"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." Revelation 12:11a
I love the depth that the Lord brings in your life... and the commonalities you now share with any sister or brother simply by your walk with Jesus. I found myself being filled with encouragement today as we shared the inner workings of God in our lives--both in the past and today.
I love seeing how God has moved in someone's life-- aspects of God that He has revealed to and through that person. It is so incredibly beautiful. Absolutely breath-taking.
Today resembled one of those movies where you walk in and out of a story being told as the past becomes interrupted by present happenings. I think of Fried Green Tomatoes or Forest Gump... We walked and talked, then the story would be paused for a stop at Buy the Way for a snack and then we'd resume. Once again, interrupted to buy a ticket for the subway and back to chatting again-- right at the depth we had left off at.
Intent on the story being unwrapped, a beautiful package of the Lord's working through the years... we laughed as an older man tried to sell us men's socks... then back to the story... shwarmas...talking over ice-cream...sitting on a bench outside for an hour... we made our way through Seoul today, looking around and all the while sharing our hearts-- sharing what Jesus has done in our lives...proclaiming the testimony of Jesus in our lives.
Weaving in and out, we talked and shared. God is good. We have been blessed to be a blessing... to share the freedom that we've received.
...Maybe we'll have some mint tea tonight and talk some more. :)
What is God doing in your life today? What is your testimony today? If you have a testimony from your past but not for today, receive a fresh breath... Who is Jesus to you? Our testimony in Jesus is powerful. This is the most important thing in life-- the revelation of who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for you. Do you know Him? Have you spoken with Him today?
Friday, September 26, 2008
Walking Out Freedom, Day by Day
Once you've received freedom, there is a very real aspect of walking it out. If you have your eyesight given back to you, you're not going to keep your eyes shut. If you've been given the ability to walk, you're not going to stay bound to a wheel chair. You have to take the inititative to walk out the new found healing and freedom.
This goes for emotional and inner healing as well.
Those first steps may be scary. They may be hard and even have some seeming failures, but you have to stumble a little to gain strength back in those muscles that haven't been used in so long or in some cases, never. As God uproots insecurities and delivers inner healing accompanied with truth, you must walk it out in circumstances that will challenge this freedom. If He's delivered you from lies and hurts and pain, you must take a step of faith and walk out that freedom. This is by no means easy; however, it is essential.
Since I've been in Korea I have been experiencing this challenge-- being stretched to walk out the freedom God has given me. God has been placing me in situations and circumstances that require me to depend solely on Him and to call on His name in the freedom that He has given me. In times that the enemy brings back the lies, I have to continually renew my mind and hold fast to the truth and the healing that I've received.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
If the Lord has delivered you from something, don't go back to that bondage; rather, walk out your freedom. Let God challenge and continually change you. Allow God to renew you day by day. God is always taking us into greater places of freedom. Stay hungry for the King and remember your dependence on Him. Take His hand and begin walking out your freedom. We have to learn how to walk again or walk for the first time.... think of how a baby learns to walk. Eventually mommy and daddy let go and tell him to come to them. God will do that. "You've got this. You can do it. Look at you go!" He'll cheer for you! He'll never leave you but He will challenge you and ask you to get out of the boat. All He needs is faith the size of a mustard seed and He can move mountains through you.
Take hold of your healing and freedom...and begin to walk it out. Though it may be hard and scary...it is so worth it! "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1
This goes for emotional and inner healing as well.
Those first steps may be scary. They may be hard and even have some seeming failures, but you have to stumble a little to gain strength back in those muscles that haven't been used in so long or in some cases, never. As God uproots insecurities and delivers inner healing accompanied with truth, you must walk it out in circumstances that will challenge this freedom. If He's delivered you from lies and hurts and pain, you must take a step of faith and walk out that freedom. This is by no means easy; however, it is essential.
Since I've been in Korea I have been experiencing this challenge-- being stretched to walk out the freedom God has given me. God has been placing me in situations and circumstances that require me to depend solely on Him and to call on His name in the freedom that He has given me. In times that the enemy brings back the lies, I have to continually renew my mind and hold fast to the truth and the healing that I've received.
"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
If the Lord has delivered you from something, don't go back to that bondage; rather, walk out your freedom. Let God challenge and continually change you. Allow God to renew you day by day. God is always taking us into greater places of freedom. Stay hungry for the King and remember your dependence on Him. Take His hand and begin walking out your freedom. We have to learn how to walk again or walk for the first time.... think of how a baby learns to walk. Eventually mommy and daddy let go and tell him to come to them. God will do that. "You've got this. You can do it. Look at you go!" He'll cheer for you! He'll never leave you but He will challenge you and ask you to get out of the boat. All He needs is faith the size of a mustard seed and He can move mountains through you.
Take hold of your healing and freedom...and begin to walk it out. Though it may be hard and scary...it is so worth it! "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
"Without Superpowers There is No Hope"
I finished checking my students' weekend journals...I had given them the topic: If you could have a super power what would it be?
I've found that whenever I ask kids this question, they all tend to have a similar idea of what they would want to do...at least my students back in the States and here in Korea.
After grading all nine of their entries, I found a common theme: they all desired to have a super power that would some how benefit the world and get rid of all the bad people and make it a better place to live. I love to hear their hearts on this issue of good and bad. God has placed it on our hearts and given us an awareness of good and evil. Things of God and things against God. He has written it on our hearts.
This world continues to get darker and darker but it's amazing to see what God is doing world wide. It is time for God's people to really stand up and speak out His name and claim His goodness... to advance His Kingdom.
The last paper I checked summed it up in the final line, "Without superpowers, there is no hope." We need the power of God. We need to be walking with Jesus and rely on His power alone. That is the only way we will see transformation.
I've found that whenever I ask kids this question, they all tend to have a similar idea of what they would want to do...at least my students back in the States and here in Korea.
After grading all nine of their entries, I found a common theme: they all desired to have a super power that would some how benefit the world and get rid of all the bad people and make it a better place to live. I love to hear their hearts on this issue of good and bad. God has placed it on our hearts and given us an awareness of good and evil. Things of God and things against God. He has written it on our hearts.
This world continues to get darker and darker but it's amazing to see what God is doing world wide. It is time for God's people to really stand up and speak out His name and claim His goodness... to advance His Kingdom.
The last paper I checked summed it up in the final line, "Without superpowers, there is no hope." We need the power of God. We need to be walking with Jesus and rely on His power alone. That is the only way we will see transformation.
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
some treasures and challenges
"You cannot discover who you are by yourself-- it has to be in the context of serving people. It's the only way because by nature, you're identity of who you are in God is connected to how you manifest Him in certain people around you." --Bill Johnson
-----------------
recently been challenged by this, especially as I pray for God to root me...
Jackie Pullinger lived in the Walled City of Hong Kong for about 20 years, reaching out to heroin addicts and prostitutes. She saw many come to Christ and be delivered from heroin through prayer with little or no symptoms of withdrawal... here in her book, Chasing the Dragon, she is referring to the blessings she received from her long term commitment versus the short term visits from others:
// So we were present at one of those times in history when the past blares, intruding the present, and I am in them both. I often tell visiting missions teams of this phenomenon. It is fashionable nowadays to visit Asia, China, and the poor for a few days, weeks, or months and call it outreach. Over the years we have had hundreds of short-termers who want to get the picture immediately-- if possible, on video-- so they can show it to their home church and have an inspired evening. I have begged them to love the people and stay like Sai Di did for me 30 years ago. the disadvantage of short term missions is a wrong perspective based on this generation's need for instant results.
...the remarkable fact that after so long we still see most addicts who come to us believe in Jesus, pray in tongues, and detoxify from drugs painlessly does not obscure the fact that they need a changed mind. So the voyeurs leave. They have their video clips, but they never saw. It was either all too good or all too bad, and neither was accurate. We love our people whether they turn out well or not, and the successes do not vindicate our ministry nor do the disappointments nullify it. What is important is whether we have loved in a real way-- not preached in a n impassioned way from the pulpit.
...If God meant a child to grow slowly and safely in a loving family for up to 18 years, why should we be angry at those who do not change at our pace for the sake of statistics, furlough or sadly for some, funding?
...people I had spent time with so long before never forgot, even though we lost each other for a while. Suddenly, someone from the past would reappear again, and it would turn out that he had not killed the memory of a love that was so extraordianry that the giver spent Himself in giving until He died. So we have been the delighted, sobbing representatives of the Father whoese prodigal son crawled or rushed home after all. Our summer missionaries did not stay to see this, although we hoped they might yearn for it somehow. Stay for the party. The fleeting volunteer sometimes catches a course-- sweet and sour-- but no one savors the whole menu like me. 'Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink,' said the master of the banquet when He called the bridegroom aside, 'but you have saved the best till now.'
...and they expected me to do it all. And so much of the rest of the church was engaged in discovering their giftings rather than giving. //
-----------------
recently been challenged by this, especially as I pray for God to root me...
Jackie Pullinger lived in the Walled City of Hong Kong for about 20 years, reaching out to heroin addicts and prostitutes. She saw many come to Christ and be delivered from heroin through prayer with little or no symptoms of withdrawal... here in her book, Chasing the Dragon, she is referring to the blessings she received from her long term commitment versus the short term visits from others:
// So we were present at one of those times in history when the past blares, intruding the present, and I am in them both. I often tell visiting missions teams of this phenomenon. It is fashionable nowadays to visit Asia, China, and the poor for a few days, weeks, or months and call it outreach. Over the years we have had hundreds of short-termers who want to get the picture immediately-- if possible, on video-- so they can show it to their home church and have an inspired evening. I have begged them to love the people and stay like Sai Di did for me 30 years ago. the disadvantage of short term missions is a wrong perspective based on this generation's need for instant results.
...the remarkable fact that after so long we still see most addicts who come to us believe in Jesus, pray in tongues, and detoxify from drugs painlessly does not obscure the fact that they need a changed mind. So the voyeurs leave. They have their video clips, but they never saw. It was either all too good or all too bad, and neither was accurate. We love our people whether they turn out well or not, and the successes do not vindicate our ministry nor do the disappointments nullify it. What is important is whether we have loved in a real way-- not preached in a n impassioned way from the pulpit.
...If God meant a child to grow slowly and safely in a loving family for up to 18 years, why should we be angry at those who do not change at our pace for the sake of statistics, furlough or sadly for some, funding?
...people I had spent time with so long before never forgot, even though we lost each other for a while. Suddenly, someone from the past would reappear again, and it would turn out that he had not killed the memory of a love that was so extraordianry that the giver spent Himself in giving until He died. So we have been the delighted, sobbing representatives of the Father whoese prodigal son crawled or rushed home after all. Our summer missionaries did not stay to see this, although we hoped they might yearn for it somehow. Stay for the party. The fleeting volunteer sometimes catches a course-- sweet and sour-- but no one savors the whole menu like me. 'Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink,' said the master of the banquet when He called the bridegroom aside, 'but you have saved the best till now.'
...and they expected me to do it all. And so much of the rest of the church was engaged in discovering their giftings rather than giving. //
a Girl's Dream
Let Him peel back the walls and unravel the deepest desires of your heart..."Dad, when I grow up, I'm going to build two big mansions with heart windows. One is going to be for all my friends and family to live in, and the other one is going to be for the biggest McDonald's playground EEVVer."
Just a little girl sharing her heart's desires and yet, she spoke with great conviction. I remembered this desire of mine a few days ago and longed for this simple but impossible dream once again. Passing through this life, making our mark, representing God or something else, we leave impressions on those we bump into along the way. I think that this desire is still just as strong in me as when I was a child-- this desire to have everyone I love around me (and of course the huge maze of tunnels and slides!).
I think of the places that my feet have tread, the friendships I have made, the acquaintances I’ve passed, the faces I longed to know more intimately, the kindred souls I connected with upon meeting, the sweet memories of all those souls I have encountered, the hearts I dreamed of touching, the hearts that moved me, the bitter and the sweet moments-- every part that has been intricately woven.
I thought of how much I long for Eden and the presence of the Lord-- the new heaven and earth, the face of the Lord.
I look at this world and the people in it, and I realize that any beauty I see is from God. Any grace, any peace, any joy, any faithfulness, any kindness, anything good, any radiance, any glory-- it is all the mark of our Creator. He manifests through His creation.
Thinking over the faces and hearts I've known, a sweetness settles in as I experience them all over again. Every soul I have bumped into has some how impacted me in a way that has drawn me closer to God-- revealing the nature of God—eventually drawing me into His love.
I think of the grace people have extended...the joy people have shared with me... the tears people have wept with me and for me... the overwhelming love I've received... the forgiveness I've been given... the servant's heart--the way someone has cared for me... a stranger's smile and kind gesture... an intimate's embrace... a deep, rolling laugh that makes you sore the next day... the extension of a hand... the playfulness... the discipline and rebuke... those who have lead me, carried me, followed me, walked with me... the ones who have known the details of who I am... the ones who cared about my passing thoughts... the ones who understood me through and through...
All of these people have some how revealed a part of God to me that I needed to experience and understand at a heart’s level.
As I walk more with the Lord, His kindness throughout my life becomes more and more apparent-- so much so that I am humbled to my knees—having a glimpse of just how kind He truly has been-- even as I am so undeserving. He is the kindest I know.
As we are here for a purpose, we need to be fully alive at all times...no matter where the Lord places us and no matter for how long we will be there. We never know what the Lord has in store and who we are supposed to meet. From a simple bus ride to a month stay, to years of commitment somewhere…God always has something in store. Just keep your eyes and heart open.
I think on people and places with fondness, but I also understand that the Kingdom is coming forcefully and we must be moving forward with God. His joy sustains. His purposes prevail. His love overwhelms. His glory reigns. This is what carries me onward. This is what drives me. This is the God who has so lovingly placed me where He wants me and when He wants me…
So, my heart still cries out for God and for people… that they may know the kindness that I have known and that they may bend a knee to the One who has given everything.
The little girl grew up and now she understands that her heart’s desires were planted by the Creator Himself— beautifully, a longing for the King and His Kingdom, full of His people.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Bill Johnson _ Pain
Here's part of his latest podcast... great teaching on inner healing in the presence of God... one-step program: meet with God. We need to learn how to tend to our hearts and meet with God. This is something that the Lord has been teaching me the last few years. It's beautiful and there's no other way for true healing than meeting with the Healer.
-------------- please excuse the typos -----------------------
Bill Johnson 9/2/08
Matthew 14
Vs.13 When Jesus heard that John was beheaded, he departed from there by a boat to a deserted place by himself but the multitude found him. He met them and then he departed again and went up to a mountain.
This is not a formula, but there is something here…. Jesus was tempted in everything…. he faced disappointments, losses, etc. but he never sinned. In this situation when he heard about john the Baptist who was his cousin (indebtedness b/c he’s a relative and john had laid his life down to prepare the way)…as soon as he heard, he sought to get alone. It’s the one step program. It’s time to get up on the mountain before the father and stay there until I get fixed. There aren’t hoops to jump through, scripture to memorize…all there is is an intense drive to not leave the way I went up.
Jesus sought a place to get alone with the Father. Right away he ran into crowds putting demands on him and what does he do? He ministered to them. Everyone in this room needs to know what it is to minister out of weakness and to write a spiritual check that you don’t think you have the reserves for. You need to let God show up. You don’t have anything left to give but then you see someone and feel the Lord pull you to them and step out to see the Lord do a miracle. Jesus steps out of his need to be alone with the Father and ministers to the ppl out of his own place of weakness and then he sent everyone away and went up to the mountain.
Some things can only be solved through time with the Lord. You can go to a conference, buy the latest book, have ppl pray and prophesy over you but there is some stuff that just don’t get fixed until you go up on the mountain. There are some things that don’t get recalibrated or readjusted and set in our heart and mind until there is time with the Father where things change. How long did he stay there? It didn’t say and I’m glad it didn’t’ say b/c then we’d make it a rule. It’s just not that way.
Disappointment comes. You start to make your way to the Father. If something interrupts you stop and minister to it but you don’t lose your focus. You finally get time with God and you don’t leave until there is a change.
If I’m willing to give up my right to understand then I receive the peace that surpasses all understanding. When I lay down my right for an explanation from God b/c it usually comes out of an accusing spirit where I hold God responsible to meet my description of what he should live like. When you lay down that thing in you that demands earthly justice of God instead of divine justice of earth…when that switch is made then you become positioned for the heart of the father and you receive a grace over your life that is unexplainable to the ppl around you.
What we’ve seen in our own household…two major hits for us…it’s extremely painful and to be facing this..their first declaration after his loss is “God is good.” wow… job’s wife says curse God and die. And while I don’t know any Christians to promote that there are plenty that teach the equal. We are a group of ppl that need some time on the mountain.
You can’t have a gathering like this where there isn’t tragedy and triumph at the same time…so you can preach to either side and always be successful...but our focus is we celebrate what God is doing but when there is loss we have to mourn without going into unbelief and without creating a lifestyle of distancing ourselves from challenges. We look for crisis and impossibilities. This situation of Jesus going up to the mountain is so profound…b/c you have to see the result. When he came down he crossed over and came to the land of Gennesaret some men and when they recognized him they brought to him all who were sick and begged him to touch the hem of his garment. as many who touched his garment were made well.
I want to suggest to you that Moses’s encounter on the mountain when the glory of the Lord radiated….a piece of cloth could cover it… but when Jesus went up on the mountain not only couldn’t a piece of cloth cover the glory but instead released it. Somehow there was something upon him that when he came down a whole group of ppl could see it.
Everyone rushing to touch one person’s coat and everyone was healed who touched him. Where did that come from? When he heard about John’s death he went up to the mountain to pray. Why? b/c it’s time for vindication. Vindication doesn’t come from emotional hype. It doesn’t come b/c we want to see this destroyed. It’s b/c in loss you meet with the one who is good, always.
How many of you have been affected in recent days by loss? See, what happens is that if you don’t deal with it then you just build on it. And if you don’t ever meet with the Father then we weaken the whole deal. Years later you don’t know there is weakness there but something is set on there and is too heavy and you crumble.
It’s a one-step program. Meeting with God. No pat answer, no intellectual answer, but I’m after the presence and peace of the Lord to compensate for the weakness, confusion, and loss and questions etc. Until that measure of grace from the presence of God saturates me then I’ll be poisoned by the disappointments and sting of loss.
We want this healed. Go to your mountain. Go to the place with the Father where you learn in a fresh way in the heart about the one who answers the slightest whim of a request. To a father that is so extremely good that even ones that have experienced extreme tragedy can still declare God’s goodness. Pray to go to the deepest place of loss and disappointment and pray that God will bring resolve and take you to the mountain with Him.
-------------- please excuse the typos -----------------------
Bill Johnson 9/2/08
Matthew 14
Vs.13 When Jesus heard that John was beheaded, he departed from there by a boat to a deserted place by himself but the multitude found him. He met them and then he departed again and went up to a mountain.
This is not a formula, but there is something here…. Jesus was tempted in everything…. he faced disappointments, losses, etc. but he never sinned. In this situation when he heard about john the Baptist who was his cousin (indebtedness b/c he’s a relative and john had laid his life down to prepare the way)…as soon as he heard, he sought to get alone. It’s the one step program. It’s time to get up on the mountain before the father and stay there until I get fixed. There aren’t hoops to jump through, scripture to memorize…all there is is an intense drive to not leave the way I went up.
Jesus sought a place to get alone with the Father. Right away he ran into crowds putting demands on him and what does he do? He ministered to them. Everyone in this room needs to know what it is to minister out of weakness and to write a spiritual check that you don’t think you have the reserves for. You need to let God show up. You don’t have anything left to give but then you see someone and feel the Lord pull you to them and step out to see the Lord do a miracle. Jesus steps out of his need to be alone with the Father and ministers to the ppl out of his own place of weakness and then he sent everyone away and went up to the mountain.
Some things can only be solved through time with the Lord. You can go to a conference, buy the latest book, have ppl pray and prophesy over you but there is some stuff that just don’t get fixed until you go up on the mountain. There are some things that don’t get recalibrated or readjusted and set in our heart and mind until there is time with the Father where things change. How long did he stay there? It didn’t say and I’m glad it didn’t’ say b/c then we’d make it a rule. It’s just not that way.
Disappointment comes. You start to make your way to the Father. If something interrupts you stop and minister to it but you don’t lose your focus. You finally get time with God and you don’t leave until there is a change.
If I’m willing to give up my right to understand then I receive the peace that surpasses all understanding. When I lay down my right for an explanation from God b/c it usually comes out of an accusing spirit where I hold God responsible to meet my description of what he should live like. When you lay down that thing in you that demands earthly justice of God instead of divine justice of earth…when that switch is made then you become positioned for the heart of the father and you receive a grace over your life that is unexplainable to the ppl around you.
What we’ve seen in our own household…two major hits for us…it’s extremely painful and to be facing this..their first declaration after his loss is “God is good.” wow… job’s wife says curse God and die. And while I don’t know any Christians to promote that there are plenty that teach the equal. We are a group of ppl that need some time on the mountain.
You can’t have a gathering like this where there isn’t tragedy and triumph at the same time…so you can preach to either side and always be successful...but our focus is we celebrate what God is doing but when there is loss we have to mourn without going into unbelief and without creating a lifestyle of distancing ourselves from challenges. We look for crisis and impossibilities. This situation of Jesus going up to the mountain is so profound…b/c you have to see the result. When he came down he crossed over and came to the land of Gennesaret some men and when they recognized him they brought to him all who were sick and begged him to touch the hem of his garment. as many who touched his garment were made well.
I want to suggest to you that Moses’s encounter on the mountain when the glory of the Lord radiated….a piece of cloth could cover it… but when Jesus went up on the mountain not only couldn’t a piece of cloth cover the glory but instead released it. Somehow there was something upon him that when he came down a whole group of ppl could see it.
Everyone rushing to touch one person’s coat and everyone was healed who touched him. Where did that come from? When he heard about John’s death he went up to the mountain to pray. Why? b/c it’s time for vindication. Vindication doesn’t come from emotional hype. It doesn’t come b/c we want to see this destroyed. It’s b/c in loss you meet with the one who is good, always.
How many of you have been affected in recent days by loss? See, what happens is that if you don’t deal with it then you just build on it. And if you don’t ever meet with the Father then we weaken the whole deal. Years later you don’t know there is weakness there but something is set on there and is too heavy and you crumble.
It’s a one-step program. Meeting with God. No pat answer, no intellectual answer, but I’m after the presence and peace of the Lord to compensate for the weakness, confusion, and loss and questions etc. Until that measure of grace from the presence of God saturates me then I’ll be poisoned by the disappointments and sting of loss.
We want this healed. Go to your mountain. Go to the place with the Father where you learn in a fresh way in the heart about the one who answers the slightest whim of a request. To a father that is so extremely good that even ones that have experienced extreme tragedy can still declare God’s goodness. Pray to go to the deepest place of loss and disappointment and pray that God will bring resolve and take you to the mountain with Him.
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