Israel's Only Savior

¹ "But now, this is what the LORD says—
   he who created you, Jacob,
   he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have summoned you by name; you are mine. ² When you pass through the waters,
   I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
   they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
   you will not be burned;
   the flames will not set you ablaze. ³ For I am the LORD your God,
   the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
   Cush and Seba in your stead. ⁴ Since you are precious and honored in my sight,
   and because I love you,
I will give people in exchange for you,
   nations in exchange for your life."-Isaiah 43:1-4






This passage has completely opened my eyes to the truths of God's immense love for us.  The first thing that God says is that He has summoned us by name.  The definition of summon is to authoritatively or urgently call on.  How cool is it that God calls us by our names to come to Him?  I think of it as if God is saying "Reagan I am urgently calling for you!"  He will be with us always and through everything, the fire, storms, water, even when we are walking on solid ground.  I have always known that "God was there," but I never completely lived as if He was living inside of me.  As I finish my freshmen year of college, I look back on everything that I have learned and it is more then I could ever even have imagined.  This year the Lord has urgently called for me to live for Him and it has been the experience of a lifetime and I will never go back!  Just like this passage says, I have gone through the rivers but they have not washed over me.  I have gone through the fires but I have not been burned.  I am precious in the Lord's sight and because He loves me He says He will give men in exchange for my life!!   


Today I was looking through my brother's national geographic magazine and the article was about the world's tallest trees.  This pictures were incredible of the 300 foot trees.  They were absolutely breath-taking!!  A lot of people can see God's beauty through nature.  I see how huge God is compared to the hugest things.  If MY GOD created a 300 foot tree, He must be HUGE.  If my God made the biggest mountains, he is still much bigger.  So who am I to think that my life and my problems matter?  But they do to God.  He loves me and will give anything for me to seek and call after Him.  And what is stopping us sometimes?  God created everything.  He is funnier then the funniest person I know.  God is HILARIOUS!  He is more loving then the most loving person I know.  Because He created them.  He created me.  This fact alone should make us want to THROW our lives at him and allow him to control it all.  If He knows whats going to happen and whats best then why would we ever want to do anything on our own??


What are you holding onto, big or small, that God is asking you to trust him with?  Are you willing to give it away and rest in the lap of our daddy?  The only one who will always be faithful?


This week at church we looked at the passage in Matthew where Peter steps out of the boat and walks on the water towards Jesus.  While this passage is so important in understanding trust and being able to surrender, I picked out something I had never thought about before.  Paul ASKS Jesus to ask him to get out of the boat and walk on the water!!  How many times have we ever ASKED God to challenge us to step out in faith when we could surely fall?  I think that the Sweet Lord wants us to want to be uncomfortable for his glory.  If we are comfortable in our faith then we have settled and we are missing out!!


Today, ask God to test you, ask God to challenge you in an area that you never even thought about.  Then leap out of the boat and run towards the father!  YOU WILL NOT FAIL!  He will be right there with you and when you reach him he will wrap his arms around you.


Hope everyone is having a blessed week.  I love you all so much!!

God is in the Dominican Republic!

Over spring break I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip with Campus Crusade for Christ!  The University of Santo Domingo has 171,000 students, many of which do not understand the love of Jesus or the free gift of eternity that we can have through Him.  We went on the campus everyday and shared the gospel with students.  The entire trip was completely moved by God and so I want to give Him glory by sharing about my week.  


Saturday March 5, 2011 (Prayer from a week before the trip)


God, thank you so much for this trip and the opportunities you have given each of us.  I thank you that you are faithful and we are believing that all of the money will come through because it is your will for the gospel to be delivered around the world.  I thank you for the deep friendships that are going to be made on this trip and that we will build one another up and encourage each other.  I pray for the staff in the DR, that we would just bring them an ocean of joy and encouragement that only comes from you.  God I just want you to use us to do great things for your glory.  Your word says that you open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.  God our desire is to know you in a deeper way and to be used to further your kingdom.  So use us and blow us away!  You are so great and we can't wait to see what you are going to do.  We declare safety and protection on this trip because we know that no weapon formed against us shall prosper.  I thank you that people are going to come into your family and have a personal relationship with you.  I ask for boldness and speech that does not falter.  We rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus because we know that when we resist him he has to flee.  Thank you for your grace and mercy.  Thank you for providing a way for us to live eternally with you because we know that you are the only way, the only truth, and the only light.  Fill everyone with the power of the Holy Spirit and the ability to live a victorious life that only comes from knowing you.  Give us opportunities to truly love your people the way you love us.  Show us a part of you that we have never seen before and stretch us to a point where we are uncomfortable for you.  It wasn't comfortable for you to die on the cross, so help us learn to be uncomfortable and radical for you.  Make us radically in love with you and who you are.  Make us more like you because we are so awful without you.  Thank you that you know the number of hairs on our head.  Thank you for knowing what we are going to do in five years, and when we are going to take our last breath.  You say that where 2 or 3 gather together in your name, there you are in their midst.  Well there are 35 of us gathered together so I pray that you would be with us and in our midst the entire trip and before and after.  Please humble me and help me to know how worthless I really am and how much I deserve death even right this second.  Give me a new understanding of what your love is and how much it cost you.  Lord it was free but it wasn't cheap.  Your sacrifice was, is, and is to come the greatest sacrifice.  You are the name above all names.  You are Yahweh, El Shaddai, El Roi, The God who sees us in our pit and picks us up out of it.  If all of these things are true, then who can be against us?!  You are the creator of the universe and you are on our side!  We love you so much!  AMEN!

The trip stretched me in many ways.  I learned to be willing and obedient in my faith and I saw a boldness in myself that I had never seen before while sharing my faith.  I learned that success is not necessarily getting someone saved, it is being willing to be used by God and leaving the results up to Him.  I learned that my words are powerful and my prayers WILL be answered when I ask in faith.  In Matthew 21:21-22 Jesus says “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to this fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”  I lived off of this verse that week and it has changed my life even today.  Every morning I prayed in faith that God would do great things through me and let me lead people to accept Him.  I had the opportunity to lead six college students from the Dominican Republic to Christ, and talked about Jesus with countless others!  God is always faithful and He never fails to blow me away.  Its so cool to know that God WILL do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can ask or think! ALWAYS!

Another thing that was so cool was how God tested our patience and trust in Him through time and money.  We were supposed to be home Sunday night and we weren't expecting to have and money left on the last day of the trip.  But on Sunday when we walked into the airport, we found out we wouldn't be home until Monday night.  The cool thing was that for some reason we had a ton of extra money left over- out of no where!!  We spent the day at the aquarium eeeekk fishies!!!

Basically God is AMAZING and this trip rocked my world!! Start praying for BIG, SPECIFIC things and watch God move in a way exceedingly and abundantly above all that you could ask or think! Love you guys!