a call to obedience

The Lord Almighty calls His followers to Obedience. That we would pick up our cross and deny ourselves of everything expect Christ. 

We must seek Jesus with everything that we have. I don't think in this culture it is necessarily materialistic things. I think we have so much junk that we honestly don't value very much of it. In my life personally I don't think I have idols of anything materialistic that I have. (I want to be careful saying that because I don't want to deceive or blind myself) But over all I believe the main thing that strikes me when I read the verse Luke 14:33 "In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has CANNOT be my disciple."

What? Jesus! Come on man.. Jesus I can't have anything? You really want me to deny everything and have nothing but to follow you? That is a little over the top don't you think?

We think this way. I think this way. I don't want to put Christianity into some cute little feel good religion thing, as we have done in the American culture all too often. 

Jesus demands everything we have. I am going to kind of use and example of something that Dana Candler said the other day in relation to Jesus being the Husband coming for His bride.

The example was the first and greatest commandment is to Love the Lord your God will all your mind, soul, heart.. strength right?

She said that normally we get almost offended sometimes like.. God is selfish or something. That is a very demanding thing to ask. But think of it this way.

(I think i may have blogged on this a little before) But if you are going to get married, and your spouse tells you that they only want .. ehh 20% of your love. They say.. you can do whatever else you want with the other percent. You can love someone else.. another man or woman. Or something. I only demand 20% of the full capacity of your love. Is that okay sweetie? Do we have a deal?

I hope I just got that point across to you. Like we would feel "genuinely unwanted" if that is what Jesus asked of us. Would we feel special? Would this Love be the deep all consuming fire that it is if it didn't require EVERYTHING.

In the same way that Jesus requires all of our heart soul mind and strength he requires all of us. 

Oh that we would be a people to quickly deny ourselves of our wants and desires and to seek the Lord and His will for our lives above all things. 

So going back to the Verse about giving up everything to be Jesus's disciple. 

If Jesus isn't worthy of giving up our "everything" then he wouldn't be worthy. If he only required us to lay down part of our lives to follow him WHAT is the point?

So now the call to obedience. I believe being obedient to the Lord is what I have been convicted of lately. 

That is my personal conviction. I want to please God. I want to follow the will He has for my life as closely as I can that way I don't miss the things and tasks He has planned for me. 

I feel as though.. God is preparing me for something, and that if I miss the things that he is calling me to do, then I will miss the end goal. 

This is true for EVERYONE. God has a plan and specifically designed and created each and every one of us to be a part of advancing His kingdom. 

When I am talking about this Obedience business.. I am not that excited about it. haha It isn't going to be glamorous. I don't think I am going to be tested by the Lord where I will be called to do something great and see an immediate fruit or harvest from it. 

God will begin to test me in small ways. In the little things of life. Depending on how I respond to what I am being called to do will determine in the end if I am going to have the opportunity that I have been essentially training for. 

I just thought of a soccer season while writing that. It's like this. You have practices, games, and then BIG games.

Practices. Going to practice is how you cultivate discipline. Basically our practice is getting into the Word. Spending time with the LORD. God time. Practice is meant to PREPARE you for the Games.

So then Games come.. this is the little stuff that God is calling you to be obedient in. I don't have any specific examples. Pray about it if you want to know what your games look like and let the Holy Spirit speak for you. The Game is when we have the opportunity to be obedient. Its at this moment when we have been called by the Coach. We have heard the Lords voice. He has called us to go into the game to do something. A specific position. Do we go in and complete the task or not? 

Hearing the coach (God) and then actually listening and responding to that is different. 

I believe we can distinguish the times in our lives that are like the Games when we have that "feeling".. you know? the one where you feel like you need to do something? At that moment.. this thing you feel God is calling you to may be silly or stupid or pointless but we have a decision to make. Will we respond and be obedient to the voice of the Lord?

You decide.. (Keep in mind God is preparing you for something.. Testing you to see how you preform! Just like a coach would track how well you do in completing what he is calling you to do on the field.)

Now.. comes the Championship game. This is the big test of Obedience .. the thing that you will see immediate fruit for! You have been preparing yourself for this. You weren't prepared before all of the practices and games. If you didn't push through those then there is no way you would have even made it to the Opportunity that the Lord has presented you with!

God has been tracking how you preformed in the games.. hard work in the practices. (Keep in mind also that when you are going to a championship game.. none of the steps stop. They continue to build on each other. You don't stop practicing once you start playing games..)

Same thing.. you must continue to spend time with the Lord every day. The little Stuff! Hear the voice of the Lord! You won't be able to be obedient if you don't give him an opportunity to speak to you!

Anyway.. back to the Championship game. You have been preparing for this. You have been intentional with the Games .. you have been expectant to be there! 

That should be motivation for us! When we don't want to be obedient keep in mind you are working towards something! So my point is.. be expectant. Say this to God, "I don't want to do this right now, but even though I don't see the point of it.. I will trust in you God because you have a plan for me, and I will press on to meet the time when you are calling me to something great."

God is calling us to some great things. great great things. We should want them to be greater things than we could imagine! Let's not limit the God of the ages. He can do the impossible through us! How lucky are we. 

Anyway.. stay the course! BE obedient in the small things that way the Lord can trust us to be obedient in the big things. 

I want to be obedient. I want to hear God's voice and respond quickly. 

I was reading today the story of Christmas a little bit. Joseph was told to flee with Jesus and Mary to go to Egypt to escape Herod. 

IF JOSEPH HADN'T DONE WHAT GOD WANTED HIM TO DO. WHAT GOD HAD TOLD HIM TO DO AND QUICKLY.. THEN THE LONG AWAITED MESSIAH WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED. 

What? I mean I am sure God would have done something about it.. or I don't even know! What if Jesus had been KILLED? Would God have sent him again? 

We must be quick to hear the word of the Lord and act on it. The rest of our lives might look dramatically different just by missing something the Lord was speaking to us. 

Deny ourselves of everything for the sake of the Lamb. He is worthy.

Hear the Lord's voice and act on it quickly. 

John 10:27 "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me."

I want Jesus to know me. I want to know Jesus. I want to follow Jesus. 

Jesus wants to know you, and he wants you to follow him!

That's all

-Mali 

a time of testing

Hello all!
This is just me talking about Jesus. I don't know if it is anything in specific.
It has been quite sometime since I have been blogging. I need to update part three of the Gospels. (Sanctification) Which is a big deal and is basically evidence in your life to test and approve your salvation. Good to know I would think!

Anyway I just wanted to let you all know that we are called to be SO obedient to the Lord.
Now this is a challenge but it is something that we need to strive for and press on. We need to FIGHT to know Jesus and who he is. There is no such thing as being stagnant.. you are either gaining ground or losing it.. (Dan Perkins was talking about this the other day) How in 1 Peter I believe the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. That is what we are up against as Christians.

We are playing against.. the dirtiest, roughest.. bunch of cheaters and malicious.. catty team you can think of!
There are no rules.
The enemy wants to crush you.
We need to be walking in Jesus's protection. His will for our lives and pursing the Lord protects us. Follow the Lord! FLEE from sin.

Paul says that all the time. FLEE from immorality. Not turn away, not walk the other direction. No, we are called to run away from things that will tempt us.

Jesus longs for us to sit in his presence. Jesus is a person.
He is a PERSON! We think of God as this big idea or .. concept and it is really hard for us to love a concept. It isn't hard for us to love a person.

It is hard for us to love someone we don't know.
Same thing with Jesus, get in the word! Read about how Jesus answered questions! His wisdom, his love and compassion for the lost and sick! He loves you!

The more we know about something the more we love it.. its true.

I seriously encourage you all to spend time with the Lord.
OWN YOUR FAITH. IT IS YOURS! DO NOT GET FED BY ANYONE ELSE.
don't live off of someone else's food and relationship with the Lord.
Do not think that because your friends know Jesus and you go to youth and you sing the songs and all this stuff that you KNOW Jesus.

We need to spend time with Jesus on a personal level. Lets think of it this way.. So Jesus died for you.
Specifically you, and so .. he clearly wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to spend time for you to get to know him.

He loves it when his children meet with him at youth, but guess what.
Let's turn this into a personal relationship.
With your best friend or your boyfriend or girlfriend.
Do you want to spend time with your friends alone ever? YES.
If you have a boyfriend or girlfriend you go on dates because you want to be intimate with that person, get to know them on a one on one level!

JESUS WANTS TO GO ON DATES WITH YOU.
How shallow of us to just meet with him when .. "well everyone else is going to be there."
wait. okay i have an idea. hopefully i can get my point across.

So .. your boyfriend/girlfriend wants to hang out with you..
He invites you to spend time with him/her.
You say.. yeah.. I will.. but who all is going to be there?
I mean is anyone else going to hang out with us? Or is it just going to be me and you? Cause I kind of think it would be more fun if other people were there. (Youth) I don't want to go if its just going to be me and you.

This is what we do to Jesus, we are good at meeting with him at .. "movie night" or a "party" but .. ehh I don't really know if I want to hang out with you alone Jesus.. that could be awkward.
We are friends.. in groups but .. not THAT kind of friend..

Do you guys no what I mean?
I am not trying to be like accusing but I really think we just want to spend time with Jesus when everyone else is doing it.

Pursue the Lord!!!
He is eagerly waiting for you. Get to know his voice! He is calling you! We just can't hear it.

It was weird .. the other day I was just sitting with Jesus thanking him for how much he loved me, and I was crying. I got down on my knees and was bowing before him.
But suddenly.. for some reason.. I had this feeling, I my head I thought..
"get up my child, I want to hug you, don't kneel before me, this isn't the time."

WOAH. haha It was kind of crazy I broke down crying! The Lord LOVES LOVES LOVES US! He wants to wrap his arms around us. There is a time and a place to worship him! and there is a time and a place to RECEIVE his love!!!

It was like.. Maybe the Lord was speaking to me.. "I know you know I am worthy of being praised.. but how about you just sit in my love for a second and soak it up."
It was good stuff.

This is a very random post.
But give Jesus the time he deserves. He loves it and smiles when you turn your face to his. He CAN see you. He is always watching .. more intently than Santa Claus..
He see's you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake.

He wants you to look up to heaven and seek his face! Look to the sky! Say Jesus! I am looking for you where are you! I can't see you but I know you are there! But I am a little kid, I am trying to see you but I just can't yet!

Someday we will see him. How glorious it will be.
Do you want to be someone who had been looking for his face all the days of your life? So that when he finally reveals himself and comes down from heaven.. He will feel your appreciation and excitement.
Or will your reaction be.. oh! Jesus you surprised me I wasn't expecting you.
or YES!! HERE YOU ARE! MY MESSIAH! My Savior!!!! Lover of my soul!!!!
YOU ARE HERE!!!!

I have no idea if this stuff makes sense. I think it does haha
Anyway .. that's all.
-Mali

The Gospels, Part Two (Justification)

Recap..

God is Holy and Just.. meaning that if he is Just righteousness is rewarded and wickedness condemned.

We are wicked (Man) we have fallen short and missed the mark and the plan God had for us. We are sinners. 

So if God is a Just God, how can we be in his presence.. how can we reach the Father? We come to the Crisis Moment.. where we understand we are desperate NEED of a savior. And we realized Jesus Christ is the only way we can be justified.

Justification is a court term.. you are either Justified, or Condemned. 

So.. God is more holy and just than we can ever imagine.. we cannot begin to fathom it..

We need to properly understand (more like try to understand) all the different attributes of God. Or not attributes necessarily.. we need to know who God is .. and everything that he is.. or strive to know the REAL God.

We know that God is love, he is kind, he is, slow to anger, but we also need to remember that the LORD is HOLY, and RIGHTEOUS, and JUST. (don't create an idol)

Now yes the fear of the Lord is important.. but we do not come to repent because we are.. scared of him.. and that he is some mean ruler. 

We are drawn to the Lord because of the kindness we have received through his great love for us.

If you have a hard time understanding or viewing God in a certain way.. or one of his.. qualities or attributes of who he is.. then ask the Holy Spirit to reveal it to you!

Ask for the Holy Spirit to give you wisdom while reading the bible or a better understanding of what is being said.

So God hates sin and hates evil because it hurts us.. same thing.. Tyrel said that if someone was trying to hurt his child.. he would pay. Tyrel wouldn't let someone hurt his little girl.. and then get away with it. 

Or there is a strong desire to protect our loved ones from things that hurt them.

God hates SIN. Sin hurts us. Sin keeps us from God. God hates sin because he loves us. 

(hate the sin, not the sinner)

So.. Justice is us getting what we deserve.

When wickedness is justified and righteousness is condemned it is an abomination to the Lord. 

In this world.. I think we see it pretty often.. we see things Glorified.. we see sin in our lives in the .. media or wherever.. schools.. Sin is glorified.. Wickedness is "okay" and doing the right thing is either made fun of or .. condemned.. looked down upon in our culture and GOD probably HATES it. 

It is stripping Justice by rewarded evil. That is not just. Anyway.. that isn't really the point of this Blog its about OUR justification and being made pure through the sacrifice of Jesus. 

But this is kind of one of the points.. we are not justified through God's kindness.. 

God wasn't like okay well i love you children.. so i am going to just pardon your sins because of the kindess i have on you.. NOPE. 

God is Just :  righteousness must be rewarded and wickedness condemned.

Our sin is NOT pardoned through kindness. 

Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We should be dead. The payment of sin is death. We sinned.. we should be eternally damned.

We don't understand the GOOD NEWS of the gospel because we don't truly understand how fallen we are..

I was thinking about this the other day.. or while he was talking about all this.. and I was like you know what its absolutely true.

Ever since we are little.. we hear about Jesus.. 

We already know the good news.. we don't understand the magnitude of the sacrifice!

Our culture.. our our era's view on like the bible is we skipped ahead to the climax and the ending of a movie. We know what happens! We are like everything is okay! If we would have grown up reading the bible from front to back (obviously when we are little we wont understand) But like if we read the bible like a book. From beginning to end.. i feel like we would understand the LONG AWAITED MESSIAH a little better.

People were waiting for thousands of years! They were living under the law having to sacrifice animals and try and live a perfect life! They couldn't do it, and it was hard! But then! Prophets like Isaiah speak of a messiah.. someone who will come and set them free! 

The people asked Jesus.. like John the bapstist.. "are you the one we have been waiting for?!" is it you! Is it true? has the time come!?

Jesus is HERE!!! He has come to set us free from our sins and our transgressions! 

I think we take the bible for granted. At least I have.. I want to read about Jesus today.. okay yeah.. lets see here what do I want to read.. Mark? Luke? hmm i read Mark yesterday.. how about John!

We can just flip open the New Testament and read about him! and people before him were longing for him to arrive! 

Anyway.. sorry about the tangent.

We are condemned Criminals being declared Justified (innocent) in the eyes of God.

1 John 2:1-2 "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."

(pretty sure i have been spelling atoning "attoining" WAY incorrectly haha whatevs learn something new every day)

 So how thankful should be be! Jesus speaks in our defense! Awesome, thank you thank you thank you Jesus!

In other versions it says he is our Advocate which is like a mediator or helper. His sacrifice has been appeasement for our sin. He has made amends and reconnected what has been disconnected.

So then in Isaiah 53 Well first of all you should absolutely read it. But the Lord was PLEASED to crush Jesus. Pleased to put him to grief. Because at that time.. Jesus bore the weight of all of our sin. God hates sin.

Blood must be shed for our sin.. someone must die. Jesus shed the blood and died for us. Pure, holy, Jesus, his blood has washed us clean. Nothing more precious. 

Leviticus 16:8-10.. Read it.. but I am going to summarize

So there are two Goats.. one must be sacrificed for payment for the sin.. and they other is called the scapegoat.. they send the scapegoat into the desert and that symbolizes that all of their sins are carried away from them. 

So Jesus is both of those for us. He payed for our sin.. and bore our sin.. he took all of our sin and took it away from us. Or this Goat thing is symbolic of Jesus.

Okay so.. Justification. Jesus died for us ONCE and for ALL! no more sacrifices.. no more payments. it is done, it is finished. we are made pure through him and accepting him as our LORD and SAVIOR.

Again.. Matthew 5 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven." We must must must acknowledge that we are poor in spirit. We are depraved. We are sinners, and evil and bad and have fallen short of the glory of the Lord! But the Lord so loved us God so loved us that he sent his one and only son.

So that we could become purified again and take part in the Kingdom of Heaven.. to have relationship with the most Holy and Almighty God. Wow. How great is this love?

The love of God is the most powerful thing in the universe.

Romans 8:31 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, not any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Like .. you know the sacrifice made.. that is the representation of God's love. God's love is seen through Jesus! We get to .. have a glimpse at the Love of the father.

Ephesians 3:18-19 "may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled tot he measure of all the fullness of God."

Amazing, our Lord's love for us surpasses our knowledge.. I think my only response is why. Why? Why? What can we offer you Lord! I must offer you my life and dedicate my life to Glorifying you for you have given all for me. Thank you Jesus. 

By the blood of Jesus alone we are saved. 

Thank you for dying for us that way we could inherit you Kingdom! 

Let my life be pleasing to the sacrifice you made.

-Mali

The Gospels, Part one: Sin (Don't read this if you aren't going to read parts two and three)

Alright, this is a three part Sermon. Tyrel Koenes spoke on this stuff, it really was amazing. So good to know why we believe what we do and just to really break down the Gospels and learn why we NEED a savior and pull out all of the truths and the depth of the things that sometimes we quickly forget to acknowledge or overlook.

Sin.
So, I think that all Christians would agree that they believe God is both Holy and Just.
Okay, so God is Holy. He is Holier than Holy.. we cannot even begin to understand how holy he truly is. The elders in heaven fall face down before him and sing day and night "holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come."

-He's HOLY.
Now our God is also Just God.
Meaning.. basically He will condem wickedness and reward righteousness. (You get what you deserve)
Let me look up the definition of Justice. one moment.

Justice : The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law.
Right, so God has these laws that he created. They are set.. The punishment for sin is death. We KNOW this.

So in a nutshell those are just two really important things that we know about our Lord.
He is holy, and he is just.

So what about us.. who are we?
Well we have fallen short of the glory of God. We have failed. We have sinned.. that means we are condemned.
God's will for our lives.. is a bullseye after a bullseye after a bullseye after a bullseye.. like PERFECT PEOPLE. Not just a bullseye but the very center of the bullseye. God is holy, he demands holiness and perfection. God cannot be around anything that is sin.

So all of us. Every single person. It is made clear in the bible that everyone has fallen short of the Glory of God! Therefore, we are rightfully condemned.
We deserve death.
We have sinned.. we are not holy anymore. God is holy we should not be in his presence.
God is just! So justice will be served. We are wicked and wickedness is condemned. We should have eternal damnation.

(Now if anyone is reading this and is like.. wow why is God making this so hard, why is he so uptight.. you need to acknowledge the Lord a little better. It is not up to YOU to decide what is fair and unfair .. and easy and right.. you are not God this is not your universe.. you are a creation of his Glory. So stop there. We need to understand that. We must understand our proper place in accordance to him.)

So a little story that Tyrel used to make us be able to understand this Justice thing with God.
Okay you, me, and about 30 other people watch a man shoot and kill another man.
We go to the trial as the Jury or something.
We all declare, "yes we saw the guy shoot the other guy."
The murderer is declared Guilty! (rightfully condemned.)
But then, after the judge declares him guilty.. he just lets him go free, no penalty. Just go.. its fine.

WHAT? we don't like that do we?
So here comes our problem.
This is the dilemma.. how can a Just God.. declare someone who is guilty innocent??

That is when Jesus comes in.. but that isn't this time that is in the next blog. (This is important I think. We need to really understand how much we need a savior.. we are going to continue to acknowledge our sin and how wretched we really are.)

So back to our sin.. (yay I know, but it is essential to understand our sin.. understand who we are without Jesus..)

By nature we are sinnners.
Titus 3:3-7 "At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, DECEIVED and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteou things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."

So yeah, we sin.. we have been deceived.. If you don't think you sin you have been deceived.. (we shouldn't be offended by our sin either!) We should not get all .. annoyed when we hear we are sinners.. we should be sad yes. But we should not try and defend ourselves. We sin. We are not righteous.. we don't throw bullseyes, many times we miss the whole board. I do at least haha.

Romans 3:10
"As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one;"
Kind of repetitive.. I think Paul wanted to let us know that no one is perfect, .. not one of you people on earth is perfect.. and again if you didn't catch that .. NOT ONE OF YOU. Not even one.
Okay!!! we know i'm sorry.. haha
but really.. we just.. fail! We failed we failed. We cannot do it on our own..
God says in Genesis.. Genesis 8:21 "every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood." He is talking about man.
EVERY INCLINATION OF OUR HEART IS EVIL FROM CHILDHOOD. God knows what he is talking about.. and the only good you have in you. It comes from God! The grace of God .. God revealing himself to you.. that is what holds us back from doing evil.. its this law of nature, Moral Law.. (ask C.S. Lewis.. Mere Christianity..)

So do we see how fallen short we are? We are evil, wicked little things. (Its okay if you hate yourself haha) But it isn't really hating yourself it is acknowledging the sin in you.. and then GET MAD AT THE ENEMY. HE IS WHY WE SIN!
We need to just walk in this conviction.. that wow. We suck and I hope something comes along to save us! Its a "sober judgement" like in romans.. just "don't think of yourself more highly than you ought."

So.. because we are sinners now the Lord has to give us the Law. Something to keep us in check and keep us from not killing each other.

Romans 7:7 "What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, 'Do not covet.'"

Okay, so it seems like God gave us the Law to identify our sin.. to know what right and wrong was!

Galatians 3:24 "Therefore the Law has become our TUTOR to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."

Again.. the law was given to us.. that way we can Learn how to try and live holy and righteous. The law are these standards that we strive to meet. It keeps us in check basically.
The Purpose of the Law has NEVER been to save.
The purpose is to expose sin.. so that we will stop hoping in ourselves and start hoping in God.

ROMANS 12!!! what what?? ;) okay
so it says. "In view of God's mercy!"
okay stopping there.. if we understand his mercy.. that he sent his son to justify us... because of his great mercy on us! .. then it says. "offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to god, this is your spiritual act of worship."
The only reasonable thing we can do in response to his mercy.. the mercy we have recieved is to offer everything we have to him. That is how we worship him is through our actions.

-It is because of what Christ did for us that we are able of anything, our hope is in what He's done for us.
-We can only appreciate what Christ has done for us by understanding who we are without him.
-IT'S ONLY WHEN WE COME TO THIS REALITY THAT WE MAY BE SAVED.

If you don't understand and acknowledge that you are in NEED of a savior. Then you cannot be saved. You have to not "want" a savior. You need one. We come to a crisis moment in our lives.. when we understand God's glory and Holiness.. how we don't match up and we go.. "oh no, I am doomed.. eternally damned, what can I do?"

Jesus did everything. You just respond to his action.

Matthew 5:3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.
We must recognize that we are poor in spirit.. we are depraved. We are wicked.. We need a savior. We cannot possibly do anything holy on our own. It's through Jesus.

Do you ever onder why it seems that those that were drug addicts, alcoholics, thieves, prostitues, etc. seem the most radical when they come to the Lord? Because the have a deep revelation of who/what they are without him!!!

That is how we need to be people!! DO NOT COMPARE YOURSELF. NEVER COMPARE YOUR SIN. "Do not think of ourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of ourselves in sober judgement in ACCORDANCE to the Measure of FAITH God has given you."
its like this.. i memorized Romans 12 right.. and I am like yeah! don't think of myself better than I am .. think of myself in sober judgement.. but you know how you do that?? yeah its that moment that part after.. Paul says.. in accordance to the measureof faith God has given me.. so the better i understand God. the better I understand how holy he is.. that is the degree that I can understand the truly think of myself with sober Judgement!! Cool right? The accordance of faith I have in the Lord.. the more i understand the Lord and myself.. the better i can understand how short i have fallen.

We are all equal to murderers, thieves and prostitutes.. do not DECEIVE yourselves.
(think about where you would be 1,000 years without God.) I know where I was when I was 17.. you know?

Luke 7 "Those that have been forgiven much love much."
We need to really understand how lost we are.
So.. The Law was given that we might identify what sin is and realize that we CANNOT save ourselves.
The only appropriate response is surrender, confession, and repentance.

And then he talked about Atheist and how he doesn't believe they are real haha.. so if you want to know about that ask me! It was really interesting his view of people who don't "believe" in God.
Ask me about it and I will break it down for you..

Anyway this is part one. Sin.. He encouraged us to make sure we listened to the other parts of his sermon to make ourselves feel better haha because this isn't the GOOD NEWS!
JESUS COMES AND SETS US FREE OF THE LAW AND OUR SIN!!
but first we must come to that somber realization that we have failed and have no hope unless God does something to show mercy.

You are a sinner. But God loves you anyway.
That's all
-Mali.

Do you know the way you move Jesus?

Do you know the way that you move Jesus?
Do you understand the immense love that he has for us?
Do you understand the Grace we have received? That we are no longer under the laws of sin but of Love and Grace?
To be thankful of everything that God has done for us, we must really and truly understand how short we have fallen of his perfect plan for our lives! That we have missed the mark..
It isn't that we want a savior but it is that we NEED a savior. That is something that is crucial to understand.

The ways that we move Jesus in his love for us! Ah! He smiles looking at us. He smiles to pursue us. It's like this.. and I want to be careful of how I say it. It probably is going to be a duh moment like I already knew that.. haha But anyway I was thinking about it last night. It's like this. Jesus didn't die for our sins. (The motivation wasn't to die for our sins.) It was to die so we can be with him. When I type it it is so obvious again. For some reason.. its just deeper in my mind maybe. (I will just go with that ;)

But how great is the Love for us?
Completely unimaginable. We cannot comprehend the just unending love that he has for us.
The Love of Christ is MOST powerful force in the universe.

Nothing can come between it and us.
Romans 8:38 "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

You cannot escape God's love ... you can only deny it and ignore it. Every single person on the planet. His love is all encompassing. It surrounds you. It is the air. It is as great at the highest height and small as the lowest low.

It is so great that it can be defined as everything.. and as nothing. Because we can't even grasp what nothing is!

The concept of nothing is just as powerful as the concept of everything. Try and think about what nothing is!!! What like the gaps between space? Gaps between the air molecules or atoms or whatever the heck I am breathing in!

Nothing .. NOTHING can separate you from the Love of God!
You can only deny his presence.
Because it is all around you.
Its up to us to aknowledge it. The more you speak about God and testify with one another and talk about him and get in the word. The more you see him move. You tap into the spirit and see what is going on divinely around you.. too often we focus on the physical of the world and we completely miss what is going on in the spirtitual relm.

Just get into the word more. God has placed an incredible description of himself and his majesty in front of us. It's called the Holy Bible. :)
We should read it more and more and feed on it. That should be our inspiration.. daily, to seek his face and KNOW Jesus.

There is so so so much. The word of the Lord is flawless. Just ask to look upon the face of Jesus. Pick a verse and meditate on it. Sit on it for a while and pull as many truths out of it that you can.

Do we know the way we move Jesus? What does he think when he looks at us. Even though our love is weak to him it is so pleasing. Do we know the things that we cause Jesus to do!? He is always with us.. longing for us just to turn to him.. just for a second. That he could feel that small glimpse of our love shooting up to him. He is just waiting and sucking it in once we do.
Jesus came and died for you to look at him!!
Jesus came for me and died for me .. a wretched sinful person .. because he just wanted to experience and feel my love for him.
Let me not ever hold any affections over him. Above him. Anything worldy should be below my hearts and minds desire of God.
Psalm 16:2 "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'"
I have NOTHING good apart from Jesus.
good.. not great.. i don't even have one thing that is good.
Anyway..
seek Gods love! Seek his face! Listen to the song "Do you know the way you move me?" by Cory Asbury. That is Jesus singing to us.
And what else.. Listen to "One Thing Remains" Jesus Culture. DO IT.
Powerful songs conveying only a glimpse of Jesus's love for you.

That we would earnestly seek your face God! That our hearts longings would be to "know this love that surpasses knowledge."

That's all.
-Mali

Heart Inclination

So an awesome man of God spoke to us last Thursday.
He has been walking with Jesus for fourty one years.
He has never listened to secular music.
He has encountered the Holy Spirit.

We need to have pure hearts to encounter Jesus.
We were not BOUGHT by the PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS to ENJOY this World.
Our hearts must be like a compass.. they need to always point the same direction.
"David was called a man after God's own heart." We know this, and we also know that David messed up sometimes.. but his heart was immediate to turn back to the lord.

Our hearts need to be like a compass because.. even though sometimes the needle sways back and fourth a little.. (that would be when we sin and mess up) It never turns a different direction than north.

Matthew 5:8 "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."
Psalm 15!!! The whole Psalm basically.. it starts out..
"Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?
Who may live on your holy hill?
He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from his heart and who does his neighbor no wrong.. ...

He who does these things will never be shaken."

Our heart inclination is so important. Everything comes down to our motives and heart motive.. If our acts are done not for the Lord then it is wrong. It doesn't matter. Our "good deeds" are cancelled out if our hearts are in the wrong place.

"If a ship doesn't have a rudder it doesn't do anything. Or it can't go anywhere important or planned. It is worthless it does not matter how fast or how much power the ship has. If the rudder isn't working the ship is useless."
"The rudder size relative to the ship is a very very small part; yet, the rudder is one of the most important parts." Our hearts are the rudder.

Galatians 6:7-8 "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."

Friends, let us not deceive ourselves. We WILL reap what we sow. God cannot be mocked. That is powerful stuff.

Okay so what are we planting in our hearts? (We don't want to sow poision ivy.. that wouldn't make sense.. but we do it anyway.)
-Music
-Social Media Craze
-Everything that isn't of God.

It sounds radical and harsh but really. If it isn't of God then it is evil. God cannot be mocked. Let us not deceive ourselves.

We must pay attention to the things that we are sowing in our hearts because if it is of the secular world it is a weed and yes weeds grow faster than Godly things.

1 Corinthians 6:19 "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
The way he was describing this was really convicting..
We were bought with the most precious thing ... ever, in the entire universe, and we have the nerve to think that we can enjoy and put all this crap into our bodies. Once we understand that we are children of God and bought with a price we better be honoring that.
Honor God with our hearts and minds and spirit and everything that the body is.

So lets talk in greater depth of the seeds. God made the seeds. The seeds are perfect. Each seed has a different purpose. God will do all of the work if we just plant the seed. God will make the seed grow.. he will made the harvest but we have the choice of which seeds we plant.

1 Corinthians 3:6-9 "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building."

We are God's field..
okay lets break this down.
So we are the field.. and a field holds different crops.. it isn't just one thing.
Our job is to grow the things of God. We bear the fruits of the spirit! Make sense!
That is why we are here on earth.. our bodies are supposed to produce God's Spirit and goodness.
(That is kind of a high standard to be held to.. that is why we shouldn't be planting junk in our lives.)

"Clean heart isn't the end, it's the beginning."
This is so true.. we strive to be pure.. and righteous and holy.. but let us not think that is the end of what we need to do. Once we accomplish that .. that is when we begin to receive the Holy Spirit at its fullness.
Having a pure heart is the beginning of our journey of learning who God is.
If we have a pure heart we can start to reach our full potential.

Okay so we have purified our hearts through the blood of Jesus! That is wonderful.
But then we begin to let sin slip in again. We have prepared this crop to grow. So the soil has all of its nutrients.. there is nothing else in the way! It is perfect for planting.
So what happens when we plant weeds in that garden. You better believe they are going to grow even more than they would have if it wasn't prepared and good nutrients. Its like if we are empty.. whatever we fill ourselves with is going to grow quicker. Clean slate and then letting sin in = bad.

The bible talks about the areas of our heart as a field. So some of us must be really good at understanding God's love and his peace and who knows what attributes he has.. but we don't really understand his Wrath and righteousness.

This is a problem. We need to have pure hearts all around. We need to understand every aspect of God, because if we don't then we are limiting God.. or even creating an IDOL of who we "think" God is.
BADD.
"do not deceive yourselves."

So then the day after this was spoken to us by this guy who walks with Jesus daily (I am super convicted at this point) the next day at the MILL which is a college ministry the pastor was talking about.. yes how our body is a temple.

Again what are we letting in our bodies!?
Junk? Crap? Jesus didn't die for us for us to continue to feed ourselves poison.

Isaiah 1:5-20 Get out your bible and read this.. It is too long to type but basically it is the Lord saying.. "I really really do not care one bit about your little times that you come and meet in my name, because all the other times you are messing around and not seeking me.

It says this! "Stop bringing me meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my sould hates."

"When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will HIDE MY EYES from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; was and make yourselves clean."

Wow. The Lord is saying quit being hypocrites. I hate you all. You act like you love me at church and then you are off living in sin the rest of the week?
I won't even listen to your prayers. I will turn away.. we are destestable to God when we do this.

So here we go again.. its this little thing called faith with out actions is dead.

He used an example of verbs and like sentense structure.
You need a verb + a subject to make a complete sentence.

Verb + Subject = Complete.
so...
Beliefe + Action = Complete.

"Out of the abundance of your heart the mouth speaks."

Let us examine our hearts and really see what we want. What our motives are.. and you bet your bottom dollar you better be looking at your actions to see if they are pleasing to the Lord or not because he will NOT TOLERATE this half faith stuff..

WE DO NOT PICK AND CHOOSE THE TIMES THAT WE SERVE JESUS. WE ARE NOT OUR OWN WE WERE BOUGHT AT A PRICE. HONOR YOUR BODY.

We need to wake up and quit thinking we are better than we are. "Do not think of yourselves more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourselves with sober judgement."

I pray that our modern day christianity is pleasing to God.. cause it is possible we might be living lives that are destestable to him and that .. he is not even listening to our prayers.

We must strive to be holy.
-Mali

Why Do we Exist?

David Perkins talked about our purpose and Life and how to find it..
We many times want to know "Who am I going to marry? What am I going to do when I grow up? Where should I go to college? What is my career going to be?" And all these questions can be linked back to the very mind boggling and confusing question of..

Why do I exist?

So in our culture many times we are told .. "our purpose in life is to be happy."
Now us Christians here this and are like.. psh no.. its for me to serve God! (which is correct) but do we really mean that?
It is our purpose to serve God if we are feeling good about it. Deep down we want to be happy; however, being happy is not our calling. It is to serve the Lord. (and through serving the Lord we will recieve Joy and then.. eventually happiness.)

-We exist to know God.
-There have been people in the past and who are alive today that KNOW God. Will you be one of them?
(There were people in the bible who knew Jesus Christ and God. They encountered the Holy Spirit. It isn't some crazy idea that we can know God intimately. It is real and possible, it is just up to us to pursue him.)

-There will be times in your life when you don't feel "happy" seeking the Lord. Blah blah.. our little fleshly selfs may not be enjoying the hardship we face as Christians. The obedience to the word is a struggle! It isn't supposed to be easy. But YOU have the decision to press past that pain.. or inconvenience for our fleshly selves and seek the LORD.

This is very interesting.
-There is a war going on. It is the war of the Ages. It is not a war on wealth or land. There are wars happening because of that.. there are wars for resources and worldly things... but the war that is being spoken of is a War of the affection of the Human Heart.

-What does the heart desire? Wealth? Power? Comfort? you name it.. humans desire all kinds of things.. but the most important thing to focus on is what is the Hearts desire. Because out of the heart desire comes all of the evil.. (the wealth, power or whatever else greed and longings cause)

-Where your treasure is so is your heart? Yeah sound familiar. Its because it is true. Our heart dictates our actions.

(This is why faith without actions is dead.. you can "know" all the scripture you want and be getting in the word.. but if you are living in sin it really just doesnt matter at all.. it doesn't count. They cancel each other out.. so don't lie to yourself.)

Basically YOU decide who will possess the affections of your heart. You do. NO one else.. say your name.
(your name here) will decide who wins the affections of (your name here's) heart.

-You decide if you want the Worthy Lamb to have the affections of your heart or this worldly crap. (aka satan)

The war we face is a serious one. The bible has evidence to prove it.. it is a battle and a war is being waged for our souls.

John 10:10 the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.
Luke 22: Satan has asked to sift us like wheat.
The enemy wants to CRUSH you. This isn't some little game. We don't get a second chance. You decide who holds your heart.
The enemy wants to steal eternal life and ruin us. So lets wake up and start fixing our eyes on the Lord putting aside our earthly desires, for we were created for a much greater purpose than our own. Let us not get caught up in the petty things of this world but keep our eyes set on the Lord, and desire to have a relationship with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Jesus is looking for ALL of your heart. All of it .. not looking for the part of our heart that our sin is held in.. Jesus does not deserve for us to only turn to him for salvation and to pardon us from our sin. NO he deserves the Love, the Joy, the fruits of the spirit we bear. If not it is like we are just dumping our GARBAGE on Jesus. If we only look to Jesus to save us that is a complete slap in the face. wow. That we would have the nerve to think that the only reason Jesus came to this earth to humble himself and take up death on a cross was just for us to have eternal life? No. It is so we can ENJOY the Lord. To KNOW Jesus. He didn't come just to pick up and take away from us all of our sin and junk in our lives while we find our joy and happiness in things of this world! Like sports or t.v. or friends.

THE JOY that we receive in this life should belong to CHRIST ALONE.

What a joke.. to lie to yourself and think that Jesus came only to die for our sins and to not have a relationship with us. I would be pretty upset if I was Jesus..

Anyway besides that little tangent.
We are called to have a Magnificent obsession with Jesus.
To seek him daily, to want to understand the vast and full spectrum of his unending love!

-How do we stay facinated with the Lamb? (For years to come.. like a burning passion not just this ehh I was seeking God really hard for a while and I am kinda over it. NO like obsessed still and to be like ah what can I do for the kingdom! There is so much to be done! I need to keep working on myself! I will never be satisfied with knowing Gods love!!)

-It's as easy as SPENDING TIME WITH GOD. That is the number one way to grow in passion.
-Develope a hunger to be with God. (We crave what we feast upon.)
-It is possible to decrease our desire for something.. we lose desire.. if we don't work at love then we lose it and it fades away.


THIS IS SO TRUE.
-You care about the things you know about.
Think about it.. I don't watch football.. I don't look at statistics.. so when people start talking about football I am like whatever. If you were to start talking about soccer tactics and like.. idk moves and formations and strategy then I am all in.

-Same thing with God. The more you learn about him, the more you know about him. Then you have stuff to contribute! ( haha I just remembered this.. When i was first saved I didn't know very much about the bible or really have that many experiences with my personal relationship with the Lord, and so when Blase would start talking theology to me I would just sit there and be like yeah yeah yeah that makes sense. But when I went to CCU I was really learning about the Lord and I started to talk back and have an actual conversation and then before you know it I can't shut up about Jesus!!!)

Another cool little side note I PROMISE you the more you talk about Jesus the more you are .. allowing yourself to see how he is moving in your life and others.. When we share our experiences about Jesus with one another it is inspiring and we can relate and then we connect dots that God has placed that we might have missed otherwise... And since we saw that it matches up it edifies our faith! where as is we didn't speak about Jesus and God with one another we would first of all not be cultivating a passion for him and then secondly .. we would MISS the chance to see how he is moving in our lives .. so we MISS the oportunity to strengthen our faith :( it is a very sad thing that we could change just by TALKING about Jesus..
Which is so fun anyway I don't know why anyone wouldn't want to!

HERE WE GO PEOPLE!!! (Brent Batson you will like this.)
Okay.. we need to become self feeders.
-Feed yourself and you won't ever be let down by a church.
-Churches will always "hurt our feelings" or "fall short of expectations" or "blah blah it smells funny and that person looks at me weird so I don't want to go." 
-The way to protect ourselves from being disappointed by the church is to rely on seeking God on our own.
-If people would take the time to seek Jesus FIRST and do that on their own.. (because after all our relationship with the Lord is personal it isn't based on the church community) then people will start to be less let down because they have their foundation personally with the Lord.

Church is like icing on the cake.. and you spending alone time with God is the cake. Don't confuse the icing with the cake people.

-When we fix our eyes on Jesus we don't need to worry about the church hurting our feelings or not satisfying our spiritual needs. It isn't the church or the pastors responsibiltiy.. (yes it is to encourage and give advice and to inspire others to grow deeper in the Lord and to share knowledge of the Lord) But it isn't their responsibility to Feed everyone. We need to feed ourselves.

So get out your bible and start eating it. Jeez Louise.

Here is another thing. If you are full of crap..
(yes crap.. like media, television, magizines, sin, bad friends, who knows you name it, anything that draws you away from the Lord.)
Then you won't have any room for what is important! If we are full then we won't be hungry.
When you begin to clean out your life and stop eating crap you will being to crave something... and then fill yourself up with the Word and the Lord and then you will be set and then you will still be hungry for somemore Jesus.

David Perkins used the example that his family was going to a Christmas breakfast or something (but at the time they weren't sure if there was going to be breakfast or not) so they stopped at McDonald's to get some food and they ate .. McMuffin's and whatever and when they got to the house there was a massive breakfast feast that the host family had been working on since 6 in the morning so when they got there they were full and could only play with their food.

So the point is.. are you eating some McDonalds when you could be EATING A FEAST THAT THE LORD ALMIGHTY HAS PREPARED YOU SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME!!!
you decide.

-Some of us have been eating vomit for so long that we don't even know it.. it tastes good to us and we are missing the feast in front of us. We are eating Vomit and we don't even know it is vomit.
(thats gross.)

Basically to sum it up.
-God wants to know you and already knows you.. its up to you to know him though.
-After the great commission is said and done.. us looking for some epic purpose in life.. it all depends on whether you knew him or not.

Know Jesus. Seek him, let him overwhelm you with his perfect love daily.
That's all.
-Mali

"For your maker is your husband-"

Jesus loves me. Jesus love ME! What? Why haven't I been able to comprehend that. I understand it but I haven't felt the love of being wooed, and that is because I filled that love with something else, or someone else.

Jesus is teaching me to wait on him. I am His bride! How amazing! It's funny that it has taken this much hurt and brokeness to get me there. But I know that God wants to build me from the bottom up.
Jesus has been running around me, trying to speak to me from all sides saying, "Mali, I am here, can't you see me? I won't hurt you? I won't break you.. my love for you is infinite and perfect! Nothing in this world compares! Why won't you turn to me? I want to hold you!"

So basically I feel as though I have been hurt. (Sure I have the right to feel that way.) In this secular world I would like to call someone up and confront all of the lies that I had been told. The false ideas of my future. That I feel like it is unfair that I have been hurt the same way multiple times. BUT that is not what I am called to do.

When I begin to look at my life and hurts in the eyes of the Lord, everything is flipped and perspective begins to change.

It's like this. Was it fair for Jesus to die on the cross. Absolutely not.
Do I have a righteous anger building inside of me? Possibly.. but God is so much more righteous than I am! How can I be upset about some petty thing. Something that doesn't matter at all. God has every single reason to be mad at me for the things that I have done, so even when I feel wronged it doesn't matter because .. I must still examine myself and see that I have no right to feel correct.. because God is so much more righteous..
? If that is making any sense. I begin to see how short I fall of anything when I compare myself to God, yet he loves me the same.

So this is it. I am turning to Jesus. I am done, I am done with the hopes, I am done with the what ifs of the future. I will not tolerate being told lies by people or the enemy. I am seeking God. I am not conforming to the world. The Lord has mighty plans for those who seek him and that is exactly what I plan to do. I am paying for an environment to pray! Yes, that is crazy. But you know what.. I can do more. Can I NOT DEVOTE A YEAR OF MY LIFE SET APART AND SANCTIFIED FOR MY SAVIOR?
Who died for me! (If someone on earth who I knew died for me I am pretty sure I would be changed and my life would be radically different and dedicating time and thanks and gratitude always. So basically when the GOD of the AGES and the universe dies for me can I not change even more radically for him?)

Basically It is all or nothing. I could miss all other idea's of what I am supposed to do, or who I am supposed to be, as long as I do not forget the FIRST and most important point in my life. That is to know my Lord, savior. His name is Jesus. If you don't know him spend time with him.

I know that if I spend time with him I will be completely content. I will not even care if I ever step foot into another relationship if that is what God is calling me to.

I speak truth into myself. I was bought at a price.
I am a princess of the most high God and I will demand to be treated with the utmost respect.
Jesus will be my Husband and I am his bride.
I will seek him and I will find him.
I want to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life!
Isaiah 54:5-7
"For your maker is your husband-
the Lord Almighty is his name-
the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;
he is called the God of all the earth.

The Lord will call you back
as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit-
a wife who married young,
only to be rejected," says your God.

"For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with deep compassion I will bring you back."

Ahh Jesus make this my hearts cry. Be my husband Lord, you will never leave me or forsake me. You are constant and Holy and everlasting and pure! How I should just weep for those who do not experience your love!

Jesus let me learn to experience your love in ways I have not been able to comprehend.

I love you,
Mali

Contradicting Love

So this past week has been good.. just like every single day.
I went on the DLA retreat with all of DLA to Breckenridge, Colorado.. what whatt??
It was really good. Really good worship and just fellowship and being in the Lords precense.
There was testimony time! Which was really intense.. basically getting vulnerable and telling people our stories, and our sin! It was amazing and freeing and like.. awesome basically. Because Jesus has redeemed all things!
You have no idea the depth and just how the enemy has dragged some people down. People have amazing stories of restoration, how God has redeemed and the magnitude of his love is so evident through lives displayed! It is amazing!

Jesus fights for each and every one of us so personally. When you get in a big group and we can all compare how broken we were before Jesus saved us.. to think of the amount of suffering there was to complete victory through the blood and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is amazing.
Jesus fights for us individually and cares for each one of us so intimately and beyond understanding it is basically.. baffling? I don't have words to describe the amount of love that is displayed through his character.

I believe that some of us are not in the place that we would be without Jesus grace and mercy and the fight and battle that he is going through with us and the enemy.

I know that statement is one of the duh ones, but I really understand the POWER of our testimonies this weekend. "by the blood of the lamb and the word of our TESTIMONY we will overcome."
Yes! Yes! Overcome the enemy! Look satan, what you tried to throw at us and defeat us with but the LORD has already defeated it.. Jesus Christ died for all of our sin before we commited it.

We are pure and righteous and victorious through the blood of Jesus that never fails.

There is more about the power of testimony I could go into but if you have questions just ask me haha and I will go into further detail of the .. complexity of the love that God shows us. I really don't have words to describe anything just to sit here in awe of him. WOOOOO (its like that skit you know where like sin is pulling someone and then Jesus is on the other side pulling just as hard and then ends up protecting them. that is the power of our testimonies that we conquer all things through him who gives us strength.)

Okay so second point. The last morning of the retreat our leaders washed our feet. (If you haven't been a part of a foot washing ceremony do it, it is legit.) I had had my feet washed by leaders once before that was at CCU when the sophomores washed the freshmens feet! Which was so amazing and that they wanted to be our servants. It was humbling and just awesome. You are vulnerable when your feet are washed. We don't like feet really in our culture.. we are embarrassed of feet for some reason; however, that is why a foot washing ceremony is so powerful.
Someone is doing something for you that you wouldnt really want to do for others.

Alright so aside from my peers and core leaders washing my feet this weekend it really made me visualize Jesus washing his disciples feet.

Okay so this is where it starts to get crazy. I do NOT understand God at all. He is too perfect. I believe God's love contradicts itself.

Caught you, I mean contradict in the best way possible, in the way that I will never understand. Jesus is a servant and master. He is humble and strong. He is the beginning and the end. What else.. Lion and the Lamb.. uhmm let me get out my journals and see if i have anything else in there.
I wrote this the other day..

I understand the meaning of what paul was saying to "know this love that surpasses knowledge." in Ephesians. It is because God's love is uncomprehendable (I looked this up and realized uncomprehendable isn't a real word but its okay because it is uncomprehendable ;) Why would He send Jesus for us, why would He love the unrighteous.. when we turned away from Him, denied God in everything that we do, in sin turn away from us, He still sent Jesus to save us. He is the ultimate example and perfection of Love. It is perfect, it is pure. It is holy and extravagant, yet humble. God's love is contradictory or He is in a perfect balance of everthing. Master and servant.. it just doesn't make sense to us.

I can't understand how perfect and how God is everything.
I was talking with one of my friends Milbia.. and she told me she was just meditating on the Great I Am.
What does that mean. Yes!
"I am" is so general yet specific! It is anything and everything He is the beginning and the End and EVERYTHING in between. He is the GREAT I AM. I am glad the God we serve is BEAST.
Like and that God LONGS to spend time with us. He could go be like creating other planets and he just wants us to sit and dwell in his precense!

oh oh here we go. this is bomb. haha Ecclesiates.
EEEE!!! (again i drank coffee before this.. so the combo of caffeine and holy spirit is dangerous.)

Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from the beginning to end."
WE do not get it. We will not understand. I will never ever understand his love fully. This is the pursuit.
The pursuit of it. The pursuit of my Husband. To long for the face of the lord and dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life!

Now we must spend time with Jesus alone. It is the base of our relationship, going to church in groups is great but you must have a solid foundation.

Ecclesiastes 8:3 "Do not be in a hurry to leave the king's presence."
just sit there. All we have to do to encounter God is shut up and listen. Just sit there and find the "peace in pure abandonment" and let that peace consume your mind and spirit. Just sit there the God of the universe is hovering all around you.

So, yesterday I fasted all day, because we are supposed to fast during the week.
I have been really really excessively hungry lately.. idk if that is because i am working out more often again or what.. but basically i really wanted to eat. But because I was fasting I was pressing into everything I had for strength through God.)

Okay and also.. so obviously I miss people from home and it has been hard to adjust to being away. And it is hard to not be talking to my best friend for a while. (I am talking about Blase, oh and if you are reading this by the way haha I miss you and you rule.. but anyway) So like I would miss him and think about him AT least once a day.. more like 10 seriously I feel like my memories are made up of things to do with him..
Like little stuff haha I see honey and I am like oh blase liked honey.. and the bees, and bread, and like haha being in breckenridge was hard. It is serioulsy a ton of stuff that hurts when I would think about it.

I had been praying for healing and to be satisfied with God. I can't do it on my own. So basically the point of all this is that I didn't think about Blase once yesterday! haha In a good way!
The reason why though is because I was so consumed with God. In everything it was basically focused on God yesterday.
And this is just an example that I understand again what it is to have FREEDOM through the Lord.

If you press in hard enough Jesus is right there. He has been there all this time just saying. Look, why aren't you looking I am calling you! would you quit longing for everything else because everything you need is in me. I am your husband you are my bride. I will love you for eternity, and past.

Anyway sorry if anyone felt uncomfortable reading this .. but my point is.. is that again..
Jesus breaks the chains of the captive and provides freedom.
Jesus is freedom. I didn't understand freedom.. we take it for granted in america. Jesus frees us from anything and everything.

So if there is anything that any of you may be struggling with today I suggest you seek God and Jesus with everything you have. Just press in intimately with Him. If all your focus is on Him you have no other time to think of anything else. He will meet you where you are.. have that child like faith that Jesus is holding you in his arms just waiting for you to turn to him! He is yelling out your name longing for you.. just like in the skit.

His love has no bounds. He loves you forever and ever, from beginning to the end, the first and the last days.
to accept that you will not ever understand his love because it surpasses knowledge. But to have that passion and hunger to find the lord.

Tonight I am going to be hearing from a couple who has been living in Mexico and is not allowed to be there for risk of losing their lives. They have witnessed limbs grow back and people being raised from the dead.

Call me radical. And crazy, but that is what we are throught Jesus Christ. Everything that is impossible suddenly becomes possible. Again ..
"to know this love that surpasses knowledge."
anway.. i am ecstatic for the Lord to reveal himself to me this year.
I love you all.. send me your prayer requests.
thats all.
-Mali

"the word of the Lord is flawless."

Prayer meetings consist of two hours of prayer and worship. The first hour is normally more devotional time where we just sit focusing on Jesus.
I already went to my two prayer meetings and put an hour in in the Furnace prayer room yesterday. Since it was Wednesday we also had our Junior High Wednesday night service which was good.. we dressed up as nerds. Which isn't that hard for me normally haha. The funny thing is is that some girls always look all "cute" when they dress up as nerds you know? But normally I can't do that and I end up just really looking like a nerd :) It is just a talent. Really all I need to do is put on my normal glasses and I am set!

Anyway blah blah enough about that.. I need to learn to quit talking so much, but so after that Junior High service.. some of us were in a back ground video that David Perkins was in talking about like some youth pastor conference thing. Where they call out to God to have a generation move towards God and it isn't about numbers growing in the church just the heart of the church and how genuinely kids are seeking the Lord. So I will find out the link whenever that is created so you can watch my AWESOME acting skills in the back ground sippin on my water bottle and reading the bible haha or actually talking with other people about how we really really want to eat a hamburger.

But haha gall lee. ? Gawl lee? whatever.
So PRAYER MEETING LAST NIGHT 10-12.
I was like ehh I don't need to go already met the requirements, but God doesn't deserve requirements. We need to go above and beyond, because I think if in our lives we saw someone physically die for us for a good reason we would want to devot our lives to that person. So if someone died for us who was completely innocent for a cause that we don't even deserve I think we would take that person seriously and keep that in mind every second of our lives living. So we need to focus and grasp that realization.
I feel like I take the cross lightly to be honest.
I feel like I get more emotional about how God works perfectly and is so holy and saves those who are lost, but I don't aknowledge that death for me.

Okay but what mainly I got out of last night was this.
The person leading the prayer meeting told us for the first hour to focus on like one verse.. he used the example as "the Lord is my shepherd" and yeah really "squeeze all the truth out of that."

I think that is extremely true.. a lot of times we read through the bible quickly and don't really take it all in. So meditating on a verse for an hour is AWESOME. You begin to see all the different dynamics of that verse. The different situations it is true to. You just see all of the truth in it and can see it in a different light.

So the verse I began to focus on was Psalm 18:30
"As for God, his ways are perfect. The word of the Lord is flawless."

Saying that over and over again is one thing but again I had to slow down on it..
I began to say it in almost different circumstances in my head. I said it in a tone as though I was talking to someone who didn't know these truths.
(We take it for granted.. we are like yeah I know God is perfect and his word is flawless)
But saying that to someone who is desperate and in need! What a relief! That God's way is perfect! Follow his way! It is perfect! Don't you see that the bondage you are in and the hurt and the pain and the lost direction is right in front of you? The Lord Almighty wants to comfort you and he will because his ways are perfect!

The word of the Lord is FLAWLESS!! He is so perfect! Every single word that has come from his mouth is perfect.
(And again.. thats great.. He is perfect and flawless.. but what does that even begin to look like?)
Well.. I cannot picture what perfect is unless I compare it something that isn't perfect.
It is only when I begin to complare my flaws to his holiness that I can begin to see how wonderful, beautiful and perfect his is.
I am going to try and think of an analogy.
Idk anything really.. if you have something and you don't know that there is something better then you will only see what you have as the best it can be. Until you compare yourself to something better you will be under the illusion that you are the best?

So then the word of the Lord is flawless. I put my hand on the bible. I grabbed the pages. Every single word is flawless. It is immaculate. Think about that!
So then the guy leading the prayer meeting began to talk about the wonder and majesty of creation!
So God was speaking all of this! Which means if this world was created by words then that would be a product of his word which is flawless; therefore, the world is flawless.. or was until our stupid sin got in the way.
"The word of the Lord was hovering over the water!" the FLAWLESS WORD OF THE LORD WAS HOVERING. yeah yeah!

It was really cool last night. There were probably at least 40 people in the world prayer center. Which is a big room. And it was at like midnight. And the guy would have long long pauses in between him basically going through a summarized version of creation to like revelation.

But during these pauses it was complete silence. It really did feel like the word of the lord was hovering over us. Its like I didnt want to move or open my eyes to disturb it.. it felt like there was something extremely vast above our heads and it wasn't just above us but it continued on and covered the entire world. It was like there was an invisible layer just covering the earth?
You guys know what I am talking about like a dome. haha (the simpsons movie?) except it wouldn't be so thick or round it was more flat just following the surface of the earth. God was just breathing over everything. He always is!

Idk it was legit. The word of tthe Lord is flawless.
That's all
-Mali

The Power of Music and Worship

Worship is an amazing thing. The power of music is ingrained into our hearts and minds.
Dan Perkins spoke about what has been on his part the past year or so about worship and its importance and the role it plays. In the Furnace now.. (which is a 24 hour prayer room) there used to be only 7 bands who would play during normal hours of the day, but now there are going to be 77 a week. Every single 3 hour block of time will be filled with a band, worshiping the Lord 24 hours a day.

This is the year of worship at DLA. They want us to learn to worship like never before and worship like never before! (i'm down with that)

So Dan Perkins started out with this.
- "If someone preaches the same thing we get sick of it, but if we sing the same songs we don't get sick of
    them." (the way he explained this was pretty funny. Is that people complain when they hear the same thing over and over again when they go on these tours which are DLA groups going around the country to local churches and explaining the importance of prayer and worship and just loving God, and the worship team would joke that they could preach the exact thing word for word what he was saying cause they have heard it so many times and Dan was like.. Well you guys play the SAME songs over and over and no one is complaining haha.)

Anyway.. but totally true.. When we worship, we don't get sick of the music because it is an encounter every time.. It is not us just singing the same song.. I get SICK of Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber. Because they are just songs. But if you want me to listen to Overcome by Desperation Band or Won't Relent by Jesus Culture.. I won't get sick of it.
Why? Because the words are specific. They are being lifted up to my creator. He is worthy of praise always.
And as we know.. those songs are pretty repetitive but I think the best worship songs are!
I'm coming your way, I'm coming your way, I'm coming your way, I'm coming your way, I'm coming your way. haha See??? But every single time we say it there is POWER behind it! Every single time we sing it we are getting closer to coming His way!
(Sorry about that tangent.. this is going to be a long blog.. but it was destined to be because worship is such a large part of us.)

-Song has a memory factor. It takes us back to a place emotionally. (for a while ANY time Everlasting would come on by Hillsong United I would cry haha) It didn't really matter the setting it was just powerful and overwhelming to remember how overwhelmed you were the first time you heard it and to long to be back to that place every time and try to find Gods love and to know it will always be there! eek!

-Music plays a Huge role in EVERYONES lives ... and its for a Reason.

-Worship is one of the best opportunities to encounter God it seems like. People just are moved during the time of worhip.

Dan said something was was interesting.. well He said a lot that was interesting but I urge you who are reading this to maybe look at your lives and see if this is true.
-Don't get stuck in one kind of worship. (Don't be too relient on having a journal with you during your quiet times.. or needing to have a guitar.. or needing to have a specific song. We must be versitile with our worship, because if we aren't that is when we begin to create Idols.. < Right Brent Batson)

-It is in worship that we are changed. (Worship has the power to change us. When I was saved it was during youth. With music and worship as the base. Lifting our praises up to God for everything He is and has done. I think this is very true. Many times when we have those life changing encounters or when we have felt the Lord's presence the most is in the state of worship. That is so great. That we meet God in worship)

This is so Cool!!! :)
-The enemy has not been able to conquer worship!! (Think about it, prayer is boring for people and the enemy tries to tell us that it isn't important.. or getting in the words is boring.. the enemy can distract you from doing that.. but WE love to WORSHIP OUR LORD.)

-THE ONE THING THAT CHRISTIANS HAVE NOT TRIED TO CONFORM TO THE WORLD IS THROUGH WORSHIP. (The music is different, just the style..?? basically we just haven't let the world affect how we worship God in a musical sense maybe not an action sense.)

John 4:23-24 "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."
Alrighty now be begin to see how we need to worship. In order for us to properly worship the Lord we NEED to find out who He is. We need to be authentic worshipers. Worshiping the Lord to exalt the glory of our King. If we aren't properly worshiping the Lord then that might as well be idolatry.

Philippians 2:9 "There for God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every kknee shold bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Jesus came for us to be able to worship again and be in the presence of the Lord. He redeemed us that way he would recieve all the glory of God. God was made to be worshiped and we were made to worship.
Every knee will bow and every tongue confess < We get to do this now WILLINGLY. These are the blessed. Those who worship willingly.

Okay now it gets a little bit convicting!
A.W. Towzer said this, "what comes to our mind when we think of God is the most important thing about us."
aha! now we think Well I know God is real and Jesus died for us and all that main stuff but we MUST be cautious that we are worshiping God for who He is and not for who we THINK He is.
That becomes Idolatry.
-We must study who He is, get in the word and find out for ourselves. Not relying on what others say He is.

-We were made to worship. (Just like Brent Batson said a while ago.. fish were made to swim and people were made to worship.. We ARE worshiping something. Even while you are sitting there doing nothing you are worshiping something. You are either worshiping God or worshiping the devil. Simple as that.
If you aren't gaining ground you are losing ground because the enemy is fighting that hard and our culture pulls us away from the Lord.)

And here is the craziest crazy of all. haha

** Satan wants to be worshiped, Just as God does, Satan uses music as well.
Alright people. The music we listen to that is not GLORIFYING THE LORD is GLORIFYING SATAN.
(Dan said that haha he doesn't think we should all go and burn all of our secular music in a giant bonfire, but just to be weary of the things we listen to.)
Sorry.. as much as little wayne gets me pumped sometimes I must get him out of my life.. (not like i have been listening to him recently at DLA hahaha but future reference.)
Same with.. who knows what else. Idk all of us have that artist.
Even Justin Bieber ladies! We need to be aware of how excited we get when his music comes on and how much we jump around and "worship" him because if we don't get that excited about the Lord then what does that say about us :(
I am guilty of this as well.. I mean we like to think that Justin Bieber and T. Swift are fine to listen to but it is more our heart motive.. how attached and excited do we get when we listen to them.

Here is a little theory haha from Dan Perkins and he was saying that it might not be correct at all but just ideas possibly.

So.. some back ground on Lucifer.
1. There were three main angles the bible talked about.. Michael, who would answer prayers, Gabriel, who would bring forth the word of God and Lucifer. Lucifer was created with tamborines and like flutes or something. He was in charge of Worship in the kingdom of God.
2. Lucifer had beauty and perfection(well close to perfection) He was like.. well why am I not being worshiped I am beautiful and awesome also. Then he was cast down from heaven and took 1/3 of the angels with him.

Okay.. so here is some crazy scripture that describes Satan and his wants and desires for people.

Isaiah 14:12-14 "How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' But you are brought down to the grave, to the depths of the pit."

(Again, satan wants to be worshiped like the Most High.. so he will make the people of this earth worship him.) Bad.

Ezekiel 28:12 read to .. 19 it is too long for me to type and you all will want to hurt me for writing so long.
Anyway but it talks about how satan was in Eden and everything worshiped him and then you got too full of yourself and I had to throw you down to earth. And God reduced him to ashes.

But this is the thing.. Dan's possible theory thing.. which isn't set in stone.. haha just ideas.
Lucifer was never replaced. There was never another Head cherub worshiper in Heaven.. (or at least Dan couldn't really find evidence in the bible.)
So this is what might have happend..
Lucifer was like oh yeah?? Well who will replace me?! Who can lead worship.. I am beautiful and perfect and no one can replace me. And God was like.. you know what!!
I am going to take DUST. BREATHE ON IT. MAKE IT COME ALIVE.. and they WILL WORSHIP ME FOREVER AND BETTER THAN YOU EVER DID!
Newsflash.. that dust is US! Children of God! servants to our king!!!
And if we don't worship God then EVEN THE ROCKS WILL CRY OUT AND HE WILL BE WORSHIPED.
bammmm.
think about how much the enemy is ticked off by that! Us. little dumb humans.. who were made from dust.. hah have taken over the duty to worship our LORD and savior forever and ever.

Here are some versus to help clarify our role of worship!
Psalm 47:6 "sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises."
Psalm 95:1 "Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; Let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."
Colossians 3:16 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and you sing psalms, hymns, and spritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
Revelation 15:3-4 "and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: 'Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.'"

Wow.. Moses!! A human!! wrote a song that they are singing in heaven! haha It makes you want to write songs right? maybe we will be lucky enough to be singing songs in heaven that woship leaders wrote!? who knows! haha

Point is! We were CREATED to worship. (Just like Brent has said as well.)
Jesus is worthy of my song even if that is my embarrassment!
We should dance and sing and jump and lose all inhibitions for him! For he is worthy!
It was hilarious.. yesterday Dan was like it doesn't matter if you can sing or not or keep rhythm!! Just freaking hit something!! hahaha
Bang on the tables.. clap really really slow!!
MAKE SOME NOISE!!! wooooo!!!
tell the enemy this every time you wake up .. everytime you are singing songs of praise.
"I am glorifying God today and there is nothing you can do about it."
There is nothing the enemy hates more.

So grab a trash can, sing your lungs out even if it sounds awful cause we are lifting up the praise of the Lord Almighty who was and is and is to come!!!

It is our job to worship the Lord. Let us do it in everything we do to the best of our abilities!
Worship like you have never worshiped beforee!! for the Glory of our KING!
Thats all..
-Mali

"why have you forsaken me?"

So something was really speaking to me the other day.. I am thinking it was from God or maybe just a mini revelation (which would still be God haha). I am not saying this is what the scriptures means either, like its literal translation. It was just another way to view the immense amount of Love there is for us through the Father and the sacrifice that Christ payed on the cross.

The scripture was in Mark.. 15:33-34
Jesus is on the cross.

The Death of Jesus
"At the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice. 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' which means, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'"

I have decided that one of my new favorite things in the bible is when Jesus speaks in Hebrew. Even though I don't know what it means.. I can picture it better. It seems as though it is actually Jesus speaking instead of Jesus said this..
(if that makes sense)

Okay, so what I got out of this verse was really convicting.
God loves Jesus. Jesus is God's son (duh). But think about the love in that. Jesus cries out to his father, "why have you forsaken me?" Now.. I am not saying I know exactly what he meant by that.. but I do see this.
We (us humans) stepped in the way of Christs relationship with his Father.

I do not have any part coming in between someone else's family. It wouldn't be right for me to cause conflict between say.. Allison Phillips and her Mom. That is not my place. So when I am thinking about this with Jesus and God it feels as though my sin.. or ..
I came in between the Love of the Father and the Son and made tension.. even for an instance.
I made Jesus question his father through the pain I caused him to suffer.
I didn't even deserve to be suffered for!

I don't know if this makes sense or not. It just seemed as though I suck because I made Jesus (maybe for a second) have tension with his Father and question Him.

Thank you Jesus for dying for those who rejected you. You love us so much that you died for our potential..
Let us walk in that realization all the days of our lives. That we may glorify your name through all that we do.

To know this love that surpasses knowledge.
Thats all.
-Mali

Praying God's Will

I hope that I can properly convey the greatness of God that I have been experiencing lately. This blog post is more personal rather than a teaching that I heard. I have obviously applied the things I have learned from the teaching to my life lately and it seems to be revealing God more and more.

So yesterday was kind of not a good day at first.. I decided to continue my job hunt (which has not been going well.) I was in a bit of a bad mood. I didn't feel like going to the prayer meeting last night.. which wouldnt have been a big deal since I only have to go to two the whole week. I had plenty of time to make it up but I didn't want to miss out. Basically I felt compelled to go because I knew not feeling like going wasn't a good reason haha.

So I got home after what seemed again to be a pointless day of looking for jobs. I went to my room and just sat there. I was like blaaahhhh... haha. I have been alone all day cause all the other roomies have jobs so it gives me time to like.. dwell on things. Sometimes I think about idk just stuff that I should be over by now but it seems to come up when you have nothing to do.

I felt as though I needed to open up my bible and have some God time because I hadn't done it that day.. but then also the other part of me was like.. I have been in the word so much recently! I don't need to.. but then I was really bored and grumpy so I started reading Mark.

Something I have learned over the past about three years of my faith now is that everytime you don't feel like pressing in to God that is when you need it the most and normally when He shows up the most! (Like sometimes at youth in High School I would be like ugh.. and then it would always exceed my expectations.)
Anyway.. so I open up Mark and begin to read.

Those of you who may have been consitently reading this blog saw that the last post was about praying and praying God's will. What does that look like? Well a good way to pray God's will is to get in the word and use the versus and convert them to prayers back to God.

So I am in the middle of Mark. Mark 7 something and I come upon the "Healing of a Deaf and Mute Man"

Jesus encounters this man. Jesus pulls the man away from the crowd and Jesus puts his fingers into the man's ears. Then he spit and touched the man's tongue. He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him "Ephphatha!" (which means, "Be opened!") At this, the man's ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

After reading this I really think I realized that God's will is for people to be healed. I used to view praying for healing in the past as.. "Okay God.. I don't want to try and command you to move.. or try and pray and then be wrong or nothing happens. I don't want to pray for healing if this isn't your will for this person to be healed." Now I clearly see God wants his people to be healed.

The first time I read this verse it freaked me out! I was so overwhelmed for some reason. I almost started crying.. maybe I did haha who knows.. I do know the reason that it moved me so much.

I pictured Jesus, sighing. It says a "deep sigh" Jesus was focused. I felt like through that description of him I could feel and picture the compassion. Jesus LOOKS up to HEAVEN and says to the man Ephphatha.
Reading this the first time I missed the part that it says he said to the man be opened. I thought Jesus looked up to heaven and said be opened. Jesus.. longing for heaven to be opened and I am pretty sure Jesus knows heaven can be opened!! It is like he commanded heaven to open.

I translated that as Jesus asking God to have His will be done. Let the power and will of heaven to fall onto earth. "As on earth as it is in heaven." Anyway .. so then it kind of smacked me in the face saying.. Don't you see my will. Don't you see what I want. I want to heal people. I love them. They are mine and I want what is best for them.

So from now on.. when I pray for healing I will not hesitate. It is God's will to heal.

In the prayer meeting last night the prayer leader said something to this effect, "I think the safest way that we can be praying God's will is to take the scripture and read it back to God." Yeah.. really true. I think the words that God said are definitely His will haha.

I have started a prayer list. I am going to continue to pray, repetitively, unceasingly for certain things to be done. I am praying for people who are lost. I am praying for Zach Hart. I do not want to recieve any Glory if Zach ends up coming back to Christ. It will be seen as a testimony of God's great power and compassion and love for each one of His children.

I was praying for Zach and Samantha Hart last night and I was saying, "Lord I know it is your will to have them find you." While I was saying your will I then thought match it up with scripture. Or God told me to match it up with scripture.. so I started thinking.. okay what relates to this.. do I know anywhere that I can find scripture that nails this on the head...

And then I remembered in the talk about How to Pray that Dan Perkins gave about the Lost Son in Luke. (Luke 15:11-32)

Dan pointed out something that I had never really focused on in that parable before. It says, "but while he (the son) was still a long was off, his father saw him." implying that the father was LOOKING FOR HIM!!!

God is always looking for His lost children. They are always on His mind. God is waiting for their return home! How amazing! Even while we are disobedient and run away for God He is searching and waiting for our return home. This is how Great the fathers love is for us.

Anyway so I found later on it said.. "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate."

And then BAM. I am praying God's will for Zach Hart. I am praying Gods will for Samantha Hart. I start praying what I know is God's will about all those who are lost and broken.

The greatest part of all this.. is that God answers prayers, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the WILL of the LORD will be ACCOMPLISHED. "The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." Isaiah 9:7

awwwweyyeahhhhhhhh.....

THIS IS JUST MORE PROOF TO ME THAT GOD EXISTS.
I love it. Everything in the bible matches up. Everything relates to one another. It is so perfectly constructed and composed that it must have been inspired by a perfect creator.
From Isaiah .. how many hundreds of years before was that written and it just is a little puzzle peace that agrees with everything else. Idk I don't know if I am making sense or just making things up but it is awesome.

I think other stuff happened as well.. I am not sure though I could write another thousand words but I don't want to over do anything.. which I probably have already done.

But to recap.
-Taking bible versus and praying them back to God is a good way to know that we are praying accurately with His will.
-Jesus rules soooo much.
-God wants to heal and he wants His precious lost children to return home.

Again.. Dan Perkins said that he had been praying for a friend for about 15 years and stopped I think? And years after he was praying for him I think the friend may have began to show interest in changing his life and knowing Christ.

OUR PRAYERS DO NOT GO UP TO THE ALMIGHTY GOD IN VAIN. Prayers will continued to be heard long after they are spoken from our mouths. This is the power of prayer and the power of our God.

I will to continue to pray for His will to be done until I see it accomplished.
Thats all.
-Mali