Being Poured Out

"But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you." -Philippians 2:17. "For I am already being poured out like a drink offering." -2 Timothy 4:6

I had lunch with a friend today and she asked me how I was doing. I didn't know how to respond. In my head should I do the typical Northwestern College thing of I'm just fine a superficial type of fine or should I tell her how I'm really feeling. I opted for the second choice and told her that for the past couple days I've been feeling empty. God's recently been putting me through lots of test, and asking me to step out in my faith in crazy and amazing ways. It's draining but so rewarding to see how God is blessing people and that I get to be a part of it. I am extremely blessed. But as He has been filling me up for months on months now, He finally asked me to pour it out (this is the analogy my friend used) And now that I have poured it out and did what He asked I am now empty once again. And He is asking me to fill myself up again.

I've never been this empty before. It's not that I am losing faith! No! God is always with me and forever will be, it's just He is deciding to be silent, I haven't heard or felt Him move in me for the past couple days, and the silence is dragging on, it feels like years instead of 3 days. And yet I know exactly why He is choosing to be silent, He is drawing away from me so that I will draw nearer to Him. Isn't that crazy, He is still here and I know it, He's just choosing not to answer me. Which I understand. So now it's a matter of filling myself up again.

I said I haven't been this empty before, which is true. But I've never felt this hungry and thirsty for more of God's Word and His presence. It's the best feeling ever and though I can't here is voice I know that when it's time He will tell me what I need to know, and lead me to where I need to go.

He has placed this great sense of peace and love over my life, and I can't help but give it to someone else, to let them feel God's peace and love. To let them know that God loves them and wants to fill them up just like He is filling me up. You see God gives us these blessing, and gifts, and whatever else. Because He chooses to do so. But they are not ours to hold on to. Where is our right to say okay God you gave it to me but it's mine to keep. How dare we even think that! What kind of Christians are we if we keep every blessing and every gift for ourselves. Fake Christians if that's what it comes down to. God wants to bless us, but He also wants us to bless other people. To pour out what He has poured out upon us, onto someone else. It's the most amazing and beautiful thing to take my own blessing, or gift and give it to someone else, or to help someone else by using the gifts God has given me.

But this cannot be done in a selfish desire. If you go into it thinking you're going to get something out of it, then it's not for God's glory. And remember God can take away a gift or blessing just as He has given it to us. Don't misuse it. Pour it out like a drink offering and see what God can do. He will surprise you. Don't expect anything from it, don't ask God "if you want to do this I will do this?" Do it for God's glory, He will continue to pour out His blessing upon not only you but the person you poured your blessing/gift upon. And the best part is, you get a chance to see it!

It's great to be a sponge and soak everything up, but there comes a time when God wants to wring you out into a cup and pour you out.

He may be asking you right now, or in the future to pour yourself out, don't hesitate. You will fill empty, but you will get a burning hunger and thirst to consume the Word of God and to sit in His presence for hours, asking, seeking, listening, crying, laughing and so on. And what better feeling is it to sit at the feet of our Lord and wait upon Him. I can't think of any other can you?

Is God asking you to pour yourself out like a drink offering?


Just think about it.

In Christ love,


His and yours

Cami

In Awe of the Almighty.

God is our Father who knows what we need before we even need it… He holds the world in His hands and created the heavens and the earth and the sea and the stars… by the power of His word He holds creation together. He knows how many hairs we have on our head and on our toes… there is no where where we can go to escape or be unseen from Him. He has great mercy and compassion upon us. He gets our heart. He loves us. He calls us his children. wow. wow. wow…

Asking; Eyes that see...Ears that hear...Heart that comprehends...

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has imagines what God has prepared for those who love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9.

So let's leave it at that shall we?... Most people do, they read they eye has not seen and ear not has not hears nor has the heart comprehended God and leave it a that- happy to accept that yes God is indescribable, awesome, big, great, amazing, which He soooo is. God is a mystery and a wonder and indescribable and all powerful and amazing.

but... here is the part of the passage that gets left out often:
"But it was to us that God revealed these things by His Spirit. For His Spirit searches out everything and shows us God's deep secrets." - 1 Corinthians 2:10.

God has revealed these things- what are the things?

The things that eye has not seen, or ear heard, or heart comprehended- these thing He has revealed to us because He lives inside us.

WOW!

It means that we can know God, hear God, live for God, honor God, walk with God, be known by God, have a relationship with God, know His will and His ways, and on and on and on.

It's not that we will know everything that God is doing, if we did... He wouldn't be God. No, it means we become so in tune with the Spirit that we see what it sees, hears what it hears, prays what it prays, and so on.

On the topic of eye has not seen. I've been asking to see people through God's eyes for a long time. It's something I have desired to be able to do, to look at person and just see them the way God does. I never thought He would answer that prayer, but He did. And I can't come up with words to describe the beauty this person shown as I looked at them with God's eyes. Holy Cow, I wish I could see everyone like that. And I know I am not ever worthy of that kind of thing to see this person radiate God's beauty and oh my it was BEAUTIFUL and I can never look at them the same again. I can't, when I saw this person I couldn't look away, the beauty just radiated from their every being, Jesus was so prevalent. His light shined throughout the entire building. It was magnificent.

And just by that it makes me thirst and hunger for all the things God has for me and even for these people I get to see. I want to live by the Spirit, in the Spirit, and through the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit lives within us- God IN me. He will always teach me and guide me. WOW. WOW. that makes me so excited, that were are freed by the realities of this world, by the mundane look of this world, about the judgment of appearances because the eye can see and ear can hear and our heart can know the good things that God has prepared for us because he lives within us and reveals those things to us.

Keep praying for the Spirit to come fill you up. Pray what the Spirit is praying, He will fill you up and you will forever be changed. It is so amazing and unfathomable and I can only tell you that God wants to fill you, He wants you to see people the way he does, he wants to give you your spiritual gift. But first he wants you to seek Him out, constantly seek Him out.

John 14:14 says "You may ask for anything in my name, and I will do it." and Luke 11:10 says "For everyone who ask receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened."

Ask him so the eye can see and the ear can hear and heart can comprehend. Don't ask just once or twice, but continue on asking, and seeking God's face and digging into His Word. The answer won't come when you expect it to, but it will come.


What should you be asking for?



Just think about it



His and yours


Cami

Faith.

faith acts.

faith has actions.

if we believed what we believe in we would act upon it and do it.

faith obeys.

faith jumps.

sometimes we need to jump off the cliff only to discover that we will fly as God does the impossible and empowers us.

God vs. Idols: The Pleasures of Today or an Eternity with Jesus...

I recently heard this story about a Man in China who was thrown into a prison cell for his faith. He spent a year in solitary confinement with absolutely no human compassion, no conversation, no light, nothing. Just a plate of food once a day that was shoved under the door. And when he came out after that year in darkness he was nearly blind but his face was so radiant, so full of life people would come up to him and ask him what happened what was it like and his response was: "It was like a honeymoon with Jesus."

Here are some questions to prayerfully ask yourself; where do I spend the best hours of my day? Where do I turn to for rest enjoyment, and pleasure? And are there things in my life that I can’t imagine giving up? It’s one of the best ways to tell if something has become and idol in you life. Can you imagine giving it up, would you be willing, if God asked you to, to give it up? Even the good thins in our lives can become idols. Even if we’re in a relationship, or married, or family, or friends. Those things can become idols if we’re putting them above God.

We want to be close to God, but we spend so much time on other things on facebook, on our cell phones, watching TV, then we do praying and seeking Him.

Where do you spend the best hours of your day? Do you wait until you are exhausted and then try to have a Bible study? Do you spend all you best energy on things that are not focused on the Kingdom of God?
And what do you go to for rest, enjoyment, and pleasure? Do you go to His presence? Do you realize that a time in His presence, a prayer time will give you everything you need? Every bit of refreshment, every bit of joy, every but of peace, every bit of fulfillment. Or is that just sort of a concept that like “Yeah that sounds nice but I’ve got to have this, I’ve got have my time with my friends, I’ve got to have my movies, I’ve got to have my facebook time in order to have those things in my life, the joy and rest and fulfillment.

Would we be fulfilled the way the man in the story above was if all was to be stripped away? Are we will to give up now and not wait until we’re thrown into a prison cell in order to have a honeymoon with Jesus?

If everything was stripped away and you were thrown into a prison cell would Jesus Christ be enough for you?

Reckless Sacrifice

Christ's call is to feed the hungry, not the full; to save the lost, not the stiff-necked; not to call the scoffers, but sinners to repentance; not to build and furnish comfortable chapels, churches, and cathedrals at home in which to rock Christian professors to sleep by means of clever essays, stereotyped prayers, and artistic musical performances. But to raise living churches of souls among the destitute. To capture men from the devil's clutches and snatch them away from the very jaws of hell. To enlist and train them for Jesus and to make them into an almighty army of God.
But this can only be accomplished by a red-hot, unconventional, unfettered Holy Ghost religion where neither church nor state, neither man nor traditions are worshiped or preached, but only Christ and Him crucified. Not to confess Christ by fancy collars, church steeples, or richly embroidered altar cloths, but by reckless sacrifice and heroism in the foremost trenches. - C.T. Studd.


What is your reckless sacrifice?
What will you give up for God?


Just think about it.

His and yours

Cami

Direction.

"God is fair and just; he corrects the misdirected, send them in the right direction. He gives the rejects His hand, and lead them step by step. From now on every road you travel will take you to God. Follow the Covenant signs; read the charted directions." -Pslam 25:8-10 the Message

"In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling." -Exodus 15:13 NIV

"Show me the path where I should walk, O Lord; point out the right road for me to follow. Lead me by You truth and teach me, for You are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in You." -Psalm 25:4-5

"You, Lord God, are my mighty rock ad my fortress. Lead me and guide me, so that Your name will be honored." -Psalm 31:3

"For that is what God is like. He is our God forever and ever, and he will be our guide until we die." -Psalm 48:14

"Ask me, and I will tell you things that you don't know and can't find out." -Jeremiah 33:3

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. he will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he had heard. He will tell you about the future." -John 16:13

"The Lord says. "I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you." -Psalm 32:8

"I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand You guide me with you counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory." -Psalm 73:23-24

In need of direction?
Trust in the Lord your God.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and fine me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you." -Jeremiah 29:11-14a

The Lord is not hiding from you. Are you hiding from the Lord?

Just think about it.


His and yours


Cami