Just wanted to share with everyone what the Lord taught me today. I found it to be very challenging and encouraging. Hope you find it to be the same!
STEPHEN
Acts 6:5 – “Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit…”
Acts 6:8 – “Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power…”
Acts 7:55 – “Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit”
What awesome tag lines Stephen has after his name. A man full of faith. A man full of the Holy Spirit. A man full of God’s grace and power. What would my tag line be? If someone were writing about me, would they say, “Jordan, a woman full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”?
Oh Lord, to have you as my label. I don’t want to just be “Jordan, a good Christian girl” or “Jordan, a really sweet girl.” I want to have a tag line that points directly to you.
But how do I get there?...
“May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Hebrews 13:20-21
Let’s simplify this verse…
“May the God of peace… equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him…”
May God equip you and may he work in us.
Father, I need you to equip me. I need you to work in me. Lord, equip me with everything good to do your will. I can’t do it on my own. I need you to work in my heart. I need you to crush this heart of stone. I need you to replace my fleshly desires with desires that match yours. I want to love what you love and hate what you hate. Lord, work in me what is pleasing to you. I want you to look down from your throne and say, “See her? See Jordan? She is my servant and she is full of faith and the Holy Spirit. She is full of my grace and power. And I love using her to bring me more glory.”
Father, I can’t do it on my own. Give me your eyes Lord. Come and change the way I see this world. Show me what is really important. I need you to invade my life supernaturally. Come and invade my whole body, from my fingers to my toes, my eyes, my brain, and my heart. Take it all Lord. I am a weak, sinful person. I want to desire you with all that I have. I want to find my joy in you. I know you are the best for me. I know that by being in your presence I will be ultimately satisfied and fulfilled. But my flesh can’t fully grasp or pursue after that.
Oh Lord, this is my prayer:
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17
When Stephen was about to be stoned, he looked up to heaven and said, “Look, I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” When he said this, the people covered their ears.
The people of this world don’t understand the things of God. They take offense at the things of God. Christ even said in John 15:19, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”
As followers of Christ, we should be so set apart from this world that the world hates us. If the world loves us as its own, I think we should be questioning the way we live. As followers of Christ, we are called to a life of suffering for his name.
Stephen was a true, no-doubt-about-it, follower of Christ:
Stephen was full of faith.
Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit.
Stephen was full of God’s grace and power.
Stephen was clearly set apart from this world.
The world hated Stephen.
Stephen suffered for the name of Christ.
I bet God looked down from His throne and said, “See him? See Stephen? He is my servant and he is full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He is full of my grace and power. And I love using him to bring me more glory.”
Now, let us all “throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.” Let us strive to live lives that separate us from this world and bring glory to our awesome God.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
To See Christ More Fully
So I recently realized that as of yesterday, I have exactly 7 weeks until my plane departs and I'm on my way to Niger! At first, this was a bit of a discouraging discovery because I thought I was down to 5 or 6 weeks, but no, 7 weeks it is. 7 weeks of waiting... waiting... and more waiting.
But the more I think about these 7 weeks, the more I realize that God has a reason, a divine purpose for this time of waiting. And I want to know what it is. I don't want these 7 weeks to be wasted. You see, these past couple of weeks I have really been struggling and fighting against myself more than I ever have before. I'm realizing more and more that I am my own worst enemy. This flesh I live in puts up a really strong fight. It will do anything to keep me from delighting in and seeking after the Lord. The thing is... That's all I want:
As I have been reading through a couple of John Piper's books - Let the Nations Be Glad and When I Don't Desire God - How to Fight for Joy - I am learning that God is ultimately glorified through the lives of those who are most satisfied in Him. It's this really cool cycle where God commands us to delight in Him. But we, as fallen, sinful beings, can't do that on our own. Only God can grant us delight in Him. So we get on our knees. We pray. We seek. One thing. Joy in Him. And when we receive that joy, He gets the glory for it. He gets the glory because He is the Giver of that joy (we can't take credit for it) and because it speaks volumes to the world when we treasure Christ above all things, even in the midst of suffering.
I was reading today in Piper's When I Don't Desire God and the name of the chapter is "The Fight for Joy is a Fight to See." I only made it through the first couple of pages before I had to quit and gather my thoughts. What I read was so simple (yet complex - it's John Piper...), and exactly what I needed. Basically the concept he presents is that in order to delight in God, it all starts with seeing the glory of God in the beauty of Christ. He says it like this:
And here is the part that sums up my goal for the next 7 weeks:
To see Christ more fully.
So this is where I now find myself. I have 7 weeks before I leave for Africa. 7 weeks to prepare. 7 weeks to ask you to join me in prayer that God would help me overcome this battle I fight against myself. I am struggling, and I need help.
To see Christ more fully. This is my prayer. It's all I want. I want to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. I want to run with perseverance the race marked out for me. I want to fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith, who for the joy set before him endured far more than I will ever have to endure. Please join me in this prayer.
But the more I think about these 7 weeks, the more I realize that God has a reason, a divine purpose for this time of waiting. And I want to know what it is. I don't want these 7 weeks to be wasted. You see, these past couple of weeks I have really been struggling and fighting against myself more than I ever have before. I'm realizing more and more that I am my own worst enemy. This flesh I live in puts up a really strong fight. It will do anything to keep me from delighting in and seeking after the Lord. The thing is... That's all I want:
One thing I ask of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
As I have been reading through a couple of John Piper's books - Let the Nations Be Glad and When I Don't Desire God - How to Fight for Joy - I am learning that God is ultimately glorified through the lives of those who are most satisfied in Him. It's this really cool cycle where God commands us to delight in Him. But we, as fallen, sinful beings, can't do that on our own. Only God can grant us delight in Him. So we get on our knees. We pray. We seek. One thing. Joy in Him. And when we receive that joy, He gets the glory for it. He gets the glory because He is the Giver of that joy (we can't take credit for it) and because it speaks volumes to the world when we treasure Christ above all things, even in the midst of suffering.
I was reading today in Piper's When I Don't Desire God and the name of the chapter is "The Fight for Joy is a Fight to See." I only made it through the first couple of pages before I had to quit and gather my thoughts. What I read was so simple (yet complex - it's John Piper...), and exactly what I needed. Basically the concept he presents is that in order to delight in God, it all starts with seeing the glory of God in the beauty of Christ. He says it like this:
"Nothing in the universe is more central than the radiance of the glory of God revealed in Christ for the enjoyment of his people. Therefore, the importance of seeing it for what it really is can hardly be exaggerated. For seeing it is foundational to enjoying it. And that joy is foundational for showing the worth of Christ in the world. It is foundational for the life of love and sacrifice and suffering that it sustains.
And here is the part that sums up my goal for the next 7 weeks:
Therefore beneath the quest for satisfaction in Christ - which sustains the life of sacrifice for Christ - is always the quest to see the glory of Christ. All strategies in the fight for joy are directly or indirectly strategies to see Christ more fully.
To see Christ more fully.
So this is where I now find myself. I have 7 weeks before I leave for Africa. 7 weeks to prepare. 7 weeks to ask you to join me in prayer that God would help me overcome this battle I fight against myself. I am struggling, and I need help.
To see Christ more fully. This is my prayer. It's all I want. I want to throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. I want to run with perseverance the race marked out for me. I want to fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith, who for the joy set before him endured far more than I will ever have to endure. Please join me in this prayer.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Fo fo!
Fo fo! (Hello!)
Wow, all I can say is God has been so good these past few days and has just been blowing me away over and over again!! Since this past Thursday night I have met several international students from Niger: CJ, Nathan, Dan, Hadiza and Omar, just to name a few, all of which speak French and Zarma, the two languages I need to learn. I met most of them playing volleyball, and volleyball is now our common ground for hanging out a few nights a week!
It has been so neat to see the ways God is constantly preparing the way and confirming His will to me through all of this! I've been thinking my trip to Niger was set to begin June 30th, but it has already begun and He's brought the mission field here to me!!!
So today I met for the first time with my new buddy CJ to get a head start on learning some Zarma. Up til now I have been trying to teach myself from a pronunciation guide that Phil, my field supervisor, sent me over email. Let's just say... Praise God I met these students!! My pronunciation has been simply awful. I discovered this on Thursday when I first met CJ and decided I would try my "Zarma-speaking-skills" on him and he had no idea what I was saying!... So back to today... My first lesson...
I met up with CJ in Starbucks on my campus, and we sat and talked for about 2 hours. He taught me some basic greetings, corrected my wrong, self-taught pronunciation, and told me a lot about the culture. Niger is primarily Muslim, and CJ got to tell me a lot about Islam and I also was able to share a lot with him about Christianity. It was a really great first meeting!!
Needless to say, I still have a very long ways to go in learning Zarma, but these few first steps have sparked such a crazy excitement in my heart about going! And being able to put real faces and names to the people I am going to be living life with for two months is starting to change everything!
I am so thankful and so incredibly blessed by how the Lord is leading and preparing me and where He is taking me!
A few key prayer points for now:
-That the Lord would continue to satisfy me in His word so that I may fully reflect His glory
-For this excitement in my heart to continue to grow!
-That He would continue to provide opportunities for me to meet with my new friends
-For doors to begin to open for the Lord's will to be done in their lives!
Kala hanfo! (See you another day!)
Wow, all I can say is God has been so good these past few days and has just been blowing me away over and over again!! Since this past Thursday night I have met several international students from Niger: CJ, Nathan, Dan, Hadiza and Omar, just to name a few, all of which speak French and Zarma, the two languages I need to learn. I met most of them playing volleyball, and volleyball is now our common ground for hanging out a few nights a week!
It has been so neat to see the ways God is constantly preparing the way and confirming His will to me through all of this! I've been thinking my trip to Niger was set to begin June 30th, but it has already begun and He's brought the mission field here to me!!!
So today I met for the first time with my new buddy CJ to get a head start on learning some Zarma. Up til now I have been trying to teach myself from a pronunciation guide that Phil, my field supervisor, sent me over email. Let's just say... Praise God I met these students!! My pronunciation has been simply awful. I discovered this on Thursday when I first met CJ and decided I would try my "Zarma-speaking-skills" on him and he had no idea what I was saying!... So back to today... My first lesson...
I met up with CJ in Starbucks on my campus, and we sat and talked for about 2 hours. He taught me some basic greetings, corrected my wrong, self-taught pronunciation, and told me a lot about the culture. Niger is primarily Muslim, and CJ got to tell me a lot about Islam and I also was able to share a lot with him about Christianity. It was a really great first meeting!!
Needless to say, I still have a very long ways to go in learning Zarma, but these few first steps have sparked such a crazy excitement in my heart about going! And being able to put real faces and names to the people I am going to be living life with for two months is starting to change everything!
I am so thankful and so incredibly blessed by how the Lord is leading and preparing me and where He is taking me!
A few key prayer points for now:
-That the Lord would continue to satisfy me in His word so that I may fully reflect His glory
-For this excitement in my heart to continue to grow!
-That He would continue to provide opportunities for me to meet with my new friends
-For doors to begin to open for the Lord's will to be done in their lives!
Kala hanfo! (See you another day!)
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Fight to Delight
So I got my passport in the mail! YAY!! One step closer to getting to Niger!
Today I feel so much better about going! I think the Lord is working on changing my perspective and reminding me that missions is solely about bringing Him glory. I think the most impacting truth I've discovered from Piper's book so far is where he said,
"The great sin of the world is not that the human race has failed to work for God so as to increase his glory but that we have failed to DELIGHT in God so as to REFLECT his glory..."
That truth has given me so much peace and comfort. And now, I realize that the foundation of what He has called all of His children to is simply to delight in Him. For when we are truly delighting in Him, our lives can't help but to reflect His glory and He WILL be glorified!!
So here I stand today, facing my newest battle - the fight to delight. Fighting for joy in Christ is a daily battle in this fallen world with so many distractions and counterfeits being thrown our way. It is the desire of my heart to simply delight in His presence to be able to fully reflect His glory.
"...in your presence there is fullness of joy..." Psalm 16:11
Today I feel so much better about going! I think the Lord is working on changing my perspective and reminding me that missions is solely about bringing Him glory. I think the most impacting truth I've discovered from Piper's book so far is where he said,
"The great sin of the world is not that the human race has failed to work for God so as to increase his glory but that we have failed to DELIGHT in God so as to REFLECT his glory..."
That truth has given me so much peace and comfort. And now, I realize that the foundation of what He has called all of His children to is simply to delight in Him. For when we are truly delighting in Him, our lives can't help but to reflect His glory and He WILL be glorified!!
So here I stand today, facing my newest battle - the fight to delight. Fighting for joy in Christ is a daily battle in this fallen world with so many distractions and counterfeits being thrown our way. It is the desire of my heart to simply delight in His presence to be able to fully reflect His glory.
"...in your presence there is fullness of joy..." Psalm 16:11
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Oh yeah.... Progress and Fun News :)
So in the midst of sharing my worries and concerns... I forgot to tell you the fun stuff!
As of March 19th my plane ticket has officially been purchased!! Which means no turning back now... Wouldn't do that anyway!
Still waiting on my passport to come in, which for some reason I am very excited about getting!
So, I also found out the "dress code" for my stay in Niamey.... Ankle. Length. Skirts. And. Dresses. I was not super excited to discover this dress code to say the least. BUT, I'm making the most of it!! Saturday I went to Old Navy and bought 4 new ankle-length skirts and dresses which I must say are fairly cute. Just have to wear a white short sleeve shirt under them to keep with the modesty. Anyway, making this purchase definitely got me more excited about going this summer!! Here's a picture of one of my new dresses:
T-shirt sales are going fairly well - still have plenty to sell so let me know if you want one!!
About to apply for my travel Visa and I guess I should be getting my Yellow fever vaccination soon. Ouch. Shots.
I think that's all :)
As of March 19th my plane ticket has officially been purchased!! Which means no turning back now... Wouldn't do that anyway!
Still waiting on my passport to come in, which for some reason I am very excited about getting!
So, I also found out the "dress code" for my stay in Niamey.... Ankle. Length. Skirts. And. Dresses. I was not super excited to discover this dress code to say the least. BUT, I'm making the most of it!! Saturday I went to Old Navy and bought 4 new ankle-length skirts and dresses which I must say are fairly cute. Just have to wear a white short sleeve shirt under them to keep with the modesty. Anyway, making this purchase definitely got me more excited about going this summer!! Here's a picture of one of my new dresses:
T-shirt sales are going fairly well - still have plenty to sell so let me know if you want one!!
About to apply for my travel Visa and I guess I should be getting my Yellow fever vaccination soon. Ouch. Shots.
I think that's all :)
From Concept to Reality
Hello all!
I want to start keeping everyone informed as progress towards going to Africa is quickly advancing! My main purpose behind keeping this blog is to allow you to partner with me in prayer on this incredible journey I have set before me! And I plan to be completely vulnerable in my thoughts and attitudes regarding the trip so that you can join me in prayer and may know specifically what you can pray for as the departure date quickly approaches.
So here's a short summary to catch you up to date:
I first felt God's call on my life to go to Africa as a senior in high school, and now, 4 years later, I am finally answering that call! Plans started last summer as I sent a very generic "help me" email to the International Mission Board where they got me in touch with the right people. It was a slow process at first, but once a few steps started being made, things have really taken off!
"Going to Africa" always seemed like a cool concept... And now, as this concept becomes more and more of a reality, the pure, sheer excitement I once had is now beginning to intertwine with nervousness when I think of the details this trip entails such as:
stepping onto that airplane alone
entering into a completely different culture alone
dealing with hardships alone
... being alone
So today, here's where you can begin joining me in prayer. As the date of my departure approaches (June 30), I am beginning to deal more and more with feelings of loneliness and fear of stepping outside of my comfort zone. I keep trying to put things back into perspective. I know this life is not about me, and I know God has never called his followers to live a life of comfort. And I have even just started reading John Piper's "Let the Nations Be Glad," which, since Sunday, has really helped to re-spark that genuine 100% excitement!
I'll wrap up this post by sharing a few points from the book that have helped in bringing me back to this excitement:
MISSIONS BEGINS AND ENDS IN WORSHIP -worship is the FUEL of missions and it is the GOAL of missions.
Goal: The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. "The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! (Psalm 97:1).
Fuel: Missionaries will never call out, "Let the nations be glad!" who cannot say from the heart "I rejoice in the Lord... I will be glad and exult in you, I will sing praise to your name, O Most High" (Psalm 104:34; 9:2).
ZEAL for the glory of God motivates world missions.
Please pray that the Lord would push away and crush my feelings and fear of loneliness as He replaces it with ZEAL and excitement for ultimately spreading His glory!!
I want to start keeping everyone informed as progress towards going to Africa is quickly advancing! My main purpose behind keeping this blog is to allow you to partner with me in prayer on this incredible journey I have set before me! And I plan to be completely vulnerable in my thoughts and attitudes regarding the trip so that you can join me in prayer and may know specifically what you can pray for as the departure date quickly approaches.
So here's a short summary to catch you up to date:
I first felt God's call on my life to go to Africa as a senior in high school, and now, 4 years later, I am finally answering that call! Plans started last summer as I sent a very generic "help me" email to the International Mission Board where they got me in touch with the right people. It was a slow process at first, but once a few steps started being made, things have really taken off!
"Going to Africa" always seemed like a cool concept... And now, as this concept becomes more and more of a reality, the pure, sheer excitement I once had is now beginning to intertwine with nervousness when I think of the details this trip entails such as:
stepping onto that airplane alone
entering into a completely different culture alone
dealing with hardships alone
... being alone
So today, here's where you can begin joining me in prayer. As the date of my departure approaches (June 30), I am beginning to deal more and more with feelings of loneliness and fear of stepping outside of my comfort zone. I keep trying to put things back into perspective. I know this life is not about me, and I know God has never called his followers to live a life of comfort. And I have even just started reading John Piper's "Let the Nations Be Glad," which, since Sunday, has really helped to re-spark that genuine 100% excitement!
I'll wrap up this post by sharing a few points from the book that have helped in bringing me back to this excitement:
MISSIONS BEGINS AND ENDS IN WORSHIP -worship is the FUEL of missions and it is the GOAL of missions.
Goal: The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God. "The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! (Psalm 97:1).
Fuel: Missionaries will never call out, "Let the nations be glad!" who cannot say from the heart "I rejoice in the Lord... I will be glad and exult in you, I will sing praise to your name, O Most High" (Psalm 104:34; 9:2).
ZEAL for the glory of God motivates world missions.
Please pray that the Lord would push away and crush my feelings and fear of loneliness as He replaces it with ZEAL and excitement for ultimately spreading His glory!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
