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Heidi Baker is mama to thousands of displaced, abused, and orphaned children who have been raised alongside her own two natural children, Elisha and Crystalyn. She is truly one who radiates the love, compassion, and joy of the Lord to all she meets. She calls herself a “laid down lover of God”—one whose life is wholly given over to the Lord, one whose life also inspires others to surrender themselves more completely to the love and service of Jesus. “Fully possessed by the Holy Spirit we become lovers and we do radical things because we know who we are.”
More of Jesus
Heidi Baker shuns the spotlight. When she speaks at conferences, those listening tend to see and hear more of Jesus and less of her. Her joy is truly to fade into the background and let King Jesus take over. People weep as the Spirit of God tenderizes their hearts with His compassion for the lost, the broken, and the hurting ones all over the world.
Astounding miracles are common to Heidi and Rolland. The blind receive their sight, the deaf hear, and children with AIDS are healed. Children traumatized by war, severe neglect and abuse, who are full of hate, who can barely speak or trust, have rapidly responded to their love. Today these same children can be found dancing and ministering with joy. The Bakers have seen God supernaturally multiply food to feed hungry orphans and crowds who gather for meetings. African pastors who have been trained by the Bakers have raised 60 people from the dead in Mozambique - so far.
The Bakers’ lives display the full meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection as they embrace the cross daily - a cross that includes suffering and sacrifice for the sake of releasing healing and reconciling the world to Jesus. It is a cross of compassion and a cross of love.
They spend countless hours soaking in the love of God and interceding for those to whom they minister. Heidi, as a result, has learned that worship is the key to releasing love. And their “intimacy with God provokes confidence that releases faith to stand in God’s presence and see Him as big as He is. They exemplify getting filled with God to give God away! They live in a place rife with the external evidence of demonic control—war, disease, famine, and corruption. Yet their internal dwelling is “…the place of refuge, a fortress, a secret place of worship and communion.
Stopping for One
Stopping for the one child on the street, one scavenging for food in the dump, or a girl languishing under forced prostitution are things that have always been the focus of Heidi’s ministry. In the early days after their arrival in Mozambique, they took in dozens of children, many of whom were extremely sick, dying, or angry to the point of violence. Some were healed. Others were loved into total emotional, physical, and spiritual health. Others experienced the love of God for a brief time until Heaven called them home.
Ever praying about what to do with the overwhelming needs of so many thousands of children and the growing ministry, Heidi received an amazing strategy from the Lord: “The Lord had showed me thousands and thousands of children, and I believe we are called to care for millions of children. At first I was absolutely overwhelmed with that vision, and I thought, “God how could that ever happen? How could we ever do that, just stopping for the one? I don’t know how we could ever, ever do that.”
I was praying, crying, fasting and asking God, and He said that He would bring a great revival, and in this revival He would touch the hearts of pastors, and they would become fathers of the fatherless. He said that was His answer for these children. They would be literally cared for by these Mozambican pastors. And then He told me that the widows would cook for them and feed them, that the widows would help farm and that we were to build indigenous buildings made of mud and straw, buildings that fit in with every church. We would see these children cared for in families.”
Keys to Fruitfulness
The Bakers say that one of the keys to becoming a successful ministry lies in relinquishing complete control to God, a concept the Western church needs to learn in order to sow effective ministry throughout the earth.
Another key to fruitfulness, the couple says, is intimacy with God: “Revival breaks out when people are desperate for God. When they become intimate with Him and lose sight of themselves, then anything can happen,” says Rolland Baker.
One of the most important keys to sustaining successful ministry, however, is tenacious faith to persevere through opposition. Heidi and Rolland Baker articulate the price they pay as they come against the demonic strongholds—a price that includes theft of ministry resources, sickness, malicious lies, and political backlash. They have faced guns and violence. Not one New Creation Power Broker on the mission field today leads an easy life coasting along in a bullet-proof bubble of the Holy Spirit, untouched by human suffering and demonic attack. They need the miraculous power of God to touch every life.
The Future is Jesus
As for how the Lord is using Heidi, she too is shaming the wise and making the world recognize that compassion releases the anointing of Jesus. As a laid down lover of God, anything is possible: “I’m so desperate to stay in this place of abandonment. From this place, nothing is impossible. I have only one message—passion and compassion. We’re passionate lovers of God, so that we become absolutely nothing. His love fills us. When it’s time to stand up, God stands up with us. We focus on His face - never on our ministry, anointing, or numbers. All I want to do is love God and care for His people. I find them in the garbage, under trees dying of AIDS. I’m just really simple. Jesus said, ‘Look into my eyes,’ and everything completely changed. His eyes are filled with love and passion and compassion. Jesus always stops for the dying man, the dying woman and the dying child. That’s all I know, passion and compassion. He calls me to love every single person I see every single day.”
“Just focus on His face. You will only make it to the end if you can focus on His face. Focus on His beautiful face. You can’t feed the poor, you can’t go to the street, you can’t see anything happen unless you see His face. One glance of His eyes, and we have all it takes to lie down. We’re not afraid to die.”
Laid Down Lovers
This indeed is compassion in action…
As she globe trots the nations spreading the fire of the Father’s great love, often you can hear Heidi devotionally singing a song that pierces your heart. “I want to be a laid down lover!” Want to join the song?
Dear Lord God Almighty,
Thank you for the strength and courage you have given those who are laid down lovers of you. Thank you for those who reach out to the poor - one child, one person at a time. Help us to become like those who seek to help and comfort. We need Your face before us to focus on and to draw power from—we need you to show us the way. I too want to be a laid down lover. In the precious name of Jesus, Amen.
For more information about Iris Ministries
and the ministry of Heidi and Roland Baker
visit: www.irismin.org/
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