My Church History Final Paper about The Azusa Street Revival August 3, 2015

I just finished taking Church History V through Școala Biblică here and I was so stirred up by the amazing people we read about and the revivals we learned about that I want to encourage everyone to really look into the amazing history of the church! We had to pick a revival or a person we learned about that greatly impacted us and write a paper about them, so here is my paper (it was supposed to be 5-7 pages, so i’m sorry for the length, but I think you’ll enjoy it):

The Azusa Street Revival was the Pentecost that changed the course of the modern day church forever in 1906. This revival began the pentecostal movement that has shaken the world in the last 100 years. God poured out His Spirit in such a miraculous way that many came to know Jesus and be radically transformed by Him as they were baptised in the Spirit. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit as we know it today had been very inconsistently taught in the history of the Church before Azusa Street. Charles Parham, William Seymour, and later William Durham are the three most influential men in this world revival, there’s much to learn from these men and from the revival that sprung up from their lives seeking after the fullness of what God has for His people, so let’s dive in.

Coming out of the 19th century, the church had just experienced the holiness movement of Jonathan Edwards, pockets of people were hungry to see divine healing and small groups had been seeking out the Holy Spirit. They believed sanctification, was the second blessing after salvation and some were searching for the third blessing of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. As the 20th century began, Agnes Ozman ushered in the beginning of the great Pentecost. Ozman, a student of Charles Parham was celebrating with the rest of her class about what they found in the bible about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. They discovered that clearly speaking in tongues was to be the initial evidence of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Ozman wanted this so she went up to Parham for prayer very hungry for this power and as Parham prayed the glory of God invaded and Ozman spoke in Chinese for three days. This began the outpouring in Kansas where many spoke in over 21 languages as they were filled with the Holy Spirit; Parham soon felt the need to bring this elsewhere and started traveling, about four years after, he settled in Houston, Texas  establishing a faith-work bible school where many were influenced.

Soon William J. Seymour, a black, one-eyed, holiness church pastor heard about Parham’s school and went to attend the classes. Because of racial segregation at the time Parham and Seymour worked out a plan for him to attend the school while sitting outside the windows, he learned everything he could from Parham while waiting in expectation for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile in Los Angeles there was a stirring amongst the holiness churches to receive the power of God; specifically, Frank Bartleman and Joseph Smale had been hearing about what was happening in Kansas and in Wales where there was an outpouring. Smale was a Baptist holiness pastor who had went to Wales to experience the outpouring and bring it back to his congregation where he began holding revival meetings seeking this same outpouring of the power of God, but soon his church board ejected him from leadership. Bartleman was a holiness preacher who had wrote back and forth with Evan Roberts (who had been leading the Wales revival) to see how he could bring this move of God to LA. With these two praying and fervently believing for revival, LA was ready to receive.

Seymour soon received an opportunity to go and preach in California so he packed up and went preaching Acts 2:4, ‘And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.’ The message of tongues wasn’t well received, but this didn’t discourage him, he interceded and sought God for what to do next, soon the home of the Asburys on Bonnie Brae Street invited him to speak and pray there and a group came that were interested in learning more. At this point Seymour himself wasn’t baptised in the Holy Spirit, but he was still earnestly seeking it.

On April 9th, 1906 Seymour was walking with Mr. Lee, a man who opened up his home for Seymour to stay at, to the meetings and as they walked Lee asked Seymour to pray for him, Lee was baptized and spoke in tongues and the two of them rejoiced greatly and went to the meeting to testify of what had happened. As the faith increased and hunger increased eight more people were baptised that evening including Seymour himself and a woman named Jennie Moore, who began to play beautiful music on the piano and sing in Hebrew, she had never played the piano before, but was able to for the rest of her life. This began the Pentecost in Los Angeles, God’s presence and glory would come and invade these meetings full of whites and blacks and they would see miraculous healings, as well as prophesies, and tongues interpreted.

From these small beginnings erupted a mass revival, they had to find a bigger place to meet, so they moved to an old horse stable on Azusa Street cleaning it up where Seymour could stay and where the Apostolic Faith Mission would have it’s main headquarters. As the community began to see what was happening, newspapers began writing articles about what was happening and by the end of 1906 the news had spread as far as London! As many crowded in to see what God was doing, the community surrounding the building kept reporting them for different things, such as blocking the streets, fire coming from the top of the building, unsupervised children and because of the cramped quarters there were supposed health and sanitary risks, but none of these things could stop what was happening. People from different churches, whom were losing members, came to try and bring order and correction to Seymour and these meetings, but as they contended with Seymour, his Godly meek character would always settle or win the challenge.

Seymour had a dream of an interracial Pentecostal movement that would serve as a positive witness to a racially segregated America. It was beginning to look possible, people from all different backgrounds would continue to pour in and get filled with the Holy Spirit. The educated, uneducated, rich, poor, black, whites, Asians, Hispanics, men, women, native born, immigrant and foreign visitor all came together; as Bartlemen said, “the color line was washed away in the blood.’ This was one of the most controversial aspects of it and held many back from what God wanted to do in their lives, but if some would come despite this hesitation, they would be consumed by the presence of God and the color lines would disappear at least for a little while.

Meetings would begin with prayer, praise and testimony punctuated by messages in tongues, and a cappella singing in both english and tongues. The meetings weren’t so structured, Seymour felt that when God wanted to speak, He could use anyone, so people sang and when the anointing was on them, they could stand up and preach. Some people would stand up and preach who were not anointed and were acting out of the flesh and they would be rebuked and told to sit back down. Seymour, himself would keep his head in a shoebox sized crate communing with God and as he felt lead he would share; many meetings he would have very little to say and when he did speak, he was very simple and slow, not very charismatic with his preaching. He would always emphasise the need to renounce sin and accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior. Frank Bartleman wrote, ‘This is the pulpit from which is sounded forth what the leader, Brother Seymour, calls old-time repentance, old-time pardon, old-time sanctification, old-time power over devils and diseases, and the old-time “Baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire.”’ Teaching on the five-fold gospel: salvation, sanctification as the second blessing, the baptism of the Holy Spirit as the third blessing, instant divine healing, and the premillennial Second Coming of Christ to rapture the church at the end of the age.

There were many different manifestations that took place as God poured out His Spirit, prophecies were declared, people would sing both in english and tongues, people would have interpretations, casting out of devils, miraculous healing and there was other strange manifestations that definitely made people’s boxes that they held God in fall off. Seymour was concerned with the unusual manifestations and had wrote to Parham for counsel; he wanted help discerning spirits. Parham finally came to Azusa Street in October of 1906, when he arrived he was in shock of how mixed the church was with black and white, male and female leadership; he felt this was definitely not appropriate for the times. Seymour let him preach and Parham began to criticise what all had been going on. Seymour had been expecting mentorship and Godly discernment, while Parham may have had some, he didn’t relay it with the character of God so Seymour decided Parham was no longer welcome there after just a few meetings.

By this point the mission had received letters from around the world stating that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit had made it’s way to them, the letters would often be read at the meetings and visitors would testify that it was all true. There were many testimonies of how God would draw people to the meetings through visions, and dream and other unusual circumstances. The news and testimonies would be spread by Seymour’s own paper, “Apostolic Faith”.

After what seemed like three amazing glorious years the revival had started to end. Around 1909 many who were not associated with the revival refused to believe the revival was genuine. People refused it because Pentecostals had seemed to become spiritually elite. The Pentecostals were sure they now knew everything regarding the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the spirit and the correct method for worship. Also the equality between whites and blacks in these meetings started greatly offending people. The controversy with egalitarianism combined with different theologies and practices arising made the controversy too big to skip over and created big divisions. Namely, two white woman, Clara Lum and Florence Crawford, who had been working with the mission decided to leave and take the mailing lists with to Oregon. This cut off the revival from the worldwide platform of support and they lost resources and influence.

By this time many Wesleyan Pentecostal Churches had sprung up all over America. There were the Church of God in Christ, the Pentecostal Holiness Church, the Church of God of Prophecy, the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee) and the United Holy Church. The Church of God in Christ became pentecostal after C. H. Mason who was hungry for the Holy Spirit went to Azusa Street and brought it back, his partner C.P. Jones didn’t accept the new theology, which caused the split between The Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A., and the The Church of God in Christ, both African American churches. C.H. Mason influenced many whites and would train up many who would later form the Assemblies of God. The difference in church growth between Jones and Mason’s churches proves the amazing fruit of the Pentecostal movement, with The Church of Christ having 25,000 members in 146 churches in 2000, compared to over 5 million members in more than 15,000 congregations in the Church of God in Christ. The Pentecostal Holiness church and much of the south was greatly influenced by a man named Gaston Barnabas Cashwell, who is now known as the southern apostle of Pentecost. He had traveled to Azusa street for what he had been praying for and expecting for years, after some initial racial shock, he received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and spoke in German. He soon returned to North Carolina and rented a tobacco warehouse that became essentially the East Coast Azusa street. Spreading the message across the Pentecostal Holiness Church, the Fire-Baptised Holiness Church and the Holiness Free-Will Baptist Church, also influencing the Church of God in Cleveland, Tennessee and the Assemblies of God.

From 1909 to 1911 the revival had been struggling mostly with racial issues in the movement, Seymour traveled while his wife managed the home base, which had become a small congregation meeting regularly. William Durham, who came to the mission in 1907 and was baptised and prophesied over that wherever Durham would preach there would be an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, brought the Pentecostal message to Chicago and spread it throughout the midwest. He began to have problems with the board of his church and decided to move to the birthplace of the Pentecostal outpouring, Los Angeles bringing with him the Finished Work doctrine. Durham believed that salvation, sanctification, divine healing and the baptism of the Holy Spirit were all finished works of the cross and all that was needed was to receive them. Durham would soon come to the Azusa Street mission and bring back some more of the awe of God pouring out His Spirit in the midst which would kindle the revival fires for another year. During his time at Azusa street Durham preached the Finished Work and many filled the house to hear, but when Seymour heard about it he made his way back to confront what he believed to be heresy and he banned Durham from continuing there, which ended the Azusa Street Revival for good. The Apostolic Faith mission remained for a few more years.

Over the years there had been a few more church plants from people coming out of Azusa Street, including: two Apostolic Faith missions in Los Angeles, a Pentecostal Assembly, a Spanish Apostolic Faith mission, the Apostolic Faith Rescue mission, the Carr Street Pentecostal Mission, an Italian Pentecostal mission, The Upper Room Mission, the Eight and Maple Mission, the Florence Avenue Pentecostal Mission, Full Gospel Assembly, the Seventh Street Mission and the Glad Tidings Tabernacle of New York City. The message of Pentecost could not be contained, it spread all over America and throughout the world with many missionaries being sent out, many foreigners coming and hearing and bringing it back, it kept expanding the Pentecostal movement. It even spread into the bible schools.

Durham’s theology was also on the move, Durham and many other like minded people cofounded the Assemblies of God in 1914, which has become the largest and best-known church denomination in the world. Other churches termed the ‘Finished-Work’ Pentecostal churches began as a result of Azusa, including: The international Church of the Foursquare Gospel, the Pentecostal Church of God, the Open Bible Standard Church, the Oneness Pentecostal movement, and the United Pentecostal Church.

The Azusa Street Revival amazes me, God definitely likes to come break down cultural norms when He moves. I think I really admire the way God chose to use a one-eyed African American to facilitate and usher in this revival. William Seymour was always said to be the meekest man in the room, he very sincerely want God to be the center of attention and let his hunger for more of God determine his path in life. Despite racial segregation Seymour sought out Parham to learn more about God, he was courageous and humble, he knew whites and blacks weren’t able to go to the same school, yet he knew that Parham had something that Seymour was looking for so he went after it. Thankfully Parham knew the Christian thing to do and let Seymour sit in and learn, albeit from the outside of the class room. This was the tiny sneak peak of what God was really about to do in America in this time with the races.

I believe division in the church can be the biggest hurdle for revival being spread, but when people come together there’s such grace for more to come. When Seymour began holding meetings on Bonnie Brae Street at first it was a handful of black woman who would come, but as the Asbury’s and the Lee’s caught the vision and the hunger, they began to invite more people and the meeting grew full of both white and black people, going completely against cultural norms, which I’m sure ushered in the unity of the Spirit and grace to see this outpouring come to pass. I believe this unity was the beginning and sadly later the racial division was the end of the Azusa Street Revival. I think we can definitely grab on to this need for unity amongst the church here in Romania and around the world as we wait for another revival to sweep the nations. 

Another thing that was true of this revival that draws God’s attention was the hunger for His scriptures and truth to be manifested in His churches. Leading up to this revival there had been countless people all over the world reading about divine healing, reading about the day of Pentecost, reading about the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and seeing all of them played out in Jesus life and His flowers as they read the Bible and began sincerely earnestly seeking these things. It had been a while since Wesley brought about holiness and they were hungry for more, they wanted their lives to look like the Bible said they should. This hunger was found in Kansas, in Wales, in Los Angeles and in multiple other pockets of the world where believers were interceding and seeking God for a new Pentecost. I believe as we hunger to live life full of the Holy Spirit and keep revival fire and passion in our own hearts with great faith and expectancy as was then, I know God will pour out and send another big wave of revival.

I also have to note this because I find it interesting in almost every revival I read about the people were concerned about the fact that they were in the end days. This case is true of the Azusa Street Revival, I think that this truth creates and produces fruit, but many times the fruit doesn’t get discipled and built up as needed because of the short term focus ‘the end-times’ focus can create. I think the revival that is to come will have the end-times in mind while also having the need to create a legacy for future generations. I think we will be concerned with purifying the character of the Bride of Christ and we will be concerned with the victory and final fight as Jesus comes back and brings us to the wedding supper as we will have glorified Him in every area. I would say that the Azusa Street mission (the revival too) dwindled too early, I think if there might have been more of a focus turned to future generations with building character, building unity and reaching the lost, the Azusa Street Mission might have lasted and grown bigger. the Azusa Street Revival produced many stream of Pentecostals who each separately now had the responsibility of growing.

Seymour being the amazing man of God that he was, made a few mistakes along the way which cost the revival. His first mistake may have been shutting Parham completely out of the revival; although I agree that Parham probably created a lot of racial tension being there, I do wish they would have been able to gracefully work together, instead of Parham criticising the movement. I think Parham could have had some insight into the spiritual manifestations that were talking place that Seymour an insider could not see, I also think the unity between the two of them would have brought more grace in the racial unity area of the movement, possibly preventing it from ending. I think Seymour should not have shut Parham out for fear of losing his temper and sinning. The Holiness teaching was a problem, they believed that once you had come to the second blessing if you sinned you would lose salvation. This thinking is very human works based and isn’t right, I believe if Seymour hadn’t held on to this theology I think he would have been able to receive from Parham again things would have ended differently. As Christians we need counsel in our lives from fellow Christians and mentors, I believe wisdom is found in an abundance of counsellors, so I think Seymour should have humbled himself more to seek further counsel in this case. I think future revivals will have great honor for those that have gone before and people will continue in their abundance of counsellors, hearing the criticism with the direction of the Holy Spirit and learning and being encouraged by what they have to say.

Again this Holiness theology I think is one of the strongholds that helped Seymour make the second big mistake of calling Durham’s theology as heresy. I think that if Seymour would have sought the Lord and spoke more with Durham discussing the issues he had, I think God may have taught Seymour some and set him free. The revival wouldn’t have ended and who knows what could have continued to happen in their church. I believe the ‘Finished-work’ theology was a wonderful addition to the revival bringing about freedom. In future revivals, I think that sound doctrine will be key and I think being open as the Spirit gives discernment and leads to what might seem new may help the revivals be sustained long term. I think open-mindedness within reason is good, especially for most of the church today that doesn’t believe in half the things God does today, they need a bit more open mindedness for this next revival.. 

The 20th Century would be no where near the same if this revival wouldn’t have happened. The Pentecostal movement wouldn’t be where it is today, the Charismatic movement wouldn’t be where it is today and who knows we might not even know about the third wave movement. The world wouldn’t be as evangelised as it is and who knows where I would be. God had perfect timing and He knew what he was doing, He used the Azusa Street Revival to make a grand impact in the world7 today and I’m thankful He did it. All the individual lives that were transformed, many coming to know Jesus, many being miraculously healed, many being empower by the Holy Spirit to continue in the work God had called them to, it’s amazing what God has done and the fruit this revival is still producing through the lineages that came from it! Praise God for all His marvellous works, especially the Azusa Street Revival.

Please do look up more on this revival you surely be stirred up by it.

Learning the language February 15, 2015

Romanian is a beautiful love language. Similar to spanish, romanian comes from latin, in fact romanian is the closest language to latin spoken today. I’ve known my need to learn this language for three years, but to be honest I didn’t really take it seriously until I found myself living here three and a half months ago. I had visited twice before and knew I would need to learn the language and I attempted to gather much vocabulary on those trips, the problem was that I would go back to the states and not have a need to use what I had learned, so overtime I had lost some of my vocab.

Since arriving here I’ve been a bit nervous about the language barrier, thankfully it is true that a large majority of people understand english, but still I live in a country that’s native language is not english, I need to learn the native language.

This need of mine has been overwhelming at times, it’s made me not do things that I would normally do, the language barrier has definitely had it’s effect on me. I came here to share the love and truth found in Jesus and many times since moving here, I’ve had the opportunity to stop for the one in front of me and love them, but more often than I’d like to admit, the fear of not being understood has overtaken me and in the moment I didn’t stop. God’s been teaching me though that His love and grace works through the language barrier.

God’s also been giving me lots of grace to learn this language. Within the first few days of me being here I was on the subway and I ran into my friend Estera, she was with her classmate Mihaela and as we were talking I had mentioned that I’ve been trying to find someone to teach me the language. Mihaela spoke right up and said that she could teach me the language, so we exchanged numbers and organized a time for us to meet weekly. Praise God that He had me meet her and set these meetings up, she’s helped me greatly with learning Romanian.

As we started meeting she taught me the basics: the alphabet, pronouns, numbers, days of the week, months of the year, time, family, different verbs and as we progressed we’ve gotten into possessive pronouns, articles, singular and plural items, adjectives, comparison, directions, some not so easy to understand when to use noun properties, different conversation topics of jobs, travel, around the home, etc., commands, and just recently we have moved on from the present tense, teaching the past and future tenses of the verbs I know. It’s really quite exciting all that I’ve covered with her, I’m able to understand some of the things people are talking about around me. I’ve been meeting pretty regularly with her since being here, besides a gap in January where I wasn’t able to afford lessons, but I’ve been consistently going over flash cards I’ve made on my phone from everything she’s taught me thus far as I travel from place to place, here. I’m still wrapping my mind around some of the grammar, but I think with more practice I’ll begin to understand more and more of it.

There have definitely been times where I haven’t felt like I was progressing, but God has kept encouraging me and bringing more people into my life to help. For a few weeks at our weekly staff meeting we would incorporate a romanian lesson, where we would go through some of the course Jake and Ben took last spring and we would play card games only speaking with each other in Romanian. This has been a good challenge for me since I know the least Romanian, I was challenged to use what I did know. We’re going to start bringing something encouraging to share from the bible in Romanian every week, so that will help.

About two weeks ago my friend Derick from Tanzania and I began meeting with our friend from church, Costi, twice a week to learn more Romanian. We’ve been going through the same course Jake and Ben went through and we’ve been doing a lot more live conversation exercises, very helpful. Costi has been an amazingly thorough teacher. He has a friend who teaches Romanian grammar so he’s been getting helpful activities and lessons from her. Also his wife and kids don’t speak english so I have lots of practice while I talk with his family.

I’m beginning to have conversations with random people, it’s exciting! At the place I live many only speak Romanian, although I’m always being surprised by people who actually do speak english too, so there are a few that regularly start conversations with me and recently I’ve been able to have a somewhat full conversation with them. Maybe not with the best grammar, but they understand what I’m saying and I understand them! These littles victories are so encouraging! At the after school I teach english at, most of my students are just beginning to learn english so many try to speak Romanian to me, and I understand much more now than when I first started. In fact I’ve been able to practice my Romanian there and am learning more from them and I’m even getting better at managing my classroom because now they will listen and understand when I speak in Romanian. It’s very nice!

Please continue to pray that I have grace to be diligent in studying Romanian and pray that I have wisdom to understand the grammar. Also pray that I keep stepping across the language barrier I still have to love people here!

A few verses that have been on my mind since coming to Romania December 5, 2014

Well the big move is over, I moved from America to Romania a month ago and I’m all settled into my dorm room. I love finally being where God has been calling me, my spirit is rejoicing! God has had His hand on the whole process giving me favor and grace in everything, it seems that everything keeps falling into place and I’m very grateful to be in such good hands!

Moving here has had it’s ups and downs, I’m very thankful to have known the city a bit before I moved, it’s been a relief knowing some things, yet I mostly am still learning just about everything there is to living life here in Romania. Everything here is done a bit differently or a lot differently than in America, lots of things take longer here so I’m growing in patience and I’m being stretched.

I’m in this season of life where everything is new, where at times I feel like I know nothing and I feel complete inadequacy for the tasks at hand. Yes my weakness has been proven over and over, but God has been with me, He continues to share every burden I give to Him and He has been the most amazing encourager a girl could ask for. Here are a few verses God has been speaking to me, I hope they encourage you wherever you are as well!

First, verse God keeps speaking to me about: Philippians 4:13! ‘I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me!’ Yes! I can do all things, everything through Christ! Seriously this verse is so powerful when I am faced with my weaknesses or inadequacies, I correct my reality with the truth that I can actually do what I’m facing.

Second, James 4:6 ‘But He gives more grace. Therefore it says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’
I’m still in the midst of humbling myself for more of that grace to be at work in my life! This verse has stuck with me for a while now, before I came here I listened to a sermon on Romans 5:1-5 and Bob Hazelet was sharing on how our failure attracts grace because it means you went out and tried, you obeyed. Anytime you obey God and seemingly fail, you are actually attracting the grace of God on your life when you continue to try. As I step out and ask someone for directions or help with something at the grocery store, or with my laundry, or with setting up my internet, or asking my roommate how things work, etc. I’m receiving grace to do it again, as I’m humbling myself to ask questions. There are many times that I don’t want to ask a question, but the Lord really likes it when I’m able to humble myself and just ask!

Let me just say one thing quick, this life with Jesus will probably always lead you to being a student in some way or another, it’s how we keep growing. I’m still learning to like learning, my flesh hates learning. But I have been made new therefore I live by the Spirit and love to learn in every format because my best friend the Holy Spirit is my teacher and He’s definitely suited for the job with grace and patience for me to learn everything and anything.

Anyways, my third passage: Romans 5:1-5: ‘Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.’ Mainly verses 3-5, we can know that our suffering (whatever crappy excuse of suffering I may be going through..) produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. No matter what my ‘suffering’ looks like, I can know that as I choose to endure it with joy and the renewal of my mind choosing God’s perspective over mine, I can endure and in the end I will look more like Jesus bringing Him more glory. #worthit
I’ve also been readjusting to the fact that life is a process, when you are nearing the end of a season God has taken you through, generally you’ve gotten to the hope part of these verses, also you tend to be good at doing the things you are called to, then when a new season comes you tend to find yourself back at square one, thinking that you know nothing about what you’re doing.. In my reality of moving to a new country and knowing very few things I got frustrated and just wanted to be good at everything right away again, but then I remembered that life goes through this process over and over again. Steffany Gretzinger likes to call this process the undoing. We’re being undone, letting go of all that has entangled us and becoming more and more like Jesus. This process can be messy, it can be long and it can seemingly repeat itself, but in truth God’s just taking you deeper and another layer is coming off.

The fourth verse I’m going to share is Isaiah 40:29-31 ‘He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.’

The fifth verse I will share is 2 Corinthians 12:9 ‘But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.’
I’ve also been meditating on these last two verses. I’ve been trusting in His faithfulness to give me strength when I feel weak. As I wait on Him, He comes through with the grace I need to go on with my day. The Isaiah passage has brought tears to my eyes several times as I reflect on it because God is good and He is so patient and kind to me when I feel like a wreck, He picks me up and carries me. He is so gracious to me! I’m very thankful!

Lastly, 2 Corinthians 5:7 ‘For we walk by faith, not by sight.’ All around me are circumstances that are difficult, that can make me feel inadequate, etc., but I’m choosing to live by faith in my Savior, the One who is my source. Meditating this verse brings me back to being seated in heavenly places, this verse helps me rejoice in the hope of Jesus rather than full on let the discouragement of the moment get to me, etc.

These are just a few verses that I’m reminded of often, I’m very thankful to be where I am, learning what I am and I’m praying that whoever needs this encouragement will read this be encouraged. God is good! I pray His blessings over all who come across this!

Officially moved in!! November 8, 2014

Well folks as of yesterday I am now officially all moved into my new place!! Praise Jesus!! He is such an amazing provider!!

This is a picture from the outside of my place. This gate contains three buildings and a garden/playground. The white building there is a chapel, where I can go at anytime to read, study, pray, worship, etc. The pink building behind that is where I stay.

This is the camin I’m staying in! A camin is what dorms are called here.

This is our room:

This is my bed and desk area! It’s very much like a dorm room back in the states.

I keep my kitchen and bathroom supplies in this cabinet.

There is a sink in my room! It’s kind of nice to have. Then I keep all my clothes in that wardrobe on the right.

This is the outside Garden area!

 

 

 

 

I get to share my room with Maria, she’s a Romanian who works full time. Thankfully she speaks English and is very helpful! There is a women’s restroom down the hall with a shower and toilet stalls. There is also a kitchen down the hall. I live on the same floor as one of the ladies that goes to our church!! She has been very helpful and I’ve been able to meet a few of my other neighbors through the Stimpsons.

I’m blessed to be here and be settled in!

First Day Complete! November 7, 2014

I’ve spent one whole day living in Bucharest!! It’s pretty exciting! When I got here it felt like home right away! God has placed me here for this specific season and I’m excited to be following His call on my life.

Today was a simple day I have a bit of jet lag so I woke up at about 3:30 in the morning. Found out officially that I had been scammed out of $1500, you can find out about that on my Facebook, if you’d like… Not the most fun realization. But as soon as I started praying about it God comforted me and reminded me of His promises and many testimonies others have shared with me about His provision, so I’m trusting in His faithfulness to His children and praising Him for this life.

The most exciting part of my day was getting to see the place I will be living in! I will be living in the Baptist seminary dorm that I had mentioned in a previous blog. I will be staying there with one other girl. I got to go see the room today, and to be honest I’m glad my expectations weren’t high. I know I don’t need anything much or anything real nice so when I saw the room I liked It! I will post pictures tomorrow!

There’s a bed, a desk and a little wardrobe in the room along with other various shelving units and a sink. The furniture is Romanian so it’s not the best quality, but I’ve never been bothered by the lack of quality in furniture I can be completely blessed by everything in the room! My roommate has been living by herself for a while so a good portion of the room is filled, but I’m hoping when I meet her I can get some space and figure some things out with her. I hear she’s a lady in her 30s who is living there while working in the city.

There’s also a restroom on my floor with a shower, as well as a kitchen area I can use! A few pluses! There is a place I can have my laundry done for me and a printer in the same room.. Lol there is a library full of books, many are in English and mostly books on theology so that will be cool to look at! There is a chapel building I can go to at anytime to pray, read my bible, worship! It’s amazing!

Also a lady that goes to our church lives right down the hall to me!! Praise God for this amazing blessing!

Signing the contract went super fast and easy! The guy we organized with seemed very nice, our friend Daniela helped the whole process happen and go smoothly! Having a contract will help me get my visa, as soon as I’m able to afford it!

I move in tomorrow, pray everything continues to go smoothly, I’m excited to meet my roommate as I move in tomorrow!!

God is so good and faithful!! I’m so thankful for the Stimpson’s and all their help! They’re driving skills in this crazy city are amazing and I’m excited to learn from them one day! 🙂

Woohoo! I’m heading to Romania today! November 5, 2014

Today is the Day I Leave!
I’m moving to Romania today!
Wow! The day has finally come for me to go to Romania! It’s so real and I’m very excited!! The last couple weeks I’ve been saying my goodbyes or see you laters and have been wrapping up some loose ends while packing! God has been helping me the whole way, always being near and allowing His grace to be so sufficient in everything! He is so faithful!
I’m very excited for this move! There are many unknowns and uncertainties that I’m stepping into, but I know that Jesus knows each one of them and I can trust Him as I walk by Faith!
Please be praying for me:
Pray for God’s Kingdom to overflow from my life as I travel and go to Romania.
Pray for grace and energy for traveling.
Pray all my luggage gets there as I do.
Pray that I don’t have any delays that screw up the rest of my flights..
Pray that I transition well to the time difference.
Pray that my visa process goes smoothly once I get there.
Pray that my housing contract works at the dorm.
Pray for Gods provision, I’ve reached about 60% of my goal in monthly support.
Pray for strong a relationship with the Stimpson’s as we work together to bring the Kingdom.
Pray that I can connect with a few women for community.
Pray as the Spirit leads you to!
Thank you all for your prayers, you love, and your support, I’m very blessed by having you all on my team! Keep in touch!

Will I have a job while in Romania? … Another stay tuned to find out how God works this one out! October 19, 2014

This is another question I am asked often. Considering I’m a missionary the answer is yes, obviously. I am going there for a purpose and that is to bring God’s kingdom to earth wherever I go and that is the same job/calling you and all other Christians have. I’m also going to be entering into full time ministry once I get there, I want to be available to do whatever God leads me to. Having a full time job wouldn’t leave me with an open and flexible schedule for ministry needs. Also on a missionary visa, you’re not technically supposed to have a job in Romania.

All this said, I have desired a job somehow to work out so that I could be in the community more interacting with the Romanian people regularly. I’ve been taking a Teach English as a Foreign Language class so I can be certified to teach English anywhere I go. I will be finishing that class by the middle of December, I took this because I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and I feel like as a missionary God could send me to many different countries and being able to teach English as a foreign English will be a great skill to have to get into most, if not all, countries that He would send me to.

One of the other missionaries there has a teaching job in an elementary school even with his missionary visa, so I had hopes that I would get one if God wanted me to have one. I do want to honor the Romania’s visa rules, so I figured if God wanted me to have a job it would fall into my lap, I decided I wouldn’t go searching for one and live off of my monthly support that I’ve been raising.

Well everyone, a job has yet again fallen into my lap. 😀 God is really good at doing this to me! Earlier this month Jessie Stimpson messaged me about this after school program job that she had just begun working with. She told me that she had been hired for two days a week by one of her neighbors who runs the program. She had just finished her first day, and with the organizational structure not in place it was a bit chaotic for her and with the required planning before hand, being a wife, having five children, homeschooling three of them, running her household smoothly and being in full time ministry it seemed too much to add to her already full schedule so she offered it to me! (That’s right, Jessie Stimpson is superwoman by God’s amazing grace!)

This job will be teaching English to two classes of kids in the after school program two days a week for forty-five minute segments. The second time Jessie went to teach the organizational structure had been put in place to make the class sizes much smaller. She is finishing out the remaining days until I get there and once I get there I will be taking it over from there. Right now it’s an hour and a half on Mondays and Thursday’s for 100 lei per week ($30)! There might be a chance that the other two days in the week would be still open and I could take those as well, making 200 lei per week ($60). With two days a week I will make about 400 lei ($115) per month, if I work four days a week, which I’m still praying about whether or not I should, I would make 800 lei ($230) a month, more or less depending on if this estimate is correct.

Jessie has been using online lesson plans, which I will be continuing with and I’ll probably incorporate some learning activities from the class that I’ve been taking. Very exciting stuff!

Stay tuned to see how God lets it all play out and how He’s going to use this for His glory and His kingdom!

Where will I be living? … Stay tuned in to hear how it all plays out! October 18, 2014

A question that I’ve been asked a lot is where will I be living once I get to Romania, so I thought I’d write a quick blog about it! 🙂

As many of you know I’m going to be joining Jake and Jessie Stimpson as I move over there, they’ve so graciously prepared a few possible places for me to live when I get there!

As I finalize where I will be living they have so graciously opened up their home to me as they’ve done so many times before! I’m so grateful for their hospitality and their heart for family, they’re always such a blessing to be with!

Now onto the options I have:

Choice #1. I have the option of staying in a baptist seminary woman’s dorm with one, two or even three roommates! This option is the best price wise, for me to stay with three other girls I would only have to pay $80/month, with two other girls I would have to pay $93/month, and with just one roommate I would have to pay $110/month. Very good prices! 🙂 this would include the energy since its a dorm.

Pros: Prices are good with three other roommates, I could learn Romanian from the girls I live with, I get to meet other Romanian Christians! I will have a contract to get my visa with! I can stay here as long as I want!

Cons: I’m going to be in a new country without very much space to myself this is only some what of an issue because I’m more introverted, but Gods grace is enough for me to pull through this. This option isn’t guaranteed because the dorm could fill up before I get there as well.

With this option I’m leaning more towards only having one other roommate, but that’s only if my budget allows for that.

Choice #2. I could also stay in an apartment with three girls from Elim church. I would share a room with one other girl. This place would be $77/month plus utilities (could be up to $50 more a month).

Pros: These girls are very similar to me in what we believe about Jesus. I’d only have one roommate. It’d be a very familiar setup after living with other girls for the last five years of life. I would also get help learning Romanian.

Cons: Rent plus Utilities may be a bit more expensive than the dorms. I may not have a contract to say I live in Bucharest for my visa. I am only guaranteed to stay there until April. This spot could also fill up before I get there.

I really do like all the options I have and am definitely willing to live at any of these places, I just want to live exactly where God wants me to live! Please be praying with me for one of these options to fit perfectly as I arrive there in November!

Stay tuned to hear how it all works out! 🙂

It’s the day of Bold Requests! :) September 23, 2014

I have roughly 43 more days before I want to be on my way to Romania! Lots of emotions well up when I think about that, much excitement combined with some terror as I watch my todo list grow as time gets closer.

I immediately start to pray and give God the burdens and He reminds me of His peace and His strength that He has for me in the moment! He’s incredible, His yoke is easy and His burden is light!

I want to share with you all a vision the Lord had given me a few weeks ago about His grace! This particular morning I was feeling like I didn’t deserve His grace, which is true, we don’t deserve it, but it ends up being very prideful of us when we don’t receive His gift.

So the vision started with me seeing a huge Christmas box with a big bow on top, I got excited! 🙂 (I love gifts) God told me to open it as He gently nudged me forward, I took the lid off and looked in. I couldn’t see what was on the bottom of the box because there was a bunch of tissue paper. I knew this gift represented his gift of grace so I reached in to see what was on the bottom and as I did so, I realized I couldn’t reach the bottom of the box without getting on my tiptoes, then I had to let my feet off the ground and jump/ dive in. As I did this the bottom of the box turned into an endless ocean! So I started swimming being overjoyed by this gift of God’s grace and His love. As I went farther I began to drown, what was funny was that I didn’t start to freak out at all. I had complete trust in God as I began to float around the deep ocean of His grace. I started to talk to Him about why I wasn’t terrified that I was drowning and He said its because you trust me, you believe Me in who I say I am and you know that I will never give you a bad gift.

I paralleled this to my receiving His grace in order for me to receive it everyday, I have to humble myself and agree with Him in not only the fact that He wants to be my Savior, but even beyond that with the way His grace empowers us to do all things He is calling us to! I had briefly discussed with God on how drowning is the worst way to die, and He began to talk to me about the selflessness it takes to follow His call and be empowered and how we must die to ourselves daily so we can live unto Him. In the vision drowning in the endless ocean of His grace was the best thing I could ever do. I want to encourage everyone to jump into that Christmas box and drown in His endless ocean of grace every morning and stay there throughout your day!

Grace is such an amazing gift from our merciful Father! He gives us grace, love, joy, peace, etc and so many blessing that we don’t deserve, but humbly receive!

Now onto the title of this post and my day so far of making bold requests! I know my need for community and it’s humbling! It’s beautiful how God uses everyone in the body of Christ to bring forth His Kingdom and as I’ve been building my support team for Romania, I’ve been humbled to receive my Father’s provision. Humbled enough that I feel okay making these next bold requests.

So here’s the next part that I wrote separately, so forgive me if I make you read something twice:

God has been leading to me to ask for more things than I deem appropriate, but He knows me and trusts that I’m going to be using everything for His glory and for His Kingdom to advance, so I’m going to humble myself and agree with Him. Especially since He desires to give me the desires of my heart above what I can imagine and above what I think I deserve, I mean hello grace! His best gift that is so undeserved, but by His mercy He lavishes it on us! I’ve been praying and stewarding my money and as I look at my modest budget and savings account I cannot say that I will be able to afford these things nor could I justify putting the money towards these things over other priorities in ministry. So as I trust God for these things I want to post a list of things I would like to be able to take to Romania with me to use for ministry, here they are not in any specific order:

~ I need a new MacBook, my current one is 6.5 years old and as much as the price of other computers appeals to me, I just can’t justify parting with Apple! My computer is doing pretty well and if I had an external hard drive I’m sure it would be running a lot faster than it is, but I don’t think it will survive much longer and I’ve grown so much in patience with my current MacBook, that I’d just like to part ways with that feature. 😉 There’s no convincing me otherwise, macs are too reliable and durable for me to part ways and also the ability and quality of recording sermons, designing graphics for church, and presenting presentations is incomparable!
I would like 8GB because I plan to use this computer for a long time and may be used for many things. I will appreciate any size computer obviously especially if it’s the one God is telling you to get, He knows my need better than I do, whether it be MacBook Air or Pro let Him lead you.

~ An external hard drive would also be nice! I have too many pictures for my computer and I will only be adding more as I do ministry in Romania and wherever else He sends me.

~ A camera, now I don’t know much about cameras, I have a simple one, but I always imagine having a fancy one when I take pictures on the missions field! I imagine the person who feels lead to get this for me will know a thing or two about cameras, probably more than me. So buy as you feel lead! God knows and the Holy Spirit will tell you! I plan to take lots of pictures of ministry over there to let everyone know here in the states what’s going on so I can fill my newsletters, that I promise to be way better at while I’m there, with. These photos will stir people up and encourage them as they see God moving! I’m hoping this camera will also take excellent videos and have lots of memory so that I can start a video blog! This isn’t urgent obviously, but it’s something I’m praying for and in God’s timing it will come to me!

~ After talking with God I don’t think I will be taking my current phone with me because of how I’m stewarding my money. So I’ll need a phone when I get there. I know I’ll be able to get a nice phone for cheap, but if anyone is feeling lead to get me an unlocked iPhone 6 plus, I will not refuse, in fact I will accept it and be overjoyed by your generosity! The reason that makes sense to me as to why I’m requesting this is because I have a MacBook and and iPad by God’s generosity and an iPhone will connect and I’ll be able to connect all my devices together. Also having a smart phone will help update everyone on ministry! I’ll be able to text everyone I meet easily to come to church and to meet up with them to build relationships and lead people to Christ! I’ll be able to put our church on social media where more will see us and more will be eager to see what God is doing and who He really is, as we are His hands and feet in Romania.

Please don’t be offended by my big requests, that may seem selfish and if they truly are then I won’t receive any of them, but I think God fully delights in me and even wants to give me these things. See I’ve counted the cost of becoming a missionary, I’ve given lots of things up, I’ve put dreams on hold, I’ve sacrificed for God, I’m not trying to brag, I’m just stating facts and no matter if I get these things or not I’m still going to be faithful in following this call to leave friends and family behind and go on the missions field in Romania to proclaim Jesus name and exalt Him in my life!

Let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks for reading my wish list!

I hope you are just as blessed as I am by the Lords constant nearness and presence!
Love, Becky

An epistle to a friend!

Two years ago I was in a New Testament survey class held by my amazing pastor at the time, Michael Fisher! He gave us all an assignment to write an epistle to someone in our life, some wrote to their children, some wrote to America, some wrote to our women’s community at church, I decided to write to my roommate and friend at the time because I loved her! This was an exciting exercise and we really got to see what it was like for Paul, Peter, and all the other writers in the bible. I came across mine the other day and as I was reading it I was so encouraged by it that I wanted to share it, so here it is!

Chapter 1
Greeting
1 Becky, a bondservant of Jesus Christ
2 To Friend, my beloved sister in the Faith
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Thankful to God for the testimony of His blood in your life
3 I thank God for Him divinely putting you in my life. It has blessed me to hear all about your journey and to hear how God has had His hand in all of it, working all things for your good.
4 You once were a drunkard, a thief, following the lusts of your heart, an idolater, full of hatred, contentions, jealousies, and so on.
5 But now through Jesus you have been made new; you follow the will of your father.
6 As it is written in Matthew 10:39 Jesus says:
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
7 You must lose your life, in order for you to find real life. This is the Great Exchange, when Jesus takes all of our crap and He gives us all of Him.
8 As it is written in 2nd Corinthians 5:21:
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

9 Praise the Lord for this magnificent trade done for all of us who believe it. We get to give all of our brokenness to Him in exchange for Him. Amazing!
10 In doing this you have become a new creation!
11 As it is written in 2nd Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
12 You are now completely free from sin!
13 You are victorious by the blood of Jesus; you have been made completely righteous.
14 As it is written in Romans 6:11:
Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
15 You no longer are ruled by sin that was part of the old man, you are completely free in Christ!
16 Remember not to look back on the old man; I encourage you to keep your eyes locked on Jesus.
17 It’s true that you become what you look at and thankfully you get to look at Jesus and become like Him.
Chapter 2
Love God By Obedience
As you walk with Jesus on this straight and narrow path, the most important thing to always remember is that He loved you first.
2 As it is written in John 4:10:
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
3 Also in John 4:19:
We love Him, because He first loved us.
4 As noted in verse 19 we love Him in return. This is the proper response for everything He has done for you and this is His greatest requirement.
5 As it is written in Matthew 22:37:
Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
6 You need to love God. You need a relationship with Jesus. It’s the most important part of living for God.
7 In John 15:4 Jesus says:
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”
8 Being in a relationship with God is essential. Jesus points out in this passage that you must abide in Him.
9 This I believe is one of the highest callings on your life.
10 You need to have a relationship with Jesus that is alive and flourishing.
11 As you grow in your relationship you need to grow in maturity in love.
12 Maturing in love and growing in Jesus is the point!
13 God is moved most by a heart, that grows more in love with Him everyday.
14 In order to love Jesus you must obey.
15 As it is written in John 14:23-24:
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with Him.
16 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
17 The only way Jesus instructs us in how to love Him is through obedience. Your call is to be perfect in obedience.
18 In order to follow His call to obedience you must know what He wants you to do. The Bible shows you what to restrain from, and Jesus set you free from all of that, He made it easy;
19 You must also do what He commands you to do and in order to know what He wants; you need to communicate with Him.
20 God desires constant communication with each one of us. He will lead you in what you need to do.
21 You need to follow the Spirit’s leading in your life.
22 He has great plans for you.
23 As it is written in Ephesians 2:10:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
24 God has prepared many things for you to do for Him; you need to be faithful and follow through in them to be obedient and love Him.
25 He gives you the grace to do all that He has called you to do.
26 God will give you the grace you need to complete any thing He commands you to.
Chapter 3
Put On Your Armor
1 You are in a spiritual battle and I’ve got some good news: Jesus wins!
2 That’s why Jesus is your hope!
3 As it is written in Colossians 1:27:
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
4 Jesus is the hope of glory that you have and He lives in you!
5 But as I was saying you are in a battle. You are in a war with Satan, he is trying to distract you from God.
6 You need to be prepared to fight this war and overcome victoriously.
7 You need to put on the armor of God.
8 As it is written in Ephesians 6:10-18:
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
9 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
10 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
11 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
12 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
13 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
14 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
15 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
16 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints
17 It’s important to put on each piece of the armor every morning. The Belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness,
18 the shoes fitted with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.
19 Dress for battle everyday, we can’t be lazy about this, the devil will sneak in.
20 Having a prayer language is an essential part of warfare.
21 Praying in tongues is like pumping iron for your Spirit, it will build you up so that you can withstand any attack.
Take Every Thought Captive
22 The devil’s main job is to deceive you from the truth.
23 You need to be proactive in knowing the truth.
24 As is it written in 2 Corinthians 1:4-5 (emphasis mine):
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,
25 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,
26 You need to bring all of your thoughts into captivity.
27 The thoughts running through your mind can come from two different places. Either the thoughts are about the truth and are from God or your thoughts can be based off of lies that the devil has deceived you with.
28 As the passage says it is very important to take all thoughts captive and make them obedient to what God says is truth.
29 It’s important that you don’t dwell on thoughts that are lies because they can take root in you and cause sin to be built up.
30 Analyzing lies can cause doubts about the simple truths of God; it can bring confusion and sin into your life so it’s majorly important to be constantly fighting the battle of the mind.
31 Taking thoughts captive and making them obedient to the truth is part of winning the battle.
32 So make sure you know God’s truth so you can bat down every lie.
34 Constantly dwelling on the truth is victory!
35 There is freedom in this victory! Hallelujah!
Your Words Are Powerful
36 I also want to remind you that words are powerful and carry a lot of weight when you speak them over yourself and others.
37 As it is written in Proverbs 18:21a:
Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
38 Make sure that when you speak about yourself, you are speaking God’s truth and you are being positive.
39 When you think that God’s truth isn’t true you need to speak it into life.
40 Instead of being fooled by the reality you may see around you, you need to believe in faith that God’s truth is what is true of your reality and believe it into existence.
41 Constantly be speaking life over yourself and Your daughter.
42 As it is written in Ephesians 4:29:
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
43 It’s important to not speak forth any lie that you may be hearing over yourself or others.
44 Speak life over people to edify and build them up in the faith.
45 When you speak truth to people it will do something to their spirit.
46 I believe God has great plans for every word of truth you speak to people. The truth has the power to save souls.
47 As it is written in Isaiah 55:11:
So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
48 Amen!
Chapter 4
You Need Endurance to Finish
1 Perseverance is essential to lasting in this race.
2 You need to endure through all the ups and downs to receive the prize in the end.
3 You want to be able to run into Jesus’ open arms at the end of the race with your head held high knowing that you accomplished all that He wanted you too.
4 As Paul prayed for the Colossians I also pray for you, in Colossians 1:9-11:
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,
5 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
6 being strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience,
7 I want to see you run this race until the very end.
8 Know that you are strengthened with all might so that you will finish the race.
9 You need the power of God to not quit. If you do not quit in your fervent pursuit you win.
Fear the Lord
10 A key thing to running this race and finishing well is having the Fear of the Lord.
11 As it is written in Psalm 86:11:
Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.
12 As David prayed this He realized the importance in fearing the Lord to be able to walk with Him. You also shall desire this heart cry for your life.
13 When you realize all that God is, in His greatness, His holiness, His perfection you will want to obey and fear Him because He is worthy.
14 In fearing the Lord your spirit is strengthened and you will have a greater desire to finish this race well.
Know the Love of God
15 The Love of God is also essential to persevering in this race.
16 You need to know the love of the Father.
17 As it is written in John 17:26:
That the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.
18 Jesus prayed to the Father that you would know the love of how the Father has loved Jesus. That’s powerful.
19 He loves you with the same love that He loves His son.
20 And Jesus wants you to know it.
21 You need to know the love from Jesus as well.
22 As it is written in Ephesians 3:17-19:
That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
23 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height
24 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
25 Christ’s love for you was poured out on the cross. His love for you has stretched from one nail to the other; from the east to the west He has forgiven you.
26 I pray that you would receive a deeper revelation of His love and it would be set in your Spirit so you are not swayed.
27 With the revelation of His love for you, you will be able to persevere until the end for Him.
Live for His Approval
28 In order to persevere as a child of God you only need to live for His approval.
29 It’s important that you know your identity in Christ so that you can be fully secure in receiving approval from Him and Him alone.
30 As it is written in Colossians 3:22:
Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God.
31 As this verse explains you must not look for approval from men for anything that you do.
32 If you live your life attempting to please men you will never be satisfied.
33 In order to be truly satisfied you must look for approval from the only one who is perfect and just enough to be examined by. And the only One who qualifies is Jesus, our good and perfect judge.
34 Do everything you do to the glory of Jesus.
35 Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith so look to Him when you feel you need evaluation.
36 Don’t look to yourself, you were never perfect or just to be able to evaluate cleanly.
Trust in the Lord
37 In order to persevere and finish this race you need to trust God.
38 As it is written in Proverbs 3:5-6:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
39 In all your ways acknowledge Him and he shall direct your paths.
40 You need to put all your trust in the Lord.
41 He has perfect plans for you and He will never leave you or forsake you.
42 The enemy will try his best to distract us from trusting in God. He will lie to you and make you worry.
43 God does not want His children to worry about anything.
44 As it is written in Philippians 4:6-7:
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God;
45 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
46 Instead of worrying about your life, you need to pray.
47 God desires that you would know and fully trust in Him. He wants you to be assured that He is the great provider, and the great leader in your life.
48 God only wants to bless you so you need to trust in the knowledge that He is a good daddy and He only wants the best for you.
49 You need peace and joy that will overpower fear and anxiety at all times. So be filled with the Spirit!
Know the Truth
50 Finally to persevere to the end, as I have mentioned before you need to know the truth.
51 As it is written in Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus says:
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:
52 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
53 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
54 and the rain descended, the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
55 You need to build your life on the truth of Jesus.
56 You need to know the truth so you can be set free by it.
57 When the storms of life come you need that foundation of the truth to keep you alive.
58 Make sure you know the truth and continue to press into Jesus to get greater revelation of it.
Greetings and Blessings
59 I hope that this encouraged you and left you pumped up to follow Jesus.
60 I hope to see you soon Friend, so that I may talk to you more about these things. Please greet your husband for me and give your daughter a hug for me.
61 I pray God’s blessing over all of you!