My definition of worship...
A never ceasing act of the humble exaltation and adoration of God, submission to his will, prayerfulness, coming into his presence and spending time with him, fellowshipping with him, and being in accordance with his will through these states of mind, spirit, and action and through the fellowship that we have with him and others through the gifts of the spirit that come by his grace; this all in the act and reason and state of love. And not to receive, although we may, but to give, as we are humble and willing. This is the purpose of worship and love.

It might be a little repetitive, but this is the gist of it. It's awesome.

One thing, there has started another time where students meet to worship God and let him work through them, and I pray and believe that if God's people, the students and even faculty and staff, are willing to submit to him, he will cause revival, not just of the church, but also of the unsaved on campus; not just on campus, but all over MV. I can't wait to see what will happen, and I hope that God gives me a chance to preach and minister. Actually, I know that he will. And I cant' wait to see the lives that will be changed. Anyway, peace out! Laittuh.

Cool thing that happened over the summer #1...
My best friend received the gift of prophecy. It was good stuff. I prayed for him, and I told him that he needed to spend some time alone. It was great stuff. Whenever God gives me a vision I can come to him. Usually he knows what I am going to say before I tell him, and that is how he knows that it is from God.

What I learned about spiritual gifts this summer...
The gifts of the spirit are a special way for us to fellowship with God, in working the ministry. Take the gift of tongues for example. It's mostly a personal gift, but then again...the gift isn't just so that I can feel more sensation during prayer; it is given so that I can have a deeper fellowship with God, and we can grow closer through it. Any other gift is also a gift to help the journey that we are on together with Christ. Christ not being there occasionally, but all the time. Don't worship the gift. Worship with the gift. It's like a present, but not a computer game that I can toy with on my own. Instead, it's like a football, or a board game, and I have to have God and others play with me. Through this we grow closer. May God bless you. Amen

Weep
9/14/2003


God,
May it hurt me, when I hurt you.
May the pain be just as much.
And when the church hurts you,
May it be the same.
And when I see the world lost,
May I see it as you do.
And may I weep.
May I weep, just as much as you weep.

One thing that I admire about God...

His capacity to love and seek after us, even when we disobey him so many times. Though the world seeks after so many other fading treasures, he still tries to reach their hearts. Even though he has so many saved already, he still seeks the lost. His connection to the human race, his love, is so great and passionate that he can't get over someone who is still lost. Yes he attends his flock, but he seeks the lost even more. I don't know about you, but I am with him. I'm right by his side, with no place to lay my head, taking up my cross, and even being put down, because so many of my brothers and sisters are still lost, and they are also his children. There is a fellowship that we all seek, and I want it too. Not only for me, but for God and everyone else as well.

This poem is not a favorite, but it speaks to a great problem in our nation and probably in a lot of other western nations. As you read this, you might think that I have taken the presupposition that America is a Christian nation, but it is quite not true. Furthermore, Christianity is a nation in itself, and since Christians are distributed all over the world, it cannot be part of just one particular nation. I take the stance that Christians are no different than America, and though it should not be true, we share the same problems. At the base of these problems are the abuse of our rights under the allegiance of America, and the peculation of God's grace, under his allegiance.


Abuse and Peculation
7-18-03

We abuse our freedom
We peculate the grace of God
We tread the freedom of our own country

When will our time end
When will we deplete the blessings of our God
We receive its treasures and use them for sinful pleasures
He gave us freedom of speech to spread the his gospel
We use it to lie cheat and tear down

He gave his life so we could repent and live
We use it to justify our continued sin

Our power is in the blood of Jesus
Instead of spreading his power
We spread innocent blood
We spread unnecessary blood in malice

Our Declaration was meant to uphold justice
Our faith
To stretch out the hand of mercy
Instead we are greedy
We trample on the poor
Our courts are places of manipulation

We cannot be just
We are unfeeling
We cannot be merciful
We are blind
We are corrupt and drunk with sin

America America
You hypocrite nation
Where are you to be found
The hourglass is empty
The pendulum is cut the neck
By your own hand
Your life and your freedom is taken

Oh Christians Oh Christians
You hypocrite nation
Where are you to be found
The blood in your body is drained
The grapevine had been cut down
By your own hand
Your freedom is taken

God has given us a chance
A chance to fall in love with him
Instead of falling in love with him
We pollute ourselves with other things
Like Israel of long ago
We have become a prostitute
Even paying to bind ourselves with other gods

Confess and you will be free
Repent and you will have life
New grass is around the corner
New blessings
Right under our nose


God, I put the believers of this nation into your hands. Teach us. Discipline us. Do whatever it takes to revive the church in America. Day by day, men, women, and children go to hell, because they have seen no witness of the one true God. Whether by wrath or charm or mercy or revelation, bring us to repentance. Bring us to humility. Bring us to our knees that we might grasp your heart and your hope. Of that we know not, but this I know: you will answer my prayer. Amen

maybe a poem tomorrow

Well it has been a few months but I think that I remember what I was going to say about what happened on Monday. Anyway. A few weeks earlier God told me through Jayson that I was to read chaps 1 and 7 in this book called "God Chasers". Anyway I started reading ch. 7 and the guy started talking about going around cities and putting posts around certain territories, reclaiming them for God. I thought... okay this it cool but what does this have to do with me God? Well, I read on and then it started talking about WELLS OF REVIVAL!!! I got so excited when I read those words that I just couldn't stop yelling Halleluiah and jumping around. I had to get my friend Chris. Anyway, I kept reading to he and myself. The author then talked about God revealing to him about how there were spiritual wells of revival all over the country that need to be unstopped. This got me even more excited. Why? Because right when the Holy Spirit started doing crazy cool stuff in my dorm room, Jayson had told us about unstopping the well of revival in Ashtabula, Ohio. He also told us about how God had revealed to him that there was a well of revival in every county of Ohio. Do you see the parallel? Oh, One last thing. Jayson had never read past the first chapter of that book. God is great, awesome, and greatly to be feared and praised. I will tell more of my summer later. I plan on telling of it this week.