Fresh & New...

The first Sunday in August... Voddie Baucham was our teacher that day... My notes:

• Joseph doesn't question God. He obeys. Immediately. He does whatever it takes to fulfill his father's FULL wishes.
• "I Am grooming you to be Joseph,but in order for you to walk in it, you must first recognize in yourself the potential to become the murderous brothers."
• "Be Jospeh, not the murderers."

The next week... Dr. Henry Blakaby... The title alone was enough to make me wanna go home.. I just KNEW it was gonna hit me like a ton of bricks. That man said so much that I just didn't even know where to start...

• "One peson wholly yielded to God has infinite potential for the kingdom of God." Dr. B
• "Moses & the staf... Rosheeda, what do you hold in your hand? Give it to Me and I will do great miracles for you, in you, & through you."
• "Radical Faith: Challenge Me. Ask for new things, bigger things. Believe Me for them."
• "You have obeyed Me. Now I want you to believe Me."
• "Will you ask Me for more or will you say where you are? Will you be satisfied only w/what I've done so far or will you continue to challenge Me to show Myself strong?"
• "you MUST be obedient."
• "Your faith has been established; now I want it to live. I want you to walk in it. Allow it to become vibrant and active. Allow it to shine forth before all men that they might see Me and know Me through what I do in, through, and for you." (Uh... I think I just did a post about the latter part of this word...)

The next week: Lee Jenkins... thought it would be all about finances. It was not.

• "God wants you to have an attitude of obedience, not of skepticism & sarcasm."
• "Sometmes we have to trust the Lord even when we don't understand, even when it goes against what makes sense to our natural minds."
• "Sometimes God asks us to do the OPPOSITE of what we want to do because He has something bigger in mind for us."

And then there was Priscilla. One In A Million. Seven weeks. All I can say on that one is ... wow...

• "To experience God's abundance,  you must submit to His grace."
• "A one in a million person is one who can believe God for the extraordinary."
• "The challenge is what causes the potential to rise - even when you don't know you have it."
• "I want you to want more. Expect more from Me. Ask for more of Me." (WAIT!!! didn't You say this to me in August too?!)
• "Excellence. I want to give you excellence."
• "Believing a thing does not make it true; and that a thing is true does not make it believable. Behind every truth is choice, the first of which being whether or not to believe."
• "You owe your spirit the opportunity to fully discover My glory."

Obedience. Relationship. Faith. A radical paradigm shift. Spirit and Truth. God is serious about this thing. A sista is getting NO PASSES on this one. He's not giving me a break. He's not giving me a get outta jail free card. He has continually and consistently reminded me that He has not set me free for my own purpose, but for His. He's challenged me to accept it. He's challenged me to obey on every level. He's challenged me to believe. He's challenged me to endure. To expect, that I might reap...

And now He's challenging me to go beyond even this season of processing and proving and to want a fresh crop of new intimacy.

God's calling me to ask Him to give to me my very own hall of faith (Hebrews). And shock of all shocks, I'm taking Him up on that challenge.

I want to see Him in a fresh way. I want to see Him do more even that He's already begun to reveal. I want to have a trail and a record of His wonderful works in my life.

I started asking last night what I should want from Him, what He wants me to ask.. He gave me a nice little list of things. Just between me and Him. Never to be uttered, only to be noted in my private thoughts. I read over it as He was revealing... I kept looking at it and taking it all in, knowing the depth of what He wants me to believe Him for and I was floored. Totally excited, totally challenged, and totally floored.

And as I really looked at my list I realized something: Faith is a life-changing endeavor. If you take the risk just once, you will never be the same again. Life as you know it ends and nothing will ever compare. Nothing.

I looked at that list again as I was laying down to rest and I said 'ok God. I'm gonna take the challenge. I'm gonna want more. I want to want more. I'm asking You for more.' Today is the first day of a new faith journey between me and my Jesus. This is the day I begin seeking Him earnestly for new Hall of Faithers. I won't lie. I'm more than a little daunted. But I'm hopeful and expectant too...

I dont know how it will look, but I do know that it'll be the ride of a lifetime...

I'm takin Jehovah up on His offer of a fresh experience with Him - because it just seems that there is no other way to go...

You should join me too. Take up your own cross and follow Him. Ask for your own Hall of Faith. You just might be surprised at what you get in return...

later ya'll.

ro