"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves...In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you were also included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession, to the praise of his glory." ~ Ephesians 1:4-6,11-14.
The DTS just came back from a week in Melbourne where we joined with several other Australian DTS's and listened to Ben Fitzgerald and Todd White tell testimonies and teach on evangelism.
It was so crazy because what they were saying was so challenging but confirmed a lot of what had been rumbling around in my head this past month already.
I realized that so often I come to God and beg him to do something or another. When really, I am royalty! I am a daughter of the King who has been given ALL of the Holy Spirit to do the good works he planned in advance for me to do! I can declare anything and it will happen! As long as it is in line with God's character and plan, nothing is impossible! But all of the impossible things that are made possible through God are just a by product of knowing my identity and being in relationship with my Father.
As Christians, we have lingo that we use but don't necessarily know where it came from or whether it is even biblical! Let me give you an example: "Feeling led to pray for someone." It is true that God can draw you to certain people or give you a word for a specific person...but we are CALLED to share God's love with ALL people. We are not supposed to be feelings-driven. Because if we only ever talk to the people we 'feel' like talking to, we are gonna miss a thousand people before we ever feel like it! Matthew 28:18-20 is our calling. It doesn't say, "Go into all the world and make disciples when you feel like it." No! It says "Go!" The Holy Spirit is never too tired or too busy for anybody. He's always ready to go. And if I truly believe that God is my strength when I am weak, then nothing should stop me from sharing love even if I am tired or in a rush. I have no excuse. The only time I have an excuse to not share love with someone is if God didn't die for them so they could know him. ...which is never.
MAN! I'm so encouraged! This is the life we get to live guys!! This is the life we, as people who call ourselves followers of Christ, are supposed to live! How radical! How exciting! How absolutely not boring! Yeah, it's intimidating...but if God is the biggest being in the universe, and he lives in me...nothing is scary! God has already won! And his children need to know! I personally need to be better at this. God is so gracious. And faithful.
In other news, I leave for outreach in 2 weeks! My team and I are off to the Philippines for two months to share this amazing love. Here we are:
Much love!
Thank you for all your support.
xoxo