Oh, hey there.

After a break, here we are, back at the blog.
Back at Deuteronomy 4:29 staring me in the face, urging me to seek after God with all that I am, and I will find Him.
Reading that makes me STOKED.

I’m picking up a book called ‘Crazy Love’ by Francis Chan, and I’m going to blog about it in the next few posts from me. If you’d like to join the ride in a more intimate way, pick up the book! It’s fantastic. I’m learning so much, and I think this is one of those books where you experience something as you read it…it’s awesome.

As for October 6th, 2010, I’ve been thinking about a lyric.
“For I am such a man, seized by the power of a great perfection.”
Not gonna lie, at first, I thought I heard ’perfection’ as ‘affection’. Fortunately, they’re both relevant.

God is love.
Love is a great affection.
Have you been seized by His love, by His affection?
God is perfect.
He is perfection.
His love is perfect.
Have you been stopped in awe by His perfection? By God Himself?

No matter how you word it, it’s a pretty awesome concept to ponder.
I’ll leave that with you, it’s from “Run in the Night” by Jars of Clay, and next time God’s crazy, consuming love for us will be the topic of choice!
“For by You I can run in the night.”

allieinawe

Stop Praying

That’s the name of the first chapter of the book I’m reading by Francis Chan. On the first page, he challenged me to stop praying for a moment.

Before you decide to argue with me, I should clarify. The book says “to take a long, hard good look at Him before you speak another word…”. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but I definitely talk at God too much. Reading the bible and really discovering who God is made me hold my tongue in His presence. Man, what a powerful, holy, loving, eternal,all-knowing God we have the privilege to worship and call Father. Seriously, this is important. Before rushing into prayer with words, sit in awe of Him. Make your time with God really about God for once, not about your issues. Jeremiah 2:19 says: “‘Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the LORD your God and have no awe of me,’ declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.” That woke me up.

Not to say that you shouldn’t tell God what’s on your heart; your struggles, fears, doubts and stories. That’s all good too. I’m talking about really making an effort to realize who God is before we ask Him for anything. If we know who He is, we understand that if we ask Him for something He will do what’s best for us and give us the desires of our hearts as we seek His face. When we describe our problems as if they’re too big for God, we’re not believing that He is all-powerful. Psalm 145:3 says: “Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.” Your Heavenly Father knows everything about you, take some time to get to know Him.

My challenge to you: Learn as much about Him and then pray.

The bible is a wonderful place to start. I’m reading Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love, and it’s really helping me grow. Here’s the link for his video about God’s greatness, and here’s a link to Louie Giglio’s take on the matter. I found that the more I read about our awesome God, the more I’m in awe of Him. Hebrews 12:28 says: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe…” In your prayer, your worship, your day to day lives this summer, get to know Him

allieinawe

Psalm 36:5-6

Psalm 36: 5-6 “God’s love is meteoric, His loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, His verdicts oceanic.
Yet in His largeness nothing gets lost; Not a man, not a mouse, Slips through the cracks.”

Often times we tend to look at our problems as huge in our own eyes, yet not quite big enough for the world. We hear of things much worse than our little personal problem, and feel bad for worrying so much about something so minute when compared with the world’s issues. I have to ask though, why? “Yet in His largeness nothing gets lost.” If we believe this is true, can we not say that our problems, no matter how insignificant in the light of someone else’s problem, is significant to God? Nothing gets lost. Your problem doesn’t escape Him, and isn’t too small for Him to notice. If even a mouse is kept from slipping from His knowledge, how could He ever overlook what you’re going through? So call out to Him! Stop thinking that your problem is a petty or a silly thing, because if it’s important to you, you can bet that it’s important to God. In Jeremiah 31:20 it says, “Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son, my child in whom I take pleasure! Every time I mention his name, my heart bursts with longing for him! Everything in me cries out for him. Softly and tenderly I wait for him.’ God’s Decree.” Read this passage again, and this time insert your name in the opening phrase, replacing Ephraim. If God is longing for you, crying out for you, then He wants to hear about the day-to-day struggles that you go through. We so often don’t cry out to God, and we overlook the power that comes from doing so. All of this is a trick, keeping our problems from God. Our problems aren’t that big of a deal, and we don’t want to complain or try to draw attention to ourselves. So we simply face our situation and learn how to accommodate it. If we only knew what would happen if we could change our attitudes, and fix this broken mentality. We’re meant to cry out to God with our problems, both big and small. Countless times throughout the Bible breakthroughs and victory’s came because people cried out to God. Nothing will change or get better if we don’t admit we need something fixed. Nothing will be transformed if we don’t cry out and call upon the name of the Lord. What would happen? What would happen if we cried out with every situation and circumstance in our lives? Breakthroughs? Deliverance? Victory? All I can tell you is that my God promises that He will hear us when we call, so why don’t we try and see how He answers.

marquelle

Time to change

I had a bit of a ‘revelation’ or a ‘big change’ in my life two days ago.
Let me break it down.

I watched this movie called ‘Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ and it destroyed me. The end frame is a slow zooming out of way too many striped outfits the Jews were forced to wear while in the concentration camps, all left in an empty room because moments before, they all had died in a room with poison showers. They were innocent people who didn’t do anything, but were forced into short lives of hard labor, seperation from loved ones, and painful deaths. Of course I’m referring to the Holocaust. This isn’t the first time this kind of ‘revelation’ has happened for me, but this time around, I’m serious about doing something about the fact that there are 27 million people in slavery today. I’m serious about doing something about sex trafficking, child soldiers, abuse and all awful, terrible human deeds that exist in the world. My heart broke for all of those people who died in the Holocaust…the Pavol in the movie was someone’s grandfather…the little boy was someone’s son, someone’s brother…it just killed me. Terrible, terrible things happened in the Holocaust.

Here in North America, we are so blessed. Let’s kill the ignorance in our part of the world that because we’re fine and dandy, the rest of the world doesn’t exist or is just fine too. I plan on doing something about all the evil in the world today. The purpose of this post is to encourage you all to put into action all those ideas you’ve been thinking about doing to help out. DO IT. Afraid? Guys, our God is HUGE. He can deal with all of this. Let’s be lights in this world that has too much darkness in it. I’ll be honest here, I had a moment of total doubt at the end of that movie. I doubted that God cared about the world, I mean, there’s an overwhelming amount of badness out there. BUT, reading the Word, one can’t help but smile at how much God loves us…how much He loves this broken world, and how much He loves to fix us. Let’s go into the world, into our neighborhoods, into our schools and workplaces, and shine so much of God’s love and light that people can’t ignore it, or Him.

Some inspiration from Joan of Arc: “I am not afraid…I was born to do this.”

(My favorite organization is NotForSale, you can check them out here.)

allieinawe

“I love you, if…”

It’s quite nice outside, but I wanted to talk a little bit about something that’s been on my mind. It’s nothing new, but I love thinking about the word…unconditional.

I have some strange relationships in my life, a couple of them based on the idea of “I love you, if…” and whatever follows. It’s stressful, exhausting and often just plain sad. I used to try changing who I was to try and earn love, but that’s not the answer. I never measured up, I tried to figure out what the big secret was to being loved. I suppose I want to say that this is just one of those moments where I treasure the knowledge that God loves me just… ’cause. I mean, He’d rather die than be without us, and He did die. I just love that there isn’t anything I need to do to earn God’s love. He gives it freely.

I guess I’m just dumbfounded lately by the word ‘unconditional’. It means: “not limited by conditions or limitations; absolute.” That’s God’s love for us, unlimited, unchanging, unfailing, absolute. God isn’t limited by anything and doesn’t place conditions on His love; isn’t that awesome? I’m so thankful we don’t have to earn God’s love; man, that’d be a lost cause. There isn’t anything I can do to make Him love me more or less, and that’s comforting. I like this: “The Spirit reminds us that we’re God’s children and loved unconditionally.” (Relevant)

It’s really cool to apply it to my own life too. If I’m supposed to be like Christ, I need to love unconditionally too. Love everyone in my life; the broken, the seemingly perfect, the annoying, the smart, the ones who need help, the ones who don’t even like me. Unconditionally…

Just a last thought: “When you hug a dirty child without recoiling, you’re doing what God does to us. We’re dirty, but He loves us anyway. That’s unconditional love. That’s grace.” (read it all here)

allieinawe

PLEASE offend me…. Go ahead! :-)

I don’t know about you, but I hate being blamed or accused of something I did wrong.  Especially when you’re accused of something you didn’t do.  Know what I’m talking about?  Maybe it’s my insecurity but it just makes my blood boil.

I was reading through Acts chapter 3 again today and had a thought come to me.   Yes, I know it’s rare!  ha ha.. I’m not sure how to really put what I’m thinking into words.  It’s too early in the morning and I’ve only had one cup of coffee but I’ll do my best.

Jesus and his disciples were not afraid to just “tell it like it is.”  Acts 3 is the story of a crippled man being healed.  The man is obviously ecstatic and follows Peter and John into the temple.  Everyone in the temple recognizes this man who usually sits outside the gates and begs.  It creates a huge buzz and everyone comes around to see and hear about what has just happened.  So Peter and John explain… and they don’t hold back any punches.

Acts 3:12-15 (AMP) 12 And Peter, seeing it, answered the people, You men of Israel, why are you so surprised and wondering at this? Why do you keep staring at us, as though by our [own individual] power or [active] piety we had made this man [able] to walk?13 The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified His Servant andSon Jesus [doing Him this honor], Whom you indeed delivered up and denied and rejected and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to let Him go. 14 But you denied and rejected and disowned the Pure and Holy, the Just and Blameless One, and demanded [the pardon of] a murderer to be granted to you.15 But you killed the very Source (the Author) of life, Whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses.

Basically he just calls them out.  He didn’t coat it with sugar.  Peter essentially says, “you’re a bunch of murderers.  You messed up!  You killed the very one who came to save you.”

I think that if many pastors today were in Peter’s position they would say it much differently.  I mean, we wouldn’t want to offend anyone.   We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or damage anyone’s self esteem right? It would seem in this passage that Peter and John weren’t really all that concerned about hurting people’s feelings.

Maybe I’m just a freak, but honestly, I like someone to just tell me like it is.  Just be straight with me.  Challenge me!  Make me think!  Make me uncomfortable!  Make me squirm!  Give me the opportunity to have anguish over the garbage in my life.  Don’t sugar coat it!  Don’t spin it around and use psycho babble so as not to offend me. PLEASE…. Offend me!  Does it make me uncomfortable?  Yes!  Do I always feel encouraged?  No… and that’s ok. At times I need time to feel the pain of discipline.  I need time to lament!  Give me that space of tension to really deal with my issues!  PLEASE!

The more  I work with youth the more I realize they want it straight.  They really don’t mind black and white.  I can’t tell you how many youth have come to me and thanked me for just speaking it straight.  A few have mentioned that no one in their life calls them out (including parents).   They aren’t afraid of the truth.  I think part of the reason the millennials are so insecure is because they really have no frame of reference to judge themselves by.  They really don’t have any sense of who they are and what is right and wrong because according to culture and many times even the church, right and wrong are various shades of grey.

I’m not saying we should go around purposely looking to offend and discourage but I think there are times when we just need to hear the truth.   Look at verse 17.  Peter says, “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance [not aware of what you were doing], as did your rulers also.”

He didn’t just call them out and leave it there.  He gave an opportunity to be made right.  He had a “way out.”

Look at verse 19

“So repent (change your mind and purpose); turn aroundand return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that times of refreshing (of recovering from the effects of heat, of reviving with fresh air) may come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And that He may send [to you] the Christ (the Messiah), Who before was designated and appointed for you–even Jesus,”

Peter made them face the facts.  ”Yes, you screwed up, but here’s your opportunity to be made right.”

I don’t think we need to be afraid to call people out on their “junk.”  We do it in love and we do it with a way of escape.  That escape is the cross of Jesus Christ.

Let’s stop being glorified Dr. Phil’s and try to be more like Peter, John, Paul and our Lord Jesus!  :-)

I Love The Church!

I have been reading over and studying through Acts 2:37 – 47. This passage is no doubt familiar to anyone that has been a believer for very long.  Peter has just preached to the crowd.  Yes… he preached.  He preached the gospel and he preached it through the power of the Holy Spirit that he had just received.  There was passion and conviction with every word he spoke.  Verse 37 says that after he was done preaching that Peter’s words, “pierced their hearts.”

I hear from some post-modern/emergents that we don’t need preaching anymore.  We should sit around in small groups and just “share” and “reflect” on scripture.  Some would say that preaching is “old fashioned”   or “irrelevant” for culture today.  I beg to differ.  I believe preaching is still relevant.  It may be communicated using modern day tools, illustrations, and methods but preaching still has a place.

Another thing I often hear is that “church isn’t really that important.  It’s all about relationship and it doesn’t matter if you go to church.”  If you look at verse 46 in Acts, it’s very clear that they still went to the Temple or “church.”  And it wasn’t just once a week.  It was daily.  The temple STILL had a place.  Even though they had come into a new covenant with Jesus they didn’t dismiss the need for corporate worship at the temple.  There was still something powerful about going to the temple and worshipping God TOGETHER.  Not only that, but we see that 3000 people had just been saved in one day.  I may be reading into things here a bit, but I would imagine many more thousands came to Christ over the next while.  Let’s even be conservative and say that there were 5000 in that starting church.  That’s a big church.  I hear people tear down the concept of mega churches.  I think the early church was our first working model of the mega church.  It was awesome!  They worshipped together each day at the temple.  Because they were so large a number they also met in homes and shared meals together.  I think the need for accountability and intimacy was there and so they met in smaller groups as well.  But they were a BIG church and it was an effective church.  It says that each day the Lord was adding to the fellowship those that were being saved!

I know that church can sometimes feel irrelevant.  Maybe you would say it’s a bit “boring.”  I agree!  It can be from time to time.  So can life.  So can school. So can our careers or jobs.  Does that mean we just quit?  Does that mean it’s acceptable to have a bad attitude towards those things?  I would think not.  It just means we need to do something to either shake ourselves up or shake up the surroundings around us.

I love the church!  I love it at it’s worst and I love it when it’s at it’s best.  Why?  Because it’s a family.  The church contains my adopted brothers and sisters and I love them dearly!  I go to church because I want to be part of the experience that happens when we worship and seek the Lord together.  It’s beautiful!   It may not always be what I “want” or even totally relate to, but I love it because I know there is someone in the building who is being encouraged.  I know there is someone who is being set free.  I know there is someone who is finding faith in Jesus for the very first time.  Despite what I necessarily relate with or not, I am part of a movement that is bigger than myself and it’s beautiful and ugly all at the same time and I love it!  :-)

Acts 2:42-47 (AMP)

42 And they steadfastly persevered, devoting themselves constantly to the instruction and fellowship of the apostles, to the breaking of bread [including the Lord’s Supper] and prayers.43 And a sense of awe (reverential fear) came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were performed through the apostles (the special messengers).44 And all who believed (who adhered to and trusted in and relied on Jesus Christ) were united and [together] they had everything in common;45 And they sold their possessions (both their landed property and their movable goods) and distributed the price among all, according as any had need.46 And day after day they regularly assembled in the temple with united purpose, and in their homes they broke bread [including the Lord’s Supper]. They partook of their food with gladness and simplicity and generous hearts,47 Constantly praising God and being in favor and goodwill with all the people; and the Lord kept adding [to their number] daily those who were being saved [from spiritual death].

The Source

Bonjour Bonjour!

How’s it going?? Well, I’m pretty new to this whole blogging thing, so you will have to bear with me for a while. Haha

So, in math class the other day, I was just writing down some thoughts, and I thought I would elaborate here

There is no love greater than the love God offers us. There are people that strive to reach this goal, this level of happiness that they believe that they could achieve in material possessions, or success, or relationships. They think “If I could just get this car, or this much more money, or these people to accept me, THEN my life would be satisfying.” I used to think like this too! The truth is, even though they may actually accomplish these things, they won’t settle. They’ll discover that those things weren’t actually satisfying, keep setting higher goals, yet never actually find what they were looking for.

Hmm, could it be possible that they are really looking for His love? That they know it’s out there, they’re just looking in the wrong places? Since God is the giver of every good thing, could they be looking at these things as a substitute without going to the Source, the one who designed these things in the first place? He’s the source of all life, all hope!! Let’s let our lives point to Him so they can discover the love that we have found!

Because, people are like lamps. (Haha, I apologize for the corny analogy!)

Lamps need to be plugged in to a power source, right? Without electricity, the lamp may as well be broken. It’s useless. But when you plug it in, it becomes vibrant with light, and useful in every way!

In the same way, when we plug into God, submit to His will, and let His electricity flow through us, we become this vessel that shines brightly for Him. His joy floods in and He uses us for His purposes! What a crazy, awesome, amazing privilege! He chooses US! And all we have to do is say yes! As Romans 12:1b says, “Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”

Saying yes to God radically transformed my life! Wherever you are today, make the choice to surrender and trust wherever God brings you. :) He promises He won’t let you down!

~Romans 10:11 (ncv)

As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.”

“I WANT that!”

I don’t know about you, but if someone has a gift or something special for me, I want it.  I can’t wait to unwrap it. I’m like a little child Christmas morning, eager with anticipation and full of wonder at what is in this beautifully wrapped box.

God has so much for us.  He has beautifully wrapped presents that are waiting to be opened.  I guess I wonder how often we look under the tree.  It’s difficult to be “as a child” again isn’t it?

Reading through Acts always energizes me.  :-)  I love this next passage of scripture in Acts 2:17-21.  There is so much tension isn’t there.  I mean one minute it’s talking about empowering men and women and the next it’s talking about blood, fire and clouds of smoke.  The Bible is full of this tension that is delicate, beautiful and full of wonder.   Let’s look at it.

17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, God declares, that I will pour out of My Spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [telling forth the divine counsels] and your young men shall see visions (divinely granted appearances), and your old men shall dream [divinely suggested] dreams.18 Yes, and on My menservants also and on My maidservants in those days I will pour out of My Spirit, andthey shall prophesy [telling forth the divine counsels and predicting future events pertaining especially to God’s kingdom].19 And I will show wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and smoking vapor;20 The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the obvious day of the Lord comes–that great and notable andconspicuous and renowned [day].21 And it shall be that whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord [invoking, adoring, and worshiping the Lord--Christ] shall be saved.

When my daughter Kerrington was younger she would say, “I want that!”,  whenever an enticing commercial came on TV marketing some new fangled toy or doll.  

Well, “I want that!”  I want EVERYTHING God has for me.  I’m not sure when the church stopped looking under the tree but I want my sons and daughter to prophesy!  I want to see visions, and I want to dream divinely suggested dreams.  I want God to pour His Spirit with such power that our young men and women are predicting future events pertaining to God’s kingdom.  I WANT THAT!

This promise is for US, NOW…  in this PLACE!

I have been praying this passage over my life.  I have been praying that God would allow me to see visions, to dream divinely inspired dreams, and to prophesy.  And you know what?  I can sense something stirring in me. We only get what we go after.  We can only receive what we open our hands to hold.  I am asking that God show me ALL the gifts under the tree and that I’d have the courage to open the box!  :-)   My prayer is that you would too!

Pastor Tony

Off Day

For me, today was an off day. Nothing seemed to be working, commitments clashed; one of those days where even your clothes don’t seem to fit right. Not a bad day, just…off.

What put me off this afternoon is something I think a lot of us have dealt with. I heard someone talking about me, and not in a kind way, who didn’t know I was a few feet behind them. Right off the bat, I’d like to say that I don’t put a huge value on what my peers think of me. What God thinks of me? What my youth pastor thinks of me? What my mom thinks of me? Yes, to all of those. My peers don’t make the list. As a sidenote, I don’t suggest looking for validation among your peers, it never satisfies.

I’m so glad and thankful that God delights himself in me. Man, I’d be prettty messed up if I didn’t have Him to run to when this hurt creeps into my life. It says this in psalm 149:4; For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. That’s what I’m sticking to, God taking delight in me and loving me.

I want to encourage anyone on their ‘off’ days. Maybe yours is today too, although I certainly hope not. If that’s the case, take heart! We have an all-powerful God who loves us, gave us eternal life with/through Jesus, and a new day of opportunity comes with the dawn. Although, something that helps me get through the off-ness, are the verses I post on my wall in my room. I have philippians 4:11 as a challenge, I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. A good one to ponder. Another one is psalm 68:3, But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. That’s an energy booster during the blah days; I can be happy and joyful before God! That’s a very cool thought, and it’s helped me through off days, maybe it’ll help you On the topic of talking about other people, I leave you with proverbs 16:28; A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends. Speaks for itself. I’ll elaborate on the topic another time, I definitely have a few thoughts on the matter!

I encourage you to post verses or encouraging quotes on your walls or places you’ll see them around your house/workplace. It’s helped me, it may help you out in a time when you’re feeling down. On off days, I look to God and I want to stress how much that helps! Readers: God cares; more than we know. He cares about the hurt, the little jabs people say that we want to pretend don’t hurt to seem unfazed or tough. Being honest with my Creator helped me with what happened today and He’s certainly interested in your hurt. Off day, amazing God. I’m so thankful.

1 Peter 3:11-ish:

Whoever wants to embrace life
      and see the day fill up with good,
   Here’s what you do:
      Say nothing evil or hurtful;
   Snub evil and cultivate good;
      run after peace for all you’re worth.
   God looks on all this with approval,
      listening and responding well to what he’s asked;
   But he turns his back
      on those who do evil things.