Oh, my heart rests safely in You, Lord.

A WORD ON 'STREET MINISTRY': LET'S DROP THE HYPE

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 01:37:38 -0400

Many people are excited about the concept of seeing healing miracles happen on the street and giving accurate words of knowledge to those they meet.

A common question people often ask is “when approaching someone what’s the best way not to get rejected?”

I believe the answer is a lot simpler than all our Charismatic strategizing and Church formulas.

Easy.

Be yourself.

Be yourself with Holy Spirit and resolve to place your focus on practicing His Presence because He’s your Best Friend and not because you want to see a miracle.

I will always remember the time when I was on my campus, saw a girl with a foot boot and felt a pressure to go pray for her. Jesus stopped me and with a soft gaze in His eyes said, “Joel, where are you going? The spirit of performance cuts off the power of God.”

Focus on becoming acquainted with the powerful Presence of the Son of God.

Let that permeate your day.

Listen to His voice as you wash the dishes.

Laugh with Him as you watch America’s Got Talent.

Listen to Him tell you about Nazareth when you sit at DQ eating that Cookie Dough Sundae.

When you begin to rest in the fact that He’s always with you, that you’re always in His Presence, when you engage this truth and see this revelation transform into illumination, you will see His power displayed.

You’ll hear Him tell you about how the cashier in front of you was sad her dog was run over by her car and misses him greatly.

You’ll hear Him whisper to you about how the lady in the electric cart at Stop & Shop deserves to walk.

You’ll hear Him tell you about how the tattooed man at the club is worried about the custody battle he’s facing with his ex-wife and how she mistreats his 9-year old son.

You’ll hear Him tell you a lot of things once your focus is transferred on knowing the great Holy Ghost.

You see, this is not about having encounters for a ‘street ministry’. If we think it is, we’ve missed the entire point.

This is about giving everyone I meet the chance to meet this unashamedly funny, playfully mischievous, unfailingly thoughtful, supremely kind, infinitely loving Jewish rascal who does life with me.

So what do you do with this?

When you meet someone new, be a normal person.

You don’t need to act weird or hyperspiritual.

Love the person you’re encountering.

Don’t try to see them as someone you need to ‘fix’. It helps if you’re actually interested in what’s going on in their life. Don’t feel pressured to pray for them so you can get your ‘healing’ or ‘prophecy’ quota fulfilled.

If you act like a normal human being and they see you are genuinely interested in them, they’ll be much more open to prayer.

Build relationships.

One thing I’ve found is that because I love Jesus, but don’t identify with how mainstream Christianity has presented Him, people find it easier to let me pray for them. If you’re coming with Church as usual, don’t be surprised if you get rejected.

GO.

unkaglen: For fans of our Say That Podcast, you’ve probably...

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:04:20 -0400

unkaglen:

For fans of our Say That Podcast, you’ve probably heard us mention Grace The Intern… well, here she is lending her awesome voice to a scripture memorization track that I snuck out of BridgeBox, to give to you guys for free!

Psalm 55:22 “Cast your cares on the Lord, and He will sustain you;”

Get songs, sermons, studies and much much more for only $8/month. Sign up at missionusa.com/bridgebox.

iwilltrustinyou: Praying is one of my very favorite things to...

Mon, 03 Jun 2013 21:16:14 -0400

iwilltrustinyou:

Praying is one of my very favorite things to do (in case you didn’t notice, I mention prayer 35 times in this article). Not only is prayer an incredible thing because of what it produces (answered prayers), it’s also something that is demonstrated all throughout the Bible.

Did you get that? All throughout scripture there are references to prayer and praying. We learn how to pray, what to pray, when to pray, and see numerous examples of prayers. These are all great places to start reading about prayer:

-Matthew 6

-James 5

-Romans 12

-Psalm 66

So we know that we’re supposed to pray but how do we put that into practice?

I’m definitely not an expert on prayer but I’m learning to make it a habit. I want to share seven strategies I’ve usedto make prayer a bigger part of my daily life. I’ve used each strategy at different times in my life and they’ve proved vital to making prayer a natural part of my day.

Set an alarm on your phone. I know you have a phone or an iPod or something that makes noise when you want it to. For about a year I set a daily alarm for prayer. In fact, I think during some months in that year, I had more than one alarm go off in my day. Each would have a different person’s name and I would take the time then to bring that person before God and lay down the burdens I knew were around them. Sometimes I prayed for their day and sometimes for their future. I covered things such as their school life, work life, relationships, family, health, and more. I would typically pray for one person a day for a month. Sometimes I would let them know I was praying for them but mostly I would just keep quiet about it. The prayers could be long or short – sometimes they would last a long time as I let the Holy Spirit lead my prayers and sometimes they would be a simple shout-out.

Pray through the book of Psalms. When I’ve taken time to pray through the Psalms, one Psalm at a time, I’m often amazed how often what I read is relevant to what I am feeling. It’s pretty cool. Each Psalm is easy to pray because it typically won’t be too lengthy (just wait until you get to Psalm 119 which is 176 verses long – I’d suggest that you break that one up into a couple days). I truly think the Psalms are beautiful.

Find a prayer friend. Whether you work full-time (meet on a coffee break or for an early morning breakfast), go to school (lunch break at school sounds like a great time), are a full-time Mommy (play-date time) or fall under a different category (just make time), there are many opportunities when you can find time to chat. Make it in person, meet over skype, meet on the phone, or meet via email. Find a friend who either already demonstrates a passion for prayer or desires to gain that passion. Start meeting up and praying together. Send texts to each other a few times a week or month to make sure that you’re constantly in prayer. The Bible tells us to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Having a friend who is praying for your prayer life will lead to answered prayers – because you’ll start praying! Hooray for that!

Make prayer associations (as in choose a place where prayer is going to happen every time you are there). For me, my car is definitely a place of prayer and worship. I sometimes dance to the radio as I drive, but most often when I drive by myself that time is Jesus time. You’ll find me either worshiping God through song, silence, or spoken prayer in my car. The same could be with you and your morning coffee, your afternoon drive home, your make-up routine, your baby’s diaper table; wherever or whatever you choose. I’ve personally been working on making my shower a place of prayer. I know that sounds odd but honestly, I want to live out the verses from 1 Thessalonians that I listed above – to pray without ceasing, even if I’m just washing my hair or shaving my legs.

Pray through the ABC’s. This is my current personal favorite. I love it. When I’m on a long drive or just need to fill some time I pray through the ABC’s. I start with A and move through to Z. I say the letter and let the Holy Spirit give me a word or phrase. Sometimes it’s silly. For example the letter “x” usually turns into “eXclamation marks” – thank you Lord that I have so many reasons in my life to use an “!” mark!!! Other times it’s a request. For example, when I get to the letter D I’ll pray for my Dad’s health, his marriage to my Mom, his continued renewal and passion in faith, and for Jesus to remain his joy, or whatever else comes to mind. The time is often spent laughing with Jesus as I sound out the letter, crying with Jesus as He brings things to mind, and laying down the burdens that surround my world. Sometimes I use this technique by only giving thanks for things—thank you Jesus for “J” jokes, “K” kindred spirit friends, “L” lots of reasons to have praise itself. You can use these techniques whichever way you like, but it’s a fun way to make sure you spend a solid amount of time in prayer.

Tell people you’ll pray for them – and then do it on the spot. This one is great. We all live busy lives so it can be hard to remember everything you’ve promised people you’ll pray for. However you can pray for them in the moment they mention needing prayer, and then ask God to bring them to mind. I’ve made it a habit to pray immediately for people. It makes it a lot easier to remember to pray for them later when I’ve already spoken words to Jesus for them.

Ask Jesus to help you. This one is a necessary part of prayer. Ask Jesus to help you love prayer. God always honors the requests of those who desire more of Him! He wants to be known by you:

“Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:24)

I hope these are helpful tools for you. Have any tips for the rest of us? Leave a comment!

Until next time,

Nadine

iwilltrustinyou: 5 NOTES ON DATING FOR THE GUYS 1. A...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 06:56:48 -0400

iwilltrustinyou:

5 NOTES ON DATING FOR THE GUYS

1. A DEFINITION OF INTENTIONAL

“Intentional” is one of those words that sounds right, but no one really knows what if means. So I would like to clear that up. Here is my working definition for intentional and how it relates to how a Christian man should pursue a woman.

The intentional man repeatedly and constantly goes first and takes on all of the risk of rejection. He always lets the girl know where he stands so she feels secure and isn’t left guessing. (On the other hand, don’t weird her out by talking about marriage on the first date.)

Approaching her initially:

Intentional: “I’d like to take you out on a date.”

Unintentional: “Wanna hang out sometime? My roommates are all gone this weekend.”

Paying the bill:

Intentional: “I’ve got it.”

Unintentional: “Can you cover half the bill? I’m pretty broke right now.” (My wife believes this communicates, “You are worth about $20, but not quite $40.”)

Following up after a date:

Intentional: “I had a great time tonight, and would definitely want to do this again. I will give you a call this week.”

Unintentional: “I’ll call you sometime.”

Bringing other people in:

Intentional: “I’ve really enjoyed getting to know you. Would you like to have dinner with my Community Group leader and his wife?” (This is a way to honor her by pursuing outside accountability from a godly couple.)

Unintentional: “I don’t know if you really wanna meet my friends yet …” I.e. “I don’t really want you to meet my friends yet,” and as Chris Rock says, “If you have not met his friends, you are not his girlfriend.” (In this case, there’s a disingenuousness where he’s not being fully open with his whole life with the woman and is cordonning off the relationship from other areas of his life and people who know him. This is a guy who’s only selfishly protecting himself and shielding himself from any accountability and consequences, and he cannot be trusted as the protector of someone else.)

Things are going well:

Intentional: “I think you are a godly, beautiful woman, and I have great time with you. I would like to pursue a relationship with you.”

Unintentional: “Soooooo, what do you think about us?” Or, “I am not sure where I stand. What about you?”

Things look like they could go well for a long time:

Intentional: “I don’t date for the sake of dating, and marriage is a long ways away, but I couldn’t be happier with how things are going. I think you’re amazing.”

Unintentional: “Things are going OK I guess, we’ll see.”

Recognizing the end of the relationship:

Intentional: “I am sorry, I don’t see this progressing past friendship.”

Unintentional: (Time passing … cold shoulder … you stop calling …)

Ultimately, the unintentional guy’s responses are selfish because they put his interests before the woman’s, and they’re moreover cowardly because he avoids addressing where the relationship is, leaving the woman marooned in relationship limbo.

The man in the relationship should always have an answer for three questions:

WHAT IS THIS RELATIONSHIP?

WHAT ARE YOUR INTENTIONS?

HOW ARE YOU DEMONSTRATING THOSE INTENTIONS RIGHT NOW?

The big idea is this, men: Don’t keep her guessing. Let her know exactly where you are at all of the time. It is a risk of course, but better on you than her. Own it.

2. CLEAN YOUR ACT UP TODAY, NOT ‘WHEN’

You’ve probably heard some guy say this: “I will clean my act up when I find the right girl.” It’s not true. The lie is that once you find the right girl, all your problems will go away—you just need the right motivation, right? Wrong! If Jesus isn’t motivation enough to grow in maturity and pursue godliness, then you are not ready to pursue a woman.

The truth is that when you’re in a relationship, you get their crap on top of your crap. That’s double crap. It is hard to start a healthy relationship with two immature people drowning in crap. Men, get your life together first, know where you are going, then invite a girl to come along (Prov. 16:1–9).

3. PLAN AHEAD

Don’t spend time with your girlfriend without a plan. Decide ahead of time the prudent time to say goodnight and where you should go. If a frat boy goes to a party with the attitude, “I’ll just see what happens” he will end up drunk and who knows what else. The same goes with dating: your judgment will be impaired when you are together (the opposite sex has that effect). Also, you are not fooling anyone. Every girl knows what “Do you want to go to my place and watch a movie?” means. The battle is won by not putting yourself in that position. And if you do find yourself in the bad position, flee. Literally, get out. Not joking. Make sure she can get home safe of course, but seriously, get out of there. (1 Cor. 6:18).

Don’t be prideful. Spend time in prayer, think it through, soberly acknowledge your weak and sinful state, and don’t set yourself back (James 1:15).

4. GUARD HER HEART

I went to a Christian college and I can’t tell you how many times these “good Christian guys” started dating by using the faith as a tool for manipulation. They would start a daily Bible study with a girl they just met, and position themselves as the ultimate confidant and authority in the girl’s life and leaving her heart completely exposed to a immature boy. A mature man knows that the person that can do the most damage to a woman’s heart is him, and he takes that very seriously. This is very difficult line to walk, and takes a lot of wisdom and discernment, but here are some indicators that you may be crossing the line:

You just started dating, and you are sharing “heart” things with each other that you haven’t shared with closest friends and/or mentors that you have known for years.

You are isolating yourselves as a couple and not listening to people whose opinion you used to value (Prov. 15:22), saying things like, “They just don’t understand what we have.”

Your individual Christian walks become intertwined, and you end up pursuing and becoming closer with each other more than becoming closer with God.

5. PHYSICAL TOUCH

The Bible only outlines two categories for Christian women in relation to Christian men: either she is a sister in Christ or she is your wife. There isn’t a middle ground. The lie is, “We’re halfway married, so we can do 50% of the married things.” That is not true at all. You need to put physical touch in two categories: acts of affection or acts of desire.

Acts of affection are ways that you show that you like, appreciate, and cherish the women that you are dating. Think of it as a affectionate father with his daughter. He hugs her, snuggles her, kisses her on the forehead, holds her hand, stopping at any type of sexual satisfaction whatsoever. He just wants to make sure his daughter knows that he loves her.

Acts of desire are acts that are reserved for marriage. Foreplay is designed for one purpose: to build the desire to have sex, which it does well. Think of foreplay like and freeway on-ramp: it’s purpose is to transition you to full speed. You don’t see cars hanging out on on-ramps, never intending to get on the freeway. Physical touch is designed to progress, and it is naive to think you will always be able to keep your desires in check. Failure and sin is all but inevitable.

In short, you know what you are doing. If you stop for a moment and think about it, you know which category the physical touch you are doing falls into. It is different for everyone. It is not helpful for me to tell you where the line is so that your conscience will allow to you run up to that line and hang out there for a while (Titus 2:6). If you are asking the question “How far can we go and still be in the clear?” your heart is in the wrong place to begin with.

I would encourage any couple who is focused on the physical to change their focus to friendship (Song of Sol. 2:7). Building a friendship will set you up for a strong marriage far more than a physical connection. The physical connection will come later, you don’t have to worry about that. But you have freedom, in the midst of gospel community, to pursue friendship and have fun.

HE’S CALLED US TO HOLINESS

There is a right way, there is a best way, and it is the same way: God’s way (1 Thess. 4:3–8). God did not give us rules just to steal all of our fun; he’s called us to holiness, and the rules are for our joy and protection. The process of dating is an exercise in putting Christ on the throne in all things. So embrace it, and don’t just endure it.

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Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:01:44 -0500

markmuldez: Hello Anon! Thanks for this question and I’ll be...

Sun, 28 Oct 2012 12:00:49 -0400

markmuldez:

Hello Anon!

Thanks for this question and I’ll be more than happy to answer this. Well Let’s see.. in my own opinion there are few things that makes a woman so attractive to me. Obviously she’s gotta be a Godly Woman. NOT just a regular christian girl, but a Godly Woman. There’s a big difference to that. So what does that mean? What exactly does that look like?

A Godly Woman is someone who is:

Completely sold out to God. - Meaning she’s fully surrendered to Him and she’s not worried about her future because she’s firmly rooted in Him. She has a Kingdom mindset. She cares about the things of God rather than the things of this world.

Confident in Christ - She’s confident in who she is in Christ. She’s doesn’t dwell on her past or dwell on her insecurities and flaws but she knows that she’s fearfully and wonderfully made by God and she’s looking forward to what He is making her to be.

Intimately, deeply and passionately in love with Christ - She’s content with Christ Himself. She doesn’t feel the need to be with any man to feel complete or satisfied. She’s so in love of her Savior that any man that comes along should reflect the very character of Christ.

Passionate about prayer, worship and people - She’s finds joy in praying for people. She understands that worship is about a daily act of surrender and sacrifice to God and during musical worship, she’s not afraid to raise her hands or get on her knees before the Lord. She’s all about serving the people and loving the community around her.

An over all Proverbs 31 Woman and a Christ-like character - She’s someone who is gentle with her words and ready to speak encouragement to anyone. She simply exudes the very character of Christ and strives to be like Him everyday by abiding in Him and applying His word in her life.

Maybe to some guys this isn’t their ‘standard’ or list but for me this is what makes a girl very attractive. And this is what I desire for my future wife. Why? well I want my future wife to teach our future kids the way of Christ and not the way of the world and in order to do that, I need to marry someone who is equally yoked with me. Why settle for less if God can give you the best? If you’re a godly woman, you’re gonna attract a godly man. It’s simple as that :)

Last but not the list, I’m proud to say that the girl I’m dating right now has all the characters I’ve mentioned above. Sure she’s not perfect and she’s gonna fall short but she’s not like other girls who settle for complacency or passivity with their faith, but instead I see her striving to be like Christ and to me that’s more than enough! :)

I hope this answers your question. If you like my answer, re-blog it so other ladies would be challenged and encouraged! :)

Mark Muldez

Whoever believes has eternal life. John 6:47.

Sat, 27 Oct 2012 12:00:46 -0400

Whoever believes has eternal life. John 6:47.

deebella123: WORD

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:00:30 -0400

deebella123:

WORD

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Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:00:45 -0400

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Wed, 24 Oct 2012 12:00:35 -0400

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Tue, 23 Oct 2012 11:34:28 -0400

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Mon, 22 Oct 2012 11:53:53 -0400

"The devil would love to convince you that all this mission stuff isn’t for you. He is liar, and you..."

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 11:51:01 -0400

“The devil would love to convince you that all this mission stuff isn’t for you. He is liar, and you know it.”

- Dave Davidson (via her-insensitivity)

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Sat, 20 Oct 2012 11:57:14 -0400

Lies I Used to Believe About God

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 11:34:08 -0400

everybreath-a-secondchance:

senselessgrace:

His desires are almost always different from my desires, and He will only give me what He desires for me

He will deliberately withhold good things from me in order to test my devotion to Him

He will heal and deliver me, but only because He needs to use me to serve His own purposes later

He’s a minimalist who will only meet the bare minimum of my needs when I ask

He will tease me with glorious encounters with Him, only to immediately go into hiding while He puts me through a “dark night” so I can learn to “grow up,” because those kinds of encounters are for immature Christians

He’s a glory-hog who will, if need be, humiliate me just to remind me of my place

He only speaks to me in order to rebuke and convict me

He has a destiny and plan for me, but He leaves it up to me to grope about and figure out what that destiny is - and it’s probably a destiny that involves a lot of discomfort, poverty, and suffering

He will actively cause a crisis or tragedy in my life in order to “get my attention” if I’m not following His will

He forgives my sins, but He still keeps them in mind and puts me “on probation” for a while until I can prove that I’m trustworthy

He will answer my prayers, but I have to pray long and hard to convince Him to do it

He’s good, but His definition of “good” usually contradicts my definition of “good” - His “goodness” is really more like “He knows what’s best for me, even though I don’t like it”

I know I’m not the only Christian in history to carry these perceptions of God in my heart. But when I see them in print, it’s really no wonder that I used to have a hard time believing He was good, or any kind of real Father. It’s no wonder that I didn’t really trust Him at all, and preferred Him to just stay out of my business. It’s no wonder I didn’t really have any kind of regular prayer life.

It’s easy to see why I had one view of Jesus, but an entirely different view of God - even though Jesus Himself said He was the perfect reflection and revelation of the Father.

But those perceptions are lies, every one of them based in the original serpentine lie, “God knows that if you eat the fruit, you’ll become like Him” - translation, “He’s not all that good, really, He’s withholding things from you and keeping you at arm’s length.”

If you believe any of those lies, my advice to you is to renounce them, vocally, right now. “Father, I reject the lie that you withhold good things from me … I reject the lie that you’ll hurt me in order to get my attention … I reject the lie that you only love me because of what I can do to serve you …”

Just throw that stuff away. It won’t change who He is, but it will change how you think of Him, and it will bring you into alignment with the truth - which will change the way you think, and the way you act.

Trust Him. He’s amazingly good.

I’m still in the process of healing from some of these lies. thank you for this.

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Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:54:59 -0400

iwilltrustinyou: It’s no secret that Satan wants to keep us...

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 11:30:23 -0400

iwilltrustinyou:

It’s no secret that Satan wants to keep us from the tangible love of God. He will use anything in His power to keep us from the beautifully orchestrated plans He has for our lives.

He Whispers…

1) “You can’t do this.”

2) “You’re not good enough.”

3) “You don’t deserve that.”

4) “You aren’t worth it.”

These whispers come at the worst times, and fill us with the worst of insecurities. Although his whispers are dark, painful and filled with the lies of this world, the truth of Jesus Christ will be forever LOUDER.

We are called to great and mighty things through the strength of Christ. Continue to walk in His path, follow His truth, and seek His love.

The next time you hear whispers of insecurity, seek the truth of Jesus Christ. He is our refuge, strength and protection.

Tell Satan…

1) “My God is bigger.”

2) “My God is stronger.”

3) “My God is my protection.”

Satan likes to whisper, “you’ll never make it”. God likes to shout, ” we’ll do it together”.

Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

- Jarrid Wilson

http://jarridwilson.com/secretandwhisper/

What Really Happens When You Pray?

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 11:26:23 -0400

What Really Happens When You Pray?:

leeyounger:

Do you ever pray and feel like absolutely nothing happens? Do you ever feel like your prayer comes out of your face, floats up in the air for a second and then smashes into a giant iron-plated ceiling and then disappears?

Where is God? Why didn’t He show up? What happened to…

Spiritual growth: God is looking at our heart.

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 11:22:31 -0400

Spiritual growth: God is looking at our heart.:

breanna-lynn:

Spiritual growth is not just when you see changes in your life. To an extent, we can choose to live differently, morally, and to “look” or “act” Christian. That’s why when Christians feel dry, apathetic, complacent, or that our walk is dull, no matter what we try to do, we can’t seem to get out of…

glorytoyeshuaforever: YESS!!!!! <3 love this :)

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 11:53:40 -0400

glorytoyeshuaforever:

YESS!!!!! <3 love this :)