God is our refuge

In this life, there will be pain, struggles, etc. I believe and trust in God as my refuge in everything.

A refuge is "a shelter or protection from danger or distress." Based on this definition, God is my shelter from danger/distress. I never have to face anything alone. In anything (and everything) I can turn to Him.  And when I take refuge in God, I will be satisfied. He will spread His protection over me. (Psalm 5:11).

When fear overwhelms me, I can take comfort knowing God will keep me safe.  There will be affliction and suffering in this life. I know God is stronger than all of life. I never have to be afraid of the road ahead. He goes before me.

That brings me comfort. I never have to live in fear. Fear distracts me from the life God wants for me. I don't have to fear because God is stronger. He is our refuge.  

lukewarm

I can hide it from everyone. I can put on a good face. I can say and do the right thing. However, is that really what God calls me to? Recently I read Crazy Love (Francis Chan) and there is a chapter "Profile of the Lukewarm."

I never classified myself as being a "lukewarm Christian." Reading that chapter convicted me. I am a lukewarm Christian. I lost my passion for God.

Romans 12:11 states, "Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord." Zeal means passion and the opposite is apathy. Now I know I'm not apathetic. 

I want to be moved out of lukewarm Christianity. I either want to be on fire for God or completely cut off. I know that sounds drastic but isn't that what God calls me to? To be completely on fire for Him? I used to equate being on fire for God emotion driven but maybe it's not.

I don't know where this is going or where God is leading me. All I know is that tonight God revealed to me that I'm lukewarm and I want to do something about it. Life is too short not to be passionate for God.

spiritual gifts

The following is an inventory of spiritual gifts:

1. Administration (1 Corinthians 12:28)
2. Discernment (I Corinthians 12:10)
3. Evangelism (Ephesians 4:11-13)
4. Exhortation/encouragement (Romans 12:8)
5. Faith (I Corinthians 12:9)
6. Giving (Romans 12:8)
7. Helping/hospitality (I Corinthians 12:28, Romans 12:13)
8. Knowledge (I Corinthians 12:8)
9. Leadership (Romans 12:6)
10. Mercy (Romans 12:8)
11. Pastoring/shepherding (Ephesians 4:11-13)
12. Prophecy (I Corinthians 12:10, 28)
13. Serving (Romans 12:7)
14. Healing/miracles/tongues (I Corinthians 12:9-10, 28)
15. Teaching (I Corinthians 12:28)
16.  Wisdom (I Corinthians 12:8)

(This list is adopted from the book Wake Up, Generation by Paige Omartian p. 82)
Out of the preceding list, I believe my "gifts" include serving, discernment, exhortation/encouragement, and faith. I challenge you to prayerfully ask God what areas He has blessed you in spiritual gifts.

gods.

A "god" is defined as:

1.     a spirit or being that has great power, strength, knowledge, etc. that can affect nature and    the lives of people.
2.        One controlling a particular aspect or part of reality
3.        a person or thing of supreme value (Merriam-Webster.com)

Based on these definitions, a god can be something that has great power, affecting nature and lives of people, controlling their reality, and someone or something of supreme value.

We all worship something.

Money. Sex. Possessions. Et cetera.

All these things can begin to control us. Then they start to own us, if we can't give what we own away.

I want to serve God, not  my job, education, etc. that are fleeting. They are great on this side of life: before eternity. I want my life to count and point to God not myself. The gods of this life can be knocked down by focusing on what really matters. What matters to me is that I live with God at the center of my life, not gods I erected in place of him.

To close, I want to share this video:

set apart from the inside out

I am created by God to live transformed from the inside out. I am renewed by what I think about. If I want to change my life, I need to change my thinking.

Shifting my thinking onto the things God cares about will change the way I act.

Prayer begins to change me from the inside out. I experience intimacy with God. I slow down and really process what my thoughts circle around. I ask myself, "Is what I'm thinking about glorifying to God?"

If my thoughts don't match what I believe, that leads to confession and repentance. I am transformed from the inside out.

Conforming to the world is not what God desires from me. I am created to live transformed. 

Transformation begins to fuel me into deeper intimacy with God.

Newcastle, AUSTRALIA!!!!

Sometimes life is crazy. I applied for YWAM DTS in Newcastle, Australia and I have been accepted into the school!

 

Yay me!

 

A part of me is beyond excited to have this kind of opportunity to serve God and His people. Yet another part of me is skeptical thinking, "Okay. This cannot be real. I'm living in a dream."

 

But it is real.

 

I pray God would give me the faith to believe this is where He desires me to go. I may never have this opportunity again and I'm going to run with it!

Some of the work I'll be doing with YWAM DTS is helping with Youth Street an outreach ministry for youth which is where my passion is. I love working with youth.

DTS goes beyond a missions trip. 12 weeks of DTS is filled with lecture, then the remainder of the time is outreach to another country. Before I further pursue this (sending in my registration fee, getting a passport, etc.) I must examine where my heart is and where my motivation lies as to why I want to go on this trip.

I have applied for numerous missions trips/ministries before through different missions organizations (Youth for Christ, Youthworks, Spring Hill camps, Reach Your City, etc.) and it just didn't work out. :-(

I'm praying YWAM Newcastle DTS is my opportunity to put my faith in action and serve a broken world.

a missional heart

God placed a desire for missions work last summer.  I hesitated and questioned God, "Why me? You can send someone else." But the more I went before God in prayer, the more missions dictated my thoughts. I had a burden for Ireland on my heart then and now it's starting to resurface.

 

Since January I have been working and doing what I think is "practical" in my eyes. Now I'm beginning to think, "there has to be more to life than this: working part time."

 

I'm also beginning to become convicted. No matter how hard or uncomfortable it may be, I must live the life God has for me. I only have one chance to live completely surrendered to Him. I won't get another try.

 

This is it.

 

So now I am looking into possible missions trips/opportunities. One really sticks out to me above the others I have looked into. There is an organization, Youth with a Mission (YWAM) that offers Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) all over the world. I'm prayerfully considering applying to the DTS in Denver, CO and Newcastle, Australia. I think it would be amazing to go to Australia! :-)

 

I have a missional heart, for God is missional. (Matthew 28:18-20). I don't know what will happen regarding YWAM or DTS but I remain open to the possibility. We'll see what happens in the next few months!