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A Stateside Mission

1/31/2011

When I was home for Christmas, I heard about how Banner of Truth International in Rockford, IL is in a season of strategic planning for this next year. That tapped into the place in me that connects with coming along side people or ministries that are in a place of transition or starting something new, and I was definitely stirred. Banner of Truth International was my church home before coming to Tulsa, as well. They have always been a support and played an instrumental role in my journey with the Lord, so the potential for an opportunity to give back as well as to remain vitally connected in more of a practical way excited my heart, too. Still, I needed to take time to pray.

Well, as of today, it’s official… I will be taking a Stateside missions trip to Illinois this spring from March 12th-31st to come alongside Banner of Truth in support of their vision. The timing is also working out perfectly as my Dad plans to have a knee replacement surgery in early April so I will be able to be with him for that as well. Details regarding what I’ll be doing in Rockford are still coming together, but I’m excited.

Earlier this month at the Called to the World LINK Team, one of the people there shared about God dealing with him concerning missions at home first before going out to the world, and it rang true with some things I’m seeing in this year. It’s been a while, now, that I’ve had a knowing that I would be Stateside more than I would be overseas in 2011. It’s a unique season, but God has a perfect plan.

Along those lines, there have been some significant strategic meetings here in Tulsa regarding upcoming Women of Glory and Out of the Ashes meetings. It has been a blessing to seek God’s heart about these conferences with Cindy McKinney as well as others. As Cindy often shares, we are preparing ourselves to allow Him to use us to help save a generation in the same way Esther was called upon to save a nation.

The next Women of Glory conference will be held in Fayetteville, AR April 14th-16th and the first Out of the Ashes conference for 2011 is scheduled for May 6th and 7th in Broken Arrow, OK. Cindy has more information on the McKinney International website- www.mckinneyinternational.org.

As I look to the year ahead, it’s no wonder He is wanting me to spend extra time in fellowship with Him! There’s much to hear His heart about, and as I abide in Him, I’m trusting that He will cause me to bear much fruit that remains!

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What are the Idols?

1/22/2011

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In Mark 10:21, Jesus revealed an idol in the rich young rulers life. “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and”… asked him to give everything. It wasn’t so much about giving up his money and possessions as it was giving his all- his total devotion- to Christ. There’s a note in my Bible that gets to the heart of it and even speaks truth into the muddled ness of what I’m hearing in some of the “mixture” of teaching out there these days. It says, “Jesus looks beyond specific requirements to single-hearted devotion to God…” Take up the cross… die to self… and follow me that you might truly live.

Earlier this year He was talking to me about idols in our lives. What are the things that try to steal my attention, affection and devotion to Him? Like 1 John 5:21 says in the Amplified: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods)- from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life. Amen.”

More than ever before, I see this year as being one where we need to have a single-hearted devotion to Him- a year when we need to be more in tune to what He is saying and to allow Him to pin-point and narrow our focus on to what is most important to Him.

It’s interesting, too. Even though there are details that still need to come together, I have a good idea of what the first part of this year will hold... a trip home in the spring; Women of Glory and Out of the Ashes conferences; a return trip to Asia; and helping my friend make preparations for her June wedding. The last six months of this year are a lot more vague, but I still have a sense of some potential regarding more traveling Stateside. But once I begin to think about or look into 2012… it’s like a blank page. That’s not typical for me. Usually the Lord is at least stirring something in my heart concerning things for the year ahead.

I asked Him about that in prayer recently. His response surprised me, but made sense none the less. “What happens in 2012 will depend on what happens in 2011.” It’s kind of a matter-of-fact statement, but to me it makes me have a greater anticipation for this year as well as a greater sense of urgency to pray, to hear, to be sensitive and to yield to His direction. The expectancy is forefront, though, and as always, I’m excited about walking out the journey with Him!

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Putting Up the Oars

1/18/2011

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Today some friends and I gathered for prayer for a certain area of the world, and what a wonderful time in God’s presence! I wanted to share a part of what I saw in prayer in hopes that to someone reading this it will be an encouragement to you.

At first I saw a river… It was a winding river, but as the rain of His Spirit was falling, the river was overflowing its banks. There was a boat on the river, but as the water spread over the land, the boat was able to travel to and access places it hadn’t been able to before… reaching places that hadn’t been able to be reached before…

Then I began to speak out… Rowing, rowing, rowing… There’s been so much effort in the past, and you’ve wondered, “will we ever reach our destination?” And it’s seemed so hard. But now is the time to put the oars away- to stop working in your own strength. Instead, it’s time to put out the sails and to catch the wind of the Spirit. The Spirit will blow and take us where we need to go… even if it seems, at times, that we are going against the current.

He is doing the work. We are simply to stay in the boat to go where the wind of His Spirit takes us, doing what He instructs us to do. But along the way, we must also keep our ears open to hear His voice that may say to go… to step out upon the waters... to go the distance… stepping out upon His Word. Miracles will be seen, and the Bride she will arise… arising in the east… and her light will shine… Amen...

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The Fear of the Lord

1/13/2011

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Today I watched a short video on the Fear of the Lord. I really connected with what it said, in part because of what the Lord has been talking to me lately about Jesus Christ being made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. (1 Cor 1:30) The order these are written in is important, but what comes before all of that? The fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of WISDOM… which leads to righteousness, sanctification and redemption.

In trying to downplay the fear of the Lord, we have lessened the awesomeness of who God really is. But the key is that we don’t have to stay in fear in His presence! He says, “Fear not!” And the phrase from the video that stands out to me the most is this… “Now that I’ve seen Him, I know there is nothing else to fear.” Wow!

Proverbs 19:23 says that the fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will be satisfied. I came to know this last year. I saw myself as I was and I saw Him as Who He was... and like Isaiah, I was undone. But in that place of getting real with and about myself, I really discovered His love, His mercy and His grace. I discovered that I could trust Him to do and be all that I was helpless to do and be by myself. And the freedom I found in that place of encountering that magnificent power of Love instilled a boldness in me as well as a gratitude. Yes- perfect Love really does cast out all fear… Even the fear of the Lord, because once you have truly encountered the fear of the Lord and then encountered His Love in response, wisdom begins… You know to stay close… you don’t want to stray from His Word or His instruction or even from His correction (He disciplines and corrects those He LOVES!).

But what else is the result? RIGHTEOUSNESS!! The ability to stand before God without fear! You are forgiven and have His very nature on the inside of you! And because you love Him (because He first loved you), you’ll obey Him because you’ll be sensitive to His voice… you’ll hear and you’ll follow… and in humility and obedience IS your sanctification… you walk worthy of the calling and are set apart for sacred use. And as you lay down your life for Him, His life is lived through you and the reality of your redemption is made manifest… redeemed from sickness… redeemed from poverty, and ultimately, redeemed from an eternal death of separation from God.

That’s a place of rejoicing, but at the same time, it also the sobering part, because to those who DON’T fear the Lord, the ultimate end is death and hell. What a sobering reality. Tonight I was looking at some Facebook profiles of people I went to school with growing up. You can only get to know so much about a person from Facebook profiles and pictures, but so many, I could tell, are leading lives outside of Christ. Suddenly it dawned on me for some of them… “These people are going to Hell.” HELL. The gravity of that hit me. What is my responsibility? My part? It brings me back to that place of, “If I really believe what I believe… that Jesus is the only way and apart from Him there is eternal separation from God in Hell… then I should be compelled to tell people. That should be a driving force in my life.” And yet at its core, it is not fear but love that should compel me. Love compelled me to come to Him. Now His Love is meant to compel me to GO. It is good that He is stirring these things in me. It is an answer to prayer and connected to the call.

Tonight as I prayed for the Body of Christ, I prayed that we would have a heart for where we are… for the people where we are… impacting lives in our own nations, cities, neighborhoods, and then from there that we would capture a heart for the world. It’s His design, and He’s doing it. Will you go?

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Many Voices

1/10/2011

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Above all else, guard your heart with all diligence for out if it flows the wellspring of life. Prov 4:23

Give attention to my words; incline your hear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to them that find them and health to all their flesh. Prov. 4:20-22

There are many voices in the world right now vying for peoples’ attention and ultimately their devotion. There is an emphasis in many places on God not being so focused on what we do. There is some balance here, but people seem to be focusing on extremes. What is absolutely true, though, is that God cares VERY much about what we believe, so it’s no wonder that it is in this realm that there is so much of a battle right now, too.

What do you believe? That’s a question being posed in the hearts of many. It demands an answer. In the garden, the enemy asked Eve, “Did God really say?” Today you hear, “So… what did God really say?” And that’s when you can start to hear all the different voices clamoring for your attention. The trend is to sit around and think about and talk about every one’s varied opinions and perspectives and to treat each one as it’s own unique truth. But in this season, more than ever, I want to go to the Source... not "What does every one else say?" but "What does He say?"

More than ever, it is CRITICAL that we go to the Word for ourselves and allow the Holy Spirit to unveil it to us. But this is also where it goes back to what the Word says in 2 Peter 1 and 2… “No prophecy of Scripture is subject to any private interpretation for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their destructive ways because of whom the way of truth will be blasphemed.” Peter goes on to talk about these false teachers, their deceptive teaching, how people are affected, and the ultimate outcome.

These scriptures speak so much to what I have been seeing around me… all these voices fighting for people attention. There is much that is concerning in what Peter shares about the potential for people to be deceived, but then he gives the answer… “You, therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked, and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” And growing in grace and knowledge of HIM is my determined purpose! I’m so thankful for His Word.

So my prayer for all of us today is from 2 Thessalonians 3:3, “May the Lord, Who is Faithful, establish us and guard us from the evil one.” Whose voice are you listening to today?

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Stirring Things Up!

1/8/2011

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Happy Birthday to my friend Brenna! A group of us celebrated her special day by going ice skating together at a local rink. I haven’t ice skated since I was in high school, but most of us were novices! It was lots of fun and I connected up with an old friend while I was there, too. I love divine appointments!

I’m always thankful for His leading, too. At the start of the year, I sensed the Holy Spirit prompting me to go back and look at old journals to remind myself of things He has spoken to me over the years. The purpose was to put myself in remembrance, stir myself up about those things, put HIM in remembrance, and to have an expectation of those things coming to pass. I’m still in the process of reading through a lot of them, but my, my- it’s been a blessing.

In reading things from over a wide span of years, I am seeing common threads. I recognize things that He has been speaking to me about again and again and have also come to understand areas where the enemy has fought hard to contradict or eradicate from my life. Oh, but the faithfulness of God! And how patient He has been with me! Part of it has been a process of there being right timing for certain things to come together, and I know He’s having me look back on these things now for a purpose.

During a worship time at the New Year’s Eve service, I began singing from my heart about that which He has spoken coming to pass at last… for the ministry there, for the people there, for me… for the Body of Christ. There’s such joy in that! May this year be one where He rekindles things in your heart that He has spoken to you in times past, as well. Stir up the gifts He’s put in you, keep your expectations high and be bold to step into the things He directs in this year. His plans for you are good!

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A Banner Year

1/5/2011

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It’s been a great start to the New Year. At the New Year’s Eve service in Rockford we were encouraged to take committed, focused, personal time in the Word this year. There are many areas of our lives that need to be maintained, but at the heart of all, and what interfaces with every area of our lives, is our relationship with God.

At RHEMA, we had a night of Prayer and Praise on Sunday night, as well. Many things came out of that, but something that God put in my heart personally is that 2011 is going to be a “banner year”. I had heard that phrase before, but wasn’t confident that I really knew what it meant. When I did some research after I got home, this is what I discovered... A Banner Year is “a year which is unusually good or outstanding because something is especially successful.” In another place, the word “banner” was defined as “of high or superior quality or performance; superior wisdom derived from experience.” And then yesterday I was reminded that His banner over me is LOVE.

I know in my heart that there are multi-facets to what God is saying when He told me it’s going to be a banner year, but even in these natural definitions, it certainly creates an expectancy in me for something good!

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A Stateside Mission

What are the Idols?

Putting Up the Oars

The Fear of the Lord

Many Voices

Stirring Things Up!

A Banner Year

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