What's in a name?

I'm reading an awesome book, which was given to me by my friends Jake and Julie, called The Supernatural Ways of Royalty, by Kris Vallotton and Bill Johnson. It was sweet- I was reading a chapter in it today that exactly went along with something I was blogging about a couple days ago. As Vallotton says, "You can't afford to think differently about your life than God does."

The sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God

2 Peter 1:20-21
"But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

In the front of my Bible is written something one of my pastors used to say: This Book will keep you from sin; sin will keep you from this Book.

The Bible is God's Word, completely authoritative and without error- in the original documents. I can't vouch for every one of the hundreds of translations on the earth, but I'd say we at least got it pretty close.

What makes a good teacher?

Since I've been an education major for four years, this is a question that many professors have asked me, and that I've asked of myself. I've been mentoring and volunteering at a Baltimore charter school for the past three weeks, so I decided to ask my students.

Interestingly enough, nearly ALL of them, from kindergarten to seventh grade, said, "one who is nice and doesn't yell all the time."

Fellow teachers, please don't yell in your frustration. Although it may be the natural response, it makes both your students and you even more stressed out.

If you can't say anything nice...

"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Ephesians 4:29

Beloved, please allow me to continue on my previous post about the power of our words.

I have been volunteering the past couple weeks at a charter school in Baltimore, MD. I eat lunch with a group of kids on each of four lunch shifts. These students were recommended to me by their teachers. The purpose is to be a mentoring figure in their lives, and to give them "face time", as many of them don't receive much attention from influential adults. Often, the only attention they get at home is bad.

In the Name of Jesus

What we say is SO important. James chapter 3 teaches on this topic:

Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! ... from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

I believe that speaking out loud attaches a certain power to words that they don't have if they're simply written down, read, or thought.

Artistic Endeavor

I love to paint and draw, but I don't often make time for it. People keep giving me art supplies, though, so I thought it was about time to use them! I started this flower series a couple weeks ago when I was fasting [it's amazing how much time you have when you aren't on facebook!]. They're intended to be hung on a wall together, above one another. The third one will be two sunflowers in a mason jar. I used photo sources I found through Google's image search.

You may recognize this one as the full version of the photo I am using at the top left of this blog. It's [mostly] acrylic on a canvas panel. The background is acrylic yellow ochre mixed with this old bottle of orange washable kids' paint [probably tempera]. The stem needs more texture, and the petals need more continuity. I'll put the finishing touches on later.

This poppy isn't quite finished either. I'm going to use a pale french blue [like a grey-blue] for the background, & once again, add some more detail to the stem... which is massive, by the way. I didn't mean for it to be so big.

God's smiling at you.

We have a weekly worship service here on campus called Warriors. I attended last night, and we sang the hymn Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken. It was written in 1824 by Henry Francis Lyte, a Scottish Anglican. Anyone who says all hymns are old and meaningless is crazy. This is the fifth verse:

Soul then know thy full salvation;
Rise o'er sin and fear and care;
Joy to find in every station,
Something still to do or bear.
Think what Spirit dwells within thee,
Think what Father's smiles are thine,
Think that Jesus died to win thee;
Child of heaven, canst thou repine?

Repine: to be discontented or low in spirits; complain or fret

I love how the Psalmists often speak to their souls, instructing themselves. I've talked about this concept with several people. In our present culture, the idea of talking to yourself is somewhat ridiculous, but the power of speaking Scripture and God's promises out loud is incredible. I mean just think about how awesome God's Spirit is- and He lives inside us! Think how much a smile from your best friend, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your dad or or your mom means to you. Then, think about the might, love, and vastness of the LORD. He too, is our Father, and He smiles at us. We are His people, His children, His beloved.

Some of us have heard a million times, "Jesus died for us." Consider, though, what you've done in order to keep someone with you. Think about your wife or your husband. What convinced you to be with them? Or, if you're single, think about your future relationship. What do you expect someone to do for you to win your affection? I'm guessing your list doesn't include "dying for me." No one could be expected to go to such lengths! But, that's exactly what Jesus sacrificed so that He could have you next to Him. That just blows me away.

Compassion International

I sponsor a child through Compassion International. Her name is Victoria Mumbua, and she'll be 8 years old in May. I've sponsored her, with the help of my sister, for a little over 2 years now.

Poverty is an overwhelming issue. It's hard to know what we can do, especially high school or college kids who don't yet even have a steady paycheck, who have obligations to their school work & their parents... but I've learned that even small things can make a big difference.

Compassion's individual child sponsorship program is unique. They're unapologetically Christian, which means they do not receive government grants. They're one of the top-ranked non-profit organizations for how well they handle their finances. Most of your money will go directly to your sponsored child. Compassion takes out less money for processing and advertising than any other child sponsorship program [that I'm aware of]. They also do not use sponsorship money for community improvement projects, like water wells, etc. You can write letters to your child, and your child will reply to your letters.

Compassion also is unique in that they work with churches that are already established in the countries where they work. This way, they don't have to spend so much money sending Americans over to build projects & make connections in the local community. There's no language barrier to be overcome, and the church families know where the money really needs to go.

Mumbua still can't write on her own very well, so someone else at the project writes for her, but she does send me her drawings. I love receiving her letters! She's a very sweet and interesting little girl. It's so awesome to think that you can make an impact on the life of a child on the other side of the world! Children in poverty have physical needs, but they also need to know that there is hope. Your letters can help them see that they don't have to stay in poverty, and that they can make a difference in their world. The effort you put into writing letters and getting to know your child means so much to them.

Sponsoring a child with Compassion costs $32 per month. That's about a dollar a day. That's less than you spend on your daily bottled water or Coke. For some of you, that's still too much money- and that's understandable. I'd encourage you, though, to ask your friends or family members to sponsor a child with you, like I did. You can't solve the problem of poverty all on your own, but you can do something.

Let's all just go by the rules, ok?

"There is nothing wrong with a traffic law which says you have to stop for a red light. But when a man is bleeding, the ambulance goes through those red lights at top speed... Disinherited people all over the world are bleeding to death from deep social and economic wounds. They need brigades of ambulance drivers who will have to ignore the red lights of the present system until the emergency is solved."

"The world is in dire need of creative extremists. We live now in extreme times. The question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists we will be. Will we be extremists for hate or for love?"
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Christians should be troublemakers, creators of uncertainty, agents of a dimension incompatible with society."
- Jacques Ellul

"Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 'Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!'? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings."
- Paul, Colossians 2:20-22


Sometimes I just get frustrated with the restrictions and limitations that the world imposes on us. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. And, I'm glad to know that they don't hold us back from doing the will of the LORD!

A Lifestyle of Fasting

Fasting week at VCC was officially over yesterday. I learned a lot, and I think others did too. Pastor Rob spoke on how fasting should be a lifestyle. I really think Jesus is trying to teach me something important through all of this.

In my continued research on fasting, I found a free book on the IHOP website called The Rewards of Fasting: Experiencing the Power and Affection of God. I've only read a few pages, but it's interesting so far. Dwayne Roberts, in the forward, writes that he believes that fasting should be elementary to a Christian- one of the first things we learn about and develop. It is not that way in most churches today.

So, no ... fasting is not for the strong. It is not for the solid. It is not for the perfect. Fasting is for the common, weak, frail, ordinary individual who realizes his or her lack and has a desperate need for more of God. The realities of fasting truly are a bit bizarre. It doesn’t make sense to our natural minds how sacrificing food and pleasures unlocks our hearts and minds to receive more of God Himself, but the set-up of His kingdom is perfect.

You guys, this is our glory! It is our glory to say “no” to the fleeting earthly pleasures that surround us in the here and now. God has given us an opportunity to choose Him on this side of eternity, above all lesser things. Fasting is more than denying ourselves food. It isn’t really about being hungry. While we do get hungry when we fast, fasting is really about experiencing more of God.

What an interesting perspective... Fasting is our glory. That's surprising to me, but when I keep thinking about it, it's exciting, and it starts to make sense.

A Call to Prayer and Fasting

In reaction to my recent post about fasting, a friend of mine gave me a book on the topic: Shaping History Through Prayer and Fasting, by Derek Prince. He got it from the IHOP onething conference. In the introduction, Prince quotes President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation of a national day of prayer and fasting from 1863. I was blown away and inspired by Lincoln's steadfast faith, and the example he made to the entire country. This is the type of thing we don't learn in American history class, but should!

A Proclamation.

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.

And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty seventh.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln

Fast with us.

I go to Victory Christian Center in New Wilmington, PA. Yesterday the pastor preached about fasting, and asked our church body to do a week-long fast together, starting today. I realized that I'd never heard a sermon on fasting before. It's something I've wanted to learn more about, though. It seems that fasting is a lost discipline in the US Church! Our consumerism and lifestyles of instant gratification don't easily support the habit.

Richard Foster's Celebration of Discipline explains fasting this way:

"More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. David writes: ‘I humbled my soul with fasting’ (Psalm 69:10). Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear - if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. At first we will rationalise that our anger is due to our hunger; then we will realise that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us. We can rejoice in this knowledge because we know that healing is available through the power of Christ. (69)"

My friend Lauren and I were talking about it, and she read Isaiah 58 to me. It's a pretty amazing chapter that I hadn't really paid attention to before. Israel seemed to be doing everything right, and yet God wasn't answering them. They say, "Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?" and God answers, "Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire... Is it a fast like this which I choose... is it for bowing one's head like a reed, and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast?" And the answer of course, is, "no!"

Their hearts were in the wrong place. That's first priority for God- our hearts. I love that about Him; He's not into all that showy, ritualistic stuff. God says the fast that He chooses is to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to divide our bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into our houses!

Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, 'Here I am '
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
And if you give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.

And the LORD will continually guide you,
And satisfy your desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.

How beautiful is that!?

So, I ask you, will you fast with us this week? Ask the LORD what He would have you do; what can you give up this week that would make more room for Him? It could be fasting lunch and having prayer time instead; it could be giving up TV or Facebook for the week; it could be drinking only water and juice for the week- whatever the LORD would lead you to do. Our country is at a pivotal point right now. It's a new presidency, a new year, and a good day to seek the LORD!