JHOP goes global!

Amazing coverage of JHOP in DC where I was for 9 months. Please visit and view the piece at ABC's Nightline . Click on the picture of the guy standing in front of the 10 Commandments with the subtitle "God's Interns". I am very excited that the media did such a good job of rightly portraying ones going hard after God. Glory to God!

Psalm 34:18 - The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Psalm 51:17- The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart- these, O God, You will not despise.

Jer. 23:29- "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, ‚"and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"

Matt. 21:44 - "And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."

The Lord is walking me through yet another season of brokenness, growth, and death of self. It is another wave of what I experienced in DC, dealing with frustrations, anger, and wanting to be in control. He is teaching me again, that it is primarily about my relationship with Him, and that everything stems out of that. Yes, I know in my head that I must put Him first, but I believe that this truth is starting to move into my spirit and heart. I really must get everything from Him. I must trust Him above anything on this earth and know that He is the most trustworthy in whom to entrust my life, my all. This understanding is coming more fully.

For the last few weeks I have felt completely out of control. I don't really know what is going on with my life, and I've been listening to everyone else's voices, except my King's. This is something the Lord is reversing in me right now, for many reasons, but primarily because that is where my confidence and strength to live on will come from. He is teaching me once again that He must be first in my life in every arena, and that I really cannot do it without Him. He is teaching me that I need to LET GO. Because I have felt out of control I have grasped for even more control and it is killing me. The reality is that I am not in control and to vie for it is sin stemming from pride. When I want to be in control I want to feel good about an accomplishment, and therefore give myself the credit when something good happens or is accomplished, instead of giving credit where credit and glory is due. God is teaching me that it really is Him that makes things happen and is prying my fingers off the steering wheel of my life once again. The more I strive to try and make decisions regarding my life, the more I lose my peace. God is teaching me to give it all to Him, and He will give me that peace that I so need and desire. A friend said to me last night, "Liz, what is wrong with just waiting on God?" I believe that this was straight out of the heart of God. He wants me just to wait on Him and enjoy Him right now. Instead I am listening to the lies that are telling me I need money, or to get a job, and that I am floating around and have no purpose. I am trying to stand against this the best way I know how right now. I feel confident that the Lord does have a purpose for me (Jer. 29:11) and that I am right in the center of His whirlwind, the center of His will. He is teaching me to be content right where I am and to trust that He has a perfect plan for my life that HE alone is in control of. I want to be able to speak the words of Paul:

"Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." -Philippians 4:11-13

And to all my wanting and desiring of more, my own house, my own space, my own family, my own rules, He says to me:

"Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, '‘I will never leave you or forsake you.'" -Heb 13:5

God, forgive me. All I really want and need is You. You really are more than enough for me and all my desire is for You. Help me to know all that I have in You. Help me be content where I am. Thank you for never leaving me.

A friend of mine wrote some other things today that I have been feeling as well and instead of writing them myself, I send you to his blog (see Nov. 29th entry "fingernails in the icy slope")-> Randy B

Victory!

Sweet, Georgia beat Georgia Tech 14-7! Goooooooooooo Dawgs! Sic' em! Whoof, whoof, whoof! This proves the theory that God is a Dawg fan.

Happy Thanksgiving! I give thanks for you all, as you all have enriched my life more than you know. Be blessed this day and give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

Today I watched a recording of a show that airs on PBS called Frontline. The title of the show is "The Last Abortion Clinic." To view the program online go to PBS. When I first began to watch it I was amazed at the accuracy and seemingly unbiased opinions. I was really pumped about the fact that there is only one remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi. I also learned a few things, since I only joined this fight rather recently. However, I was a bit disturbed while watching the bulk of the show. Pro-abortion people actually think that they are doing women a favor. I knew this before, but I saw the cleverly disguised spirit of death o-so-clearly as I watched on. One woman who worked at a clinic supposedly spoke on the phone to a client, counseling her, while taping. She seemed genuinely concerned about the woman, and she might have been, but I know that this is not the complete truth. After hearing testimonies from women, I know that little to no counseling happens before an abortion is performed. At most abortion clinics, women are shuffled in, and are asked if they want an abortion, which is considered to be their form of "counseling."

However, at the end of the show the woman who works at the clinic didn't even know that she prophesied when she said about the pro-abortion side, "we are losing." Yes, you are losing. LIFE will win.

I recently watched some commercials and films by a group, Virtue Media. Praise God that He is raising up a voice in the media in this hour for this cause. A fine example of what I described above is seen in the short film "Truth". The most powerful of the commercials, in my opinion, is called Vanished. I hope you will take the time to view them all, with tissue box in hand. They are all very powerful and need to be seen by the general public.

Now that we have a righteous voice out there, what will we do about it?

Tonight I attended the cell group (small weekly-meeting group) that meets at the house I live in. It is composed of all married people who either have children or have one on the way. I was literally the only single person there. Some of you might be thinking "what was she doing there?" And sometimes I have asked myself the same question. However, I believe that the Lord has me there for a reason, and is teaching me things about marriage and parenthood that these people had to wait years for. The main topic of what we are discussing is "spiritual inheritance." That is, believing and contending for the spiritual blessings that we are promised in the Word for ourselves and our children. I count this a major blessing that I get to hear about this now, because I can begin to believe these things and intercede for my children NOW. I don't have to wait until I am married and am pregnant before I start confessing with my mouth the promises of God for my offspring. I can start "depositing" heavenly equity into their spiritual accounts NOW. Praise God! Also, I get to hear what the moms are dealing with on a day-to-day basis (and praise God that I'm not dealing with it right now), and I know that that will help me to know what to expect in the future.

For more information about the teaching on spiritual inheritances go to Houston Revival Center and look in the resource section for a teaching called "Spiritual Constitutions." I highly recommend it... it has messed me up all week.

Sometimes it is hard to remember the world is bigger than little ol' me. I spent most of my day in bed or on the couch, mainly because I was highly unmotivated to get off of it. Yes, I did do some very productive things today (by the grace of God), but I didn't get out of the house, and barely got out of my pajamas (I did that because I thought we were going to have a visitor). Even though I did accomplish some things, my lack of motivation really was irritating. How does that work? I couldn't even get motivated to get motivated! However, the Lord began to show me that if I'll just relax and stop trying to figure everything out, and just worship Him, He will motivate me and bring about even better results in 2 hours than I could have in 9. Hallelujah! The Holy Spirit is the best motivator of all.

Then I read a friend's blog and it was talking about the different crises in Africa and I'm thinking "I just spent all day on the couch while people are out there starving and suffering. I suck."

I really don't suck... that much ("dark, but lovely"). Then I heard the Lord say to me that He gave me this grace. I accomplished what I was supposed to by worshipping Him and loving those around me. At the end of the day I can say, "yes, Lord, I loved today, even though I didn't leave my house, and there are people out there dying." That's the beauty of prayer. I can pray from my couch, in my pajamas, and believe that people will be saved. Hallelujah.

Ok, so I got a taste of what doing Nightwatch is all about. I spent the last three nights at IHOP for the Global Bridegroom Fast. I experienced what most in their lifetime will never experience, unless they are a vampire, or work the "graveyard shift," both having conotations of being something very dark. However, this experience was not so dark in the least, except for the blatant darkness outside. Besides feeling extremely tired the first night, since I'd been up since 6:30am, the experience was very interesting and rewarding. While sitting in the House of Prayer, it doesn't take long before you find that you are at the end of yourself. You become very desperate for God. You try reading your Bible, reading a book based on the Bible, singing along with the worship leader, praying in tongues. You try sitting, standing, kneeling, laying prostrate, dancing, anything to invoke the presence of the Lord. After a while it becomes frustrating and you realize that He wants to talk to you and that you just needed to be still (Ps. 46:10). Well, this is exactly what happened. He showed me again that "I am dark, but lovely" in His sight (Songs 1:5) and that is all that really mattered that night. It is so good when He talks to His children! It's even better when we are in a place to be still and listen.

House Party or House of Prayer?

So I'm sitting at IHOP right now listening to this guy "spin" music like the kind you hear at a techno dance club. It is much different to worship to than your regular keyboard or guitar. At first I thought, "is this okay? Does God consider this worship?" After thinking about it for a while I came to the conclusion that it is quite alright, because it expresses yet another side of the creative heart of God. I also had fun dancing to it, and it is a great beat for praying in the spirit. Praise God for different kinds of music. If God enjoys it, then so should we.

Alito Nomination Sets Stage for Ideological Battle "If confirmed to replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the swing vote in recent years, Alito seems likely to shift the court to the right."

This could be our guy!