So You Wanna Be A Rock Star

by Keith Green

For as long as be could remember, Keith Green's greatest dream was to be a musical success. After be gave his life to Jesus, however, he felt the need to surrender those dreams and aspirations by laying down his music...perhaps never to perform publicly again.

Ironically, when sometime later he felt God release him to pick up his music again, he soon had a recording contract and his first album soared straight to the top of the Contemporary Christian Music charts.

The following message was birthed out of Keith's encounters with those who approached him, usually after a concert, to ask how they too could "make it big" in Christian music.

Today, so many people ask me if I can tell them how they can start or enter into a music ministry. At concerts I get countless questions about this, and I also get lots of letters and even some long-distance phone calls from many people who feel they are only "called" into the music "ministry." One day I began to ask myself why so few have ever asked me how to become a missionary, or even a local street preacher, or how to disciple a new believer. It seems everyone would prefer the "bright lights" of what they think a music ministry would be, rather than the mud and obscurity of the mission field, or the streets of the ghetto, or even the true spiritual sweetness of just being a nobody whom the Lord uses mightily in small "everyday" ways.

Are You Willing?

My answer to their question is almost always the same. "Are you willing to never play music again? Are you willing to be a nothing? Are you willing to go anywhere and do anything for Christ? Are you willing to stay right where you are and let the Lord do great things through you, though no one may seem to notice at all?" They all seem to answer each of these questions with a quick "yes!" But I really doubt if they know what their answer entails.

Star Struck

My dearest family in Jesus...why are we so star struck? Why do we idolize Christian singers and speakers? We go from glorifying musicians in the world, to glorifying Christian musicians. It's all idolatry! Can't you see that? It's true that there are many men and women of God who are greatly anointed to call down the Spirit of God on His people and the unsaved. But Satan is getting a great victory as we seem to worship these ministers on tapes and records, and clamor to get their autographs in churches and concert halls from coast to coast.

Can't you see that you are hurting these ministers? They try desperately to tell you that they don't deserve to be praised, and because of this you squeal with delight and praise them all the more. You're smothering them, making it almost impossible for them to see that it's really Jesus. They keep telling themselves that, but you keep telling them it's really them, crushing their humility and grieving the Spirit that is trying to keep their eyes on Jesus.

Ultimately, what we idolize we ourselves desire to become, sometimes with our whole heart. So a lot of people who want to become just like their favorite Gospel singer or minister, seek after it with the same fervor that the Lord demands we seek after Him! And again, we insult the Spirit of Grace and try to make a place for ourselves, rather than a place for Jesus.

A Thankless Job

How come no one idolizes or praises the missionaries who give up everything and live in poverty, endangering their lives and families with every danger that the "American dream" has almost completely eliminated? How come no one lifts up and exalts the ghetto and prison ministers who can never take up an offering, because if they did they would either laugh or cry at what they'd receive?

How come?

Because (1) we're taught from very early on that comfort is our goal and security… and (2) that we should always seek for a lot of people to like us. Who lives less comfortably and has had less friends and supporters than the selfless missionaries who have suffered untimely, premature deaths trying to conquer souls and nations for the whole glory of God? Do you really believe we're living in the very last times? Then why do you spend more money on Gospel records and concerts than you give to organizations that feed the poor, or to missionaries out in the field?

There are ministries all over the world where "penniless" people are being saved and transformed. They are broken people who have promise and qualities, but just need someone to bring them God's light during the times when their lives seem so completely hopeless.

I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music, and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into Godly jealousy (Romans 11:11) or to sell out more completely to Jesus!

Quit trying to make "gods" out of music ministers, and quit desiring to become like them. The Lord commands you, "Deny yourself take up your cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23). My piano is not my cross, it is my tool. I'd never play it again if God would show me a more effective tool in my life for proclaiming His Gospel.[God gives us each our own unique tools. But we may never use them if we become more interested in someone else's. Seek God, ask Him for His plan for ministry (true, God glorifying ministry) in your life.]

Conclusion

To finish, let me say that the only music minister to whom the Lord will say, "Well done, thy good and faithful servant," is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be a minister's most important goal!

Let's all repent of the idolatry in our hearts and our desires for a comfortable, rewarding life when, really, the Bible tells us we are just passing through as strangers and pilgrims in this world (Hebrews 11:13), for our reward is in heaven. Let's not forget that our due service to the Lord is "... not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake"(Phil. 1:29).

Amen. Let us die graciously together and endure to the end like brave soldiers who give their lives, without hesitation, for our noble and glorious King of Light.

Israel and me (Second Part)

February 20, 2006...
I was so excited, two guys, one that i knew already from my previous trip were supposed to wait for me at the airport. I got there and met them and took the taxi 'sheirut' with them to my future home.
When i arrived to the house, i liked it so much, it had a wonderful view, specially from the living room where we were suppose to have our prayer time together, and it was a huge living room...i also loved the kitchen, it was so nice and big. Without realizing it, one of my dreams was coming true...i always wanted to live in a place with other young people, never did...maybe in other countries that's more normal, because usually when you go to college you live in the dorms with other people, but that's not how it was in Colombia or in Dominican Republic...maybe there were a few places like that, but it is not normal; and besides, this was a place that i would share with other believers! That was definitely exciting for me. And in the plans was also to study Hebrew and that was even more exciting for me! I love Languages.

I don't really remember what was that day, i think they took me to a service at a congregation in Jerusalem...with jet lag...and there was my friend, that i met in Colombia before she came to Israel, a few months before. She came with the second group that the couple that invited me organized, i came in the first one. But after they brought the second one was when they rented the house and my friend Nancy went to live in the empty house, alone. But that's her story...all i can say is that the Lord has blessed her life in many ways, in within 3 years, she got married to a great American guy -Jaime, and is now the mother of the most beautiful baby -Joshua.
So my friend Nancy was there, in the service, and we met after it. We were going to share a room, just the two of us for a few days until other girls would join us.
We became really good friends with the time, although the first year, since i just met her a few months and never -lived- with her, i can tell you that it was difficult. Partly because we are so different, she is the funny and talkative type, you always could know when Nancy was in the house. One of the things i like to tell about my time living and sharing the same room with her is that when we had to get up, first of all, she would get up really early, sometimes i would do it to, to go downstairs and pray together with the guys, but not all the time. When i would not get up so early, after she would come back to the room because we had to get ready for school, she would get into the bathroom and just sing aloud and just make whatever noise she would feel to make, dancing all her way out. I confess i'm not a morning person, but it's not that i have a bad mood or something, it's just that it takes time for me to fully awake. Some days more that others...but she would always ask me or assumed that i was in a bad mood. Well, that would really get me in a bad mood, but i tried to fight it...i guess at the end we were beginning to accept each other the way we were. But that took a long process and many tears...at least on my side more...
So my time in the house was nice, at the beginning at least, we did many things together, like going out to Ben Yehuda St. in Jerusalem and sing worship, also performing in some places Stories from the Bible with songs and acting, having every Friday people over and cooking for them...that was actually my favorite activity. I love to have people over and give them food and see their enjoyment and just talk about life and of course everything centered in the Lord. I long for that in every relationship that i have, to talk about Him all the time! I wish it would be more like that.
I had another friend in the house, it took longer for us to meet each other since she was studying at the Hebrew University the same as Nancy was, but the thing is that she was sleeping in another room, so we didn't get to know each other so quickly as Nancy and me. Her name is Gaby, and she met Nancy in the Moshav Yad Hashmona, when both of them were volunteering, and now both of them were studying at the Hebrew U. Gaby and i became closer after...

After some time, several people passed through the house. I studied Hebrew until the third level and was getting ready to leave, since my flight ticket was going to expire, that was like august, or something like that...but a moth before, i think in June-July, Gaby's family came to visit. It was really fun, specially because since they are Mexican, her mom brought so much Mexican food, and was making tortillas almost everyday...we gain a lot of weight! But they were very nice. They were here just when the second Lebanon war started, so it was let's say, special, for them.
I got to know her mother and father, and her three younger brothers, she has another older sister but she stayed with her family.
So after they left, my time came to leave too... I was sad, but somehow didn't know what to do. I couldn't continue studying Hebrew, because the people sponsoring me were not going to do it anymore and let's say that i studied the important levels already. So a week before i just had a question in my heart. Why i studied Hebrew? What am i going to do with it? But deep inside my heart, was another longing. I wished i could live here, i wanted to live here...so i put those thoughts and questions aside, and in someway turned them to the Lord, and although i was several times thinking in the what if- i started organizing myself to leave.
A week before i was leaving, Gaby's mom called me from Mexico. She told me she thought about me, and knew that i was leaving soon and wanted to tell me that she had in her heart to give me a ticket to come back to Israel!
I don't remember my reaction, but i guess i was shocked. Obviously i was very happy. I joyfully packed my things and went to visit my family for i think a month and a half, or more, and came back to my new home.
So when i arrived, i found out that she was the one going to sponsor me in the necessary things, like the living, -food, transportation and basic things, and also in my Hebrew studies, although this time i was going to study the fourth level.
At the feast of Tabernacles, Gaby's mom came to visit her and take her to the feast, and we all went. Then she asked me if i wanted to study something else besides Hebrew. I told her that i didn't know, that maybe i would like to study to become a Chef, or perhaps try again with music. She told me, to go ahead and find out where i could study and that she wanted to sponsor me in that...i was excited, but on the other hand, i had lost the desire of studying something in my life, always thought that at my age i should have a degree already, i was already going to be 24!

After that Nancy left to Colombia to introduce Jaime to her family, and was suppose to come back. She was the one in charge of the house but now another friend was the one in charge, a guy that i also loved very much in my time there, but that eventually it turned very difficult to live with him for me. We were also studying together and living in the same house, at the beginning it was OK, i mean, not that bad when Nancy was there, because she was doing more of the logistics and managing the things of the house like paying bills, etc..But now everything was on him and that, i think, it was too much for him, plus that we were a bunch of girls...well, three of us, and him. Living together with people that have had different lives is difficult. We had MANY problems and MANY misunderstandings, but thanks to the lord that He helped us to recognize these things in front of one another and to forgive each other.

The last months were really difficult, for all of us. The house was also having some electricity problems and was terribly cold. Winter was hard enough outside, but our home was colder in every way. I remember that winter, i remember us trying to work things out between us but feeling that we were already at the border, almost falling...at least i felt like that. Then i became sick. I had the flu, a strong one and felt terrible. By that time i was friends with one guy from the moshav, that i met when i was volunteering there, and saw again this time because he was very close to Nancy. I talked to him very often and told him of my experiences in the house and how i was feeling that it was the time to find another place, i asked him if there was a possibility for me to rent a room in the moshav, and he was helping to find out.
The 31st of December was terrible, but i won't write about it, i'll just say that i knew for sure i had to tell the others about my plans of living because by then i'd found a place at the moshav and was planning to leave the next week.
I wrote a letter thanking the family that brought me in the first place to the house, for everything, the Lord used them greatly in my life and i was more that thankful with them, but saying that i knew that i had to move now, and that anyways i'd be here and could see them and visit them after.
It was hard to leave the house, i was so sad, but i knew that was what i was supposed to do.
I got to the moshav, and immediately felt that it'd be my new home.
Gaby came to be with me the first days and from there she flew back home leaving many things because she was planning to come back. I had some vacation and then started Hebrew studies again, the fourth level...i had to wait for the music thing because the tests were in march or something like that, so i started having theory classes with Arie, a very good friend, like a father to me. He was our guide when were volunteering, he took us to different places in Israel, and also taught us about the History of Israel. He is a musician, but left it to serve the Lord as a tour guide specially for young people. But he was a musician for over 30 year. He helped me to remember some of the things i studied before...not that i got much out of him, he explained to me everything in Hebrew and by that time, Hebrew was still difficult for me, specially to speak it...i don't talk that much, or let's say that i don't easily start a conversation. So it was hard for me to talk, and in this case to understand what he was trying to teach me! But it was a nice experience. He introduce me to one friend of his, that lived in the moshav next to Yad Hashmona, called Neve Ilan, a lady that taught vocal classes, and prepared people for the tests at the Academy of Music. So i started taking classes with her. I payed the first class that was like 60 dollars for 45 minutes...and she asked me why i was here and wanted to study music here, so i told her a shorter version of this story and she loved it. She's not a believer, at least not yet...and since then didn't want to take money from me, she said that i needed it more than her and that she basically wanted to help me.
So my friend from the moshav, Yochanan, was also going to apply for the Academy of Music, he is a pianist, and wanted also to study music, which when i knew about it, was really exciting for me because at least i would know someone there! So we went to the performing test and made it, i remember Nancy was back already, this was in march and he had his part first and left for work and i stayed with Nancy waiting for my turn (she wanted to support us by coming with us to the test) I went inside the room and a few ladies were seating there and then i saw my teacher, and after i sang, then i realized that she was the head of the vocal department! I had no idea...but it was just amazing for me to see how the Lord was knitting every single person in my life! That was a clear sign that He was the one guiding me.
Then , another day we had our theory test, and it was very difficult, starting for the part that reading Hebrew is still the most difficult thing for me to do, and although music is an international language, all the explanations were in Hebrew, the oral and the written ones, so you can imagine.
Before getting the results, we had the Passover celebration which is my favorite I think, in Israel. We were invited to celebrate it with Arie's family, Nancy, Gaby and me. I had the wonderful gift of going to meet my mother that was in a tour that started from Egypt and was arriving that evening. So Gaby, Nancy and i went to pick them up in front of the Mevasseret Mall, and i saw her and hugged her and then screamed when i saw that my sister had come too! I had no idea of that, so i was really surprised!
We had a wonderful time, they stayed for one month at the house where Gaby and i were living before. They stayed there with Nancy and i went to stay with them during the time that they were here. We traveled around a lot, it was nice. I wish they will come again sometime.
Then, one day, we were in the bus on our way home and i got a call from Yochanan, that he got his letter with the answer from the Academy, he was accepted but had to do the summer course. Since i was staying at Nancy's place i couldn't check my mail in the moshav, so i asked him to check if i got a letter too. He went and took it, and opened it and told me i was accepted without the requirement of taking the summer course! What??? I thought the theory test was a failure! But it seems it was not that bad... I shared the news with my mom and sister and praised the Lord for his answer.
Anyways, I took the summer course. I had too, i knew it had been a miracle also to be able to get the student's visa on time, but i knew i needed a preparation before entering to the formal studies in October.
Some days later, i said goodbye to my mom and sister, as they returned to Dominican Republic. God was definitely doing something, i was expectant...This was the beginning of my studies here...August 2007...
(To be continued)
"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! " (Philippians 4:4)

Israel and me (First Part)

OK, i will get a little more personal here, and will share with you some of the things that have been happening these last days (the past three years?).
So i will start from the beginning since i also promised at the opening of this blog to tell the testimony of how i ended up studying here in Israel, so i guess the time has come! Although is late at night, i happened to be inspired and those of you that like to write whatever you write know that you have to take advantage of those moments!
OK so, the first part you already know it, because for me, my relationship with Israel started since before i was born. My mother was not able to keep a pregnancy and was told that she was barren. So after 5 years of prayer, a group of people was traveling to Israel from my original country, Colombia, and my mother decided to write a note asking for a miracle to have a baby, basing her prayer in the passage that says, “Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray in this temple; then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name" in 2 Chronicles 6:32-33. That was in November 1981. In December she was reading the Scriptures and read a verse in 2 Kings 4:16a, "Then he said, “About this time next year you shall embrace a son.” My mother read this and felt the Lord speaking to her that He will give her a baby in the following year, and exactly in December i was born.
My parents had another two children, another girl and a boy. They wanted to come to Israel and pray for me here as my mother told the LORD that she wanted also to dedicate me to Him, which now that i write about it, it really makes me thoughtful and expectant! She came to Israel after i was born, when i was 11 months, and then came with my father and me when i was 10 years old.
When i was 20 i came again invited by a family that wanted to come to Israel to volunteer in a moshav that they got to know in their several trips to Israel. Moshav means settlement in Hebrew. But the special thing about this one was that it is the only Messianic Jewish settlement in Israel. Meaning that is the only settlement that has Jews that have come to believe in Jesus as their Messiah. The name is Yad Hashmona. So I came in the year 2003 to volunteer and also study and travel the Land, met other Colombian people that came with me in the trip and together did a lot of fun things here in Israel. But by that time, my heart was different, my faith was very blind being honest, even though i know that God was calling me even then.
In total, i was here with the group for 6 months, some of them left earlier, but i stayed with a few of them longer. One special thing i do remember from that time that connects in the story, is one time that i was walking in the Biblical Garden in the moshav, and it was almost sunset, my favorite time to walk around specially there...and a group of Americans were singing and praying above the place were I was walking by...it was so beautiful, i felt the wind and the songs would come softly and the beautiful lyrics would just break into my thoughts. You know, i didn't grow up with worship music in English, never heard or at least if i did, i wasn't very interested...but this song, that you probably know, broke through my heart, and still does..."and I, I'm desperate for You, and I, I'm lost without You..." and then more wind. I was so touched by those words since i wanted to know if the LORD wanted me to stay longer or to go back home and i was hoping for an answer.
So then the leader of that group started praying and then he said some words i couldn't catch, i just understood that he was talking about Moses and Aaron and something about Aaron's staff, but couldn't really hear. And then i just asked the LORD, so should i stay longer? And then this young guy said, 'like Aaron threw his staff on the Land, the LORD is asking you to through your gift or talent on this Land'. I wasn't sure of what this guy was really talking about, but for me it was just so clear and i felt so joyful to know that He wanted me here. However, i recognise that i wasn't very prepared, and mature...and probably didn't do what He wanted me to do. But instead of 2 moths and a half, i ended up staying for 6 months. Then i flew back to Colombia.

Some interesting things happened to me while i was there. I trusted again in my "spirituality" if there is something like that, and did things that i knew weren't part of His plans. But He guided me and my family into a beautiful group of people that were studying a good Word, it was a clean message from the LORD to His people and we were so tired of sermons based on humanism or psychology, how to be a better person, stuff like that that have taken the truth of the LORD Jesus and taught them without the power of His name! We were thirsty for a pure Word, and He guided us to it, like the sheep says beautifully in the Psalm 23: 2b, "He leads me beside the still waters". We began to feel that this was real, that finally we found pure water that satisfied our thirst! And i began my personal path, my struggle, my battle against this flesh, but on the other side, my real satisfaction and fulfilment!
After two years, we moved to Dominican Republic, being very difficult to leave our family in the LORD, but following God's direction. After 3 months, i started working as an English Teacher for kids after school and it was a part time job...and my first serious job ever! Which i have to say that i really enjoyed and loved. After i graduated from school, at the age of 16 and a half, i knew i would study or Psychology, or gerontology, or sociology or perhaps go to Law school (i definetely had it figured out!). I went to visit the universities with my father, and also tried to get some scholarships. And then, my father asked me what i thought about studying music? I always loved to sing, but sadly left my piano lessons after a year only and never learned to play anything else, but i always loved music. We decided to visit the Conservatory in Colombia in the city where we were living and even though the building was not in very good condition (art is not well supported in Colombia), from the moment that i entered that place i knew that my puzzle was solved. I applied, got in, and studied there the 2 years of the preparation program. Then we had to move...and since then didn't get the chance to continue it or study in some other place.
OK, let's go forward if you are still with me...I was already in Dominican Republic. I'm an English Teacher, 23 years old, and already saving to start studying education since music was not really something i wanted to study there, or maybe not anymore...When i was teaching for already 9 months, the couple from the family that invited me to Israel two years before, came to visit and told me that a friend of mine, that i met after i came from Israel some months before she left to Israel, was still there and now moved from the moshav into a house that they rented there and wanted to open it as a house of prayer. They told me that they wanted that young people would come and live in this house and pray for Israel and study Hebrew. Plus other activities like singing in the streets of Jerusalem and musical theater of stories from the Bible. I liked the idea, but i thought that finally i was settling down and perhaps could start studying soon so i said no to their invitation for me to come. It was hard for me, i don't remember how i felt, but i was not at peace...i heard them speak to their children on the phone telling them that they had to look for another girl to participate in their programs because i didn't want to go. I was burning inside. I prayed, read the Scriptures that if you are looking for answers in the Scriptures if to come or not to come to the Land, it's not the best place to look in, they are full of Israel everywhere!
My mom came into my room, we talked, and she told me that maybe it could be that the LORD wanted me to come. I prayed and asked for some signs...OK, i admit it, i have a friend that always tells me that i'm always looking for signs...well i'm caught! I have to ask the LORD to work on that issue too! So He answered my prayers, gave me the signs, and i arrived to Ben Gurion Airport the 20th of February 2006.
Then it all began!

^"... being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;...." (Philippians 1:6)

Material for Sacrifice 2

I confess I have fallen again, i thought that i could make it, i know that i cannot do anything without Him, but i took Him for granted once again, and i can tell you, it's so frustrating! But i understand that is a battle that will be going on as i will be perfected in Christ the LORD and then this flesh will finally disappear.

Oh how i wish to become like He is! But the cost of dying is sometimes very difficult, for me is difficult almost all the time actually, but i know that there is no other way. Thanks to Him that i'm not supposed to do this alone, but He has given me His Spirit to guide me. I need to trust more in Him, to have a closer relationship with the Spirit so He will strengthen me keeping me from falling. I know i have no other choice, i mean there are other choices but i know that His way is the best. His way is Life, His way is the only real one because as He said, He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. How beautiful words, how clear are they for me, and every time that i read them and hear them in my head are so alive!

Oh LORD, change me, cleanse me from the inside out!

Another thing that i must confess is that i haven't been talking more to other non believer people about Him, and i feel the need of doing it, not only to fulfil a commandment but i just can't keep quiet no longer! How can the people out there live without Him? I mean, is that actually meaningful or even "possible"? And how am i living, that i know Him? That's a hard question, i see my need of reflecting Him more in my life, to come out of the state of thinking so much in me and how i have to act, and what i should say, and how to say it...just be free, and let Him to flow in and through me dying to myself!

I really don't deserve His inexhaustible mercy and love but He still loves me! And forgives me!


Oh Lord help me to be like You! Create in me a CLEAN HEART oh Lord, and renew a RIGHT SPIRIT within me! Burn my flesh in the fire of Your Holiness, and let your grace shower me and fall upon me! Restore in me the Fear for You, and help me to honor and glorify you in everything that i do. Everything, your eyes are looking ALL the time, they know my every move. Test me, proof me, purify. Please take from me my life. Amen.

Pardoning, grace -- חנינה

And the LORD said, "I Do Not Remember"

How little we understand of eternal redemption! How many times will God forgive you? If you have truly set your heart to follow Him, He will cancel your sins as often as you ask*. Will He forgive of the worst sin you can think of? Yes! You may have to live with the concequences of your misdeed, but the redemptive power of God is such that, even in your sin, there are many things of value to be reclaimed. As for the sin itself, if you deeply and sincerely repent* of it, not only will God forgive you, He will blot it out of His memory.

Let me share an experience. A certain man of God has been gifted with revelatory insight into people's lives. During an evening service he ministered to a Prebyterian pastor and his wife. By the gift of the Spirit, he revealed the couple's past, uncovered their present situation and then disclosed to them what was to come. This work of God greatly impressed the couple, and as the prophecies were fulfilled, one month later the presbyterian minister brought two other pastors, each with their wives, to another service for personal ministry. The word of knowledge was exceptionally sure that night, and the second minister and his wife marveled at the accuracy and truth in the prophetic word. The third couple stepped forward for ministry and again the word of knowledge was present. The prophet spoke to the husband, revealing his past, present and insight into his future. Then the man turned to his third minister's wife. As he began to speak of her past, suddenly he stopped. "There was a very serious sin in your past." The woman, with her worst fear seeminly upon her, turned pale and closed her eyes. The congregation hushed and moved to the edge of their seats. The prophet continued, "And I asked the Lord, 'What was this sin that she committed?'And the Lord answered, 'I do not remember!' "
The LORD had been faithful to His promise, "I will not remember your sins." Although many times this minister's wife had asked for cleansing, still she could not believe the depth of God's forgiveness. He removed it "as far as the east is from the west" (Ps. 103:12). From everywhere but the prison of her own mind, her sin had been paid for and removed. And now in His great mercy, He removed it from there as well!

Oh, what burdens we carry, what guilt and limitations surround us because we do not accept God's total and perfect forgiveness! In Isaiah we read, "I, even I, am the One who wipes out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins" (Isa. 43:25). How great is the God we serve! How wonderful is His love toward us! He is our Redeemer! Our Savior! If you are willing to forgive others and will but ask to forgive you, He will pardon your debts as often as you contritely turn to Him. He promises He will remember your sins no more! He who calls us to His perfections, has also provided perfectly for us to approach Him. Holiness is an unfolding relationship with the grace of God.

(Excerpt from the book: 'Holiness, Truth and the Presence of God' by F.Frangipane)


*"...He will cancel your sins as often as you ask..." -And further on: "...if you deeply and sincerely repent." I wanted to clarify this part, because I hope those who are reading this are true followers of the Lord and will not take grace as an excuse or opportunity for sin to abound like Paul seriously and clearly explains in Romans 5 and 6. Like it's also written in Proverbs 28: 13, "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy". This is the true repentance, to confess and forsake our sin.

Help us LORD to surrender to you, to feed Your Spirit within us and not to give in to the desires of our flesh.

Material for Sacrifice 1

One of the things that had taken me long to accept and put on practice, is that the Lord has required from me –all this time, to sow my feelings in His presence even though this would mean to die every day, that’s exactly His point. He wants me to trust Him even though for me it seems that anyways it will not be of much use since I think for me is too late. But He expects from me to listen to Him and obey.

I’ve heard so many messages about sowing and reaping, and never quite understood what i understand now! What other teachers and pastors would teach is that if you sow you will reap more that what you sow and i think that most of the ‘prosperity theology’ nowadays based itself in this verse that doesn’t really mean that you will have more.

For me it’s not about quantity, it speaks about quality. So when you sow, the seeds have to fall underground, then you cover them as burying them, and then they die, they must die so something will start growing from it, that’s the way the Lord designed it to be, that is what also the Lord Jesus came to do here on earth, and He is the one who sowed the good seed in the earth, in our hearts, but as he had to die, and we are called to follow His steps, we must also die to our own desires, to our own flesh. Then when we die, his life starts growing in us and it’s more wonderful than what we were before.

This is the process, i believe, that each one of us has to go through, also with our desires, like i was sharing with you before about finally accepting what God required from me in regards to my emotions and desires. He knows me, and knows how i feel, and He wants to fulfil His will in my life. Sometimes i will have a clear answer, and sometimes i won’t, but the response that the Lord wants is ‘Wait in Me’. No matter how long, no matter if that waiting comes with disappointments or disillusions, i must wait. I will certainly still feel, and that will be my strongest struggle; if the feelings are still there, it doesn’t mean i’m failing in trusting the Lord. I fail when i respond to them and try to do things in my own strength.

This is so true in this area and in every area of our life. We will be tempted to act against the will of God, but we have the promise that if we resist the devil and his temptations, he will flee from us, and the Lord will be our strength. Our struggles are God’s call: ‘Come to me’ –says Elizabeth Elliot in her book Quest for Love, and it's so true. The Lord wants to love us, He never called us to look for the things in this world that we wanted, to search satisfactions and pursue our dreams, but to seek Him, to become like Him following His steps, and His steps are far away from this world of lust and pleasure of the flesh. So once more i want to pledge my life to Him, my feelings and desires, acknowledging that my time and seasons are in His hands and that i don't want anything in my life out of His will.

May the Lord give to us His strength to endure temptation to fall from His will and embrace ours. Lord help us to follow you and seek you every day.

I want to share with you some excerpts from Elizabeth Elliot’s book, Quest for Love, which has been of great blessing in my life. I encourage you to read it!

· If I set myself to pursue the wise and loving and holy will of my Heavenly Father, i’ll find that happiness comes –quietly, in unexpected ways, and, surprisingly often, as the by-product of sacrifice.

· Desire for marriage tests deeply my understanding of the cross. The cross of Christ means sacrifice.

· Helpful principle to remember in times of distress:

'I was bought by a price. I do not belong to myself. I don’t have to listen to my emotional cries, my offended ego. I cannot do anything to keep my ego from bleeding, but I can ignore it and follow Christ.'

· It is on God that we should wait, as a waiter ‘waits’ –not for but on the customer, alert, watchful, attentive, with no agenda of his own, ready to do whatever is wanted.

· One of the signs of the end times is that the people will be lovers of themselves without self-control.

· Honor the Lord with your body. (I Corinthians 6:9-20). Until Jesus Christ is Lord of the sex life He is not Lord of one’s life.

· “We instructed you to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honourable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.”

(I Thessalonians 4: 1-5)

· “I wish Thy way

But when in me myself would rise

And long for something otherwise,

Then, Holy One, take sword and spear

And slay.”

(stanza of a poem by Amy Carmichael)

· “Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,

I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set

my face like flint, and I will not be put to shame.”

(Isaiah 50:7)

· “Those who sow in tears

Will reap with songs of joy.”

(Psalm 126:5)

· The surrender of the heart’s deepest longing is perhaps as close as we come to an understanding of the cross.

· When we have committed desire to Christ the desire does not necessarily fade, but it no longer dominates. Commitment is a deliberated conveying to another, the control of that desire.

· We need the lessons loneliness brings. It is good for us, for that hidden sanctification. (Also applied to the feelings of wrestling, impatience).

· The longing for human love is powerful, but there is a more powerful one. It is for God, although few identify it correctly until they have tried many other springs.

“My people have committed two sins:

They have forsaken me,

the spring of living water,

and have dug their own cisterns,

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.”

(Jeremiah 2:13)

· ‘I fight on the front lines of desire and longings... I pull myself away, with the head lowered and heart aching for the power to believe –that in giving up all of these games, I will not lose a step (as HE withholds no good thing).’

· ‘We both know that seeking to save one’s own life is the very thing Jesus warned us not to do. Christ has never told us to seek what we want; He has told us to seek only Himself! I’m finding that this war will rage, I suspect, until my dying day, but I hold onto hope that it brings me nearer, dearer, closer to Him.’

· Offer up your feelings to the Lord, put them in the altar. Lift up your heart. Trust that God took seriously your offering and rest in the knowledge that nothing but trust is required of you at this moment.

· One cannot always control feelings, but one can choose not to walk into temptation.

Still thinking in the -things- He has for you?

How blind i am not to see Him clearly! Please Lord, open my eyes so i would see you everyday, every moment of my life, that i would walk in your ways. Examine my ways and don't let me go astray.
How blind we can get? Getting used to hear about Him, getting used to read His Word, getting used to live life and to have our own desires. Yes, we gave our lives to Jesus, yes, we said that we'd follow Him, but we still have our -own- desires, our own little space, a place that we'd probably gave up, but we kept the extra key with us so we would enter whenever we want.
How blind we can get? Going out each day, thinking about ourselves, passing over people in need, people that probably will die without getting to know the Lord. How much do we really care about it? Do we really care? Do we really care and work for the Kingdom of God to be established here on earth, or we are playing church as lonely rangers that meet every week?
We are in the world, that's right, but we are not part of the world, as if we are not the same. I question myself, am i really a Christian, a follower of Jesus Who walked on this earth but was never part of it? He was despised, yet He always gave Himself in service to others, never looking at His own needs. Remember what i shared with you before? He came from being away from the multitude, to have a time of solitude with His Father, yet when He came out, saw more people awaiting Him. What He felt? Compassion, and went and healed those who were sick, He went to serve -again. Yes, i know what you're thinking, -that wasn't that hard for Him, i mean, He was God! He was never really tired, He could have gone for days if He would have wanted too! And i would say to you, that if you read the Scriptures and if you trust the Lord, but i mean, really trust Him, that you are totally sure that He is in control of His Word that He left for us even through the years, then you will have to admit the parts where is written that he was thirsty, or that he was hungry, or even at the moment when He was praying at the garden, He Himself confessed that His soul was troubled to death! He cried out to His Father asking Him to spare Him of having to die, but He knew what was needed to happen, He is the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world! He looked at his suffering as a door to superior gain and glory!
And i agree with you, He is God, and he was God when He was walking on earth, and i don't want to discuss any kind of doctrinal issue but to stick to His Word and what He has revealed to us. There is no need to make up new ideas, that usually, since they are made by us, humans, sinners, the only powerful thing that they do is to make divisions in the body of the Messiah. I mean who are we to question God?
And here is a calling, a cry from my heart. He is coming soon, not for many denominations, not for the little groups that point their finger to everyone else that in their own eyes are not holy enough, not for the great massive congregations that boast in their numbers and services every week, but haven't noticed at all that they shut out the door on His face and kept Him out. He is not coming for those who thought that the only way to be closer to Him and grow in Him was to isolate themselves in some remote place so they wouldn't face any temptation. He is not coming for those who call themselves His children, and call Him 'Lord' and perform great miracles and signs and wonders, but are living for themselves. He is not coming for those that are keeping Him from the dearest thing or person for them. 'Yes Lord, I give you my all, take everything'....but really inside you know what or who are you keeping from Him...like Ananias and Sapphira, saying,-that's all we have- trying to fool the Holy Spirit.
He is going to come for a bride, a bride without any spot or wrinkle, you know what that means? No spot, no reserved sin, no hidden sin. We can hide a sin from people, but He is looking! And His eyes are full of fire, but you know for what? So He would burn the sin, and in that way purify us. Don't you want to be pure? Don't you desire to be spotless? Purity in His eyes, is something so much higher than what we think. We can not reach it alone, but He made the way for us! And those same eyes of fire are also eyes that are full of compassion, of love, love like we have ever known!
No wrinkle, there is no 'old' faith, and if you are experiencing it, ask to be renewed! And don't misunderstand me, we ought to be mature, but not let our faith grow 'old', settle as something 'old', something that used to be powerful but it's not anymore...yeah you know, i pray, i've grown in a Christian home, i know the Bible, i know God, i'm a good person -and it starts to sound more and more alarming!- the only thing we got to do is pray, prayer...yeah right now we have nothing else to do. What are you talking about? We NEED prayer, we need to LIVE in prayer, we need to understand the POWER of prayer, it is not -just- the -only- thing we have to do, it's the POWERFUL TOOL the Lord gave us, to WORSHIP Him first of all, to FEED our relationship with Him, to INTERCEDE for other people, to BATTLE the spiritual. OK, old Christian, are you living for earthly things? Are you daydreaming of all the things God has for you? You are not spiritual if you are. You are blind and if you are still hoping for those things to come, maybe they will but isn't Him enough? More than enough i believe. And believe me i'm the first one to step forward confessing that i've walked most of what i considered now, my old Christian poor life waiting for the perfect plan that God had for me.
When i understood! Not by my cleverness that it's not that much of a virtue of mine, but by what i believe was the work of the Holy Spirit in me, in respond to my endless desire of being a genuine follower of the Lord.
HE IS, like He said clearly to Moses, -I AM-, He is my inheritance, and there is no reason to think that there should be something more. If things, those especial things that you want, and you know exactly what it is, are more important for you than the wonderful gift of being accepted in the Beloved, being accepted by the blood, the precious blood that our Lord shed for you, then you are LOST.
Yes, you will have things in this world, and don't get me wrong, God has created beautiful things that He created especially for us, but before that His purpose was to have a relationship with His creatures, us, you and me, and that is what is all about.It's about Him, it's about Him glorifying Himself through His son. It's about Him loving you and drawing you near to Him. That's the REAL LOVE. Like He said in Matthew 16:26, For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
So you want to continue living -your- life? Or you want to loose you life, and gain His? Do you want to stay blind? Do you want to continue playing Christian? Or you want to submit your life to the Lord? Do you want to wait for the good things God has for you? Or you want to live a deep relationship with the one that left everything He had to come to this earth so you would have the chance to know Him? Doesn't His love melts your heart? Isn't He the most beautiful being? Wouldn't you like to spend all your life, your temporary life, with Him and then rejoice with Him in eternity? Wouldn't you like to give your life to Him? And, do you desire His coming? Or you are too comfortable here...?
He is coming, don't live as He is not.

I want to give my life Every day I open my eyes
I just cannot live anymore for this filthy world
Take my life Oh Lord and purify my soul
I Don't want to walk alone through this valley anymore

If you are not with me, i don't want to live
Help me not to step astray from you love and your embrace
If you are not with me there's no reason to breathe
I have everything when i just have You

There are people out there walking blind in despair
With no clue of the blood that you shed
Take me to them, bring your Light through my life
And use me for the sake of Your Name!

Not living for me anymore
Not pleasing myself and my heart
But walking at the sound of Your voice
With eyes wide open to the needs around me.

To you Lord i will only praise
For you Lord is my every breath

Natalia
http://tehilim23.blogspot.com/