Walk By Faith, Not By Sight

Today was yet another day where God proved to be so faithful. It's amazing how He can use us no matter where we're at in our spiritual walk, and no matter what our circumstances may be. What happened today was no different.

Yesterday towards the end of the school day, God started putting someone on my heart, as in to share a word with them (that God had given me). I tried catching the person after school, but after I'd gotten on the bus I realized that they did a sport, so I wasn't able to catch them. For the rest of the day and throughout all of today until I talked to this person, the spiritual warfare got pretty intense. There would be times where I'd get sick to my stomach and nervous, but other times where God's peace would be prominent. This morning was probably the slowest morning at school I have ever had. I wanted time to go faster, so I could talk to the kid--the suspense was killing me. Once lunchtime came around, I prayed, "God, if it's Your will, let me run into him at lunch." As I was walking to the cafeteria, I "so happened" (with God there are no coincidences) to turn just as the kid walked into a classroom. I walked straight there and walked in, and came upon him and his friend eating lunch at a table. I told them "hi" and the kid's friend responded back, but the situation felt kind of awkward so I ended up leaving (don't worry, the story's not over yet). I went to the choir room where a friend of mine was playing the piano, and it had been made pretty clear that I hadn't talked to him yet. In a way she kind of "rebuked" me (in an encouraging way though; don't get the wrong idea, haha), which was what I needed. (I thanked her later for it.) So before I'd even taken one bite of my lunch, I went back to where the classroom was, but I stayed outside and paced for a while, praying as the spiritual warfare continued. Eventually God gave me the courage to go in, so I opened the door, walked in, and said, "Hey, can we talk outside for a second?"
"Sure," he said. So we went outside the classroom and here's where God took over. I won't say what the word was that I got for him, just for personal reasons and privacy. After I got done telling him the word I'd gotten, he responded, "Thanks for the word... I'll be thinking about it."
He walked back into the classroom, and I went back to tell Makayla the good news of what God had just done. The awesome thing about it was that all the doubts and things that the enemy was trying to tell me obviously weren't true. In my head I was imagining what it'd be like if I'd gotten a bad response, but God totally worked it all out for the good. Over the past few days I (as well as many others) have been praying that God would open up his heart, and that he would see God's love above anything else. And I believe that that's what happened today.
I titled this blog "Walk By Faith, Not By Sight" because that pretty much sums up what happened--it took faith and boldness to share God's Word with someone. In the natural, it looked like a bad and awkward situation, but in the spiritual, God knew exactly what He was doing. I believe that a seed was definitely planted, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for this kid. I know that God has huge plans for his life, and it'll just be cool to see what happens. God is good... all the time. All the time... God is good. And to Him be all the glory.

"Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!" - Psalm 90:16-17 (ESV)

"So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight." - 2 Corinthians 5:6-7

"The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" - Psalm 27:1

Father God, I thank You that Your glory was shown today. I thank You that You are still faithful, even when we are not. Continue to move in my life and others' lives around me. Let us be a light to those that may not know You, and let us stand in boldness and in love. Let us love others as You first loved us. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Time to Celebrate: One More in the Kingdom!

Something really awesome happened today, and if you read the title of this blog, then you'll probably have a pretty good idea of what happened. ;)

Today at school I felt led to do a treasure hunt at lunch, which is where you pray and God gives you words describing someone and/or gives you a word for that person (i.e. "You are going to do mighty things for God and He has a big plan for you." or something like that). So Ashley, Makayla, and I went to one of the practice rooms in the choir room to eat lunch before we did the treasure hunt. While Makayla was playing some worship on the piano and Ashley and I were eating, this girl walked in that's been coming to Youth on Fire for a while. Her and Ashley ended up talking, and before I knew it Ashley was giving her Scripture and started praying for her. Makayla then asked me if I could "flow" on the piano while her and Ashley prayed for this girl. So I started playing various worship songs, and after a few minutes of praying and flowing, the girl ended up leaving. "What just happened?" Ashley asked. "I don't know..." I said, not realizing what had happened. Makayla and Ashley ended up telling me that the girl had gotten saved, and I was like, "WHAT?!" (in a good way). None of us had really quite known "what" had happened, but the girl accepted the Lord into her heart. We all got really excited about this because we've been praying that people would see God's goodness on our high school campus and come to know Him, and this was the first salvation we've seen since we've been doing Youth on Fire. The funny thing was that it wasn't even Wednesday, and it wasn't even Youth on Fire. God caught us by surprise and we had no idea it was coming.

All-in-all, God's glory was shown today. A new daughter entered the kingdom and all of heaven is rejoicing over her. Let this be an encouragement to you; expect God to do things that you don't expect. And I guarantee you that most of the time, it's gonna be something awesome that you'll enjoy even more because you didn't know it was coming. And because God was given the glory. :)

All Consuming Fire...

One of the biggest changes I've seen in me and many of my friends since the Encounter is a new passion, a new fire in us. It's like God rebirthed something that was already there, but at the same time gave us something new. It's a fire that can't really be explained by words we understand... only in the Spirit can you understand God's fire.

I think it's so cool that God instills passion in us. That passion not only helps us draw closer to Him but it also helps us to step out in faith and reach out to others.

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." - Matthew 3:11

When God baptizes us with His fire, it's something that we should hold onto--something that should be treasured and taken seriously. Too many times have we (I myself can testify to doing this many times) allowed our emotions to come into play to where we quit feeding our spirits with His word, His love, and the fire fades away. I personally am tired of going through the same cycle of "retreat, fire, fire quenched, retreat, fire, fire quenched, etc."

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." - Matthew 13:44

Let's make the fire and passion that God's instilled within us like the treasure the man found in the field. Let's not keep it buried, put it away where no one can see it, but pursue it, pursue Him. Our God is an all-consuming fire.

While I Have A Couple Minutes...

I figure I'd write again since I have time. Today at lunch my friends and I are having "Youth on Fire", a ministry where believers get together for encouragement, and to be build up spiritually. I can't wait to see what God's going to do; after we had prayer last night at our church, God gave us a new vision-- a vision that something huge is going to happen. So if you can, just be praying that God rocks it at my high school and that in all things, we give Him the glory.

My Mom Healed, A Friend Encouraged, & God Speaking Through Dreams

Wow. I've got a few testimonies to share already since the Encounter ended, and I'm so pumped for what God's doing; it's awesome. When I was home yesterday evening, my mom was still dealing with a really bad migraine that she'd got after taking a nap. I've prayed for her to be healed before, but she hasn't really been healed any of those times. This time however, very soon after I prayed for God to heal her, she was completely healed. Her migraine was entirely gone and she felt completely better. So that's a huge praise report right there.

Another thing that happened last night was when a close friend of mine called who was (and is) going through a really tough time in their life. As we were talking I prayed that God would speak through me, and that my words would be His words. Shortly after I'd prayed, God gave me Psalm 93 for my friend:

"The Lord reigns; he is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed; he has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty! Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore."

God spoke a lot to my friend, and one thing was that God is mightier than anything he can go through; that God's power, and God's love is bigger than any situation or circumstance. No matter how tough life can get, God is always bigger and stronger than anything that we can endure. A lot of what God spoke to me during the Encounter also came to mind in talking to my friend, such as how God created the human heart with different desires that God wants to fulfill. It was really cool for God to bring me this opportunity to grow, and to give Him glory. I know He's going to move in a huge way in my friend's life, and though it sucks that they had to hit a sort of "rock bottom" for God to show them something important, God is still faithful nonetheless and I know that a lot of good is going to come out of the situation that my friend's going through.

Last night I had an insane dream, and I've never had God really speak to me through a dream, let alone give me Scripture in my dreams, but last night He did. In my dream, my friends Jennae, Ashley, and I were sitting at a table during lunch. Next to us was a table of kids, one of which was an atheist kid that I ran cross-country with and is also in my AP stats class. In my dream, God told me to go speak to him. I was kind of nervous about doing it, but before I knew it, another friend of mine, Amber (who doesn't even go to my school) walked up to that table and said, "Hey guys, I'm really freaked out to do this, but I feel like God has a word that he wants me to share with you." In that instant I jumped up, walked over to the table and told Amber, "I'm so glad you did that, because God told me to speak to them but I was really nervous." She then said back to me, "Here, you can read this then." So I started reading Psalm 105, what God had given her to share (in the dream), and before I even got a couple of lines in, the atheist kid got really mad, and did something to get himself in trouble. He ended up going and sitting down by himself, and I think the dream ended with me going up to him and talking to him.

When I woke up this morning, I read Psalm 105, and it's really good. I shared it during prayer today at lunch, and it kind of gave me a vision and encouraged me as well as my friends that while there weren't many of us showing up for prayer and Youth on Fire (a ministry at lunch on Wednesday's to build up believers), God still had plans for us to take us into the "Promise Land", and while we may not see that in the natural, in the supernatural things were changing and as long as we pursue God wholeheartedly, He'll be faithful just as he was to Joshua and the Israelites, despite having to wait many years to get into the Promise Land due to the previous generation's unbelief in what God had for them.

I pretty much felt like a lunatic today at school... I hardly made it through all of my classes because all I wanted to do was be with God--whatever that looked like. Fortunately, God's with us wherever we go, and we don't have to go to a youth retreat or youth group to meet with Him. Although it is nice to be away from the distractions of the world so we can completely focus on Him. :)

For a bit of encouragement, I'll put some of my favorite parts from Psalm 105:

"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!... (v. 8) He remembers his covenant forever, the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac... (v. 12) When they were few in number, of little account, and sojourners in it, wandering from nation to nation... (v. 14) he allowed no one to oppress them... (v. 43) So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing. And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil, that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the Lord!"

An Encounter With God

So... this afternoon I got back from a youth retreat, more formally known as the "Encounter". It's pretty self-explanatory--we spend a weekend away from the chaos of the world and things are home, and give Him the entire weekend to focus on just Him. This last Encounter was my third one, and God was faithful and came through as He always does. My entire outlook on my relationship with Him was completely changed--I know this isn't an Encounter that I'll ever forget. One of the big things that really hit me (in a good way) was something Marques, one of the leaders, said: "If God can bring something great in defeat, He can bring something even greater in victory." What was kind of funny about this is that I was thinking this very question right before Marques had even said it. How true is it though? I mean, obviously, as we are human, we mess up. I don't know about you guys, but one of the ways the enemy's knocked me off of my feet before is in telling me that if I mess up, and do something against God's will, then God'll bring good from it and teach me something valuable. This is true--God works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). But if God can teach us something valuable and do mighty works in us through our losses, how much more can He teach us in our victories? If we're in God's will, and we're fighting the fight, and staying strong in Him, think of how much higher we can go--it only makes sense that God can take us even higher when we're not the ones keeping Him from moving in our lives.

Sorry if all of this is jumbled or doesn't make any sense. It's my first blog, and I learned so much this weekend that it's hard to put everything God spoke to me into words. But for now, be challenged. And next time the enemy tries getting you to mess up or do something out of God's will, just remember: "If God can bring something great from defeat, then He can bring something even greater in victory."