Archive for February, 2010

Jan. 12—Haiti, 7.0;  Feb. 26—Okinawa, 6.9;  Feb. 27—Chile, 8.8.  Earthquakes—the earth is shaking. 

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.   (Mark 13:8)

³⁷When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:  ³⁸“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”  ”Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  ³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” ⁴⁰“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”  (Luke 19, NIV)

God wants us to worship Him.  He created us to worship Him.  So, if the Earth is shaking and quaking, could it possibly be that mankind is not worshiping enough?  Could it be possible that these are the “signs of the time” that are recorded in scripture?  You cannot ignore that there is something significant going on in the Earth.  And, not only in a physical sense, but a spiritual one as well. 

If you’ve been to a Hillside service the past few weeks, you know what I’m talking about.  There’s a power; there’s an excitement.  There’s more than what we’ve experienced in the past.  You don’t want to miss what is yet to come.  Allow God to shake your world!

Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have! Matthew 6:22-23 Message Bible

This is a poem I wrote tonight. I haven’t written a poem in a long time, but tonight I felt like doing so.

I SAW

I saw your questioning look as someone reached out a kind hand

I saw the fear, fear from times past

and I prayed God would show you how to feel love again

I saw the need

the need to know you were wanted

and I prayed God would let me plant a seed

I saw the desire

the desire to understand more, to feel more

and I prayed for your heart to be set on fire

I saw the secrets you hid so well

the secrets you didn’t want me to know

and I understood why you fell

I saw the pain

the pain ever so deep, ever so strong

and I prayed for his Spirit to fall on you like rain

I saw the scars, scars of your past

the ones you covered with anger

and I prayed they would be your last

I saw the tears

the tears that fell down your cheek

and I prayed you would find the answers you seek

I saw God today

I saw Him wrap His arms around you

I saw Him reach out and touch your heart

I saw Him through your eyes

Through your eyes God showed me the fear

Through your eyes God showed me the need

Through your eyes God showed me the desire

Through your eyes God showed me the secrets

Through your eyes God showed me the pain

Through your eyes God showed me the scars

Through your eyes God showed me the tears

And I prayed for you

I prayed you also saw Him

I prayed you saw Him through my eyes.

Hillside Preview February 25th!

Tonight I made a comment on facebook about my new workout sessions. It probably isn’t something the young people can relate to, but I commented on how good it felt each time I do it. You see, our bodies are not meant to be sedentary. We were made to work and move around. In the same way, our Spirits were not made to be lethargic. We are made to constantly feed our Spirits and to Worship Him in all we do. As I was studying this, I ran across this letter in Colossians from Paul. The letter reminded me of Hillside and all the wonderful things I am hearing about your services! You have all of HPC behind you and we are so excited for what God is doing in your lives! Finish the race strong! We love you! I have enclosed the entire letter, although lengthy, because I feel it really encompasses the support you have behind you and how much we all support your lives!

Colossians 1

^1-2I, Paul, have been sent on special assignment by Christ as part of God’s master plan. Together with my friend Timothy, I greet the Christians and stalwart followers of Christ who live in Colosse. May everything good from God our Father be yours!

Working in His Orchard

^3-5Our prayers for you are always spilling over into thanksgivings. We can’t quit thanking God our Father and Jesus our Messiah for you! We keep getting reports on your steady faith in Christ, our Jesus, and the love you continuously extend to all Christians. The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope.

^5-8The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn’t diminish or weaken over time. It’s the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more. It’s as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He’s the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.

^9-12Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven’t stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. We pray that you’ll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn how to do your work. We pray that you’ll have the strength to stick it out over the long haul—not the grim strength of gritting your teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures the unendurable and spills over into joy, thanking the Father who makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful that he has for us.

^13-14God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.

Christ Holds It All Together

^15-18We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.

^18-20He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so roomy, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.

^21-23You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God’s side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don’t walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted. There is no other Message—just this one. Every creature under heaven gets this same Message. I, Paul, am a messenger of this Message.

^24-25I want you to know how glad I am that it’s me sitting here in this jail and not you. There’s a lot of suffering to be entered into in this world—the kind of suffering Christ takes on. I welcome the chance to take my share in the church’s part of that suffering. When I became a servant in this church, I experienced this suffering as a sheer gift, God’s way of helping me serve you, laying out the whole truth.

^26-29This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me.

Wow, God is truly moving during our Hillside services.  I want to encourage you — do not let what God is doing in your life be limited to Thursday nights at 7pm during Hillside.  Allow Him to transform your heart daily.  I believe God is changing our hearts to love Him wholeheartedly, and in this wholehearted pursuit, we will find that nothing matters outside of Him.  Thank you so much for coming last night with hunger and passion for Him.  THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!!

John and I are enjoying watching the Winter Olympics.  My favorite is the figure skating; his favorite is the downhill jump.  But, we have watched some in all the sports since they came on this year.  I am not athletic, so it just amazes me to watch these athletes perform such feats.  Most of them have trained for this event since they were very young.  A report told of one young man being on skis since the age of two.  What did his parents do?  Put him on the slopes as soon as he started walking?  LOL

There are coaches; there are lessons; there are daily routines that must be accomplished in order for these athletes to reach their goals.  A lot of discipline must be in place.  And, it all comes down to a few minutes to perform.  The performances are judged in the hands of a few people.  Wow, talk about your life being put under a microscope!  And, some events come down to a tenth of a second.   Every move they make counts!

What if we took our spiritual life as seriously as these athletes take their Olympic ambitions?  What if we had a daily regimen of prayer, reading and meditating on the Word?  What if we had a daily exercise of using our “hands and feet” for Christ’s kingdom?  We’re in a race called LIFE.  We are headed towards a goal, and as a Christian, that should be to win the prize of being with God in a heavenly kingdom.  Our ultimate prize is eternal life with Him!  The Olympic gold pales in comparison to what those “streets of gold” will look like.  Let’s run this race with endurance and excellence where those around us will know that we are in training for something bigger than we have right now!

“Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.”   (1 Corinthians 9: 25 NIV)

It’s sad to say, but in the church we don’t teach youth how to have godly, Christ-like relationships or marriages. We just say, “Don’t have sex before you are married” and hope that will solve all your relationship problems. That could be why divorce is just as high in the church as outside. So, in order to help solve this problem, here are some things I have learned through life, mistakes, and wise people of God about biblical relationships and marriage that I try to live by:

~ Love like Christ loves

~ If you are not dating to find the person you want to be with for the rest of your life, then you shouldn’t be dating. Don’t date just to date.

~ Relationships are not about striving and struggling to see who has the most power and authority or who is in control. It is about serving, loving, and giving your life away for that person. In your weakness, the relationship is made strong. Love them and do it as if you were doing it to Jesus Christ himself.

~ If anyone of the opposite sex is more important than the person you are dating, then you probably shouldn’t be with them.

~ No friendship of the opposite sex is worth losing the person you are going to be with forever.

~ Always ask for forgiveness and humble yourself when in an argument, whether you think you are guilty or not.

~ Never speak in anger.  Agree to take time to cool off and address the situation then.

~ Never publically correct or contradict something they say. If there is an issue, then discuss it in private and in a humble Christ-like manner.

~ Never say or do anything with a friend of the opposite sex that you wouldn’t do if your boyfriend or girlfriend were standing there.

~ Avoid talking to anyone of the opposite sex that makes your girlfriend or boyfriend jealous for any reason. I would say keep distance from anyone of the opposite sex altogether if you already have someone.

~ No conversation with someone of the opposite sex is worth putting even one little seed of doubt in the person you are with or losing that person.

~ Fill them with compliments. They don’t know how you feel about them even if you think they do, or even if you just told them how special they are yesterday. Today is a new day, and they need to hear it again — several times a day. They need to be constantly lifted up and told that you are proud of them for the things in their life that they do. They don’t know you love them and are proud of them just because you think it in your mind. Speak it over them.

~ To all the guys, don’t worry about what all your friends will think about how you tell your girlfriend how special she is or how devoted you are to them.

~ To all the guys, it’s not your partner’s job after you get married to take care of the kids, pick up everything, and take care of the house. That’s your responsibility to share with her. Spend time with her, help her, pay attention to her and love her. Once you are married, it is your responsibility to love, honor, and act biblically toward her regardless of how she acts or how you feel about her in that season of your life.

~ If you tell them that they are doing something that hurts you, and they continually do it anyway and never try to change, then they don’t care much about you. Let those people go.

~ Realize they are not the only one with faults; you have just as many, if not more.

~ Listen to their problems, listen to what they say. People say what they think and mean. People usually joke about what they are insecure about. Listen and pay attention, and they will tell you what they are insecure about and fill those insecurities with encouragement.

~ Let little things go. Don’t stress little problems; it’s not worth fighting over. Talk about the things that hurt you and them. Then, don’t do those things anymore.

~ Find happiness in making them happy. True happiness is when you give up what you want and start working to make the person you love happy.

~ Relationships are hard work, so work hard to make the other person happy. If they do the same, you will have a good, long lasting relationship.

If you will take these things and apply them, your relationships will strengthen and grow. I pray that God will re-establish biblical marriage and relationships in the body of Christ, and end the plague of selfishness and divorce that is in the church.

Hey guys!  We are going to The Place this weekend for their Josiah Generation gathering.  I hope all of you can join us.  We will leave the church Saturday at 2:00pm and return that night.  Please see Rana for all the details.  Don’t miss this trip — it’s going to be AWESOME!!

Check it out!

http://www.theplaceky.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=80&Itemid=41

Friday night, my husband was out and I was home with the girls. In the winter, we like to have a fire burning in our house, but I don’t really have much to do with it. My husband usually builds it and keeps it going for us. The girls and I were watching a movie and Bekah noticed the fire had died. She asked me if I could get it going again. I said I would try and proceeded to poke it and put some more sticks in there. For a minute, it did come back up, and then after a little while, it died again. Once again, Bekah noted to me that it had died. I said that I supposed we would have to do without it unless God wanted to bring it back for us. In just a couple of minutes, Bekah excitedly yelled, “Look Mom! God gave us a fire!” Sure enough, we had a beautiful and  big fire again that lasted until long after we went to bed. I can’t honestly say I prayed for God to bring that fire back. I made my statement without even asking if He would. Bekah asked though; she asked and she believed. You know, the Bible says we need faith like a child. I wonder what would happen if we had that kind of faith when we prayed? Needless to say, I went to bed thanking God for allowing me to teach faith to my child through something as simple as a fire. Here are the lyrics to the Jars of Clay song, entitled “Faith Like A Child”:

Dear God, surround me as I speak,
the bridges that I walk across are weak
Frustrations fill the void that I can’t solely bear.

Dear God, don’t let me fall apart
you’ve held me close to you
I have turned away and searched
for answers I can’t understand.

Chorus:
They say that I can move the mountains
And send them falling to the sea
They say that I can walk on water
If I would follow and believe with Faith Like a Child

Sometimes, when I feel miles away
and my eyes can’t see your face
I wonder if I’ve grown to lose the
recklessness I walked in light of you

Chorus

They say that I can move the mountains
And send them crashing to the sea
They say that I can walk on water
If I would follow and believe
with Faith Like a Child

They say that love can heal the broken
They say that hope can make you see
They say that faith can find a Savior
If you would follow and believe
With Faith Like a Child