Heaven Come Down

I was sitting here for a few moments wondering what I should share with you guys, and my mind was going in so many places. There is plenty possible to share with you all! As I was praying, my mind was just all over the place. Probably a result of the fact that I haven't gotten a break at all today. The life and joys of ministry, oh but I love it! Anyways, as I was praying and figuring out what to write I was listening to a song called "Heaven Come Down" by Ascend the Hill (oh they are too good). At one point the song just repeats over and over again as an anthem "Heaven come down, heaven come down, fill this place." Oh man, my mind was just taken over by this anthem! It reflects so much of my prayer for this project! I want heaven to come down in Australia, to come down at the universities we are outreaching to, to come down into the hearts of our team members to give them strength and vision anew, and to come into my own heart. I want the spiritual world to be impressed upon my own line of sight. I don't want to be able to escape or ignore it. I want Heaven to reign down in fiery zeal. Now I know that the end times will come when God so chooses, and OH WHAT A GLORIOUS MOMENT THAT WILL BE! Quick tangent: I still remember being in Australia the first time around at a town called Daylesford. It was such a beautiful place, and such a great day with the LORD. I vividly remember what the sky looked like that day and how it looked like Heaven was gonna come down. One of my teammates (Jake) remarked that is was like the glory of the Lord COMING ON THE CLOUDS WITH FIRE! Oh so good! So I know God will choose the time, but it is so important for us to have the zeal of the spiritual world being impressed upon our hearts. I believed C.S. Lewis said something along the lines of: the men who will make the greatest impact for Christ in this world are the men who are so earnestly focused on the next. That is my prayer for this trip and I would ask that you join with me. Pray that Heaven Comes Down in all of those areas mentioned above.

This would be a good time to tell you a little about what has happened so far this week. On Sunday, me and Kelsey got to see two friends that we have made from previous trips in Australia, Tom and Jack. They brought some mates and we all got to go see a footy match together, and it was great! So much fun to hang out with Australians! It was so encouraging for me to remember I made that relationship on a Summer Project and there is so much opportunity for that to happen over the next few weeks. That night I gave a talk to my team about Loving the Lord and falling in love with Jesus. If you never have read it, I suggest a book to you called Blue Like Jazz, especially the last chapter of it. I get so pumped whenever I think about what a real relationship with Jesus entails, and how we have an opportunity to fall in love with our Creator and Saviour. When you love someone in a relationship, there are just certain things you do. You find out what offends them and stay as far away from that line as possible, you don't skirt as close as you can like we sometimes do with God. You find that person's boundaries and make certain to stay within them. You find what ways they are loved and try to do that as much as possible. You SPEND TIME WITH THEM. You laugh, cry, smile, and feel emotion. All of those are vital parts to our relationships with Jesus! The past two days on campus had their ups and downs. I love getting the chance to talk to Australians and try to share the gospel. Yet, it breaks my heart and is a discouragement every time they don't recognize its beauty. That sums up the conversations I have had over the past two days. No one got it. Yet, we loved people and shared the word with them. Successful evangelism entails leaving the results to God. Pray that I would be at peace with this.

These conversations can leave me with a sinful desire to put limits on God. I get frustrated and discouraged and want people to know Him. God has protected my heart against a lot of that this summer. Pray as a guard that He would continue to do so. I have limited God in my mind so many times in the process of this trip and every time He has come through. I never thought I could raise all the support to come back to Australia a second time, yet God helped me raise more than enough as Provider! There were many times when I felt like there was no way I could lead this trip, yet God is my Adequacy! And I knew how hard the soil is here, so I limited how effective God could be in my mind . . That was a dumb thought! God has already led five people to Christ (3 JUST TODAY!) through His usage of our team as instruments. Those are incredible stories to share. People will be joining us in eternity! Pray that I don't limit God, because doing so is just a bad decision. Pray for this team and for this ministry in Australia. None of this will happen without prayer! Much love to all of you!