My Beloved's Eyes

I want to live in the Holy Place!
I want to dwell where Fire consumes
Oh consume me, Heavenly Flame!
Come, ravish my heart
Come, possess me, body and soul
I am wrecked with love...for you, Jesus
Already I feel squelched and dry
Oh I need to see the fire in my Beloved's eyes!
Open my blind eyes to see your magnificent beauty
Shine upon my face with your glorious light
Chase away the night
Invade me to my core
Oh yes, pour out my very pores
I ask for even more
I know there must be more!
Have all of me
I am yours

Alive with Color

All aflutter,

My heart pounds as my pulse races!

What is this sensation that I am feeling?

Is it pure adrenaline?

Is it just dumb caffeine?

Or is it genuine excitement?

Oh yes, this feeling of excitement

Keeps building inside

Til I think I will flutter and fly

Even as the hawks or eagles high in the sky



Alive,

Surrounded by green living trees

I breathe in deeply

The scent of tantalizing goodness

Oh, it’s the aroma of earthy trees

It is the smell of living substance

Of living plants and flowers blooming,

Shooting up from beneath the dirt

And I smell the approaching rain

Even though there is nary a cloud in the sky


Awakened,

Oh, something has changed!

The wind is blowing out the old

New things are just about to spring

Yes! Let there be singing!

Let there be much rejoicing once again!

For what was lost

Has now been found

The frost is over for spring has arrived in full color

Even as tomorrow comes, look up, I say, look up to the sky!



May 21, 2010 by Betsy Graton

note: It truly feels as if a shift has taken place, and this is a completely new season we have entered. Everything is new and fresh, clean and bright today. Let us go forth boldly, without fear, for the Lord is near. Jesus is coming soon. He will not be long in coming. Come, Lord Jesus, come! We long for you!

Creative Expressions 1/15/10

Check out the awesome paintings from our first official "Creative Expressions" night. These evenings, hosted by Marie, Rebecca and myself, feature all kinds of art such as prophetic paintings, poetry, music, writings and other various expressions.

painting (c) 2010 Leah Marie Lundberg

painting (c) 2010 Marie Hughes

painting (c) 2010 Mandy Corbett

painting (c) 2010 Rachael Mae Kauffman

painting (c) 2010 Ryan Corbett

Love Came Down

something has been consuming my thought life.

and though this note may be very honest and open with my current state, it reveals the matter we are all faced with. i find myself asking for love that i, not a moment later, reject, and give my all in an exhale and breathe in my own will again. constantly this battle of wanting all that God has for me, the end all outcome - the wife, car, ministry, computer, friends. everything. reading more scriptures about how to obtain comfort.. and never crying out for him. and i realize, sometimes i still consider him just a magic genie, and since he loves me, i get my wish.

and on top of that, i act like i have it. like i have love. that "the love of Christ compels me" like in 2 Corinthians 5...ha.. i lost something... lets be real.

here is a reality of love in case someone else forgot:

if love compelled me, how could i laugh at a joke at someone's expense? if love was burning in me, how could i laugh at retards or think someone's death was awesome, no matter who it was? how could i avoid homeless people and drunks, homosexuals and perverts? if i really had compassion, how could i hear about sickness in someone's body and shrug, and say, "oh that sucks"...

sometimes i think animal rights activists care more about some spiritless animal than i do a human being, that somehow it is hard to love one another like something out there doesn't want us to.. hmm

i have been desensitized.

the point of this is that for me alone, it is simply impossible to live at this standard. this is why what i just said, the love, the compassion, is an outcome of an encounter with love. and from experience, i know that this kind of compassion is obtainable, and only from an encounter with true love.

do you know, if we all simply took free this gift of love, and became it, let it compel us. what would happen? if to live was really Christ, and to die was our ultimate gain?

i have been set down a course of selfishness, even though i knew the whole time that i felt the most free when i was taken over by love. and i've sat around like some of you saying, "but i don't feel that way, i don't care about people like that, that's just not me." well, seek love. and that will change. transform into that. of course it's uncomfortable to try to give someone something you don't have!

so the challenge:

if you hate life, seek God.
if you're bored, ask the Holy Spirit to baptize you in fire.
if you're being attacked, cry out for his presence.
if you have no one to talk to, talk to him. build a relationship. even if you feel dumb cause it looks like your talking to your self, be real. and real is what he'll give you.

i'm sick of living without love. anything else you're living for.. is nothing without it. let that sink in... NOTHING!!! blank page. void. you were lungs that forgot to inhale. there is no lasting affect.

the point of this isn't to condemn anyone, even myself. this is where i find myself, at a loss of love, and if God is love....that's a problem. cause if he really did own my life, i would easily love. easy math, right?

so this is just to get you asking if there's something missing.

God, i ask for an encounter, that the reader would feel your love right now in a thick tangible way, that they would be thrust into a revelation of love.

love actually can save this world.. if we let it. will this be the generation?...

Written by Ben Graton 2/4/2010

editor's notes:

This is the writing that propelled me to start this blogsite. Ben is my brother and a radical fiery lover of Jesus. He's a voice for the voiceless generation, crying out for justice and freedom for the oppressed. He currently resides in Albany, OR, where he leads worship, singing and playing the guitar (and other various instruments) and is involved in the youth ministry at Vineyard Christian Fellowship.

The Idea Behind the Idea

February 7, 2010

A little background:

This idea for a place to share writings and artwork has long been on my heart. Several years ago, my sisters and I talked about a starting up a magazine of some kind and getting other people to contribute articles and such. Recently, well, really this whole past year, the Lord has been speaking to me so much about the power of music, the visual arts, and dance - all the ways of creativity express so much of his heart. Yes, many of them have become tainted and perverted, glorifying evil instead bringing glory to God, but I believe that was never what they were intended to become. I think that the purpose for every type of creativity and art, every kind of invention, drama, writing or a new discovery, is to bring glory to God and reveal his powerful love on the earth, that we may see him and know him.

For many, many years, the church has not known what to do with these various expressions, thus the arts were not given any place within the structure of the church. The arts have not been encouraged, and the artists themselves have been at a loss to know what to do with themselves. But God is restoring what has been lost. He's bringing back beauty to the church. And it will come in many ways that might surprise you. For, yes, the arts will return to the earth again in such a beautiful wave, bringing glory to God and revealing the beauty of heaven to a lost, broken, hurting generation, who do not know what true beauty even looks like.

The reason behind the name:

The name Inspire Revival 33 came out of a place of direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I really just thought of it out of the blue, as I was thinking about a writing my brother wrote and longing for a place to post it so that all believers would be encouraged and inspired. To me, the name is exactly what I long for - I want people to be inspired, to come fully alive, to shine with the glory of God here upon the earth. There's so much joy we haven't even begun to tap into yet. I don't know about you, but I don't want to wait until I die and go to heaven to experience the joy and the glorious beauty found in the presence of God. I long for the true artists, who are radical lovers of Jesus, to come forth and, under direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reveal the beauty of God in such a way that revival will break out. Imagine what would happen when someone who has brain cancer just looks at a prophetic painting, filled with such light and beauty, and is completely healed by the power of God, without anyone even praying for him or her. (This really actually happened in Redding. Bill Johnson shared the testimony about it.)

The number 33 comes from Jeremiah 33, which is a chapter all about the promise of restoration. The Lord has been speaking to me about restoring the arts through this chapter, and I can't wait to dig even deeper into it. Verse 22 has especially been highlighted to me, it says:

"I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore."

That is pretty much my heart cry. It was so encouraging to read that God is going to do this. His word won't return void. He does have people set apart to be artists, musicians, psalmists, painters, poets, scribes, warriors, dancers - those who will minister before him, who solely minister to him first and foremost. That is what I long to do above all else. And from that place of intimacy with the Lord and abiding in his love, I want to reveal the beauty of God to those all around me, especially to the lost. I want to write music that will release such a sound upon the earth that has never been heard before. I want to tread new ground and take new territory. I want encourage and inspire my friends, my fellow artists, to go ever deeper into the river of God, all the while splashing water all over the world with the colors and radiance of heaven, that all might know that Jesus is alive and coming back for a glorious bride.

"Sea of Adventure" poem (c) 2009 Betsy Graton
Painting (c) 2009 Julianna Graton, Rachel Humbles and Jolene Chang

Spark of Inspiration

Inspire revival
With the words we speak
Water the souls
Like a garden hose
Watering the seeds
Planted in the soil
See the Life
That will spring
From the very words we sing
Oh yes, this is what we bring
We will be burning ones
Who add fire to this revival
Let our words burn with this
Radiant, all-consuming fire

Inspire praise
To the Ancient of Days
By the words we write
Day and night
Pour forth praise
Let it come through words
Written upon a page
Or paint splashed upon a canvas
Or music lined upon a staff
Let it come
Even through our feet
As we begin to preach
Through the streets
With our dance

Let it begin in the Arts
Let it come with an expression
Let it come with a sound
Let it be revealed through color,
Through photographs, through drawings,
Through graph design
O God, let the fires of revival burn
Through the Arts
Let us burn with the passionate
Love of your heart

Written by Betsy Graton 2/5/2010
Painting (c) Julianna Graton & Rebecca Turner 12/31/2009

(painted at our OneDay event of extended prayer and worship on New Year's Eve @ Everyday Church in Arroyo Grande, CA)