The Journey

I am in the process of reading "Dating Delilah" by Judah Smith with our Student Leaders at church. So far, it's been a really great book. Very straightforward, practical and encouraging! It's so amazing to read a book on purity where you walk away feeling convicted not condemned, and encouraged to strive for more of Jesus in your life. I like it.

So, I'm on chapter 3. I absolutely LOVE this one point and just had to share with you all.

He states that we have to realize that purity is a process, not a point or a magical-all-at-once-transformation. It's a decision we have to make daily. "Why? Because purity is not a line we cross, it's a direction we take."

Amen!

It's so easy, when pursuing purity in your life, to mess up and then just want to give up. Because you've prayed again and again, given it over to the Lord again and again, and yet STILL you mess up. It drives you crazy, makes you feel guilty and tells you that you're never going to be "free" of this sin. It defeats you.

What we fail to realize is that we don't become like Jesus all at once.
We don't become sin-free all at once.
It's a process.

So, instead of crying defeat when you mess up, you go to Jesus, admit your disobedience and rejoice that He has grace for you and forgives you. "When you understand the work of God however, you will recognize that stuff coming up is a natural part of the process...you are being given an opportunity to decrease so that God can increase in you."

"He must increase, but I must decrease" -John 3:30

I just think that it's awesome.

Hallelujah that life with Jesus is a journey. An exciting adventurous journey where He's constantly showing you new things, loving you, forgiving you and making you more like Him. Amen.

The Call

I went to The Call in Washington, DC this past Saturday.

It's a 12 hour day of fasting and prayer for our nation put on by IHOP (not pancakes). It was hot, and it was hard, but so good at the same time.

Truthfully, I haven't fasted in forever. It's something I really feel the Lord calling me to these days and this event was a really good stepping stone back into that for me.

There is something amazing about denying your belly the food that it grumbles for, in essence, denying your flesh nature. As it says in Romans 8, we struggle so much between our flesh and our spirit. I feel this struggle daily, as I'm sure everyone does. So, when you are able to suceed in denying your flesh as you do in fasting, it feels really good. That momentary victory over your flesh is worth all uncomfortable feelings that happen when you are fasting.

Fasting is really effective for a lot of things. It focuses your attention on the Lord for one thing. When I fast, every time my stomach grumbles, I just use that as a reminder to pray and talk to Jesus. It's a sweet thing to walk hand in hand with Him throughout the day.

One thing that was talked about a lot from the stage was the topic of rebellion and the lack of discipline in our generation. I think that it's so true. I see it in my life, and I see it all around me in people my age. I find it so easy to get into a mindset of "taking care of myself", which really should be labeled, "doing whatever I want when I want with no regard to what the Lord wants". That is rebellion. When I ignore what I know the Lord would want me to do to satisfy an urge to do something that I want to do, it is rebellion. It says that my decisions and wants are more important than the Lord's. It shouts that I am in control of my life, when really the Lord should have that job.

I am a person who likes control. It's hard for me to bend my knee and submit to what the Lord wants me to do sometimes. I have this urge to plan my own day, make lists and forge ahead full steam in my own desires. It's not like any of the things I do on those days are bad things, they are just things that are done outside of the Lord's will for that day.

It takes a strong desire to fight rebellion in your heart. The first step is realizing it's there. The next is asking the Lord to take it from you and then bracing yourself to just stand as it's torn from you. It's often a hard process, because you must be broken to rip something out of you. Broken is when we stand before the Lord totally aware of our shortcomings and sin, yet still rest and bask in His glorious freeing complete love and acceptance for us.

There is a verse in the Bible, Exodus 14:13-15 that states "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still". I think that it an excellent example of what happens when you are broken. You are empty of every thing you have to fight with, and so you just are still and the Lord fights for you. Beautiful. Simply sweet and beautiful.

Hearing the Voice of God

"Our ability to obtain wisdom from God begins and grows with our ability and willingness to fear Him." -Priscilla Shirer, "He Speaks to Me: Preparing to Hear from God"

Think on that for a bit. I'll be going more in depth early next week.

Off to a weekend of overnights! :)

Senior Lunch

Yesterday was a fun day.

We celebrated and congratulated our graduating seniors from Ground Level pretty much all day. :)

<--- Lemon smiles
(Yes, that is our youth pastor on the far left.)

I love these guys so much! This is my first group of students (during my time with Ground Level) that I have seen grow from being freshman all the way up to seniors. Let me just tell you, they are an amazing bunch of men and women who love Jesus.

Anyway, after church, we took them out to lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse. There was much fun to be had from lemon smiles to rocking out to David Crowder on the way back home with the windows down.

<---- All of us!
(except for me...I'm taking the picture!)

Love

Somedays, I just need to tilt my head back, take a deep breath and let the presence of Jesus wash over me. I love those days.

This past weekend was one of them. I read Psalm 73 over and over again. It's good, you should go check it out.

Listening to everyone praying for each other last night was beautiful. Everyone's heart and love for the Lord is so beautiful. I love my hometeam.

Who Am I?

It's been an Identity and Purpose weekend at our church. Not officially of course, but it seems that's all the Lord's been putting on our hearts to talk about. It was a great weekend (thank you for your prayers!) and I just wanted to share with you some great quotes.

Girls' Retreat (Friday - Saturday)

• You were created to fit and be bound to the Lord as a belt fits and is bound to a man's waist. The Lord created you to fit to Him. (Read Jeremiah 13:1-11)
• When you are created for something, nothing else satisfies you but that thing.
• You will never know what you are supposed to do with your life until you understand who you are. When you know who you are, you know what you are called to.
• If you are a daughter/son of God, then your FIRST and PRIMARY purpose/calling/destiny in life is to be in loving, intimate relationship with God.
  
• God didn't create Adam so He wouldn't have to name all the animals. He created Adam to have fellowship and relationship with.
  
• Everything that is "expected" of us as Christians falls secondary (and flows out of) to the primary purpose of knowing Jesus in relationship.
  
• We do the "expected" things as Christians because we ARE part of Jesus' family, not to gain an entrance pass to or maintain our status in His family.
  
• When we ask "what is our purpose in life?" as it pertains to job and career, we are asking the wrong question.
  
• The question you should be asking is "What do I need to do with my life in order to best accomplish the things Jesus has asked me to do based on how He has made me?"
• The Lord sits at our right and left hands and whispers in our ears "go right, go left, you're on course." We need never fear (or fear messing up) our destiny with the Lord.

Hello, my name is (Sunday morning)

• If you had to introduce yourself based on your identity in Christ only, what would you say?
• How would your life (and actions) introduce you?
• The Father doesn't want/need another hireling or servant. He wants a son/daughter.
  
• Stop performing (keeping score in your head) and starting living as a son/daughter of God.
• There is no community service when it comes to grace and mercy
  

Sigh. It was such a good weekend.

I love it when the Lord shakes up things I thought I had a handle on. You never stop growing and learning in the Lord. It's like any other relationship. I think I will be 89 years old still trying to grasp hold of how the Lord thinks of me. His love is just so HUGE!

SO, I know those quotes were long, but really, if you can just grasp a small iota of how Jesus views you and who He created you to be, it will change your life.

Today's Thought: If you stopped "keeping score" in your head and simply lived as His child, how would your life change?

Girls Retreat 2008

Girls' Retreat 2008 in 4 hours!
I am so excited...nervous and busy, but so excited. I am expecting Jesus to move in these girls hearts. To change how they think, to move their hearts to fall more in love with Him this weekend.

Pray for us, please.

Pray for our 8 girls that they would clearly experience God this weekend. Pray for protection and favor over us and for hearts to be softened.

See you after the weekend!