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
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Thursday, September 22, 2011
"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
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
Monday, September 19, 2011
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
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
Sunday, September 18, 2011
"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
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
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
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
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
Monday, September 12, 2011
Prayer: How and Why?
So this teaching started out based on what to be expecting this year in prayer. Dan Perkins talked about how some people may feel a little uncomfortable while praying, or having to pray for long periods of time and that is okay.
No one was born finding prayer easy. It is something you practice. Eventually "you begin to crave what you consume." The more you pray the more you will long for prayer, and to be in God's presence.
So here is the first little part..
- Why does God want us to pray?
- When we pray we are INVITED to be involved with what GOD is doing.
- We can change the planet from the place of prayer.
Prayer is extremely powerful. It is communicating with the creator of the universe, and guess what? He is listening. Our prayers go up to God and He answers them.. (only if it is HIS will).
2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called in my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place."
We pray so GOD recieves His GLORY.
The example used was this,
Say you are out looking for a job and you can't find one and you are like "man.. i need a job blah blah blah.." so finally you HUMBLE yourself and say Lord I cannot do this on my own, provide a job for me. So then when you get a job the next day you exalt him for what He has done. If you went out and got a job on your own without asking God first then you receive the Glory (which is not your glory). So when we pray and look to God for our provisions and we receive then we would give God the glory; however, when we don't ask then we think we did it on our own.
Our prayers must be honest and have the right motive. We do not get any glory for our prayers being fulfilled. The glory must go to God.
Prayer Nature:
We must cultivate a mindset of prayer that is "let your will be done."
We need to have the attitude of Jesus when we pray just as it says in Philippians 2:5-11
"Your attitude shoud be the same as that of Christ Jesus... Therefore God exalted him tot he highest place.. name that is above every other name.. to the glory of God the Father."
We pray so God gets the Glory. If not then we must reconsider our prayer motives.
Matthew 6:9 How to Pray
Begin prayers with Jesus what is YOUR will? and then listen. Prayer is dialogue not monologue. That means it is a CONVERSATION.. which means you must LISTEN haha. Weird right?
You can pray and then pick up your bible and pray scriptures and ask God how that scripture relates to you and then once you get an answer keep going and it is back and forth back and forth.
If you really start to do this then we will begin to crave scripture.. if you ask God what he thinks about it. Suddenly leviticus and deuteronomy are less painful to read and then..
"GENEOLOGIES BECOME AWESOME!" (I thought that was hilarious)
We need to want to pray Gods will not our own.
- If you spend time in prayer your heart will begin to tell you what to do.
- Your heart seeking God and your emotion seeking Him are different.
If you read the Psalms there are times where King David is about to be attacked my spears and invaders or who knows what really but yet He still longs to know the Lord. It is an overall desire. Not just time to time or based on how you are feeling. God is always worthy of praise. God is not based on our emotions He is always Perfect and always righteous and will be forever. Just because we don't feel good or something does not allow us to be pardoned from worshiping Him.
- "Solitude is the furnace of transformation." More than a good sermon, more than a good book, alone time with God is more crucial to your growing in Him than anything else. Get to know Him. Seek His face. God is longing to reveal Himself to us! "seek and you will find, knock and you will be answered" If you begin to spend time with God and get to know Him on an individual level then that good book will end up getting even better because you are just feeding the fire that is already lit! Same thing with a good sermon. Discover the Lord for yourself!
When we PRAY God WILL move.
"God does nothing but answer prayer." - if this quote is true, then we better start praying!!! Because the Lord is waiting on us to ignite His will!
Prayer is just a catalyst for the inevitable. God's will WILL be accomplished. But we can be a small part of that!
** The God of the Universe can do anything He wants whenever He wants but He decides to wait on us to pray for Him to do it.
Prayer is humbling but also dignifying. Think about it. God could do anything He ever needed, yet He wants us to partner with Him! What a relational God! We get to play a small part in God's amazing power. (But we must remember to give Him the Glory)
Apparently some like awesome teams football coach said this to one of his recruits.
"I am going to win with you or without you, but I rather you be a part of it though."
SAME thing with God. Ultimately His will is going to be accomplished. God just wants us to be on His team.
So.. that was kind of why we pray.. Here is How.
1. Pray by yourself. Matthew 6:6 "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Don't use prayer to show off. Pray to God. Don't pray to show how good of a prayer you are, or only pray in groups to look "cool." Get before God alone. Just like what was said earlier.. "solitude is the furnace of transformation."
- Even jesus prayed alone to recharge himself! Mark 1:35
If Jesus got alone before the Father (who clearly had a pretty good connnection) then I think we most definitely need to spend that alone time with the Lord.
2. Just make a list of things to pray for.. that makes praying easier. Super simple! Done!
3. Pray in Groups!!! Again.. if two or more are gathered in my name I will be in the midst of them.
So when we pray in groups we KNOW God is there.. awesome!!1
Things to rember.
Prayer is CRUCIAL. We must pray for God to move, or just to speed up the process of His will..
"Satans strategy is to make you think to put everything else before prayer and make it seem less important."
Satan understands the power of prayer. Satan cannot interfere with prayer. We CRUSH the enemy through Jesus! So lets pray it up!
Keep prayer simple also.. it doesn't need to be complex. Jesus was humble, he liked simple.
One of the most powerful prayers was when the guy was next to Jesus on the cross.. all he said was,
"Remember me."
Those two words probably changed his eternity.
Give prayer time.. you don't have to be an awesome prayer the first time.
Prayer is something you cultivate and crave the more often you participate in it.
No one was born finding prayer easy. It is something you practice. Eventually "you begin to crave what you consume." The more you pray the more you will long for prayer, and to be in God's presence.
So here is the first little part..
- Why does God want us to pray?
- When we pray we are INVITED to be involved with what GOD is doing.
- We can change the planet from the place of prayer.
Prayer is extremely powerful. It is communicating with the creator of the universe, and guess what? He is listening. Our prayers go up to God and He answers them.. (only if it is HIS will).
2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called in my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place."
We pray so GOD recieves His GLORY.
The example used was this,
Say you are out looking for a job and you can't find one and you are like "man.. i need a job blah blah blah.." so finally you HUMBLE yourself and say Lord I cannot do this on my own, provide a job for me. So then when you get a job the next day you exalt him for what He has done. If you went out and got a job on your own without asking God first then you receive the Glory (which is not your glory). So when we pray and look to God for our provisions and we receive then we would give God the glory; however, when we don't ask then we think we did it on our own.
Our prayers must be honest and have the right motive. We do not get any glory for our prayers being fulfilled. The glory must go to God.
Prayer Nature:
We must cultivate a mindset of prayer that is "let your will be done."
We need to have the attitude of Jesus when we pray just as it says in Philippians 2:5-11
"Your attitude shoud be the same as that of Christ Jesus... Therefore God exalted him tot he highest place.. name that is above every other name.. to the glory of God the Father."
We pray so God gets the Glory. If not then we must reconsider our prayer motives.
Matthew 6:9 How to Pray
Begin prayers with Jesus what is YOUR will? and then listen. Prayer is dialogue not monologue. That means it is a CONVERSATION.. which means you must LISTEN haha. Weird right?
You can pray and then pick up your bible and pray scriptures and ask God how that scripture relates to you and then once you get an answer keep going and it is back and forth back and forth.
If you really start to do this then we will begin to crave scripture.. if you ask God what he thinks about it. Suddenly leviticus and deuteronomy are less painful to read and then..
"GENEOLOGIES BECOME AWESOME!" (I thought that was hilarious)
We need to want to pray Gods will not our own.
- If you spend time in prayer your heart will begin to tell you what to do.
- Your heart seeking God and your emotion seeking Him are different.
If you read the Psalms there are times where King David is about to be attacked my spears and invaders or who knows what really but yet He still longs to know the Lord. It is an overall desire. Not just time to time or based on how you are feeling. God is always worthy of praise. God is not based on our emotions He is always Perfect and always righteous and will be forever. Just because we don't feel good or something does not allow us to be pardoned from worshiping Him.
- "Solitude is the furnace of transformation." More than a good sermon, more than a good book, alone time with God is more crucial to your growing in Him than anything else. Get to know Him. Seek His face. God is longing to reveal Himself to us! "seek and you will find, knock and you will be answered" If you begin to spend time with God and get to know Him on an individual level then that good book will end up getting even better because you are just feeding the fire that is already lit! Same thing with a good sermon. Discover the Lord for yourself!
When we PRAY God WILL move.
"God does nothing but answer prayer." - if this quote is true, then we better start praying!!! Because the Lord is waiting on us to ignite His will!
Prayer is just a catalyst for the inevitable. God's will WILL be accomplished. But we can be a small part of that!
** The God of the Universe can do anything He wants whenever He wants but He decides to wait on us to pray for Him to do it.
Prayer is humbling but also dignifying. Think about it. God could do anything He ever needed, yet He wants us to partner with Him! What a relational God! We get to play a small part in God's amazing power. (But we must remember to give Him the Glory)
Apparently some like awesome teams football coach said this to one of his recruits.
"I am going to win with you or without you, but I rather you be a part of it though."
SAME thing with God. Ultimately His will is going to be accomplished. God just wants us to be on His team.
So.. that was kind of why we pray.. Here is How.
1. Pray by yourself. Matthew 6:6 "But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
Don't use prayer to show off. Pray to God. Don't pray to show how good of a prayer you are, or only pray in groups to look "cool." Get before God alone. Just like what was said earlier.. "solitude is the furnace of transformation."
- Even jesus prayed alone to recharge himself! Mark 1:35
If Jesus got alone before the Father (who clearly had a pretty good connnection) then I think we most definitely need to spend that alone time with the Lord.
2. Just make a list of things to pray for.. that makes praying easier. Super simple! Done!
3. Pray in Groups!!! Again.. if two or more are gathered in my name I will be in the midst of them.
So when we pray in groups we KNOW God is there.. awesome!!1
Things to rember.
Prayer is CRUCIAL. We must pray for God to move, or just to speed up the process of His will..
"Satans strategy is to make you think to put everything else before prayer and make it seem less important."
Satan understands the power of prayer. Satan cannot interfere with prayer. We CRUSH the enemy through Jesus! So lets pray it up!
Keep prayer simple also.. it doesn't need to be complex. Jesus was humble, he liked simple.
One of the most powerful prayers was when the guy was next to Jesus on the cross.. all he said was,
"Remember me."
Those two words probably changed his eternity.
Give prayer time.. you don't have to be an awesome prayer the first time.
Prayer is something you cultivate and crave the more often you participate in it.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
God Loves YOU.
Day Two?
So prior to this talk during the prayer meetings that I am required to attend two or three times a week. I have been looking for jobs. I had a big group interview at California Pizza Kitchen which I believe was a God thing cause it is located in this mini outlet mall about 5 min from my house. I was standing looking at a map right next to the Pizza place talking to Mom on the phone when out of no where I hear a "Mali!?" hah. I turn around and see Kaylan Bearden (who was a senior last year on the CCU women's soccer team) and she was dressed in the little CPK's server outfit running into work.
Here are the strange points about this.
1. If I was standing anywhere else looking at a different map I would have missed her.
2. She was LATE to work which means she was running inside haha so that means there was only a short
amount of time that we would have crossed paths.
3. I go follow her in and she asks which position I would want to be applying for and I said server during the
day and she was said that is exactly what they are looking for!
4. My conclusion is that God wants me to work at California Pizza Kitchen
So I will keep my blog updated on if I end up working there or not. :)
So then the talk thingy!
Dan Perkins was talking (David's brother and Dan is the head of the Missional Track)
He starts of talking about how in the new testiment "Jesus takes the language of law and changes it to the language of Love."
For example in the Beatitudes Jesus talks about the laws of the old testimate but raises the bar. He examines the HEART not just the actions. Like murder, and how hating your brother is just as bad.
Jesus redefines everything that had been taught in the Old Testiment. They stay as truths obviously He just goes into greater detail of these truths and examines them through a different perspective.
"Jesus looks at the heart MOTIVE, not rules, what is your motive?"
This is definitely convicting. It's one of those things where I personally can say well I haven't done that or blah blah I am good, but if I really begin to examine why I do specific things it becomes a little evident that maybe it is just because I am selfish. Just the verses in the bible that speak about how if you do good works you will get a reward in Heaven kind of makes you want to do good things for yourself. Love should be the motivation. Not rewards.
"Rules of the Heart, if you love God your actions will begin to reflect obeying God"
Super true. Sometimes I wish I had more time to explain to people who aren't Christians why I want to refrain from doing things that God would be disappointed with. It is not about rules. It is because I want to obey my Father. If you love someone, obviously you want to please them. Look at your friends, look at your relationships, (sometimes not looking at the one you have with your parents, sometimes us children are a little rebellous) but over all we want to please the people who love and care about us. We don't want them to be upset with one another. We long for acceptance and approval. We want to hear that praise of "Well done my good and faithful servant." It is just natural. Everyone wants to be accepted.
So it must change from you looking at God placing rules on your life to you wanting to OBEY God because He knows what is best for you.
"The primary change in your life will be you getting to know Jesus."
Again, if you view Christianity as a set of rules then you will get completely burnt out. If you keep tally of the good works you have done versus the sin in your life you will always fall short. Look at Martin Luther! He is evidence of this. Martin Luther was so terrified of the Lord and doing poorly that he began to drive himself insane. Once you begin to realize the Lord's love for you then your life will be renewed and you will have motivation to please Him. So if we learn to know the Love of God and Jesus then suddenly you have motivation to do well.
"Get alone before the Lord. Being in DLA (or COTS youth group) does not mean you are with Jesus."
Brent has totally talked about this. Get in that tent of meeting. The main point that Dan Perkins is trying to convey through this message was that in 20 years in 50 years are you still going to be going hard after jesus.
If you rely on that meeting of other people being intense with God when you are in a group setting and feed off of their passion then you are not contributing. It is true. Each person MUST bring the intensity for themselves. Let your alone time with God be the fuel that lights the fire in group settings. Fill yourself up first.
What will happen in 20 years or when you are busy with a family and you may not have time to go to youth every evening, you need to be able to be passionate about God when no one else is around. When you can't go to Desperation any more because you are too old, you still must have the same burning desire to know the Lord. God is worthy of praise. Always and Forever.
-*- So how do we stay passionate for God a year from now, 10 years or 20 years from now?
Begin to understand this key point. > GOD. LOVES. YOU.
To comprehend this we must break it down.
1. Who is God??
Well haha, lets see here. God is the creator of the UNIVERSE. nbd. He breathed life, the milky way and
galaxies. He is Great.
2. What is Love?
The definition that Dan used was this, "Love is passion for someones highest good."
So God wants us to be the absolute best we can be. He cares about us. Little unrighteous twerps that sin
all the time and mess stuff up; HOWEVER, that is not what He intended. God wanted us to be holy and
know Him and Love Him. Therefore He began to create a plan on how He was going to restore us to
that state.
This is where it gets interesting and the way Dan was talking about it was with humor. But we can laugh for a second and then we need to focus on the magnitude of this decision.
"So God and Jesus were chilling talking about all the awesome stuff they created.. 'remember that time we made the earth and those people? and how perfect it all was, well... maybe we didn't do so hot on that person, but overall it was awesome!!' and idk other stuff went on and then God was like okay Jesus. We must fix this. Jesus is like okay. So God is like, 'you are going to go down, become a human and then live a perfect life and die for all of man's sins.' and Jesus is like.. 'what??? God I mean I hope you know what you are doing cause that that kinda seems idk crazy.'"
Or who knows what actually happened there but JESUS being OBIEDIENT, because He knows GOD loves Him goes along with it.
The next point is very very interesting.
3. "It was probably a harder death for God to humble Himself and become a Human than it was when He
died on the cross. God made that decision before the cross so when Jesus became a man He knew all
along what was going to happen. Jesus knew He would suffer a horrible death the moment He became a
Human."
"Jesus focused on the middle part of His life, He didn't look at His death. He looked at the joy He would
recieve from teaching and loving people. He did not remember that decision to become a human and
humble himself. It was what He would gain from the people He interacted with."
How crazy, the amount that God loves us. It is very interesting to not only think of the death on the cross
but also that decision before hand to become His own creation.
4. Jesus says in John 15:9 "as the Father has loved me, I have loved you."
Since we know that God loves Jesus an amazing amount that means that Jesus loves us an amazing
amount.
5. *** "The main lie the enemy uses against you is that you are unloved."
And why you might ask? "BECAUSE LOVED PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUS."
YEAH! If you know your parents love you and support you in anything you do it gives you the freedom to
run after dreams harder because the harder you run the harder you fall. And if you fall you know you will
caught when people love you. I could care less what strangers think of me for LOVING GOD. That
allows me to be radical in my LOVE for GOD. Which means that I can make a difference. I know that my
friends and family support me, and most importantly the GOD OF THE AGES loves ME.
6. "When you know you are loved you love back."
Strange concept here.. haha when people are nice to you, you are nice back to them. It is called how you
make friends :) yay! So if God loves you and you understand that then you will want to love him back.
OKAY. RECAP.
So because God loves you and His, "thoughts about you outnumber the sand on the shore" then you will want to love Him back, forever.
Paul kind of understood the magnitude of God's love for us, as seen here in Ephesians 3:14-19
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
TO KNOW THIS LOVE THAT SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE.
If you begin to read the things that paul has written, his passion is contagious and he is very inspiring. Thats all.
So prior to this talk during the prayer meetings that I am required to attend two or three times a week. I have been looking for jobs. I had a big group interview at California Pizza Kitchen which I believe was a God thing cause it is located in this mini outlet mall about 5 min from my house. I was standing looking at a map right next to the Pizza place talking to Mom on the phone when out of no where I hear a "Mali!?" hah. I turn around and see Kaylan Bearden (who was a senior last year on the CCU women's soccer team) and she was dressed in the little CPK's server outfit running into work.
Here are the strange points about this.
1. If I was standing anywhere else looking at a different map I would have missed her.
2. She was LATE to work which means she was running inside haha so that means there was only a short
amount of time that we would have crossed paths.
3. I go follow her in and she asks which position I would want to be applying for and I said server during the
day and she was said that is exactly what they are looking for!
4. My conclusion is that God wants me to work at California Pizza Kitchen
So I will keep my blog updated on if I end up working there or not. :)
So then the talk thingy!
Dan Perkins was talking (David's brother and Dan is the head of the Missional Track)
He starts of talking about how in the new testiment "Jesus takes the language of law and changes it to the language of Love."
For example in the Beatitudes Jesus talks about the laws of the old testimate but raises the bar. He examines the HEART not just the actions. Like murder, and how hating your brother is just as bad.
Jesus redefines everything that had been taught in the Old Testiment. They stay as truths obviously He just goes into greater detail of these truths and examines them through a different perspective.
"Jesus looks at the heart MOTIVE, not rules, what is your motive?"
This is definitely convicting. It's one of those things where I personally can say well I haven't done that or blah blah I am good, but if I really begin to examine why I do specific things it becomes a little evident that maybe it is just because I am selfish. Just the verses in the bible that speak about how if you do good works you will get a reward in Heaven kind of makes you want to do good things for yourself. Love should be the motivation. Not rewards.
"Rules of the Heart, if you love God your actions will begin to reflect obeying God"
Super true. Sometimes I wish I had more time to explain to people who aren't Christians why I want to refrain from doing things that God would be disappointed with. It is not about rules. It is because I want to obey my Father. If you love someone, obviously you want to please them. Look at your friends, look at your relationships, (sometimes not looking at the one you have with your parents, sometimes us children are a little rebellous) but over all we want to please the people who love and care about us. We don't want them to be upset with one another. We long for acceptance and approval. We want to hear that praise of "Well done my good and faithful servant." It is just natural. Everyone wants to be accepted.
So it must change from you looking at God placing rules on your life to you wanting to OBEY God because He knows what is best for you.
"The primary change in your life will be you getting to know Jesus."
Again, if you view Christianity as a set of rules then you will get completely burnt out. If you keep tally of the good works you have done versus the sin in your life you will always fall short. Look at Martin Luther! He is evidence of this. Martin Luther was so terrified of the Lord and doing poorly that he began to drive himself insane. Once you begin to realize the Lord's love for you then your life will be renewed and you will have motivation to please Him. So if we learn to know the Love of God and Jesus then suddenly you have motivation to do well.
"Get alone before the Lord. Being in DLA (or COTS youth group) does not mean you are with Jesus."
Brent has totally talked about this. Get in that tent of meeting. The main point that Dan Perkins is trying to convey through this message was that in 20 years in 50 years are you still going to be going hard after jesus.
If you rely on that meeting of other people being intense with God when you are in a group setting and feed off of their passion then you are not contributing. It is true. Each person MUST bring the intensity for themselves. Let your alone time with God be the fuel that lights the fire in group settings. Fill yourself up first.
What will happen in 20 years or when you are busy with a family and you may not have time to go to youth every evening, you need to be able to be passionate about God when no one else is around. When you can't go to Desperation any more because you are too old, you still must have the same burning desire to know the Lord. God is worthy of praise. Always and Forever.
-*- So how do we stay passionate for God a year from now, 10 years or 20 years from now?
Begin to understand this key point. > GOD. LOVES. YOU.
To comprehend this we must break it down.
1. Who is God??
Well haha, lets see here. God is the creator of the UNIVERSE. nbd. He breathed life, the milky way and
galaxies. He is Great.
2. What is Love?
The definition that Dan used was this, "Love is passion for someones highest good."
So God wants us to be the absolute best we can be. He cares about us. Little unrighteous twerps that sin
all the time and mess stuff up; HOWEVER, that is not what He intended. God wanted us to be holy and
know Him and Love Him. Therefore He began to create a plan on how He was going to restore us to
that state.
This is where it gets interesting and the way Dan was talking about it was with humor. But we can laugh for a second and then we need to focus on the magnitude of this decision.
"So God and Jesus were chilling talking about all the awesome stuff they created.. 'remember that time we made the earth and those people? and how perfect it all was, well... maybe we didn't do so hot on that person, but overall it was awesome!!' and idk other stuff went on and then God was like okay Jesus. We must fix this. Jesus is like okay. So God is like, 'you are going to go down, become a human and then live a perfect life and die for all of man's sins.' and Jesus is like.. 'what??? God I mean I hope you know what you are doing cause that that kinda seems idk crazy.'"
Or who knows what actually happened there but JESUS being OBIEDIENT, because He knows GOD loves Him goes along with it.
The next point is very very interesting.
3. "It was probably a harder death for God to humble Himself and become a Human than it was when He
died on the cross. God made that decision before the cross so when Jesus became a man He knew all
along what was going to happen. Jesus knew He would suffer a horrible death the moment He became a
Human."
"Jesus focused on the middle part of His life, He didn't look at His death. He looked at the joy He would
recieve from teaching and loving people. He did not remember that decision to become a human and
humble himself. It was what He would gain from the people He interacted with."
How crazy, the amount that God loves us. It is very interesting to not only think of the death on the cross
but also that decision before hand to become His own creation.
4. Jesus says in John 15:9 "as the Father has loved me, I have loved you."
Since we know that God loves Jesus an amazing amount that means that Jesus loves us an amazing
amount.
5. *** "The main lie the enemy uses against you is that you are unloved."
And why you might ask? "BECAUSE LOVED PEOPLE ARE DANGEROUS."
YEAH! If you know your parents love you and support you in anything you do it gives you the freedom to
run after dreams harder because the harder you run the harder you fall. And if you fall you know you will
caught when people love you. I could care less what strangers think of me for LOVING GOD. That
allows me to be radical in my LOVE for GOD. Which means that I can make a difference. I know that my
friends and family support me, and most importantly the GOD OF THE AGES loves ME.
6. "When you know you are loved you love back."
Strange concept here.. haha when people are nice to you, you are nice back to them. It is called how you
make friends :) yay! So if God loves you and you understand that then you will want to love him back.
OKAY. RECAP.
So because God loves you and His, "thoughts about you outnumber the sand on the shore" then you will want to love Him back, forever.
Paul kind of understood the magnitude of God's love for us, as seen here in Ephesians 3:14-19
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
TO KNOW THIS LOVE THAT SURPASSES KNOWLEDGE.
If you begin to read the things that paul has written, his passion is contagious and he is very inspiring. Thats all.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Permission to be Zealous.
Hello Friends and Familyyyy....
I haven't been blogging in some time but that is because normally I have nothing to blog about, however; in this season of my life I am sure it will be filled with all kinds of extraordinary events.
So my Mom, Lacie and I drove up to Colorado less than a week ago. It was a good drive.. my car kinda fell apart just driving though. We arrived to our hotel in Abilene and Lacie tried to open her door and it would not open from the inside. So like good hobos that we were with all of my belongings stuffed into my volvo Mom opened the door for her from the outside. This process continued the rest of the drive up. :)
Anyway so I get to Colorado Springs and meet Kristina Colander and Brittany Brown at New Life Church cause they were going to help me move in.. the ironic part was that as we were driving to find my house (which is seriously one street away from the church, soo lucky) they actually knew where it was and i got lost. They called me and were like where are you we are at your house haha. Whoopsss..
So we move in and the house is AWESOMEEE. hah I mean I guess it isn't a mansion, but it is definitely wonderful. The walls are painted red and brown, accent walls. The girls who have been living here in the past had good taste. I got lucky and I have my own room, and I love the color as well. It is a suttle teal green? I have a strange passion for specific color names!!! I wish I could think of something more creative. I will name the color. Uhm... Suttle Summer Green. not great but better than teal green. ugh.
Enough about colors.
So this DLA business does not mess around. Orientation was good. It consisted mainly of the rules.
But that evening it was worshippp timeeee.
So for those of you who are familiar with New Life Church, DLA is mainly located in the World Prayer Center. The architect must have strategically placed the windows facing.. west because it is a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak chilling in the center.
Seeing this view while worshiping definitely makes you realize God's magnitude. And that He Loves us more than all of creation. Awesome.
So then David Perkins kinda set the tone for the year with his talk. The title for the talk was "Permission to be Zealous." Legit.
So main points covered on Permission to be Zealous.
p.s. the words inside the ( ) marks are my commentary on the points.
1. Any time you are passionate about something people will conflict with you.
(You will butt heads with those who do not agree with you if you are passionate, be it sports, politics, you name it, favorite music artists, everyone has an opinion and people voice things they are passionate about)
2.If you control that passion it is safe.
(No one will conflict with you.. pass through life easy and have no chance to be rebuked)
3.What does God want you to be?? Not what you feel, it doesn't matter if you don't feel like you want to be Zealous for Him.
(It is not about us. We are called to spread the Gospel and put ourselves into vulnerable situations)
4. Zeal if pushed down because it creates Awkward Moments. "Jesus was captain Awkward"
(If we want to look like Jesus we better start getting awkward and not fitting in what is "cool" in this world. There is no such thing as cool, that is something humans have created. The only thing that is true is righteousness and unrighteousness.)
5. GOD'S ZEAL WILL ACCOMPLISH HIS WILL.
Luke 2:52? Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
(Jesus should not always be pictured as humble and meek. He was not always holding and Lamb and looking all cute. Which flows into the next point.)
6. Jesus has no toleration for things that do not look like His Father.
John 2 Jesus clears the temple.. and is like what have you done to my Father's house! He was whipping people with a leather thing.. (No Toleration)
7. Romans 12 Never be lacking in ZEAL but keep your spiritual FERVOR in serving the Lord.
(Never is a strong word. as in Never. haha I don't know how to make it clearer.. never.)
8. Definition of Zeal: enthusiastic devotion devoted to a cause idea or cause and tireless diligence in its ferverence.
9. Humble Zeal, not Arrogance. Dont confuse it, or be accused of it.
( Don't feel arrogant for being so passionate about God. It isn't to compare yourself to others saying I am more on fire for God than you are.. it is just what God wants, and stay humble in knowing who you are and the God that you are worshiping.)
10. Praying accelerates your pursuit of God.
(True haha)
11. You bring the INTENSITY.
(God is always the same. He is always in your presence, it is up to you to acknowledge that. If you draw near to God he will draw near to you.)
Ohhkay, so for those of you who are still reading ;) here is how you GROW IS ZEAL.
1. DO NOT be content with where you are with God.
- Satisfaction is the enemy of pursuing God. (true true true)
- Don't compare yourself to others.
- As the deer pants for water.. not the cute little deer, not a t-shirt, a DEER in the DESERT about to Die.
"I need more, I need water, and I need it now." (True thirst is not quenchable.) quenchable? word? idk.
- You either take ground or you lose it. (You aren't stagnant. In the world we are living in thereare
constant struggles. We are not living in God's world this is the Prince of Darkness's world. That would be Satan.)
- Satan wants to DESTROY you. Fight back. (He hates you and wants to crush you. Turn to God)
- Content with your earthly state, but uncontent in your Spiritual state. Philippians 3:7 (You can break that
down in many different ways)
- Exterior content, Interior Unsatisfied)
- "To have found God and still pursue Him is the paradox of Love." "Holy discontentment"
- Not spiritual arrival, but spiritual discontentment. (If you think you have arrived to being spiritually mature
then you have missed the point. God is too vast and majestic to ever being to know the extent of His
Love.)
2. CULTIVATE ZEAL.
- Do not underestimate the power of friends. (Amen.)
- Encourage each other to go after God. Constantly Pressing.
- Make people act like you. (I thought this was funny. If you have Zeal for the Lord, make your friends
have that same Zeal, encourage them.)
3. NARROW your Interestes. Zoom in on Jesus.
- Fix your eyes on Jesus. It is like a map, if you type in Colorado Springs or Dripping Springs into google
and you aren't zoomed in you get distracted by the world. Only once you zoom in can you see the
intricate details, the mountians the hills the rivers. It is the same with God. (If you focus on Jesus and begin
to narrow your thoughts and focus on Him you can see Him better.)
Transform yourself every single day. Make today the day that you fall in Love with the creator of the Universe. That is something I will go into on Day Two.. maybe it won't be so long. Who knows though. The ZEAL of the Lord is uncontrollable haha. Let him consume your thoughts and your mind.
Love you guys .. hope you enjoyed that really really long Day One. :)
I haven't been blogging in some time but that is because normally I have nothing to blog about, however; in this season of my life I am sure it will be filled with all kinds of extraordinary events.
So my Mom, Lacie and I drove up to Colorado less than a week ago. It was a good drive.. my car kinda fell apart just driving though. We arrived to our hotel in Abilene and Lacie tried to open her door and it would not open from the inside. So like good hobos that we were with all of my belongings stuffed into my volvo Mom opened the door for her from the outside. This process continued the rest of the drive up. :)
Anyway so I get to Colorado Springs and meet Kristina Colander and Brittany Brown at New Life Church cause they were going to help me move in.. the ironic part was that as we were driving to find my house (which is seriously one street away from the church, soo lucky) they actually knew where it was and i got lost. They called me and were like where are you we are at your house haha. Whoopsss..
So we move in and the house is AWESOMEEE. hah I mean I guess it isn't a mansion, but it is definitely wonderful. The walls are painted red and brown, accent walls. The girls who have been living here in the past had good taste. I got lucky and I have my own room, and I love the color as well. It is a suttle teal green? I have a strange passion for specific color names!!! I wish I could think of something more creative. I will name the color. Uhm... Suttle Summer Green. not great but better than teal green. ugh.
Enough about colors.
So this DLA business does not mess around. Orientation was good. It consisted mainly of the rules.
But that evening it was worshippp timeeee.
So for those of you who are familiar with New Life Church, DLA is mainly located in the World Prayer Center. The architect must have strategically placed the windows facing.. west because it is a panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak chilling in the center.
Seeing this view while worshiping definitely makes you realize God's magnitude. And that He Loves us more than all of creation. Awesome.
So then David Perkins kinda set the tone for the year with his talk. The title for the talk was "Permission to be Zealous." Legit.
So main points covered on Permission to be Zealous.
p.s. the words inside the ( ) marks are my commentary on the points.
1. Any time you are passionate about something people will conflict with you.
(You will butt heads with those who do not agree with you if you are passionate, be it sports, politics, you name it, favorite music artists, everyone has an opinion and people voice things they are passionate about)
2.If you control that passion it is safe.
(No one will conflict with you.. pass through life easy and have no chance to be rebuked)
3.What does God want you to be?? Not what you feel, it doesn't matter if you don't feel like you want to be Zealous for Him.
(It is not about us. We are called to spread the Gospel and put ourselves into vulnerable situations)
4. Zeal if pushed down because it creates Awkward Moments. "Jesus was captain Awkward"
(If we want to look like Jesus we better start getting awkward and not fitting in what is "cool" in this world. There is no such thing as cool, that is something humans have created. The only thing that is true is righteousness and unrighteousness.)
5. GOD'S ZEAL WILL ACCOMPLISH HIS WILL.
Luke 2:52? Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.
(Jesus should not always be pictured as humble and meek. He was not always holding and Lamb and looking all cute. Which flows into the next point.)
6. Jesus has no toleration for things that do not look like His Father.
John 2 Jesus clears the temple.. and is like what have you done to my Father's house! He was whipping people with a leather thing.. (No Toleration)
7. Romans 12 Never be lacking in ZEAL but keep your spiritual FERVOR in serving the Lord.
(Never is a strong word. as in Never. haha I don't know how to make it clearer.. never.)
8. Definition of Zeal: enthusiastic devotion devoted to a cause idea or cause and tireless diligence in its ferverence.
9. Humble Zeal, not Arrogance. Dont confuse it, or be accused of it.
( Don't feel arrogant for being so passionate about God. It isn't to compare yourself to others saying I am more on fire for God than you are.. it is just what God wants, and stay humble in knowing who you are and the God that you are worshiping.)
10. Praying accelerates your pursuit of God.
(True haha)
11. You bring the INTENSITY.
(God is always the same. He is always in your presence, it is up to you to acknowledge that. If you draw near to God he will draw near to you.)
Ohhkay, so for those of you who are still reading ;) here is how you GROW IS ZEAL.
1. DO NOT be content with where you are with God.
- Satisfaction is the enemy of pursuing God. (true true true)
- Don't compare yourself to others.
- As the deer pants for water.. not the cute little deer, not a t-shirt, a DEER in the DESERT about to Die.
"I need more, I need water, and I need it now." (True thirst is not quenchable.) quenchable? word? idk.
- You either take ground or you lose it. (You aren't stagnant. In the world we are living in thereare
constant struggles. We are not living in God's world this is the Prince of Darkness's world. That would be Satan.)
- Satan wants to DESTROY you. Fight back. (He hates you and wants to crush you. Turn to God)
- Content with your earthly state, but uncontent in your Spiritual state. Philippians 3:7 (You can break that
down in many different ways)
- Exterior content, Interior Unsatisfied)
- "To have found God and still pursue Him is the paradox of Love." "Holy discontentment"
- Not spiritual arrival, but spiritual discontentment. (If you think you have arrived to being spiritually mature
then you have missed the point. God is too vast and majestic to ever being to know the extent of His
Love.)
2. CULTIVATE ZEAL.
- Do not underestimate the power of friends. (Amen.)
- Encourage each other to go after God. Constantly Pressing.
- Make people act like you. (I thought this was funny. If you have Zeal for the Lord, make your friends
have that same Zeal, encourage them.)
3. NARROW your Interestes. Zoom in on Jesus.
- Fix your eyes on Jesus. It is like a map, if you type in Colorado Springs or Dripping Springs into google
and you aren't zoomed in you get distracted by the world. Only once you zoom in can you see the
intricate details, the mountians the hills the rivers. It is the same with God. (If you focus on Jesus and begin
to narrow your thoughts and focus on Him you can see Him better.)
Transform yourself every single day. Make today the day that you fall in Love with the creator of the Universe. That is something I will go into on Day Two.. maybe it won't be so long. Who knows though. The ZEAL of the Lord is uncontrollable haha. Let him consume your thoughts and your mind.
Love you guys .. hope you enjoyed that really really long Day One. :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)