Living Above the Sun Ministries

"This is to my Fathers glory, that you bear much fruit showing yourself to be my disciples." -John 15:8 At camp this past week I was presented with the question "How do we begin to penetrate the Spiritual Darkness that surrounds us, and do it effectively?" I was taken to John 15 and the answer is by abiding in Christ. As I have studied and prayed over this chapter I want to take you deeper into it and expose some fascinating truths that lay within it. This post will be an overview of it, and the next several posts will focus on a few verses and truths at a time. First and foremost we see a beautiful picture in verse one alone. It is the picture of the vineyard. In particular this is pointing to Isaiah 5 and 27. In Chapter 5 of Isaiah it is the Song of the Vineyard which expresses God's indictment of the wicked leadership that had ruined his vineyard, Israel. We then see the transformation over in chapter 27 which is the Redemption pointing to Jesus.

"By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me- a prayer to the God of my life." -Psalm 42:8 The above Psalm has brought me much peace tonight. Right now I'm in the midst of immense spiritual warfare...it's literally right under my feet. At first I didn't know what to do, I didn't even know it was a spiritual battle raging. Many times, especially at this time of night we don't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. My mind couldn't get focused, my heart was racing, my body went numb. I sat still on my bed a minute and picked my Bible and began to read Psalm. I remember writing earlier in the front of my Bible that the quickest way to get focused back on Him is to whisper His name. Jesus. If only to speak His name, I'm going to pray. Jesus , I whispered. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Then the Holy Spirit said, "Sing!" And brought to mind the story of Paul and Silas. My choir sings awesome Jesus songs, in we

"...You see me when I travel, and when I rest at home. You know everything I do..." -Psalm 139:3 This week at camp has been incredible. So much to learn, new friends, new opportunities...God is too much! I was in a cabin with one other counselor, and we had 8 fifth grade girls. Out of those 8, 6 had not made a decision to follow Jesus. Each cabin represented a country, mine was Tanzania. As I prayed for these girls, and had some of my prayer warriors pray for them I came to realization that these girls have no one else praying for them in their lives. I take this foregranted in my own life. What a blessing to have as many people praying for them as I do. It's caused me to really appreciate the prayers going up on my behalf, and all for HIS name sake! Another thought came to mind that even Jesus didn't have a lot of people to pray for Him. Though yes, He is God, He was still fully human. Jesus trusted a few disciples to pray for Him when He would escape t

"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. [I Am the one] sitting on the throne brilliant as gemstones-jasper and carnelian. And the glow of an emerald circles [my] throne like a rainbow." -Genesis 9:13, Revelation 4:3 Yesterday was overcast most of the day, it rained mostly toward the end of the day, that's Portland weather. As the evening come to an end my friend called my outside. I looked up, and there was the most beautiful rainbow in the sky. As I have been clinging to His promises in this time of transition I took much peace in seeing this. It is as if God himself has come down to earth on His throne just to be near us, and assure us, I've not forgotten you, see here my promise remains. What is so neat about these verses in Genesis and Revelation about the rainbow is this truth: The rainbow isn't so much about us and the promise, but is more about the promiser Himself in remembering what

In the Christian world we cling to God's promises. We buy books that inspire us to remember the promises of God, and how good our lives are supposed to be. However, we seldom remember promises that bring pain. When Jesus said because you belong to me you will be mocked and persecuted. When you follow me, you will have to carry your cross of suffering. When you serve me, you will be engaged in spiritual battle. That's what Jesus promised. Will you accept it? This is what Jesus will work for the good of those who love God, and are called and according to His purposes. This is what spiritual prospering looks like. Prosperity isn't in things and what we can have here on Earth, but rather it comes in the form of Kingdom prosperity, and spiritual growth. When we try to live in happiness all the time, and life's so rad, we deceive ourselves, and also get frustrated. In whatever promise, we live by this truth that He is our Victory.

"All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!" -Psalm 139:16-17 God wrote a story...He wrote a lot of stories. The world we live in today is His story, and the lives we each live individually are His story. He covered all the "w's" who, what, when, where, and even how. He is our how. Without Him our stories are not quite right. A really cool thing happened, God wrote Himself into the story of the World, and not only that but also our story. He is the main character; He is the beginning, the climax, and the end. I imagine Him sitting on His throne with books laying all around Him with His big "God-pen" in His hand, and how He sits and thinks about us. Some things about our stories make Him shed a few tears knowing the pain we will face, some things He lets a big laugh out, every detail is for our good, and for His glory. It'

As I flew over Portland the night we left I looked down and saw a city of burning lights and it reminded me of Chris Tomlin's song, "Shepherd Boy" on his new album "Burning Lights" the lyrics go like this: I’m no hero of the faith, I’m not as strong as I once thought I was I’m just a shepherd boy, Singing to a choir of burning lights I’m just singing, singing over you Come and lay your troubles down ‘Cause love is breaking through I was born to lift a song of hope See the heavens open up Take this armor lest I die Take this crown and let me fly We’re just singing, singing out to You Our hearts are Yours forever Your love is breaking through Love is a fire As we circled around I prayed so fervently for this city God has allowed me to minister too, for the hearts of the people to open up and see their Creator God in the beauty that surrounds them. That they would be so taken in His love for them that He came to die on their behalf over 2,000