Due to recent events of my snooping around my brother's facebook, it has come to my attention that my brother has been caught up in the despicable act of smoking weed. I know sin is sin and I am a sinner and so is he but smoking is a sin that is damaging on so many levels, that its painful to me to know that there's even a chance that he can suffer so bad. I love my brother so much that tonight I'm going to confront him on this topic, by asking many questions and with a deep devotion to love, so that I can help him get over this obstacle.
I read a lot of distressing things, but here are a few quotes I wrote down:
Ima go smoke while I do math HW
Gabe MacNight
I'm being nice by giving you my weed for free
Carsten Lester
Call me if you want to come to Clairemont cuz I might be able to use the bong
Gabe MacNight
I also read messages in which Carsten asked Elliott for a pipe...
This hurts, it almost brings me to tears, but I think it clarifies why my bro has been so negative lately. I want to say something along these lines:
First of all, I want you to know I love you. I love you a lot. I'm sorry for all the times I've hurt you and I hope I don't hurt you right now, but if I do, its because I love you.
So bro, I brought you up here for a reason, I've noticed lately that I've felt like you've been disrespectful to me, and mom and dad, and I know when i was your age I was caught up in some heavy sin. I used to masturbate every day and look at pornography. And whenever I did that, I had a very bad, negative attitude, I started getting overly defensive, and aggressive towards you, my parents, and my friends. So I want to apologize for the times I was so caught up in those deep sins in the past, and I want to ask you about your life, have you been caught up in sin?
If he doesnt get specific, I'll start asking him, have you been masturbating? watching P? what about smoking weed? (make sure you get eye contact) so you have been smoking weed...how much? why? what do you think that will lead to?
When did you start?
Do you plan to continue? Why? Spell out the consequences:
Weed destroys relationships: its damaging to your relationship with me, mom, dad, true friends, yourself, and most importantly God.
Weed is a gateway drug, and so though maybe right now you don't feel like its impairing you, it gradually gets worse. The first hit is always the strongest, and then it starts to lose its flair because your body gets used to it. Then you have to go on to the next drug and its a domino effect until finally it kills you due to overdose or become so consumed in drugs that you don't take care of basic needs
If he wants help overcoming it, challenge him to 1. ask mom and dad for help, 2. attend a CR meeting or talk to Nacho tonight
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
THANKS 4 GIVING 2 ME
GOD, Lord, Father, Protector, Provider, Perfector
THANK YOU
My life is yours, my soul is yours, my everything is yours and I am so grateful for that. Please Lord, let me further understand what you do for me on a daily basis. I ask for you guidance in my life and the general ability to to see your greatness within my life. Lord thanks for all you've done and are doing and I pray that I would never stop growing in my gratitude for your amazingness. WOrds cannot come close to expressing how wonderful and faithful you are. Please Lord help me to live a life of extreme expression of gratitude and give me the strength to live in such a manner as to help other people feel a gratitude for your greatness as well. Please please please be with my family, who has lately seemed to be a mess. God I ask that you guide my grandfather. He's so unfaithful to your promises and doesn't believe or worry about life after death, and that scares me. I pray that you humble him out before he dies and really help him to see the truth of you. Lord I'm soo sooo sooooooo grateful for my little brother carsten. He's such an awesome kid and it was so painful to read that junk that was on his facebook last night. I really beg and ask you to just help him to be way more humble. I ask for your help in being a great brother to him. Please help him to give up weed for the rest of his life, not because me or my parents force him to, but because we show him so much love and reveal the truth of what it can do as a gateway drug to people. I pray you'd fill me with wisdom and understanding in striving to figure out the truth of what he's doing and really helping him. Not being against him but right by his side, fighting off the temptations and challenges Satan uses to mislead us. Please help him to see the deceit of what he's getting pulled into, and help him to fight the great fight, rising up as a powerful leader changing the lives of thousands of people in his lifetime. Lord I want to pray for my lovely little Lisa. Thanks for her greatness and her encouragement in my life. I would not be the man I am today without her. I ask that you guide her and confide within her right now as shes going through very challenging things with her family and discipling partner. Please please please help her parents to get along and actually talk and have a pure relationship. I pray that other peoples issues wouldnt stress her out but that they would cause her to turn even more tightly to you and rely on you for the love and growth to really be the best she can be. I ask that you'd really wake Buzz up, and give him the power to be humble and be righteous and step out on faith to give himself to you and not alcohol or sin the way he has in the past. I ask that you really soften DJ's heart and help her to be way more approachable for Lisa. I pray that they can develop a super great relationship a friendship that is iron sharpening iron, and that they really do their best to stay devoted to you every day. And for me Lord I pray that you'd give me the strength to be a radiant leader, a powerful man devoted to you above anything else in my life, help me to be a man after your own heart and a fighter for the truth. Please give me life and guide me to be a master of the life you want us to live. I ask for your continued patience and faith and love in my life. Please give me an uncompromisable dose of love and joy. I pray people like Morgan can see my joy and see my love and really strive to come way closer to you. I want to pray for the entire 92109 zip code--PB is such an awesome place and I'm grateful for all the relationships there. I ask that you really help our group to be completely focused on you, not ourselves, or feeling good, but just focused on you, your greatness, your faith in us. I love the way you give us grace and I ask that you really guide us to the right houses/apartments. Help us to speak with faith and please help us to know how to act and how to live. Lord I love you so much, thanks for being the awesome and perfect father that you are. I'm thankful for so much, here's a start:
Thank you for life and thank you for death.
Thank you for growth and thank you for clarity
Thank you for beauty, and thank you for disgusting stuff
Thank you for good smells and for the bad ones
Thank you for love and thank you for joy
Thank you for peace and prosperity
Thank you for health, for faith, and for healing me
Thank you for my family
Thank you for my job
Thank you for my friends
Thank you for my brother
Thank you for my family
Thank you for my girlfriend
Thank you for my house
Thank you for my roommates
Thank you for my classmates
Thank you for my professors
Thank you for my food
Thank you for technology and the ability to type this up
Thank you for freedom
THank you for parents who care about me and the ability for me to be a father to the fatherless.
Thank you Lord, for life to the FULL
For grace that is unfading
Thank you for the truth
Thank you for my indignance towards evil
THank you for PURITY
Thank you for not forcing me to always try to impress my roommates, family, or brothers/sisters in the kingdom with superficiality.
Thank you for beauty
Thank you for colors
Thank you for GRACE
Thank you for guidance
THANK YOU
My life is yours, my soul is yours, my everything is yours and I am so grateful for that. Please Lord, let me further understand what you do for me on a daily basis. I ask for you guidance in my life and the general ability to to see your greatness within my life. Lord thanks for all you've done and are doing and I pray that I would never stop growing in my gratitude for your amazingness. WOrds cannot come close to expressing how wonderful and faithful you are. Please Lord help me to live a life of extreme expression of gratitude and give me the strength to live in such a manner as to help other people feel a gratitude for your greatness as well. Please please please be with my family, who has lately seemed to be a mess. God I ask that you guide my grandfather. He's so unfaithful to your promises and doesn't believe or worry about life after death, and that scares me. I pray that you humble him out before he dies and really help him to see the truth of you. Lord I'm soo sooo sooooooo grateful for my little brother carsten. He's such an awesome kid and it was so painful to read that junk that was on his facebook last night. I really beg and ask you to just help him to be way more humble. I ask for your help in being a great brother to him. Please help him to give up weed for the rest of his life, not because me or my parents force him to, but because we show him so much love and reveal the truth of what it can do as a gateway drug to people. I pray you'd fill me with wisdom and understanding in striving to figure out the truth of what he's doing and really helping him. Not being against him but right by his side, fighting off the temptations and challenges Satan uses to mislead us. Please help him to see the deceit of what he's getting pulled into, and help him to fight the great fight, rising up as a powerful leader changing the lives of thousands of people in his lifetime. Lord I want to pray for my lovely little Lisa. Thanks for her greatness and her encouragement in my life. I would not be the man I am today without her. I ask that you guide her and confide within her right now as shes going through very challenging things with her family and discipling partner. Please please please help her parents to get along and actually talk and have a pure relationship. I pray that other peoples issues wouldnt stress her out but that they would cause her to turn even more tightly to you and rely on you for the love and growth to really be the best she can be. I ask that you'd really wake Buzz up, and give him the power to be humble and be righteous and step out on faith to give himself to you and not alcohol or sin the way he has in the past. I ask that you really soften DJ's heart and help her to be way more approachable for Lisa. I pray that they can develop a super great relationship a friendship that is iron sharpening iron, and that they really do their best to stay devoted to you every day. And for me Lord I pray that you'd give me the strength to be a radiant leader, a powerful man devoted to you above anything else in my life, help me to be a man after your own heart and a fighter for the truth. Please give me life and guide me to be a master of the life you want us to live. I ask for your continued patience and faith and love in my life. Please give me an uncompromisable dose of love and joy. I pray people like Morgan can see my joy and see my love and really strive to come way closer to you. I want to pray for the entire 92109 zip code--PB is such an awesome place and I'm grateful for all the relationships there. I ask that you really help our group to be completely focused on you, not ourselves, or feeling good, but just focused on you, your greatness, your faith in us. I love the way you give us grace and I ask that you really guide us to the right houses/apartments. Help us to speak with faith and please help us to know how to act and how to live. Lord I love you so much, thanks for being the awesome and perfect father that you are. I'm thankful for so much, here's a start:
Thank you for life and thank you for death.
Thank you for growth and thank you for clarity
Thank you for beauty, and thank you for disgusting stuff
Thank you for good smells and for the bad ones
Thank you for love and thank you for joy
Thank you for peace and prosperity
Thank you for health, for faith, and for healing me
Thank you for my family
Thank you for my job
Thank you for my friends
Thank you for my brother
Thank you for my family
Thank you for my girlfriend
Thank you for my house
Thank you for my roommates
Thank you for my classmates
Thank you for my professors
Thank you for my food
Thank you for technology and the ability to type this up
Thank you for freedom
THank you for parents who care about me and the ability for me to be a father to the fatherless.
Thank you Lord, for life to the FULL
For grace that is unfading
Thank you for the truth
Thank you for my indignance towards evil
THank you for PURITY
Thank you for not forcing me to always try to impress my roommates, family, or brothers/sisters in the kingdom with superficiality.
Thank you for beauty
Thank you for colors
Thank you for GRACE
Thank you for guidance
Sunday, October 30, 2011
SPEAK
Acts 18:9-11 (NIV)
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. [10] For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." [11] So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
This weekend was definitely one for the record books. We had an awesome staycation in SD for the SPEAK retreat at the Town and Country hotel. LA and SD came togethor and glorified God with epic fellowship, inspirational lessons, and deep Discipling times. I have been super convicted by the lessons from Ron Hammer, Jake Rock, and Steve Lounsberry. I realized that I need to be WAY more surrendered and WAY more open with my entire life, especially the little sins. I had SUCH an amazing time with my lovely girlfriend Lisa Hinton. She's so beautiful, gracious, and strong. I got to give her a big hug and tell her I missed her the moment I saw her, and we got to sit next to each other during the first lesson which was Ron Hammer preaching the word HARD about how society is so delicate that they whine when challenged by the truth. He claimed that we MUST judge people, just not hypoctritically. Also, society is more concerned with freedom than truth. He ended it stating that silence is acceptance of an eternal destiny. Don't worry about what the world judges because you might just save their soul regardless of how they feel in the moment...THEN we split up men and women...We got an AMAZING class on purity and Jake ROck got SUPER open about his life and talked about how essential it is for us to be desperate to change, we have to desire to get WELL. We broke up into Discipling Groups and i was with Patrick, Lee, Christian, and Jeffrey (from OC). It was an awesome time of openness, I'm so grateful for all those guys. THEN, we got to go to PB so I met up with Lisa, Wes, and Kate and we went to Cafe 976. Stuart made an announcment about Mission PB but it was just the four of us plus Wouter...but it was cool because we hit a bunch of blocks on Law Street. Afterwards, I dropped Lisa off at the hotel and Wes and I went to get his luggage and we ended up chillen at the house until the game. THere was a BUNCH of people at my house it was kinda crazy...I made Lisa a quick candy card and ran to her the moment I saw her and handed it to her :). I got to sit next to her for most of the riveting game (we ended up losing 27-30 after missing TWO simple field goals...) But afterwards we all went to Denny's (2 denny's after the first one was WAY too small...)and I got to share a $2 meal with my amazing girlfriend. It was a crazy night of weirdness but LOTS of joy and laughter! After chillen with the boys a little later I got to bed around 2 and woke up at 8. Had a good prayer time with God and then got to go to church and sat next to Lisa again :) after Ron preached another POWERFUL lesson about
1. Let your light shine! (speak up and people will listen..pray for WORKERS, not open hearts)
2. Putting an exclamation on your life (3 purple exclamation invitation)
3. Draw the line in the sand (stand up to the tanks)
Ron's a man of extraordinary talent and life stories, make your own!
after church I got to watch my girlfriend baptize ELMA!! SOOOO cool!!! OC girls had TWO baptisms today :) Elma and Brittany
After that I got to go to chipotle and have some more fun with Lisa and some of the OC peeps and it was soo cool. She gave me a big hug and then we went our separate ways.
I think I'm definitely a step closer to falling in love, this weekend was epic, I just got to spend a lot of time with her. SO grateful thanks so much God for putting her in my life, please give me the strength, wisdom, and courage to lead to heaven in whatever capacity you want. AMEN!
One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: "Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. [10] For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city." [11] So Paul stayed for a year and a half, teaching them the word of God.
This weekend was definitely one for the record books. We had an awesome staycation in SD for the SPEAK retreat at the Town and Country hotel. LA and SD came togethor and glorified God with epic fellowship, inspirational lessons, and deep Discipling times. I have been super convicted by the lessons from Ron Hammer, Jake Rock, and Steve Lounsberry. I realized that I need to be WAY more surrendered and WAY more open with my entire life, especially the little sins. I had SUCH an amazing time with my lovely girlfriend Lisa Hinton. She's so beautiful, gracious, and strong. I got to give her a big hug and tell her I missed her the moment I saw her, and we got to sit next to each other during the first lesson which was Ron Hammer preaching the word HARD about how society is so delicate that they whine when challenged by the truth. He claimed that we MUST judge people, just not hypoctritically. Also, society is more concerned with freedom than truth. He ended it stating that silence is acceptance of an eternal destiny. Don't worry about what the world judges because you might just save their soul regardless of how they feel in the moment...THEN we split up men and women...We got an AMAZING class on purity and Jake ROck got SUPER open about his life and talked about how essential it is for us to be desperate to change, we have to desire to get WELL. We broke up into Discipling Groups and i was with Patrick, Lee, Christian, and Jeffrey (from OC). It was an awesome time of openness, I'm so grateful for all those guys. THEN, we got to go to PB so I met up with Lisa, Wes, and Kate and we went to Cafe 976. Stuart made an announcment about Mission PB but it was just the four of us plus Wouter...but it was cool because we hit a bunch of blocks on Law Street. Afterwards, I dropped Lisa off at the hotel and Wes and I went to get his luggage and we ended up chillen at the house until the game. THere was a BUNCH of people at my house it was kinda crazy...I made Lisa a quick candy card and ran to her the moment I saw her and handed it to her :). I got to sit next to her for most of the riveting game (we ended up losing 27-30 after missing TWO simple field goals...) But afterwards we all went to Denny's (2 denny's after the first one was WAY too small...)and I got to share a $2 meal with my amazing girlfriend. It was a crazy night of weirdness but LOTS of joy and laughter! After chillen with the boys a little later I got to bed around 2 and woke up at 8. Had a good prayer time with God and then got to go to church and sat next to Lisa again :) after Ron preached another POWERFUL lesson about
1. Let your light shine! (speak up and people will listen..pray for WORKERS, not open hearts)
2. Putting an exclamation on your life (3 purple exclamation invitation)
3. Draw the line in the sand (stand up to the tanks)
Ron's a man of extraordinary talent and life stories, make your own!
after church I got to watch my girlfriend baptize ELMA!! SOOOO cool!!! OC girls had TWO baptisms today :) Elma and Brittany
After that I got to go to chipotle and have some more fun with Lisa and some of the OC peeps and it was soo cool. She gave me a big hug and then we went our separate ways.
I think I'm definitely a step closer to falling in love, this weekend was epic, I just got to spend a lot of time with her. SO grateful thanks so much God for putting her in my life, please give me the strength, wisdom, and courage to lead to heaven in whatever capacity you want. AMEN!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Communication-Godliness-Mist
Last week was one of the worst weeks of my Christian life of 2.5 years. My communication was off with Lisa, God, and most of the people who help me (disciplers) due to my disgusting pride. I didnt want to talk about it, i wanted to hide it, and I ended up jumping to conclusions in the worse possible way. But then Saturday came. At 1 PM Joshua Greenfield was BAPTIZED. We had car trouble and he gave us a ride home, to which we arrived at 2 PM. Then we woke up at 9:30 to have a phenomenal household quiet time reading Acts 5-10 and learning about the epic adventures of the first century church. Persecution was peaking and growth in the church was at its apex because of the fiery faith and bold lifestyle of the disciples. It makes me want to go crazy and get radical for the kingdom of God. Then we prayed for 30 minutes and then had a great D-Time with Jeremy Melcher-Post, one of the coolest guys in the campus ministry. He is so wise and knows his bible and how to help people in need and challenge properly. He was an integral part in Josh's baptism and I really appreciate him a lot even though I rarely express it. Next I got to chill with THE one and only Russel Kirkpatrick. He made me lunch and inspired me with his current miracles and faithful expeditions. After so much encouragement from God and my brothers, I was just absolutely pumped to be a Christian and serving God. I got to chill with my little brother briefly playing zombies and then I jumped in the car to see my WONDERFUL girlfriend. At the time I was still a little prideful and bitter about our miscommunications for the week but I had an amazing time praying to the Lord in the car for an hour on my way up. There were so many things I prayed for but I'm just extremely grateful for that time I got to do it. I love my Lord so much and I'm grateful for the amazing ways he has answered so many prayers throughout my life. Upon arrival to my girly's house, I knocked on the door and she opened it and looked like an angel. She literally looked perfect to me. There she was in a beautiful dress with lots of little flowers on it and her hair looked amazing and her nails were beautiful and her eyes and face and EVERYTHING was just perfect. Nirvana was home so I got to go in and chat with them and tell them about my amazing day and also listen to them a little bit. Lisa was sick in the morning but she miraculously got better after throwing up and taking medicine. Then we hopped in the car and drove to the dating devotional :). THe best part was LISA apologized to me, I didn't bring the issues i was struggling up at all but she apologized to me because she got really prideful when I told her she should get advice on studying the bible with her sisters...and so she's just super humble and I told her and kinda apologized for being critical of her tardiness and miscommunications as far as that whole area goes and I just really really appreciate her openness and humility because she IS amazing and its like "wherever there is a miscommunication, Satan fills in the blanks" so basically we both suck at communicating and need to OVERcommunicate. We arrived at the Shepard's house (Allan the chiropractor and his wife ___) and it was far beyond my expectations. They cooked for us, we played games, had some amazing fellowship, and then a wonderful lesson on dating! The point was honoring God with our relationship through our PURITY and COMMUNICATION. It was as if he was speaking straight to us and wow was it inspiring. I thought about things being permissible versus beneficial...i thought about how I need to brag more about our relationship and how we've been pure and unphysical for the entire time and will continue to do so until marriage (if that's God's plan :) Anyways, it was a great time and I really admire everything about the OC church, especially the group of people that were at this devotional. I need to be more humble still and ask questions and get contact information from ALL the brothers up there to set up dates and stuff...but amen for the internet cus I can still do that.
So father God I love you like crazy, I know this stuff is all due to YOU and how YOU work in my life and the ways YOU inspire me and save me and forgive me and help me to love. Please give me the strength to love you and my brothers/sisters/enemies, no matter how hard it gets. I love you like crazy, please be with church this morning and the fellowship and everything Going on in the campus ministry in SD and around the world. I need you desperately and I'm grateful for all you've done for me. Thanks Lord, Your amazing. AMEN!
So father God I love you like crazy, I know this stuff is all due to YOU and how YOU work in my life and the ways YOU inspire me and save me and forgive me and help me to love. Please give me the strength to love you and my brothers/sisters/enemies, no matter how hard it gets. I love you like crazy, please be with church this morning and the fellowship and everything Going on in the campus ministry in SD and around the world. I need you desperately and I'm grateful for all you've done for me. Thanks Lord, Your amazing. AMEN!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Shawn Wooten
Isaiah 62:5
send friends groomsmen to talk to her dad, and hopefully convince dad that im a good guy. if the dad agrees than my dad goes and talks to him to make financial agreement since im taking a worker from his home...if aggreement then theres a big party. at some point during party i stand up and say "i am going to my fathers house to prepare a place for us" and when i finish i will come back to get you...then id take up my cup wuthg wine and drink from it and thenask her if she's willing to drink from it. and if she takes it and drinks from it then we are married the i do moment. then i ha e to go build a house as fast as i can...she goes home puts lamp in window and its a sign that she's taken ...my groom have to watchover the purity of the bride making sure she's pure and committed to me until i get her!
THe Groomsmen Make Invitation (not groom himself)
God didn't invite you here, some friends of Jesus invited you here
John 15:14-16
2 cor 5:18-20
ppl get their first impression of GOd through US! we're ppls first chance to consider entering into a marriage w/God
WE offer mariage to God to the world
WHY ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT YOURSELF...they aren't rejecting YOU, they reject GOD
IF there's a God then its more important than your OPINION...
We're the groomsmen! Stop someone and give them a chance!
If you could read a book that would stop the AIDS virus would you do it?
If you could read a book that would cure cancer would yuou do it??
If you could read a book and change the eternal destiny of MILLION, would you do it?
2. What was Paid for the Bride?
Hebrews 10:11-12
SITTING means its all done! You don't come here to get your sins forgiven, you come because your fired up your sins are forgiven!
v. 19-20
3. Faithfully Waiting for the Groom
John 14:1-3
God's "will you marry me?"
biggest promise I will always be with you!
we have to stay pure! thank GOd for FRIENDS...love each other enough to go back and pull each other...EVEN if they ask you not to
4. WIll you Drink from the Cup
Mark 14:23
JEsus offers his cup to you...that would seal your marriage!
EVERY week remember its Jesus offering you marriage every week! you must be willing to wait, be pure, etc. if you got engaged yesterday or a month ago your FIRED UP! if you got engaged 20 years ago, you might be thinking...
Revelation 19:7
Revelation 22:4
Moses knew the best possible thing to wish for: seeing God's face. But God knew that such a thing would destroy Moses. New body is a body that can withstand seeing God's face! Moses LIGHTS UP by just seeing the ground which God passed over! IMAGINE HIS FACE
send friends groomsmen to talk to her dad, and hopefully convince dad that im a good guy. if the dad agrees than my dad goes and talks to him to make financial agreement since im taking a worker from his home...if aggreement then theres a big party. at some point during party i stand up and say "i am going to my fathers house to prepare a place for us" and when i finish i will come back to get you...then id take up my cup wuthg wine and drink from it and thenask her if she's willing to drink from it. and if she takes it and drinks from it then we are married the i do moment. then i ha e to go build a house as fast as i can...she goes home puts lamp in window and its a sign that she's taken ...my groom have to watchover the purity of the bride making sure she's pure and committed to me until i get her!
THe Groomsmen Make Invitation (not groom himself)
God didn't invite you here, some friends of Jesus invited you here
John 15:14-16
2 cor 5:18-20
ppl get their first impression of GOd through US! we're ppls first chance to consider entering into a marriage w/God
WE offer mariage to God to the world
WHY ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT YOURSELF...they aren't rejecting YOU, they reject GOD
IF there's a God then its more important than your OPINION...
We're the groomsmen! Stop someone and give them a chance!
If you could read a book that would stop the AIDS virus would you do it?
If you could read a book that would cure cancer would yuou do it??
If you could read a book and change the eternal destiny of MILLION, would you do it?
2. What was Paid for the Bride?
Hebrews 10:11-12
SITTING means its all done! You don't come here to get your sins forgiven, you come because your fired up your sins are forgiven!
v. 19-20
3. Faithfully Waiting for the Groom
John 14:1-3
God's "will you marry me?"
biggest promise I will always be with you!
we have to stay pure! thank GOd for FRIENDS...love each other enough to go back and pull each other...EVEN if they ask you not to
4. WIll you Drink from the Cup
Mark 14:23
JEsus offers his cup to you...that would seal your marriage!
EVERY week remember its Jesus offering you marriage every week! you must be willing to wait, be pure, etc. if you got engaged yesterday or a month ago your FIRED UP! if you got engaged 20 years ago, you might be thinking...
Revelation 19:7
Revelation 22:4
Moses knew the best possible thing to wish for: seeing God's face. But God knew that such a thing would destroy Moses. New body is a body that can withstand seeing God's face! Moses LIGHTS UP by just seeing the ground which God passed over! IMAGINE HIS FACE
Dream Big
This week:
RADICALLY
FAITHFULLY
GOD WILL USE ME to:
-Reach out to at least 60 people before our first bible talk this Wednesday (1 per minute) in addition to texting every Aztec on my list.
-Set up a bible study with David Chang, chill time AND study with Gordie Nash, and a good time just to CHILL and get deep with Alex W and Kevin T.
-Pray to God for 30 minutes straight.
-Learning about Dating with Lisa and apply everything we learn to invigorate our relationship the way GOD wants me to.
-Have at least one deeper talk with a co-worker...
-Search for a house with all my heart.
RADICALLY
FAITHFULLY
GOD WILL USE ME to:
-Reach out to at least 60 people before our first bible talk this Wednesday (1 per minute) in addition to texting every Aztec on my list.
-Set up a bible study with David Chang, chill time AND study with Gordie Nash, and a good time just to CHILL and get deep with Alex W and Kevin T.
-Pray to God for 30 minutes straight.
-Learning about Dating with Lisa and apply everything we learn to invigorate our relationship the way GOD wants me to.
-Have at least one deeper talk with a co-worker...
-Search for a house with all my heart.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Quotes
Love, generally, is that principle that leads one moral being to desire and delight in another, and reaches its highest form in that personal fellowship in which each person lives in the life of the other, and in receiving back the outflow of that others affection unto himself (James Orr, knowing God 123)
Happiness is only real when shared.
(Into the Wild)
Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, togethor with the surest means of attaining it.
(Knowing God)
Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so called "scientific knowledge"
(Thomas Edison in cueball christianity by Jeff Arias)
Stand on what is true (scripture) and do not let go. Period.
(Wild at Heart 166)
"My hands can bend a bow of bronze"
Psalm 18:34
"Where there's no communication, Satan fills in the gaps."
(Wild at Heart)
"The World" is not a place or a set of behaviors--it is a system built by our collective sin, all our false selves coming together to reward and destroy each other.
(Wild at Heart 151)
"To experience the strength of a man is to have him speak on our behalf...'how are you?' is one of the most loving questions John asks me"
(Wild at Heart)
"As cars were created to be fueled by gasoline, we were created to be fueled by God"
The deeper you get in the water (the deeper into a man's heart) the more dangerous it gets...but the better it gets...draw your heart out, dig deep, get vulnerable! stop being shallow on the outside in ankle deep water! it may be safer, but it don't matter nearly as much
Prov. 20:5 Lisa's interpretation
psalm 101:3
1 Peter 4-5
jesus never doubted his vision was unclouded
103 Jesus the Same
we measure men too much by their capacities, by what they are today and not by what they may become later on
105 jesus the same
Happiness is only real when shared.
(Into the Wild)
Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, togethor with the surest means of attaining it.
(Knowing God)
Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so called "scientific knowledge"
(Thomas Edison in cueball christianity by Jeff Arias)
Stand on what is true (scripture) and do not let go. Period.
(Wild at Heart 166)
"My hands can bend a bow of bronze"
Psalm 18:34
"Where there's no communication, Satan fills in the gaps."
(Wild at Heart)
"The World" is not a place or a set of behaviors--it is a system built by our collective sin, all our false selves coming together to reward and destroy each other.
(Wild at Heart 151)
"To experience the strength of a man is to have him speak on our behalf...'how are you?' is one of the most loving questions John asks me"
(Wild at Heart)
"As cars were created to be fueled by gasoline, we were created to be fueled by God"
The deeper you get in the water (the deeper into a man's heart) the more dangerous it gets...but the better it gets...draw your heart out, dig deep, get vulnerable! stop being shallow on the outside in ankle deep water! it may be safer, but it don't matter nearly as much
Prov. 20:5 Lisa's interpretation
psalm 101:3
1 Peter 4-5
jesus never doubted his vision was unclouded
103 Jesus the Same
we measure men too much by their capacities, by what they are today and not by what they may become later on
105 jesus the same
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Orange Moon and an Emotional Monsoon
Its Sunday morning and it has been a rollercoaster of a week. The cosine graph of my life, starting SUPER high, going down SUPER low, and then back up again. My selfishness, tiredness, faithlessness, hopelessness, and stubbornness, brought me down. But God brought me back up. Optimistically, last night was one of the best dates! Got to pick my girl up from a conference and fellowshipped with many people, one being a student from Denver named Travis who was really cool. And it was just so encouraging because when people saw me they were like "CURTIS IS HERE!" haha Greg gave me a super crazy hug and Jeffrey recited the book of Hebrews. I admire these brothers so much. Me and Lisa, Nic and Olivia, and Willie and Katie went on an awesome triple to a GREAT helium air balloon, and GREAT carousel, in a GREAT park. I lost my wallet, but the Lord provided it back for me. We went to In-N-Out, played Bocce Ball, and flew 400 feet in the air in a vibrant orange balloon full of Helium!It truly was a blast. Lisa and I got pretty deep in the car driving to Long Beach and I promised her I'd pray. I'm a man of my word.
Lord Almighty,
Father, amazing counselor, perfect savior, you are beautiful, holy, powerful, and mighty. Thanks for you unswerving immeasurable love that is hotter than the sun. Please give me strength, give me energy, give me peace in my soul to forgive and forget any wrong anyone has done to me. I'm sorry for being so emotionally crazy, and blaming it on other people. I apologize for just being a jerk and not being a disciple all the time. Please heal me, thanks for forgiving me already and helping me to stand up stronger. I pray this time I will be surrendered to YOUR will and not MY will. Please Lord just show me the way and I will follow you. Please help me to be bold enough to make the sacrifices I know I need to make. Help me to be a powerful leader who uses his influence wisely with an immense amount of love. I'm so grateful for you and all that you do. Please help me to understand how blessed and lucky and easy my life truly is.
I want to pray especially especially for my amazing girlfriend Lisa. She is such an awesome powerful beautiful woman full of grace. Please fill her with wisdom as she leads girls and her family to you. I know she's doing a great job and giving her entire heart, please give her that extra boost of energy and strength to really make a difference in the lives of every woman in Irvine. As she goes to class help her to be bold enough to change the lives of her friends around her. Please please please connect her family together. Her immediate family is so disconnected at the moment and I know that if they just give Lisa a chance to share her convictions and the bible with her, they would change their lives. Ipray that family will destroy any hint of hypocrisy and really develop deeper convictions with you. I'm sorry I haven't always been there for Lisa to encourage her through family problems but I know she can do it through your power especially. Help Eva to wake up. I pray she will develop Godly sorrow--not worldly sorrow any longer. And as a result that she would open up to start coming to Lisa's church and when she goes back to school help her to not give into her old ways but rather to be connected to the church. I'm so extremely grateful for Lisa and all that you do through her, help her to know exactly what to say and the tone to say it in as she confronts her family on these types of issues. I'm so grateful for her relationship and encouragemnt and partnership in the gospel, help her to always turn to you in times of need.
Lord your awesome thanks for everything
C
Lord Almighty,
Father, amazing counselor, perfect savior, you are beautiful, holy, powerful, and mighty. Thanks for you unswerving immeasurable love that is hotter than the sun. Please give me strength, give me energy, give me peace in my soul to forgive and forget any wrong anyone has done to me. I'm sorry for being so emotionally crazy, and blaming it on other people. I apologize for just being a jerk and not being a disciple all the time. Please heal me, thanks for forgiving me already and helping me to stand up stronger. I pray this time I will be surrendered to YOUR will and not MY will. Please Lord just show me the way and I will follow you. Please help me to be bold enough to make the sacrifices I know I need to make. Help me to be a powerful leader who uses his influence wisely with an immense amount of love. I'm so grateful for you and all that you do. Please help me to understand how blessed and lucky and easy my life truly is.
I want to pray especially especially for my amazing girlfriend Lisa. She is such an awesome powerful beautiful woman full of grace. Please fill her with wisdom as she leads girls and her family to you. I know she's doing a great job and giving her entire heart, please give her that extra boost of energy and strength to really make a difference in the lives of every woman in Irvine. As she goes to class help her to be bold enough to change the lives of her friends around her. Please please please connect her family together. Her immediate family is so disconnected at the moment and I know that if they just give Lisa a chance to share her convictions and the bible with her, they would change their lives. Ipray that family will destroy any hint of hypocrisy and really develop deeper convictions with you. I'm sorry I haven't always been there for Lisa to encourage her through family problems but I know she can do it through your power especially. Help Eva to wake up. I pray she will develop Godly sorrow--not worldly sorrow any longer. And as a result that she would open up to start coming to Lisa's church and when she goes back to school help her to not give into her old ways but rather to be connected to the church. I'm so extremely grateful for Lisa and all that you do through her, help her to know exactly what to say and the tone to say it in as she confronts her family on these types of issues. I'm so grateful for her relationship and encouragemnt and partnership in the gospel, help her to always turn to you in times of need.
Lord your awesome thanks for everything
C
Monday, June 13, 2011
Psycho Anteater
I had a huge thing already written and I have no clue how it got deleted but thats what happens when I multitask. Saturday my amazing girlfriend graduated from UCI with a bachelor in Psychology (she's a psycho anteater) and I had the honor to go to her graduation party! I was pretty nervous because it was going to be the first time I ever met her family. I knocked on the door and Uncle Dan opened up, i introduced myself and stuff and it was cool, he was pretty welcoming. THen I met her little sister Eva who goes to CSUSM--she also had a few friends at the party who I met as well. Next I met her mom Myriam--she was really cool and hyper and seemed excited to meet me. She then introduced me to Lisa's grandparents: Eva and Grandpa the ultra athletic retired marine who said the coolest quote: "take as much as you want, but eat all that you take" (or somethinjg like that)...alright after meeting all those people I walked out back and there was Lisa, she looked stunning in a beautiful pink dress with white polka-dots, pretty badge high-heel sandals, and nails painted near perfection to match her dress... Then I met her pops Buzz. He was grilling some bomb chicken and pineapple skewers. He was really cool I asked what he was grilling and he was like "whatever my wife told me to..." Anyways we were able to talk about construction for awhile later--he works for SDGandE as a designer for all the new city developments--he's a pretty big deal! in fact there used to be 5 people that do all the work he now does because he's the only one that didnt get fired...he seems like a really rad dad. Later I met all Lisa's friends (Alyssa (New York graduate from Lisa's highschool friend), Valerie (oneof Lisa's friends moms who is like auntie Julie and gave Lisa a bunch of drugs), Kevin a disciple, and a couple who came--the guy worked at coffee bean was going for Int'l Business w/ China, ramone? the football O-Line big guy, and of course Chynae...
we played basketball for like 20 minutes and then later played a couple games (monkey game, and the rule game--they did "respond to every question the way you think Lisa would respond) It was definitely funny. Later all the campus left and Chynae, Lisa, and I went to get frozen yogurt--it was SO FUN! We went to Velvet Frozen Yogurt and just had a great time chatting and encouraging her and chynae--my girlfriend is SO amazing!
we played basketball for like 20 minutes and then later played a couple games (monkey game, and the rule game--they did "respond to every question the way you think Lisa would respond) It was definitely funny. Later all the campus left and Chynae, Lisa, and I went to get frozen yogurt--it was SO FUN! We went to Velvet Frozen Yogurt and just had a great time chatting and encouraging her and chynae--my girlfriend is SO amazing!
Thursday, June 9, 2011
PRAY!
Good Morning Lord,
My almighty father, perfect savior, thank you for another day. Lord please help me to wake up quickly and be truly attached to you, your body, the vine, your word, the spirit. I pray that every morning I will wake up early and jump with joy ready to have a great quiet time meditating on you and your beauty. Lord you are so powerful, thank you for expressing your power through the changes found in our lives and the freedom you've delivered us to from sin. Lord I'm so sorry for living in sin still even though I'm supposed to be your slave to righteousness. I pray I will repent, change, live according to your holy precepts. I so desperately and humbly need your help to get through the various challenges I face on a daily basis. THough its not always sinds of commission or actions, often times its sins of ommission and sin of the mind. Please Lord help me to control my mind, my thoughts, and really live out your will, meditate on your philosophy, your lifestyle, your holiness rather than mine. You are far beyond measure in everything that is good. Please help us to see that and be attracted to that far above satan's deceitful measure of everything bad. Help me and the entire campus ministry to truly throw off all the sin all the baggage that really has entangled us and stand up free of chains to really proclaim your name on campus, at the beach, at work, in the park, and everywhere we go. I pray that we can ALL be shephards, that we can all strive to at least have the qualities of an elder and truly get the fire back so that we are completely ready to handle the ginormous influx of new disciples that you will bring for us. I pray that as we grow we will only become more stable, not less personal and less stable but more tightly nit by your cement-factor glue that really makes all things stronger. I pray that the spirit will unite us all and that we will be a campus minsitry of SOLID character. HElp us all to truly work on our character and not let the selfishness or unrighteousness hold us back from being perfect and holy and mature in your name. I love you so much Lord, thank you for the greatness that you are. Please please please be with Lisa and I's awesome dating relationship. I know that it will only ever work if you are the head, number one, above all in our relationship. I pray that we will both keep you number one in our own personal lives, and number one in our relationship. I pray that we will do nothing that upsets you...though there will be times we mess up i pray that those will be far outweighed by the times we make you proud. Ipray that she will feel SUPER encouraged by me, my letters, cards, compliments, and quality time--especaily the quality time I get to spend with her this week and the rest of the summer and however long you want us to date for. I pray that if it is your will we might someday be ready to take it to the next level--but only if it is your will. Please allow this weekend to be a great time for me to meet her family and friends, but most importantly I pray that it will be a time i get to encourage Lisa and make her feel special. I pray that I can truly get along with her mom and dad first and then all her sisters, that I can come in and just be very charismatic, relatable, and represent you right. I love you so much and I pray you will continue to guide all my thoughts, attitudes, desires, and increase my faith beyond--far beyond where it is right now. I love you so much, once again please guide me in all I do. I love you, your awesome--oh and please be leading our household meeting tonight. I know that kevin is leading the charge, help him to deliver it right, not to be shy but really say what he needs to say, what you want him to say. I love you once again, thanks for all you do--AMEN!
My almighty father, perfect savior, thank you for another day. Lord please help me to wake up quickly and be truly attached to you, your body, the vine, your word, the spirit. I pray that every morning I will wake up early and jump with joy ready to have a great quiet time meditating on you and your beauty. Lord you are so powerful, thank you for expressing your power through the changes found in our lives and the freedom you've delivered us to from sin. Lord I'm so sorry for living in sin still even though I'm supposed to be your slave to righteousness. I pray I will repent, change, live according to your holy precepts. I so desperately and humbly need your help to get through the various challenges I face on a daily basis. THough its not always sinds of commission or actions, often times its sins of ommission and sin of the mind. Please Lord help me to control my mind, my thoughts, and really live out your will, meditate on your philosophy, your lifestyle, your holiness rather than mine. You are far beyond measure in everything that is good. Please help us to see that and be attracted to that far above satan's deceitful measure of everything bad. Help me and the entire campus ministry to truly throw off all the sin all the baggage that really has entangled us and stand up free of chains to really proclaim your name on campus, at the beach, at work, in the park, and everywhere we go. I pray that we can ALL be shephards, that we can all strive to at least have the qualities of an elder and truly get the fire back so that we are completely ready to handle the ginormous influx of new disciples that you will bring for us. I pray that as we grow we will only become more stable, not less personal and less stable but more tightly nit by your cement-factor glue that really makes all things stronger. I pray that the spirit will unite us all and that we will be a campus minsitry of SOLID character. HElp us all to truly work on our character and not let the selfishness or unrighteousness hold us back from being perfect and holy and mature in your name. I love you so much Lord, thank you for the greatness that you are. Please please please be with Lisa and I's awesome dating relationship. I know that it will only ever work if you are the head, number one, above all in our relationship. I pray that we will both keep you number one in our own personal lives, and number one in our relationship. I pray that we will do nothing that upsets you...though there will be times we mess up i pray that those will be far outweighed by the times we make you proud. Ipray that she will feel SUPER encouraged by me, my letters, cards, compliments, and quality time--especaily the quality time I get to spend with her this week and the rest of the summer and however long you want us to date for. I pray that if it is your will we might someday be ready to take it to the next level--but only if it is your will. Please allow this weekend to be a great time for me to meet her family and friends, but most importantly I pray that it will be a time i get to encourage Lisa and make her feel special. I pray that I can truly get along with her mom and dad first and then all her sisters, that I can come in and just be very charismatic, relatable, and represent you right. I love you so much and I pray you will continue to guide all my thoughts, attitudes, desires, and increase my faith beyond--far beyond where it is right now. I love you so much, once again please guide me in all I do. I love you, your awesome--oh and please be leading our household meeting tonight. I know that kevin is leading the charge, help him to deliver it right, not to be shy but really say what he needs to say, what you want him to say. I love you once again, thanks for all you do--AMEN!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
One Year's TIme
Lord in Heaven. You are perfect, you are powerful, you are so gracious and you are love. Thank you for my amazing girlfriend Lisa who has inspired me to have a greater vision for myself, my friends, my family and ministry. Lord I pray that in one year, things will be even better than they are now. It's hard to imagine it, but Lord I firmly believe that you are going to move so radically and powerfully in my life through this last year of campus ministry. Please Lord, allow the best possible things to happen, i want to live life accomplishing the things you call me to, with eyes that see your perspective and are so devoted to living YOUR plan above my plan. Please give me the strength, energy, faith, and boldness to really live your plan out. I believe that in one year Lisa and I are going to be even closer. She's nearly done with her undergraduate work and now she's going to grad school which starts 1 week after her graduation. Please please please bless her life, her opportunity, her efforts to work so hard and learn so much. I know she was dreading her decision for a while and I kind of was too with my own selfishness, but please in one year I pray that the two of us will be optimistically awaiting her completion and in a state of much more unity, love, devotion and peace with one another. I pray that if it is your will, we could help plant a church somewhere. San Clemente would be so awesome!! I pray that if that is what you want, I'll be a GREAT surfer, that my pain especially will go away, please heal me, strengthen my bones and help me to be a man of great poise. Lord I love you SO much and I'm so extremely grateful for all you've done. I pray that in one year's time our campus ministry will far exceed 100 strong disciples. THat with our growth we stay SUPER united, SUPER connected to YOU, and extremely devoted to the fellowship. Please give UCSD a radical boost. I pray we can triple by the beginning of the fall semester 2012 and that you'll truly give me, alex, danielle, and alexis and dametrius a fervent spirit and devotion to your truth that is unlike anything in the world. I love you so much Lord please especially be with my little brother. I love him so much and I am so grateful for his love I pray you'll guide his path, make it straight and consistant. I pray he won't give in to peer pressure or look up to boys who have no spiritual mindset, but rather I pray you'll help me and others around him to be spiritual guides that help him to make it to heaven and lead a ministry someday. I love you so much Lord. Please use me, strengthen me, and encourage me right now and every day. Help me to be filled with joy as a result of the great purpose you've given us. I love you. AMEN!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Prayer List
Dear God,
Father in heaven you are mighty. You are holy and perfect and above all there is has been and ever will be. You are the first and the last, the alpha and the omega and you are love. Thank you Lord, for your ear or mind whether your reading this or listening to my thoughts. I'm so sorry for not living up to this prayer list that I've had for over a week. Its kind of crazy I take all the time to write it out but don't even use it. So thanks for the opportunity to use it right now I pray that you'll bless everything on it the way that you want.
Lord I pray first for Taylor, that he'll get that one guy in a bible study. Please give him the strength, faith, boldness and confidence he needs to accomplish his goal and find the man that you have set up for him to be with. I pray that he will be bold and courageous as they do bible studies and that you'll use Taylor as an instrument to truly get to that man's heart mind and soul.
I pray that Reachard can be a man of consistancy. Please give him the strength to be consistantly open with me and the rest of the brothers, that he'll talk to me as much as he needs to and really put it all out there on the line. I pray that you'll control his eyes and help him to not look all over the place at the many beautiful women that walk around our campus everyday but that instead he can be self controlled and alert, always focused on you. Thanks for giving him a pure heart I pray that all his intentions with Rachelle will be of the utmost purity and love. Please bless his efforts and give him the humility to know when it is or is not time to start dating her on the sixteenth.
Lord I want to pray for Alex Wertz as well, please give him confidence and peace when it comes to school. He has been such a hard worker and I know your using him in a great way. I just pray that he'll have the best possible balance of school, work and the ministry. Help him to never stop pursuing perfection with all his heart. I pray that all his quiet times and prayer times will be efficient, effective, and inspiring. Thanks for his partnership in the gospel and his strength to overcome the challenges that are on a campus by yourself. I love him so much help him to feel my love and please fill him up with a great joy!
Thank you so much for Nacho's wildness and sporadic heart. I pray you'll continually use him and help him to grow into a mighty man who is so intimately connected to you that it is amazing. I love his perseverance and I pray you'll take care of all the challenges that have recently been brought to the Parra family. Help him his brothers and sister and everyone in the family to get through this terrible time of sadness and somehow turn out stronger on the other side. I love him so much please fill him with a consistancy and an unswerving joy that is not dependant on emotion.
Lord I pray that Jack can continually work on his discipline and perseverance when it comes to being a mighty man in the paid ministry. I know he is doing a great job, help him to really feel it and believe that he is. Help him see the ginormous impact he's having on every teen's life right now and the ways that he can grow as well. I pray you'll give him the strength to accomplish his goal to meet have every teen in a bible study or a discipling time this week.
Please give Pete the continued perseverance and growth to also be a solid paid intern ministering to the needs of every campus student. He's been doing a great job as you can see. Help him to be consistant with it and really continue to develop the skills and talents that you've given him. I pray he'll continue to grow and be even more disciplined than I have ever been. Give him total victory over sin and a radical indignance towards other people's sin. Help him to lead the campus with much boldness and faith.
Thanks also for the amazing Nic Hermasillo. I pray you'll continue to work through him at Mesa college and Grossmont. He's been growing so rapidly and I'm so proud of him, thanks for giving him victories and an awesome girlfriend as well. I pray Olivia will not distract him from the real task at hand and that he'll be much stronger and persistant with leading the bible talks he leads. Help him especially to get with Lamar and continue to assess where he's at, where he needs to be, and what he needs to do in order to get there. Help him to figure out the best spot he can be in for the future house(s) and really have the humility it will take to make any house work.
Thank you SO much for the hilarious and fruitful Kirk. I love his personality, his humor, his strength, and example. I pray you'll continue to build his discipline and diligence. Please give him wisdom and strength to fully take care and address the deep sin of Moses and Adam. He's been such a great example for both of those men and I know your using him in a great way. Thanks for his love his support and all the talents you've given him. I pray everything can go well with his future in florida and that he can really bring a bold element of love and faith to every place he goes. Please protect him when he goes up to OC with Adam to address the gang. That is such a bold expression of love, please don't let him get hurt beyond repair.
I also want to pray for my amazing roomate Kevin. He's such a hard working man full of character. I know his goal is to finish Isaiah and I pray he'll really get through it accomplish it and learn something powerful from it. He's a great brother and always giving. I pray you'll continue to increase his strengths and turn his weaknesses into strengths. I pray especially for his purity and the purity of all of us really that you'll give us radical victories over the lust, pornography and masturbation we so deceitfully get pulled into far too often.
And my last roommate Sam is my personal favorite. He sleeps next to me and is such a talented man. Please Lord fill him up with an immense amount of discipline especially this final week of finals. I know he has to get a lot of A's and I pray you will bless him to accomplish the grades he needs to get in order to be an intern this Summer. I know he's been struggling with a lot of impurity lately and I pray you'll once and for all give him the strength, the desire, the drive, the boldness to throw it off, to get it out of his system, to crucify his old self and become a slave to righteousness instead. I know he works hard and tries hard but I pray you'll give him the extra ounce of discipline he so desperately needs right now.
In addition I want to pray especially for DAVID at UCSD! I'm so grateful we got a Taiwanese brother studying the bible. Its so cool seeing his eagerness to hear the gospel and really study the word out. I love his presence at the bible talks each week and I pray he'll come tomorrow and bring my bible and be excited to receive his own. I know he's a busy man but I pray that he'll never let himself get too busy for you Lord. Give him a solid foundation, please be the foundataion he builds his entire life upon. I pray Alex and I will be great ambassadors helping him understand your teaching. So give him the strength to read his bible every day and seek you with all his heart.
Lord i also want to pray for Chris Hernandez. I know he's got a lot of big trust issues but I pray that you'll give him the faith to let you take control of his life.
In addition I pray right now for my discipler Daniel, this amazing example and brother and disciple for the entire campus ministry. I know you've given him some great talents, help him to never stop using them to bring you glory. I pray you'll really be with his future job that he may get. Please give him wisdom on which job to accept and which job to reject. I know that you've allowed him to develop some radical skills and i pray that he really uses them to bring you glory above all. Please hook him up with an epic job so he can pay off debt, take care of the family, and really show an immense amount of love to those around him. I pray that especially with this last week of school he'll be a man of deep focus, staying on the path and really protecting his time. Help him to be extremely open with you and also with me. I pray that everything that was kind of under his radar on monday will really be revealed and taken care of before its due so he doesn't "forget" or procrastinate but that he can finish super strong and learn a grip.Overall i pray he'll work harder than he plays and that he too will stick to his prayer list.
Father God I want to pray especially for the future of an amazing woman disciple and girlfriend Lisa Hinton. She has so many talents and forms of beauty I'm so proud of her growth and excellence in life. Please give her an extra dose of understanding when it comes to the future. Right now shes in a crazy transition point of life and I know that she has the ability to be great at whatever she does. I pray that she will see it and that she'll make the right choice which will fill her with the most amount of joy purpose and accomplishment. I know she has dreams of going in the full time ministry and especially planting a church possibly in San Clemente. I know she could do a great job at that and really make amazing progress when it comes to trusting in you above all else. Lord if it is in your plan, if it would be productive and fruitful I pray that I can be one of the men that plants a church in San Clemente. I think it would be a great experience and an amazing time in which we could build our relationship and devotion to you through serving such a city as San Clemente. Obviously there is currently not a church that we know of there and I know that you have people that live there that are seeking you and want to hear your message. Please give us a boldness, confidence, and faith to see that and pursue that. Even if I'm not included in that plan I pray that Lisa can do a great job getting out of her comfort zone and not worrying about what other people think about her and her dreams. Lord I love you like crazy and I'm so extremely eternally grateful for all that you are doing right now. THanks again for being my God and blessing me in so many great ways. I love you with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.
please finally be with our household tonight as we pray for understanding and wisdom in what to do for the future of this house. I love you so much and pray we can really be on the same page with everyone being happy. Your awesome God. Much love,
Curtis
Father in heaven you are mighty. You are holy and perfect and above all there is has been and ever will be. You are the first and the last, the alpha and the omega and you are love. Thank you Lord, for your ear or mind whether your reading this or listening to my thoughts. I'm so sorry for not living up to this prayer list that I've had for over a week. Its kind of crazy I take all the time to write it out but don't even use it. So thanks for the opportunity to use it right now I pray that you'll bless everything on it the way that you want.
Lord I pray first for Taylor, that he'll get that one guy in a bible study. Please give him the strength, faith, boldness and confidence he needs to accomplish his goal and find the man that you have set up for him to be with. I pray that he will be bold and courageous as they do bible studies and that you'll use Taylor as an instrument to truly get to that man's heart mind and soul.
I pray that Reachard can be a man of consistancy. Please give him the strength to be consistantly open with me and the rest of the brothers, that he'll talk to me as much as he needs to and really put it all out there on the line. I pray that you'll control his eyes and help him to not look all over the place at the many beautiful women that walk around our campus everyday but that instead he can be self controlled and alert, always focused on you. Thanks for giving him a pure heart I pray that all his intentions with Rachelle will be of the utmost purity and love. Please bless his efforts and give him the humility to know when it is or is not time to start dating her on the sixteenth.
Lord I want to pray for Alex Wertz as well, please give him confidence and peace when it comes to school. He has been such a hard worker and I know your using him in a great way. I just pray that he'll have the best possible balance of school, work and the ministry. Help him to never stop pursuing perfection with all his heart. I pray that all his quiet times and prayer times will be efficient, effective, and inspiring. Thanks for his partnership in the gospel and his strength to overcome the challenges that are on a campus by yourself. I love him so much help him to feel my love and please fill him up with a great joy!
Thank you so much for Nacho's wildness and sporadic heart. I pray you'll continually use him and help him to grow into a mighty man who is so intimately connected to you that it is amazing. I love his perseverance and I pray you'll take care of all the challenges that have recently been brought to the Parra family. Help him his brothers and sister and everyone in the family to get through this terrible time of sadness and somehow turn out stronger on the other side. I love him so much please fill him with a consistancy and an unswerving joy that is not dependant on emotion.
Lord I pray that Jack can continually work on his discipline and perseverance when it comes to being a mighty man in the paid ministry. I know he is doing a great job, help him to really feel it and believe that he is. Help him see the ginormous impact he's having on every teen's life right now and the ways that he can grow as well. I pray you'll give him the strength to accomplish his goal to meet have every teen in a bible study or a discipling time this week.
Please give Pete the continued perseverance and growth to also be a solid paid intern ministering to the needs of every campus student. He's been doing a great job as you can see. Help him to be consistant with it and really continue to develop the skills and talents that you've given him. I pray he'll continue to grow and be even more disciplined than I have ever been. Give him total victory over sin and a radical indignance towards other people's sin. Help him to lead the campus with much boldness and faith.
Thanks also for the amazing Nic Hermasillo. I pray you'll continue to work through him at Mesa college and Grossmont. He's been growing so rapidly and I'm so proud of him, thanks for giving him victories and an awesome girlfriend as well. I pray Olivia will not distract him from the real task at hand and that he'll be much stronger and persistant with leading the bible talks he leads. Help him especially to get with Lamar and continue to assess where he's at, where he needs to be, and what he needs to do in order to get there. Help him to figure out the best spot he can be in for the future house(s) and really have the humility it will take to make any house work.
Thank you SO much for the hilarious and fruitful Kirk. I love his personality, his humor, his strength, and example. I pray you'll continue to build his discipline and diligence. Please give him wisdom and strength to fully take care and address the deep sin of Moses and Adam. He's been such a great example for both of those men and I know your using him in a great way. Thanks for his love his support and all the talents you've given him. I pray everything can go well with his future in florida and that he can really bring a bold element of love and faith to every place he goes. Please protect him when he goes up to OC with Adam to address the gang. That is such a bold expression of love, please don't let him get hurt beyond repair.
I also want to pray for my amazing roomate Kevin. He's such a hard working man full of character. I know his goal is to finish Isaiah and I pray he'll really get through it accomplish it and learn something powerful from it. He's a great brother and always giving. I pray you'll continue to increase his strengths and turn his weaknesses into strengths. I pray especially for his purity and the purity of all of us really that you'll give us radical victories over the lust, pornography and masturbation we so deceitfully get pulled into far too often.
And my last roommate Sam is my personal favorite. He sleeps next to me and is such a talented man. Please Lord fill him up with an immense amount of discipline especially this final week of finals. I know he has to get a lot of A's and I pray you will bless him to accomplish the grades he needs to get in order to be an intern this Summer. I know he's been struggling with a lot of impurity lately and I pray you'll once and for all give him the strength, the desire, the drive, the boldness to throw it off, to get it out of his system, to crucify his old self and become a slave to righteousness instead. I know he works hard and tries hard but I pray you'll give him the extra ounce of discipline he so desperately needs right now.
In addition I want to pray especially for DAVID at UCSD! I'm so grateful we got a Taiwanese brother studying the bible. Its so cool seeing his eagerness to hear the gospel and really study the word out. I love his presence at the bible talks each week and I pray he'll come tomorrow and bring my bible and be excited to receive his own. I know he's a busy man but I pray that he'll never let himself get too busy for you Lord. Give him a solid foundation, please be the foundataion he builds his entire life upon. I pray Alex and I will be great ambassadors helping him understand your teaching. So give him the strength to read his bible every day and seek you with all his heart.
Lord i also want to pray for Chris Hernandez. I know he's got a lot of big trust issues but I pray that you'll give him the faith to let you take control of his life.
In addition I pray right now for my discipler Daniel, this amazing example and brother and disciple for the entire campus ministry. I know you've given him some great talents, help him to never stop using them to bring you glory. I pray you'll really be with his future job that he may get. Please give him wisdom on which job to accept and which job to reject. I know that you've allowed him to develop some radical skills and i pray that he really uses them to bring you glory above all. Please hook him up with an epic job so he can pay off debt, take care of the family, and really show an immense amount of love to those around him. I pray that especially with this last week of school he'll be a man of deep focus, staying on the path and really protecting his time. Help him to be extremely open with you and also with me. I pray that everything that was kind of under his radar on monday will really be revealed and taken care of before its due so he doesn't "forget" or procrastinate but that he can finish super strong and learn a grip.Overall i pray he'll work harder than he plays and that he too will stick to his prayer list.
Father God I want to pray especially for the future of an amazing woman disciple and girlfriend Lisa Hinton. She has so many talents and forms of beauty I'm so proud of her growth and excellence in life. Please give her an extra dose of understanding when it comes to the future. Right now shes in a crazy transition point of life and I know that she has the ability to be great at whatever she does. I pray that she will see it and that she'll make the right choice which will fill her with the most amount of joy purpose and accomplishment. I know she has dreams of going in the full time ministry and especially planting a church possibly in San Clemente. I know she could do a great job at that and really make amazing progress when it comes to trusting in you above all else. Lord if it is in your plan, if it would be productive and fruitful I pray that I can be one of the men that plants a church in San Clemente. I think it would be a great experience and an amazing time in which we could build our relationship and devotion to you through serving such a city as San Clemente. Obviously there is currently not a church that we know of there and I know that you have people that live there that are seeking you and want to hear your message. Please give us a boldness, confidence, and faith to see that and pursue that. Even if I'm not included in that plan I pray that Lisa can do a great job getting out of her comfort zone and not worrying about what other people think about her and her dreams. Lord I love you like crazy and I'm so extremely eternally grateful for all that you are doing right now. THanks again for being my God and blessing me in so many great ways. I love you with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.
please finally be with our household tonight as we pray for understanding and wisdom in what to do for the future of this house. I love you so much and pray we can really be on the same page with everyone being happy. Your awesome God. Much love,
Curtis
Friday, April 29, 2011
library prayer
Almighty Father,
As you know this library can be a monstrosity of distractions and contractions from truth and academics. I'm sorry for letting the girls and surfline and espn and youtube and laziness get in the way of my duties. The things you've entrusted me to, I push away because i'm having "a bad day" or I don't FEEL like working hard today, the excuses are endless but it always comes down to the same mess, I don't know why but there's just no motivation to excel at the moment. I know you want me to shine and glorify you with my life and I know that if I don't work hard I will never grow, learn, or return fruitful with the talents you've given me. But at the same time if I try to build this house of knowledge and so-called academic "success" without you behind it, its meaningless. And if you are not the builder of my house than my house is fruitless. I know that my laziness has brought you distress and I'm sorry for not always doing my best. Please Lord give me the strength energy drive and capacity to truly drive out demons and fight through all the most challenging seasons. Use me today to grow and prove productive in purity. Thanks for dying for me and rising for me and help me to allow your power to motivate me. I love you G.
As you know this library can be a monstrosity of distractions and contractions from truth and academics. I'm sorry for letting the girls and surfline and espn and youtube and laziness get in the way of my duties. The things you've entrusted me to, I push away because i'm having "a bad day" or I don't FEEL like working hard today, the excuses are endless but it always comes down to the same mess, I don't know why but there's just no motivation to excel at the moment. I know you want me to shine and glorify you with my life and I know that if I don't work hard I will never grow, learn, or return fruitful with the talents you've given me. But at the same time if I try to build this house of knowledge and so-called academic "success" without you behind it, its meaningless. And if you are not the builder of my house than my house is fruitless. I know that my laziness has brought you distress and I'm sorry for not always doing my best. Please Lord give me the strength energy drive and capacity to truly drive out demons and fight through all the most challenging seasons. Use me today to grow and prove productive in purity. Thanks for dying for me and rising for me and help me to allow your power to motivate me. I love you G.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Tsunamis, Perseverance, Wisdom and Love
Two days ago an 8.9 Earthquake smashed off the coast of Japan causing a tsunami to wreack havoc on the coastal areas of Japan. Fortunately, they have some of the most solid construction in this area, and more than 1000 are dead. This could be MUCH worse, but that is still 1000 people who no longer have any chance to follow God. Though it is possible that everyone of them was a solid disciple and currently with God in heaven, for some reason I have little faith of that. It scares me. It challenges me. It inspires me. Life truly is delicate. At any point now I could be picked off by Satan, and die, and fail, and never be with God. But what am I doing to prevent that? What am I doing to not let that happen to myself, my friends, and my family? Truth is, not a whole lot. The end times are near (matt 24) and yet all day yesterday I was selfish with my time and just stayed home on my butt, paying no attention to the battle. I failed. Because even if I didn't watch porn or fight with my family, I didn't do the good I knew I should've. For that, I am sorry Lord. I've been so self-centered and focused on the future and how great its going to be to start dating that I forgot about the present, and the bible studies I need to have and the things I need to do in order to take as many people with me to heaven.
And as a result of the laziness of me and the lack of love from me and whoever, one of my dear brothers has left in seemingly the most woosy possible way--with a text:
"Daniel I love you. I courteously resign from the Christian religion. I don't believe my family is going to hell because they aren't baptized the right way. I don't believe in Satan. I don't have my sexuality anymore but I am still staying away from sexual immorality. I still believe in truth. Please don't pray for me. Also, no offense, but I don't want to 'talk about it' with you or anyone. Please don't feel sad about it."
This is not something I will dwell on. this is not something I will have a worldly sorrow about. THis is a disgusting display of what Satan can do to the most holy of men. This is how bliinded he can make us, even to the point that we deny his very existence. I love Jon Rattan and I will always love Jon Rattan, but Satan has a hold on him right now, and if I could save him I would, but I don't think I can and I don't think he wants to be saved, and therefore I will do my best to not let this happen again. I pray that I can be a great discipler, really getting in there with the men I've been entrusted to. And I pray that I myself will NEVER be blinded by Satan's deceit. Lord I'm sorry for even thinking about the possibility of leaving you.
For the message of the cross is foolisheness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
...For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength...
1 Corinthians 1:18, 25
Thank you so much for the cross Lord. It is amazing and my wisdom and man's wisdom will never be able to come even near the wisdom you can and do present.
But through all the murck, all the terrible things that are happening in SD and the world. THere are some amazing things. Gordie Nash is slowly becoming a disciple. I love this man and I'm so proud of his progress. Though he has a huge challenge with the fact that his mom had a terrible experience with the church, I pray that he will not let that mess him up and understand rather that you are much bigger than his mom, and what you say must go! In addition, there is an amazing sister in Orange County and it looks like in the next few weeks I'm going to start dating her! I really don't deserve her to be my "exclusive" sister and GOOD friend (at this point) but I am so grateful for the miracles God performs such as this. I love her like crazy and I'm so stoked for the second! (Habakkuk 3:18-20)
And as a result of the laziness of me and the lack of love from me and whoever, one of my dear brothers has left in seemingly the most woosy possible way--with a text:
"Daniel I love you. I courteously resign from the Christian religion. I don't believe my family is going to hell because they aren't baptized the right way. I don't believe in Satan. I don't have my sexuality anymore but I am still staying away from sexual immorality. I still believe in truth. Please don't pray for me. Also, no offense, but I don't want to 'talk about it' with you or anyone. Please don't feel sad about it."
This is not something I will dwell on. this is not something I will have a worldly sorrow about. THis is a disgusting display of what Satan can do to the most holy of men. This is how bliinded he can make us, even to the point that we deny his very existence. I love Jon Rattan and I will always love Jon Rattan, but Satan has a hold on him right now, and if I could save him I would, but I don't think I can and I don't think he wants to be saved, and therefore I will do my best to not let this happen again. I pray that I can be a great discipler, really getting in there with the men I've been entrusted to. And I pray that I myself will NEVER be blinded by Satan's deceit. Lord I'm sorry for even thinking about the possibility of leaving you.
For the message of the cross is foolisheness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
...For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength...
1 Corinthians 1:18, 25
Thank you so much for the cross Lord. It is amazing and my wisdom and man's wisdom will never be able to come even near the wisdom you can and do present.
But through all the murck, all the terrible things that are happening in SD and the world. THere are some amazing things. Gordie Nash is slowly becoming a disciple. I love this man and I'm so proud of his progress. Though he has a huge challenge with the fact that his mom had a terrible experience with the church, I pray that he will not let that mess him up and understand rather that you are much bigger than his mom, and what you say must go! In addition, there is an amazing sister in Orange County and it looks like in the next few weeks I'm going to start dating her! I really don't deserve her to be my "exclusive" sister and GOOD friend (at this point) but I am so grateful for the miracles God performs such as this. I love her like crazy and I'm so stoked for the second! (Habakkuk 3:18-20)
Saturday, February 26, 2011
life to the full
God is amazing. The stress is over, 4 midterms are down. It's Saturday morning and nice and stormy. The God is great, and has given me a life to the full. Coming out of the difficult weeks is awesome because we turn out that much stronger. White is so much whiter and more vibrant on black because of the stark contrast. Same with life. Last week was disgusting and today is beautiful, therefore today is so much more epic! Tomorrow we're going to have an awesome church service on campus because God is behind it, He is fueling it. Yesterday Sam, Jack, Joe, Azzie and I went over by the dorms and invited a grip of people to our church service. It was so awesome! we were all on fire! I'm super grateful for the time we got to have and they each inspired me in different ways. Then I got to go to my brother's basketball game, saw him make 4 points for the team! and though they lost it was still cool to be there cheering him on :). My brother is currently sleeping (or trying to sleep) on the couch at my house because in 2 hours we will be at SDSU getting ready to cheer the Aztecs to a mighty victory against BYU! It's going to be such an epic game, students waited in line since 6AM Wednesday morning! And my dad got there at 4AM monday to get us 2 awesome tickets :). It's going to be so fun I'm totally looking forward to it. I've also been thinking a grip (possibly too much) about Lisa. She loved the poem I sent her for valentines day, and I really admire her. They are starting a series on prayer and have such an awesome goal for this semester to reach out to 20 people every day this next week :).
Right now I'm reading Galatians 1 in my year bible and it's so gnarly the language Paul uses when addressing the fact that there's only ONE good news, only ONE gospel, only ONE and all others are false with such strong language in the NIV:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called youy by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
(Galatians 1:6-10)
I love Paul's strictness here, he's so stern, and has no care about what other people think about him! Even today I live life trying to please men, and I no longer want to do that, I need to get more radical, i need to be a true servant of Christ, I need to strive to win the approval of GOD, NOT MEN!
Father in heaven,
You are SO great. I admire you beyond belief. You are majestic, perfect, and praiseworthy.
I love the way you do what you do all the time you are such a mighty Lord and savior. Please help me to step my own game up and strive for perfection everyday. Lord you fill me with a deep joy that is unlike any joy possible without you. You fill me with faith, showing yourself to me throughout the day, thank you for whispering to me, thank you for leading me to where I need to be. Lord I glorify you to the best of my ability because you are so grand and you have granted me a faith that can move mountains, I can bend bronze, I can change souls, your word pierces to the heart. Thanks for giving me such easy tools to work with like your word to change this dying world. You have saved me, helped me , challenged me, and I am strong and will continue to grow everyday because of you. Lord I love you, thanks for giving us victory already. Thanks for all the visitors that you're bringing to church tomorrow, thanks for all the people who will get up on stage and do an amazing job representing you. Lord thanks for life, thanks for love, thanks for everything you've done and are doing for us. I love you like crazy, you are the only God. I am so grateful for Lisa, please continue to bless her, you fill her with joy and security and peace. You are the one that makes our relationship possible, and refreshing everytime we communicate. You are the one that gives both of us confidence and joy everyday. I love you lord you are mighty.
Right now I'm reading Galatians 1 in my year bible and it's so gnarly the language Paul uses when addressing the fact that there's only ONE good news, only ONE gospel, only ONE and all others are false with such strong language in the NIV:
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called youy by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
(Galatians 1:6-10)
I love Paul's strictness here, he's so stern, and has no care about what other people think about him! Even today I live life trying to please men, and I no longer want to do that, I need to get more radical, i need to be a true servant of Christ, I need to strive to win the approval of GOD, NOT MEN!
Father in heaven,
You are SO great. I admire you beyond belief. You are majestic, perfect, and praiseworthy.
I love the way you do what you do all the time you are such a mighty Lord and savior. Please help me to step my own game up and strive for perfection everyday. Lord you fill me with a deep joy that is unlike any joy possible without you. You fill me with faith, showing yourself to me throughout the day, thank you for whispering to me, thank you for leading me to where I need to be. Lord I glorify you to the best of my ability because you are so grand and you have granted me a faith that can move mountains, I can bend bronze, I can change souls, your word pierces to the heart. Thanks for giving me such easy tools to work with like your word to change this dying world. You have saved me, helped me , challenged me, and I am strong and will continue to grow everyday because of you. Lord I love you, thanks for giving us victory already. Thanks for all the visitors that you're bringing to church tomorrow, thanks for all the people who will get up on stage and do an amazing job representing you. Lord thanks for life, thanks for love, thanks for everything you've done and are doing for us. I love you like crazy, you are the only God. I am so grateful for Lisa, please continue to bless her, you fill her with joy and security and peace. You are the one that makes our relationship possible, and refreshing everytime we communicate. You are the one that gives both of us confidence and joy everyday. I love you lord you are mighty.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
COMMUNICATE (wild at heart)
Satan's greatest tool is to cut off all communications. Communication with God, with Lisa, with the household, with our discipler. WE HAVE TO COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY!!!!!
Satan can put any number of spins on our lack of communication. He'll make us think we lost all faith, lost all love, whatever he wants he can do to us if we cannot communicate.
SO LONG AS A MAN REMAINS NO REAL THREAT TO THE ENEMY, SATAN'S LINE TO HIM IS YOU'RE FINE. BUT AFTER YOU DO TAKE SIDES, IT BECOMES "YOUR HEART IS BAD AND YOU KNOW IT."
Satan can put any number of spins on our lack of communication. He'll make us think we lost all faith, lost all love, whatever he wants he can do to us if we cannot communicate.
SO LONG AS A MAN REMAINS NO REAL THREAT TO THE ENEMY, SATAN'S LINE TO HIM IS YOU'RE FINE. BUT AFTER YOU DO TAKE SIDES, IT BECOMES "YOUR HEART IS BAD AND YOU KNOW IT."
Cutter's Point RK
I'm chillen inside of Russ' favorite coffee shop. This morning I messed up, had a shady dream and God knows the rest. I hate it. I thought I was over it. THe moment we let our guard down, the times we think were doing well are the very times we need to check ourselves most. I feel like an utter failure, a ridiculous mess. I know I messed up and I know that it was a lazy preposterous pretension. I don't even know what pretension means but it sounded cool! The standards are high, which is definitely good, as long as I struggle with all His energy, with all Your energy because Your energy works powerfully and mine is disgustingly. THanks for giving me the coolest friends and family and people in my life to help me understand and live and move and dream big dreams. Lord I know that right now WInter teen camp is starting. PLEASE be with all those kids and the leaders and everyone up there. First help them to be safe drivers and second help them to be fantastic listeners and participants to really understand and live and breathe the scriptures every day. I pray that hearts will be moved, that lives will be changed, that people will wake up and people will step up. Please guide Pete's thoughts as he gets to lead an awesome lesson, i pray that you'll just use him in an awesome way! Please work in all the D-Times, all the lessons, all the talks, all the new friendships that will be made, please allow everything to just go smoothly and beautifully.
Father please also help Nic's tests to go according to plan. I know he's kind of worried about it and I know I'd be scared out of my mind! plese Lord help him to understand that everything's going to be okay, give him boldness and confidence as he's pushing through the difficult times of life. I pray that you'll be with the doctors or interpreters of the CAT scan and allow them to really look at them with wisdom and know what the perfect remedy will be. Father we love you were so grateful for you and I pray that you'll really guide our entire household, please give Joe the strength to pick up his dog's poop, its really getting annoying and i pray you'll just help him step his game up.
Father please please please be with my relationship with Lisa. I love her so much God and if I don't then please help me understand and see what that means and how I should act upon it to make it better. Lord we love you and need you desperately and I pray that you'll just help me to be more humble to be more kind, more patient, more protective, more truthful, more hopeful, more persevering and more optomistic about everything. I love you i need you I so desperately long for a deeper relationship with you and I pray that you'll just help me to step up. Help me to be consistant with my life, to make up my mind and everyday trust and believe and know what I need to do in order to be the best i can be. I love you help me to express it. I believe in you but please help me in my unbelief.
Please be with my time I get to have this morning with Russ, help me to ask what I need to ask and say what I need to say and act the way I need to act in order to pick his brain and get his help. Lord I love you and everything you do. Please give me the strength to get through the tough times.
Sorry one last thing please be with Alex Wertz. I know he's kind of been super busy and out of it and I p;ray you'll help him to but you first in all that he does and really live accoding to your will. Please give him boldness, confidence, love, joy, perseverance. Please help something amazing to happen at UCSD I want to see your miracle! Lord I love you I need you, your awesome its in your name I pray AMEN!
Father please also help Nic's tests to go according to plan. I know he's kind of worried about it and I know I'd be scared out of my mind! plese Lord help him to understand that everything's going to be okay, give him boldness and confidence as he's pushing through the difficult times of life. I pray that you'll be with the doctors or interpreters of the CAT scan and allow them to really look at them with wisdom and know what the perfect remedy will be. Father we love you were so grateful for you and I pray that you'll really guide our entire household, please give Joe the strength to pick up his dog's poop, its really getting annoying and i pray you'll just help him step his game up.
Father please please please be with my relationship with Lisa. I love her so much God and if I don't then please help me understand and see what that means and how I should act upon it to make it better. Lord we love you and need you desperately and I pray that you'll just help me to be more humble to be more kind, more patient, more protective, more truthful, more hopeful, more persevering and more optomistic about everything. I love you i need you I so desperately long for a deeper relationship with you and I pray that you'll just help me to step up. Help me to be consistant with my life, to make up my mind and everyday trust and believe and know what I need to do in order to be the best i can be. I love you help me to express it. I believe in you but please help me in my unbelief.
Please be with my time I get to have this morning with Russ, help me to ask what I need to ask and say what I need to say and act the way I need to act in order to pick his brain and get his help. Lord I love you and everything you do. Please give me the strength to get through the tough times.
Sorry one last thing please be with Alex Wertz. I know he's kind of been super busy and out of it and I p;ray you'll help him to but you first in all that he does and really live accoding to your will. Please give him boldness, confidence, love, joy, perseverance. Please help something amazing to happen at UCSD I want to see your miracle! Lord I love you I need you, your awesome its in your name I pray AMEN!
Friday, February 18, 2011
Taylor's Love Scripture
1 Cor 3:3
Rev. 3:19
Heb 10:24
1 JOhn 4:18
Deut 30:6
Micah 6:8
1 John 3:16-20
John 15:9-10
Psalm 97:10
Prov 4:6
Gal 5:6
Jer 31:3
Rom. 13:10
Col 2:2
Matt. 5:43-48
John 15:13
Romans 12:9
Zeph 3:17
Deut 11:1
Prov. 10:12
1 Cor. 8:3
Ps 145:20
Eph 3:16-19
Rev. 3:19
Heb 10:24
1 JOhn 4:18
Deut 30:6
Micah 6:8
1 John 3:16-20
John 15:9-10
Psalm 97:10
Prov 4:6
Gal 5:6
Jer 31:3
Rom. 13:10
Col 2:2
Matt. 5:43-48
John 15:13
Romans 12:9
Zeph 3:17
Deut 11:1
Prov. 10:12
1 Cor. 8:3
Ps 145:20
Eph 3:16-19
Transitions
Father in heaven you are amazing!!!
I love you more than words can explain. Father I pray that through this extremely difficult transition losing as an intern you'll really help us excel. God I know he's down and feels like he might have lost his dream or whatever but I pray that you'll help him see that this is what he needs to grow even stronger. Help him to understand all the details I'm sure he already does but give him strength and courage and boldness to not worry about what other people say or do behind his back or anything like that but instead please help him to push forward and not let anything stop him from growing. Lord I pray that you'll help Sam grow in humility. I know he has a very hard time submitting to your will and seeking advice and following through with that advice and I know that it's a huge challenge for him to seek you first all the time when he can turn to other things to try and fill the void. BUt PLEASE lord help him to see and understand that a relationship with you needs to be all the time and help; him to really overcome the hardness of heart, the untrustworthy attitude, the lack of love, or whatever it is when he gets in his moody times of pride. Help him to better understand your will, your love, your plan for his life and for him to really live it out to the best of his ability.
Father please be with Reachard as he too is going through a radical transition in life. I'm so proud of him getting the awesome job at Mater Dei and I know that he's going to excel there and really just do an amazing job as a varsity coach. Father please help him to not lose focus and not spread himself too thin as he takes on all the challenges of life. Father I pray that you'll instead fill him with an abundance of discipline, help him to wake up and get his feet on the ground when he knows he needs to, help him to stay on task and not drift away, not waste time watching TV or playing video games but instead I pray that he can act out his discipline every day in a radical way. You've given him some awesome talents, these great abilities to connect with people and love people on a deep deep level and I pray that you'll continuje to mold those talents and hone them so that he can bring you glory!
Father please please please be with Jack. I love him so much and I know he's going through and extremely difficult time right now with the death of his Grandma and never being able to see her again. I know this would be difficult for anybody and I pray that he won't let it ruin his life, God help him to not blame himself for the mistakes of his grandma made and help him to see the good behind it, that maybe his parents will think deeper about death and what they want to do with there life. Help him to not be depressed not blame himself for other's mistakes, but to really rebound and have a much more radical zeal, a bolder attitude. I know he can take it one of two ways and I pray that he'll take it the right way. That instead of hanging himself like Judas and getting all mad and depressed that he'll really decide to take it, overcome it like a man and allow it to inspire him to change the world, to not make the same mistakes if mistakes were made and to focus on doing everything he can to help his family and friends make it all the way so he can have some joyous deaths in a way.
Father I pray that Kevin Tang can be a man of honesty. That he'll be known for being completely honest at all times in all ways even when it hurts, even when it's challenging to be honest when the truth hurts. I pray that he'll overcome his insecurities that he'll hate what is evil and cling to what's good. Father help him to focus on the future and not dwell on the past, to truly love people not just by compliments but by instiling courage in their hearts and minds. Father I pray that you'll help him and all of us to be known as a household of deep integrity of truth and love, not saying the easy stuff but dealing with the hard stuff. Father I love you I need you and so does kevin help him to understand that a lie is one of the scariest most serious things and I pray that he'll fully grasp the concept and be completely honest even if it's going to make him or someone else look bad to a certain extent. God I love him and I know that he'll be a mighty man of God if he can conquer thesethings, please give him strength to overcome them.
Lord I pray that I will overcome the rollercoaster ride of life that i"ve been so caught up in lately with my high hi's and lowlo's I'm so sorry for not being consistantly epic. And instead being an epic failure. Help me not to be discouraged or angry or blame anyone for my shortcomings but rather I pray that you'll help me to overcome evil with good, to NOT delight in evil but REJOICE with the truth. Father I need your help in this it's not something I try to do or plan to do in any way by no means but I know that you can make anything happen and I know your spirit is prevalent in my life and I pray that you'll really help me see and understand how great you are indeed.
Before I forget Lord help Joe to really be epic. I know he's kind of bummed about work and it's been a huge chalenge for him, I know that your really using him in a great way just using his gifts to really connect with people. Lord please be with his health, help him to really excel right now and shine the way that you've caled him to shine. I know that he has a lot of challenges with the debt and with school and stuff and I pray you'll really encourage him today, please do something in his life right now to keep him up and keep him staying up so he'll never look down. I pray that you'll bless his time his life his everything so that he can remain the faithful bold man he is. Please also help him find a wife someday, the perfect wife though. Help him to see and understand that it doesn't really matter what she looks like but whether she's going to help him make it to heaven.
Father I want to pray for Kirk, help him to really use his radiant beautiful talents to give you an immense amount of praise. You've really blessed him with an amazing amount of talents and i pray he'll stop using them for selfish motives and really start using them to glorify you in a more radical way. Please give him the motivation to not be an observer, not a follower but a leader, an inspiration to the world and to the ministry. Help everything to just go amazing with his young single's group he's starting I know that it's going to be excellent that he's going to do a great job and I'm super grateful that he's already denying himself by going to this concert tonight. Please help him to keep up the good work, keep up the love and just glorify you with all his talents and his life.
Lord please please be with Nick I know he's doing so great just connecting with brothers and getting out of his comfort zone. He's such a cool guy and another man of many rad talents. He's athletic and sharp and I know that you're using him right now but I pray you'll use him in even more radical ways that he'll use his experience to connect with people and lead them to you. Please help him to build an immense knowledge base in the bible, to really be prepared to answer questions and get deeper with people who might be on a higher biblical knowledge. But I pray that he'll also remember that it doesn't matter how much you know but rather how much you care. Help him to also get bold and radical in his prayer life. It's cool he's going to read through the psalms and I know that will help him connect with you deeeply, I pray that everyting can go amazing with him and Olivia that they can really grow in their friendship and that that can lead to whatever will be best for both of them and their relationship with you!
And once again lord please help Rhett. I know he's going thru a super difficult transition right now like it must be impossible for him to not have regrets but I pray he'll keep up the faith, not blame anything or anyone or you but that he can really just persevere through the challenging times ahead and wake up and change the things that need to be changed and really fight with all his heart and mind for the singles minsitry. I love him and know that your going to use him wherever he is.
Your awesome god I love you like crazy, please fill us ALL up with wisdom and discipline and an immense amount of joy. Your the best. much love.
C
I love you more than words can explain. Father I pray that through this extremely difficult transition losing as an intern you'll really help us excel. God I know he's down and feels like he might have lost his dream or whatever but I pray that you'll help him see that this is what he needs to grow even stronger. Help him to understand all the details I'm sure he already does but give him strength and courage and boldness to not worry about what other people say or do behind his back or anything like that but instead please help him to push forward and not let anything stop him from growing. Lord I pray that you'll help Sam grow in humility. I know he has a very hard time submitting to your will and seeking advice and following through with that advice and I know that it's a huge challenge for him to seek you first all the time when he can turn to other things to try and fill the void. BUt PLEASE lord help him to see and understand that a relationship with you needs to be all the time and help; him to really overcome the hardness of heart, the untrustworthy attitude, the lack of love, or whatever it is when he gets in his moody times of pride. Help him to better understand your will, your love, your plan for his life and for him to really live it out to the best of his ability.
Father please be with Reachard as he too is going through a radical transition in life. I'm so proud of him getting the awesome job at Mater Dei and I know that he's going to excel there and really just do an amazing job as a varsity coach. Father please help him to not lose focus and not spread himself too thin as he takes on all the challenges of life. Father I pray that you'll instead fill him with an abundance of discipline, help him to wake up and get his feet on the ground when he knows he needs to, help him to stay on task and not drift away, not waste time watching TV or playing video games but instead I pray that he can act out his discipline every day in a radical way. You've given him some awesome talents, these great abilities to connect with people and love people on a deep deep level and I pray that you'll continuje to mold those talents and hone them so that he can bring you glory!
Father please please please be with Jack. I love him so much and I know he's going through and extremely difficult time right now with the death of his Grandma and never being able to see her again. I know this would be difficult for anybody and I pray that he won't let it ruin his life, God help him to not blame himself for the mistakes of his grandma made and help him to see the good behind it, that maybe his parents will think deeper about death and what they want to do with there life. Help him to not be depressed not blame himself for other's mistakes, but to really rebound and have a much more radical zeal, a bolder attitude. I know he can take it one of two ways and I pray that he'll take it the right way. That instead of hanging himself like Judas and getting all mad and depressed that he'll really decide to take it, overcome it like a man and allow it to inspire him to change the world, to not make the same mistakes if mistakes were made and to focus on doing everything he can to help his family and friends make it all the way so he can have some joyous deaths in a way.
Father I pray that Kevin Tang can be a man of honesty. That he'll be known for being completely honest at all times in all ways even when it hurts, even when it's challenging to be honest when the truth hurts. I pray that he'll overcome his insecurities that he'll hate what is evil and cling to what's good. Father help him to focus on the future and not dwell on the past, to truly love people not just by compliments but by instiling courage in their hearts and minds. Father I pray that you'll help him and all of us to be known as a household of deep integrity of truth and love, not saying the easy stuff but dealing with the hard stuff. Father I love you I need you and so does kevin help him to understand that a lie is one of the scariest most serious things and I pray that he'll fully grasp the concept and be completely honest even if it's going to make him or someone else look bad to a certain extent. God I love him and I know that he'll be a mighty man of God if he can conquer thesethings, please give him strength to overcome them.
Lord I pray that I will overcome the rollercoaster ride of life that i"ve been so caught up in lately with my high hi's and lowlo's I'm so sorry for not being consistantly epic. And instead being an epic failure. Help me not to be discouraged or angry or blame anyone for my shortcomings but rather I pray that you'll help me to overcome evil with good, to NOT delight in evil but REJOICE with the truth. Father I need your help in this it's not something I try to do or plan to do in any way by no means but I know that you can make anything happen and I know your spirit is prevalent in my life and I pray that you'll really help me see and understand how great you are indeed.
Before I forget Lord help Joe to really be epic. I know he's kind of bummed about work and it's been a huge chalenge for him, I know that your really using him in a great way just using his gifts to really connect with people. Lord please be with his health, help him to really excel right now and shine the way that you've caled him to shine. I know that he has a lot of challenges with the debt and with school and stuff and I pray you'll really encourage him today, please do something in his life right now to keep him up and keep him staying up so he'll never look down. I pray that you'll bless his time his life his everything so that he can remain the faithful bold man he is. Please also help him find a wife someday, the perfect wife though. Help him to see and understand that it doesn't really matter what she looks like but whether she's going to help him make it to heaven.
Father I want to pray for Kirk, help him to really use his radiant beautiful talents to give you an immense amount of praise. You've really blessed him with an amazing amount of talents and i pray he'll stop using them for selfish motives and really start using them to glorify you in a more radical way. Please give him the motivation to not be an observer, not a follower but a leader, an inspiration to the world and to the ministry. Help everything to just go amazing with his young single's group he's starting I know that it's going to be excellent that he's going to do a great job and I'm super grateful that he's already denying himself by going to this concert tonight. Please help him to keep up the good work, keep up the love and just glorify you with all his talents and his life.
Lord please please be with Nick I know he's doing so great just connecting with brothers and getting out of his comfort zone. He's such a cool guy and another man of many rad talents. He's athletic and sharp and I know that you're using him right now but I pray you'll use him in even more radical ways that he'll use his experience to connect with people and lead them to you. Please help him to build an immense knowledge base in the bible, to really be prepared to answer questions and get deeper with people who might be on a higher biblical knowledge. But I pray that he'll also remember that it doesn't matter how much you know but rather how much you care. Help him to also get bold and radical in his prayer life. It's cool he's going to read through the psalms and I know that will help him connect with you deeeply, I pray that everyting can go amazing with him and Olivia that they can really grow in their friendship and that that can lead to whatever will be best for both of them and their relationship with you!
And once again lord please help Rhett. I know he's going thru a super difficult transition right now like it must be impossible for him to not have regrets but I pray he'll keep up the faith, not blame anything or anyone or you but that he can really just persevere through the challenging times ahead and wake up and change the things that need to be changed and really fight with all his heart and mind for the singles minsitry. I love him and know that your going to use him wherever he is.
Your awesome god I love you like crazy, please fill us ALL up with wisdom and discipline and an immense amount of joy. Your the best. much love.
C
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Another low low.
Today's been the worse day this week. It's tuesday and I have more work than I even know how to get done. Trying to study for this stupid test on the Qur'an and reading the most disgusting book by Myhre about myths and inclusivity and pluralism and just straight up ridiculousness is killing my convictions. The last thirty minutes I've been super angry and just want to take all my anger out on someone. I've been cursing in my mind about how bad I want to make someone's life miserable and just put a grip of pain in them. Though I'm a pretty weak guy, when I'm mad I could probably hurt just about anyone. I'm feeling pretty faithless right now, listening to blink 182. But I think about the apostles and the epic things that they did as a result of seeing the miraculous Jesus raise from the dead. I want a zeal like that, I've had a zeal like that. Just last night I was preaching the word at USD and down to talk to anybody...basketball players, football players, anyone! It was an encouraging night. I had a fairly awkward conversation with Lisa though and I just don't know. I've been kind of faithless with that whole thing, doubting myself, being REALLY hard on myself. My expectations for my life are out of this world. If i'm not perfect than I'm failing in my mind and I always forget how beautiful grace is. Though we've had various lessons on living like your forgiven and grace I just get ridiculous sometimes...IT SUCKS! anyways I got about 50 hours worth of studying the Qur'an so PEACE!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
I've got a HOME
I've got a home
ive got a crown
ive got a love
wont let me down
I've got a home
I've got a prize
he'll wipe away
tears from my eyes
This morning was epic. I woke up at 5:00ish with an immense amount of back pain. It was extra bad because yesterday I had the honor of snowboarding with the family (which was super rad by the way). But lately my ankylosing spondylitis has been destroying me. God has been humbling me. It's amazing how perfectly he works though. So i woke up used the restroom tried to go back to sleep but he wasn't having it! the pain was way too bad. I was a bit grumpy but was like alright whatever lets do this thing! So i ate my oatmeal, drank my green tea and started the day :). What a blessed, joyful, happy Sunday morning it's been! Around 6 AM I arrived at Mt Helix one of the coolest mountains in San Diego. It's very high but you can drive up to thetop and there's a beautiful cross up there along with God's majestic view of the city of San Diego. Add His sunrise to that and a spirit filled prayer--you've got one EPIC morning. It was just such a great time connecting to my Lord. The sunrise vibrantly illuminated the clouds with a neon orange directly above the perfectly silhouetted mountains. On the other side was a clear view of the ocean and a 360 view of the city. The best aspect of it was the previously mentioned spirit-led prayer that he did for me...It was just an inexplicable connection. I read psalm 103-104 and I'm just so grateful for God's love and majestic nature. Though I was stressed out about the 2 midterms, lab write-up, graph, site visit paper, and whatever else I don't even know about that's due this week...it doesn't really matter because God is good and he will take care of it all. Even if I fail...who cares? Maybe the family but oh well they'll get over it because I've got God on my side and nothing else matters!
ive got a crown
ive got a love
wont let me down
I've got a home
I've got a prize
he'll wipe away
tears from my eyes
This morning was epic. I woke up at 5:00ish with an immense amount of back pain. It was extra bad because yesterday I had the honor of snowboarding with the family (which was super rad by the way). But lately my ankylosing spondylitis has been destroying me. God has been humbling me. It's amazing how perfectly he works though. So i woke up used the restroom tried to go back to sleep but he wasn't having it! the pain was way too bad. I was a bit grumpy but was like alright whatever lets do this thing! So i ate my oatmeal, drank my green tea and started the day :). What a blessed, joyful, happy Sunday morning it's been! Around 6 AM I arrived at Mt Helix one of the coolest mountains in San Diego. It's very high but you can drive up to thetop and there's a beautiful cross up there along with God's majestic view of the city of San Diego. Add His sunrise to that and a spirit filled prayer--you've got one EPIC morning. It was just such a great time connecting to my Lord. The sunrise vibrantly illuminated the clouds with a neon orange directly above the perfectly silhouetted mountains. On the other side was a clear view of the ocean and a 360 view of the city. The best aspect of it was the previously mentioned spirit-led prayer that he did for me...It was just an inexplicable connection. I read psalm 103-104 and I'm just so grateful for God's love and majestic nature. Though I was stressed out about the 2 midterms, lab write-up, graph, site visit paper, and whatever else I don't even know about that's due this week...it doesn't really matter because God is good and he will take care of it all. Even if I fail...who cares? Maybe the family but oh well they'll get over it because I've got God on my side and nothing else matters!
Monday, January 17, 2011
OC
I got to go to Orange County today! Chilled with Lisa, Reach, Kaitlyn, Jessica W, Christine F, Megan F, Roddy, Cody, and Patrick all afternoon. We got some boba, and went to sticki picki in korea town, then hit up Laguna beach (loco taco). It was an awesome time connecting with Lisa and her friends...we played a game in the car "I'm going to a picnic in LB and I'm gonna bring some asphalt, a baby, cantalope, d, eggplant, f, green grass, h, italian spaghetti, jump rope, kite, lisa, money, ninja, oreos, pinky winky or something, quidditch field, roscos chicken/waffle, starbucks...we had some a great time talking...unfortunately one of the girls she's discipling isn't doing so great off by herself somewhere, we talked about her relationship with her sister "Eva" and how it's not going so great, but her faith is so solid that God will take care of it. It was interesting learning that she too struggles with her mind a lot. We talked about romans 12:21 and 2 c
She talked about her internship for a few minutes and it was really cool hearing about how one of the girls she's been mentoring and just hanging out with there is the daughter of a disciple! I also saw one of the cutest videos with the kid she babysists named Kendrick. It was such an amazing encouraging time the only thing I fear is the fact that at times we seemed like we were on a weasel date...at times I completely ignored all the other people around and just concentrated on Lisa...though this isn't necessarily wrong, I think I could have handled it in a much better way. But amen, God is good and the day was amazing. Finished it off by giving Azzie a little walk around the block and then allowing her to pull me on the skateboard :)
She talked about her internship for a few minutes and it was really cool hearing about how one of the girls she's been mentoring and just hanging out with there is the daughter of a disciple! I also saw one of the cutest videos with the kid she babysists named Kendrick. It was such an amazing encouraging time the only thing I fear is the fact that at times we seemed like we were on a weasel date...at times I completely ignored all the other people around and just concentrated on Lisa...though this isn't necessarily wrong, I think I could have handled it in a much better way. But amen, God is good and the day was amazing. Finished it off by giving Azzie a little walk around the block and then allowing her to pull me on the skateboard :)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Prayer Train
Today was a great day. Not going to surf ministry gave me the chance to have a great quiet time. I read Luke 14:25-16:18 starting off with the Cost of Being a disciple which was amazing to remember the promise and commitment I made to Him. Also, after that the Pharisee's try to bash on Jesus because he loved people, he even ate food with sinners! As a result, he tells them 3 stories: Story of the Lost Sheep, Coin, and Son. They were amazing reminders of how joyfully God accepts us no matter who we are or how far we've strayed. After a passionate prayer time, I got to go to our amazing church to worship God. The singing was harmonious, the preaching was convicting, and the fellowship was contageous. Shane preached boldly on repentance. It was such an epic lesson called Repentance and Redemption
First he explained that repentance is NOT...
-just a good idea
-feeling bad about what you did
-cheap grace (Romans 6:1-4--stop being a nice guy!)
-independent of others
-just a confession
Next he defined repentance:
-dealing with sin (Matthew 5:27-
"heart" CUT IT OFF! Don't manage it, CUT IT!
-Having the same attitude towards other people's sin...what is your relationship with people defined by!???? If your being simply nice to them, then your not being a brother..get in their life and challenge with love!
REPENT FROM THE SILENCE SO PREVALENT IN "GOOD PEOPLE" without going all self-righteous
James 4:17
Not just repentance from evil but the good we must start doing! Replace the sin with good!
Romans 12:21
DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD!
your sin just needs a little crumb like a dog under the table. Satan is NOT done attacking, once he gets a crumb he comes back for more, and more and more until he's eaten everything you have away.
Hebrews 10:19-25
SPUR ONE ANOTHER ON TOWARD LOVE AND GOOD DEEDS!!!
"How you doing?"
"Good"
"So what's been your challenge lately? What do you need to repent of?"
REVIVE THE CULTURE OF OPENNESS
repentance begins with a decision to change: WRITE IT DOWN
Right now I will change the way I love God and people...from making it a habitual checklist chore, to a heartfelt, serious, deep devotion with complete breadth.
John 5:1-9
DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL? THEN WRITE A JOURNAL OF THINGS YOU'VE DONE, HOW YOU FELT ABOUT THEM, AND THE CONSEQUENCES THAT CAME.
"Take your mat"
Your dirty, disgusting, smelly, nasty mat you've lived on without taking a shower for the last 20 years!
A good reminder of what you were...be in touch with the pain!
How has this sin hurt the ministry? Relationships? family? etc.
Get in touch with that pain and NEVER go back to that putrid mat--stand up again and never go back to it don't even take a nap on it.
In order to get to the diamond of your life, you MUST dig through the dirt.
STOP MAKING EXCUSES
"I didn't have the time" CANNOT fly any longer! Get deliberate with it!
2 Corinthians 7:18 (Godly sorrow)
Have you been innocent by repentance shown by your deeds!?
1. Go pray with somebody!
2. Have a bible study on the sin your most struggling with!
3. IMMEDIATE confession
4 Journal/openness
5 get help!
Pretend your going to the cheesecake factory...but instead of ordering food, you bring a Deluxe Cheesebuger with fries (lies), ask for a table, sit down, and start eating...that would be outrageous!!!! WOuld you do that? Then why bring that fake stuff in the church!?
*****And then some guy I don't even know his name did contribution and just totally blew it out of the house...Its like when your a dad you might give your son some money to put in the contribution tray. But what if he took half of it, put it in his pocket and then put the rest in the tray? or crazier yet took all of it and put it in his pocket? Acts 17:24-25 ("The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anythingbecause he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.") God gave us everything we have, including money for contribution. We need to stop putting half or a all, or whatever part of it in our pocket and start giving it back to him!*****
So church was beyond epic! But that wasn't even the highlight of the day...the best part was the glorious prayer train we had. Today from 3-9, many disciples went from campus to campus praying boldly for this semester. It was a fantastic time and we had a lot of fun and built faith togethor. It was cool visiting all the campuses, even ones I had never seen before. I was really grateful we made that happen it was an amazing time.
First he explained that repentance is NOT...
-just a good idea
-feeling bad about what you did
-cheap grace (Romans 6:1-4--stop being a nice guy!)
-independent of others
-just a confession
Next he defined repentance:
-dealing with sin (Matthew 5:27-
"heart" CUT IT OFF! Don't manage it, CUT IT!
-Having the same attitude towards other people's sin...what is your relationship with people defined by!???? If your being simply nice to them, then your not being a brother..get in their life and challenge with love!
REPENT FROM THE SILENCE SO PREVALENT IN "GOOD PEOPLE" without going all self-righteous
James 4:17
Not just repentance from evil but the good we must start doing! Replace the sin with good!
Romans 12:21
DO NOT BE OVERCOME BY EVIL BUT OVERCOME EVIL WITH GOOD!
your sin just needs a little crumb like a dog under the table. Satan is NOT done attacking, once he gets a crumb he comes back for more, and more and more until he's eaten everything you have away.
Hebrews 10:19-25
SPUR ONE ANOTHER ON TOWARD LOVE AND GOOD DEEDS!!!
"How you doing?"
"Good"
"So what's been your challenge lately? What do you need to repent of?"
REVIVE THE CULTURE OF OPENNESS
repentance begins with a decision to change: WRITE IT DOWN
Right now I will change the way I love God and people...from making it a habitual checklist chore, to a heartfelt, serious, deep devotion with complete breadth.
John 5:1-9
DO YOU WANT TO GET WELL? THEN WRITE A JOURNAL OF THINGS YOU'VE DONE, HOW YOU FELT ABOUT THEM, AND THE CONSEQUENCES THAT CAME.
"Take your mat"
Your dirty, disgusting, smelly, nasty mat you've lived on without taking a shower for the last 20 years!
A good reminder of what you were...be in touch with the pain!
How has this sin hurt the ministry? Relationships? family? etc.
Get in touch with that pain and NEVER go back to that putrid mat--stand up again and never go back to it don't even take a nap on it.
In order to get to the diamond of your life, you MUST dig through the dirt.
STOP MAKING EXCUSES
"I didn't have the time" CANNOT fly any longer! Get deliberate with it!
2 Corinthians 7:18 (Godly sorrow)
Have you been innocent by repentance shown by your deeds!?
1. Go pray with somebody!
2. Have a bible study on the sin your most struggling with!
3. IMMEDIATE confession
4 Journal/openness
5 get help!
Pretend your going to the cheesecake factory...but instead of ordering food, you bring a Deluxe Cheesebuger with fries (lies), ask for a table, sit down, and start eating...that would be outrageous!!!! WOuld you do that? Then why bring that fake stuff in the church!?
*****And then some guy I don't even know his name did contribution and just totally blew it out of the house...Its like when your a dad you might give your son some money to put in the contribution tray. But what if he took half of it, put it in his pocket and then put the rest in the tray? or crazier yet took all of it and put it in his pocket? Acts 17:24-25 ("The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anythingbecause he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.") God gave us everything we have, including money for contribution. We need to stop putting half or a all, or whatever part of it in our pocket and start giving it back to him!*****
So church was beyond epic! But that wasn't even the highlight of the day...the best part was the glorious prayer train we had. Today from 3-9, many disciples went from campus to campus praying boldly for this semester. It was a fantastic time and we had a lot of fun and built faith togethor. It was cool visiting all the campuses, even ones I had never seen before. I was really grateful we made that happen it was an amazing time.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Saturday Morning Learning
What a morning it has been. The breakfast is done, and the reading is on. I'm trying to finish the NT 3 times this year and I just read some inspiring scriptures. The most recent is about Satan and the misleading ways that he overwhelms us, making any sense of truth hard to believe:
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you were unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native tongue, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.
JOHN 8:42-47
We just had a really sweet men's D-group in which we shared something we got out of a recent quiet time and then got vulnerable and everyone prayed. It was an extremely great time and I'm definitely grateful for all the brother's I'm in the fight with. We're doing our best to promote a deep sense of camaraderie in the brother's ministry. Today I get to move back into my room...but I'm feeling kind of lazy and don't want to really do it all that much...anyways today I get to go hang out with Brian Ha and I'm definitely stoked to get reconnected with him at starbucks...He's the guy that was baptized last year and went back home and kind of dipped out on us. Anyways, I'm trying to get back into his life a little bit especially because I'm going to spend a lot of time at UCSD. I pray that everything works out and he can have a deep influence on his friends in IV.
Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you were unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native tongue, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.
JOHN 8:42-47
We just had a really sweet men's D-group in which we shared something we got out of a recent quiet time and then got vulnerable and everyone prayed. It was an extremely great time and I'm definitely grateful for all the brother's I'm in the fight with. We're doing our best to promote a deep sense of camaraderie in the brother's ministry. Today I get to move back into my room...but I'm feeling kind of lazy and don't want to really do it all that much...anyways today I get to go hang out with Brian Ha and I'm definitely stoked to get reconnected with him at starbucks...He's the guy that was baptized last year and went back home and kind of dipped out on us. Anyways, I'm trying to get back into his life a little bit especially because I'm going to spend a lot of time at UCSD. I pray that everything works out and he can have a deep influence on his friends in IV.
Friday, January 7, 2011
stoney hike
THis morning I woke up at 3:30. This wasn't that difficult because I've been getting 3-4 hours very frequently. I woke Josh up, he called Ricky, and bam! We were on our way. We already knew that his other friends would probably be smoking on the mountain, so when this was the case, we were not surprised but I was speechless. Going into it I was thinking of the fact that Jesus was all about loving people in the world--prostitutes, tax collectors, etc. However, it was almost overwhelming and I was extremely grateful that Josh spoke up at the beginning and just told them "were not down with smoking." We basically split up on the way up there. Ricky, Josh and I walked ahead and the road was steep, however we got up it quite rapidly. We walked around there a little bit and then finally his friends met up with us, so we split off again and prayed. Then we went up to the top of a rock to watch the sun rise, but the sun took FOREVER! Ricky's friends--the outspoken athletic one named Joe--were smoking their bowls, and it was interesting being in their presence. They were kind of tripping out a little bit and doing their thing, cursing a lot and just imagining things in the sky...but Josh Ricky and I stood behind them just kinda making comments when we could. It was a good, cold, beautiful time and we did have fun...After the sun was well up in the air, we went back to a brilliant rock form called Potato Chip rock, because it is an extremely thing overhang out of a rock. Joe and I sat on it and it was quite the experience! We went down the mountain said our goodbyes and drove home..unfortunately ricky played the mikey show on the way back and it was very shady but he was laughing having a great time. I felt terrible I didn't speak up and get indignant about it, but at the same time he was driving and I didn't want to come across as self righteous and judgmental...anyways, overall it was a good morning
Thursday, January 6, 2011
2010
It has been 8 months since I have posted anything on this thing, and I've learned a lot in that time. Bad part is, much of it I cannot remember. The highlights of 2010 are:
1. Got to intern with the Pomerado region teens during the Summer.
This was an amazing experience. It started off with a few weeks of pure intern training by the greats like Robert, Shane, Mark, Yung, Luis, and John O. Lessons on false doctrine, Islam, theology, encouragement, leading like Jesus, prayer, exegesis, habits of highly effective interns, conflict resolution, and organization each lead to an immense amount of growth.
Some highlights of these classes:
-Encouragment gives vision--best way to overcome your discouragement is to go encourage someone else! Encourage by listening and paying attention to details. Encourage through example of convictions. Encourage by telling them to repent...2 thessalonians 2:16-17
-Prayer: prayer is creating space for God to act (EM Bounds). THere's no such thing as a bad prayer...its like kindergarten artwork, always gets put up on fridge. Prayer is: Intimate, mighty, specific, praise, aggressive, creative, emotional (heb 5:7) impact, PUSH (pray until stuff happens)..GOD I WANT TO BE LIKE ____ (JONATHAN) WHO KNEW HOW TO BE A FRIEND...ETC.
-Exegisis: A critical explanation or analysis of a text...the procedures we use to understand what someone else means by what they are saying. It doesn't matter what it means to YOU but only what God means by this, what HE is explaining it by! basically HOW TO study your bible. on the other hand Eisegesis = put something in...the way we make the scripture say what WE want it to say. This leads to false doctrine.
One of the cool things about the internship was that an amazing sister named Lisa Hinton was able to do it as well. It happened so fast, but the Gore's were I guess interviewing me and Yung casually asked me who I liked and I told her and so she went up and got her. I was super grateful and had an amazing Summer interning with Lisa though at times it got awkward. The focus on the teens was what made it great. I got to study the bible with 2 future evangelists: Micah Konzen and Kyle Schultz. They each have amazing gifts from God and I can't imagine how talented they would be with the Holy Spirit. I developed a deep relationship with each of them and was able to go snowboarding with them this winter, and I hope to continue to help them take steps to get closer to God.
this year was extremely fruitful for the campus ministry. The greatest gift of the year was the baptism of Sam Mueller--my best friend and amazing roommate. I love this guy more than any other disciple in the campus. I had the privelege of sitting in on his studies with Robert Carrillo, and I learned more then ever before. Robert used God's power to really penetrate Sam's heart. Sam made the decision that he needed to step out on faith, having a confidence that getting baptized will be the best decision and that God will make everything clear. He led a bible talk this semester at Grossmont kind of by force and not desire, and he is now transferring to the best school in the world--SDSU.
During finals week this semester I was going through some really tought times. Lots of stress, depression, feeling like a failure led to me feeling like giving up on school, girls, the church, and God. Sam helped me one night more than anyone has in a long time. He told me about emotions--the way you react to changes. Told me that many different things are currently tugging at my heart--school, lisa, and God. God wasn't winning because I was not focused or prioritized on him. When we change what we value, we risk getting extremely emotional...maybe you are putting all your heart into Lisa and not God (where your treasure is, there your heart will be also) But since Lisa loves God, and currently you are not loving God, you and Lisa have nothing in common! He also gave his new definition of faith--being certain that the changes occurring, whether they seem bad or good, are vital steps that are leading to the best outcome that God has for you. Its hard to see now how this thing mixed with that seemingly negative thing can actually turn into this awesome thing--but when we die it will all make sense perfectly--OH so that's why I had to get hungover in SB! We talked about the undeniable gifts of the holy spirit. If I give up on every other thing of God, the one thing I can never deny is the prevalence of the Holy Spirit--for me it was confidence and zeal for Sam it was humility. I also saw some epic quotes from Austin Farrell's dad on facebook: "It's better to face things with courage than to endure things with fear"
"The only way you can comprehend how much someone who's close to you loves you, is to love someone else in that same incomprehensible way."
This year I learned how dependent I am on people. How much I need the fellowship to get through tough times. I learned I need to rely on God more, because his will for me is so much greater than mine. I had a lot of practice being a leader and learned that teens take an immense ammount of patience and love. I learned that I haven't been all that loving because I've been so focused on my own personal accomplishments like school that I haven't really had time to get in people--even roommate's lives. I learned how fragile my faith is and how important it is. I learned how critical it is to be actively studying the bible with somebody, it truly helps the leader more than the learner. I learned that school, money, materialistic items are the least important ever and that my sin is to try and rely on them.
I hope to take the things I've learned this year into next year, and make next year an even more radical, intense year of life changing adventures.
1. Got to intern with the Pomerado region teens during the Summer.
This was an amazing experience. It started off with a few weeks of pure intern training by the greats like Robert, Shane, Mark, Yung, Luis, and John O. Lessons on false doctrine, Islam, theology, encouragement, leading like Jesus, prayer, exegesis, habits of highly effective interns, conflict resolution, and organization each lead to an immense amount of growth.
Some highlights of these classes:
-Encouragment gives vision--best way to overcome your discouragement is to go encourage someone else! Encourage by listening and paying attention to details. Encourage through example of convictions. Encourage by telling them to repent...2 thessalonians 2:16-17
-Prayer: prayer is creating space for God to act (EM Bounds). THere's no such thing as a bad prayer...its like kindergarten artwork, always gets put up on fridge. Prayer is: Intimate, mighty, specific, praise, aggressive, creative, emotional (heb 5:7) impact, PUSH (pray until stuff happens)..GOD I WANT TO BE LIKE ____ (JONATHAN) WHO KNEW HOW TO BE A FRIEND...ETC.
-Exegisis: A critical explanation or analysis of a text...the procedures we use to understand what someone else means by what they are saying. It doesn't matter what it means to YOU but only what God means by this, what HE is explaining it by! basically HOW TO study your bible. on the other hand Eisegesis = put something in...the way we make the scripture say what WE want it to say. This leads to false doctrine.
One of the cool things about the internship was that an amazing sister named Lisa Hinton was able to do it as well. It happened so fast, but the Gore's were I guess interviewing me and Yung casually asked me who I liked and I told her and so she went up and got her. I was super grateful and had an amazing Summer interning with Lisa though at times it got awkward. The focus on the teens was what made it great. I got to study the bible with 2 future evangelists: Micah Konzen and Kyle Schultz. They each have amazing gifts from God and I can't imagine how talented they would be with the Holy Spirit. I developed a deep relationship with each of them and was able to go snowboarding with them this winter, and I hope to continue to help them take steps to get closer to God.
this year was extremely fruitful for the campus ministry. The greatest gift of the year was the baptism of Sam Mueller--my best friend and amazing roommate. I love this guy more than any other disciple in the campus. I had the privelege of sitting in on his studies with Robert Carrillo, and I learned more then ever before. Robert used God's power to really penetrate Sam's heart. Sam made the decision that he needed to step out on faith, having a confidence that getting baptized will be the best decision and that God will make everything clear. He led a bible talk this semester at Grossmont kind of by force and not desire, and he is now transferring to the best school in the world--SDSU.
During finals week this semester I was going through some really tought times. Lots of stress, depression, feeling like a failure led to me feeling like giving up on school, girls, the church, and God. Sam helped me one night more than anyone has in a long time. He told me about emotions--the way you react to changes. Told me that many different things are currently tugging at my heart--school, lisa, and God. God wasn't winning because I was not focused or prioritized on him. When we change what we value, we risk getting extremely emotional...maybe you are putting all your heart into Lisa and not God (where your treasure is, there your heart will be also) But since Lisa loves God, and currently you are not loving God, you and Lisa have nothing in common! He also gave his new definition of faith--being certain that the changes occurring, whether they seem bad or good, are vital steps that are leading to the best outcome that God has for you. Its hard to see now how this thing mixed with that seemingly negative thing can actually turn into this awesome thing--but when we die it will all make sense perfectly--OH so that's why I had to get hungover in SB! We talked about the undeniable gifts of the holy spirit. If I give up on every other thing of God, the one thing I can never deny is the prevalence of the Holy Spirit--for me it was confidence and zeal for Sam it was humility. I also saw some epic quotes from Austin Farrell's dad on facebook: "It's better to face things with courage than to endure things with fear"
"The only way you can comprehend how much someone who's close to you loves you, is to love someone else in that same incomprehensible way."
This year I learned how dependent I am on people. How much I need the fellowship to get through tough times. I learned I need to rely on God more, because his will for me is so much greater than mine. I had a lot of practice being a leader and learned that teens take an immense ammount of patience and love. I learned that I haven't been all that loving because I've been so focused on my own personal accomplishments like school that I haven't really had time to get in people--even roommate's lives. I learned how fragile my faith is and how important it is. I learned how critical it is to be actively studying the bible with somebody, it truly helps the leader more than the learner. I learned that school, money, materialistic items are the least important ever and that my sin is to try and rely on them.
I hope to take the things I've learned this year into next year, and make next year an even more radical, intense year of life changing adventures.
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