Rush Week

So these next few blog posts are going to be about what has been happening in Emmaus and in my life these past few months. So keep that in mind while you read the next few :)

While I was still in the Philippines during my winter break our campus ministry, Emmaus, began our per semester event called Rush Week. It's basically a schedule of different events during the week such as shopping, dinner, and different hang out activities to get to know the new students for the semester. They actually started rush week before I got back, so I missed a few events to meet up with the new kids. But when I came home I immediately got on the rush week wheel and was looking forward to meeting a whole bunch of new people!

It was dinner that night at one of my favorite restaurants. I was so excited to see the staff and all of my friends from the past semester. I remembered looking around the room seeing so many new faces, and behind each face was a story that may have not been read before. Others might have torn beginnings that would rather not revisit, others could have had a good beginning, and middle; some might still have pages of hardships that they are still currently living. But one thing I was sure of, I knew that each of those books would have an incredible chapter that will change the turn of events in their lives.

They might have seem like normal college students wanting to find a place to eat with a bunch of people that night. No matter what their reason was, God knew what their journey was going to be like this coming semester. I feel like I was tempted to look at them at where they are and settle for what I saw in the natural. But I had to shift my way of thinking and know that God is more powerful than anything, any of these students are going through. I know that just like He broke through many things in my life my freshman year (and continuing to do so) He is the same God that can break through for everyone I saw at that restaurant.

So the next time I see someone going through a hard time, I shouldn't look at their current state but rather look at them through the eyes of the Father. Who knows what He can do in such a short period of time? :)

Streams of Living Water

For the past few weeks I have been getting visions of different sources of water over and over again. Two that stuck out in particular. The first one kept coming up constantly for the past few weeks. The vision began with a small cup then it poured water out into a bigger bowl then that bowl poured water out to a bigger bowl and the same thing occurred until the fourth bowl that eventually flowed into a river. I had no idea what this meant, but crazy enough God reminded me that Sarah Won (one of the Emmaus leaders) prayed a similar prayer over me about a year ago.

She prayed that I would ask God for a bigger bowl so that He can fill it. She said that He has more for me to experience, more that He wants to share. Back then I wasn't sure what all that was about, but now looking back it started making sense. God did take me from glory to ever increasing glory. But as for this semester I was still confused why I kept getting repetitive signs about rivers. 

Another vision I had was the gates of Heaven opening up and mighty wave flowing out of it. Even during our week long prayer meeting I kept getting visions of rivers. At first I thought that it was just God's way of telling me not to forget my theme verse for this year.

"All my springs are in you." Psalms 87:7b 

But that wasn't the only thing He was getting at.

When I first read this I took it as everything that gives me life is in Him. I knew that He was the source of my existence. All the life that flows out of me comes from Him. This verse was revealed to me before I came back to Korea to begin my Spring semester this year. I knew for a fact that amazing things are going to happen, but I just wasn't sure what this season was going to look like. So even before this chapter of my life was about to begin I knew seeing rivers were a huge part of it. I was also reminded that rivers symbolized the Holy Spirit. So just thinking about the overflow of the Holy Spirit on our campus would cause me to grin from ear to ear. I was just so excited to see what God was going to do!

 (I'll use the next few blogs writing out specific things God has done through this semester :) so get excited!)

All this made sense when Pastor Erin spoke at our Emmaus large group this week. At this point our campus ministry has just reached increasing levels of breakthrough and encounters with the Lord. In her sermon she asked "After the encounter, now what?" She got us thinking about what to do after such an amazing encounter. After getting blessed now what?

First she took us to John 4, the conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan woman. Now this is a story I heard many times before. I thought that her message would be the same about going to reach out to others etc...but I had no idea what was coming. After reading the story she explained that after the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus through the prophetic word He spoke to her about her husbands, then the woman ran back to her town testifying her encounter with the Lord (verse 28). 

Pastor Erin then explained that just like the Samaritan woman after  encountering Christ we have to go out and share what we were blessed with. We were made to share what we experienced with Christ. She says the truth is we are all thirsty for the encounter of God. That is what we all long for. She even said that we were created to share what we received. Then she goes on about bodies of water. This is where I got super excited! 

Apparently even after living by the dead sea for a good part of my middle and high school years I didn't know half of the things Pastor Erin informed us about that night. The dead sea is so salty that basically anything that tries to live in it will die. It is so salty that even as humans when we try to swim in it it's not possible to sink cuz we will just float to the top. The dead sea only became dead because all it does is receive from the source. It never gives, it just takes. When on the other hand when a body of water spreads and not just takes in the fresh water it will continue to be fresh. This fact of nature is a parallel to our Spiritual lives as well. When we encounter the love of God, if all we do is receive we are slowly turning into the dead sea, but when we share what we personally experience with others streams are flowing out of us into another. And in Ezekiel 47 it says that "where the river flows everything will live. When we share our testimony, or experience with the Lord, it is guaranteed that dead hearts will be brought to life. There are rivers of living water inside everyone of us that is waiting to flow out. God created you to share what you have gotten. There is no need to fear sharing with others what you have encountered because even if they seem like they were blessed or not tasting a bit of the water in you is quenching the thirst they have in them. 

Pastor Erin also said that when Jesus looked at that Samaritan woman He didn't just see her, He saw the whole town that she was going to share her encounter with and allow them to experience Him just like she did. Just like Christ looks at us, He doesn't just see us, he sees a group of friends, an entire class, a university campus...a whole nation. 

I was blown away by the end of the sermon and I found that all this time I was keeping myself from sharing different aspects of my life that is a testimony of how faithful He has been to me. Even from the beginning of the semester God was showing me that I already had everything I needed to enter this season. I had things inside of me that will quench the thirst the lost is seeking for. At that moment I knew that I needed to flow out. I needed to share how amazing He is in my life. 

Just like the vision I had of the bowls, where it started with just a cup flowing out. All it takes is one person sharing to fill up the next bowl. And when more people come together pouring out it fills up a bigger bowl, and before you know it it fill up a whole river. 

So what are you waiting for? It's time to pour out. :)

A New Dispensation

I feel like no matter where I go or no matter what I do I am walking in a new Dispensation! I see everything around me so clearly, I don't feel right about doing some of the things I used to do, I even felt different about the clothes I had in my closet. Everything feels SO new! After hearing bomb revelations at last weekend's church retreat, I truly believe that I am walking in a new level. I can't go back to my old way of thinking even it I tired. The thoughts of not feeling loved, or thinking that I don't belong feels like thoughts of years back. I can't believe how much a weekend can change one person.

A few weeks back I remembered feeling like I was in a weird state. I couldn't feel or talk to God like I used to. I would only hear His voice from time to time and it wasn't even as clearly as before. I thought something was so wrong with me. I thought I had to keep doing more quiet times or pray more often, but then I had to remember that my identity wasn't based on performance. My purpose in life was just to be loved by God. I knew all that, but why was I still feeling like I wasn't getting the messages at my church to heart. "What was wrong with me?!" was the constant cries I had in my head. For a whole month of being a Student Leader for our campus ministry, I just felt so weird. When I talked to people I felt like I was just doing the same thing over and over again and saw no fruit. It was awesome to see how God started working so incredibly in the campus ministry itself, but for me I honestly didn't feel anything.

It wasn't until Pastor Erin spoke at our campus ministry that just broke that mindset off of me. She talked about how usually when we are in a a funk that is usually because we are breaking through another level. We might feel like we are going through a shaking, but the truth is we are about to go into a new level! She continued with using the image of an airplane and how it goes through turbulence right before entering a level then comes peace. She says when turbulence happens the best thing to do is to actually speed up rather than slow down. Because if you slow down only two things can happen. a)the plane will crash or b) it can only go for so long in that certain speed. Then she connected it with our Spiritual walk. She said that when we are experience a shaking in our lives the answer is not to back out of church or people, but to speed up and keep running after God, then we will experience that new level. 

Right when she said that something broke off of me. Suddenly everything I have been feeling since the beginning of the semester started to make sense. God is taking me to a new level. A level of intimacy with Him that I have never experienced before. He is going to use me in ways I have never seen before. It didn't matter if I didn't feel it, because it's already there. Then I began to realize that there was a reason why I was the only one out of the other student leaders that was able to go on that retreat with some of the church people to minister to middle/ high school kids. Or why I was lead to talk to many girls about my passions, or why I kept getting prophecies about that particular aspect of my life. I felt like all the random puzzle pieces I got from God were starting to show the big picture. 

It was only a glimpse, but with the amazing things He constantly does in my life every day, it's impossible to think that there won't be any more.

So if you are going through a shaking or trying time in your life, just remember that you are about to break through a new level! He wants to increase you in a way you have never felt before! So just continue to seek Him in all that you do, and you will reap peace beyond you own understanding. :)

A New Season

It's spring here in the beautiful peninsula of Seoul, Korea. As pink cherry blossoms bloom and the weather warms down, I am beginning to realize that my my spiritual growth is also flourishing. I know it's been awhile since I last posted my last blog post, but I believe it was a season in where God also used to grow me to where I am today. I feel like that time was used to just grow closer to Him so that when I am put in higher places I cannot be shaken. Just take my word for it when I say that last semester was amazing!! I feel like those were my first baby steps in certain aspects of my growth that was key to this coming season in my life. 

As for this season God has been teaching me things that I never saw before. I feel like I walk around and see the world a lot differently than I used to this year. It seems like the battles of the past such are no longer the battles I face. I'm starting to feel that this season is going to be an amazing and a pivotal point in my life. I am walking with a different mindset in everyday life and no longer sink into petty lies of the enemy. After entering the covering of my church I began walking as a son and my mindset of Christianity shifted dramatically that I began to see things in a whole new light. 

I know I'm starting to sound pretty general, so here's an analogy. It's like all my life I have been walking this walk trying to do and say the right things, knowing that my performance and how I viewed morality was costly to my relationship with God. But after coming into Sonship, then I truly understood what Christianity meant. It was like I always had this blind fold covering my eyes this whole time. I could still see the light, but I couldn't see things around me clearly. But now I feel like that blind fold has been stripped off me and His light shines allowing me to view life with 20-20 vision! 

I am so excited to see what God is doing at this place at this hour!! Only from Glory to Glory!

I'm officially reopening my blog! What is happening in this city can't be hidden under a bowl! But may we RISE AND SHINE!