I had to fly to Washington to get our visas taken care of. I wasn’t really looking forward to going:it was expensive, should have been unnecessary (if we had received our letters of invitation in time), and a huge stressor because I didn’t know if we were going to be able to get our tickets in time. I was arrivingat 11:30 am in Baltimore, and the embassy closed at 1 pm – I had no idea how I was going to get there in time to do anything. I knew I had to take the train from Balitmore to Washington, and that the train would arrive at 12:40. I was thinking about either taking the bus, renting a bike, or running the 2-3 miles to the embassy. Anyway, I spent almost the entire morning praying about what I should do (bus, bike, run etc.), and God never gave me a clear answer. I was really confused about that, until I got to Baltimore and my friend said that he skipped work that day and could actually pick me up. Praise God… I was able to get all of our visa applications in and get a money order before the office closed down. The money order was actually another testimony. I walked over to a bank, and they told me that they don’t do money orders, but the convience store next to them did, and at a cheaper rate. So I went next door and stood in line for a while. Finally, it was my turn, and as I handed the cashier the credit card, he told me that they only took cash. I asked him who on Earth carried $200+ dollars in their pockets, then remembered that I had just preached at a church in Arkansas and they took up a cash offering for me. It ended up being just enough (and like $3 more) to get the money order. Praise God – He thinks of these things way before they become a problem.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Welcome!
I was praying a couple days ago and I felt the Lord was leading me to start a blog where I am totally open about my walk with Jesus - my struggles, hardships, victories and defeats. When we talk in churches, it's almost always about the testimonies - Miracles, the times where God really showed up and saved us, and times where we've totally trusted in God and He came through. I almost think that's unfair - most of my life following Jesus has been hard and painful; crucifying my flesh and facing my fears even though I didn't want to. Sure, the testimonies are amazing and I 100% believe that following Christ is worth it, but that's only half of the story.
Was it really God talking to me to start this blog? I don't know, but it sounds like something He may say to me, and I'll never know if I don't do it and see what happens. I hope you enjoy,
Saturday, February 21, 2009
A Spiritual Gift Survey
So, if you've been in church long enough or have gone to enough retreats, chances are that you've taken a number of spiritual gift surveys. I think some of them are a bunch of hooey, so I made my own :).
Answer Yes or No to the following questions:
Answer Yes or No to the following questions:
Thursday, February 5, 2009
If I could say 10 things to the American Church...
It's pretty self-explanatory - this isn't a list of "Why I Hate the American Church." Whenever I go home I'm always amazed at just how much God is using them. Rather, this is a list of things that I think would help the church in it's ability to grow closer to God and change people's lives. Feel free to comment or leave your own list behind!
10. The Good News isn't just about heaven or hell, especially now in our culture - over 80% of people believe they are going to heaven. The New Testament is full of good news and shortened versions of the gospel message, many of which are far more applicable to our worried, stressed, and lonely world.
9. Marriage is under attack, but the gay community isn't destroying marriages. They don't have anything to do with the high divorce rate within the church. That's 100% our fault!
8. Your God is too small, period. Please stop taking scriptures and conforming them to the God you have seen at work in your life instead of trying to reach for the God who is laid out in the Bible.
7. The body of Christ is bigger and more diverse than you could ever imagine. Heaven is going to have people who speak in tongues and people who think speaking in tongues is satanic, people who evangelize and people who have never told anyone about Jesus, people who were sprinkled at baptism and people who were dunked.
6. Even if you think it's a secret sin, it's destroying your walk with God. Anything you want to keep secret can be used against you and will hinder your freedom.
5. If you want to see prayers answered, don't start with the huge things like cancer. You don't throw a person in rush hour traffic to teach them to drive, or on a black diamond course to learn to ski - why would learning to pray be any different? When you begin to see the small things answered, then your faith will increase for the larger things.
4. If Jesus is your Lord, that means you have to do what He says even if it doesn't make sense. And He will ask you to do things that don't make sense to you.
3. If you are looking for direction from God, start with the small things instead of the big things. He doesn't care where you go to college nearly as much as He does about those moment by moment decisions that create your character. It's the small constant decisions that will define who you are in His eyes, not the big ones.
2. Start reaching the people Jesus would reach out to instead of the people you want your church. The poor, your co-worker no one likes, the person on the bus who smells bad, the people your friends make fun of... Those are the people Jesus wants.
1. You can't live the Christian life without supernatural help. That means everything - loving your neighbor, not sinning, being joyful, patient, caring - not just healing the sick, raising the dead etc... Stop trying - it was meant to be impossible so we would turn to God for help!
10. The Good News isn't just about heaven or hell, especially now in our culture - over 80% of people believe they are going to heaven. The New Testament is full of good news and shortened versions of the gospel message, many of which are far more applicable to our worried, stressed, and lonely world.
9. Marriage is under attack, but the gay community isn't destroying marriages. They don't have anything to do with the high divorce rate within the church. That's 100% our fault!
8. Your God is too small, period. Please stop taking scriptures and conforming them to the God you have seen at work in your life instead of trying to reach for the God who is laid out in the Bible.
7. The body of Christ is bigger and more diverse than you could ever imagine. Heaven is going to have people who speak in tongues and people who think speaking in tongues is satanic, people who evangelize and people who have never told anyone about Jesus, people who were sprinkled at baptism and people who were dunked.
6. Even if you think it's a secret sin, it's destroying your walk with God. Anything you want to keep secret can be used against you and will hinder your freedom.
5. If you want to see prayers answered, don't start with the huge things like cancer. You don't throw a person in rush hour traffic to teach them to drive, or on a black diamond course to learn to ski - why would learning to pray be any different? When you begin to see the small things answered, then your faith will increase for the larger things.
4. If Jesus is your Lord, that means you have to do what He says even if it doesn't make sense. And He will ask you to do things that don't make sense to you.
3. If you are looking for direction from God, start with the small things instead of the big things. He doesn't care where you go to college nearly as much as He does about those moment by moment decisions that create your character. It's the small constant decisions that will define who you are in His eyes, not the big ones.
2. Start reaching the people Jesus would reach out to instead of the people you want your church. The poor, your co-worker no one likes, the person on the bus who smells bad, the people your friends make fun of... Those are the people Jesus wants.
1. You can't live the Christian life without supernatural help. That means everything - loving your neighbor, not sinning, being joyful, patient, caring - not just healing the sick, raising the dead etc... Stop trying - it was meant to be impossible so we would turn to God for help!
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Intercession Turned Upside Down
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7
I know this verse is used constantly in reference to how often we should pray, but look at the verse again. I think it’s fascinating, because it clearly talks about intercession and the effect of intercession.
I know this verse is used constantly in reference to how often we should pray, but look at the verse again. I think it’s fascinating, because it clearly talks about intercession and the effect of intercession.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
What God Wants... More from Moz.
John 6:51-66
What on Earth is going on here? If something like this happened today, we would call what Jesus did a mistake! Feeding people information before they’re ready for it, or any action that loses almost all of your followers at the same time would probably be considered a mistake by anyone’s standards. But of course, Jesus never made mistakes.
What on Earth is going on here? If something like this happened today, we would call what Jesus did a mistake! Feeding people information before they’re ready for it, or any action that loses almost all of your followers at the same time would probably be considered a mistake by anyone’s standards. But of course, Jesus never made mistakes.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Things I'm Learning about God in Mozambique
A Taste of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit
God’s been teaching me a lot about the Holy Spirit and about waiting. He’s also been teaching me a lot about how He works in people. But before we get too deep into that, I wanted to go over the baptism of the Holy Spirit first. In Luke 24:48 and Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it brings power. Jesus never mentioned anything about tongues. And the disciples knew exactly what He was talking about because they had the opportunity to go out with that power before! Healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing lepers, and raising the dead (Mt 10:10). But that’s not everything the baptism brought – Acts 2 shows the baptism of the Holy Spirit brought with it great boldness to preach, an ability to praise God in another way, and authority and power for preaching. Even the tongues in the outpouring at Pentecost was different than what we consider a baptism in the Holy Spirit – they received actual languages whereas we usually receive a prayer language. Don’t get me wrong – tongues is important but there’s so much more! We’ve settled into a form of the baptism while denying the true power (2 Tim 3:5). A holy and pure life, a change in character to have in full the fruits of the Spirit, power to evangelize and demonstrate God’s love, the ability to be guided into all truth – all of these are stated in the Bible as results of having the Holy Spirit. Just because you don’t see that radical transformation yet in your own life or the lives around you doesn’t mean that’s not what God has for us! Even if you’ve been baptized in the Spirit once, unless you’re dead, God’s got more out there for you. You can never get to the place where God thinks you’ve had enough transformation or where you’ve “used up” all God will give you. See Acts 4:31 for a time the apostles were again filled with the spirit.
OK, on to what I wanted to talk about… The disciples, when Jesus called them in Matthew 10, received a taste of what Jesus was calling them to but they didn’t step into it until years later. Reinhardt Bonkke, Smith Wigglesworth, Randy Clark, Rolland and Heidi Baker… All of them had the same kind of thing happen. The Bakers saw tremendous fruit from their early evangelism, but worked 20 years with little to nothing before stepping into the truly awesome fruit they have now. Randy Clark was used in signs and wonders a bit before being kicked out of his denomination and working 7 years at a donut shop, and it wasn’t until many years later that Toronto broke out.
This has been really important to me, because I’ve seen so many of the people who I’ve seen that used to be on fire for God kind of peter out and go back to what they were doing before God started rocking their worlds. I never really understood why God would let their ministry slow down enough for them to turn away from it, but I think I know a little more now. It’s God’s grace and love that enables the first step into the things of God. He shows us our destiny and purpose, then lets us decide whether we want it or not! I think it’s a lot like initial Christianity – God first shows us His love, and lets us decide whether or not to accept that love. He so wants us to attain that transformation via the Holy Spirit, so he gives us a taste to get us hungry enough and desperate enough to reach out for it. The same kind of desperation that had the disciples meet in prayer for 10 days straight! Smith Wigglesworth had a good ministry before his baptism in the Holy Spirit, but he was so hungry he prayed and fasted for 10 days – afterwards, his ministry grew exponentially! God wants to see if we really want His way or just want the power to do our way.
So many of my friends have experienced the same miracles and depth of God that I have, but after that season was over many of them went back to their old lives, changed a bit but certainly not living God’s destiny for them. It breaks my heart, but I can’t imagine how God feels. It seems like most of our Christian walks are completely spent on God showing us His love and asking us for a part of our life, then showing us more and asking for another part of our life. But that’s never been anyone’s destiny or purpose. If you really want to live your destiny, do the only thing God ever really asks of you and give Him your entire life right now instead of waiting till He asks for it! And wait on God, because that was His command to the disciples to experience a baptism of the Spirit and because you know His promises are true.
In my own life, I’m just realizing this. I wondered for a long time why God gave me such grace and power for a short time and everything after that has been so hard. There are so many reasons, but I probably only know a few: I took God’s power so much for granted and I didn’t know what a gift it was before, I didn’t see the importance of a life of purity, I wasn’t ready for such power… But this last year has been a time where I’ve come to realize that I have nothing without God and that I’ll never be satisfied with anything else. Every day I get more hungry and more desperate for God to just take this fleshly, sinning vessel of mine and transform it no matter what I have to go through. And every time I see a hungry or lost person, I beg for the ability to show them true life and not just tell them words they’ve heard again and again!
I hope these words stir something deep within your heart. For some of you, you probably forgot the plans God had for you – I pray God would reawaken those desires for a greater purpose. For some of you, you probably never knew God’s purpose for you but dared to dream it was true. For most of you, you probably feel like you’re in a dry place - God’s used you in the past and you’ve so wanted to go back to that time. I’ve got news for you – God’s got something far greater in store if you will seek Him, and I pray for a hunger that groans within you to be transformed into the image of Jesus! Whether we’ll ever get there before eternity is a theological topic – that we can go so much higher and so much closer is fact! God Bless,
- Jon
God’s been teaching me a lot about the Holy Spirit and about waiting. He’s also been teaching me a lot about how He works in people. But before we get too deep into that, I wanted to go over the baptism of the Holy Spirit first. In Luke 24:48 and Acts 1:8, Jesus tells his disciples to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Why? Because it brings power. Jesus never mentioned anything about tongues. And the disciples knew exactly what He was talking about because they had the opportunity to go out with that power before! Healing the sick, casting out demons, cleansing lepers, and raising the dead (Mt 10:10). But that’s not everything the baptism brought – Acts 2 shows the baptism of the Holy Spirit brought with it great boldness to preach, an ability to praise God in another way, and authority and power for preaching. Even the tongues in the outpouring at Pentecost was different than what we consider a baptism in the Holy Spirit – they received actual languages whereas we usually receive a prayer language. Don’t get me wrong – tongues is important but there’s so much more! We’ve settled into a form of the baptism while denying the true power (2 Tim 3:5). A holy and pure life, a change in character to have in full the fruits of the Spirit, power to evangelize and demonstrate God’s love, the ability to be guided into all truth – all of these are stated in the Bible as results of having the Holy Spirit. Just because you don’t see that radical transformation yet in your own life or the lives around you doesn’t mean that’s not what God has for us! Even if you’ve been baptized in the Spirit once, unless you’re dead, God’s got more out there for you. You can never get to the place where God thinks you’ve had enough transformation or where you’ve “used up” all God will give you. See Acts 4:31 for a time the apostles were again filled with the spirit.
OK, on to what I wanted to talk about… The disciples, when Jesus called them in Matthew 10, received a taste of what Jesus was calling them to but they didn’t step into it until years later. Reinhardt Bonkke, Smith Wigglesworth, Randy Clark, Rolland and Heidi Baker… All of them had the same kind of thing happen. The Bakers saw tremendous fruit from their early evangelism, but worked 20 years with little to nothing before stepping into the truly awesome fruit they have now. Randy Clark was used in signs and wonders a bit before being kicked out of his denomination and working 7 years at a donut shop, and it wasn’t until many years later that Toronto broke out.
This has been really important to me, because I’ve seen so many of the people who I’ve seen that used to be on fire for God kind of peter out and go back to what they were doing before God started rocking their worlds. I never really understood why God would let their ministry slow down enough for them to turn away from it, but I think I know a little more now. It’s God’s grace and love that enables the first step into the things of God. He shows us our destiny and purpose, then lets us decide whether we want it or not! I think it’s a lot like initial Christianity – God first shows us His love, and lets us decide whether or not to accept that love. He so wants us to attain that transformation via the Holy Spirit, so he gives us a taste to get us hungry enough and desperate enough to reach out for it. The same kind of desperation that had the disciples meet in prayer for 10 days straight! Smith Wigglesworth had a good ministry before his baptism in the Holy Spirit, but he was so hungry he prayed and fasted for 10 days – afterwards, his ministry grew exponentially! God wants to see if we really want His way or just want the power to do our way.
So many of my friends have experienced the same miracles and depth of God that I have, but after that season was over many of them went back to their old lives, changed a bit but certainly not living God’s destiny for them. It breaks my heart, but I can’t imagine how God feels. It seems like most of our Christian walks are completely spent on God showing us His love and asking us for a part of our life, then showing us more and asking for another part of our life. But that’s never been anyone’s destiny or purpose. If you really want to live your destiny, do the only thing God ever really asks of you and give Him your entire life right now instead of waiting till He asks for it! And wait on God, because that was His command to the disciples to experience a baptism of the Spirit and because you know His promises are true.
In my own life, I’m just realizing this. I wondered for a long time why God gave me such grace and power for a short time and everything after that has been so hard. There are so many reasons, but I probably only know a few: I took God’s power so much for granted and I didn’t know what a gift it was before, I didn’t see the importance of a life of purity, I wasn’t ready for such power… But this last year has been a time where I’ve come to realize that I have nothing without God and that I’ll never be satisfied with anything else. Every day I get more hungry and more desperate for God to just take this fleshly, sinning vessel of mine and transform it no matter what I have to go through. And every time I see a hungry or lost person, I beg for the ability to show them true life and not just tell them words they’ve heard again and again!
I hope these words stir something deep within your heart. For some of you, you probably forgot the plans God had for you – I pray God would reawaken those desires for a greater purpose. For some of you, you probably never knew God’s purpose for you but dared to dream it was true. For most of you, you probably feel like you’re in a dry place - God’s used you in the past and you’ve so wanted to go back to that time. I’ve got news for you – God’s got something far greater in store if you will seek Him, and I pray for a hunger that groans within you to be transformed into the image of Jesus! Whether we’ll ever get there before eternity is a theological topic – that we can go so much higher and so much closer is fact! God Bless,
- Jon
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