Minun Jumalani. Tärkein ja arvokkain. Syvä kaipaukseni sinun puoleesi erottaa minut. Ja sinun rakkautesi minua kohtaan merkitsee minut, voitelee minut ja pyhittää minut. Sinä käännät kasvosi minun puoleesi. Yhä syvemmin sinä tavoittelet minun rakkauttani –– ja minä vastaan sinulle iloiten: tulen luoksesi juosten. Tulen luoksesi laulaen ja riemuiten. Sinä olet Minun Jumalani. Kallein ja arvokkain. (Julkaisen uudelleen kolme vuotta kirjoittamani tekstin!!) Mikä saa ihmisen jättämään kaiken ja seuraamaan sinua? kysyn vavisten, sillä tiedän vastauksen. Murrun sen painon alla, sillä tiedän, että Sinua voi seurata vain kaiken antaen. Vain Sinä voit saada ihmisen myymään kaiken omaisuutensa, jotta hän voisi omistaa sen, mikä todella sydämen täyttää. Ymmärrän, että puhe Jeesuksesta on hullutus tälle maailmalle. Ja silti, maailmakin sen jo aavistaa, että vain Todellinen Rakkaus voi saada meidät nousemaan vuorille. Vain Todellinen Rakkaus saa ihmisen sukeltamaan syvyyksiin, kulkemaan läpi autiomaan, seilaamaan läpi valtamerten ja uskomaan siihen, että HÄN ON. Hän on vielä enemmän. Hän on kaiken uhrauksen arvoinen. Ystäväni, luulen, että joskus unohdamme opetuksessamme Jeesuksen opetuslapseudesta ja seuraamisesta rakkauden. Minut on kasvatettu tuntemaan lain paino: sinä kuuntelet ja sinä tottelet. Piste. Tiedän varsin hyvin sen olevan totta: sain kuolla ja maailman orjuudesta antautua Kristukselle ja tulla hänen orjakseen, palvelijakseen –– ja että jokaisen meistä täytyy kulkea Jumalan valtakuntaan kapeasta portista, jonka suulla riisutaan kaikki, sillä pelastus on yksin armosta uskon kautta. Ei ole toista tietä, ja se joka niin väittääkin on valehtelija, eikä tunnusta Jeesusta Herraksi. Kuitenkin, tahdon jakaa sinulle seuraavaa: suuren salaisuuden Jumalan rakkaudesta. Totuus ei lopu tähän, vaan se vain kasvaa ja syvenee. Taivaallinen Isämme tahtoo palauttaa tuhlaajapojan paikalleen, vaikka poika tiesi, ettei enää olisi ollut arvollinen kutsuttavaksi hänen pojakseen. Jumala on antanut meille ihmeellisen armonsa kautta lapsen aseman, eikä Jeesus häpeä kutsua meitä veljikseen (Hepr. 2:11)! Tervetuloa Jumalan valtakuntaan, jonka kulttuuri ja toimintaperjaatteet eivät löydä maallista vastinetta. Jeesuksen seuraaminen näyttää ulkopuolisen silmin täysin erilaiselta kuin valtakunnan sisältä tarkasteltuna. Teurasuhria ja ruokauhria sinä et halua – korvani sinä avasit – polttouhria ja syntiuhria sinä et vaadi. Sinun tahtosi, Jumala, minä teen mielelläni, ja sinun opetuksesi on sisimmässäni. (Psalmi 40:7,9)
Tiedän, että sinäkin tunnet uhrauksen painon. Se saa olon epävarmaksi ja epämukavaksi, kunnes astumme siihen sisälle ja päätämme seurata Kutsujaa. Raamattu sanoo, että Jeesus kärsi ristin edessään olevan ilon vuoksi. (Hepr 12:2) Jeesus kärsi ristin kuoleman — edessään olevan ilon tähden. Välillä rakkaus sattuu syvältä, eikä se ole helppoa, mutta se antaa meille suuremman ilon kuin kukaan voi saada "viinin tai viljan runsaudesta". Instant-gratification-kulttuurissa voi välillä olla vaikeaa käsittää, että meidät on kutsuttu keräämään aarteita taivaisiin. Tiedämme, että tämä tie vie yltäkylläiseen ja rikkaaseen elämään Kuninkaan lapsina. Voit varmaan jo nähdä, mistä puhun? Totuus on, että sydämeni rakastaa saada kulkea hänen tiensä. Se on täyttymyksen ja lupausten tie. Meidän Jumalamme itse antoi Jeesuksessa täydellisen esimerkin rakkaudesta, uhraamisesta, nöyryydestä ja kuuliaisuudesta. Vain hullu rakentaa elämänsä sille, mikä ruostuu (Luuk. 12:15). Koin kerran hiljaisen kysymyksen hengessäni: Heidi, tahdotko seurata minua tässä? ja tuossa hetkessä tiesin, mitä vastaus KYLLÄ tarkoittaisi. Kyyneleet valuivat poskilleni kun ymmärsin kysymyksen vaatimuksen, joka oli liian suuri minun yksin täyttää. Ihmettelin, miten Jumala, vaikka tiesi tämän varsin hyvin, silti tahtoi kysyä sitä minulta. Miten oli mahdollista, että hän tahtoi antaa minulle rakkauden ja voiman seurata häntä, jotta voisi palkita minut siitä, että kuljen hänen voimassaan? Vastaan yhä tänäkin päivänä: Jeesus, sinä tiedät, että rakastan sinua. Sinä tiedät, miten tuo rakkaus merkitsee minut ja mitä se vaatii ja saa minut tekemään. Annan kaikkeni, jotta voisin olla lähellä sinua. Jeesus, minä tahdon koko sydämestäni seurata sinua.
There are lovers and there are workers. Lovers get more work done than do workers. A passionate lover will always outperform a good servant in pleasing Him. / Mike Bickle Rukoilen, että tämä teksti saa sinut pohtimaan sydämessäsi, mitä Jeesuksen seuraaminen sinulle merkitsee. Kun laskit kustannukset, mitä koit sisälläsi ja mitä tapahtui elämässäsi? Onko elämä Jumalan lapsena sinulle raskasta työtä ja arvaamattoman Isän miellyttämistä? Tai oletko kokenut sen, että rakastat häntä niin paljon että on ihan sama, miltä se näyttää ja mitä se maksaa? En ole vielä perillä. ♥ Ystäväni, me ollaan tällä matkalla yhdessä ja Jeesus itse kävelee meidän vierellä! Hän on HYVÄ PAIMEN. What would a man give for love? the Spirit is asking.
If a man gave for love all the wealth of his house, he would utterly despise the recognition. If a man gave all that he had for love, he would count it all as nothing in the end. Because love loves to love And the reward of love.. it is love! I will tell you mystery, I'm speaking about Christ, Christ and His bride. For this reason he left His Father's house – How then should we respond? You set your love on me I can feel it, I can feel it: Be the fire in my heart, be the fire in my soul, Immortal. We want to love Him and give Him His inheritance. We want to give You Your heart's desire: To give You what You're looking for. To please You, we want to love God on God's terms.
0 Comments
Tiiätkö, viime kesänä pohdin Turussa yhdessä vaiheessa sitä, et hei Jeesus, mihin mun rohkeus oikein valuu? Ja tajusin, et aaah, mun pitää vaan mennä takasin sille paikalle, mistä sen sainkin! So good. Rohkeus, jossa elän, ei ole mun omaa, vaan oikeesti tosi yliluonnollista. Armoa! Muistan, miten keväällä mietin, mitä kaikkia mahdollisuuksia mulla on edessä Suomessa ja yllättäen totuus iski. Muistan surreeni ääneen: "God, I CAN DO NOTHING... I can do nothing! I can do NOTHING!" ja yllättäen hän täydentää lauseen mielessäni: "The Son can do nothing of himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does." Johannes 5:19. Rohkeus, missä elän, syntyy läheisyydestä Jeesukseen. Hän on täydellinen rakkaus ja mitä enemmän tuo rakkaus saa täyttää ja ohjata jokaista ajatustani, sitä vähemmän sydämessäni on tilaa pelolle. Jeesus ei antanut minulle pelon henkeä, vaan voiman, rakkauden ja terveen harkinnan hengen! (1 TIm 1:7) Johdan täällä Reddingissä yhtä evankeliointi-tiimiä kaverini kanssa ja ihmisiä kohdatessani olen huomannut, että minua auttaa, kun annan sydämeni täyttyä Isän ajatuksista lapsiaan kohtaan. Miten kohtaisin kauan kadoksissa olleen veljeni? Muistutan myös itseäni siitä, että sanani ovat aina täynnä ELÄMÄÄ ja TOIVOA Jumalasta kaukana oleville. Jumalan sana minun suussani on AINA, AINA, AINA voimallinen ja saa paljon aikaan. Hän on uskollinen sanalleen. Kuinka moni sydän vain odottaa sitä, että joku tulee ja kertoo, että Taivaan Isä rakastaa häntä ihan täydellisesti ja haluaa antaa hänen syntinsä anteeksi? Meille on annettu ihan mykistyttävän ihmeellinen kutsu ja auktoriteetti demonstroida Jumalan rakkautta laskemalla kädet sairaiden päälle, julistaa terveyttä ihmisten elämiin, nähdä heidän tulevan terveiksi ja johdattaa heidät sisälle Valtakuntaan. "Sillä Isä rakastaa Poikaa ja näyttää hänelle kaikki, mitä hän itse tekee; ja hän on näyttävä hänelle suurempia tekoja kuin nämä, niin että te ihmettelette." (Johannes 5:20) ”Niin kuin Isä on lähettänyt minut, niin lähetän minäkin teidät.” (Johannes 20:21) Jos haluaa kasvaa esimerkiksi juuri manitsemassani evankelioinnissa, on tosi rohkaisevaa kävellä jonkun sellaisen kanssa, joka on jo pidemmällä kuin itse! Näissä hetkissä saa lainata sen toisen rohkeutta ja venyttää omaa mukavuusaluettaan turvallisesti. Mun omassa evankeliointi-tiimissä on muutama ujo kaveri ja sitten pari kokeneempaa tyyppiä. Kaikkein parasta on kävellä yhtä matkaa sen aremman ystävän kanssa, rohkaista häntä ottamaan uusia riskejä ja seistä hänen vierellään valmiina jatkamaan siitä, mihin hän jää. Rohkeus tarttui myös opetuslapsiin, jotka he hengasivat Jeesuksen kanssa! Now when they saw the boldness and unfettered eloquence of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and untrained in the schools [common men with no educational advantages], they marveled; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13 (AMP) Jouluiloa, valoa ja taivaallista rohkeutta teille toivottaen, Heidi Feelings are the energy of motivation. They inspire us, compel us, push us, encourage us, they bring us down and they lift us up. Feelings are typically likened to "a weather" whereas a person's mood could be seen as "the climate" where emotions arise. This "climate" describes what kind of weather (read: emotions, reactions, responses) is typical for a person but, as we all know so well (this may surprise): one can sometimes experience a really hot day in Finland — even though it's not that common! (the science of motivation goes a lot deeper than I mentioned in this paragraph! just saying, it's complex and fascinating!) Why is it important to understand your own feelings? More than being our motivators (for the good and the bad) they help us make decisions and build intimacy. Emotions are from God. He created them. He made us into His own image so emotions didn't just "happen" but the ability to experience them was purposefully crafted into our hearts. We can see Jesus be a pretty emotional guy! I limit my observations to him, for when we see Jesus, we've seen our Father who really, really cares for us. Jesus CRIED when Lazarus died and was sad over the loss of his friend (women like men that show their feelings yes!), he rejoiced when he was happy (like: At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. Luke 10:21.), he got angry when the pharisees were misrepresenting the Kingdom of God, he was loving towards children and women and he expressed compassion without shame. Jesus definitely was moved by what he saw. Emotions are spontaneous. We cannot strategically plan to have them but actors can fake them. Certain environments can stir them up but we can decide to numb them down. A loving act towards me arouses feelings of being noticed, cherished and valued. (Yes, feelings are a fundamental part of expressing and receiving love but there's more to love than the feeling that follows. Love is a very vulnerable, sacrificial decision to be made.) On the other hand, a violent act toward someone can bring that person such pain that they can shut down if they aren't able to process it. Feelings are a precious gift from God! Crying-sadness and laughter-joy are two of the most powerful whole body emotional responses we use daily to process and express what's going on inside us. Positive emotions do more than provide psychological comfort, however. According to University College of London’s Sophie K. Scott and colleagues (2014): I find it fascinating that some Finnish researchers found what happens in our body when we feel different emotions! (Science Daily) All the above is important and good to know about emotions — but the truth has a deeper, beautiful, relieving (!) dimension to it: we are led by the Spirit, not by emotions and feelings. The truth that God loves me doesn't change whether I feel it or not. Haha! That's GOOD news. The Holy Spirit moving is more than a hype. The Holy Spirit leading is not always fun either, sorry. :D Few months after I came to Redding I saw a dream where I had a battle inside of me. In the dream I consciously decided to set the Spirit of God in the throne of my life and to be led by the Spirit. In that encounter I submitted myself to Jesus' Lordship in my life: I surrendered my will to His and it required an intentional decision that didn't "just happen" (this goes to the category "experiences impossible to explain with words"). I'm yet to fully understand what that meant but after that day I've felt it easier to practice spiritual disciplines in my life. In the morning after I found myself just flowing in prayer and wondered how easy it was! What matters is Who leads me and Who gets to influence and fuel my heart where the emotions are born. Emotions can be trained for unrighteousness in which case they can start leading us away from Christ OR they can be cultivated in a redeemed heart for righteousness... when they eventually will serve our well-being and the Kingdom of God! Many people spend their lives being guided by their feelings. When their feelings change they are convinced their heart has changed. But feelings are rooted in emotion, not truth. A virtuous person lives out of their convictions and expects their feelings to follow. Feelings are great servants but terrible masters. If you stop following them, they will follow you. // Kris Vallotton I have an exercise for you to develop healthy self-awareness! This will help you to pay attention to RED FLAGS (such like loneliness, unworthiness, shame, rejection, powerlessness...) that can trigger behavior that you don't wish, such like finding yourself browsing porn sites in search of intimacy? Binge eating to fill up emptiness? Love the journey of getting to know your heart! You have been given a NEW one and it's time to discover what makes your heart flourish. Ah, I'm glad to share these things with you that I have been learning and have found really beneficial over the past year. Check yourself when waking up/leaving the house/coming back home/going to bed/whenever. 1. How am I feeling? 2. Why am I feeling like that? 3. What happened? 4. Ask the Holy Spirit what to do with the information you become aware of. Becoming conscious of your "normal" helps you to meet your needs in a healthy way! It helps you to not to punish yourself for being a human, to love yourself and to love Jesus and your neighbor with all your heart. xoxoxoxo My parents came for a visit! AH wow. Loved it. I enjoy that I finally get to be the one hosting and serving them. Sure I did fill the dishwasher when I still lived home but it's different this way. I get to make them feel welcome in my place and I get to invite them to my life. I've been struck with a feeling of deep, deep love toward my closest people. I want the best for them. And I want to be involved in getting them there. I want to invest in my relationships and serve my loved ones so that they would feel loved when they are with me. One of the most significant things I've learned is that love looks like remembering details. It looks like being mindful of what my friends like, what they don't, what they love to talk about, what makes them happy, what disturbs them... Knowing your buddy's love language is a KEY to a relationship where people's needs are going to be met. It would be tragic if I neglected my friend's love language of words of affirmation if mine was acts of service – and all I did was love them with doing stuff for them and never affirming their value with my words. I would be thinking that I spend all this time loving them—and they never notice my sacrifice and on the other hand: they would be thinking that I have totally forgotten them! Happens all the time. If you're interested in what love languages are, you can read more about them here. (Do the test!) I can briefly say that there are five love languages: words of affirmation, acts of service, physical touch, receiving gifts and quality time. Your language is the one that you give and receive love. My opinion is that the more healed you get, the more rounded you get, and the more ways you will be receiving and giving love. We need all of them. Languages can be mistreated and wounded (e.g. abuse vs. the language of touch) and it take times until the language can be fully expressed again. For instance, in CA I had this one neighbor who couldn't hug for a very long time because of the memories that begun to arise when she did. So, to honor her we kept our hugs short. I wouldn't make a strict law out of love languages because some people freak out when they "are everything" or can't understand the "purpose of naming them". Relax, it may take time to understand what yours is if you haven't payed attention to it before. (I just heard this from Abi Stumvoll; she pointed out that the father of the prodigal son threw his son a huge party when he returned, which definitely was his son's love language — c'mon somebody! Why not!) Knowing your top love languages will help you lots! They are a great tool to be used in building healthy relationships. It's beneficial to be aware that with some people you might have to make more effort to make them feel loved and to speak some of the languages that you are not that used to speaking. Love your neighbor as yourself. So, after wondering what to offer to a person with a sensitive stomach... This was my choice! A chocolate avocado-banana mousse with whipped coconut cream. It was really, really delicious! Thanks God for creating us mouths to taste all this goodness....
Scoop the mousse into pretty glasses and place the cream on top. Decorate with chocolate chips! Leave in the fridge until they will be served and enjoyed with good friends and chai tea, just because. ♥
I have used the phrase "I'm sorry I don't drink coffee" as long as I remember. I used to say "I don't drink tea either" until I was around 16—17 years old and became frustrated that in too many family meetings / celebrations there weren't other options than those two. As a teenager I felt a slight pressure to have and like either tea or coffee (water seemed extremely dull when adults were drinking coffee hey) Having heard plenty of stories about coffee-caffein addicts I didn't feel like even trying coffee so I wondered if I could make myself accustomed to tea instead. It began when I went to visit my neighbor every Monday to watch Prison Break... She had always a cup of green tea with lemon -- and one night I bravely decided to take some too! My first reaction. EW! Really yucky! "How can people drink this?" My friend put a huge tea spoon of honey to hers and I figured I should try that as well. Noooope. Didn't work but I drank the whole thing up anyways — partly because didn't really dare to throw it away. I was sharing my tea experiences with my friends afterwards and heard someone say that they add some milk to their tea. That was new. This time, even though my neighbor tried to convince me that green tea and milk don't go well together, I decided to try it. Better! AH. Curious, I went home and chose a bag of black tea from my mom's tea collection, added milk —and I could finally understand why people drank it! Still to this day I don't really fancy green lemon tea or tea without milk..:D Finally, years after, I've grown to like the taste of coffee too. In the US I had a few frappes when we went out with my friends (icy, blended latte) and I've figured that unless the cafeteria is exquisite or called a "tea house", their tea is most likely just average and I prefer trying their coffees. Adding a lots of milk to go with the strong taste, coffee turns out to be kind of delicious but this is still a news for me haha! I don't see myself drinking normal plain coffee ever in the future — and tea is well enough for my satisfaction. (#tealovers) But with all that being said, the following is one of my newest food crushes. Seeing S's leftovers in the coffee maker every morning made me curious... What would happen if...?
Tän blogin suunta on kohti kokonaisvaltaista ja täyttä elämää. Tahdon, että jokainen solu ja ajatus mussa rakastaa Jeesusta ja haluan pitää huolta myös mun kropasta, jossa Hän majailee. Ja siks haluan kirjoittaa tänään ruuasta (bravó!). Ehkä tähän blogiin siis tulee tän postauksen myötä jonkinlainen lifestyle-sävy, jos nyt tykkää luokittelusta, mutta vaatteita en kyllä vois alkaa kuvaamaan, ei huolia. Sidenote: On tuntunut niin hyvältä tulla takaisin omaan seurakuntaan ja nähdä, että kaikkien suulla ja sydämessä sykkii yksin Jeesus. Kuin siistiä! Ei vois parempaa pyytää.
Mietin, mikä kuvais mun ruokafilosofiaa. Nimittäin kaikilla on jonkunlainen sellainen, vaikkei sitä tietoisesti olisi ajatellutkaan. Joten, kun nyt haluan tätä blogini RUOKA - (woop woop!) valloitusta jotenkin alustaa, niin kyllä se on tietynlainen puhtaus yhdistettynä uteliaisuuteen. Nautin luovista tavoista laittaa (oikun ois aina kotimaisia) vihanneksia, rakastan omenoita haha, täysjyväviljoja, kookoshiutaleita (totutan mun kämppistä niihin #jeeee terkkuja), pähkinöitä ja siemeniä, intialaista ruokaa, clipperin chai-teetä (jos Herra soisi niin vaikka joka aterian yhteydessä) ja hyviä mausteita. Huomaan, että mitä prosessoidumpaa jokin tuote on (kuten muunneltu maissitärkkelys ja aspartmaami), sitä vähemmän mun tekee mieli sitä suuhuni laittaa, eikä mua haittaa sanoa ei kun tarkoitan ei. Kieltämättä arveluttaa kun ihmiset lähtevät hieman 'parantelemaan' Taivaan Isin luomistyötä – ja kas kummaa jos high fructose corn syryp ei sulakaan kropassa ja saa aikaan lihavuutta (alhaalla video). Amerikka oli täääynnä ihmeellisen värisiä (väriaineet) herkkuja ja ne oikeastaan ällöttivät kuin houkuttelivat maistamaan. Ehkä jotain ihmetyttää, etten yläkoulun jälkeen ole ostanut itselleni karkkia kuin muistaakseni kerran, ja senkin pussin syömisessä kesti varmaan puoli vuotta! :D (tulee kyllä kaverilta maistettua, ilman kummempia intohimoja tosin) Mutta annas kun meillä töiden taukotilassa on raakasuklaata maistiaiseksi. En kestäää! YES! Voiko olla parempaa? Oon siis niitä ihmisiä joita ihastuttaa ajatus siitä, kuinka erinomaisen kakun voikaan valmistaa manteleista ja banaani-avocado-kaakao-mössöstä ilman lisättyä sokeria. Amerikassa oli siis paljon överijuttuja, mutta niiden keskellä oli toisaalta tosi fine mennä kaikessa vastavirtaan halutessaan (ylipäänsä tämä yees anything goes if it makes you feel good -new age thinking). Jos kuitenkin pysytään ruoka-aiheessa, niin Jumala loi meille ihan valtavan hienot kropat ja on todellakin viisasta pitää niistä huolta kiinnittämällä huomiota siihen, mitä syö. Se, miten mun keho voi, vaikuttaa mun mieleen, tunteisiin, terveyteen, jaksamiseen, sosiaaliseen ja hengelliseen elämään. On varmaan aika helppo ymmärtää, että vihollinen nauttii suunnattomasti kun jollain elämän osa-alueella ei ole tasapainoa. On haaste kuulla Jumalan ääntä jos kroppa on ylikierroksilla karkeista tai energiajuomista jne. ja basic-juttu esimerkiksi kriisin aikana on pitää huolta siitä, että nukkumisrytmi pysyy hyvänä ja tulee syötyä terveellisesti, mikä luo hyvän perustan paranemisprosessille tunteissa ja mielessä! Elämä ei ole aina yhtälöä 1+1. En esimerkiksi voisi palauttaa huonoa päivää ainoastaan aamulla ahmittuun keksipakettiin (sillä voin oppia käsittelemään tunteeni). Sen verran omasta kokemuksesta kirjoitan, että tiedän, miltä tuntuu olla painoindeksin mukaan lievästi ylipainoinen. Yläkoulun loppuessa päätin Jeesuksen kanssa, etten enää jaksa peitellä itseäni: niin likaista sydäntäni kuin sitten kätkeytyä kameralta, kun en halunnut katsoa ja kohdata sitä, miltä näytin. Haluan muuttua Jumala! Toivon, että sait kiinni ajatuksistani ja löysit sydämeni näistä sanoista. Jos huomaat elämässäsi negatiivisen kierteen, niin tänään on se päivä kun voit sanoa ei ja alkaa murtaa tylsää kaavaa. Sinun ei tarvitse jäädä olosuhteiden uhriksi ja vangiksi. Sulla on Pyhän Hengen voima taivaasta tukemassa hyviä, jumalallisia valintoja, jotka ovat täynnä VAPAUTTA ja ELÄMÄÄ Jeesuksessa. Oma vinkki: kohtaa itsesi. Kohtaa Jumala. Ota selvää tunteistasi ja niiden lähteistä. Kysy itseltäsi, miten voit ja sen jälkeen miksi! Hahaaa, I pray you'd wake up with hunger pains for Jesus!
Joo, ja nyt tämän saarnan jälkeen haluan kuitenkin esitellä sinulle PULLAN, koska meillä oli juuri kuluneella viikolla ihan mielettömät tuparit. Tosi rehti pulla tämä kuitenkin on, sillä S:llä oli kaapissa luomusokeria ja luomuvehnäjauhoja. Itse asiassa, jos olisin tajunnut, että meillä oli vielä jäljellä stevia-sokeria, olisin varmaan testannut sitä tässä, mutta se jää sitten ensi kertaan hehee. Tästä ei tullut liian makeaa omaan makuuni ja saadun palautteen mukaan suhteet näyttivät toimivan!
Ajatus reseptiin lähti siitä, että me tajuttiin S.n kanssa, että olis kiva tehdä juhliin jotain itsekin (meidän priorisoitu energia siis kului ohjelman suunnitteluun). Eli, ei aikaa käydä kaupassa joten mitäs mitäs meidän jääkaapissa onkaan?? Tyypillinen tapaus. Ja silloin muistin S:n juuri edellisellä viikolla tehneen maailman parhaimpia sämpylöitä, joita kohotettiin yön yli jääkaapissa, mikä teki niiden rakenteesta ihanan huokean! Toimisiko se pullan kanssa myös? Pienensin vähän tavallista pullareseptiä ja näin kävi:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. John 10:27 Did you know that God speaks to you in a way that you will actually understand what He is saying? Why would He not do so? And what would ever make you even think otherwise? Our loving Father sacrificed His only Son so that we might have a relationship with Him. The fact that you think that you can't hear from God doesn't mean that you couldn't or you didn't. Anyone can hear from God! In the Old Testament God spoke to Pharaoh through dreams and he was not even "a believer"! Sure, Pharaoh couldn't understand those dreams and needed someone (that is, a man of God) to interpret them. Lectures on "How to hear God's voice" are always fully packed. Why is that? One of the reasons is that we are believing lies about God and ourselves. We are confused with our identity as the sons and daughters of God or/and hold unforgiveness in our hearts, which kind of makes it more difficult to hear Him clearly. Sometimes we haven't been cultivating our relationship with our Father and would therefore love to learn a way to fix the relationship that's been lacking intimacy for years. It's beneficial to learn the principles of hearing God's voice but we don't need to get stuck at looking at the finger (principles) that's pointing to a real Person. Intimacy and trust grow only by time. I can easily read pages of the Bible and not have my heart involved. After finishing my "time with the Lord" on those occasions — I still feel empty. We might have also made hearing from God sound a way too mysterious and difficult too. That's really sad because hearing God is at the core of discipleship and what it really means to follow* Jesus. You simply can't have intimacy without communication. Communion with God has always a positive impact in our lives, such like encouragement, certain behavior, good attitudes, joy, giving, adoration and fulfillment... Jesus is the bread of life that came down from heaven. The Bible also says that Jesus is the Word of God. Digesting God's words leads us to understand what He is like, which eventually will transform our lives! HOW AWESOME IS THAT! Jesus Himself said: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow* me.
For anyone who comes to God must believe that he is real and that he rewards those who truly want to find him. Hebrews 11:6 When I finished high school I was HUNGRY for God and wanted to get to know Him. I had this thought in my mind that I can't hear from God and I kind of questioned and doubted the whole idea of having a RELATIONSHIP with God. Whaaaaaaat? So, what did I do? The only thing I knew: I started to pray and fast, spend time before Him and read the Bible like never before! I decided to trust that He is who He says He is and seek His face. I told God that I didn't understand Him but that I honestly wanted to get to know Him. I asked if He would start revealing Himself to me through His Word and He did!! Why wouldn't he? One night (during my DTS) He woke me up and I heard a voice saying: "I hear your voice Heidi." WOW!! That, if anything, bleeeew my mind! God of the Universe spoke to me! Sooooo unexpected and yet it was not. OF COURSE He heard the cry of His beloved daughter and wanted to answer me! That experience began to shift my relationship with Him. I started to see myself as a daughter, not a beggar who had to somehow get God's attention. I started to see that He had already set His eyes on me and longed to have communion with me! Discerment? To sum up, when I say "God spoke to me" I mean that I discerned that the thought/impression/whatever I received was from Him. Sometimes some Bible verses jump out of the page for me, sometimes I get an impression (an inspired thought, a feeling in my body, seeing with my eyes) while talking to someone and at times I've received significant dreams where I believe God spoke to me. We must test our thoughts [the Bible encourages us to test the spirits behind the words we receive] to discern whether they were from God, from ourselves or from the enemy. And therefore, because we are not immune to the voice of the evil one, this is why we should practice hearing accountable to our community. Learning is FUN and recognizing the voice of the Holy Spirit is even more! The goal of the Book is to teach us to know God! I bless you with heavenly encounters as you start practicing and going deeper into knowing Him! "As close as I can, as close as it's possible for a man" I wrote in one of my songs. Photo 1. Photo 2. “We must look, and go on looking till we have certainly seen exactly what is there.” C.S Lewis I LOVE JESUS CHRIST more and more each day. His love is contagious, outrageous, relentless, unceasing, inspiring, motivating, soo wrecking yet gentle, kind, encouraging, exhorting... Amazing. What have I been learning here? TO TRUST GOD. I have encountered His love and gentleness. I have begun to see the supremacy of God and His greatness. Not that I didn't before but my perspective has been widening up and my heart has been stretched out and filled UP UP UP. This amazing God has taken up residence in me and He actually likes it. He is the most encouraging person I've ever known! What do we even study in a school called the School of Supernatural Ministry? "BSSM is committed to the truth that God loves people, gave Himself for them and has given His Church supernatural power to bring individuals and nations into wholeness. The mission of BSSM is to equip and deploy revivalists who passionately pursue world-wide transformation in their God-given spheres of influence. Students are trained to continue in the ministry style of Jesus: to enjoy the presence of God, say what He is saying, and do what He is doing." We have not yet seen a whole nation discipled but we're getting there! Our goal is to disciple the nations. Our days are built up of many kinds of lectures, classes and sessions. Kingdom Foundations is a course where we study the Bible! BOOM, Dann Farrely has such a good humor and with him we've by far explored the wonders of the gospels. In main sessions we get equipped and taught by our pastors Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton, Mark Brookes and visitors. For instance, Canon Andrew White is coming to speak to us at the end of October! We are 1,200 first year students in our class and we have been divided into smaller groups (revival groups), which consist of around 60–70 revivalists. We have monthly one-o-one meetings with our interns, small groups and small group meetings with our own revival group pastors. It's amazing how well everything is organized! What is more, we can choose specific Advanced Ministry Classes, which vary a LOT from prophetic arts to intercession to missions training to faith and politics to healing courses! Then we also got to apply to a weekly City Service team. My AMT choice for the first term was coaching classes. Ah, they have been really useful and are already transforming my communication styles! I've learned to believe in people, listen to their hearts and to ask great, powerful questions (yeah, just like Jesus did). And we've got some amazing testimonies in the class already! PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DEEPLY TOUCHED BY GOD through students applying the skills they learnt in the class! YES! My weekly City Service is Home Gatherings, which is a home church held in my own neighborhood starting from next week. We will be moving in the whole five-fold ministry to disciple our friends here, teaching them to know Christ and to live a life of a worshipper. Many residents in my own neighborhood have found Jesus through yielded students who have been radically loving them! AND I NOW GET TO STEP INTO THIS STORY! Please watch the testimony video at the end of this post because THAT is what I'll be doing this year. I also chose an extra AMT on Church Planting that will be held as a seminar at the beginning of November. I might also be taking a deeper course on inner healing, SOZO and counseling. SOUNDS INCREDIBLY AMAZING. Let's see what will happen. We also got to apply for a missions trip for the spring. These are the locations our revivalists are going to bless this year: I really appreciate your prayers for me and can't even describe how much they impact my life! THANK YOU! Keep me updated with what's happening in Finland and where ever you're from! MUCH LOVE xoxo Picture from Pintrest. I've been in America for almost TWO weeks now! Crazy! The first observation that I made was immediately in stepping out of the airplane: it is w-a-r-m. I was extremely blessed to stay at my cousin's place the first night. Yeah, and the second day I tried my best to use the shower but managed to first get really hot water on me and then icy cold! I also fell in love with peanut butter-avocado sandwiches (sorry boys) with a hint of salt, lemon and black pepper! Exactly what heaven on earth tastes like. (Though strongly think this experience might still be perfected with rye bread......) The most beautiful thing in this city called Redding is the presence of God. The heaven is open and the atmosphere is filled with faith here because of the prayers of the saints. (We all know that for believers there is always an open heaven! But it needs to be mentioned that even Jesus couldn't do any miracles among the people of Nazareth [except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them] because of their unbelief! (Mark 6:5) And that's exactly why I think the atmosphere here is so remarkable!) You perhaps know the feeling that when you're praying somewhere and your prayers hit like a wall? I've felt the exact opposite here. I feel POWERFUL here! Here it feels like the Spirit of God has more room to manifest and work through believers! (–trying to find the right language to describe my amazement–) GOD gets to be Himself here! And: He is overwhelmingly good, awe-inspiring to the max, and frighteningly wonderful in every possible way! Bill Johnson The most important lesson I've learned by far is the importance of worship. I've had to encourage and tell my soul to sing to God (like David) because I actually haven't been used to that much of worship. I say this as a worship leader who has always loved to worship Jesus, but there's something in stepping out of your comfort zone even during the worship time. Believe me, I have just wanted to sit back and have a break... but still chosen to praise Him like this was my last day to live. My decision has done something in the deepest parts of me: God has strengthened my soul, extended my capacity to receive from Him and our friendship has grown deeper still. I love it. Reminded of Psalm 84: My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. PRAISING GOD renews fainting hearts! What else could I share? There are so many things that have happened that I don't even have words for. I have seen plenty of amazing miracles already (and this is just the second week??) and smelled the anointing oil in the air in the sanctuary! One day at school I counted all the students that came up to testify what Jesus healed them from. Bill Johnson got a word of knowledge during His teaching and we ended up having: 7 people got healed from ADD, 2 from learning disabilities, 4 from reading disabilities, 2 from massive headaches, 8 from dyslexia, 5 from brain drama, 3 from ADHD, and the rest 6 from all kinds of other defects, like one from the damage that a tumor in her brain had caused. Speechless. I have never in my entire life seen so much power and authority in a room! God touched people and some of them could FEEL like a steel band lifting up from their heads. It was amazing to hear a person who couldn't read aloud reciting the Bible to us! Some told how incredible it felt to finally be able to understand what they read! "God didn't design the Gospel to be lived differently during "modern times" versus "biblical times". It is still biblical times." (Bill Johnson) "If Jesus did His great miracles as God, I'm still impressed. But I'm impressed as an observer. When I discover that He did them as a man, then suddenly I am completely unsatisfied with life as I've known it. I am now compelled to follow this Jesus until the same things start happening in my life." (B. Johnson) Ahhhhhh. What will happen when we start to teach this to our children when they're born? The secret ingredient of BSSM is that there are are actually people here who will talk to us about us and who are committed to draw the gold out of us. We will be learning our identity as the sons and daughters of the most High God and to live in a culture of honor and culture of confrontation. Our prophecies will actually be judged, which doesn't happen everywhere! We'll be focusing on the Godhead this year and we will learn to study the Bible for all it's worth. Exciting times and a lot of work coming up :D! To be continued... MUCH LOVE! May God lavish His love upon you guys! I LOVE YOU and wouldn't be here without your support! I want to share you a Bible verse that has been bringing tears into my eyes lately: And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Genesis 3:8
My question is today: is it possible? Is it still possible to walk with God? Is it still possible to yield to His Spirit and follow Him? I believe it is and it changes everything. It changes the way I live my every day life! And I can't talk myself out of it — we are called to walk with God DAILY. We have been invited to fellowship with God and to know His heart! God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. I should probably copy paste here the whole Bible, but go study and find out yourself what FRIENDSHIP with God means! It will blow your mind! YES! I mean, the God of the Universe wants to call you His friend? Not just a slave or a servant... which itself would have been wonderful (like John Bevere often says)! If He had wanted to have robots, surely He would have created us that way. Instead, He gave us hearts to feel, think and freely choose whether or not to love Him. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father. John 15:15 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. JESUS DID THAT FOR US. To sum up, I have an honor to share a beautiful dream my friend had recently. I pray it awakens IN YOU the desire to know God intimately! Be blessed! In the dream my friend was with a bunch of people who were talking about what they'd like to have written on their gravestone. They kept talking and talking and didn't let my friend have an opportunity to say what she had on her heart. But... when she finally got her chance, she said: <<My gravestone will say: "God is a friend.">> Pic 1 is my own. Pic 2. Pic 3. |
Heavenly
|