Presence of God

I work at a restaurant on the weekends. When I work I wait for specific moments where I feel the Lord is giving me grace to minister. Two weeks ago I had that moment. I felt a grace to be able to ask my manager questions about her life and she began to share what was on her heart in relation to God and pain. I told her everyone has to make a choice with how they handle pain: to either blame God or go to God. I asked her if she wanted to experience God's presence because she said she had felt it before through experiencing His warmth and love. She quickly replied ,"No" because she was starting to feel that warmth again while speaking to me. Her eyes were tearing up and you could see she felt really loved. It was great to see someone feel God's presence while talking to me, I didn't even have to do anything. Since then, I have gotten to love on her more through hugs and encouragement.

Romans 5-8

I heard a speaker say the other day, "Romanced by Romans."

I feel like these are the greatest, most profound chapters of the whole Bible.

To make it very simple you should read Romans 6:1-10.

You are totally new. Crucified with Christ, dead with Christ, raised up in the exact same manner as Christ, seated in heavenly places with Christ. Wow.

I'll even put it here for you, in the message translation:

6 ^1-3 So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I should hope not! If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? That is what happened in baptism. When we went under the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace—a new life in a new land!

^3-5 That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country.

^6-11 Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin’s every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ’s sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That’s what Jesus did.

Faithfulness

This week has been really hard. Not just for me but for a lot of people.

Some good things to think about:

God is "good-er" than you ever could have imagined.

He is Abba, still. Full of love, never ceasing, as he portrays his patience, goodness, and kindness to me.

He is King of the Universe

He is healing, providing for, and celebrating.

He is faithful.

I am adopted. Royal.  Friend.

I am chosen, special, son, made righteous.

Circumstances:

Nothing that "circles" me will change my "stance." I am sold on who God is and who he says I am. He is my rock and I will not be greatly shaken.


God does not change in the midst of hard times. Who you are doesn't change in the midst of hard times.

Kingdom Theology

When Adam and Eve sinned, they were no longer allowed to reign because they handed their authority over to the devil. But now, Christ has restored the standard and has given us the keys to rule.

Matthew 16:19, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

When Jesus rose from the dead he revealed himself to his disciples. In John 20:19-23, we find this account of Jesus; Jesus goes even further by breathing the Holy Spirit onto the disciples after saying, "As the Father sent me, I am sending you."

In every account of Jesus telling the gospel of the Kingdom, it was followed by miracles: healing of every disease and affliction (Matthew 4:17-25, 9:35-37). Even the disciples did the same thing: proclaiming the Kingdom of God (Heaven) is now, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons.

In the Lord's prayer, Jesus teaches us to pray in such a way, "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

So what actually is the Kingdom of God? If we go to 1 Corinthians 4:20, 1 Corinthians 2:1-5, and Romans 14:17 we find that  God's kingdom consists of: power, demonstrations of the Spirit, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus died, restored the standard, and has given us the keys to heaven. He has called us to reign in this life by destroying the works of the devil and establishing his Kingdom. He made our bodies temple of the Holy Spirit (bought with a price); now we have the victory of Christ under our belts to carry out his kingdom through power, righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

I hope this is challenging.

*These are some of my notes from school.

If you want testimonies on kingdom theology click here.

An unexpected Journey: Salvation

I have thought a lot about all of the things I need to do as I come home for a month and half-ish. I need to raise a lot of money, find a home, get a car, fill a house with the essentials, spend time with family and friends, and so on....

Before coming home God revealed to me another meaning of my name. You can find it on the internet. I'll save you the trouble: One who God will bring into freedom.

God brought me back to GA because he had some more heart work to do, some more character development if you would say.

God will take care of the things I need. He is a good father and he knows about my needs. Especially when I seek His kingdom.

BUT

I think God is way more interested in my heart and character than anything else.

I really love that. 

Bible Times

^{Mark 6:30} The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹ Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

In the scripture mentioned above Jesus is telling the disciples to find a desolate place. In the midst of my task on the base I feel I've been called into a quiet place for five weeks to really press into the Bible: To memorize, meditate, and study.

I won't write a long and drawn out text of what I have learned, but I will make quick concise points:

*I am bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20)
*I am in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:30)
*I am called according to His purpose (Rom 8:30)
*I am called to His eternal glory (1 Peter 5:10)
*I am God's field (1 Cor 3:9)
*I am God's building (1 Cor 3:9)
*I am a branch connected into the Vine Jesus Christ and His life flows through me (John 15:5)

*I am Christ's (1 Cor 3:23)  
*I am the temple of the Lord and the Holy Spirit dwells within me (1 Cor 3:16, 6:19, 2 Cor 6:16, John 14:7)
*I am one who has the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16)
*I am one who has been freely given all things through Christ (Rom 8:32, 1 Cor 3:21)
*I am not my own (1 Cor 6:19)

I've discovered these are profound truths that remove lies from the Devil about who we are. We are suppose to live these truths out daily, imagine if you did. I challenge you to prayerfully consider the above truths and discover the truths about yourself, who God has made you to be, and get rid of the nonsense you believe about yourself.

The following truth is a good one to fill your heart with and meditate on: I am free from the control of man (1 Cor 9:19). Jesus was not stopped by fear of man, but was a man who was totally reckless for God. 

Royality

Click on the link below to take a character test. It is about being a prince or a pauper. As I have read through Job and Proverbs I have seen God's sense of royalty, righteousness, honor, and justice. Do we maintain our own lives with the discipline and character that a prince shows?


Click here.


This is not my test, just one I found online by Kris Vallotton.

He hath spoketh unto me.

A guy named Kris Edler came to our base back in January (I think.) That was a fiery time. Well, God spoke to me then through Kris. He came to me in worship with the word: you are Christ's beloved, just like John. He is holding you close to his chest. I wept some.

This summer a group of people were praying for me. The word: you are just like John, Christ's beloved, and he is holding you close. Heart pierced again...wept some more.

This summer God told me to go read "Wild at Heart," so, I went to my room that day and read the whole book. He spoke to me about being his beloved son. Some more tears...the whole time while reading that book.

This summer the Father showed me that when he tore the heavens open and sent his Spirit upon Jesus speaking, "This is my son, whom I am well pleased," that is exactly what he says to me.

He showed me another book by John Eldredge, can't find the name. The part about being his beloved son ministered to my heart so deeply.I felt so connected to the Father.

Last week an elderly man named Alf prayed for me. I was knelling beside him while he sat in a chair so he pulled my head down by his chest (in a very natural way...) and held me, speaking out "Oh, my beloved son." Okay, I'll admit it: I cried some more.
 
I am a son. A son with a mighty Father.
I am a son. A son whose Father is awe inspiring, chill bump raising.
I am a son. A son whose Father is Good. 
I am a son. A son whose Father is strong, but gentle.
I am a son. I am a beloved son.
I am a son, because he is a Father.

Don't miss your chance

1 Samuel 17 17 And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah[e] of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. 18 Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.”

 Exodus 3 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Nehemiah 2 1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.”

 David, Moses, and Nehemiah were three men who were a part of changing history. It all started with a very small choice: One decided to stop and see, one decided to serve his father, one decided to bear his heart to the king.

You never know what is on the opposite end of your choice. Maybe the next time you serve someone will become the greatest opportunity of your life.
 Don't miss your chance.

Random ramblings: I love how Moses would not leave the mountain in less the presence of God was with him. God told Moses (after the golden calf) to go ahead and leave, He will send an angel with Israel and they will be fine. Moses refused. Do we want the promises or the promise giver?

Im not a missionary!

Doesn't matter if I am in Loganville, Norway, or East Timor. The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of God and I will represent where ever I go.

#bringingtheKoG

Ambassador of Christ!

Hi there

I tried to write something about Jesus. This was a 'God glorifying' task, but pretty foolish.
To many things to write about.
He is the only man to fully live life. Perfect in contrast. Perfect in leadership. Perfect in friendship. Perfect in love. Perfect in patience. Unlimited creativity. Unlimited knowledge. Perfect in selflessness.
Task: failed.

Anyways, here is one of the attempts of writing about Jesus.


Sometimes I think I am a good communicator. Other times not.

I always have a hard time expressing myself about Jesus. It is at a point of surrender when you really find him, though he first surrendered. It is at a point of giving everything up that you encounter him, though he gave everything up for you. Overwhelmed by the simple, fullness of Jesus. I am relentlessly loved and accepted, nothing have I done to earn any of this.

To describe these feelings I experience with Jesus are nearly impossible. Total satisfaction with utter desperation for more. He is a man of perfect contrast.

one of those moments

Had one of those moments today when you realize how blessed you are and how incredible life is. I was sitting in my room listening to Josh Garrels, enjoying the time to myself. I am so blessed to think about the DTS that I am working with, an amazing group of friends, and to top it off, an incredible girlfriend.
The best part of it all though is the fact that there is God. The victorious, box breaking, earth shaking, Lover of my soul. He calls me friend. He calls me son. He calls me His beloved.

I desire a greater revelation of what it means to walk in the fullness of who he has called me to be. I can't imagine what that would do to history when we walk in who God called us to be. Doesn't matter though, history can be changed and blah blah blah, I just want to know His heart. I want to see His face.
History can go on without me, just give me Jesus.

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

Or in other words: faith.

'Are you, Jeremy, willing to take my cup? Are you willing to take my baptism? Are you willing to go to the depths of my heart where you lose yourself, but find all of who you really are? Where intimacy flows, and to be in a place where you are jealous for me? I am your King, will you be my cupbearer?'

Jesus is taking me deeper and deeper into His heart. It is exciting and in ways I would never have dreamed of. It is scary though because this is when you really start to live, when you die to yourself (Phil 1:21). We have victory in Christ, we just have to walk in it (1 Cor 15:57).

You can define any relationship by the fruit of the relationship:
When we go into deeper into the heart of Christ, the fruits of the Spirit abound. When we go deeper into the heart of Christ, the darkness is is brought to light. When we go deeper into the heart of Christ, the fruits of the flesh are exposed and uprooted.

What does it mean in your relationshp with Christ to die to yourself and take the cup of the Lord?

We need to let God set the standards for all things, not the world. We see the world through our own eyes, lets try to see them through God's eyes and standards.We need to have faith and see how he sees.