Greetings from Kansas City,
Today is my final day of the second class and the midway point of the semester. The weather has cooled off and is extremely beautiful. The leafs in KC should start turning over the next few weeks and that always sends fresh energy through my spirit. The Missions base is continuing to grow with more new interns coming on a monthly basis. It is always amazing to see the increase of people buzzing around here during the monthly conferences.
The class that we finish today is Excellencies of Christ taught by Allen Hood. I do not know where to start on explaining the revelation that has hit my heart through this class. When we see the crucifixion of Jesus and begin to lay hold of the severe costliness of our sins, we then begin to see the extreme amount of love that God has for us. As we studied the crucifixion I could feel God’s love impacting my heart like waves against a break wall. As soon as I would catch my breath and other way of His tender mercy would hit me. To be “wounded for Jesus” is the greatest sensation and the most painful yearning that I have ever know. To desire His presence in my life to the point that I will abandon myself and seek His way is revolutionary.
Over the past couple of months there have been plenty of situations that the Lord has used to refine me. My issues and fears have continually been brought to the surface due to relationships and exposure to The Word. The moments or seasons of refining are always beneficial. One of the greatest lessons I have learned is that God is so tender that He can comfort me as He is refining me. This side of God does not parallel with any other relationship on earth.
I want to thank you all for your continuous prayers for me and the journey God has prepared for me. I have received so much encouragement from the phone conversations and emails. I am praying for you all and I would love to receive prayer request so that I can be specific in my request before The Throne.
Blessings,
Nicholas Yaws
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
First Love
First Love
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand
and walks among the seven golden lampstands …”
Revelation 2:1
The church at Ephesus had been started by Paul. It was a strong church and the gospel radiated from Ephesus throughout the entire province. At the time Revelation was written, thirty years later, the church was still strong. The believers worked hard for the gospel and persevered despite severe persecution.
However, there was a fatal flaw in the church. Jesus challenges them with words that must have made their blood run cold: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (2:4).
The church was full of people who worked hard for God, but they had left their first love. They were workers, but not worshipers. They had religious duty; they did not have a love affair with Jesus.
Jesus is looking for people who will love him back. Jesus is looking for worshipers. Jesus is looking for people who have an incurable disease – the disease of being smitten with Jesus.
Are you smitten with Jesus? Do you have a love affair with Jesus? Did you start out with a white-hot passion for Jesus and yet now the fire has grown cold?
Above all else, God wants to be loved. He wants to be wanted.
How is your heart these days? How is your heart for Jesus? Have you left your first love?
First Love, Part 2
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
Revelation 2:4
Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the sea.”
I believe his insight applies to the Kingdom of God. If you want to build a church that pleases God, don’t recruit people to tasks and projects and ministries, but rather teach them to long for Jesus.
Above all else, a church must be a place where the people long for Jesus, where the people are pursuing Jesus, where the people are falling in love with Jesus.
There was a great church in Ephesus, founded by the Apostle Paul. They were tremendous lovers of God. But thirty years later, Jesus sends them the sobering message: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (2:4).
Fortunately, Jesus tells them what to do to recapture that first love. “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first” (2:5a,b). Three things: Remember. Repent. Repeat.
First, remember. “Remember the height from which you have fallen.” If you can, deliberately think back about your feelings and thoughts and actions during your first weeks and months as a follower of Jesus Christ. Remember!
Second, repent. “Repent ...” Jesus gives the Ephesian church a simple one-word command: Repent. Come to God in brokenness and repentance. Come to God in confession and surrender. Ask God to change you.
Third, repeat. That is, repeat the things you did in your early Christian life. “Repent and do the things you did at first.” Did you pray fervently? Sing from your heart? Gather with Christian friends? Eagerly read the Bible as a love letter? Give generously? Share your faith freely?
Keep your first love for Jesus. Nothing is more important.
Thomas Dubay, in his book The Evidential Power of Beauty, tells a story about a teenage girl in the atheistic Soviet Union who knew nothing of the Bible, nothing of the doctrines of the church, nothing of the differences between denominations. She also knew nothing of Jesus. Until one day she chanced upon a copy of Luke’s Gospel. When she finished reading it, her immediate reaction was, “I fell in love with him.”1
May that response mark our lives – at the beginning and at the end of our journey with Jesus. “I fell in love with him.”
1Gire, “The Divine Embrace,” 52.
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand
and walks among the seven golden lampstands …”
Revelation 2:1
The church at Ephesus had been started by Paul. It was a strong church and the gospel radiated from Ephesus throughout the entire province. At the time Revelation was written, thirty years later, the church was still strong. The believers worked hard for the gospel and persevered despite severe persecution.
However, there was a fatal flaw in the church. Jesus challenges them with words that must have made their blood run cold: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (2:4).
The church was full of people who worked hard for God, but they had left their first love. They were workers, but not worshipers. They had religious duty; they did not have a love affair with Jesus.
Jesus is looking for people who will love him back. Jesus is looking for worshipers. Jesus is looking for people who have an incurable disease – the disease of being smitten with Jesus.
Are you smitten with Jesus? Do you have a love affair with Jesus? Did you start out with a white-hot passion for Jesus and yet now the fire has grown cold?
Above all else, God wants to be loved. He wants to be wanted.
How is your heart these days? How is your heart for Jesus? Have you left your first love?
First Love, Part 2
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
Revelation 2:4
Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the sea.”
I believe his insight applies to the Kingdom of God. If you want to build a church that pleases God, don’t recruit people to tasks and projects and ministries, but rather teach them to long for Jesus.
Above all else, a church must be a place where the people long for Jesus, where the people are pursuing Jesus, where the people are falling in love with Jesus.
There was a great church in Ephesus, founded by the Apostle Paul. They were tremendous lovers of God. But thirty years later, Jesus sends them the sobering message: “Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love” (2:4).
Fortunately, Jesus tells them what to do to recapture that first love. “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first” (2:5a,b). Three things: Remember. Repent. Repeat.
First, remember. “Remember the height from which you have fallen.” If you can, deliberately think back about your feelings and thoughts and actions during your first weeks and months as a follower of Jesus Christ. Remember!
Second, repent. “Repent ...” Jesus gives the Ephesian church a simple one-word command: Repent. Come to God in brokenness and repentance. Come to God in confession and surrender. Ask God to change you.
Third, repeat. That is, repeat the things you did in your early Christian life. “Repent and do the things you did at first.” Did you pray fervently? Sing from your heart? Gather with Christian friends? Eagerly read the Bible as a love letter? Give generously? Share your faith freely?
Keep your first love for Jesus. Nothing is more important.
Thomas Dubay, in his book The Evidential Power of Beauty, tells a story about a teenage girl in the atheistic Soviet Union who knew nothing of the Bible, nothing of the doctrines of the church, nothing of the differences between denominations. She also knew nothing of Jesus. Until one day she chanced upon a copy of Luke’s Gospel. When she finished reading it, her immediate reaction was, “I fell in love with him.”1
May that response mark our lives – at the beginning and at the end of our journey with Jesus. “I fell in love with him.”
1Gire, “The Divine Embrace,” 52.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Friday
It's Friday and around IHOP that doesn't mean a whole lot. I remember every Friday back home I would be at work with my boys and we would be itching to see 4:30 on the clock. Friday at 4:30 meant sitting in traffic until 6:00. Then we would shower and get dressed to go out to eat and find somewhere to hang out. Every Friday evening was the same ole thing.
I think about today and I am amazed at how different life is. I wake up to go learn about God and His love for me. My vocation is learning how to encounter the creator of the universe. Out of all of the jobs on the entire earth I get to study the characteristics of the most powerful being that has and will ever exist.
This Friday has been an awesome blessing. I woke up wishing I had stayed asleep. The thought of rolling of and not going to class crossed my mind a few times. I know that in times when I do not feel like doing something that involves the Lord, I better do it and expect to be blown away. I proceeded with getting prepared for my day and pushed off for school. Upon arriving I was 9 minutes late by the clock on the wall but no one had settled in there seats. I sat down and immediately I could feel the atmosphere in the room change. I knew something was going on but I had no idea what it was.
As we began to sing and praise God at the beginning of class I could sense Him preparing my spirit for what was coming. I had a very trying week with all of the turmoil from my family in Houston and I knew God was about to get to the heart of the matter in front of everyone in the class. Sure enough, Tom Mills the director of Biblical Studies began to talk to us about forgiveness. I was very receptive due to the family matters and because Tom is a fellow Texan. It was like sitting down with an uncle and talking over Thanksgiving dinner. (Plus we are Texans and that is an instant sign of a good heart)
Anyhow, as Uncle Tom Mills spoke on forgiveness out of the book of Philemon I began to see where I am in the process with my family. I was so glad that I got out of bed. Out of all the classes and sermons I have attended over the past two months, I actually took notes today. I know I could go on forever but God and His FANTASTICAL heart is always preparing love to follow the times that cause pain. As I continue to learn more about the heart of God, I begin to see how much my desires are changing. I thank Him so much for the grace to have Him live inside me and the way He loves people through me even when I don't feel like it.
What a Beautiful God!
To top it all off I was blessed to have Homeade Black Bean Soup with Cassandra and Adam. Thank You Lord!!
I think about today and I am amazed at how different life is. I wake up to go learn about God and His love for me. My vocation is learning how to encounter the creator of the universe. Out of all of the jobs on the entire earth I get to study the characteristics of the most powerful being that has and will ever exist.
This Friday has been an awesome blessing. I woke up wishing I had stayed asleep. The thought of rolling of and not going to class crossed my mind a few times. I know that in times when I do not feel like doing something that involves the Lord, I better do it and expect to be blown away. I proceeded with getting prepared for my day and pushed off for school. Upon arriving I was 9 minutes late by the clock on the wall but no one had settled in there seats. I sat down and immediately I could feel the atmosphere in the room change. I knew something was going on but I had no idea what it was.
As we began to sing and praise God at the beginning of class I could sense Him preparing my spirit for what was coming. I had a very trying week with all of the turmoil from my family in Houston and I knew God was about to get to the heart of the matter in front of everyone in the class. Sure enough, Tom Mills the director of Biblical Studies began to talk to us about forgiveness. I was very receptive due to the family matters and because Tom is a fellow Texan. It was like sitting down with an uncle and talking over Thanksgiving dinner. (Plus we are Texans and that is an instant sign of a good heart)
Anyhow, as Uncle Tom Mills spoke on forgiveness out of the book of Philemon I began to see where I am in the process with my family. I was so glad that I got out of bed. Out of all the classes and sermons I have attended over the past two months, I actually took notes today. I know I could go on forever but God and His FANTASTICAL heart is always preparing love to follow the times that cause pain. As I continue to learn more about the heart of God, I begin to see how much my desires are changing. I thank Him so much for the grace to have Him live inside me and the way He loves people through me even when I don't feel like it.
What a Beautiful God!
To top it all off I was blessed to have Homeade Black Bean Soup with Cassandra and Adam. Thank You Lord!!
Friday, September 7, 2007
Day of Fire
21 Day adventure in to the Heart of God!
Purpose: Tenderizing of My Heart
Goals:
To live a meek and humble live before the Lord and operate in the healing and prophetic anointing.
To receive dreams and visions about the secrets of God and the end-time prayer movement.
To contend in prayer for the saints around the world and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
To usher in the Return of our BrideGroom God.
Purpose: Tenderizing of My Heart
Goals:
To live a meek and humble live before the Lord and operate in the healing and prophetic anointing.
To receive dreams and visions about the secrets of God and the end-time prayer movement.
To contend in prayer for the saints around the world and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
To usher in the Return of our BrideGroom God.
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