Tuesday, December 24, 2013
Holy Spirit Adventure in Downtown Nashville [12/23/13]
Holy Spirit took Ben Parris and me on an adventure to love on some people He had specifically set aside for us to encounter, pray for, hug, love on, encourage, be encouraged by, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with!!! So amazing!!!!!!!! Willie, Carol, Freddy, and Tony got touched by the heart of their Daddy tonight!!!!!!!!!!!! COME ON JESUS!!! Continue to draw them to You and heal anything in their bodies that needs healing including hearts!!!!
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Servant of the High Priest
Servant of the High Priest
(Luke 22:36-37, 49-51)
Born a Jew,
But not quite of noble birth.
Family of servants
To the temple of Abba’s worth.
Became of age
Then assigned to the High Priest.
Serving always
The rituals never to cease.
A spirit thrives:
The spirit of religion.
Humanity’s bane,
The bittersweet addiction
The way seems right;
How may my righteousness increase?
Long prayers, condemning stares?
Hypocritical? or religious peace?
Confusion sets in.
Why all the pride and sneers,
When the LORD
God has not spoken in 400 years?
Oh, forget it,
There’s work to be done tonight:
Arrest a man
Who’s not of this way that seems right.
A heretic,
Heathen, demon-possessed is He.
How was I to know
He is the One who sets men free?
But we depart
One of His friends leading the way.
This man must be bad
His own friend willing to betray.
Two swords they have
Quite a violent crew they must be.
Unaware, I was,
That these two swords were meant for me.
Flash of steel
Pain and blood rush rampantly high.
My eyes then meet
Those of the Man condemned to die.
“No more of this,”
Says He, whose eyes are filled with LOVE;
Stoops to the ground,
Picks up my ear, covered with my blood.
Next comes the touch.
The heat doubles, triples, then fades.
Did He just...?
Speechless, gaping, I stand amazed.
Love’s first touch
Religion can’t provide you see?
And the sword’s blow,
Two nights ago I was reading in Luke 22 about the last Passover Supper Jesus ate with His disciples before He was arrested and crucified. I came across these few verses:
35 Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?”
“Nothing,” they answered.
36 He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37 It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.
Whoa... Jesus told them to buy swords?? Whaaaaaat? I was so confused.
"Jesus, what did You mean by this??? I'm clueless."
Then last night I finished the next section of Him getting arrested in the garden:
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49 When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.
51 But Jesus answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
Oh wow........ This guy, the servant of the high priest, he just got touched and healed by Jesus!
Had Jesus never said what He said about buying swords and whatnot, the disciples might not have even had swords that night, this guy's ear never would have gotten cut off, and he never would have gotten touched by The Father. Ah... now that makes more sense....
Monday, December 10, 2012
Looking For Myself vs. Looking For HIM
I came across this quote from C.S. Lewis a few days ago:
"Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."
I was thinking about this in context of the Ghana trip and started thinking about my reasons for going. I asked myself "Am I doing this in an attempt to look for my new, true self?" And I honestly think that was the case up until now.
As I prepare for this trip, I don't want any of it to be about me, or how much I can grow as a person or how much "good Christian work" I can do. No, instead I want this to be ALL about Jesus!
How I can look for Him in new ways and in the midst of new seasons of life. How I can seek Him in the midst of shadowy uncertainty of what the future holds. Discovering Him and seeing Him at work in Murfreesboro, Nashville, Ghana! The only way to walk through any of this or any situation in life is with my hand in His, being lead by Him and taking comfort in His leading me. I look forward to how He will reveal Himself and eventually my NEW self to me throughout this process.
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves." -2 Corinthians 13:5a
"Then you will call upon me and come as pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," -Jeremiah 29:12-14a
"Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Does that sound strange? The same principle holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making. Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it. The principle runs through all life from top to bottom, Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favourite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end submit with every fibre of your being, and you will find eternal life. Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will be really yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."
I was thinking about this in context of the Ghana trip and started thinking about my reasons for going. I asked myself "Am I doing this in an attempt to look for my new, true self?" And I honestly think that was the case up until now.
As I prepare for this trip, I don't want any of it to be about me, or how much I can grow as a person or how much "good Christian work" I can do. No, instead I want this to be ALL about Jesus!
How I can look for Him in new ways and in the midst of new seasons of life. How I can seek Him in the midst of shadowy uncertainty of what the future holds. Discovering Him and seeing Him at work in Murfreesboro, Nashville, Ghana! The only way to walk through any of this or any situation in life is with my hand in His, being lead by Him and taking comfort in His leading me. I look forward to how He will reveal Himself and eventually my NEW self to me throughout this process.
"Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves." -2 Corinthians 13:5a
"Then you will call upon me and come as pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," -Jeremiah 29:12-14a
Sunday, December 9, 2012
Well, To Start Things Off...
I've always wanted to go on a mission trip. Especially overseas! I've never flown before. I've barely been out of the country. I've only been on one other mission trip. And I've never truly and consistently blogged before either!
This is a blog of my personal journey as I prepare to travel to Ghana in May 2013 with a team with Lipscomb Missions.
The LORD is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?
~Psalm 27:1
This is a blog of my personal journey as I prepare to travel to Ghana in May 2013 with a team with Lipscomb Missions.
The LORD is my light and my salvation- whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life- of whom shall I be afraid?
~Psalm 27:1
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