What am I reading?

I love to post little snippets about books I'm reading, because its a great way to communicate what I'm learning or thinking about. I've read a ton of books being out here, but I'll only post my favorites. I figure it'll spur readers onto check them out, or hear from the Lord in the same areas.

This book really struck a deep chord in me, as it evoked emmense hunger to go deeper into God. Bill shared his own journey of "crying out for more" and how God answered. It reminded me that we only have as much of God as we are asking for; or as much of Him as we think we need. The greatest purpose for my existance is intimacy! I was created in the image of God - a Trinity - who has always existed in communion. So also I was made for God, stated so well in the lines of a favorite IHOP song, "I was made for love..." It encouraged me to be all the more ardently intentional in my prayer life - to be jealous with my time and my priorities - to seek Him with all my heart, and find Him!

This book affirmed the purposeful way God has created me uniquely - with abilities and passions that only I possess - which fully expressed become a unique shout of the kingdom of God! It affirmed my identity in the Lord; that there is no part of my redeemed self that isnt valuable for God. The church so over "spiritualizes" serving God by separating "the secular" from "the church" - when in reality all we should do in vocation, pleasure, and community - should be an expression of His ways on earth. God made me good - with all my passions for prayer and worship and even the little things like my love for relationships, bonfires, good chai, antique blue glass bottles, and fashion magazines. I want all of me, to be all for God - and it spurred me to shoot for the stars in my steps into the future...

I emmensly enjoyed Purity. In fact I read it in one day. Some of these books read like run of the mill after a while but there was some fresh perspective in this one. A few things that stood out to me - Kris said that the enemy's counterfeit for righteousness is prudery - another form of legalism. I tend to agree. People today are living in sexual insanity - and so often the church reacts as if sex was evil and shameful. Remeber, God created sex and its good, within the intended context of a covenant relationship between a man and a woman! Instead of the church running and hiding, I'd propose another solution: lets take the lead church. Lets model healthy sexuality expressed in happily faithful marriages. Lets model healthy modesty women- beauty displayed without being provocative! Lets model purity without legalism, from the inside out and not the outside in. (We are pure as we walk out by faith who Christ is within us) Rules and regulations dont control the sinful heart - only repentance and forgiveness washes us clean. We can only be pure as we walk out who Jesus is, by His enabling power, and in community.

"Visions Beyond the Veil" is an account from Heidi Baker about corporate encounters with the Holy Spirit, experienced by the children at her orphanage in China. As far as I can see I read this as a literal account, trusting that if children ask for more of the Holy Spirit - God, begin a good father, will indeed meet them. (He will not give them a stone when they ask for bread.) Little boys taken off the street, newly saved, were taken up into Heaven and given revelation on many things. I was astounded at how accurate the children's accounts of end times were - because Im presently studying Revelation. God promised in end times He would pour out His Spirit - and I know the church is beginning to experience this in greater measure. It encourages me to ask for more without fear!

This was one of the ones I didnt read on my own, but in community with Servant Team. We read it and had two discussions about how it changed our perspectives - and we all found it quite profound. The things that stuck out to me were fresh light on the incarnation and temptation. God revealed Himself through Jesus - the God man who came in the flesh. I began to understand the reason God voluntarily modeled weakness and entered a human frame was to reveal love - even to death on a cross. Revealing His love He was giving human beings an opportunity to then choose Him. At the temptation the enemy tried to entice Jesus to be a kind of masquerade, forcing His power rather than following the will of the Father to submit Himself to weakness unto death. Jesus chose to became nothing for us, which is the very power of the kingdom of God revealed. Now God has exalted Him in the highest place! Seeing this chosen weakness in the Incarnation, it has pushed me in this context to humble myself among the poor for love's sake - to enter into life among them and serve them to reveal His love! I also see through His revealed love, how sacred humanity's free will is to God. My choices for/or against God, truly matter with eternal ramifications. Profound.

This was hearing from an amazing guy who created community's to serve the disabled - to rescue them from the coldness of institutions into the warmth of community life. I am able to serve Jesus by serving broken human beings, and often I end up seeing my own brokeness in another's pain. Ultimantly all of humanity is the same - we all live and breathe and have basic needs for God and others. Reading some of the lessons learned in this context, felt like reading about our life here. God's taught my servant team alot while serving the poor. As we've given four months of our life, a tiny sacrifice - God's poured tenfold back into us. Weather its bathing an old lady who doesnt walk (which I do every week at the WMF home for widows) or chillen with homeless kids on the street - God's poured His love into our hearts. Funny how it works like that in the kingdom - you give everything away and you then you receive.

"Intercessor" was a book I started and brought on the planeride. Right away, it spoke to my time in Nepal - through the story of a simple Welsh man's prayer life. God called this guy to some downright crazy stuff, each time he said yes in prayer. He learned that although we have all authority in Christ - we learn to walk in it as the kingdom first becomes a reality within us. You can only give away what you have first received. For example, Rees was challenged to take care of a very sick man, who was contagious with a nasty disease. God told Rees that he'd be protected and he'd have to believe it, before God would answer his prayers to heal the man. Rees walked in faith (agreement) and tended to this guy's bedside for months - yes, Rees didnt get ill - then the man was healed after a long battle of prayer. In the same way God challenged me to trust Him for His protection over my health in Nepal, and its a journey of faith Ive been walking. I have been well for weeks now after I chose to believe God's word, and now He's asking me to pray for healing for others. Also its similar to the story of my service to the poor. (I volunteer at an orphanage a few times a week.) I asked God to put His love for them into my heart - so it would be more powerful than just my own affections and service. He challenged me to lay down my life by asking me if I am willing to adopt a child in the future - when I agreed - He began to pour His love for them into my heart and I've never been the same. (None of these stories are typed to cause you to admire me or glorify the work being done here- rather to spur you on to say yes to God and watch Him do His awesome thing!) I want it to continue! I want to keep saying yes, and going deeper into His heart!