SCRATCH the John the Baptist and Jesus were best friends idea....
John1:31-33
"I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water." And John bore witness, saying, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'Uupon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit."
9.25.2008
9.18.2008
enjoyinggodministries.com
they gave us this website to look at for the Sermon on the Mount class I am taking and I thought it had some good stuff on it that you might be interested in while studying your Bible..
well, time is flying by. hard to believe the third week is wrapping up. it has been such a sweet time from the Lord. really feel like He's changing me and its incredible for my hope to be alive and to feel the precious Holy Spirit working in my heart. just in a real tender, sweet place with Him. not really sure how to articulate what He's showing me. but pretty much I just meditate on Psalm91:1 (He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty)a lot, ha.
the other day in a class on Mary of Bethany, the guy teaching was talking about how Mary poured the perfume, which was probably her inheritance, over Jesus. it was 2 days before He was going to be persecuted. she lavished her devotion on Him. and after having an entire bottle poured on you, you're likely to smell it for a while. so while Jesus was on the cross, with each breath He was probably breathing in the fragrance of voluntary love. and for the Joy set before Him, He went to the cross. what a sweet thought, that the perfume was a reminder of the joy He receives from our devoted love to Him.
also, been thinking a lot about John the Baptist and Jesus. this isn't biblical at all but i think they were best friends growing up. it would make sense...if Mary and Elizabeth were relatives and pregnant about the same time..not sure if they lived in the same city, but lets pretend they did. I've been imagining them growing up together, building a fort or something and Jesus telling John who He really is. doing miracles, just them two. today i thought about them playing hid and go seek haha. i wonder if Jesus just sometimes let John win bc since Jesus is God, John would never stand a chance in a race or game of any kind. i bet Jesus did let John win, probably most of the time since He's so gracious and kind..but John deep down knew Jesus was letting Him win which was ok since he was hanging out with the God of the universe.
i always thought, man john the baptist must have had some crazy encounter growing up or something and then it just hit me...he was probably just best friends with Jesus.
and if we are a forerunner generation like John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord, it would make since that we, His people, His bride were His best friends too
...your opinion welcomed...
they gave us this website to look at for the Sermon on the Mount class I am taking and I thought it had some good stuff on it that you might be interested in while studying your Bible..
well, time is flying by. hard to believe the third week is wrapping up. it has been such a sweet time from the Lord. really feel like He's changing me and its incredible for my hope to be alive and to feel the precious Holy Spirit working in my heart. just in a real tender, sweet place with Him. not really sure how to articulate what He's showing me. but pretty much I just meditate on Psalm91:1 (He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty)a lot, ha.
the other day in a class on Mary of Bethany, the guy teaching was talking about how Mary poured the perfume, which was probably her inheritance, over Jesus. it was 2 days before He was going to be persecuted. she lavished her devotion on Him. and after having an entire bottle poured on you, you're likely to smell it for a while. so while Jesus was on the cross, with each breath He was probably breathing in the fragrance of voluntary love. and for the Joy set before Him, He went to the cross. what a sweet thought, that the perfume was a reminder of the joy He receives from our devoted love to Him.
also, been thinking a lot about John the Baptist and Jesus. this isn't biblical at all but i think they were best friends growing up. it would make sense...if Mary and Elizabeth were relatives and pregnant about the same time..not sure if they lived in the same city, but lets pretend they did. I've been imagining them growing up together, building a fort or something and Jesus telling John who He really is. doing miracles, just them two. today i thought about them playing hid and go seek haha. i wonder if Jesus just sometimes let John win bc since Jesus is God, John would never stand a chance in a race or game of any kind. i bet Jesus did let John win, probably most of the time since He's so gracious and kind..but John deep down knew Jesus was letting Him win which was ok since he was hanging out with the God of the universe.
i always thought, man john the baptist must have had some crazy encounter growing up or something and then it just hit me...he was probably just best friends with Jesus.
and if we are a forerunner generation like John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord, it would make since that we, His people, His bride were His best friends too
...your opinion welcomed...
9.12.2008
tree dream
let this truth go deep inside of me..
I was made for You
and You delight in me.
We will be together forever. and ever.
(a song they always sing here that i'm obsessed with..ha)
I had a dream the other night that my mom, Lauren and I were in Asia somewhere and we were getting on a train to go to another city. My mom went to exchange our money so we could pay and she came back with a piece of cloth with a tree sown onto it. the root system of the tree took up a significant part of the picture. and in the top right corner were the numbers 103.
I couldn't get the image off my mind all morning and prayed about what this meant. I felt the Lord saying that the money is obviously something valuable and that in His Kingdom a deep root system is what is valuable and is what will sustain us for the age to come. We have to be a people who delight in Him and meditate on His ways...feed on His faithfulness.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stands in the path of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water,
that bring forth its fruit in its season,
whose leaf also shall not wither;
and whatever he does shall prosper. (1:03)
The ungodly are not so,
but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the ungodly shall parish.
Psalm 1
I was made for You
and You delight in me.
We will be together forever. and ever.
(a song they always sing here that i'm obsessed with..ha)
I had a dream the other night that my mom, Lauren and I were in Asia somewhere and we were getting on a train to go to another city. My mom went to exchange our money so we could pay and she came back with a piece of cloth with a tree sown onto it. the root system of the tree took up a significant part of the picture. and in the top right corner were the numbers 103.
I couldn't get the image off my mind all morning and prayed about what this meant. I felt the Lord saying that the money is obviously something valuable and that in His Kingdom a deep root system is what is valuable and is what will sustain us for the age to come. We have to be a people who delight in Him and meditate on His ways...feed on His faithfulness.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stands in the path of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water,
that bring forth its fruit in its season,
whose leaf also shall not wither;
and whatever he does shall prosper. (1:03)
The ungodly are not so,
but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the ungodly shall parish.
Psalm 1
9.04.2008
His discipline is love.
"You are the God who disciplines without disappointment"
For they (earthly fathers) indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. [Hebrews12:10]
For they (earthly fathers) indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. [Hebrews12:10]
9.03.2008
faith & justice
The Lord has been asking me to let go of somethings and today i just got to the point where i was like, "ok God i want to let go but i dont know how. i need your help. how do i let go of a desire that is from you?" those desires though can sneak up into idols.. and thats what He wants me to let go of.. not necessarily the desire but the position it has in my heart.
I was reminded of Abraham and how God promised him a son but it did not come to pass for something like 100 years. So pretty much Abraham had a God-given desire burning in him for a hundred years! And he just had to trust that God is faithful to his promises. So the hundred years goes by and Sarah has Isaac. The desire was finally fulfilled. And then what does God do? Asks him to sacrifice his son. To kill the fulfillment of his desire and promise. And Abraham actually got to the point of tying up his son and putting him on the alter over wood, fully intending to sacrifice him to the Lord. And then God sends the ram, and protects his desire. But oh man, the willingness to lay it all down is huge!
As Abraham held the knife over Issac the angle of the Lord said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen22:12)
Through this story, God is showing me that He has to be at a completely different level than any other lover. I've always been like yea, God's #1..but there have been some close seconds. He is jealous to be our first and only love. He has to be far above, real far above any other love on earth or even a desire. And yes, He has given us desires that are legit and from Him and will be fulfilled while we're on earth, but they can't come anywhere near Him and our love for Him. That we'll give up anything anytime He asks. He's testing our hearts. What am I still holding on to that isn't in His hands, in His control completely? Just the fact that Abraham was willing to give up his son tells a lot about the position of his heart and the place God had in his life. I want to have faith like that. and the question He asked me today, "Do you have faith that I will protect your desires?"
---------------------
Justice through Jesus. God's justice on the lost person is salvation. God's justice on the drug addict is deliverance.God's justice makes the sick person well.
What a good and mighty and gracious God we serve!
I was reminded of Abraham and how God promised him a son but it did not come to pass for something like 100 years. So pretty much Abraham had a God-given desire burning in him for a hundred years! And he just had to trust that God is faithful to his promises. So the hundred years goes by and Sarah has Isaac. The desire was finally fulfilled. And then what does God do? Asks him to sacrifice his son. To kill the fulfillment of his desire and promise. And Abraham actually got to the point of tying up his son and putting him on the alter over wood, fully intending to sacrifice him to the Lord. And then God sends the ram, and protects his desire. But oh man, the willingness to lay it all down is huge!
As Abraham held the knife over Issac the angle of the Lord said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen22:12)
Through this story, God is showing me that He has to be at a completely different level than any other lover. I've always been like yea, God's #1..but there have been some close seconds. He is jealous to be our first and only love. He has to be far above, real far above any other love on earth or even a desire. And yes, He has given us desires that are legit and from Him and will be fulfilled while we're on earth, but they can't come anywhere near Him and our love for Him. That we'll give up anything anytime He asks. He's testing our hearts. What am I still holding on to that isn't in His hands, in His control completely? Just the fact that Abraham was willing to give up his son tells a lot about the position of his heart and the place God had in his life. I want to have faith like that. and the question He asked me today, "Do you have faith that I will protect your desires?"
---------------------
Justice through Jesus. God's justice on the lost person is salvation. God's justice on the drug addict is deliverance.God's justice makes the sick person well.
What a good and mighty and gracious God we serve!
9.02.2008
words cant describe.
Wow, not exactly sure how to begin this…except for WOW! Haha. My goodness. Today was my 4th day as in intern. I seriously don’t even know how to put into words what the past few days have been like but I guess I’ll give it a try...
Yesterday was our first full day in the prayer room, and I left completely in awe of the grace of God on these people’s lives. I realized that I have glamorized a lot of ministry, especially the prayer movement and Africa. Its like 'ooh yea that would be awesome for your job to be to fast and pray and be before God all day!' Or' Man, that would be so cool to live in Africa and feed the poor every day.' It is for sure one thing to talk about it and a completely different to actually live out those realities. And yes, both of those are amazing and the heart of Jesus but it is 100% by the grace of God that we can do either of those, or anything for that matter. I am realizing how weak I am apart from Him. It's only day 4 and I cant keep praying, "Lord my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak." Its a constant dying to your flesh.
day 1 was awesome as was day 2 and I’m sure the rest of my time here, but the thought of doing this day in and day out for the rest of my life is just too much to comprehend right now. Just day1 was hard! I definitely have a completely new respect for intercessors and those who have given themselves to the house of prayer. The grace of God is powerful and so strong!! If your heart isn’t being constantly kept alive by the Spirit, this would be miserable honestly.
I have more of an understanding of why, as Corey Russell says, he’s addicted to the daily break through…you have to be! And I think the key is, and what God is “tricking” me into, if you will, is an addiction to that break through. An addiction to His presence, to His word, to partnering with Jesus in prayer, to hearing Him speak, and the deeper things of God and His Spirit. An addiction to Him making my heart alive! And only Him! Honestly though, no matter what your occupation without that, life is going to be miserable. So no matter what I end up "doing" He is well on His way to ruining me for Jesus, ha. We were created FOR God! Oh man, I want to know Him. To really know this man Jesus. Not to simply do things in His name, but to actually know what He is like and what He thinks about different issues in society, the world and my life. To know His heart. To be in tune with the heart of God. That is all I want. And the things we do in His name have to come from that place, I’m convinced. It’s like if a husband just went out and bought his wife all the latest and greatest things thinking that is what she wants, when really her she could care less about those things and just wants time with him. It’s only in spending time with her that he’ll realize that the good-morning-note he left on the bathroom sink before going to work meant WAY more to her than the new diamond or outfit. The world says fastest car, nicest house…Jesus says note on the bathroom sink. I like that about Him. He’s really understands our hearts and desires and how He wired us. :)
I’ve been asking the Lord what He wants me to study during my prayer room time. (Also realizing I’ve never really gone in-depth into His word. It’s more like “God, give me revelation on light.” And he tells me one thing and I’m like oh cool, check. How about the Father’s love? One encounter with the Father’s delight in me and I’m like whoa that was amazing, check. What is the rush? Imagine giving yourself for a month to studying nothing but the light of God! Ok, there’s that soapbox) So, I’ve been feeling like the Lord wants me to focus on the ‘fear of the Lord’ and so I started looking stuff up about it today and then we had a time of prayer for the interns during an intercession set and this guy just kept saying, “seek out the fear of the Lord, seek out the fear of the Lord!!” Thank you Jesus for confirmation! I’m excited to give myself to studying this topic and seeking the Lord about what it means to fear Him. I’m sure there will be some blogs to come regarding the topic..ha.
Ok, that’s enough about me. What about YOU?
Yesterday was our first full day in the prayer room, and I left completely in awe of the grace of God on these people’s lives. I realized that I have glamorized a lot of ministry, especially the prayer movement and Africa. Its like 'ooh yea that would be awesome for your job to be to fast and pray and be before God all day!' Or' Man, that would be so cool to live in Africa and feed the poor every day.' It is for sure one thing to talk about it and a completely different to actually live out those realities. And yes, both of those are amazing and the heart of Jesus but it is 100% by the grace of God that we can do either of those, or anything for that matter. I am realizing how weak I am apart from Him. It's only day 4 and I cant keep praying, "Lord my spirit is willing but my flesh is weak." Its a constant dying to your flesh.
day 1 was awesome as was day 2 and I’m sure the rest of my time here, but the thought of doing this day in and day out for the rest of my life is just too much to comprehend right now. Just day1 was hard! I definitely have a completely new respect for intercessors and those who have given themselves to the house of prayer. The grace of God is powerful and so strong!! If your heart isn’t being constantly kept alive by the Spirit, this would be miserable honestly.
I have more of an understanding of why, as Corey Russell says, he’s addicted to the daily break through…you have to be! And I think the key is, and what God is “tricking” me into, if you will, is an addiction to that break through. An addiction to His presence, to His word, to partnering with Jesus in prayer, to hearing Him speak, and the deeper things of God and His Spirit. An addiction to Him making my heart alive! And only Him! Honestly though, no matter what your occupation without that, life is going to be miserable. So no matter what I end up "doing" He is well on His way to ruining me for Jesus, ha. We were created FOR God! Oh man, I want to know Him. To really know this man Jesus. Not to simply do things in His name, but to actually know what He is like and what He thinks about different issues in society, the world and my life. To know His heart. To be in tune with the heart of God. That is all I want. And the things we do in His name have to come from that place, I’m convinced. It’s like if a husband just went out and bought his wife all the latest and greatest things thinking that is what she wants, when really her she could care less about those things and just wants time with him. It’s only in spending time with her that he’ll realize that the good-morning-note he left on the bathroom sink before going to work meant WAY more to her than the new diamond or outfit. The world says fastest car, nicest house…Jesus says note on the bathroom sink. I like that about Him. He’s really understands our hearts and desires and how He wired us. :)
I’ve been asking the Lord what He wants me to study during my prayer room time. (Also realizing I’ve never really gone in-depth into His word. It’s more like “God, give me revelation on light.” And he tells me one thing and I’m like oh cool, check. How about the Father’s love? One encounter with the Father’s delight in me and I’m like whoa that was amazing, check. What is the rush? Imagine giving yourself for a month to studying nothing but the light of God! Ok, there’s that soapbox) So, I’ve been feeling like the Lord wants me to focus on the ‘fear of the Lord’ and so I started looking stuff up about it today and then we had a time of prayer for the interns during an intercession set and this guy just kept saying, “seek out the fear of the Lord, seek out the fear of the Lord!!” Thank you Jesus for confirmation! I’m excited to give myself to studying this topic and seeking the Lord about what it means to fear Him. I’m sure there will be some blogs to come regarding the topic..ha.
Ok, that’s enough about me. What about YOU?
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