L3 Verses

So, I know it has been awhile since I have posted anything, I've just been super busy preparing for my departure THIS SATURDAY. Wow, it's finally here. Crazzzzzzzy. God is so good.

Anyway, I just wanted to share several verses from the L3 readings for the past week that has particularly spoken to me. I try to refrain from putting in my two cents...but we all know that this is next to impossible. :)

James 4:5
"He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us."
I mean, that is just beautiful. You know what makes it even more beautiful? This is not talking about the Holy Spirit, which is placed within us after we accept Christ. This is talking about the spirit which He "made to dwell in us" when He created us, before the foundations of the earth (Ephesians 1:4). That spirit. The one which we corrupted. He wants to make it new, and fill it up with the Holy Spirit. He yearns for us. Yearns means to have an intense feeling of loss or lack and longing for something. But it doesn't stop there, this intense feeling of longing is infused with compassion--love leading to action. God Himself runs after us, yearning to fill us with Himself. It's a beautiful picture, eh? Much more beautiful than anything this earth offers us, if you ask me...

Psalm 65:5,8
"By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth...So that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs."
At the same time I found this verse, I am reading a book called "Living Life on Purpose" in preparation for this summer. It is an amazing book! And as I found this verse, I was learning in this book that we, the followers of Christ, are the bridge between the beginning of the story (when we fell) to the end (when people from every tribe and nation are singing around the throne). We are the ones commissioned with the task to gather those believers--for as Matthew 24:14 says,
"And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
It's our job--nay, our privilege. So, let's go.
A second thought on this verse is...as I embark on this trip, going halfway around the world, I think about all of the prayer support. Well, God is gonna answer them--"by awesome deeds"! Not just with a simple yes or no, but with "awesome deeds"! That gets me super pumped!! :) Thank you, prayer partners, for supporting me--God's gonna answer...I challenge you to pray knowing that fact--knowing that GOD ALMIGHTY is going to answer "by awesome deeds."

God has been showering me with missional verses in the L3 this week as I prepare...Here are a few. Signing off now, letting God speak!

Psalm 67:1-3
"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, that Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; Let ALL the peoples praise you!"

Psalm 71:14-16
"But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more. My mouth will tell of Your righteous acts, of Your deeds of salvation all the day, for their number is past my knowledge, with the mighty deeds of the LORD I will come; I will remind them of Your righteousness, Yours alone."

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