I Can Confidently Say...

"Who believes what we've heard and seen? Who would have thought God's saving power would look like this?"
Isaiah 53:1
(Message)

I just returned from a missions trip to the LA Dreamcentre.
It was an amazing trip.
I was humbled in so many ways.
All because of how God revealed himself this week.

Just like the verse in Isaiah, the experiences from this past week and the ways God worked in us
and through us are
hard to believe that they actually happened!

The context of the verse in Isaiah is talking about the amazing way God
saved us through the death and ressurection of Jesus Christ
our
SAVIOUR!

But for me, today, it is about the amazing way God put
to death
all my fears, all my doubts, all my impurities
and ressurected my true self
and used me!!!

I feel that this week I found my heart again.
Throughout my life God has raised me to be a servant and
he has given me a servants heart.
But
recently I feel as if I have lost that heart.
My servanthood has decreased and my
intentions have deterred.

But I can confidently say that God has delivered me
from an empty heart
and has given me my true heart back to me.
I may have lost my heart but God found it straight away
and was waiting to give it back to me.
But I had to want it.

Also...
I have had my doubts...

about God!

But not anymore!!!!

This week Gods power was so undeniable!!

There are no other explanations apart from God, for things that happened!

I can say confidently
that I have no doubts about Gods existence and his power
because I have living proof!!

Talking to one of the students who went on the trip too and
also experienced the great power of God this week!!

She said "nothing can top what God did this week!!"

but I said to her, or God said to her through me,
that
GOD CAN TOP IT.
This is just the beginning!!!


So in reference to Isaiah
"Who believes what we've heard and seen?

I can confidently say that

I now BELIEVE what I have heard and have seen!!!

Gods power is endless
and it is at our disposal.

Just like God with my heart,
He is waiting for us to ask for his power.

And he will give it to us!!

Forget About the Stuff, Let Go of Everything and Just Go

MORE on Living a Life of Worshp in Gods Presence:

I've moved 4 times in my life.
From big, England to America,
to small, Apartment in San Jose to Apartment in San Jose.

Each time I moved I did the traditional purge of my stuff
and made the choice as to what goes with me
and what goes to the bin.

It can take a lot of time to do this, and can be
very overwhelming.
And it is hard to let go of some things.
Especially things that have been around for a long time;
even if we haven't used them in a while.

But sacrifice is needed.
Especially if where you are going cannot fit everything.



When, as I have been writing on the past couple of posts,
we start to live in GOD's presence, when we make GOD our home,
we have to spiritually move from wherever we are
to GODs presence.

And this move, just as a physical move,
requires purging.
In fact even more!

I believe that we need to leave everything behind
expect our heart.
This include our flesh, our desires, and
especially our baggage.

Why everything?
Because GODs presence is so thick and so consuming
that there is no room for anything
other than our
stripped down
bare
open
HEART!

God does not want
anything but
our heart.

Something that stops us from making GODs presence our home
is that we spend too much time trying to figure our what to
take with us
and what to leave.
We focus on the STUFF in our life.
and we struggle to make sacrifices.

We need to forget about the STUFF
LET GO of everything
and JUST GO!

"Worship as a Lifestyle"

Just had a revelation which totally ties in with my last journal. (Please Read Now - cheers)
BASICALLY the concept from my journal, is what WORSHIP is!!

Worship is about being in GODS presence. When we sing songs
and worship God musically we are really diving into GODS presence.
As I talked about in my journal, we are to make GODS presence our home--

and when we do this we are LIVING A LIFE OF WORSHIP!!


Obviously we've all heard the idea that worship isn't just music and singing
but it is a lifestyle--which is absolutely right.

Now I can say that a "worship lifestyle" looks like
LIVING IN GODS PRESENCE!!!

GOD IS MY HOME

When I tried to figure it out,
all I got was a splitting headache . . .
Until I entered the sanctuary of God.
Then I saw the whole picture
I'm in the very presence of God—
oh, how refreshing it is!
I've made Lord God my home.
Psalm 73

Sometimes life does not make sense.
Things go completely opposite to what we expect.
Sometimes God even does things we do not expect.
Things we just cannot understand on our own.

That is why, as Psalm 73 shows, it is important to be in Gods presence.
When we are in HIS presence God is able to reveal his plan to us
and make sense of things that are humanly confusing,
because Gods presence is spiritual and holy!

Furthermore, since we live in a world where things that we dont understand
occur constantly,
we should make Gods presence our 'home'!

A home is a place where we spend a lot of time and often leave.
Even though we leave our home, we always return.
A home is a place where we can rest and get 'refreshed'.
It is a place where we can think clearly and collect ourselves.
It is safe.
It is familiar.

God wants to be our home.
He wants HIS presence to be somewhere safe and familiar,
somewhere we can always return to and spend a lot of time and
think clearly, get answers,
rest
and be refreshed.

And if we want to survive in the world we live in
it would be wise to take God up on HIS offer!

with faith...

That promise of resting in him pulls us on to God's goal for us, we need to be careful that we're not disqualified. We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn't do them a bit of good because they didn't receive the promises with faith.
Hebrews 4

God has promised us a home. It is a spiritual home.
Just like we need to have FAITH to believe in Gods existence,
because he cannot be seen by our physical eyes,
we need to have FAITH to trust
in this home God is offering to us.
As Hebrews 4 tells us
If we don't take this promise with FAITH
then we may be 'disqualified'
or we may miss out
on Gods
complete
presence!


Bottom Line: This world is crazy. God is offering himself as a refuge. Take advantage of it with FAITH!

Be like this!

TITUS 3

Respect the government
Be law-abiding
Always ready to lend a helping hand
No insults
No fights
Be bighearted
Be courteous.

BE LIKE THIS!

we used to be...

Stupid and stubborn
Dupes of sin
Ordered every which way by our glands
Going around with a chip on our shoulder
Hated and hating back.

DONT BE LIKE THIS AGAIN!

Because God, through Jesus, gave us GRACE.
and we were changed; turned new.
and it had nothing to do with us, it was all GOD!

1-2Remind the people to respect the government and be law-abiding, always ready to lend a helping hand. No insults, no fights. God's people should be bighearted and courteous.

3-8It wasn't so long ago that we ourselves were stupid and stubborn, dupes of sin, ordered every which way by our glands, going around with a chip on our shoulder, hated and hating back. But when God, our kind and loving Savior God, stepped in, he saved us from all that. It was all his doing; we had nothing to do with it. He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people, washed inside and out by the Holy Spirit. Our Savior Jesus poured out new life so generously. God's gift has restored our relationship with him and given us back our lives. And there's more life to come—an eternity of life! You can count on this.