The Fear of the Lord

I fall more and more in love with this place with each passing day. The sense of community and family is seriously so amazing. I feel like ive known these people for ages, when in reality its hardly been a month. It just shows how when you are continually digging into Gods word and seeking Him, there is so much UNITY around you.

This week we studied the FEAR OF THE LORD, and it was amazing! (to say the least)

Our speaker gave us some definitions of the fear of the Lord:

“In scripture… In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and His laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading subjects of it to hate and shun everything that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience.”

(websters 1928 dictionary)

and

“When we truly fear the Lord, we will recognize that He is the Creator and we are the Creatures. He is the master and we are the servants. He is the Father and we are the children. This attitude will manifest itself in our having a respect for God, His word and in our having a desire to do what He tells us to do in His bible.”

(sermonnotebook.org)

In the bible it talks about the fear of the Lord over and over again. It says that it’s the greatest commandment and that it is instruction in wisdom. It is Zion’s treasure, it leads to the hatred of evil, and it is clean, enduring forever. It lacks no good thing and it prolongs life. It is the BEGINNING OF WISDOM. It is made for all the earth, and is NEVER unjust.

The fear of the Lord is an aspect of a relationship with God; it’s the beginning of wisdom; it results in good things; it is respect; it is the fountain of LIFE; it leads to the knowledge of God.

Could you imagine the world if every single person lived and walked in the fear of the Lord? How much less brokenness, sin, pain, and heartache there would be? There would be such a greater understanding of how God intended the world to be.

I have been learning soosooososooo much here; It blows my mind.  I am really excited for what God wants to continue to teach me, i can hardly wait.

Sometimes I feel like a little kid waiting around all ancy to get something, but i think that is kinda how God wants to be. Yes, there is a balance between waiting patiently for what He has in store for you, but at the same time He wants you to get stoked on what He is doing and what He will be doing. I wouldve never thought that i would wake up every morning excited and just waiting for what God wants to tell me or show me. I love it!

Your Love is So Big

A Day on Darby Street

This weekend Tatum, Brandon, Jeff and I took the train down to Darby Street (its about an 7 min train ride away). Darby Street is a cute little strip of urban stores and cute little coffee shops. We went and ate at a restaurant called Three Monkeys, and then shopped around for a bit and ended the day by taking a nap in the park (which was super amazing to just sit still for a while without any noise or distractions).

Here are some pictures from the day:

The gang

Checking out some "save the trees" signs in the park

Eating at Monkey Monkey Monkey

Hanging out in the park off of Darby Street

Taking cheesy tourist pictures

Gotta love the failed self-timer pictures

Side Note: Jeff's mexi-stache is growing in pretty amazing

Finding Comfort

Sunday morning I got the news that my best friends dad had gone to heaven. There are no words to describe the feeling of loosing a loved one. There is a peace yet an anxiety, a mourning yet a celebration, an anger yet a joy.

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Romans 8:28

I know that God has, and still is, using Fred’s life to be a testimony to Gods faithfulness. How in the midst of his suffering, he drew close to God and clung to Him.

This past week as we were learning about the FATHER HEART OF GOD, the story of the prodigal son came up. How even though the son had gone and done his own thing, his father still welcomed him with his arms wide open.

“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and RAN and EMBRACED him and KISSED him.”

Luke 15:20

i still find it hard to believe that our God is a God who cares and comforts, and that He is a God who lifts us up out of our darkness so that we can find PEACE in Him. But i do believe that is what he did with Fred’s life. He met Fred in the midst of everything going on, and touched his heart.

i love how they put it in the Jesus Culture song ‘You are faithful’:

 “I CLEANSE MY HANDS, YOU BURN MY HEART.”

We can try so hard sometimes to FEEL like we are ‘right’ with God and to FEEL like we have fully surrendered, but in all reality it is God who gives us peace and that makes us feel whole.

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in ALL our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Seeking the Father

I have been here in Newcastle, Australia for almost 2 weeks now, and i am so in love with it here. The sense of community and family here is overwhelming. My dts class is made up of 15 students: 12 girls and 3 boys.

Back Row (left to right): Mary, Brandon, Jeff, Rachel, Dieuwke (leader), Holly, Kara, Camellia, Carina, Rebecca, Faith (leader), Daniel, Jeremy (leader).

Front Row (left to right): Ines, Tessa (leader), Jessica, Natalie, Tatum. Kara.

Our first week of lectures were on ‘Hearing Gods Voice’ and how its all about a constant relationship with God and continually seeking Him and His guidance and wisdom. Also we learned on discerning the voice that you hear, and how to stand in confidence that it is God that is speaking to you.

Its like when your Best Friend calls you on the phone; you don’t even have to look at whose name is on the phone, its right when you hear that persons voice that you know it is them. The familiarity of their voice gives you assurance that it is them that you are speaking to.

In the same way, we are to continually seek after God and talk with him and listen to His voice so that we may be familiar with it. That as soon as He starts speaking to us, we can know that it is Him.

This week we are learning about the ‘Father Heart of God’. For me personally, this is a really hard subject to speak about. But i am so excited for what God has in store for me, and for what He wants to reveal to me over this next week. A huge thing that God has been speaking to me is about HUMILITY. it says in Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”

So that is really my desire, to walk humbly with God so that He can point out anything in my life that is not honoring Him; that i could be vulnerable in His presence.
The other day I saw a little kid and His dad. As the dad knelt down to pray with his little boy, he wrapped his arms around him. I saw this as a display of the Fathers love towards us. He is continually seeking us and wanting us to draw near to Him, if we would only allow him to. See, this little boy accepted his fathers love for him and through that, his father was able to pour out his love upon him.

As you probably know, Prayer plays a HUGE role in my journey here. So here are some things that you could pray for:

1.  Patience. Living in a dorm-style house, things get very up-close-and-personal… so if you could pray for peace and unity in our school.
2. For an open heart. I want to soak up as much as possible while im here, so if you could pray that my heart would soften in the areas that need growth.
3.  Finances. My team will be leaving at the end of December for Outreach. That means that all 15 of us plus our 4 leaders will need to raise a minimum of $3400aud (depending on what outreach location you are going to). We all believe that God has called us to missions, and that we are to fufill the Great Commission by going out into the nations and proclaiming the Word of God. So if you could pray for financial blessings on our team as we prepare our hearts for Outreach. If you feel lead to give financially, you can go to http://www.ywamnewcastle.com/donations to give.
4. Lastly, if you could pray for my best friend, Stephanie's Dad whom i mentioned in the last blog post. He just recently gave his life to the Lord (which is a huge answer to so many prayers), but we just want to continue on praying for healing for him. There is such a peace to the whole situation now, just knowing that his heart is held by an everlasting God, but we really want to press in and declare healing over his life.

(My friend, Tatum, and I in Mayfield)

We Prepare the Way

by: rick pino

"Oh Lord, Give us new hearts and new minds

for your glory

and may your name

be lifted higher and higher and higher

may your name

 be lifted higher and higher and higher

we prepare the way

we prepare the way

we prepare the way of the Lord."

My God is Faithful

Words cannot even begin to explain my journey over these last couple of months. God’s provision and guidance for me over the last couple of weeks alone has been so evident.

As I sit here in my new room in Australia, the feeling of excitement, joy and satisfaction begin to overwhelm me. I am truly blessed to have this opportunity, and am so thankful for everything that God has been pouring into my life and for the people He is sending my way.

“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” (Ps. 16:8)

Although this past month has taken me through probably some of the most difficult trials I have ever been through, I can still stand in the complete and total truth that 

God is good, and He will always be.

In March of 2010 I was able to take part in a missions trip here, at the YWAM base in Newcastle. And it was then that I knew that someday, whether in the near or far future, I would do a DTS here.

As months went on, I kept on coming up with excuses for me to delay my decision to go to YWAM. Either “money was too tight” or “I need to settle things in my own life before I can go on a trip like that” (and now that I look back on it I see how incredibly ridiculous the excuses were).

It was, without a doubt, the devil that was putting these lies in my head because he knew that if I was to take part in a school like this, that it would bring nothing but glory to God. And after a few long talks with some fellow believers of mine and a whole lot of prayer, I finally committed to do a Compassion DTS starting on October 4, 2011.

The day I decided to come to Australia to take part in YWAM marked the first day of a whole new chapter in my life. Growing up in the church, we would always sing songs that say "Where you go I'll go" or "What you say I'll say" or "God may your will be done in my life," but to actually take the first step in following the commands that God sets before you and to actually follow where He leads you and to essentially give EVERYTHING you have to Him in order to obey him takes more strength than I would've ever imagined.

I just got to the point where I was so comfortable with my relationship with God and I really wanted change. I want to be stretched. I want to be forced out of my comfort zone. I want to dwell in the presence of the Lord every moment of my day.

I want God to refashion my life to be more holy.

In the beginning of September, my best friends dad got diagnosed with stage 4 gastric cancer and was given only 6 months to live. Everything in my life seemed to just stand still for a moment. My best friend, my crazy, passionate, loving, comforting, warm-hearted best friend was faced with one of the hardest things you have to deal with on this earth. The reality hit me like a wall. 

My friend was also planning to do a DTS with YWAM, but hers would be stationed in Europe. So she was forced to make the decision to either stay and be with her father, or to continue on and follow the dream and calling to be a YWAM student.

Her strength and courage was phenomenal, unbelievable. To watch her as she sought guidance and counsel from the Lord and to place all of her trust in Him and to follow what He had called her to do, no matter what the circumstance was really encouraging. Not only to me, but to all around her. To her father, her mother, her family, friends and church.

I believe with all of my heart that God is so much bigger than his cancer, and that He is so able to heal her father. And most of all, God wants to touch her father's heart and wants nothing more than for him to fall completely head-over-heels in love with him!

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."(1 Peter 5:10)

I believe that God has a plan for my friends dad. A plan bigger and greater than I could ever imagine. So I ask if you could join me and my church family in prayer for healing and restoration for her father.

I stand in complete reverence to the Lord. I know that His plan is greater than any plan that I would ever have for my own life. I know that He is faithful and He will never leave or forsake me. I know that He is good and He is worthy. So I want nothing more than to praise Him will every cell in my body. With every breath that I take, I want to glorify him.

"My hearts aches for you my God

My soul waits for you my God

I’ve come far to find you here

In this place will I draw near

And your spirit soars me

To the highest heights

From where I’ll not look back

I’ll keep trusting you

For I know

You are faithful

My God

From the land of the barren
We will cry out for rain
Fill our hearts God
I’ll keep trusting you

Your spirit inside me holds me close
In your wonderful presence I let go
I cleanse my hands, You burn my heart
I cry out for love, You set me apart"