I Want To Know You

I Want To Know You - Jesus Culture

I stand before You, Awed by Your Majesty
Covered by Your mercy, Your blood has made me free
Draw me to You, and set my heart on fire

I want to Know,
Your my one desire

I give you my worship
All of my Passion
I give you my whole heart
All my devotion

Grace never ending, Your hands they carry me
Your body is broken for all the world to see
My heart is held by love so unconditional

You captivate me
Your the lover of my soul

I give you my worship
All of my Passion
I give you my whole heart
All my devotion

Here I will bow down
Say that I need You
Here I will worship
Say that I love you

Oh how I love you 

 I want to know You
Let Your Spirit overwhelm me
Let Your Presence overtake my heart

Have you ever wanted something so much you just continually asked for it? Like when you're a child and you really want that candy bar. That's how I feel about God's presence. I crave it, and I just really really want to be a part of it! This song gives words to how I feel about His presence. It gives words to how I want to know Him more and more. I worship Him, I give Him all that I am. I just want to know Him more. I honestly don't think I could ever know enough about Him!

Thankful for: Sunscreen

I got burnt today... oops! I'm thankful for sunscreen that I should have used to prevent the burn. I now know that sometime in the next couple of weeks, I will most likely be peeling which is not cool! Sunscreen is a great thing, I should learn to use it more.  

Fruits of the Spirit - Patience

Patience. I think this is one of the fruits of the Spirit that I need to work on accepting and using. 

To be honest... patience is something that I struggle with. There have been times in my life where I have needed to show patience to people but I have not. I have let my own desires come before anything else and got angry or irritated at people for not being faster. I have sometimes struggled to tolerate certain behaviours when all someone may have needed was for someone to show a little understanding and patience to them to help them through struggles. 

I was waiting on a couple of teenagers the other week to take them home and they thought it would be fun to have a bit of a play around and took their time getting ready to leave, and then hid from me. I had no patience at this stage of the day and I just got very irritated at them, I couldn't tolerate their behaviour. After taking them home I realised that some of these girls didn't have the greatest family lives and having that little bit of fun with them, and joking around with them, and just being more patient could have showed them love they don't receive at home. 

Patience is one thing that I know I am going to need a lot more of in the coming weeks as I take on more responsibility within our church dance team and kids creative team. I know however, that God will give me all I need if I ask. 

"The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride" (Ecclesiastes 7:8)

Thankful for: Love

Love is such an important thing in one's life. As I celebrated my birthday today, I had hoped that I would receive phone calls from my family members to show love, but sadly, out of 7 family members, I received only one phone call. It's amazing how much of a difference one phone call can make. For a while, I felt like they I wasn't loved. When you don't feel loved, you begin to feel down. I know that my family loves me and that God loves me so I will get through it, but it just really made me realise how important love is and just how thankful I am for it.

Fruits of the Spirit - Peace

Each of the fruits of the Spirit are amazing, but I have to say that I do really love the idea of having peace everywhere I go. To be in a state of inner harmony and to not be at war is an amazing ability in us.

We can so often go through our lives feeling so busy, so crazy that everything within us seems to be at war. Decisions that need to be made can rip us apart if we allow them, bu then when the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of peace everything seems to silence around us. All the craziness and the busy-ness goes away, the decisions are made eaiser. 

The question I find myself asking is... how do we share this peace? I guess it's not something that we are necessarily able to share, but we can show the peace that the Holy Spirit has given us in the way that we act. We can show the peace that is inside our lives when we react calmly to what would normally be a stressful situation. When someone comes up to us in a completely lost, crazy and confused state, when we react with the Holy Spirit guidance, we can react with peace and again demonstrate the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. 

"I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid..." (Leviticus 26:6)

Peace allows us to not be afraid, to let go of any fears and doubts and just go forward with God's will!

Thankful for: Friends

I have a great bunch of friends! I don't have anything particular to say about them, only that I am thankful for them. 

Fruits of the Spirit - Joy

Joy... what is joy?

Joy is the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. Joy isn't just a short burst of a feeling, it is something that grows within us. We can often mistake happiness or laughter as being a sign of joy, and this may sometimes be true. However, this is not always the case. Simply laughing is not necessarily meaning that you are filled with joy. When a person tells a joke or makes fun of someone, this may bring us a short moment of laughter, but this isn't the joy of the Holy Spirit. The joy of the Holy Spirit never leaves us. It's what gets us through the hard times, when things seem down, it's the joy inside us that can lift our spirits. 

It's a joy that can fill us to overfilling that runs out of us and onto others, but it's always refilled. It's kind of like the way God loves us. It's never ending. The Holy Spirits joy is never ending!

We don't just share our joy with those around us, we can share our joy with God. He gives it to us so that we may be joyful and sing to Him. 

"Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!" (Psalms 47:1)

 Thankful for: Sight

Have you ever walked around in pitch black? I did it the other day and realised how difficult it was. So I'm thankful for the gift of sight, being able to see the beauty of everything around me is amazing!

Fruits of the Spirit - Love

I have decided to do a bit of a study on the fruits of the spirit focusing on one a day.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23)

The first of the fruits of the spirits is love. 

So what is love? The dictionary has a number of definitions, here are just a couple of them:

1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. 

2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child or friend. 

It's interesting to note that the definition in the dictionary doesn't seem to explain the love that I think God wants for us to show others. Love according to the dictionary is a feeling, but God doesn't just see love as a feeling but a choice and an action. So then I ask myself, if God is an action.... how is it a fruit of the Spirit? 

I think the ability to feel love and to show love is a gift. If we were unable to feel love, we would be unable to show love because we wouldn't understand love. Being able to feel love brings joy to our lives, and showing love brings joy to not only us but others. So how do we show love to others? We treat them as God would treat them. We believe in them, we encourage, we do things for them, we show them the Jesus in us. And all of this is done with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Love is something that not everyone can express and some people don't see it. It's important the we work on it. I know there have been times in my life where I should have shown love but didn't. I had not allowed the Holy Spirit to work through me. When you're not sure how you can show love, just look to the Holy Spirit and ask Him for guidance. It's a gift He has for us.

Thankful for: Humour

Humour is great for entertainment. We just have to be very aware of the type of humour we laugh at. Humour which is upsetting to someone or makes fun of someone may seem funny at the time, but may not be funny to the other person. But in saying that, I'm thankful that we have humour when it is not hurtful towards anyone. It can brighten up your day and put a smile on your face. 

A Letter To My Future Husband

I've been reading a book recently which is about praying for your future husband. It teaches what to pray about as a single girl even before meeting who this man may be and speaks about writing letters to them. So, I thought I would write a letter myself...

To my future husband,

From today, I put God before anything else in my life. I choose to follow Him and allow Him to do a work in me so that I may be the woman of God that you need me to be. I will allow God to fulfill the desires of my heart rather than going to worldly things. I will do all I can to keep myself pure for you. I have made mistakes before but I choose to let go of these errors and not let them hold me back anymore from my relationship with God or with you. I choose to forgive myself for these mistakes I have made and will continually pray for strength to not make these same mistakes again. I will continue to pray for your journey, your heart, your protection and your faith in Jesus Christ. I will pray that God is also doing a work in you so that you may be the man of God He needs you to be. When we meet I will not let my eyes stray and think immorally of any men and will keep my thoughts pure for you. I will encourage you in your walk and will be with you every step of the way. We will raise an amazing family and I believe with God working through us, we can make a difference in our future community.

Thankful for: Kindness

Kindness is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and it really makes a difference in the world. The world without kindness would be a very different place. 

Weekend Testimony

So I mentioned that I had gone on a weekend away with some women of the church and I have shared some of my testimony in more detail.

On the first night, we were asked to picture Jesus in the same room as us and take note of where He was. When I did a similar exercise about 18 months ago, the picture I saw was me in a chair in a dark room while Jesus was standing in the door way with bright light behind him, but something was holding me to the chair and I was unable to move. I think back then I was still so unsure about where I was, there were things in my life that were holding me back from everything that God had for me. Something was holding me back from being close to Jesus. I believe that I was not ready to accept the love that Jesus had for me, and I was stopping myself from getting close. However, this time when I did the same thing I had a completely different picture appear. This time we were in a lit up room and he had me in a great embrace telling me how much He loved me and how much He was proud of who I was. 

This was a great beginning to the weekend and was a sign of just how far I had come in my walk with God. I think a lot of this has to do with the last 3 months, which is when I made the choice to be in this 100%. I have dealt with a lot of things as they have come up, I have been more accepting of what God has for me and have been learning more and more about how much He loves me. 

During the Saturday we had a number of sessions to deal with issues about people we considered heroes in our lives, self-image, family hurts, unforgiveness and our own purity. Each session was amazing and things came up in my life that I had not yet dealt with. Memories of things that were said to me that had made me think things of myself that were not true and people that I had not forgiven that I didn't even realise had hurt me as much as they had. I received healing for these and the truths were reinforced in my life. 

The greatest thing about the weekend was that at all different moments during the day, God gave me more and more visions of me and Jesus confirming His love for me. There was a number of different visions I received: 

1. Jesus put me on His shoulders and proceeded to spin around in circles.

2. Jesus took hold of me and started to spin me around and around. 

3. Jesus and I danced toghether in the middle of a room. 

4. Jesus and I skipped around hand in hand.

5. Jesus and I were dressed in karate outfits ready to take on whatever came at us. 

I found each vision to show a very close relationship and often things one would do with their father. Well... Jesus is God, and God is my Heavenly Father. 

Before going on this weekend, I had doubts about His love, I had doubts about what He thought of me and I really wasn't sure I was on the right path. After this weekend, I know that He loves me, I know that He is proud of me, I know that He thinks I am great... I am perfect in His eyes and nothing will stop me from serving Him!

In the final session on Saturday night, I heard the words "joy" and "discipleship". I feel like God had filled me with a new joy, a joy that I could take into my life and into my community and share with others. This new joy is going to help in my discipleship of others. When people see the joy in my life from God, they may be drawn to it giving me the opportunity to share where my joy comes from.

Thankful for: His joy!

I'm thankful for the joy He has given me, the feeling that nothing can bring me down and knowing that even in the hard times Jesus is with me and He has the joy I need. It's a great feeling! 

Beneath The Waters (I Will Rise) - Hillsong

Well, now that the Connect Weekend is over, I will go back to my usual posting of a video on Sunday. I will give a final account of my weekend revelations tomorrow. For now I leave you with the song "Beneath The Waters (I Will Rise)" by Hillsong. 

This is my revelation
Christ Jesus crucified
Salvation through repentance
At the cross on which He died

Now hear my absolution
Forgiveness for my sin
And I sink beneath the waters
That Christ was buried in

I stand a new creation
Baptized in blood and fire
No fear of condemnation
By faith I'm justified

I will rise, I will rise
As Christ was raised to life
Now in Him, now in Him
I live

I rise as You are risen
Declare Your rule and reign
My life confess Your Lordship
And glorify Your Name
Your Word it stands eternal
Your Kingdom knows no end
Your praise goes on forever
An on and on again

No power can stand against You
No curse assault Your throne
No one can steal Your glory
For it is Yours alone
I stand to sing Your praises
I stand to testify
For I was dead in my sin

This song has such powerful lyrics, particularly in the bridge. "Your Word it stands eternal, Your Kingdom knows no end", "No power can stand against You, no curse assault Your throne". That truly is just how powerful God is. He is everlasting, ever powerful, nothing can come against Him, no evil can overpower Him. The question is... Will You rise to meet Him? Or will you stay hidden away, hiding from all your life could be. I'm going to rise! I'm living my life with Him!

Thankful for: My Bed

After not having my bed over the past 2 nights, it's nice to have my own bed back, so I'm thankful for my bed! I know that it may not be a very thoughtful or spiritual thankfulness, but it's just what I feel right now as I just feel like I need to sleep!

Connect Ministry

Today we completed a full day of ministry. These are always extremely exciting however, somewhat emotional days. We dealt with a range of things that could have affected how we live and our relationship with God. Throughout the day a range of things were brought up which I dealt with but each time I had a vision of myself and Jesus back in the room again. At one stage He was spinning me round, another time I was dancing with Him, we skipped down around hand in hand and then the final thing I saw before major ministry was us doing karate ready to take on anything that came at us! It really just regally confirmed the love that I had discovered with Him and the growth that I have had over the past few months. Jesus is awesome!! And I no longer have any doubt in my mind that He is real and He is there and present in everything we do and He loves us more than we could ever know!

Connect

So tonight is the first night of our connect weekend, and due to the weekend away, my next couple of posts will probably be short ones. We were asked to picture Jesus in the room and to see where He was. Often when people do this He is distant from them, and I know that when I've done it before He has been at the entrance but tonight He was giving me a hug, which was amazing. It just re instilled the idea that I was loved and He was right there. I heard Him say to me that He lies where I am and is proud that I am who I am. I'm looking forward to seeing what more comes from this weekend as we deal with our past.

Search me, Oh God!

"You have searched me, Lord, and You know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar. 

You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways. 

Before a word is on my tongue You, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before, and You lay Your hand upon me. 

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I feel from Your presence? 

If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,

Even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast. 

If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"

Even the darkness will not be dark to You' the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

For you creted my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. 

I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your words are wonderful, I know that full well. 

My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. 

How precious to me are Your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand - when I awake, I am still with you. 

If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!

They speak of You with evil intent; Your adversaries misuse Your name. 

Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?

I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. 

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 

See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

 (Psalm 139)

The final day before our "connect weekend". We are encouraged to meditate on this scripture. 

I want God to take all of my heart, and for me to no longer hold anything back. That is my prayer. 

God made me. He knows me. He loves me. He loves me as I am. He is always with me. He is always near. He will never leave me. He is my guide. I pray that I will not let any evil into my life or my heart. When I allow God to take His rightful place in every part of my life and every part of my heart, there is no evil that can get through. 

Thankful for: My house

So, I got a call from my housemate as I was on the way home from a singing lesson and she said the house smelt like gas. We had a new oven installed and somehow in the rush to leave, myself and the guy installing it forgot to double check everything was turned off, and one of the stove top gas switches had been left slightly on for almost an hour while no one was home. I'm thankful that I still have a house to come home to and that we didn't lose it in a fire. 

 

Great Expections

Today is all about hope, faith and expectations. 

"For nothing is impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

We all face situations that at times seem completely impossible to get through. In these times, we can often lose hope, and we feel that our circumstance is too much for God to take control of. But the bible has a number of great messages of hope. 

"No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame..." (Psalms 25:3)

"There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off." (Proverbs 23:18)

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" (Jeremiah 29:11)

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:31)

Hope is a powerful tool in any Christians life. It's stronger than you can imagine. Just a little bit of hope and faith is all you need to over come any mountain. Matthew 17:20-21 says all you need is faith as little as a mustard seed. That's not very big at all, but it's all you need to see big movement in your life. 

Thankful for: The moon

The moon is a great part of the universe. Not only does it help the Earth do what it's supposed to do (I'm not really sure on all the sciency stuff, but I know it's there) but it also can just look pretty! Sometimes at the end of the night, it's nice to just look up at the stars and the moon and know that God created it all!

A New Reality

Only 3 days to go until the ladies weekend away. Today's journal entry focus is looking at "a new reality".

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17)

When we have Jesus in our lives, every day in Him is a brand new start, His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23)

With Jesus in our lives we put away our old self. Our old self has been corrupted by deceitful desires. Now, we have a new self. A self which was created to be like God, righteous and Holy. We need to be actively involved in stepping away from the old and walking into the new. There are often things that keep us identifying with the old. These may be thought patterns, behaviours, relationships, fears, grievances. We need to let go of all these and replace them with something new. 

Thankful for: Community

We just spent some time talking about the people in our community and what we are doing within our community to help share God's love. I realised that it's important to be thankful for the many communities that we have, and the communities within a community that will work together to bring love and peace to others. 

 

Spirit, Soul and Body - The Body

Well, I am up to day 11 of 14. The weekend is getting closer!

Today the journal focuses on the body. 

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)

Our bodies were made in God's image. They were meant to serve our souls, which in turn serve our spirits. 

Our bodies can carry a lot of pain and suffering, but Jesus is able to help us. Hebrews 2:18 tells us that Jesus was tempted and He suffered Himself. He knows what we go through which gives Him the ability to help us through temptation. 

Our physical condition is also very important to Jesus. He spent a lot of His time healing the sick and instructed us to continue to do so in His name. "By His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-5). When Jesus dies on the cross He took away our sickness, He healed us by taking our errors and our sicknesses onto the cross with Him. 

Not only does he care about our pain, suffering and physical condition. He cares about our poverty. In 2 Corinthians 8:9 it tells us that He became poor so that we might become rich. He gave all He had, so that we would not have to live in poverty, so that we had the opportunity to be set free from slavery. 

Thankful for: Toilet Paper

Yes, laugh... I know I did. I was just thinking about what I could be thankful for... and that's what came to my head. Maybe it has something to do with noticing there was an empty toilet roll that has somehow made it into my room, I don't know. Sometimes it's important to be thankful for the crazy little things, we don't realise how much it brings to life... but imagine life without it and you'd soon be thankful for it too!

Spirit, Soul and Body - The Soul

Our soul is the part of us that includes our mind, our will and our emotions. It gives us personality and character. Salavation is an instant awakening of our spirits but, our souls need to work out our salvation daily. 

"Do not conform to the patter of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:2)

We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our thinking, feelings and decisions should reflect our nature in Christ. Jesus came to bring healing to our emotions. He heals the broken hearted, he brings comfort to those who mourn, he provided for those who are lost. The Holy Spirit also helps our souls by bringing His character to operate in us. The Holy Spirit brings gifts to our life. He brings love, joy peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). He speaks to our soul and helps us to become the character God created us to be. 

Thankful for: Colour

Strange thing to be thankful for, but imagine a world without colour. A world in black and white only, it would be a little dull I imagine. So I'm thankful for the colours that God created when He created the world. 

Spirit, Soul & Body - The Spirit

The next 3 days are about the spirit, soul and body. Today in the journal we are asked to focus on the Spirit.

The Bible tells us that we were once dead but once we believe in Jesus we are alive again. The death was not a literal death of our body, or in our soul, but it was in our spirits. Sin brought death upon our Spirit but when Jesus died, He took our place so we no longer have to bear the punishment. When we are saved, our Spirits are awakened and we are born again to live.

Awakening the Spirit within us gives us a direct line to God. We have a new sensitivity to hear from God and a new understanding of who we are as a child of God.

"The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6)

The mind of a sinful man is dead, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is alive.

Thankful for: My Housemate

She is amazing! So helpful and fun to talk to. We don't really spend a lot of time at home together, but when we do it is always fun. We don't get in each others way and know when we need quiet. Seriously, best house mate ever! 

The Reality of the Supernatural Realm

In believing in Jesus, we also take on the belief that there is a very true enemy who Jesus says is the father of lies in John 8:44. There is no truth in him.

Satan has one aim in life, and that is to see us to destruction. He does this by using a bunch of lies and deception to deceive us and rob us of our peace. He puts in our hearts fear and confusion in our minds. This only leads to us being broken, bound up and confused. 

But, there is good news! Jesus came to destroy all these works. "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work" (1 John 3:8)

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour" (Luke 4:18-19)

Jesus came to set us free and to heal us from sickness and disease. He came to save us from the devil's power and took us back to our father. 

Thankful for: Warmth

I was cold last night, and I hadn't been in a while, but thankfully I am able to just put on more clothing, blankets or socks. I'm thankful for the warmth that I am able to create for myself. I know that there are many people who do not have the luxury of sleeping with even one blanket for themselves. There is so much that I have that I know others don't and sometimes I forget when it's most important. 

The Power and Authority of the Word of God

I am now one week into my pre-connect journal. Today was about the power and authority of the Word of God. 

It's amazing to think that there is so much in the bible. There are 66 books written by about 40 authors from various periods of time. The Scriptures are divinely inspired and, when applied to our lives, bring great wisdom and direction. 

Matthew 7:24-27 tells us not to ignore the words we hear. When we hear the word we must put what we hear into practice.  "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine ad puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the windso blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:24-27) We need to ensure we are not the foolish man who ignores the word of God and who builds his house on the sand. We need to hear what God is speaking to us, and act upon it. When we do this we are building on a strong foundation. One which cannot be torn apart or blown down.

When we hold on to what Jesus has taught us, we will know the truth. This truth will set us free. 

Gods word is alive and "sharper than any double-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12). Nothing is stronger than His Word. When we have His Word in our lives, nothing can defeat us. We need to know His Word, and really believe and understand the power and authority of it. When we do this, we can overcome the devil. 

Thankful for: Confidence

Today I had to meet up with a client for the first time. I had only done this once before and I sat silently throughout the meeting. Today, I was on my own and it was meeting about something that I had never done before which made it quite difficult and I was a little worried. However, thanks to a little bit of confidence, which came from knowing that God would be there, even with something as trivial as a work meeting, I made it through the meeting and I think it all went well. 

Being Willing To Receive Ministry

Day 6 of our journal before our Womens weekend is about being willing to receive ministry. 

We need to learn to humble ourselves to Him, and to allow Him to do the work that He wants us to do. In Acts 9 we read about Saul becoming the man that God needed him to be. Saul was a proud man but His encounter with Jesus brough him to a humble position where he was in need of the help of another.

Pride can stand in the way of us receiving from God, it is important that we do not let it take way in our lives. 

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)

When we allow pride to lead the way, it will lead us to destruction, it will lead us to falling apart. When we are humble however, we will live in the ways of the Lord and our lives will be exalted. 

Willingness to let go of all our pride and just to simple be humble opens ourselves up for great ministry. And in this ministry we can have great and powerful breakthrough. Let go of what ever it is that is holding you back, let go of pride and let God do a work in you. 

Thankful for: Self-Control

Some days I don't have a lot of this, others I do. I'm praying that I can continue to work on it and become a stronger individual and say no when I know I need to. I'm thankful however, for the ability to grow my self control. Without self control, life could quite easily become very different and very mixed up. 

The Power of Obedience

In Acts 9 we read the story of Saul's life changing experience which changed him from being a man who once destroyed Christians and after his experience went on to write a large portion of the new testament. 

This story is not just just about Saul however, it also includes a man named Ananais who was instructed to go and help restore Saul's vision. This wouldn't have been an easy task for Ananais to accept as a christian knowing that Saul destroyed people like him. However, Ananais went and did what God asked. 

The story tells of great obedience, and shows just how miraculous He can be when we obey Him. Saul obeyed God's instruction when He told him to go to the city, and Ananais obeyed when God told him to go and meet Saul. Thanks to the great obedience of both of these men, we saw a man changed and go on to lead many more to Christ. 

How much can happen when you are obedient to God? When we are obedience God can fulfil the miraculous in our lives. As part of our journal we are asked to talk to God about areas we struggle to trust Him with. Part of being obedient to Him, is trusting in Him. We will not obey when we do not trust. I know that for myself I struggle sometimes with my finance and relationships. I sometimes try to do things my own way and not His way. I know that I have to trust Him completely and follow His ways with thse things, however, at times, this can be difficult. It's something that I am working on and hopefully will have breakthrough with over the next coming weeks and with our womens connect event coming up. 

Thankful for: Wisdom

I have spent the night with a few people, one who has quite a lot of wisdom when it comes to "the beginning of the earth". I'm thankful for wisdom because without it, life could be very confusing! I don't know everything myself, but I know there are others who are wise around me who can help me where I get lost. 

Encountering Jesus

We see many stories in the Bible where people have encountered Jesus. There is one story in Luke 7:36-50 that tells the story of a sinner who fell at Jesus' feet, cleaned them with her tears, wiped them with her hair, and poured perfume on them. 

In Luke 7:48, Jesus simply says to her, "Your sins are forgiven." We can all be forgiven when we have the faith to believe in Jesus. Jesus not only forgives us but He loves and accepts us. 

Thinking about how I would react if I had a moment to encounter Jesus face to face, I wondered how I would behave. Knowing everything that I know about Him, and knowing His love and His acceptance, and the fact that He has forgiven all my many sins, I think I would simply fall at His feet. Not because I feel like I should be small in His presence or think that I am unworthy of Him, but simply because of all He has done and as an act of worship to Him. 

Thankful for: Muscles

Muscles are very strange things in our body but I'm thankful for them because they are what help us move. Imagine our bodies without muscle. I don't think it's possible!

Spiritual Hunger

I would usually post a song on Sunday but I'm going to continue with my journal. 

Today's entry was about Spiritual Hunger, focusing on prayer and fasting. Fasting allows us to completely focus on Jesus. It helps to enrich our prayer life and attain breakthrough in our lives. I have fasted before and have found it to be very helpful.

Matthew 6:16-18 gives us instruction about how to fast. "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you". It's important that we do not boast about our fasting, doing this will often mean you are trying to get recognition from others and praise from others. The only person who can reward your fasting is God. 

Fasting helps us defeat the enemy. In 2 Chronicles 20:15 God tells us not to be afraid of the enemy. We need to know that God will fight the battles for us. 

Thankful for: Touch

I find myself becoming more accepting of touch these days. I used to be a very personal person and did not like people entering my personal space to even hug me, but I've recently discovered how important this is. It shows love when you have nothing else to give.

From The Inside Out

So today's journal entry, continuing from yesterday is about listening to the Holy Spirit and understanding what it is He wants to do in us. 

1 Corinthians 2:9-16 talks about the Spirit of God and how he talks to us. Some people experience His Spirit in different ways. Some simply hear thoughts and know they are not their own, others will hear clear audible voice. It doesn't matter how you hear the voice as long as you know it's Him. You just simply need to be connected to His Spirit. 

Right now, I think the Holy Spirit particularly wants to focus on matters of my heart. Knowing that He is all I need, and trusting Him with everything. I think when I lay it all down for Him, everything will all start to fall into place. I want my relationship with Him to grow stronger, I want to be closer with Him and I want to know that I have given Him my everything. If there is anything that is stopping me, He will make it known and help me get through it. 

Thankful for: Creativity

After spending the day at our creative arts academy concert I have to be thankful for creativeness. There was such talent and abilities at the concert and without creativity I think we would get stuck not knowing what to do with our talents.

Connect With Jesus

I am embarking on a bit of a journey over the next fortnight which ends with a God-filled weekend away with some other women of the church. We have been given a journal with some points to consider so over the next fortnight, I will be focusing on what they have to say. 

Our first day of journeling is about connecting with Jesus. 

What is it that allows us to be saved? What do we have to do? 

"Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. he came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him." Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." "How can someone be born when they are old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born!" Jesus answered, "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit" (John 3:1-8)

To be saved is really quite simple. All we have to be born again. And to do that, we simply have to believe in Jesus, and we are then born of the flesh and Spirit. 

The only person who can bring us this new life is Jesus. 

I remember when I first became Christian and I said the sinners prayer. This was my first born again experience. Saying the prayer changed something in my heart, and I knew that it was the first day of a new life. It was the beginning of a new me! 
  
Thankful for: Cleanliness

I spent the last 30 minutes cleaning my room before coming online to do this blog. And I have to admit, I am thankful for cleanliness. I don't just mean having a tidy room, but just the cleanliness we have here in Australia. Compared to some places we are living in luxury. We have clean fresh water, we have showers and baths, we have toilets. Some places don't get any of this, and therefore, cleanliness is not something they know of. I'm thankful for the cleanliness we have and the ability to be able to share and help bring about cleanliness to others through giving to missions.  

Kind Words vs. Critisism

I have just come home from a long day. The last few hours at a rehearsal for a concert which we have for our creative arts academy on Saturday, and I decided to read a verse in Proverbs and I saw this scripture which I find quite fitting with the conert coming up. 

"The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit" (Proverbs 15:4)

We have a large number of students performing at the concert this weekend. Some of which are very new to performing and it could be their first performance ever. The last thing they need is someone to be cruel or angry if something doesn't quite go as planned. As a teacher it's important to remember that each of the students is up there and giving it their best, we need to be encouraging and lift our students up because that is what will bring them to life. 

It's not just in these times that we need to remember this. Everyone should live by this proverb. When we speak kind, uplifting words to someone it does more for them than critisizing them. People take on critisism and then think that they are not good enough. Being kind, uplifting and understanding will make them want to continue to try and will bring joy to their life. I know I would much rather be responsible for a smile on someones face than tears in their eyes. 

Thankful for: Fun & Positive People

I have spent all evening around a bunch of fun and positive people, all doing their bit in the community for God. Loving Him, and loving others. I'm just very thankful for people like this in my life who really make me look at myself and help me to make sure I too am being positive and fun.  

Love

I find myself reciting the following verse over and over in my head tonight:

"Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you; Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires" (Song of Songs 8:4)

As I've mentioned many times before I am still single and making my way past my mid 20's into my late 20's. I don't have an issue with that but lately it seems that a lot of my friends have been mentioning it, and they begin to try and set me up or pair me with people.This is all fine until my mind goes haywire and I find myself looking for something that is not there. If I was honest there are 2 guys that I have gotten to know a little recently and if either wanted to spend more time with me I wouldn't hesistate before saying yes. Of course, I am not going to make any moves because that is not how I should behave, I know if either of them are the man for me, God will make it happen in His timing. I just have to continue to remember this scripture in order to keep my head in the right space. I do not need to find myself ending up in lust and completely lost in it because I have allowed myself to awaken something that should not be woken. 

 Thankful for: The Heart

I actually do mean the physical heart. I sit here watching my heart beat and it's a rather amazing thing really. It's one of those things that we really couldn't live without, there are so mamy mysteries behind the heart. How it works, what makes it do what it does, it's like a machine that just goes all the time on it's own... Our creator really is amazing!

Don't Push Him Aside

I snapped a string on my guitar today. I've never done it before and I've heard it can be very painful if it snaps and hits you so I was thankful that it didn't fling back at me. I was just about to have a moment of worship with God when it happened. At first, I tried not to let it bother me that my guitar now only had 5 strings, but it soon become very obvious to me that I was not focusing so much on God but on my guitar and I realised it was no way to worship. So I had 2 choices... 

1. Stop worshipping and just go on and get back to work or...

2. Go buy new strings and fix the guitar. 

I chose option 2. God is too important in my life to just push aside. I wanted to worship and sing, and so I did everything in my power to do so. I know that if it was God choosing to either show me love or to just push me aside, He would choose show love every time, and I want to be able to do the same back for Him as He would for me. 

Going out and buying a string was not a simple task though. The getting to the store was fine, but when I got there I didn't actually know what I needed, thankfully the guys in the store did. Then there was the matter of getting home and restringing my guitar which I had never done before and had never seen it done or been told how to do it. There was a simple solution for this... Google! I searched how to restring the guitar, found a site with an explanation and diagrams and I figured it out. So now my guitar was ready to go and I was able to worship. So my thought that I would take a break from work and spend 30 mins worshipping God turned into 2 hours of sorting out my guitar and then finally getting to worship. But did I let that bother me... no! Why? Simply for the reasons I said before. I was showing God the love that He showed me. There is nothing more important than Him. Everything I do is for Him. There is no pushing God aside because it's simpler that way. I went out of my way for Him in the same way that I know He would do for me. 

Thankful for: Lip Balm

I have days where I am thankful for things you wouldn't normally think someone would be thankful for. Today, it's lip balm. My lips feel dry and sore... lip balm fixes that. And I know some people may think that there are much bigger things to be thankful for, I know that but I believe God is the reason for all we have in life today, even the little things like lip balm. He created the person who created lip balm. He created the stuff to make lip balm. Really, He created lip balm Himself! So why shouldn't I be thankful for it!

How Great Is His Love?

I was having a somewhat difficult day yesterday, it was fathers day and as I have no immediate family here with me, I do find these days difficult. When most people are out doing things with the family, I am alone. I went to a friends house and watched a movie and just hung out but it just never seems the same. So when the evening church service came around, I knew I just needed to feel loved. And I knew the only one who would be able to give me the love that I need would be God. 

As we stood and sang worship songs to Him, I found myself breaking down. I just needed to be reminded of just how great His love for me was. I know that it is great, I know that it is everlasting, but sometimes on days when you feel like you're missing out on love in other places (like for me from my family on a special day), you just need that extra reminder that He is all the love you need. So, as we sang, I closed my eyes and God showed me just how great His love for me was. 

I saw a picture of myself standing next to Jesus and He embraced me in a great hug. But as His arms wrapped around me they continued to grow. They didn't just wrap around me once, they went around and around and around until it would have been impossible to move. At first this may seem a little crazy like God doesn't want me to move but as He spoke to me He said. "I love you so much that no matter what you do, you cannot get away from the love I have for You". 

How awesome is that! God's love is so great that we cannot escape it. There is nothing we can do that will take us from His love. We can choose to ignore it or not to accept His love, but it is still there. I choose to live in His arms, I choose to live with His love, I accept His love into my life and into my heart. There is nothing more that I need. 

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers , neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to seperate us from the love of God that is Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)

 

Thankful for: Laughter

I had an interesting evening tonight. One that was filled with laughter and friends. After a busy day, sometimes a night of laughter is just the thing we need. 

Carried Away - Daniel Thornton

I'm carried away
by this river of grace
Accepted and loved
forever, always
And words can't describe
this hope I now know
Except it's all Christ
all of it Christ

In You, Jesus
And You in me
In You, Jesus
And You in me

I'm carried away by Your love
I'm carried away by Your love
I'm carried away by Your love
in this ocean of Grace

This song was written by one of our worship leaders at church. I'll have to admit, the first time I heard it, I thought it was nice, but that was all. But once you actually worship with it it makes so much of a difference. The biggest question I find myself asking is... "Do you allow yourself to be carried away by His love?" His love is so big and so powerful that we can be carried away in it. When we allow ourselves to be in Him and Him in us, His love overflows and over powers all that we know. We can't help but get lost in it. Sometimes all we need to to allow ourselves to get lost in it and let ourselves be carried away. Carried away from the fear, from the pain, from the hurt in our lives. Allow ourselves to be carried away by His love and grace and let Him take us to where He wants us to be. In His Kingdom!

Thankful for: My dad

Today was fathers day so in going along with that I am thankful for my earthly father. He is a great man and although he does not yet know God, he raised me up to be a great strong woman. My prayer for him is that he gets to know the love and acceptance that I have found in Jesus. 

A Day Off

I spent the entire day today on my own, and I loved it. It made me think about how much I have grown even in the past few months. I  had been invited out a couple of times today, but due to being unwell, I decided it was best I stayed home and focused on getting better as quickly as possible. In previous situations, this would have made me feel alone and depresssed but today, I didn't. 

Sometimes it's good to have a day to ourselves to just look at our lives and see where we've come from and then look at where we are going. We can spend time with God on these days and receive guidance about where we may have taken some slightly wrong steps and we can make corrections. Sometimes even the smallest step in the wrong direction may put us off track. It may seem small to begin with but if we continue along that path we get further and further away from where we are supposed to be. When we spend a day with God, He will show us where we need to turn to get back on track.

I don't have much more to say other than that. I look forward to spending more time with Him tonight. 

Thankful for: Love

What is life without love? I don't believe we can experience life without it. The great thing is when we know God, we know that no matter what, we always have love in our lives.