Pilgrim Footsteps

What is the vision? The vision that has been taking over my life increasingly from 2012? God’s Kingdom here on earth. Hearts reclaimed. Confidence in Christ. No wasted lives. Freedom to live in callings. Strong foundations that stand. Love that abides in truth. Faith that moves mountains. The gifts functioning with the Gospel. The Church as it was in the beginning. That, my friend, is the vision.

So, to be completely honest, I'm getting tired of my job, as if it's been a long day and with every hour that passes your energy depletes faster and faster. The problem is that I have felt the chastisement of a loving Father that I need to make the most of every opportunity around me, including at work; that if I want to do missions and ministry so badly, I need to start where I am or how can I do more? Sigh. God's version of "common sense" makes so much sense sometimes that it's both frustrating and glorious! And it's always hard. So I made up my mind to try the best that I could, and often before starting work for the day I will pray for opportunities and that I will see them and take full advantage of them. At one time I would've thought that my opportunities would've come with customers, but really, ever since I started working there, they've come in the form of coworkers. My coworkers - both in my department and others - are th...

This is a tough one to write about or even try to describe, because it has such deep meaning and revelation attached to it for me. It all comes back to this very reassuring verse: 2 Corinthians 3:18 . "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." The gist of what I can explain is this: God takes us from one place of glory to a greater place.  Being in those places of glory is an amazing time...but in order to get there, we have to be in the "to" place.  As I've heard it described, if the places of glory are rooms, then "God opens and closes doors, but it's hell in the hallway."  That is so true! Whoohoo, I'm in the "to" part of that phrase.  Sigh.   And then I went to a Bethel Worship Nights "concert" (for lack of a better term) in Harrisburg with a friend.  When William Matthews was on stage, on ...

Finally, Part 4 of what I learned about the early church while reading through Acts. This will highlight a few stories and sum up all of my posts. They had some incredible things happen When God is involved, incredible and truly awesome things happen. And truly, it is always unexpected. After all, God does what he wants (Psalm 115:3)! Some of these instances have been previously mentioned in more general terms, but they were some I really enjoyed and wanted to use to point out once again their way of life. The church prayed without ceasing for Peter when he was imprisoned, and he was visited by an angel and freed. When he returned, they thought at first that he was a ghost. (Acts 12:1-17) Some Jewish leaders who got mad at them "laid their hands on the apostles" and put them in prison. And angel came at night and opened the doors and freed them and told them to "tell the words of this life" to the people. (Acts 5:1820) They stoned Paul...and he...

Now for Part 3 of what I learned about the early church while reading Acts. They knew they had the truth and made sure it got out They were bold about the truth. They knew it had to be told, and that it was truth! They let no one quiet them. Because of this, people accused them of being crazy. Because of this, they were expelled from places...and made a lot of people angry. But, they obeyed the Lord and His word, even when it was something that seemed dangerous, they didn't get why, or they didn't want to. They went through trials because of their commitment to God They were put in prison countless times. They were beaten. They were stoned. They were thought to be gods and had to dissuade the people that no, their only "power" was that of God working through them (Acts 14:11+)! Some might not see that as a trial, but...I'm sure that also tested them! They were set before council, to which they replied "We ought to obey God rathe...

Here is Part 2 of what I learned about the early church through reading Acts.  They used the power of Christ in them In the second chapter of Acts, those in the upper room, waiting together for the Comforter as Jesus told them to, were filled with the Holy Spirit. They used that Holy Spirit power of God working through them, as was intended! They prophesied, saw visions, dreamed dreams, did signs and wonders. They healed and delivered people from demons. This was how God was showing them to live and work, through the power of the Holy Spirit, of Christ in them, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).   They exhibited the power of Christ in them, and many knew it. For example, people waited for Peter's shadow to fall on them as he passed (Acts 5:15)! Everyone brought with sickness of unclean spirits were healed. When Paul sen out pieces of cloth he had toughed, people were healed and delivered (Acts 19:12). They rose the dead through the name of Jesus (Acts 9:3...

Acts has been on my mind a lot lately, and in my prayers.  When I read Acts, I do not see the churches today that exist in America, or many first world countries.  I see something different, something that we are missing today in the contemporary Christendom.  And it makes me sad at all that we are missing out on.  So I began a study as I read Acts, recording how the early Church functioned.  So here is part one of what I found. They were in one accord (and I don't mean the Honda joke) In the very beginning of Acts, the followers of Jesus, doing as He commanded them, were waiting in one accord to receive the Holy Spirit. Because I love words and knowing exactly what was trying to be said, and since Acts says more than once about them being "in one accord," I decided to look up the definition of "accord," as a noun, since that is how it is used. Dictionary.com says that it means "proper relationship or proportion; harmony" [ok, so the early church ...

The problem with lacking is that we don't lack the non-important things and we do lack the important ones. This is basically a follow-up post to "What Lack I Yet?" because I still have a lot to say on the subject!  After all, I have spent the past, oh, almost two weeks since I got back from a mission trip to Guatemala going through my room for a yardsale that my friends and I will be having in March.  So yes, I currently have a growing pile of stuff in my room, all of which I am so excited to see go.  Forever.  And I still keep combing through my room because I want that pile to be so much larger.  And even though I've cleared out enough that I can get rid of one of my bookcases, I still look around at my room and feel my insides being squeezed and I feel like I can't look anymore. Sometimes it's hard for me to live in America.  Because what I feel when I look at my room I feel when I work and have to dump plates full of food into the trash just bec...

We all know the story of the rich young man who asked Jesus how he would get into heaven: by following the commandments.  Well, he did all that since he was young... "The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?  Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:20-23) Well.  What a bummer for him, huh?  We've all shaken our heads at the poor young man's response to Jesus' invite. But wait.....he sounds a lot like us, doesn't he? 1. All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? How many of you could say this very thing?  You were born an...

So far I’ve posted the introduction as well as the verses of water.  Now it is time for the deeper and higher aspects.   Habakkuk 3:10 mentions all three aspects that I was searching for, so it’ll make a good connection point.  “The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.” God is to be worshiped everywhere, from the deepest to the highest! So where shall we begin?  How about in the deep. “In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also,” says Psalm 94:5.  In the deepest place, God is still in control and we are still in his hands.   God is in the very depths that we cannot descend to.  He is everywhere!  The deep also seems to be where God’s wisdom and depths of knowledge are, where we can only try and get to know Him better.  Daniel 2:22 says that “he revealeth the deep and secret things...

There seems to be two different kinds of water mentions in the Bible: water that represents troubles, and water that represents cleansing, life and blessings.  I didn’t bother to write down the verses where it is representative of trouble, since that is no the context in which I am finding the water theme, and if I wrote them down too, I’d be recording every single verse with that word in it. There is a sense of water being a cleanser, for instance in Leviticus 11:32 (as well as Numbers 8:7 and other mentions in the Old Testament), “And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.”  Also in Ezekiel 36:25, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I clea...

I will be writing at least two parts that go with this topic: first of all, there needs to be background explained (not too much, don't worry!), then the most recent development, and then (which I am still working on) I will be sharing some Biblical studies I did on the topic.   So to begin, at the New Year's worship that our youth group had, Ryan played a bunch of songs that had been special to us throughout 2014.  As I listened (songs such as "Oceans," "Sinking Deep," "You Make me Brave," etc.), I realized a common theme to the songs and then I realized it was also present just in what God was doing: water, waves, etc.  I mentioned it to Miranda and she agreed.   Next came what happened at the youth retreat, which I mentioned in the post "Refreshing Joy."  But in case you didn't read that, or you need a refresher on it, here it is again. During a pause in worship, Kyle told Miranda and I that he got a picture of a ke...