Pursuit of the Holy

Who am I?

What is this talk about the Holy Spirit?

Who is God?

Well, I have been reading this book called "Pursuit of the Holy" by Corey Russell, and those are just a few questions that are addressed in the book. It is one of the most incredible books I have ever read, and will create a burning desire within you to pursue the Lord with everything that is in you! I could write a novel on my own personal opinions of the book, but a compilation of excerpts will do it way more justice. So, enjoy:

Identity Crisis

"We don't know who we are. We don't know why we're here. We don't know why we were created. We live with our eyes on the ground, just trying to obey the Lord and resist temptation and do good deeds, not realizing that the Lord wants His people to know Him, to understand His heart. He created us out of His desire for communion and fellowship with mankind. But we have lost God's high vision for us. Instead, we're trying to find our own purpose in life. " pg. 12

"We were made by God for God. Period. We were made to search Him out." pg. 13

Living with the Holy Spirit

"The day we said 'Yes' to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, He placed within us the very spirit of God as a down payment of the age to come, for the purpose of leading us into all truth concerning God, both the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit now lives in us, and His job is to lead us into revelatory knowledge of the son, who reveals the Father." pg. 16

"Knowing God is about more than having information. It is about who can and who cannot be trusted with the deep things of God's heart." pg. 19

The Knowledge of God

" The majority of us, even in the church, are wasting our lives doing good things instead of the best thing: living in intimacy with our Father in His house. We do a thousand things in His name, but the true and living knowledge of God is absent in our experience. We get burned out and bored when we continue serving without truly knowing God, without relating to Him intimately and personally. We need something more than our ministries. We need to be filled with God." pg. 57

"Our Father will reveal His heart and His commitment to us, and this revelation will mature us and bring us into the knowledge of God." pg. 58

"It's not about our commitment to God; it's about God's commitment to us. He is the God of blazing holiness who will not ignore His people just because they ignore Him." pg. 101/120

Praise the Lord for the way He uses His children to write such incredibly inspiring and provoking books. I'm telling you, this book will challenge you and push you closer and closer to the Lord as you seek to pursue holiness.

The Gospel in the Classroom

"Buenas Días clase. Siéntense en un círculo, por favor.”

As my spanish class slowly moved our desks into a circle, I had no reason to believe that today’s class would be any different than any other. We were going to be discussing a play that we were assigned to read about a group of puppets that were placed in a room and randomly chosen by “la niña de muerte” (the girl of death) to die via explosion. (I know, it sounds a little messed up)
Anyways, the professor randomly called on students to answer the questions about the story. When she called my name, I realized that the question I was about to answer was the question concerning the depiction of “god” in the story. The god in the play was portrayed as blind and unable to help the puppets in regard to life and death. So I answered the question of how the puppets perceived god, and was then asked my opinion of god in the real world.

My pulse instantly tripled.

I don’t know how it happened, (or how my Spanish was good enough to explain such a concept in a different language), but obviously I had a little help. *Thanks Holy Spirit… you’re the man.
I proceeded to explain how the true God was alive and not blind at all, but a happy, loving God who is very much involved in our lives.

The professor then posed the statement: So then God must control death? We all still die. So then God is bad.

I quickly responded: No, God is good. He gives us the choice to believe in Him and His Son, and if we do then we don’t die. We die from this world, but we will never die because we will live with Him in heaven for eternity!

After that she changed the subject… It may not seem very extravagant, and it may not seem like much.. but it’s a seed. A seed of Truth that was planted in the hearts of my classmates as well as my professor.

Jesus… Thank you for courage. And the opportunity to speak the Gospel in a classroom! Never in a million years would I have thought it wouldn’t be in English… haha

He.Is.Faithful.

A New Adventure

*Actual date: January 25, 2011

I have officially embarked on my newest adventure: Back to college! *Who’s to say college can’t be an adventure?? Anything is an adventure when you’re living by the Spirit! However, sometimes it does become a little difficult. It’s only after so many days that you start to feel trapped in the system of the world again… But I know my God has a purpose in everything, and He didn’t send me here to just fill time and space.

In the times when the journey seems boring or monotonous, we must hold fast to the promise of God’s Word and know that, whether we feel it or not, we are being changed every day. - Corey Russell

Just these 2 short weeks of being back at school have already showed me the value of pursuing the knowledge of God. It’s a choice, a fight. You have to fight for time with the Lord, and if it’s not your first priority… well, consider it swept away under the stacks of homework and activities on your to-do list. Prioritizing the secret place is one of the most violent things you will ever do.. if you commit to it. And I have undoubtedly been learning this, the art of violently pursuing the knowledge of God.

And will continue to learn this.
After all, it is a journey…

Oregon State University

A daughter to the Kingdom

When I woke up Tuesday morning, I really had no idea what the Lord has in store. Our team was at Oregon State University and started our day walking around the campus praying for people and seeing where the Lord led. As I walked with my friend Lauren, she felt that the Lord said to go buy snacks at the vending machine to give away to people. So we headed to the library and purchased some snacks by asking the Lord which ones to get. While down there we were able to buy a beautiful Muslim woman’s snack, talk with her, and even pray for her! [It really is about the little things in life]

As we walked outside with a bag of redvines in hand, we noticed a girl walking towards us and instantly knew that she was the girl for the redvines. As we approached her, she was highly thrown off and a bit confused as to why two completely random girls would give her free redvines (which she said she really liked). We started talking to her and conversationally prophesying over her and speaking life over her. Lauren got a word that she was a poet, and read Psalm 42 over her which says, “deep cries unto deep at the roar of your waterfalls”. I then saw her painting a beautiful picture of a waterfall, and asked her if she was an artist. Sure enough she was, and I was able to encourage the gift inside of her and challenge her to read the Psalms and see what pictures the Lord will give her to paint. She didn’t have a Bible, so Lauren gave hers to her to have. We then got to pray over her and invited her to come to a worship set that we were leading that night. She agreed, and we left feeling super expectant that the Lord wanted to encounter her that night!

As we arrived at the worship night, I looked around the room, disappointed that I didn’t see her there. But then, sure enough, she walked in. I just knew God had His hand all over this situation! During worship I prayed with her and talked to her about God’s presence and love, and a bit later in the night Lauren prayed with her too. The three of us then went into a back room where it was a bit quieter to talk. After talking for a little bit, she decided that she wanted to commit her life to the Lord! I led her in a prayer of repentance, and claiming Jesus as her Savior, and we also got to pray for the Holy Spirit to come and live inside of her! Praise God! As we finished praying, I was overcome with joy! I had never led anyone to the Lord, and could almost hear heaven celebrating at this new addition to the Kingdom!

The next day, Lauren and I were able to meet up with her again and introduce her to a wonderful girl who lives right on campus that will be able to disciple her. We got to buy her a journal also, and got her connected with local churches and campus ministries. Such a wonderful time!

I am still so blown away by the Lords faithfulness to her! He had been after her heart, and just chose to use two of His daughters to bring her into the Kingdom. What an incredible Father we have!

Outreach 2.0

Oh, how to begin…

Outreach has officially commenced, and been well underway for a week and a half now. Our team has been in Washington – Spokane, Marble, and Seattle – and speaking for myself, I am in love with this state. From the cool, fresh air, the beautiful mountains & glimmering lakes, to the towering buildings downtown and the quant little shops at Pikes Place market, with the smell of coffee around every corner… I could live here forever. [Jesus, please send me to Seattle]

As I embark on this second outreach, I feel from the Lord that it was going to look very different from before in regards to ministry. When ever I prayed about, I felt that this time was way more focused on relationship and discipleship, and turns out to be looking much like that. I asked the Lord to lead me to girls that I would be able to talk with, pray for, and encourage in their identity in the Lord. The past week at Seattle Pacific University, the Lord has been so faithful in leading me to girls that I instantly connected with and was able to talk to about things on the Lord’s heart. I met up with 6 girls individually for coffee and was able to talk with them about what it looks like to fully surrender everything for the Lord and live solely for Him. I was able to pray with them, encourage them, and was so blessed by the conversations. When I think about it, I am still so utterly overwhelmed by the fact that the Lord would trust me to speak into the lives of His little girls. [Jesus, you have so redeemed my life]

I would love to speak in detail of the conversations held between the girls and I, but they are simply too precious to speak so overtly about.

I will be continuing on in this journey at Oregon State University, and then moving down into California. I feel like quite the nomad, but am highly enjoying the adventure. Who knows what each stop will entail? But I have full expectation for what the Lord has in store at our next locations, and can’t wait to tell of my experience. [Jesus, you are faithful]

Until again...

“What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Hebrew 2:6-8 [Jesus, thank you for using me to bring glory to your name]

A Journey of Faith

The list:
one backpack of bare necessities.
no money, no cell phone, no computer.

Tuesday morning arrived and my outreach team gathered outside of the prayer room to venture off on our 4 day faith journey. We were given an envelope for each day containing a list of tasks to be completed, in faith. We were given a bus schedule and a map of our location (yes, an actual paper map). My team in particular would be venturing to the town of Captain Cook; a very small community located up the mountain towards the south end of the island.

It would be way too much to write everything that was on our task lists, but I’ll give you a few just to give you an idea of what we had on our plates.

Prophesy over 3 people accurately
Meet with a government employee
Get invited to a home for a meal
Get $100 worth of free groceries and give it to a family in need, asking the Lord for the address of the family
Get on the radio to prophesy or share the gospel
Pray for at least 1 physical healing
Speak at a small group in a local church
Street preach

There were many more things on our lists each day, but those were a few of the big ones from the journey. Imagine having those kinds of things on your “to-do” list every day! But the greatest part… every single one of them came to pass! Praise You Jesus for your faithfulness! I would love to give the story from each one.. they were all so detailed and incredible. But unfortunately, I simply do not have the time to write that much.

Here is one of the coolest stories that happened…

One afternoon as we were walking down the street, we noticed a bunch of teenage skaters up at this self-made skate park by this house that was under construction. So the two guys on our team decided to go up and just hang out with them for a bit. When Marty and Erik get up there, they see about 15 teenage boys skating and smoking weed. The perfect spot. Luckily Hawaiian culture is super welcoming, so they instantly started up conversation with some of the guys. They decided to build relationship first, so they didn’t say anything about God or what they believed. But then Marty felt like the Holy Spirit told him to show the boys his tattoo. So he asked one of the guys about their tattoo, and then followed by showing them his. The second he took off his zip-up, the boys were fixed are Marty’s tattoo. It’s a picture of a lion with a fox in it’s mouth. They boys asked what it meant, so he got to explain how the Lion represented God, Truth, and the fox was all things that are counterfeit of the truth, such as drugs, alcohol, hooking up with girls, etc. The boys all began to ask questions, which flung open the door for Marty and Erik to begin to talk to them about the love of God and how much better He is than all of this stuff in the world. As he spoke about God, he could watch as the boys were coming off of their high! (Amazing what the Holy Spirit can do!) He then felt like he was supposed to ask them if they wanted to experience the love of God right then. The main guy was like, “yeah man!” and of course made all his friends come over too. So Marty and Erik began to pray that the Holy Spirit would come so that these boys could feel the love of God. A few minutes later the boys looked up, huge smiles across their faces, and exclaiming, “woahh… I feel really good! That was crazy!” Marty and Erik got to pray for the guys, and were able to go back the next day to hang out with them and talk more about God and His amazing love!

How incredible is that!? These boys were able to experience first hand the joy of the Father over them, and how much He loves them. They were able to hang out with two guys, very close in age, who are radically committed to the Lord and His Kingdom. Jesus, you are so awesome!

In addition to this story, Lauren and I were able to sit down with the president of the high school for an hour (the Lord totally opened the doors) and talk about the value of each students destiny, the importance of family and community, and the necessity of mentorship in the students lives! We were also able to pray for the healing of a man who had pancreatic cancer. And I say “had” because I know in full faith that he was healed. The Holy Spirit was ALL over it. The $100 of groceries was given to 3 women who are living together with a baby under the age of 2 in a shack-type house. We were led their by God and able to pray with them and bless them with the food!

I’d say that through the entire week the primary things that I learned were that God is SO faithful and you can trust Him with anything. He is so committed to every single heart, and He will always provide for His children. (and yes, that means food! We also had free food for half of our meals! and I’m talking feasts!)

Why take a week to go on a faith journey? I legitimately want this to be the way I live the rest of my life: solely on the faithfulness of God.

Here is us with our free groceries! Who does this?! Only our God. =)

That the Lord may receive His Glory

It's hard to believe I'm already well into my second week of the School of Revival in Kona, Hawaii. It feels like just yesterday I embarked on this crazy adventure of intimacy and radical devotion to the Lord...

Class had kicked into full gear, and has already begun to blow my mind. This week we have a speaker from New Zealand names Aaron Walsh. Incredible lover of Jesus... The way this man uses the english language is impeccable. I think my entire 7 pages of notes (from only 2 days of class) consists of epic one-liners. I'll try to give you a short synopsis of the massive revelation I've received so far...

If I had to pick one theme that I was getting from his message, it would be that we all need a shift in perspective to grasp the concept that it's ALL for His glory. Nothing else. Our internal posture needs to be set on what is concrete and ultimate: heaven. This world is temporal and finite. So why do we behave as if the world has everything to offer? If our fundamental understanding is misaligned from Gods, then internal disturbances is unavoidable. The glory of God is God's primary goal, so why is it not ours? It's not out of vanity or for God to go on some ego-trip. It's simply because He is worthy! When the glory of God fills the earth, day and night worship will not need justification. It will be a necessary reaction to His worthiness!

Goodness... I know for myself it is so hard to fully understand just how worthy the Lord is. I say things like, "I mean, I really like the service but the worship just wasn't very good." and then I'm confronted with the realization that it simply isn't about me! We often go into worship with a mentality of what it will do for us. Make us feel better, maybe get some prayers answered, etc. But the reality is that worship is for God! It's because He is WORTHY! He is worthy of our praises, of our lives, of our money, of our time. He's worthy of it all! Because in eternal perspective, He is all that matters. It's as simple as that. and all of the longings inside of us, the supremacy of Jesus is the source of all of our longings! He's THAT good. All of the longings inside of our heart He put there. and He conveniently made Himself the answer to all of them. He is just that amazing...

Needles to say, I'm having an incredible time dwelling in the heart of the Lord. This is such an incredible season of being brought together with like minded people who have dedicated themselves to setting themselves to seek the face of the Lord first and foremost. To be radically consecrated to Him and love nothing more than His presence.

In regards to how you can be praying, I am in need of $5,500 in two weeks! So if you could please pray that finances will come, I would be so appreciative! I find out my outreach location this week, so when I do I will have to update this again to let you all know how you can be praying, etc! May God shower blessings upon you!

Madison

(If you are interested in partnering with what I am doing here and what I will be doing on outreach, please email me at madison.wooster@okstate.edu or on facebook! For financial contributions, PayPal Donation link is also on the top of this blog)