Thursday, April 22, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Matthew 19:26 List
I'm so tired of living safe. I'm tired of praying the safe prayers, limiting my dreams to tiny wishes, and timidly pursuing God for fear of disappointment. When did God's power become so limited that He couldn't fulfill my wildest dreams? When did I forsake my child like faith, and lose all confidence in God's promises?
"But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not 'Yes' and 'No.' For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy was not 'Yes' and 'No,' but in him it has always been 'Yes.' For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ.' And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 1:18-20
I'm bored of dreaming of things I can accomplish. I'm done with planning the possible. lame! Our call as Christians is not to the possible, but we are called to do things we could never possibly do.
So, here's my promise to you. I will not be a woman of safety. I will be one who takes chances. I'm probably gonna be one of the hugest failures you've ever met. I'm probably going to screw a lot of things up. But it's going to be the funnest times of my life.
Exciting? oh boy!
Scary? No doubt!
worth it? oh yes!
I want to
See the dead raised.
Go to Maputa Harvest School.
Hear God's voice with confidence and clarity.
Pray for a nation with perseverance and see it radically redeemed.
Passionately seek the Lord above all else.
See poverty in Mozambique alleviated.
See revival on my campus!
Witness miracles daily.
See abortion ended in America.
Abandon my dreams for HIS.
Start my own ministry for hopeless women.
Disciple those who will go to the nations.
See hundreds of people come to Christ and get set free!!!
"Jesus looked at them and said
'With man this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.'"
Matthew 19:26
"But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not 'Yes' and 'No.' For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy was not 'Yes' and 'No,' but in him it has always been 'Yes.' For no matter how many promises God has made, they are 'Yes' in Christ.' And so through him the 'Amen' is spoken by us to the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 1:18-20
I'm bored of dreaming of things I can accomplish. I'm done with planning the possible. lame! Our call as Christians is not to the possible, but we are called to do things we could never possibly do.
So, here's my promise to you. I will not be a woman of safety. I will be one who takes chances. I'm probably gonna be one of the hugest failures you've ever met. I'm probably going to screw a lot of things up. But it's going to be the funnest times of my life.
Exciting? oh boy!
Scary? No doubt!
worth it? oh yes!
I want to
See the dead raised.
Go to Maputa Harvest School.
Hear God's voice with confidence and clarity.
Pray for a nation with perseverance and see it radically redeemed.
Passionately seek the Lord above all else.
See poverty in Mozambique alleviated.
See revival on my campus!
Witness miracles daily.
See abortion ended in America.
Abandon my dreams for HIS.
Start my own ministry for hopeless women.
Disciple those who will go to the nations.
See hundreds of people come to Christ and get set free!!!
"Jesus looked at them and said
'With man this is impossible,
but with God all things are possible.'"
Matthew 19:26
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
I died today.
This week has been marked in my life..I will never be the same.
I am a proud new owner of a beautiful, 60 foot long slackline. Ahhhh yeuah.
Which is totally beside the point.
So I am so longing to be challenged. Massive growth has been typical in my life over the past weeks...and I felt like I had kinda stopped with the acceleration and begun to coast. NO FUN!
Well, hello challenge.
Jennifer Toledo is a normal girl. Well actually..she is so not. If you want your faith rocked, your life shaken, and your understanding of God's power to be blown away...listen to her testimony immediately. You know you have an hour to spare.
heburnsforme.com
Let me just tell you fellow bloggers, my life is radically changed by her story.
But after listening, I was still fighting some discouragement. Sure, my faith was built by her testimony, my mind was blown, but a part of me wonders where I fit into that. I know that God has called me to a life like hers, a life of extravagant obedience and passionate killing of my own will. A life marked by authority and walking in surrender to God. But I'm not seeing that. When I look at my life, I don't see a woman taking authority of darkness, sickness and pain. I don't see a passionate, single-minded individual seeking God at all costs. I don't see absolute obedience.
hmmm...challenge?
And if that isn't enough!! The Lord has a way of blasting full on when He wants to blast eh? Ben Stuart BROUGHT IT at Breakaway...challenging us to live a life of adventure. MMMMMM! Doesn't that sound fun?!?! Who really wants a bland life of doing the "Christian thing" for a couple decades? Not I, I know that much. Something stirred inside of me. A passion I can't even begin to explain. I must stop letting my prideful will rule. I must surrender to my Savior. Joy and fullness can be found no other way.
So, with all this in mind, I said "Well God, I don't know what the heck to do now!" And, like He does so many times, (frustratingly enough) He answered my question with another question, 15 of them actually.
"Are you called to just live, or to live in fullness?"
"What is your life going to be about?"
"What is your heart passionate about?"
"Are you living a life full of passion?"
"Do you know your true identity?"
"Are you walking like you know who you are?"
"What will it take to live a radical life?"
"Are you ok with a mediocre life?"
"Are you willing to obey me no matter what?"
"Do you believe that your life could truly make a difference?"
"Will you receive MY calling for your life?"
"Are you consistently choosing MY highest for your life?"
"Are you letting MY plans be sovereign to your will?"
"What will it take for you to be fully satisfied in ME?"
"What is your motivation?"
Well, this is all a bit overwhelming. Where do I go from here?
Is my life really marked for greatness? Or is that just a petty hope I need to put to the side. Should I just go ahead and prepare myself to settle for a decent life, or do I let my hopes grow, imagining the greatest life God could have for me? Is it possible? Could He really use me?
Of course not, right?
And He spoke to me and said,
So I stood, and He spoke to me and said,
And so...today I died.
And now I will live.
I am a proud new owner of a beautiful, 60 foot long slackline. Ahhhh yeuah.
Which is totally beside the point.
So I am so longing to be challenged. Massive growth has been typical in my life over the past weeks...and I felt like I had kinda stopped with the acceleration and begun to coast. NO FUN!
Well, hello challenge.
Jennifer Toledo is a normal girl. Well actually..she is so not. If you want your faith rocked, your life shaken, and your understanding of God's power to be blown away...listen to her testimony immediately. You know you have an hour to spare.
heburnsforme.com
Let me just tell you fellow bloggers, my life is radically changed by her story.
But after listening, I was still fighting some discouragement. Sure, my faith was built by her testimony, my mind was blown, but a part of me wonders where I fit into that. I know that God has called me to a life like hers, a life of extravagant obedience and passionate killing of my own will. A life marked by authority and walking in surrender to God. But I'm not seeing that. When I look at my life, I don't see a woman taking authority of darkness, sickness and pain. I don't see a passionate, single-minded individual seeking God at all costs. I don't see absolute obedience.
hmmm...challenge?
And if that isn't enough!! The Lord has a way of blasting full on when He wants to blast eh? Ben Stuart BROUGHT IT at Breakaway...challenging us to live a life of adventure. MMMMMM! Doesn't that sound fun?!?! Who really wants a bland life of doing the "Christian thing" for a couple decades? Not I, I know that much. Something stirred inside of me. A passion I can't even begin to explain. I must stop letting my prideful will rule. I must surrender to my Savior. Joy and fullness can be found no other way.
So, with all this in mind, I said "Well God, I don't know what the heck to do now!" And, like He does so many times, (frustratingly enough) He answered my question with another question, 15 of them actually.
"Are you called to just live, or to live in fullness?"
"What is your life going to be about?"
"What is your heart passionate about?"
"Are you living a life full of passion?"
"Do you know your true identity?"
"Are you walking like you know who you are?"
"What will it take to live a radical life?"
"Are you ok with a mediocre life?"
"Are you willing to obey me no matter what?"
"Do you believe that your life could truly make a difference?"
"Will you receive MY calling for your life?"
"Are you consistently choosing MY highest for your life?"
"Are you letting MY plans be sovereign to your will?"
"What will it take for you to be fully satisfied in ME?"
"What is your motivation?"
Well, this is all a bit overwhelming. Where do I go from here?
Is my life really marked for greatness? Or is that just a petty hope I need to put to the side. Should I just go ahead and prepare myself to settle for a decent life, or do I let my hopes grow, imagining the greatest life God could have for me? Is it possible? Could He really use me?
Of course not, right?
And He spoke to me and said,
"[Daughter], stand up on your feet and I will speak to you."
Ezekiel 2:2
So I stood, and He spoke to me and said,
"Whoever finds his life will lost it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
Matthew 10:39
And so...today I died.
And now I will live.
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