Facebook usually inspires me to write posts I would otherwise not even think about on my own. Obviously there has been a lot of controversy going on today, however the issue at hand is not exactly what I want to focus on.
God has really been speaking to me about the prophetic, my words, encouragement and why it is so important. I think it was two weeks ago in one of my classes that the teacher was talking about prophecy, what it is and what it isn't. They were talking about it in the sense of leading worship but I want to show it's place in day to day life. This was the example that was used: You're leading a worship service and all of a sudden you start to feel a negative emotion. Now just because you are feeling that emotion doesn't mean you are supposed to address the emotion but it's almost like it's God's way of showing you "hey, this is what's going on in the room. I want you to sing out the opposite". By doing this you aren't bringing attention to the negative, but speaking words that will get rid of the negative and create a positive. A lot of people when they think of prophecy they think of it as for-seeing gloom and doom over a nation. I'm not saying God doesn't show us the negative but I think we often get into "warn the world" mode instead of use what God showed us to change the world. God is really showing me that when I feel something negative, or see something bad to use it to fuel my prayers and speak out the opposite. If I just see the bad and speak out the bad, it will only create more bad.
So now we come to my point. I cannot stand when people complain about America! I absolutely hate when people complain about our President. That's not to say that I am ignoring the state of our nation or that I agree with our Presidents decisions, but complaining will not change anything. Complaining is the complete opposite of what we should be doing. When we complain, we don't speak words of life over the situation. We actually feed into the situation we say we hate so much! God gave us creative speech. We have the ability to change the world with our words! If that doesn't make you think about what you're saying then I'm not sure what else to say. The Bible says that LIFE and DEATH are in the tongue. Complaining brings death 100% of the time. You cannot complain and expect something to change. It won't. The state of our nation is obvious. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see how we are struggling, but one way to start to change the way we think about our nation is to start looking for the GOOD that is going on! Start posting the good things happening all over facebook! Let's speak words of life into our nation. Let's prophecy what we want to see happen! Only then will we see change.
God spoke the world into existence, lets speak the world into the kingdom of Heaven!
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Decisions and God
A couple months ago, someone told me I needed to put more faith in myself rather then God. That statement has impacted me in quite a few ways. At first I immediately shot back with, "You have no idea who I am without God" and it's a true statement but I think God is starting to use that persons words again to teach me something a bit different.
It's clear as day that without God I would be a complete mess. Possibly not even on the planet, who knows! (good thing we don't ever have to find out) But I have been weighing some decisions lately. Some pretty big, life changing, scary decisions and my biggest fear is that I will make the wrong one. My mind convinces myself that there is a perfect way to live life and if I make a wrong decision it will ruin God's for real plan for me. What a lie. So I decided to listen to one of my favorite podcasts entitled "Decisions and God". Eric Johnson shares some of his experiences in decision making and what God spoke to him. He talks about how when you love God making the obvious decisions is easy, but what about the ones that aren't sin? What about the ones where you have multiple options and all of them would produce something good and you wouldn't mind doing them but when you go to God for direction, He is completely SILENT! And this is what baffles me the most, Eric goes on to say how there comes a time where God trusts you to make good decisions. Now honestly, if I were God I would ALWAYS tell me exactly what to do because I just make better decisions that way. At least I think so, but there's this element of co-laboring with God that comes into play. If He was just up there like a navigator, dictating my every move He wouldn't be a very loving God now would He.
I heard this really great example for co-laboring with God. Say you have a child and you take them out for ice cream. You ask the child what flavor they would like. What flavor is their favorite? And their response to you is, "Oh I don't care about what flavor I want, I just want whatever you're having". As a parent, you would continue to ask them what they want because you want them to have what they want, not what you want. You want to give your child what they want not always just what they need. You want them to have things that they enjoy and it's the same way with God. He is so loving that He wants us to make decisions with Him. Not just take directions.
God has given us the agenda, we are to bring heaven to earth. How that looks doesn't have to be super complicated. Why should I let the enemy have so much of my time stressing out about making a decision. I have to trust that I know how to make good decisions because the fact is, God trusts that I know how to make good decisions. Sometimes there is a clear answer and when that happens, I am thrilled! Even if I don't necessarily like it. But when He leaves it up to me I have to trust in myself because lets face it, He is SOOOO good that if I end up making the wrong decision, He will cause it to work out for my good. It's because I trust in His goodness that I can be free to trust in myself.
It's clear as day that without God I would be a complete mess. Possibly not even on the planet, who knows! (good thing we don't ever have to find out) But I have been weighing some decisions lately. Some pretty big, life changing, scary decisions and my biggest fear is that I will make the wrong one. My mind convinces myself that there is a perfect way to live life and if I make a wrong decision it will ruin God's for real plan for me. What a lie. So I decided to listen to one of my favorite podcasts entitled "Decisions and God". Eric Johnson shares some of his experiences in decision making and what God spoke to him. He talks about how when you love God making the obvious decisions is easy, but what about the ones that aren't sin? What about the ones where you have multiple options and all of them would produce something good and you wouldn't mind doing them but when you go to God for direction, He is completely SILENT! And this is what baffles me the most, Eric goes on to say how there comes a time where God trusts you to make good decisions. Now honestly, if I were God I would ALWAYS tell me exactly what to do because I just make better decisions that way. At least I think so, but there's this element of co-laboring with God that comes into play. If He was just up there like a navigator, dictating my every move He wouldn't be a very loving God now would He.
I heard this really great example for co-laboring with God. Say you have a child and you take them out for ice cream. You ask the child what flavor they would like. What flavor is their favorite? And their response to you is, "Oh I don't care about what flavor I want, I just want whatever you're having". As a parent, you would continue to ask them what they want because you want them to have what they want, not what you want. You want to give your child what they want not always just what they need. You want them to have things that they enjoy and it's the same way with God. He is so loving that He wants us to make decisions with Him. Not just take directions.
God has given us the agenda, we are to bring heaven to earth. How that looks doesn't have to be super complicated. Why should I let the enemy have so much of my time stressing out about making a decision. I have to trust that I know how to make good decisions because the fact is, God trusts that I know how to make good decisions. Sometimes there is a clear answer and when that happens, I am thrilled! Even if I don't necessarily like it. But when He leaves it up to me I have to trust in myself because lets face it, He is SOOOO good that if I end up making the wrong decision, He will cause it to work out for my good. It's because I trust in His goodness that I can be free to trust in myself.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Fasting and Me
So about 2 weeks ago I was reading my current choice in literature ("What's the Point" by Misty Edwards - I'd highly recommend it!) and since she's from IHOP they are real big on fasting. This has been something I've really wrestled with over the years. I have pushed it to the back of my mind so many times because I just could not come to a conclusion as to what fasting looks like for me.
In all honesty, food is not a big deal to me. At all. I can go through the day and if I'm focused on what I'm doing enough I can completely ignore hunger pains until they aren't even there anymore. (My coffee addiction probably does not help things! haha) It's not good, at all and I'm working on this. I have to really make it a point to eat food. For most people fasting brings them to a point of weakness and forces them to chose to meditate on God rather then their stomach. It's a sacrifice for most people. I'm just not one of them. So I've been asking God what does this look like for me? I don't want to ignore the concept. Obviously He finds it beneficial for us and I don't want to miss out on it. Well once again I had completely put it behind me because I just honestly didn't want to deal with it. But this morning, completely random I may add, God decided to wake me up before 6. Now let me just say, anyone who knows me even in the slightest knows that I am NOT a morning person. Furthest thing from it. I just do not function in the morning. End of story. So ironically (it's really not ironic at all) I've been feeling God nudge me to wake up at 6 to spend some time with Him before I start my day. So this morning when He woke me up Ijumped out of my bed with the biggest smile on my face and grabbed my Bible and had an amazing quiet time! rolled over and said 5 more minutes.....Haha. My 5 minutes turned into 45 and only did I get up to go put Nick on the bus. Now there's this really great song where the first line is "though I sleep, my heart is awake". It's literal people! So even in my rebel sleepy state God decided he was going to talk to me. He started to point out that this is like my fasting. Giving up that 45 minutes before I have to get up I am exactly in that needy state, relying on God to be my strength to actually get up. It's hard, and I have yet to even do it, but I know that God never asks you to do something He won't enable you to do (listen to me, i've traveled around the world with no money and I'm struggling with waking up in the morning! hahaha pathetic).
I feel like people have the wrong impression about fasting. I honestly don't know what it does for most people. I guess they like how it sounds when they tell people they fasted and prayed about something. I really don't know, but what He's been showing me is that it's an act of obedience and it's not even something to be telling people. I've contemplated writing this because of that fact, but I feel like this is ok. I guess it all comes down to the motive of the heart. That's really what He's looking at.
Maybe one day He will ask me to give up food. That day is not today and I'm not a horrible christian because I don't fast food. He see's my struggles and He see's where my heart is. He will honor my obedience. Now excuse me while I go repent for my prior disobedience. ;)
In all honesty, food is not a big deal to me. At all. I can go through the day and if I'm focused on what I'm doing enough I can completely ignore hunger pains until they aren't even there anymore. (My coffee addiction probably does not help things! haha) It's not good, at all and I'm working on this. I have to really make it a point to eat food. For most people fasting brings them to a point of weakness and forces them to chose to meditate on God rather then their stomach. It's a sacrifice for most people. I'm just not one of them. So I've been asking God what does this look like for me? I don't want to ignore the concept. Obviously He finds it beneficial for us and I don't want to miss out on it. Well once again I had completely put it behind me because I just honestly didn't want to deal with it. But this morning, completely random I may add, God decided to wake me up before 6. Now let me just say, anyone who knows me even in the slightest knows that I am NOT a morning person. Furthest thing from it. I just do not function in the morning. End of story. So ironically (it's really not ironic at all) I've been feeling God nudge me to wake up at 6 to spend some time with Him before I start my day. So this morning when He woke me up I
I feel like people have the wrong impression about fasting. I honestly don't know what it does for most people. I guess they like how it sounds when they tell people they fasted and prayed about something. I really don't know, but what He's been showing me is that it's an act of obedience and it's not even something to be telling people. I've contemplated writing this because of that fact, but I feel like this is ok. I guess it all comes down to the motive of the heart. That's really what He's looking at.
Maybe one day He will ask me to give up food. That day is not today and I'm not a horrible christian because I don't fast food. He see's my struggles and He see's where my heart is. He will honor my obedience. Now excuse me while I go repent for my prior disobedience. ;)
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
I am a Singer & Songwriter
I started classes for Bethel's new online Worship University this week. They have been rocking my world! As I'm watching these lectures on the heart of worship and songwriting I find my spirit coming alive! That doesn't seem like it's anything new, but lately I have felt un-inspired and un-motivated to be who I know God has called me to be. Here is why:
There have been two people in my life that the enemy has used to stick a lie in my head. The first person told me I couldn't sing, the second, told me I wasn't a very good song writer. Both of these people spoke their opinions and the enemy has since used those lies to make me shy away from the calling God has placed on my life. It's funny how you remember the negative 10x more then you do the positive. Only two people have ever said these things to me! The majority of people are only ever full of encouragement. I have had countless people tell me how my songs have really blessed them, spoke to them, challenged them and helped them through rough times. Cindy Myers said to me before I left for Finland that while she was in the hospital, she would listen to the songs I had written and they helped her get through the nights. Both of my parents have told me how my songs have blessed them. Not to mention the countless people who have prophecied over me saying that I write songs of deliverance and my voice brings freedom. So with ALL that truth, why does ONE persons opinion have such an affect on me. I have to make a conscious choice to believe what God says, rather then what these two people have said.
Today as I was driving in my car, I turned down the music and started singing my prayers to God. What I would normally just say out to God, I sang instead. Then he brought a song that I wrote to my mind.
"Though despair may challenge my soul
Though the pain I feel tells me I'm not whole
I cling to the truth that your all that I need
You gave me a promise that no one can take from me
So I choose to see the light inside of me
To see the man who came and died to set me free
And in the shadow of your wings you shine on me
You shine on me
Arise my soul, sing out the truth
Your light is here, your light has come
His glory's shining all around me
In Him no darkness can be found
So arise my soul, cry all is well
Your light is here, your light has come
Christ in me, the hope of glory you shine on me, you shine on me"
As I began to sing it out, the truth in the song began to prove to me that I'm not a bad songwriter and He has in fact given me the ability to write songs of deliverance and with my voice they will bring freedom. How do I know? Because it was freeing me. Though the words that people have said may challenge the calling on my life, I CHOOSE to see what God has placed inside of me and I will sing it out until my soul believes it. He has given me this gift and no one can take that from me. They can try to discourage me from writing or singing, but they can't take the gift away from me. It was never from them in the first place. It's from God. I refuse to let a persons opinion destroy the truth of who I am.
God's voice has to be stronger then the opinions of others or you will never become who you were created to be.
There have been two people in my life that the enemy has used to stick a lie in my head. The first person told me I couldn't sing, the second, told me I wasn't a very good song writer. Both of these people spoke their opinions and the enemy has since used those lies to make me shy away from the calling God has placed on my life. It's funny how you remember the negative 10x more then you do the positive. Only two people have ever said these things to me! The majority of people are only ever full of encouragement. I have had countless people tell me how my songs have really blessed them, spoke to them, challenged them and helped them through rough times. Cindy Myers said to me before I left for Finland that while she was in the hospital, she would listen to the songs I had written and they helped her get through the nights. Both of my parents have told me how my songs have blessed them. Not to mention the countless people who have prophecied over me saying that I write songs of deliverance and my voice brings freedom. So with ALL that truth, why does ONE persons opinion have such an affect on me. I have to make a conscious choice to believe what God says, rather then what these two people have said.
Today as I was driving in my car, I turned down the music and started singing my prayers to God. What I would normally just say out to God, I sang instead. Then he brought a song that I wrote to my mind.
"Though despair may challenge my soul
Though the pain I feel tells me I'm not whole
I cling to the truth that your all that I need
You gave me a promise that no one can take from me
So I choose to see the light inside of me
To see the man who came and died to set me free
And in the shadow of your wings you shine on me
You shine on me
Arise my soul, sing out the truth
Your light is here, your light has come
His glory's shining all around me
In Him no darkness can be found
So arise my soul, cry all is well
Your light is here, your light has come
Christ in me, the hope of glory you shine on me, you shine on me"
As I began to sing it out, the truth in the song began to prove to me that I'm not a bad songwriter and He has in fact given me the ability to write songs of deliverance and with my voice they will bring freedom. How do I know? Because it was freeing me. Though the words that people have said may challenge the calling on my life, I CHOOSE to see what God has placed inside of me and I will sing it out until my soul believes it. He has given me this gift and no one can take that from me. They can try to discourage me from writing or singing, but they can't take the gift away from me. It was never from them in the first place. It's from God. I refuse to let a persons opinion destroy the truth of who I am.
God's voice has to be stronger then the opinions of others or you will never become who you were created to be.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
A bad case of Jonah-itis
It will never cease to amaze me how God will go totally out of His way to pull me back to where He wants me. I can honestly say that I have never related more to the story of Jonah then I have this year.
This past year has been absolutely crazy. I can't even begin to describe it to you, but the one thing I've really struggled with the most was stepping into my destiny. God has been speaking to me about who I am and what He's called me to since I was 13. I've really always known what I was made for even though at the time it seemed like the last thing I would ever do. So since it seemed impossible, I guess I was ok with it. Well I have grown so much over the years. God has total guided every step so that it would prepare me for what He called me to, but this year God really began opening door after door for me to walk into. At first I did without even thinking about it, but as I began to see what was happening I got scared. My biggest fear being "What if I fail". So I began drowning myself in my job, which in turn took up all my time. I also got caught up in other things that in the back of my mind I knew would hold me back from where I was going. Working so much made me quit all the things I was starting to do because it took up all my time. I justified all my choices to make it ok in my eyes, but really all I was doing was running. Trying to mess up the plan for my life all because of fear.
Sounds exactly like Jonah right? God gives Jonah a message for Ninevah. Then he gets scared and decides to go the opposite direction thinking that he can run away from God's call on his life. (Why didn't I learn from this story) Well what does God do, but send a storm that in turn makes Jonah get thrown overboard where God provides a special fish specifically to save his life so that he can do what he was called to do. Holy crap! I seriously feel like this has been my year, by the book!
So back to my story. Throughout this year I made some choices that I thought for sure would affect the plan God has for me. I really thought I had myself screwed up enough so that He could no longer trust me. But there is a verse in the Bible where it says that "Even when we are faithless, He is still faithful for He cannot deny Himself". Boy did I ever see that verse first hand. I went to a church tonight, really just to humor my friend but also knowing that I wasn't ok and needed to just be in that atmosphere. But God totally set me up. The message was exactly what I needed to hear but my heart was so hard that it was falling on deaf ears. Then they wanted to pray for people. I didn't go up until my friend was like yeah you should come up here. So I did, and they prayed for me and it was short and sweet so I was like, Oh yeah! That was painless and I go and sit down in my seat again. About a minute later this girl comes up to me and says they wanted me to go back up there. I was just like, you have got to be kidding me. This other guy starts speaking exactly what I needed to hear, it was literally like he was reading my thoughts! Everything I had been running from was stuck right in front of me and I couldn't hide anymore. I never met this guy in my life! I know God speaks but I am still in awe every time that He does. Especially when it's to me. I tried to run, but God went way out of His way to bring me back and even more so to tell me how much He loves me and trusts me. You are not big enough to ruin God's plan for you! Take it from me, I tried. So save yourself the time and bad choices and just be obedient.
So, I guess I should just give up trying to prove God wrong. His love never fails me. I am so undeserving, but He still loves me. I will never be able to comprehend it, but I can't possibly live without it.
This past year has been absolutely crazy. I can't even begin to describe it to you, but the one thing I've really struggled with the most was stepping into my destiny. God has been speaking to me about who I am and what He's called me to since I was 13. I've really always known what I was made for even though at the time it seemed like the last thing I would ever do. So since it seemed impossible, I guess I was ok with it. Well I have grown so much over the years. God has total guided every step so that it would prepare me for what He called me to, but this year God really began opening door after door for me to walk into. At first I did without even thinking about it, but as I began to see what was happening I got scared. My biggest fear being "What if I fail". So I began drowning myself in my job, which in turn took up all my time. I also got caught up in other things that in the back of my mind I knew would hold me back from where I was going. Working so much made me quit all the things I was starting to do because it took up all my time. I justified all my choices to make it ok in my eyes, but really all I was doing was running. Trying to mess up the plan for my life all because of fear.
Sounds exactly like Jonah right? God gives Jonah a message for Ninevah. Then he gets scared and decides to go the opposite direction thinking that he can run away from God's call on his life. (Why didn't I learn from this story) Well what does God do, but send a storm that in turn makes Jonah get thrown overboard where God provides a special fish specifically to save his life so that he can do what he was called to do. Holy crap! I seriously feel like this has been my year, by the book!
So back to my story. Throughout this year I made some choices that I thought for sure would affect the plan God has for me. I really thought I had myself screwed up enough so that He could no longer trust me. But there is a verse in the Bible where it says that "Even when we are faithless, He is still faithful for He cannot deny Himself". Boy did I ever see that verse first hand. I went to a church tonight, really just to humor my friend but also knowing that I wasn't ok and needed to just be in that atmosphere. But God totally set me up. The message was exactly what I needed to hear but my heart was so hard that it was falling on deaf ears. Then they wanted to pray for people. I didn't go up until my friend was like yeah you should come up here. So I did, and they prayed for me and it was short and sweet so I was like, Oh yeah! That was painless and I go and sit down in my seat again. About a minute later this girl comes up to me and says they wanted me to go back up there. I was just like, you have got to be kidding me. This other guy starts speaking exactly what I needed to hear, it was literally like he was reading my thoughts! Everything I had been running from was stuck right in front of me and I couldn't hide anymore. I never met this guy in my life! I know God speaks but I am still in awe every time that He does. Especially when it's to me. I tried to run, but God went way out of His way to bring me back and even more so to tell me how much He loves me and trusts me. You are not big enough to ruin God's plan for you! Take it from me, I tried. So save yourself the time and bad choices and just be obedient.
So, I guess I should just give up trying to prove God wrong. His love never fails me. I am so undeserving, but He still loves me. I will never be able to comprehend it, but I can't possibly live without it.
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