favorite songs

I just wanted to share two of my new favorite songs right now. You may have seen I posted them on Facebook but they're worth a re-post!

"Given" by Matt Stinton

This one's not been released on any albums yet.

"Pieces" by Amanda Cook

From her new album, "Brave New World"

being like Jesus: walking in power for the miraculous

As believers, most of us would agree we are called to be Christlike. And yet, many believers do not actually believe they can be like Jesus, at least in this life. I didn't used to believe that I could totally overcome sin or see the miraculous mark my life and ministry. Now I do.

2 Peter 1:4 actually says that through God's promises, we "may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire." We know we are called new creations and that the old man has died with Christ.

I'm going to talk about the new nature and our ability to live free from sin in a future post; this one is going to be about walking in the miraculous as Jesus did.

In his book, When Heaven Invades Earth, Bill Johnson suggests that though Jesus was entirely God, he chose to live as a human with the same limitations men would have once redeemed. This is hard for me to completely accept, but I ask myself whether that's because it's not true or just because my experience tells me otherwise. I never want to form what I believe based on my experience instead of what God actually says. I'm in process on this. Jesus did say, "The Son can do nothing by himself," (John 5:19) and it is written that he was led by the Spirit. The distinctions of his humanity: Jesus had no sin separating himself from God, and he lived in dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit.

Like Jesus, we have no sin separating us from God once we have been justified through Jesus' blood. If we argue with this point then we question whether his sacrifice was enough for what he intended to accomplish! The question then would be, "how dependent on the Holy Spirit are we willing to live?" (p. 30)

It is undeniable that Jesus favored miracles and acts of power in his ministry, and that he sent out his disciples to do the same. Why? Bill goes into many reasons for this in his book, but I found it particularly impactful when he said, "It is common for people to acknowledge the kindness of the Church and still not be brought to repentance. But power forces the issue because of its inherent ability to humble mankind. Jesus said, 'If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin." John 15:24 (p. 121) His miracles proved he was from God.

Miracles display God's power, and his incredible love. They can skip past theological discussions and defeat doubts of God's existence. They bring joy!

"The Kingdom of God is not in word but in power." 1 Corinthians 4:20

Jesus' words: "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."" John 14:12-14

Right there Jesus says we are not only not limited to doing only the measure of miracles that he did, but even greater things. He also doesn't just say his disciples would do this, but "whoever believes" in him, and he who asks.

Again Jesus says, "These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mark 16:17-18)

Quoting Bill, "God doesn’t have to try to do supernatural things. He is supernatural. He would have to try to not be. If He is invited to a situation, we should expect nothing but supernatural invasion.” (p. 74)

Bringing heaven to earth

Jesus taught us to pray, "Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Our job is to bring heaven to earth. Bill says, "If it exists in heaven, it is to be loosed on earth. If it is not free to exist in heaven, it must be bound here." (p. 59-60) For example, there are no tumors in heaven so we have the authority by faith to tell tumors to vanish here on earth, as well. Whether they always do and why is another discussion.

I love this analogy, "Just as ambassadors of the United States have an income based on the standard of living of this nation regardless of what nation they serve in, so also ambassadors of the kingdom of God live according to the economy of heaven, though they are still on earth." (p. 74)

This is a super rough overview of what I've been learning about our ability to walk in the miraculous, but it's a start. I'd highly recommend reading the book for more depth and his biblical basis! It's a scary thing to conclude God may actually want us to seek to walk in the miraculous because that requires a ton of risk! But I am learning it is so worth it.

becoming a Californian

I can’t believe I’ve now lived in California for over two months. I’m practically a Californian.

Mom and Dad helped me drive my car out here in late July. We made a road trip out of it, stopping by the Badlands, Yellowstone, Craters of the Moon National Monument, Boise, Idaho (to visit my boyfriend Ryan’s family), and Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.

Mom and Dad then stayed in California with me for a week. We took one coastal trip to Trinidad Beach and Redwoods National Park, but otherwise we stayed in Redding and they helped me out by doing things like Dad oiling our squeaky doors and Mom ironing all my clothes crumpled from the move. They also visited Bethel Church with me and absolutely loved it as much as I do.

Once they left, to be honest, settling in was hard. The Lord provided an awesome roommate for me who I already knew from Kingdom Life, the church I attended in college, and she “just happened” to arrive to Redding the same day as me! (God totally knew I had no idea how lonely I’d be and that I needed at least one familiar friend!). But I still felt the reality of starting over - in friendships, job searching, a new church community, an entirely new city, and the first few weeks were rough. Though somehow, I never questioned whether I should be there.

My other two roommates are from Sweden. I connected with them on Facebook back in May, we Skyped, loved each other, and decided to be roommates! I feel so connected to them already it can only be because God put us together. I’m so thankful!

Me and my Swedes, Victoria and Jennie, first day of classes

For all the applications I did, the only place I got an interview I also got hired on the spot, for a Starbucks in a Target store. When asked if I like it, I reply with something like, “I’m thankful to have a job.” It’s not The Bridge Café I worked at in Upland, but jobs here are really hard to come by and I’m truly so grateful I was able to get one so quickly. I’m working about 20 hours a week.

I love Bethel Church. I love it. It is incredible to be in a community of believers, many of whom moved here specifically for this church. It’s unreal to be led in worship by leaders such as Jeremy Riddle, Brian and Jenn Johnson, and Kalley Heiligenthal on a regular basis, who lead with such excellence that it’s not about them at all, but they help lead us straight into connection with the Father. I’ve been listening to Bethel podcasts for a couple of years, and yet actually hearing Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, and Eric Johnson preach as a member of the congregation brings an even greater level of impact for sure.

Praying for healing is a very regular part of church here, and people are healed at almost every single service. At services I’ve attended there have been healings of everything from eczema vanishing, to bones that stuck out going back in place, to perpetual pain experienced for decades leaving in an instant, to full movement being restored to limbs. Leaders have also shared testimonies of even more drastic healings taking place, like a child healed of autism and a quadriplegic receiving full restoration of movement and running around. While I know God can do anything, I’m being so challenged to believe he actually wants to do extravagant things for us, to demonstrate his love! There is no limit to what Father God will do for his children when they cultivate an environment of extreme faith and power in the Holy Spirit!

This is a place where the Word is preached, but not just for the sake of gaining head knowledge. We are continually challenged to activate our faith, even during services. Almost every service we are led in going after breakthrough in specific areas, taking a stand to demonstrate our intention to change (whether it’s to stop believing a lie, stop living in shame or sin, to step out in faith in a specific area, or embrace a truth or opportunity), and surrounding those who are standing for change in order to lay hands on them and pray for them (whether we know them or not). Ministry team members and church leaders continually make themselves available to pray with congregation members, as well.

So after a couple of weeks of working and a visit from Ryan, school started in early September. We’ve had class Monday-Thursday from 12:30pm-5:45pm for four weeks now! We have revival group once a week, which is like a home group. Each group has a pastor, and mine is an Australian dad in his 30s (I’m guessing) who carries the love of the Father so strongly that I sometimes want to cry just from his hugs. I’ll also have a small group and one-on-ones with third year student interns. This year 47% of first year students (in total around 1100) are internationals, the biggest percentage they've ever had! Pretty awesome. I have neighbors from Norway, the UK, Germany, South Africa, Portugal, and of course the USA.

School has been amazing. It’s stretching, definitely not comfortable all the time, stuff God wants to work on and heal in my life is being stirred up, but I’m learning so much. Really, even just spending an hour a day in worship is bound to change you! We’ve already read two of Bill Johnson’s books and have Bible reading assignments each day as well. (I'd highly recommend both of Bill's books, When Heaven Invades Earth and Hosting the Presence.) I’m really looking forward to beginning our elective classes and city service projects next month. It's such an empowering and loving culture, from registration day our interns and pastors have been praying over us and prophesying over us, unafraid to believe the Father has huge things in store for our futures. They want us to be our absolute best, to become more and more who we were created to be, and their sole purpose as pastors and interns is to help us become that! It's pretty amazing.

I already have a lot of notes from teachings that I want to share, but I wanted to get this blog out first just to give an overall summary of where I’m at.

Stay tuned!