GOD'S STORY.

30OCT06 Deut 7-9
31OCT06 Deut 10-12
01NOV06 Deut 17:14-20; 18
02NOV06 Deut 28-29
03NOV06 Deut 30-31; 34
04NOV06 Josh 1-3
05NOV06 Josh 4-6

GOD'S STORY.

23OCT06 Ex 31-33
24OCT06 Ex 34-36:8, 40
25OCT06 Lev 16, 19, Num 1:1-19
26OCT06 Num 10-12
27OCT06 Num 13-14, 20, 21:4-9
28OCT06 Deut 1-3
29OCT06 Deut 4-6

GOD'S STORY.

16OCT06 Ex 7-9
17OCT06 Ex 10-12
18OCT06 Ex 13-15
19OCT06 Ex 16-18
20OCT06 Ex 19-21
21OCT06 Ex 22-24
22OCT06 Ex 25-26

OVERDUE.

I suppose I’m far overdue in typing up yet another post. In ways I feel as if I’m left with a blank slate and nothing to write, but in other ways I feel as if thoughts are flowing through my mind at rapid rates. Maybe it’s just finding the words to express.

Much of my thinking over the last couple weeks has been focused upon relationships. This has been a result of much frustration in this area. During this huge transition in my life, I’ve stepped away from Taylor, where I’ve lived within incredible bonds for the past four years. Reflecting back on those years, I covet those times spent with others. They were friendships that changed and molded me. I lived with those I loved. I constantly surrounded myself with those I loved. So, now, I come here and am told to love those with whom I live. In all reality, I didn’t think that would be too difficult. I’m living with an incredible group of individuals who have taken this radical step in their lives. But, after a month, the lack of depth really hit me. The lack of intentionality. This is most likely due to the lack of time that we’ve had to dive into each others’ lives. Much of my frustration, though, is probably due to the fact that I’ve chosen to compare these relationships to those back home. Some of which have taken four years in the making. All of which, by now, I’ve romanticized. In the midst of this, though, I’ve come to realize how much focus I put on human friendships. I would never argue that human relationships aren’t God-honoring. But, could they reach beyond the boundaries? Could I be too people-focused? Do I choose to fill the absence of time spent seeking after God with time seeking after others? Maybe God is calling me into a season of learning what it means to cling to Him instead of others. Quite the paradigm shift.

I have been extremely encouraged by all that is happening at Church back home. Having left with a bit of a cynical heart towards NewLife, I also knew that change would come this year. And, it has now begun. Reading prayer after prayer on the blog has been so powerful. People are experiencing God in a new light! I wrote last week that I felt your week of 24-7 prayer would be one of waiting on God. And, I think you’ve seen that over the last week. People changing by just being still before God and longing to know him. Now that you’ve stepped into this second week, I pray that you would shift your focus even more towards LISTENING. I’m praying that God will speak in huge ways this week. I pray that He would mess up the human plans of NewLife and make them his own.

I suppose those are the thoughts in my head on this sunny Monday morning. Pray that I would be shaken up during my time here. (Whatever that means.) Pray that I would continue to learn more about myself, and that those things I learn would cause me to be drawn even nearer to Christ. Pray that I would have the desire and drive to pour my entire being into this time…that I would be changed…that I would be molded.

Much love from over here,
Aaron

QUESTIONS…Do we make prayer all about us? Could prayer possibly just be God’s words, given to us, and then spoken back to him?

STOLEN WORDS FROM ‘CELEBRATION OF DISCIPLINE’ by Richard Foster

MEDITATION.

Always remember that we enter the story not as passive observers, but as active participants. Also remember that Christ is truly with us to teach us, to heal us, to forgive us. Alexander Whyte declares, ‘with your imagination anointed with holy oil, you again open your New Testament. At one time, you are the publican: at another time, you are the prodigal…at another time, you are Mary Magdalene: at another time, Peter in the porch…Till your whole New Testament is all over autobiographic of you.’

PRAYER.

Perhaps the most astonishing characteristic of Jesus’ praying is that when he prayed for others he never concluded by saying ‘If it be thy will.’ Nor did the apostles or prophets when they were praying for others. They obviously believed that they knew what the will of God was before they prayed the prayer of faith. They were so immersed in the milieu of the Holy Spirit that when they encountered a specific situation, they knew what should be done. Their praying was so positive that it often took the form of a direct, authoritative command: ‘Walk,’ ‘Be well,’ ‘Stand up.’ I saw that when praying for others there was evidently no room for indecisive, tentative, half-hoping, ‘If it be thy will’ prayers.

Søren Kierkegaard once observed: ‘A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening.’

FASTING.

Where are the people today who will respond to the call of Christ? Have we become so accustomed to ‘cheap grace’ that we instinctively shy away from more demanding calls to obedience? ‘Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross.’ Why has the giving of money, for example, been unquestionably recognized as an element in Christian devotion and fasting so disputed? Certainly we have as much, if not more, evidence from the Bible for fasting as we have for giving. Perhaps in our affluent society fasting involves a far larger sacrifice than the giving of money.

STUDY.

‘He that studies only men, will get the body of knowledge without the soul; and he that studies only books, the soul without the body. He that to what he sees, adds observation, and to what he reads, reflection, is in the right road to knowledge, provided that in scrutinizing the hearts of others, he neglects not his own.’ -Caleb Colton

ART.

Do you believe that God is found in all of creation? On Thursday, as part of our second training block, we had a time of discussing/analyzing artwork. Each of us was told to bring one piece of work that had affected us and taught us something about God. What is our response to art? Do we consider much of it rubbish? Do we only skim the surface for beauty? Or do we dive down deeper? If God is in all of creation, than maybe we need to seek to find him. If we choose to ignore the arts, are we choosing to ignore a portion of God’s character?

To go in hand with this, Thursday night we had a time to just seek after God in various ways. A temporary prayer room was set up with different stations. Tilly asked me to use the time painting. So, after purchasing a couple slabs of 2ftx4ft lumber, I sought out to spend the time in worship through painting. During the time, I was encouraged by one of the girls who took the time to pray (in Finnish) over my gift of creativity and how it fits into God’s plan for me. After praying, she shared that she had this sense that God was truly pleased with me when I use my gifts…as a father who rejoices over his child, he too rejoices in this act of worship. After smudging my hands around for about an hour, the following is what came out.

GOD'S STORY.

09OCT06 Gen 35;37-38
10OCT06 Gen 39-41
11OCT06 Gen 42-44
12OCT06 Gen 45-47
13OCT06 Gen 48-50
14OCT06 Ex 1-3
15OCT06 Ex 4-6

HOME.

our houses are the two middle gray ones (4th & 5th from the right)

THE LOVELY LIVING ROOM.

MY ROOM.

PRAYER GRAFFITI

jotted on the floor before writing the following post...

DREAMS.

Written During a Management Shift @ the Englefield Green 24-7 Prayer Room
[early a.m. tuesday]

Throughout the last 2 weeks, I feel as if God has been ‘forcing’ me to dream dreams. As I write this, I’m laying over some scribblings of the verses in Joel about the Spirit being poured out on all people. Sons and daughters will prophesy. Old men will dream dreams. Young men will see visions. I’m convinced that 24-7 is just a bunch of dreamers. But that’s not the end of it. They act on their dreams. And God is working. The following dreams are dreams I’ve heard of in the last two weeks. Dreams that have taken flesh and blood. Dreams that are living and active.

#1 KELLY GREENE::boys town, mexico::
I’m still a bit shocked by this one. Primarily because it seems too perfect. Here’s a young woman who first visited this border town in Mexico a couple years ago. She realized the desperate call for help, knowing that someone else should GO. Not her, though. She’s now been praying for nearly two years. Boys Town is a walled-in area outside downtown where drugs and prostitution are completely legal. Darkness. But, there has been a breakthrough. In the midst of discouragement (after 1 ½ years of prayer walking), Kelly felt the call to dig in. Lives are now being changed. Women are getting out. What began as a dream for a prayer room has turned into so much more. There are currently children within Boys Town, heaps of them, who never come outside. In hiding. Their mothers, caught in prostitution, are afraid that the government will take them away and place them in orphanages. Never to be adopted back. So they go on hiding. As their mothers go to ‘work’ each night. Kelly’s dream? A home and arts school for these children. Kelly claims that she isn’t artistic, yet knows that every little girl wishes to be a ballerina or a singer or painter one day. Kelly wants to have a place where these children can go at night. A hot meal. A warm bed. The arts in the morning. And then back to their mothers for the day. This dream is not far off. There’s a building in sight. Lives for these “outcasts” will soon be transformed. Kelly is now seeking out a team to come and mold the lives of these children. Artists. Musicians. Dancers. Teachers. Doctors. Anyone.

#2 INVISIBLE CHILDREN::northern uganda::
I ordered the DVD over the summer, only to receive it a few days before leaving the States. I had heard many positive comments about this organization. I finally saw the story for myself a couple nights ago. Talk about a need for justice. Countless children are being captured by the ‘Lord’s Army.’ This is a group, supposedly rooted in witchcraft, whose hope is to overthrow the governement. So they steal away the children. At a prime age. And train them to be soldiers. Desensitize them to death and murder and shooting. Each night hundreds…thousands of children leave home and go into hiding to avoid being captured. Crammed quarters. They are the ‘invisible children.’ They have seemed to been forgotten. But, 3 college guys from California found them a few years ago. Their vision? To tell the story of these children. In the last 3 years these 3 filmmakers have let their documentary spread like wildfire. Compassion is key. The world must do something about these children and this ‘army.’ People must respond.

#3 SCOT & FAMILY::somewhere in europe::
On Sunday night yet another pilgrim arrived at our home in Egham. This man’s story is crazy. It’s a radical story that inspires. A year and a half ago, Scot, along with his wife and 2 young kids, drove off in their VW campervan named ‘Harry.’ They had felt God’s call to obey his Word and leave everything to follow after him. They quit their jobs. Sold their house. Leaving them with only what would fit in the campervan. For Scot, that meant giving away his most prized possession: his music collection, consisting of 600-800 CDs. So, off they went. No clue where. Driving away with servants’ hearts. Willing to do anything. Even if that meant “cleaning toilets and setting up chairs.” Harry has been around Europe. A week here. A week there. They’re following God. The van is striped in purples and pink. All over it lie the handprints of people they’ve met on their journey. The lives that have been touched. The prayers that go with them. At the moment they’re renting a home in Macedonia, where they will be staying for 5 months to help with a church plant. After that? Who knows. Maybe a mobile community to travel with. Teams to join them for a week or two and serve. Another dream written on someone’s heart. But it didn’t stay there and die. Scot says that this dream nearly faded away. Distractions. Jobs. Homes. Children. The trap. But they chose to break free. “Leave everything and follow after me.”

So, what does this mean for me? I pray that my dreaming would increase throughout this year. How much more exciting is a life led by visions? A life drenched with the Spirit’s dreams. That is my hope. May God speak to me in these ways. Vision. Most of all, though, may I not let these dreams die. I pray that they give me glimpses into my Creator’s heart. I pray that I may have the strength…the drive…the desire to carry through.

These are the last days.

GOD'S STORY.

02OCT06 Gen 19-20
03OCT06 Gen 21-22
04OCT06 Gen 23-24
05OCT06 Gen 25-26
06OCT06 Gen 27-28
07OCT06 Gen 29-31
08OCT06 Gen 32-34