Dear Stairway Ministry family,
Last month was a joyous month for us as we finished the month off with a week of celebration with our family. One of the most joyous occasions of all was the celebration of our eldest granddaughter’s wedding. There were very few people in the wedding party that didn’t find themselves crying uncontrollably. What ecstatic joy takes place at a marriage!
So last month I had a lot of dreams with brides as the central theme and as a natural inclination it lead me straight back to the Song of Songs, the beautiful message of Christ & His bride culminating in their perfect oneness and union.
This is the month of the bride and bridegroom. The Lord is calling us to a place of deeper communion with Him. Oneness and union in the Song of Songs is only realized and recognized by the bride in all its fullness when the bride is overwhelmed by the constant unconditional love being poured out over her again and again and again. Finally she surrenders all to Him and is transformed and brought into complete wholeness and oneness that was already hers from the beginning.
This month God keeps saying to me “Follow after love. That’s where you find fulfillment.” Our union and deepest communion with our bridegroom only comes when we “let Him” kiss us. And so this has lead me to meditate on a word that the Lord gave me at the beginning of the year on Union and communion. Here’s a repeat of the word from January:
“This is a year of communion. Communion with God and communion with others. Union from communion will begin to take place. All that you have cultivated in the past few years in your times communing with Him and with the body will now go to a deeper level. New signs of unity will begin to emerge. You will see glimmers of John 17, the unity prayer of Christ beginning to happen. Things that we had tried to instigate for years will now begin to emerge around us.”
And I am truly convinced that we are seeing a greater depth of intimacy with the Lord everywhere we look, even crossing denominational lines.
This is the bridal month! Love is in the air and your bridegroom King is calling you out and saying to you too “Let me!” It’s time for you to experience new levels of encounter with your beloved. As you approach the communion table and as you spend time in the secret place of the bridal chamber of your lover-friend come with joy and rejoicing and receive more of Him! All you need to do is to “let Him”. Allow Him to kiss you, to love you, to embrace you. Come to the banqueting table, the place where Christ’s life, power, and virtue is being offered to sustain you.
During this bridal month take more time to commune with Him. Let this be your month of strengthening as you enjoy the bread of His presence and move in to commune with Him and with others on a whole new level!
I hear the Lord saying, “As you come and commune with me you will begin to be more purpose motivated and less problem motivated.” You’re heart will become so filled with His love that you will be compelled to find an outlet to pour it out. And instead of questioning the Lord all the time you will began to be at peace and will rest in His love, content to be and to do of His good pleasure without worry and without questioning Him when things don’t exactly fall In place. For in the bridal chamber of His heart you are kept in His perfect love that casts out fear and chases out confusion. And as you move in and make His heart your home you will have a continual feast at His banqueting table. (Even in the midst of your enemies!)
Make this a month of communing with Him and watch as you decide you like it so much that you decide to move in there permanently, hidden away in the oneness of who He is!
He is within me—I am his garden of delight. I have him fully and now he fully has me!
– Song of Songs 6:3 (TPT)
Upcoming Calendar
JUNE
3-4 Torrance, CA, Coast Christian hosting Global Celebration, global celebration.com
11-15 Jerusalem, Israel, Pastor Jiang, Chinese church
24-25 Redding, CA, Eagle’s Nest, timothysherman.com
26 Redding, CA, Bethel (evening service), bethelredding.com
JULY
2-3 New London, CT, Engaging Heaven, engagingheaven.com
8-10 Charlotte, NC, Christian Life Center, clccharlotte.org
15-17 Wylie, TX, summitchurchwylie.org
31 Pasadena, CA, HRock, Leadershift Conf., hrockchurch.com
AUGUST
1-4 Pasadena, CA, HRock, Leadershift Conf., hrockchurch.com
5-7 Vancover, WA, Bethesda Church, bethesdanw.com
18-19 Racine, WA, recording
IMPORTANT UPDATE: TPT Bible School
Ephesians has been LAUNCHED online and Philippians is coming soon! Check it out at the website: www.tptbibleschool.com.
The NEWEST TPT BIBLE course this year will be the book of JOHN to be taught in Atlanta. There’s still time to sign up! This is one of the books that the Father is highlighting this year! This is a year of His love and John was an apostle of the love of God. Why not join us in Atlanta! All other classes this year will be repeats for now; Ephesians & Philippians. Check for a school near you! We’ll keep you posted.
Tentative TPT Bible School Schedule:
Aug. 23-25 Ephesians- Calgary,CA
Sept 15-17 Philippians – New London, CT
Oct. 13-15 John, Atlanta, GA
Passion Translation
We just finished up both 1st and 2nd Corinthians.
Right now we’re working on 1st & 2nd John. 1st & 2nd Peter have been submitted to the publisher 1st & 2nd Corinthians is out! And we’ve finally sent “Miracles In Your Wilderness” in to our publishers. We’ve set a goal of completing the entire New Testament with Psalms, Proverbs and the Song of Songs by 2017 and the entire Bible by 2023. You can pick up your copies of The Passion Translation from our web site, stairwayministries.org. Please let all your friends know about it! And if you’re one of our Aussie friends you can purchase all the books from Koorong and amazon.com.au and our Canadians friends can purchase them at amazon.com.ca.
A Thank you to our Partners
If you’re a partner we’ll automatically send you each new book of the translation (This does not include the other books, only the translation.) as it comes out as our gift to you! You can also donate to our travels overseas where we affect the nations! We may be in Israel, our first trip of the year, by the time you receive this letter! We have another exciting year of travel! We appreciate all the ways that you stand with us to get the job done!
You can become one of our Partner’s by making a monthly donation of $30, $50, $100 or you can make a onetime tax-deductible gift by credit card on one of the links below for easy access.
Thank you!
