Happy Birthday Jesus

This painting of Jesus makes me smile :)

We don't know when Jesus' real birthday is...but today is to celebrate the birth of the messiah Yeshua! 

May the Lamb who was slain receive his reward from his suffering.

Surrender

I surrender all, all to You my king. All of my wishes and desires, I surrender all to You. All of my hopes and dreams, I surrender all to You. All of my fears and failures, I surrender all to You. You want my undivided heart and attention, I surrender all to You. 

First Flight

I have been itching all week to write about a particular childhood experience, so here it goes ^-^


      When I look back into my childhood, I am pleasantly surprised to realize how God had opened my eyes to see some of the mysteries of life. Such as a bird's first flight. When I was young, around 7-8 years old, I came back home with my sister from school. It was just an ordinary day, but to our surprise, we saw a baby bird in a makeshift cage in the living room. It looked weak and frazzled, barely alive. I've noticed that its leg was injured, blood was seeping from the gash. My grandmother came into the room and told us she was outside of our backyard making kimchi. She said she suddenly saw something fall into our bean-shaped swimming pool. It was a poor baby sparrow. She explained how the baby sparrow was trying to fly, but fell. She then grabbed the skimmer net to save the sparrow from drowning, and cupped it into her hands. It bit her as hard as its little beak could (poor Grandma). She then cut an aloe vera leaf and placed some of the goo onto the sparrow's wound, hoping that it will heal.


     I remember looking at the sparrow, it was frantically chirping, not knowing where it was, probably looking for its mommy or daddy. Day by day, my sister and I would get our fly swatters to catch flies and feed them to the sparrow. A great source of protein! ;p Yummy. It would happily eat it and chirp for more..little Sparrow's favorite food! We gained the sparrow's trust as we would feed it and take care of its wound. Every day, the sparrow's mother would perch by our windowsill, waiting for its little one to return to her. Because of this, we placed Little Sparrow's cage by the window. The mother would not miss a day, she would wait and wait. She would chirp and cry for her baby. At times, she would wait for hours. I would walk up to the window to look at the bird, only inches away from the bird, there was just the glass between us. The mom would at times feel threatened and fly away, but it would always come back and wait. We couldn't let the sparrow go just yet, its wound was not fully healed. My grandma would let the sparrow out of its cage to roam around the house at least once a day. The sparrow would always try to fly, it would flap its wings as hard as it could. It only gained 1-2 feet of air, and would grow tired and give up.


     After two to three weeks, the sparrow's wound had fully healed, which was a miracle in itself. My grandmother knew it was time to release the sparrow back into the wild. So she placed the baby sparrow by the windowsill where the mama would wait. A couple minutes later, the mama sparrow flew and perched next to the baby. They looked so happy! They were chirping at each other, and in a matter of seconds, they both flew together. My sister, grandma, and I were stunned. The little sparrow flew! I remember seeing the little sparrow soar and glide through the sky with ease. Before, it would try so hard to flap its wings as fast as it could and still not go anywhere.


The Lord has recently shown me a message behind this experience, such as God's unconditional love. He will never leave or forsake His children (Hebrews 13:5). Also, we don't have to try so hard, but rather, just be.


 When we fall, we get back up. We jump and that is when we fly. 


Lord, teach me how to fly! Amen.

Azusa City of Miracles

The church has experienced many revivals, renewals, and reformation movements, over the past 2,000 years. One of the greatest was the Azusa Street Revival of 1906 in Los Angeles, which resulted in supernatural explosions that shook the world and ignited powerful changes in the way Christianity had been manifested in throughout the world. 


The Azusa Street Revival was attributed to many different people. The name "Azusa" was actually referred to "blessed miracle". There is a good possibility that the seeds of this revival were planted 137 years earlier through a young Indian girl named Coma Lee. According to Rick Joyner in his book "The Fire That Could Not Die," pg. 92-93, this was noted by Father Juan Crespi in 1769 while on the Portola Expedition in California. At that time, the now present day city of Azusa referred to a place of an old Indian village south of  Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Canyon. Today, not many people know of the history of the city of Azusa. The popular belief of the origins of the name is that "California has everthing from A-Z" or "A-Z USA". However, little do they know that Azusa was a young Indian who was powerfully gifted with healing by the power of the Holy Spirit.


It was in that Indian village that Coma Lee prayed and fasted for the healing of her people, and was gifted with supernatural healing power. After she prayed for a chief who was miraculously healed, the chief named her "Azusa" which means "blessed miracle". She was known in Southern California, and people would say, 

"Go to Azusa to be healed... go to Azusa"

It was her prayers and her desperation for God to move in a miraculous way among her people that God graced her with the gift to heal the sick. Before Coma Lee passed away, she wished to see revival fire come to the city of Azusa and Southern California.


The seeds of faith and love, prompted by the humility of this young girl, were planted in the soil of those Indian tribes. Could this have been the humble beginnings of the great Azusa Street Revival in 1906 that spread around the world almost four generations later? 


In a small store front in Azusa, there are youth who know the story of Coma Lee and are fasting and praying for the healing of God's people in Azusa. They are praying that this city may not only carry the name "Azusa", but in reality, be known around the world as the City of Miracles where the fire and miracle-working power of God dwells and where they can come for the healing of their hearts and bodies.


Lord, I pray for an awakening greater than what man has ever perceived or dreamed of. I thank you for the great heritage of prayer that Azusa has. Bring healing to our land and set our hearts on fire for You. May this city be known as, "Azusa-The City of Miracles". Raise up more Coma Lees who will intercede for her city. In Jesus' mighty name, Amen. 

This article was written by my friend Linda Kirby. She gave me permission to post her article on my blog and to do whatever I want with it! Thank you Linda so much!

Reflections

I am now into the 4th week of my sophomore year at Azusa Pacific University. This year has been a trip. God has been moving rapidly, I don't know where to even begin! First of all, I am eternally grateful for all the people God has placed in my life. He has been reminding me that I am not running this LIFE marathon alone :) Let's carry the torch to the finish line and end strong, together. You know who you people are! By the grace of God, I have been blessed with awesome spiritual mothers and fathers who have poured into my life. I thank you for all and I love you so much!

I can go on and on about what God has been doing, but I am afraid that this blog post will become a book. Which reminds me, I need to finish reading "The Purple Pig" book by Dick Eastman before I go to the tour...so much is going on, but life is an adventure with my friend, Holy Spirit :) 

I am happy to say that I have definitely grown to find my identity, which is found in Christ Jesus. It has been a year filled with blessings, joy, love, and memories. It has also been a year of wilderness and desert season, but despite all the hardship and blessings, despite all of this, it has led me to truly realize that:

I am a bride of Christ. 

I am a bold warrior for Christ. 

I know that I am an instrument of Christ.

I know that I am a honey-mouth for Christ.

I know that I am a beautiful daughter of Christ.

Reflecting on the beginning of this year,  I've realized that I made many mistakes and have countless failures in my life. Especially when God revived me right before my freshman year at APU started. I was a naive girl on fire for God, with little spiritual direction. I apologize for all of my foolish actions towards anyone in the past or handled certain issues in an incorrect manner. I thank the Lord for immediately providing me the guidance from my spiritual mothers and fathers :)

With that being said, I am now more confident in myself because I am confident in Him. I am learning more about His love. Sure, I know that I have SO much more to learn... it's as if I am having another "coming of age" moment, and I am strangely excited to see what the Lord has in store!

Love,

Michelle

A Revelation of Barley

I thought that I was going to epically have one blog post about the "Bride of Christ" on my blog, but I guess God has been pressing on my heart to write about barley. The biblical significance of barley is not something we read into. Let's be honest...it's a kinda random! The Lord has been consistently showing me images of fields of barley being harvested beginning from last year. At one point, I saw "golden barley". I am not sure how I am certain that it is barley and not wheat (because they look almost identical), but I knew that it was barley. Barley, barley, barley, I absolutely did not have a clue what this meant. It got to the point where I grew in frustration, I started to ask people around me what the biblical significance of barley is, but they had no clue. I turned to the Word, and there I read about Ruth and barley and the story about Jesus multiplying the 5 barley loaves and fish to feed a multitude of people. However, I was still clueless, until I finally did some research. I came across an awesome site delivering a thorough explanation of barley. I'll be reiterating and quoting some of the things that stuck out to me.

Simple Truths about Barley

• Barley is sown in November and harvested in April
• It is the first grain to ripen by Spring
• Fields of barley give hope and shows God's faithfulness in each new year's crops
• It shows a new sign of life in the Spring
• Barley was cheap, and easily accessible to everyone
• It resists disease, and is not eaten by worms, bugs, mold and fungi.

God's Special "Barley People"

The writer talks about how there are "three types of disciples".

 "This brought forth another idea: it is easy to see for

ourselves that among professing Christians there are several
distinct levels of commitment to discipleship. As one pastor
said, there are curious disciples, convicted disciples, and
committed disciples. I can see how these types can be compared to
various grains. For example. let's take rye first and compare it
to being a curious disciple. This type of 'inferior wheat,' as it
is often called, is not the find that is in great demand. It is
easily threshed, but it comes to harvest later than the other
grains, for it requires all of the 'latter rains' in order to
mature.
     Then there is wheat - the grain that is called the staff of
life. It is always threshed and ground before it can be best
used. It can take being whipped, flailed, and tossed about
without damage. It is even ground by being bruised, crushed and
reduced to powder. The wheat people make up the greater portion
of the consumed grain. They represent the convicted disciples who
are the real backbone of Christianity.
     Now comes the best for last. God has a small group of barley
people, I believe, who truly are the committed ones. Exodus 21:5
describes these bondslaves as those who love their master so much
that they want to become a volunteer permanent slave. They are
the ones who only require winnowing - being fanned, as opposed to
beaten, by a current of air to separate the chaff from the grain.
These barley people just need to be exposed to the wind of the
Holy Spirit to have the waste material fall off and be blown
away. No heavy bruising, repeated striking or grinding as in the
case of the other grains.
     The barley people have always shown superior character
qualities. They too thrive in cold climates, unfriendly
circumstances, without lots of rain, and they resist the
conditions of disease and filth in their environment. They want
to be pure, holy, righteous - yes, even perfect as is their
heavenly Father......"

Barley as Firstfruits

People considered barley as the firstfruit, as it is the first grain to ripen. During The Feast of the Passover, people offered barley as a sacrifice, because it passed as a sacrifice that is "without spot or stain". Quite literally, barley is perfectly designed to last, and not perish under harsh climates, and will not be eaten by worm or bug. It is designed to have a "near-perfect balance among nutrients". 

Remember, I reiterated the things that stuck out to me..I can't give this article any justice. I encourage you to read the whole article online. Lord, let us flow with the winds of your Spirit. Father, send us out! Let us be the Barley Generation. Amen.

Red Poppies growing in a barley field

Source: http://www.keithhunt.com/bhp.html

"All articles and studies by Keith Hunt may be copied, published,

e-mailed, and distributed as led by the Spirit. Mr. Hunt trusts
nothing will be changed (except for spelling and punctuation
errors) without his consent."


woo hoo!! Thank you Mr. Hunt. I won't have any trouble with 

copyright infringement :)

"The Excellencies of Christ" and The Shekinah Glory

Hello there, So this is my first blog post...and guess what? I am going to write about Jesus :D A couple weeks ago, I came back from IHOP in Kansas City, MO. It was completely God and entirely nuts. It was a divine setup from our God on High. I've been praying to go to IHOP for awhile, and God answered this prayer by paying for my expenses-free airfare and all! I bought this book at the Forerunner Bookstore in IHOP called, "Excellencies of Christ" by Allen Hood, who is the director of the Forerunner School of Ministry. This book focuses on the "delight of delights-His Son". Moments ago, I read through some of the introduction of the book. It talks about how many of the churches today do not place Jesus as their main focus, but God will soon change that by revealing His Son's glory. Jesus is coming back! He is coming back for his bride, the church. Yes, we are his bride, we are his reward. What an honor it is to be his wife.

Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known you that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:24-26)

The whole world will see the manifest presence, the shekinah glory of God. What does shekinah glory mean? The word shekinah is actually not written in the scriptures, but was coined by Jewish rabbis refering to the divine visitation and prescence of God on earth. It literally translates to "he caused to dwell," and expresses the "Very Presence of God". An example of the shekinah glory of God was when He had rested in the tabernacle amongst His people, when He had filled his presence in the holy of holies and when He had revealed Himself in the form of a fiery cloud in Exodus. That's shekinah glory.

I can imagine the glory of Jesus, as he comes back as a warrior.

His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns...Revelation 20:12

Jesus is coming back for His bride, a spotless and beautiful bride.

The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!". Revelation 22:17

When is He coming?

He who testifies to these things says,

" Yes, I am coming soon."

Revelation 22:20

What shall we (the bride) do while we wait for His second coming?

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear." Revelation 19:7-8

He loves us sooooo much!