Understanding the Experience of the Spirit

I'm reading a book called Experiencing The Spirit (borrowed from Caleb Fauber). It's helping me to learn what has been happening to me in the Spirit, rather than just how. It's cool, 'cause I was getting hit with an empowerment from the Spirit that I was terrified of losing hold of, lest I end up without it again for another semester. We need to be praying all the time for the Spirit to fall on us in power, and be ready and open to how God wants to use us/it.

I'm still learning, but it's accelerated learning.

P.S. Here's the link, D. Andrew http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=63132&id=631798935

For Lauren KP: My favorite color is green. This is mostly because my eyes are green with golden sunbursts. I took two years of ballroom dancing classes, but when I dance, I usually try for more original things (like the lawnmower and such, but I pantomime a lot more). Do you dance?

Pictures From The JaBUe Road Trip

Are on my Facebook. I don't wanna upload twice.

Lauren KP Is Getting To Know Me, So Here's My Life Story

This is INCREDIBLY long-winded. I forgive anyone who doesn't read it.

About Me: (This'll Take Awhile, 'Cause I'm Incredibly Involved In My Life) I remember the first time I heard the sound of someone laughing in response to a joke I made. I loved the sound and feeling, so I aspired to continue trying to produce that sound. I got saved at five years old, or thereabouts. I always knew that a Christian was supposed to be different and stand out, so that people would ask what made them so different, and they could be a witness. This is why (and you can ask any friend on this) I was always known as a weird crazy type of guy. I genuinely tried to model my personality after what I thought a Christian was supposed to be like. From the ages of 5-10, my family, besides my dad, lived in LA, California, doing movies and commercials and such. At ten years old, our family came back to Texas, and I began to live as less of a celebrity.

At 12 years old, I wrote, directed, and starred in a short film called Not It! that won the Austin Film Festival. This was in the fall of 2002. That summer, I had started asking God to speak to me. I prayed for the majority of the summer, and into the fall, just asking Him to speak to me. In September, I went with my mom to a service with a modern-day prophet, Kim Clement. As soon as she asked me if I wanted to go, I was absolutely sure that God was going to speak to me there. No doubt. I waited patiently through the whole service till he started prophesying about young inventors, and he pointed me out of the crowd from on stage and told me that I was gonna be a doctor and invent something in a weird way, like penicillin was invented. That December, I got a part in a movie called Undercover Kids, and took off of school for a week and a half to drive to LA and film it. You can find info on Not It! and Undercover Kids at IMDB.com, if you'd like to check if I'm legit.

For the next few years, I started going to a youth camp in Dallas called Youth For The Nations (YFN). It is an incredible thing. In 2005, I think it was, I went there, and God told me to say something on stage. I doubted whether it was God, so I stayed put. Then I went on a family Mexico Missions trip a month later, and God spoke to me again to say something, then it ended up being said by a friend of mine. It was the first time I learned to recognize God's voice. Throughout my junior high and high school life, I yearned to be back in LA, and did acting wherever and whenever I could, whether in church or school.

In 2007, most of my friends graduated, and that summer, I joined an intense internship program with YFN called The Core. To this day and for days to come, I can still reference back to lessons I learned and experience I gained from my six weeks and six days there. This is where I saw demons manifest, friends get drunk and overcome by the Spirit (where they faint from so much God), and one friend of mine get an anointing for prophecy. This was no small anointing, either. She was telling people who they were going to marry and how many kids they were gonna have. It got a little out of control, so Pastor Jaycee, who heads up YFN, told her to write down the prophecies and stop telling people. This, fortunately, was before she got to me and told me that I'd be doing medical missions (to Kenya specifically), and talked about how my personality in itself would be a huge witnessing tool, plus a bunch of other junk.

The Core left me seeing everything in black and white, good or evil. I saw the flaws in my family and the world around me. As soon as I got home from school and until late at night, I would creep across myspace, text people, and whatever else, making connections, and pouring out this Spirit that had come upon me. I was on a continual spiritual high, which, I discovered after having my wisdom teeth removed, is very close in feeling to a physical high. The theme at the camp was to cause an Uproar. However, I found out that the authority in a household, if it is stubborn enough, can keep the Holy Spirit from barging in and throwing off its groove. This led me to discover that our family had a generational curse on it. I went to a deliverance conference, and the guy in charge helped me out and gave me a few tips on how to get things right at home. The big change came from submission to authority while still continuing in God-junk.

In 2008 (only a year of my life to go!), I was still constantly pouring out. I had become much better friends with Katie, 'cause we had loads of study halls together. I was also student council president, and she the treasurer, so we used that as an excuse to do whatever we wanted a lot. In April, I think it was, my friend, Cameron, who has loads of wisdom on junk, be it spiritual or anything else, told me about the problem with my body getting weak before pouring out, and how I needed more input if I was gonna pour out as much as I was. So I stopped pouring out so much, but shortly after this, Katie got curious about a bunch of spiritual stuff, so I got to pour into her a bunch till around the end of school.

I went on the Kenya Missions Trip, which was incredible. My dad was born in Nairobi, Kenya, a few miles from where we stayed. Although I joke a lot about being half-black, I really did feel at home among the African people. And I learned that being a deep sleeper has at least one benefit. You can sleep on HORRIBLE Kenyan roads which are more pothole than road.

Then I went to YFN, this time as a leader, getting to go to leadership workshops, which were so incredible, 'cause this was pastors teaching pastors. A lot of deliverance (by which I mean casting out demons and such) happened, and I got the opportunity to explain a lot of it to some friends of mine.

This past semester, I've had to deal with Mr. Harber... But that's not pleasant, so we can ignore that. I spent the entire semester waiting for God to hit me with His Spirit in power, but He told me to wait for others to step up before I step up again. The ones who were supposed to didn't, so this new semester, I've been stepping it up in leadership and things at school and church and elsewhere. I also started my junior high small group with my friend, Shayna, last semester. Nothing has been so rewarding as that. Those junior highers are hungry for God, and I'm one of the few patient enough to feed them what I've got. This semester, I've also started teaching a junior high Connect Class (Jesus class) at school with my friend, Jordan Wood. I'm also gonna be teaching junior high sunday school with a friend, Meaghan Ferguson, soon.

I also went to JaBUe and UT in the past few days.

Your turn...

JaBUe and UT

I didn't wanna blog till I could put pictures up, but since my computer at home seems to be the only one capable of reading SD cards, I'll make a temporary appeasement blog. JaBUe was great. The weekend began with a road trip, where I got to hear a hilarious Nate Williams make conversation after sleeping for awhile. We watch a lot of the same shows, like Arrested Development, so he was easy to get along with. The JBU campus, although cold and windy, is full of very nice people. And, upon interviewing some McHones, I have found that the education ain't too shabby neither. Katie's play was great. She rocked it out, along with Christa and Jessa (or some name like that). This is my way of bragging about remembering names, which I tend to be horrible at. Oh, and Lauren, who knew about me through Katie. Saturday night, Katie, Nate, Michelle, and I all had a private party where we took some good pictures, which I should have up later.

After I got back and went to small groups, some CFNI kiddos and I went to D. Andrew, Zach Shey, and Juddson's pad to watch Undercover Kids. It was quite a showing, and I got to meet the English-accented friend of theirs, Danielle (again with remembering names!). After spending the night, I was off to Austin.

I arrived this afternoon to learn that Chas's life is boring. He works and plays video games during the weekdays. Anyway, we drove through the UT campus, and it was alright, but I thought of JaBUe for a lot of it. Anyway, I've been playing Call of Duty and getting licked by his dog, Turtle, for most of the day.

JaBUe

It's nice here. So are the people. Loads of pros and cons.

A Good Talk

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, I got accepted into John Brown University with a $2,500 scholarship. The enrollment people are way nice, and I'm visiting tomorrow. This is my chance to get a feel for the school, and see if God gives me any heads-upses about it.

This may ramble a little, so brace yourselves.

So after school, I went to Starbucks, then to meet with Jason Holland, the Kenya trip leader. Our conversation varied a lot. I told him about the bad spirit that was on me before the retreat, then this God-spirit that fell on me the other day. As we talked, I came to understand that it was the Spirit falling on me in power. Not only that, but, as I shared on how my giftings seemed to work, it sounds like I may have a lot of prophecy going on. I need to cultivate it and whatnot, but that manifestation of the Spirit is there. Oh, and he gave me a chart thing that told the difference between motivational gifts (from God the Father), ministry gifts (from God the Son), and manifestation gifts (from the Holy Spirit). Those had been confusing me a lot.

He answered my questions about deliverance, but told me that he did more of prophecy and the other manifestation gifts. I want to know about deliverance so that if I ever come across someone manifesting, I'd know what to do. Other than that, manifestation gifts are the things I wanna learn about. Anyway, it was a good talk, and he offered to do it regularly. It'll be hard on me, 'cause I've gotta think of good questions.

Motivation

I think God has shown me most of what is/could be hindering me from going all-out. Motivation. My reasons for wanting what I want. I found myself wanting more of the spiritual high, that addiction that is so much more fulfilling than any other. Fight as I might, this came into my thought as my drive for living in the Spirit.

However, God made it very clear what it is that should be inspiring me. Serving Him. Serving others. Edifying the Church, which is edifying another believer. Or, in the evangelistic sense, the inspiration should be the desire to show off some of God's glory, to get His message bigger attention.

In regard to school, we now have STUCO Bucks, which can be exchanged for free dress days. Here's a glimpse of it. And yes, that is me as Mr. Beaumont.


I meet with Jason Holland tomorrow after school. He offered to meet at Texas Roast, or his office. I told him his office, but I'm tempted to switch now. Why? I'm t-red (tired).

Keeping Watch

On a note unrelated to this blog: I don't like being asked to not talk about God. Conversations seem trickier.

Two words seem to be repeated as of late. "Pride" and "busy".

Romans 3:27, "Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith."

There is no room for pride, because everything we have, we have through faith.

As for being busy, I can't think of any direct scripture references. I do know that a balanced life is essential. It's okay to be busy, but have enough wisdom to show restraint (Prov 23:4, in reference to being a workaholic for riches). As Cameron once advised me, "Say no".

Hearing these words repeated makes me think that God may be telling me it's something I need to be watching out for. If you know any helpful Biblical references that might help me stay on the lookout, especially with "busy", feel free to comment with them.

It/He's Back

The gift of Wisdom, which I had unconsciously left on the shelf for quite awhile without touching it much, is back in action. This time it's got Prophecy, Discernment, and Knowledge to back it up. I couldn't hold back the urge to contact certain people. I could feel God using me in such a way that leaves me with a spiritual high (which isn't all that far from the feeling of a physical high).

Could this come into contact with the New Paradigm? Yes. Yes it could.

Unprepared

Sometimes, God hits you with a humbling smack in the face. Not that I've been particularly prideful. But putting aside Word Time is not an option. Neither is putting aside Quiet Time. You see, I went to a meeting for the Kenya missions trip today. Jason Holland, the trip leader, was very bluntly asking us questions to find out if we're at all prepared for Kenya. At the moment, I'm nowhere near prepared. But now I know what's up, and that I need to do more than just get by. When I go to Kenya, I wanna resemble Jesus to the point that I can share His words when there's a chance for me to do so.

One point he hit on that I was glad to hear was him talking about aligning your prayers with the Word. For instance, what if we pray for "God's will" to come about with a healing? The Bible doesn't tell us to pray for that. It tells us to use faith and believe for a healing, not to just pray for God's will over it. The more we know of the Word, the more we can pray Biblically accurate prayers, so that they'll have that power with them.

I'll be meeting with Jason during the week now, 'cause he made a joke about giving teachings on deliverance, but I very much wanna know what to do when I tell a demon to leave a person, and the demon says "no".

Assume Nothing

This is the end of an era. I'm just glad that I get to help out with the start of the New Paradigm. Pastor Nick talked about the words "Assume Nothing". What a timely word! That's kinda the theme of the early church, I think. They had no previous knowledge of what should or could restrict someone with Jesus living in them. This was the way it should be. They didn't know that certain things weren't "appropriate" for a church service. They had no assumptions about anything God could or couldn't do. They assumed that He was the almighty creator of the universe, and He was fully willing and capable of doing anything and everything that they, their church, or the people around them needed.

This has kinda been the message I've been wanting to impart to the junior highers. To assume nothing about what God can do. Never assume that a junior higher can't do things. "Things" being prophesying, performing miracles or healings, or, even bigger for junior highers, to have Wisdom in what they say.

Payback: And This Time, It's Personal.

God pays back. When you give someone most of your Christmas money 'cause God told you to, you aren't getting gipped. Pastor Nick texted me last tuesday that he had something for me. When I went into his office today, he gave me an envelope, and asked me to open it, 'cause he suspected that there was money in it. Lo and behold, there was! In fact, it was the exact amount of money that God had me give away two months ago.

Also, the junior high small group was kick-rear. Awesome new location and people. We did a second intro to the gifts of the Spirit, since only three out of the twelve-ish there were at our last small group.

I still need more ideas on how to brighten this senior year for the other seniors (if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the last blog).

New Outlook

On Monday (the day I was at school this week), some people in our unsupervised study hall (the one we can talk in) were asking questions for an assignment. Questions like, "What did you like about last (school) year?" and "What do you like about this (school) year?" The sad thing is, everyone could remember great things about last year, but everything about this year was negative (some blame went to us having regular schedules due to overachieving, but I think it's deeper).

I know that much of this will change with spring, and with reflection in the future, but I think it's time to change it up. This school year needs to be more memorable. Our senior pranks will be better than previous ones, I'm sure. I already have a few things planned. But what can I do to change the outlook from "crappy senior year" to "awesome senior year"?

God will back me up if I try, but I could use some tips. General, specific, thoughtful, or practical (like personally themed weeks "Surprise a senior with a present"?). Throw 'em at me.

Fever Broke

I have a good friend, Mr. Antibiotic(s). Normally, he just sits back. But when it's his time to shine, I swallow him up, and he makes my troubles go away. The problem is, Mr. Antibiotic(s) is a man of commitment. I have to pop his pills three times a day for a week. Tough love, but it's fever-breaking.

But really, I feel great. My throat is still a lil' sore, and I'm coughing a lil' bit, but I'm good for the most part, and getting better most minutes. In fact, I'm thinking of hitting the town this evening. Movie anyone? Push looked alright.

I Been Sickly

I learned a lesson. When vandals tear down your internet provider's three towers, life can get a lil' harder.

Skipping school for three days due to sickness (coughing, stuffy nose, and fever) is always a pleasure for me when I have internet. But when you're resting for hours and have no way to watch the new episode of Heroes and such.

Revolt went incredibly well. Everything came together in preparation, then, as every good retreat does, everything fell apart the day before/morning/afternoon of. When it came down to it, we were totally following God on it.

I'm auditing Pre-Cal, which means that I'm not getting a grade for the class. The principal said it would look worse on my transcript. I said that failing would look worse than nothing. I feel alright about it, considering that it is my 5th year of math, the second advanced and unrequired course.

Internet is back. So is my fever. Can anyone say 102.1? I sure can't, cause then I cough. But seriously, pray for me. I've been sick since monday afternoon.

Before Revolt

That spirit of regret left me. More to come.