Freshman Year

I'm getting some goosebumps as I write this. I'm excited, and I don't know what to say. I'm not even sure what I think about this year yet. Its been good, and its been long, and its been worth it - praise the Lord. 


This is by no means a holistic account of everything that has happened, but merely a brief overview of the change that the Lord has been doing in my life. I could tell testimonies for days and days, and feel free to ask to hear them! But for now, I give you a general account of the adventure that was my freshman year.


Entering into college I had been told that it would be a challenge to keep my faith. If that's the statistic, then I sure wasn't part of that norm. The first week in College Station God led me to my church home at Antioch and I immediately started plugging in. 


The first semester was a whirlwind thanks to the fire of the Holy Spirit. When I got baptized in the Holy Spirit at the begging of the Fall semester Jesus started to do crazy things with me. As Zach Rodriguez would say, God was hitting the "Increase Button" as more and more blessings and giftings were poured out on me. With all of this change there wasn't ever really time for me to take a breath and adjust to actual college life. My faith always had me living on the edge, and I kind of miss that at times.


Winter break came and then the spring semester started. The slow down was just enough to make me stop and review all that had happened. As I compared my desires to where I actually was I began to slowly grow discontented. There was so much that I hadn't asked for from God that He had given me, and there was so much that I wanted God to give that simply wasn't there. That would be the theme of this semester, and would create a season of intense honesty with God. I wasn't happy with how everything was going, so I took every opportunity to be real with Him and let Him know. I've learned how blessed we are to have a Father who loves us with God-love. There is nothing better.


Just as I start to settle in with what God is doing, the time to leave for the summer is upon me. I sure haven't gotten a full grasp on God's timing yet. This has been a year of intense spiritual molding. I have constantly felt like clay in the hands of the Potter.


This year has been a year of transformation and revelation. I guess my year can best be summed up with this refrain:

 "I want to feel Your heartbeat inside of my chest. I want to know Your truth. I want to know Your love."

That's what my desires are. I want to experience God and know him on a deeper level. I want to live a life with such reckless abandon that I am obedient to the Truth. I want to be a disciple that bears fruit. I want to live out the Word. I want walk in the fullness. I want to live Matthew 10:8, healing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, casting out demons and freely giving all that I have received.


And it's all about love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-2.
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing."


I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way.


in love,
-matt

Obedience

After a rather intense week I've finally settled down enough to share input from my experiences.
God has began to challenge me to walk in obedience. God wants to use us, if our hearts are willing. Have you considered that He doesn't ask us to understand everything? Rather, He asks that we simply follow His instruction faithfully. Jesus himself led a life of obedience to the Father. That doesn't mean that He never asked God questions (will you take this cup from my hand?), but regardless of His desires, He wanted to do the will of God.

Who's authority means the most in your life? Are you obedient to your own desires? Or are you obedient to Christ's all-encompassing authority?
-matt

Testimony!

I just have to tell everyone what God is doing in my life. These past two days have been crazy. Yesterday it all started with God telling me to share the Gospel with the local atheist group and got more intense at lifegroup. We were sharing stories of what God had done of spring break. Since, Antioch had just gone to Baton Rouge on a mission trip that week, many of the stories focus on the trip. That's where things started to get crazy.

You have to watch this story from Rachel before you read any further, it's just ten minutes, and God shows just how powerful He is! http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1967884600888&subj=690657722

Wow.... There must have been fifteen or twenty testimonies of God performing healings through them. I was so excited for them. Internally though, I still thought they were more than I wanted to handle. Jesus was moving, but I'd prefer to not have to deal with that aspect of His ministry. Others were walking in that gift of healing, so not all of us had to right?

After testimonies, we had a time of response, and then came an extremely powerful time of prayer and encouragement. Those who desired specific gifts and movings of the Spirit came to those who were walking in that area already and prayed together. People were praying for everything, it was amazing. Then God began to work in me. Chris came and got me to pray for him for prophecy. He also asked Claire to pray for boldness in him and Rachel to pray for the gift of healing. As Chris was explaining all this to us, the Spirit began to convict me that He wanted these things for me too.

So Rachel and Claire prayed over Chris and I for the gift of healings and boldness, and that was that.

I woke up today feeling more connected to the Spirit than I have in the past year. I went throughout my day, which was admittedly long and tedious at times, but then met Aaron at military walk with my djembe and we began to worship. As we played we gradually drew a crowd of other believers around us and one of them asked to play, I said sure and took a break from playing to sing and praise. It was then that an Indian couple walked nearby and sat down at a bench and began to glance at us frequently. After a few minutes Jesus came to me and said, "How much more do I have to do, Matt? They're right in front of you!" So with that I went.

I talked with them for a few minutes and shared the entirety of the Gospel. It was the first time that I had really been bold enough to present the full truth of Jesus and not just ask to pray for them. I'd never been that bold in my life. I'd been fearful to approach one person, let alone two people. Further still, they were definitely not Christian nor did they seem to have heard much of the Gospel ever before.

From there it got crazier. We went out evangelizing an hour later and God led me to Walmart with Chris. While there we saw a guy with a sling on his left arm. We doubled back to talk to him and asked him what had happened. He was a Christian, and was really encouraged to talk with us. He said that it was in fact his collar bone that was broken. When we asked further, he revealed that He had a form of cancer that gradually wore away the strength of his bones. Instantly, I spoke to him saying that God wanted to heal him. He was going to start with the collar bone and then He was going to take away cancer. I prayed for a really really long time. It was a spirit-driven prayer that was so spot on that I don't even recall all of what I said. God told me that He was in the process of healing him. We declared freedom from sickness and disease and asked God to give clean scans on his next trip to chemo. I have faith that God is going to be faithful. He's healing him of cancer! Wow. God also healed depression and bitterness in his heart as well. Talking with him afterwards it was clear that God was in the process of completely healing every part of his being.

I figured the gift of healings that I was asking for would be just the "simple", you know, praying for headahces and twisted ankles, bruises and bumps. God right away set the bar high. He said, you thought you were praying for a bum arm, but I want you to pray for healing from cancer. Cancer? really God? Yes, Matt. I'm big enough, now walk in faith.

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So in the past two days I've shared the Gospel multiple times. Today I approached people with a newfound super natural boldness and prayed for healing over cancer. And I believe in faith that God will honor my boldness and bring these people to himself. Jesus is going to add to our number every day those who are with us in the Kingdom. He's going to use us, the ordinary, to perform the extraordinary.

Ask. Seek. Knock.
I'm still learning, but it's looking good so far.
-matt