God who cares

right up front: I just spent about 30 minutes playing with a new webservice I found, and it's pretty awesome: tripit.com. You email your ticket confirmations and such, and it creates an itinerary for you. You can add maps, directions, hotels, etc. and it combines them all into one sleek page with weather and links and all. I like it. Now for the point of this post:

I'm not a theology major. I'm not a chaplain. But every time I sit down and write a blog post, it ends up being about God and what He's done. I just don't have that much to say about anything else - I'm not an authority on much else - but I know about my life, and that in my life He is everything. Shouldn't it always be that simple? So storytime again…

These last few weeks - especially the last week - God's been taking me through a series of questions that I thought I'd already answered, but I now realize hadn't really settled themselves in my heart with the full impact of their implications. Questions like "If I asked you to ________, would you do it willingly and joyfully? If I asked you to give up _______ for Me, would you give it up willingly and joyfully? If I asked you to trade the things you've been preparing for and go after the things you feel utterly unprepared for, would you trust Me to empower you in that moment?"

My initial response was yes, of course. But then the ramifications started hitting me, and the tone of the questions changed from the hypothetical to the guess-what-I'm-really-asking, and I freaked out. "But if you asked me to do that, I'd have to be a whole lot more sure of my theology and personal beliefs. I'd have to spend a whole lot more time in the Word and in prayer. I'd have to be a more mature, more dependable person. I'd have to be able to motivate myself and do things that I haven't been willing to do. I'd have to be a lot more humble and a lot more broken. I'd…"

That's when He interrupted. Either that, or I completely ran out of words as I realized that He was listening. Those of you who have been through this before can probably predict what He said next - "So you're saying that what you're doing right now doesn't require those things? You feel excused in living a halfway Christianity because you're not full time on the foreign field or in church ministry? Because you aren't one of 'those people,' you think that it's ok to cut corners? Do you think your calling is that small, that you can fulfill it without the level of preparation that I want to take you through? Shouldn't you reconsider this?"

At this point, of course, I am completely speechless. What am I supposed to say? "I guess You caught me, God. You're right. Again. I haven't realized how important this time of preparation is. I didn't realize that You really wanted this level of commitment from me. I thought that I could get away with settling for less than sold-out, whole-hearted abandoned pursuit of You." But that wouldn't even be entirely true. I did know, at least in my head. Do I really think that I can trick God into letting me just slide by? Of course not, not when I'm actually thinking about it.

In a moment, though, my thoughts shift entirely. God Himself just corrected me. Not only that, but He's willing to walk me through the process of doing it right. Not only that, but it's because he thinks that I will make it and I will be able to walk in a calling so far beyond what I could ask or think. Suddenly I'm blown away.

And that's kind of where I'm at right now. Completely helpless as I realize just how far my thinking has been from His. Broken as I realize how stupid and arrogant I've been. Broken even more as I recognize that it's completely because of His love for me that I'm even able to see my own shortcomings. Astounded over and over again as His voice comes at just the right time to correct me and save me from myself. After all, there's plenty of other people that He could be busy with. World events, all that. Then He says that He's not ashamed to be called our God, our Father, and that we matter to Him. Just like a father in the natural, every little thing we do and every little act of love brings Him such joy that He comes near when we call. Even our feeble attempts to walk in the right path, with all of our stumbles and swerves, bring a smile to His face. Isn't that what we want, anyway?

God who cares. What other people in the world can truly claim this? What god is like ours? God who cares, not only about the big picture of the world, but about every minute of our lives. God who loves enough to correct so that we can become more like Him. God who calls us His own…

"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives…if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our own good, so that we may share in His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness."

~Hebrews 12:5-11

"Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His son into our hears, crying, 'Abba! Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God."

~Galatians 4:6-7

"For it was fitting for [Jesus], for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren."

~Hebrews 2:10-11

God who speaks

Guys, God is good. Really. Insanely. Irrationally. Inconceivably. Indefinitely. Yeah.

Do you know how awesome it is that God has chosen us to not only be saved, not only to be called His children, not only to be co-heirs with Christ and with the saints, not only to be His companions for eternity, but to be His representatives here on earth and to hear His voice for our lives in the here-and-now? That's pretty awesome! I can't get over that right now. I was raised in church, and by the inestimable grace of God I've known His voice all my life. Sometimes, though, it's easy to discount the fact that you can actually hear from God and the fact that since it's God, it's going to happen. So you're surprised when you realize that something God told you actually happened…

like I was tonight.

I was "pruning" my prayer notebook - I feel like we've entered into a new season (I sure have), and so God led me to do that as kind of a symbol of the new paradigm of prayer that He's moving His people into - when I ran across my prayer journal papers from last year, and was absolutely blown away by what I found. Here's part of it, while I had been praying about ORU:

"I'm about to bring an awakening to this campus - one that will cause all previous outpourings to pale in comparison - because the time has come and I am answering the prayers of the founder, president, and all who have seen with the eye of the prophetic what I am going to do in this place. First and foremost, there will be a revolution of Christlikeness. I'm about to send My fire into the mouths of every student, faculty, and administrator associated with this campus. The power levels are being turned up. Some will even leave the school as a result of the sudden changes that I am bringing - but there must not be any bitterness or condemnation among those who stay. I am re-drawing the lines of authority, but not as much in the external as in the hidden things."

- October 3, 2006

And so it went. Page after page of promises and revelation that, in hindsight, I can see exactly where it applied to the things I walked through. His comfort, warnings, wisdom, and nearness were so evident. Every event from missions to personal struggles to family to friends was treated with such concern and love. Whether or not I listened and obeyed, His Word was there, and it's still there, waiting for me to walk it out. Isn't He wonderful? He does nothing without first revealing it to His servants, His friends (Amos 3:7).

So basically, whoever reads this, be encouraged as I have been in the last few days. God's still on the throne, we're still His kids, and He's still shaping us into the glorious and victorious Bride that He has called us to be, both corporately and individually. His fire is here, it's growing, and it's awesome.

"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened iwht power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in you rhearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

-Ephesians 4:14-21

WELCOME!

We're glad you're here this year! This page contains everything you need to know about the process of ORU Missions, and a place to connect with each team. Let us know if you need anything. We're excited for what God will do in your life this spring break and summer!

9-8-07 6:54

Why am I awake at this time? oh well. it's fun.

Wednesday night starts Rosh Hashanah. I've never paid that much attention to it before, but for some reason this year it means a lot to me. I have been doing research on the customs and beliefs surrounding it in Jewish culture, and it's strikingly like the season that I've been in with God and didn't even think about it. Weird. But God's good like that. He takes us from understanding to revelation to deeper understanding…and so on and so forth. Rosh Hashanah is basically about judgement; judging yourself in the days prior, the month of Elul, during a time of drawing close to God and setting yourself apart for Him. On Rosh Hashanah, according to tradition, God will judge the world. As individuals, we must present ourselves before the King to hear His decision. It's also about establishing the Kingship of God, setting Him as the ruler of our lives and worshiping Him as the King of the Universe. Then come the Days of Awe, when we recognize the awesome presence of God and seek His favor while He may be found, and then Yom Kippur…the day of atonement, God's day, when our next year of life is sealed. Kind of cool, if you ask me.

back to school part 2

I only posted once in August - wow. Oh my, time is a funny thing, isn't it? Anyway, I really feel like God has me in a learning season…

…and I like it.

Most of the time.

I love, with all of everything that I could possibly love with, watching God move. It's so cool - because He does things that absolutely NO ONE else could do. Like establish a triumphant Church by the leadership of the Holy Spirit, a truly global network before the world could conceive of such a thing. Like take lots of whiny, weak people and use them to accomplish His eternal purposes in the earth. Like the fact that I've been able to see His hand in my life, changing me and making me more like Him. That's ridiculously awesome.

I'm not so keen on some of the things that seem to go along with transition. Hurts. Leaving behind some things, and having to trust that God will step up to the plate and fill the void. Questions. Wondering why things happened the way they did. Wondering what people were thinking. Wondering what else is going to have to change. Searching your own heart and asking God to search it for you. Wondering how it is possible to be so pained and so excited at the same time. Wondering if God always feels this way.

There's plenty of reasons for this post. If you know me, you probably know what at least some of them are. If you don't, that's ok. The point remains the same: God's taking His church through a radical time of transition, and absolutely everybody is going to be affected by that. Everybody. In the church, out of the church, saved, lost, obedient, rebellious, your life is about to change, if it hasn't already.

And it's a good thing.

Because the way you view God is the way you view life. And if suddenly life takes some twists and turns, it challenges the way you view God and His plan. This allows you to reevaluate your own relationship with God, and to ensure that you are not just living on another person's faith - you must have your own. You can't live on someone else's revelation forever. Unless God is real to you, eventually you're going to run into something that will cause you to give Him up. It's that simple.

So would you still hold on to what you know to be true, that God is good and that He's coming with His glory, if things seemed to get worse before they got better? If you were to ask many more questions before you got any answers, would you still expect the answers?

These are all good questions to ask, and to settle in your heart simply because you and I don't know everything and we don't see everything that's coming. But at the same time, I know in my spirit that we're not going to have to wait much longer. God is awakening His people, and forming for Himself a mature bride who will look into His face, and out of love for Him become His image and ambassador to the world. He's shaking things up, but the things that cannot be shaken are the things that are eternal.

A few mindsets that God's been changing in me:

• You're never responsible for other people's actions, only your own. God will never judge you based on what other people do, but He alone judges the heart. My heart.
• If you're walking in obedience, and if you're passionately seeking God's desire for your life, then He will take you where He wants you to go. You will never be able to get there on your own - and even if you were to get there, you wouldn't be able to stay because you wouldn't have the character or the maturity.
• When God leads you, it sometimes looks like you're going in circles. Maybe you are - it's called training. But when you arrive, you'll not only have the authority to speak but you'll have something to say.
• "God will always fulfill His promises in your life, but He's not obligated to fulfill your potential."
• God's Word in your life is the seed, containing the power to perform itself. You don't have to make it happen. All you have to do is ensure that your heart is in the right condition to receive the implanted word.
• One of the prime conditions for God to use you is availability. Availability means having nothing in life that holds you back from instantly obeying God. It means that you are learning to say, just as Jesus did, that "the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me." That's the kind of undivided devotion that He deserves.
• Live your life as if every decision that you make will affect a generation of people that you may never see (because it's true). If you do that, you will learn to seek God's heart for others and press in for His promises at any cost to yourself even if they seemingly don't benefit you. That's the way you will truly enter into the fullness of His purpose for your life, because you will enter into a whole new realm of understanding His passion and sacrificial love.