Worship Freely Tunes {25}

So it's been a while since I've shared a new song with y'all and this is totally worth it. My friends and I can not get this song out of our heads! We're just all going to Bethel one day and road-trippin it. Hear it, soak it in, and let the Spirit sing over you. It's the bomb y'all, for real!

"You Make Me Brave"- Amanda Cook

Testimonies

(Psalm 106:13) But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His plan to unfold.

Just some food for thought: Don't forget what God has done and wait for His plan to unfold. Trust, it's going to be awesome

The Lord just spoke this in to me this morning and I was amazed. Because some pretty supernatural things have happened over these past few weeks and I felt Him saying...Don't forget what I do for you, constantly remind yourself so that in the future when you come across a difficult situation in which you have to patiently wait upon me you will never doubt my goodness. You'll simply wait and pray as you watch that season unfold. I totally get what God is saying because if you're like me you've probably had those moments when you speak before you should and then right after you find out that there was no reason for you to say what you did because it all fell into place anyway. And then afterward you feel dumb and awkward about it. It's the same way with God. The Israelites just got so impatient with God because they felt like they were on a roller coaster ride with no end, when in reality it was their lack of trust in God and complaining that shaped their view point. It is all about our viewpoint and that is why God tells us to fix our eyes on the eternal heavenly things. We can not grow impatient and start worrying before the whole story is revealed to us. I'm so happy to be writing again y'all and here are some of the testimonies of what God's been doing since my mini-absence. God saved me from a car accident, I escaped being stuck in an elevator when power went out at my university the moment I stepped out, and I also received three free tickets to go to the Got Faith Fest (ft. For King And Country, Francesca Battistelli, Sanctus Real...etc.). That's some prety big stuff that I can't help to be wowed by. The church where me and my fiance are serving at right now is growing more each day and we're working hard to bring up new musicians and singers who know what worship truly means. Plus I can't contain myself when I sing because I love it when the Holy Spirit just does His thing. People have just been falling under the weight of God's presence and that brings joy to my heart. Once you've tasted God's glory there's literally no going back and I am truly excited about our new church family in this season. Sometimes we think that it's our surroundings that need changing but I've learned in those kind of moments that God is working on our hearts changing. Remind yourself of all that He's done for you, the big and small, and that will keep your eyes on His goodness. If you have some testimonies to share, feel free to comment bellow because I'd love to hear about what God is doing in your life. Nothing's too small to share so let's fill up blogger with some praise reports. God bless!

Back to School: Worship, Clothes, Life

Tuesday was my first day back at the University and even through some craziness (which I will speak of next time) I had an awesome day filled with the joy of the Lord. Truly God has just been showing me how to continually have joy in the midst of hard times or even the things I don't understand. When we trust God and delight in Him a mind-boggling peace and joy floods our souls. I had been pretty busy going school supply and clothes shopping with my younger sister Angie, taking care of my puppy Cody, and just doing life. 

Last week my boyfriend and I got to meet up with one of our old friends Edwin who we hadn't seen in two years. We met while we were helping out a local church in our area put their worship band together and we were there leading worship for a couple months. We got in contact through facebook and took a pizza over to his house and had an amazing time in fellowship and listening and talking about Bethel music and maybe even going up to their Supernatural School of Worship in Redding, California together sometime in the near future. As most of you know that has been my dream for so long and I'm still believing God for it. I really wanted to go this summer but the Lord just pressed upon me that I had His vision but He had the timing so I let go and I've just been focused on falling more in love with God and really a lot of character building. So back to our friend Edwin...the three of us had such a blast that we decided to get together the next day at my mom's salon. Because we recently moved all of our instruments from the garage to one of the rooms there, we got together and just worshiped God. On the spot we played Our Father by Bethel without any previous practice and we just flowed into God's beautiful presence and spontaneously sang new songs. It was awesome and brought back so many good memories. After that, Edwin invited us to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings and I ate a Caesar salad while the boys went all out on their chili cheese dogs with fries. We just kept talking about how God was working in each of our lives and began to minister to one another. Truly blessed to have such good friends. 

On another note...I started school this semester with a whole new wardrobe that I'm so excited about. I've never been a big flashy designer type of girl but I do like dressing nice in a way that reflects God and my personal character. I've grown so much these couple of years and right now my closet is a holder of jean jackets, skirts of both long and medium length, maxi dresses of various colors, flats, sneakers, sandals...etc. This semester holds a lot of fun surprises that I am beyond eager to share with you all. This weekend I'll be more detailed, I promise. For now I'm just going to start getting ready to head of to school and ending this post with a big God bless you!

Worship Freely Tunes {23}

I'm really psyched to share this song with y'all. There's just something special about it...the lyrics, the music, the sound. It's truly a beautiful song. It gives me chills. We are the bride of Christ and one day we will see our King face to face. This song gives us a glimpse of what that looks and feels like. Hope you enjoy and let me know what you think. God bless!

"(Holy) Wedding Day"- The City Harmonic

It's Not A Religion, It's A Relationship

If there's one thing God cannot stand it's religion. God is God and His Son walked our walk and took our place so that we could freely enter His presence. Jesus did it so that we would no longer need any other intercessor but Him. He flung the gate wide open for those willing to approach. I just can't downgrade that at all. It was such a huge and hurtful price to pay but Jesus loved us. He hated the idols, and the unfaithful hearts were just too much for His heart to bear, and the sin was all too opposite of His holy nature but He loved us enough. Where sin resided His grace over abounded. He denied His own nature to come after us. Jesus with one glance could look past our mess and just see who our Father made us to be. Because He loved and continues to love us for us His message is so clear: Will we let His perfect love really transform us and break every wall? Trespass all obstacles we've set up? Will we dare let our Savior get close enough? You see it doesn't matter if you can't look at Him because He's looking right at you loving you at this moment knowing that when you let Him have His way in you you'll begin to love who He created you to be also. It's about setting aside who we think He is and just giving Him that chance to show us and reveal Himself to us, regardless of whether He comes the way we were expecting Him to or not. We've just got to let His Holy Spirit show up in our lives the way He desires to. 

As I read the Book of Amos a week back one thing really just stood out to me. God was addressing His people with pain that turned into anger because of the way they were living, because of the sin that was all too undeniable to ignore. One day they bowed down and worshipped other man-made gods and idols and the next day they were in the temple praising the living God in their fancy robes. God couldn't stand watching how they played both cards generation after generation and how they participated in such a masquerade. It was just a strong feeling of I love you so much, but why don't you truly love me back? If we pay close enough attention is this not happening today? I was this person at one point in my teenage years, showing up to church forcefully and putting on a pretty face only waiting for that last prayer in the afternoon to storm off and get back to what I called "reality". My idols weren't wood or painted plastic the way some are today but they had names: unfaithfulness, shame, and insecurity to say the least. Clapping my hands one morning and then singing anything but christian music the rest of the day. One day His love was just so big and so in my face, shining through that it woke me up to not just sort of live for Him but to live in the day to day to know His heart. If He was willing to inundate my life that night in such a powerful manner then I knew right then and there that I wanted this every single day of my life. 

God said to His people:

*~*~*

(Amos 5:21-23) 

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me. 

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, 

I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, 

I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! 

I will not listen to the music of your harps.

(Amos 6:5) 

You sing trivial songs to the sound of the harp and fancy 

yourselves to be great musicians like David. 

*~*~*

God wasn't saying that He didn't love music or fellowship but He was saying that He hated the fact that these things were being done out of religion, not because of true love for God, out of tradition and man-made regulation. Their lips were praising because they had to but there hearts were piled up sky high with idols. The music delighted the ear but the person playing the music, which is what God truly cared about, was so far from knowing God. Religion comes in all colors, sometimes it's so obvious and other times it's very neatly tucked away. The fact that God can just see right through us is why I think we feel the need to hide and why man-kind has always felt the need to hide. I think it's hard for us to fathom how holiness can look straight at us, touch us, and love on us. We don't need to hide anymore. This is to worship in truth. Let your heart be true so that He can begin to work. He loves you and I more than any song we could ever sing. In fact, he loves our music simply because we're the ones who are singing it. Without our hearts being in His hand it's just noise. You see, God offered us His Innocent Son so that through His amazing sacrifice we could have direct access to the Father once again. Since before time existed and we were in the heart of God He wanted to bring us into existence to be in relation with Him, to simply be with us and that was worship. To this day mankind has strayed. What causes us to hide from our creator, our Father, our friend? Sin. After sin crept in and we gave the enemy a foothold in our lives out came religion to invent rules so that we could earn enough merit to maybe have eternal life. maybe. Religion puts a price tag on us that Jesus already paid. God hates religion because it is only through His Son Jesus that we have access to Him. Access that isn't just offered after death, but every day of our lives. 

Religion in all it's splendor and glorious tradition didn't humble itself to die on a cross for us, it does not have life to give. Jesus bled until His very last breathe with you and I on His mind. The same eyes that saw our unformed body came to give us His body in exchange so that we could have the option to live forever by His side. Even after all that, He's not forcing us to be with Him...Jesus died to give us the choice.  Every day we have the opportunity to accept the grace of Jesus so that we can boldly approach the thrown of God. Job cried out for this when he was sick wishing and praying that if only there was someone who could plead his case before God for him. Jesus came to give us this. We don't need any other mediators (people, saints, idols). We just need Jesus. We just need His presence. I thank God that we've been given that option every day, to walk in His presence through the Holy Spirit. I thank God for such a love. I invite you to invite the Holy Spirit into your life, not just because you should or because He's just great company, but because your life will just never be the same after He invades every detail of it. I challenge you if you're a part of a worship team to think about this when you find yourself there leading, playing, or maybe in the crowd. Talk to God and let Him know that you desire Him to show up the way He wants to. As you drive He wants to talk to you just like a friend. When you're at work or at school He delights to be with you if you'll let Him. God wants to be with you and I. Beautiful, and honorable thought.

Worship Freely Tunes {17}

Hi y'all, just wanted to give you a little taste of my region and culture this week. Because I'm hispanic and born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley I thought I'd feature one of our very own. I really admire Eunice's music mainly because she's bi-lingual and her music is in english and spanish. This song is from her latest album Cielo y Tierra (Heaven And Earth) and in english it's called In Love With You. If you want you can check out her music and find this song in english on itunes. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

"Yo Te Amo"- Eunice Rodriguez

The Beginning Of True Worship: A Circumsized Heart

My Bible reading time is getting so good. I'm so close to The New Testament that I can taste it but the journey has been astonishing, slow paced but full of meditation. As I read through the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel there was one similar focal point that I tuned into: God was telling these anointed men that what He most desired was the heart. The Lord went on to pour out prophecies about how He planned to recapture Israel's hearts, how He desired for His people to circumcise their hearts. God gave them so many literal examples and symbols for what true worship really was but they (with an exception of a few) never got it. The prophet Samuel understood this when he reprimanded King Saul for choosing sacrifices over obedience. David got it when he sang in one of his Psalms about how he finally realized that The Lord takes no pleasure in sacrifices and offerings, but instead, delights in a broken and contrite heart. For a while God used these literal expressions as a shadow of the true meaning of the beginnings of worship. Before anything else, God desires to have our hearts in His hand, because to give someone your heart is to give them all of you. Change came and God was behind this transformation, ready to reveal to all that what He was trying to do this whole time was win over their hearts. The few men that understood this did life with God: walked with Him daily, invited The Lord to be where they were, and followed The Lord wherever He wanted them to go. It's so easy to recognize a move of God when you spend intimate and public time with God. In your secret place as well as the grocery store, church, between classes, at work, and during lunch conversations. This is a picture of what doing life with God is and it all begins with a rendered, devoted, circumcised heart. You see, a circumcision removes the natural protective covering and what God was saying was this: for a while guys I asked you to circumcise your children because I was giving you a picture of what I really wanted and that was for that wall in your heart that you use to keep me out to be removed so that I could come in. God wants to come in to our hearts and dwell there. Worship first involves us giving our hearts over so that His Spirit may dwell there. When Jesus came He later gave the next revelation and that was this: guys, the temple was a symbol for a long time but now I've been sent by my Father to tell you that when I leave His Spirit will now not just be with you and in you...now He's gonna be upon you because your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Lord tells us in The Book of Daniel that God is the revealer of mysteries and that He is.

*~*~*

(Ezekiel 11:19-20) I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.

*~*~*

My favorite example so far in The Old Testament of what a circumcised heart looks like would have to be in the life story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when they're put on the spot and about to be thrown into a burning furnace because they refused to worship anybody/anything else but their God. I mean, I felt empowered as I was reading this.

*~*~*

(Daniel 3:17-18) "If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” 

*~*~*

God loves and honors that heart that has let Him completely come in to the point of living a life that screams: My God is the living God and He can do anything for me but even if things don't work out the way I envision I will still love Him and keep my heart open to Him. God just can't resist this genuine heart because we were all created the same fierce and bold potential to love. This is the beginning of true worship that is born from doing life with God.

///Looking For People Going to The Bethel School of Worship in 2014///

Hey yall! So as most of you know God has placed in my heart to attend BSW next summer!!! Yay!!! I'm so oober excited! God has been providing me with connections (Gotta love my Daddy for opening the right doors). The reason why I wrote this post was to hopefully find some people out there with the same vision and plan and just get connected. I'm from McAllen Texas so I was hoping to find others leaving from Texas to Redding so that we could meet up and maybe travel together. So...if that's you and you just happened to stumble upon my blog and you plan on attending BSW in 2014 then leave a comment or just e-mail me with the deats. on the contact me tab. I'd love to hear from you and definitely to get to know you and what God wants to equip you for. This journey is going to require so much work on my part but I know God is able and in control. Do I have the funds? Not all of them. Am I a little worried? No. I am expectant though. I know that His plan requires His hand so all things will come together. I just know it. How can you help? Pray for me and this journey. Your heartfelt prayers mean the world to me guys, keep em' coming. 

-Deya

///Will You Still Worship When Your Usual Way of Connecting With God is Cut Off?///

The key that opens the door into God's presence is intimacy; It's a singular action that later turns into a plural activity. To have an intimate relationship of any kind there first has to be a connection, that bridge that allows communication between two Spirits. (John 4:24) tells us that "God is Spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." When we feed our Spirit then our flesh, weak or strong, has to submit under the authority of Jesus. The case for me this week was weak flesh and a strong Spirit. I know when you first read that last sentence it sounds a bit bizarre or maybe a bit uppity but the Lord knows the details of my week and these days have truly stripped my flesh off to only reveal my Spirit. In past seasons I've had to battle through my flesh getting in the way of my Spirit's purpose and I continue to struggle with this of course but God had something new to teach me this week. The battle that I had to face required me to solely depend on the strength of my Spirit Man: I had been feeding Him with word, music, preachings...etc. and now came the time to see the fruit of that. I have seen the fruit and the words that were declared did not return void.

Sunday night, the Lord gave me a dream: I saw myself at a party of some kind. For some reason I was there helping out and I went outside and started walking toward my Mom's SUV. When I was about to open the door I felt someone following me so I turned around and saw a young man walking up behind me. I locked the car and asked the guy if I could help him with anything and before I knew it he pulled out a gun and shot me. He just walked away after this and disappeared behind a wall. I felt myself fall to the ground and land on grass but I didn't feel the bullet penetrate me. I was shocked by this but instead of panicking I began to declare, "I cover myself with the blood of Jesus...The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want He makes me lie down by green pastures and leads me beside still waters..." And then the guy comes back, pulls out his gun, and shoots me over and over again. The more I declared The Word the angrier he got and the angrier he got the more he shot. The bullets couldn't touch me. There was like a force field blocking the bullets. The word of God became my faithful shield. I didn't know it then but God was preparing me for what was going to come and clearly He showed me that I was going to have to declare His Word through this spiritual warfare.

My voice was just gone for almost the whole week and if you express your worship to God through singing like I do then you know how horrible, horrible, that really feels. How impotent I felt when the guitar was being played. Every chord made my heart leap and my lips quiver with anxiousness. Day after day I drove in my car with only my hand raised up and my mouth tightly sealed. The Holy Spirit was there in that moment and saw my heart. It even began to drizzle so all I could do was smile. I felt in my Spirit so strongly that the enemy was not going to hear one complaint, nor one reproach, and he especially was not going to cause confusion as to why this was happening to me. My worship was not going to be defined by what I lacked, but rather, what I had. God loves it when I sing to Him but He loves me so much more. That's it right there! He wants us so so so much more than anything else we can offer Him. The way I was approaching and confronting this situation wasn't something I was doing with the intention of just receiving healing...it was about all my love being offered in the palm of my hand to my good and faithful God in the midst of difficult circumstances. I desperately wanted Him to know that I would worship and love Him no matter what I was going through...I wanted Him to just love my heart...I wanted to make Him smile.

 I didn't even have to memorize this scripture because once I read it, it was engraved in my Spirit. Spending the night on the couch far from my room could have provoked my frustration but instead I took my pillow, blanket, my Declaration Scriptures Notebook, and Bible and read until my eyes couldn't read another word. I declared (Jeremiah 17:14) after The Lord showed me this scripture as I was reading my Bible. What is used to harm us God can use to benefit us. It will work for your good if you're called to God's purposes. Will you still worship?

Make another connection and if that one is taken away make another and then another. If your voice is gone use your hands and if your hands are gone get down on your knees. If you can't dance pray and if you can't pray then converse in your mind with your God. Make a connection. In the natural you may not be able to sing so let your life be your song or maybe you can't physically bow down so let your every step be in full surrender to God. Don't let anything steal your worship because while you see it's tangible form, God see's its spiritual form. Will you still worship?

His Rain Falls When We Prepare Our Hearts

 I want to talk about those times when we lead or participate in a praise and worship service in which we feel that God's presence just didn't move. We compare one service to another or one season to another and find ourselves playing the blame game: Yup it was that out of tune guitar, those loud drums, the tired vocalists, and definitely those new songs. It's easy sometimes for us to concoct some crazy-wild explanation for something so simple. I've even found myself saying, "Lord, why? These people needed You to show up...I was dying for You to show up." I don't know if any of you can relate but this is a horrible feeling. You come home and think that you just wasted your time and even worse that you just wasted God's time and probably made Him tear up a bit from how awful that whole service turned out. I've been there and it's because I've been there that I've sought out my Lord's council. I love how he speaks into my heart so clearly. There are specific moments when I've just felt God laugh and I'm pretty sure when I've talked to Him about these things He's been just balling out, shaking His head, ready to just cradle me because the answer is so simple.

*~*~*

(Song of Solomon 1:6) 

Do not stare at me because I am dark,

    because I am darkened by the sun.

My mother’s sons were angry with me

    and made me take care of the vineyards;

    my own vineyard I had to neglect.

(Song of Solomon 2:10)

My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.

*~*~*

What The Lord revealed to me was that we, His children, are the ones who carry His presence and He confirmed this with His Word that says that we are the Temple of The Holy Spirit, His church. We're suppose to be putting the "C', "H", "U", "R", "C", "H" in "church". The only way to do this is through our relationship with God. He is always able to move but we also have the calling to release what He has freely given us. His Spirit is waiting to be releases but if we don't feed our spirit's how can we accomplish this? It's about talking to our Father because His Holy Spirit is with us and longs to be upon all of us, it's about getting into His Word for a fresh and new revelation, and it's about intimate prayer and worship behind closed doors when no one is looking. God is tired of His unfaithful bride who is ravished by many lovers. In Jeremiah 3 The Lord tells His people that "the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen" because of their unfaithfulness. God uses the words prostitution and unfaithfulness to describe our desire to seek another's council and even our own;He refers to anything that occupies the first place in our hearts. 

*~*~*

(Jeremiah 2:13)

“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

*~*~*

Do we not do this today? We lean on our own past understanding and at some point stop overflowing because we've traded fountains. We think we can survive with what we know but those moments are when we need The Lord the most. Only He can see a heart naked as it is. When He says He wants a worshiper in spirit and in truth, this is what He's referring to. He longs for His worshiper to lay beside Him and hear His heartbeat and the only way for us to do this is to cultivate that relationship. Sometimes we reach moments where we hide our faces from The Lord and sink back. He's calling out. Talk to Him. He just wants to talk to us. He just wants to love us. Our wells can't hold water but His can. He doesn't want us to struggle or get frustrated anymore. When you prepare your heart's garden He will walk in and spend time with you. Because you know Him He will listen and because He knows You His Spirit will be upon you ready to be released.

*~*~*

(Psalm 132:7-8)

“Let us go to his dwelling place,
    let us worship at his footstool, saying,
 ‘Arise, Lord, and come to your resting place,
    you and the ark of your might.

//We are that resting place that 

The Holy Spirit longs to dwell in.//

*~*~*

 "Learn to steward God's presence in stillness, not just in corporate worship." 

                                                                                           

                                                                                            —Steffany Gretzinger

When we do this through intimate time with The Lord our services and corporate gatherings will be in continuous overflow. His signs and wonders will be there. The fullness of His Spirit is the key and that key can only be given to us through spirit taught knowledge that comes from the secret place. My secret place sometimes looks like a locked room with soft Bethel or Ihop music playing in the background, or a locked bathroom with me kneeling at the foot of the tub, a car ride, or gardening time outside. The one thing that all these locations have in common is that I am alone with God in order to seek Him. You don't need anything fancy just a place where you can cultivate that relationship with God behind closed doors so that when you do life in the open you will be walking in the fullness of His Spirit and that rain will fall no matter where you find yourself.

A Season Of Seeking Out The Hidden Things

When we find ourselves secluded theses are the seasons where one on one with The Holy Spirit we grow and mature. There is always a lesson to be taught and learned. I find myself in this season right now and The Lord is who He says He is. Faithful and true, holding my hand and walking me through. After some adjustments in my life The Lord revealed to my heart and placed this scenario before me: "There is a bus that is taking you and others to the next season and you got on early. Better to be the first one on than the last because the last ones to get on I had to push and force so they come hurt, scared, and confused. This is a season of seeking out the hidden things." I've been hearing this in my Spirit and then came God's word to confirm His spirit taught words to me:

*~*~*

(Isaiah 26:20) 

Go, my people, enter your rooms 

and shut the doors behind you; 

hide yourselves for a little while 

until his wrath has passed by.

(Isaiah 45:3) 

I will give you hidden treasures, 

riches stored in secret places, 

so that you may know that 

I am the Lord, the God of Israel, 

who summons you by name.

(Isaiah 48:6-7) 

You have heard these things; 

look at them all. Will you not admit them? 

“From now on I will tell you of new things, 

of hidden things unknown to you. 

They are created now, and not long ago; 

you have not heard of them 

before today. So you cannot say, 

‘Yes, I knew of them.’ 

*~*~*

I've been what feels like the last one on the bus and it is not pretty...it hurts. I thought my wounds were going to kill me but my Lord healed me and only the scars remain. I never understood the scripture that reads that God wounded us but now He would heal us until I encountered these seasons. God raises a banner and calls out to us but sometimes we hesitate for too long and enter a zone of false comfortability. And then He is forced to drag us because He loves us and can not sit there and watch us miss the prepared table that He has set before us. The confusion and pain won't last forever because our God is faithful and will bind our wounds and wipe our tears. There is rest in knowing who we are in Christ and what God wants us to really do. We will never be able to fit a man-made mold. That yoke is too heavy and only brings us neverending burdens. They are burdens disguised as servanthood obedience and kingdom obligations but God will not permit His loved ones to be fooled. 

*~*~*

(Psalm 127:1-2) 

Unless the Lord builds the house,

    the builders labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

    the guards stand watch in vain.

2 

In vain you rise early and stay up late,

toiling for food to eat—

    for he grants sleep to those he loves.

*~*~*

Just two Sundays ago I had this vision during the service while the team and I were worshiping in song and what I saw was a beautiful treasure box. I felt my Lord's excitement. He wanted His people to open it. He desired for us to open it. I say "us" because He longs for all of His children to want more of Him. To be curious and child-like in our Daddy's spiritual matters. This makes Him happy. The treasures of our Father's heart are found through communion and relationship with prayer, worship, and reading scripture in spirit and in truth. 

There are things that I've had to step away from because God is dealing in His way with those things and desires to keep me on His track. Those "things" in the natural seem good and should have God's stamp of approval because they are ministry related and done in His name but God's ways are higher and so much sweeter. Can anybody say amen?! Some people won't agree but that's OK, the murmurs just have to roll off your back. In the secret place with The Lord and with the support of those around you who can truly perceive the move of God this period of time will bring a new revelation of who God says you are. In this season, unlike other past seasons, it was easy for me to let go and move with the Spirit of God because I know He's going to teach me something good. I've tasted this very fruit in the past and I've seen God's goodness and the joy that overflows from His dwelling place.

On another note, My Summer II Mexican American Lit class officially starts tomorrow and I couldn't be any more excited. My best friend is also teaching me to play piano, something a few seasons past I thought would be impossible. My excuse was that I'm not a good multi-tasker but God just laughs at my excuses and hugs me before sending me on my way. I've been reading through The Bible so much to the point where it's been a day long thing sometimes. I know I won't always have that kind of time so this season is so important to and for me. It's a step back in order to step in. A hungry heart The Lord cannot resist and that's my purpose in this time...to love on my God and to rest in the fact that my Beloved's desire is for me.

Highlights Of My Weekend

///Friday afternoon my Mom and I drove to meet once again with my Naturopathic Doctor. During our long wait the skies started to darken and then suddenly there came a massive downpour of rain with lightning and all. I just sat there in the waiting room thinking, oh Lord did you miss talking to me today (inside joke). God and I just dialogue like that because ever since he revealed to me that He wants to do life with me I can't go anywhere without Him nor step foot anywhere He doesn't want to go. Anyways, yes we eventually made it inside to the Doc's office and I quickly stepped on the scale anxiously anticipating some good news. Four more pounds gone! I'm feeling pretty good about my temple. There's room to meet with my Lord now (another inside joke, sorry I just had to). So to be super exact I'm totaling in at 38 pounds lost. I'm happy...ecstatic...I can't wait to jump and dance for my God freely the way He deserves (that's why this whole journey began in the first place, as stated in previous posts).

///I popped out my journals once again! It's been a long while, in fact, since I've written in my journals. Saturday night I crept downstairs with my three journals, Bible, highlighter and pen in hand. It was close to midnight so I was trying really hard not to wake anyone up. My Spirit was hungry and thirsty. I have no idea why I love having my alone time with my Lord at this time but it always just seems to click. I imagine The Holy Spirit sitting in the couch next to mine whispering yet another one of His teachings for me to meditate on. For those of you like me who attend school and have been called to God's ministry I know it's hard sometimes. Maybe you also have a job and other responsibilities. I've even told God...God, why aren't there more hours in a day. I got an answer pretty quick. We have been given the freedom to choose our priorities. But when you're in love time ceases to exist. God is first but I feel like there's confusion in this statement. If God has not told you do something then don't do it. Your Spirit, if you feed Him, will let you know instantly when something is not right. He gives us discernment. For instance, I've had about an equal amount of people express that full-time ministry trumps school, work, vocations, or careers just like others have also stressed the importance of balance in our lives because we are in this world and have been called to shine everywhere. The truth is this: nobody knows your calling except you and your heavenly Father. You have to know who you are and your personal mission so that you won't be moved even by the most eloquent of speakers. I speak from total personal experience because I see this plague sweeping over many people and it's...all that really matters is whether or not you're making God happy. Yes we want to please those we care about and yes we would like everyones support but it's just not going to happen. Know this for sure though, when God is on your side He will defend your cause because it is His cause. He will make a way when you're traveling down the road He's marked out for you to travel. If everything's going wrong and you feel like all doors have been shut and like you're getting no where then you have got to get back to seeking the Lord, something isn't right. Confirmation. We all know the Israelites that followed Moses thought he was a complete whack-a-doodle especially when they had to cross the Red Sea while at the same time an egyptian army was racing behind them trying to kill them. Imagine that. The thing is: the Old Testament is full of God's miraculous signs and wonders for that past generation and the New Testament is full of Jesus making a way for us to reflect God through His signs, wonders, and way of living. This way of living isn't about everyone selling all their possessions and moving far off into the hill country it's about hope, faith, and love. Three powerful words that have not been given enough credit. It's funny how people congratulate you once time passes by and they see the fruit of your obedience to God. Moses was applauded after God used him to part the Red Sea but right before that all the Israelites wanted to strangle him. What I'm trying to say is, live to know God's will for you because His plans are unique and individualized with the same purpose in mind. We have all been given The Great Commission but we have each received from God a way of acting out His Commission. While Paul's Calling involved preaching the Gospel to both the gentiles and the jews in foreign lands (1 Corinthians 1:17), Peter's Calling involved baptizing and preaching the gospel in other regions (Matthew 4:19). The same Great Commission was there but The Spirit of God guided them individually. If we don't have a relationship with The Holy Spirit we're going to be swept back in forth from one man-made teaching to the next. What is The Holy Spirit saying to you? The only way to find out is to speak to Him, to pray, to fill yourself up with God's Word. Only the Spirit of God can tell you what you have been called to do and how you've been called to do it.

///What can I say about Sunday? The Holy Spirit did His thing and I love His invitation for me to be apart of it. We had our Tardes De Gloria Service one hour earlier so that at 7:00 we could make a way for Chuck Pierce to speak over us as a body of Christ, as a congregation, and as citizens of The Rio Grande Valley. Needless to say the time I spent from 4:00 to 9:00 was well spent. If I can worship my God freely then I'm there. Great prophetic night.

Bringing Your Intimate Worship to The Public

In the intimate we come to know our Father's heart. Because our spirits are seeing Him we come to know Him. Now from personal experience I can honestly say that it took me awhile to learn to love seeking The Lord without a live worship band playing, because of how involved I was in this, and without the large building we have come to call "church". When I first received Jesus in my heart I went through a series of processes and one of the first ones was my constant desire to be in "church". I'm talking about spending more than three days a week and hours and hours at "church". I had to be there because my spirit was a baby and was hungry and extremely thirsty. It was a season of separation: from all that the Lord showed me was unholy for me and from any triggers that reminded me of who I was. In fact, at first, if I wasn't there I couldn't find myself. You come to realize whether or not it's really God that occupies first place in your heart when you lose it all. God strips us of everything that we hold on to that isn't Him because He wants to be our fountain. This happened to me and I struggled, cried, and even turned away for a moment from my pure love for my Father. I couldn't sing, I didn't want to sing. 

Reflecting on this I compare my situation to that of King David's. I felt just like David in The 2 Book of Samuel when him and his team were carrying the ark of the covenant back to Jerusalem after it had been stolen from them. They were so happy, celebrating their great victory, when suddenly the ark slipped and in order to break its fall one of David's men touched it with his hand causing God to kill him on the spot. David became so angry and so afraid of God that he sent the ark away to another's home because he didn't know how he could trust The Lord after that. Time past and God showed David His faithfulness. God showed David that what He did was not because He was a cruel Father. The Lord showed David how much He loved him, because he was a man after God's own heart, by proving that His people die because they lack knowledge. The Word of God shows us in the 1 Book of Chronicles that David accepts what God had done because he realized that there were laws that God Himself established in the times of Moses that he and his men had disobeyed.

Because God took me by the hand and led me into the next season of my life, which was about seeking Him at any cost, I learned to love pursuing Him without the four walls that I had become so accustomed to. That basically looked like my best friend and I spending hours and hours and days and days in my living room just expressing our worship to God with our voices and instrument. In that season I learned that where the Spirit of The Lord was there would be freedom. This scripture became real to me. My friend and I learned so much not just about music but about what seeking and finding God really meant. More seasons past and suddenly I found myself in a totally different time and place in my life in which The Holy Spirit introduced me to simplicity. What happens when the instruments and the mics are gone? He taught me the simple joy, peace, and love that flows in His presence when I close my door and forget about the noise of life to fall on my hands and knees to worship Him. Just Him and I. Because I read His Word and began to learn who He really was I became not hungry for the expressions that I utilized to connect with Him, but merely hungry for Him. I craved Him. At any cost I wanted Him. Freeze that and picture this please. That is exactly where true worship is born. Because I sought Him, He faithfully revealed Himself and then suddenly our family worship times became overtaken by The Holy Spirit, which then led to that pouring out over any place that I found myself walking through or singing at. Because now worship wasn't a word I used so lightly and singing wasn't at all anything without worship. Before I sing I worship. Before we sing or play music or do anything else we need to worship. We are worshipers first and that will clearly be reflected wherever we go. In your spirit you can perceive the atmosphere and whether or not mountains are moving and lives are changing. You don't worry first about tuning and teamwork, first worship Him alone on your own and The Holy Spirit will show up wherever you go if that is your prayer and heart's desire. He will. In order for the public to experience the presence of God those that carry the ark and know how to enter God's presence at any time must cling to the moments that they spend seeking God so that they can release that wherever they go. These are the reflections of a psalmist, of a worshiper, and of a lover of God's presence.

(Matthew 6:6) But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Worship Freely Tunes {13}

Someone put my heart's desire into words and transformed those words into song. I know I always say how much I love a song but what can I say, music is a big thing for me and I love this song. And so, I share. 

"Sweet Sweet Sound"- Sarah Reeves

We Carry Your Name Now

In The Old Testament God's chosen people, the israelites, were assigned the task of carrying and traveling with the tabernacle in which the presence of God dwelt (Exodus 29: 42-43). During the time of David's reign God chose the city of Jerusalem as his one and only dwelling place on earth (Psalm 135:21) (Ezra 6:12). The revelation then came to David that The Lord inhabited and dwelt within the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). Jesus. His name stands alone. When Jesus came He revolutionized God's dwelling place and delivered unto us all the opportunity to become that dwelling place that The Lord desired to inhabit. Jesus made the way. Jesus established that the presence of God was no longer limited to one people nor to one place (John 4:4-26). After Jesus' resurrection and departure the Holy Spirit revealed unto the children of God that we are His temple and the chosen dwelling of our living God (1 Corinthians 6:19). God chose to no longer place His name on a building but to instead place His name on His children. His name. His holy name. We carry His name now. We are the living and breathing temple that reflects God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. What an honor that a perfect God would choose imperfect people, justified by the blood of Jesus.

*~*~*

I've been reading through Bill Johnson's book, "When Heaven Invades Earth," and there are a few excerpts that I have been dying to share. 

"As the kingdom of God confronts sin, forgiveness is given and change comes to the nature that had only known how to sin. When His rule collides with disease, people are healed. When it runs into the demonized they are set free. The kingdom message's nature provides salvation for the whole man—spirit, soul, and body. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ...if we seek His kingdom first, we'll find His kingdom comes fully equipped." —Bill Johnson

"Everything that happens here is supposed to be a shadow of heaven. In turn, every revelation that God gives us of heaven is to equip us with a prayer focus." —Bill Johnson

"If I truly receive power from an encounter with the God of power, I am equipped to give it away." —Bill Johnson

*~*~*

Our future:

(Revelation 22:4) They will see his face, 
and his name will be on their foreheads. 

What a beautiful day the day we come face to face with our lover, friend, and Father. On this day the confirmation will be made publicly known that He is ours and we are His. All temples will meet their creator, their master craftsman. Beauty will take on a new definition and love will be the lamp that lights up all darkness. 

*~*~*

As the Lord's temple, as the place in which His holy presence has chosen to dwell our mission is this: we have been entrusted with a precious gift which is our body, spirit, and soul and we have the daily decision to make what physically and spiritually enters and what doesn't. Our first fruit and true worship is caring for our bodies on both levels so that when we spend intimate time with our Lord we have all of us to offer Him. It's a daily struggle but just remember, you don't have to pursue an event nor a confrence to feel whole or rekindled because His spirit dwells within you. When you speak His breath is coming out and this being the very same breath that breathed forth the constellation in the sky. He is with you, He is in you, and you are His reflection.

His Glory Rained Down

And then came Sunday. I drove off to church. I warmed-up. I prayed. I did a mike-check. Met some new people. Worshiped my King. Our service is called Tardes De Gloria (Afternoons of Glory) and that's exactly what we all witnessed. We felt God's glory rain and pour out over us. Some missionaries and prophets from Oklahoma came to pay us a visit and from the moment I stepped foot inside the church I could perceive something new, something big coming our way. Sunday after Sunday after Sunday all of us have been seeking and pursuing the Lord's presence, Worshiping and poring out songs before his throne and we finally saw and felt the overwhelming overflow of our Father's glory. It was unbearable. So unbearable that at one point I just left my mike and went over to the corner of the alter to just break down, kneeling before my God. The only living God was there but this time we just FELT Him push through us and walk among us spiritually. Our eyes could not see it but our spirits were so out of our control and completely under His control. I mean, not one person was left out...everyone drank on their own because that's what the service is all about. Getting into God presence individually as one to drink from the well. Each and every single person just making the most of the three hour or four or how ever long it takes to get satisfied. We sing and praise and worship until we burst with uncontainable life. Each person received a prophetic word from The Lord. When we finally finished the first part of our time of praise and worship (approximately one hour and a half) The man who came to release the prophetic word over our service and congregation introduced himself and gave the word out:

(Jeremiah 9:23-24) 

This is what the Lord says:

“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom

or the strong boast of their strength

or the rich boast of their riches,but let the 

one who boasts boast about this:

that they have the understanding to know me,

that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,

justice and righteousness on earth,

 for in these I delight,”

declares the Lord.

Because we've been seeking God we found Him. It's all about His presence. After the word, which was amazing because God was just speaking, the prophet and my pastor began to prepare for the altar call and the second round of our congregational worship. I was drinking out of my water jug and reaching for my mike when I heard the prophet say, "bring me that young lady." I was sort of confused because of the spiritual Ephesians 5:18 drunkenness I was experiencing. The man walked up to me and began to release the prophetic word. Most of what I can remember him saying is that I was being given a fresh anointing because I had the gift of prophecy and that The Lord wanted me to begin to release that. He said that I would hear God sing to me and that all I had to do was repeat that because God wants to speak to the church through me. I was just receiving it, over joyed, knowing that the Lord confirmed to me something that I've been acting on that His Spirit has taught me but now God gave His public approval before the whole congregation. My heart was so full because it's been a long walk and God has seen me pushed aside but He made that man walk up to me first. It's like when you have a boyfriend who's parents are talking bad about you and then he sticks up for you. I felt my groom publicly exalt me for being humble in the secret. This place though is something special filled with people who have been rescued from the darkest depths and now seek more and more to walk in the light. We stumble but we no longer fall through the power of The Holy Spirit. I'm only 19 y'all but trust me when I say...it's been a long...long walk. Through the desert and up the mountain but it's brought me closer to my God. I can't even describe anymore how I feel because it's too much to contain in words to the point where I can honestly say that words would do this experience no justice. Talk too you all soon.

Speechless...