God speaks in unconventional ways.

Our last book assignment was about a book call A Tale of Three Kings. Um don't remember who wrote it. It is a great book, short, easy ready with tons of great points. 

It was the story of Saul, David and Absalom. It focused on David mainly and his reaction to things in his life like having to live with a crazy King Saul. The things that stuck out the most to me was David and how he handled the situations he was in. When David was young he lived with King Saul, who was crazy and used David for spear practiced most of the times. The picture portrayed an example of how you can have people in your life that seem to be awful and do things that make your life miserable like David. It brings up interesting points about if God is allowing you to be put in positions with people that are negative or is he pulling out inner Saul that is in you out. 

Here are some quotes from the book:

There is a vast difference between the outward clothing of the spirits power and the inner filling of the spirits life. 

God gives unworthy vessels power. Why? He sometimes gives unworthy vessels a greater portion of power so that others will eventually see the true state of internal nakedness within that individual.

 

- David was places in a position of being anointed by God and placed under the rule of a King that abused him and tried to kill him. David probably wondered a few times why God gave Saul power and why God put him under that power. 

David was caught in a very uncomfortable position, however he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood. Something that in our day, when men are wiser still, even fewer understand.

God did not have but wanted very much to have men/women who would live in pain.

God wanted a broken vessel. 

David had such a fear of the Lord that he suffered, endured, and gave every part of himself to a king that eventually would drive him to a cave because he wanted to kill him. 

At first look you wonder why God didn't put a stop to Saul and why he let David live in such a harsh environment. God wasn't punishing David, he was preparing him. David had the fear of the Lord and was willing to be completely mutilated emotionally and spiritually by Saul because he knew that is where the Lord wanted him. David was willing to test his obedience and wait on the Lord. 

If you take a look at it and recognize that King Saul sought to destroy David but his only success was that he became the instrument of God to put to death the Saul who roamed about in the caverns of David's own soul. yes, David was virtually destroyed in the process but this had to be done otherwise the Saul in him would have survived.

Looking back and recognizing "Sauls" in my life made me realize that through these people that I thought were in my life to torment me where actually bringing out inner sauls in me that needed to die. I can see the times God was testing my obedience and the things in my life that were surfaced and died.  This death allowed me to be open to what God's real desires were for my life. I can say I am walking right now in what God wants me to be doing because of Sauls in my life and the results they had on my inner spirit! So next time you find yourself face to face with a Saul in your life, pray for God to get your through it, maybe even out of it, or maybe that you would just be open to letting the Lord come in and maybe show you an inner part of that Saul you have living in you and let God clean it out and replace it with a lovely gift from Him. 

Late Post!

Sorry this post has been a long time coming! I can't believe how time flies! I have many things on my heart that I have learned over the last few weeks but don't have enough room to write them all nor would you want to read a post that long! =) I think one of the biggest things that I feel like God wants me to share is about how he is with us every second of every day. We learned about destiny and calling one week and this is a huge topic as you can tell just by the title but to simplify it I really learned a lot about how much God picked each one of us, created and molded each one of us and is really with us every second of every day. (Isaiah 43) I think this is something we need to meditate on more. Really bring it into your life and take it to the extreme. God is with you when you wake up and think whatever you think when you first wake up and He is with you when you are trying to make decisions on what to eat for breakfast or lunch today. He is apart of it all! I often forget that. I often take that for granted and often don't harness that and use it. How much different would my life look if I truly walked in a relationship with Jesus that was me in connection with Him on every decision that I make throughout the day? I know I have taken this to the extreme but until you start to live out something then it never becomes part of your life. It never become part of your routines that you live every day and it never allows God the opportunity to impact your life and more importantly other peoples lives the way He so creatively wants to on a day to day basis. Sometimes I forget that God wants to love people every day, I think that I have to bring some huge gospel message and they have to be saved or else God isn't happy with my work. One that is the totally wrong assumption on how God views success (which could be a whole other topic of its own - maybe later! ) But two my God is a God of love, so it would make sense that He just wants us to love one another. I have to remind myself that my God created the universe and is more creative than I could ever imagine so He could use me in ways I never could imagine and I would be bold enough to say probably half of them would and will be in ways that are so small I wouldn't think twice about them. That if I allowed Him to lead my decisions throughout the day that amazing work could be done and I wouldn't even have preached a message, or sang a praise song, or maybe even prayed that day. God is really just been transforming my view of what praise to Him really entails. I really think we limit how we can praise God and the methods that we think He accepts as praise. God has also been repeatedly bringing up learning how to fear the Lord so I think that plays into this topic a lot. That also is a whole other topic that may need to come later. We only have internet til 11 so I have to post this now. I miss everyone and love everyone!

Funny Stories!!!

Hey Everyone! 

So I have some funny stories. We are in the midst of changing season from summer to fall. Sad day! With the change of seasons we are seeing more and more spiders and bugs! YUCK! So far we have had none in our room or bathroom until the other day! We had two in our bathroom! I am posting pictures of the Spider just so you know how gross they really are! =) I was walking into the stall to go to the bathroom and I walked like 10 inches away from it! I about died! Let's just say that spider didn't last long! Then we had one crawling around on the ceiling at 6 o'clock in the morning while we were trying to take showers! I woke up real fast! 

I went surfing again this past weekend for another unsuccessful attempted. It is a lot harder than you think. The waves were massive and I was a little unmotivated at 8 O'clock in the morning! But I will be good by the end of this trip!!! 

This past weekend we went to this town called Kiama. It is the town of the world's largest blow hole! It was stinking awesome and we climbed this cliff and took pictures on the top! Those are the pic's on here! It was so fun! We went over to one of the couples that staff on base for a BBQ! What a good weekend.

Other than that we just live normal. Lectures all day, chores in the afternoon, running or swimming at the beach as much as possible, and night time chill sessions! Missing everyone but learning so much! Love you all and will write more later! 

 

The Facts.

 This past week we learned about missions. There were interesting topics that were brought up during this week. One question that we were presented with is why do we resist giving up our lives to Jesus. There is a lack of completely letting Jesus be the Lord of our lives sometimes. Is it trust issue? Are you afraid that if you ask Jesus what he has for you in your life He is going to send you to some desolate country to live in a hut and mission? Are we afraid to let Jesus be Lord of our lives? These were all the thoughts going on in my head. But the facts are if He isn't Lord over your life what is? Or are you? Being saved is putting Jesus as Lord of your life. Trusting Him with everything and believing that He is a good and caring God that is going to put you on a path that is beyond your expectations. The only way to trust God is to look at Christ. He was and is God. The example of a shepherd with his sheep was given. The sheep cares for the sheep and the sheep trust him and know his voice. But a sheep that stray because he doesn't listen or hear his shepherds voice is dumb. I am trying not to be a dumb sheep anymore. 

A big issue for me was why God lets bad things happen. A pretty dumb thought one because God doesn't want them to happen but we watched video and talked about countless groups of people that are being hurt, oppressed, abused, and I would just question God everyday why is it happening. What do I tell these people when I meet them that you are a God of love and power and you don't want them to hurt but not have any explanation for why this happened. God spoke to me and simply made it clear to me that He isn't taking sides in this world. He doesn't see the men that are abusing young kids in the sex trade and take sides with the kids. He cries for them all. He cries for the kids and He cries for those men. This revelation was huge and really freed my anger that I was holding on God. There is evil in the world. We have free will and satan is constantly drawing people to do things that are sinful and it hurts others in the end. The root of all sin is selfishness. God weeps over all of it. His heart breaks with every decision made.

A big concept that we focused on this past week was in Genesis 12:2-3. It is when God is speaking to Abraham. He tells Abraham that He is going to bless him. Pretty sweet and I must say I like this part. Then he turns around and states and you will be a blessing. So you see - God blesses us - We bless others. It really makes sense. Sometimes I think we get it backwards. Kind of like the greatest commandment. Love your God with all your heart, mind, and soul. Then love your neighbor as yourself. Sometimes our minds work by saying I have to love my neighbor so that I prove to God that I am good enough or so that I can impress God and He will then accept my love.  Luke 10:27 - This is the verse that spells it out. Love your God then Love your neighbor. You see the more you love God the more of His love He pours out into your life and then the more you pour out because it is almost a domino effect from the love He is giving you. So when God speaks to Abraham and speaks blessing over his life and then follows it up with now go and bless others, He is just laying it out for us; it is our calling. Be blessed then Bless others! 

I want to share some statistics that were shared with me. I find them eye opening, sickening, and unreal. I hope that they will impact your life and more importantly your actions. I know they have mine.

 There are 2 Billion people in the world that have no access to the Gospel.

 (97 % of the population lives in the 10/40 Window which is where the majority of these unsaved people are with no access to the gospel).

  http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBURT/1040.htm - This is a website to look up the 10/40 window if you aren't familiar with it.

 Christians in the world earn 12.3 trillion dollars a year. ( the majority of these christians live in the United States).

 1.7 % of the 12.3 trillion dollars goes to christian causes every year ( this includes tithe, ywam, salvation army, anything that associates it self with a base of christianity).

 5.4% of the 1.7 % of money goes to foreign missions.

 and 1 % of the 5.4% goes to the unreached people group of the 10/40 window.

 Only 1 in every 20,000 christians that are commissioned to go serve in missions go to the 10/40 window.

I don't post this to bash people or to try and make you feel bad. I really pray that this information is passed on in love and is used to change viewpoints. Action is required.  Pray about what action that is for you. It doesn't mean that you have to pick up and move to the 10/40 window unless God calls you to that but just pray about what action God has for you. 

Matthew 28: 18- 20

then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in^[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

This generation of christians is responsible for this generation of souls on the earth. - Keith Green.