08.31.08 l Downtown Shenzhen l Southern China

I am in love with this country - period.

We haven’t even been on the ground in mainland China 48 hours yet…and we have already imparted our heart for BURN 24-7 with the apostolic pastors, worship leaders, and musicians (in a “short” 6 hour service yesterday), hung out and loved on precious children at a local orphanage, and are now 9 hours into our first of four BURN launches across the nation!! We dont play games on these trips people!! Time is short and the kingdom is at hand here!! We launched 24 hours of nonstop, passionate, vertical worship and prayer with the thriving underground church here in a small room tucked away on the 5th floor (grace!!) of a massive business skyscraper in the downtown of the fastest growing city in all of China!! There couldnt be a more strategic city to ignite this blaze in and I’ve never met a people more ready and hungry for it.

Shenzen is the “southern gate” of China and the largest port in the nation (3rd largest in the world!). Anything received and welcomed here quickly spreads throughout the entire country. So shall it be with this fire God is releasing as I’m typing now! The average age of the city population is under 30 years old and they are yearning for truth and life in the midst of the “economic boom” that has radically shifted the lives of evert Chinese citizen. I heard the prophetic declaration spoken from Hanna when we arrived two days ago: “these people are dry kindling…they are so ready for this!” She was so right and that statement has never been more true. I’ve never met people so tender towards the Presence of God. They just melt when He enters the room. They know their Jesus and He is keen to come visit them whenever they ask. They are a weeping, warring, waiting, hungry people and what I’ve learned from them in this short time has already changed my life!

This entire idea of Davidic night and day worship is a brand new concept in this nation. As we shared and taught on this yesterday with pastors and leaders around the city, they ate up every word we spoke and every prayer we prayed. They asked many questions and agreed that God’s Presence is the only hope to reach over 1 billion lost souls across the nation. Three things about what we’ve experienced have blasted me already.

1) As we strategized on how to plan this first of many BURNS…they suggested that we take 3 hour sets each because the typical 2 hours is just too short!! This is the first time in all my travels in planting the BURN furnaces across the world that I’ve ever heard this. We just couldnt deny them…so 3 hours it was!

2) I quickly realized that you don’t “lead” worship with the Chinese…there is no such thing. They blaze with all their heart towards Jesus and you just try to keep up with them!! They could easily do without you..that is a powerful revelation for the nations.

3) The pure simplicity of worship has hit me so hard tonight. I really struggled going into this BURN because they insisted that our team take the first  shifts while hundreds of eager NON-ENGLISH speaking Chinese were ready to worship with us. I tried to explain that it would be hard for them to understand and engage because I dont know any Mandarin or any of their songs. They taught me how to say “Jesus Come” and I knew that Hallelujah was pronounced the same (as in all languages). So that was enough to fill 3 hours of worship. THEY NEVER GOT TIRED OF SAYING THOSE SIMPLE WORDS…AND I REALIZED THAT I NEVER GOT TIRED EITHER!!

Maybe we make things too complicated in the West with our many crafty words. Maybe “Come Jesus” and “Hallelujah” is enough. It sure works over here in the fastest growing church in all of recording history.

Just some thoughts and revelations…We’re all getting blasted over here!! I’ve found myself just laying prostrate asking God for the same passion, zeal and fervor that drives them to weep, wail, groan, dance, and sing at the top of their lungs to their Father!!

Its beautiful, moving, and BURNING hot right now! Thanks for praying!

More to come!! We fly out tomorrow for destination #2…be praying for us as we go!!

stay in the heat….

sean

06.01.08 l  Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, Israel

LET THE INCENSE RISE

It feels completely surreal. I have pinched myself many times in the past three days. We are here on THE Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. I say THE Mount of Olives because its THE MOUNT where very feet of Jesus will touch when He returns again to the earth. Its VERY FIRST place where His glory will be seen by every nation, tribe, and tongue. The mount will split in two and He will enter through the Eastern Gate of the holy city (Zech 14:4) We are on this mountain and we can see the eastern gate as we worship. This is without a doubt the most contended for piece of land in the entire earth. Every power and principality of darkness knows their end is coming when the feet of the ONE touch down. Every angel in Heaven eagerly awaits this moment where the Son is revealed to the nations and justice and righteousness prevail. The earth itself groans and cries out for this. We all long for it in the deepest part of our being. It all starts with the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Its the beginning of the end.

We can feel the weight of this as we enter into His Presence. Mere words cannot reveal the heaviness in the air. You would not even believe the struggle its been and the pain endured to see this ten days of worship during Pentecost happen on this spot (fulfillmentfestival.com). Satan himself knows that God is glorified through the worship of God’s people and his grip has been firm to keep that far from this place UNTIL that day. City and government officials, the local police, security guards, the arab neighbors and many more people have worked hard to not let this sound be released from this place. Men have gone back on their word, corruption has been all too common, and local arabs even tried to burn down this massive tent we are worshipping in on the first night!! Every single simple thing has been a ton of work to say the least! (most people in Jerusalem say this is common).  But yet..in the midst of all the warfare, confusion, strife, and drama…GOD IS ACCESSIBLE. He is near!!! I don’t know any other way to say this…HE IS LONGING TO BE REVEALED in this place! The moment we play a chord and cry out to Him with passion and purity….HE COMES!!

Tonight it was over the top! We got into a few grooves where I could almost see his cloud moving through the tent.   The worship went deep and pure. I love how you cannot bring any “starter” songs or poppy churchy stuff here. That doesn’t work…you gotta go for the juggler!!! You start out at 110% and don’t let up until the end..its my kind of style! People said tonight that they could literally smell Gods presence with us. Several said it smelled like roses and hyssop mixed together when we sang out “Let is rise…let the incense rise.” As the sun set down over Mount Zion (The temple mount) during the first part of my set…I began to sing the verse from Psalm and Malachi “from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets you will be praised through all the earth.” It suddenly came full circle in my mind that this place I was singing this from is where the sun is going to RISE FOR ETERNITY!! Something has shifted again in my heart from our times of worship together on the mount. We have joined with a multitude of people from all over the globe coming to see a place where He can dwell established on this ground. I’m not even sure what has shifted in me…but I feel it in the deepest part of my soul. Every time I come here…I get messed up and this time is by far the worst!

Tomorrow I leave but the worship does not. Please keep this crew in your prayers as bands from all over the world are coming in to release their sounds of love and worship to the Father through June 10th!! I believe its just going to get thicker and thicker as the nights move on. Who knows…maybe it will usher in move of His Spirit back to this city. The only thing that can change the hard hearts of this land is His Presence released through true worship. What we have been doing is the answer. Its only answer and the hope for the nation.

I’m heading to Santa Cruz, CA for a few days of BURNING with some good friends, then to the East Coast for my sisters wedding, and back again to this glorious land with the BURN ISRAEL team!!!

POUR IT OUT LORD!!!

sean

YES!!! AFTER 8 DAYS OF FASTING AND CRYING OUT TO HEAR GOD- WE CAN EAT!!! BLESS THE LORD FOR FOOD…MANNA FROM HEAVEN!!!  

While meditating on Psalms 24:4a, I was asking God how one could have a pure heart? How is it that I can turn wholeheartedly toward Him? I was asking what a pure heart is and how I can keep the motives of my heart pure so that the work of my hands will be clean to the eyes of the Lord. How can put myself in to building the Burn in Denver without mistakenly build something out of my own ambition, or desire for recognition?

Then God revealed to me that when I start operating out of my love for him, and in the knowledge of his love for me, then I would be working out of a pure heart. But when I operate out of trying to earn his love by having a big ministry, selfish motives come into play. I start competing against others as I jealously try to earn God’s love. I am so often insecure when it comes to accepting and believing in the Love of our Father. So I work hard so that maybe, just maybe, God will notice me and Love me. I become jealous of others—wanting to be better than them and go further than them because I want God to love me. And how could he love me when someone else over there has some grand ol’ ministry and is doing great things for God?

I believe that jealousy, and striving against one another for position, and the individualist mindset that seizes so many, leading people to despair and ruin, is rooted in the lack of understanding of the love of God. God does not care how big your ministry is, or how many mission trips you went on, or how long it took you to go 24/7 in you city, or for how long it lasted. God primarily wants a heart that loves him and desire to know him. That is different than any one ministry or job position in life.

As we grow in the revelation of his whole, pure, and secure love—allowing us to stop jockeying for his affection—we are able to function out of our love for him, making the motives of our hearts to be pure, and the works of our hands clean.

So yesterday I was reading the well-read Isaiah 58 “this is what true fasting is” passage.  I kinda end up there on accident and since we were all fasting I figured it couldn’t hurt to read through it!  Really friends its incrediable and the father showed me a couple things that I want to share with you.  Just a quick overview…..

            The father at first chides them (his people) for fasting while at the same time asking for strife and discontent and having general wickedness in their lives.  And then He goes on to say that the fast that he has chosen will “loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens to let the oppressed go free”, that we will break every yoke, we will share all that we have with the poor.  Then after this our light will break forth.  The Glory of the Lord will surround us, he will be our rear guard, and when we call to Him He will answer!   This Light that He has given us will shine in the darkest places of the earth.  He will satisfy us, always guide us, always strengthen us. And what comes from this?  What does God call us to do from this place?  Well what happens is that we restore the foundations, we restore the wall!! (which is what Nehemiah did, its what had to happen in order to protect  the temple, the place where God dwells. The wall must be rebuilt before the temple can be restored.) And then He says that we will restore the streets for Him to dwell in.  Then after this fast, if we continue to pleasure ourselves in the Lord, if we delight ourselves in Him HE WILL FEED US WITH THE HERITAGE OF JACOB.

Ok, so this is where I got excited.  Vs 14 really really got me.  HE WILL FEED US WITH THE HERITAGE OF JACOB.  So I camped there for a while.  Just started thinking and meditating on what this meant. And I got excited because I began to think that the heritage of Jacob was Jesus.  So we get to feed on Jesus, which is just absolutely wonderful.  But then, my spirit give me a resounding no, there is something else.  Here is what it is, what all of this leads to, what fasting leads to, what we get to feed on……Jesus was not the heritage of Jacob, he was the inheritance of Jacob.  The Heritage of Jacob was an OPEN HEAVEN.(Gen 28;32)

WE GET AN OPEN HEAVEN!!!!!  And not only do we get to receive an open heaven we get to feast on an open heaven! 

That’s all I am going say.  I really could go off and spout off what an open heaven really means what the implications of that are.  But I am not going to.  I think that I am going to leave this one up to God and your pursuit of Him  I guess that I would just encourage you today to seek what this means for your city, for your family, for youself.

He has given us an open Heaven guys lets feast on it!

The words, “Obedience is better than sacrifice,” just dropped into me. I never realized how often I think sacrificing things will tide God over more than simply obeying Him. Going on this fast was definitely an act of obedience for me. This is not something that my physical body was longing to do. This wasn’t something that my mind was telling me to do. This was purely from God’s Spirit to mine.

Over the past 7 days, I haven’t had any incredibly prophetic dreams or visions. Which honestly surprised me a bit. I guess I was assuming that if I did “such and such” that God would do “this and that.” Don’t you just love how we try to formulate everything? Lord, forgive me of always speculating or trying to figure out exactly how You’re going to move! Even though I haven’t had anything happen the way I thought they would happen this week, I know the spiritual atmosphere is charged!! Yesterday, after fasting for 6 days, my body was weak. I found myself to be somewhat grouchy with an extremely growly stomach. At first I thought, “I’m just hungry. No big deal.” That was until we arrived at church and began warming up for worship. It seems that each of us were “under the gun” so to speak. We each were really in a battle… and we honestly didn’t even realize it until we finally gathered in a circle to pray. That’s when the scales came off and we realized that we were in a war zone. The worship was under attack. Now I’m not one to look for demons around every corner… but I can say without hesitation, this was straight from the pit of hell! At that moment we realized that God was requiring us to lay down our skills, our talents and listen to Him and completely trust Him to do what only He can do; change hearts and literally do surgery on people as they entered into His presence. We were being called to carry the weight of the Presence of God like the Levites of old and not try to push it along. Out of that time of worship came a flood of people who needed God desperately to move in their lives. I’m talking some deep junk that only God can fix.

Yeah. I’ve made my flesh uncomfortable over the past few days, but it has fine-tuned my spirit so that I can hear the Spirit of God more clearly. My spiritual ears were kind of like a radio that had been tuned in between two stations. I was hearing both stations clashing with one another and lots of static until I was “tuned into” one specific station. Now it’s coming in loud and clear. Now, I can hear what God is saying to me specifically and what God is saying to others who come and need me to minister and pray with them. I can sacrifice my time, energy, money, etc. until I have nothing left to give. But if I’m not obeying God, what good is my sacrifice?

Fellow followers after the heart of God……I believe that Jesus just dropped this word in my mouth, for such a time a this.   Listen, Pray, Pay heed…                                                                                                                                                             “This can not be our pet project. It has for some people, and it pretty much has to stop. It can not just be another good idea that we have, it can’t just be something that we pursue with a part of our life and heart. The Father is calling us to something so much higher (not just burn people,not just ihop, the call, 24-7, whatever. This is something that is for everyone). If we don’t do what he has called us to as  lover of Him, as followers of Him then he will find someone else. Its just that simple. He goes across the earth seeking hearts that are completely his, and if we are not living completly abandoned to Him  then he will glaze over us. We must do this wholeheartedly and to the  death. If we pursue Him in the earth and follow the call to come before the father and minister to him and to intercede on behalf of nations then he will give us the keys to His Kingdom. He will give us an authority like no one on earth has seen yet. The battle that we are fighting is not against flesh and blood, this is a basic thing that is very important to remember. Everyplace that has a burn, has an ihop, has 24-7, has the call, ect….I have given this power and authority to trample the legions of the Dark. In everyone one of these places an atomic bomb is being set off. It will consume all and will create an area of rest for the Presence of the Holy Spirit. It is here that God will dwell. The keys to the Kingdom will be given to you(leaders of each city) when the dust from the atomic bomb has settled.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           This is urgent.  What God is saying has to deal with issues of massive urgency.  I don’t really even know what to tell you guys.  I can’t say enough to convince you of what Jesus is saying.  We need to get on our faces even more then what we are doing now.  We need to seriously seek the heart of the Father and act.  We have a mandate from his throne and we must be obedient to the call that we have received.  This is no time to play games.   We must act.

This has by far been the most important and timely fast I’ve ever been on. The past few days out in KC have proven that going on this fast as a BURN family was not just a good idea…but a GOD idea.

SO many things have broken forth…new direction…purpose…reason….connections…and I have an entire new energy and heart for what God has called us too. Its funny how 6 days without the bread of men will fill you up with the bread of the Father (which is to do the WILL of the Father).

When we begin to slow down and focus on HIM…HIS HEART…HIS AGENDA…and HIS PLANS…what we do suddenly gets so radically saturated with favor, wisdom, glory, and GOD that catapults us into entire new levels!

This has happened this weekend and there will be more to come…please stay tuned…some radical stuff is about to be revealed…

2 MORE DAYS!!! DONT GIVE UP!!!! CONTEND!! PRESS IN!!! GRAB AHOLD OF WHAT HE HAS FOR US IN THIS TIME OF CONSECRATION!!!

We just received this incredibly amazing GOD testimony from the effects of our fasting and prayer over the past 6 days! A breakthough of a lifetime happened!! PLEASE READ BELOW!!!!

I just wanted to share some totally HOTT blazin news!

I had mentioned to the tribe on the conference call briefly that I was blessed with the opportunity to go to a local television station and share about 24-7 last month. The Lord hooked me up with this blazer from Philly from A church called The Rock. They have been doing 24-7 for some time and apparently this cat came to Honduras to share this vision. What he did not know was that there are others here ( like me) who have already been ruined for some time with Vertical worship!
So Jamie and I end up on this TV program just pouring out our hearts to Hundreds of thousand of people in the Latin Community. Dude, it ;literally marked the hair stand up on the back of my neck when I think about who and where those airwaves assaulted and what will become from that in the future. (God did not have us on there in vain) ok, let me get off the rabbit trail.

The next night Jamie and I had dinner and we talked more and he shared with me that he had ignited a fire a few years ago at the Church they planted but it got quenched for many different reasons. I assured him that I would do everything in Gods power to fan that freagin flame into an inferno!
So a few weeks went by and I have been going 90 to nothing and have not really been able to get with the local Pastor to do a (burn preview the best way I can)
So check this out. The Pastor, who invited Jamie and I to the TV is a good friend of mine and he is also the director at JBN, (Jesus Broadcasting Network) It is like the equivalent of TBN in the States, He and I had done lots of Harp and Bowl together and I told him what we were doing now wityh Burn and I said lets get some Pastors together at your Church and let me share and impart this to them and see what happens.

Well tonight “HAPPENED”! Dude, about 100 people got together tonight. Get this, from four different Churches!!! Four Pastors with a hand full of their Presence Junkies.
I shared the vision (which was unknown to about 97.3% of the people present and they just swallowed it hook, line, sinker, reel, pole, baitstand, pier, I mean everything!
One of the Pastors btought this young keyboard player who tore it up. I did not even have to play. For the next 4 hours we just were plain undignified!
The sweet presence of God engulfed the room and wave after wave just melted us in HIS PRESENCE.

I have been laboring for almost ten years for this to happen and in an instant God just weaved this thing together, like nothing. Its one thing to have one Church but to have four different Churches participating has totally turned me inside out!!

At the end I I grabbed the mic and asked for those that wanted to recieve impartation to just acknowledge and its on like Donkey Kong!!!
One of the Pastors spoke after me and made a pact to run with this as hard as he could and amazingly enough it was the Pastor at the Church that Jamie ( The Rock from Philly) planted!! Whoa!!!!!!!!!! All of the Pastors agreed that this is totally hOTT and totally from God and want to BURN like mad together as oftn as we can. I am going to go to the different locations and just pour gas on these people and light a match/ I mean it bro that is all that most of thses people are waiting for.

One of the ladies comes up to me with this fire in her eyes and says “Can I tell you something”? and I said sure. So she says “I saw you in a vision two years ago with your guitar and you were worshiping and I was lost in the presence of the Lord. I saw you on Television RECENTLY but it was not until tonight when I saw you standing there with your guitar that the Lord reminded me that it was you who I saw in the vision”. All I can do is weep bro because God had all of this already planned out. He knew that I was toiling for this and looking for every opportunity to tell others about 24-7 and somehow I was actually dumb enough to believe that somehow it would happen, in the midst of always ending up in a place feeling so alone and that no one really understood this???

I know I am rambling on but I could not wait to get this out to you and the tribe.I don’t know how to post it on the site so that is why I am sending it to you. You can post whatever you like from this or just keep it to yourself ( I dare you…lol \o/ ).

The last thing I wan to share is a verse that the Lord gave the first morning if the fast.

“BY WISDOM A HOUSE IS BUILT AND THROUGH UNDERSTANDING IT’S ESTABLISHED.
THROUGH KNOWLEDGE IT’S ROOMS ARE FILLED WITH RARE ND BEAUTIFUL TREASURES.”
PROVERBS 24:3

There is way too much in that verse to share. I felt like the Lord wanted me to put that verse out and He would bring tons of individual revelation to the eyes that read it.
I leave it in His hands

Ok my fiery friend, It has been along day and I am beat. Once again I am in absolute awe……….I know nothing else to say in a known tongue and I cant spell in tongues so with that in mind I say enjoy the fire.

I love you and bless you today and pray for Gods grace to be with you throughout the rest of this fast and beyond!!!!!!!

Souls Count \o/
Robert & Amy Coello
Inner Fire Ministries
www.webmissions.com/coello

There is nothing like fasting to really bring into focus the things that you want the most.  It makes my heart readily examine all that I desire, what i really want, what I am really willing to sacrifice.  It’s where the rubber meets the road, when I really discover if what I tell Jesus in the middle of the night with a full belly is really true.  In his sermon, “The Weight of Glory”, C.S. Lewis says: ” If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.  We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  We are far too easily pleased”.The Father has really been speaking to me about desire.  About what I want.  What I strive for, what i work for.  What I put above all else.  He, to just be honest, has been chiding me, disiplineing me in the ways of  his heart.  He is saying that my desire will never be enough, that there is always more to Him, more to know, more to desire.  But I must come in my weak desire and give Him all of it, all I have.  He is bringing up all the things that I desire above Him, all the ways that I don’t follow the first commandment.  The fact is that I fit what C.S. Lewis said all too well.  I am fair too easily pleased by whatever is in front of me at the moment, whatever takes my fancy.  I know, I see that I have been offered an eternal holiday at sea, a chance to partner with the creator of the universe.  A chance to know his heart in intimate ways.  Yet I like mud.  Mud is easy, its safe, it feels nice on my skin.  I truly am a rebellious human who is too easily pleased.Yet the Father is calling me.  You were made to see my face.  You were made to desire me.  So come daughter.  Come and desire me.  Desire my heart.  Give me your heart and I will give you my heart.  Desire me.  Desire me, it is the only  way that your heart will by fully alive, fully satisfied.   So I must lay down my heart, I am mandated to lay down my heart.  And I do because I have been down the other road.  I have seen the despair of hell and I instead choose the mercy of his throne, where I am seated at his right hand.I give Him all my desire.  I choose to live in Him and through Him.  That is the call, and we all must make the choice.