"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter---when you see the naked to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard..."
-Isaiah 58
"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you: all assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will swell with joy; the wealth o the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come."
-Isaiah 60:1-5
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has set me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion---to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair..."
-Isaiah 61
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
-Luke 4:18-19
"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how He went around doing good and healing al who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him."
-Acts 10:38
6 years ago, the Spirit spoke to me out of Isaiah 61. It became my life chapter. I believe will all of my heart that each and every one of us are called to live Isaiah 61, but the Lord put such a stirring in my heart for this chapter and I did not really know why at the time. I now am seeing Him unfold so many things that confirm why this chapter is my life calling.
Last winter I met a wonderful woman of God named Val Norton. She introduced me to what's called the House of Hope. I had first seen the House of Hope online when I accepted the ministry as a friend on myspace. I did not think very much of it and helping abused teens was not something I thought would ever become a huge part of my life. I had already been helping in the youth group at church for several years and it just seemed like a lot was very "surfacy." I was struggling as a single girl, just trying to make it in life and feeling so trapped myself. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here on my blog, but I just want to say that I went through hell for a while. I was not able to reach out because I was so oppressed myself by years and years of pain.
This past winter I cried out to the Lord for help. I was so desperate I didn't want to live anymore. He heard my cry and drew me out of deep waters and it has been an upward climb since then. Although I would like to share every detail on here--- #1 It would be a very long blog and #2 it's just to personal to share. What I do want to say that I was very oppressed as in Acts 10:38 and I have received a lot of deliverance and am continuing to heal.
It has been amazing because through all of the pain, the Lord is bringing such beauty and really launching me into my destiny and purpose for my life----Isaiah 61 and now also Isaiah 58. Out of my pain and healing, I am able to pour out to teens the love of Christ and the Lord is giving them "...beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair..."
So what IS the House of Hope? The House of Hope is a nationwide organization founded in Orlando, FL, and spreads throughout the whole U.S. These House of Hope(s) are actual homes that house up to 8 teens. These teens live in these homes full time, receive 24/7 attention and care, receive counseling, hook in with a healthy local churches youth group and some House of Hope(s) even have a boarding school. The program lasts from 6 months to a year or longer (depending on the needs of the teen). There are also weekly parent meetings which the parents are required to attend. House of Hope is about joining families together and bringing not only healing to the teen but to whole family. Our House of Hope will be under the umbrella of my local church "Radiant Church." For more information, you can go to our website at: www.swmihoh.org
Greater things are yet to come. Greater are still to be done in this city! And not only in this city, but also in this region!
God is setting His people free and healing His people.
Stay tuned for more about the House of Hope in the future... =)
Friday, October 24, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
The Cry for Spiritual Fathers & Mothers
Inside of every woman,, there is a little girl who cries out, "Look at me, daddy! Look what I made! Look what I can show you!" We joke around about princesses and the beauty being rescued by her prince. I'm not trying to sound like any John or Staci Eldridge book, but it's a harsh reality that cloaks our generation. For goodness sakes, where are the fathers? Where are the "daddy's"? A child looks at their father as a reflection of their heavenly father instinctively from birth. Dad's are the heroes! But what if dad has left? He is gone? Did God leave, too? What if dad is there but is distant? Is that how God is? What if there was abuse either done by "daddy" or by another? If by another, where was daddy? Where was God? Where IS God? Our generation is growing up fatherless, either physically, mentally, emotionally or all of the above. What is happening in our generation? Is there not a lack of love? Why are the bodies of so many young girls wasting away, teeth rotting out and the unfathomable scars of the slicing and cutting to distract from the pain of the human heart. Why are so many oppressed? God, please set the captives free! Bring us the spiritual fathers and mothers for this generation that are so desperately needed. Stop the cutting, the eating disorders, the suicide, the homosexual lifestyle, the violence and rage of this generation. Bring the love of the FATHER to the hearts of the children. Take away the guilt and shame that keeps these things so hidden, God. Things that lurk in darkness for years. The lies that linger and whisper death every day. Call us to yourself. Teach us how to love.
Father, we call on Your Name. Father... our Father...
Help us, God.
Father, we call on Your Name. Father... our Father...
Help us, God.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Arise!
As I reflect back, I am so thankful that the Lord did not keep me in my former state. My life has been shaken in ways I can't explain and He is making all things new. This past year, I felt in my spirit that a shifting is going to take place. I'm overwhelmed at the confirmations over and over of each area of my life. It's like God is saying, "Yes, this is confirming that from many years ago & this is confirming this other thing over here." There's a penetrating force of attack and as the body of Christ we should not unaware of the devil's schemes. But we are ARISING and SHINING as radiant lights in the midst of the abyss of a hellish darkness in this world that the prince of the power of the air roams about in. WE are overcoming by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. We must not get caught up in offense, in petty arguements in comparison and jealousy, in pride or fear. We must pray for our leaders and love one another as Christ has loved us. We must have childlike faith to believe that God is going to do the impossible. We must allow the Father to come heal the brokenhearted and not pretend like we are not as we are. We are broken, but He will fix us. And He will heal us as we reach out in His power to bring healing to others. We must not wallow in self-pity and self-absorbence. Everything matters. Lives are at stake for the Kingdom. We will gather and pray and fast and worship and seek HIM until He abides in this region. And we will not stop until every power of darkness and hellish force of evil runs out of this region. The Name of JESUS will be lifted high and He will reign in every area---amongst the greatest and the least of these. We will be rich in every way and His Kingdom will reign from everlasting to everlasting through every day, ordinary people like us.
Isaiah 58 *Isaiah 60 * Isaiah 61 * Luke 4
Isaiah 58 *Isaiah 60 * Isaiah 61 * Luke 4
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
God of this City
WOW! Sunday's message was a huge milestone in my life! Pastor Lee talked about the book of Nehemiah (encourage you to read the whole book) and as Nehemiah rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, so are we to rebuild the walls of our city. The title of the message was called, "God of this City."
Many years ago, my brother's best friend, Richee Parks, used to hold discipleship classes in an old, run down school building where I grew up. Richee came from New Mexico and spent 10 months in the town that I grew up in. He has been very influential in my life including the fact that he was Kurt's first and closest (still yet closest) friend right after he completely turned his life around. I was probably 15 or 16 when I met Richee. He had such a passion to see change in my city. Every week, he would hold the discipleship classes and I would learn so much. A lot about thankfulness. We would always start out with intense worship and then he would go into teaching. Many times as a teenager, I thought that he was crazy, but I was hungry for God and I wanted ALL of Him. Every Friday, Kurt, Richee, me & later Richee's wife Gracie would meet in a church and cry out to God for change in our city. Hours and hours were spent in prayer. Personally, I would go home from school and lay on my floor and bawl and bawl for my classmates. I started a prayer group in junior high and then later a bible study at SEVEN A.M. in my high school. I had such a low self-image of myself that a lot of times that got in the way. I felt so alone but yet I was so hungry for God. Once I was so desperate I went on a juice fast for 10 days crying out for change in my city. I would map out streets and go on my own prayer walks. I would pray over the strongholds of Masonry, Science Church and other places where I felt there to be more darkness. Once the Holy Spirit told me to march around my school 7 times and pray over it. Another time the Holy Spirit tugged my heart to share with my principal the heart that I had for my school and the change that God wanted to do there. He was convicted as I poured out my heart for the lost in my school. I had such favor and I was able to do a lot of things that the other kids couldn't. I often felt alone, though. One of my friends committed suicide and that was very hard. I remember talking on the phone with Gracie one night. All she said was, "It's not your fault" and miraculously all the guilt and condemnation was gone. The pain was still there, but I no longer blamed it on myself.
One day, I remembered Richee encouraging us to read Nehemiah. I started reading it and couldn't stop. Richee often referred to Nehemiah when rebuilding the walls of our city. Richee is crazy for Jesus and I love him and Gracie so much. Nehemiah and Esther have been on my heart for a long time.
After leaving my hometown for good at the end of 2004, I felt very discouraged. My expectation level was that God was going to rock my city and that I would see it before my very eyes. A lot of seeds were planted, a lot of pain. I don't even know if it was godly sorrow or worldy sorrow, honestly, at times. I felt like God didn't hear. But He DID.
New hope has risen in me. Maybe I was trying to take on strongholds and principalities as a single person sometimes. Yes, God can do anything at any time, but He wants to work with us as a body. He has brought me to no better of a local body than Radiant Church. I'm so thankful and very overwhelmed in a good way at everything that He is doing. Sometimes it seems too good to be true. There were so many years of no fruit, but now I know that that is going to change. It's not just a new season that we are going into; it's going to be a different world. Hell is mad as ____ (trying to make a strong point), but Kalamazoo, Battle Creek & the surrounding areas will be known as a region where the Name of Jesus is lifted high!
Please be praying for our church leadership in this exciting and intense time. It's time to take Jesus out of the four walls of the church and let everything be shaken that can possibly be shaken.
Many years ago, my brother's best friend, Richee Parks, used to hold discipleship classes in an old, run down school building where I grew up. Richee came from New Mexico and spent 10 months in the town that I grew up in. He has been very influential in my life including the fact that he was Kurt's first and closest (still yet closest) friend right after he completely turned his life around. I was probably 15 or 16 when I met Richee. He had such a passion to see change in my city. Every week, he would hold the discipleship classes and I would learn so much. A lot about thankfulness. We would always start out with intense worship and then he would go into teaching. Many times as a teenager, I thought that he was crazy, but I was hungry for God and I wanted ALL of Him. Every Friday, Kurt, Richee, me & later Richee's wife Gracie would meet in a church and cry out to God for change in our city. Hours and hours were spent in prayer. Personally, I would go home from school and lay on my floor and bawl and bawl for my classmates. I started a prayer group in junior high and then later a bible study at SEVEN A.M. in my high school. I had such a low self-image of myself that a lot of times that got in the way. I felt so alone but yet I was so hungry for God. Once I was so desperate I went on a juice fast for 10 days crying out for change in my city. I would map out streets and go on my own prayer walks. I would pray over the strongholds of Masonry, Science Church and other places where I felt there to be more darkness. Once the Holy Spirit told me to march around my school 7 times and pray over it. Another time the Holy Spirit tugged my heart to share with my principal the heart that I had for my school and the change that God wanted to do there. He was convicted as I poured out my heart for the lost in my school. I had such favor and I was able to do a lot of things that the other kids couldn't. I often felt alone, though. One of my friends committed suicide and that was very hard. I remember talking on the phone with Gracie one night. All she said was, "It's not your fault" and miraculously all the guilt and condemnation was gone. The pain was still there, but I no longer blamed it on myself.
One day, I remembered Richee encouraging us to read Nehemiah. I started reading it and couldn't stop. Richee often referred to Nehemiah when rebuilding the walls of our city. Richee is crazy for Jesus and I love him and Gracie so much. Nehemiah and Esther have been on my heart for a long time.
After leaving my hometown for good at the end of 2004, I felt very discouraged. My expectation level was that God was going to rock my city and that I would see it before my very eyes. A lot of seeds were planted, a lot of pain. I don't even know if it was godly sorrow or worldy sorrow, honestly, at times. I felt like God didn't hear. But He DID.
New hope has risen in me. Maybe I was trying to take on strongholds and principalities as a single person sometimes. Yes, God can do anything at any time, but He wants to work with us as a body. He has brought me to no better of a local body than Radiant Church. I'm so thankful and very overwhelmed in a good way at everything that He is doing. Sometimes it seems too good to be true. There were so many years of no fruit, but now I know that that is going to change. It's not just a new season that we are going into; it's going to be a different world. Hell is mad as ____ (trying to make a strong point), but Kalamazoo, Battle Creek & the surrounding areas will be known as a region where the Name of Jesus is lifted high!
Please be praying for our church leadership in this exciting and intense time. It's time to take Jesus out of the four walls of the church and let everything be shaken that can possibly be shaken.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Do you lose yourself in marriage?
My biggest fear is losing myself in marriage. Me marrying someone and not really becoming everything that God desired for my life. Or marrying somone who walks in the same patterns of what I have seen and am twistedly comfortable with. It's been me and Jesus for so long that sometimes it is hard to imagine sharing myself with someone else other than Him alone. I fear no choices, no life anymore. I have been thinking more so about marriage since my brother just recently was married a couple of weeks ago. All the thoughts of, "What if I marry the wrong person?" "What if I marry someone and they end up being a completely different person after I marry them and then I'm stuck?" "What if I marry into abuse?" "Would I be safe to express myself and be able to choose as an individual and voice my opinion and it actually matter?" "What about all the passions of my heart? Will they have to die to the one I am marrying?" All of these are fear-based thoughts, not faith-based. There will always be risk in any relationship. That is life and that is part of loving. I would pray that the Holy Spirit would knock me up side the head if I was making a life-altering, non-reversible bad choice, but unfortunately He doesn't work like that. I'm glad that He doesn't, but sometimes with things like this, I wish He would give us a whack if we were making a regretful decision. All I know is to stay as close to Jesus as I know how and listen to the Holy Spirit and not be resistant to Him. Marriage seems like a scary thing. It's like looking into a dark body of water and not being able to see what's on the bottom. Sometimes I think that I don't trust myself enough to make the right decision. This is freaking the rest of your life spent with someone as one flesh! For a long, long time! 60/70 years! This is definitely a big deal. I want to be as close to Jesus as I can. Nothing is 100% but Him, but we were made for relationship, made for intimacy. That is why Eve was created out of Adam's rib. Fellowship, companionship, intimacy. So... "Do you lose yourself in marriage?" Overall, I believe that if you are as close to Jesus as you know how to be that He will bring exactly what you need and instead of losing yourself, you will die to the flesh, but yet flourish as one flesh and life will become so much more as one than as two individuals. You will bring each other out in one another. No reserves. No regrets. You will find much more than what you thought life could be as a single person. But Jesus always is the center through it all. When you find Him, you cannot lose yourself, because it is found in HIM.
Bitter Root Judgements & Bitter Root Expectations
Recently, I have learned from a very wonderful and wise woman, Val Norton, about bitter root judgements and bitter root expectations. You can forgive someone but still have a bitter root of judgement or expectation against them. Val walked us through this past weekend, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal any bitter roots of judgement of expectation that we had towards a person or people. I found out that I had people who I had been bitterly judging that I needed to let go of. It is one thing to forgive, I learned, but if you are continuing to judge, there is still a root of bitterness there. For example in a bitter root judgement, someone could think, "This person is manipulative and controlling and domineering." That may be true of them, but as we judge that person and always see them in that light, we will forever be bitter about it. A generalization of a bitter root judgement would be, "He is domineering, controlling & manipulative; therefore, every man is that same way." A bitter root expectation is, "She always does this. Why wouldn't she do this? This is what always happens." You expect someone to act a certain way; therefore, it's a self-fufilling prophecy of what you always expect. All these things may be true, but when we are judging with a heart of bitterness, we are not completely free from the offense, the unforgiveness. We are still holding them captive when it's really us who are the captive. Like Isaiah 61 talks about, "releasing from prison those who are bound." Captive to bitter root judgements and captive to sin in general. I want to encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you if there are any bitter root judgements or expectations towards a person or people in your life. It will hinder every area of your life. Get rid of the sin that so easily ensnares and run to Jesus!
What, NO SUGAR?!?
Wow, it has been almost a month since I've last blogged. Partly because I've been busy and partly because a lot of things that the Lord has been speaking to me about have been too personal to blog. Areas of such tenderness that it's hard to even go there myself let alone blog about. Yet He is so gentle, loving & patient and gives us what we can handle as we cleave to Him.
This past year my whole world has been rocked and God is making all things new. Not just new AGAIN... but a whole NEW NEWNESS.
In February, I went and had some tests done and they said that I have candida. Everyone is supposed to have a certain amount of candida (yeast) in their body, but an overgrowth can be very dangerous for your organs. Candida is caused from a high sugar diet, high stress over a long period of time, an over abundance of antibiotics and/or steriods or all of the above. Basically, your organs get sick because of an overgrowth of yeast in your body that pours into the bloodstream as poison/toxins. I had a very unhealthy eating regime and high stress in my life for a long period of time which led to the candida. I became very toxic because of stress, toxic emotions, extremely high sugar diet & not a lot of nutritious food at all. I was instructed to take natural pills and change my diet. Well... I am stubborn, so I did take the pills but I didn't exactly change my diet. I was NOT going to give up my numbing "drug" aka sugar so easily! The candida wreaked havoc on my body (which I won't go into---you can just google candida for symptoms) and something needed to change. I have decided to completely go off sugar and white flour for life and off all bread (even natural whole grain), dairy and fermented things for at least 3 months. I have not been perfect and I have to cheat at times with dairy & fermented things, but sugar is out of the question for me as it was affecting my central nervous system and causing all kinds of problems. There is a natural subsitute called Stevia that I love to use and is so much better for you and tastes better than sugar. I was severely addicted to sugar as would someone who was addicted to illegal drugs. This is just the tip of the iceburg of what God has been doing in my life. If I were to recall this past year, I think that I could write a book on it. There is no way that any of what is going on could happen without the Lord. He is so good.
I am at a very scary yet exciting time in my life. A lot of things are shifting and changing at what seems lightning speed! God doesn't call us to live lives of comfort. He wants His perfect will to be lived out in our lives. The past couple of days I have been saying to the Lord, "Convict me. Come and have Your way. I surrender. I want ALL of You. Whatever that looks like, I want it ALL." In the midst of so many options, I choose HIM. Even Him SHARING me in intimacy. That brings a whole new scary yet mysterious and profound perspective and shift to life. I am not my own. I was bought with a price, so I honor God will all that I am and all that I have to give. I give Him my heart, soul, mind & strength. My identity is found in Who HE is.
So, right now I am detoxing and the first 2 weeks were like hell with terrible cravings and irritability. I am still detoxing and my candida levels are, I believe, starting to level out. My ears have been popping since last May, so I am praying as I am detoxing, that my ears will also "detox" of candida. Please pray that the popping will cease as it's hard to describe the frusteration of day after day feeling like you are on an airplane and the pressures rises and your ears begin to pop. Yet with this, there is no suringe to clean them out with or gum to chew to make the popping go away.
I am so thankful and I rejoice for everything that God has done and is doing and orchestrating at this very moment! I didn't know that life could be so different. I am thankful for my pastor, spiritual leader and covering--Pastor Lee; my youth pastor, spiritual covering, friend & constant encouragement and guider who has helped me in some of my darkest times--Pastor Jon; my mentor/motherly figure--Valerie Norton; my friend who has helped me when I was helpless, confused and afraid and also in some of my darkest times--Jes Jones. Also, I am thankful for Bill Johnson as I feel as though he has been a father figure to me. I am thankful for my friend, Jered, who has taught me that men are not domineering, controlling and manipulative... or scary. I have learned so much already about bitter root judgements, but that will be for another blog. Lastly, I am thankful for my family and my new sister, Abbey Johnson. =)
This blog was supposed to be about sugar, but I have a way of going in all directions. I just like to type what's on my heart to a certain extent.
I never want to lose my identity in someone else, but that is also for another blog...wow, they are adding up! =)
This past year my whole world has been rocked and God is making all things new. Not just new AGAIN... but a whole NEW NEWNESS.
In February, I went and had some tests done and they said that I have candida. Everyone is supposed to have a certain amount of candida (yeast) in their body, but an overgrowth can be very dangerous for your organs. Candida is caused from a high sugar diet, high stress over a long period of time, an over abundance of antibiotics and/or steriods or all of the above. Basically, your organs get sick because of an overgrowth of yeast in your body that pours into the bloodstream as poison/toxins. I had a very unhealthy eating regime and high stress in my life for a long period of time which led to the candida. I became very toxic because of stress, toxic emotions, extremely high sugar diet & not a lot of nutritious food at all. I was instructed to take natural pills and change my diet. Well... I am stubborn, so I did take the pills but I didn't exactly change my diet. I was NOT going to give up my numbing "drug" aka sugar so easily! The candida wreaked havoc on my body (which I won't go into---you can just google candida for symptoms) and something needed to change. I have decided to completely go off sugar and white flour for life and off all bread (even natural whole grain), dairy and fermented things for at least 3 months. I have not been perfect and I have to cheat at times with dairy & fermented things, but sugar is out of the question for me as it was affecting my central nervous system and causing all kinds of problems. There is a natural subsitute called Stevia that I love to use and is so much better for you and tastes better than sugar. I was severely addicted to sugar as would someone who was addicted to illegal drugs. This is just the tip of the iceburg of what God has been doing in my life. If I were to recall this past year, I think that I could write a book on it. There is no way that any of what is going on could happen without the Lord. He is so good.
I am at a very scary yet exciting time in my life. A lot of things are shifting and changing at what seems lightning speed! God doesn't call us to live lives of comfort. He wants His perfect will to be lived out in our lives. The past couple of days I have been saying to the Lord, "Convict me. Come and have Your way. I surrender. I want ALL of You. Whatever that looks like, I want it ALL." In the midst of so many options, I choose HIM. Even Him SHARING me in intimacy. That brings a whole new scary yet mysterious and profound perspective and shift to life. I am not my own. I was bought with a price, so I honor God will all that I am and all that I have to give. I give Him my heart, soul, mind & strength. My identity is found in Who HE is.
So, right now I am detoxing and the first 2 weeks were like hell with terrible cravings and irritability. I am still detoxing and my candida levels are, I believe, starting to level out. My ears have been popping since last May, so I am praying as I am detoxing, that my ears will also "detox" of candida. Please pray that the popping will cease as it's hard to describe the frusteration of day after day feeling like you are on an airplane and the pressures rises and your ears begin to pop. Yet with this, there is no suringe to clean them out with or gum to chew to make the popping go away.
I am so thankful and I rejoice for everything that God has done and is doing and orchestrating at this very moment! I didn't know that life could be so different. I am thankful for my pastor, spiritual leader and covering--Pastor Lee; my youth pastor, spiritual covering, friend & constant encouragement and guider who has helped me in some of my darkest times--Pastor Jon; my mentor/motherly figure--Valerie Norton; my friend who has helped me when I was helpless, confused and afraid and also in some of my darkest times--Jes Jones. Also, I am thankful for Bill Johnson as I feel as though he has been a father figure to me. I am thankful for my friend, Jered, who has taught me that men are not domineering, controlling and manipulative... or scary. I have learned so much already about bitter root judgements, but that will be for another blog. Lastly, I am thankful for my family and my new sister, Abbey Johnson. =)
This blog was supposed to be about sugar, but I have a way of going in all directions. I just like to type what's on my heart to a certain extent.
I never want to lose my identity in someone else, but that is also for another blog...wow, they are adding up! =)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Boundaries
WOW! This is probably the shortest blog that I have ever written, but I couldn't help share about this book that I've been reading called, "Boundaries" by: Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Townsend. It is the best book I have ever read and I'm only to chapter 5! This book is literally revolutionizing the way that I think and I am discovering so many new things that put a lot of puzzle pieces together. Anyway, this book is awesome and if you don't own it, I encourage you to buy it!
"Boundaries" by: Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Towsend
"Boundaries" by: Dr. Henry Cloud & Dr. John Towsend
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Birthing His Kingdom
IN US
"...Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" (Luke 1:28b)
There's favor that only comes from God. Mary was called "highly favored one." She was blessed among women. We are spiritually pregnant with promise and we will give birth in the spirit to all that the Lord desires when we yield to Him and hear His voice. We are highly favored of the Lord. Mary didn't deserve to carry our Savior. None of us would have. And none of us deserve salvation and the promise of the Holy Spirit. None of us deserve to be carrying inside of us what HE has placed there. We are carriers of His glory. We HOUSE the glory of the Lord! Prepare yourself to give birth to what He has promised!
THROUGH US
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, TO PROCLAIM THE YEAR OF THE LORD'S FAVOR AND THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion---to bestow beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Aliens will shephered your flocks; foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs..." (Isaiah 61:1-7)
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord came upon Jesus when He was on this earth and He preached the gospel and healed many people. We are empowered to do greater works than what Jesus did! The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us! (Romans 8:10-12) (John 14:12)(Acts 1:8)
“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls." (Joel 2:28-32)
These are the last days. God is pouring out His Holy Spirit and empowering His people to further His Kingdom. The promise IS His Kingdom. His Kingdom is advancing on this earth and we are called to further it until He returns! His Kingdom is now and we are also impregnated with the promise of furthering it until His return on the earth and we enter the Kingdom of heaven. Everyone has their own "pregnancy" but it is part of a WHOLE BODY, the body of Christ, with ONE purpose. And when we birth it, we become impregnated again! Always growing, always changing... new seasons, winds of change, different stories but the same nature---His Kingdom. The year of the Lord's favor and the day of His wrath is coming upon His enemies. They will be crushed once and for all, never to return...NEVER TO RETURN.
All nations are reaching for God and He is returning and answering their cries. He has said in Hosea, "Return to me"!! (Hosea 6:1-3) Let us return to the Lord today and seek His face. His hand is not too short to deliver and to heal. Birthing is coming! His Kingdom is HERE and is COMING!
We are blessed and highly favored of the Lord!
"...Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!" (Luke 1:28b)
There's favor that only comes from God. Mary was called "highly favored one." She was blessed among women. We are spiritually pregnant with promise and we will give birth in the spirit to all that the Lord desires when we yield to Him and hear His voice. We are highly favored of the Lord. Mary didn't deserve to carry our Savior. None of us would have. And none of us deserve salvation and the promise of the Holy Spirit. None of us deserve to be carrying inside of us what HE has placed there. We are carriers of His glory. We HOUSE the glory of the Lord! Prepare yourself to give birth to what He has promised!
THROUGH US
"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, TO PROCLAIM THE YEAR OF THE LORD'S FAVOR AND THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion---to bestow beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. Aliens will shephered your flocks; foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards. And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of nations, and in their riches you will boast. Instead of their shame my people will receive a double portion in their land, and everlasting joy will be theirs..." (Isaiah 61:1-7)
The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord came upon Jesus when He was on this earth and He preached the gospel and healed many people. We are empowered to do greater works than what Jesus did! The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us! (Romans 8:10-12) (John 14:12)(Acts 1:8)
“And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the remnant whom the LORD calls." (Joel 2:28-32)
These are the last days. God is pouring out His Holy Spirit and empowering His people to further His Kingdom. The promise IS His Kingdom. His Kingdom is advancing on this earth and we are called to further it until He returns! His Kingdom is now and we are also impregnated with the promise of furthering it until His return on the earth and we enter the Kingdom of heaven. Everyone has their own "pregnancy" but it is part of a WHOLE BODY, the body of Christ, with ONE purpose. And when we birth it, we become impregnated again! Always growing, always changing... new seasons, winds of change, different stories but the same nature---His Kingdom. The year of the Lord's favor and the day of His wrath is coming upon His enemies. They will be crushed once and for all, never to return...NEVER TO RETURN.
All nations are reaching for God and He is returning and answering their cries. He has said in Hosea, "Return to me"!! (Hosea 6:1-3) Let us return to the Lord today and seek His face. His hand is not too short to deliver and to heal. Birthing is coming! His Kingdom is HERE and is COMING!
We are blessed and highly favored of the Lord!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Border of Prayer
I find myself having to sift through what I would like to write about lately. God has been doing so much that sometimes it's overwhelming in a wonderful way. He has brought me to fertile ground and yet the battle continues (because we are in this world and it's normal).
I'm finding out that I thought I had a grasp on the love of God as much as I have been experiencing it and learning to receive it, but really I don't know it all. Not even close. The depths of His love are unfathomable and it seems that everything in life for me comes back to the love of God and what I believe to be true about God (the lens through which I see Him).
Weekly, we have been gathering at church and praying, reading the Word and worshipping. last week, the Lord gave me a picture of a border that began in the prayer room and started to expand around the church, then around the city and then the region and beyond. It was a border of prayer. When we think of a border, sometimes we can get a picture of being restrained to a certain area and a sense of restriction, not freedom. But I believe that the border is one of protection against the enemy, one of marking "THIS CITY BELONGS TO THE LORD." It is marked by our Commander in Chief, JESUS CHRIST. No longer will this place be a place where the enemy can lay stake or camp. Some areas the enemy has been for a long time. He has been comfortable and has even built a castle of strongholds. NO MORE!!! We are claiming Kalamazoo and the region for Christ. We say it belongs to Him and that is all there is to it. None other than Christ Jesus, the KING OF KINGS taking rulership over our city.
I am reminded of 2 visions and another picture that the Lord had given me for this area. The first one is a picture of a straight line of fire going from Florida up here to Michigan. I believe that it's not just a revival that's going on in Florida. I believe that in time, this will become the norm. People are getting more and more desperate for spiritual things (even if it isn't the right spirit). A flame of fire that won't go out. A burning, blazing fire---- the wrath of God is coming to take stake on the enemy and to rescue the prisoners, to set the captives free! (Isaiah 61) Enough is enough! The jealous King is coming to rescue sinners from damnation, to encounter His beloved bride, THE Church.
The two visions that I received was a few months back. I was at work at the copier machine and I felt like I was back in Kansas City at the International House of Prayer and I was surrounded by young adults praying, worshipping and fasting. I felt as though I was actually there again. (I had gone to this exact conference in Kansas City a couple of years ago). The next vision was of the same picture but I was at the K-wings Stadium in Kalamazoo!!! It was like God was reminding me of what had happened and what was going to take place!!!
By praying the Word and communicating with God corporately, we are putting feet to what God is doing. None of us are called to live as islands. We are called to go into our closet and close the door and seek our Father in secret, but also to gather with other believers and pray in His Kingdom! It's exciting because what God is doing isn't just for a select few, but it is for everyone who will believe and receive and move into it!
There is a harvest out there. I am so excited for the teens that are coming and gathering and crying out to God every week at church. I felt a strong sense of corporate prayer after Desperation and I felt the Holy Spirit say to get on board with what He is doing and that it would just come! And it has! Not just the prayer, but the hunger, too.
I am also excited about what God is going to do in the college ministry. There is untapped harvest in so many areas in this region. People have so much, yet they are so destitute without Christ. They think they are rich, but really they are in poverty spiritually. Come wake us up, God, for the lost!
"So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. “ The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD. -Isaiah 59:19-20
I'm finding out that I thought I had a grasp on the love of God as much as I have been experiencing it and learning to receive it, but really I don't know it all. Not even close. The depths of His love are unfathomable and it seems that everything in life for me comes back to the love of God and what I believe to be true about God (the lens through which I see Him).
Weekly, we have been gathering at church and praying, reading the Word and worshipping. last week, the Lord gave me a picture of a border that began in the prayer room and started to expand around the church, then around the city and then the region and beyond. It was a border of prayer. When we think of a border, sometimes we can get a picture of being restrained to a certain area and a sense of restriction, not freedom. But I believe that the border is one of protection against the enemy, one of marking "THIS CITY BELONGS TO THE LORD." It is marked by our Commander in Chief, JESUS CHRIST. No longer will this place be a place where the enemy can lay stake or camp. Some areas the enemy has been for a long time. He has been comfortable and has even built a castle of strongholds. NO MORE!!! We are claiming Kalamazoo and the region for Christ. We say it belongs to Him and that is all there is to it. None other than Christ Jesus, the KING OF KINGS taking rulership over our city.
I am reminded of 2 visions and another picture that the Lord had given me for this area. The first one is a picture of a straight line of fire going from Florida up here to Michigan. I believe that it's not just a revival that's going on in Florida. I believe that in time, this will become the norm. People are getting more and more desperate for spiritual things (even if it isn't the right spirit). A flame of fire that won't go out. A burning, blazing fire---- the wrath of God is coming to take stake on the enemy and to rescue the prisoners, to set the captives free! (Isaiah 61) Enough is enough! The jealous King is coming to rescue sinners from damnation, to encounter His beloved bride, THE Church.
The two visions that I received was a few months back. I was at work at the copier machine and I felt like I was back in Kansas City at the International House of Prayer and I was surrounded by young adults praying, worshipping and fasting. I felt as though I was actually there again. (I had gone to this exact conference in Kansas City a couple of years ago). The next vision was of the same picture but I was at the K-wings Stadium in Kalamazoo!!! It was like God was reminding me of what had happened and what was going to take place!!!
By praying the Word and communicating with God corporately, we are putting feet to what God is doing. None of us are called to live as islands. We are called to go into our closet and close the door and seek our Father in secret, but also to gather with other believers and pray in His Kingdom! It's exciting because what God is doing isn't just for a select few, but it is for everyone who will believe and receive and move into it!
There is a harvest out there. I am so excited for the teens that are coming and gathering and crying out to God every week at church. I felt a strong sense of corporate prayer after Desperation and I felt the Holy Spirit say to get on board with what He is doing and that it would just come! And it has! Not just the prayer, but the hunger, too.
I am also excited about what God is going to do in the college ministry. There is untapped harvest in so many areas in this region. People have so much, yet they are so destitute without Christ. They think they are rich, but really they are in poverty spiritually. Come wake us up, God, for the lost!
"So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, And His glory from the rising of the sun; When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the LORD will lift up a standard against him. “ The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD. -Isaiah 59:19-20
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Unrestrained
I am thankful for the spiritual authority and leadership that God has placed in my life. I truely believe that everything flows out of the local church--- a thriving local church. We were made for community and to "break bread" as one body. Jesus is coming back for a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. Change is coming and we are truely in the last days. I want my life to be a reflection of the Lord Jesus. Why can't we do the works of Jesus every day? We can!
A couple of weeks ago, I thought, "What do Jesus' eyes look like?" I want to look on with compassion like Jesus does. He looked on the multitudes and was full of compassion for the lost.
It's time that the tides change in this city and region through the prayers of you and me. I saw many eyes in the Dominican Republic. Some were sad, some were happy, some were full of fear and some were angry. I believe that Jesus got right in there and touched the very heart of the people with His love and compassion. He wasn't afraid to get dirty. He was unrestrained. I want to be like Jesus when He walked on this earth. He said that we will do even greater works than what He did! WOW! He said, "I have given you authority to trample of snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." -Luke 10:19
A couple of weeks ago, I thought, "What do Jesus' eyes look like?" I want to look on with compassion like Jesus does. He looked on the multitudes and was full of compassion for the lost.
It's time that the tides change in this city and region through the prayers of you and me. I saw many eyes in the Dominican Republic. Some were sad, some were happy, some were full of fear and some were angry. I believe that Jesus got right in there and touched the very heart of the people with His love and compassion. He wasn't afraid to get dirty. He was unrestrained. I want to be like Jesus when He walked on this earth. He said that we will do even greater works than what He did! WOW! He said, "I have given you authority to trample of snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." -Luke 10:19
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
With God all things are possible!
On Monday, we returned from the Dominican Republic. There is so much that I could share, but I want to focus on what God did there through healings and miracles. I have never experienced such spiritual warfare on a corporate level, but yet such breakthrough and as an open heaven of the presence of the Lord.
Before I get too far a head, I was among many leaders that took our youth to the Dominican Republic this past week on a mission trip. I had mentioned it in a previous post that we were praying and preparing to go. God showed up in amazing ways!
The mission trip was focused on getting the word out of a 4 night crusade that the ministry that we worked with would be hosting later in the week. We walked the streets of many villages, passing out fliers and letting people know, "Venga a la cruzada!" (Come to the crusade!) everywhere that we went. The teens also performed dramas that they had been working so hard at for months in each site that we visited.
Wednesday through Saturday was the crusade. Each evening started out with singing and celebration. It was so fun to dance! I loved the music! After worship, each group took turns performing their dramas on different nights. After the dramas, Dominic (the founder of Dominic Russo Ministries) would preach the Word and then it would be followed by us going up front and laying hands on people for healings and miracles.
I feel like I can't even express in words everything that went on. Not to isolate those who are reading and weren't there, but because it was such a powerful week.
Here are a few testimonies:
*There was a woman sitting in a chair that pointed to her legs. I don't know if she could move them or if they were just in pain. Macy (a girl from the team) and I layed hands on her and prayed. Shortly after, we both looked up and each other knew right away that she had been healed! I told her to stand up and then I thought, "What do I do now?" Then I thought, "Hey! Maybe if I start jumping, she will, too!" So I started jumping really high in the air and she followed me with the same (if not more) energy! This woman was not young, either! She came to life and was healed!!
*Many people in the area were mute and I don't know why. It seemed like we prayed for so many mute people. There was one girl in particular that we prayed for and by the end of the night, she gave a cough drop to one of the girls in my group and talked to her!! Praise the Lord!!
*Last but not least, we prayed for a baby who had hydro-cephalis and his head was huge. We began to pray and I was starting to get a little discouraged. But as I continued to pray, suddenly something broke in the spirit and I knew that he was healed!! Nothing was manifested in that moment, but I believe with all my heart that "these signs will follow those who believe."
GLORIA DIOS! (Glory to God!)
Now we are taking this back with us and we can lay hands on the sick of our nation and they will be healed as well! With God all things are possible!!
Before I get too far a head, I was among many leaders that took our youth to the Dominican Republic this past week on a mission trip. I had mentioned it in a previous post that we were praying and preparing to go. God showed up in amazing ways!
The mission trip was focused on getting the word out of a 4 night crusade that the ministry that we worked with would be hosting later in the week. We walked the streets of many villages, passing out fliers and letting people know, "Venga a la cruzada!" (Come to the crusade!) everywhere that we went. The teens also performed dramas that they had been working so hard at for months in each site that we visited.
Wednesday through Saturday was the crusade. Each evening started out with singing and celebration. It was so fun to dance! I loved the music! After worship, each group took turns performing their dramas on different nights. After the dramas, Dominic (the founder of Dominic Russo Ministries) would preach the Word and then it would be followed by us going up front and laying hands on people for healings and miracles.
I feel like I can't even express in words everything that went on. Not to isolate those who are reading and weren't there, but because it was such a powerful week.
Here are a few testimonies:
*There was a woman sitting in a chair that pointed to her legs. I don't know if she could move them or if they were just in pain. Macy (a girl from the team) and I layed hands on her and prayed. Shortly after, we both looked up and each other knew right away that she had been healed! I told her to stand up and then I thought, "What do I do now?" Then I thought, "Hey! Maybe if I start jumping, she will, too!" So I started jumping really high in the air and she followed me with the same (if not more) energy! This woman was not young, either! She came to life and was healed!!
*Many people in the area were mute and I don't know why. It seemed like we prayed for so many mute people. There was one girl in particular that we prayed for and by the end of the night, she gave a cough drop to one of the girls in my group and talked to her!! Praise the Lord!!
*Last but not least, we prayed for a baby who had hydro-cephalis and his head was huge. We began to pray and I was starting to get a little discouraged. But as I continued to pray, suddenly something broke in the spirit and I knew that he was healed!! Nothing was manifested in that moment, but I believe with all my heart that "these signs will follow those who believe."
GLORIA DIOS! (Glory to God!)
Now we are taking this back with us and we can lay hands on the sick of our nation and they will be healed as well! With God all things are possible!!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Isaiah 61
More good stuff from God's Word! (Isaiah 61- The Message)
This is my very favorite chapter from the Bible and I believe it's a call to all believers in Christ, not just a few elite. The Spirit of the Living God is on all of us!
Yumm! Eat it up! =)
Isaiah 61
Announce Freedom to All Captives 1-7 The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me.He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken,Announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners.God sent me to announce the year of his grace— a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies— and to comfort all who mourn,To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,Messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.Rename them "Oaks of Righteousness" planted by God to display his glory.They'll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage.They'll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new.You'll hire outsiders to herd your flocks and foreigners to work your fields,But you'll have the title "Priests of God," honored as ministers of our God.You'll feast on the bounty of nations, you'll bask in their glory.Because you got a double dose of trouble and more than your share of contempt,Your inheritance in the land will be doubled and your joy go on forever.
8-9"Because I, God, love fair dealing and hate thievery and crime,I'll pay your wages on time and in full, and establish my eternal covenant with you.Your descendants will become well-known all over. Your children in foreign countriesWill be recognized at once as the people I have blessed."
10-11I will sing for joy in God, explode in praise from deep in my soul!He dressed me up in a suit of salvation, he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness,As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jeweled tiara.For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers, and as a garden cascades with blossoms,So the Master, God, brings righteousness into full bloom and puts praise on display before the nations.
This is my very favorite chapter from the Bible and I believe it's a call to all believers in Christ, not just a few elite. The Spirit of the Living God is on all of us!
Yumm! Eat it up! =)
Isaiah 61
Announce Freedom to All Captives 1-7 The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me because God anointed me.He sent me to preach good news to the poor, heal the heartbroken,Announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners.God sent me to announce the year of his grace— a celebration of God's destruction of our enemies— and to comfort all who mourn,To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes,Messages of joy instead of news of doom, a praising heart instead of a languid spirit.Rename them "Oaks of Righteousness" planted by God to display his glory.They'll rebuild the old ruins, raise a new city out of the wreckage.They'll start over on the ruined cities, take the rubble left behind and make it new.You'll hire outsiders to herd your flocks and foreigners to work your fields,But you'll have the title "Priests of God," honored as ministers of our God.You'll feast on the bounty of nations, you'll bask in their glory.Because you got a double dose of trouble and more than your share of contempt,Your inheritance in the land will be doubled and your joy go on forever.
8-9"Because I, God, love fair dealing and hate thievery and crime,I'll pay your wages on time and in full, and establish my eternal covenant with you.Your descendants will become well-known all over. Your children in foreign countriesWill be recognized at once as the people I have blessed."
10-11I will sing for joy in God, explode in praise from deep in my soul!He dressed me up in a suit of salvation, he outfitted me in a robe of righteousness,As a bridegroom who puts on a tuxedo and a bride a jeweled tiara.For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers, and as a garden cascades with blossoms,So the Master, God, brings righteousness into full bloom and puts praise on display before the nations.
Galatians 5
This is something that I have been "chewing" on today and I wanted to share it with you guys... Galatians 5 in The Message... God's Word is so rich!
Galatians 5
The Life of Freedom 1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
2-3I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. 4-6I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
7-10You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn't come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don't toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.
11-12As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn't matter one way or the other. Why don't these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!
13-15It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
16-18My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
22-23But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
25-26Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
Galatians 5
The Life of Freedom 1 Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
2-3I am emphatic about this. The moment any one of you submits to circumcision or any other rule-keeping system, at that same moment Christ's hard-won gift of freedom is squandered. I repeat my warning: The person who accepts the ways of circumcision trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. 4-6I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace. Meanwhile we expectantly wait for a satisfying relationship with the Spirit. For in Christ, neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything. What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed in love.
7-10You were running superbly! Who cut in on you, deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn't come from the One who called you into the race in the first place. And please don't toss this off as insignificant. It only takes a minute amount of yeast, you know, to permeate an entire loaf of bread. Deep down, the Master has given me confidence that you will not defect. But the one who is upsetting you, whoever he is, will bear the divine judgment.
11-12As for the rumor that I continue to preach the ways of circumcision (as I did in those pre-Damascus Road days), that is absurd. Why would I still be persecuted, then? If I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then—it would be so watered-down it wouldn't matter one way or the other. Why don't these agitators, obsessive as they are about circumcision, go all the way and castrate themselves!
13-15It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?
16-18My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?
19-21It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on.
This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.
22-23But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.
23-24Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.
25-26Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Love & Grace- Part 2/ Desperation
The absence of love is fear. The absence of grace is condemnation. Without the love of God, we are as good as dead. It is our life-flow in which we can live out every day life in relation to Him and to others. Without God's saving grace, we are condemned to eternal seperation in an abyss of lonliness, pain and suffering--- a place called hell. We experience one of the two (life or death) when we pass on from this earth. Heaven is very real and so is hell.
Concerning the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness on the earth today, there is war over the souls of men that is fought with unseen eyes. The devil knows that his time is short so he is roaming throughout the earth, seeking to steal, kill and destroy the souls of men. Battles are fought through every day life with words that are spoken, actions taken and the thoughts of a man. Cities are contended over, leaders rise and fall, God is sovereign.
But the good news is that the Kingdom of God is slowly taking over the earth. Love is as strong as death! Grace comes and rescues the accused! "The conquering lion will break every chain. He will wipe every tear away. He will take all our hurt and pain." He came the first time as a baby in a manger and He is coming again as a mighty warrior, KING JESUS, riding a white horse and He will reign forever and ever! His love is fierce and His anger is holy. "Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved." "TODAY is the day of salvation"!! To our KING and to our God, the only One and true God.
Come, LORD Jesus. Come to this city. Come to this region. Come like the rain and reign victoriously. Let this be a place of safety, a flame of fire. Let Your kindness lead many to repentance. Let the prayers of the saints be as incense going up before Your altar. LOVE, GRACE, let it abound in all of Your fullness.
Every prayer, every hug, every smile, every tear, everything matters. You see it all, God.
I like the song by Jason Upton that says, "Hear the sound of the Lion of Judah. See the fire and the fear in the enemies' camp. Hear the sound of the Lion of Judah roaring again. There's a new generation rising. A nameless, faceless, placeless tribe. All they fear is the fear of Lord. All they hear is the Lion of Judah. Raise up an army, raise up an army, raise up an army, like Joel saw..."
Also, I had written a song last summer that says, "He is roaring. He is calling forth His army. He is roaring. He is calling forth His army. Arise."
We have a national conference here starting tomorrow called Desperation. It's a big deal for our church to be hosting it. I think back to when a prophet came to our church and spoke over it saying full of youth going in and out, in and out. I am leery of conferences, maybe it's because I've been to so many concerts (I was concert junky as a teenager), events, conferences, special meetings, etc. and as a teenager went through a lot of "roller coaster" highs and lows. But I really believe that it's not going to be just another conference. This city and region will be changed by God answering the prayers of young people, desperate for Him. It may not happen over night, but God's ears are not deaf. He hears every cry, every prayer and He sees every tear.
I am encouraged to see leaders rising up within the youth group. Last night, I gathered with 30-40 young people in the upper-room for prayer and worship. I remember when I was a teenager, gathering in an almost abandoned church every Friday with my brother and our friend Richee, crying out for God to bring about change in our city. Usually when I visit my home town; as soon as I pass the county line, I can feel oppression so strongly. This past weekend, I went to my home town and crossed that line and felt that the oppression was less than before! Praise the Lord! He hears our prayers! The oppression will continue to be lifted until His light infiltrates the darkness! I am also encouraged by Pastor Lee and how he prayed over his high school many years ago and today there is fruit coming from prayer!!
Concerning the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness on the earth today, there is war over the souls of men that is fought with unseen eyes. The devil knows that his time is short so he is roaming throughout the earth, seeking to steal, kill and destroy the souls of men. Battles are fought through every day life with words that are spoken, actions taken and the thoughts of a man. Cities are contended over, leaders rise and fall, God is sovereign.
But the good news is that the Kingdom of God is slowly taking over the earth. Love is as strong as death! Grace comes and rescues the accused! "The conquering lion will break every chain. He will wipe every tear away. He will take all our hurt and pain." He came the first time as a baby in a manger and He is coming again as a mighty warrior, KING JESUS, riding a white horse and He will reign forever and ever! His love is fierce and His anger is holy. "Everyone who calls on the Name of the Lord will be saved." "TODAY is the day of salvation"!! To our KING and to our God, the only One and true God.
Come, LORD Jesus. Come to this city. Come to this region. Come like the rain and reign victoriously. Let this be a place of safety, a flame of fire. Let Your kindness lead many to repentance. Let the prayers of the saints be as incense going up before Your altar. LOVE, GRACE, let it abound in all of Your fullness.
Every prayer, every hug, every smile, every tear, everything matters. You see it all, God.
I like the song by Jason Upton that says, "Hear the sound of the Lion of Judah. See the fire and the fear in the enemies' camp. Hear the sound of the Lion of Judah roaring again. There's a new generation rising. A nameless, faceless, placeless tribe. All they fear is the fear of Lord. All they hear is the Lion of Judah. Raise up an army, raise up an army, raise up an army, like Joel saw..."
Also, I had written a song last summer that says, "He is roaring. He is calling forth His army. He is roaring. He is calling forth His army. Arise."
We have a national conference here starting tomorrow called Desperation. It's a big deal for our church to be hosting it. I think back to when a prophet came to our church and spoke over it saying full of youth going in and out, in and out. I am leery of conferences, maybe it's because I've been to so many concerts (I was concert junky as a teenager), events, conferences, special meetings, etc. and as a teenager went through a lot of "roller coaster" highs and lows. But I really believe that it's not going to be just another conference. This city and region will be changed by God answering the prayers of young people, desperate for Him. It may not happen over night, but God's ears are not deaf. He hears every cry, every prayer and He sees every tear.
I am encouraged to see leaders rising up within the youth group. Last night, I gathered with 30-40 young people in the upper-room for prayer and worship. I remember when I was a teenager, gathering in an almost abandoned church every Friday with my brother and our friend Richee, crying out for God to bring about change in our city. Usually when I visit my home town; as soon as I pass the county line, I can feel oppression so strongly. This past weekend, I went to my home town and crossed that line and felt that the oppression was less than before! Praise the Lord! He hears our prayers! The oppression will continue to be lifted until His light infiltrates the darkness! I am also encouraged by Pastor Lee and how he prayed over his high school many years ago and today there is fruit coming from prayer!!
Love & Grace- Part 1
I'm reading out of a couple of books right now: "Entirety: Love Gives All" By: Dana Candler and The Ragamuffin Gospel By: Brennan Manning.
I would like to share some quotes that I grabbed out of my reading-----
The Ragamuffin Gospel
"We believe that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps---- indeed, we can do it ourselves. Sooner of later we are confronted with the painful truth of our inadequacy and insufficiency. Our security is shattered and our bootstraps are cut. Once the fervor has passed, weakness and infidelity appear. We discover our inability to add even a single inch to our spiritual stature."
"My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it."
"Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: 'You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.' If that happens to us, we experience grace."
"Never confuse your perception of yourself with the mystery that you really are accepted."
Entirety: Love Gives All
"As He gives His life entirely, He invites me to give my life entirely, and in this mutual emptying, there is great convergence. Herein, we find the union of God and man."
"God is love and this we know, but before you and I were brought into the knowledge of this God that we love, this God that has first loved us, He was love from everlasting. He was love from before time. Love unending and love all-consuming. And this love, that was Himself, was a billowing violent flow between Father, Son, and Spirit. Love unyielding, unwavering, untiring, and unrelenting. And though our minds are fractured and frail and our hearts distant and far, though we know that this eternal exchange is beyond our comprehension and surpassing our understanding, what we know in certainty of the nature of this love is that from eternity ti is a love that pours itself our wholly and entirely (Eph. 3:19). We know and recognize love by the face that it always wears, the essential quality that it always exudes: the laying down of itself on behalf of another (I John 3:16)."
"Creating mankind in His image, He carved within every human soul the yearning to be loved wholly and to love wholly, even the capacity to love Him with the very same love He has loved us (John 17:26)."
I would like to share some quotes that I grabbed out of my reading-----
The Ragamuffin Gospel
"We believe that we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps---- indeed, we can do it ourselves. Sooner of later we are confronted with the painful truth of our inadequacy and insufficiency. Our security is shattered and our bootstraps are cut. Once the fervor has passed, weakness and infidelity appear. We discover our inability to add even a single inch to our spiritual stature."
"My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it."
"Grace strikes us when we are in great pain and restlessness. It strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage. Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying: 'You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted.' If that happens to us, we experience grace."
"Never confuse your perception of yourself with the mystery that you really are accepted."
Entirety: Love Gives All
"As He gives His life entirely, He invites me to give my life entirely, and in this mutual emptying, there is great convergence. Herein, we find the union of God and man."
"God is love and this we know, but before you and I were brought into the knowledge of this God that we love, this God that has first loved us, He was love from everlasting. He was love from before time. Love unending and love all-consuming. And this love, that was Himself, was a billowing violent flow between Father, Son, and Spirit. Love unyielding, unwavering, untiring, and unrelenting. And though our minds are fractured and frail and our hearts distant and far, though we know that this eternal exchange is beyond our comprehension and surpassing our understanding, what we know in certainty of the nature of this love is that from eternity ti is a love that pours itself our wholly and entirely (Eph. 3:19). We know and recognize love by the face that it always wears, the essential quality that it always exudes: the laying down of itself on behalf of another (I John 3:16)."
"Creating mankind in His image, He carved within every human soul the yearning to be loved wholly and to love wholly, even the capacity to love Him with the very same love He has loved us (John 17:26)."
Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Dominican Republic
Wow! Only 18 days before we fly out for the Dominican Republic. I'm so excited to see what God is going to do there. Anyone that knows me well, knows that I absolutely love Africa and really am not ashamed to admit that I'm a little... okay, a lot biased toward that continent. But the Lord has been working in my heart and has been expanding it beyond just America and Africa. Honestly, in no way have I ever wanted to travel to any other foreign country unless it was on the continent of Africa. When I found out that we were going to the Dominican Republic, I was excited but dismissed the fact that I would actually be going. I thought, "Oh, yah, I'd love to help with the prep work, but going... eh, nah." So before a decision I prayed, "God, if You want me to go, I'll go, but I'm okay if I stay here, too." That same day I got a $300 check in the mail for the trip!!! I hadn't even sent out one support letter and I don't even know how they knew that I was even planning on possibly going on a trip!! WOW!! God, You are amazing. Since then, the Lord has been opening up the flood gates and I've actually had to set up a seperate account with my bank for missions because I have more than enough money coming in from faithful supporters and partners in ministry!! I'm so thankful. This year when I wrote my support letter, I really felt like I should share the gospel in most of it and then briefly share about the trip at the end. Some of my biggest supporters are not Christians and I thought, "Wow, I know that they've heard about Jesus, but I want to share my life in Christ with them." I absolutely LOVE writing support letters. (Okay, MOST of the time I do. In South Africa, I had to write a letter every month and sometimes that got a little old, but I would say most of the time it's very enjoyable =) I love to share what God is doing in my life and I really feel with all of my heart that the people that pray and/or give are REALLY a HUGE part of ministry. I get excited when it's not just a check in the mail, but also an encouraging note. I love that!
Today the phrase..."and these signs will follow them that believe..." kept coming up. I thought, "Hmm... I know that's a bible verse." So I looked it up. It's Mark 16:17-18,20- "And these signs will follow them that believe: in My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover...and they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs. Amen." I felt this verse strongly for the Dominican. Wow, this is the great commission. People sometimes get freaked out about the part that says, "casting out demons", but I believe as we draw closer to the second coming of Christ that this will be common as well as laying hands on the sick and seeing many more people recover---I'm believing for 100%!! I love listening to Pastor Bill Johnson (a pastor in California) and hearing of testimonies of God's goodness and healing power on a weekly basis. I'm believing for my friend Grace's healing and I know that God is more than able to do a miracle. Miracles, signs and wonders.
It would be so easy for me to say, "Oh, this isn't Africa" and maybe slough it off as not as important. But God is not interested in our biases (even though He has given me a HUGE heart for Africa and I love that!!!) He loves ALL people.
When Pastor Lee prays for a country usually week, I raise my hands and begin to pray over that country as he is praying. In the beginning, I would raise my hands and sometimes think, "But this isn't Africa and I don't really have a heart for these people like I do Africa." After a while, I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit and now I purpose in my heart to love the nations that aren't in that specific continent as well. The meek shall inherit the earth; not just Africa. =)
So I pray for the Dominican Republic. I pray for the rains of the dew of God's presence to come and saturate the dry and thirsty in that land. God smiles at the Dominican and He loves them so much. God, shine through us the light and the love of Jesus to those beautiful people that feel, taste, hear, smell, touch and see just like us. We are not so much different.
Today the phrase..."and these signs will follow them that believe..." kept coming up. I thought, "Hmm... I know that's a bible verse." So I looked it up. It's Mark 16:17-18,20- "And these signs will follow them that believe: in My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover...and they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word through the accompanying signs. Amen." I felt this verse strongly for the Dominican. Wow, this is the great commission. People sometimes get freaked out about the part that says, "casting out demons", but I believe as we draw closer to the second coming of Christ that this will be common as well as laying hands on the sick and seeing many more people recover---I'm believing for 100%!! I love listening to Pastor Bill Johnson (a pastor in California) and hearing of testimonies of God's goodness and healing power on a weekly basis. I'm believing for my friend Grace's healing and I know that God is more than able to do a miracle. Miracles, signs and wonders.
It would be so easy for me to say, "Oh, this isn't Africa" and maybe slough it off as not as important. But God is not interested in our biases (even though He has given me a HUGE heart for Africa and I love that!!!) He loves ALL people.
When Pastor Lee prays for a country usually week, I raise my hands and begin to pray over that country as he is praying. In the beginning, I would raise my hands and sometimes think, "But this isn't Africa and I don't really have a heart for these people like I do Africa." After a while, I felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit and now I purpose in my heart to love the nations that aren't in that specific continent as well. The meek shall inherit the earth; not just Africa. =)
So I pray for the Dominican Republic. I pray for the rains of the dew of God's presence to come and saturate the dry and thirsty in that land. God smiles at the Dominican and He loves them so much. God, shine through us the light and the love of Jesus to those beautiful people that feel, taste, hear, smell, touch and see just like us. We are not so much different.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
We Belong to Him
Today I just want to share out of my notes from what Pastor Lee spoke on this morning. It really hit home with me. The name of the message was FUEL: Holy Spirit- The Connector:
Three things the Holy Spirit comes to do:
1. Reveal Who God is
(Ecclesiastes- God has deposited eternity in our hearts)
2. Reveal who we are. WE BELONG TO HIM. (John 14:15)
3. Reveal what is ours. (I Corinthians 2:12)
Untrue Views of God:
1. He is angry with me
2. He is distant and not concerned
3. He doesn't care what I do. Anything goes.
4. He loves everyone else except for me.
The Holy Spirit is going to help us move beyond our barriers to reveal the Father to us. (I John 3:1)
Open our spiritual eyes to the vast richness and beauty and justice that God offers us.
The first thing that the Holy Spirit teaches us is to say, 'Abba (Daddy) Father.'
I'm reminded and have been thinking a lot about a song that my sister-in-law to be (Abbey) has written. Part of the song says, "You are not hiding. You show Your face. You want to be found and embraced. You gladly open, open Your heart. And unlock the mysteries. You want to be found."
The Holy Spirit is not hiding from showing us the Father heart of God. Today I layed on my floor and looked out my window and saw the wind blowing in the trees. At that moment, I could sense the Holy Spirit in a tangible way. He is a wonderful counselor, comforter and friend.
"Every day with Jesus is better than the last." =)
Three things the Holy Spirit comes to do:
1. Reveal Who God is
(Ecclesiastes- God has deposited eternity in our hearts)
2. Reveal who we are. WE BELONG TO HIM. (John 14:15)
3. Reveal what is ours. (I Corinthians 2:12)
Untrue Views of God:
1. He is angry with me
2. He is distant and not concerned
3. He doesn't care what I do. Anything goes.
4. He loves everyone else except for me.
The Holy Spirit is going to help us move beyond our barriers to reveal the Father to us. (I John 3:1)
Open our spiritual eyes to the vast richness and beauty and justice that God offers us.
The first thing that the Holy Spirit teaches us is to say, 'Abba (Daddy) Father.'
I'm reminded and have been thinking a lot about a song that my sister-in-law to be (Abbey) has written. Part of the song says, "You are not hiding. You show Your face. You want to be found and embraced. You gladly open, open Your heart. And unlock the mysteries. You want to be found."
The Holy Spirit is not hiding from showing us the Father heart of God. Today I layed on my floor and looked out my window and saw the wind blowing in the trees. At that moment, I could sense the Holy Spirit in a tangible way. He is a wonderful counselor, comforter and friend.
"Every day with Jesus is better than the last." =)
Monday, June 9, 2008
Lift the Veil
I've been thinking a lot lately how our relationship with God is directly coorelated with our relationships with others. For example, if we feel as though God is angry with us or very disappointed we may be in angry with others and in turn believe that they are angry with us, because at the core, we don't believe that God is really good all the time and we believe that there are times when He is angry or disappointed. We may not say it with exact words of the world around us ("God is going to strike me with lightning"), but we live as though He really isn't for us. Psalm 56:9 says, "My enemies will turn back when I call for help. By this I know that God is for me." Eve in the garden believed that God was witholding something from her, so she rebelled and did things her own way. She didn't believe that God had her and Adam's best interest at heart.
If we could lift the veil and see into the spiritual realm, we would see a war going on between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God being played out in our every day lives when relating with others, in mundane tasks and habits, etc. The sinful human flesh is waring against the spirit every day. Just the other day I woke up and this independence came over me and I stopped and thought, "How could I ever think that one day I could wake up and not need God?" Yet sometimes we live our lives like He isn't there and that surely this time He will leave us and that He truely doesn't have our best interest in mind or things would have never turned out this way. Like one day we will wake up and He won't be there for us. Yet we look back and instead of seeing only the "hell," we realize that He truely has always been there and has never left us alone to fend for ourselves. Great fear yet great love. Great ashes yet great beauty. Great fire yet great cleansing and purifying. Great attacks yet great vengeance of the Lord. Great war yet great victory and triumph through KING JESUS. NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING can seperate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:31-39) And there is no place that we can go that His presence is not there (Psalm 139:7-12).
How great is His vengeance, His holy anger, His unfailing love and mercy, His overwhelming grace and beauty, His forgiveness, the wonderful conviction of the Holy Spirit and kindness that leads us to repentance. When we come boldy before His throne of grace and say "Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in me," we see a picture of His overwhelming love for us and all arguements are dropped as we stand at the foot of the cross, unashamed and in the fear of Lord. He loves, He convicts, He forgives and He wins over and over and over again. Thank God we don't get what we deserve. There's a song by a lady named Kim Walker and part of the words to the song say, "If grace were a notion, we'd all be sinking," and she chuckles after she sings that part. =)
I have just started a life group called Ragamuffin Gospel that my friends Kristin and Kelly are heading up and we are going to be talking a lot about the grace of God in the next coming weeks, so maybe I will put some nuggets from there on here.
God, let us go from glory to glory with You (II Corinthians 3:18). And only through Your love and grace can we be changed.
If we could lift the veil and see into the spiritual realm, we would see a war going on between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of God being played out in our every day lives when relating with others, in mundane tasks and habits, etc. The sinful human flesh is waring against the spirit every day. Just the other day I woke up and this independence came over me and I stopped and thought, "How could I ever think that one day I could wake up and not need God?" Yet sometimes we live our lives like He isn't there and that surely this time He will leave us and that He truely doesn't have our best interest in mind or things would have never turned out this way. Like one day we will wake up and He won't be there for us. Yet we look back and instead of seeing only the "hell," we realize that He truely has always been there and has never left us alone to fend for ourselves. Great fear yet great love. Great ashes yet great beauty. Great fire yet great cleansing and purifying. Great attacks yet great vengeance of the Lord. Great war yet great victory and triumph through KING JESUS. NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING can seperate us from the love of God. (Romans 8:31-39) And there is no place that we can go that His presence is not there (Psalm 139:7-12).
How great is His vengeance, His holy anger, His unfailing love and mercy, His overwhelming grace and beauty, His forgiveness, the wonderful conviction of the Holy Spirit and kindness that leads us to repentance. When we come boldy before His throne of grace and say "Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit in me," we see a picture of His overwhelming love for us and all arguements are dropped as we stand at the foot of the cross, unashamed and in the fear of Lord. He loves, He convicts, He forgives and He wins over and over and over again. Thank God we don't get what we deserve. There's a song by a lady named Kim Walker and part of the words to the song say, "If grace were a notion, we'd all be sinking," and she chuckles after she sings that part. =)
I have just started a life group called Ragamuffin Gospel that my friends Kristin and Kelly are heading up and we are going to be talking a lot about the grace of God in the next coming weeks, so maybe I will put some nuggets from there on here.
God, let us go from glory to glory with You (II Corinthians 3:18). And only through Your love and grace can we be changed.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
The Vision
It's amazing how God can use things that you have written in the past to encourage you in the now. Today the Holy Spirit reminded me of a journal entry that I had written when I was 15 years old. It was December 11, 1999 and it's called "The Vision." I had been praying and interceding over my school and then later on, my city. I don't know when I started writing this, but it finished when I was 15. I don't know if I would call this a prophesy, but I believe that whether it is or not; God wants to move and shake in this city and region.
"As I walked up to Mrs. Boone's house, she was laughing and crying uncontrollably. God is moving across the small poor town of _____ like never before! Revival is breaking through. People are getting healed, the chains of sin and death are being broken, uncountable people are getting saved... murderers, thieves, idolators, liers, atheists... are falling on their faces before the throne of God and crying out to Him for the mercy and grace that they longed for.
God is moving like a rushing river, flowing into people's lives and using them to be bold witness for Him. It's an uncontrollable, unquenchable, unimaginable wildfire that keeps spreading and quenching hearts non-stop!
The devil is attacking the people constantly and with great force. But His power doesn't even come close to comparing with the power of the Almighty God! Anything that he attacks God's people with becomes powerless and useless.
Walking on through this city, I can ultimately see the drastic change of the souls of people... you can see it in their eyes... a void that had once been empty, lonely and sorrowful... was now totally filled up with Jesus!
People's hearts are screaming out saying. 'Jesus! Jesus! I want more and more of Jesus!' It's the fire of the Almighty God shut up in their bones that they can't stand to keep in! (Jer. 20:9). Everything within them is crying out to God and totally reverent to Him.
Mediocrity no longer rules and reigns over people's lives. It isn't even an issue that is heard about anywhere.
By now, the devil and his demons are petrified and trembling. They've tried everything in their power that they can possibly do, but nothing is working. Even their most powerful and greatest schemes and lies that have worked on people in the past, weren't working now, and were labeled, 'useless.'
People are starting to be true to God instead of themselves. Their own 'salvation' was leading them no where at all. The thrills of life lasted for short amounts of time, but when those thrills and rushes were gone, they became weighed down with the cares of their lives, and were 'trapped in a bottle,' waiting for someone or something to set them free.
God's people are tired of going through the motions, and not really knowing why they exist of why they even deserve to exist. They now know that there is more to life than drugs, alcohol, gus, girls, clothes, sex, money, depressing lives. But God's awesome power is so incredibly overwhelming, that even the precious people that the devil thought he had a stronghold in their life, are being set free from their past, and totally renewed and redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb... Jesus Christ!
By now, the religious people are also petrified and filled with anger. There were no 'lambs' keeled over to sacrifice (I don't know where I got that from =), carved images of Mary, Buddah or burnt incense. They say, 'This must stop! You freaks are going way too far! Way too extreme! You're talking to so many unclean people who haven't done any good deeds! Just who do you think you are are, anyway??' But the religious people thought, 'But what ever can we do to stop them? There's way too many of them to control! This whole world is going crazy with this Jesus stuff! These psycho people! Ahhh!' (wow, I was dramatic at 15 =)
So many people have had to face the truth. The truth is, that God is moving and there is no stopping Him and His people! And the question is: Are you going to jump in this mighty move of God or in mediocrity, just making it in life. People's compassion, love, joy, peace, honesty, trust, devotion, respect, commitment, patience... for each other is growing so much stronger. Marriages are becoming inseperable and more and more broken hearts are being mended and the anger, regret and bitterness that people anchored for so long is totally being stripped away.
The signs and wonders, and dreams and visions (Acts 2:17-21) of the end times that God spoke about over 2,000 years ago are becoming reality. All 'hell' is breaking loose in people's lives, yet they never ever give up and keep leaning on the everlasting arms of Christ Jesus. Spiritual warfare is a daily issue in people's hearts, but Jesus always has the victory! And He is fighting the battle for us, and we as always, continue to WIN!!!"
God, I pray for an outpouring of your love, mercy and grace on this city and region. Last week, I had a vision of a straight line of wildfire coming up from Florida and targeting Kalamazoo. God, You are shifting things in the spirit and we don't want to miss it.
I don't think 'sin management' will work anymore. We need You, God. I pray that it won't just be something that will come and go... like Azusa Street. I pray for something to stick. Why do we pursue our flesh and our own pleasures? Why do we think that that aching inside will be filled inside with something other than the love of God? Eve thought that God was holding out on her and we have followed in her example. You are not holding out on us, God. You are good and your love endures. Your mercies are new every morning, every day. GREAT is Your faithfulness. I like Jason Upton's song that says, "I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on You." Not in a despair, but in DESPERATION for God. We're hungry for You, God, to move. Use the upper room this summer as a place of filling the bowls of heaven and come KING JESUS, like the rain. And if it doesn't happen that way, do what You will whatever that looks like.
"As I walked up to Mrs. Boone's house, she was laughing and crying uncontrollably. God is moving across the small poor town of _____ like never before! Revival is breaking through. People are getting healed, the chains of sin and death are being broken, uncountable people are getting saved... murderers, thieves, idolators, liers, atheists... are falling on their faces before the throne of God and crying out to Him for the mercy and grace that they longed for.
God is moving like a rushing river, flowing into people's lives and using them to be bold witness for Him. It's an uncontrollable, unquenchable, unimaginable wildfire that keeps spreading and quenching hearts non-stop!
The devil is attacking the people constantly and with great force. But His power doesn't even come close to comparing with the power of the Almighty God! Anything that he attacks God's people with becomes powerless and useless.
Walking on through this city, I can ultimately see the drastic change of the souls of people... you can see it in their eyes... a void that had once been empty, lonely and sorrowful... was now totally filled up with Jesus!
People's hearts are screaming out saying. 'Jesus! Jesus! I want more and more of Jesus!' It's the fire of the Almighty God shut up in their bones that they can't stand to keep in! (Jer. 20:9). Everything within them is crying out to God and totally reverent to Him.
Mediocrity no longer rules and reigns over people's lives. It isn't even an issue that is heard about anywhere.
By now, the devil and his demons are petrified and trembling. They've tried everything in their power that they can possibly do, but nothing is working. Even their most powerful and greatest schemes and lies that have worked on people in the past, weren't working now, and were labeled, 'useless.'
People are starting to be true to God instead of themselves. Their own 'salvation' was leading them no where at all. The thrills of life lasted for short amounts of time, but when those thrills and rushes were gone, they became weighed down with the cares of their lives, and were 'trapped in a bottle,' waiting for someone or something to set them free.
God's people are tired of going through the motions, and not really knowing why they exist of why they even deserve to exist. They now know that there is more to life than drugs, alcohol, gus, girls, clothes, sex, money, depressing lives. But God's awesome power is so incredibly overwhelming, that even the precious people that the devil thought he had a stronghold in their life, are being set free from their past, and totally renewed and redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb... Jesus Christ!
By now, the religious people are also petrified and filled with anger. There were no 'lambs' keeled over to sacrifice (I don't know where I got that from =), carved images of Mary, Buddah or burnt incense. They say, 'This must stop! You freaks are going way too far! Way too extreme! You're talking to so many unclean people who haven't done any good deeds! Just who do you think you are are, anyway??' But the religious people thought, 'But what ever can we do to stop them? There's way too many of them to control! This whole world is going crazy with this Jesus stuff! These psycho people! Ahhh!' (wow, I was dramatic at 15 =)
So many people have had to face the truth. The truth is, that God is moving and there is no stopping Him and His people! And the question is: Are you going to jump in this mighty move of God or in mediocrity, just making it in life. People's compassion, love, joy, peace, honesty, trust, devotion, respect, commitment, patience... for each other is growing so much stronger. Marriages are becoming inseperable and more and more broken hearts are being mended and the anger, regret and bitterness that people anchored for so long is totally being stripped away.
The signs and wonders, and dreams and visions (Acts 2:17-21) of the end times that God spoke about over 2,000 years ago are becoming reality. All 'hell' is breaking loose in people's lives, yet they never ever give up and keep leaning on the everlasting arms of Christ Jesus. Spiritual warfare is a daily issue in people's hearts, but Jesus always has the victory! And He is fighting the battle for us, and we as always, continue to WIN!!!"
God, I pray for an outpouring of your love, mercy and grace on this city and region. Last week, I had a vision of a straight line of wildfire coming up from Florida and targeting Kalamazoo. God, You are shifting things in the spirit and we don't want to miss it.
I don't think 'sin management' will work anymore. We need You, God. I pray that it won't just be something that will come and go... like Azusa Street. I pray for something to stick. Why do we pursue our flesh and our own pleasures? Why do we think that that aching inside will be filled inside with something other than the love of God? Eve thought that God was holding out on her and we have followed in her example. You are not holding out on us, God. You are good and your love endures. Your mercies are new every morning, every day. GREAT is Your faithfulness. I like Jason Upton's song that says, "I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on You." Not in a despair, but in DESPERATION for God. We're hungry for You, God, to move. Use the upper room this summer as a place of filling the bowls of heaven and come KING JESUS, like the rain. And if it doesn't happen that way, do what You will whatever that looks like.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Law vs. Grace
I want to share this with you. It was given to me yesterday by an amazing woman of God whom has been a mentor to me quite recently. It’s called- “Law vs. Grace”…
LAW VS. GRACE
What is Right & Fair vs. An Undeserved Gift
Satan Traffics in Law vs. God Traffics in Grace
Satan is the Prosecutor vs. Jesus is Our Advocate
Satan is Negative vs. God is Positive
Negative Thoughts vs. Positive Thoughts
The Accuser of the Brethren vs. The Holy Spirit- The Comforter
The Accuser Accuses vs. The Comforter Comforts
(Ephesians 4:26-27/Galations 5:19-21)
(Ephesians 4:29-32/Galations 5:22-23; 6:7-8)
If You Sow Judgment...
Accusatory Thoughts & Words
CriticismFault Finding/Blaming Others
Demands Rights
Demands Justice
Rehearses Wounds (nursing/victim swamp)
Unforgiveness & Bitterness
Rejects & Devalues Others
If You Sow in Grace...
Edifying Thoughts & Words
Encouragement
Seeing Own Fault First
Yields Rights
Pronounces Innocence
Releases Wounds
Forgiveness & Love
Accepts & Values Others
...You Reap The Law & Releases a Self-Impose Curse
(Psalm 109:17-19,29)
Resentment & Bitterness
Hardness & Anger
Walls- Heart of Stone
Unforgiving Relationships
Pride
Bondage
Anxiety/Stress Related Disease
Wounded/Shattered Life
There is No Love in Law
(Romans 7:5)
...You Reap Grace and Releases God's Blessing
(I Peter 3:9-13)
Innocence Restored
Gentleness & Meekness
Transparency/Openness
Forgiving Relationships
Humility
Liberty
Rest/Peace/Divine Health
Healing/Wholeness
MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT
(James 2:13)
LAW VS. GRACE
What is Right & Fair vs. An Undeserved Gift
Satan Traffics in Law vs. God Traffics in Grace
Satan is the Prosecutor vs. Jesus is Our Advocate
Satan is Negative vs. God is Positive
Negative Thoughts vs. Positive Thoughts
The Accuser of the Brethren vs. The Holy Spirit- The Comforter
The Accuser Accuses vs. The Comforter Comforts
(Ephesians 4:26-27/Galations 5:19-21)
(Ephesians 4:29-32/Galations 5:22-23; 6:7-8)
If You Sow Judgment...
Accusatory Thoughts & Words
CriticismFault Finding/Blaming Others
Demands Rights
Demands Justice
Rehearses Wounds (nursing/victim swamp)
Unforgiveness & Bitterness
Rejects & Devalues Others
If You Sow in Grace...
Edifying Thoughts & Words
Encouragement
Seeing Own Fault First
Yields Rights
Pronounces Innocence
Releases Wounds
Forgiveness & Love
Accepts & Values Others
...You Reap The Law & Releases a Self-Impose Curse
(Psalm 109:17-19,29)
Resentment & Bitterness
Hardness & Anger
Walls- Heart of Stone
Unforgiving Relationships
Pride
Bondage
Anxiety/Stress Related Disease
Wounded/Shattered Life
There is No Love in Law
(Romans 7:5)
...You Reap Grace and Releases God's Blessing
(I Peter 3:9-13)
Innocence Restored
Gentleness & Meekness
Transparency/Openness
Forgiving Relationships
Humility
Liberty
Rest/Peace/Divine Health
Healing/Wholeness
MERCY TRIUMPHS OVER JUDGMENT
(James 2:13)
KING JESUS
Thunder rolled
Lightning crashed
The sky turned black
Every demon in hell and the devil himself trembled
He went down to the depths of hell and took the keys of death, hell & the grave
The destruction of mankind came to an end when He said, “It is finished.”
All power and authority belonged and now still belongs to KING JESUS.
War was declared that continues to this day
The accuser of the brethren rages and hovers throughout the earth wreaking havoc on God’s creation pointing His finger at God and trying to deceive those from where their only help can come from. Even deceiving the elect with the very words of Jesus
Bill Johnson says, “When You, speak, I come alive.” Even if it’s the Word of God, if it speaks death, it is not Him speaking. Thank You, God, for the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Counselor & ultimate Discerner!
Is God to blame? NO!
The devil is a liar and KING JESUS reigns victoriously
His kindness brings us to repentance
We come before a Holy Judge
The devil says to Him that He cannot turn back judgment for the sins of men
The Lord, the Righteousness Judge agrees with him
Yes, the penalty of sin is death
The devil think that he has won
BUT something else has happened
Laughing, tormenting and mocking the sinner, the devil thinks that it is finished
It is not
He forgot one thing that he could not begin to understand
And that was love
Righteous Judge, our LORD, our Master stands up and says, “No more.”
(John 3:16-17)- “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
KING JESUS came and rescued us out from the pits of hell
Not just saved unto salvation and a ticket into heaven
But saved from destruction, from ourselves
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Our sins were pardoned on that day and grace overcame the law of sin, death, hell & the grave
I like the song “Gift of God” by Luke Wood & Justin Rizzo that says:
“As for me I was dead in my transgressions
I was bbound to my sin
And bound to condemnation
As for me, I was an object of His wrath
And fully deserving of death
But You saw me there because of Your great love
You saw me there because You’re rich in mercy
And You made me alive when I was dead
You raised me up and seated me with Christ
And it’s by Your grace that I am saved
And it’s through faith
It’s the very gift of God”
COME REIGN IN EVERY PART OF US, KING JESUS! ENEMY TERRITORY, CASTLES, STRONGHOLDS, PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS, DEVISIVE PLANS BE DESTROYED IN THE NAME OF JESUS! COME IN POWER, KING JESUS & LET THE KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD BECOME THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD!
It’s only a matter of time… Jesus HAS ALREADY won and IS NOW WINNING.
He has already and is now
COME REIGN DOWN YOUR GRACE OVER THIS REGION!
Come to us like the rain…
Lightning crashed
The sky turned black
Every demon in hell and the devil himself trembled
He went down to the depths of hell and took the keys of death, hell & the grave
The destruction of mankind came to an end when He said, “It is finished.”
All power and authority belonged and now still belongs to KING JESUS.
War was declared that continues to this day
The accuser of the brethren rages and hovers throughout the earth wreaking havoc on God’s creation pointing His finger at God and trying to deceive those from where their only help can come from. Even deceiving the elect with the very words of Jesus
Bill Johnson says, “When You, speak, I come alive.” Even if it’s the Word of God, if it speaks death, it is not Him speaking. Thank You, God, for the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Counselor & ultimate Discerner!
Is God to blame? NO!
The devil is a liar and KING JESUS reigns victoriously
His kindness brings us to repentance
We come before a Holy Judge
The devil says to Him that He cannot turn back judgment for the sins of men
The Lord, the Righteousness Judge agrees with him
Yes, the penalty of sin is death
The devil think that he has won
BUT something else has happened
Laughing, tormenting and mocking the sinner, the devil thinks that it is finished
It is not
He forgot one thing that he could not begin to understand
And that was love
Righteous Judge, our LORD, our Master stands up and says, “No more.”
(John 3:16-17)- “For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
KING JESUS came and rescued us out from the pits of hell
Not just saved unto salvation and a ticket into heaven
But saved from destruction, from ourselves
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Our sins were pardoned on that day and grace overcame the law of sin, death, hell & the grave
I like the song “Gift of God” by Luke Wood & Justin Rizzo that says:
“As for me I was dead in my transgressions
I was bbound to my sin
And bound to condemnation
As for me, I was an object of His wrath
And fully deserving of death
But You saw me there because of Your great love
You saw me there because You’re rich in mercy
And You made me alive when I was dead
You raised me up and seated me with Christ
And it’s by Your grace that I am saved
And it’s through faith
It’s the very gift of God”
COME REIGN IN EVERY PART OF US, KING JESUS! ENEMY TERRITORY, CASTLES, STRONGHOLDS, PRINCIPALITIES, POWERS, DEVISIVE PLANS BE DESTROYED IN THE NAME OF JESUS! COME IN POWER, KING JESUS & LET THE KINGDOM OF THIS WORLD BECOME THE KINGDOM OF OUR GOD!
It’s only a matter of time… Jesus HAS ALREADY won and IS NOW WINNING.
He has already and is now
COME REIGN DOWN YOUR GRACE OVER THIS REGION!
Come to us like the rain…
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