The Ransomed Heart...Nakedness Indeed (revised)

8/18/06 from "The Ransomed Heart" by John Elderedge

"The deeper reason we fear our own glory is that once we let others see it, they will have seen the truest us, and that is nakedness indeed. We can repent of our sin. We can work on our "issues." But there is nothing to be "done" about our glory. It's so naked. It's just there - the truest us. It is an awkward thing to shimmer when everyone else around you is not, to walk in your glory with an unveiled face while everyone else is veiling his. For a woman to be truly feminine and beautiful is to invite suspicion, jealousy, misunderstanding. A friend confided in me, "When you walk into a room, every woman looks at you to see - are you prettier than they are? Are you a threat?"

And that is why living from your glory is the only loving thing to do. You cannot love another person from a false self. You cannot love another while you are still hiding. You cannot love another unless you offer her your heart. It takes courage to live from your heart. A friend said the other day, "I desperately want to be who I am. I don't want the glory that I marvel at in others anymore. I want to be that glory which God set in me."

Finally, our deepest fear of all. . .we will need to live from it. To admit we do have a new heart and a glory from God, to begin to let it be unveiled and embrace it as true--that means that next thing God will do is ask us to live from it. Come out of the boat. Take the throne. Be what He meant us to be. And that feels risky. . . really risky. But it is also exciting. It is coming fully alive. It's a risk worth taking."
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I have been getting these daily devotionals from this ministry for a couple of weeks now and I am very moved by what I get each day. This particular one had a major impact because 1) I start teaching the "Captivating" Bible study in a couple of weeks and part of that talks so much about "not hiding, not striving, becoming naked and vulnerable" which brings so much freedom. 2) Because the Lord showed me a vision about this very topic earlier this year and this was confirmation of that. I never cease to be amazed at how God talks to us, reveals Himself to us, is always talking with us if we will just listen. He desires to "romance" us which is something you will see more about in the new book coming out in October by John Elderedge. Don't be afraid to let "your truest self" shine.

SAY IT ISN'T SO! :-o

I saw this T Shirt at the Mall last night, worn by a teenager, and I took a picture of it. Could not resist telling you about it! The Tshirt says "NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR BLOG" Thought it was funny............ Comments, comments, comments.............?

John Bevere......Destiny.....Prescribed Soil...

Our first night of the conference started off with a huge, massive, eye opening message from John Bevere. Wow......did God really show me some things and impacted me in a way that it changed me and how I look at all aspects of life. John taught on Destiny and fulfilling our Destiny. He talked about "remember God in the days of your youth". The youth are the church of today. He said that God only see's 3 age groups, Babies, Children, Adults and I see that from His word. He kept talking about the Eternal focus and not to lose site of it. 2 John 8, it is an endurance race we are in, not a sprint. A full reward is what we want, not to have rewards taken away from us at the judgement seat. Phil 3:14, the prize is the full reward 2Tim 4:6-7. We all have a course that we have to run. 1Corinth 9:24, 2 Corinth 5:8-10 We are to initmately know Jesus, to follow Jesus as a bride that gives herself to her husband, totally, completely abandoned to him. He asked the question, have you truly given yourself to serving Him?

One of the major things that he said that really hit home was that we will not be judged for "what" we did, but for what we were "called" to do. Driven by Eternity. The way we live as believers determines how we spend eternity James 4:14. How would you spend the next 24 hours if you knew that how you spent eternity depended on it? Ephesians 3:10 He said everyone has a call of God on their life. that calling was given before the foundation of the earth. Jeremiah 29:11 He talked about how most people do not fulfill their Destiny. They do what is convenient, what is easy, what "they" want to do instead of what God wants them to do.

Ecc 3:11 "It is my time" God has spoken this to me through several preacher/teachers over the past many months, and now once again He has confirmed it to me. He has made everything beautiful and out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses let a thing be established. This has been established in my life....."it is my time!"

He talked about 3 ways to know the plan of God for your life...................

1) Security: Seek God earnestly Hebrews 11:6, ask God to give you glimpses of what you are to do, your destiny. Prov 20:5 Purpose, you have a calling, if you don't fulfill it, God will get someone else. My prayer after this conference was Lord, whatever you want, whomever you want, wherever you want, my life is yours, totally surrendered to you.

2) Plant ourselves in the local church Psalm 92:13. The successful churches are the ones that have the youth as active in the church as the adults. He talks about when you go through a famine, the battle, the desert over and over again, it gives you the character you need to do what God has called you to do. You will grow into your destiny. This is one thing that really ministered to me and opened my eyes to several things and I am still chewing on it. He said: "The seed- you have an outer shell, it has to be broken (God truly broke me at this conference). God puts you into where you are planted for your shell to be broken so the seed can grow and produce fruit, so that the roots will grow deep and wide. YOUR PRESCRIBED SOIL. Only the Prescribed soil will cause the pressure that is needed to break open the outer shell. So if it is hard where you are planted, don't fret, God is moving. He used the example of him and Lisa and when they got married. He said they fought and fought and thought they were going to kill each other the first 4 years of their marriage. They were looking at divorce. But then God showed them, they were the prescribed soil for each other. Both John and Lisa in their teaching time admitted that neither would be the man or woman of God that they were had it not been for the other one. John said he would not be the man of God he was if it were not for Lisa, his prescribed soil. Lisa said she would not be the woman of God she was if it were not for John, her prescribed soil. Iron sharpening iron. Do you have the character to handle the call?

3) Luke 9:57-58. I make the decision to follow the call of God, even if I don't see the provision. Luke 10:1-2, appointed = chosen, Matt 22:44, this it the Joshua generation.

I know there was a lot in here and I just wrote from my notes, but it was a message that impacted me and moved me to a new place in the Lord. To question if the things that I do are for me or for God. It is His purpose, His plan, the Destiny that He has for us that is important. I poured my life out to him, before Him that night, totally surrendered and it has been my prayer since that night, whatever you want Lord, all of me, I am yours. You can handle my life much better than me, you can handle my heart much better than me. Your plan, not mine. Be blessed my friends, allow God to show you your destiny and then commit to fulfilling it...........

Desperation...Colorado....

Desperation......what a worth while trip and conference. So much happened in everyone. God moved in so many ways and everyone has a different testimony. We went White Water rafting on the Arkansas river, played football, kickball, frisbee and hiked into the hills and what a glorious view it was! God's handywork for all to see. We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning talking, laughing, sharing, playing cards and games, checking email and just bonding. We downloaded pics every night to my laptop and started fresh each day, which is why we ended up with over 400 pics and video's. Matt man made a great video from some of the shots and clips. We attended breakout sessions for Youth Leadership, praised and worshipped the Lord, had our picture made with an archangel, jumped on beds, struck a pose in the wee hours of the morning. I can honestly say this 8 days brought everyone that went closer and created new friendships and strengthened old ones. We had a time of prayer with everyone in a circle the last night after the conference and it was an amazing time to watch God use these kids in praying for one another and praying for their Pastor. God started a work there that is just the beginning, you are going to see wonderous, amazing, fantabulous things out of this Youth group like never before. It was an awesome group to be with for 8 days, no fights, lots of sharing and laughs. I would go to the ends of the earth with these guys.........in a heartbeat. Love you guys so much!

We're Back!!!! Where do I start?????

Where do I even start! Man.......this was such an amazing trip to Colorado. I think it met and exceeded everyones expectations....I know it did mine. I have so much to blog about that you will see several post over the next few days. We came back with over 400 pics between Pomai and myself! United is in the first pic here and then the second is a pic of the audience, there were 6000 people there! All rockin' and worshipping the Lord with United, Watermark and the Desperation Band, and there was such a Freedom! Total, no holds barred, surrendered worship to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! We jumped and shouted and cried and poured our lives out in total surrender. I wish everyone of you could have been there. Our Youth, as well as the entire Youth Staff lives were changed and so many testimonies are coming out of this conference. God took us to the next level and challenged us to move forward and do more, be more, to fulfil our Destiny! Who You Are was the theme. I want to blog about John Bevere next and what a huge impact his message had on me. Oh yea.........the guys at the United table gave me a T Shirt! Oh yea! Love it! More to come...................................