Heidi Baker- deep thoughts

I've been reading this book called Compelled by Love, written by Heidi Baker. This lady is awesome. Here's some stuff from her book:

She says they came to Mozambique to “see the gospel proven, to see the glory of God in the darkness. We came to heal the sick, raise the dead, and drive out demons in the power of the Holy Spirit. We came to serve God and not money. We came for relief from worry about our lives, what we will eat, drink and wear. We came to be Jesus’ hands extended among the poor. We came to see righteousness, peace and joy.”

Yea baby!

“For the poor draw us into a life of living even lower still, leading us on the low road—the only road forward—until we become as desperate for God as the poor are for daily bread.”

“Since moving to Mozambique, we have learned to depend on God for everything. If God does not show up there, we are dead. In the Western Church we decorate the altar, sing another amazing song, wave another flag, turn on the colored lights and smoke machines, and sit in a very comfortable chair. Some of these things can be wonderful expressions of creativity and ingenuity. They can, however, become backup plans. What we need most is to be totally dependent on God showing up. We need His pure presence. ”

Yes!!

“If God does not show up, no one else will either. If God does not heal, we will be dead. If God does not deliver, demons will torment the people to death. We have no fund-raising backup scheme if God does not take care of our children and provide for our needs. We can’t and won’t go on.”

Amen

“Why does the kingdom break forth with such power among the poor here in Mozambique? It is because the poor rely on each other. They need each other. They live in a community of interdependence… The poor are truly rich for the simplicity of their devotion.”

“If you are called as a missionary—a sent out one—then you are called comfort those who mourn. You are called to love the broken until they understand God’s love—a love that never dies—through you. Yes God wants you to do signs and wonders. But the love of God manifested through you is what people really need. So you must first see His face. You must become so close to His very heartbeat that you can feel what others feel. I want to live as if I am hidden in His very heart, where His thoughts become my thoughts and His ways become my ways. This is how we will reach the world.”

That is my favorite. Awesome. My hearts desire.

Joyfully!

~MW~

The Spiritual Realm

A thought I thought this summer:

"This world is alot more like Lord of the Rings than I thought."


This is regarding the spiritual realm around us. I always thought of the spiritual realm as above or below us. Not around and with us. This summer I was awakened to the reality that spirits, angels, demons, etc... are alot more involved and active around us than I ever thought. I also realized that spiritual warfare has alot more effect on our daily lives then I ever would have imagined. This new understanding has created a new urgency inside of me. There is a battle going on around us and we have to fight. I finally understand the term "prayer warrior." The verses in Eph 6 are very real to me now and I realized the importance of putting on the armor of God.
I still have alot of questions though. I just read This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frant Peretti and now I'm reading the Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. They have provked even more questions. :)

Anybody have any thoughts/experiences/verses you want to share concerning Spiritual warfare?

Joyfully!
~MW~

Naturalism :)

Church is not a thing, it’s a being. You don't "go to church" once a week. You ARE the church 24-7. There are a lot of places you could go with this but I'm going to focus on one aspect of being the church. Being the church is a way-of-life that, when you take away all education and preconceived ideas, should come naturally to a Christian walking in the Spirit. To put it simply, being the church is really just being in relationships. That is the heart of it. It’s not about singing great songs. It’s not about hearing a great message. It’s not about having great ministries, buildings, attendance, etc... It’s all about the relationships. There are three relationships involved; the one between you and God, the one between you and your fellow believers, and the one between you and non-believers. If you look throughout the New Testament, most everything Paul tells the church to do is relational.(Here's a few examples: Col 3:12,13; Rom 15:14; Jas 5:16; Eph 5:19-21; I Thes 5:11; Heb 3:13) There is nothing institutional about church.
I keep hearing the question, so what does an organic meeting of the church look like? Honestly, I don't know. We are supposed to meet(Heb 10:24,25). But really, does it have to look like anything? Hebrews says we're supposed to exhort one another, but I don't think we have to make the church look like anything. Why do we try to make it into something anyway? Its like we’re trying to control it. Are we afraid of something? I don’t know. But, whenever we try to organize or run church, we automatically put our man-made boundaries, limitations and names on it. I think the only titles the Bible gives the church is "bride" and "body" of Christ. I don't see any reason to add our titles and definitions to that. I'm against giving any type of church gathering a title or name because of the implications that will come with it. And also, when you name something, you automatically divide it from others of its kind. So, when I go to meetings on Thursday nights and Sunday nights, I will say I'm going to hang out with some of my Christian friends. I don’t want any “name boundaries” between me and any of my friends who don’t fellowship with us on those nights. On Thursday and Sunday, we're just friends who have God in common and want to get together weekly to celebrate it and practice being an encouragement to each other. That brings me to what we do in our meetings...
Do we have an agenda? To a certain extent, yes. But it’s never in stone and we're always open to whatever. No, we don't have to sing songs every time. No, we don't have to have one person prepare a word every time. There is freedom to do what the Lord puts on our hearts to do. One night at Guy Ben's we didn't even leave the dinner table. One topic of conversation led to another and we just lets things flow naturally. The Lord had laid on Guy Ben's heart to talk about the church and so we did. We chatted about other things too, prayer together, and watched a movie. In essence, we hung out. Nothing artificial, controlled, or scheduled. Completely natural.
When you get together with friends, or have somebody over for dinner, about the only thing that's planned is the food. The rest of the time is just spent being friends which could include, getting to know each other, talking about what's going on in each other's lives, doing stuff you like to do, etc... I think church gatherings should be like that. Obviously there is wisdom and guidance needed; you can't get together with believers and just talk about the latest football game or economical crisis and call that your fellowship. You may have to guide your conversations to a certain extent. Thats where your relationship with God comes in.
God really should come up in our everyday conversations alot more regularly. Talking about what the Holy Spirit has been teaching us should be as easy as talking about last night’s Astros game, how your cat had kittens last week, etc… Telling about what Jesus did(is doing) should be as easy and common as telling about what your friend did last week. He is our best friend right? If we talked about the God the way we talk about our friends on earth... wow. A lot more people might know about who He really is and many more people might be inclined to dig deeper. We need to be spreading the word of the Kingdom everywhere we go, all the time(Acts 8:4).
But to be able to talk about God in depth, we have to be spending time with Him. We should seek out His presence and company the way we seek out our friends' presence and company. I know I text my friends on a daily basis (and actually quite often throughout the day). If I would talk to God as often as I text, I know my life would be significantly different and my relationship with God would be alot deeper. I guess I have some work to do.


Joyfully!
~Marissa~

Iraqi Refugees

Hey, visit this website!

WoodsEdge- International Ministries


Oh my goodness! I want to get involved!! When I get back from Uganda thats one of the first things I'm gonna do!!

Praising Him!
~MW~

Apples and Amazing things...

Ok, a couple of thoughts...

I was reading in my Perspectives book today and I came across this cool statement...

"The fruit of an apple tree is not really apples, but more apple trees." I think it was Steven Hawthorne that wrote it.

I thought that was interesting. I never really thought of it that way. Then I got to thinking, you know that verse in Mattew 7(verse 20) where Jesus says "by their fruit you will know them," Could it be that he was talking about what kind of disciples you produce? Not necessarily what kind of deeds you do, but rather how you change people. True Christians will be out there "making disciples of all nations" not just doing nice things. They will produce more Christians not just kind thoughts. I never thought about it that way before...


The other thought... is not really a thought but a verse. A verse that just gets me excited. I know you have all probably read it many times before but thats what I love about the Word of God, it NEVER gets old!!!


Habakkuk 1:5- Look to the nations, watch and be utterly amazed for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told.

Doesn't that just make you feel all giddy? :) I'm ready to see it. But I don't want to just see it, I want to be a part of it!!!

Grace and Peace to you!!!!
~MJW~

Some Cool Websites About World Missions

The Joshua Project

World Map

People Groups in Africa

Operation World

Caleb Project(resources)

Asia Harvest

So, the Lord gave me a vision. I asked Him to show me His heart for Tomball. And now... I want to see my little town(ok, its not so little anymore) taken for the Lord. I want to see the people of God in Tomball rise up and take a stand against evil. I want to see them take hold of their calling in Christ and do everything thing in their power to make Christ known to the world. I want to see the Church(ALL of the believers in Tomball) unite and work together to declare the Kingdom. I want the us to constantly build each other up so that we can better serve Him. I want the Holy Spirit to pour out His anointing on this city to the point that anyone who so much as drives through this town will be affected. I want to see MIRACLES! I want us to expect GREAT things for God and attempt GREAT things for Him! Let us not be satisfied with where we are. I want Tomball to be a place where God's work is seen on every corner. I want people to look at Tomball and say, "I want what they have!" I want the non-believers here to be loved. I want them to see God's mercy and grace. I want the believers to realize their potential and calling. I want them to live a life of reckless abandonment for Him.

So last night I drove through Tomball praying these things over the city. I ask that yall join me in these prayers. I am now praying for the Lord to show me what he wants me to do to accomplish this.

Serving a God with a mission!
~MJW~

Perspectives the other night...

I've been taking a class this spring called Perspectives . Its a sweet class about missions and God's heart for the world. Its been such an eye opener. Anyway, this last week we had a great speaker, Jimmy Dorrell, who talked about some really neat stuff. My dad posted on his blog some quotes so I stole them to post on here too... :)

"Tonight's speaker was Jimmy Dorrell, who started a church for the homeless under a bridge in Waco, Texas in 1992. He also has a ministry to the poor called Mission Waco.

Here are a couple of quotes from his talk tonight.

"People with problems, need to be part of the solution for the problem"

"We have taught so much and done so little." Talking about the American church.

He says they have an abundance of requests to help between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Come the middle of July, there is no help to be found.

My favorite story of the night is how they minister to poor families during Christmas. Instead of bringing free gifts to families and embarrassing the parents that cannot afford gifts for their children, they open a store and sell gifts and toys for 80% off. This way dignity is maintained and there is a price paid."


I really enjoyed listening to him!

Joyfully!
~Missy~

Been awhile

I've decided to start blogging again. Just because. So...

This year has been such a fantasmic year so far. :) I just don't know where to begin. For starters, I'm not taking any college classes. :)I am enjoying not having to go to class every week. I was planning on clepping my two history classes but... somehow things didn't work out quite how I planned them. Mainly because I was lazy and did not force myself to study for them. Time crept up on me. :) HOWEVER... the Lord is gracious and instead of clepping them I will be going BACK to tomball college and taking the actual class. This is a good thing for two reasons.
1) I will have a current student ID which means I can workout up there for free
2) More importantly, I will have a second chance on making non-christian friends up there.

I feel like I wasted my years at TC as far as that goes. I made a few friends up there but not really any lasting non-christian friendships. I really wish I had now. So, the Lord is giving me a second chance and I do not intend to waste it!

Well, more some other time because Allison needs the computer! (I need to get myself a laptop...)

Grace and peace to you, and all the joy of our savior!!!
~MJW~