K, so I just wanted to fill you guys in on tonight… Since we’ve been building up relationship with the kids and we’ve gotten to know them, spent time with them, built up trust with them… tonight we’re coming out. Anthony, Josh, Tamara, Bethany and Pastor Jimmy are all tag teaming it and are pretty much just laying it out for them. We’re confronting them about voodoo, pornography, alcoholism… and whatever else these kids are dealing with. We are going to use a bunch of video clips and verses to demonstrate our point. After confronting them with all of that… we are going to face them with the question of who are you? As in, who are you to Christ? What does that mean? Do you want to go deeper with God?
While we were doing the prayer relay today, just thought I would share a bit of my prayers… we were first shift and we just finished so I don’t know anyone else’s but I wanted to write this so we could have your guys’ prayers. So, during mine and Marissa’s shift today… My prayer was a few things… first one being: that God would pretty much enter tonight, as in walk through the doors personally. Maybe not physically but that His presence would be just like that. I prayed that He would romance individually, each and every one of those kids. God just moved in my Spirit and gave me this deep understanding that God MADE each and every one of these kids, he CREATED them… and He created them FOR Him! For HIS GLORY! He made them to WORSHIP Him… that’s what they were MADE for! God’s love for them is passionate and jealous. For each and every one of them! For Keela, Jazzmyn, Nicole, Mickey, Lesean, Jarard, Jehu, Jade, Shabri, Lashay… each and every one of them! Kelson… etc. Their hearts were DESIGNED for HIS glory. Therefore, they are HIS property; Satan has NO right to them… NONE whatsoever!!! God just gave me this vision of lying down in the gap, filling it so that nothing would come in-between Him and His creation. He wants to literally romance them tonight. My prayer is that nothing else would enter that room but Him… kind of like clearing the way for the King…. You know? Get everything out of the way so that Jesus can just walk right through.
Another prayer God put on my heart had to do with a vision He gave me a few days ago for the whole island. God just kind of showed me that the whole island is asleep, almost like being under an enchantment. While they are asleep, walking around with these veils over their eyes, they cannot see what’s going on around them. What’s going on around them is that the enemy has made itself at home right in the midst of their camp. My prayer today was that they would awaken out of that sleep and see what’s really going on… and when they awaken, not be afraid, but be confident because God is revealing this so that He can free them. I prayed that God would open their eyes just like Elisha’s servant so that they would see that there are armies of heaven ready to fight on their behalf! They have nothing to fear because they serve a God, who after just romancing them has already won the victory! All he does now is laugh while he sets up a feast before them in the midst of their enemies. I pray that the kids would take hold of what gets laid out for them tonight… the same way Lesean and Jehu took hold. That God’s Holy Spirit would just dwell in that room tonight and that He would move. God is on the move… He’s working off of the foundation He’s built through us and it’s a truly exciting site to see. He is so good, and so exciting and so big… I’m so blessed and so glad to be on His side and to be a part of what He is doing. I pray that whatever happens tonight, whether we see it or not, we would be encouraged knowing that God is doing His work. He is growing the seeds that He is planting.
My last prayer was for our group… just that our hearts would be 150% focused on what God is doing. I pray that God would give us His eyes to see… that we would have an awareness of the things unseen. That we would see past the things we think are going on and listen for God’s voice telling us what’s really going on… and that we would be ready to respond. I pray that His voice would be clear to each of us individually… especially to the ones speaking. I also pray that His angels would just be there… legions of them… ready to fight on our behalf and alongside us. That we would just be ready and waiting and listening for what awesome things God has in store for tonight.
Be praying everyone!! Thanks so much for everything already! We miss you!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Poem from Yesterday
Romance of a Savior
I’ve fallen in love,
my heart is wooed.
It sways, as if to a lovely tune.
There’s nothing to say,
nor is there to think.
You are so beautiful
that it’s completely silenced me.
I am completely surrendered,
hopelessly thrown forth.
Taken over by a lover;
a lover I don’t fully comprehend.
He is also jealous,
a jealous lover of my heart.
And when He loves me I find
it’s with such a love I cannot even recognize.
Not only is it a lost cause to escape it
But I cannot even be undone
My heart is tangled with His
His will becomes my own.
The most amazing thing I find,
is that no matter how hard I might try;
He will never stop loving me,
neither in death nor in life.
Paint me the most beautiful picture
It cannot match his face
Take me to the deepest depth of the ocean
It still is not as deep as His love for me.
How can one deny it?
How can one help but be drawn?
Because it was Him that found me,
Wretched as I am.
He called my name while I was wandering away.
He took me by the hand, to keep me from going astray.
Even when I was farthest from Him,
He left the 99 to find me.
And when He did, He held me close.
He whispered in my ear,
He kept me nearest to Him,
till He was all that was there.
His voice was all I knew,
His breath was all I wanted.
His heart beat with mine,
and mine with His.
His desires became my own,
and everything of me became forgotten.
Everything about Him,
is intoxicating.
There are no words to say it right,
But my heart was made to love Him.
He is the air that I breathe,
He is the world that I see,
He speaks through the wind,
and He created me.
His love is fire,
His love is truth,
His love is passionate,
It has me in hot pursuit.
I’ve fallen in love,
my life has lost all it’s meaning,
except for the Savior,
who has romanced me.
I’ve fallen in love,
my heart is wooed.
It sways, as if to a lovely tune.
There’s nothing to say,
nor is there to think.
You are so beautiful
that it’s completely silenced me.
I am completely surrendered,
hopelessly thrown forth.
Taken over by a lover;
a lover I don’t fully comprehend.
He is also jealous,
a jealous lover of my heart.
And when He loves me I find
it’s with such a love I cannot even recognize.
Not only is it a lost cause to escape it
But I cannot even be undone
My heart is tangled with His
His will becomes my own.
The most amazing thing I find,
is that no matter how hard I might try;
He will never stop loving me,
neither in death nor in life.
Paint me the most beautiful picture
It cannot match his face
Take me to the deepest depth of the ocean
It still is not as deep as His love for me.
How can one deny it?
How can one help but be drawn?
Because it was Him that found me,
Wretched as I am.
He called my name while I was wandering away.
He took me by the hand, to keep me from going astray.
Even when I was farthest from Him,
He left the 99 to find me.
And when He did, He held me close.
He whispered in my ear,
He kept me nearest to Him,
till He was all that was there.
His voice was all I knew,
His breath was all I wanted.
His heart beat with mine,
and mine with His.
His desires became my own,
and everything of me became forgotten.
Everything about Him,
is intoxicating.
There are no words to say it right,
But my heart was made to love Him.
He is the air that I breathe,
He is the world that I see,
He speaks through the wind,
and He created me.
His love is fire,
His love is truth,
His love is passionate,
It has me in hot pursuit.
I’ve fallen in love,
my life has lost all it’s meaning,
except for the Savior,
who has romanced me.
God's Spirit is on the Move
Alright… time to write again… and what good news I have!!! Yesterday, I must say was amazing. God is just so good, as I’m sure all of you already know! Let me kind of go into my explanation sideways. I’m also going to start with a little bit of personal…
I remember waking up yesterday morning and I had kind of a really depressing dream… not a bad dream, but the sort of dream that when I woke up, it made me sad that I had it because it wasn’t real. Anyway, I’ve been dealing with a lot of personal spiritual battles. I was thinking about it today, because God keeps doing all these things in me. He keeps breaking things that I didn’t know were there, giving me revelation after revelation about things… he puts mindsets in me and strengthens me and builds up my confidence. All this happens after really long grueling nights of just battles in my heart. The thing is that I’ve felt kind of crazy. I’ve felt kind of crazy because God will do all these things and then the next day; it feels like everything is coming against it to bring it back down. I’m also dealing with things that I’ve never dealt with before, and my spirit has just felt so beaten lately. What I was thinking about today though… what God kind of revealed to me was… OF COURSE! I mean we are in such a spiritually active environment. Satan has been throwing anything and everything at me… every lie, every old issue I’ve ever had, he’s gripped me in every way imaginable... even good things, things God’s put in my heart, he turns around for his evil schemes. Then when I mess up, his favorite thing to do is rub it in… keep me in the holes I tend to fall into. No wonder whenever God does something in me; it gets faced with unimaginable opposition later. It’s been such a wild roller coaster for me. Also, my natural tendency when I mess something up is to try and fix it. Something God just kind of started talking to me about was His point of view about that. It started with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader… kind of random maybe but God has been speaking to me through anything and everything. He even just speaks to me when I’m by myself and thinking about things. It’s something God’s done before (speaking to me while I’m just processing stuff), but not to this extent or with issues this heavy ever before. Anyway, back to the book… in it, this character named Eustace who is a rather unlovable character accidentally turns himself into a dragon. He has a miserable time of it and he hates himself. He’s disgusted at his eating habits and at what he looks like. Also, while unable to talk or be friends with people because of his dragon form, he thinks about what a horrible person he had been to the people around him when he was a human. Well, one night he meets Aslan (representation of Jesus) at a pool one night. All that Aslan tells him is to take of his clothes. Eustace didn’t really understand because he was covered in scales, but all the same he starts to scratch and scratch at himself until he sheds a layer of dragon scales. This entire dragon skin is laying beside him but he immediately realizes that he still has another layer of dragon skin on underneath… so he starts to again, try and scratch it all of. He does this several times until finally Aslan says that he has to do it. Every time Eustace scratched the dragon skin off of himself, it didn’t hurt. When Aslan started to peel away at the skin, he said it hurt worse than anything… but out he came as a boy once again and Aslan threw him into a pool of water to get clean. Immediately I knew that I was like Eustace, constantly trying to fix my own problem, trying to get it to go back to the way it was… I needed to learn how to let Jesus take the scales off of me Himself.
It’s just been really interesting because for so long I’ve been frustrated; I haven’t felt like myself and I’m caught up in all these things that Satan keeps throwing at me. God’s been moving and using me and doing things in and through me but every day has been an endless battle and having to reconquer and reconquer… it gets rather tiresome. It was good to have God show me that it’s ok… that He’s still right by my side through all of this and that He does indeed have a plan whether or not I see it. See what happened yesterday… after all of this side wind… back to the dream. Just because of things that I’ve been going through on this trip, this dream was really hard to take… I woke up and I wanted to disappear. I remember I made that my facebook status as well! Ha! I just needed to be pulled out into a different world. I had no idea that that was indeed EXACTLY what I needed and that was EXACTLY what God did for me. So, again, I’ve been reading the Chronicles of Narnia; yesterday, I was finishing up the last book: The Final Battle. It is an incredible book. Anyway, towards the end is when everyone goes to the new Narnia which is the equivelant of heaven. Just from the way C. S. Lewis describes this new Narnia and how it was real… he says that there is no other way to describe it except that everything was exactly the way that it should be. Everything was bigger, better, deeper… the same… but even more real. Just going into the depth of all these words, and the depth of Aslans character and how he really represents Jesus and in the end the children realize this… it was just massive revelation moment for me. What was funny was that hen I was reading Prince Caspian… I remember reading about the part where Lucy meets Aslan in the woods. See, I’ve always had a really close connection to Lucy’s character, just cause a lot of who she is resonates with me and I played her character in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe… So, when I read about her meeting with Aslan, and just the kind of relationship that they have and the adoration, the affection… all of it. I remember wanting that so badly… with Jesus, and wanting to experience Him just like that. Well, that’s exactly what God did for me yesterday. After finishing that last book I just couldn’t even help but go straight into worship and through the revelations God was giving me… I really just experienced Him like that, as a lover, as a best friend, just so indescribably close to me. The feeling was just so strong that I actually wrote a poem about it. Ha! I love God, I love the things that He does… He truly is amazing.
Well, I got home and just decided that I should go for a walk again, there was just something really important about being by myself and letting God work through completely the things He was doing. It was one of those times where I couldn’t stop worshipping and really, nothing could’ve stopped me! I love having those times with God. Anyway, I got kind of called to go see Charoline… so I did and just ended up in a really great conversation with her. I never realized how much favor God has given me in that relationship with Pastor Jimmy’s wife until I talked to her yesterday. The things she confided in me and talked to me about, the testimonies she shared and just getting a better understanding of her heart was really cool! Definitely gave me even more of a heart to pray for her. I’m super excited because the whole time I was talking to her I just had this really strong feeling that God has something really, really cool in her very near future.
Later, we had two of the guys over overnight the night before. Jehu, and Lesean (I don’t know if I spelled that right). I don’t really know Lesean at all but Jehu is Nicole’s (a good friend I’ve made) little brother. He has been on my heart almost as much as his sister has been on this whole trip. Watching the changes that have happened to him throughout this trip has just been really cool. I don’t know what it is but his heart has just been… there’s just something about his spirit that mine has understood and I could see a sort of hunger. Most of us knew from the very beginning that he would be part of the core by the time we leave. Well, last night was just the coolest. Kirk just opens a conversation with them about whether or not they want to be serious about God and what that really means; really, just giving them the opportunity. It was completely God ordained because it got the guys into a conversation with them that lasted for hours about just what it means to serve God and different aspects of that life. At one point us girls got kicked out because Kirk said… we can make this final decision here and now or later… Lesean said now… so we girls went into the guys’ room. At first, we were a little distracted but I felt really strongly that something serious was going on in the other room and I wanted to worship or pray… it was really heavy on my heart. So we did… we started to worship which ended up leading into some massively intense spiritual warfare. I mean we were all yelling and declaring for a really long time… it was awesome really! My favorite part was this one time where we were declaring some stuff and I just felt really strongly to talk about how God has promised us that where two or more are gathered, He hears us. So, I just started to speak that out and say “here we stand united, we stand as one, in agreement” and we were all agreeing together… it was awesome! We ended with some more worship and eventually when the boys were done, we went to eat dinner.
Well, I was starting to get really sick, and I am sick now too… longest, most sleepless night ever… but still… so I went home earlier and the girls came later. When I got to the boys house this morning I heard the most exciting news. The guys had spent a lot of time declaring stuff together and just setting aside parts of there life that didn’t belong… but after we left… they were both baptized in the Holy Spirit. WOW!!!! So, so, so, so cool!!!! Seriously!! I was so excited when I heard that! Well, thank you to all of you who are praying. I just need to say please pray more… now that things are coming down, a core is being built… God is really on the move… there are bound to be many, many spiritual attacks. It’s just a given… Satan is not going to take this laying down. And as you saw from my explanation earlier… it’s not always a up front attack against the group as a whole… He is also going to try and take us down one by one, individually. Thanks again for all your prayers guys! Miss you! We’ll be home soon!
I remember waking up yesterday morning and I had kind of a really depressing dream… not a bad dream, but the sort of dream that when I woke up, it made me sad that I had it because it wasn’t real. Anyway, I’ve been dealing with a lot of personal spiritual battles. I was thinking about it today, because God keeps doing all these things in me. He keeps breaking things that I didn’t know were there, giving me revelation after revelation about things… he puts mindsets in me and strengthens me and builds up my confidence. All this happens after really long grueling nights of just battles in my heart. The thing is that I’ve felt kind of crazy. I’ve felt kind of crazy because God will do all these things and then the next day; it feels like everything is coming against it to bring it back down. I’m also dealing with things that I’ve never dealt with before, and my spirit has just felt so beaten lately. What I was thinking about today though… what God kind of revealed to me was… OF COURSE! I mean we are in such a spiritually active environment. Satan has been throwing anything and everything at me… every lie, every old issue I’ve ever had, he’s gripped me in every way imaginable... even good things, things God’s put in my heart, he turns around for his evil schemes. Then when I mess up, his favorite thing to do is rub it in… keep me in the holes I tend to fall into. No wonder whenever God does something in me; it gets faced with unimaginable opposition later. It’s been such a wild roller coaster for me. Also, my natural tendency when I mess something up is to try and fix it. Something God just kind of started talking to me about was His point of view about that. It started with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader… kind of random maybe but God has been speaking to me through anything and everything. He even just speaks to me when I’m by myself and thinking about things. It’s something God’s done before (speaking to me while I’m just processing stuff), but not to this extent or with issues this heavy ever before. Anyway, back to the book… in it, this character named Eustace who is a rather unlovable character accidentally turns himself into a dragon. He has a miserable time of it and he hates himself. He’s disgusted at his eating habits and at what he looks like. Also, while unable to talk or be friends with people because of his dragon form, he thinks about what a horrible person he had been to the people around him when he was a human. Well, one night he meets Aslan (representation of Jesus) at a pool one night. All that Aslan tells him is to take of his clothes. Eustace didn’t really understand because he was covered in scales, but all the same he starts to scratch and scratch at himself until he sheds a layer of dragon scales. This entire dragon skin is laying beside him but he immediately realizes that he still has another layer of dragon skin on underneath… so he starts to again, try and scratch it all of. He does this several times until finally Aslan says that he has to do it. Every time Eustace scratched the dragon skin off of himself, it didn’t hurt. When Aslan started to peel away at the skin, he said it hurt worse than anything… but out he came as a boy once again and Aslan threw him into a pool of water to get clean. Immediately I knew that I was like Eustace, constantly trying to fix my own problem, trying to get it to go back to the way it was… I needed to learn how to let Jesus take the scales off of me Himself.
It’s just been really interesting because for so long I’ve been frustrated; I haven’t felt like myself and I’m caught up in all these things that Satan keeps throwing at me. God’s been moving and using me and doing things in and through me but every day has been an endless battle and having to reconquer and reconquer… it gets rather tiresome. It was good to have God show me that it’s ok… that He’s still right by my side through all of this and that He does indeed have a plan whether or not I see it. See what happened yesterday… after all of this side wind… back to the dream. Just because of things that I’ve been going through on this trip, this dream was really hard to take… I woke up and I wanted to disappear. I remember I made that my facebook status as well! Ha! I just needed to be pulled out into a different world. I had no idea that that was indeed EXACTLY what I needed and that was EXACTLY what God did for me. So, again, I’ve been reading the Chronicles of Narnia; yesterday, I was finishing up the last book: The Final Battle. It is an incredible book. Anyway, towards the end is when everyone goes to the new Narnia which is the equivelant of heaven. Just from the way C. S. Lewis describes this new Narnia and how it was real… he says that there is no other way to describe it except that everything was exactly the way that it should be. Everything was bigger, better, deeper… the same… but even more real. Just going into the depth of all these words, and the depth of Aslans character and how he really represents Jesus and in the end the children realize this… it was just massive revelation moment for me. What was funny was that hen I was reading Prince Caspian… I remember reading about the part where Lucy meets Aslan in the woods. See, I’ve always had a really close connection to Lucy’s character, just cause a lot of who she is resonates with me and I played her character in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe… So, when I read about her meeting with Aslan, and just the kind of relationship that they have and the adoration, the affection… all of it. I remember wanting that so badly… with Jesus, and wanting to experience Him just like that. Well, that’s exactly what God did for me yesterday. After finishing that last book I just couldn’t even help but go straight into worship and through the revelations God was giving me… I really just experienced Him like that, as a lover, as a best friend, just so indescribably close to me. The feeling was just so strong that I actually wrote a poem about it. Ha! I love God, I love the things that He does… He truly is amazing.
Well, I got home and just decided that I should go for a walk again, there was just something really important about being by myself and letting God work through completely the things He was doing. It was one of those times where I couldn’t stop worshipping and really, nothing could’ve stopped me! I love having those times with God. Anyway, I got kind of called to go see Charoline… so I did and just ended up in a really great conversation with her. I never realized how much favor God has given me in that relationship with Pastor Jimmy’s wife until I talked to her yesterday. The things she confided in me and talked to me about, the testimonies she shared and just getting a better understanding of her heart was really cool! Definitely gave me even more of a heart to pray for her. I’m super excited because the whole time I was talking to her I just had this really strong feeling that God has something really, really cool in her very near future.
Later, we had two of the guys over overnight the night before. Jehu, and Lesean (I don’t know if I spelled that right). I don’t really know Lesean at all but Jehu is Nicole’s (a good friend I’ve made) little brother. He has been on my heart almost as much as his sister has been on this whole trip. Watching the changes that have happened to him throughout this trip has just been really cool. I don’t know what it is but his heart has just been… there’s just something about his spirit that mine has understood and I could see a sort of hunger. Most of us knew from the very beginning that he would be part of the core by the time we leave. Well, last night was just the coolest. Kirk just opens a conversation with them about whether or not they want to be serious about God and what that really means; really, just giving them the opportunity. It was completely God ordained because it got the guys into a conversation with them that lasted for hours about just what it means to serve God and different aspects of that life. At one point us girls got kicked out because Kirk said… we can make this final decision here and now or later… Lesean said now… so we girls went into the guys’ room. At first, we were a little distracted but I felt really strongly that something serious was going on in the other room and I wanted to worship or pray… it was really heavy on my heart. So we did… we started to worship which ended up leading into some massively intense spiritual warfare. I mean we were all yelling and declaring for a really long time… it was awesome really! My favorite part was this one time where we were declaring some stuff and I just felt really strongly to talk about how God has promised us that where two or more are gathered, He hears us. So, I just started to speak that out and say “here we stand united, we stand as one, in agreement” and we were all agreeing together… it was awesome! We ended with some more worship and eventually when the boys were done, we went to eat dinner.
Well, I was starting to get really sick, and I am sick now too… longest, most sleepless night ever… but still… so I went home earlier and the girls came later. When I got to the boys house this morning I heard the most exciting news. The guys had spent a lot of time declaring stuff together and just setting aside parts of there life that didn’t belong… but after we left… they were both baptized in the Holy Spirit. WOW!!!! So, so, so, so cool!!!! Seriously!! I was so excited when I heard that! Well, thank you to all of you who are praying. I just need to say please pray more… now that things are coming down, a core is being built… God is really on the move… there are bound to be many, many spiritual attacks. It’s just a given… Satan is not going to take this laying down. And as you saw from my explanation earlier… it’s not always a up front attack against the group as a whole… He is also going to try and take us down one by one, individually. Thanks again for all your prayers guys! Miss you! We’ll be home soon!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Friday the 16th
So, I would say it is about time to write again. It seriously gets harder every time I try, something always comes up.
The last time I updated, I talked about Friday night and how we all needed your prayers. This was the Friday before this past one because this past one, we didn’t have youth church at all. After I fill you in on the results of that Friday, I will do my best to fill you in on our trip. Which, at my fault none of you have had any knowledge of for so long; my apologies.
Friday, the 16th of October… thank you to everyone who prayed for that night… it went really, really well. Still, I think I should start with talking about our morning and just some of the stuff that God was speaking to us; the two nights before actually as well. At the time, we girls were just experiencing a lot of spiritual activity. I suppose it’s to be expected right before a night like Friday. Two nights before… Tamara had woken up in the middle of the night and just felt like there was a presence in the room… she didn’t do anything at first but then all of a sudden she felt like someone had flicked her nose. At that, she sat straight up in bed and started to speak out against it and calling on God as would be expected. The night after that was interesting as well… this was Thursday night. Marissa and I were at the house together first. We had just gotten ready for bed. Marissa was asleep and I was in the nearly asleep stage when all of a sudden I had this really strong imposing feeling like something was in the room. Oh I nearly forgot, I don’t remember if I mentioned it last time but if you remember we ended Thursday with an incredible time of worship. So, I had just come out of an amazing time with God and I was getting really pumped up for Friday the next day. When I was nearly asleep and felt this presence in the room… I was so tired, and still coming off of being in the presence of God so I really just didn’t have much of a care about it. It was the funniest thing… it wasn’t that I didn’t care… my feeling was more like, you’re not even worth my time. So, I didn’t even bother speaking out against what was in the room. I simply filled my time with worshiping God because I knew that at the sound of Jesus name alone the demons flea. There I was, half asleep just praising God, and I had an amazing sleep! I did wake up once because Bethany, who sleeps in front of me, woke up. I was honestly too exhausted to bother but I got the story the next morning of what happened to her and why she was awake so early in the morning.
Now I don’t know the story as well as she, I may leave out parts. According to her she woke up with a curious present feeling as well. She described how she also felt as if someone was pressing down on her throat, not allowing her to speak. She wanted to call out but was too afraid that she couldn’t. As for how long she stayed like that, I don’t know the answer. Eventually though she sits up and starts to pray. This experience lasted a lot longer I know because she prayed and then later felt like something was again going on in the corner. It was interesting.
As for the next morning, Bethany and I shared our experiences with each other and then both had incredible times with God in our devotions for that night. At the meeting for Friday night, Bethany and I shared a little bit about what we had been experiencing and then we dived into our words. Bethany shared first, hers came from Jeremiah 30 and 31. I don’t remember everything that she talked to about and asking her to explain it she just says it was all just overwhelming. I do remember that it had to do with what God wanted to do for the kids that night. Sorry, I am writing this a week later. Well, then I shared mine. I read from Ezekiel 37. When I had read this, seriously it hit me so hard; almost word for word what God wanted to do for the kids… it was amazing. This passage talks about how God took Ezekiel to this valley of bones. In this valley he tells Ezekiel to start and prophesy over the bones. It was cool because almost every aspect of the verse applied to the kids. For instance, even the prophesying. Our entire goal for the kids that Friday was to prophesy over them and affect their lives that way instead of just preaching to them. Not just that, but the words that he says… “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” Ezekiel was also told to prophesy over them and that the bones would be brought to standing and muscles would form along with skin. The people would be raised from their graves and given life. This whole time, God is just putting the kids from the youth group in that place and saying all these things were for them. One reason this was so impactful for me was because we had just discussed at prayer meeting on Wednesday night that there is a Spirit of cannibalism on the island. Not physical but spiritual, and we believe it came from actual cannibals that lived on the island years ago. Anyway, these people devour each other in words all the time. To us they are extremely nice and many are hospitable… but to each other, no manners, no please, no thank you’s. Just demands, just harsh words and tearing each other down and eating each other alive. So, it made sense to picture the kids from the group as that valley of bones, having been devoured and picked clean. God wanted to raise them up and prophesy over them and speak over them. Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool… read Ezekiel 37 if you want even more of what God was saying.
As for the night itself, it went just accordingly. What’s more is that there weren’t very many south kids there. Not that we don’t want the south kids to come but having mostly north kept it much more… tame? I don’t know what the right word is, the kids were just a lot more calm and attentive. Ian and Josh shared some of their testimonies and just kept it really real with the kids. The whole time, it was just really laid back and relaxed. What’s more is that at the end of it all we got the chance to just pray over the kids and we prophesied over them. It was cool to see them actually come up and actually want to get prayed for. I think some of it was a bit messy, we had to put ourselves out there a little bit and none of these kids had been prayed for like that before. There were a few that I prayed for that I could tell whatever I said affected them… then there were ones that were just up there because their friends were and knew all the right answers to give and were really just confused. All in all though, I really think it went well. I had some cool experiences with some of the kids and I know that everyone else must have as well. Bethany for sure had some cool experiences, I know because she and I talked about it. I know that in the end doing this was a great deal more effective than just talking to the kids. I strongly believe that it’s going to take more than that though. It takes a constant connection with God so that even on a normal day that’s not a Friday night; when we’re maybe even just hanging out with them, being able to hear whatever it is that God is saying. The changes aren’t going to come from one night of “Oh God let us hear your voice tonight, and just tonight” No, it comes from the day to day, relationship with each other, pressing into God, constant prayer, constant listening. So, when it comes to that, keep praying for us. It’s another 24 days or so I believe and I don’t want to leave without there being a visible change and a firm foundation for them to go off of.
Ok, this is a long enough entry, I’ll have to fill you in on other stuff another time.
The last time I updated, I talked about Friday night and how we all needed your prayers. This was the Friday before this past one because this past one, we didn’t have youth church at all. After I fill you in on the results of that Friday, I will do my best to fill you in on our trip. Which, at my fault none of you have had any knowledge of for so long; my apologies.
Friday, the 16th of October… thank you to everyone who prayed for that night… it went really, really well. Still, I think I should start with talking about our morning and just some of the stuff that God was speaking to us; the two nights before actually as well. At the time, we girls were just experiencing a lot of spiritual activity. I suppose it’s to be expected right before a night like Friday. Two nights before… Tamara had woken up in the middle of the night and just felt like there was a presence in the room… she didn’t do anything at first but then all of a sudden she felt like someone had flicked her nose. At that, she sat straight up in bed and started to speak out against it and calling on God as would be expected. The night after that was interesting as well… this was Thursday night. Marissa and I were at the house together first. We had just gotten ready for bed. Marissa was asleep and I was in the nearly asleep stage when all of a sudden I had this really strong imposing feeling like something was in the room. Oh I nearly forgot, I don’t remember if I mentioned it last time but if you remember we ended Thursday with an incredible time of worship. So, I had just come out of an amazing time with God and I was getting really pumped up for Friday the next day. When I was nearly asleep and felt this presence in the room… I was so tired, and still coming off of being in the presence of God so I really just didn’t have much of a care about it. It was the funniest thing… it wasn’t that I didn’t care… my feeling was more like, you’re not even worth my time. So, I didn’t even bother speaking out against what was in the room. I simply filled my time with worshiping God because I knew that at the sound of Jesus name alone the demons flea. There I was, half asleep just praising God, and I had an amazing sleep! I did wake up once because Bethany, who sleeps in front of me, woke up. I was honestly too exhausted to bother but I got the story the next morning of what happened to her and why she was awake so early in the morning.
Now I don’t know the story as well as she, I may leave out parts. According to her she woke up with a curious present feeling as well. She described how she also felt as if someone was pressing down on her throat, not allowing her to speak. She wanted to call out but was too afraid that she couldn’t. As for how long she stayed like that, I don’t know the answer. Eventually though she sits up and starts to pray. This experience lasted a lot longer I know because she prayed and then later felt like something was again going on in the corner. It was interesting.
As for the next morning, Bethany and I shared our experiences with each other and then both had incredible times with God in our devotions for that night. At the meeting for Friday night, Bethany and I shared a little bit about what we had been experiencing and then we dived into our words. Bethany shared first, hers came from Jeremiah 30 and 31. I don’t remember everything that she talked to about and asking her to explain it she just says it was all just overwhelming. I do remember that it had to do with what God wanted to do for the kids that night. Sorry, I am writing this a week later. Well, then I shared mine. I read from Ezekiel 37. When I had read this, seriously it hit me so hard; almost word for word what God wanted to do for the kids… it was amazing. This passage talks about how God took Ezekiel to this valley of bones. In this valley he tells Ezekiel to start and prophesy over the bones. It was cool because almost every aspect of the verse applied to the kids. For instance, even the prophesying. Our entire goal for the kids that Friday was to prophesy over them and affect their lives that way instead of just preaching to them. Not just that, but the words that he says… “I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” Ezekiel was also told to prophesy over them and that the bones would be brought to standing and muscles would form along with skin. The people would be raised from their graves and given life. This whole time, God is just putting the kids from the youth group in that place and saying all these things were for them. One reason this was so impactful for me was because we had just discussed at prayer meeting on Wednesday night that there is a Spirit of cannibalism on the island. Not physical but spiritual, and we believe it came from actual cannibals that lived on the island years ago. Anyway, these people devour each other in words all the time. To us they are extremely nice and many are hospitable… but to each other, no manners, no please, no thank you’s. Just demands, just harsh words and tearing each other down and eating each other alive. So, it made sense to picture the kids from the group as that valley of bones, having been devoured and picked clean. God wanted to raise them up and prophesy over them and speak over them. Anyway, I thought that was pretty cool… read Ezekiel 37 if you want even more of what God was saying.
As for the night itself, it went just accordingly. What’s more is that there weren’t very many south kids there. Not that we don’t want the south kids to come but having mostly north kept it much more… tame? I don’t know what the right word is, the kids were just a lot more calm and attentive. Ian and Josh shared some of their testimonies and just kept it really real with the kids. The whole time, it was just really laid back and relaxed. What’s more is that at the end of it all we got the chance to just pray over the kids and we prophesied over them. It was cool to see them actually come up and actually want to get prayed for. I think some of it was a bit messy, we had to put ourselves out there a little bit and none of these kids had been prayed for like that before. There were a few that I prayed for that I could tell whatever I said affected them… then there were ones that were just up there because their friends were and knew all the right answers to give and were really just confused. All in all though, I really think it went well. I had some cool experiences with some of the kids and I know that everyone else must have as well. Bethany for sure had some cool experiences, I know because she and I talked about it. I know that in the end doing this was a great deal more effective than just talking to the kids. I strongly believe that it’s going to take more than that though. It takes a constant connection with God so that even on a normal day that’s not a Friday night; when we’re maybe even just hanging out with them, being able to hear whatever it is that God is saying. The changes aren’t going to come from one night of “Oh God let us hear your voice tonight, and just tonight” No, it comes from the day to day, relationship with each other, pressing into God, constant prayer, constant listening. So, when it comes to that, keep praying for us. It’s another 24 days or so I believe and I don’t want to leave without there being a visible change and a firm foundation for them to go off of.
Ok, this is a long enough entry, I’ll have to fill you in on other stuff another time.
Friday, October 16, 2009
A Night of Power and of Change
Alright… well I completely fail at writing blogs I’ve decided and I apologize to all of you. I honestly would sit down to write one like every other day, get halfway and then not be able to finish. It’s harder than you think for some reason.
Anywhoo… so contrary to what you all believe… we do not spend all our time at the beach. I promise. Yes, in our free time, that’s where we love to spend our time…. But there are other things going on. I will be honest with you guys though… sometimes, no… a lot of the time, we have a little too much free time. Let me explain just a little bit further. It’s interesting with a mission trip like this, there are a lot of aspects that go into it that bring about this kind of issue. When we first got here… for the first 3 or 4 weeks, we were diving into the word, having spiritual warfare, pressing into God for the things that he wanted to do. Then at some point in the trip, life took place. We’re here for so long, 3 months, that life just kind of worms its way in sometimes. Facing issues such as having a lot of down time, and then how to fill that down time… when we finally got internet up at the boys house, we filled most of our down time online, or watching movies. If we weren't online, then we would hang out at the beach to relax. Another thing, really, Kirk isn’t here to babysit us... we're all older, but we're still a bunch of kids, so it’s a little easy to lose focus. I’m not saying nothing has been accomplished so far. On the contrary, we've accomplished many things! We’ve been building relationships with people and with families and with kids. God has done things and is changing people and is changing us. Still, not to the extent that all this should be happening. The changes happening now, are good, but won’t be impactful unless they become even more real. We need more than just a glimpse of something new, we need a wave of something new. We need a kind of change that when we leave this island, we can leave in confidence knowing that God can run with what we’ve left behind us.
We we’re discussing this last night at an informal meeting we had at dinner. For weeks some of us have been really restless with how rowdy the kids are and how they don’t pay attention. None of us have really dealt with a group of kids like this before and we didn’t know much about how to handle it really. It’s easy to just get frustrated and focus on the fact that they aren’t paying attention. Plus, there are kids who are listening and are hearing from God, and they have to miss out because of the kids around them that just won’t focus. It’s been a battle every single week. Well, along with all of this, Josh has had it on his heart to really change things up. Him and Ian are leading it tonight and we are putting our hope in a change. Josh has felt really strongly that we really need to make the kids take the initiative. They are really good at church answers, you tell them a bible story, they know the outcome. You ask them a question, they know how to answer. It’s boring, it’s not life changing at all. Tonight, they are having the kids make the choice. Why are you here? But more than that, do you want to hear from God or not? If not, then out of harsh love, we are just going to say, you need to leave. We love these kids, we’ve gotten to know a lot of them, and we don’t want to kick them out. But unless they take the initiative and unless they make the decision that they want something to happen inside of their hearts… there is absolutely no point in them being in service.
Another change going down tonight is that we aren’t preaching to the kids. I think because Ian and Josh are both doing this together and just because they are very different, I think this is going to be effective There is also one more reason which I think is the most important but I will get to later. Anyway, they are going to be sharing a little bit of their testimonies and really just breaking it down for the kids and being real with them about their lives and choices in their lives… and the things those choices lead to. After that we are going to spend time praying for the kids. Right there, is what will be the most effective part. Pastor James told us this a while ago as well. He told us that really, we can preach to these kids all we want; but, until we speak into their lives directly; until God becomes personal to them and shows up right there in front of them and makes Himself real to these kids; none of that is going to matter.
Still, even that, even praying for the kids… yea, it's great idea! Nothing else is working so lets try praying for the kids this week and see what happens?! No, it’s more than that, we feel strongly that this is what God wants, and we know that Him and His Spirit is what will make this effective. Which is the other reason I was going to explain earlier; Josh and Ian could be new and more effective because it’s two of them, because their not preaching but being real with the kids instead. All that could make it effective… yea, sure, maybe. They are all really good ideas, and they all have really good hearts behind them. Still, when we were talking about it last night and when we started to discuss the buses and where we were going to put the kids who would leave… and the politics behind how some of the church members will deal with what we do… well we just kept on going in circles about all of it. As they were doing that I just started to feel really strongly about expectation. I just got this image of us thinking everything would go really smoothly because this is a really good idea and the kids will have to take it the way we expect them to… and I was thinking about what would happen when that wouldn’t happen. We all had a good understanding that it could still be messy and things were still going to happen though… so what exactly was it that was formulating inside of me? Well, I finally got a chance to talk and as I started to talk it was seriously one of those times where I didn’t even know what I was saying. It was stuff in my heart that I didn’t know how to put into words and yet as soon as I opened my lips, it came out. My heart said… we can talk all we want about all of this. Really, we could have a perfect plan. This whole initiative thing is a really good idea, and I think this whole change it up, be real with the kids thing is a really good idea… but really, unless we cover it in prayer (which at that moment I felt like we were just so far form that)... Unless we cover it in prayer, we will be even more ineffective than ever before! The ONLY thing that will cause ANY kind of change tonight, is if the Spirit of God moves in power like never before. HE needs to change hearts, HE needs to penetrate and speak directly to these kids! I was saying how I was tired… so tired of us going into the past 4 Fridays only 70% or 50%... We love the kids, and we’re there for the kids… but there are still parts of our hearts that complain about the buses, or get really tired… or get fed up and too focused on how rowdy the kids can be. Every week, and I’m tired of it. I want to go into tonight in the presence of God. If something starts to attack me, or any of us; we need to be transparent, and come alongside each other in prayer; be encouraging and unified. I feel also like sometimes on Friday nights, we can be very divided; in a funny kind of way. Tonight needs to be different. I want to walk into that room and walk onto those buses with 110% of my heart, ready to go, in this constant connection with God, hearing His voice clearly; focused.
So, I said that I really wanted to spend a lot of time in prayer, that night and today… because we never pray enough… ever. We always have like one session and expect God to move. But our hearts… GAH. It’s not something I’m getting to worked up about to the point that I’m focusing on the fact that for the past few weeks this has happened. It’s easy to do that and be like, oh man… we’ve been wasting our time, we’ve failed, what do we think we’re doing? It’s easy to do that. But 1 Corinthians 4:3-4: “indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but I am not innocent. The Lord alone judges me.” Getting stuck in our mistake is a silly thing to do. The only thing to do at this point is to let Jesus pick us up and keep going… not just keep going, but running… stronger and faster than before… at a steady pace, alongside Him and let Him now do what He wants and needs to do. Don’t continue being ineffective by getting caught in the past; but give it to God, and let Him move. I am so thankful that we serve a God who is just like that… “he works ALL THINGS for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” That means everything, our mistakes, our failures… He turns it all around for His glory; because that’s the kind of God that He is! Praise His name!
So, the reason I made sure to get this blog up is so that I can have you guys join us in prayer for tonight… Pray for God’s Spirit over Ian and Josh so that everything that they say and do would come from God and not from themselves. Pray for us as a group, that our hearts would be unified, woven together by an unbreakable thread; that we would be transparent with each other tonight and be focused on God and on prayer.
Funny, one last thing… there was one point where Josh started to share with us two visions that we had. One based on this story from Ezekiel that Pastor Jimmy talked about on Sunday… where Ezekiel was standing in a river and at first it was at his ankles, then it went up to his waist and then over his head or something. Josh was saying how God was taking us deeper into the river. His second vision had to do with two pools of water. We’ve been in the shallow pool for a long time and God is taking us into the deeper pool. It was cool because Anthony and I both had similar revelations about these visions. Anthony brought up one about how in the shallow pool, we are exposed cause we’re not totally in the water, but when we get into the deeper pool we’re submerged by God’s presence. It also made me think of how when we’re in the shallow pool, we’re exposed and we focus more on ourselves but in the deeper pool it’s all water, it’s all God. Also, in the shallow pool we are immobile, we’re just standing there, ineffective. When we’re in the deeper pool, we’re in constant motion because we have to swim. Both of these I thought we’re really cool. It’s so funny cause this conversation just continued… Anthony then brought up that he thought it might be weird to say this but if we could go and someday pray out in the water together. I think the thought sparked from the idea of being submerged. Still, while he said that I had another revelation which I thought was really cool! It was just like… yea! That wasn’t a stupid idea at all… it was more the idea behind it that mattered. The perspective change that fun and prayer should not be separated, which we had kinda done a little bit in the past few weeks. Why not while we’re out having fun spend some time praying… or when we’re all sitting around with nothing to do… praying. We want to break the perspective that it has to be for a specific time and in a specific place. We want to go back to living and breathing God, walking, talking and laughing with Him. It was cool… just one revelation after another and God just changing things in us. We ended the night with a bunch of worship together as a group… which I have been so, so thirsty for so it was really cool to finally get the chance to do that together.
So, again, just be praying for us guys… We love and miss you all… tonight needs to be a night of change. The only way that’s going to happen is if each and every breath, and each and every step is in His Spirit and according to His will.
Anywhoo… so contrary to what you all believe… we do not spend all our time at the beach. I promise. Yes, in our free time, that’s where we love to spend our time…. But there are other things going on. I will be honest with you guys though… sometimes, no… a lot of the time, we have a little too much free time. Let me explain just a little bit further. It’s interesting with a mission trip like this, there are a lot of aspects that go into it that bring about this kind of issue. When we first got here… for the first 3 or 4 weeks, we were diving into the word, having spiritual warfare, pressing into God for the things that he wanted to do. Then at some point in the trip, life took place. We’re here for so long, 3 months, that life just kind of worms its way in sometimes. Facing issues such as having a lot of down time, and then how to fill that down time… when we finally got internet up at the boys house, we filled most of our down time online, or watching movies. If we weren't online, then we would hang out at the beach to relax. Another thing, really, Kirk isn’t here to babysit us... we're all older, but we're still a bunch of kids, so it’s a little easy to lose focus. I’m not saying nothing has been accomplished so far. On the contrary, we've accomplished many things! We’ve been building relationships with people and with families and with kids. God has done things and is changing people and is changing us. Still, not to the extent that all this should be happening. The changes happening now, are good, but won’t be impactful unless they become even more real. We need more than just a glimpse of something new, we need a wave of something new. We need a kind of change that when we leave this island, we can leave in confidence knowing that God can run with what we’ve left behind us.
We we’re discussing this last night at an informal meeting we had at dinner. For weeks some of us have been really restless with how rowdy the kids are and how they don’t pay attention. None of us have really dealt with a group of kids like this before and we didn’t know much about how to handle it really. It’s easy to just get frustrated and focus on the fact that they aren’t paying attention. Plus, there are kids who are listening and are hearing from God, and they have to miss out because of the kids around them that just won’t focus. It’s been a battle every single week. Well, along with all of this, Josh has had it on his heart to really change things up. Him and Ian are leading it tonight and we are putting our hope in a change. Josh has felt really strongly that we really need to make the kids take the initiative. They are really good at church answers, you tell them a bible story, they know the outcome. You ask them a question, they know how to answer. It’s boring, it’s not life changing at all. Tonight, they are having the kids make the choice. Why are you here? But more than that, do you want to hear from God or not? If not, then out of harsh love, we are just going to say, you need to leave. We love these kids, we’ve gotten to know a lot of them, and we don’t want to kick them out. But unless they take the initiative and unless they make the decision that they want something to happen inside of their hearts… there is absolutely no point in them being in service.
Another change going down tonight is that we aren’t preaching to the kids. I think because Ian and Josh are both doing this together and just because they are very different, I think this is going to be effective There is also one more reason which I think is the most important but I will get to later. Anyway, they are going to be sharing a little bit of their testimonies and really just breaking it down for the kids and being real with them about their lives and choices in their lives… and the things those choices lead to. After that we are going to spend time praying for the kids. Right there, is what will be the most effective part. Pastor James told us this a while ago as well. He told us that really, we can preach to these kids all we want; but, until we speak into their lives directly; until God becomes personal to them and shows up right there in front of them and makes Himself real to these kids; none of that is going to matter.
Still, even that, even praying for the kids… yea, it's great idea! Nothing else is working so lets try praying for the kids this week and see what happens?! No, it’s more than that, we feel strongly that this is what God wants, and we know that Him and His Spirit is what will make this effective. Which is the other reason I was going to explain earlier; Josh and Ian could be new and more effective because it’s two of them, because their not preaching but being real with the kids instead. All that could make it effective… yea, sure, maybe. They are all really good ideas, and they all have really good hearts behind them. Still, when we were talking about it last night and when we started to discuss the buses and where we were going to put the kids who would leave… and the politics behind how some of the church members will deal with what we do… well we just kept on going in circles about all of it. As they were doing that I just started to feel really strongly about expectation. I just got this image of us thinking everything would go really smoothly because this is a really good idea and the kids will have to take it the way we expect them to… and I was thinking about what would happen when that wouldn’t happen. We all had a good understanding that it could still be messy and things were still going to happen though… so what exactly was it that was formulating inside of me? Well, I finally got a chance to talk and as I started to talk it was seriously one of those times where I didn’t even know what I was saying. It was stuff in my heart that I didn’t know how to put into words and yet as soon as I opened my lips, it came out. My heart said… we can talk all we want about all of this. Really, we could have a perfect plan. This whole initiative thing is a really good idea, and I think this whole change it up, be real with the kids thing is a really good idea… but really, unless we cover it in prayer (which at that moment I felt like we were just so far form that)... Unless we cover it in prayer, we will be even more ineffective than ever before! The ONLY thing that will cause ANY kind of change tonight, is if the Spirit of God moves in power like never before. HE needs to change hearts, HE needs to penetrate and speak directly to these kids! I was saying how I was tired… so tired of us going into the past 4 Fridays only 70% or 50%... We love the kids, and we’re there for the kids… but there are still parts of our hearts that complain about the buses, or get really tired… or get fed up and too focused on how rowdy the kids can be. Every week, and I’m tired of it. I want to go into tonight in the presence of God. If something starts to attack me, or any of us; we need to be transparent, and come alongside each other in prayer; be encouraging and unified. I feel also like sometimes on Friday nights, we can be very divided; in a funny kind of way. Tonight needs to be different. I want to walk into that room and walk onto those buses with 110% of my heart, ready to go, in this constant connection with God, hearing His voice clearly; focused.
So, I said that I really wanted to spend a lot of time in prayer, that night and today… because we never pray enough… ever. We always have like one session and expect God to move. But our hearts… GAH. It’s not something I’m getting to worked up about to the point that I’m focusing on the fact that for the past few weeks this has happened. It’s easy to do that and be like, oh man… we’ve been wasting our time, we’ve failed, what do we think we’re doing? It’s easy to do that. But 1 Corinthians 4:3-4: “indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but I am not innocent. The Lord alone judges me.” Getting stuck in our mistake is a silly thing to do. The only thing to do at this point is to let Jesus pick us up and keep going… not just keep going, but running… stronger and faster than before… at a steady pace, alongside Him and let Him now do what He wants and needs to do. Don’t continue being ineffective by getting caught in the past; but give it to God, and let Him move. I am so thankful that we serve a God who is just like that… “he works ALL THINGS for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” That means everything, our mistakes, our failures… He turns it all around for His glory; because that’s the kind of God that He is! Praise His name!
So, the reason I made sure to get this blog up is so that I can have you guys join us in prayer for tonight… Pray for God’s Spirit over Ian and Josh so that everything that they say and do would come from God and not from themselves. Pray for us as a group, that our hearts would be unified, woven together by an unbreakable thread; that we would be transparent with each other tonight and be focused on God and on prayer.
Funny, one last thing… there was one point where Josh started to share with us two visions that we had. One based on this story from Ezekiel that Pastor Jimmy talked about on Sunday… where Ezekiel was standing in a river and at first it was at his ankles, then it went up to his waist and then over his head or something. Josh was saying how God was taking us deeper into the river. His second vision had to do with two pools of water. We’ve been in the shallow pool for a long time and God is taking us into the deeper pool. It was cool because Anthony and I both had similar revelations about these visions. Anthony brought up one about how in the shallow pool, we are exposed cause we’re not totally in the water, but when we get into the deeper pool we’re submerged by God’s presence. It also made me think of how when we’re in the shallow pool, we’re exposed and we focus more on ourselves but in the deeper pool it’s all water, it’s all God. Also, in the shallow pool we are immobile, we’re just standing there, ineffective. When we’re in the deeper pool, we’re in constant motion because we have to swim. Both of these I thought we’re really cool. It’s so funny cause this conversation just continued… Anthony then brought up that he thought it might be weird to say this but if we could go and someday pray out in the water together. I think the thought sparked from the idea of being submerged. Still, while he said that I had another revelation which I thought was really cool! It was just like… yea! That wasn’t a stupid idea at all… it was more the idea behind it that mattered. The perspective change that fun and prayer should not be separated, which we had kinda done a little bit in the past few weeks. Why not while we’re out having fun spend some time praying… or when we’re all sitting around with nothing to do… praying. We want to break the perspective that it has to be for a specific time and in a specific place. We want to go back to living and breathing God, walking, talking and laughing with Him. It was cool… just one revelation after another and God just changing things in us. We ended the night with a bunch of worship together as a group… which I have been so, so thirsty for so it was really cool to finally get the chance to do that together.
So, again, just be praying for us guys… We love and miss you all… tonight needs to be a night of change. The only way that’s going to happen is if each and every breath, and each and every step is in His Spirit and according to His will.
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