This week we were learning about Destiny By Design.
We started this week out by saying how it is a week that we need to be very open and share a lot of things. It was very funny every second my mind would change from yeah, I can do this, I am excited to can't I just sleep through this week. : p
We the defined humility which is to be known for who you really are. We looked at how, when people know their purpose in life, they are willing to give their life for that purpose. We need to be desperate to hear Him and vulnerable Our teacher this week was Myrna which was awesome because she was here for a couple of weeks so we already knew her. She told us that she is not going to give us our answers about who we are because we need to find that out through God, not the teacher or the class. We need to desperately ask God what He has for our life. So how desperate are we to know His plan for us?
You hear God well through your intimacy through Him: walk in relationship with Him, rule the earth, be His temple, give Him glory! Our purpose in life is to have relationship with Him. We need to give God our best moment. When we are most hungry for Him is when He is all you want. Give Him your all, he wants it! Our relationship with God will be reflected in our relationship with others. We then looked at what it is to have a heart of an orphan or the heart of a son of daughter of God. It was very surprising to see how many of us were sometimes in both or mostly the heart of the orphan.
Often times what we see in the spiritual is a reflection of the spiritual. Now God gave us free will. When He did that He ran the risk of us choosing not to love Him. When we love somebody we run the risk of being hurt. When we seek God it is easier to deal with disappointments. We need to love everybody with everything we are though! One thing Myrna said is that we may be the only Jesus that some people will see. Will they see the heart of an orphan or the heart of a daughter? We also need to all be in unity as Christians, one body, one family.
We were created in the image and likeness of God.
Image: the idea of shadowing from a root, it's a shadow or a resemblance.
Likeness: Similitude, image or resemblance form a root to be like, to compare. It molds it is an appearance of the thing.
God designed us the way we are. Our abilities and our personality.
We are born with abilities- mind, will, emotions.
Ability of intellect (mind): imagination. It's our God consciousness- it's what we evaluate what is right from wrong, memory. Ability of spirit and of mind.
Ability of emotion: Spontaneous reactions. allows us to fully enjoy life and relationships with others. Area of satisfaction and happiness of pleasure and pain, worship and adoration. An ability of soul.
Ability of Will: Self determination. The ability to originate our own actions, the self caused energy of personality, the essence of moral character. Commonly referred to as the "heart' of man. It's not programed it is essential to develop true relationships.
God gave us emotions to relate to us.
God intended that we evaluate with our mind and do what is right with our will even if our emotions are telling us otherwise. When we do what is right our emotions will eventually follow us. We CANNOT allow our emotions to control our mind and our will. God holds us responsible for our wrong actions because we have the ability to understand the right thing to do and have the ability to choose it.
God designed us to fulfill our purpose and our destiny.2 Timothy 1:9
God wants to reveal His plan for us! He had been preparing us to fulfill our destiny in Him since before we were born. With our dreams, our desires, our experiences. God has given us special gifts and abilities. We are one of a kind and original. He wants to use each of us to bless the nations of the earth, everywhere. We were intended for a particular purpose. When a child is being conceived, heck even before then, God has a plan and a destiny for them!
Getting to know God needs to be a daily thing, you have every day of your life to get to know Him! : ) God loves us so much that He send His son to die for us! He always was, is, and will be, the only thing that changes is us.
God wants us to have a correct perceptive of Him, get to know Him from His word.
Ask God to show us His heart. To show what He see's that we cannot see!
The next thing we looked out was dreams:
Dreams are very important part of God's plan for our lives!
Every accomplishment starts with a dream that God places in the mind of a person. (Proverbes 13:12)
Sometimes we may have an ordinary dream but the hope comes from the extraordinary. Maybe it's something that you know in your heart but your mind struggles with a lot!
If you want to see the awesomeness of God you need to fight for it!!!
Dreams come from the heart, the mind tries to analyze it. (Proverbs 4:23)
The dreams that seem impossible are the ones that are from God. The ones that motivate our lives, that get us thinking what are God's plans for us.
The fear of failure prohibits us from dreaming, fear paralyzes us, it inhibits us from seeing the future.
Sometimes we want our dreams to come from our own strength, but those are the ones that never come to pass. When we try to do things for ourselves it never works.
Don't let fear of man stop you from dreaming. Don't give man the right to change your dreams, give them to God! Proverbs 29:25.
When you know something is from God you will fight for it! We need to be enthusiastic and excited, but we NEED to surrender them to God because He's the one who will make them possible, not us! God has a dream for you, ask for it. He'll give you little things, be faithful for them.
If you have lost sight of your purpose God will restore you!!! He restored David....
Experiences: God's purpose through our experiences is to teach us but also to help others: to challenge them, encourage them, comfort them, and to relate to them. The experiences that God allows in our lives are for a purpose. The most important thing is that we learn from our experiences.
God will redeem our worst experiences and we can learn from them!
God will use everything that He allows us to experience. God permits those things to happen but He doesn't create the situation.
Personality: Our personality is our soul print. We were fearfully and wonderfully made.
Outside of the relationship with God we cannot begin to fully understand the potential of our personality!
Personality is defined as habitual patterns and qualitites of behavoirs of an individual.
Where do we get our energy, where do we focus our attention.
How do we look at things and learn something new
How do we go about making our decisions and the type of lifestyle we lead.
By discovering our personality we can begin to identify our strengths and weaknesses.
There are two main types of personality:
Extroverts: Simulations from the outside
Introverts: Simulations from the inside.
Styles of Worship:
Naturalist: Inspired by nature, outdoors.
Senate: Love God with senses and appreciate beautiful worship services that involve their senses
Traditionalist: Draw closer to God through rituals, liturgies, symbols, and unchanged structures.
Ascetics: Prefer to love God in solitude and simplicity
Activists: Love God through confronting evil, battling injustice, working to make the world a better place
Caregivers: Love God by loving others and meeting their needs
Enthusiast: Love God through celebration
Contemplatives: Love God through adoration
Intellectuals: Love God by studying with their minds.
Our design:
We cannot find our destiny until we find our identity in Christ. We'll find our identity in our intimacy with God. The most true things about us are what God says about us.
The more we know who we are in Christ the less people's words will penetrate our hearts. Being secure in our identity in Christ gives us freedom and authority in sharing the gospel.
If we keep living in sin but say that we are a new creation in Christ how will anyone see that? How will anyone want to be a new Creation when you haven't even changed?
Gift: something you are given that you didn't deserve. Our gifts are God's presents to us. Use your gifts to be part of the church.
This week really impacted me! I loved sharing things from our hearts and learning new things about our family and ourselves. I also learned that it really is okay to dream, our dreams come from God! I am very excited for this! This weekend the boys went home for the weekend so we sort of had a girl weekend, it was a lot of fun, but we did miss them! It was nice to finally have a weekend of relaxing after to weekends of driving and craziness! Although the weekend was a little crazy, but mostly relaxing! : D
28 September, 2011
26 September, 2011
Creel!
So I suppose I haven't written anything since I went to Creel so here goes.
At Creel we learned about the sovereignty of God. It was very interesting to me because I wasn't even sure what the word sovereign meant, let alone that my God possessed this characteristic. Now that the week is over I am very glad that He does. It was also really awesome to see how this week matched up with our previous week.
So one thing that we saw that we have to realize when talking about God's sovereignty we need to understand the difference between His authority and His power.
God gave us the freedom and the responsibility to follow His authority. Our battle is between our will and God's will. The devil really likes to come and make our will seem like it is better than the will of God. When we are following our own will we are also following the will of satan.
Jesus came to earth not just to be our salvation but also to deal with the disobedience of man, which is the original problem. Jesus had to be obedient until death and had to be trailed in all the ways we will/could be. Jesus' 33 years of life was so that He would crucify His own will.
The opposite of love is not hate but selfishness. We are born into the kingdom of darkness (the enemy) and we are naturally focused on selfishness. When you are in the kingdom of the enemy you are never satisfied, you always want more. When you cross into the kingdom of God the enemy continues to take your mind/eyes off God and put them on yourself, which is appealing. However, to be a disciple of Jesus, we must deny ourselves everyday, take up our cross and follow Him.
At Creel we learned about the sovereignty of God. It was very interesting to me because I wasn't even sure what the word sovereign meant, let alone that my God possessed this characteristic. Now that the week is over I am very glad that He does. It was also really awesome to see how this week matched up with our previous week.
So one thing that we saw that we have to realize when talking about God's sovereignty we need to understand the difference between His authority and His power.
God gave us the freedom and the responsibility to follow His authority. Our battle is between our will and God's will. The devil really likes to come and make our will seem like it is better than the will of God. When we are following our own will we are also following the will of satan.
Jesus came to earth not just to be our salvation but also to deal with the disobedience of man, which is the original problem. Jesus had to be obedient until death and had to be trailed in all the ways we will/could be. Jesus' 33 years of life was so that He would crucify His own will.
The opposite of love is not hate but selfishness. We are born into the kingdom of darkness (the enemy) and we are naturally focused on selfishness. When you are in the kingdom of the enemy you are never satisfied, you always want more. When you cross into the kingdom of God the enemy continues to take your mind/eyes off God and put them on yourself, which is appealing. However, to be a disciple of Jesus, we must deny ourselves everyday, take up our cross and follow Him.
When we are in darkness we are in ignorance of the truth. We do not want to do this because the truth will set us free.
When we are in self denial we will be trailed many times in our lives, it's a constant truth, constant road, constant decision. When we decide to believe in God we pass from death to life and death has no authority over us. Our whole battle is to see whether or not we are willing to follow God's will or our own.
Everyday we need to be walking toward perfection. Perhaps we will never actually reach it but when we are walking toward it it is another day, another opportunity to be more like Jesus. Everyday there's another trial, another choice to make. During our suffering we will be able to take our sufferings for joy knowing that God has a reason for it, and, in the long run, it will bring us closer to Him. When we go through a trial we shouldn't be looking for a way out we should be asking God what He wants us to get out of it and praise Him for allowing us to go through it (easier said than done no?) We need to be seeking what will bring the most glory to God, even if it is difficult. We need to be asking God what will bring Him the most glory in our lives and be fine with whatever that answer is. Jesus said that the foxes have holes and the birds have nests but if you follow Me you may have nothing (Matthew 8:20). We need to be willing to do this.
When we are walking toward perfection we are not looking for what we can gain but what glorifies God. This requires a continuous death of ourselves. We also need to be willing to prune the areas of our lives that are no longer producing fruit, prune areas that we need to die to ourselves. God will send tests our way and, sometimes, they are not easy and difficult to understand and some people loose their faith because of this. But God brings difficulties in our lives in order to help us reach perfection. We should strive to get to a place where we can want difficulties. Job is the perfect example of rejoicing in our trials. God will always know how big and how hard the trials need to be in order to work in our lives. Maybe if God is not healing someone He has a plan to glorify Himself in that sickness, sometimes even to the point of their death. Are we willing to die in order to glorify God?
If your Christian life is boring then your Christian life is just going in a bunch of circles. We need to dive into the word of God and ask ourselves if we are really following Him. Our Christian lives were not meant to be boring and, if they are, then we are moving in circles and we need to ask God what we can do in order to move forward again. We need to run toward perfection with the understanding that there is a possibility that we will never get there, but we are running in order to glorify God.
Every trail that we go through we mature a little bit more.
God tests our hearts to see if we want to live by His law or not. There are always two battles of wills going on in our minds. If we give into our own will we cannot continue to walk toward perfection. God brings us through deserts to make us spiritually strong. We need to endure them and rejoice in them. We need to experience the tribulations with all joy and with a deep desire that continually increases to know God.
We are all going to fall sometimes, but we are in an ongoing war. When we loose a battle we need to get up and be ready to fight our next one. The victorious people are the people who stand up on more time then they fall. Sometimes, as Christians, our failures in the past hinder us from our future plans.
We must, however, be careful not to make a god out of our dreams. When God gives us a dream or a vision we need to continuously follow God, even if it may seem like He is leading us away from the vision. God gave us the vision and He knows how He is going to get us there. Look at the life of Joseph for example (Gen 37-52) The road must be lived in constant faithfulness, diligence, and self control. Sometimes it is difficult to see God's exact will in our lives. If we are seeking and searching for God He will be faithful in completing His will in our lives! Do it with your all, make the best of it, and trust that God will take you the rest of the way!
We are to live not a life of receiving but a life of giving! Sometimes we do not understand but God's thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9) and we need to let Him reign on our hearts and try to understand.
Our main challenge in life is our character: our willingness to serve, and our willingness to support others, and our holiness. Sometimes God will lead us to something that has nothing to do with what He is calling us to but it is part of our training for what He wants us to do. We need to do everything to the best of our abilities. We need to ask God what He wants to do in our hearts.
When we are in self denial we will be trailed many times in our lives, it's a constant truth, constant road, constant decision. When we decide to believe in God we pass from death to life and death has no authority over us. Our whole battle is to see whether or not we are willing to follow God's will or our own.
Everyday we need to be walking toward perfection. Perhaps we will never actually reach it but when we are walking toward it it is another day, another opportunity to be more like Jesus. Everyday there's another trial, another choice to make. During our suffering we will be able to take our sufferings for joy knowing that God has a reason for it, and, in the long run, it will bring us closer to Him. When we go through a trial we shouldn't be looking for a way out we should be asking God what He wants us to get out of it and praise Him for allowing us to go through it (easier said than done no?) We need to be seeking what will bring the most glory to God, even if it is difficult. We need to be asking God what will bring Him the most glory in our lives and be fine with whatever that answer is. Jesus said that the foxes have holes and the birds have nests but if you follow Me you may have nothing (Matthew 8:20). We need to be willing to do this.
When we are walking toward perfection we are not looking for what we can gain but what glorifies God. This requires a continuous death of ourselves. We also need to be willing to prune the areas of our lives that are no longer producing fruit, prune areas that we need to die to ourselves. God will send tests our way and, sometimes, they are not easy and difficult to understand and some people loose their faith because of this. But God brings difficulties in our lives in order to help us reach perfection. We should strive to get to a place where we can want difficulties. Job is the perfect example of rejoicing in our trials. God will always know how big and how hard the trials need to be in order to work in our lives. Maybe if God is not healing someone He has a plan to glorify Himself in that sickness, sometimes even to the point of their death. Are we willing to die in order to glorify God?
If your Christian life is boring then your Christian life is just going in a bunch of circles. We need to dive into the word of God and ask ourselves if we are really following Him. Our Christian lives were not meant to be boring and, if they are, then we are moving in circles and we need to ask God what we can do in order to move forward again. We need to run toward perfection with the understanding that there is a possibility that we will never get there, but we are running in order to glorify God.
Every trail that we go through we mature a little bit more.
God tests our hearts to see if we want to live by His law or not. There are always two battles of wills going on in our minds. If we give into our own will we cannot continue to walk toward perfection. God brings us through deserts to make us spiritually strong. We need to endure them and rejoice in them. We need to experience the tribulations with all joy and with a deep desire that continually increases to know God.
We are all going to fall sometimes, but we are in an ongoing war. When we loose a battle we need to get up and be ready to fight our next one. The victorious people are the people who stand up on more time then they fall. Sometimes, as Christians, our failures in the past hinder us from our future plans.
We must, however, be careful not to make a god out of our dreams. When God gives us a dream or a vision we need to continuously follow God, even if it may seem like He is leading us away from the vision. God gave us the vision and He knows how He is going to get us there. Look at the life of Joseph for example (Gen 37-52) The road must be lived in constant faithfulness, diligence, and self control. Sometimes it is difficult to see God's exact will in our lives. If we are seeking and searching for God He will be faithful in completing His will in our lives! Do it with your all, make the best of it, and trust that God will take you the rest of the way!
We are to live not a life of receiving but a life of giving! Sometimes we do not understand but God's thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8-9) and we need to let Him reign on our hearts and try to understand.
Our main challenge in life is our character: our willingness to serve, and our willingness to support others, and our holiness. Sometimes God will lead us to something that has nothing to do with what He is calling us to but it is part of our training for what He wants us to do. We need to do everything to the best of our abilities. We need to ask God what He wants to do in our hearts.
When God gives us a dream that is probably not all He has for us. He most likely has MUCH more. If our vision becomes our god then we will be pursuing something way less than what God actually has for us. We need to make sure we are not trying to do the things in our own strength but look at God and His vision and His strength. If God gave you the vision He wants it to happen and He will make it happen in His ways.
So how do we experience the sovereignty of God in our daily lives?
Just because God is sovereign doesn't mean that everything is going exactly how He wants/wanted. It's because He is working through authority and not through power and He wants us to submit to that. It depends on us how much God will reign on this earth. Even though it is hard we need to try. Hopefully when He comes to pick us up He will be able to say "well done my good and faithful servant." I surely hope so!
God desires to train us up and use our lives to bring righteousness to others. He wants to use our lives to set the example and the norm for other people.
God wants us to set up walls. Walls of the laws and rules where God gives us authority. (ex. Parents with their kinds) Also where God gives us influence we are to set the norm for laws and rules.
So no one said this life would be easy, but what are we going to learn from our trials? How are we going to get one step closer to God, closer to perfection?
Okay so that is everything from the class. I am very sorry that it is sort of all over the place. This class was very intense. We covered a lot of stuff in a little bit of time. Sometimes it was hard to keep up, and sometimes it was all over the place, but it was amazing!
Also, in Creel there were a lot of rocks that we loved to climb all over in our free time. It was a lot of fun and a great experience! We had many adventures. One day we went to these hot springs. It literally took us about two hours to get to them and it was completely down hill! I was pretty much dying on the way back up, it was crazy! We also went to a lake and a lookout. It was really awesome. One thing that really impacted me was, when we were at those places, there would always be children who were selling things. They obviously didn't have much and I felt very sad for them. When we were eating they would just look. Some of them would come up and tell us that they were hungry. We gave food to them a couple of times and it made me more happy than anything else that whole week. They really were beautiful and I wish I could have given them more! It was a very long drive there and back and we were exhausted! A couple of times we got to watch the staff's kids while they had their meetings (because it was a staff retreat.) I loved that very much. It was so much fun to play with the children and just have a good time!
We also got to see a lot of God in scenery. It was amazing! God really spoke unity into our group and showed us that we cannot be apathetic about hearing His voice. Great things happened on this trip. All in all it was amazing! : )
So how do we experience the sovereignty of God in our daily lives?
Just because God is sovereign doesn't mean that everything is going exactly how He wants/wanted. It's because He is working through authority and not through power and He wants us to submit to that. It depends on us how much God will reign on this earth. Even though it is hard we need to try. Hopefully when He comes to pick us up He will be able to say "well done my good and faithful servant." I surely hope so!
God desires to train us up and use our lives to bring righteousness to others. He wants to use our lives to set the example and the norm for other people.
God wants us to set up walls. Walls of the laws and rules where God gives us authority. (ex. Parents with their kinds) Also where God gives us influence we are to set the norm for laws and rules.
So no one said this life would be easy, but what are we going to learn from our trials? How are we going to get one step closer to God, closer to perfection?
Okay so that is everything from the class. I am very sorry that it is sort of all over the place. This class was very intense. We covered a lot of stuff in a little bit of time. Sometimes it was hard to keep up, and sometimes it was all over the place, but it was amazing!
Also, in Creel there were a lot of rocks that we loved to climb all over in our free time. It was a lot of fun and a great experience! We had many adventures. One day we went to these hot springs. It literally took us about two hours to get to them and it was completely down hill! I was pretty much dying on the way back up, it was crazy! We also went to a lake and a lookout. It was really awesome. One thing that really impacted me was, when we were at those places, there would always be children who were selling things. They obviously didn't have much and I felt very sad for them. When we were eating they would just look. Some of them would come up and tell us that they were hungry. We gave food to them a couple of times and it made me more happy than anything else that whole week. They really were beautiful and I wish I could have given them more! It was a very long drive there and back and we were exhausted! A couple of times we got to watch the staff's kids while they had their meetings (because it was a staff retreat.) I loved that very much. It was so much fun to play with the children and just have a good time!
We also got to see a lot of God in scenery. It was amazing! God really spoke unity into our group and showed us that we cannot be apathetic about hearing His voice. Great things happened on this trip. All in all it was amazing! : )
02 September, 2011
Intensity...
This week we were learning about the evidences of salvation. When I first read about this week a little bit ago I thought it would be so easy because who doesn't know what salvation is, right? Well if I've never been wrong before I was definitely wrong this time. The first day our teacher, whose name is Stephen, said that before anyone will believe what you say they need to believe who you are. For a large part of the day he told us who he was, and his story of salvation. Then he had us each go up and tell our story of salvation. We then went over the fact that only the Holy Spirit has the right to tell you that you have become a child of God. Which makes sense, who else has the right to say that we are their children other than our parents? This week is going to be a bit difficult to write about because it really was intense but I am going to do my best to describe the wonderful things God has been doing in my heart and what He has been showing me this week. So the first term we went over this week was enlightenment. At this point I wish we spoke Spanish because it is much more clearly explained in Spanish. Here is a quick lesson so I can use what I need to to describe enlightenment. There are two words in Spanish for to know. One is Saber which is head knowledge. It's when you know things like math or my hair color or your classmates name. The other one is Conocer and this is to know someone intimately. This is how you know your wife, or your best friend. Conocer has to do more with the heart. So enlightenment is something that happens in the mind, when you saber the truth and saber God.
So we were talking a lot about when we lead people to Christ because it's a practical application to these things since that is part of what we will be doing on outreach. We talked about how when we "lead" people to Christ sometimes people come up because they've been enlightened. They believe in God and now saber about Him and they want to be assured that they will go to Heaven because they don't want to go to hell. They know God is real and they want to go to Heaven, so they are willing to "pray the prayer" but there heart hasn't changed, they do not yet conocer God, there was no change in heart. But wait! Didn't I just say that no one can say whether or not you are a child of God, only God Himself? Yes, I did just say that. I'm not saying every person who responds did not actually want a change of heart, for all we know all of them did or none of them did, but that's the thing, there is no way we can know.
Okay, so wait, then what is salvation? Good question, that just happens to be the next thing. Salvation is an ongoing relationship with Christ. Salvation is a relationship. A lot of people when you ask or hear about eternal life they will talk about how one day they will have eternal life, that one day they will live eternally in Heaven with the Lord. But that's not actually what eternal life is, eternal life has already started! John 17:3 says "now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." So salvation is to conocer God. To be in real relationship with Him- a profound, deep, loving, knowing relationship with God. So do you value eternal life or eternal love? When eternal life is valued it is because of fear and selfishness, it is knowing God's nature but not His character. The desire for eternal life is because they do not want to suffer any longer which is selfishness not salvation. One super encouraging thing about his is God wants, He DESIRES to be known! He wants us to experience true love for Him. There are a couple of things that we may be doing to hinder ourselves from knowing God. We may be thinking knowing God may increase our pride and make us think we are special or something. There is something completely wrong with this... God wants us to be special, we are special (Isaiah 57:15 explains that even though He lives in a Holy place He also lives with the ones who are contrite and lowly in Spirit to revive their hearts.) The second thing is the religious view which is only the pastor can really know God so they don't really try. They choose the value what the pastor says more than what God is telling them. But what God tells us is the most important thing and we should take what the pastor says to God. The third one is the pessimistic view which is you shouldn't waste your time, you can't get to know God anyway so why even try. Although we can never FULLY know God, because He is an infinite God and the more we discover the more there will be to discover, we can still know Him. And the more we know Him the happier and more fulfilled we are in life.
I'm sure you've heard before that Christianity it not a religion, but why? A religion is a set of beliefs (a cause) and a set of action (effects.) Christianity is not a cause and effect, it is a relationship. We need to spend time with Him, just like any other relationship, talk to Him, and LISTEN to what He is saying too. It's just like the relationship you have with your best friend. If you don't take time for those relationships eventually you will not know that person anymore.
Now one thing a lot of people think is that when enlightenment happens that is their salvation. Many times they think that is because the person tells them "now you have been saved" but we can't know that for sure because we do not know their heart. A person's salvation is when they start their repentance and faith produces a heart connection, conocer, and that starts their continuing relationship. When they have nothing more than enlightenment it is like their are born dead into their rebirth.
That night we had a class where we read 1 John in order to prepare us for the next day of class. The next day in class we looked at the evidences of salvation. There are seven evidences of salvation.
1. Walking in the light (1 John 1:6-7)
In order for this part to make sense we had to define a couple of things first.
Walk-purposeful action in a specific direction
Fall- An involuntary action
Temptation- A proposition presented to the ind to fulfill a good appetite in a way forbidden by God.
Sin- The decision to satisfy good appetites in ways forbidden by God.
Have you ever heard someone say that they fell into sin? This, however, does not make sense because sin is a decision and falling is an involuntary action therefore you do not fall into sin. You either walk in the darkness or you walk in the light. An interesting question that was presented was if you knew that you wouldn't get caught and no one would find out what you did, would you do it? If so that is sin, even if you didn't do it yet, because sin starts in the heart. Actually doing it, the actual action of sin is a result of the sin that we committed in the heart. Have you also heard of someone saying that every single day you sin? That you cannot go a day without sinning? I went my whole life thinking that, that every single person sins every single day. Show me in the Bible where it says that? You are going to be looking for a very long time because it doesn't. The thing is we train ourselves to think that we sin every day. So much so that sometimes if I would be praying for the forgiveness of my sins while doing intercession or something like that I would ask for forgiveness and say "I'm not too sure what they are but I know I sinned today so please forgive me." And if I thought that I hadn't sinned I would ask for forgiveness from that! I can just imagine God saying one day she'll get it. One day she'll understand that I sent my son to take away her sin. Now I'm definitely not saying that I do not sin, nope! And I'm not saying that there are people who have never sinned because the Bible says "for all have sin and fall short of the glory of God." -Romans 3:23. But once we have gotten to the point where we hate our sin, we are repulsed from it, we ask for forgiveness, and we begin to conocer God we can begin to stop sinning. If we hate our sin we will be convicted of it and we will never want to do it again. Although we may still do it, we ask for forgiveness, and try harder not to sin. It is possible to go all day without sinning. How freeing is that?!?
It's not easy though, it's like if you were to run a marathon. You wouldn't just wake up one day and decide that you wanted to do it, and do it. It would be terrible. Rather you train for the marathon everyday, intensely, giving up things that you normally would do for it. That's what we need to do with God. And the closer we get to God the more we will hate our sin and the more we will want to stop doing it. I could probably go on for a while longer but I'm only on number one so I will move on. : p
2. Love the Law: 1 John 2:3-5
Some people may not be interested in this because they think there is too much in the law and it may be too hard to complete it. Well there is a reassuring thought, God will never give us a commandment that we cannot keep. God tells us to be perfect. Do you think He would tell us to do that if we couldn't? NO! Now He's not asking us to never have a pimple, or a cut, or a blemish, no that would be impossible. However He is asking us to be perfect in love.
There are many other laws than to be perfect and holy. Look at the ten commandments for example. Now all of those things may be hard, but God didn't just make them because He was bored one day, He made them for our own good. As Christians we love the law because it keeps junk out of our lives. Let's take adultery for example. When you commit adultery you are breaking the bond made between two people. Do you think that is a wise thing for us to do? We love the law because we will never have to deal with the junk that breaking or hating the law brings to us!! How exciting.
Another reason why we love the law is because our sin is destructive. It destroys us and it destroys people and things around us.
3. Love your brother 1 John 2:9-11
There is an equation we got for this.
God gave Jesus who gave His life to us and we should give our lives to our brother. (It looks a lot cooler with arrows.)
Now we have to ask ourselves, do I love those that I once hated?
4. Fellowship With God: 1 John 2:18-29
We had two definitions with this
General Revelation- What we can know about God through Creation.
Special revelation- What we can know about God through the Bible, dreams, intercession, His Voice, and, the ultimate one, Jesus.
Fellowship with God is very important in our walk with Him, as mentioned before.
5. Abide in Christ: 1 John 2: 24-25
Abiding in Christ can be a very exciting thing. He is going all around the world and He will take us there. If we keep up with Him he will take us around the world. One thing the teacher said is it's almost like Jesus has ADHD, He is all over the place and we need to keep up with Him. We need to start practicing so we will be able to keep up and reach all the people He wants us to.
6. Witness of the Spirit: 1 John 3:24
God has the spirit of adoption. Like I said before no one else has the right to call us Children of God, only Him, and His spirit has to adopt us. When we speak to a group of people we do not have to worry about "getting them saved" we just have to pray that the spirit of adoption will speak to them, and He will.
Our spirit is the breath of God, that is what gives us understanding.
7. Love not the world: 1 John 2:15
God insists that we have a change in purpose from pleasing ourselves to pleasing Him.Before we knew Him sin ruled our lives. When we know Him we think it is okay that we still have some sin, but take out most or the "worst" but our whole lives need to be only Christ.
When it says love not the world it is not saying do not love the creation God has put in it, the people He created, or the sinners, it is to hate the world system. To hate anything that operates to keep you enslaved to sin. Satan comes to steal kill and destroy. He will steal your life, kill you, and, if that is not enough he will destroy you as well. Even if you are already a Christian the world will come to try to steal you again.
In 1 John 2:16 it shows us that satan only has three tools to destroy us.
1. The lust of the flesh: This is wanting to be as God was. He tempted Eve with this and also used it in the tower of Babel (Gen. 10:9.)
2. The lust of the eyes: Judges 3: 7-8 This is materialistic things. It is like people who praise Baal they just praise him to get stuff.
3. The vain pride of life. We learned about this idol called molek. People would throw their friggin babies into it's hands and the baby would burn alive as a sacrifice. They would throw it twenty feet into the air and, if they missed, they would try again. (Leviticus18:21, Leviticus 20:2, 1 Kings 11:7-11)That is grotesque. I'm sure almost everyone would agree.
Modern day this is abortion, so why aren't we just as disgusted?
That is all seven of them. Then we have an overview. One equation we had was awakening+conviction+ repentance (which all comes from the Spirit)= A heart connection with God.
If you decided to walk in the light you will still sin but it will suck. You will be convicted of the sin and want to run back to the light. You will hate your sin more and more and not want to go back to it. God is much more concerned with where our hearts are rather than whether or not we sinned and, if we focus on that too, it will become easier and easier.
The people who don't go to Heaven are the ones who don't want to be there. Sin is the destruction of your life. Living in sin is destruction and makes your life terrible. When people choose sin they love there sin and want to be in their sin. When they die they are going into a reality of what they have been living their whole lives.
The final thing we talked about was forgiveness. 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
There is a very long list I could go into with this but I do not feel the need to. However all of those things is what repentance looks like. It is when you HATE your sin.
We looked at the difference between Godly and worldly sorrow.
Godly sorrow leads to repentance which leads to salvation which =no regrets.
Worldly sorrow= death
People who don't have a relationship with Jesus are killing themselves because they are all SO broken and sad but they are not dealing with their sin.
Repentance means the sorrow from sin. It's a change of mind about sin because you hate it and you are repulsed. It's a complete transformation of purpose.
If you have something that you feel badly about doing, and don't want to do it anymore, but still go back to it, is it repentance?
Our ideas lead to beliefs which lead to actions which leads to habits which leads to character which leads to ultimate destiny. If you don't change your mind about something you'll never change your actions.
Now one part of the equation of salvation is faith. Biblical faith is unmovable, it's an unwavering commitment. You commit yourself to Him because He is real. Believe in Him and bind yourself to Him. God is not just a little story to believe in but a relationship that literally changes everything.
There is SOO much more I could get into, this week was absolutely amazing, life changing week, that has got me thinking about a lot of stuff. I apologize for this being so long, but it was needed.
Now I will finally finish getting ready for Creel. That is where we are going next week so I will be without internet. I hear it's amazing though. (But pray for me I also hear it is cold. : p) : D
So we were talking a lot about when we lead people to Christ because it's a practical application to these things since that is part of what we will be doing on outreach. We talked about how when we "lead" people to Christ sometimes people come up because they've been enlightened. They believe in God and now saber about Him and they want to be assured that they will go to Heaven because they don't want to go to hell. They know God is real and they want to go to Heaven, so they are willing to "pray the prayer" but there heart hasn't changed, they do not yet conocer God, there was no change in heart. But wait! Didn't I just say that no one can say whether or not you are a child of God, only God Himself? Yes, I did just say that. I'm not saying every person who responds did not actually want a change of heart, for all we know all of them did or none of them did, but that's the thing, there is no way we can know.
Okay, so wait, then what is salvation? Good question, that just happens to be the next thing. Salvation is an ongoing relationship with Christ. Salvation is a relationship. A lot of people when you ask or hear about eternal life they will talk about how one day they will have eternal life, that one day they will live eternally in Heaven with the Lord. But that's not actually what eternal life is, eternal life has already started! John 17:3 says "now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." So salvation is to conocer God. To be in real relationship with Him- a profound, deep, loving, knowing relationship with God. So do you value eternal life or eternal love? When eternal life is valued it is because of fear and selfishness, it is knowing God's nature but not His character. The desire for eternal life is because they do not want to suffer any longer which is selfishness not salvation. One super encouraging thing about his is God wants, He DESIRES to be known! He wants us to experience true love for Him. There are a couple of things that we may be doing to hinder ourselves from knowing God. We may be thinking knowing God may increase our pride and make us think we are special or something. There is something completely wrong with this... God wants us to be special, we are special (Isaiah 57:15 explains that even though He lives in a Holy place He also lives with the ones who are contrite and lowly in Spirit to revive their hearts.) The second thing is the religious view which is only the pastor can really know God so they don't really try. They choose the value what the pastor says more than what God is telling them. But what God tells us is the most important thing and we should take what the pastor says to God. The third one is the pessimistic view which is you shouldn't waste your time, you can't get to know God anyway so why even try. Although we can never FULLY know God, because He is an infinite God and the more we discover the more there will be to discover, we can still know Him. And the more we know Him the happier and more fulfilled we are in life.
I'm sure you've heard before that Christianity it not a religion, but why? A religion is a set of beliefs (a cause) and a set of action (effects.) Christianity is not a cause and effect, it is a relationship. We need to spend time with Him, just like any other relationship, talk to Him, and LISTEN to what He is saying too. It's just like the relationship you have with your best friend. If you don't take time for those relationships eventually you will not know that person anymore.
Now one thing a lot of people think is that when enlightenment happens that is their salvation. Many times they think that is because the person tells them "now you have been saved" but we can't know that for sure because we do not know their heart. A person's salvation is when they start their repentance and faith produces a heart connection, conocer, and that starts their continuing relationship. When they have nothing more than enlightenment it is like their are born dead into their rebirth.
That night we had a class where we read 1 John in order to prepare us for the next day of class. The next day in class we looked at the evidences of salvation. There are seven evidences of salvation.
1. Walking in the light (1 John 1:6-7)
In order for this part to make sense we had to define a couple of things first.
Walk-purposeful action in a specific direction
Fall- An involuntary action
Temptation- A proposition presented to the ind to fulfill a good appetite in a way forbidden by God.
Sin- The decision to satisfy good appetites in ways forbidden by God.
Have you ever heard someone say that they fell into sin? This, however, does not make sense because sin is a decision and falling is an involuntary action therefore you do not fall into sin. You either walk in the darkness or you walk in the light. An interesting question that was presented was if you knew that you wouldn't get caught and no one would find out what you did, would you do it? If so that is sin, even if you didn't do it yet, because sin starts in the heart. Actually doing it, the actual action of sin is a result of the sin that we committed in the heart. Have you also heard of someone saying that every single day you sin? That you cannot go a day without sinning? I went my whole life thinking that, that every single person sins every single day. Show me in the Bible where it says that? You are going to be looking for a very long time because it doesn't. The thing is we train ourselves to think that we sin every day. So much so that sometimes if I would be praying for the forgiveness of my sins while doing intercession or something like that I would ask for forgiveness and say "I'm not too sure what they are but I know I sinned today so please forgive me." And if I thought that I hadn't sinned I would ask for forgiveness from that! I can just imagine God saying one day she'll get it. One day she'll understand that I sent my son to take away her sin. Now I'm definitely not saying that I do not sin, nope! And I'm not saying that there are people who have never sinned because the Bible says "for all have sin and fall short of the glory of God." -Romans 3:23. But once we have gotten to the point where we hate our sin, we are repulsed from it, we ask for forgiveness, and we begin to conocer God we can begin to stop sinning. If we hate our sin we will be convicted of it and we will never want to do it again. Although we may still do it, we ask for forgiveness, and try harder not to sin. It is possible to go all day without sinning. How freeing is that?!?
It's not easy though, it's like if you were to run a marathon. You wouldn't just wake up one day and decide that you wanted to do it, and do it. It would be terrible. Rather you train for the marathon everyday, intensely, giving up things that you normally would do for it. That's what we need to do with God. And the closer we get to God the more we will hate our sin and the more we will want to stop doing it. I could probably go on for a while longer but I'm only on number one so I will move on. : p
2. Love the Law: 1 John 2:3-5
Some people may not be interested in this because they think there is too much in the law and it may be too hard to complete it. Well there is a reassuring thought, God will never give us a commandment that we cannot keep. God tells us to be perfect. Do you think He would tell us to do that if we couldn't? NO! Now He's not asking us to never have a pimple, or a cut, or a blemish, no that would be impossible. However He is asking us to be perfect in love.
There are many other laws than to be perfect and holy. Look at the ten commandments for example. Now all of those things may be hard, but God didn't just make them because He was bored one day, He made them for our own good. As Christians we love the law because it keeps junk out of our lives. Let's take adultery for example. When you commit adultery you are breaking the bond made between two people. Do you think that is a wise thing for us to do? We love the law because we will never have to deal with the junk that breaking or hating the law brings to us!! How exciting.
Another reason why we love the law is because our sin is destructive. It destroys us and it destroys people and things around us.
3. Love your brother 1 John 2:9-11
There is an equation we got for this.
God gave Jesus who gave His life to us and we should give our lives to our brother. (It looks a lot cooler with arrows.)
Now we have to ask ourselves, do I love those that I once hated?
4. Fellowship With God: 1 John 2:18-29
We had two definitions with this
General Revelation- What we can know about God through Creation.
Special revelation- What we can know about God through the Bible, dreams, intercession, His Voice, and, the ultimate one, Jesus.
Fellowship with God is very important in our walk with Him, as mentioned before.
5. Abide in Christ: 1 John 2: 24-25
Abiding in Christ can be a very exciting thing. He is going all around the world and He will take us there. If we keep up with Him he will take us around the world. One thing the teacher said is it's almost like Jesus has ADHD, He is all over the place and we need to keep up with Him. We need to start practicing so we will be able to keep up and reach all the people He wants us to.
6. Witness of the Spirit: 1 John 3:24
God has the spirit of adoption. Like I said before no one else has the right to call us Children of God, only Him, and His spirit has to adopt us. When we speak to a group of people we do not have to worry about "getting them saved" we just have to pray that the spirit of adoption will speak to them, and He will.
Our spirit is the breath of God, that is what gives us understanding.
7. Love not the world: 1 John 2:15
God insists that we have a change in purpose from pleasing ourselves to pleasing Him.Before we knew Him sin ruled our lives. When we know Him we think it is okay that we still have some sin, but take out most or the "worst" but our whole lives need to be only Christ.
When it says love not the world it is not saying do not love the creation God has put in it, the people He created, or the sinners, it is to hate the world system. To hate anything that operates to keep you enslaved to sin. Satan comes to steal kill and destroy. He will steal your life, kill you, and, if that is not enough he will destroy you as well. Even if you are already a Christian the world will come to try to steal you again.
In 1 John 2:16 it shows us that satan only has three tools to destroy us.
1. The lust of the flesh: This is wanting to be as God was. He tempted Eve with this and also used it in the tower of Babel (Gen. 10:9.)
2. The lust of the eyes: Judges 3: 7-8 This is materialistic things. It is like people who praise Baal they just praise him to get stuff.
3. The vain pride of life. We learned about this idol called molek. People would throw their friggin babies into it's hands and the baby would burn alive as a sacrifice. They would throw it twenty feet into the air and, if they missed, they would try again. (Leviticus18:21, Leviticus 20:2, 1 Kings 11:7-11)That is grotesque. I'm sure almost everyone would agree.
Modern day this is abortion, so why aren't we just as disgusted?
That is all seven of them. Then we have an overview. One equation we had was awakening+conviction+ repentance (which all comes from the Spirit)= A heart connection with God.
If you decided to walk in the light you will still sin but it will suck. You will be convicted of the sin and want to run back to the light. You will hate your sin more and more and not want to go back to it. God is much more concerned with where our hearts are rather than whether or not we sinned and, if we focus on that too, it will become easier and easier.
The people who don't go to Heaven are the ones who don't want to be there. Sin is the destruction of your life. Living in sin is destruction and makes your life terrible. When people choose sin they love there sin and want to be in their sin. When they die they are going into a reality of what they have been living their whole lives.
The final thing we talked about was forgiveness. 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 11 See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. At every point you have proved yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
There is a very long list I could go into with this but I do not feel the need to. However all of those things is what repentance looks like. It is when you HATE your sin.
We looked at the difference between Godly and worldly sorrow.
Godly sorrow leads to repentance which leads to salvation which =no regrets.
Worldly sorrow= death
People who don't have a relationship with Jesus are killing themselves because they are all SO broken and sad but they are not dealing with their sin.
Repentance means the sorrow from sin. It's a change of mind about sin because you hate it and you are repulsed. It's a complete transformation of purpose.
If you have something that you feel badly about doing, and don't want to do it anymore, but still go back to it, is it repentance?
Our ideas lead to beliefs which lead to actions which leads to habits which leads to character which leads to ultimate destiny. If you don't change your mind about something you'll never change your actions.
Now one part of the equation of salvation is faith. Biblical faith is unmovable, it's an unwavering commitment. You commit yourself to Him because He is real. Believe in Him and bind yourself to Him. God is not just a little story to believe in but a relationship that literally changes everything.
There is SOO much more I could get into, this week was absolutely amazing, life changing week, that has got me thinking about a lot of stuff. I apologize for this being so long, but it was needed.
Now I will finally finish getting ready for Creel. That is where we are going next week so I will be without internet. I hear it's amazing though. (But pray for me I also hear it is cold. : p) : D
31 August, 2011
Leadership
Last week we were learning about leadership. I really liked this week. Ty was our teacher this week which was nice because we all already know each other so we didn't need to do introductions or anything. The first thing we talked about was something called presuppositions. Basically that is an idea upon which you base your ideas. It is how our experiences, worldview, and theology affect our thoughts or views on a certain topic or situation. It is when you take reality and put your own spin on it. We learned how these can lead to wrong ideas about the truth. We then learned how to deal with our presuppositions. Basically what you have to do is ask God to look past them and ask Him to transform our mind, renew our minds and ourselves and then show us His perspective. That was a precursor to the leadership class. This is when we learned about leadership. Ty told us that when we come back, in one way or another, we are all going to be leaders. The information I learned this week I wish I had learned a while back. Looking back it could have helped me with leading in every situation I did. But at least now I have it for the future. One really encouraging thing is that we have a perfect leader to look up to, the only perfect leader, which is God. He is the perfect leader because He is wise, just, person with the people He is leading, intelligent, visionary, delegates power, merciful, creative, patient, all powerful, and that is just a start of His nature. God's nature and His character makes Him the perfect leader. One thing God tell us to do is be Holy. Some people have a hard time with this, thinking that we cannot be Holy. However God would not give us a commandment that we cannot keep. So what is holiness? It means to be set apart, which we definitely can do. Be in the world not of the world.
Another thing we were talking about is love. We defined love as desiring the best for everyone. We HAVE to choose the best for every no matter what. Sometimes the best thing for them is not the easiest to do, but we still have to do it, it is the most loving way. After that there were only two main points that we went over. It was two different styles of leadership. There is transactional and transformational. Transactional works more of a hierarchy. They work out of obligation and commands and if they don't follow it something may get taken away. Transformational is when the leader is holding everything up but everyone else is just as important as the leader is. This type of leadership works out of influence and modeling. Transformational leaders lead by example, they model what should be done and then they release the work to the people as they are ready. This leader is always aware of what happens as a whole. This type of leader is/needs to be present, open, and willing to help. Leaders should reproduce other leaders. Transactional =train train train and wait for perfection. Transformational=model then delegate then release. Releasing is an important part, it may be very hard to do but it is important. Transactional may be needed at times, but if you are leading transactionally you need to always have the intention of moving back to transformational. Transformational will build up other leaders and give them a purpose.
I think I said that was the last thing we talked about, if I did, I lied. : p We also talked about being a servant leader. This is something I am really working on and hope to one day be able to do it fully. Servant leadership means that you are willing to do whatever it takes. Doing whatever needs to be done. This type of leader will do whatever it takes to make sure that the people they are leading are able to live out their calling. Jesus is our perfect example of a servant leader. He hung on a cross so we could live out our calling to be in relationship with God. When you are a servant leader you go a step and beyond to make sure the people can live out their calling. It takes a lot of work, a lot of commitment, and a lot of time, but it is worth it!!!
Now this is the real last thing we talked about. We didn't have much time left but Ty wanted to give us a quick overview of this so we could think about it. We looked at the verse Romans 13:1 which talks about authority. The part we focused on was that the authorities that exist do because of God. A lot of people get confused by this because of all the people they think had authority who shouldn't have (like Hitler.) To understand this better we need to know the difference between power and authority. Power is the ability to act or produce in effect to get what you want, it's the possession of control. Power is something that you use. Authority is given to someone, they do not take it, they receive it. We can give people/things authority without it coming from God but all true authority comes from God. The main point to remember with this is that authority is given and power is taken.
Okay so all that is left to talk about is the weekend. This weekend was wonderful!!! I'm not sure why because we pretty much did the same things but it was wonderful. On Friday we went to El Paso and I finally got to get some stuff to big out on. We also went to Sonic and that was wonderful! Ty bought a movie there so we all watched it together (it was called The Dilemma.) It was really weird but fun to be all together. The next day we slept in, ate brunch, then watched another movie together. After that we read a lot and did thing that were productive. : p Also some of us took a nap that was nice. That night we watched two movies (I know it was movie weekend.) I'm not sure why but it was the best, most relaxing Saturday yet. On Sunday we had the option of resting or going to the church that is held in the chapel. I stayed home and watched the latest Worship Center video. That was wonderful and I loved it! The rest of the day we just hung around, did more productive things, and had a WONDERFUL Sunday, really I loved it and it was a great weekend. : D
Another thing we were talking about is love. We defined love as desiring the best for everyone. We HAVE to choose the best for every no matter what. Sometimes the best thing for them is not the easiest to do, but we still have to do it, it is the most loving way. After that there were only two main points that we went over. It was two different styles of leadership. There is transactional and transformational. Transactional works more of a hierarchy. They work out of obligation and commands and if they don't follow it something may get taken away. Transformational is when the leader is holding everything up but everyone else is just as important as the leader is. This type of leadership works out of influence and modeling. Transformational leaders lead by example, they model what should be done and then they release the work to the people as they are ready. This leader is always aware of what happens as a whole. This type of leader is/needs to be present, open, and willing to help. Leaders should reproduce other leaders. Transactional =train train train and wait for perfection. Transformational=model then delegate then release. Releasing is an important part, it may be very hard to do but it is important. Transactional may be needed at times, but if you are leading transactionally you need to always have the intention of moving back to transformational. Transformational will build up other leaders and give them a purpose.
I think I said that was the last thing we talked about, if I did, I lied. : p We also talked about being a servant leader. This is something I am really working on and hope to one day be able to do it fully. Servant leadership means that you are willing to do whatever it takes. Doing whatever needs to be done. This type of leader will do whatever it takes to make sure that the people they are leading are able to live out their calling. Jesus is our perfect example of a servant leader. He hung on a cross so we could live out our calling to be in relationship with God. When you are a servant leader you go a step and beyond to make sure the people can live out their calling. It takes a lot of work, a lot of commitment, and a lot of time, but it is worth it!!!
Now this is the real last thing we talked about. We didn't have much time left but Ty wanted to give us a quick overview of this so we could think about it. We looked at the verse Romans 13:1 which talks about authority. The part we focused on was that the authorities that exist do because of God. A lot of people get confused by this because of all the people they think had authority who shouldn't have (like Hitler.) To understand this better we need to know the difference between power and authority. Power is the ability to act or produce in effect to get what you want, it's the possession of control. Power is something that you use. Authority is given to someone, they do not take it, they receive it. We can give people/things authority without it coming from God but all true authority comes from God. The main point to remember with this is that authority is given and power is taken.
Okay so all that is left to talk about is the weekend. This weekend was wonderful!!! I'm not sure why because we pretty much did the same things but it was wonderful. On Friday we went to El Paso and I finally got to get some stuff to big out on. We also went to Sonic and that was wonderful! Ty bought a movie there so we all watched it together (it was called The Dilemma.) It was really weird but fun to be all together. The next day we slept in, ate brunch, then watched another movie together. After that we read a lot and did thing that were productive. : p Also some of us took a nap that was nice. That night we watched two movies (I know it was movie weekend.) I'm not sure why but it was the best, most relaxing Saturday yet. On Sunday we had the option of resting or going to the church that is held in the chapel. I stayed home and watched the latest Worship Center video. That was wonderful and I loved it! The rest of the day we just hung around, did more productive things, and had a WONDERFUL Sunday, really I loved it and it was a great weekend. : D
29 August, 2011
This means war.
Okay! I am going to attempt to blog about last week but his week is almost over so it may be semi difficult to remember it all. Let's see. Last week's topic was hearing the voice of God and intercession. One thing we focused on a lot was that God desires to speak to us. It is important, as Christians, to desire to speak to Him too. We focused on the importance of knowing God's voice. We need to be able to recognize the voice of God so when someone comes to impersonate it we can recognize the difference. We were also learning about many different ways that God speaks to you. There were eleven ways and it was really helpful! One really awesome thing we go to do after we learned the eleven ways was we chose a name out of a hat and went and asked God what He has for that person. This was really awesome and very encouraging. We also learned that prayer is our most powerful weapon. Honestly we learned a WHOLE bunch this week and it is still processing in my mind. We have started writing in journals and I wrote all about it. I'll have to reread it a couple of times and then write about it. One thing that stuck out to me a lot during the week, though, was when we talked about spiritual warfare. We first talked about the armor of God and how important it is which was awesome. One of the most important things I got out of the armor of God is that all of our armor goes on our front. If we stand and fight the enemy we have a bunch of armor to protect us and a sword to fight with. If we try to turn and run, there is no armor there. That was one thing that impacted me a lot.
So after that teaching we went out "to war" as they said. It was really amazing. The one woman who taught the day before we went out kept saying "we're going to war tomorrow." She kept telling us to make sure we were ready, and stressed that it was a war. What we did was we went around to different places and prayed for the strongholds that took over that place. First we went to a municipal type building. We prayed for people's love of money there and that God would overtake that place. One thing that was really stressed what that we prayed in the name of Jesus. We also used two scriptures to pray which were Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth." and 1 John 3:8b "The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." We would say it is written before each one and declare in Jesus' name. Next we prayed for a radio station. Then we went to the catholic chapel, where there is a lot of idol worship. We prayed for the strongholds over that place. One thing I asked God to do was to move in that place. I wasn't sure if He would or not, but then I thought we were there, so He could move in us. There was this one idol there, it was the idol of loneliness. This made me very sad because they go to an idol and pray for there loneliness to be broken when the only thing that is going to break their loneliness desires their hearts more than anything else in the whole world. It made my heart hurt for God, so I prayed over that too. At one point a woman brought her son up and brought him through the motions, making him touch the idols and bow. I began to cry for this boy. He didn't know any better, he couldn't have been more than six. I prayed for his soul, and I claimed his soul for the Lord. I told God that that boy was His. One thing God showed me when I was writing this in my journal was that I had to continue to pray for that boy. One other thing that happened while I was there was, when I was praying, I looked up for a second at one of the idols who was right next to where I was sitting. It appeared as though this idol was starring me down. I looked at it and had fear for about a second and then I said no, you can't look at me and you cannot do anything to me and I began to pray against it. Later, in the van, one of the other students said he felt as though they were staring at him, almost as though they were moving. The woman who was leading said that behind every idol there is a demon. I am still investigating where it says that in the Bible but it doesn't seem like a crazy thought. After that we went to a statue of one of the past presidents who had some demonic symbols on it. We prayed for that and the city while we were there, and we walked around the statue. The last place we stopped was the idola de muerte (idol of death.) They worship "her" a lot for a lot of different reasons. Actually one of the leaders told me that they actually ask permission from God if it is okay to worship it. I asked what their confirmation was and he said pretty much asking was their confirmation. I thought that was super crazy. We didn't actually go into this place, but we parked outside of it and prayed over it. It was nice because there we prayed out loud as a group. The spiritual strongholds there were insane. I think I felt them the strongest there and at the chapel. We returned just about in time for lunch and we were all very tired.
That weekend we didn't do too much. Just read and watched movies, the usual. On Sunday we went to a church that meets in the chapel. I think we got there a little early so it felt super long, but there were a lot of children so that was awesome. : )
All together it was a really great week! : D
So after that teaching we went out "to war" as they said. It was really amazing. The one woman who taught the day before we went out kept saying "we're going to war tomorrow." She kept telling us to make sure we were ready, and stressed that it was a war. What we did was we went around to different places and prayed for the strongholds that took over that place. First we went to a municipal type building. We prayed for people's love of money there and that God would overtake that place. One thing that was really stressed what that we prayed in the name of Jesus. We also used two scriptures to pray which were Philippians 2:10 "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in Heaven and on earth and under the earth." and 1 John 3:8b "The reason the son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work." We would say it is written before each one and declare in Jesus' name. Next we prayed for a radio station. Then we went to the catholic chapel, where there is a lot of idol worship. We prayed for the strongholds over that place. One thing I asked God to do was to move in that place. I wasn't sure if He would or not, but then I thought we were there, so He could move in us. There was this one idol there, it was the idol of loneliness. This made me very sad because they go to an idol and pray for there loneliness to be broken when the only thing that is going to break their loneliness desires their hearts more than anything else in the whole world. It made my heart hurt for God, so I prayed over that too. At one point a woman brought her son up and brought him through the motions, making him touch the idols and bow. I began to cry for this boy. He didn't know any better, he couldn't have been more than six. I prayed for his soul, and I claimed his soul for the Lord. I told God that that boy was His. One thing God showed me when I was writing this in my journal was that I had to continue to pray for that boy. One other thing that happened while I was there was, when I was praying, I looked up for a second at one of the idols who was right next to where I was sitting. It appeared as though this idol was starring me down. I looked at it and had fear for about a second and then I said no, you can't look at me and you cannot do anything to me and I began to pray against it. Later, in the van, one of the other students said he felt as though they were staring at him, almost as though they were moving. The woman who was leading said that behind every idol there is a demon. I am still investigating where it says that in the Bible but it doesn't seem like a crazy thought. After that we went to a statue of one of the past presidents who had some demonic symbols on it. We prayed for that and the city while we were there, and we walked around the statue. The last place we stopped was the idola de muerte (idol of death.) They worship "her" a lot for a lot of different reasons. Actually one of the leaders told me that they actually ask permission from God if it is okay to worship it. I asked what their confirmation was and he said pretty much asking was their confirmation. I thought that was super crazy. We didn't actually go into this place, but we parked outside of it and prayed over it. It was nice because there we prayed out loud as a group. The spiritual strongholds there were insane. I think I felt them the strongest there and at the chapel. We returned just about in time for lunch and we were all very tired.
That weekend we didn't do too much. Just read and watched movies, the usual. On Sunday we went to a church that meets in the chapel. I think we got there a little early so it felt super long, but there were a lot of children so that was awesome. : )
All together it was a really great week! : D
15 August, 2011
We're getting there.
Ah week two.
This week was pretty crazy. We had our first official week of class, which means a lot of us were pretty tired because we aren't fully in the hang of things. It wasn't too bad though. We had a pretty great teacher so that probably helped too. This week we were learning about the nature and character of God. One thing we did with this was dissect parts of the Bible. We would take it verse by verse and see what God was like according to those parts of the Bible. We did a lot in the old testament to show us that God has always been the same loving, caring, compassionate, feeling, God who wants our best. We also learned that we were created to love and be in a relationship with Him.We were also talking about roots. We learned about being deeply rooted in the love of God, that way nothing can shake us. We also learned that, if we are deeply rooted in His love, we can help be support systems for other people. It was a really cool thing to look at and discover. A couple of verses we were looking at are Jeremiah 17:5-8, Ephesians 3:14-19, and Psalms 27:4. I'm sure we looked at a lot of others but those are just a few of the main ones. The person who came to speak to us was named Jason and he was really great. He really had a wonderful heart for God and helped us grow a lot. A lot of people say this is the foundational week of your DTS because everything else builds on it. I would say it was a really good foundational week!
This week I also made up a plan for reading my Bible. At the moment I'm reading Jeremiah and Psalms. If I read two of each a day then I will be able to get from Jeremiah to the end of the old testament, and Psalms to Jeremiah by the time I finish. While we were talking this week I also realized that I haven't really ever read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and I'm also reading one of those a day.
We also got a new book this week. It's called Relationships: The Key to Love, Sex, and Everything Else. We got this book on Tuesday. Admittingly I didn't start until Saturday, but I will finish in time so it is okay. It's not a bad book, and I would recommend reading it. The only thing that I've found wrong with it is it seems to be talking to a general population who have certain ideas about sex and relationships and I do not have these same ideas so those parts are annoying. I've also fallen in love with taking walks with my music. There is a spot where they are going to build a new children home so I'll walk, run, and jump around there. I look like a fool but I do what I feel like I should so I don't care. For some reason it's a great way for me to really see God's face. Him and I go for a walk together, that's what makes it wonderful. (That's also why I emphasized that whole music part. I do not enjoy walking, only with the Lord.: )
We didn't do much else this week, just a lot of class and food. One day we had this amazing meal called enfrijoladas. This usually has cream and cheese but they made mine without. That was SUPER amazing! This weekend was pretty fun too! We like to have a movie night on Friday so we watched She's the Man (in Spanish.) Setting it up was such a hassle, but we all enjoyed it once it was on. We ate a bunch of food and watched the movie. I was so tired I ended up falling asleep. On Saturday we went to a couples house named David and Ale. I felt a bit awkward because I had already eaten. I thought it would be rude not to go, but it's also a little rude not to eat there. They had two kids though who were adorable. We played many games and by the end we were being super silly. (I'm sure the parents appreciated that.) All in all it was a really fun time. When we got home I read and slept for a little before I helped cook dinner. Alex and I cooked hot dogs. I've never seen someone put so much stuff on their hot dog in my life, it was awesome. We made this salsa stuff that was SOOO good. I've been eating it on toast. Sunday we did the usual, go to church, then the mall for lunch, then the grocery store then home. That night we had "sweet bread" for dinner which is pretty much donuts and stuff like that. All in all it was a great week! : D
Today we were suppose to be going to El Paso to help unload a food shipment. Them we were going to go to Wal*Mart. I was SUPER excited because I need to get a few things from Wal*Mart and also need to get some money because I cannot (or at least should not) use my card in Mexico (or maybe I just don't like to either way I don't use it. Plus I like to save my money.) I was also excited because I would be able to use my phone and I wanted to hear some people talking. We got up early and got all ready to go and we were in the car and Ty got a phone call saying that the guy who was going to bring the shipment didn't tell anyone that he was coming, so it didn't come, and we didn't go. It was a bit disappointing but we cleaned the chapel and multipurpose room and now we have some free time until lunch. We are also waiting for our new teacher, Lori (a GIRL!!! : p) to come so we are excited about that.
It was a good week and we've got a good week to come! :D
This week was pretty crazy. We had our first official week of class, which means a lot of us were pretty tired because we aren't fully in the hang of things. It wasn't too bad though. We had a pretty great teacher so that probably helped too. This week we were learning about the nature and character of God. One thing we did with this was dissect parts of the Bible. We would take it verse by verse and see what God was like according to those parts of the Bible. We did a lot in the old testament to show us that God has always been the same loving, caring, compassionate, feeling, God who wants our best. We also learned that we were created to love and be in a relationship with Him.We were also talking about roots. We learned about being deeply rooted in the love of God, that way nothing can shake us. We also learned that, if we are deeply rooted in His love, we can help be support systems for other people. It was a really cool thing to look at and discover. A couple of verses we were looking at are Jeremiah 17:5-8, Ephesians 3:14-19, and Psalms 27:4. I'm sure we looked at a lot of others but those are just a few of the main ones. The person who came to speak to us was named Jason and he was really great. He really had a wonderful heart for God and helped us grow a lot. A lot of people say this is the foundational week of your DTS because everything else builds on it. I would say it was a really good foundational week!
This week I also made up a plan for reading my Bible. At the moment I'm reading Jeremiah and Psalms. If I read two of each a day then I will be able to get from Jeremiah to the end of the old testament, and Psalms to Jeremiah by the time I finish. While we were talking this week I also realized that I haven't really ever read through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and I'm also reading one of those a day.
We also got a new book this week. It's called Relationships: The Key to Love, Sex, and Everything Else. We got this book on Tuesday. Admittingly I didn't start until Saturday, but I will finish in time so it is okay. It's not a bad book, and I would recommend reading it. The only thing that I've found wrong with it is it seems to be talking to a general population who have certain ideas about sex and relationships and I do not have these same ideas so those parts are annoying. I've also fallen in love with taking walks with my music. There is a spot where they are going to build a new children home so I'll walk, run, and jump around there. I look like a fool but I do what I feel like I should so I don't care. For some reason it's a great way for me to really see God's face. Him and I go for a walk together, that's what makes it wonderful. (That's also why I emphasized that whole music part. I do not enjoy walking, only with the Lord.: )
We didn't do much else this week, just a lot of class and food. One day we had this amazing meal called enfrijoladas. This usually has cream and cheese but they made mine without. That was SUPER amazing! This weekend was pretty fun too! We like to have a movie night on Friday so we watched She's the Man (in Spanish.) Setting it up was such a hassle, but we all enjoyed it once it was on. We ate a bunch of food and watched the movie. I was so tired I ended up falling asleep. On Saturday we went to a couples house named David and Ale. I felt a bit awkward because I had already eaten. I thought it would be rude not to go, but it's also a little rude not to eat there. They had two kids though who were adorable. We played many games and by the end we were being super silly. (I'm sure the parents appreciated that.) All in all it was a really fun time. When we got home I read and slept for a little before I helped cook dinner. Alex and I cooked hot dogs. I've never seen someone put so much stuff on their hot dog in my life, it was awesome. We made this salsa stuff that was SOOO good. I've been eating it on toast. Sunday we did the usual, go to church, then the mall for lunch, then the grocery store then home. That night we had "sweet bread" for dinner which is pretty much donuts and stuff like that. All in all it was a great week! : D
Today we were suppose to be going to El Paso to help unload a food shipment. Them we were going to go to Wal*Mart. I was SUPER excited because I need to get a few things from Wal*Mart and also need to get some money because I cannot (or at least should not) use my card in Mexico (or maybe I just don't like to either way I don't use it. Plus I like to save my money.) I was also excited because I would be able to use my phone and I wanted to hear some people talking. We got up early and got all ready to go and we were in the car and Ty got a phone call saying that the guy who was going to bring the shipment didn't tell anyone that he was coming, so it didn't come, and we didn't go. It was a bit disappointing but we cleaned the chapel and multipurpose room and now we have some free time until lunch. We are also waiting for our new teacher, Lori (a GIRL!!! : p) to come so we are excited about that.
It was a good week and we've got a good week to come! :D
06 August, 2011
Our First Week
So I'm here!!! I'm finally in Juarez, Mexico and it's wonderful. It is so much better than even expected. Everyone here is so wonderful! The best part is how much time we get to, and are suppose to spend with God.
I suppose I'll start at the beginning, in the airport. When I left my family and went back to the airport I was super overwhelmed. I was coming to a new place, to meet new people, and do new things. I was stepping into the unknown, and I did not like it very much. Not to mention it was my first time on a plane. I must have looked so funny to everyone around me. It was really strange, but it wasn't bad. When I finished flying (two flights with about a two hour layover) I went to retrieve my bags and meet up with Ty. After I found him we waited for all the girls to get there and then made our way to Juarez. When we arrived in Juarez we got to our rooms and unpacked and settled in. There are six girls here. We all share an apartment style house thing.When I was done unpacking and everything finally settled down I was so overwhelmed. I was being bombarded with the thought that I should just catch the next flight home and forget about all this. How much easier would that have been anyway? I wouldn't have to be on my own, I wouldn't be so far, and I wouldn't be dealing with all the difficult things that I didn't much want to deal with. I knew, however, that this is where God wanted me, and that was the only thing stopping me from not actually leaving. I simply tried to calm down and continuously reminded myself that this was where God wanted me to be. One thing that was asked before we went to bed was why God wanted you here. So when we got back to our room I began to pray about it even though God had already given me an idea almost immediately. I realized that God wanted me to be here so I could learn to fully depend on Him. It wasn't until the next day when we were sharing with the group what God told us that I fully realized what God meant by that. He knows just how dependent on my family I am. How I would ask my sister before everything I ate if it was okay, or, if I was going through a problem, I would need to go tell her right away what was wrong and talk it through with her, and or a couple of my closest friends. I realized even more that I am also very dependent on my dad. How often I would call him at work to tell him what I was doing, ask him a question, or ask him to do something for me. I often wondered what I would do when I was older without my dad, but then realized that I could just depend on my husband. God showed me that He didn't want me to depend on any human like that, He wanted me to depend on Him. He wants to be the first one I go to when I'm having a problem or going through something. He wants to be my first and foremost, my life. It was a bit difficult for me to realize this because I fooled myself into thinking that He was.Now I continually remind myself that I am here for Him. Not only here at YWAM but here on earth, for Him to use me as He pleases. I know He is going to do amazing things with my life while I am here, He has already started.
So what else are we doing with our time besides learning and listening? A LOT! This week we had a book to read. They gave it to us on Sunday and we had to have it read by Friday, and then have a book report for it as well.. The book we read was Is That Really You, God by Loren Cunningham. It's really showing me how to hear God's voice and to follow and obey Him. Other things we are doing are hanging out with and getting to know each other. As I mentioned earlier there are six of us girls. We have Marissa, Elizabeth, Lehydi, Estrella, Kelsey, and me. The boys are Erick and Alex. We have spent some of our nights playing games together. We had the most intense game of JENGA that lasted for the longest time. One night we played Uno Flash which was crazy. It was a lot of fun laughing and playing together. On Tuesday night all the women at the base went to do Zumba. It was crazy. Many of us rediscovered that dancing is not our forte, but we had a lot of fun doing it. We also have a newsletter to write and get out. All of that, plus diving into God's word and listening to His voice adds up to no(or at least not much) boredom . We all also have "duties" that we need to do once a day (they are suppose to take two hours) me and two other girls (Estrella and Marissa) have dinner clean up. Although sometimes it may seem like a lot of work, it is also a lot of fun! We laugh a lot while doing it.
One concern people had with me being here and being a vegan was if I would/was eating anything. There is no need to worry about that, at all. Ty and is (lovely) wife Leah are being very accommodating. I have something to eat for every meal and if it's not part of what everyone else is having I'll have some leftovers. I'm eating very healthily too, with a lot of vegetables. Also one of the boys, Alex, has the duty to cook the dinner. He is really good at cooking my things, and he knows what I can and cannot have. It amazes me how understanding he is with it, especially because veganism and Mexico don't really mix. It just goes to show just how WONDERFUL our God is! My lip ring does need to stay out (or at least I think, I never actually asked, I just took it out, it's easier.) My lip retainer, however, is working very well and is a wonderful substitute. Even if I had to take it out, I would, because this is where God wants me, and what He wants me to do.
I guess that is it for now. OH! Except safety! We are VERY safe here. We are behind a fence with a lock and a guard that comes overnight. It is more safe than you can even imagine. I'll be posting pictures soon. :) This entry is a little bit long, they shouldn't all be this long. One thing to remember, God is wonderful, and he is working in me wonderfully!
I suppose I'll start at the beginning, in the airport. When I left my family and went back to the airport I was super overwhelmed. I was coming to a new place, to meet new people, and do new things. I was stepping into the unknown, and I did not like it very much. Not to mention it was my first time on a plane. I must have looked so funny to everyone around me. It was really strange, but it wasn't bad. When I finished flying (two flights with about a two hour layover) I went to retrieve my bags and meet up with Ty. After I found him we waited for all the girls to get there and then made our way to Juarez. When we arrived in Juarez we got to our rooms and unpacked and settled in. There are six girls here. We all share an apartment style house thing.When I was done unpacking and everything finally settled down I was so overwhelmed. I was being bombarded with the thought that I should just catch the next flight home and forget about all this. How much easier would that have been anyway? I wouldn't have to be on my own, I wouldn't be so far, and I wouldn't be dealing with all the difficult things that I didn't much want to deal with. I knew, however, that this is where God wanted me, and that was the only thing stopping me from not actually leaving. I simply tried to calm down and continuously reminded myself that this was where God wanted me to be. One thing that was asked before we went to bed was why God wanted you here. So when we got back to our room I began to pray about it even though God had already given me an idea almost immediately. I realized that God wanted me to be here so I could learn to fully depend on Him. It wasn't until the next day when we were sharing with the group what God told us that I fully realized what God meant by that. He knows just how dependent on my family I am. How I would ask my sister before everything I ate if it was okay, or, if I was going through a problem, I would need to go tell her right away what was wrong and talk it through with her, and or a couple of my closest friends. I realized even more that I am also very dependent on my dad. How often I would call him at work to tell him what I was doing, ask him a question, or ask him to do something for me. I often wondered what I would do when I was older without my dad, but then realized that I could just depend on my husband. God showed me that He didn't want me to depend on any human like that, He wanted me to depend on Him. He wants to be the first one I go to when I'm having a problem or going through something. He wants to be my first and foremost, my life. It was a bit difficult for me to realize this because I fooled myself into thinking that He was.Now I continually remind myself that I am here for Him. Not only here at YWAM but here on earth, for Him to use me as He pleases. I know He is going to do amazing things with my life while I am here, He has already started.
So what else are we doing with our time besides learning and listening? A LOT! This week we had a book to read. They gave it to us on Sunday and we had to have it read by Friday, and then have a book report for it as well.. The book we read was Is That Really You, God by Loren Cunningham. It's really showing me how to hear God's voice and to follow and obey Him. Other things we are doing are hanging out with and getting to know each other. As I mentioned earlier there are six of us girls. We have Marissa, Elizabeth, Lehydi, Estrella, Kelsey, and me. The boys are Erick and Alex. We have spent some of our nights playing games together. We had the most intense game of JENGA that lasted for the longest time. One night we played Uno Flash which was crazy. It was a lot of fun laughing and playing together. On Tuesday night all the women at the base went to do Zumba. It was crazy. Many of us rediscovered that dancing is not our forte, but we had a lot of fun doing it. We also have a newsletter to write and get out. All of that, plus diving into God's word and listening to His voice adds up to no(or at least not much) boredom . We all also have "duties" that we need to do once a day (they are suppose to take two hours) me and two other girls (Estrella and Marissa) have dinner clean up. Although sometimes it may seem like a lot of work, it is also a lot of fun! We laugh a lot while doing it.
One concern people had with me being here and being a vegan was if I would/was eating anything. There is no need to worry about that, at all. Ty and is (lovely) wife Leah are being very accommodating. I have something to eat for every meal and if it's not part of what everyone else is having I'll have some leftovers. I'm eating very healthily too, with a lot of vegetables. Also one of the boys, Alex, has the duty to cook the dinner. He is really good at cooking my things, and he knows what I can and cannot have. It amazes me how understanding he is with it, especially because veganism and Mexico don't really mix. It just goes to show just how WONDERFUL our God is! My lip ring does need to stay out (or at least I think, I never actually asked, I just took it out, it's easier.) My lip retainer, however, is working very well and is a wonderful substitute. Even if I had to take it out, I would, because this is where God wants me, and what He wants me to do.
I guess that is it for now. OH! Except safety! We are VERY safe here. We are behind a fence with a lock and a guard that comes overnight. It is more safe than you can even imagine. I'll be posting pictures soon. :) This entry is a little bit long, they shouldn't all be this long. One thing to remember, God is wonderful, and he is working in me wonderfully!
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