The arts, gifts, creativity, renaissance, a new birth
light, life, love, spirit, beauty, complete surrender
freedom, health, riches, joy, kingdom inheritance
hopes, dreams, and promises fulfilled, rainbows of vibrant color
tornadoes, waves, quakes, radiation, pressure and fire
transformation, purity, holiness, glory, the blood of Jesus
healing, springs of living water, life, the Garden of Eden
emergence, breaking out, butterflies, fireflies, a new creation
peacocks, eagles, lions, family, friends, a new model,
authority, miracles, signs and wonders, sons and daughters
revelation, truth, faith, trust and wisdom, no more religion
kingdom vision, kingdom purpose, kingdom values, kingdom power
armory, weaponry, morals, obedience, dedication and honor
ships, navigation, uncharted territory, pioneering, anchored in hope
generosity beyond compare, missions, cultivated nations, the great harvest
When I ponder thoughts of the New Year and the time to come, these words resonate in my spirit for the church. I believe we are heading into the best of times and the worst of times, the best of times for the church but the worst of times for the world. May you come to know your true identity in God and his love, purpose, and destiny for you and your life. You are made in his image and likeness, and may you shine the piece of himself that he has given you that no one else has to offer this world but you alone.
Love Kels
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Next Step: Mozambique, Africa!
Dear friends and family,
I’m writing to update you all on some exciting news! Just this last Sunday I was accepted into Iris Ministries’ Iris Harvest School which starts October 12, 2009. That is in 3 weeks! Talk about last minute on the acceptance letter! Iris Ministries is one of my two favorite ministries that I have ever heard of in the whole world!
In case you have never heard of Heidi and Rolland Baker and Iris Ministries, I copied some very brief information about them from their website, http://www.irismin.org, below:
“Iris Ministries has expanded to over 5,000 churches all over Mozambique (the poorest country in the world) and into neighboring countries. The disastrous flooding of 2000/2001 catalyzed an overwhelming hunger for the things of God in the refugee camps where we ministered, and the Gospel continues to spread like wildfire. We now care for almost 2,000 children at our centers, and our churches are taking in orphans as well. Jesus is revealing Himself through signs and wonders, visions and dreams, and we have never seen such a harvest before us. May the Lord of the harvest send us workers!”
I want to be one of the workers sent! This is why I applied to the Iris Harvest School. Graduation from the school is the first step into coming into full time, long term work with this ministry, that is if God’s will permits. Their vision is to expand into other countries, and I was told just last night that they have already begun sending long term staff even up into India! The possibilities are endless and I am beyond excited. God keeps reminding me of my call into mission work every time I seem to lose vision, and I am just so thankful for this opportunity!
I know that if this is indeed God’s will for my life that He will provide; there is no doubt in my mind. I don’t want to send out mission letters for support, especially during a time when I know how much everyone is gripping tight to what money they do have. I hate for any person to ever feel obligated to give. Instead I ask if the Holy Spirit lays it on your heart to give toward this next step in my pursuit into full time mission work, then it would be more than greatly appreciated! Again, there is no guilt to the person who doesn’t give! I wouldn’t want you to give unless that is something that you really WANT or feel led to do. I hope you can hear my heart in this. Above all, I trust God for provision like I said earlier; I just know He likes to use people to give toward His Kingdom work because those who give get Kingdom interest in return! Yay God!! :)
I love you guys, and I thank you for all the love, prayer, and support in the past!
Glory be to Jesus!
Tons of Love,
Kellie
Contact info:
kellielinder@aol.com
I’m writing to update you all on some exciting news! Just this last Sunday I was accepted into Iris Ministries’ Iris Harvest School which starts October 12, 2009. That is in 3 weeks! Talk about last minute on the acceptance letter! Iris Ministries is one of my two favorite ministries that I have ever heard of in the whole world!
In case you have never heard of Heidi and Rolland Baker and Iris Ministries, I copied some very brief information about them from their website, http://www.irismin.org, below:
“Iris Ministries has expanded to over 5,000 churches all over Mozambique (the poorest country in the world) and into neighboring countries. The disastrous flooding of 2000/2001 catalyzed an overwhelming hunger for the things of God in the refugee camps where we ministered, and the Gospel continues to spread like wildfire. We now care for almost 2,000 children at our centers, and our churches are taking in orphans as well. Jesus is revealing Himself through signs and wonders, visions and dreams, and we have never seen such a harvest before us. May the Lord of the harvest send us workers!”
I want to be one of the workers sent! This is why I applied to the Iris Harvest School. Graduation from the school is the first step into coming into full time, long term work with this ministry, that is if God’s will permits. Their vision is to expand into other countries, and I was told just last night that they have already begun sending long term staff even up into India! The possibilities are endless and I am beyond excited. God keeps reminding me of my call into mission work every time I seem to lose vision, and I am just so thankful for this opportunity!
I know that if this is indeed God’s will for my life that He will provide; there is no doubt in my mind. I don’t want to send out mission letters for support, especially during a time when I know how much everyone is gripping tight to what money they do have. I hate for any person to ever feel obligated to give. Instead I ask if the Holy Spirit lays it on your heart to give toward this next step in my pursuit into full time mission work, then it would be more than greatly appreciated! Again, there is no guilt to the person who doesn’t give! I wouldn’t want you to give unless that is something that you really WANT or feel led to do. I hope you can hear my heart in this. Above all, I trust God for provision like I said earlier; I just know He likes to use people to give toward His Kingdom work because those who give get Kingdom interest in return! Yay God!! :)
I love you guys, and I thank you for all the love, prayer, and support in the past!
Glory be to Jesus!
Tons of Love,
Kellie
Contact info:
kellielinder@aol.com
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!
I absolutely cannot sleep. The Holy Spirit will not allow me to stop dreaming about my future with Jesus. I am overwhelmed by God and the kingdom of heaven right now. Today has been one of those, “Please pinch me, I MUST be dreaming, days.” I’ll begin with a few testimonies from tonight. Since I’ve been home from overseas, I started going to a local ministry in Nashville every week called the Under the Bridge ministry. Hundreds of homeless show up every Tuesday evening under the Jefferson Street bridge to come to this wonderful ministry. Since I’ve been attending, my heart has been to do one on one ministry with whoever will let me pray for them. Last week I prayed for a guy in a wheelchair who said his knee/leg had been broken so many times that the doctors want to amputate his leg above the knee (both of his legs were in very bad shape). He also wanted to get back to his homeless community in California because he only come out here to visit his mom, but he was having trouble finding a way back. So I prayed for his healing (and also for his return to California) and I felt the Holy Spirit say, “Now get up and walk!” So that’s what I said! It grieved me when he told me he was too scared to get up and walk because it really hurts when he falls. I offered him some help, but he refused, so I just told him that I still had faith in his healing and told him how much God loved him. I walked away just knowing that he could have walked, because the Holy Spirit said so, and I believe Him. At the end of the night I also walked up to a woman who was with a group of people who seemed really low. I asked her if I could pray for her and she was kinda like, “Yeah, sure, I guess.” I asked her for any special prayer requests and she said her health was bad due to cancer, so I prayed for her while her fiancé stood close by.
To make a very long story as short as possible, as soon as I arrived this evening a man who has been working with this ministry for many years came up to me with a big smile on his face. He told me that he had run into Jim on Saturday, the guy in the wheelchair, and that he was out of his wheelchair walking on his own, and that he was in the highest of spirits!! Jesus healed him!!! I was blown away, even though I had the faith, WOW! He had also met a guy who was helping him get back to California! Jesus!! At the end of the night when I was walking back to the car with my parents, who are now coming, the same lady who I had stopped on my way out last time stopped me. It took me a minute to recognize her when she asked, “Remember me? Would you mind praying for my fiancé?” I remembered and quickly went over to her fiancé to pray for him about a job. After, I looked at her and she was just smiling ear to ear, had life in her eyes, and she just looked great! I told her those things and she responded, “I feel so good!” Now, I know she hasn’t been back to the doctor, but I believe in her healing! Jesus !! These haven’t been the only healings lately. Pain is leaving, sickness is leaving, bodies are being healed and God is opening doors and causing people to walk in favor, lives are being changed, all for Heaven’s sake. I look at what I’m writing, and it’s hard for my own logical mind to grasp, but it’s the facts. Jesus HEALS!! The kingdom of heaven is at hand!!!
I don’t write any of this to give myself any glory, because Jesus did the work. He’s the one with the love and the power. I’m just obedient to His word and to His will. See, I believe as a BORN AGAIN believer, as a DISCIPLE of Christ, that I have no special anointing healing or gifting outside of the Holy Spirit alone! I am no one special; I am only obedient to the will of God and to the Holy Spirit, and that is the same call that is on all of the church of Jesus Christ. I believe in Matthew 10:7. Jesus says, “As you GO, preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.” I believe this is for now church. This is the will of God ALL THE TIME! Whether you are going to another nation, to church, to your ministry, to Target or Wal-Mart, wherever! This is our call. I write to encourage you that the gospel isn’t fake, or powerless, or for another time, but it is real, powerful and for now, so GO for it, please! The world is hungry for it.
Love forever and always,
Kellie
To make a very long story as short as possible, as soon as I arrived this evening a man who has been working with this ministry for many years came up to me with a big smile on his face. He told me that he had run into Jim on Saturday, the guy in the wheelchair, and that he was out of his wheelchair walking on his own, and that he was in the highest of spirits!! Jesus healed him!!! I was blown away, even though I had the faith, WOW! He had also met a guy who was helping him get back to California! Jesus!! At the end of the night when I was walking back to the car with my parents, who are now coming, the same lady who I had stopped on my way out last time stopped me. It took me a minute to recognize her when she asked, “Remember me? Would you mind praying for my fiancé?” I remembered and quickly went over to her fiancé to pray for him about a job. After, I looked at her and she was just smiling ear to ear, had life in her eyes, and she just looked great! I told her those things and she responded, “I feel so good!” Now, I know she hasn’t been back to the doctor, but I believe in her healing! Jesus !! These haven’t been the only healings lately. Pain is leaving, sickness is leaving, bodies are being healed and God is opening doors and causing people to walk in favor, lives are being changed, all for Heaven’s sake. I look at what I’m writing, and it’s hard for my own logical mind to grasp, but it’s the facts. Jesus HEALS!! The kingdom of heaven is at hand!!!
I don’t write any of this to give myself any glory, because Jesus did the work. He’s the one with the love and the power. I’m just obedient to His word and to His will. See, I believe as a BORN AGAIN believer, as a DISCIPLE of Christ, that I have no special anointing healing or gifting outside of the Holy Spirit alone! I am no one special; I am only obedient to the will of God and to the Holy Spirit, and that is the same call that is on all of the church of Jesus Christ. I believe in Matthew 10:7. Jesus says, “As you GO, preach the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.” I believe this is for now church. This is the will of God ALL THE TIME! Whether you are going to another nation, to church, to your ministry, to Target or Wal-Mart, wherever! This is our call. I write to encourage you that the gospel isn’t fake, or powerless, or for another time, but it is real, powerful and for now, so GO for it, please! The world is hungry for it.
Love forever and always,
Kellie
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Dear India
Dear India,
I'll never forget you. Our relationship was an extreme roller-coaster ride, but the lows were always my fault, not yours. You showed me what it was to be a servant. Through you, God worked in me a servant heart. He wanted me to learn to serve Kolkata, and that I did. So much of my old self died with you, learning how to sacrifice my needs, comforts, rights, and selfish ways. Through learning how to put you first, I've realized I can now probably put anything and everything first. You were a great challenge to me, forcing me step out in faith alone, causing me to put my faith into action. Through serving you, I had to cling tight to my faith in Jesus as protector and lover of my soul, and sure enough, here I am on the other side not only unharmed but a better person. I shed a lot of my old self and old ways while there with you and now you have my heart also.
I think you are beautiful and I hold so much hope for you! I see Jesus working hard in your midst Kolkata, shoving His way through any door that will even crack open to Him! Please turn to Him so you will be fully restored, shining in the brilliance of the India that you were always meant to be, reflecting a very distinct flavor of God that only you can show! I long to see you with God's kingdom reign, with Jesus as the King of your nation, and oh, how beautiful you will be! How exotic and wild, gorgeous and rich! Not even the British who held you in splendor could have even fathomed your full potential. I see deep jewel toned colors, gold and silk, clean streets that sparkle and shine! No poverty, no illness, no caste system, no false gods, no idols! Just a beautiful, exotic Indian nation praising and worshiping Jesus! You are meant to shine India! You are meant to be breathtaking!! I pray the work of the cross over you... May you become what you were always meant to be!!
Love always,
Kellie
PS I gave you my all, and I can only pray that that made some sort of lasting impact within you. My hope is that my work glorified Jesus, making Him better known to you.
I'll never forget you. Our relationship was an extreme roller-coaster ride, but the lows were always my fault, not yours. You showed me what it was to be a servant. Through you, God worked in me a servant heart. He wanted me to learn to serve Kolkata, and that I did. So much of my old self died with you, learning how to sacrifice my needs, comforts, rights, and selfish ways. Through learning how to put you first, I've realized I can now probably put anything and everything first. You were a great challenge to me, forcing me step out in faith alone, causing me to put my faith into action. Through serving you, I had to cling tight to my faith in Jesus as protector and lover of my soul, and sure enough, here I am on the other side not only unharmed but a better person. I shed a lot of my old self and old ways while there with you and now you have my heart also.
I think you are beautiful and I hold so much hope for you! I see Jesus working hard in your midst Kolkata, shoving His way through any door that will even crack open to Him! Please turn to Him so you will be fully restored, shining in the brilliance of the India that you were always meant to be, reflecting a very distinct flavor of God that only you can show! I long to see you with God's kingdom reign, with Jesus as the King of your nation, and oh, how beautiful you will be! How exotic and wild, gorgeous and rich! Not even the British who held you in splendor could have even fathomed your full potential. I see deep jewel toned colors, gold and silk, clean streets that sparkle and shine! No poverty, no illness, no caste system, no false gods, no idols! Just a beautiful, exotic Indian nation praising and worshiping Jesus! You are meant to shine India! You are meant to be breathtaking!! I pray the work of the cross over you... May you become what you were always meant to be!!
Love always,
Kellie
PS I gave you my all, and I can only pray that that made some sort of lasting impact within you. My hope is that my work glorified Jesus, making Him better known to you.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Howrah Station, Kolkata India
Getting to work with Life Connection ministries and the Howrah children was such an amazing experience! God did some major work in me during that time and I'll never forget it. There are over 200 children orphaned at Howrah train station currently. Most of the kids have no idea how they even got there. They have no choice but to live cruel lives of survival, much like the survival of the fittest, so it is a very violent, tragic, and animalistic style of living for these children. There are about 50 girls, but mostly boys, and all the children seem to be highly addicted to glue huffing. Huffing glue suppresses their appetites, which is the initial reason for partaking in it, but it doesn't take long for these children to become horribly addicted.
Death is no stranger to these children. Some die from rolling off of rooftops in their sleep to 100+ feet below. Many fall on train tracks getting cut literally into pieces, while others are murdered by other boys in fits of rage. Just the night before we arrived at the station, two boys died from huffing too much glue on a train causing them to become disoriented and they fell from the train onto the tracks of the express train coming from the opposite direction. They were hit and both boys died instantly.
They collect bottles around the train station to make money. 3 bottles = 1 rupee. With this money they buy mostly glue, but some food as well. The girls at the train station seem to have it the worst. The seek out the older boys who have more money and offer themselves for glue or for basic survival needs. They will also marry very young, around 12, to find some feeling of safety in being protected. One girl that I spent some time with, Najne, was only 15 and had already had 4 or 5 miscarriages. She would get pregnant by her husband and then huff so much glue during each pregnancy she would lose the baby every time. Even while we were there spending time with them, they were pouring glue onto clothes right in front of us. I don't even know if they know how to hide it.
While all this is happening in the Howrah train station where literally millions pass through every day, these children remain unseen. They are considered the "untouchables" of the Indian cast, and most wouldn't even take the time to look down on their existence because surely it was karma that put these children in that place to begin with. The tragic stories of the kids don't even make the local paper. They are unseen, unheard, and unloved - they are voiceless. Even though they went so long without being seen or loved by people, God saw them and loved them, and created a plan!
Life Connection ministries was started by a Indian Christian missions family who felt called to Kolkata and didn't even know why. Through obedience in following, Jesus led them straight to Howrah Station and to the children there. God is so good! Life Connection is only now getting up off the ground, having started only two years ago, and has only 9 full time staff members of whom are all family. They are fueled by volunteers, but there the field is plentiful and the workers are far too few. They go to the station 3 days a week to spend time with the kids, loving on them and doing whatever they can to win their trust and respect. 2 days a week the ministry invites the children into their ministry house to bathe them, give them new clothing, shave their heads (most have a bad case of lice), feed them, play with them, and to teach them about Jesus. When I was there, there were 10 kids who decided to stay with the ministry full time. These boys told the staff that they didn't want to go back to their lives at the train station, so they have taken these boys in full time, and there was one more boy added in the week that I was there. We helped to teach these boys not only more about Jesus and the love of God, but also English, math, and writing.
It was such a privilege and honor to get to work with this ministry, and during my time spent with them God worked so much in my heart. As I learned to lay down my rights, comforts, and needs for these beautiful kids, they won my heart over completely. Now if you knew me, you would know what a HUGE deal that is! Let's just say I'm not a kid lover. :) But these kids seriously were some of the most beautiful, giving, and loving children that I had ever met in my entire life. It blew my mind really. They wound up being the highlight of my day and the joy they brought me was like no other. There were a few in particular that I so badly wanted to take home with me! I wanted to save them from their lives, but I don't believe that's what God has planned for them. Their ministry will be most likely right there in India. What powerful testimonies they will one day have! World changers they will be! You don't grow up in that kind of a life, find Jesus, and then become mediocre about Jesus and what He has done for your life! They will have passion and zeal!! I know it with all my heart! God bless those precious children!
I long to raise awareness for this ministry. The stories I could tell about the staff members and their financial struggle breaks my heart. The church in India is very small and poor, so support is minimal at best, and these workers give their whole lives and hearts to this cause. They work seven days a week to care for these boys with no breaks or holidays. They need help! Nabin, our contact and leader of Life Connection, even asked if I would come back and work with them full time. I promised that I would at least raise awareness for their cause and do what I could, and I don't want to break that promise. These missionaries work so hard, you wouldn't believe it! The contacts that we were with would sleep whenever they could get a chance. On the trains, buses, taxis, whenever they weren't moving. All in all, they know and I know that God is good and that He will provide because this all was His will and plan in the first place.
Again, 50% of my art sales will go directly the Life Connection family to sow into their ministry and what God has called them to do! I also have their direct contact info if you are interested in supporting them directly, just let me know. There are some photos attached!!
Love to all!!
Kellie
Death is no stranger to these children. Some die from rolling off of rooftops in their sleep to 100+ feet below. Many fall on train tracks getting cut literally into pieces, while others are murdered by other boys in fits of rage. Just the night before we arrived at the station, two boys died from huffing too much glue on a train causing them to become disoriented and they fell from the train onto the tracks of the express train coming from the opposite direction. They were hit and both boys died instantly.
They collect bottles around the train station to make money. 3 bottles = 1 rupee. With this money they buy mostly glue, but some food as well. The girls at the train station seem to have it the worst. The seek out the older boys who have more money and offer themselves for glue or for basic survival needs. They will also marry very young, around 12, to find some feeling of safety in being protected. One girl that I spent some time with, Najne, was only 15 and had already had 4 or 5 miscarriages. She would get pregnant by her husband and then huff so much glue during each pregnancy she would lose the baby every time. Even while we were there spending time with them, they were pouring glue onto clothes right in front of us. I don't even know if they know how to hide it.
While all this is happening in the Howrah train station where literally millions pass through every day, these children remain unseen. They are considered the "untouchables" of the Indian cast, and most wouldn't even take the time to look down on their existence because surely it was karma that put these children in that place to begin with. The tragic stories of the kids don't even make the local paper. They are unseen, unheard, and unloved - they are voiceless. Even though they went so long without being seen or loved by people, God saw them and loved them, and created a plan!
Life Connection ministries was started by a Indian Christian missions family who felt called to Kolkata and didn't even know why. Through obedience in following, Jesus led them straight to Howrah Station and to the children there. God is so good! Life Connection is only now getting up off the ground, having started only two years ago, and has only 9 full time staff members of whom are all family. They are fueled by volunteers, but there the field is plentiful and the workers are far too few. They go to the station 3 days a week to spend time with the kids, loving on them and doing whatever they can to win their trust and respect. 2 days a week the ministry invites the children into their ministry house to bathe them, give them new clothing, shave their heads (most have a bad case of lice), feed them, play with them, and to teach them about Jesus. When I was there, there were 10 kids who decided to stay with the ministry full time. These boys told the staff that they didn't want to go back to their lives at the train station, so they have taken these boys in full time, and there was one more boy added in the week that I was there. We helped to teach these boys not only more about Jesus and the love of God, but also English, math, and writing.
It was such a privilege and honor to get to work with this ministry, and during my time spent with them God worked so much in my heart. As I learned to lay down my rights, comforts, and needs for these beautiful kids, they won my heart over completely. Now if you knew me, you would know what a HUGE deal that is! Let's just say I'm not a kid lover. :) But these kids seriously were some of the most beautiful, giving, and loving children that I had ever met in my entire life. It blew my mind really. They wound up being the highlight of my day and the joy they brought me was like no other. There were a few in particular that I so badly wanted to take home with me! I wanted to save them from their lives, but I don't believe that's what God has planned for them. Their ministry will be most likely right there in India. What powerful testimonies they will one day have! World changers they will be! You don't grow up in that kind of a life, find Jesus, and then become mediocre about Jesus and what He has done for your life! They will have passion and zeal!! I know it with all my heart! God bless those precious children!
I long to raise awareness for this ministry. The stories I could tell about the staff members and their financial struggle breaks my heart. The church in India is very small and poor, so support is minimal at best, and these workers give their whole lives and hearts to this cause. They work seven days a week to care for these boys with no breaks or holidays. They need help! Nabin, our contact and leader of Life Connection, even asked if I would come back and work with them full time. I promised that I would at least raise awareness for their cause and do what I could, and I don't want to break that promise. These missionaries work so hard, you wouldn't believe it! The contacts that we were with would sleep whenever they could get a chance. On the trains, buses, taxis, whenever they weren't moving. All in all, they know and I know that God is good and that He will provide because this all was His will and plan in the first place.
Again, 50% of my art sales will go directly the Life Connection family to sow into their ministry and what God has called them to do! I also have their direct contact info if you are interested in supporting them directly, just let me know. There are some photos attached!!
Love to all!!
Kellie
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Are you thirsty??
Are you thirsty??
Through my studies recently, God has been speaking to me so much about water! He has been emphasizing that Jesus is the fountain of living water, so here are some scriptures that go with my thought process right now.
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13-14)
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38)
Many times I have prayed the prayer, “Jesus, I want to be thirstier for you (yes, thirstier is a word) Please make me thirsty!” Even though I believe that this prayer is legit, I feel like God had shifted my focus on that prayer, that it wasn’t quite right. I used to think that if I wasn’t thirsty for him, then I just wasn’t thirsty. See, I think the truth is that I am thirsty; I believe that I’m very thirsty, but I go to other sources for water expecting that it will satisfy.
There seems to be something unique about the water that Jesus has to offer. Jesus’ water offers life, and promises that you won’t be thirsty again. Not only will you not be thirsty again, but you will be so satisfied that it starts bubbling up and overflows like a river from within you. Dang! Seriously, give me this water! That was the plead of the women at the well, and is now mine as well! So maybe if we feel incomplete, inadequate, unfulfilled, unhappy, broken, lacking, insecure, unloved, etc., could we possibly be drinking the wrong source of water? Could we be going to other sources for water outside of Jesus, and we are still left feeling thirsty?
This is the vision I have. I believe it goes all the way back to Eden
“And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Gen. 2:9)
I think that fruit and water is pretty interchangeable, so also is being hungry and thirsty in the bible. I find it beyond interesting that there were two trees in the middle of the garden, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So could we possibly say that Jesus with the fruit of the spirit was in the middle of the garden, and so was our enemy, Satan, with his fruit? Take that into consideration, metaphorically speaking. So this second tree, it looked good for food, it looked pleasing to the eye, but God told Adam, “Don’t eat of it, or you will surely die!” That sounds like a pretty intense reality check to me. “Don’t eat its fruit Adam! You will die if you eat it!!” To me, that sounds more like, “Kellie! Don’t jump off the cliff Kellie! You will surely die!!” So here is my response, “Geez! God is so controlling!! Who is he to tell me what I can or can’t do!? Jerk! I’m gonna jump!”
So we all know the story, the fruit is eaten. Satan tempted Eve with this fruit that looked real good to the eye. What were they tempted with? Their temptation was to have their eyes opened, to be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil. It seemed good for nourishment, so they went for it. After they ate, their eyes were in fact opened, and they realized that they were naked, so they tried to hide their nakedness and hid themselves from God because they were full of shame.
Could we surmise that the fruit that Satan tempted them with, the fruit that they ate of was poisonous? They ate a poisonous apple that brought sickness and death to their bodies. Something in them died that day. What was God’s response to this? “Who told you that you were naked!?” He immediately recognized that they were lied to. God didn’t tell them that they were naked; they told Him that they were. It seems they then had a very distorted view of good and evil. God said it was good that they were naked, but after eating the fruit offered, they felt as though it was evil. I don’t believe that they even recognized their nakedness until the shame crept in. Could it be that their nakedness represented their unashamed relationship with God? Could being naked in front of God mean being fully open, fully real, fully free in love, and fully vulnerable to him? Like a little child that has no sense of self awareness, they just do everything so unchecked, so sure of themselves; could God desire this kind of confidence with him? It’s not until we are older that the world makes its way into our minds, polluting us, or when Satan starts to lie to us and we believe him, and that is if you were lucky enough to grow up in a healthy home. Back to the point, David danced naked and completely unashamed in worship to God, and he was called a man after God’s own heart. It seems so much more natural to hide from God, to cover ourselves with leaves, the leaves of good works, false humility, you know, putting on the show, or cleaning the outside of the cup? Could we call that legalism? Do you catch what I’m saying? God doesn’t want us to hide. He longs for us to be open and honest with him, because he can’t change us if we aren’t honest with him and with ourselves. So yes, they were naked, but God intended it to be that way, but Satan tempted them into disobedience and filled them with shame of sin, so they became aware of their nakedness and hid.
So after they became aware of their nakedness he said, “Cursed are you!” Again, sounds like a pretty big reality check. “Adam, Eve, you are cursed!” That is not the same as “I CURSE YOU wicked little wretches!” by the way. God was simply stating to them the reality of the consequences of their actions. When you eat a poisonous apple, or when you drink polluted water, the reality of what happens to you are the consequences of sickness and possible death.
So what is the point that I am trying to make? First off, I don’t believe that God ever intended us to know the difference between good and evil. We are so preoccupied with what’s right and what’s wrong, or what’s good and what’s evil, that we can’t even love one another anymore. I believe that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil gave us permission to come into agreeance with Satan and his lies, choosing for ourselves what is good for us and what is not, and that was never God’s intention for us. Now we have no choice but to discern between good and evil in order to make good decisions for our lives, to come back into agreeance with God. That is what repentance is; it is acknowledging that we have turned from God in our lives and it is coming back into agreeance with him, saying that we agree with him and believe that his way is the best way for us. Repentance leads to obedience, which leads to a restored, free, naked and unashamed relationship with God.
See, when Satan tempts us, he is offering us fruit that looks good to the eye, but when we believe him, when we buy into his lie, when we eat of his fruit, a piece of us dies, and we are filled with shame, so as a result, we hide from God. We separate ourselves from God, from relationship with him. When we are disobedient to God, we are turning away from the reality and truth of this world that God speaks over us, so then we are coming into agreeance with Satan and what he says is good, eating the poison that he feeds us. Disobedience is believing Satan and what he says is good for us over believing God and what he says is good for us. See, I believe that we can choose to eat the fruit of Jesus, from the tree of life, and gain life, or we can eat the poisonous fruit Satan offers and die inside. Disobedience leads to sin, and sin is settling for something less than what God has to offer us.
Faith was what God desired from his people for restored relationship in the Old Testament. Abraham had faith, and it was credited to him as righteousness, but by the time that Moses led the Israelites out of the desert, they had such a distorted view of reality, God had to give the law to them so that they could know again the difference between good and evil. God’s own people didn’t even know anymore, so the law was written to mirror sin. It was meant to bring life, but since we were never meant to discern good from evil in the first place, it only brought death. It is impossible to earn our way back to God, so mankind desperately needed a savior!
Jesus came to restore our relationship back to God! He came in the very image of God, showing us His true character and nature. He came and was filled with grace and truth, that is, unconditional love for mankind and the truth of this world! He came to set us free from the bondage of sin and to lead us back into fully restored relationship with God through grace and truth! Through His finished work on the cross of Calvary, he opened a door for us to walk through, into the Kingdom of the Living God, covered in His blood, and established in righteousness! Believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior allows us to boldly approach the throne of God, back in right and perfect standing with Him, as sons and daughters! This is the truth of who we are in Jesus, and Paul has called us to live out what we have already obtained in Christ Jesus, our Lord!!
Jesus has come so that we may have life, and have it to the full! (John 10:10) He has come to break us from the bondage of the reality of this world, and has called us as believers into the reality of heaven and His kingdom! He tells us to put our focus into what is unseen, and that is having faith in Him and what He says to be true! The Kingdom of Heaven is here, and it is our call as the body of Christ, as His hands and feet, to walk out His call on our lives! We have to follow Him! And we can’t do any of this without faith. Ask God to build your faith today! He longs to give you the extreme faith it takes to follow His will for your life. If you’re not seeing miracles in your life, you are not exercising faith. He’s there, waiting, longing for you to come to Him today, right now even.
Two more scriptures:
“As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.” John 12:47
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17
See, Jesus didn’t come to bring judgment on mankind, for He loves us with an inconceivable love! In other words, He has not come to judge the person but to bring justice to the sin! He came to save us from our enemy, from the bondage of sin in this world. I’ll say it again, He has come to bring justice to sin, not to humans. The wages of sin is only death, so believing in Jesus and Jesus alone establishes us in righteousness and into doing the very works of Christ, and even greater things! With Him as our Lord, He leads us out of the death grip of sin and into freedom, and then calls us to do the same! What a privilege! What an honor!! He’s come to deliver us out of the false belief system of this world, into His love, into His truth, so we in turn can turn around and become world changers doing the same for others as He has done for us. When we believe this, when we believe in Him, we are declared as righteous, and sin and death no longer has any reign over us. We are free in Christ! He brings justice to the sin in our lives, casting it out in us and setting us free into eternal life! Hallelujah!!
So my final question is, are you thirsty? If you are looking to any other source to fulfill you outside of Jesus Himself, you will be left empty, wanting more, but never getting enough. If you go after the tempting fruit of Satan, death will enter your body and you’ll be trapped in the bondage of sin in which repentance will be your only way out. Only the work and leading of Jesus in our lives can set us free. Only He gives us living water, the source of life, that will satisfy, fill us, and we will be so overwhelmed by it, it will in turn pour out of us onto others! Thank you Jesus!!
Through my studies recently, God has been speaking to me so much about water! He has been emphasizing that Jesus is the fountain of living water, so here are some scriptures that go with my thought process right now.
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2:13)
“Jesus answered, ‘Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.’” (John 4:13-14)
“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38)
Many times I have prayed the prayer, “Jesus, I want to be thirstier for you (yes, thirstier is a word) Please make me thirsty!” Even though I believe that this prayer is legit, I feel like God had shifted my focus on that prayer, that it wasn’t quite right. I used to think that if I wasn’t thirsty for him, then I just wasn’t thirsty. See, I think the truth is that I am thirsty; I believe that I’m very thirsty, but I go to other sources for water expecting that it will satisfy.
There seems to be something unique about the water that Jesus has to offer. Jesus’ water offers life, and promises that you won’t be thirsty again. Not only will you not be thirsty again, but you will be so satisfied that it starts bubbling up and overflows like a river from within you. Dang! Seriously, give me this water! That was the plead of the women at the well, and is now mine as well! So maybe if we feel incomplete, inadequate, unfulfilled, unhappy, broken, lacking, insecure, unloved, etc., could we possibly be drinking the wrong source of water? Could we be going to other sources for water outside of Jesus, and we are still left feeling thirsty?
This is the vision I have. I believe it goes all the way back to Eden
“And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” (Gen. 2:9)
I think that fruit and water is pretty interchangeable, so also is being hungry and thirsty in the bible. I find it beyond interesting that there were two trees in the middle of the garden, the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So could we possibly say that Jesus with the fruit of the spirit was in the middle of the garden, and so was our enemy, Satan, with his fruit? Take that into consideration, metaphorically speaking. So this second tree, it looked good for food, it looked pleasing to the eye, but God told Adam, “Don’t eat of it, or you will surely die!” That sounds like a pretty intense reality check to me. “Don’t eat its fruit Adam! You will die if you eat it!!” To me, that sounds more like, “Kellie! Don’t jump off the cliff Kellie! You will surely die!!” So here is my response, “Geez! God is so controlling!! Who is he to tell me what I can or can’t do!? Jerk! I’m gonna jump!”
So we all know the story, the fruit is eaten. Satan tempted Eve with this fruit that looked real good to the eye. What were they tempted with? Their temptation was to have their eyes opened, to be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil. It seemed good for nourishment, so they went for it. After they ate, their eyes were in fact opened, and they realized that they were naked, so they tried to hide their nakedness and hid themselves from God because they were full of shame.
Could we surmise that the fruit that Satan tempted them with, the fruit that they ate of was poisonous? They ate a poisonous apple that brought sickness and death to their bodies. Something in them died that day. What was God’s response to this? “Who told you that you were naked!?” He immediately recognized that they were lied to. God didn’t tell them that they were naked; they told Him that they were. It seems they then had a very distorted view of good and evil. God said it was good that they were naked, but after eating the fruit offered, they felt as though it was evil. I don’t believe that they even recognized their nakedness until the shame crept in. Could it be that their nakedness represented their unashamed relationship with God? Could being naked in front of God mean being fully open, fully real, fully free in love, and fully vulnerable to him? Like a little child that has no sense of self awareness, they just do everything so unchecked, so sure of themselves; could God desire this kind of confidence with him? It’s not until we are older that the world makes its way into our minds, polluting us, or when Satan starts to lie to us and we believe him, and that is if you were lucky enough to grow up in a healthy home. Back to the point, David danced naked and completely unashamed in worship to God, and he was called a man after God’s own heart. It seems so much more natural to hide from God, to cover ourselves with leaves, the leaves of good works, false humility, you know, putting on the show, or cleaning the outside of the cup? Could we call that legalism? Do you catch what I’m saying? God doesn’t want us to hide. He longs for us to be open and honest with him, because he can’t change us if we aren’t honest with him and with ourselves. So yes, they were naked, but God intended it to be that way, but Satan tempted them into disobedience and filled them with shame of sin, so they became aware of their nakedness and hid.
So after they became aware of their nakedness he said, “Cursed are you!” Again, sounds like a pretty big reality check. “Adam, Eve, you are cursed!” That is not the same as “I CURSE YOU wicked little wretches!” by the way. God was simply stating to them the reality of the consequences of their actions. When you eat a poisonous apple, or when you drink polluted water, the reality of what happens to you are the consequences of sickness and possible death.
So what is the point that I am trying to make? First off, I don’t believe that God ever intended us to know the difference between good and evil. We are so preoccupied with what’s right and what’s wrong, or what’s good and what’s evil, that we can’t even love one another anymore. I believe that eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil gave us permission to come into agreeance with Satan and his lies, choosing for ourselves what is good for us and what is not, and that was never God’s intention for us. Now we have no choice but to discern between good and evil in order to make good decisions for our lives, to come back into agreeance with God. That is what repentance is; it is acknowledging that we have turned from God in our lives and it is coming back into agreeance with him, saying that we agree with him and believe that his way is the best way for us. Repentance leads to obedience, which leads to a restored, free, naked and unashamed relationship with God.
See, when Satan tempts us, he is offering us fruit that looks good to the eye, but when we believe him, when we buy into his lie, when we eat of his fruit, a piece of us dies, and we are filled with shame, so as a result, we hide from God. We separate ourselves from God, from relationship with him. When we are disobedient to God, we are turning away from the reality and truth of this world that God speaks over us, so then we are coming into agreeance with Satan and what he says is good, eating the poison that he feeds us. Disobedience is believing Satan and what he says is good for us over believing God and what he says is good for us. See, I believe that we can choose to eat the fruit of Jesus, from the tree of life, and gain life, or we can eat the poisonous fruit Satan offers and die inside. Disobedience leads to sin, and sin is settling for something less than what God has to offer us.
Faith was what God desired from his people for restored relationship in the Old Testament. Abraham had faith, and it was credited to him as righteousness, but by the time that Moses led the Israelites out of the desert, they had such a distorted view of reality, God had to give the law to them so that they could know again the difference between good and evil. God’s own people didn’t even know anymore, so the law was written to mirror sin. It was meant to bring life, but since we were never meant to discern good from evil in the first place, it only brought death. It is impossible to earn our way back to God, so mankind desperately needed a savior!
Jesus came to restore our relationship back to God! He came in the very image of God, showing us His true character and nature. He came and was filled with grace and truth, that is, unconditional love for mankind and the truth of this world! He came to set us free from the bondage of sin and to lead us back into fully restored relationship with God through grace and truth! Through His finished work on the cross of Calvary, he opened a door for us to walk through, into the Kingdom of the Living God, covered in His blood, and established in righteousness! Believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior allows us to boldly approach the throne of God, back in right and perfect standing with Him, as sons and daughters! This is the truth of who we are in Jesus, and Paul has called us to live out what we have already obtained in Christ Jesus, our Lord!!
Jesus has come so that we may have life, and have it to the full! (John 10:10) He has come to break us from the bondage of the reality of this world, and has called us as believers into the reality of heaven and His kingdom! He tells us to put our focus into what is unseen, and that is having faith in Him and what He says to be true! The Kingdom of Heaven is here, and it is our call as the body of Christ, as His hands and feet, to walk out His call on our lives! We have to follow Him! And we can’t do any of this without faith. Ask God to build your faith today! He longs to give you the extreme faith it takes to follow His will for your life. If you’re not seeing miracles in your life, you are not exercising faith. He’s there, waiting, longing for you to come to Him today, right now even.
Two more scriptures:
“As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it.” John 12:47
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17
See, Jesus didn’t come to bring judgment on mankind, for He loves us with an inconceivable love! In other words, He has not come to judge the person but to bring justice to the sin! He came to save us from our enemy, from the bondage of sin in this world. I’ll say it again, He has come to bring justice to sin, not to humans. The wages of sin is only death, so believing in Jesus and Jesus alone establishes us in righteousness and into doing the very works of Christ, and even greater things! With Him as our Lord, He leads us out of the death grip of sin and into freedom, and then calls us to do the same! What a privilege! What an honor!! He’s come to deliver us out of the false belief system of this world, into His love, into His truth, so we in turn can turn around and become world changers doing the same for others as He has done for us. When we believe this, when we believe in Him, we are declared as righteous, and sin and death no longer has any reign over us. We are free in Christ! He brings justice to the sin in our lives, casting it out in us and setting us free into eternal life! Hallelujah!!
So my final question is, are you thirsty? If you are looking to any other source to fulfill you outside of Jesus Himself, you will be left empty, wanting more, but never getting enough. If you go after the tempting fruit of Satan, death will enter your body and you’ll be trapped in the bondage of sin in which repentance will be your only way out. Only the work and leading of Jesus in our lives can set us free. Only He gives us living water, the source of life, that will satisfy, fill us, and we will be so overwhelmed by it, it will in turn pour out of us onto others! Thank you Jesus!!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Baptism
I just had the most amazing walk at the beach! Man, God is so good!! Normally I go down to the beach to talk to God about my pain, my hurts, my wounds, etc., but this walk I felt an overwhelming since of peace and lightness, and my prayer reflected it. I was able to focus on practical things, such as money and provision, and well, I’ll just say comparatively very small current things.
I felt God asking me to look at the ocean, and there was a real since of excitement I felt in his voice, like a little kid. In looking at it a felt a reminder coming up, “Look Kellie, see!? Do you remember what happened here just 3 days ago? You were baptized!” It really warmed my heart feeling that it apparently meant a lot to him that I was baptized, because I really never knew how I felt about getting baptized a second time. So I was like, “Yeah God, that was an awesome experience.. such a good day.” And I really did feel warmed at his sweet presence, and I was thankful for that. He wasn’t finished though. He kept going. I felt him pointing at my lightness wanting me to focus on it. Sure enough, revelation hit me in that moment. I haven’t felt heavy inside in three days, and by that I mean I haven’t been struggling with the overwhelming weight of my past.
Okay, so now I’m going to paraphrase what I felt he was telling me:
“Kellie, look out at the ocean. Do you realize what happened out there? Yes, it is symbolic, but it is powerful. You just took part in John’s baptism, that is, the baptism of repentance. I’ve told you this before, ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!’ See how big the ocean is Kellie? That ocean is symbolic of my grace, and your old self has been washed away by my grace. That old you that you struggled with, it is gone. Your past, all the sin of your past, my grace has washed you clean. You don’t feel the weight of your old self anymore because that person is gone and you are a new creation!”
I can’t tell you how powerful that was to me. See, before this, I really did feel the weight of my past. I hate digging it up over, and over, and over again. I hate dwelling in it. I hate feeling like I need years of work, years of inner healing, years of Jesus washing away my sins before I can feel complete and whole again. The work seemed too overwhelming and too tiring. I hate going through every memory feeling like I need to go through it again with the truth of Jesus in order to find healing. I swear that there is a supernatural inner work that takes place in water baptism. It’s like all my sin is totally gone, and that I am a totally new person that doesn’t have to dwell in the past anymore. God has way too much for my future to take all the time to dwell in the past, trying to go back and fix everything that I went through with truth. I’m not saying that he will never take me back from time to time as a reminder of where I‘ve been, but he definitely doesn’t want me to dwell there. I feel light, I feel free! I feel like I’m lacking in nothing! So does that mean that I have been made whole and complete?
Then he asked me to go to the sand where it was still wet from the tide and to start writing in the sand every sin that came to mind. I thought it was odd, especially after everything that he just spoke to me, but I did it anyway. I started writing every sin that came up in my heart that I had formally felt like I still had to deal with and conquer from my past. As I was trying to write all these words in the sand, I noticed that the water underneath the sand made it hard for the words to stick as I was writing them, but finally I stood back and watched a wave completely wash away the rimenence of what was left of the words that I had written. I felt him telling me at that time, “Any time that you have sin in your life from now on, come to me, bring me that sin, and watch it get washed away by my grace, by my unconditional love for you.” I looked up at the ocean with new eyes and saw the ocean as his love and grace for me. The best part is that the waves of his grace never stop coming; they will never stop washing my heart clean. When we are in relationship with him, we get to experience his grace, upon grace, upon grace, upon grace. All we have to do is bring him all the crap that rises out of our hearts, no more digging required. He is so awesome, and his love is huge beyond measure!
I strongly encourage anyone who feels a heaviness from their past, who is carrying around the weight of it on their soldiers, to go get baptized, even if that means that you get baptized again. I believe with all my heart that God wants us to know his heart in baptism, that it isn’t about something we do in order to get into heaven, but it is a symbolic act of understanding his love for us and in understanding the work of the cross. Getting baptized is repentance, and by that I mean a rededication and turning back to Jesus, wanting him to be Lord of your life, and coming back into agreeance with God in knowing that his will in our lives is the only way to abundant life! If you struggle with the guilt of sin or a heavy past of hurt and oppression, let that water of baptism wash it away. I promise you won’t regret it!!
I felt God asking me to look at the ocean, and there was a real since of excitement I felt in his voice, like a little kid. In looking at it a felt a reminder coming up, “Look Kellie, see!? Do you remember what happened here just 3 days ago? You were baptized!” It really warmed my heart feeling that it apparently meant a lot to him that I was baptized, because I really never knew how I felt about getting baptized a second time. So I was like, “Yeah God, that was an awesome experience.. such a good day.” And I really did feel warmed at his sweet presence, and I was thankful for that. He wasn’t finished though. He kept going. I felt him pointing at my lightness wanting me to focus on it. Sure enough, revelation hit me in that moment. I haven’t felt heavy inside in three days, and by that I mean I haven’t been struggling with the overwhelming weight of my past.
Okay, so now I’m going to paraphrase what I felt he was telling me:
“Kellie, look out at the ocean. Do you realize what happened out there? Yes, it is symbolic, but it is powerful. You just took part in John’s baptism, that is, the baptism of repentance. I’ve told you this before, ‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!’ See how big the ocean is Kellie? That ocean is symbolic of my grace, and your old self has been washed away by my grace. That old you that you struggled with, it is gone. Your past, all the sin of your past, my grace has washed you clean. You don’t feel the weight of your old self anymore because that person is gone and you are a new creation!”
I can’t tell you how powerful that was to me. See, before this, I really did feel the weight of my past. I hate digging it up over, and over, and over again. I hate dwelling in it. I hate feeling like I need years of work, years of inner healing, years of Jesus washing away my sins before I can feel complete and whole again. The work seemed too overwhelming and too tiring. I hate going through every memory feeling like I need to go through it again with the truth of Jesus in order to find healing. I swear that there is a supernatural inner work that takes place in water baptism. It’s like all my sin is totally gone, and that I am a totally new person that doesn’t have to dwell in the past anymore. God has way too much for my future to take all the time to dwell in the past, trying to go back and fix everything that I went through with truth. I’m not saying that he will never take me back from time to time as a reminder of where I‘ve been, but he definitely doesn’t want me to dwell there. I feel light, I feel free! I feel like I’m lacking in nothing! So does that mean that I have been made whole and complete?
Then he asked me to go to the sand where it was still wet from the tide and to start writing in the sand every sin that came to mind. I thought it was odd, especially after everything that he just spoke to me, but I did it anyway. I started writing every sin that came up in my heart that I had formally felt like I still had to deal with and conquer from my past. As I was trying to write all these words in the sand, I noticed that the water underneath the sand made it hard for the words to stick as I was writing them, but finally I stood back and watched a wave completely wash away the rimenence of what was left of the words that I had written. I felt him telling me at that time, “Any time that you have sin in your life from now on, come to me, bring me that sin, and watch it get washed away by my grace, by my unconditional love for you.” I looked up at the ocean with new eyes and saw the ocean as his love and grace for me. The best part is that the waves of his grace never stop coming; they will never stop washing my heart clean. When we are in relationship with him, we get to experience his grace, upon grace, upon grace, upon grace. All we have to do is bring him all the crap that rises out of our hearts, no more digging required. He is so awesome, and his love is huge beyond measure!
I strongly encourage anyone who feels a heaviness from their past, who is carrying around the weight of it on their soldiers, to go get baptized, even if that means that you get baptized again. I believe with all my heart that God wants us to know his heart in baptism, that it isn’t about something we do in order to get into heaven, but it is a symbolic act of understanding his love for us and in understanding the work of the cross. Getting baptized is repentance, and by that I mean a rededication and turning back to Jesus, wanting him to be Lord of your life, and coming back into agreeance with God in knowing that his will in our lives is the only way to abundant life! If you struggle with the guilt of sin or a heavy past of hurt and oppression, let that water of baptism wash it away. I promise you won’t regret it!!
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