra and Nehemiah would be released over that city. We declared Isaiah 58:12 "Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell."

Teruah felt that the "key" she got for San Diego was a key of TRUST. She prophetically "unlocked" the front gate of San Diego with that key and released and declared Proverbs 3:5-12 over actual children in San Diego, as well as all of God's children in that city. Isaiah 40:30-31 contains the revelation of "why" you desire that trust in the God of your fathers.

As we continued to walk and pray we found a break in the wall - a literal gap in the original adobe wall - the old city wall. We asked the Lord to awaken the hearts of the intercessors in San Diego to stand in the gap in their city. Then we stood together in that gap and declared that the city gate was and is shut to the enemy and open to the King of Kings! There were two palm branches laying just on the other side of the gate almost as if placed there on purpose, and Teruah and I waved them in the air as a prophetic act and declared "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" Welcoming the King into the gates of San Diego.

One of the reasons I believe that Teruah had the key to unlock San Diego is because she did all of her high school in San Diego. This was before she knew Jesus and was not walking with Him at the time. We were able to go and walk the grounds of her old high school and reclaim that territory, as well as several old "hang out" spots in San Diego. I am so very proud of her for stepping out and onto that old familiar ground and reclaiming it for God and His Kingdom! I know it made an impact on the land, released the Kingdom and opened the heavens over those places.

"Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open." Isaiah 22:22

This was the revelation God gave us for San Diego. It was truly a time of bridging the gap between generations, between fathers, mothers and children, and between God and his people.

King of Glory, come in!

This is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.

Lift up your heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?

The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors,

that the King of glory may come in. Who is he, this King of glory?

The LORD Almighty— he is the King of glory. Selah

Psalm 24:6-10

Body Parts

Oh what a treat! Anna and I were given the opportunity to volunteer at the Glory Reign conference, hosted by Voice of Pentecost, a truly divine meeting. Unlike the typical conference of believers gathering simply to feast on truths we already know, instead the purpose was a prophetic act of opening up the West Coast gates ushering in The King Of Glory! It was an event put on by Georgian & Winnie Banov (http://www.riverlution.net/) Speakers included Kris Vallotton (http://www.kvministries.com/) and Stacey Cambell (http://www.revivalnow.com/)
Worship teams from Family Christian Center located in Orangvale, Ca as well as Promise Land located in the heart of San Francisco. It was so neat to see a coming together of many different parts of the body especially in San Francisco, a city which God has not forgotten, is madly in love with and has purposed to transform the arts!

One unique part of the Body in the Bay Area holds the name Voice of Pentecost. Located in Ingleside, (a neighborhood of San Francisco, Ca) the very name they go by speaks loudly and prophetically into the streams of creativity flowing in and through San Francisco.

This house knows their purpose, they know their voice, they know that they have keys to transform the arts, dance, and media through movies! Their building is an old theater called "El Rey" (meaning The King) that was built in the 1930's and is in process of being restored to it's original beauty...all in God's timing of course. Little by little as they pray and ask God what is next to renovate as well as finances for the renovation, His faithfulness answers. Much sacrifice and waiting on the Lord for His infinite supply to flood in has strengthened their foundation. As a body on this journey of seeing God bring to pass all the promises He has spoken to them, I saw a tremendous strength, unity and dependency on God alone. Not the kind of dependency that says "oh poor, incapable me, God you need to rescue me..." NO! The dependency that confidently says "You are such a GOOD God, a faithful Daddy, so I sit here in confidence, in your presence and wait as I watch You unfold all my heart's desires, and fulfill every promise spoken to me!"

For more history on the building http://www.outsidelands.org/el_rey.php

I absolutely fell in love with this body! I must share about a few of the treasures that are a part of this house. Senior Pastors Richard and Sandy Gazowsky- such sweetness and acceptance oozes out of them...its an unstoppable force! Their kids exterminate the lie of PK's (pastor's kids) always being the most rebellious kids in the church. Genuine, beautiful, talented, dancers, worshipers without reservations and confidence meshed with enjoyment of who they are in Christ is the foundation of this family. Nikki (the wonder woman that organizes their events, teaches in the school, mom of a 6 month old, wife, just to name a few of the hats she wears) was such an example of what a servants heart looks like. She was not required to help with the conference yet she went out of her way to make sure each of us volunteers requests were met with joy and smiles! Her love blew me away! What was so neat about this meeting was that before Anna & I moved out of our house in Redding, during the sweet devotional times connecting with Papa, I would hear Him speak to me about the different parts of the Body we would be meeting along the way. I envisioned that these times would be so much fun and that some really neat connections with some really cool and powerful people of God would be made. I imagined finding little pockets and crevices of radically on fire Jesus freaks that would further inspire me to go after my own dreams. I knew that they would be breathing life into me as I breathed life into them...How? Simply by being who God created me to be...ME ; ' )

To read more about Voice of Pentecost and their vision for movies visit http://www.wysiwygfilmworks.com/index.html

Sacramento Part II - " California, The Beloved"

I wanted you to digest all that good stuff first, so here's the 2nd part of our trip to Sacramento. Honestly, when we first pulled up to the capitol, neither of us had anything on our hearts or minds....but as soon as we asked the Holy Spirit, revelation began to come quickly...

As we were leaving the grounds of the capitol lawn, I spotted another tree that rather caught my eye - it was smallish in size, with little round purple colored leaves. I pointed it out to Teruah and said " that tree is prophetic - it means something..." As we got closer, this was the plaque fastened to the tree: (see pic)....THUNDERCLOUD....I asked God to release the clouds that have the rains of Heaven stored up in them...they are heavy with rain and are positioned over CA! We got into the car, preparing to leave and get back on the interstate, but as we drove the length of the street passing the capitol building, I felt as though I needed to read out some declarations from scripture. Song of Solomon again was the place I felt led to go to.

The Great Seal of California embedded in the pavement in front of the capitol steps had really caught my attention - namely, the woman on it, dressed in Roman soldier attire, in full armor, carrying a spear. I had no idea who this woman might (in reality) be - but I felt as though she were representing California as a whole. What I saw there was a woman who (either because of willfulness or out of necessity) had become completely self-sufficient. Had taken on the role of both male and female - who had made her own way, and was her own protector...a self sufficiency that was not godly...The Lord began to show me that He Himself was wooing this "woman" - California. He led me to read from Song of Solomon 1:1-7, 2:10-17, 8:5-7 Dark, but lovely...draw me and I will run after you...Arise my Love, my beautiful one and come away...My beloved is mine and I am His...Set me as a seal upon your heart... All these the Lord spoke over California. He also had me read from Hosea chapter 2 - I encourage you to read this from verse 1 all the way through, it is a powerful chapter, however the focus of the chapter was on verses 14-23 " Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor (trouble) a door of hope...And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal,' for I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more...And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in FAITHFULNESS. And you shall know the Lord..." this is just a portion from that chapter. Finally, I was led to go back to Song of Solomon 8:5 - which says, "Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her Beloved?!"

The passion which I felt the Lord speaking over California was enormous. I have to admit to being slightly surprised by His mercy and His love. I guess I was thinking to myself more along the lines of "repent and be saved!!" But God said, "Yes, I want California - she IS Mine and I am passionate over her!" And we all know it's useless to argue with a man in love! God is wooing this state - by His mercy, by His kindness (that leads to repentance), and She will come up from the wilderness leaning on her Beloved! No more self sufficiency! We ended up driving around the capitol blocks 5 times in total, asking God to remarry California.

(I found out later that the woman on the seal is indeed a Roman symbol - it is "Minerva, Roman goddess of wisdom" and if interested you can read more about the state seal at this site : http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/seals/ca_seal.htm )

Pretty much the rest of the way out of town and down to the San Francisco Bay Area, we worshipped - and it was as if every song played was a love song being sung for California - confirming what we had just heard and declared. The Holy Spirit really was the DJ!

In closing :

I do not claim to be any sort of historian, but I decided that it might be good to look up what the name "Sacramento" meant. As it happened, I didn't find a lot of information, but good ol' wikipedia had a few answers. This is what I found :
In either 1799 or 1808, the Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga discovered and named the Sacramento Valley and the Sacramento River after the Spanish term for 'sacrament;' specifically, after "the Most Holy Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ", referring to the Roman Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist...Sacramento is named for Holy COMMUNION!

And on that note, I leave you - pondering the ways of God who is first and foremost a lover and a friend. Get to know Him - you won't regret it, I promise!

Up next? San Diego!!

Sacramento - Part I "Roots of Righteousness"

Teruah and I had been talking about stopping in Sacramento to pray as our first "capitol city" destination. It was ideal, being CA's capitol city and right on our way as we headed out of Redding to the San Francisco Bay Area. However, we also did not plan to be so tired as we were that day!

The night before, we had finished packing up the last of our belongings, did some painting in our rooms, delivered the remaining furniture to friends, and cleaned the house in preparation for turning the keys over to the landlord. It was late when our neighbors helped us stuff the last bag into the car and we said our 'goodbyes' and went to a friend's house to crash for the night.

So neither of us were feeling very perky as we began driving through Sacramento...I toyed briefly with the idea of not stopping - of just making it to our destination at Teruah's parents so we could rest...but almost instantly I felt that would not be the right thing to do. Teruah also voiced that she was suddenly "exhausted" and wasn't interested in getting stuck in traffic. We decided to exit anyway, and began to pray for the weariness to lift, for alertness to come, and almost instantly, we began to feel awake and to have energy. We exited on whim, asking God to show us where to go (we had no idea where the capitol building was located exactly) and within 5 minutes, we had a parking spot right beside the capitol building lawn.

We began to ask the Lord if there was anything specific He would have us do or declare, or pray...For the last hour in the car, Teruah had been playing and re-playing the song "You Won't Relent" which says :

You won't relent until You have it all,

My heart is Yours,

I'll set You as a seal upon my heart; As a seal upon my arm;

For there is love that is as strong as death;

Jealousy, demanding as the grave.

Many waters cannot quench this love;

You won't relent until You have it all,

My heart is Yours...

Come be the fire inside of me,

Come be the flame upon my heart;

Come be the fire inside of me,

Until You and I are one...

And suddenly as we stood in front of the capitol looking at the different "seals" embedded in the pavement, we began to sing that song quietly - and the Lord spoke to us to sing it as we stood on the State Seal of California. God began to speak to Teruah about how people have prophesied many times about California falling off into the ocean in the aftermath of some great quake. She felt God expressly saying "many waters cannot quench My love, neither can floods drown it." She began to declare that instead of falling off into the ocean, CA would fall so in love with God that no matter how much water, storms or floods may come, that love will never be quenched.

We began to sing specifically the part of the song that says "set me as a SEAL upon your arm," as we stood over the State seal. This is an excerpt from Teruah's entry in our journal: " I felt like I needed to take out my Bible and read from Song of Solomon 8:6-7... As I walked on it [the state seal] in a circle, I read out the scripture. I prayed that God would set Sacramento and California as a seal upon His heart and as a seal upon His arm. No longer would we be a state that is looked at in disgust because of the evil and liberalism that comes from CA; instead we would be known as the state that has been "sealed" upon the heart of God. I saw a picture of people who get tattooed with "tribal arm bands" around the upper portion of their right arm, but the tattoo's (arm bands) were a direct representation of our being "branded" as God's [belonging to Him]. "

We began to declare intimacy with the Lord, asking God to set a seal on California - a faithful seal - and a seal of FAITHFULNESS upon her.

As we made our way around the building, we saw a statue and a plaque and as we approached I knew what we would see was going to be significant in some way. It was a memorial set up for "The Sisters of Mercy." This is what the plaque said: " During the gold rush days of 1857, The sisters of Mercy came to Sacramento to care for the miners and to serve the sick and homeless. In those early days, the sisters purchased the land in the heart of the city to build a school...This is now the site of the State Capitol Building. The Sisters of Mercy have made significant contributions to the history and progress of the State of CA. Their mission to care for the sick, the poor the elderly and the uneducated continues today..."
One of the sisters depicted was kneeling down with her hand on a sick child. We were excited to read this - that there was already a rich heritage there on that ground of laying hands on the sick, caring for the poor, desolate and uneducated and seeing them recover. We began to declare "California, come back to your ROOTS!" In conjunction with this, I saw a magnificent magnolia tree on the grounds of the capitol lawn that had an incredible root system - I knew this was significant of what we had just seen. Ancient roots of Righteousness...SEE * Sacramento part II "California- The Beloved" * for the finale!

What the heck are we doing?

From about April to mid August Anna and I individually were crying out to God for doors to open in Redding. We were banging on doors to just about every job establishment yet no doors were swinging open. I knew change was coming. I could sense that Anna would be moving on from Redding and I assumed that I would be staying in Redding. God had something else in mind. Financially our resources began to dry up. The last week of August we took a trip down to the Bay Area where my family lives to do some work. We were there for a week and both began to hear God speaking clearly and more regularly than we had been hearing since April. As we arrived back in Redding our mandate was to spend that week hanging out with God. Throughout the first week of Sept individually we received revelation and direction from God. We began to share with each other and suddenly realized God was saying the same thing to both of us. Here is what we heard:

1) Move out of our house, sell, give away and bless people with most of our stuff (why not? it's just stuff)

2) ROAD TRIP!!! through CA until mid-November (then head east...)
**to declare blessing and release the Kingdom of Heaven

3) Pack light do not be loaded down with stuff

4) As we go doors will open that will unlock pieces of our destiny

So far these are the destination points we are clear about:

Sacramento, CA (state capitol)

Bay Area (Union City...east bay)

San Diego "The Call"

Hollywood/LA area