Revolutions and a Revelation on Black Friday

Today’s headlines are highly disturbing particularly in comparison with US news:

Telegraph.co.uk
Yemenis stage rival Sanaa rallies amid violence
AFP – ‎48 minutes ago‎
SANAA – Opponents and supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh held rival rallies in the Yemeni capital Friday after pre-dawn fighting between rival security forces dashed hopes an exit deal for the president would end the violence.

AP AP Nov. 24: Pro-Syrian regime protesters shout slogans as one holds a mock coffin with Arabic words reading: ‘The Syrian people announce to you the death of the Arab League,’ during a protest against the Arab League meeting, in Damascus, Syria.

Hamas: Israeli threats won’t stop unity gov’t
Jerusalem Post – ‎1 hour ago‎
By JPOST.COM STAFF Likud MK: I will petition international community to isolate Palestinian unity gov’t including Hamas. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal responded to discontent in Jerusalem surrounding a united Palestinian government with Hamas and Fatah …

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Moroccans voted for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn’t committed to real change.

New York Times – ‎28 minutes ago‎
CAIRO – The White House on Friday threw its weight behind Egypt’s resurgent protest movement, urging for the first time the handover of power by the interim military rulers in the Obama administration’s most public effort yet to …

As kings step down and parties compete, as leaders emerge and people are killed, what is going on in our nation?

top headline:

Woman pepper-sprayed adults, kids at Wal-Mart sale, police say
Los Angeles Times – ‎10 minutes ago‎
Authorities are searching for a woman accused of pepper-spraying other shoppers Thursday night at the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch so that she could grab more discounted merchandise. — Can’t make this stuff up.

A poem

Oh Lord, for many months I prayed to be filled with your Holy Spirit that I might have more of Jesus. But slowly you are teaching me that to be filled with the Holy Spirit means Jesus has all of me. – Calkin

Satisfied as an understatement.

1 Chronicles says to “give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!” Why? “For His mercy endures forever.”

This year’s list:

1.) Father Son Holy Spirit. His patience in particular. His lovingkindness. His faithfulness and magnificent plans. His righteousness and generosity. His gentleness and strength.

2.) Family. They are wonderful. Things are so different the older we get. Noah, Micah, Caleb..Hannah, Mom, Dad, Sar, Milt, Jon, miniMiltnSar…Papa

3.) Fen-Fam. Would be lost in Boston without them. In particular – the girls. You know who you are.

4.) Heaven. Knowing about God’s kingdom changes everything. Hope changes everything.

5.) My job. Lots of people don’t have jobs. So blessed.

6.) Lilac Manor. It’s become even more a hotspot of fellowship and place of prayer than i imagined.

7.) Music. Prayer. Joy. Learning. Books. The Word. Peace.

8.) Friends.

9.) Travel. Sun.

10.) Ice Cream.

11.) Freedom.

Couldn’t we sing praises about God’s character for eternity? Won’t we? When we look at Him and not at us, everything gets really simple and more clear – I guess my prayer this year is that it would be a year of thankfulness and focus on Him..that I’d be locked in, in real pursuit, like I’ve not experienced before.

From a book by Calkin:

Lord, I’m so discouraged.
Again and again I’ve struggled
To get hold of myself
But i simply can’t do it

Weary child
Your center is wrong.
The secret is—
Get hold of me

New book!

http://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Mission-Paradigm-Theology-Missiology/dp/0883447193

This book is going to melt my brain. I’m excited for it though. Recommended by a man I highly trust.
Today I got within two clues on the crossword puzzle during the parade/couchsnuggling with Han. Stumped on two words. :(. Maybe after I read this I can finish crossword puzzles.

Prayer, Endurance and Jesus

I was recently in Luke and realized something I’d never seen before.

 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. ¹³ When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: ¹⁴ Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ¹⁵ Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, ¹⁶ Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

 ¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, ¹⁹ and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.

 

So he did not SLEEP the night before, then went down the mountain, chose his disciples and healed ALL those people!

 

Guess what he did next?

Napped?

Slept.

Withdrew?

 

nope.

 

Looking at his disciples, he said:

   “Blessed are you who are poor, 
   for yours is the kingdom of God. 
²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, 
   for you will be satisfied. 
Blessed are you who weep now, 
   for you will laugh. 
²² Blessed are you when people hate you, 
   when they exclude you and insult you 
   and reject your name as evil, 
      because of the Son of Man.

 

I just can’t get over this. Jesus spent the entire night praying, then delivered the sermon on the mount!

 

Recently, I’ve been being sent places.  DC for days at a time, Rome, NH, then LA next week.  I love travel so it’s not a huge deal, but before we go to each place, there is often a time of preparation (aka desperate scrambling/working weekends).  So there is limited rest.  And yet, here’s what I am learning.

 

1.) God is able to give us the strength to endure it all—and not begrudgingly, or sick/tired the whole time, but thankfully and cheerfully.

2.) This is not about personality type or Myers Briggs.  Our whole team of introverts and extroverts had everything we needed for all of these trips and we have not been burned out yet. This isn’t “just how I am”, it’s available to us because it was available to Jesus.

3.) This is only possible because the same spirit that is in Jesus lives in us.  The exact same one.  Not a little piece of it, and not “in some different way”.  Jesus was a man who was filled with the Spirit of God.  Fully God and fully man, and he spoke to God through the Holy Spirit.  We get this too.

4.) We should still rest. God set up a Sabbath and we honor him by taking one day a week to rest.

5.) He will use that rest time to keep us going throughout the week. I’ve heard many stories of people who stayed up all night or all but two hours and God gave them energy every day to stay awake and function.  But we should only do this if we feel called to do it.

6.) Jesus was effective because he constantly withdrew to pray to God.  The more we spend time in his presence alone, the more we need to spend MORE time…it’s a little bit weird, but I guess it’s like a relationship with a friend or significant other. The more time you spend, the more you want to spend.

7.) Every time we go into His presence to tell Him what’s happening, ask Him for help, worship His name, confess our sins—it’s time well-spent.  We should rest because he commands us to, but we should not be overly worried or anxious about health or sleep.  The Lord will provide if he asks for your time.  Sometimes we do not see him work miracles like this because we’re taking care to never need His strength.

For a few years now, I’ve sort of tried to “understand the season I am in” and work hard, play hard during the day since “night is coming when no one can work”. (John 9:4).

When I am older, God may give me a family or more down time.  While I am young, it’s nice to be able to speak on behalf of the oppressed and run around knowing that it is not I but the Spirit in me who keeps me going when things go well.  When things go badly, my vision is clouded, I am cranky or exhausted, it’s not so much the spirit in me as the flesh in me.  Still working on that.

I regularly consider the woman in Proverbs 31. She gets us early and is always taking care of things for her family in a responsible way.  

Brother Yun taught me a lot about rest.  He is always in prayer throughout the day–always working but always praying.  He gets up at 5 daily —  and is no spring chicken.  When we are serving the Father, time alone with Him IS rest (that’s why Jesus could pray all night!).  When I miss morning times with Him, I start feeling terrible.  This post is meant more to encourage us to stretch ourselves and leave comfort zones, to enjoy Him and not worry about physical effects.  It’s not a defense of my personal sleep habits :).  Still, I am thankful for my parents who know me best and agree together with me that this crazy schedule, these unique opportunities to travel, speak and learn — are for a season, and that God Himself is faithful and will do it, if He is leading.  I do not have to take care of myself and he always provides energy or rest in the moment i need it most.

 

I just want to worship Him for that actually.  God, thank you that you are a good shepherd.  You are faithful and kind, and you provide for every need.  You command us to rest, and for that, we’re thankful.  Teach us to balance our days correctly between work, play, sleep, rest and time with you.  We have the sabbath once a week but days aren’t as simple.  You are a good God who created seasons!  We love seasons here in Boston.  Teach us to be content whatever the circumstances, whether well fed or hungry, in plenty or in need, in danger, in comfort…teach me to be content when too busy, and when “bored”.  I pray that we would resemble Jesus–led by the Spirit, and devoted to His mission with an undivided heart.

My heart is prone to wander, Lord.  In your great mercy, would you help me stay by you?  I am easily distracted and am not a very good sheep.  Please do whatever it takes to teach me to cling to you: You are the only anchor.  I know that’s dangerous to pray, but not as dangerous as leaving me to my own discipline or desires.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I guess in all of these posts and all these ramblings, if we can take our eyes off ourselves and stick them on Him, we’re getting someplace.  It’s not about personality or who we are, what we are capable of or whether we think this or that. It’s about Him, his example, his commands and His Spirit.

 

 

 

Faith like a little child

The Gospel is crystal clear on some things, and one of them is the need to believe like a little child believes. Have faith that is unending, despite logic or intellect.

Some might feel that the more they live, the harder it is to believe in this way, and “it’s not my fault but my mind has already been taught, learned, seen too much to have that sort of naive faith again”. But i argue that a.) Jesus isn’t asking for naivety, and b.) the more I live, the easier it is becoming to believe like this. If your lifestyle is one where you constantly have to do the impossible, hope for the best amidst difficulty, and pray like you’ve never prayed that God will help you (and he does!) — then it’s conducive to a heart that builds up faith in Him. If you live life in a more comfortable way, and pray now and then for things you’d like, but don’t see many answers, and read books and speak to people that waver your faith, well, you may continue to pedal backwards in the faith part of your walk with Him. And the faith part is of utmost importance.

Calvary Love

Calvary Love

by Amy Carmichael

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting “Who made thee to differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received?” then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I find myself taking lapses for granted, “Oh, that’s what they always do,” “Oh, of course she talks like that, he acts like that,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; if I can in any way slight another in conversation, or even in thought, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior than for my worried self when troublesome things occur, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I can rebuke without a pang, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If my attitude be one of fear, not faith, about one who has disappointed me; if I say, “Just what I expected” if a fall occurs, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, “You do not understand,” or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other’s highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying “Peace, peace,” where there is no peace; if I forget the poignant word “Let love be without dissimulation” and blunt the edge of truth, speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I hold on to choices of any kind, just because they are my choice, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I am soft to myself and slide comfortably into self-pity and self-sympathy; If I do not by the grace of God practice fortitude, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
(emphasis mine).
If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve round myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have “a heart at leisure from itself,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If, the moment I am conscious of the shadow of self crossing my threshold, I do not shut the door, and keep that door shut, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or the twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I take offense easily, if I am content to continue in a cool unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I feel injured when another lays to my charge things that I know not, forgetting that my sinless Savior trod this path to the end, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I feel bitter toward those who condemn me, as it seems to me, unjustly, forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself they would condemn me much more, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If souls can suffer alongside, and I hardly know it, because the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If the praise of others elates me and their blame depresses me; if I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself; if I love to be loved more than to love, to be served more than to serve, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I crave hungrily to be used to show the way of liberty to a soul in bondage, instead of caring only that it be delivered; if I nurse my disappointment when I fail, instead of asking that to another the word of release may be given, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I do not forget about such a trifle as personal success, so that it never crosses my mind, or if it does, is never given room there; if the cup of flattery tastes sweet to me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If in the fellowship of service I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous (to myself, for myself), then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I refuse to allow one who is dear to me to suffer for the sake of Christ, if I do not see such suffering as the greatest honor that can be offered to any follower of the Crucified, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I slip into the place that can be filled by Christ alone, making myself the first necessity to a soul instead of leading it to fasten upon Him, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If my interest in the work of others is cool; if I think in terms of my own special work; if the burdens of others are not my burdens too, and their joys mine, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I wonder why something trying is allowed, and press for prayer that it may be removed; if I cannot be trusted with any disappointment, and cannot go on in peace under any mystery, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the Cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

That which I know not, teach Thou me, O Lord, my God.

I’m a writer

I realized I’m a writer tonight.
That’s why I can keep writing even though I’m beyond exhausted. It’s how I unwind and process and relax sometimes. I don’t put all my writings here, be certain of that. But it’s nice to update people I figure.

So far, this week has gone quite well. I can count the number of stupid little mistakes that didn’t cost us (cause God is faithful) on 1 hand. We’ve been in good spirits, busy and the sun is shining (meaning miles being walked outside up and down capitol hill instead of in cabs).

God has blessed us in the hearings, in the interviews and in our other meetings with Senators and State Dept. people. CL and I are getting to that “i’d die for you” place (well at least on my side of things). It’s humbling to see where I’ve come from and how far things can go in Him.

I’m reading a great biography: http://books.google.com/books?id=Nuox8kdYH3UC&printsec=frontcover&dq=george+whitefield&hl=en&ei=Q4uuTsuBKqjZ0QGR2Iy4Dw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

It’s about George Whitefield. Want to read with me? I am on chapter 2.

Prayer requests:

1.) Tomorrow’s 10 am hearing, getting back to Boston
2.) EU meetings
3.) Pope meeting
4.) For us to find ways to get Congress and the Administration to focus on keeping human rights abusers out of America
5.) For forced sterilization (esp without anesthesia) to be recognized as torture in international law.
6.) For me to feel better (been kinda sick but can’t stop to think about it).
7.) For continued dependance on the Savior, who deserves all praise.

Brother Andrew

Finishing up the biography of Brother Andrew today.

The man was a total maniac, seriously! Check him out.

He makes me want to read just the Bible. Told a story about these POW’s in Vietnam who couldn’t get Bibles and decided to write one out together with all the verses they had memorized. They started writing them out on papers together that they scrounged up. But they soon realized all they knew together was the Lord’s Prayer, some beatitudes, Psalm 23 and few other random passages…they had not “allowed the Word of God to dwell in them richly”.

let’s memorize. someone check in with me in a few months and see if I have enough on my heart to get us through a month in prison, and slap me silly if I don’t,

Check him out at opendoors or google brother andrew. you can borrow his bio from me if you’re interested! it’s pretty short..

Be strengthened

This week God showed me the difference between “BE STRONG” and “BE STRENGTHENED”.

All my life I thought I had to just do it. This is embarrassing, but here: https://rebeccalee.wordpress.com/2011/01/30/just-do-it/–clearly you should not take everything this blog says as any kind of truth. I’m a pilgrim on a journey and THAT POST was off.

From http://confluenceblog.com/terry-virgo-efm-session-4 :
The Greek text doesn’t say, “Be strong,” but “Be strengthened.” God is not telling us to be self-sufficient with self-control and personal strength. God wants us “to be strengthened in the Lord.” Don’t just try to be strong like some other heroes – receive strength from God. Passive imperative – Be (command) strengthened (passive). Psalm 46 – Relax; cease striving and know that I am God. Be strengthened – I have called you and known you and chose you and love you. Being strengthened isn’t about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It’s about knowing God is God!

1 Samuel 30:6 – During a difficult time, David strengthened himself in God. He found security and identity in God. Before he got guidance for the next steps, he strengthened himself in the Lord. We must learn to get before God and be still and know that He is God. It’s not pretending that the river Jordan or the Jericho wall isn’t there – it’s seeing it and then finding strength in God. Romans 8:28 – we know that all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose. We must know that the things we can’t manage, God is in charge of. You are either at the mercy of how things turn out or you are the apple of his eye.

There is a HUGE difference between finding the source in Him and just pushing through. He doesn’t look for strong people who have potential, he looks for empty people who really believe Him.

p.s. i believe that when Gideon had 300 vs. 10000, none of his guys had swords. whatttttttttttt.