Happy Easter!
So here we are.. some about to end finals, some who are just beginning and others who are just getting through one final at a time. It’s weird to think that winter quarter is coming to an end and spring quarter is right around the corner! I’m 2/3 of the way from completing my freshmen year of college, weird. After prayer week ended, I was kinda sad that we weren’t going to have the prayer tent anymore or have all nighters w/ fellow IV’ers and taking shifts in the prayer room. The week was a lot of fun and full of plenty of blessings. Though as much enjoyment that I received from the week, my lack of sleep has come to kick me in the butt and I’m coughing up my left and right lung as we speak! Ironic how my body chooses to get sick right in the midst of finals. Anyway, I guess what I really wanted to share was that I feel that God’s presence is still surrounding me just as much as he was during prayer week. Ever since the week ended, whenever something comes up, my first thought is, lets pray about it. For example, yesterday as I sat in 1101, doing my last minute review for my math final, and stressing. I ran into two other wonderful IV’ers, and one so graciously suggested that we just take some time to just pray about finals week all together. So we sat there lifting up our prayers to God, and afterwards I could feel my mind and heart relaxing. I feel that having that prayer time really helped calm my nerves and being able to pray with friends is nice as well. Then today me, steph, justin, and Tim got together to study for our finals, and before we got started I was really wanting to pray as a group. So before we all started studying we just prayed together and what better way to start studying than spending some time with God right? I feel that as I continue to pray more and more, it becomes less of an obligation in my life and every time I pray, I am reminded of what God is capable of and how much I can depend on him. As I head into this week, I think about how stressed I could be, but I’m not. God has blessed me with many IV ppl who are always around to keep me calm and give me a laugh or two when I need it.
I just really felt the need to share I guess. Main thing that I’ve really been reminded about the past few days is that out of all these tests, essays, and projects and how we value them to such a high standard, God is so much bigger than all of it.
Good Luck to all on Finals!
- SL
I feel like I am in the same boat as the post before me. After a week of prayer I still feel uneasy. I too am waiting for something extra spectacular. Yes many people have passions after prayer but the questions is what next. It becomes very discouraging when people talk about passions but does nothing. My interpretation of passion is that it is a gift from the spirit. We shouldnt be burying that gift just as we shouldnt burying our talents. I hope people continue to strive for the goal and run hard to glorify our Father. He pushes us to make us stronger. Let our suffering be testimony to how much he actually knows we can handle. It is empowering to look at the larger scheme.
As for my own life I feel this school year has been tough in general. As I prepare to also apply for a major this quarter, it has been tough. Now in the times of finals it become even more stressful as not only school becomes magnified. As I look back on how hard the quarter I see how much of a burden I have been carrying. Not allowing God to take away some of it because I fail to let go. Broken relationships constantly come to my heart as it causes me to stop for moments at a time. The image of the hand gripping on too hard to something starts to bleed. All I can do is wait patiently for what His plan is. We constantly limit God’s power and the plan He has for us. As I wait for the healing to come.
This song brought tears to my eyes as I look upon God’s immense Love for us. What He does to love us. AS WE WAIT know God is bigger.
Well I’ve heard it said, that a man would climb a mountain
Just to be with the one he loves
How many times has he broken that promise
It has never been done.
Well, I never climbed the highest mountain
But I walked the hill of calvary
Chorus:
And just to be with you, I would do anything
There’s no price I would not pay, no.
And just to be with you, I would give everything
And I would give my life away, yeah__.
And I’ve heard it said that a man would swim the oceans
Just to be with the one he loves.
But all of those dreams, are an empty emotion.
It can never be done.
Well, I never swam the deepest ocean
But I walked upon the raging sea.
Chorus:
And just to be with you, I would do anything
There’s no price I would not pay, no.
And just to be with you, I would give everything
And I would give my life away. Yeah___.
(Bridge)
And I know that you don’t understand
the fullness of My love
How I died upon the cross for your sin.
And I know that you don’t realize
how much that I give you
And I promise, well I would do it all again.
Chorus:
And just to be with you, I’ve done everything
There’s no price I did not pay, no.
And just to be with you, I gave everything
Yes, I gave My life away, yeah___.
I gave My life away, yeah
And just to be with you.
Oh, just to be with you.
Oh, just to be with you.
Oh, just to be with you.
Third Day “Love Song”
Initially going into this week of prayer that we’ve had, I saw a lot of people really pumped up about the amazing things that God was going to do in us and through us this week, but I was a little apprehensive about it. Maybe because it’s been a really long time since I’ve actually seen God do something ABSOLUTELY amazing in my life or someone else’s, or a general pessimism that I normally have. Looking back on this week now, I know it was a good experience; the time I spent in prayer was really nice, and gave me some time to recuperate with God, and be with him in a way that I never do too often. But I still have yet to see God do something relatively amazing happen around me.
I’ve pretty much had a really bad quarter, I feel really crappy and useless in the things that I need to do, falling short on responsibilities, with no way to get out of this pit I’ve fallen into. I think I’ve just gotten worse at the things I’m usually good at, have little time (if any at all) for the things that I would like to do to rejuvenate me, I’m worried about how everything is going to be resolved in the future, whether I will get into my major, and it’s really been frustrating these past few months. In addition to this, I’m perpetually sick and generally weird feeling, with other random things that make absolutely no sense medically, so body is just feeling like blehch. I’m looking to God, and wondering ‘why is all this happening to me? why do I keep failing? why isn’t something wonderful coming around now?’
I find myself thinking and looking through the story of Job, and the calamities that God allowed to befall him. Everything he had was taken from him, his livestock, his family, even the comfort of having a body not constantly plagued with itching. Job questions why all this has happened to him, and his three supposedly ‘wise, older’ friends who are with him spend most of the time trying to figure which sin God is punishing him for, which proves fruitless. In the end, a young man named Elihu and God pretty much question the questioner, asking why Job is challenging the will of God, who created the heavens and the Earth, and hold dominion over many other things described (I still think the dragon that God describes at the end is just plain cool); God’s intentions and plans are deeper and more mysterious than any person could ever imagine.
I trust that God still has a good plan for me, but I am at a loss to see where any of it is, and the frustrations in my life right now are only compounding to the clouding of anything God would have me see. Pray that I find peace and rest with God in this issue, that maybe God would reveal his plan for me, because I’m just plain lost.
I just finished my prayer time, and, well, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting. Actually it sort of started before my prayer time even began. A day or two ago when I started having some…. I want to call them doubts about whether or not I should be praying. To make a long, overcomplicated thought process short, I was worrying if my being spiritually distant from God would affect my prayer time. Somehow, by a not so random chance, I stumbled upon a band I had never heard of before: Building 429. (How I had never heard of them, don’t ask me, but they’re amazing and you guys should all check ‘em out) I found a song of theirs called Grace that is Greater, and I guess you could say that song sort of started my prayer journey this week.
Search me O God
And know my every thought
Discern my every way
And speak into my soul
Point out to me my wrongs
Convict me until
I follow down the path
That leads me to your will
Because my heart
Sometimes can wander
And my faith
at times can stray
But I know
That when I fix my eyes on You
That I will always remain
Safe in the shadows of Your
Grace, grace
God’s grace
Grace that will pardon
And cleanse within
Grace, grace
God’s grace
Grace that is greater
Than all my sin
I praise You because
I am fearfully made
You formed my frame
In a secret place
All of my days
Ordained before I breathed
Written in Your book
Before I came to be
Because Your love
I stand and wonder
You know I come to Thee
And knowing that
When I fix my eyes on You
That I will always remain
Safe in the shadow of Your
Grace, grace
God’s grace
Grace that will pardon
And cleanse within
Grace, grace
God’s grace
Grace that is greater
Than all my sin
God’s grace
Grace that will pardon
And cleanse within
Grace, grace
God’s grace
Grace that is greater
Than all my sin
Grace that will pardon
And cleanse within
Grace, grace
God’s grace
Grace that is greater
Than all my sin
Grace that is greater
Than all my sin
Is greater than all my sin
Is greater than all my sin
Is greater than all my sin
After I listened to this (me being the music freak I am…) I got all super pumped up and was like “oh, I know, I’ll play guitar for my prayer time!”, so during the time between my discovery and my prayer slot I was getting more music, writing lead sheets for them, and planning to play them this morning. Well, this morning I woke up, and went to the lounge with my guitar, my ipod and my lead sheets, and for the first 20 minutes I tried to play a bit of worship. For whatever reason I just wasn’t feeling it, so I decided to stop and listen to a bit of music. So there I was sitting on the edge by the window, listening to my ipod and the song Above it All came on my ipod. (p.s. I have a strong belief that God likes to use the shuffle on my ipod…) The song goes like this:
Oh I’m waiting for the answer to the question in my soul
Lord why did You lead me here?
Because I, I take a look around and a desperate world surrounds me
And I know I’m not of this place, but it’s here and in my face
And all that I am wants to run
Well God I feel helpless and undone
Lift me up above it all
I’m feeling broken and alone
Don’t let me turn to stone
Lift my heart above it all
Because I’ve lost my hope tonight
And I’m praying for the strength to carry on
Lord will You lift me up above it all
Above it all
Now I’m waiting for a glimpse of hope in an eye
But a flash of sunlight shows a faded gray
Beause these streets are hard and cold
And the alleys burn like coal with a stench of helplessness
And all the life that’s been misspent
And all that I am wants to run
God I feel helpless and undone
Lift me up above it all
I’m feeling broken and alone
Don’t let me turn to stone
Lift my heart above it all
Because I’ve lost my hope tonight
And I’m praying for the strength to carry on
Lord will You lift me up above it all
Well above it all
*Bridge*
Maybe I’m not supposed to fly
Cause Maybe You want me here tonight
To lift them up above it all
When they’re broken and alone
Don’t let me turn to stone
Lift them up above it all
Because they cannot stand alone
And they’re praying for the strength to carry on
Lift us up above it all
When we’re broken and alone
Don’t let us turn to stone
Lift us up above it all
Because we cannot stand alone
And we’re praying for the strength to carry on
Lord will You lift us up above it all
Pretty much, I was sitting in/on the window listening to this song, watching the people start to walk to class, thinking about IV’s battle on campus for the kingdom of God, the prayer week, finals coming, and all the tough, tiring times and what-not that everyone goes through. This song pretty much led me to praying about a lot of things. Anyways, I’m sort of running out of time because I have to get to class, but I just thought I’d give an update on my God inspired musically led prayer time. God bless!
“In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame. Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness; turn your ear to me and save me. Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men. For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you. I have become like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. Do not cast me away when I am old; do not forsake me when my strength is gone….
…Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again. I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. My lips will shout for you when I sing praise to you – I, whom you have redeemed. My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long, for those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion. “
Thank you wonderful and mighty God for being a loving God that forgives. Thank you for the gift of your precious Son. Bless this time in prayer. Open my heart to you. Reveal yourself to me. Amen. ~Jen R
Oh Jesus, Abba Father and Prince of ALL peace,
I am weary. Reading through many of the blog posts this morning has made me realize that I am not alone in that. And although lack of sleep is probably a big factor in my weariness, in our weariness, I believe that it is deeper than that. God, our weariness is physical, but it is also spiritual. We have “done” so much this quarter. We have run so hard and for so long. And I confess that I (and perhaps more of us) have tried to do it largely on my own. I have tried to balance everything in my life and fit it all into what little time I have. Jesus, why doesn’t it balance?! Why do I find myself constantly sighing and thinking that there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish or acheive everything that must be accomplished?
Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
My Lord and my God, I am weary because I do not seek you. We are weary when we do not surrender to you. When we try to accomplish everything by our own strength, we fail. “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall.” God, how true that is! Teach me to surrender to you, to run desperately back to you, to find hope in you. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. That is the cry of my weary heart, because only you are capable of those things.
I am ever reminded of the passage in Ezekiel 36: 24-28 when you declare that you will cleanse us, you will give us new hearts of flesh in place of our hearts of cold and lifeless stone, you will give us your Spirit and the will and the strength to obey. We can’t do any of that ourselves. We can’t “acheive” any of that beautiful work which God orchestrates in us. How wonderful you are Lord that you do not leave us to do it all ourselves! Although we may be weary and weak, you are stronger than we can ever imagine or believe.
Oh My God (by E-Pop)
Oh my God
I’m quiet now
A humble heart
In awe of how
You’ve gifted me
A brand new sense of sight
You saturate
What once was black and white
Oh my God
I am undone
I’ve seen the King
Our God
Oh my God
How can I stand?
By your grace
I comprehend
That you’re the King
That you’re the Great I AM
My shoulders fall
My shaking knees will bend
Oh my God
I am undone
I’ve seen the King
Our God
Amen
~Bess
Hi family:
Soul Food and I had the slots from 7:30 to 10:30 pm tonight. We set up our own little prayer room in the Ethnic Cultural Center.
We prayed for a lot of family members…sister, brother, mother, father…It’s really encouraging to know that God cares about them.
I prayed the last hour in front of the computer and, I don’t know about anyone else…but it’s really hard to pray on the computer. The buzz-buzz-buzzing of the computer does not put me at peace.
Two worship songs stuck out to me as I prayed…
1) “Yes” by Shekinah Glory
2) “We Fall Down” by Donnie McClurkin
Here are the lyrics:
YES
Will your heart and soul say yes
will your Spirit still say yes
There is more that I require of thee
will your heart and soul say yes
Now will your heart and soul say yes
Will your Spirit still say yes
If I told you what I really need
will your heart and soul say yes
WE FALL DOWN
We fall down
But we get up
We fall down
But we get up
We fall down
But we get up
For a saint is just a sinner who fell down
and got up
I don’t feel like I had any profound experiences in prayer, though it was enjoyable to be in God’s presence. And I mostly pray that we say ‘yes’ to whatever God clarifies for us as a community and also have the courage to stay the course together.
I am so proud of everyone who has been a part of this prayer movement!
:: yasmin ::
Last night I had a dream and I felt that God was definitely revealing something to me. It was my wedding day and I was very unprepared; it was almost like the day had caught me completely off guard. I remember wondering why my friends were not around. I felt upset because I didn’t want to look back on this day and remember what a mess it was.
When I woke up, I remembered a passage in Luke that relates to this.
“Keep you shirts on; keep the lights on! Be like house servants waiting for their master to come back from his honeymoon, awake and ready to open the door when he arrives and knocks. Lucky the servants whom the master finds on watch! He’ll put on an apron, sit them at the table, and serve them a meal, sharing his wedding feast with them. It doesn’t matter what time of the night he arrives, they’re awake – and so blessed. You know that if the house owner had known what night the burgler was coming, he wouldn’t have stayed out late and left the door unlocked. So don’t you be slovenly and careless. Just when you don’t expect him, The Son of Man will show up.”
Luke 12:35-50 ish
I pray for guidance and persistance in my life. I want to be prepared and ready when He comes. I don’t want to be preoccupied with getting so I can respond to God’s giving. I pray that my life will be pleasing to the Lord and that I will be able to give back. I want to see my friends in heaven. I pray that I will be an example to them of what it is like to follow Jesus. I pray that people around me will see how important God is in my life. I pray that God will lead me to anybody that is struggling with finding meaning in their life. I pray that God’s will for this campus will be done. I pray this for everybody; that we will all be servants that are READY, willing, and able. AMEN!
-kelsie
So, I have to say that it was really super distracting being in the tent this morning. Between it flapping around and constantly having to move it and tie it back down and keep stuff from falling over it was pretty hard to focus on anything else. But as we were packing it up this morning, it came to me. The wind was a complete blessing! When we took the tent down the night before it was raining all afternoon and the tent was wet and smelling a little funky. All the wind this morning dried it out darn quick. I think even though it was a pain in the butt, God gave us exactly what we needed, and now come tomorrow we will have a dry and funk-free tent to use (weather pending, haha).
-TJ
