Who's Your Lover?

I'm having a great holiday weekend at one of my best friend's house. Erinann Moore is a fellow DTS student and such a wonderful friend and sister in Christ.

Anyway, today we went to see Catching Fire!!! It was amazing and I can't wait to see it again and read the books again! Since seeing this movie I just keep thinking about relationships and love. I can't help missing having a romantic interest in my life and that feeling of love. It can be such a blessing and a curse. As I was dwelling on these things I realized one of this world's major flaws. We revere earthly love. If you watch movies, read novels, or listen to music, the main defining theme is the importance of a romantic partner. It's the end all, be all. We idolize love. It is the reason for living and we long for love worth dying for. Many of us are looking for that one person, that one man or woman, who will complete us and fill this deep chasm we have in our souls.

This longing is not abnormal, in fact, it was placed there by God. The problem is that we are looking for love in all the wrong places. Love between a man and woman is a reflection of the love God has for us. Christ longs for his bride more than we can ever imagine. His love goes deeper and runs truer than anything we can experience until we meet our savior in the clouds. He wants to embrace us and whisper of His love for us. He wants me to know to the depth of my being how passionate He is for me. He covets your love. YOU! No matter what you have done to sin against Him, in spite of all your faults, perceived and otherwise. He will never betray or abandon us.

We are taught from infancy to search for that one boy or girl who will be the answer to these desires. Only to find hurt and imperfection when we were looking for a perfect love. See, the thing is, we can't hug God everyday. We can't talk to Him and audibly hear His voice answer back on a regular basis. So it's easy to tell ourselves that He isn't enough. He isn't available in the way we want our lover to be. So we keep looking to people we can hear, see, touch, and smell. We doubt His ability to meet our needs.

The fact of the matter is no one can meet our needs like Jesus. But he made Eve for a reason. Marriage, centered on Jesus, full of romance and respect, is one of the greatest gifts God has given us. It is important. But it can't satisfy us completely. This world is still changed because of sin. People cannot be everything, all the time, that we might want them to be. That's where the grace of God steps in. By His mercy we can have this small, beautiful shadow of His love through marriage.

While I will continue to pine, every so often, for this earthly love He designed, I will ultimately pursue this relationship which meets every need, every time.

Bill Ballenger, Break the Grey, Rededication

This is Billy Ballenger and Break The Grey! My journey back to Jesus started with this ministry when my brother joined as an intern a few years ago. My family and I went to many events and church services during that year and one Sunday morning during Bill's service God spoke to me about the doubts that were holding me back and He shared His desire for me to simply be His beloved.

Hot or Cold???

Week 2

Sarah Lanier spoke on hot climate versus cold climate cultures.

Did you know that 80% of the world has a hot climate culture!?! We in America are in the minority.

Hot climate culture means that these people groups are relationally based. It’s all about inclusion, belonging and loyalty. The downsides that can surface are gossip, superficial relationships, and speaking in love and not truth. This is group culture and they value belonging and depending on each other. They have a high power distant style of authority. The leader is high above everyone else and the followers are all on a very low position. The followers give loyalty and obedience and the leader provides his followers with identity, direction, and provision. They are a usually high context society, which means EVERYTHING matters. Its formal, old traditions, and titles.

Cold climate cultures are task and efficiency based. People cultured this way value being straight forward; they always speak truth, and not always in love. Work is a huge focus. It's a big priority for them, to the detriment of relationships and families. They focus on individualism – it’s very self-focused, your rights, independence, entitlement, selfishness, and the “followers” all have to have a high level of competency. They have a low power distant style of authority. Its egalitarian but it usually has a leader who offers communication, information, coordination and defines roles within the group. The people offer initiatives, ideas, and their gifts. It’s a team effort, so there is little identity in roles.

Group Culture – Relational
• We own everything
• Don’t take responsibility
• No private conversations
• No counseling
• Inclusion culture (EVERYONE is invited)
• Sharing
• More explaining
• Honor everyone higher
“I am because I belong!”

Individualism – Task Goal
• Ownership is personal
• Respects privacy
• Not my business and I wont tell others
• Exclusion
• Stingy
• Personal possessions
• Depersonalized
• Not honoring
• Selfish
“I am because of what I make of myself!”

As a side note to our teaching –
Power is a battle of insecurity and incompetence.
60% of men are ruled by logical thinking
60% of women are ruled by feeling

Further research: Dr. David Swarr, Power Points. Eric Law, The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb

There’s SO much to learn from knowing about these things. Their existence and the effect they have within our world. We can understand people better if we understand where they are coming from. This hot vs. cold climate thing is only one thread in a tapestry of things that influence us.

I'm Crying Out

We are in Talladega, Alabama this week for the South East YWAM Conference! It's so lovely here and I am having such a blast meeting a bunch of YWAMers! We haven't had much teaching so far but I anticipate it shall be quite awesome. We will be learning about the Kingdom of the Lord.

I have a prayer request friends. My DTS just found out on Friday that we have $1500 due tomorrow (Tuesday, November 12) for our overseas outreach. It was a slight mis-communication between staff and we had all thought the full $3500 was due right after Thanksgiving but it turns out the due dates are $1500 on the 12th and $2000 on Dec 3. The plane ticket is very expensive and the longer the base waits to buy them, the more costly they become. So this $1500 is purely for my plane flight. I currently have zero dollars for it, and I'm truly pressing in to God right now. I don't have any clue what the answer is and I know He has got this, but at the same time I want to do my part. I love Him so so much and really want His will to be done.

I just want to ask you to pray for me! Pray for a miracle! Prayer releases things people! It's powerful stuff.

Week 1 Summary

It's been a crazy week! Really stressful actually. My due date for my tuition rolled around and I am still short some of it. But my God is faithful!

 Lamentations 3:22-24

 "Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."

Every week here is pretty busy, and the only free evenings we have are really just Wednesday nights and weekends, though there is usually schoolwork to catch up on. I love the busyness but it's hard to fit certain things in. 

Here are the highlights from week 1, the week of Oct. 2nd 

One of the base leaders, Greg Musch, taught on intercessory prayer. Intercession is basically an intense desire to have God help within a situation. It's really seeking his will and praying for it to be done. The amazing thing is that sometimes God will only release his blessing and angelic support if we PRAY and intercede for it. This sort of goes hand in hand with spiritual warfare, which I will summarize later. I believe we had our lecture on Spiritual Warfare on week 5 (last week).

Tae Oh Kim is our DTS leader, a really awesome Korean man who has been here for a long time. I love him so much, and his family. Their lives are actually a bit parallel to my sister and her family, as both families have two sons of similar age, and a third son due in February this next year. Anyway, Tae Oh spoke on worship, a topic close to my heart. Worship is definitely one of the most clear ways I draw closer to my Savior. It's pretty awesome. One thing that stood out to me is how worship isn't just when you are in church singing a few hymns or songs and lifting your hands up or standing there. Worship is every action of being before God and responding to Him. Worship is washing the dishes and doing it with Him standing right next to you. In other words, you can praise the Lord in every little thing you do. 

John 4:23

But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.

So worship is NOT legalistic, formal, or passive. Well goodness. I could go on and on.... Instead I'll give a few verses: Worshiping God every day - Psalms 145:2, 34:1; Meaning of true worship - Genesis 22:1-5 (giving your most precious thing) and Matthew 2:11 

What happens when we worship?????? We are set free from bondage and it breaks the enemy's power!!!!!!

Thus concludes week 1.