Thursday 26 September 2013

Weekly Journal #4

God Time

Our school went on a road trip this week! We went to Rainbow Beach and spent time on the beach, on the dunes and in the shops. It was a great time to experience God through his awesome creation. And it was just that...AWESOME. I was in awe of what he has created! At night, the stars were illuminated the tide and graced the sky. The Milky Way was clearly visible as it stretched across the sky to the horizon. Watching the stars while lying on the beach as the tide was rolling in was a once in a lifetime experience. But on the opposite side of the experience were the extremely dry and vast sand dunes. The sand was so hot that it was almost too hot to step on! There was a location where we spent time sledding down the dunes like I would back home in the snow. The sand flowed like water down the hill as it cascaded like a waterfall.

God has definitely shown me he is an awesome creator this week! I'm excited for what else he has to show me in these upcoming weeks with his creation!

Psalm 19: The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Filling the Gap

While at the beach this week and being constantly and involuntarily intertwined with the family workings of the campers around us, God has reached into my heart to keep the families of Australia in prayer.Families that don't have Jesus to lean on in times of trouble have a much harder time trying to deal with the problems that every family can deal with. Whether it is personal intercession for the families that don't know Jesus or personally being a light and keeping a positive conversation with them going throughout the week, I have had a distinct heart for the families.

Listening to God

I recently have adopted a method of listening to God by keeping a journal of when he speaks. This past week he spoke to me and told me that he would never help me push.

Let me explain...

God told me that I've always lowered myself so that I can lift others up. So that I can push others closer to Him. But what He wants from me is that I remain in Him and that I lift others up to where I am. God will always help me pull but he will never help me push. It was a very big revelation that He revealed to me. Although it may sound small or not very important, this very aspect could change my entire relationship with God and how I perceive myself and others through Christ.

Life Application

I plan to bring everything that I've learned this week back home with me. To witness God's creation and to listen to the voice of all that He has created proclaiming the creativity and the glory of the creator. I really want to take more time out of my life to put myself in places and situations where I can experience the glory of the creator through the creation! How amazing an experience to have the stars singing as a chorus of lights and the moon as an ensemble of luminescence!

Monday 16 September 2013

Weekly Journal #3

God Time

This whole week has been good. We had a lot going on but it was just enough to keep me busy without pushing me to stress. Our lectures this week were split between hearing the voice of God and personal intercession. It was good to have the two subjects paired together because you could see how the two correlate and support each other individually.

In my personal time with God this week I've been working on trying to just enjoy being in the presence of God without having to feel like I need to speak. Sometimes just having someone else in a room with you without a word being spoken can grow a relationship. Now that I've been slowly hearing and understanding God's voice, I've become more content to just sit in silence and enjoy his presence. If I can't hear anything, that's fine with me, I'll just enjoy my time with Him until I can start to hear.

Filling the Gap

This past week I've been constantly praying for my outreach team. I have had no idea who was on my team but God has kept them on my heart to intercede and pray for. I've been praying for my team to be constantly praying for determination, vigilance and direction. Tonight was the night when the big reveal came as well!

For those who don't know yet, I am in a group of six headed for Malaysia and Indonesia for close to two months to evangelize and outreach in the communities. It was very exciting to reveal who was going in each group and I believe God has handpicked us individually to be the best possible team for this location. I'm beyond blessed to spend my outreach with these amazing people and I will continue to pray for my team.

Listening to God

During our community intercession this week, the group I was in was convinced we should pray for the Pass It On Tour. If you don't know what that is, Here it is! Basically, we are going to be going through small rural communities and spreading the gospel to all we encounter! We're going to be generating a wake of light.

God was telling the group an encouraging word that effects of our work are going to be lasting. That what we do on the Pass it On tour is going to make a lasting impact in multiple communities. I only pray that I am clean and worthy enough to be used as an instrument to conduct God's flowing glory through the countryside these coming weeks! I'm excited on a natural level but I'm ecstatic on a supernatural level!

Life Application

God has been teaching me this week that he isn't always tangible in the way we'd like to think he is. How weird would a relationship be if we required our friend to only speak to us in a specific way at a specific time in a specific place. When your friend speaks, they speak and you listen. Our problem is the listening part. God is always trying to speak to us but our job is only to listen and we can't even do that right! Now that I'm learning to shut up and listen, I can actually start to hear God! How strange that if you stop talking, the other person can actually speak! I'm excited for what He has to tell me!

Monday 9 September 2013

Weekly Journal #2

God Time
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1 NKJV

This past week God has been giving me insight into the life of David. David was called apart, he was called to lead. During lectures this past week or even just talking with people on base, David kept popping into my head. Especially his famous psalm 23. He was so close-knit to God that he could write about it in multiple ways and not grow weary. If you haven't read psalm 23 in a while, I encourage you to go read it and perceive it through the eyes of David. As one king bows down to another.

During quiet times with God, He would reveal David's heart to me little by little. David was a mighty warrior, a magnificent king but also a masterful worshiper. I know God has given me a heart like David's. I have a heart to break for what breaks God's. I'm learning to get excited when He gets excited and to mourn when He mourns. I only ask that he reveals it to me more and more over these next couple months. It will only happen as I spend more time with him like a son spends time with his father.

Filling the Gap
"But Jesus said, Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 19:14 NKJV

My heart has been heavy this week with everything that has been going on in Syria. Today we led an intercessory prayer for Syria and everyone involved. We were going to pray for different subjects and different topics depending on what the Holy Spirit was laying on our hearts. If you are unaware of what's going on here is a link describing it.

Syrian Problems

God broke my heart for the Syrian children. I mourned for the death of at least 426 children that didn't even have a part in any of the violence. I looked into His face and saw tears running down His face. I was BROKEN for these children as Christ was. In my disheveled state while interceding for the country, God showed me the children. I saw all of them, all 426 of them. I saw them dancing and singing before the throne. I saw them in such a state of excitement and peace that I began to laugh and/or cry out loud in the middle of intercession. God has given me compassion for children, He has just dropped it in my lap since I've been here. I pray that He shows me His heart for children more and more each and every day.

Listening to God
"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called." 1 Corinthians 1:26 NKJV

I'm going to be totally transparent and open with all of you. I've never seen myself as a leader. I've always been introverted and insecure about who I am. Back home there has been multiple occasions from multiple people telling me in multiple ways that I'm going to be a leader. I've always heard it but never accepted. I've always listened but never believed.

Until now...

Last Thursday we had community worship. I was just resting in the presence of peace when someone came up to me. They said they felt God was telling them to tell me something He had placed on their heart. After a brief exchange they told me God has called me to be a leader in such a time as this. After they left, I began to battle with myself. I became overwhelmed and slightly frustrated with God's idea of communication.

"I've heard this before God but it doesn't change the fact that I don't believe you."

Within 5 minutes, someone else approached me with another word. They felt God's word for me was that I'm here now, I'm not the same person I was back home. Their words exactly.."I don't know if you were shy or insecure back home but God says that's not who you are. He is calling you out of that." At this point I'm starting to understand what God is doing within me. This is a new season in my life.

"Okay God, I'm starting to see how you want me to understand this. But maybe you could give me just one more word?"

At this point I'm just curious if he will. I'm wondering if he will actually answer me and show me without a shadow of a doubt that he has called me to be a leader. Unfortunately no one approached me. I was slightly disappointed but honestly not too much. But just in that moment, God reminded me. I had received a piece of paper from someone earlier that morning that they felt they needed to give to me. I went over to my bible, pulled it out, opened it up and read it. "Because of your heart so full of love and humility, your ears that are always so attentive to what I'm saying, and your eyes that are always looking for the good in people, I have chosen you to be a mighty leader."

"This cannot be coincidence. Okay, I see it now. I'll trust you God. The only way I can lead others is if I can follow you. Show me."

Life Application
"Let us make man in Our image." Genesis 1:26 NKJV

God has shown me that he is our father. I've grown up in the church and known that God is my father but to what extent? I use the word but don't know the meaning. I submit to the King but don't know the Father's love. Chris Twinn, our speaker this week, lead us through a rigorous week of what it means to be a son and a daughter of Christ. We are legitimately made in likeness of God. Although I love my earthly father very much, I was knit together by my heavenly Father. I give him all of my love and he has nothing but love in return.





Monday 2 September 2013

Weekly Journal # 1

God Time
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1 NIV

What is a word?

This past week I've been studying in the gospel of John. John is so set apart in his gospel that it doesn't even collaborate with the other gospels. If we want to get technical, the first three, Matthew, Mark and Luke are considered the synoptics because they all collaborate together while John does not. Today in lectures, our speaker made a point that John was a Jew and knew that to start his gospel with "In the beginning" was a statement into itself that testifies to Jesus.

This past week, while studying John, I came to the revelation of Jesus being the Word. It didn't matter how many chapters of John I had read or what subject I was contemplating, John 1:1 kept returning to my mind. So I looked into what a word is and started to dive into the meaning of what it is.

John Locke once wrote that the use of words "is to be sensible marks of ideas." If we truly look into what a word is, it's used as an outward expression to communicate an inner desire. So for John to refer as Jesus as the Word, he is referring to Jesus as God's physical expression to communicate his inner desire.

Filling the Gap
"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." ~Mother Teresa~

This past week I feel like I've been having more and more compassion for just random strangers on the bus or the train. When Jacob and I went down to Loganlea via train to watch Jeff play football, we struck up a conversation with two guys on the bus that looked like they were completely caught up in the "gimme" mentality. One of the guys told us the sweater he just bought in the city cost $220 and was proud of it. God has been opening my eyes to people like this.

Everyone has a story to tell but most of them don't have a happy ending and to be honest, some aren't even interesting. But I've been finding myself praying for more and more random strangers that I haven't even met or even said hello to. Like Mother Teresa said, a simple smile goes a long way. But I'd like to add that a simple prayer with that smile goes even farther.

Listening to God
"Sometimes we have to stop talking so that we can listen." ~Me~

One thing that  I've been doing a lot of these past two weeks is taking a quiet time with God. It's something I've never really done but it's something that is revitalizing my relationship with God daily. I have moments when I will just sit in silence and wait for him to speak. One of the staff, Jeff, made a great suggestion last week during bible study. He suggested that during a quiet time with God, use your imagination to bring you to a place where you can have a face to face conversation with Jesus. Whether you have a conversation with Him over coffee in a local coffee shop with small talk happening in the background or in the Swiss Alps surrounded by pure white snow, Jesus will meet with you there.

During my conversations, he's been constantly telling me he is proud of me. He understands what I left to get here in Australia but this is where he wants me to be. I don't want to have to wait a month into my DTS to acknowledge this. I know without doubt that God has placed me here, at this specific time, with these specific people to cultivate a culture of holiness in a dark and desolate time.

Life Application
"The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace." ~Psalm 29:11~

When we had Simon Smith teaching last week about the character and nature of God, he gave us many names for God. The one that has been sticking with me is Jehovah Shalom. I'm excited to spend more and more time in quiet time with God. I know that a culture of peace is something that this world needs. Jesus has more than enough and he just needs us to demonstrate and spread His peace. I'm ready for God to purify me and use me as a tool to spread this peace he has given me.