a convicting thought

Jesus never told us to pray for the sick. He only told us to heal the sick. -Mark DuPont

Playing For Change: Song Around the World | Stand By Me @ Yahoo! Video

Who employs the people that just get to go around the world and make sweet videos?

what we forget

We tend to forget that we have not always been where we are.

BRITAINS GOT TALENT 2009 SUSAN BOYLE

Amazing. Never let anyone look down on you--because of your youth or your age, your looks or your taste. Be you and don't be afraid to dream.

(or just search on youtube. i don't know why it won't embed)

a true passion

We are at a turning point in the church. Th old way of doing things is not working. Something has to change. The church was not placed on this planet to entertain people for one hour a week. The church was created by God to be the ongoing presence of his Son Jesus with skin on. The church was born for greatness. But when the church substitutes passion for God's glory with lesser passions, it is doomed to fail. That is why I believe apostolic passion is the missing dimension in much of the church today. God's response to terrorists, Islamic extremists, and Christian fundamentalists is the same. He calls all humankind to repent and turn to him. Jesus issues the same radical call today that he gave two thousand years ago: "Take up your cross and follow me!" This is the source of true passion. All other passions are imitations of, mere replacements for, the holy passion of God's love.

from You See Bones, I See An Army by Floyd McClung, p. 188

Shawn McDonald: Have You Ever

it's tough being...in the tight fist of fear

The command most often given by God and his messengers throughout the Word is "Do not be afraid." What is it that we really fear? We have double-almost ironic-fears: the fear of being too much and the fear of not being enough; the fear of being alone and the fear of being known; the fear of living in lack and the fear of living in the abundance God has called us to.

Most of us have put on this fear and have been walking it out for far too long. So long, in fact, that we're not quite sure what living without fear actually looks like--or if we want to. How this must break the heart of God!! His Word says that his perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18)!! When we are living in fear--of either the good or the bad--we are not living in the perfect, complete, unadulterated and unconditional love of our Father.

What then shall we do? We have to decide that we really want what God has for us. And not just a Sunday school Christian existence. We have to decide that God really is all that he says he is and we can always trust him. Period. We do not have a circumstantial trust in God.

It is time to start walking in freedom from fear. Be released from that tight fist of insecurity! Self doubt is God doubt. It's time to start living the life he's called us to. (thoughts inspired through Beth Moore's study on Esther: It's tough being a woman)

Third Day - Revelation

ah....yes.

Finding aNew Purpose

Into this powerless, bruised, and hurting world, God not only sent a Savior; he raised up the church to be a constant source of the Savior's presence. You are that church! The church stewards the grace and love of God on earth. That is the glory of God. God lives in us. Weak as we are, he has chosen to dwell in us. We are where the glory of God is found. Not primarily in great conferences and well-run programs and institutions of the church, but in the ordinary men and women who make up the church.

from You See Bones I See An Army by Floyd McClung p77

Something to think about...

A Strong Woman vs. A Woman Of Strength


A strong woman works out every day,
Pride in her appearance she portrays,
But a woman of strength kneels to pray,
Keeping her soul in shape, God leading the way.

A strong woman isn't afraid of anything,
Looking forward to challenges each day will bring,
Women of strength show courage in the midst of fear,
Knowing triumph through faith because the Lord is near.

Strong women won't let anyone get the best of them,
So skilled in defense even if they have to pretend,
Yet a woman of strength gives her best to everyone,
Being anointed with divine blood from the only begotten Son.

A strong woman relies on the physical attributes making her tough,
In her search for power and money she will never have enough,
A woman of strength understands that it’s not about material stuff,
Knowing that before becoming a diamond first she’ll be in the rough.

A strong woman sometimes disguises her feelings shadowed by clouds,
Unhinged when challenged on her policy becoming boisterous and loud,
A woman of strength concerns herself not with judgment from others,
And will not let business interfere with commitments as a wife and mother.

A strong woman is easily impatient back and forth she will begin to pace,
Counting on her holier than thou attitude instead of depending on faith,
A woman of strength is assured trust in God will always carry her through,
And at the Creator’s appointed time she’ll receive all that is justly due.

A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same for tomorrow,
Refusing to take time looking back with reverence and Godly sorrow,
The woman of strength realizes life's mistakes no matter how slim,
While thanking God for the blessings as she capitalizes on them.

A strong woman walks head first with no doubt in her mind,
Again, no matter what, she’ll not make this mistake a second time,
But a woman of strength knows God will catch her when she falls,
So when a situation arises again, she’s not afraid to answer the call.

A strong woman wears the look of confidence on her face,
Always doing whatever it takes to finish, seeking only first place,
The woman of strength competes with an emotional sense of grace,
Understanding it’s more important to run a Holy Spirit filled race.

A strong woman has faith that for the journey she’ll have enough,
No matter how uneven the terrain or roads being rocky and rough,
A woman of strength knows it’s in the journey she will become strong,
And the love of God is forever with her, no matter how difficult or long.

A strong woman when uninformed thinks that she is being mistreated,
In the end her physical attributes fail causing doubt to become seeded,
A woman of strength will compromise as a little give and take is needed,
Why? Because a lesson not learned the first time is soon to be repeated.


God, break me and make me a woman of strength!!

Because hope seems to be a theme lately...

Noah lived about 600 years before the flood and 350 after the flood. He was on the boat a year. One year spent floating about. Not a long time in the scheme of things, really. Thank you Lord for the hope...the floating is just a temporary state as the Lord prepares for what is to come.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

Sense-knowledge truth vs. revelation truth

When sense-knowledge truth contradicts revelation truth--the truth of God's word--then I start walking in revelation truth. I walk by what God has said in His Word. That which is in the spiritual realm is made real in the natural realm through my faith in the Word of God. My faith grasps it and creates the reality of it in my life (Romans 4:17)

So when you pray, believe that you receive whatever it is that you are praying for, and you shall have it. That's beyond natural thinking. In fact, the natural mind can't grasp it. The majority of the leaders of our churches today are sense-knowledge people. Sense-knowledge has taken the church captive. We are to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Believe the truth and not a lie.

-Kenneth Hagin's Bible Prayer Study Course, p.4

He, therefore, is the devout man who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and the spirit of the world, but, to the sole will of God; who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life parts of piety, by doing everything in the name of God, and under such rules as are conformable to His glory. William Law

Killing me softly and growing the Kingdom

When God prunes he removes the dead. He removes what is not producing fruit. God prunes us back so that we can grow (John 15) and produce even more fruit. It may hurt when it's coming out, but he's actually taking out what has been killing us. Then he heals us with his mercy and anointing and allows fruit to grow from these former patches of death. We feel the pain because it is a wound of the flesh and it hurts when God removes it. But, the more we allow him to remove, the more like him we become and the more we can effectively love and positively affect the people around us. When we abide in the Light the dark areas of our lives will be exposed. I think I read on a water bottle one time that it had been "exposed under bright light to maintain its integrity." The same is true for us. When we are exposed, the Lord can change us and build our character. He removes the darkness and replaces it with light.

This removing of darkness, of death, is not something that we can do on our own. It only comes through surrender to the Lord.
“It is not virtue that can save the world or anyone in it, but love. And love is not at our command. We cannot generate it from within ourselves” (Temple 251). When God removes this death from us, he fills that void with life. And when we remain attached to the Vine, his life-giving blood [love] can flow through us. The word love, or agapao is used several times in John 15. This word is used in relation to being pleased with a person or thing. It does not denote the secret and eternal love of the Father for the Son, but that love which, exposed in the life and work and death of the son, is directed towards men, and is laid as it were us (Hoskyns). Agape is the love between God and man. It is the way that God loves man through us.

“When we feel the life of Christ ebbing from our soul, when we see our leaf fading, when we feel sapless, heartless for Christian duty, reluctant to work for others, to take anything to do with the relief of miser and the repression of vice, there is a remedy for this state, and it is to renew our fellowship with Christ—to allow the mind once again to conceive clearly the worthiness of His aims, to yield the heart once again to the vitalizing influence of His love, to turn from the vanities and futilities with which men strive to make life seem important to the reality and substantial worth of life in Christ" (Dods).

Killing our flesh brings forth more life and more fruit and it bring more souls into the Kingdom through the perfecting love of our Father.

Thoughts on corporate worship: A Divine Confrontation by Graham Cooke

We pray for the manifest presence of God but do not consider the conditions God requires for Him to come. We must build Him a habitation. Does God feel at home with us? Do we really care?.....We can tell a lot about a church by the quality of its worship. Worship is the key to God's heart and therefore the key to real growth. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts for the Lord and one another. We lay down our lives for God and one another (see Jn. 4:16). AS the love of God and one another grows, we are brought together in Him, and there is a powerful release of the Spirit. Worship is the natural outcome of such a release.

Whenever a church continuously struggles in worship, it is usually because of a relational issue within the church. We need breakthrough worship that flows out of anointed hearts joined together by what every joint supplies. Even the ordinary stones must cry out to the glory of God. How much more should we, as living stones being built together in love, become a temple of praise.

Among churches today we have two kinds of worship: synagogue and temple. Synagogue worship occurs when people come to church to hear the word of God, receive ministry, and be entertained. It represents the doing aspect of body worship. Often, because the main reason for meeting is actually people-centered rather than God-focused, this worship is usually reduced or restricted when time is pressing.

In temple worship, people come to praise God, to pray, and to make an offering. Their sole concern is for God Himself. This is home-building worship and requires a high level of adoration do God an mutual cooperation amongst people to be effective and glorious.

God seeks people to worship Him in spirit an truth (see Jn. 4:23). Worship releases the presence of God into our midst. That is why it is the key to God's heart. In worship we are completely taken up with Him.

Do our worship leaders spend more time motivating people to worship than acclaiming Christ? What type of worship songs do we sing the most? A true worship song is completely Christ-centered. Its sole focus is the total adoration and glorification of Christ. Many current songs are worship prayers dealing with our need or desire to worship Jesus rather than actually doing it.

Worship, then, is a major indicator of the church moving into the new wineskin, a different paradigm. If we have to spend a high proportion of our allocated worship time motivating people to get to a place of adoration that they should have been in when they first entered the meeting, we are in trouble spiritually.

In the new wineskin, people will come ready to worship. The worship bands are Levites with an anointing to take us into the high places of God's manifest presence. From the moment the first not is struck we are at 35,000 feet and soaring in the Spirit. We are meant to be eagles, dining on snakes and riding the thermals of high praise. Anything else is for chickens! It is possible to tell which churches have a strong revelation of the Lordship and majesty of Jesus by the strength, passion, and stamina of their worship. Many churches have good worship, but it is not enough. We must train our people how to corporately minister to the Lord. Currently many of our worship times consist of individuals opting in or out of worship depending on how they feel, on their current capacity to rise above their circumstances, or whether or not they like the songs or the music. Our worship can be a triumph of style over substance rather than a profound focus on the Person
of Jesus by group consent.

Churches that are moving into a new place in God are seriously upgrading their worship anointing. They understand the house of God priority. They are teaching their people how to minister to the Lord through deliberate, corporate focus on the attention on Jesus.

I found this note on facebook from a friend of a friend. i thought his points were excellent. as we go through this very different season he reminds us of what our true focus should be...


First President Elect of ColorShare
Wed 1:31pm
It’s an honor to experience history in motion—my generation was able to see the first President elect of Color. A few generations ago, African-Americans were not even allowed to vote. This is a joyous occasion, to see the walls of segregation and inequality fall even more.

However, I’m frustrated that this race, in many ways, became about race.
I’ve heard many conversations of people discussing everything but the issues and crises of this nation as determiners of their vote. This bothers me.

Last night, Sen. Barack Obama became the President elect for America, but I’m still having a hard time believing that it happened—it’s all quite surreal.

I’m frustrated and confused why the American people would elect a man with certain stances and discrepancies:

• He has never proven his U.S. Citizenship (in light of him protecting his illegal aunt, I feel this is a legitimate issue)
• His “spread the wealth” terminology is clearly Marxist
• Sen. Biden acknowledged that their election would invite an international attack within the first six months
• His connections with a Racist church intent on putting down the “white devils”
• His political ties and riotous strategies for past Kenya elections
• His threats to “bankrupt” America’s coal companies (This supplies 50% of America’s electricity. With higher taxes, gas, and electricity, Americans are going to have a hard time paying for anything and everything)

And many more issues.

I’m frustrated that my generation has seen the death of journalism. From Fox to ABC, every media corporation exudes a bias. After every presidential debate, one could predict that Fox would say Sen. McCain won and ABC said Sen. Obama won. Newspapers like the New York Times explicitly communicated support of Sen. Obama. This is ridiculous. Every vessel of communication has been tainted. Don’t believe me?

Do you realize that, under President Bush’s administration, weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. He could have exonerated himself, but knew that terrorist organizations would attempt to seize the materials, so he hid them and sent them to Canada. The AP published this article, but most of America hasn’t heard about this. Most of America hasn’t heard about the successes in the middle-east. Why? Because we’ve seen the death of journalism. Nobody wanted to vindicate P. Bush’s administration—it would cost too much.

Our nation is going to change. Is it the change we want?

As a Christian, though, I’m not worried. I’m frustrated, angry, upset, concerned and braced to respond to issues of ministers forced to conduct homosexual marriages, recession in abortion, communist momentum, international weakness and poor economics, but I’m not worried.

As Christians, I think we sometimes depend too much on earthly government for righteous change. The world will only change for the better under one condition: hearts are changed.
For some reason, we’ve bought into the notion that laws will change a person, but that’s not true. Yes, as a nation we have invited death and immorality and we will be judged for this. But, in order to reverse this, it will not happen through the law—it will happen through changed hearts. Laws on molestation, crime and murder have increased, though we haven’t seen too much of a change. Why? Because hearts haven’t been changed.

It’s hard to expect someone raised in a post-Christian, neo-barbarian, nation to live up to imposed Christian ideals without having the heart behind it. Most of this generation can’t name half of the ten commandments, yet we expect them to live by it. In Acts 17, the apostles were accused of “turning the world upside down.” Not because they endorsed new legislation, but because they translated citizens from earthly kingdoms to the Heavenly Kingdom. The laws of abortion become irrelevant when a nation is discipled (as Mt. 28:19 commands us to do) with a conviction for life. The laws of murder become irrelevant when a nation is discipled with a conviction for life.

I feel like I’m rambling, but I’m confident that if we spend more time advancing THE KINGDOM, the kingdoms of this earth will develop as a by-product. This gives me hope. I see God running after souls and calling a generation to higher standard of holiness, activism and purpose. When people like you actually start leading others to Christ and training them to make disciples of all nations, we will see the change in America that we’re looking for.

God wants hearts, not civil obedience. Christianity is the great civilizer and moralizer of the Earth. As we do our part in the great commission, we will see our nation changed. Though I don’t see many Christians playing their part in the great commission, I do see some and I have hope that the LORD can use a minority to change the nation and the nations. God bless America.

-Pradeepan

You are the salt of the earth.

to be expanded upon...

God of this City - Chris Tomlin

Hope

This was a hope-filled weekend. Yes, "the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best" has been re-instilled.