Ive been struggling with blogging the last few days, Ive wanted to put something up but have had no idea... Ive got a few ideas but dont know if i should put them up yet or not...
heres something briefly though...
Been reading the Bible and Samuel Brengles books on holiness! I am so sure that we can be cleansed from our sinful nature! That our heart can be made like Gods and we can be filled with love! And so everything we do comes out of a loving heart! This teaching resonates in my heart! Im praying this for myself, but I do know I have had times in my life when I have had this experience!
We had commissioning on the weekend... Photos coming soon... hahaha
Someone said i was too charismatic the other day referring to 'spiritual stuff...' How can we be too spiritual if it is of God? I believe our relationship with God comes first (Jesus said it too!) and out of that, being filled with love, we will do Gods work...
A song thats on my mind today SASB 335
1.I want to tell what God has doneThrough Christ. his well-beloved Son,How my poor heart he sought and won;Can you wonder that I want to tell it?I want to tell what God can doFor sinners lost like me and you,Of sins washed white and garments new;Can you wonder that I want to tell it?
ChorusI want to tell you what the Lord has done,What the Lord has done for me;He lifted me from the miry clay;O what a happy day!I want to tell you what the Lord can do,What the Lord can do for you:He can take your life as he did mine,And make it anew.
2.I want to tell of saving grace,Of God's strong arm, his warm embrace,Of blood that can all sins erase;Can you wonder that I want to tell it?I want to tell to sinners lostThat Christ has paid sin's fearful cost,And saves unto the uttermost;Can you wonder that I want to tell it?
3.What God has done, he still can do;His power can fashion lives anew,And all who trust him find him true;Can you wonder that I want to tell it?I want to tell of that glad dayFor which we watch, for which we pray,It must be near, not far away;Can you wonder that I want to tell it?
read so many great bible passages, heres one though
My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. (1 corinth 2:4-5)
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Sarah got sworn in on Sunday night! Shes been looking forward to wearing her uniform for ages, and so finally she got to wear it outside her bedroom!lol and she looked great!


Sunday, November 19, 2006
Gods been challenging me on how much of my life is devoted to him.
Since I have been with Sarah Ive been challenged with alot of things. The biggest thing I have been challenged about is living for God, living a loving life for other people. Sarah does this great and it use to bug me. I couldnt understand why she did what she did.
My brother often asks for a lift somewhere. Most of my life my answer has been "Yeah right, ask mum or dad, I dont care..." Or something along those lines. When I see Sarah though, she does rediculos trips all over the place that defies any sensible logic, and simply does.
Challenge 1: If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.1 Timothy 5:8
Last year, I smashed my car and got a bit of insurance money back but not enough for another car so the moneys been sitting in my bank account. Every now and then someone will need a bit of money, sometimes lots sometimes next to nothing. In my head I think that I should save all of this for my next car but Gods been challenging me.
Challenge 2: If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need and has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:17-18
Freely you have recieved, freely give. Matthew 10:8a
And a quote "You cant outgive God!"
I have been totally challenged by this and by Gods grace I am getting better! What areas of your life are you not like Jesus? What areas in your life are not filled with the love of God?
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35
ALSO, SARAHS GETTING SWORN IN AS A SOLDIER TODAY! PICTURES ETC COMING SOON!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The Return of Christ
Came across this in my study for my exam…
What will Jesus do when He returns?
Take us to be with Him: John 14:3, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Transform us to be like Him: Philippians 3:20, 21, 1 John 3:2
Reveal believers: Colossians 3:4, Romans 8:18-25
Raise those who have died: 1 Thessalonians 4:16, John 5:25-29
Reward those who long for His appearing: 2 Timothy 4:8
Reward faithful ministers: 1 Peter 5:4
Be united with bride, the church: Ephesians 5:27, Revelation 21:1-4
Judge everyone: Matthew 25:31-32, 16:27, Revelation 20:11-12
Condemn the ungodly: Jude 14-15, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9
Slay the forces of evil: 2 Thessalonians 2:8, Revelation 19:11-21, 20:7-15
Reign in glory: Matthew 25:31, Revelation 11:15
Bring a new Heaven and new Earth: 2 Peter 3:12-13, Revelation 21:1-4
There was a few in there that surprised me the first time I read these, what about you? Are you ready for His return?
Sunday, November 12, 2006
the below post is a bit long so heres a shortend update. Read the other one though, God did some great stuff last night!
- great prayer meeting
- took gospel to streets
- one guy nearly got converted after a vision from God... (probably is now though! Hallelujah!)
- helped a man who was drunk and had been bashed
- wondered around city led by Holy Spirit (divine appointments etc!)
- great chat with a couple about spiriuality
Had another one of our prayer meetings last night! We prayed for two hours, praying for people to be filled with the Spirit and praying for the people we were going to come into contact with. We had a good number of people and Im sure next time will be even bigger and better! One highlight, was sarah having a vision of angels speaking to someone, then confirmed when that person told us what they had been saying!!!
We then took it to the streets of Melbourne! Me and Shaw approached a couple of guys and got talking. It turns out they were Hindus from Nepal. We asked them if we could pray for them and ask God to say something to us to say to them. We prayed and I got a vision of a river which resonated but then i asked if they use to swing of a rope from the tree....I bombed out, they said NO!lol anyway, i prayed for Shaw and God gave him a vision of a window in this guys house! It was so cool!
The guy then asked why do you say these things to me, to which i replied with the gospel and my testimony! I spoke to him about having Jesus in your heart and the difference Christ can make. I sensed a stirring in his heart and i told him i knew God was making him feel uneasy in his heart which he agreed with. His tram then came and his friend was urging him to go catch it, so walking to the tram I told him "If you want to know God, say 'God if you are real make yourself real to me and come into my heart" He agreed and caught his tram.
I have never seen someone so close to salvation but not quite there...
I am soo certain that he has found Jesus now though. Everytime he sees that window in his house he will wonder about Christ. And I am certain that God was convicting him all night! God be with these two young men and bring salvation to their house! Pray!
Anyway, we helped a drunk again! Which was great, lots of laughs as this guy had been bashed and his toupe had fallen off in the fight so we had to find him a hat!lol He didnt want us to preach to him but it was a funny time of sharing and he knew exactly what we were on about!
We then were led by the Spirit to all parts of the city and each point God confirmed we were meant to be where we were. Some of the guys even met up with people connected to their church in Werribee!(nowhere near the city!)
Nearly got back to the car when we approached a young couple. simon spoke to the girl while i spoke to matt. They were so open to talking to us about spirituality. Simon got to preach the gospel to the girl while i had a great chat to matt about Jesus being the only way compared to his post modern view that we all have our own 'niche' as he called it... It was great to be able to preach the gospel in a loving and understanding way. Matt is into meditating, emptying himself and focusing on 'weak' spots so we suggested he tried to focus on Jesus instead and see what happend! We prayed and we're sure that when he does this he will find Jesus!
Anyway, Im pumped. Im completely certain that people can be converted and find God in a matter of moments. The gospel is sooo POWERFUL! Cant wait to go out again and spread the good news of Jesus Christ! Next prayr meeting in 2 weeks...
Friday, November 10, 2006
A passage I keep hearing lately that has been speaking to me:
Thursday, November 09, 2006
ive been to 2 salvationist funerals in 2 weeks.
i havent been actively involved in a corps for a couple of months now.
im getting itchy feet! I see the impact these salvationists have had and i desperately want to get back into the thick of it. I want to go harder and more full on than i have ever done before. I want to get involved somewhere. I feel like im playing the waiting game with God... Where is He leading me?
on the plus side all my options look pretty exciting! pray for me, i dont know where to go... Also pray that in this time where I dont have a corps, that God would still be able to use me...
Friday, November 03, 2006
Doctrine Dilemma
part 1
Heres a bit of a rant, but im not gonna fit it all in in one post
I have known officers, cadets and soldiers who do not agree with some of our doctrines (the beliefs of the salvation army) but the one some dont believe that really bugs me is the seventh doctrine:
We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, are necessary to salvation.
We live in a postmodern pluralistic society where anyhing goes. Its ok for you to believe something different to me. We all have our 'own truth.' Many salvationists here in Australia believe that "you dont need Jesus for salvation." It is ok to be muslim, hindu, budhist, or atheist... Ive even heard it said we just need to be "good" or have any "faith" to go to heaven/recieve salvation.
This is garbage and does not sit with the above doctrine (clear as crystal in the Bible) which shows what we need for salvation.
The Bible is EXTREMELY clear about false teachers, they need to be corrected, and if they cant be corrected they need to be given the boot.
At the same time the salvation army is wondering why we're not growing, why we dont see many converts.
The problem is that the doctrine has been fragmented. People find it hard to accept in its entirety. However the doctrine which emphasises faith in Jesus Christ, repentance to God and regeneration by the Holy Spirit is the backbone to Salvationist ministry.
If we miss out on "faith in Jesus" we are left with an any faith will do belief, which will limit a call to believe in Jesus. Without repentance our holiness emphasis goes out the window, our relationship with God does not get mended. And without regeneration by the Holy Spirit we miss out on God leading us in holiness and we miss out on the supernatural. As the Salvation Army we want to see people saved from hell, reconciled to God, and empowered to live the life God wants us to in love and service of others.
Whats worse is that the salvation army has commissioned officers, and continues to do so (unsure of this year, it seems there has been some changes...), and keeps officers as leaders regardless of their theology. This is a disgrace and God will jugdge the leaders who let this happen. The Bible is SOO clear that those who are teachers and leadsers will be judged more severely. How can the salvation army compromise on this? As for those who willingly sign the covenant that says "we believe", yet disagree with it are lieing and are showing a huge lack of integrity as they knowingly sign something they dont believe in.
Compromise leads to bondage and I believe that the salvation army is well on the way and even already in bondage as we have compromised our standards and beliefs. The salvation army will be judged for this. Perhaps the salvation army is being judged for this already!
Join with me as I pray for the leaders in the salvation army. That those with false doctrine (who lovingly and honestly believe what they believe) will be convicted of their sins, of their heresey, and will turn to the truth. Pray with me for the leaders who need to address this problem as there are numerous complications in addressing this urgent issue.
I am reminded of the revivals in the old testament when leaders stood up and took the hard steps to see people won back to God. God can do this and will do this, but we need to be honest with ourselves and with God, and not compromise what the salvation army believes as truth!
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Friday night me and a few friends had a prayer meeting at the training college. We all have a similar heart for mission, we all come from different corps, so we thought we'd get together, pray then go do some outreach.
We started off by praying. Then we realised that sarah and greg werent baptised in the Holy Spirit so we prayed for them. We started off with sarah and I read and prayed Acts 2 over her, she was then slain in the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit knocked her over!
Then we prayed for Greg. I prayed the Corinthians spiritual gifts passage over Him. Sarah who was just baptised in the Holy Spirit started seeing visions of the Holy Spirit swirling around Greg as we prayed for him, then she saw Jesus come and stand with us! Greg was then slain in the Holy Spirit!
Then we started praying for Pete, again I used Scripture! Sarah again had visions as we were praying for him, and again he was slain the Holy Spirit!Then we were talking, I asked Greg, 'were you speaking in tongues?" He said, "I wasnt saying anything" and then Jo said "Yeah, you were praying in tongues!"
Then we prayed for me. I was determined to stand as long as I could, but when Pete prayed a Booth Tucker quote or something about getting as many people saved in the smallest amount of time, I was slain in the Holy Spirit!
Then we prayed for Jo. I had my Bible opend to a passage, but then I asked her what she wanted prayer for, she answered power. And guess what the opening line of the passage I had was? Be strong in the Lord and His mighty power! So we prayed for her and she was slain in the Holy Spirit!
Then we prayed for Simon! We had to pray for breakthrough and of course it came! Again, Sarah and I had visions as we prayed for him!And all of a sudden Sarah put both her hands on Simon and he flew to the ground! Again slain in the Holy Spirit!
Then we went out on the streets. Helped some drunks get home and get looked after. Then we went to the hospital and prayed for some people in the emergency room!I know that as we went there I was feeling very faithless, but I still prayed and am getting more confident now. I look forward to the day when we're all on fire, full of faith and see miracles in the hospital and on the streets! Its going to happen, and it will happen soon!
Anyway, long post again... worth it though! Praise God! And if you havent been baptised in the Holy Spirit get some friends together pray for it and see God do something new in your life!
Friday, October 27, 2006
Heres something thats been bugging me and I know God HATES it too!
1 in 3 women have been sexually abused here in Australia. And that is only the ones that have been reported. Thousands more go unreported. How does this relate you say?
Jesus had something to say about this. "Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully (and this applies to women looking at women or men aswell) has already committed adultery with her in his heart!" Matthew 5:28Monday, October 23, 2006
Luke 17:1-4
1Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. 2It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3So watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. 4If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."
wow
Friday, October 20, 2006
Lately Ive been thinking about the supernatural. Ive felt alot of demonic forces before but havent felt/recognised a good angelic presence before... So ive prayed a few times to God, "God i dont just wanna see and sense bad spirits, show me some good ones! Infact, if your going to show me anything at all, I want to see Jesus!"
Ive also been rading a book about prayer. One thing it encourages is for us to picture Jesus in our head and talk to it. The picture Ive been getting lately is when Jesus is talking to all the children.
Anyway, I was lying in bed this morning and I started thinking about Jesus. I then started thinking about seeing Jesus. Then I closed my eyes and as I did that I felt as though Jesus was coming. Then, you know how you sometimes get those goose bump type of things when you feel Gods presence? Well, I felt that once, then more and more and it completely rushed all over my body. I then could not move at all!
I saw a vision of Jesus at the end of my bed. The presence was overwelming. I couldnt stay in this presence it felt like it was too much!My body felt as though I was shrivelling up into a ball, I was scared, so I quickly turned my head to get away from it.
After this I prayed a bit more. I turned onto my side and I felt a presence on my right. It wasnt God this time, but I started singing "Holy, Holy, Holy" and praising God. The presence was doing the same.. I had an angel next to my bed!
I prayed some more asking God what all this meant. He told me a few things.
- I had felt the presence of Jesus Christ. And it was strong. It was extremely HOLY! Gods presence is strong! He also reminded me though that He is always with me!
- I found out I felt scared because He is Holy and I am not. I still had sin. So I quickly repented of all my sin. This reminded me of Isaiah 6, Revelation 1 etc where people see God but at first theyre so scared because He's so holy!
- My dad told me next time that this happens, just be still and say "Here I am Lord, speak to me" Interesting thats the same as Isaiah!!! And interesting that last week someone shared Isaiah 6 with me because God told Him to do so...
- This experience also showed me how Gods presence and sin just dont go together! God HATES sin! He wants to be with us but unless we let Him deal with our sin His holiness just wont go with it! In fact, I wonder, and Im pretty sure that if a sinner comes fully into the presence of God he will be destroyed by Gods holiness. Thats why He gave us Jesus! Hallelujah!
- I then thought Id read from the Bible, and Ive been working through Luke, and guess which passage I was up to? It was the passage that I had been seeing in my prayer time! Luke 18:15-17
"People were also bringing their babies to Jesus to have him touch them.
When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the
children and said "Let the little Children come to me, and do not hinder
them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth,
anyone whol will not recieve the kingdom of God like a little child will
never enter it!"
Thursday, October 19, 2006
In the Bible we see that angels fight with swords... Do you think that now that we have better technology that angels have better weapons?
If youve watched Constantine you know what Im talking about...
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
i gotta new blog! www.worldforgod.blogspot.com
im gonna keep this one going too. the other one is going to be about evangelism and stuff!
thought itd be better to have two different ones than posting too many all in a row...
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Havent blogged for a bit! So heres something...
The other night, me saz, simon and tish prayed together at the training college thenlet God take us wherever He wanted. All we did was just pray and ask God "Where do you want us to go?" and once we were there we were like "what do you want us to do?"
It was really cool how God told all of us where to go. It was all the same place!!! God was sooo amongst it all!
We did some Spiritual warfare, prophecy, alot of praying and a bit of evangelism! It was great to see God using our personalities and gifts etc while we were in an intentional team! It worked really well!
We're not sure what we actually achieved but its a start of an exciting new ministry for us all! I know I have a strong sense that God is teaching us how to do that sort of thing and that over time as we develop our gifts God will glorify His name in SUPERNATURAL ways!
If you wanna know more call, leave a comment or email me! And pray for us coz we wana see people saved, healed, delivered etc!
Monday, October 02, 2006
I dont know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing...
David (Paul) Yonggi Cho came to Christ through The Salvation Army... He is the founder of the worlds largest church, Yoido Full Gospel Church! On February 20, 1993, the Yoido Full Gospel Church was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Largest Church (700,000 membership) in the world! (and that was years ago!) Today it is said there is over a million members! It has over 23,000 cell groups! Chek out more
Brian Houston is senior pastor and founder of Hillsong church, Australias largets church, He too has some Salvation Army background. His parents were ministers in The Salvation Army. Hillsong now has thosands of members, has heaps of music cds (one actually made it to number 1 in Australia!) and is again cell based... Check out more: Brian Houston, Hillsong
The Evans family also has some roots in The Salvation Army. Russel Evans is founder of Planetshakers church which rapidly growing in Melbourne. Again cell based. And his brother Andrew is senior pastor at Paradise community church in Adelaide. Another church with thousands of members, and again cell based. Check out more, Planetshakers, Paradise
Imagine what The Salvation Army would look like if we could have held onto and harnassed the potential of these guys! How many more are out there? How many more are leaving The Salvation Army? What will The Salvation Army do to prevent this from happening again and again?
OR
Do people think that The Salvation Armys mission is only to the poor and not the mainstream? (I dont think so, look at song 830, 'The world for God!') Thats another blog topic though...
Also, how cool are cell based churches... As one of my last blogs said, all the growing chuches in the world are cell based... Does anyone wanna or feel called to start one up with me in Lower Templestowe?hmmmm....
Friday, September 29, 2006
Keep commenting on the leadership blog, but i thought id share something that God did this morning which was really cool!
Ive started reading a book called, 'Can you hear me?' by Brad Jersak. Its a book about listening prayer, and so far its probably one of the best books on prayer i have ever read! Its really practical and will help open your senses up to realizing the many ways God speaks to us!
Anyway, I woke up this morning and picked up this book while I was still in bed. I heard a voice in my head say 'read the bible first.' I thought to myself, nah, i'll read this book and itll help me read the bible but the voice repeated. I then said, ok, if thats you God, what do u want me to read and why?
'Hebrews 10 and 11. Youll see why.' So i happily picked up my bible and opened to those chapters.
I finished reading and picked up the book. And heres the bit I wanted to get to...
The first bit I read was about the Bible! (funny coz Id just read the Bible...)
And in this section it spoke about how Jesus said in John 5:37-40 that people can read the scriptures all their lives and not hear Gods voice. They would honestly read them thinking they would find life in them, but then they failed to realise Gods living word. They didnt hear because of expectation. (the author says it alot better than this...)
The author continues to say 'how do we avoid this' and says we need to read expecting to hear Gods voice when we read the scriptures...
The next section was about God speaking beyond the Bible, that God still speaks personally to us in other ways. And the first other way the book speaks about was messengers (singers, authors, etc) then coincadinces...
I was like WOW! what a coincadence, or God-incadince that everything added up! The section on the Bible then the section on coincadences! The book directly related to me. So i asked God what does the passage I read have to do with all this?
And He answered as i thought about it, "All these guys (Hebrews 11) had faith in me. They didnt just serve me and or did the things they knew they should do, they had faith in me."
this spoke loudly to me. So often I get caught up in doing, that i forget to take the time to listen to God and have faith that I was going to hear Him speak to me...
anyway, it meant alot to me...
Whats God said to you lately? Hes always speaking, but are you listening?
Thursday, September 28, 2006
what makes a leader a good leader?
Think of your favourite leader...
Why are they your favourite? What made them so good?
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
how come no one comments anymore?
i had 19 comments on one and 26 on the next...
i must be boring... what will i do next to get people commenting?
any suggestions? hmmmm will anyone even read this...
