my hope is in you
overwhelm me with your presence, my God, my Father.
show me your visions, what matters to you.
humble me with your everlasting and steadfast love.
i am expectant for more of you and more of the increase you are pouring out onto my life over this weekend :)
I spread out my hands to you;
my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
Answer me quickly, O Lord;
my spirit fails.
Do not hide your face from me
or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love,
for I have put my trust in you.
Show me the way I should go,
for to you I lift up my soul.
Rescue me from my enemies,
O Lord,
for I hide myself in you.
Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God;
may your good Spirit
lead me on level ground.
— Psalm 143
(Source: anditslove, via alivebygrace)
obnoxiously ridiculous nightmares
“If you want to experience increase in your life, you have to cry out for that increase.
It’s not that God doesn’t want to increase you, it’s not that he doesn’t want to bless you. The reason you gotta learn to cry out for the increase is because you don’t want it.
See, many times we think, ‘I gotta cry out so that I can convince God to bless me, I gotta cry out to convince God to increase me.’
[…]
No, see, we have to cry out for increase because the problem is not that God doesn’t want to bless us. The problem is that we don’t want to be blessed. The problem is that we don’t have the faith to believe God, to believe that God will bless us immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.
[…]
But when you take the fact that God wants to increase, bless, and prosper you, and when you take it to your prayer closet, and you begin to cry out saying,
O God, if you would bless me. O God that you would increase me. O God that you would build me up, that you would place this dream up on my heart. God, you have made me for increase. Now God, I’m going to press in until I see it happen.
You know what begins to happen in you? Faith begins to rise up.
See, the first time you pray that prayer, you don’t believe it. The first time you ask God for an increase, you don’t have the faith for it.
But the second time you pray it, you begin to have a little bit more faith.
And the third time you pray it, you begin to believe a bit more.
And the more and more you begin to pray, the way you pray begins to change. You’re not begging God anymore. Now you’re asking God. The Bible says ‘you have not because you ask not.’
You keep pressing in, and you go past the realm of just asking God. Then you get to the realm of claiming it. And then you keep praying and praying and praying, and you go past the realm of even claiming it. And then you begin to decree and declare it. And you begin to see it manifest. ‘Cause now you have the faith to believe that every word that comes from your mouth will never fall to the ground because you are son and daughter of the most high God. That’s why you gotta cry out for it.”
-From Pastor Marcus Corpening’s message on “Faith for the Increase” (1/8/12)
Merry Christmas :)
If you are looking for ways to give not only to your loved and lovely ones, please consider giving to the North Korean refugees and contribute to their journey to freedom!
so much conviction through psalm 106 & 107 today
Many times he delivered them,
but they were bent on rebellion
and they wasted away in their sin.
Yet he took note of their distress
when he heard their cry;
for their sake he remembered his covenant
and out of his great love he relented.
He caused all who held them captive
to show them mercy.-psalm 106:43-46
surprisingly finding enormous strength by going through VBS songs from last summer
