THE HARVEST

OMG! So the other day I re-read the Awakening post and I felt like re-posting the section below about the harvest but I didn't since I'm behind on blogging and "waiting for the right time" then today I went to IV Church and they had a team from YWAM speak. And they blasted us with hope and truth, prophetic words over this city and nation. Tons of confirmation for the stuff God's been giving me to share (some stuff is still in my drafts). Yeah it's been hard to keep up with sharing since I'm on a journey to the past but at the same time God keeps giving me stuff for the now and the future. So I've decided to just follow the Spirit and share things as He leads me instead of trying to fit my order. K, so why did I re-post this? Because the harvest is coming this year!!! Let's get ready!!! :D God gave me this song last fall,-> New thing <- "Behold I'm doing a New thing in the desert! Behold I'm doing a New thing! It's time to remember who you are." I felt like He was singing it over me as encouragement and also a wake up call for me and the rest of the church. I got into the desert when I was yearning for more. Pursing intimacy with God (first & foremost) and deeper relationships with those around me. Love-sickness brought me here so God told me all I need to do is remember how He loves me and that His Love is all I need then go share that love with those around me. That's the new thing He's doing, He is mobilizing His body. It's time we remember who we are coz the harvest is plentiful and we are the workers so let's Wake Up! :) (I have some exciting stuff to share to prepare us for this season of increase so stay tuned or talk to me. Church at SB it's time for unity in the desert :)

Updates (3/8/12): The Harvest & The Lost Sheep

THE HARVEST

So a couple of weeks ago I randomly decided to take a stroll around my apartment (Santa Ynez) with my camera. I walked around aimlessly and took pictures of any pretty thing that caught my eye. I then came to this spot and stopped. I was excited at what I saw and took many pictures (see below). I think that random walk was Spirit-led because when I stopped there this verse came into my head:

Matthew 9:37-38

"Then he (Jesus) said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Then I kept walking towards FT while taking pictures.

Then on my walk back the pictures below reminded me of Paul's vision. He had a vision that one day he was walking on campus then he got to share the gospel with this one guy who then got saved on the spot. He was so excited and on fire that he went back to his dorm and told his friends what happened to him. Then people on his floor got saved and salvation spread like a wildfire in FT. Funny thing, this week is outreach week and Paul's going to be on campus talking to people every day for an hour. And I think his vision is going to unfold! I don't see why not! Well timing doesn't matter, it's gonna happen in God's time :) This vision goes with the song that I posted above ("The Great Awakening" by Leeland) and the pictures below.

So let's pray! Pray for FT for chains to be broken and eyes to be open. Pray for yourself and the rest of the workers who'll be sharing the gospel on campus and with their friends. Let's lift up our eyes to God for Him to prepare our hearts so that we may be intimate with Him and feel His heart beat for this city. That our hearts may break for what His breaks for and for us to be His hands and feet. Revival starts with us, His people ( *2 Chronicles 7:14). Great tips to keep in mind when sharing the gospel: 1 Peter 3:15-16.

~~~The Lost Sheep~~~

Matthew 9: 35- 36

"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."

I learnt a lot from my time away from Common Ground this quarter. The first time that I just stayed at my apartment instead of going to Common Ground (you can read why in the "Remember" post) I noticed something. I noticed my roommate. I noticed how she was usually home by herself when the rest of the house went about InterVarsity events. Yes she knew where we were going and we would invite her sometimes and she would decline. Why? I now know why.

So after I didn't go to Common Ground the next few weeks (for different reasons) I got to experience what it feels to be a "lost sheep." I would get "I miss you!" or "I hope to see you soon" from a few people or "So you're doing you're own thing now" from others. Being the lost sheep and on the receiving end of these seemingly harmless comments, I received them differently. This is how the lost sheep receive our "thoughtful comments" :

Us: "I haven't seen you at Common Ground! I miss you! Hope to see you! "

Lost Sheep: Really? Then do something about it! I'm not quarantined in some island. You can actually come see me if you want to. There's nothing stopping you...oh wait... I guess there is.

Lesson: We usually tell the lost sheep stuff like "I miss you" and then the solution we have in mind is: "I miss you so come to Common ground so that I can stop missing you. Come to me." That's where our approach is messed up. We are confining our fellowship & outreach within a structure. I'm not against inviting people to come with us, to "come and see" but there's another aspect we may be neglecting when dealing with lost sheep which is displacing ourselves.

I learnt about that through my Underserved Medicine class this quarter.

Street Medicine 101: "You can force the patient to fit into a rigid model (patient has to go to hospital to receive care) or you can change the system to accommodate them (you go to them). Street Medicine acknowledges that there are many barriers to access healthcare ( such as poverty, war, geography and trust issues- some people don't trust government organizations). So Street Medicine acts as a bridge across these barriers in that the care-givers meet people in their own reality. They meet people where they are at.

-> When they said this in class I felt like raising my hand and asking "Uhm are you sure you're not a Christian org? And do you know Jesus? coz that's pretty much what He came to do on earth. That's the gospel right there." Lol.

So yeah my experience as a lost sheep really convicted me how many of us haven't been displacing ourselves much-from what I've heard. Well I can speak for myself. I've realized how I've lost contact with most of my non- Christian friends. Yeah I did a GIG with some and some of them checked out InterVarsity for a while then stopped coming and that was that. But being a lost sheep I realized how they must have felt. They felt like I didn't really care about them as people and was just treating them as a "Come to Common Ground" project but I won't come to you. This is easy to do when evangelizing but what we don't realize is that sharing the gospel is not just through speech, it is"in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity"(1 Timothy 4:12). Yes the Word of God is really powerful by itself but let us not limit our sharing of the gospel just to speech. In friendships this can be distrastrous in my point of view ( just trying to get them to come to us while not displacing ourselves to maintain the friendship) because I've seen that I've lost friends and therefore they have lost the chance to see the gospel shared through my life as well as my love. I was led to read Ezekiel 34, you should read it too. God's is pretty serious about His lost sheep. So let's take warning and heed his call to feed His sheep. "do you love me?...feed my sheep"- Jesus to Peter (John 21: 15). You may be like "Hey! I'm not a shepherd, that's not my spiritual gift (pastor) so those scripture don't apply to me." Well with the revival God is preparing all of us to lead people (be shepherds) so yeah it does apply to you. There are people in your life that look at you and see that you have something they are missing and God is going to use you to reach out to them :)

This is a call to open your eyes. The structure we have may be good but let's not be confined by it. Yes let's have community but let us also displace ourselves to reach out to the lost sheep.This is a call to walk by the Spirit not to strive to do anything out of our own strength. As Christians we tend to complicate things when all God wants us to do is "Just Be"-> read more about that in my post. K, blessings and my love :) Let's pray and walk by the Spirit :)

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So yeah, church, God is just bringing us back to the first commandment: To Love Him with our all and to Love our neighbors as ourselves. That's what this whole desert season is about, getting things straight. Remembering it's all about LOVE. He has really convicted me in the past and coming into this quarter how I haven't been sharing His love with those around me due to my fears and insecurities and how selfish that is. He is calling us to Rise Up and Love!  He wants to bring us freedom so that we can freely give what we have freely received. So let's do this! Let's LOVE =)