he knows what he is getting into

from the worship journal: he is not surprised or shocked by even our worst mistakes. all sin is equal in his sight -and if we belong to him it is as if the sin is not even there. he doesn't even see it. our sin has a profound effect on our lives because it causes consequences, but he does not evaluate us by it. he only sees our potential for love and it thrills him. he gets butterflies in his stomach like 13 year old girl at the thought of us loving him. he is totally obsessed with us. we are each his favorite. a bride is the most important person in a good husband's life, and he wants to be our intimate life partner. each of our names are things that he whispers just because he likes the sound of it on his lips. he writes our name next to ours just so he can see what it looks like next to each other. he cries for us when our heart is broken because he wants us never to hurt even though he knows the hurt will produce a growth in us. it provides him no pleasure to see us in pain. it does provide him pleasure to see us overcome. he is totally in love with each of us, even when it is an unrequited love... and he will wait for each of us forever. he sees us as the pure potential that each of us has, nothing less.

addresses and numbers

Numbers and Addressees of all the LOL seusters taking the breaking free study in case you need them for anything.....
Your fearless....wonderful...marvelous...magnificent....humble....leaders....call, email, txt us anytime please. We love it.....
Debbie Barnes           363-0462              mombarney@comcast.net
Maria Haun                615-556-2256       mariahaun@gmail.com
Randi Sewell              865-803-1494        ramie042@gmail.com

The seusters....
Kelsey Long               660-1205                kslong21@gmail.com
Jennifer Vowell         304-6422               jennifer_vowell@yahoo.com
Nicole Merschbach    256-724-0381        niki.dollface@gmail.com
Crystal Daw              865-266-0544       cdaw87@gmail.com
Janna Laxton            679-8754               Jannamicole@gmail.com
Noel Stooksbury       223-2381               anstooksbu42@tntech.edu
Jordan Bollinger        363-6473              jbollin4@utk.edu
Christy Hannah         423-368-7836       mhannah3@utk.edu
Elizabeth Hampton    712-5192               Elizabethgail89@gmail.com
Valerie Sulfridge       809-9575              valeriemsulfridge@gmail.com
Katie Smith               850-8293              katiemsmith92@aol.com
Bailey Mays                771-2257              baileybmays@me.com
Linzy Mittleider        335-4142               ethansmommy2009@gmail.com
(Okay look this over theres a high chance a messed up somewhere it's like one in the morning haha. Love you girls)

Breaking FREE

HEY SEUSTERSSSSS!!!!! Wur my girls at from the front to back.........
This is our new study! We're only on week 2, getche book and get started! Girls I want to hear you on the blogger ya hear?? Thoughts, prayers, prayer requests.....funny pictures....anything and everything. It's a website built to help build our community! love you!

En-courage(the team devo I got to give!)

Heb 10:24:

Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as in the habit of some but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

What's this scripture saying, what's the goal here? It's saying okay let's consider how to stir up each other, not let's consider how to calm each other down and mellow out all these radical people, no it says let's consider how to stir one another. What I read you about Lacy, did that stir your heart? Did that push you and prod you to want to do something awesome like that for the Lord. That's what I'm talking about when I say stirring your heart. We should be finding ways we can stir one another up to what it says to do love and good works. So what your saying is wait a minute i don't have to be a pastor or a ______ I can  use whatever gift and desire God has given me and pursue that? And I'm not nuts if after studying the word one day I decide to surrender everything and go do what I feel called to do? No your not crazy, it makes all the sense in the world. I mean I pray because I'm still selfish and I'm still greedy, but i go God I don't wanna be, i don't wanna be, I don't make excuses for my selfishness or greediness, i don't make excuses for my lack of love. i say God will your holy spirit change me, cause at the end of my life I wanna be a girl that is just so full of love and all these people around me that got a chance and a life and a relationship with Jesus Christ because they saw Jesus in action in me. So how can we get together and figure out ways that we can stir one another up to good works. Your not alone. That's the whole point of church is for you to look around and see that your not alone. You don't just draw into yourself and depend on yourself for everything you need, that's not the way God intended. So we get together and do what is says next, encourage each other....encouraging one another not just me encouraging you but you all encouraging each other. Have you ever noticed that the word encourage has the word courage in it? I mean I always knew how to spell it. But get this what we should be doing when we get together is we should be putting courage into one other. I mean I always thought encourage was just like, i like your shirt, no encourage is would you build me up and remind me that i can do something because i have the spirit of God is inside of me. And as i gather with you That's my job, is to remind you that you of what you are able to do because the holy spirit of God is in you that might stir you up. That's what I'm doing is trying to put courage into you so that you will say you know what I'm not stupid, everyones been telling me that I'm crazy,  no I can do this thing. Just like Caleb and Joshua no they weren't crazy everyone else was, those two out of that whole nation had it right. They prob had to get together and encourage one another, we're right, our God is that mighty and he can use a piece of trash like me and change the world! In fact that's what he wants to do is take the weak and uneducated and astonish the world with them. So we need to be encouraging one another all the more as we see the day drawing near, I don't know about you but i see the day drawing near when Christ is gonna return, and the greatest thing that i can do as your coach is try to stir you up and say look God has not called us to live boring lives. No one looks at a boring life and says awww i want that....no...they wanna see people who are stirred up and who have the holy spirit working through them and say how did that common girl have this much passion and this much boldness and do this much stuff, and you can answer the holy spirit of God, you want him? You know it's because I've been forgiven because of what Jesus did on that cross for me and he died so he could put his spirit in me! And now there is crazy things that I'm doing but its not my own power i don't know what's happened to me, but i get together with these other people who are doing crazy things, and let me tell you about what they're doing and then we just keep encouraging and encouraging and putting that courage into one another. So let me close with how that chapter ends......

Heb. 10:37-39

For Yet a little while, and the coming will come and not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." For we are not of those who are shrink back and destroyed, but those who have faith and preserve their souls.

okay listen to that, what a powerful statement. look in a little while, you know the coming one, we've been talking about this, jesus is coming, he is actually gonna come. and the righteous ones, the ones who actually lived by faith, the Calebs the Joshuas,  those that said, no my God can do this through me, I can defeat this army i can have this happen, and he says if he shrinks back, he says my soul has no pleasure it him. I think to myself man i was so fired up at that time, but have i shrunk back? did i let all the other voices get in my head? some of you know there have been times in your lives when God wanted you to do something and he wanted you to go hard after it but you heard all of the discouragement, people took courage away from you. And said no you can't do this, You didn't have believers coming along side of you and praying for greater boldness greater power, you didn't have the believers coming beside you and encouraging you and saying you can do this, and don't shrink back from it. I wonder to myself have I listened to these voices? That's my prayer is that this be a place and a team where you come to find encouragement. I mean this book if filled with a bunch of total losers who got filled with the holy spirit of God and did amazing and unbelievable things and people see that and say i want to be a part of that. Are there things right now in your life  that God is wanting you to do and your shrinking back and getting scared? Maybe some of you are wondering if your own family is with you on some of this stuff. We need to be encouragers, and I hope we leave here today and if no one else believes in you know that if the holy spirit is in you, i believe that God can do whatever it is that he has put in your heart. He's not gonna give you something you cannot handle. He doesn't do that.  If their is a sin in your life he will give you a way out of it. You can get out of it! If there is a calling a vision something you need to do, go after it! He is enough.  Some of you just need the courage to get saved. I'm telling you he is worth it, he is greater than anything the world can offer you. We are talking about the creator here. I am constantly going t God asking God what do you need from me cause your the greatest. So let's do it. Let's be encouragers. Let's be a team where we come together and put courage into one another.

Face to Face with the enemy....

Something that has been on my heart this week especially is just realizing that spiritual warfare is real. Satan is real. He wants to steal, kill, and destroy. He wants to get in the middle of whatever he can and stir things up beyond what we ever thought they would turn into. We too often underestimate Satan's attack and let him crawl into to situations without recognizing that he slowly took a situation from good to bad, then from bad to worse. We as Christians must realize that satan will do anything to prevent you from becoming the person God has planned for you to be. I mean God never wants us to fear the enemy's threats, but a key step in spiritual victory comes when we acknowledge that we have an enemy who poses a real threat. Satan's strategic plan is laid out to entice you to sin and to drift your devotion to God most the time without you even recognizing that its happening. He uses things like, greed, selfishness, disappointment, and pride just to name a few. He also watches how we react to a certain situation. If there is an opportunity for him to weave his evil mischief into our thoughts, he will take it. This is the reason we need to know how to detect , identify, and protect ourselves from the destruction that comes as a result of the enemy's tactics. 

Here's the deal God doesn't intend for us to go through life blindly, just as you wouldn't march into a war without a battle plan and a map of the combat zone. God expects us to consider the consequences of our actions and the responsibility we have been given as believers. Even Paul cautions in Eph 5:15-17 to, " Walk not as unwise mean but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." 

It may seem really hard and impossible at the point your at in your life, maybe your struggling with a sin, maybe your struggling with a temptation or thoughts. Let's get real, why not?? I'm just going to lay it out here, haha, no need to be fake. For me, I have been struggling with a whopping dissapointment. I have let Satan just pound on me from every direction. I have prayed, and cried out to God weeping for him to make things known to me and for him to bring restoration, and for whatever reason he hasn't yet. I know in my heart and mind that he has a plan and is in total control, but that doesn't seem to make it any easier and it definitely doesn't make it less painful. And now and again I will allow Satan to creep in and just put me in bondage. There have been times when I literally had trouble breathing because i could feel something just pushing in on my chest and feel my heart aching, but in all that God is still faithful. He always finds a way to remind me that he has promised to be our strength in times of difficulty, heartache, and brokenness. Here's what God is so faithfully teaching me through it. Take David for example. Saul knew that David was going to be the next King over Israel. God used Saul's unbridled jealousy to force David to wait until he was ready to become king. Disappointment is an emotional response  to some failed expectation or some desire that we have. It is a land-mine that explodes with heartache and sorrow. But what did David do?? He prayed,"Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in You; and in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes by."(Ps. 57:1) David knew his survival and his future depended on one thing- God's faithfulness. While David did not know the future, he realized that he knew someone who did. God-who is infinite in knowledge- can take the most troublesome circumstances an turn them around for good(Rom. 8:28). We conquer disappointment by standing strong in our faith and not wavering through doubt or self-pity. God has promised us victory over the very things that the enemy would use for your defeat. All we have to do is settle in our heart that God is greater than any weapon that Satan can bring against you. No matter how horrendous Satan's attack may seem, God is all powerful. (check these out: Lamentations 3:22-23, Eph. 6:10-13, Phil. 4:13, 1 Cor. 10:13, Ps. 139:11-12) Standing on the other side of any situation you can begin to see where Satan slowly infiltrated his way in and started to cause chaos. It is something that unfortunately this side of heaven we are going to have to put up with and learn how to battle against. We're going to be thrown into situations where Satan is going to tempt us in every direction and every way possible to cause disruption in our lives, disruption in our families, and disruption in the church. It's hard, it's really hard. It's hard not to just want to to take things into your own hands and vindicate yourself in the way that you feel is best. Trust me, I've lived it. It's hard to trust God to be your vindicator especially when precious relationships are involved. The reality is it's a lot harder said than done. There are a lot of tears and a lot of pain, and it doesn't really go away. It may mask itself for a while, but it always comes back and hurts just has bad or worse than before. Even just this week I have found myself hurting and literally weeping over circumstances that are just out of my control. It's so evident now to me that that's why God calls us to be seekers of peace. That's why God's ultimate goal for his earth is restoration, so why wouldn't it be the same for his children??!! So because of what we know to be true, all we can do is put our trust in him. We can fast and pray and ask him to bring restoration in His way and His time. We can learn to be sensitive to His spirit and voice. Mostly though, i feel like we just need to keep an eternal perspective. That no matter what chaos Satan causes here on earth. It will not last. God will vindicate us. He will be the final judge. One day we will all be at peace together and we will no longer have to worry or think about the treats of satan. If we just keep our eyes on fixated on our God, he will sustain us, carry us, hold us, love us, and strengthen us to continue living for him amongst what is going on around us. If we can train ourselves to see the world in that way, I think in a catch 22 kind of way, we would see Satan and his subtle attacks being a lot less effective. It's all about perspective. Sooooo all that to say Keep on keeping on and in the words of my favorite Journey song, Don't stop believin. haha :) Love you.

Ran

Open the eyes of my heart Lord....

2 Kings 2....

So lately the spirit has just had something on my mind. It's one of those things you have a thought, then another thought, then another, then something happens to confirm what you have been thinking. So i thought to myself, "Randi, you should write about this."

     It's about the eyes of our heart. Seeing with the eyes of our heart and what that means. I mean you all know by heart I'm sure the song we often sing, "Open the eyes of my heart Lord, Open the eyes of my heart, I want to see you, I want to see you." Yeah, you know it. But what does it mean? What does that mean to open the eyes of my heart Lord? Well in my recent studying of Elijah and several other things this question has been on my heart,and I want to tell you what I've learned! 

   So in my study of Elijah we are finally reaching the time and place where Elijah's ministry here on earth is coming to a close. He has been told by the spirit that today is the day he will be taken to heaven. With him is his mentee(as I like to call them) Elisha. Elisha had left everything he had to follow and be mentored by Elijah. In fact he didn't just leave everything, he burned his plow and cut up his livestock so that he would never be tempted to go back! So Elisha has been with Elijah for a while now, learning and soaking up everything he could. So back to the story, Elijah knows that today is it, so he decides to spend his last day traveling around to all the cities that he had put time in the last three years building disciples. (word to Elijah for giving us another great example of what discipleship should look like! 2 Tim. 2:2) So he travels to Gilgal, Bethal, Jericho, and Jordan. At each stop he tells Elisha to stay here, and Elisha responds every time by saying,"No, I'm going with you." It was Elijah's way of saying to Elisha, "I'm about to leave you can you handle it? And Elisha is saying to his mentor,"Wherever you go I will go. I will be with you to the very end." It's kind of a touching picture of loyalty. So the time is drawing near and Elijah asks Elisha, "What can I do for you? Before I go, do you have any last requests? And Elisha said, "Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit." (2 Kings 2:9) First of all I would like to pose the question, if you could inherit a double portion of anyones spirit who would you chose? And try to answer the question to yourself if you had that double portion of that person's spirit, how would it affect how you thought and behaved? 

     From Elisha's request I think we can clearly see what his priorities in his life are. He wanted and needed the same courage and the same resolve and the same boldness that his master had had. He wanted the same spirit Elijah had on top of Mount Carmel. So Elijah says back to him, "You have asked a difficult thing." (v. 10) And then he gives him the response that has been taking over my thoughts the past few weeks. He says to him," If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours-otherwise not."(vs. 10) If you see me. So he simply tells him if you see me yes, if you don't no, simple enough I guess. I wonder what was going through Elisha's mind when he heard his response? I wonder if in the back of his mind he wondered if he should be doing something to prepare himself so that he could see? But one things for sure, he wasn't about to let Elijah out of his physical sight. So sure enough later on in the day they are walking and talking and suddenly a chariot of fire and horses appear. These actually show pretty cool symbolism of the life Elijah lived here on earth. It was a sign and a symbol that there was a battle raging for the hearts of people of Israel. It meant that a warrior was about to come home to God. "Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind."(vs. 11) "Elijah's life had been a whirlwind of activity. He had been so impetuous, so driven, so determined, thrusting himself into the palace of the ungodly kings, blowing through Israel like a tornado from God. He left the earth has he lived on the the earth, in a whirlwind! 

      So we get distracted by this amazing act of God going on but let's not forget what's going on right beside him, Elisha sees the whole thing! There were fifty prophets traveling along behind them. They saw the two together and then Elijah was gone, they saw him disappear into nothing, but did not see the chariots. Only Elisha's eyes were opened to see the reality of what happened. " If you see me", Elijah said. " There is the kind of seeing with the eyes, and there is the seeing with the eyes of the heart. It is possible to have 20/20 vision on the outside and be totally blind on the inside. You can live 80 years with perfect vision and be totally blind to spiritual reality. That's why Paul prays in Ephesians 1:18 that the "eyes of your heart my be enlightened. You could go to a Christian college or seminary and the eyes of your heart could still be tightly shut. Just going through the motions doesn't guarantee the eyes of your heart will be open. MATTHEW 13:13-15!!!

      So let's break this down. When Elijah told Elisha that he could have his spirit if you see me depart, what he was really saying was if God gives you the spiritual sight to understand, if He opens the eyes of your heart! So it gets even better than that. We know that God and Elijah kept their end of the deal because in 2 Kings 6:8-17 we can see the spirit that Elisha has inside of him. He and his servant were surrounded by a huge army which most would think was hopeless, including his servant. But Elisha saw with his heart, he saw reality. He turned to his quivering servant and tells him not to worry because, "those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Get ready......So then Elisha prays, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see" When the servants eyes were opened, he saw the armies of God arrayed in the clouds above the Aramean army! It is a great advance spiritually to have your eyes opened to see spiritual reality, to understand that this world is not the only world. When they eyes of the heart are opened, you understand that the unseen world is the real world, the only one that matters. MATTHEW 13:16-17.

    So how does this become a reality in our lives? Well, what did Elisha do? He PRAYED! HE ASKED GOD FOR IT! It is nothing you can do it's only the revelation of God. I've seen this come true in my brothers life. He just got back from Honduras where he has story after story about spiritual warfare he experienced. See in America we don't see spiritual warfare as they do in third world countries. Satan can't use movies, music, and tv to work his way into their lives because they don't have it. So he takes a much stronger approach. For instance he saw Alex, a little drug baby who is in the orphanage he was staying, become possessed by a demon. Alex cannot even talk, he cannot say any words just simple sounds. One night he woke up screaming profanities in perfect spanish and went to grab his tia's throat and choke her. They immediately started praying and Alex crashed fell into her arms and went to sleep. The next night the same thing happened again. This time they called the pastor of the church to come and Alex was doing the same things, screaming profanities and going for his throat. They all got together and prayed and Alex collapsed again. Thank God that we know we have power in the name of Jesus and demons have to flee when we say his name! See Satan finds much less noticeable ways to get his demons to work on Americans. He doesn't have to be as flamboyant. He can put them in the things we watch and listen to so that they distract us from God without our recognition. It has been amazing to see the eyes of my brothers heart become opened. The day he got back, the spirit that he has become so sensitive too, grabbed his throat and told him to proclaim Jesus names over the demons that my aunt has been struggling with since I can remember. He says he doesn't even remember what or how he said what he said. He said he just felt something take over and my aunt just fell into his arms. He was able to give her truth! What an amazing story! wow. It is just so amazing to see God work in his life and open the eyes of his heart. So what about you? What about me? What about our eyes. Not our physical i can see you eyes, but our spiritual eyes? ARe they open? Do you see God for who he is? Do you see actual reality? Or the reality satan would like for you to believe is reality but actually isn't. If you're looking for a book that will help give you an eternal perspective and open the eyes of your heart read, "Safely Home," by Randy Alcorn. It will blow your perspective out of the water. It's good stuff. Get it read it. Get on your knees and ask God to open the eyes of your heart! And next time you hear that song. Think about Elijah and Elisha, and see God for who he really is!

Ran

WAKE UP!!

http://www.gfa.org/news/articles/five-years-rebel/

I read this article this morning after God has touched, opened, blown apart my heart for the persecuted church in the last few months, really in the last year since I went to China and experienced a little of it, and just spent some time in prayer for this man who has been imprisoned for going on six years by none other than satan himself. Instead of sulking he is sharing God's word and a revival of sorts has broken out in the prison! Talk about allowing God to use you wherever you are!  We need to open up our eyes and realize that we know so little about suffering for the cause of Christ, and what Christ can build out of suffering. We are so quick to get prideful in our faith and think we have such a good grasp on what it means to be a Christian and live it out. We think our faith is so strong. But the reality is, we are so comfortable here that it is hard for us to really experience total trust and dependance on God. Here's a challenge. Just spend some time reading this and scrolling around the stories of some of these missionaries and just pray for them. WE NEED TO OPEN OUR EYES! The world is so much bigger than we've made it out to be here in America. We have brothers and sisters all over the world who are being imprisoned, beat, killed for the sake of the gospel that we take for granted every day. If we can't go and stand beside them in their persecution then we need to be in diligent prayer for them! The only thing that can change anything that is being experienced across the globe is prayer! That's what Paul was asking for when he was imprisoned! The bible tells us.....Colossians 4:2-4 “Devote yourselves to prayer… praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.” This would be a great thing to do several times a week just pick a missionary from this website or any you can find and spend some time in prayer for them. If you need some direction in how to pray for the saints here's some ideas:

How to Pray for the Persecuted Church
Here's a list of countries where they are facing persecution: 
http://www.epm.org/resources/2009/Dec/18/17-countries-where-christians-are-persecuted/

1. For their physical protection and deliverance.
   

   Matthew 26:39 “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”
   

   Acts 12:5 “So Peter was kept in theprison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.”

   Philippians 1:19 “For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance (from jail) through your prayers.”

   Philemon 22 “I hope that through your prayers I shall be given to you (from jail)”

   Romans 15:30-31 “Now I urge you, brethren… to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea”.

   God predicted persecution:Acts 20:23-24 “the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me. But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course”

   And the suffering came:Acts 21:30-31 “And all the city was aroused, and the people rushed together; and taking hold of Paul, they dragged him out of the temple; and… were seeking to kill him.”

2. 
   
   That God would give them the right words and that they would fearlessly make Christ known

   Here Paul tells how to pray for him when he was suffering for Christ in jail—notice his prayer was not for release.

   Ephesians 6:19-20 “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am anambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

   Colossians 4:2-4 “Devote yourselves to prayer… praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; in order that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.”

   [See our Effective Evangelism section]
3. 
   
   That they will see God's grace as sufficient and God's power perfected in their weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
4. That they would love Christ's appearing all the more
   

   2 Timothy 4:5-8 “I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
   

   Hebrews 11:35 “…others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection”.

5. 
   
   That they will rejoice in sharing the sufferings of Jesus so that they will rejoice even more when Christ is revealed

   Hebrews 10:34 “…accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.”

   Matthew 5:12 “Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for so they persecuted theprophets who were before you.”

   I Peter 4:13 “but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation.”

6. 
   
   That they will endure

   Hebrews 10:36 “For you have need of endurance.”

7. 
   
   That they will choose ill-treatment and the reproach of Christ, not pleasures of sin

   Hebrews 11:24-26 “Moses… (chose) rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin; considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.”

8. That they will arm themselves with this purpose: to suffer so as to eradicate sin
   

   1 Peter 4:1 “arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in flesh has ceased from sin.”

   Hebrews 5:8 “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.”

9. That they will love Christ far more than life itself
   

   Revelation 12:10-11 “they overcame (Satan) because of theblood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.”

   Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

   Acts 20:24 “I (Paul) do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course.”

10. 
    
    That they will love their enemies

    Luke 6:27-31 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

11. 
    
    That they not enter into temptation—an easy possibility under the stress of persecution (Luke 22:39-45 - Jesus in thegarden)
12. 
    
    That they will rejoice that they are considered worthy to suffer for HIS name

    Acts 5:41 “So they went on their way from the presence of theCouncil, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”

13. That they will remember they were made for such persecution
    

    Acts 14:22 “Through many tribulations we must enter thekingdom of God.”
    

    Philippians 1:29 “For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”

14. 
    
    That they will live the joy of the Lord before their persecutors

    Acts 16:25 “But about midnight Paul and Silas (in jail) were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

    Philippians 1:28 “…in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God.”

15. 
    
    That they will remember their unbelievable future glory

    Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

16. 
    
    That they would learn to more completely trust in God

    2 Corinthians 1:8-9 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of deathwithin ourselves in order that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead”

17. That they would rejoice that they bear in their bodies the “brand marks of Christ”
    

    Galations 6:17 “From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus.”

18. That they would rejoice in filling up that which is lacking in Christ's sufferings
    

    Colossians 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body (which is the church) in filling up that which is lacking in Christ'safflictions.”
    

    Note: Our sufferings do not add to the atoning worth of Jesus' sufferings. Rather, His sufferings are not known to the world, and so we suffer to bring that news to those His sufferings were meant to save.

    
    

Off me & onto Him....

What do you think about during the day?

Any of these ring a bell?....
-Do I look good today?
-I wonder how I can get him to like me better?
-How can I get what i want when I want it?
-When am I going to get the recognition I deserve?

We are extremely self absorbed people. Always worried about number one. Sometimes consciously, but most the time subconsciously because that's what we have been trained to do by our culture. What we need to realize is that self absorption only leads to two things: Pride and shame. If we think we're doing well, we feel superior to people, but if we feel that we aren't measuring up , then we feel like failures.
The point is to get the attention off of you and onto something that is actually worthy of your attention. When we start to get the slightest clue of what God is like then we quickly realize that we fall way short.
Check it:
In Isaiah 6:1-5 the Cherubs whilst sounding a little peculiar looking, to us small minded earth bound people, are teaching us a valuable lesson. They having six wings. They used two pair of them just to cover their eyes. They did this because God is so holy that his holiness cannot even be looked upon. In doing this they are making a point. His majesty and holiness swamp our petty selfishness and our pride is shattered. We are broken, helpless, and hopeless-unless God himself touches us.
It starts with our view of God. See what we like to do is dumb God down, bring him down to our level. We say things like, "Jesus is my homeboy," and call God things like, "the man upstairs." And yes his word does say that God is our friend, but we must not forget that God came down off his mighty throne to stand beside us. He is your creator, the creator of the universe!!!! He is comparable to NO one!
Once we start understanding who God truly is, then the change in our view really begins to take place when our eyes are opened to who and what we are. See we can't realize how good he is until we become painfully aware of how bad we are. Most of us like to think we're pretty good, and we walk around with that perception. Even if we don't say it, we think it. It shows in our actions. We try to handle things on our own how we would like to see it handled and think is best. Then when we screw things up and it starts to fall out we quickly run to God and ask him to fix it. Here's an idea, what if we finally wrapped our minds around the concept that God's ways are best all the time, every time. What if we finally came to terms with who we are, and that there is no good in us. Our flesh wants to please only itself and that isn't going to get us anywhere expect in big trouble. What if our eyes were finally opened to who God really is and who we really are? What if we stopped trying to control the details of our lives and let God? Here's the tricky part. That realization always brings us face to face with change, and here is where we loose people. All of our self-centered plans and goals will be ruined. Just lost a few more. Relationships, how we spend our time and money, laziness and discipline, how we love, and who we love and obey....everything will be turned upside down. Now we're beginning to weed out those who really believe with those who conveniently believe. See when this happens our lives will be driven by conviction not convenience.
So how do we go about receiving this new perception and outlook of ourselves and our God?
Simple....
God has to reveal himself to you...
We can try to prepare our hearts and put ourselves in a position to be receptive to God's voice, but ultimately the Lord himself must break through our calloused hearts to show us what he is like.
How does God do this?
Sadly, in most of us we become so content and comfortable that God has to use something in our lives to wake us up. Something that makes us feel insecure and that we need and depend on God alone. Maybe like:
-a move/graduation
-a job/ministry change
-a broken relationship
-sickness
-a deep dissapointment
See Stability often produces passivity so he has to use something that breaks our hearts, reveals our needs, and somehow opens us to listen.
Just like with Isaiah...
Isaiah was at an extreme point of insecurity because the King had just died. He was insecure of who the next king would be and what change that would bring upon the nation. That was a very very big and at times a scary change. Because the King could turn the nation in whatever direction he chose.  So Isaiah cried out to the Lord......and what did God do?
He answered.....
He gave Isaiah a gift....
The gift of seeing the reality. The reality of who God was and who he really was. Isaiah quickly realized that he was ruined. That before a holy God his depravity was made well aware. He even cried out, "I am ruined, I am not what I should be!"
Have you ever had that experience? Where you realize you're not all that you thought you were? If not.....it will come sooner or later. How will you respond? Will you see God for who He is? or will you continue fooling yourself into thinking you can do things your way that you've got things under control?
Here's the best part!!!!!
What happened next?
Is. 6:6-7
Isaiah realized exactly who he was and what he lacked before God and God touched him! God healed him. God's grace covered him. God's mercy overcame him!
See here's the real deal. The angel took a coal, a burning coal, and touched it to his mouth. Ouch right? But what did that gain? When a wound is infected, a doctor may stop the infection by cauterizing the wound. He takes a red hot tool and sears it, burning away the rotten flesh and leaving only what can heal. This seems like a drastic method, and yes it may be, but it is also effective. The burning coal touched to Isaiah's lips seared the sin and burned the guilt! Leaving him freedom to heal from his sin and serve the Lord! He was made complete because his eyes were opened and he realized who is was before the Lord. He was given the gift of seeing with his own eyes exactly who God is and who He was before him and it radically changed his life! So here's the question.....
Have I seen God?
Have I been radically changed?
Do I really understand who I am before such a holy God?
Do I place way to much importance on myself and what I think is best?
I dunno just spend some time thinking about it. And if the answer is no and you haven't, my suggestion is hit your knees and ask God to allow you to see him for who is his. When you do, When you truly see God, everything else will quickly follow suit. Especially your wants, needs, and desires.
Love you!
(References From: Isaiah 6, A call to Die, Nasser)
Ran

Like Incsence

Check out this worship song from hillsong: Read the lyrics listen to the song. They're amazing.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SVOBKbWndU


May my prayer like incense rise before You
The lifting of my hands as sacrifice
Oh Lord Jesus turn Your eyes upon me
For I know there is mercy in Your sight

Your statutes are my heritage forever
My heart is set on keeping Your decrees
Please still my anxious urge toward rebellion
Let Love keep my will upon its knees

[Chorus]
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You
Oh God, You are my God
And I will ever praise You

[Verse 2]
To all creation I can see a limit
But Your commands are boundless and have none
So Your Word is my joy and meditation
From the rising to the setting of the sun

All Your ways are loving and are faithful
The road is narrow but Your burden light
Because You gladly lean to lead the humble
I shall gladly kneel to leave my pride

[Chorus]

[Selah]
To all creation I can see a limit
But Your commands are boundless and have none
So Your Word is my joy and meditation
From the rising to the setting of the sun

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
I will seek You in the morning
I will learn to walk in Your ways
And step by step You'll lead me
And I will follow You all of my days

purpose driven life

I thought I would share what I have learned over the past couple of days in the purpose driven life.
-Time is the most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it, and you have to value that person enough to give them your most vauleble asset.
-For organs to work they have to connect to the body. (talking about the church)
- This blew my mind that God said this but we just fight over silly stuff and it beaks up a church, "I will build mu church and ALL the powers of hell will not conquor it."
-The world says intimacy occurs in the dark, but God says it occurs in the light.
-You will never be asked to forgive someone more then christ has alredy forgiven you.
- Some people are EGR (eatra grace required)
-It doesn't matter if you are the offendor or the offeded God expects you to make the first move to restoring the situation.
-"look out for" (like look out for one another) is the Greek word "Skopos" which means telescope and microscpoe. So pay close attention to other peoples needs.

Hope you guys enjoy this as much as I did!

We want steak. Not cake.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/27/almost.christian/index.html


This article is awesome. You should read it. For real.


-bailey

Dating....

hey seusters!!! Okay so this young man that is at Liberty with Tori that I vaguely knew because he worked at Grace last year wrote this and posted it on facebook....and i thought it was incredible and I want to hear what you think about it....

His name is Taylor Knight and he goes to Liberty University.....

For young Men in pursuit of young women.....

When the topic of “dating” according to how God would have us comes up, as we often do, we question where is that in the bible. Gods word never directly speaks into this, but he does paint a clear picture for marriage and what a husband should be for his wife. See that the bible has provided criteria and a plan for this as it is important and necessary. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24...From the beginning God created man and gave man a help mate, later in scripture God charged this to man and women for His glory, “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-for we are member of his body.” Ephesians 5:22. With this God has placed a great calling to both man and women toward one another for his glory and for our sanctification.

As the focus of the bible is marriage and all that it entails, so should ours. As we are in pursuit of a young lady we should be on careful lookout for the rare precious lady who is fulfilled by her Father. Dating casually is not acceptable nor is it pure. Proverbs 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” and to take lightly the love, affections, purity, and innocence of our sisters in Christ or our own would be foolish and destructive. Dating or courtship, what have you, was not intended to be a imitation of marriage but a pursuit of marriage. We must recognize the importance of finding the lady that we will literally spend the rest of our lives with, however not dwell or obsess about trying to find “the one for me.”

Live everyday in absolute devoted pursuit of God. Spend your time falling in love with Him, knowing His truth, and seeking His will, His way, and to further His kingdom for His glory. As if this is your priority and hearts desire in good timing God will bring by your side a help-mate suitable and blessed that you both may be one and continue your sanctification and Gods good work together till the end of days. When you do find her be the man God has called you to be and PURSUE her. If we have been given the authority and leadership to move on or end a relationship then we must take the initiative to do so. She won't wait forever and there are plenty of young men to choose from that will meet her needs. At the same time, if at this time in life you aren't ready or in circumstances to really be in a relationship (which is more common than we realize although we don't act on it) then don't stress and worry that she is going to escape you and all is lost. Once again we have fallen for the lie that there is one specific young women that was designed specifically for us and if we don't get her life won't be fulfilling. Jesus Christ is the ONLY thing necessary and ultimately fulfilling in our lives and the moment we choose to take our eyes off of Him in pursuit of anything less than Him we will suffer the consequences.

1 Timothy 4:15-16 “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

This is my pursuit and the truth I will live by...

Hey guys!!!

I just want to update you on what is going on! First of all, I LOVE Tech! I have met so many people!

My dorm is awesome, too! Thank you so much Randi and Kelsey for the pictures! =) They look amazing in my room! I will put pictures on fb up soon!

I am already looking forward to getting involved in Campus Outreach and the BCM! They are all so friendly. =)

Thank you so much for the prayers! Love all you guys!! =)

Not to entertain you.....

John 6

okay so check this out....

This is has really struck me and been on my mind.....

Jesus...

Started His ministry.....

taught for 3 yrs......

that's it....

He had 3 yrs. to say what he wanted to say here on earth....

Soooo....how did he choose to do that?

To great multitudes?

At times....there were great crowds who would gather to hear what this miraculous healer, teacher, miracle performer had to say, but what did Jesus show us?        

               Take the instance where thousands had gathered to watch and listen to Jesus, in fact they had come from so far and had been there so long they had nothing and no way to eat. So what did Jesus do? He feeds them....this is the kind of stuff they had come for right?!!! I bet everyone was so stoked! It probably looked something like our worship services at times. Very entertaining with lights, heart wrenching videos, sweet guitars with maybe an occasional solo, and maybe even a testimony that we know will get peoples emotions stirred just enough so that they will respond to the Holy Spirit. But here's the deal....then what did Jesus do?    He said something tough, something that people didn't want to hear. Something that they didn't know how to handle. He told them without skirting around actually he made sure no one misunderstood that he was God himself. He told them that He was the bread of life( John 6:35), that unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you(John 6:53-56). Now being empathetic, as I try to be in all situations, putting myself in that time and culture on that hillside. I imagine that would be quite a shock to hear. This man that alot of them have watched grow up, knew his parents and where he lived is now claiming to be God himself. And I probably with the crowd, as I often do in my own life, would've begin to question. But see, here's where it gets interesting. Here is where Jesus teaches us something that sadly I feel like we, the American church, have completely missed. See, Jesus wasn't interested in popularity or even numbers. He was interested in making true disciples, and building the church through those disciples. I mean look, as soon as He gave the crowd something tough, something they didn't want to hear, they left. How many times have we seen this in the church. Someone is so dedicated, at every service responding to the "emotion" they're feeling in their soul. Praising with their mouth and hands, but as soon as it's a time of testing or sorrow, they're out. They say, "How could God allow me to go through this?" Just as those weak disciples on that hillside, as soon as we hear or experience something that messes with out comfort, we're gone. WAKE UP! Check it, Jesus didn't come to entertain us. If we come expecting only to be entertained then we will leave Him at the first request for sacrifice or obedience. Can you see what Jesus was doing? What Jesus is trying to show us? He loves His children and does not wish any to perish, but He is interested in making real disciples. Disciples who are grounded in Him, and His word. He could've spent all His time in front of huge crowds, teaching to as many as possible, but see Jesus wasn't initially about numbers. He would even at times turn and hide from the crowds to pray or teach his disciples. When teaching He was about quality over quantity. Because....Jesus knew the way to grow the church was not how we've decided to "do" church here in America. Jesus was showing us we need to build the church through discipleship. Real, true, biblical discipleship. He invested everything He had into those twelve so that they would go out and do the same and invest in the world. Spreading the gospel to the far ends of the earth. Making disciples who would turn around and make more disciples, ect. ect. See, Jesus knew and was trying to show us the way to grow the church was through relationship. Through relationship it becomes, real and challenging. You have accountability and help. So in the end, more would come to know him in an authentic faith than would've had he stood and taught thousands at a time. We wonder why we have so many people in the church that profess with their mouths but are not genuine at their hearts. It's because we have made "church" a very impersonal thing. You come in, sit in a sanctuary, sing, pray, listen, and then leave. Don't get me wrong, I am all for corporate worship and think it's very necessary. However, corporate worship should not be our sustaining factor in our faith. It should not be our main food source of our growth. It should not be the only time in our week in which we are completely focused on our spiritual lives. Sadly, it has become that. We've made it possible in the church to be a Christian and not be a disciple. We have church's full of casual listeners but few who are committed life long learners. Why is that? It's because the "American gospel" that we preach and teach is very selfish at its nature. Our idea of it is Jesus died for me, to save my sins, so that I can have eternal life. And while I am definitely not knocking the truth that lies inside those statements, we do need to evaluate what we're saying we think about what Jesus came to do. He didn't save us for our benefit, he saved us so that we could make His name and glory known!  Isaiah 43:7!  In the new testament you do not see a people who are satisfied to receive forgiveness at Jesus expense and then go on living at a casual acquaintance with Him, it's not biblical. We need to stop making Christianity about us and make it about His glory and other people! I am a huge David Platt fan and one of the things he says is," The greatest need in the church today is for believers to step up and be the disciples they were called to be. I want to be a part of the church that is impacting the world for Christ, for the glory of Christ. I wanna be a part of believers who are not casual in their approach to Jesus, but we are committed followers of Him, and who are embracing and making Him known in all the world!"     So yeah, i know this is getting long, so I will stop this one here(even though I have just as much or more to get out!) haha.....but I am just learning so much and I just want to share it all with you!This was inspired and quoted from a Call to Die by David Nasser and David Platts series, Follow Me.