Pay It Forward in 2011

I got this idea from my friend Lauren's blog here. Here's a link... shameless plug


"I promise to send something handmade
to the first 3 people who leave a comment here.

To be eligible, you must also post this in your blog, offering the same thing to 3 other people.
The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 3 people *sometime* in 2011."

So when you comment, please leave your email so we can work out the details!

Mind Blown

Tonight I've just been reflecting on the past two weeks and God has just proved himself so good, faithful, and powerful! I thought I would share. I've been praying for the supernatural a long time. I believe it, I've seen it, and I've desired it but I've never experienced it for myself. Man has that changed!

I guess this story starts last Monday September 27, 2010 when a two ladies were praying over me and then after about five minutes, one of them asked me if I had any kind of sexual addictions. I said yes and she said that God had been speaking to her for five minutes that I was free. She said he bound it up and threw it into Hell! And He did! I had been doing better before, a lot better, but God has better plans. He never meant for us to struggle with some sin and repent, fail, repent, fail, repent, fail, and repent again. That is slavery not freedom. God freed me through his Spirit in an instant and I don't even have desire for it anymore! Living in freedom is amazing
Tuesday nigth rolls around and I got off work super early and went back to the prayer meeting. the guest speaker told us about a prophetic dream he had the night before about a mountain of God coming to Searcy and we were all like, "Yeah, we know." Then later on we had a "fire tunnel" where the pastors, leaders, and just crazy Spirit-filled people calling the fire of God down and just praying for us and speaking things over us. A guy told me that I was forgiven and my fried said I was a prophet to the nations and an apostle. Later on me and a friend were talking to someone about drunkedness in the Spirit and she prayed that we would recieve it and even just throughout the week. Then the guest speaker prayed over me creativity for the prayer room anf then to be a precher who is just filled with the Spirit and just spits out the Word (that I would eat the scroll and it would be sweet like honey, but bitter in my stomach so I spit it out). He also said that was a spiritual gift which is a confirmation for me. He also prayed prophesy, visions, and dreams over me.
Wednesday night at cell group, I heard the Lord for the first time. We were praying for a mission team going to Guatemala and broke up into groups. After my group was kind of done praying our leader just prayed and asked to Holy Spirit to reveal to us anything else we needed to pray for. So I closed my eyes, opened my hands, and listened. I immediatly heard. "Brandon" so I pressed in and asked what I needed to pray for. I justed heard feelings of insecurity about if people were supposed to go in the sense of preparedness or worthiness. So I just prayed about those insecurities. After I prayedBrandon said, "You know, it's weird that you prayed that because I've been feeling that way because I haven't been able to make it to all the meetings." I just sid, "Yeah, I heard your name. I just didn't say it..." That was pretty awesome!
On Friday I took a nap and had a dream about Dr. Burks soming to know the Holy Spirit in a whole new way after his wife dies and that it was going to be because of conversations with a woman who's name starts with an "A". I believe this was from God. Also Devin asked me if I wanted to speak at His devo the next Wednesday. That was my first chance after I was prayed over so it was a cool opportunity right away
On Saturday I was sitting in the identity corner of the prayer room and God gave me a revelation. I was just reading the words of identity that were written on the wall about us and realized something. All those things that we are, Jesus was. We inherit traits from Christ. In fact we are co-heirs with Christ and sons of God even. Everything that Christ is and was, we are!
The next Monday I woke up and had a picture in my head. It was a guy that looked so happy. He had a checklist above him with things like commands, his callings, and work that the Lord had given him with little checkboxes next to them that were all checked. There was a huge one that said "LOVE GOD" that was not checked. We can think we're doing great things but if we don't truely love God, then it doesn't matter.
Tuesday I got off work really early again and went to the prayer meeting. It was different this time and we were all just going to soak in God's presence together. Well it started that way and the Spirit was coming on me with like shakes and stuff and then it turned into a Holy Spirit dance party. Me and my friend that got prayed for a week before for the intoxication of the Spirit both got drunk in the Spirit and I got the Joy of the Lord and I was just laughing and laughing in the corner! And then a pastor friend and I went accross the street to a Baptist "Revival" (this is a story for another time). Needless to say it was awkward trying to hold in the Joy of the Lord!
On Wednesday I still had the Joy! People definiatly noticed. One of my friends asked what was wrong with me so I said I was hungover in the Spirit! I also got to preach and told them about God's heart for Searcy, Harding, and Kensett. I also told them about the mountain of God and prayer, intimacy, and worship. I told them some testimonies about healings (including a blind guy being healed the day before!), and my own deliverence and freedom. After that I went to cell and I got the Joy again when someone was praying. It was ridiculous!
On Friday someone asked me at work if I smoked pot. This may sound weird but it is a testimony. People have prayed, prophesied, and spoken about the peace the Lord has given me multiple times and I think he saw that! Along the same lines I got to be there for a friend who needed peace and pray for that in her life. I also got the pray for peace for another friend on Wednesday night come to think of it.
Today (Saturday) was celebrate:kingdom day. I got to help out in the community, prayer walk through neighborhoods aroung Harding and declare peace, freedom, love blessing, joy, boldness, and deliverence over those places and even discovered a hidden talent: facepainting! I met some good people today and helped plant some kingdom seeds.

God's been so good! He's just been giving me more revelations than I could put here and doing more things in me than I probably even recognize.I'm learning to live in obedience to his Spirit andfinding out more and more that that's where abundant life comes from and that the way His presence will increase in my life. I'm in love and just standing amazed! It's been an amazing two weeks of starting to walk in the Spirit and I know it only gets better. I'm getting hungrier and more expectant and I'm just all in!

The Prayer Room

The Harding Prayer Room above the Student Center in Shores Chapel has been my project for the past couple weeks and I wanted to share it with you guys. So here is a little bit about the major elements of the Prayer Room:

Prayer Journal We want people to share their experiences with God. Testimony is probably our greatest tool in telling people about Christ and letting them know that He is real and present. People share how God has worked in their lives and pour out their hearts to Him and allow us to pray for them.
Harding Wall The heart of the Prayer Room is Harding. It was started by a Harding student, made possible by Harding faculty, created by Harding students, is primarily for Harding students as well as staff and faculty, and is kept up by Harding students. There have been prayers by people for years for there to be a prayer room on Harding’s campus and even prayers for one in Shores Chapel where it is currently located. We want Harding kids to pray, to learn to press in and seek God, and to be changed by his Spirit as they are seeking God. We want them to have a sense of intimacy with their Father. We believe that with an increase in prayer comes an increase in how much God uses Harding because we’re allowing Him to grow us, speak into our lives, and convict our hearts.
Prayer Wall The Prayer Wall is a place where hearts are poured out to God. There is no central theme planned for this wall; it is just for people to let whatever is inside of them out. There are prayers, quotes, lyrics, and scripture all on this wall and people just put whatever they feel led to.
Searcy Wall Harding is not the whole of what we’re about. Harding is a part of the larger community of Searcy. Being a Christian is about a whole lot more that just filling up on Jesus, going to church, and not doing bad things. We want to see kids get out of that mindset and start seeing Searcy as their community and a place that needs them and their light. Prayer is the starting place for this and is the fire that will keep their work going.
Nations Corner It’s important for us to pray for the nations. God said that if we ask for the nations he’ll give them to us. So the prayer room is a place where we we’re going to ask for the nations for Christ and gather together in prayer for them. A lot of times we become the answer to our own prayers…
Cross The center of everything is the cross. The cross paid for freedom from sin, deliverances from our sin nature, abundant life, healings, salvations, and deliverances from Satan’s work in our life in the manifestations of addictions, demons, depression, and all the rest. The cross is our source of life and is a joy to us and not something we should always be mourning
Identity Corner Depression is winning in so many people’s lives. People don’t know who they are in Christ and are so much less powerful because of that. If people know who they are in Christ and take a hold of this knowledge deep down inside then depression cannot stand and people will learn to be powerful and effective in the Kingdom. The identity corner a place for people just to meditate on who they are in Christ, look at themselves and know it’s true, and just allow the Spirit to speak those things into them. This place is essential to raising up disciples of Christ at Harding.
Justice Wall God desires justice. God requires justice because of who he is. He’s a God of justice and promises justice to us if we just press in and ask for it. He illustrates this in the parable of the unjust judge and he is a just judge. He will give us justice if we pray so we’re going to pray!
Kensett Wall Kensett is a community just outside of Searcy. This city has been put on the hearts of many people and we’ve been praying and contending for it and I want to invite Harding students to stand with us in prayer. Here is some information about the economic status of Kensett:

"The median income for a household in the city was $20,478, and the median income for a family was $26,161. Males had a median income of $22,763 versus $17,500 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,049. About 26.3% of families and 30.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 48.5% of those under age 18 and 21.4% of those age 65 or over." From Wikipedia

Salvations, Healings, Deliverances Wall The cross paid for a lot of things and Jesus prayed for the kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Because of these things we can pray for healings, deliverances, and heart transformations and expect them! These are things that are on the heart of everyone because everyone has friends or family that is lost, everyone is either trapped in some consistent sin or knows someone who is, and everyone knows of someone who is in need of supernatural healing. God loves to give us these things so we want to agree with each other in prayer and band together about our individual concerns
Worship Walls This is the newest addition to the Prayer Room. I believe God is so so worthy of our praise. The Prayer Room is full of places to cry out to God about issues where we want Him to move so I think it is important to set aside places to just tell Him how great, awesome, wonderful, beautiful, and powerful He is and just say how we love Him and why we think He is so great!

I love The Prayer Room and God set it up for me to take it over this year. I’m so glad He did because it is the delight of my heart! I hope it is a blessing to you and that it is a place where you can connect with God like never before, be filled with His Spirit, and where He just delights you as you delight in Him. We just want you to realize God’s desire for intimacy with his bride and for you to grow in that

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."(Psalm 37:4 NIV)

Turning Point

I've reached a TURNING POINT in my life. I feel different begining this semester. Before school started there were a lot of prayers by a lot of people for Harding, the students and faculty, and Searcy. So I went into the year in prayer and on a mission. Instead of Harding helping me grow, Harding is now my mission field. All the people I meet and live with I intentionally try to influence and point to Christ. Instead of complaining about the feeling of religious lethargy the school needs prayer and intercession. It needs a band of radical Jesus followers to call them out of the lifeless following (sometimes) of religious rules and into the abundant life that Jesus has called us to with a personal relationship with Him and following his Spirit.

This year I take a hold of my relationship with Christ like never before.

This year I trust God and believe EVERY WORD of that crazy book called the Bible (have you read it?... it's bonkers)

This year I decide I love God's presence way more than sin in my life.

This year I'm intentional about my relationships.

This year I pray and believe.

This year I succeed in school.

This year I consistantly pray and fast.

This year I spend time with God every day.

This year I give everything I can in work and school and give my absolute best in prayer meetings, cell, and Church service

This year I jump off this easy college train-life of just going to class and having fun and start walking the path that Christ has already made for me and doing the work He has prepared in advance for me wherever that may take me.

Wherever this blog finds you, you're in a mission field. Your work, home, dorm, church, and community is your mission. God has one gigantic plan for the world and we all have a part to play. Be faithful in your part. Every part is important. If you feel that your part is small and doesn't matter remember the parable of the talents. God gives everyone something. If you're faithful with the mission He's given you he'll give you more. If you don't do anything with what you're given because you feel like it's insignificant and doesn't matter then that's all you will ever get. Be faithful with little and you will be trusted with more. Pray for your mission field everyday. Work on it intentionally everyday and continually fast for it.

The begining of this semester marked a turning point in my life. What needs to turn in your's? Turn the pages of the Book and the Spirit will turn your life. Always remember the main thing and the main thing is Jesus. Blessings

Pray. Fast. Try Tears. The Road to Passion for Jesus, Prayer, and a Sense of Desperation

Ever had a sleepless night? Well, looks like this one might be headed in that direction. It's about 2:45 in the morning and I've been trying to go to sleep since a little before midnight. I've tried every trick in the book and still... nothing. I believe this is mostly do to my brain running about 1000 mph so I decided the best thing to do would be to just get it out there. So here it goes:
Sincebefore the time I could comprehend anything, I've been learning about the Bible. I was taught all about it and about different stories and fact in it. I learned about the different doctrinal beliefs of the churches I grew up in and I'd have to say I was pretty much an expert on a lot of things. I learned a whole lot about the Bible but I honestly didn't care much until some of junior year and then my senior year of high school. Don't misunderstand, I wasn't a bad kid, it just didn't mean a lot. I knew a lot, I defended the things that I then believed fiercely, even to the point of tearing down some people, but I just didn't care. And you know, I honestly don't know if I cared during my senior year, but I started studying for myself.
I started to see God a whole lot differently. I remember reading the Bible when I was younger and coming across things that didn't match up with what I believed. I would think, "Wow, I must just misunderstand what this is saying," or, "This must be corrected somewhere else." And once I started reading the Bible more than one proof text at a time, I started to learn Truth! It was exciting but at the same time I remember reading one night and throwing my Bible to the ground because something I had believed so strongly my entire life was just proven wrong. That can be frustrating.
So I went on to study Bible at Harding University where I just finished my freshman year and sophmore year is quickly approaching though I don't know where I'll be for sure. But while at Harding my eyes have been opened to a whole lot bigger and more powerful God then I've ever known. Like people were being healed in Jesus name in front of my eyes. I saw a ten year old girl with a fractured arm that she got the day before on a trampoline walk into a coffee shop where we were worshiping. Someone prayed for her and she was moving it all over the place pain free. I saw another kid's hand get healed in the back of a prayer meeting. Like where was this my whole life. And there is so much more than physical healings that God still does today and it blew me away. I had studied this before and knew it could be true but have honestly been turned off by Benny Hinn and his compadres. But Jesus is alive and He's working today.
Then there are the disciplines of prayer and fasting that are so very powerful. They draw us so close to God and can unleash His power in mighty ways if we just have faith and the right heart. I never really prayed before except before I went to sleep or when the family did before dinner. But the prayer room became my favorite place on campus and it changed my heart. I used to spend over an hour a day in there and I could literally see my heart changing. There are specific things that I could point out that are very different than before. That's what happens when you are in communion with God consistantly and you give Him your heart, tell him He has your heart. His Spirit changes you (Rom 8:13)
This was all awesome but then we get to present day. I'm honestly pretty frustrated. I've been asking for a few things for a while. One is to know God's desire and purpose for me in life and I haven't gotten a clear answer. I've also been asking for spiritual giftings like so many of my friends have but... nothing.
The other night we were worshiping and praying and I was asking God about these things and I started to feel terrible. I was physically feeling sick and didn't feel well emotionally either. Talking it out with a friend, I believe God was saying, "It's not Me, it's you." I've realized that even though my reading and sermon intake has been high this summer, my prayer life has been skimpy if anything. I haven't fasted even one day. And I just realized I've pretty much lost all passion. So I've been kind of at a loss for a few days at what to do. But I believe I've figured it out.
I'm reading this book called Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill and it is outstanding but definiatly a seemingly harsh view but from an understanding of Truth. In it He points out that theologically degreed preachers are worthless without a passion for Jesus, prayer, and a sense of desperation. That kind of hit me obviously.
Talking to a friend she pointed out that if you want spiritual gifts you have to be desperate and want Jesus more than anything. And that only comes in the midst of prayer. So passion for Jesus, prayer, and a sense of desperation... sound familiar?
If you want God to use you and place a calling on your life that will come with passion for Jesus, prayer, and a sense of desperation.
Very truthfully I don't feel a passion for Jesus right now (is it okay to be honest?). I don't have a passion for prayer anymore. I don't feel desperate for Him or His Kingdom. For years I've stuffed myself with learning and trying to find and/or prove the Truth only to become a calloused person who knows about Jesus and various true and false doctrines.
So what do I do? I follow the example of those who have gone before me and my own experience. I start praying again and stop going the easy route of just listening to a sermon and counting that as God time. And I pray with passion. How do I get back the desperation? Well in the words of those old revival preachers, "Try tears." I pour my heart out to God more and more and more until passion comes. I heard of an old revival preacher who would occasionally loose passion for prayer. You know how he would fix it? Prayer. He went into his room and prayed until he once again had passion. I need to fast, to set myself apart and learn to rely on God and show Him that I'm serious about Him. With passionate prayer comes passion for Jesus. With passion for Jesus comes passion for the things He cares about and we become desperate for those things with the tears and being on our faces praying earnestly for His Kingdom to come. With passion for Jesus, prayer, fasting, and desperation comes a call on my life and spiritual giftings. But the main thing is Jesus. The main thing is Him being glorified.
Jesus... I want to know You again. Jesus is the reason we're all here. Jesus is what the signs point to. Jesus is why the church was created. He's mighty and so worthy of our worship and adoration. Just recognizing those things brings passion for Him.
JESUS

Shackles

Shackles... it's a word that brings to mind so many different things for different people. It is a source of bondage and we use the word often in church to talk about how sin holds us back. But for many, shackles bring to mind freedom because those shackles have been broken; how AWESOME would that be!

Sin is bondage. Sin holds us back from a relationship with Christ that He wants so badly. It holds us back from living the life God has called us to and from being effective workers in His kingdom.

We have also created our own shackles. Our churches have created doctrines that were never intended by the Biblical writers. John, Peter, and all the others would be appalled if they came to our time and saw how we now rip apart their letters one word at a time and create entire crazy doctrines and write books and tear down other Christians, other parts His bride, because of a word or simple phrase. Don't mistake what I'm saying and think that I'm saying that doctrine is not important because it is. I am saying though that we have created doctrines that act as shackles.

But there is good news! And that news is the blood of Jesus Christ. That blood covers our sins and has already paid for our freedom. That blood also took away regulations on worship, sacrifice, and some matters of daily living. We're human though and have traded in our freedom for the shackles of regulation that we imposed on ourselves. I guess we like the security of living in the prison rather than freedom. I like freedom and there is more good news... Jesus' blood paid for those shackles too! These lyrics have become the anthem for so many churches and people and in Jesus' name by the power of the Holy Spirit it can be your's too:

"No more shackles, no more chains, no more bonage, I AM FREE!"

I was reading today about freedom and I might write some more blogs about it but for now I'll leave you with a scripture and a list of other scriptures that you should read.



In Galatians, Paul was writing to a group of Jews who had become Christians. They trade in their freedom in Christ for the shackles of their old Jewish ways and were trying to impose those ways on Gentile converts even to the point of circumcision. He conveyed that Christ did not want us to be enslaved to sin or to religious regulation and that is the very reason He died. Paul wrote:

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1)

Scriptures to meditate on- Luke 4:14-21 (especially v. 18); 1 Cor 8:9-13; 2 Cor 3:12-18 (especially v. 17); read Galatians with this in mind; Eph 3:12; Col 2:6-23 (that's full of good stuff!!); James 1:25; James 2:12-13; 1 Pet 2:15-17; 2 Pet 2:19 (in the context of that chapter, you're a slave to false doctrine if you believe it to be true)

When Did It Become Cool?

There has been a question that has been bugging me lately. After hanging out with a bunch of people at a Christian school and with Christians all my life, there is a trend going on and it's a dangerous trend. It's a simple question: When did it become cool?

Lately it seems like if you can watch dirty movies, be crude all the time, go drinking on the weekends, and still go to church then you're cool. If you're the guy that is synical about the church then you're cool. If you're the one who makes fun of other people worshiping then you're cool. If you see someone trying to act as a Christian in their everyday life, you make fun of them and say they are trying to act "holier than thou" when they are doing exacty what you need to be doing, but somehow that makes you cool too. So when did this all become cool?

I know that the majority of people who are going to read this are leaders in the church whether it's as an elder, preacher, pastor, youth group leader, or you just have friends in the church. The thing is we, as leaders, have set this tone. When we're synical about the church or when we make fun of someone trying to live or worship in whole-hearted devotion to God, that becomes acceptable, and often the coolest thing, in our sphere of influence. Many times the Godly man and the Godly woman are no longer veiwed with respect or as models to strive for, rather the hypocrite (or "cool guy") ends up being who those kids we care about look up to. Those people end up being a cancer in our churches and their synacism and lack of authenticity spready like wildfire.

This post has been sitting halfway done for a long time. I believe this is because the Spirit was convicting me of some areas where I have become that "cool guy." I think we all have to a degree at some point or another. So I'd like to ask for your prayers for me in this area and leave you with a charge to watch your own lives as leaders in the church so that we can cultivate a community that truly glorifies Christ!