True Worship

Today begins week two of consecration. This week I am focusing on practicing truth, knowing the Word of God, and acting on it. When I went to share this with my Sunday school class today, something totally different came to me. The whole thing with "practicing truth" is the verb: practicing. All week we read the scripture, we pray, we fast... but for what? Everyday consecration means nothing if we're not building up to something. The whole purpose of my doing this, personally, was to see revival in my own life. I wanted my Sunday school class to do it because I want them to see revival in their lives. I want us all to do it together because I want to see revival in the church.

So I thought this morning about Moses. The book of Exodus is all about Moses leading the children of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh and slavery in Egypt. He does that in chapter twelve of Exodus, but the book has forty chapters! What's going on? All 28 chapters following the delivery of the Israelis are what get to me every time I try to read through the Bible. Its all about preparation; its all about getting the tent of meeting, the tabernacle just right. I mean even the little headings above each section tell us: the table, the lampstand, the altar, the candles. There is so much detail, so much that had to be done... for what? The last few verses of Exodus tell us that after all of that preparing, after every little measurement, every nit-picky detail, the glory of God was so thick in the tabernacle that Moses could not even enter in.

That's the whole point! Why do we pray, fast, read our Bibles? Because that's what God rewards, that's what he wants for us. Because after we spend so much time preparing, we should be so encompassed by the glory of God that we cannot stand it! And its not just about the church. Yeah, it would be really cool if the presence of God was so thick in the church building that people couldn't even walk in the door, but his presence, his glory should be that intense in our lives, in our bodies, which are the temple of the Holy Ghost. We should constantly feel his presence, people should feel Jesus when they talk to us, when they walk by us. Good grief, after Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost his shadow healed people! How awesome! And we have that potential!

Something my grandad said this morning in church that really struck me is this: there are different types of people in the world. There are people who are active. They are involved, they have energy, they constantly do things. And there are people who are spiritual. They are mindful of the presence of God, they seek his face, they worship him. But what we should strive to be is a third type of person: someone who is spiritual, but active as well. In John 4:24, Jesus said there would come a time when true worshipers would arise. People who would worship in Spirit and in truth. If the Word is God-breathed, then it is Spirit and obedience to the Word would be worship. And the word tells us that today is the day of salvation, today is the day of God's favor. So rise up and bless the Lord!

A Lovely Post-Christmas Gift

This is my first post for the twenty til twenty series that I am doing. Hopefully, the somewhat-weird title drew you in, because the memory I want to share with you first is by far the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I'm talking about the day I was God filled me with His precious Holy Ghost. 

There is a saying I have heard my whole life, that is "I cut my teeth on the pews in that church!" referring, of course, to those people who were born and bred church-going kids. If that saying describes anyone, it's me. My grandfather is a pastor of a little country church in Barren Plains, TN (that location has got to tell you something about how country it is). When I was eight years old, we built this church (which will definitely be a story that comes up later!) and soon after we built it my sister, my two cousins, and I were baptized in the name of Jesus. Well, I knew what came next. I had repented of my sins, been baptized, and according to Acts 2:38, the next step was to be filled with the Holy Ghost. 

Honestly, I never remember seeking the Holy Ghost before the night I got it. I guess it's one of those things where I was a child and had the faith that since I wanted to be filled, God would fill me, and He did! It was Wednesday night Bible study after Christmas (literally, the date was December 26, 1999) and the crowd at church was slim. I don't know why, but around here, church has the least attendance around Christmas... Anyways, my granddad preached about the pool in the New Testament where, when the water was stirred, people could come and be healed. He told us that the altar was our pool of water and the water was being stirred if anyone needed anything from the Lord. I remember, as an eight-year-old little girl, knowing that if I went up there and asked God to fill me with His Spirit, He would. It was a promise I had yet to receive. So I went up to the altar and began to praise God. Within minutes I was speaking in a heavenly language. It was the greatest moment of my life. My sister and my cousin Becca were right there with me and were filled with the Holy Ghost that night too, as well as two other girls in our church.

My life has NEVER been the same since then. I don't have enough words to describe how greatly God has worked in my life since that time. Before I was filled with the Spirit, I knew the Lord and I did what was right, but when He filled me up, God became a part of me. He has never left my side since then. I love the verse in 1 John that says, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!" I know that is what happened to me that Wednesday night: God lavished His love on me and I was called His child. 

I don't know if you, my readers, have been filled with the Holy Ghost, but if you have not I am begging you to start seeking God's face, bury yourself in His word, and most of all ASK God, in faith, to fill you up. It is the greatest thing you could ever do. In the book of Acts, Luke writes about the Spirit being poured out in the early church and in Peter's sermon, on the day of Pentecost, He says, "The promise [of the Holy Ghost] is for you and your children, and to all who are afar off, for all whom the Lord our God will call." I am writing to tell you that He has called YOU. He wants to fill you with the Spirit. It is a promise. You just have to ask.

Not Studying...

I have been sitting in the study room for nearly two hours and I have done almost no work. I have seven book reports to write and I have written... one and a half.

Okay, so that sounds pretty ridiculous, but I'll tell ya what's going on. I'm so excited about what God is doing that I absolutely cannot do homework. I just want to talk to everyone I know about how awesome God is (I've managed to talk to three people haha). However, since everyone is going to bed, I may end up talking to some people I don't know, which would probably be even cooler.

Today a lot of great things happened:

1. My sister found out two more of her friends at school are Spirit-Filled.
2. I didn't have to go to class (Praise God)
3. My granddad (who is the pastor of my church) was prophesied over that Revival is coming to our church!!!
4. I had coffee with a great friend and we talked about Jesus
5. A man who's really good at web stuff offered to create a website for this youth movement that is happening... whoot whoot.
6. God has given me really great friends who love Jesus the way that I do (this is everyday, but I'm especially thankful today)
7. Rebekah wrote a rap about Jesus. It was good. Except for the part I helped with.
8. I got all my Jeremiah Yocum praise and worship music downloaded on my computer
9. I got a WKU shirt on sale fr $5. Random, I know.
10. I just love the Lord more today than yesterday!!!!

Stages of Death

For the past week or so I have had a sermon that I heard at a youth function weighing heavily on my mind. The minister that night was an EMT and shared with us something that he had learned on his job: the five stages of death. These five stages deal with someone who is suicidal and tell of the warning signs, however they can also be applied to our spiritual lives. Let us look for these five signs in our lives to make sure we're not on our way to a spiritual death.

1. Isolation

You are most vulnerable when you are alone. The devil will use this to make you think that you are left out, that no one cares about you and that you are worth less than you really are. Don't isolate yourself! Get involved in a church or in a group of friends who will lift you up in the Lord.

2. Anger

This is a big one. The Bible tells us to "anger and sin not" so we know there is such a thing as righteous anger, but anger is a tool the devil can use against us without us even realizing it. It's often said that we hurt the ones we love, and that is true in this sense as well: we become angry with those we love when things in our lives aren't going the way we want them to. I mean, it's easier to put the blame off on someone else.

Spiritually speaking, the devil will cause us to take small things and blow them up into big things. Our pastors, youth pastors, and fellow Christians become the target of our anger, giving us a reason to give up on the people who, in the end, could really help us.

3. Bargaining

This is the scariest stage, in my opinion. I guess this is so because it's the one that I can see so clearly when I look at decisions I have made in the past. There comes a point in spiritual death when you start to let down on the standards you have held for so long. Soon, the morals and the values you hold become less important. Looking like Jesus takes the place on the back burner and living as the world lives starts to look more appealing. Bargaining is bad, bad business.

4. Depression

Being depressed only leads to one thought: What's the use?

5. Acceptance

Accepting defeat is never an option. When someone who is suicidal accepts defeat, they may choose to end their life. Spiritually, we don't realize what we are doing, but slowly and surely, if we take notice, we will realize that our thought processes have changed. Living a life separate from the peace of God becomes the norm. Soon we believe that this is "just how it is" and "how it's always going to be."

But Praise be to God! Because Spiritual death doesn't have to be permanent. Jesus died on the cross so that He might conquer death and the grave and give us a second chance to live and to live eternally with him. I never want to forget that. I never want to find myself even venturing into any of these stages, because even if life is hard sometimes, God is going to take care of us. He never said that he would not give us more than we could bear, He said he would not give us more than HE could bear. So cast all your cares on the Lord.

Goodbye Monday :)

I have a lot of homework to do... as you can see, since I am blogging, after spending the better part of an hour giving my blog a makeover. Anyways, today is Monday and let me tell you, it has been Monday all day. Now, I have never been one of those people to "hate" Mondays. But when I think about it, they really are pretty bad. The badness this time, however, started last night. Here's how it all went down: (the following is a just a bunch of venting, feel free to skip down to more important parts)

My truck has to be taken to the shop because the speedometer is broken, so I am driving my granddad's truck this week (this is not bad haha). Well, I got all the way to Bowling Green when Granddad called to tell me that I had left my parking tag at home. I didn't think anything of it at the moment, I just figured I would park in "Egypt" and everything would be okay. So I went on and stopped at the Hudson's for the end of their service and to go get Dairy Queen, as is our Sunday night tradition. While we were at Dairy Queen I realized that I would not be able to park in Egypt without a permit. This was a problem. I didn't want to park on some shady street and have to walk a million miles. Not at all. Well, blessed as I am, Chaley offered to let me park my truck at their house and she and Lisa brought Beka and I back to school. Unfortunately, we didn't get back to school until 10:00. I had an assignment due at midnight, a test the next morning, and I HAD to do laundry because I had no clean clothes. When Bek and I went to do the laundry, the change machine was broken: go figure. So Beka graciously walked to another dorm to get change and I finally got the laundry going. Then I did all my homework and didn't study for my test, which turned out to be okay because the test isn't until Wednesday, which I didn't know. Then I didn't sleep well. I couldn't turn my mind off, which is the worst... and which also leads me to my next point.

About a month ago, I decided to give up facebook for a little while. My motive behind doing so was that I wanted to see new families in our church and I fasted from facebook until we got them. So, a few weeks later, we had three new families at church, one of them has stuck around since then, and I got facebook back. The thing is, when I didn't have facebook, I noticed a change in my life, emotionally and spiritually. Every time that I would have gotten on facebook, I prayed and read my Bible. It was awesome. I guess I could've stayed off, but honestly, I do a lot of ministry on facebook and it is one of the ways the kids from youth group and people from other churches keep up with me. So, I have been thinking over the past week or so about what else I could put aside in my life to get closer to the Lord. I have come up with a couple of things.

The first, I stole from a fellow blogger, Just Me, and I think is a really good idea. One of the issues I struggle with sometimes is self-esteem. It's not horrible, I'm not attempting an eating disorder or standing for hours analyzing what I don't like about myself (at least not all the time) but I am willing to admit to you that this is something the devil uses against me quite often. So for this week (at least) I am giving up wearing make-up. I just going with the face God gave me. Not only is this going to help me in my battle against low self-esteem, but it is also going to give me more time in the morning to spend with the Lord.

Secondly, I'm giving up country music. My parents raised me to never listen to anything but Christian music. If it didn't glorify the Lord, it wasn't allowed in our house. As I have gotten older, I have gained quite the appreciation for country music. Honestly, there are some really great songs and singers out there, and I love country music... but it does nothing for my relationship with the Lord. There's just something about a worship melody that lifts my spirit in a way that country music can't. Actually, country music really only makes me think of two things: the break-up and my future husband. And since those are two things I don't really need to be thinking about all the time, I'm giving it up.

I'm just really ready to move on and move up with the Lord. No more holding back. I want to go all the way with Jesus.

"At Pentecost, the disciples prayed for 10 days, preached for 10 minutes, and 3,000 people believed in Christ. Now at our "revivals", we pray 10 minutes, preach for 10 days, see 3 people believe in Christ, and say it's Pentecost all over again." -- The reason I don't see God do great and wondrous things is usually because I do not take the time to truly ask him.

Waiting

Acts 1:4

“On one occasion while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Acts 1:12

“Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath’s days walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to a room where they were staying…They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.”

Acts 2:1

“When the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

Acts is one of my favorite books of the Bible because it is so exciting. This is when the church first began and there were people getting filled with the Holy Ghost and the church was growing and there were being miracles performed and great sermons preached etc. I love it when people ask me about Pentecost because I get to say, well we believe what the church in the book of Acts believed, and it’s just really great.

Acts is the record of really the first revival. In Pentecost we talk about the Azusa Street Revival and around here people talk about the Red River Meeting House Revival and all these times that the church has grown tremendously. However, Acts was the first revival. Acts 2:41 says that three thousand people were added to the church in just one single day. Can you even begin to fathom how crazy that would be? That’s like the entire population or more of Adairville, Ky. I know there are revivals in other countries where that many people are added to the church, but here, for us, it’s almost unimaginable.

The book of Acts is something to get excited about. I want to focus on the first 63 verses though, all of chapter one and part of chapter two.

The point I want to make here, though, is that there was a lot of waiting done in the book of Acts. I know it’s only like the first chapter that they are waiting, but can you imagine being stuck in a room waiting for ten days for something you know is coming? We get upset when we have to wait one hour in a hospital or at the doctor’s office, or in line for something, the disciples had to wait for ten days.

The waiting room is where God prepares us. The disciples were preparing for the promise God had made to them. They were praying, they were taking care of business. After they had waited for ten days, God sent his Spirit.

Now, I’ve talked about promises a lot. We know that all of God’s promises are yes and amen. And he is true and he is faithful. But here in his word, the promise was not that thousands would be added to the church. The promise was that He would send his Spirit to all those who believe in him. The thousands being added to the church came after the Spirit was poured out. So guess what, we don’t have to wait anymore! We have been filled with the Spirit, we have received the promise.

What’s cool about God though is that He always wants to give us more. He made the promise, he fulfilled the promise, but in 2 Corinthians 5:5 we read that “God has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

So yeah, maybe it stinks to wait. But if you are waiting then you know that something good must be coming.

Psalm 27:13-14 says “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong and take heart, wait for the Lord.”

Psalm 40:1-2 I waited patiently for the Lord, eh turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire, he set my feet on a rock.

Isaiah: 40:31 They that wait on the Lord will renew their strength, thy will soar like eagles. They will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

Being filled with the Spirit, if you are waiting on the Lord, do not weary, do not be downhearted, because those who wait on the Lord will receive a great reward.

It's Sunday!

Well folks, Jesus is alive and well and His Spirit dwells in us. This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it. When we look around at the world, and all it's troubles, and even when we look at our own lives and troubles, we may be tempted to get down and out... but God wants to lift us up in Him.

Do I sound like I am excited? Because I am. I'm dancing right now (on the inside, evidently, I'm actually typing). I just wanted to make this short post right here in the middle of Sunday morning service, kids' choir practice, and Sunday evening service to tell you that God is doing some great and wonderful things and that He is on the move! This morning at Hope we had two brand new families, and two other families who returned after previously visiting. That's good news! That's enough good news to last me the rest of the week, but God never wants us to be satisfied, he wants us to continue to desire more from Him, so that is exactly what I am going to do. I want to see these families tonight! And I believe we will!

The Bible says they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they will mount up on wings as eagles, and they will run and not faint. I'm thankful that God stays true to his promise that if we wait for the promise, as Abraham did and as His followers in the upper room did, He will fulfill it. Today is proof of that.

The Best Rest

Ah, spring break, its here again.... Now that I'm in college a whole new connotation comes along with the phrase. Panama City, Cancun, Aruba, partying, and drinking, these are all things that come along with the first week of March. However, I will not be joining other college students around the United States in the average festivities of Spring Break.

No, I'm not much in to the party scene. I prefer books to drinks and church to parties. But its all good! I prefer a life that follows the pattern of how Christ would have us live to the life of the world any day. The question is, what am I going to do over spring break if not party it up? The answer: I'm gonna rest! and its about time!

When I was in high school I seriously went to bed by nine o'clock every night. It was the best. I got a full eight hours of sleep every night and felt good in the mornings when I woke up. Since I've gone to college however, my sleep patterns have.... changed. I go to bed around midnight (at the earliest) each night and wake up on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for 8 a.m. classes. So yeah, I don't get any sleep. So spring break is going to be good for my physical health; I am definitely going to get the rest my body needs. But spring break is going to be good for more than resting my body. I plan on getting some spiritual rest.

When a person spends so much time running, from class to work to church, and not only that, but adding in all extra things like eating and working out (haha) and spending time with friends, doing homework, and as Christians, witnessing and reading our Bibles and spending time in prayer, our spirits get worn out. We grow tired and need desperately to be renewed in spirit.

The greatest thing we can do for ourselves is take some time off, allow God to move in our lives and restore our spirits. We should bury ourselves in the Word even more than usual and spend lots of time in prayer, in turn God will give us the best rest available.