THOUGHTS OF AN URBAN MISSIONARY:MY PRAYER TONIGHT

IMMERSED...DYING TO MYSELF DAILY...SACRIFICE....RECEIVE MY FREEWILL OFFERING...WHOLLY SURRENDERERD...WANTING MORE...THE DEEPER I GO THE MORE I DESIRE TO GO FURTHER STILL...WITH A HOLY GOD WHO LOVES ME MORE THAN I'LL EVER FATHOM
FAILURE THAT I AM SO MANY TIMES...FLAWED YET ACCEPTED...WORTHY OF THE FLAMES OF HELL, YET REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB...I WAS A LOST SHEEP AND YOU SEARCHED FOR ME...I WANDERED FAR AWAY, YET YOU FOUND ME...WHEN I DID NOT LOVE YOU OR DESIRE YOU, YOU STILL PURSUED ME...WHEN ALL I WANTED TO DO IS LIVE FOR MYSELF, YOU TOOK A CROSS OF SHAME...MY PLACE YOU TOOK...AND SO MANY MORE JUST LIKE ME...LOST AND CONFUSED...BATTERED AND SCARRED BY SIN...NOTHING BUT EMPTY PROMISES HAVE LED THEM FARTHER DOWN THE PATH OF DARKNESS AND DESTRUCTION...I'VE BEEN THERE BEFORE...AND I'LL GOT THERE AGAIN BUT NOT ALONE...THIS TIME I'M SENT AS SALT AND LIGHT BY MY SAVIOR ON HIS THRONE...THE THRONE OF MY HEART...AS SAVIOR AND LORD...GO AND TELL THEM!
LET THE REDEEMED OF THE LORD SAY SO...HE SAVED MY WRETCHED SOUL...HE INVITES YOU TO COME TO THE WELL AND DRINK...SIT AT HIS TABLE AND EAT THE BREAD THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY...YET IS GIVEN FREELY, IN ABUNDANCE, TO ALL WHO ASK...NEVER AGAIN WILL YOU HUNGER OR THIRST...SURRENDER TO HIM...AN OFFERING AND A SACRIFICE...WHOLLY SURRENDER TO THE SAVIOR OF YOUR SOUL...COME BE ABSORBED INTO THE BLOODSTREAM OF THE ONE WHO BLED FOR YOU...BE IMMERSED...SATURATE YOUR LIFE WITH HIS GOODNESS AND HIS GRACE...LET HIS LIFE FLOW THROUGH YOU, A LIVING SACRIFICE...COME TO THE SHORE OF MERCY...THE THRONE OF GRACE...LOOK INTO HIS GLORIOUS FACE...FIND YOURSELF AS YOU LOSE YOUR LIFE IN HIM...NEVER AGAIN WILL YOU FEEL ALONE.
JESUS TAKE ME DEEPER STILL...HOLY SPIRIT FILL ME AND USE ME...FATHER IN HEAVEN DRAW ME TO YOUR SIDE...BE MY ANCHOR...MY ROCK...MY FORTRESS...MY SHELTER FROM THE STORMS OF LIFE...BREAK THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY AS HE DESIRES TO SIFT ME LIKE WHEAT...HE'S GOTTEN IN A FEW GOOD BLOWS...AND HE STILL TURNS HIS UGLY HEAD MY WAY FROM TIME TO TIME...BUT YOU ARE MY LORD OF LORDS...MY KING OF KINGS...MY PRINCE OF PEACE...NOTHING OR NOONE CAN EVER SNATCH ME FROM YOUR HAND!
I PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE WHERE I HAVE BEEN...I PRAY FOR THE WAIFS WHO RUN IN THE STREET, LOOKING FOR A HERO...SOMEONE TO STAND IN THE GAP...LORD FILL ME WITH YOUR SPIRIT FOR THE TASK AT HAND...FILL ME WITH PASSION...SO THAT WE MAY SNATCH THEM FROM THE HAND OF THE ENEMY...WHEN I CLOSE MY EYES AT NIGHT I CAN SEE THEIR YOUNG FACES...FILLED WITH HOPE...DREAMING BIG DREAMS...I PRAY, O LORD, THAT THEY MAY COME TO KNOW YOU AND YOUR AWESOME PLAN FOR THEIR LIFES...AND WHEN MY LIFE IS OVER AND ALL IS SAID AND DONE...YOU ARE MY LORD...AND I LOVE YOU!
WHY YOU USE A MAN LIKE ME I'LL NEVER UNDERSTAND...YET I PRAISE YOU...USE ME FOR YOUR GLORY...YOUR PURPOSE...THIS IS MY PRAYER TODAY...FROM THE FRONTLINE OF BATTLE...HEEDING THE CALL TO THIS FIELD OF HARVEST!

Please Pray for my young friend James

There is a single mom that has been regularly partaking of our community meal who has made it known to us that her eleven year old son, James, has been diagnosed with tumors in his brain.

This hit home for me because my own two boys are 9 and 11 years old and are healthy.

Would you please make it point to lift this young man up in prayer (along with his mom and siblings).

My Summit Experience with the Living God.

My Personal summit with the triune God began as I entered into a personal, vertical relationship with the Father, the Son, and theHoly Spirit. It began at the foot of the cross and culminates when I meet Him in the air. This is when I will reach the summit of God’s holy mountain. Until then I will continue to soar to new heights, as the Spirit of God lives in me and through me and guides me along in this journey called life.


Psalm 50:1-5

1 The Lord, the Mighty One, is God,
and he has spoken;
he has summoned all humanity
from where the sun rises to where it sets.
2 From Mount Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines in glorious radiance.
3 Our God approaches, and he is not silent.
Fire devours everything in his way,
and a great storm rages around him.
4 He calls on the heavens above and earth below
to witness the judgment of his people.
5 “Bring my faithful people to me—
those who made a covenant with me by giving sacrifices.”


My United summit with the triune God.
My vertical relationship with the living, triune God is best expressed in a community environment. There is unity in community. This is my horizontal relationship with the body of Christ, which is made possible as I connect with God on a personal level. I become absorbed into the bloodstream of the body of Christ. I become one with the triune God and the Church as I become grafted into the True Vine, which is Jesus Christ (John 15:1ff).

The cross represents these two connected levels of relationship.We cannot have one without the other. Jesus said,

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’40 The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40) NLT

John later wrote,

11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. 13 So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
14 If we love our Christian brothers and sisters it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. 15 Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.
16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?
18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. (1 John 3:11-18) NLT

Dreaming Big and Praying Hard

Charles Finney once said, "When you attempt great things for God, you can expect great results from God."

I was recently reading through Kirsten Strand’s “Community 4:12” Blog. Kirsten leads Community 4:12, a ministry of Community Christian Church (CCC) of Naperville, Ill, which brings compassion, social justice, and community development to under-resourced communities. CCC has adopted the inner-city community of East Aurora, as they seek to live out the Biblical mandate to serve needy, marginalized people. Kirsten has served as the catalyst in this community, through organizing servant evangelism and community outreach projects.

In her most recent blog entry, Kirsten included a hit list of big dreams she is praying for; things she would like to see happen in 2008. At first glance the list looks like wishful thinking, but, as the title of her post (Mountain Moving Prayers #2) suggests, her faith is not in what she can do, but in what God can and will do through her. I got to thinking about Kirsten’s Big Dream list. It’s not too much different than my own. Yeah our dreams are big, but God is infinitely bigger. We serve a big God who compels us to dream big.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (Eph. 3:20)

Ephesians 3:20 is a verse that I regularly camp out in, because it tells me that His power is at work (within us), to accomplish all that He places in our human hearts and minds, and so much more; that combined with my life verse of Proverbs 3:5&6,

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight (Prov.3:5-6)

I am thoroughly convinced that what God desires to accomplish through us is far beyond anything we can rap our minds around. Many times I find myself trying to manage the vision God has given me, when He's simply asking me to be obedient and faithful and let Him do the rest. It is surprisingly refreshing when I am reminded that it is His church and that it is He who gives the increase.

I really appreciate reading about what Community 4:12 is doing. Our God is encouraging me through what they are doing; that others are successfully making His name known in their own community and if we (here in upstate NY) follow the example others are setting, we will see similar success as we make His name known here in Troy, New York. We truly reap what we sow. Dream big. Pray hard. Trust in the God who gives us big dreams, and wait expectantly to be blown away by what He will do with faith the size of a mustard seed.