Qualified by The Blood

I've realized now more than ever before that I'm not at all qualified for the roles that I play in life. I'm not qualified to lead a high school small group. I didn't even know Jesus when I was in high school, so how on earth can I tell these girls to rise above the peer pressure when I did nothing but fall prey to it? I'm not qualified to be a nanny. I have the least patience out of anyone on this entire planet (my friends are laughing right now because they can testify). How can I show the love of Christ when I can't even be patient enough to be okay with the fact that it takes a four year old 20 minutes to brush his teeth? I'm not qualified to be an outreach liaison. I'm just a fresh off the press adult. With 21 years under my belt, how could I possibly have the knowledge and wisdom to lead those far older than me? And by far I'm not qualified to call myself a "Christian"! By gosh, with all that I've done, with all that I still struggle with. Surely, God some how pulled the wrong name out of the hat. 

But what if. What if its not my qualifications that actually count for anything? When God called Jeremiah He declared "Before I made you in your mother's womb, I chose you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a special work. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5) If God appointed Jeremiah as a prophet before he was ever even born, then God must have pulled his qualifications from somewhere else. Being that God and He alone was there before the world was made, then it must mean that it's not what I've done or accomplished (or my lack of) that qualifies me, but it is what God has done and accomplished that qualifies me for the work I'm doing. 

Jeremiah thought the same way I do. (We'll probably be friends in Heaven) He replies to God's decree saying, "But Lord God, I don't know how to speak. I am only a boy." I sound like this a lot to God. "But Godddddd....! Really, Jesus! You must have meant to chose that other guy for the job. I'm only this kid with more failures to my name than qualifications." And while I'm saying all of my But Godddd..'s, God Himself, in His grace and mercy, is saying, But GOD in reply. "But GOD shows His great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners." (Romans 5:8) "But GOD chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and He chose the weak things of this world to shame the strong." (1 Corinthians 1:27) And I realize that I am one of those foolish and weak things He chose to do His will here on earth. I realize that its not my qualifications that matter at all, but that the very blood of Jesus has qualified me to do all things that God calls me to do. 

So by the world's standards you could say that I should probably be fired from all these roles I fill. I'm not smart enough, old enough, talented enough, or patient enough for any of them. But GOD Himself has qualified me to do all of these things and more. And His qualifications far exceed mine. Thank God that we are called before He even made us, before the world itself even existed. Thank God that He chose us and qualified us before we ever stepped foot on this earth to do anything right or wrong. Abide in His qualifications; in the reality that as followers of Jesus His blood not only wipes our sins away, but that His blood also qualifies us to do the things we could never do apart from Him. 

Lovers of Your Presence

"We are lovers of Your presence. And that's all we want to be."

Oh bless, this "Here on Earth" album by Bryan and Katie Torwalt has been preaching to me so much. Seriously, stop what your doing right now and go buy it, then continue reading. I feel like these past two weeks God has been consistently emphasizing to me His presence, the Spirit's presence and power within us and what that could bring if we were simply obedient. 

Man, could you imagine what our days would look like if we truly welcomed and walked in and by the Spirit's presence? I believe we'd see a totally different outplaying of our daily lives. Days where REVIVAL would be birthed in the hearts of believers and LIFE would be birthed within the hearts of the lost. Could you imagine what our days would look like if we truly walked by the Spirit's leading? I know we'd be in drastically different places than we choose to put ourselves in each day. I think I'd be on the streets more, in the slums, in community, and be more intentional with each place I went throughout the day. Could you imagine what our days would look like if we let the Spirit direct our words? We would be encouragers, grace bearers, people who build up and never tear down, people who put others before ourselves. Could you imagine what our days would look like if we embraced and lived in the power the Spirit gives us? Lives would be set free, sin would be conquered, victory would be the norm. We could bring hope and healing to the thousands. 

Could you imagine the outflow of Christ to others if we simply were more AWARE of the Spirit's presence, prompting, and power? God make us lovers of Your presence who are hungry for Your presence. Let us burn with a desire to see Your presence not only invade our lives, but the lives of this world. Let's not just imagine, let's see His presence flood this earth. 

The Shakedown before Revival

I feel like it’s a constant theme within Scripture of God always allowing faith rattling things to happen before He shows up in even bigger ways. Before Paul was set ablaze for Christ and took the gospel to more places than anyone in the world and wrote more than half of the New Testament he had to encounter Christ a shakedown kind of way. He was struck of his horse on the road to Damascus and Scripture says that he encountered the risen Christ. I don’t know about you, but I could only imagine how much this shook Paul to his core being a persecutor of the very Christ he was seeing. In the Old Testament we see how Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, suffered as a prisoner and servant before God brought him into the place of a pharaoh’s assistant. Joseph, who had previously seen dreams of his brothers bowing down to him, these very brothers that sold him into slavery, was most likely having his faith shaken as he sat in that prison cell. Yet in all these cases throughout Scripture we see that these “shakedowns” always brought about a greater good, a greater revival of the purpose and mission of God.

Currently, at Canaan, I feel like we are in this shakedown phase. With a change in some of the missionary staffing, we as a team and Canaan as a whole has had to readjust in many ways.  The kids have had to get use to a change in the teaching staff and adjusting to a few new faces. There are days when these changes seem impossible for them, but as we progress we are seeing the kids actually renewed and encouraged to strive on in even greater ways.

Also at Canaan right now we are having our land surveyed and the removal of squatters that are currently on our land. This is bringing quite the shakedown of our community as we are all on high alert because of the squatters potential outrage of being forced to move.  We have a whole new set of rules for where we can be and cannot be at certain times and as with any change it brings frustration. But after meeting with Pastor Henri last night the team now sees the greater good that will come from this happening. As these squatters are removed, Canaan will have more opportunity to grow and expand on the land that God has given them. With these projected long term expansions Canaan will be enabled to reach thousands and thousands more for Christ.

Personally, I’m being shaken to the core right now as well. A few days ago I got the news that my uncle who has been fighting stage 4 lymphoma for over a year was emergency admitted into the hospital. They have started him on heavy radiation and with a tumor close by one of his kidneys they are expecting this to have damaging effects on that kidney. Too often we think that if we are serving God that guarantees everything in our lives flow good and dandy. But that is nothing but a lie. I knew that as God led me to make the decision to return to Haiti for four months that my uncle was still sick. And yet God told me to trust him. So I stand here, an ocean away, with the reality that my uncle might not make it. But I also stand in the reality that I have a Savior who took cancer on the cross. I have a God that is a healer, who is The Great Physician.  I stand in the reality of a God who says that “faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains.” So while my faith is being shaken to the core right now, I praise God that I even have the gift of faith. I praise God knowing that in the moment I am being shaken, but it is only a preparation of a coming revival, a coming move of God.

The fact is that we don’t always understand why God does things the way He does them. But I am learning that I am so glad that He does do them His way. While the shakedowns aren’t that fun, I know that I stand in a faith that is ultimately unshakeable, and that God will bring me through, and us through anything that comes our way. I know that God uses these times to shape and mold, to build up, and push us on to greater things. So I praise God for these shakedowns, because it is only the flood gate being opened of the coming revival that is to hit this land called Canaan, to hit this country called Haiti that will ultimately flood into the ends of the earth. 

The Light in the Darkness

We got back into Haiti pretty late Sunday night. With it getting dark around 5ish here now, the ride back to Canaan was mostly in the dark of night. With the two hour drive, the dark of night, and it being a Sunday we passed by quite a few brightly lit churches meeting for worship. What a picture of the role of the church I saw that night. A light shining brightly in the darkness. With the lack of electricity in the majority of places in Haiti, you could only imagine how incredibly dark it gets here at night. I'm talking about darkness so dark you can't even see the hand in front of your face. What a picture of the lost in the world. People wandering around in the darkness of evil, deception, and sin. A world lacking of any Light to guide them. A world lacking of Christ. But on the other end what a beautiful picture these Haitian churches showed me that night. Many of these churches were the only sources of light. They were the only places with electricity or brightly burning fires. But the most striking thing about these churches was not the fact that they had a source of light. It wasn't even the fact that they had probably been worshiping for hours on end, or that the people worshiping had walked hours to be able to gather with a Christian community. The most striking thing was to see just how profoundly these illuminated churches penetrated the darkness. Wow. What a picture for us, the global Church. That in a world of such profound darkness, such profound lostness, the Church should be the brightly shining source of light that floods in. Let us as the Church strive to be this example to the world. Let us permeate and penetrate this vastly dark world. 

Back in Action!

Well, I think I've took a long enough break from the blog world! I am still amazed at how fast things when you follow Jesus. So for my first blog back I'm just going to update all of those who might not keep up with me. :)

This past November I was give the opportunity to head back to Haiti shortly after our one week team returned in October. One of the missionaries down there had to come back to the states and they needed a teacher to fill in for her while she was gone. As most of you know, I gladly and enthusiastically volunteered myself. Little did I know that the month I would be filling would be the time God would stretch me the most I've ever been stretched in my walk with Christ. To keep things short, let’s just say I saw God move in me and through me in ways like never before, and as a result I have come to know God more fully and His over exceeding capability to fulfill an Ephesians 3:20 promise!

I will probably post some excerpts from my writings that month soon to come, so keep your eyes open! 

During the time I was filling in I was actually invited to come back this next semester and take over the preschool program. After much prayer and a lot of back and forth time with Jesus, I have committed to return to Canaan and teach from January to May. The thought of being in Haiti for four months straight both excites me and scares me to death. I know that it will be a time of continued stretching, but also a time of seeing God move greatly. And there is nothing more I want in life than to witness and participate in a move of God. I know that God has great things in store for Canaan, and I want nothing more than to be an initiator of change to push Canaan to being a place where Jesus is overflowing from. From not only being a loving oasis for children, but being a sending place of world changers for the glory of God. 

The best is yet to come!