So, there is this poem written by this man name Pete Greig who helped start 24-7 Prayer in England called The Vision. We have it posted on the wall in our prayer room this week so I just wanted to share it here!

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The Vision

So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this…
The vision?

The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.

The vision is an army of young people.

You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn't even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.
They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport.. People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.
What is the vision?
The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.

A million times a day its soldiers
choose to loose
that they might one day win
the great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing…
This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.

Young people who beat their bodies into submission.

Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts
"for me to live is Christ and to die is gain".

Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them?

And the generation prays
like a dying man
with groans beyond talking,
with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and
with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.

They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive

inside.

On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood, sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,

they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.
Don't you hear them coming?
Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon.
How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.

Labels: 24-7 Prayer, Pete Greig, poem, Prayer, The Vision

I struggle with "stuff." You struggle with "stuff." I mean, we all struggle with something. Some of us struggle with things like pornography addiction, others with alcohol or drugs, some folks struggle with depression, others with cutting, some with eating disorders, for some people it's lust, some with greed, other people with anger. We all have different struggles that really affect who we are and our relationship with our Creator. But I came to the realization this past week that struggling is ok, struggling is good! I was hanging out with an old friend discussing my struggles and some breakthroughs I've had with my struggles and strongholds over the past month or so. I talked with him about how I feel that because I have struggles and because I've struggled in the past that I can't be effective in ministry. But, he helped me understand that I am fit for ministry! That because I have struggles that means I am doing the right thing.

My handy dandy Oxford American Dictionary widget defines the noun struggle as: "a forceful or violent effort to get free of restraint or resist attack."

When you struggle you are fighting against the temptation that the enemy is trying to get you caught in. When you struggle you are resisting tempting. When you struggled you are fighting to get free, you are fighting for holiness, you are fighting to get rid of something in your life that shouldn't be there. And you struggle because you are being obedient to God. God wants us to be holy and says that certain things are sin and that we must not do them, and if we are tempted by those things, if we find ourselves in those sins we have to struggle to be free from them!

So...all of that to say that struggling is good and that it is NOT wrong to struggle! We think that someone struggling with something is bad but it isn't. Because, if you're struggling you are doing the right thing...

Labels: freedom, God, struggling, temptation

I just wanted to share some scripture God has laid on my heart just within the past day. These are taken from the Amplified Bible which you may find a little hard to read at first because it uses a LOT of words and brackets and parentheses, but it provides a more in depth look into the scripture by giving you definitions and synonyms in the brackets and parentheses.

This first passage I really think God showed me last night. I picked up my Bible and turned to where my bookmark was and there was this passage! It is so appropriate for my life and for the lives of some of my friends right now. It is in Titus and it speaks of how God's grace has saved us from sin and calls us to deny the ungodly things of this world and be excited about Jesus' returning. I really like the last part of verse 14 where Paul writes that Jesus' sacrifice was to purify us as His own people who want to live a life that is full of doing good things and striving for holiness and purity.

" For the grace of God (His unmerited favor and blessing) has come forward (appeared) for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind. It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness (irreligion) and worldly (passionate) desires, to live discreet (temperate, self-controlled), upright, devout (spiritually whole) lives in this present world, awaiting and looking for the [fulfillment, the realization of our] blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One), who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us (purchase our freedom) from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people [to be peculiarly His own, people who are] eager and enthusiastic about [living a life that is good and filled with] beneficial deeds.
Titus 2:11-14 AMP

This next verse I actually saw on Facebook today because it was the verse of the day on several people's profiles. This one can be tied into the last one as it speaks of sin but also being unable to be justified by the law. This scripture is very convicting for me and I feel like it should convict all of us as believers. The law that we are to follow as Christians cannot justify us or get us into Heaven but it's also not legalistic to follow or expect others to follow this law. We are to follow this law because we recognize our sin and that God has put rules in place to help keep us from future sin. Also, by knowing the law and in turn recognizing our sin we actually become acquainted with sin to a point where we work toward repentance. And true repentance is the when we realize our sin and turn from that sin!

" For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character]. "
Romans 3:20 AMP

Alright...that was my attempt at teaching. HA!

Labels: God, grace, law, purity, repentance, Romans, scripture, sin, teaching, Titus

This afternoon I got in the car and headed up the road as I went home. I can't believe our little road trip is over! It's so crazy.

Well...how to recap this trip? I don't really know. I think I learned a lot. I think I also have a lot, A LOT, of questions now about who I am, what I believe, and what I want for this life. I feel like I was freed of a lot of stuff. I feel like a lot of struggles for me are gone now from the experiences of the trip and the onething conference. I also feel like it's not just a spiritual high but actual freedom from trouble and sin, which is really exciting. I was talking to Michael Scruggs earlier tonight about the conference and the trip. I told him that something I really appreciated was the honesty we experienced at onething and TheCall. I really appreciate the church being honest with one another about tough issues; about sexual sin and depression and pain. It was also great for myself and Ben, Ben, and Sarajane to build community among the four of us and to be able to be honest with each other.

I have realized that I'm not necessarily the person I thought I was before. Some of the personal attributes I thought I had, or more so wished I had, I really don't have. I now know that there is so much that I need to learn.

I don't know...that's enough rambling about the trip.

It's back to GWU in a few days! I think I'm kind of excited...but I'm not sure.

Well...today is day nine and the final day of our road trip. We had originally planned to stay until tomorrow, but have decided we should go ahead and head home today. So, after we do some cleaning here at the church, get packed up, and have lunch, we'll be on the road to North Carolina! I haven't been really sure about how I feel about going back. I don't really want to go back to school and at the same time I don't really want to be here, it's just really strange.

Yesterday we hung out around the church and talked more about community and living with one another. We also went to Caribou and had coffee and read and journaled and drew out what we want our community home to look like. We ate some lunch and then went to the Chicago Prayer Furnace for a couple of hours to just pray and spend time with God. Then we went to Giordano's for some famous Chicago style deep dish pizza. It is probably the best pizza I've ever had and I think we all really loved it.

Then we came back to the church and hung out with Ivan, Taylor, Dave and Amy. Amy told us funny stories about working in a women's clinic. Then we watched Transformers with Ivan and Taylor. It was a really great time.

This morning we're up and getting ready, or at least trying to. We'll be on the road in a few hours!

Labels: Chicago, Ivan, pizza, Prayer, prayer furnace, Road Trip

We got into Chicago on the night of January 1 and were greeted by FREEZING cold temperatures and wind. As we drove across Iowa on our way into Illinois the temperature dropped to 6 degrees and stayed around that temperature most of the drive. It was SO cold! We got to Chicago and our little home here at Chicagoland Community Church and got unpacked and settled in.

This church is so amazing. It's this cool little building that is full of lots of history and funny stories. We are sleeping in the conference room, so we have to take all our stuff out and store it in a hallway during the day. We have a little kitchen and cool area to hang out, and of course a sanctuary to run around in. It's great. When we got here on the night of the 1st, Sarajane, who's second home is pretty much Chicago, took us to this awesome little cafe down the street called the "Pick Me Up." It is a cool place with great people working there, yummy food, good coffee, and awesome ice cream! We also went to the grocery store and got breakfast and lunch stuff for the time we're here. We went to the Pick Me Up last night too to eat dinner and just chill.

Yesterday we got up and ready and packed up and headed to Caribou Coffee for coffee and time to hang out with each other. We talked a lot about community and what we want to do with our lives. Then we spent the rest of the day trying not to freeze to death as we checked out downtown Chicago. We saw the sites and had lots of fun. We went up in hotels to try and get good views, went into empty conference rooms, and some of us even set of security alarms. We also went down to the waterfront, and it's cool because there are actually beaches in Chicago, and this time of year they are snow-covered beaches. We walked around and took pictures at the water's front, until a wave came up and broke on shore right where we were standing. Ben Perdue and I got pretty wet in our feet area and our pants were even frozen from where the water hit them, it was great.

Last night we hung out with Sarajane's friend Ivan from the summer before last. We talked about his life and his friend Taylor's life as well. It was an amazing experience that was very enlightening for me, but also left me tons of questions about community and loving people. I think I have a lot to figure out about what I am supposed to do in this life, but I think that is what part of this trip is for.

Today we are going to hang around the church, do some chores we've been assigned since we get to stay here for free, and probably head to the Chicago Prayer Furnace at some point today. Of course, not without a trip to Caribou Coffee after breakfast!

Labels: Chicago, community, Ivan, love, Pick Me Up, Prayer

WOW! That is all I can really say...

The last four days have been absolutely amazing. We just finished up with TheCall Kansas City at midnight last night. During the time of TheCall, from 12 noon to 12 midnight, we fasted and prayed for our nation. We prayed for abortion to end and for revival to come to America, we prayed for houses of prayer to spring up around the world, we prayed for Israel, we prayed for California, and we prayed to see God's glory and be set ablaze for Him.

Before TheCall we were a part of onething 2007. This was an amazing time of worship, teaching, and workshops that really filled us up with so much about God and helped teach us more about the importance or prayer and intimacy with Him. We went to teaching sessions on God's love and mercy. We were part of amazing times of worship with Misty Edwards, Jason Upton, and Justin Rizzo. We also went to workshops about prayer being the catalyst for our generation moving forward and one about how Jesus is the only one that can heal our broken hearts from sexual addiction.

This past weekend has been the most powerful time of my life. I really feel a lot of freedom and release from past things and I know that it's through the prayer and worship of this weekend. Things really broke in my life and it is AMAZING! I also feel very VERY renewed and ready to get back to school to start doing ministry (not really to go back to class).

Our little community has grown SO much the last couple of days as well. When the conference was over at about ten every night, we would drive back to our host home and spend the next three or four or five hours talking about what we learned and our lives and what we wanted to see God do in us. We would stay up until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning! Then get up at 7 to start going the next day...it was great! We have really formed an awesome community, the four of us, and I think it's one that is going to stay together for a long time.

Well...in a little bit we'll be leaving Kansas City on our way to Chicago for the next part of our little Road Trip. We'll drive through Iowa and then into Illinois, it should take about 8 hours or so. Once we're there we are going to just relax and enjoy our time in the city. We really don't have any plans which is exciting, we're just going to enjoy our time with one another and in Chicago!

Labels: IHOP, Illinois, Iowa, oneThing 2007, Road Trip, TheCall