Outreach...Voice of God...Fatherheart

You're Love is Extravagant! (This should be a link to a song on Youtube - You should listen to it while you read the blog! :D I have listened to it over and over this week :D)

This week has been very busy and challenging... To start off, this week our outreach locations were revealed! By mid December I will be heading off to Colombia and then Chile! I am very excited that these are my locations and I am really happy with my everyone who is on my team! Our leaders told us a little bit about what we will be doing, but nothing is set in stone so you'll have to just follow along as I go ;). One thing I know for sure is that we will be working with kids!
The lectures this week was on hearing God's voice and the Fatherheart of God. Both of these topics are very important, yet somewhat difficult to understand and try and live life accordingly...
The beginning of the week started off with the speaker talking to us about hearing God's voice. He explained that hearing God's voice can occur in many different ways and that everyone is different. This was really encouraging me to hear as when people would tell me "oh God said this to me", I would think that they actually heard his voice audibly. Being that I never personally heard God's voice like this, I felt like maybe I just couldn't hear him. Some of the other ways that the speaker explained that we can hear God's voice is through reading the Bible, through other people (which we need to always have God confirm it to us personally), through daily devotional (like when you have one and it seems to speak exactly into what you are feeling that day),  through songs, and many more. Hearing all these different ways that God speaks to us it encouraged me that I do actually hear God's voice, which then encouraged me to want to hear more! I want my relationship with God to become stronger and stronger so that I can learn the difference in what is God and what isn't. The speaker also said that in the times that we don't hear God it is probably because of the worldly possessions or worries that we are holding on to. These hinderances can be money, reputation, fear, doubt, pride, love for family.... (list goes on). God wants us to have complete faith in him for all our needs. Another statement that the speaker said that had an impact on me is that God wants to communicate more than we do!
The second topic for this week, the Fatherheart of God, was also another 'thinking' topic. When I think of God, I think of a God as the creator of all things and that he loves me and wants to take care of me... but I don't know if I really thought a whole lot more about that statement and into who he really is. But when you really think about it, He created all things, yet still takes the time to love and think about each one of us individually! That kinda seems crazy!... there has been many times, that being someone who is pretty quiet (at least when you first meet me), that I go into a room with a group of people and feel like people don't know me and probably wouldn't notice if I wasn't there (not as a bad thing lol, just that in big groups its easy to get missed). But with God, he sees everyone and knows everything about us! He loves each one of us and wants each of us to love him back. This makes me feel important and very much loved.. and this is what it is to kind of know God as the Father he really is. If you look at a good example of an earthly father and how they would do anything for their child, no matter what it might mean for their personal life, just think about what our Heavenly Father would do for all of us as his children if we only ask. God wants to bless us and give us all we ask for, but we often lack the faith in that he is there and wants to help, or we don't even bother asking! The speaker this week explained 6 of  God's characteristics: Authority, Faithful, Generous, Affectionate, Attention, and Acceptance. I think that it is very important for us to understand God as our Father, but not understate that he is also the creator of all things! We not only need to feel loved by him through an intimate relationship with him, but we need to understand the significance of who he is and not take advantage of that. We need to try and find the balance that he loves us no matter what, and because of grace we will always be forgiven once we have asked Jesus into our lives, and that God is all powerful and that we need to worship him humbly as his servants....

This blog was kinda hard for me to write, so let me know if anything is confusing or maybe not what you believe to be true... everything that you read or hear from others should always be questioned and taken to God on your own so that you can fully understand what God wants to tell you and not others (because people can often times mess up and give wrong information).
Chow!
Rachael