So Blessed!

Sunday morning Pastor GF gave Jose and I the opportunity to speak at Powerhouse. We showed this video of our time in Peru so far and Jose ministered on the attributes of our house. 

I've spoken here before about my dislike for public speaking. I have to say it is getting easier. I still get really, really nervous but I'm doing much better with the whole standing in front of people and talking. The trick is to look for some smiling people and talk to them. :) 

After we finished Pastor got up and encouraged everyone to give into the mission. The things he said were really encouraging and inspiring to me. While he was speaking I could feel the presence of God in the room and I couldn't help it, I started to cry. He asked everyone that would give into the mission to stand up and bring their offerings forward. As people came forward to give they hugged us and told us they are praying for us. I just want to tell you. Many of you read this blog and it means a lot. When things get hard here we have that day to think back on and remember the way God moved and blessed us. It reminds me of the old testament when people experienced a touch from God they would build an altar and remember that place and worship God because of what he did for them. I'm not going to build a physical altar. But I have that place that I can look back and say to myself. "look, remember that day? That is when God showed you tangibly that he will always take care of you. Your church is your spiritual family holding up your arms from America while you are in Peru" I know that I can count on my God and my church!

One of our challenges here has been the fact that we only get 90 day visas. It's not a huge deal if we stay over a visa by a few days, but we get charged $1 a day per person. That adds up fast when there are 5 people. This time we were praying on the way to the immigration agent. Jose told her we are missionaries and are trying to get long term visas. The immigration officer was soft hearted and she gave us each 185 days on our visas! We don't have to leave Peru until we go to Piura which is so much closer to Ecuador and a much cheaper trip! It has been awesome to see God moving in our lives in large and small ways!

Please pray for us that we can work out some things with At&t to save some money while we are here. Thank you for holding up our arms!

By the way, I know a lot of you picked up our new prayer card. If you did or are praying for us and are not on the prayer partner list please leave a comment here or email me. Our email addresses are in the tabs on the top of the page. 

Ruined, Stripped Bare, Destroyed, Shriveled, Gone

God spoke to me today about his pattern and principles in his word through today's reading.  Joel 1:10 When the revelation of the Lord comes into someone's life it is so transforming that you see yourself as you really are. 
Ruined—un-fathered.  The birthright is so valuable in the life of a Christian.  When we become born again we receive a new birthright and become joint heirs with Christ.  For those that continue to walk in sin are as John 8:44 states and act as their father the devil and destined for ruin.
Stripped bare--uncorrected.  Without the father a Christian is stripped bare to the very core of sin.  Even in the natural world if someone will continue to break the law they will be ultimate stripped of every right they have.  Therefore as proverbs 3:12 and Hebrews 12:6 states the Lord chastens those he loves.
Destroyed--unfruitful.  Continuing to live a life that is not glorifying the father will lead you to a life that is destined to be destroyed.  Jesus states in Luke 13:6-8 that his desire is for us to bear fruit and anyone that does not will be cut off. 
Shriveled--unhealed.  The natural tendency for a malnurished child is to be shriveled, weak, and defenseless.  They will not live up to their full potential because there is something that has not been cured.  In Mark 3 Jesus approaches a man with a shriveled hand and brings restoration. 
Gone--untaught.  Psalm 27:11 the Lord teaches us how to live, to neglect his teaching is setting themselves up for a rude awakening in that the father's will was not done as in Matthew 7:21-23
Repentance and Restoration
Such a great pattern of regaining relationship with the father.
1) He calls to you turn to me Joel 2:12
2) its in your heart return to me Joel 2:13
3) he is eager to relent Joel 2:13
It humbles me to know that even in our repentance he is desperate to seek us out and longs for us to be right with him.  Even in his anger he still loves us and wants us to be in right standing with him.  He sets us up for victory even in our lowest points.
In God's restoration it will be visible and the blessings will be seen that those that follow his pattern will understand how great he is and how awesome and greatly to be praised he is.   His loving-kindness will be demonstrated to all who seek him and his faithfulness will be shown to all who humble themselves before him.
My prayer today: Joel 2:28 Then, after doing all those things, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.Your sons and daughters will prophesy.  Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on servants—men and women alike.    Thank you Lord for your Holy Spirit that comes in power, and fire, and truth. 

Hearing God

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.  Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it. If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you." James 1:19-27

The other day someone mentioned something to me in passing about having the ability to hear from God. Something about that statement gave me pause. I kept hearing that phrase in my head. "I can hear from God" I thought about it a lot and then I just asked God. What is it about that phrase? and then because *I can hear from God* He told me, the strange thing about that phrase is everyone *CAN* hear from God. Think about it. The bible is a letter from God. So it stands to reason that any person that reads the bible at any time is  hearing from God. Seriously though, saying you can hear from God is like saying you can breath. Of course you can, you were made to do it. But, just because you hear from God doesn't mean you automatically do the right thing aka "what God said to do." Why else would God say this in his word "But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says." 

Now I'm going to break down this little section of scripture and show you what God showed me (scripture is in blue my comments are in black)

"Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.

This seems somewhat obvious to me but in case you don't see the connection I'll mention it. It's hard to hear someone else talking when you are always talking. I have come to the place that in my prayer time I hardly speak at all. It's not because I don't have a lot to say (obviously, I have a lot to say) It's because If I do all the talking I won't hear God's still small voice speaking to me. Lord help me, I don't ever want to miss his voice.

So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.

Humility is a key to hearing from God. Most of the time we really don't want to hear what he has to say. Most of the time he says to give up your life, sacrifice, obey, submit, give, love your enemy, pray for those that spitefully use you. Things that pride doesn't allow.

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

Strong words. I have wanted to say this to people in the past. It makes me sad to see people justify themselves because of past accomplishments or ability to hear from God. It goes back to humility. If you start to see the things you've done for/through/because of God as something you did yourself. You already got your reward and you are deceiving yourself.

For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

I love how vivid this is. Since I have to check a mirror before I leave my house, on the way to my destination, and as soon as I arrive. This hits home for me. I mean it's not like I forgot what I look like (well sometimes...maybe). But I still check again and again. Looking carefully is descriptive of searching out the scripture. Having scriptural backing for the things you do. (and please, look at the context of your verse don't just find a verse that fits your needs if you leave out the first 3 and last 2 words...pet peeve) 

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless.

I love it that he says this. He literally says if you don't control your tongue your religion is worthless. Someone tried to gossip to me and I told them "I don't want to be a part of gossip" they said "it's not gossip it's the truth" Their tongue was so out of control that they justified gossiping by saying it was the truth. My rule of thumb is If I'm not part of the problem and I'm not part of the solution then it's not my business. I do not want to hear that everything I did was worthless because I was involved in any way with idle chatter

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

This is one of my all time favorite scriptures. I look forward to the day when I will be caring for orphans. I also think it's interesting how many people leave the last part out when they quote this verse. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father is caring for widows and orphans in their distress, but it's also refusing to let the world corrupt you. We let the world corrupt us by making small compromises it usually starts with our mouth James 3:3-6 says "We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself"


A few additional thoughts.
I'm reading a book right now called Steps To The Anointing (Dag Heward-Mills) it talks about the ability to be led into the wilderness. Jesus was led into the wilderness (Matt 4:1) and yet as Christians we don't believe God will ever lead us into a wildnerness. Most of us will only follow him to somewhere nice. But we must be people who will follow him even when he is leading us against our natural inclinations. As Ray Comfort has said when we say "my god wouldn't ask me to do something like that" we are breaking the second commandment and making a god in our own image. Of course your god wouldn't do that he doesn't exist.  

 I love how beautiful the word is. It's just poetic. I wish that I could transfer the feeling I get when I read the word of God to others. It sheds light on things I don't understand and restores my soul.