Katherine Ruonala

Sid: Well I’m red hot for the Messiah and Jewish people throughout the world because we have distributed millions of books of… I had a dream and God said “If I would write a book with Jewish testimonies He would cause more Jewish people to come to know Him than anything I’ve ever done.” And it’s true and just a few weeks ago I got a phone call from a very ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman that read my book. And she said “God, I can’t deal with this either kill me or show me the truth” she actually used those words. And guess what she said “I don’t know if I was in my body or out of my body but all of a sudden I was in the presence of a man and His hands were pierced and His feet were pierced. And I looked at His eyes and He had so much love; I was totally undone and He told me His name was Jesus. And I’ll tell you I would follow this man anywhere.” Well my guest is Katherine Ruonala. She comes from Brisbane, Australia and Katherine and her husband pastor a church there. Now Katherine if I could turn her over to you; she knows nothing about the New Testament all she knows is Jesus is real. And by the way, I wish everyone that called themselves Christians would know that. But how would you mentor her in worship?

Katherine: Well I really believe that the Father is seeking worshipers who worship Him in Spirit and truth. And that to me is the Holy Spirit revealing the Messiah to us. God’s looking for worship as a genuine heart response to revelation. And revelation is something the Holy Spirit wants to provide for us every day. The Holy Ghost wants to show us more about the Father, more about the Messiah so that we can have a genuine heart response. Even as she was converted in finding Christ having the eyes of her understanding enlightened in the knowledge of Him the desire of God is that every one of us would daily grow in revelation knowledge of who He is. So that we can discover Him as we worship Him; we can look to Him with an expectation that the Holy Spirit is going to give us revelation to respond to. And whether that be in song or whether it just be in awe or amazement or squeal of delight if it’s a genuine heart response then that’s what worship is. As we read the scripture I encourage our people because we see many come to Christ have never read a Bible, don’t know the Lord’s Prayer or know very little about Christianity. I encourage them to read whole books of the Bible; read whole gospels; whole epistles and to enjoy it and ask the Holy Spirit to teach them as they read, reveal the Lord to them. And as they do that I believe that God is wanting us to pause every time we get revelation and release the worship to God. And that can look different for every person. I’m a very vocal responsive person and if I’ll get excited and squeal and sing and jump up and down with joy. My husband he’s quieter; he might just have a tear trickle down his face as the Lord reveals Himself to him; but as we genuinely allow the Lord to provoke us to a response of worship, that is pure worship. And the other thing is worship is not about us just telling God how good He is; I never understood that. But actually worship is lovers talk; it’s us looking to Him lifting up our hands like little children and Him scooping us up and responding to us. And as we look to Him He reveals Himself to us and as He reveals Himself to us we respond and it becomes a Divine embrace. And for me worship is the most glorious experience; it’s the thing that satisfies my soul more than anything else because it is union with God, it’s fellowship with Him. And to develop and cultivate a lifestyle of worship responding to the Spirit revealing the Messiah; revealing the Lord through the word of God is the most powerful way that we can develop a relationship with God.

Sid: Now in your book you talk about something that gave you a major breakthrough as you began to pray the prayer in Ephesians Chapter 3 verse 14 through 19 tell me what a difference that made in you.

Katherine: Oh, well I knew I needed to be rooted and grounded in the love of God. I was quite an insecure person, worried about what people were thinking. And so I knew… I heard a testimony someone shared at a meeting that they had prayed this apostolic prayer; they personalized it and prayed it for 3 month and had amazing encounters with God. And I thought I’m going to try that; so I wrote the prayer out; I actually recorded it and I learned; I memorized it. I personalized it for myself and I just began to pray. And I prayed really believing God would answer me because the scripture told me that whatever I asked according to the will of God I could have. And this was definitely the will of God for me; it was a prayer that Paul prayed for all the saints. So the will of God for me was truly to know His love. So I just began to pray this every day. “Lord, let me… I ask for the Spirit of God to strengthen me with might in my inner being that I may truly know Christ dwelling in my heart through faith. That I would be rooted and established in love; that I would know the love of God that passes knowledge. That I’d know the height and the depth and the width and the breath; Lord, help me to know the fullness of You love so that I might be filled to overflowing with you.” I prayed this every day and I tell you that my life began to be dramatically transformed. And God came in and as His love came in the fear went out. His perfect love truly cast out fear and I began to relate to people differently, I began to move in faith and joy and confidence, a holy confidence it’s not arrogant, but secure knowing that God is first for me; that He’s first with me and that His purpose for me and His desire and His promises are yes and amen. To me the most wonderful prayer and I love to pray the prayers of the Bible to pray the scripture. It’s one of my favorite things to encourage all our people and all those that I mentor to do this because as you pray the word of God in faith believing for it God delights to give us what we’re crying out for.

Sid: Tell me about Yummy Daddy time.

Katherine: (Laughing) Oh, I love to talk about knowing God; about enjoying His presence. And one of my interns one day called me on the phone and he quoted this phrase he said “Oh, hi Pastor Katherine have you had your yummy Daddy time yet?” And I laughed, I thought to myself “What a wonderful way to put it because sometimes people think about spending time with God as a chore or something that they should do and they get condemned thinking that they’re not doing it enough. But actually it’s a delight, it’s the thing we get to do; we get to spend time with God in a way that fills our appetite and our hunger for everything we need emotionally, physically, spiritually. God wants to satisfy us. I thought that should be a Christian greeting you know instead of saying “Have you spent time with God today?” When we talk about yummy Daddy time; it’s a funny beautiful way of reminding people that this is the luxury the joy that you get to spend time alone with Daddy God.

Sid: On tomorrow’s broadcast because you have spent time alone with Daddy God I believe that as you teach that words of knowledge that many people are going to be physically healed. But when you spend time with… when you spend yummy Daddy time what do you do?

Katherine:   You know I go… often I get outside of the house away from computers and phones and I’ll walk with Him. Or I’ll get alone in my room and just in the presence of God look to Him and begin to worship Him. Sometimes I’ll pray in the Spirit; praying in an unknown tongue knowing that He’s praying through me. I’ll talk to Him about all the things that I’m thinking about; all the things that are worrying and concerning me. And bring all my cares to Him. You know the Book of Philippians in chapter 4 says “Be anxious about nothing but in everything in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests known to God and the peace of God will guard your heart.” So I go through and I talk about everything that’s on my heart; everything that’s bothering me; everything I want to pray about and I feel I need to pray about. And then I like to take time to hear what’s on His heart. I like to listen to what He has to say; and then just to be aware of His presence and to walk with Him; be aware of His presence and walk with Him and adore Him. And let Him love me, it’s so precious, it’s so intimate and powerful. And it’s not our job or the religious exercise that we should do every day; it’s the greatest joy of the believer’s life to walk with fellowship of the Spirit.

Sid: Well our time has slipped away….

Content Protection by DMCA.com