Awakened: The Disconnect Between Action and Belief

This week, after actual sincere prayers, I have awakened to the disconnect between action and belief in areas of my life.  I desire to marry and be a keeper at home with children through childbirth and/or adoption.  This is a desire I truly did not have as a girl or young woman, and I believe it is God given.  In forsaking the pursuit of yet another degree program this week in an effort to conform to my aforementioned desire, I felt as though I was a failure by the world's standard.  Henceforth, rather than languish in sorrow, I have no choice but to rely upon God's standard of success. 

In meanwhile, I continue to work, hoping to transform my work experience into something that builds on my innate talents and stretches me on a personal level.  In my journal I wrote "there is no turning back, I cannot neglect to let God order my day starting in the early morning."  Really believing Matthew 6:33, following Jesus' example, and experiencing the fruit that it has borne this week is at the root of that statement.

How can God order my day?  Well, besides upholding all things by the Word of his power, it was impressed upon me while I was reading 1 Corinthians 2, that through obedience to the Spirit of God and his revealed will (The Bible) that I can have the mind of Christ.

Other scripture references: Mark 1, Hebrews 1:3

Lord of the Nations

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to hear from some African pastors.  I learned of the top five keys of revival in West Africa:
(1) Simplicity of the Gospel.
(2) People cannot depend on the system (government,police, fire dept., hospital) there is 100% dependence on the sovereignty of God.
(3) They understand spiritual warfare - they know how to pray.
(4) There is preaching on sanctification.
(5) There is preaching the Gospel with the power of the Holy Spirit, not the wisdom of man. (i.e. 1 Corinthians 2:4-5)

R E V I V A L

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life." John 6:68

The End of the Matter

Focus on the becoming the woman I want to be (my character) not what I want to achieve and accomplish. I have been focusing on what I want to do, instead of being the person that God has called me to be (which is for the most part, revealed in the Bible).

Romans 1:18-32...Depravity

I watched a short documentary on the genocide in Cambodia called The Conscience of Nhem En. It's about a photographer, Nhem En, who worked for the Khmer Rogue. He took portraits of 17,000 men, women, and children before they were needlessly tortured and slaughtered. Nhem En's rationale for what he did or didn't do is not surprising, considering his allegiance to Marxist thought. Marxism, the materialist belief that man is comparable to wood or an eggshell, is a spiritual force of evil. To quote Richard Wurmbrand, founder of The Voices of Martyrs, "Communist torturers often said, 'there is no God, no hereafter, no punishment of evil. We can do what we wish.'"

My heart ached for two individuals in the film in particular who lost their entire families. When a shop keeper near the start of the film lamented that he was the only one left...tears came. I thank God for the spirit of adoption and the family that believers in the Christ can gain.

My heart ached due to the injustice of the killings by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge, and the complicity of bystanders. I felt peace when I remembered that there is no sin=wrong that will go unpunished ...whether in this life, in the Lake of Fire, or by the suffering and death endured by Christ for those who turn from their sins and trust in the resurrected Savior.

I sent the film Sometimes in April to a few people earlier this year. The following is an excerpt from a letter I sent with the film:

This happened in our lifetime. The bloodiest century in the history of mankind was the century of "progress".

Romans 1:18-32 depravity...the Holocaust, 60 million killed under Stalin in Russia and millions killed in China under Mao, and 20% of the population of Cambodia executed under Pol Pot, and 800,000 killed in Rwanda, 50 million in American abortion mills. There are countless other examples.

Lord, help us to trust in you without cowardliness to stand for Truth in the face of evil.

Scripture references: Romans 1:18-32, Psalm 8, Mark 3:31-35, Isaiah 58

Surrendering to the Kingdom of God

No one will ever know me as intimately as my Lord Jesus and conversely, I will never know anyone as well as I can know God, Abba Father. By faith in Jesus, I have forgiveness of sins and unrestricted access to God's mercy seat. The Holy Scriptures reveal God's glorious and unchanging character. The Holy Spirit is a wonderful counselor who transforms me into a new creation filled with love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith, temperance, and power to be a witness.

I was going to originally call this series, "Surrendering my heart to the Kingdom of God", but I have determined that everything must give way before the demands of the Kingdom of the triune and merciful God: Body, Soul (mind+will+emotions), and Spirit.

Scripture references: Jeremiah 1, Isaiah 56:1-8, Hebrews 1:3, John 14-16, Galatians 5, Matthew 6, Matthew 15:10-20, Romans 8

The Righteous are Bold as a Lion