my passions.

cultivating a heart of hunger.

in the last two years i can honestly say that God has granted me with a grace to seek Him like never before. 
my heart has burned with an intensity and a rest that only our Heavenly father can give us.
and its all because i tasted of His love and kept asking for more.

if you want more of God, ask for it. 

He has already established His word and in it He states multiple times that He will FILL the hungry with GOOD things. 

“For He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” psalms 107:9

we do not become hungry for God because He withholds things from us, We hunger for God because we have tasted and seen of His goodness and will not settle in complacency. 

we were not created for complacency. His river will NEVER run dry. 

john 7:37 
“if anyone is thirsty let him come to me and drink. whoever believes in me as the scripure has said streams of living water will flow from within him.”

your heart was created to YEARN for the presence of God. 

So some practical tools we have to cultivate a heart of hunger are this.

1.Ask

Papa is always excited when we ask Him to take us deeper in an area because we are actually opening the door for Him to come and show us something.

He will always be the source. YES we can CHOOSE to endure through hard times and we can make a covenant with Him to dedicate our lives to an intimate relationship that is sustained through the secret place, but HE will always be the source. i can not boast in the level of intimacy i am walking in….but i can give Him extravagant worship for leading me there.

HE IS OUR SHEPHERD. 

Matthew 7:7 is a pretty popular verse and one of my favorites. 

“ask and it will be given to you, seek and you WILL find, knock and the door WILL be opened.” 

that verse is literally saturated in promise. 

and since faithfulness is apart of God identity you have permission to ask for more of Him. 

2. Walk In Reality.

what is a reality you ask? 

it is a FACT. a unchangeable attribute of God that cannot be shaken.

in exodus 3:14 God labels Himself as I AM

He is the GREAT 

I AM FAITHFUL

I AM HEALER

I AM LOVE

I AM DELIVERER

I AM YOUR FRIEND

I AM GOOD.

ect. ect. ect.

you get the picture….. ask God to reveal any part of His nature that you arnt fully walking in FULL FAITH. 

and whats really cool about the realities of God is once you encounter one reality of God it releases something in the spiritual realm that increases your faith for EVERY OTHER REALITY IN HIM.

ex: when you see somewhere healed by the power of God it releases faith into the person that just received the healing and then opens the door for LOVE to come…. after someone is Healed its always good to ask Papa what He has for them because an ENCOUNTER with one reality of GOD releases an assurance of Faith for every attribute of Gods character. 
 
HE IS GOOD.

hebrews 11 “now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.”

remember. “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” revelation 19:10

your history with God and your personal testimony of His goodness can carry you through whatever hardship or trial you are going through because of this.

WHATEVER YOU HAVE ALREADY ENCOUNTERED IS JUST A TASTE OF WHAT IS TO COME.

YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. there is an ENDLESS supply of His goodness. 

3.Humility

Humility and hunger go hand in hand….

because the lower you go…. the higher you go. 

the more you give…. the more He gives…

so when you are in a awesome season of increase in your relationship with God remember that what you are operating in is all because HE has given you a grace to do so…..

PRAY FOR HUMILITY.

seriously pray for it… it might be dangerous but its WORTH it. 
spiritual pride is not worth knowing it all. I NEVER WANT TO KNOW IT ALL BECAUSE I WANT TO ALWAYS BE DEPENDENT ON HIS VOICE AND HIS TIMING. 


bob sorge says this in “secretes of the secret place”

“He dignifies us that we might have something to lay before Him in humility and devotion.” 

“he opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” james 4:6

the most effective prayer you can pray is this: “God give me a grace to love you more.”
in that you will become more humble and He will increase the capacity of your Heart like  NEVER BEFORE.

4. Keep it personal.

in your pursuit of God remember…. its YOUR pursuit of God
its YOUR history with Him. do not become weary in well doing….His timing is perfect

you will grow in what He gives you a grace to grow in dont focus on other peoples anointing…. just get to know Him all the anointing you need is found in the oil of intimacy. 

matthew 7:22 “many will say to me on that day, Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform miracles.” then i will tell them plainly i never knew you away from me you evil doers”

so here is the only agenda you are allowed to have in your pursuit of more. 
GET TO KNOW HIM. 




 

endurance.

i woke up and had endurance on my mind and this came to me. 

what you sow in endurance you will reap in encounters. 

i guess its been in the past year and a half that i have really just decided to PURSUE the secret place and partake in the PRIVILEGE of knowing Christ intimately, and have learned this, a guy recently came to my church and spoke on the difference between devotion and commitment…. He said when your committed to something you HAVE to do it, but when you are devoted to something you WANT to do it out of Love…. and when you make a devote yourself to going deeper on a daily basis…. if you dont already have a intimate relationship with Christ i encourage you to do so…. the fruit of a deep relationship with Jesus is not worth missing out on.  
in my pursuit i have found this…. its not always easy.

i will however say there is GRACE to do His will. 
i cant tell you how many time i would be exhausted but He would give me strength to seek Him and to read His word. 

i guess in the past couple of weeks in my alone time with Papa i realized that i wasn’t really encountering His presence like i usually do… and i didnt really understand and i dont believe the theology that God is just not in the mood to love on us… He is always speaking. He is always Loving. He can not deny himself. 

but even in the midst of not getting the feelings i usually get, i still choose to Love Him with all of my heart…..and GUESS WHAT!? the past couple of days have been SUCH sweet times in His presence… His voice has been clear and His love just keeps taking me deeper. ITS SO GOOD.

DONT GIVE UP, one of my favorite verses… EVER is matthew 7:7 “ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you shall find, knock and SURELY the door will be opened” 

Jesus said that! He actually made a promise that if we SEEK him we will FIND him.
THATS INCREDIBLE! He is faithful to His word….and He not only intends on fulfilling His promise… HE has actually already made the plans and is already doing behind the scenes work to GET YOU TO YOUR PROMISE.

there is so much power in saying yes. 
on a daily basis, no matter how you feel, no matter what your circumstances look like, no matter how long of a day its been. just say YES.

James 1:2-4 says “Dear brothers and sisters when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So Let it grow for when your endurance is fully developed you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”

there will be no lack in your pursuit….and even when its hard PRESS on…. for the measure of His presence that you align yourself with just by saying YES daily is one of the most incredible things you GET to experience. 

okay so this passage from romans might wreck you. 

romans 5:3-6

“we can rejoice, too when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops stength of character
and character streghtens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how DEARL god Love us, because He has given us the Holy Spirt to FILL our hearts with His love.”

i had to read that a few times. 

endurance releases strength which leads us to character and because of that we will have a STRONG HOPE that will never dissatisfy our thirst and will always fill us with Love. 

HOPE is a big deal, when you understand the Hope we have in Him you wont think to just quit….you wont give it a second thought because you KNOW He is good, and wants to lavish His Love on His kids 24/7

let go of everything and FIX YOUR EYES ON HIM. 
He is the most beautiful thing you will EVER BEHOLD. 

and you will because as His child you become a 

beholder of His beauty
Hearer of His Voice
a recipient of His Love

in this past season phillipians 3:8 has become my anthem. 
“yes everything elses is worthless when compared with the infinite value in knowing christ Jesus my Lord, for His sake i have discarded everything else, count it it all as garbage that i may gain Christ and become ONE with Him.”

He is so worth it, Nothing Else Matters…. and its out of this revelation that you can pursue Him at all costs…. the days you spend preparing are worth the promise. 
i dont know about you but i want to know Him more, i want His eyes to become my eyes, I want His voice to be the only thing I hear , I want my Heart and His heart beating in perfect sync. 

Here is a song that goes REAL well with this blog. 

“i will climb this mountain, with my hands wide open”



so do it. keep running. 


 

joy that doesn’t make sense.

God is Good.

the reality of that statement is something that I just cant get over.
 
to be real with you guys the last 7 months of my life have been pretty lonely.
i went from being surrounded 24/7 by a group of friends who are all radically in love with Jesus and pushed me to be greater… to coming back home and not having the community i desired. 

but here is the beauty of this: i was never alone
we know that He is faithful to confirm His promises in every season. 
in deut. 31:6 it says “Be strong and courageous do not be afraid because of them, for the LORD your God is with you; He will NEVER leave you or forsake you.”

in reality i had the opportunity to fall into depression 
for 3 months i didnt have a job and i and i was home allllllll the time.
my circumstance of isolation could of easily stole my joy.  
but because He is SO GOOD. 

i didnt. 
in fact i didnt even realize that i was lonely….because i wasn’t!
i realized that i have an entire year to devote my life to going deeper in intimacy with Papa before I move to redding to attend BSSM
choose intimacy and you will reap joy. 

God literally works all things together for the GOOD of those who LOVE Him. (Romans 8:28)
Depression is not an option when intimacy is your priority 

i think that a lack of joy has alot to do with fear and worry. 
but in this season i have held on to the reality of 1 john 4:18 “there in no fear in love, for perfect love casts out all fear” 
because He loves me, i am fearless.

i was spending time with Papa one day and i remember writing in my journal… the joy i have doesnt even make sense….and that is the beauty of the FRUIT of the spirit. 
if you are lacking in joy and you feel lonely…. just go ahead and fall in love with Him…. going deeper is the cure to insecurity.

joy is something you can choose. 
its the whole idea that i hear married people talk about all the time, you have to choose to stay in love. we can choose joy…. just get in his presence… 
in His presence there is FULLNESS of JOY. (psalms 16:11)

can i just say that there is GRACE to do His will…. He brought me home for a year to go DEEPER….and to consecrate myself to intimacy even when it gets hard….
because its WORTH IT, HE IS WORTH EVERYTHING. 
He consumes the sacrifice….and i promise you give your life to him completely choose to trust Him completely and you will live a life full of joy

did i mention Joy is rooted in intimacy? 
i cant stress this enough…. i owe everything i have now to His love and the encounters that i get to have with Papa God every day. 

oh and just so you know its not God will for you to be lonely… being around burning friends will have such a HUGE impact on your life and one day i was praying that the Lord would surround me with burning ones. AND HE DID. because HE IS FAITHFUL.

im done for now but here are some verses that keep popping in my head. 

2 corinthians 12:9

 all of galations 5
all of ephesians 2







 

Reflecting Intimacy.

just a portion of my thoughts on the very subject that has the power to change the church.

I have been thinking a lot, mainly over the last year about just the things I want to be known for and the kind of legacy I want to leave behind, and from a few encounters with some amazing people AND some encounters with God have really just led me to this desire: I want to be known as one who emanates LOVE for God.

You know that person who you meet and you literally feel the Love they carry just when you are around them… that’s what I desire. I have been in this incredible season of just FACE TO FACE time with Jesus and its been the most incredible thing that has happened to my life. LITERALLY. I did a year at the amazing Christ For The Nations Institute last year and it was life changing, and by life changing I mean it actually changed my life, before that I grew up with an passion for God but I never understand the reality of who He was in my life. I was an orphan, but because He is the best Dad in the whole world…. He soon brought me to a revelation that I had heard before but never understood it. IT was from this intimate encounter with God I really began to change… The fears that I HELD onto had to leave….

I like to say this:  At one point your Hunger for God HAS to surpass your IDEA of who He is.  It was not that I did not understand who He was… If you are longing for More of God…. If your longing for a deeper relationship with Him… just START.  As funny as it may sound I like to say this…. Encounters with Holy Spirit are like Pringles once you have one… YOU CANT STOP

in hebrews 12 it says this Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. GUESS WHAT!? WE ARE THAT JOY.

From the beginning of time He has DESIRED our GAZE. Here is a little reminder. The cross did not only REMOVE our sin…. IT TORE THE VEIL. We have NO excuse to not partake in intimacy… He is calling you. Can you hear him? I mean you should be able to because its apart of our inheritance ( His sheep will hear His voice)…its something the cross ALREADY DID… if you feel like you have a major lack of joy in your life… remember that He already calls us His Joy… im telling you that intimacy with God is the root of Joy… A life that is founded upon intimacy will be a life that is FULL of Joy…. The reason im writing this in the first place is because 1. Its my favorite topic and 2. The Lord told me to a while ago and I just finally got around to doing it. 

Awhile ago I had been thinking about the places where God has poured out His Spirit in just amazing ways…. And I asked Him… “Papa how did they get to that place.. What was it that brought them to such an outpouring….” and He said They devoted themselves to the secret place.  REVIVAL IS ROOTED IN INTIMACY, without intimacy it will not be sustained.

I remember last year when God poured out Holy Spirit in a new way at CFNI it was such an amazing time which I am VERY Thankful for…. We were praying for such a thing to come! That entire year I was asking and praying for revival at my school and just through many times of seeking the Lord I knew that it would not come until hearts were drawn to the secret place.. and IT HAPPENED.  I remember one night eddie james came to lead worship and one of His songs was releasing this very reality the lyrics were this  “ I wanna be a laid down lover… a lovesick warrior” and I remember just being so moved by His sweet sweet presence and i looked around at one point on everyone in the room was on their face and i KNEW then that revival would come…and when it did come it was such a testimony of Gods faithfulness. 

When we choose to focus on intimacy instead of just unworthiness we align ourselves to receive what He has for His kids. WE ARE NOT HIS SLAVES.  im pretty sure God is sick of hearing how unworthy we think we are…. HE WANTS OUR HEARTS… HE WANTS OUR AFFECTION….. if the bride would actually SPEND TIME with the groom there would be a massive amount of change in the church…. Because when you have a history with God…. You cannot deny His realities…. History with God is GOOD soil for having confidence in the supernatural.  He no longer is held in a box of fear and control but He is GIVEN space to do what He wants….

In any relationship selfishness and control only lead to the discengration of trust in that relationship, and if you don’t trust God how can He trust you with the fullness of what He has planned for you… because your calling is an adventure and there are going to be some times where you have to be so abandoned to His will that you are way less concerned with the destination and way more concerned with the multiple amounts of saying “YES” to get there. In your pursuit of developing a relationship with God keep this in mind.
Don’t strive for intimacy, just BE intimate.  I think a lot of times we resort to just praying until we are blue in the face or putting on our favorite song in order to come up with some sort of way to be “Intimate” when really that is striving…and because we are His kids… he would much rather us rest and be confident in our relationship with Him.

Here is something that might just blow you mind…. In 1 John 4 it says this “ God is Love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” Im sure your thinking wow ive never heard that verse before…..but let me paraphrase it and shed some light on the reality of what its saying. “God is LOVE, whoever devotes their lives to the secret place will be WALKING ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD. The love that they carry together will be unable to be bound to fear and will heal sickness with their shadow…” That’s what came to my mind just now but I could paraphrase that many different times with many different situations that INTIMACY will bring you to…. If you feel out of alignment… get on your face…it is the one thing that

Don’t be afraid to ask…. One of my favorite scriptures is from Matthew 7:7 “it says ask and surely it will be given, seek and you shall find, knock and surely the door will be opened” I don’t know about you but I want MORE of God… I want more of His consuming fire burning in my heart and oozing out of my soul…. (I know oozing is a weird word for some people….but its what it feels like when you are consumed with such an overwhelming love.”  Think about it this way if you were to get a really bad cut you would be gushing blood…. I know that’s a nasty picture…but if somewhere were to cut me open… I would want to be gushing love… we sing this song at my church and the bridge says this “ I wanna breathe I Love you, I wanna sound like a river of praise. “ THAT’S MY HEART CRY…. I want the river of God to flood-out from within me.

in 1 john 5 it says this: “ this is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us whatever we ask- we know that we have what we asked of him…..”

THAT IS SO GOOD.
just in case you were wondering it is HIS WILL for you to KNOW him….it is HIS will for you to hear His voice and partake in the pleasure of intimacy…..

in psalms 107:9 it says “ He satisfies the thirsty and FILLS the hungry with good things.”
in your pursuit of the MORE of God….do not be worried that you will become crazy of demon possessed or something crazy…..sure even in the bible the religious people that the disciples were demon possessed…..but here is something I believe. IF YOU ASK FOR MORE OF GOD, HE WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO BE POSSED BY  EVIL SPIRITS… His word promises us that He will FILL US WITH GOOD THINGS, and for me I want to be overflowing 100% of the time….
and that’s what this blog is all about… being so consumed with His eyes of fire…. That the people around me can not help but burn.

 

activating sonship.

this year has been a journey.from someone with an orphan mindset to someone who understands what it means to be a son of God.and with that simple revelation: everything changed.the reason im writing this right now is because today i noticed something, or in better terms God showed me where it all started. it all starts when you become completely abandoned to the Holy Spirit. when we come to the reality that the Holy Spirit is not just an idea but its actually real and it lives inside of us, as it also did with Jesus.in matthew 3:16-17Jesus is baptized by a reluctant John the baptist, {he didn’t understand why the son of God needed to be baptized} but Jesus said “it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness”he understood that what was about to happen was key to the future sons and daughters of God to live righteously.its kind of like this when you order a debit card, and it comes in the mail you have to activate it before you can use it. i could go weeks having it in my wallet but if i tried to use it without activating it it wouldn’t go through, the funds might be there but if i dont activate what is already mine then im not going to be able to use what is properly mine than my “inheritance.” It like that in the kingdom. God has always been our Heavenly Father, we have always been Sons and Daughters of the Most High, but it wasn’t until we had some sort of encounter that led us to a deeper revelation and an awareness of who he is and who we are in him.so back to the story in matthew after Jesus replies to john the baptist. this is what it says. ” as soon as Jesus was baptized he went up out of the water, at that moment heaven was opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him, and a voice form heaven said “This is my son, whom i love; with him i am well pleased” THERE IS SO MUCH DEPTH IN THIS VERSE.Jesus was always the Son of God and he modeled out so much more in the bible than we even tend to give him credit for, in this case he gave us the key to righteousness: sonship, again we have always had it but when we are “baptized”  or have an encounter with the Holy Spirit that fuels our destiny. WE now understand who we are. its time to stop living like the very thing we are called to is an option, and start living for it.  i looked up the definition of activation and on the website it listed the synonyms for the word and the first word on the list was indweller, and this is what the website said.indweller: to inhabit or reside in such a spirit force or principle.i thought this was pretty great because the thing that activates sonship and righteousness is a greater revelation of the power that dwells inside of us. remember Jesus did not perform miracles until after his baptism, when he was baptized the holy spirit came upon him, AKA he received POWER and guess what? we have that exact power living in us, thats why He told us we would do greater works!YAY: that makes me pretty excited. another thing that really changed me was obedience, when you choose to say YES all the time you are positioning yourself for encounter, and when you position yourself for encounter you will encounter him and receive incredible revelation, and a greater revelation will lead you to waling in reality.and by saying yes we choose to parter with him and do “The Fathers Business”so if you choose to say yes prepare to see: healings, and increase in prophecy, an increase in faith, miracles, signs, WONDERS, revival everywhere you go, and intimacy increasing everyday. joy, all the fruits of the spirit, basically everything great. ever.

so to sum it all up.
1. be filled
2. live like a son {or daughter}
3. receive a greater revelation of righteousness
4. say YES alot.
5. get more.

he is my reality.

GOD is my reality. 

he is real.

his love is real.

his kingdom is real.

our inheritance is real.

our freedom is real.

our calling is real.

his really died, and he really rose. 

this year has been a year where GOD has really activated his realities in me. 

i think because i grew up in the church i have heard “God is GOOD” “God is FAITHFUL” “God Loves You” ” and numerous sayings that i had been acquainted to, and somehow they were not realities for me, they were ideas. 

i had God in a box

even though i have always been extremely passionate and extremely radical, i found too much of my spiritual identity in the things i was passionate about instead of finding my identity in the creator of those things, when i came to CFNI i came hungry, radically hungry for JESUS. 

and in a passionate pursuit of finding the father all my fears were removed, because there has to be in a place in your walk with God where your hunger for God surpasses your idea for who He is. 

and its been such a journey, but because i got to the place where nothing else mattered, God broke every box i had ever put him in and he WRECKED ME. 

when i activated total surrender, HE activated a refreshing of His Spirit. 

and through HOLY SPIRIT, he has poured out revelation like never before. 

he is continuing to REVEAL his REALITIES to me and it has been incredible. 

i am growing in the things of the prophetic and walking out a lifestyle of the supernatural, seeing HIM in everything i do.

its been incredible. 

and i think the most important thing that has sustained this hunger is just staying in the secret place, and being with the father. 

my motto in life is to be rooted in intimacy and growing in power. 

in colossians 2:7 it says let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.  

i LOVE this verse. its INCREDIBLE because when you understand the REALITY of who GOD is. you overflow with JOY and THANKFULLNESS,

BECAUSE HE IS SO GOOD.