Setting My Heart on a Pilgrimage

This past week and a half has been full of difficulties, both internal and external. I think I've eaten more today than the course of being here, haha! I've been reminding myself that God still loves me in the midst of my uckyness. I don't fully understand everything, but I know God is good and He WILL get me through this. He who began a good work in me is FAITHFUL!  

Daniel Lim reminded me of a verse that God showed me before I came to IHOP:

Psalm 84: 5-7

5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, (place of weeping)
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools. [b]

7 They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.

God is stripping me of all of me and making my strength be in Him. OUCH my flesh does NOT like it, BUT I know God has GOOD plans to prosper me, there is hope. 

Free...

Jesus is Lord over ALL the earth, everything in the earth, and of the earth!! He is Lord over Hollywood, MTV, Lake Michigan, DeVry Inc., highway 88, every person on this earth He is Lord over, not one person has life or breath with out His permission. Every business, industry, university, government, science, color, fashion, music, book, drink, food, instrument, artist, element, equation… EVRYTHING is the Lords. ALL, as in “total extent or total entity; being a whole number; amount; or quantity; every.
Everything – “ All things; whatever exists

I asked God how do I allow Jesus Christ to be worked in me? How do I give myself over to the likeness of Jesus Christ?

He said:

1) Say yes; to Jesus being Lord of my life. John 14: 6 and 7

6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

(Having Jesus come into my life to dwell in me; salvation

2) Surrender; give ALL to Him. Matthew 6:33

“33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

(Jesus is Lord of all, my life is no longer my own; salvation and transformation)

3) Obey; listen to what the Father is saying see what the Father is doing.

Obeying God is loving God; John 14:23 and 24


23Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

(Embracing what Jesus did, which is complete obedience to the Father; transformation).

4) Receive; take and get the supernatural strength, power, grace, love, authority, will, and strong desire; get filled up with Christ. Salvation itself is a gift; a gift is received not earned. Apart from Christ we can’t do a thing.


Zechariah 4:6

'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.

1 Thessalonians 5:9

9For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

(All power and authority was from God the Father not of Jesus’ own strength)

5) Do as we please; as long as we are in submission to the Lord our will is going to match the will of the Father and indeed will be in the boundaries of God’s will. We are functioning/ BEING His child. SOOO…everything we DO in our BEING we do as unto the Lord and are FREE to DO whatever.

Galatians 5:1

1It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Romans 8 is a great example of all these concepts


The Lord gave us gifts for a purpose; He likes it when we enjoy the things he gave us. What father would not want his child to enjoy a present he gave his child; gifts are given to be cherished and ENJOYED!

Our preference of style, food, drink, music, books, sports, color, animal, climate etc… all is a unique illustration and expression of Father God inside of us.

He created all things and is Lord of all things. We don’t have to be afraid of the world, God made it. There is also a wisdom and consideration for others that must be taken into account. The boundaries come when we start to use the goodness of God in sinful ways or ways that would cause our brothers and sisters to fall. The good news is though, WE ARE FREE!!!

Allen Hood quoted Sir Francis in class, “Love God and do as you please.”

Yes there will be struggles, there will be pains; we are to embrace the cross of Christ. God is a jealous God and wants us to be transformed from glory to glory into the likeness of His Son. Our prideful fallen nature NEEDS a good cleansing and humbling. However, through life’s journey of being transformed into the image of Christ we can ENJOY the ride!! We can LOVE on God and find beauty among the thorns.

This truly is good news!!! J

God Loves Humans

Wow!! I'm learning so much in my Excellencies of Christ class!! I never realized how little I really knew the DEPTH of who Jesus was and what He did. Each day I feel transformed into more of who I really am (as I am finding who He truly is). It's awesome!!! This week we've talked about Jesus as the Mediator, His zeal, and the aroma of His meekness; so good! Jesus is had such a tender understanding of the human frame... He really does understand our difficulties and sympathizes with us, for real (Hebrews 4:14-16)! He's a REAL person NOW; He's alive and we have FULL access to talk with Him!!! Whenever, about whatever!! He is more jealous for us to have a fullness in our lives than we are and what He started He is able to finish, He WANTS to! I love what Allen Hood says:

 "What is it about the human frame that pleased Him so much that the One who made ALL things chose to become human FOREVER? Jesus is not only your divine King and Creator. Now He is your brother."

We talked about how in the church we have latent accusations against God; believing He's unwilling to care about us, or delayed. The idea that God is holding out on us, He withholds things from us. These doubts cause our prayers to be faithless, more geared towards a whimpering hope. God has a passionate ZEAL for us like no person on earth could ever have.

God is jealous for us (Ex 34:14; Dut 4:24; 1 Cor 10:22; James 4:5)!! 

God is for us!! We can boldly approach Him knowing that He loves us SO SO SO much! We don't have to listen to the voice of condemnation anymore, for with Christ we are a NEW creation!! 

"The zeal of the Lord is , "God's heart bringing forth LOVE and restoring human beings to their rightful, created order. It's not just about our redemption, it's about dominion."

We were created to LOVE and be LOVED by our creator... Allen said something that stuck with me, "Once the sin issue is taken care of what else are we going to talk about with God?"

I've approached the Lord is a whole new way since I've been here and it's so amazing and comforting! This is just a VERY small bit of what I've been learning. 

Jesus is coming soon and we get to partner with Him and let the Father's will be done through our lives! It's all about team!! God LOVES family!

 I gotta scoot! More to come on the humility and meekness of Christ Jesus!

Hope in Christ

Sometimes it's really challenging to stay steady in the everyday, especially when you're not feeling God's presence. Things have been intense this weekend and to be honest I've gotten a little bit down. I've learned some really basic things to do in times of dryness, testing, trials, and temptations:

1) Speak truth to yourself, reading the Word out loud is really powerful. 

2) Speak or sing in the Spirit for awhile... at first your flesh wants to dimer out, but after a bit something shifts inside and the Holy Spirit takes over! 

3) Remember that God loves us, even in out weak and broken moments, He's right there to defend you, encourage you, and help you to GROW! 

One thing God has really been highlighting to me is that the old is GONE and the new has come. All those years of being a coward or failure are GONE. I am a NEW CREATION!! Sometimes I think we all get so caught up on our issues that we loose the idea that we are being transformed from glory to glory each day!! Everyday is an opportunity to grow closer to God and be changed and transformed by the power of His Son Jesus.

Studying the life of Christ has changed my life! to know He came as God's expression of His LOVE for mankind is amazing... God chose no other creature He created to BECOME! How humble is the God we serve? Now we can have HOPE and FAITH because we have a GREAT high priest who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and is ALWAYS making intercession on OUR behalf!!!!! The Lord is our defense, He's on our side... He sees us as who we are going to be... being perfected in love!!

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." 

-Phil. 3:13 &14 

God is Changing History

The above clip shows how God is raising up people all over the world to cry out for the greatest out pouring of His Spirit in the history of mankind. I believe that in my lifetime I will not only get to play a part in crying out for the fullness of His Spirit, but will get to witness it being poured out!!! Right now God's raising up His army to change the world's atmosphere... we can't do anything apart from Him... we NEED more of His Spirit on the earth to change, transform, and illuminate our lives! We need a fresh revelation of what GOD wants to do on the earth in this time!! I believe He is calling us into something new. 

"It's not by might, nor power, but by His Spirit..." - Zechariah 4:6

"Unless the Lord builds the house the workers labor in vain. " - Psalm 127:1

Greetings!

For my first entry I just want to say that Jesus Christ is amazing and has forever changed my life. He has given me my true purpose in this life. His unconditional love towards me is very humbling. I dedicated my life to fully pursue Jesus and grow deeper in Him. My life's goal and purpose is to KNOW Him and have fellowship with no matter what I'm doing or where I am at. Currently I am spending time with IHOP, placing myself at the Lord's feet through night and day prayer. This journal is basically just a place for me to record and share what God is doing in my life during this foundational time. I'll be putting in pictures, quotes, stories, and revelations from my experience here at IHOP. I thought it would be a fun way of keeping track of this time and also keep friends and family updated. 

Here is a key verse that the Lord has put in my heart while I've been here: 

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Blessings!