Update #85

"Every knee will bow to me and every tongue will swear allegiance." Isaiah 45:23

Me and my friend Angie in Indonesia

I was recently at a revival and people were crumpling all around me. They would receive prayer and voop! down they would go. I had seen and experienced this before but I didn’t fully understand it. So I asked God…“What the heck is going on here?!”

The verse that immediately popped into my mind was Isaiah 45:23…“every knee will bow.” Ok, don’t quite get it God, can ya give me a bit more detail?

Then I remembered a demonstration I had once seen. A man was holding a water bottle. He unscrewed the lid and said “this is us” and held the tiny little white lid in his fingers. Then he held up the water bottle and said “this is what God has for us.” Then he began to pour the water into the lid – and of course it splashed everywhere and got several people wet. “This is what happens when we let God use us – other people are effected.” It was a powerful illustration.

We, as humans, are fragile beings. Bend us too far and our bones break, muscles tear and we have to convalesce and heal. Push us too far and our immune systems fail and we become ill. Expose us to new bacteria and viruses and we get sick. Put too much stress on our systems and they rebel through heart problems, skin rashes, headaches, stomach ulcers, gastric upset and so on.

God, who is all powerful, all knowing, almighty wants to work through us! Amazing. The kicker is that we can’t handle very much of him – he is huge, vast and powerful. We aren’t. He has to give us small doses of himself or we would die (see Exodus 19-20).

When I asked God about the crumpling people, those falling at a touch, I feel I was told the person praying for them was a conduit - a channel that he was flowing through. Because the person being prayed for was “overcome” by his presence, by the Holy Spirit, they fell. This is what happens when God’s presence enters a room “every knee will bow” (see John 18:6).

Right now we have free will – we can choose him or not. But there will come a point when free will won’t be an option any longer. God loves you – he knows if you are an atheist, if you don’t believe in all this religion stuff, or haven’t made your relationship personal and deep with him. He wants you to choose him of your own free will, your own choice, your own preference. He has chosen you.

Have you chosen him? If yes, are you living your life in such a way that he can “conduit” or “channel” through you to touch others? I Corinthians 13:8 says that there is only a limited time to be used by God – how are you using the time you have left?

Updates:
Living – I found a place! I am right next door to the Johnsons! Thank you for the prayer. I will be moving the week of the 29th! The property close date is still rolling forward due to paperwork stuck in the state capital. Check out the blog for details http://campus.inst.net/
Work – I am taking a partial break and heading up to Seattle for Christmas…yes, leaving 45F and rainy for 25F and snowy! Brrr!


Requests:
Housing – that I will be able to recruit enough help to get my storage unit cleaned out by the 31st, that unpacking won’t take long, and that there will be room for everything!
Work – we are still seeking a training lead! Please pray for this person to surface. This is a key role in our organization and we need someone who is passionate about calling people forth and equipping them for success. We are also seeking a bookkeeper and a publicist.
Travel – safe flight to Seattle on the 20th and back to California on the 28th with all the snow in Seattle travel is a bit on the treacherous side.
Financing – I rely solely on donor support. If these devotions have touched you, caused you to see God differently, or altered your outlook on life AND you are interested in contributing toward my day-to-day needs or to my travel fund, please see ‘Contribute’ at http://www.repurposing.biz/ on the left of the page, or visit http://www.denaandrews.blogspot.com/ and read the footer for additional info.

Blessings,

Dena

PS Merry Christmas!

PPS Choosing God is like voting for the president, your choice will be with you a long time and the ramifications of your decision affect not just you, but many around you.