Faith

Matthew 14: 28-33 (you can read it at the bottom of this post if you would like!)

"I am the Lord your God and I go before you." He is calling me saying "Come." And with no hesitation or resistance in my spirit, I go with delight. Where exactly am I going? Does it really matter? My husband calls and I must go! All I know is that I am leaving the familiar places and stepping into the unknown. I know that this is the safest place I can be because his eyes are upon me and mine on Him. Oh his eyes- the most beautiful eyes. When you gaze into the eyes of our savior you are overwhelmed with the depths of his love it would be almost impossible for me to look away, but somehow I do. I look to my right and to my left and discourage and doubt hit me like a rock tied to my ankle. I start to sink. But even before I begin to cry out for my savior, he yells, “Grace! Grace! Grace to you my dear!” And everything that was bringing me down disappears and loses its grip on me. Somehow I am even stronger than I was before. With each step closer I am strengthened. I started running and what once was water is now a concrete path set before me. This must be what faith is.





Matthew 14: 28-33
²⁸ “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
 ²⁹ “Come,” he said.
   Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
 ³¹ Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
 ³² And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. ³³ Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The Glorious Robe

Jesus gave me a beautiful vision , so I thought I would share it with others…

This took place this morning during worship in Elevate class. I was in the throne room of God and I noticed the train of Jesus’ robe. It reminded me of what Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6:1- In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. The robe in my vision was composed of many flags- all the nations that are, were and are to come and it was so beautiful. Jesus took it off and put it on me. It was too big, but I wore it anyway. I could feel the presence of these nations and God’s Glory that filled this robe. I could feel every people group even though very different, reflected God’s heart fully and equally. It was powerful, overwhelming, and brilliant and I knew this was real. Then I saw a picture of me taking a pure white sheet and running around the world. This sheet clothed the earth and wrapped around the whole globe, covering it completely. Then it started soaking up colors and mountains and trees started to tear through it. And Jesus gathered this sheet and dressed himself in it. It was dirty and torn apart. Then I realized what just happened. The white sheet represented his love and he soaked up the sins of the world. He took away all of my sins and wore them on himself. Not only that, but when I deserved to wear that filthy sheet, he gave me his glorious robe to wear. And all I heard him say after is, “Alyssa, you are worthy of this love.”

Unique. Unique. Unique. Unique.

How is it that in this world sin is exalted and holiness is looked down upon? How blinded we have become! Inward beauty is of little worth and outward beauty (which is hardly achievable by the standards set before us) is what we seek after to attain. If only the world knew that the most-high God sees you as His masterpiece, something that cannot be replicated. You are the one and only, the most beautiful of its kind. You are a reflection of God’s heart and creativity; something beyond wonderful. But “they” say we must conform to look like “that”.. We must look the same. It ROBS and STEALS so many of knowing their true value, brainwashing us to believe we are worthless and less than pleasing. Woe to the ones who lead his little ones astray; who guide them into the lies of the evil one.

This was stirred by a dream I had. I walked into this makeup store and there were different things being offered. Lady GaGa was there and she was promoting a lipstick/ nail polish product. It was gaudy and glamorous and took over the entire room. I remember her influence and pride, knowing she had the power to turn others to her product. My friend was also in the store selling clensing face wash and makeup remover. No one noticed her, nor did they was her product because it was less appealing. It reminded me how people would rather put makeup on than take it off. Outward appearance is greater than inward holiness.

"If it is not love, it is wrong"

This week in Elevate a man came to speak named Keith Wheeler. There was something about that guy. The way he loved Jesus was so genuine, I have never met anyone like it before. This man travels the world carrying a 10 ft by 6ft cross. He has been to around 139 countries! I wish I could tell you about all of the crazy stories like being put in prison, beaten and left for dead (twice), attacked by bears, lions, and crocs. But even more amazing are the stories where God touches the people that encounter this man and a cross. Some become like fire, others find freedom, while some fall to the ground. The power of God's love is something I will never be able to comprehend but it is something I believe in 100%. So after listening to the testimonies and stories from this guy, God was stirring something so deep inside me. All I wanted was to know my Savior better. Do you know Jesus favorite color? Have you even asked Him what His favorite color is? There was so much wisdom that was shared that I was a little overwhelmed. After hearing him talk, I decided I needed to get with God and let him speak and get some things settled in my mind. The revelation He gave me yesterday is just a seed of truth, but it is something that will change the way I live for the rest of my life. I really recommend reading it because I think that about 100% of Christians need to have this revelation. So many of us... the majority of us.. have been living for the wrong reasons.



MY PRAYER:

It is my desire to serve you to the ends of the earth. God I want men and women to truly know your love. God! For hardened hearts to melt away at the word of your truth! For people to finally find the savior they have been longing for! But my heart must first be untangled of all the mess from religion and false perceptions of who You are. God, the love I give away will only be out of the overflow from the depths of my understanding. Renew my mind and my ways to become like yours!


JESUS' RESPONSE:

If our response is not with love, it is wrong- than I am not there. If your gifts are used without love or used not out of love- I am not there. ((1Corinthians 13:1-3)) What I mean when I say "I am not there" is that it is not my heart. I am always with you, but my heart is always for love. Even concerning churches- if they do things not out of love- then it is not for my name. Things done on this earth that are not done out of love- count as rubbish. It will be burned up in the fire. Some dedicate their whole loves to "serving" me, but if it is done without my love, it was for nothing. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23). Yes, it is possible to do my works and not to know me. To serve me and not know me. For I must accomplish the works of my Father. Do I not even use the works of the devil to bring about my glory? I use nature, atheists, sinners, kings, the greatest and the least to bring about my glory. What makes "Christians" any different from them? In all you are all the same- So often you worry about "the call on your life" and how I am going to use you, but you have missed the GREATER call: to KNOW ME. to SEEK ME. to FIND ME. From there, everthying else will fall into place. Many of the things that once clouded your mind will fall away. You love the phrase "To know Him and to make Him known." You must know me first in order to make me known. Alyssa, don't you understand? You must know my love in order to give it away. If you don't know this than all works are rubbish. You must know my mercy in order to give it away. My grace and forgiveness. Apart from me you can do nothing. So often you worry about what to say, boldness, what is the right thing to do- Those worries will slip away by the power and revelation of my love.


MY REVELATION:

First off.. woah. Here is just a little of what I got from this:

--God is love..Jesus is love (1 John 4:8). When we do things that are not out of love, then that wasn't for God. (God may have used the situation for his glory) but concerning our heart and our motives.. it wasn't God. WOW. I felt heavily convicted after that one. So many times in my life.. even if I pray for someone, give them an encouraging word, even if i help unload the dishes without my mom asking, or help out a roommate.. if love isn't there then it wasn't for God.
--Matt 7:21-23 was always the verse that I never understood. I actually jokingly thought that it wasn't suppose to be in the Bible. haha. How could someone who can call Jesus 'Lord' and do things such as heal, prophesy, cast out demons not know Him? But in the verse, even though they were doing the things of God, they weren't doing the will of God. Which is to KNOW him!
--Many times we get wrapped up in the great calling of our lives. How are we going to achieve it? Carry the weight of it? What is it??? Some people spend their whole lives striving for their dreams and the dreams of God and they miss their TRUE calling and GREATER calling.. to know Jesus. If we know Jesus, the calling will come and our heart will be in the right place. If we don't know Jesus and still fulfill our calling.. it would all be for nothing.




http://www.kw.org/ is Keith's website! Check check check it out!

Lawyers for Jesus

God is up to something (like always). This semester God started putting lawyers on my heart. I have no idea why to be honest. I have no close connection to law and I never plan on being a lawyer. In fact, I hardly know that many people who are lawyers.

Instance #1: It started back in September when a few friends and I decided to go treasure hunting. (Treasure hunting is when you ask God for clues like colors, locations, names, descriptions to lead you to people to talk to). Here are the words we received prior to heading out: Cindy, a girl with purple shirt in produce section of Wal-Mart, red and white stripes, a boot/cast and healing. We were off. We arrive to Wal-Mart and the first person we see walking out is a woman with the same boot/cast on her foot as seen in the picture earlier. So we go and ask to pray for her and she was totally open to prayer. She had been living the last 4 months with some type of dysfunction/ infection that had caused her to lose the arch in her foot. We prayed and she was healed J (That has nothing to do with lawyers, but it was still awesome). So we go into the store and walk around for a bit and eventually make our way to the produce section. Behind us was a woman with brown hair and a purple shirt, and with her was a girl who had a red and white striped shirt (of course). So we go up to them and ask if they needed prayer. They quickly said no and continued gathering what they needed. They seemed overwhelmed/ annoyed with us. So we asked if we could later pray for whatever they were busy with. Then one of the girls snapped at us, “Law school. Just pray for that.” And they walked off. I felt a little discouraged, but more so I felt my passion start welling up. We need lawyers who love Jesus! We need people in law who will fight for justice and righteousness! We need people who represent our God and not their own desires. I really have no idea where that came from but it was definitely a fire that was growing.

#2: Fast forward to later that night. I was talking with one of my high school friends who I hadn’t talked to in a long time. We were talking about life and what we had been up to. I talked about what God has been up to and he was really interested in it. He mentioned that he was thinking about going to law school… he has a passion for the poor people of Alabama and wanted to represent them. (I quickly made the connection to what happened earlier that day). We started talking about Jesus and after our conversation he decided to give his life to Jesus! Wow!! God is going to use him in such extraordinary ways; I am so excited for his life! I love the way God places His own dreams in the hearts of men. His heart beats through our lives.  

2. Fast forward three days later… I was hanging out at home and my roommate Emily had a friend over. Meagan comes up to me and says that she thinks her name is CINDY. Cindy was the name that I heard when we were waiting on God a few days prior. We started talking to her and she passionately loves Jesus. Even just talking to her you can feel His love through her. She is a student at Baylor and she is wanted to fight for Justice. She wants to represent people who cannot represent themselves. But instead of going into the political realm she is working to empower businesses in different countries. This once again confirmed in my heart that God is moving in big ways.

Here is instance number 3: God seems to put me in positions to intercede for law students. I started working at Ridgewood Country Club and last Saturday I was working a banquet for Baylor Law School Prom. Through-out the night I would just pray for them. To be honest, it was kind of difficult just because of the situation. I was a bit discouraged but had faith God was at work. Later that night my friend Caitlin (shout out to Cait!) texted me saying that she had been going to this lifegroup in Katy, and her leader was a lawyer. She said she just wanted to tell me because she remembered me saying we needed Godly lawyers. Praise God!!

I started catching on that there is something up with lawyers. There are too many instances for this just to be a coincidence. So this morning I ask God what he was doing? He didn’t tell me anything specific but He did say this: Lawyers are defenders of the weak. They get to be a voice to those who have no voice. They my people are being accused, they get to represent me.

Instance #4: Tonight I went to Panera Bread for dinner and was reading a book. God highlighted this girl that was sitting at a table near me. He gave me a word about His love for her and that His love sustains her in every season. I debated on whether to tell her or not, but God gave me His perspective on the situation. (That always gets me over there). He said He wanted her to know that she is seen, known, and sought after. How could I not tell her that??  I deliver that word to her and she was so open to it. She said she really really appreciated it and that she is a Christian too. I asked if I could pray for her and she said she had been stressed because of  law school… (She would be in law school.) I was super excited to pray for her! She said she was actually at that banquet the other night too! Also she actually goes to my church! I am so blown away by Gods faithfulness and they way he is after these people.

So anyways.. Thought this was really neat. God is really neat. Wouldn't be surprised if something like this happens again. Once I figure out why this is happening, I will let yah know :)

God Wrapped in Flesh

Here is another vision God gave me last week…. I really think He shows me these things so others may know Him more… That he speaks to us today and that He is a God who is way outside the box we put him in. So here it is!!

I was looking into the eyes of Jesus. They were beautiful and filled with many colors, but then I started to walk into them. The first thing I felt was peace. Then, as if He read my mind, He said that is because that is who I am. I am peace. Then I started to walk into his Joy.

I walked up to this river, a gentle stream. When I touched it, it is hard to explain, but I felt that is was sweet, even though I did not taste it. I could feel that it was sweet and my body was warmed just by one touch. This is His goodness, His goodness flowing within him. This is the same goodness that was poured out of his body when the blood and water separated on the cross. This is the goodness same that He washed his disciples’ feet. This is the same goodness that came from the rock that was struck by Moses. It is the same goodness that is within you that is poured out all over the world.

I walked over to this tree and felt its bark, the trunk was so large and it was extremely tall- I don’t even think I could see the top. But this tree was different. Once I stepped underneath its covering I could, the presence of God was there. And as I stood underneath the branches, I started to have revelation. This is the tree of knowledge of good and evil. However, I did not sense any of the Evil. Jesus said, this was never meant for man to behold and I am shielding it from you. Evil does not exist in my presence, but the knowledge of all thins does. I am God and I am all knowing. But the presence of evil does not dwell hear because it is impossible. It unravels and disappears in my presence. I asked God, “What are these leaves?? There is something different about them.” They are warm and soft and also carry some sort of power or electricity sensation. These are all the revelations of God. They will never die and they will always replenish themselves and I give them to my children. But the fruit is too powerful for any human.” 

Then he showed me these small gems that looked like diamonds, but they weren’t diamonds. They were so beautiful. I put one in my hand and it was burning, yet I was still able to hold it. I could tell that the presence of God was inside it. Jesus corrected me. “The presence of God cannot be contained, but that is his presence in a tangible form. It is a part of who I am and this is inside and given to all who seek him.” Then I thought, “Oh this must be the Holy Spirit.” But he gently corrected me again, “This is not the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is given to all my children, but not everyone has found this piece of me. It is given to those who seek my heart. This I will not withhold from anyone but it is only given to few.” I could tell that this filled him with great sorrow. I still had a hard time comprehending what it was so He said, “It is simply more of myself.” I could knew that this was the power of God- it was not a jewel, but literally his power and presence. He took it and placed it inside my heart. I became like a flame and I could feel different parts of me burning up. My sin and flesh were burning off; being sanctified and glorified. As this was happening, I was being filled with joy.

The next place was his beauty, “the beauty of my grace.” It was a canopy of trees that had soft pink flowers. The petals were falling to the ground like snowflakes and they covered the ground. Jesus explained that this was the beauty of grace and an expression of his gentleness. I started running and a wind came from behind me, strengthening me. The ground I ran on was peace. The harder I ran, the stronger the wind grew. He reminded me of the verse “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made prefect in weakness!” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Then Jesus said, “Alyssa, it is only through me that true grace is given.”

Then I went into this room that was surrounded by angels. The room was empty except for this beating heart that was in the middle. This room was Jesus’ Love. When I stepped in the room I was completely overwhelmed. It was a mix of emotions; I wanted to run out because I felt so unworthy of such Love. I could hardly even stand in this love. But at the same time I felt welcomed and completed. It was like something in my came alive; a part of me that I never knew existed awakened. It was weird because I was receiving his love and I felt myself loving him back in the same way. I never thought that would be possible, but it was happening. He reminded me that we love because He first loved us and we can only love Him to the extent that we understand his love. Now I am in the fullness of his love, I can fully love him in return. He said it was this love that started the world and crated every living thing. Love is the source of our life. It was because God so loved the world that He gave His only song so that we may have eternal life. Jesus is that love.

It was very difficult for me to understand everything that was going on, just because this is so bizarre and nothing that lines up with this world. But throughout this whole experience, I kept getting the revelation that this is God wrapped in flesh. This is who Jesus is! All of these places could be interpreted as representations of who He is, but I truly believe that these are real images of who Jesus is. God has really started to give me spiritual eyes. Renewing my mind to think supernaturally and no longer carry perceptions of the world. On earth love, grace, goodness, joy, peace are just emotions, but in God’s kingdom those things are real and tangible.. they are Jesus. May God open up our minds and change our beliefs. His heart is that Heaven would invade earth.

Also! I am reading this book called the Final Quest by Rick Joyner. I really really really recommend this reading if you are interested in visions and things of that sort. “It is about the greatest and last battle between light and darkness, which is happening now.” So pretty much God gave this man vision of the final battle. It has changed my perspective on how to live my life here and it takes you into deeper places of God and His kingdom. Do it. Read it. Now.

Relentless Love

Two weeks ago our Elevate class headed to Raleigh, North Carolina (all 97 of us). Our purpose was to help a new Antioch Church plant get started and to bring in the fish. We pretty much just spent a week of blasting NC State campus with God’s love and we were victorious at doing so. This is what our day would look like: Wake up, spend time with Jesus, breakfast, from 9-12:30 ministry/sermon/get filled up, outreach on campus, free time at 3, dinner and outreach until 10. Now, it may just seem very ordinary, but add the power of the spirit to every moment of that day and you get the kingdom of heaven falling down to earth. If I took one theme away from this trip it would be “Relentless Love.” It was amazing to see the way God had been pursuing His children. He orchestrated every moment so that they may know His love, that they may experience His grace, and have life to the full. I learned that God will never let up on, with hold from, or abandon His sons and daughters. He is so jealous that He will go to extremes to make us see Him.

Below are some of the testimonies of the ways God worked on this trip:

These stories are just a taste of what our week looked like. We counted about 20 salvations (that we know of), 20 healings (that we know of),3 deliverances, and we planted over 1,500 seeds.

He is Our Provider:

On this trip, money just rained down from Heaven. Literally. Our Daddy has the biggest bank account in the universe and he loves loves loves to meet the needs of his kids.

~There are many people in our class who were struggling to pay for Elevate tuition. It is kind of hard to pull out a couple thousand dollars out of your pocket. On our way to Raleigh, a few of us were talking about how they still needed the majority of their tuition (like 90%). These girls were Aida, Kassie, and Paula. They had Sarah pray in faith over them that God would meet their needs financially. As we were leaving the plane, a lady pulled Paula and Kassie aside and said, “I’m not sure what group you are a part of, but keep doing what you are doing!” She handed them each a bill… a one hundred dollar bill! Ask and you shall receive:]

~Aida walked into her hotel room one night and saw an envelope sitting on her bed with her name on it. It also had three hundred dollars inside!

~On our way back to Dallas, our friend Ryan opened his Bible and found a crisp $100 bill.

~My friend Bethany and I were talking about how many people in ministry, including missionaries, live off of support from others. And I personally have been trying to seek God’s wisdom on that and see where He stands. I was especially nervous considering I am probably going to be heading into this type of lifestyle. Bethany prayed over me, that God would give me wisdom and peace in this area. When we finished, a $5 bill appeared next to us. We had no idea where it came from so we asked God what to do with it, but never received a clear answer. As I was going to bed, God started speaking to me and he said that He had an angel drop that $5 off. It represented a promise that God will always provide for me and Bethany’s ministry and that we will never be in lack! Thank you God for your faithfulness!

~This last Thursday in class, one of the directors came to the front with some exciting news. They had received three anonymous donations for Elevate tuition. Two of them came during that class period. One was for Chris- $500. One for Paula- $2,000! And one for Kassie- $3,000! I seriously started crying… along with our whole class. (and remember those two girls were the ones who were prayed for on the plane) God blows my mind!!

He is Faithful

One night Paula, Tania and I headed to share the Gospel on campus. We noticed this brick on the ground that had “5+2” written on it. Paula made the connection of the 5 loaves and 2 fish. We decided that the next person who walked over the brick would be the lucky person we got to pray for. So we awkwardly waited around that area and eventually someone stepped over the brick. We chased her down :). Her name was Shelby. We asked if we could pray for her and just started talking about God. The Lord gave us many words to encourage her with. It was really neat to see the way God was ministering to her heart. Evangelism is really worth it when you see chains being broken and identity being placed on people. We eventually pray for her and the power of the spirit showed up.. how do I know this? She started laughing.. a lot. We exchange information and part our way that night. The next day I am with my friend Breanna on campus and I see Shelby across the quad. She is sitting with a friend flipping through a Bible. I walk up to her to say hi and she introduces to me to her friend, Faith. Faith immediately says, “SHELBY TELL HER WHAT JUST HAPPENED!” without really giving her a chance to respond, Faith rejoices with, “SHE JUST ACCEPTED CHRIST!!” Faith also explained that she had been praying for Shelby for months now (Intercession!!) They continued to talk and said that these two girls were going to meet every Thursday to talk about Jesus (Discipleship!!). It was cool to see that our obedience + Faith’s prayers +God’s divine appointment = Someone’s eternity changed. It was cool to see the process of what God is doing. Many times when we pray for people, we never really get to see the fullness of what God did. But this time God allowed me to see that the seeds we are planting are bearing much fruit!

He is our Healer

The whole week my right knee was hurting and there was no explanation why. I had many of my friends pray healing over it, but it didn’t seem to get any better. I actually got to a point where I would pray for anyone I saw with knee problems because I didn’t want these people to feel the pain I was feeling haha. However, there was this one day when it completely stopped hurting! The next day, Elizabeth (my roommie) and I felt like God said to go to Talley Cafeteria for lunch.  As we were heading that way, my knee started hurting again. When we got to the cafeteria, hardly anyone was there, so we thought we might have heard wrong. However, Elizabeth caught a glimpse of a guy who started limping. He had injured his right knee the other day and hasn’t been able to walk well since. He let us pray for him and the first time it felt a little better. So we prayed again and the second time it was completely healed! He said he hadn’t been able to bend his knee back that far since he injured it! And also my knee didn’t hurt the rest of the day either :)

He is Living

So from Talley cafeteria, we felt like God said to go up the stairs and to the right. Elizabeth hoped that He was giving us directions to the restroom because she needed to go haha. We obediently went up the stairs and to the right but unfortunately there were no restrooms around. So that only meant God had someone there for us to talk to. There was only one guy around, so we figured he was the one. His name was Eric. We asked if we could pray for him… he said we asked the wrong guy because he is an atheist. So that easily led us into a conversation about God. I challenged him with the question, “What if the presence of God showed up right now?” and asked if we could pray for that to happen. Surprisingly, he allowed us to pray. He said he felt a warmth and electricity (Luke 3:16), but then he quickly tried to reason how that could not be God (even though it totally was God).  We kept talking and asked if he had ever had a dream with God in it. He said he had: that he was in a room and could hear two people’s conversation like they were right next to him but he couldn’t see them because of a wall. Then there because a rift in the wall and he could see this girl’s eyes. She looked at him and said, “Whether it be now or a billion years from now, God will always have a plan for your life.” Eric said that this dream almost scared him into being a Christian. We told him that God speaks to us today and asked if he wanted to try and hear his voice. He said he would only believe if it was audible, but he would give it a try. Even though he didn’t hear anything, God spoke some words for me to tell him. One was the interpretation of the dream: That the wall symbolized all the doubt, reasons, disbelief, and everything Eric was building up so that he can’t see God/ keep him out. But God was able to break through and reveal himself. God is going to continue to break through his life so that Eric would know Him. Also, I saw God pointing to Eric’s heart and He said, “I like what I see. I like what I see.” God not only loves Eric, but He LIKES Eric. When you read this, you might think, that sounds kind of cheesy, but I loved seeing Eric’s heart soften in God’s presence. God knows exactly what his heart needed to hear. This story to me testifies that when we are in the presence of God, it is impossible to stay the same!