Divine Encounters

How devine our LORD is.

Last week during RAW, please read my entry on it, a friend and myself ran into this lady Darlene, yes she's on my whyshouldthedevilget...entry, read that too. Actually let me rephrase that, my friend heard the LORD tell us to pray healing on this lady, so we went over to this lady the Holy Spirit led us to. After a convesation, witness, and a plug into community we continued on our way. Later that week, two friends of ours were out in Burnaby at Tim Hortins enjoying some coffee and donuts, and ran into Darlene, unaware of our relationship with her, and bought her some cookies and a drink, and sat and talked with her. That same night she came out to Cariboo Hill Temple, where we plugged Darlene into less then a week before. To Marks surprise (one of the ones who met her in timmy Ho's) she was there and told me their encounter with her in the morning, I told him our encounter with her the previous week. Darlene and myself then went back to the Downtown Eastside where we continued relationship. She informed me she was planning on heading back to Toronto today. Thinking I would never see her again, I continued on my day. Tonight, the LORD had Mark, Brittany (the one I was with the first time we met Darlene) and myself together. We were driving from Coquitlem (40 mins from Vancouver) and I began to share some encouraging things Darlene spoke to me about Brittany with Brittany, when out of God's devinity WE PASS HER ON THE HIGHWAY! Do you get this, the three of us, who have been blessed by Darlene, were talking about Darlene, as we pass Darlene outside of our own cities! If was beautiful. We continue on our way. Just Kidding, of course we pulled over and went to see her. She was doing allright I guess, for someone trying to get to Toronto at 9pm on a windy cold night. We stayed a while and talked with her, helped her out with some cash, and prayed with her.

So Lord Jesus, we ask that you continue providing Darlene with love. God, place your followers in her path on her journey to Toronto. Protect her and keep her safe and please keep her warm. We pray healing into Darlene, into her back and her eyes. And LORD, please rain down your grace and mercy. Thank You for Darlene Father!

whyshouldthedevilget...

Why should the Devil get all the good songs? A quote popularized by none other then William Booth, who back in the day would be hanging out in a bar and be hearing all these great tunes, yet the words were unglorifying to God, so being the wise man he was, thought why should the Devil get all the good songs, and changed the lyrics to popular song tunes.

Yet I would like to propose some new questions.
The following names have been changed.

Why should the Devil get 'Lynn'. She has so much potential. A beautiful person inside and out. A beautiful intersessor, with the Fathers heart. A person rising up and overcoming wickedness in her life. A person trapped in bondage, longing to be free. Why should the Devil get 'Lynn'?

Why should the Devil get 'Sandy'. She has so much potential. A person with a hunger for the Holy Spirit. A person with the thirst for justice. A person with no community, other then that of the world. A person who is geographically distant. A person who longs for the truth but gets trapped in lies. Why should the Devil get 'Sandy'?

Why should the Devil get 'Darlene'. An elderly widow who is suffering, who is weary, who is alone. Why should the Devil get 'Darlene'?

Why should the Devil get 'Renee'. A young lady who once served the LORD in humility. A young lady who once feared the LORD. A young lady who is now finding love in the wrong places, who is now living life from party to party. Why should the Devil get 'Renee'?

Why should the Devil get 'Joe'. A helpless orphan who through no fault of his own is confused, hurt, suffering, dying. Why should the Devil get 'Joe'?

This list could go on. Im sick and tired of seeing the Devil hand pick his victoms. Im sick and tired of seeing the Devil take my friends out.

Diakonia

There are different kinds of service, but we have the same LORD-1Corinthians 12:5

Before reading this tonight, I have always thought why do some people say "Spiritual Gifts are those that are described in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and Ephesians 4" Yet others 'add' extras, "You have the gift of music", "Your gifting is definetly tech stuff" etc. If you have the same question as I did, friends, you have an answer.

Diakonia is the greek word for service. 1 Corinthians 12:5 says there are different kinds of serivce. The greek definition of diakonia is ministry (heres where your deliverance, technology, music/worship, intersession etc 'gifts' come in), distrabution, helps, mission, preparations for the upcoming, performing (worship leading, preaching etc), tasks, works, office and relief.

Volnerability

Did I spell that right? Volnerability? Anywho, something quick Yahweh just showed me....

Our lack of volnerability to others makes us more volnerable to enemy attacks.

Volnerability, transparency, openness, 3 of my least favorite words. I know the importance of them, and the strategic methods of attack, yet I struggle with it. Why? Why dont I rise up and overcome? Why?

RAW

R.A.W~ Ready And Willing, a four day boot camp intended to train youth for mission. And what a great 4 day boot camp it was! It was so exciting, exhilerating, excellant and encouraging (sorry I was running with 'e' words). Where should I begin...how about salvation! A few delagetes that came out to this event got saved...HALLELUJAH. And a guy from the 614 community got saved aswell~HALLELUJAH!

The week began with the Wildings and my friend DJ Chris Michel, leading us into some worship, which was a step outside some attendents comfort zones, which was an excelent way to start it off! There was great, solid teaching, which the youth absorbed like sponges. There was great conviction, Godly sorrow and true repentance in some youth, which was awesome.

Another great thing was seeing kids as young as 14 getting mobalized into mission. There were some optional missions, but to the youth, they werent optional! The passion in these kids hearts was great, their compassion drove them to opt for the optional! It was beautiful. Even though it was a short time, I saw so much change. On more then one occation I would see someone come, shy, timid, unsure if they should be here and by the end of the week they were bold and knew exactly why they came.

When I was 14 I spent my spring break at a similar venue. Boot Camp. It was a mission based traing ground for youth...and man did it ever change me! I can honestly say if it wasnt for that week, I would not be at the place I am at now. Thats probally why i found this week at RAW so great, because i know how much it sows into peoples lives. Im still so pumped from it!

Gentle Harshness

I have never fully understood how gentle our God is, untill this morning. Sure I knew He was gentle, but the fullness of that came to me today. YHWH revealed something to me this morning, something harsh, something that I needed to work on, needed to change, yet He showed me this with such gentleness. If the same word was given to somebody who delivered it to me and I didn't hear it directly from the LORD, I may have reacted with bitterness or being hurt (which isnt the best reaction Im sure) but coming from the gentle spirit of God this harsh word didnt hurt, rather it motivated me to change.

How many hours of sleep do you get?

I was reading an article today...yes I was reading, actually I wasnt, my friend from Re:Cre8, (a coffee bar/drop in we run) was reading this article and sharred with me...and I found a very interesting fact out....

How many hours of sleep do you get a day, I mean night. I do realise I could have deleted the word day and replased it with night, but then you my friend would not be reading this extra sentance, and man that would be a shame. Anyways, according to TIME magasine those who sleep more then 7.5 hours a night die, thats right, die, sooner then those who dont. Im not kidding, those where the exact words....they will die sooner. Your health is in jeopardy if you exceed 7.5 hours. How many hours sleep do you get a night?

Im sick

As the title suggests...I am sick.
I have the flu! Yuck...but not the throwing up kind, Praise the LORD, but the aches and pains and fever and junk...last night my fever was 102! I have been sick for just over 4 days...so it should be dying off soon.

However, in being sick I have come to realise to a fullness of how compassionate and loving are my friends from the downtown eastside. I was in the heath contact center last night, a local drop in for people on the downtown eastside with a nurse, to see if there was anything they had to releive me of my pain. Well, it was like this you see, I arrived just as the nurse went on her break, therefore i had to wait 30 more mins in agony, but to my releif 4 of my friends were there, Shara, Garry, Pregnant Tracey and Tyler. Both Shara and Tracey went out of their way to make sure I was comfortable and hydrated. Aswell as asking other staff when the nurse would be available...allthough I was fine waiting, afterall i respect the union rules of breaks, but the mere fact they were conserned enought about my health to repeatedly ask was so comforting. Then today I saw Tracey again and she yelled across the street and then came over to make sure I was doing okay. Thank you LORD for friends who care.

Isaiah 53:5 "Surely He was whipped and beaten so we would be healed" LORD give us more faith!