How God lead me to choose the Jordan and Israel outreach :D
(Journal entry from February 3, 2012)
Lord so many questions still roll through my mind. The
scripture Isaiah 6:8 is a scripture that has been on my heart for a long time
now. “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who
will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me!” For the longest time I have
seen this verse just as a way to show how I am willing to go serve anywhere you
tell me. I am just waiting to be called on, but this morning I felt you tell me
to turn to this scripture again and truly look what it was talking about so I
kept reading and this is what it says, “And He said, “GO, and TELL this people:
Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.”
Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes;
lest they see what their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with
their heart, and return and be healed.”
I also was praying before this and asked the Lord to speak
to me. I flipped to Isaiah and the chapter I fell on was Isaiah 42. At first while reading it said nothing
about Israel and I was disappointed I was like God I told you to speak to me.
Then I came to the end starting in verse 22 “But this is a people robbed and
plundered; all of them are snared in holes, and they are hidden in prison
houses; they are prey, and no one delivers; for plunder, and no one says,
“RESTORE!” WHO among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for
the time to come?
This scripture tugs deeply to my heart. I want to be the one
who You use.. to bring the prophecies to light. You have given me a heart for
the end times and I desperately
want to see the prophecies come to light. USE ME for Your glory! I want to stand in the
gap for Your people… I want to be the one to GO for YOU! USE ME!
The Lord also gave me a picture.. there was a huge dining table filled with food and the places were set with beautiful white china.. the only thing missing were the people. The Lord said, "Bring my family to my banqueting table!"
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Wow I can’t believe outreach is already over. It feels like
it was just a dream.
Jordan was
absolutely amazing! We taught English to young children in a Palestinian refugee site, which
opened doors to love on the children, their families and the staff. I loved this learning experience and I
would love to use my teaching degree over seas in the future! It is such a great way to love on
children and others with Christ’s love.
He was and is my strength every day! I chose to believe that God was using my weak love to reveal
His love to each person I came into contact with. Christ lives within me so therefore where I go the Kingdom
of God goes with me!
We also made many friendships with local families while in
Jordan. We would go to their houses for dinner and just talk.. many times the
conversations would end up leading to religious topics. The Lord showed me the beauty of
friendships and partnership in ministry.. specifically with one of my friends
on my team. It was such a
relief truly grasping the freedom of running after the same goal (Christ!) while
trusting and knowing the other is being lead by the Spirit! A weight was lifted
off my shoulders. It wasn’t
something we had to try or work after.. it was just a flow. We worked together praying for each
other and just living our lives for God.
Israel was
the highlight for me!!! The spiritual warfare is intense, but I learned so much
through my weaknesses. God is so
good! Everything just came together perfectly. My love for the book of Revelation and truly having a
passion to see His chosen people (family) fulfill prophecy and call out for
Jesus (Yeshua) to return! The Bible became more alive seeing the places where Jesus
walked. Many times I would just
sit outside over looking the city of Jerusalem and become overwhelmed of
Christ’s love. He humbled Himself
and became a man so I could truly live! Everyday I couldn’t express enough my
thankfulness to Jesus and the works He did on the cross for me. Through His sacrifice I am able to
truly live in Freedom!
Being immersed in the Jewish culture was such an awesome
learning experience. Every week on
Friday nights and Saturdays the Jews celebrate the Sabbath (or Shabbat, as it is called in
Hebrew).
“For six days you may perform melachah, but the seventh day is a complete
Sabbath, holy to the Lord ... it is an eternal sign that in six days, the Lord
made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” -Exodus 31:15-17.
A small group of us went every week to a Rabbi’s house for a
traditional Shabbat meal! It was one of the many highlights for me.. seeing
their teachable hearts and obedience to the Lord!! Yes, they are missing the
most important part.. relationship with Jesus, but I learned so much from the
way they live their lives. I have
such a high respect for the Jews and their obedience to God.. who they say they
are they walk out. It encouraged
me to have a true fear of God and to be faithful in the small. Also, as Gentiles we are called to usher in
His family by jealousy.
Romans 11:11-16 (NLT)
“Did
God’s people stumble and fall beyond recovery? Of course not! They were
disobedient, so God made salvation available to the Gentiles. But he wanted his
own people to become jealous and claim it for themselves. Now if the Gentiles
were enriched because the people of Israel turned down God’s offer of
salvation, think how much greater a blessing the world will share when they finally
accept it.
I am saying all
this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the
Gentiles. I stress this, for I want somehow to make the people of Israel
jealous of what you Gentiles have, so I might save some of them. For since
their rejection meant that God offered salvation to the rest of the world,
their acceptance will be even more wonderful. It will be life for those who
were dead! And
since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also
be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as
an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will
be, too.”
To truly do this we must have relationship with His
people. Yes, our words hold
weight, but what truly is going to minister is our living testimony.. how we live
our lives! True ministry is living
our lives for Jesus and people seeing that Passion and Deep relationship with Jesus
and desiring what we have. I must
live my life for God and Him alone and people lives around me will be changed
and impacted. The most loving thing
is for me is to look to God, love Him with all my heart and live only for Him!
God is so good!!! Love & miss you all and can't wait to see guys :D
