PASSION FT WORTH

a week ago i moved in with one of my dear friend for a week to help serve at PASSION Ft Worth. this would be my 2nd passion conference in 2011. i attended PASSION Atlanta in January. probably the most powerful 4 days to date. so this time around, i came as a volunteer to serve the students who would encounter Jesus in a more intimate, yet powerful way.


wednesday & thursday consisted of working on projects in the Go Center/Do Something Now area.

this area is for the students to take a step deeper with putting an action to what Jesus is pressing on their hearts. the heartbeat of Do Something Now is just that. taking action right now to come together as a church body and be a part of what is happening around the world. "Together we are a force for good" is the overarching motto. the thought behind it is that you as an individual can make a difference but what if we all came together? how much greater impact would there be?

the project that i worked on the most was the so-called "paper wall"...a beautifully displayed example of how we can turn blank pages into God's word.

 

beautiful.

anyways, at Passion Ft Worth, there was only one cause to focus in on:

the translation of scripture to an unreached people group...

the Koso people in mali, africa. 

 the goal: $220,350 to fund a 5 year program of scripture translations in the Koso's native tongue

the result....FULLY FUNDED & more!! 

friday through sunday were the days of the conference. as a volunteer, we each were given shirts to wear that have the name "door holders" written on the front. it is based on psalm 84:10.."Better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, then dwell in the tents of the wicked." throughout the weekend i understood more of the heart beat behind passion. to truly hold the door open and usher these students in to experiencing the presence of the Lord. it was beautiful in every sense. i not only had the privilege of seeing so many of my own friends, but i also witness lives being transformed. i saw hearts being stirred. i heard all about what Jesus was teaching them. and to have 9,000+ students pass me every day, the light in their eyes only shined brighter!  


i am grateful to have come alongside passion and stand in the gap for this generation. i am grateful that i now have a responsibility to continue praying over, for, and with this generation. God is moving in all of us! my heart praises Him for all that He has done and is doing! we are here for You, O Lord! You are the desires of our souls. 

"Yes, Lord, walking in the way of Your Truth,
 we wait eagerly for you,for Your Name 
and Your renown are the desires of our souls."

Isaiah 26:8

Passion 2011: part 3

the heart.

we can easily water down the greatest commandment: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, & strength..." and we can also skim over the fact of "delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Matt 22:37; Ps 37: 4). beth moore merged these two verses together during her breakout session at passion. it was a convicting message of knowing the desires of our hearts, but also the heart of that very desire.

psalm 37 was where we would spent most of our time studying what our desire, delight, and heart is. to give a little structure, beth broke it down as follows:

1. nothing dictacts our lives like our desires
2. beneath the desire of our heart is the heart of our desire
3. delighting in God makes our truest desires inevitable
4. nothing external can steal our right to delight
5. to make room for delight, we have to commit
6. patiently waiting for desire to turn into delight is not passive

she elaborated on each one which gave greater depth to knowing the desire deep within. she defined desire as "sustained longing unaffected by mood or circumstances". God knows the depth of who we are and what we really want. it's not just the desire of wanting something, but it's the heart and sole purpose that really matters. and at times we believe that the circumstances around us can take away our joy for things, but it's actually what is going on inside of us that can steal it.

i have realized that the relationship between the mind and heart are vitally important. we can know something, but the question is...are you letting yourself believe that very thing you know?

Passion 2011: part 2

the power of the mind

beth moore begin our first morning session at passion with tackling one of the most critical areas...our minds. she embarked on a challenging subject, but one that is relative to all. one issue that we all, if we were honest, deal with in one way or another. i have been in a rut lately on "wondering what i am supposed to do with my life right now" and i have allowed myself to settle for the answer of "i don't know. i am just waiting on God to tell me". that may be true in some ways to wait, but honestly for me, it was a cop-out because i was spiritualizing my excuse for not going after something.

beth took us through Romans 12:1-8 and focused on verse 2 which says,

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you be able to test and approve what God's will -- his good, pleasing and perfect will." (v2)

she pointed out to us that it takes the renewing of your mind to know God's will. and whatever He calls us to do, we are never fully capable to do it. that's why we need Him. He is the one who will accomplish all things. we are just the vessel He will use to do that. we have to believe that. it's not about us. but ALL about HIM!

the mind is full of brilliance and of darkness...we can know what we are doing and why we are doing it. whether it's honoring God, or not at all. that's why we must take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor 10:3-5). there is a reason why we do certain things and we make excuses for "not knowing why", but we can know the thoughts we think. and we should be fixated on HIM...not on the world. we must get to a point in our day. in our lives. to think beyond the obvious. to ponder upon. to treasure Christ. (Luke 2:18-19) 

and as paul was in his chains for the sake of Christ, he continued to have a renewed mind as he said, "..i consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake i have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him...I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings..." (phil 3:8-10)

that is where i am today. i desire to know Christ more. to fixate my mind on Him and Him alone. it's a daily choice to make, but in the end only He will remain. everything else will fade. 

beth left us with this..

you wont impact your generation unless you have a renewed mind and are focused.

 God will blow our mind if we just give it to Him!

Passion 2011: part 1

"YES, LORD, 

walking in the way of your laws - 

WE WAIT FOR YOU; 

YOUR NAME and RENOWN are 

the DESIRES of OUR HEARTS." isaiah 26:8

"may the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight O LORD,

MY ROCK and MY REDEEMER"...."may my prayer be set before you like incense; 

may the lifting of my hands be like the evening sacrifice"..."my eyes are fixed on YOU, 

O SOVEREIGN LORD." psalm 19:14; 141:2,8

as i sat in barnes & noble in tennessee. i began preparing my heart for the passion conference in atlanta. you don't quite know what to expect when you enter a 4 day conference like passion. but in that you go with high expectations of God meeting us there. and he did. 

this was what i wrote in my journal...

"Holy God, i ask that you come pour yourself over us this weekend at Passion. it is not the event that will change us, but YOU, O Lord! you are the reason we gather. you are the reason we live and breath. you alone are the common thread among us. Lord, fall afresh on us. let your word speak. let the spirit move..."

God took this prayer and fulfilled it. in every song given in worship. in every word spoken by those that spoke. our hearts were stirred for Him!

because of Jesus...

Road Trip to Passion 2011

1 week ago i left texas and headed to the east coast. my ultimate destination was atlanta, georgia. i went to johnson city, tennessee to pick up my friend whitney and then drove to asheville, north carolina to pick up my friend bekah as we all 3 ventured down to the passion conference.

we spent 4 days in ATL with 22,000 other people as we gathered as one church body to worship Jesus. it was a weekend that we all were challenged by and still are in the midst of processing because of all that Jesus did. He used each person who spoke. each person who lead worship. it was moving. powerful. and beyond words to describe. my hope is that over the next few days i can unpack what i learned and have it take root in my life.

the Lord is sweet and tender in how he continues to reveal more of himself to us and draw us closer to him. i feel privileged to be able to be a part of his story. it is much bigger than i can even fathom.

Jesus is my desire. my source of joy. my reward. he is enough for me.