God is so faithful!

This week I have been preparing for teaching the third graders about Asia.  I have made tons of contacts and found so much information and websites that are the heart beat of my passion.  I am going to primarily talk about the unreached people groups and a little about the restricted nations.  Two out of three people in the world are Asia and 70% of Asians have never heard of Jesus Christ.  The harvest is so plentiful! I made a Buddhist Thai friend this week- it was a total God thing and I am so excited to get to pour into her life! I prayed that I would get to minister to the nations and God has been faithful and keeps bringing more people into my life- even in Edmond!  All I had to do was open my heart to his call and he opened my eyes to the harvest! I have loved getting to know this girl and am honored to give her, her first Bible, take her to church for her first times, and even just watch her eat her first taco! Haha I find soo much joy being Christ’s worker and am praying he will use me in any way he wishes! I am his daughter.  I want to start studying Buddhism more so I can better minister to this girl.  

Blessed Are Thos Who Are Persecuted Because Of Righteousness, For Theirs Is The Kingdom Of Heaven:

“Blesses are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  This is how the beatitudes ends and I think it is a beautiful ending of God’s recipe for revival.  What an honor it is to suffer as Christ suffered for the sake the gospel! Blessed is the persecuted church! 

Blessed Are The Peace Makers, For They Will Be Called Sons Of God:

What is a peacemaker?  Peacemakers are the mercy of God to a sinful world.  They embody His very kindness.  A peacemaker is not simple a peacekeeper.  Our God is a God of peace thus if Christ in us then the peace of Christ should rule in us richly.  

Blessed Are The Pure In Heart, For They Will See God:

Sometimes we make things too complicated when we really need to remember that the kingdom belongs to the children- the simple and pure.  Being purified or sanctified in the heart is a process that only God can take us through and I pray he would purify my heart more and more everyday.  As we are purified, we will see God more clearly.  We must learn to stay hidden in God’s heart and to be fully possessed by His sweet presence.  I want to be utterly taken over- to do this I must be bold and courageous enough to focus on His face and lock my gaze with Him- then He will be faithful to purify my deepest hidden motive. We must learn to have our identities in Christ and to not have spirits of orphans but as adopted- we are CHOOSEN by God!! 

Blessed Are the Merciful, For They Will Be Shown Mercy:

I was extremely humbled by this chapter because of two reasons.  One, Heidi gave so many examples of people that had, had awful, horrible lives because of people, but had still learned to show them mercy because the mercy and love of Jesus.  Two and most importantly I really realized more how God saw me in my sin and took me in and showed me mercy.  What humbled me was in the light of these things, how small are the things that people do to me that I struggle with showing mercy towards?  It is so nothing and I want to show them the love of Christ through them seeing my never-ending mercy that can only come from such a merciful God.  Now I just have to develop this never-ending mercyJ Jesus will help me always!!  

Blessed Are Those Who Hunger And Thirst For Righteousness, For They Will Be Filled:

            God has designed us to crave; to hunger and thirst daily for a filling of two kinds of food.  He invites us to eat and to drink of Jesus so that we can become full.  Just as we depend on Jesus for our spiritual nourishment, we also need to depend on Jesus for the spiritual nourishment of our lives.  We must feed on him daily.  Only then will we have the fresh bread from heaven that we need to give to both the spiritually and naturally hungry.  The poor in Africa have a concept of this hunger that we will never understand as Westerners- we are too full.  They understand what it means to truly want and to truly be satisfied.  We cannot live on yesterday’s manna or old revelation.  We will grow stale like the bread we eat if we try to.  A lot of times as Westerners we tend to live off of stale bread, crumbs, and garbage and are so poor and pitiable.  Pride keeps us from affirming that the poor could have something we need.  Attending a conference is not enough. We must daily eat and drink from the Word.  Fill our hunger and thirst with the Word- Jesus is the Word- the Bread of Life. We must eat and drink until we are dripping Jesus everywhere we go.

Blessed Are The Meek- For They Will Inherit The Earth

This beatitude is one that challenged me the most thus far.  I am struggling with how to summarize it because I so have not yet fully grasped this idea of meekness.  The point is not I ever, but the point is God always.  He alone is worthy of the glory.  There is no arriving to this point of totally dying to our selves, but it is a continual process of being reduced down to the simplicity of love.  Just following God in everything and realizing that I am nothing.  I need to learn to depend on Him for all my strength and my entire portion everyday.  When we seek first the riches of heaven, God entrusts us with those on earth- that is what it means to inherit the earth.  I always hear to whom much is given, much is required- this chapter really made me realize the truth in that.  The people that Heidi talked about in this book had nothing yet gave everything.  How much more could I give? Even in ministry selfish ambition is a struggle.  We seem to be able to turn everything, even the good things into gods in our lives.  God cannot use selfish ambition or vain conceit, but wants to rip it out of us.  I am praying that God would humble me everyday for the rest of my life.  I am his.  If we are low, He will lift us up.  If we humble ourselves, He will exalt us.  If we walk as He walked, wear what He wore, and love as He loves, we too will inherit the earth.