Good thought

Matt 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."


I want to be like that man. I give everything.

I like this.

Kingdom principle....

"Cause it's the inside outside upside down kingdom
Where you lose to gain and you die to live"
-Misty Edwards


Imagine yourself stuck inside of a straitjacket. It is tight, suffocating, painful.
How did you get there?
You got yourself there.
When you tried to figure things out on your own. When you tried to solve your own problems. When you developed lifelines to people or habits and not God. You went to yourself and your own means, not God's.

Now here is the Kingdom principle. Ready for it? Give up control. While you put yourself into that straitjacket, God is working on getting you out. He is undoing the zippers, ties, and buckles. It is only though, when you give up control to God, and submit to Him, depend on Him for all things, you can finally start to breath. It may seem scary, but God knows what he is doing.
It has been a while since you have been able to breathe normally and use yours arms and shoulders as you were made to. It is painful, but God is showing you how to be yourself. You have to be taught who you are again. God is most glorified when you are truly yourself.
As you break out of the straitjacket of hurts, wounds, and lies, God gives you freedom. But it is only by God you can get out of the straitjacket. The more you try to do it yourself, the more you get tangled back up in the mess.

Submit to God. Trust God. He cares and loves your own heart more than you will ever be able to or care to.

It does not really make sense in our heads, but when we trust God and have faith, great things happen. I bet the Israelites did not know why they did some of the things they were commanded to do, but when they trusted, they got victory. Faith.

Food

What do you get like when you don't get food? Do you become cranky? Angry? Tired? Depressed?

I know that if I don't have food, I become extremely tired and out of engery. I have a high metabolism and can go through energy rather quickly.

This week I have been sitting in meetings. 8 am to 10 pm. lunch. dinner. meetings.
Meetings are one of my weakest points. If you asked my close friends they would tell you I hate meetings. Very much so, but I did it. It was an amazing week, I learned tons, was a little bit restless but not tired. I wasn't tired at all. I was full of life. Actually, I talked more in this week than I normally ever talk.
I started off everyday with God. Right after breakfast I spent time with God, in his Word.

Today I did not have time with God.
All day I have been so tired. Very drained.

Psalm 1:2-3 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.

How desperate and dependent for God are we? Can you go a day without spending time with God? I hope you say no.

confession and repentance

"Coness and repent. Satan's accusations carry a sting because they usually contain a certain fraction of truth. So go ahead, get violent. Confess your sin, call it in its worst terms, and repent of it. So what if it's the umptennth time? I know who I am. I am not a sinner who struggles to love God; I am a lover of God who struggles with sin. I am primarily a lover of God, not a sinner. That is my bottom-line identity. So, I will do violence one more time to any known sin or compromise and confess it freely to God, receiving His forgiveness." -Bob Sorge

These last four months I have confessed and repented more than the sum of my life thus far. It may get so tiring and annoying, but I have more freedom this year than I have had thus far in my life.

I have never been as hungry for God as I am now. It is a deep hunger, burning deep in my bones.

Orange juice

I asked God if I could buy orange juice when I was at the store. He told me no. 'Are you sure, God?'

'Yes'
....later that night.....

Can I have some orange juice God?
'No'
I really need it, I need some sugar in my body. Can I have some.
'No'
Really? Can I have some, what is the harm? I really need it.
'No'

*As I have the orange juice in my hand*
'Don't drink it Jeremy'
*as it gets closer to my mouth*
'Don't'

The next morning I woke up and spent it besides the trash can because the orange juice was bad. When God tells you 'no', its smart to obey, it is prob. for a good reason.

After I drank the orange juice I knew I had disobyed.
Confession? check.
Repentance? check.
Lesson learned? Check.

Faith, again...

Eph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

My faith will always be challenged and growing, but lately, God has been calling me out: Your limiting what I could do through you with your resources, Jeremy.

He is challenging me to dream bigger, not just with ministry, but with my personal life. In all areas of my personal life. It is hard, and I constantly have to depend on him for his vision for the small and big things in my life. It is so easy to let the logic in my mind define the circumstance and the outcome of that circumstance, but that is not always how God sees the final outcome. I need to lean on Him for all things. ....whew, that is hard.

Cool story: Spencer, Daniel, and I walked up a group of skateboarders on Friday night. I think there was around 10-12 Skateboarders there. I asked them to help us, that Spencer and Daniel needed to pray for some people and they want to see people get healed. So after talking for a few moments, we got to pray for one guy's ankles. His ankles got healed, and got to express God's love to him.
Another guy heard us praying and said he wanted to be prayed for, his name was Torbjørn. We got to pray for his toe, and the first time it was a little better, but he could feel the warmth. The second time his toe got healed. As I was praying for him, I felt God was saying why He loves Torbjørn and talking to me about his gifts in the arts. I told Torbjørn about God's love for him, and also that he doesn't need to be afraid to use his gifts in the arts. That really touched him deeply as he has been thinking a lot lately about if he should go back into the arts.
We asked Torbjørn if he could ask anyone else if they needed/wanted healing or prayer. He jumped up and went around telling everyone how he was healed and that we could pray for them. So after that, we got to pray for two more people. One girl whose elbow was healed, and then a boy named Harold (I think).
We prayed for Harolds knee and it got healed and we also got to express the Fathers love for Him. I felt God was telling me that Harold was trying to earn his dads love by doing nice things, but it never seemed enough. The great news for Harold is that he doesnt have to do anything to be loved by the Father, but just because he is Harold. Then we proceeded to pray with him and share the gospel with him. Around the time we started praying for the girl, another team had shown up. Someone had gotten a picture of Daniel earlier before going out to evangelize. It was really cool to see how Daniel is now one step closer to Christ after a night of divine appointments.
So in the end, a whole bunch of skate boarders had a meeting with the love of God that night. We had talked to all of them by the the time the night was over.
Thats good for now. I love that Jesus heals.
Blessings