I stopped the last blog with quoting Psalms 16:11 that says in the presence of God is fullness of joy and I posed a question I hope you have reflected on. I asked if in the presence of God is the fullness of joy then should't we be enJOYing God?
The last part of this blogging tirade I have been on I want to simply discuss God enjoying us and how we enjoy God. I don't think after reading these last two parts of this blog or perhaps even before reading this blog you would argue with me that God is meant to be enjoyed.
When I think about someone enjoying God I immediately think of the life of David. I can recall several instances that just display David's heart, His love and zeal to know God, He enjoyed being with and serving God.
How else do you dance around like a mad man in front of people and when questioned on your actions say that you will continue to celebrate the Lord and become even more undignified!
or my favorite picture of David's relationship with God that is found in Psalms 27:4
"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple."
David just wanted to be with God. I truly believe David studied God. He made God His personal pursuit, the One he looked to. David pursued to know God's heart.
I think perhaps one reason David could so enjoy God is that David had an understanding of how God enjoyed Him. David knew whose who he was.
We need to understand the concept that God enjoys us. We need to step out of our ways of thinking to get a glimpse of what God sees. God sees the blood of Jesus. I don't want to get into abusing grace and our responsibility in sanctification, so let me just say we know that those who have been born to God must die to sin. So when I ask for forgiveness God looks at me and He sees that blood, that blood that washes away the sin, He can enjoy me because the price was paid for us to be intimate with our Father. God isn't the one condemning me that is the enemy.
I reposted an old blog title on my facebook the other day, it's in my blog, by the title of "I'm not a beggar I'm a daughter". In that blog I say that the enemy doesn't care what lie He has to tell us, He just wants to keep me from the revelation that I'm a Daughter (or Son for you guys). If I don't understand my relationship with the Father that He paid a price for me, that He loves me, that He wants me, that He enjoys me, that He's not constantly waiting to tell me everything I've done wrong and what I need to fix, and how I have to be better, and that I need to grow up, and that I'm not good at this and I'm not good at that, and I should have witnessed to that person, and He wanted me to do this but I wans't listening............ ETC! God isn't constantly waiting to correct me, He's constantly waiting for me to enjoy Him.
If we come to a place where we enjoy Him, we'll want to spend time with Him, and if we spend time with Him WE WILL BECOME MORE LIKE HIM. Time with God changes us. It molds us. When you get a glimpse of the heart of the Father it does something supernaturally that invokes change, it invokes a desire to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to walk like Him, to talk like Him, to BE LIKE HIM.
Do you see this glorious cycle? God wants to be enjoyed. Let me talk to you about how this has changed my life.
The revelation has hit my heart that God enjoys me. Because I KNOW it (not just mentally, but in every essence) I'm not living under condemnation and I'm not ashamed. I never knew I was ashamed, but now I can see that I was. I hardly ever opened up a single prayer without begging for forgiveness (repentance is a good thing I'm not discrediting that) and when you're constantly feeling like you should be better you don't really feel like you can just talk to God about the simple things, because maybe He's still mad, maybe He thinks I need to fix a few things before I deserve what I'm asking for...
Now remember what I said. . . I was constantly being attacked with lies from the enemy, some i believed, some i didn't, some i listened to, some i didn't, some i listened to for a while and then stood against... so as I let you in on some things that went through my head, remember that this mental battle is one I was constantly fighting. I knew these lies were lies, I just struggled to fight them off all the time.
I've found my prayer life grow tremendously since this experience. I'm talking to God constantly. I'm asking Him questions, I'm telling Him how awesome He is, I'm listening for His voice, because I know He's going to speak to me throughout the day, it's not that He couldn't, wouldn't, didn't before, it's that now more than ever I truly want to HEAR Him throughout the day. Him asking me to do something or speaking to me isn't an inconvenience, it's a joy! I'm asking for things because I know I'm His daughter and If I ask, I'll receive.
I'm finding some boldness I didn't have before. Today in class I felt God telling me to talk to a young girl, so I got bold, I told her if she died today she'd go to hell and I really didn't want that to happen. She admitted that I was right. Her and 2 of her friends are coming to church Sunday. God knew she was ready to hear the truth.
Now I know that you all know that I prayed before, I witnessed before, I did those things, but it feels different, it's more intimate than before. It's not out of duty, it's not out of obligation, it's out of enjoyment, it's out of love.
I find that I am honestly just more joyful, funny, all I have to do is think about God enjoying me and it makes me put things into perspective.
I want to know God's heart, I want to know His emotions, I want to be a woman after His heart, I want to hear Him speak to me throughout the day, I want to be in tune with Him, so that He can use me to do work for His Kingdom. Enjoying Him isn't hard when you get that He enjoys you. Spend time with Him, let Him be God, it's easy to enjoy God even when life around you seems miserable, He's a rock to run to, a pleasant escape.
There's more things I'm learning and more things that have happened in me and in my circumstances, but I think this is a good place to close up shop for now. I'm going to be spending more time studying the Word on this topic. Really digging deep into the character of God, how He enjoys us, and us enjoying Him.
Let the realization of God enjoying you captivate your heart, you'll never be the same.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
Monday, May 16, 2011
Will you enjoy me? PART TWO
If you haven't read "Will You Enjoy Me? PART ONE" go check that out because this blog won't matter as much without it.
So here I was I'd had an incredible few hours where I really felt the presence of God in the room with me, talking with me, molding me, teaching me, showing me, changing me... It is an experience like no other I've ever had before.
I ended the last blog with telling you some about that night and how we were created to be enjoyed by God. Not only are we created to be enjoyed by Him, but we are created to enjoy Him. Here is an excerpt from the end of the last blog and then we'll start again from there.
"Christ paid a price for His bride, He wants to be with her, He enjoys us! He likes me. He likes spending time with me, He likes watching me flourish and grow, He loves when I come to Him and admit my faults and my hurts, my aches my pains, my concerns. He likes to watch me coach because I love it. He enjoys me living life and enjoying the life that He gave me and the truth is He wants me to enjoy Him as much as He enjoys me."
At about 5:15 that morning I finally laid back down to sleep. I had spent a night in prayer, worship, and learning. I'd even made a phone call and sent a few emails to people for different reasons that I had felt impressed on during that time with the Lord. As I laid my head on my pillow, I thanked God for that night, I asked for strength for the following BUSY day, and the last thing I remember saying as I fell asleep was this "God I want to enjoy You, I want to know what that means, I want to know what it feels like, show me that this is real"
As awesome as that night was and as much as I was thankful for it and I did enjoy it, I still didn't quite comprehend this enjoy God thing. I know you could say I'm slow, but it's hard for me to say I get that I can daily enjoy God the way I daily enjoy my best friend, a romantic relationship, a parent etc. and if God was saying that I could have that then I want it. Yes, gasp with extreme disappointment, but like I said, I'm changed, I've found something new for me, and I'm going to put it all out there in hopes that someone else will catch on to this...
I am and have been a passionate Christian. When I was 15 years old I caught on fire with enthusiasm for God. It has been a journey of some ups some downs some successes and some failures, but I have been passionate about Him since that point when God spoke to me as a teenager while I was drunk in my bed after a party. I love Him. I hear Him speak and I know His voice, I spend time with Him, read the Word, do missions, love on people and LOVE SHARING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST... but I was all that and I still wasn't enjoying God everyday of my life.
I woke up at 6 a.m. to head to a training with Redeemed ministries to help rescue women in the Houston area out of sex trafficking. I was just driving down the road, early, sleepy, and excited about the training.
I'm not too sure the best way to explain what happened and some may chalk it up to charasmatic emotion and if you want to devalue it to that level, it's definitely your choice. As I drove I wasn't worshiping, I wasn't praying, I was just driving and something hit me like a brick. It was this overwhelming reality of the love of God for me. It so impressed me internally that it had external effects. I began to weep, uncontrollably weep, as I could barely mutter words of "Jesus, thank you". I had to pull over. You would think it'd stop, it didn't, I cried more, then after crying, I laughed. When all of this was finished I just sat to listen.
God spoke to my Spirit. "Will you enjoy me like I enjoy you?"
I've read the Beatitudes a billion times, but as I read them not long after the experience in my car this stuck out to me.
"Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh".
We've all heard the scripture that the Joy of the Lord is our strength and I think we all know the reason that it must be our strength is because God is never changing. Our joy will be constant if we find our joy in Him. My joy will be constant because I know that Christ died for me, so that I could have relationship with God. A relationship where He enjoys me and I enjoy Him!
Check out this passage of scripture from Psalm 16:
8 I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
9Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
11You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
WOW. In His presence is fullness of joy, if in His presence is fullness of joy doesn't that mean that I should enJOY Him?
I think I'm going to leave you with this thought. It looks like this will be longer than 2 blogs... part 3 to follow when I have time.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
So here I was I'd had an incredible few hours where I really felt the presence of God in the room with me, talking with me, molding me, teaching me, showing me, changing me... It is an experience like no other I've ever had before.
I ended the last blog with telling you some about that night and how we were created to be enjoyed by God. Not only are we created to be enjoyed by Him, but we are created to enjoy Him. Here is an excerpt from the end of the last blog and then we'll start again from there.
"Christ paid a price for His bride, He wants to be with her, He enjoys us! He likes me. He likes spending time with me, He likes watching me flourish and grow, He loves when I come to Him and admit my faults and my hurts, my aches my pains, my concerns. He likes to watch me coach because I love it. He enjoys me living life and enjoying the life that He gave me and the truth is He wants me to enjoy Him as much as He enjoys me."
At about 5:15 that morning I finally laid back down to sleep. I had spent a night in prayer, worship, and learning. I'd even made a phone call and sent a few emails to people for different reasons that I had felt impressed on during that time with the Lord. As I laid my head on my pillow, I thanked God for that night, I asked for strength for the following BUSY day, and the last thing I remember saying as I fell asleep was this "God I want to enjoy You, I want to know what that means, I want to know what it feels like, show me that this is real"
As awesome as that night was and as much as I was thankful for it and I did enjoy it, I still didn't quite comprehend this enjoy God thing. I know you could say I'm slow, but it's hard for me to say I get that I can daily enjoy God the way I daily enjoy my best friend, a romantic relationship, a parent etc. and if God was saying that I could have that then I want it. Yes, gasp with extreme disappointment, but like I said, I'm changed, I've found something new for me, and I'm going to put it all out there in hopes that someone else will catch on to this...
I am and have been a passionate Christian. When I was 15 years old I caught on fire with enthusiasm for God. It has been a journey of some ups some downs some successes and some failures, but I have been passionate about Him since that point when God spoke to me as a teenager while I was drunk in my bed after a party. I love Him. I hear Him speak and I know His voice, I spend time with Him, read the Word, do missions, love on people and LOVE SHARING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST... but I was all that and I still wasn't enjoying God everyday of my life.
I woke up at 6 a.m. to head to a training with Redeemed ministries to help rescue women in the Houston area out of sex trafficking. I was just driving down the road, early, sleepy, and excited about the training.
I'm not too sure the best way to explain what happened and some may chalk it up to charasmatic emotion and if you want to devalue it to that level, it's definitely your choice. As I drove I wasn't worshiping, I wasn't praying, I was just driving and something hit me like a brick. It was this overwhelming reality of the love of God for me. It so impressed me internally that it had external effects. I began to weep, uncontrollably weep, as I could barely mutter words of "Jesus, thank you". I had to pull over. You would think it'd stop, it didn't, I cried more, then after crying, I laughed. When all of this was finished I just sat to listen.
God spoke to my Spirit. "Will you enjoy me like I enjoy you?"
I've read the Beatitudes a billion times, but as I read them not long after the experience in my car this stuck out to me.
"Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh".
We've all heard the scripture that the Joy of the Lord is our strength and I think we all know the reason that it must be our strength is because God is never changing. Our joy will be constant if we find our joy in Him. My joy will be constant because I know that Christ died for me, so that I could have relationship with God. A relationship where He enjoys me and I enjoy Him!
Check out this passage of scripture from Psalm 16:
8 I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
9Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
10For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
11You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
WOW. In His presence is fullness of joy, if in His presence is fullness of joy doesn't that mean that I should enJOY Him?
I think I'm going to leave you with this thought. It looks like this will be longer than 2 blogs... part 3 to follow when I have time.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
Will you enjoy Me? (this is me being vulnerable) PART ONE
I have been touched this week, I have been changed and it's with a message that I want the world to hear. So I'll start with my first platform, this blog... then I'll move to my other platforms the Lord has given me and any other He opens up... I'll shout it from rooftops if I need to. As you read this blog, know that I am opening up some of the things that I've felt and have hardly talked to anyone about, in an effort that others will be touched too!
Let me first say I should have known that breakthrough was coming. The past two weeks have been rough. I've been attacked physically and emotionally. I had some hard circumstances, I had to make tough decisions, some hurt, some came easily, some I may not fully understand even now. As I was sitting at my mentor's house on Saturday having lunch I was telling her about what all had happened in the past 12 hours (yes most of this came from one 7 hour night of just me and God) and she said well I knew that God was about to do something big in your life because look at all the preparation, resistance, and growing you just went through! I was like what are you talking about? I just went through 2 really bad weeks. She said if you think about them as bad you're never going to stick with this, but if you look at them as a growing period, a time where God is trying to do something and the enemy is trying to stop it, you'll grow through it. Gosh, she's always right. So I should have known breakthrough was coming, I went through a not so fun growing period.
Let me just dive in and explain circumstances so I can explain my revelation. Friday night I laid down to sleep and just COULD NOT SLEEP. I began to pray (mainly to get some sleep I had to be up at 6 AM to head to Houston the next morning!) and then I would lay my head down tossing and turning for another 10 minutes. Finally (light bulb) I said God do you just need me to shut up and listen? I got up out of bed to really say "Lord here I am, I really am listening". He spoke. God is faithful like that. He said draw near to me and I'll draw near to you (James 4:8) He didn't say He might. He said He would, so when I got up and said okay God I'm listening for YOU, He came near. God speaks to me the way I wish more people would speak to me, to the point, direct, loving and compassionate, but not beating around the bush. He said "You don't enjoy me".
Those of you who have heard me speak know (I tell on myself a lot in messages) I for some reason argue with God. You would think after years of doing this walk and realizing He never says anything that's not true that I would just be a "Yes Lord" kind of gal, but not yet, i'm working on it. I responded to Him. "GOD! I DO ENJOY YOU. I love you. I pray, I read my Bible, I sing, I dance, I worship, I ENJOY YOU!".... AGAIN HE SAYS "You don't enjoy me". I respond.... "God if you're saying I don't enjoy you then fine you're going to have to teach me what you mean and how to do it, because I obviously don't understand!"
The next 5-6 hours were spend praying, listening, worshiping, and feeling impressed to do certain things, feeling convicted about certain things. God basically showed me how I have made my relationship with Him a job.
My personality is task oriented. Make me a list and I'll get it done. I am a hard worker (thank you randy tate for instilling this into me). Just tell me what to do and I will get it done. At some point I applied this to Christianity. This is not to say I haven't had a relationship with the Lord for the past few months and it's not even to say it became routine, it's to say that I lived in constant condemnation and in over achiever mode. I read the bible in 90 days because I just knew I needed to get more Word, I would wake up at 4:30 to read and pray because I just needed to be a better daughter, I'd do this do that do this... etc. All the while still feeling like it wasn't good enough I HAD TO DO MORE IF I WAS EVER GOING TO BE WHO GOD WANTED ME TO BE. I had to spend more time in prayer, get less sleep, lay around less, do more work, be at the church more, help out more, read the Bible more, preach better, witness more, share Christ more. etc.
Can I stop and say one thing. All of those are good things. All of those are true, we should be doing more. It wasn't what I was doing that was wrong, it was my mind set, I wouldn't even say it was my heart. My heart was that I wanted to be the best Christian I could be, the best Child of God I could be, the best friend I could be, the best person I could be, the best teacher/coach I could be, the best youth worker, the best speaker, I just wanted to reach my potential, but through it all I still just felt discouraged like I would never be good enough to really achieve what God has in store for my life. I would go through a sort of roller coaster emotions as I would spend time with the Lord and feel His love, grace, peace, and mercy then I would feel like I still am not doing enough, I still need to do more, "my God why isn't the whole 6th grade saved yet I've been teaching here a year?!?" I know it sounds laughable when you write it out, but I seriously battled condemnation.
As the night wore on with the Lord, I felt His tangible presence. He did convict me of a few things I needed to change, tangible decisions that needed to be made, but He also showed me how condemnation flees when I realize He enjoys me.
Whoa. Hold up, wait a minute, the God of the universe enjoys me? But, I'm not where I should be, tons of kids aren't flocking to me to lead them to Christ, the alter isn't always flooded after I give a message, I broke a clip board in class the other day because I lost my temper, how can you say you enjoy me?!? This is the revelation that needs to spread from the pulpit to the pews when Christ died to cover your sins, HE COVERED YOUR SINS! God sent Jesus to break down the middle wall of separation and bring you to HIMSELF, WHY? Because He created you so that He could enjoy you.
You don't marry someone you don't enjoy being with (it's sad we have to alter that statement in today's society, but you know what I mean). Christ paid a price for His bride, He wants to be with her, He enjoys us! He likes me. He likes spending time with me, He likes watching me flourish and grow, He loves when I come to Him and admit my faults and my hurts, my aches my pains, my concerns. He likes to watch me coach because I love it. He enjoys me living life and enjoying the life that He gave me and the truth is He wants me to enjoy Him as much as He enjoys me.
I could talk about enjoying Him for another 16 passages, but i know the longer this gets the less people will read it to the end, so we'll make this part one and I'll continue talking about what happened next and what enjoying Him means in the next blog.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
Let me first say I should have known that breakthrough was coming. The past two weeks have been rough. I've been attacked physically and emotionally. I had some hard circumstances, I had to make tough decisions, some hurt, some came easily, some I may not fully understand even now. As I was sitting at my mentor's house on Saturday having lunch I was telling her about what all had happened in the past 12 hours (yes most of this came from one 7 hour night of just me and God) and she said well I knew that God was about to do something big in your life because look at all the preparation, resistance, and growing you just went through! I was like what are you talking about? I just went through 2 really bad weeks. She said if you think about them as bad you're never going to stick with this, but if you look at them as a growing period, a time where God is trying to do something and the enemy is trying to stop it, you'll grow through it. Gosh, she's always right. So I should have known breakthrough was coming, I went through a not so fun growing period.
Let me just dive in and explain circumstances so I can explain my revelation. Friday night I laid down to sleep and just COULD NOT SLEEP. I began to pray (mainly to get some sleep I had to be up at 6 AM to head to Houston the next morning!) and then I would lay my head down tossing and turning for another 10 minutes. Finally (light bulb) I said God do you just need me to shut up and listen? I got up out of bed to really say "Lord here I am, I really am listening". He spoke. God is faithful like that. He said draw near to me and I'll draw near to you (James 4:8) He didn't say He might. He said He would, so when I got up and said okay God I'm listening for YOU, He came near. God speaks to me the way I wish more people would speak to me, to the point, direct, loving and compassionate, but not beating around the bush. He said "You don't enjoy me".
Those of you who have heard me speak know (I tell on myself a lot in messages) I for some reason argue with God. You would think after years of doing this walk and realizing He never says anything that's not true that I would just be a "Yes Lord" kind of gal, but not yet, i'm working on it. I responded to Him. "GOD! I DO ENJOY YOU. I love you. I pray, I read my Bible, I sing, I dance, I worship, I ENJOY YOU!".... AGAIN HE SAYS "You don't enjoy me". I respond.... "God if you're saying I don't enjoy you then fine you're going to have to teach me what you mean and how to do it, because I obviously don't understand!"
The next 5-6 hours were spend praying, listening, worshiping, and feeling impressed to do certain things, feeling convicted about certain things. God basically showed me how I have made my relationship with Him a job.
My personality is task oriented. Make me a list and I'll get it done. I am a hard worker (thank you randy tate for instilling this into me). Just tell me what to do and I will get it done. At some point I applied this to Christianity. This is not to say I haven't had a relationship with the Lord for the past few months and it's not even to say it became routine, it's to say that I lived in constant condemnation and in over achiever mode. I read the bible in 90 days because I just knew I needed to get more Word, I would wake up at 4:30 to read and pray because I just needed to be a better daughter, I'd do this do that do this... etc. All the while still feeling like it wasn't good enough I HAD TO DO MORE IF I WAS EVER GOING TO BE WHO GOD WANTED ME TO BE. I had to spend more time in prayer, get less sleep, lay around less, do more work, be at the church more, help out more, read the Bible more, preach better, witness more, share Christ more. etc.
Can I stop and say one thing. All of those are good things. All of those are true, we should be doing more. It wasn't what I was doing that was wrong, it was my mind set, I wouldn't even say it was my heart. My heart was that I wanted to be the best Christian I could be, the best Child of God I could be, the best friend I could be, the best person I could be, the best teacher/coach I could be, the best youth worker, the best speaker, I just wanted to reach my potential, but through it all I still just felt discouraged like I would never be good enough to really achieve what God has in store for my life. I would go through a sort of roller coaster emotions as I would spend time with the Lord and feel His love, grace, peace, and mercy then I would feel like I still am not doing enough, I still need to do more, "my God why isn't the whole 6th grade saved yet I've been teaching here a year?!?" I know it sounds laughable when you write it out, but I seriously battled condemnation.
As the night wore on with the Lord, I felt His tangible presence. He did convict me of a few things I needed to change, tangible decisions that needed to be made, but He also showed me how condemnation flees when I realize He enjoys me.
Whoa. Hold up, wait a minute, the God of the universe enjoys me? But, I'm not where I should be, tons of kids aren't flocking to me to lead them to Christ, the alter isn't always flooded after I give a message, I broke a clip board in class the other day because I lost my temper, how can you say you enjoy me?!? This is the revelation that needs to spread from the pulpit to the pews when Christ died to cover your sins, HE COVERED YOUR SINS! God sent Jesus to break down the middle wall of separation and bring you to HIMSELF, WHY? Because He created you so that He could enjoy you.
You don't marry someone you don't enjoy being with (it's sad we have to alter that statement in today's society, but you know what I mean). Christ paid a price for His bride, He wants to be with her, He enjoys us! He likes me. He likes spending time with me, He likes watching me flourish and grow, He loves when I come to Him and admit my faults and my hurts, my aches my pains, my concerns. He likes to watch me coach because I love it. He enjoys me living life and enjoying the life that He gave me and the truth is He wants me to enjoy Him as much as He enjoys me.
I could talk about enjoying Him for another 16 passages, but i know the longer this gets the less people will read it to the end, so we'll make this part one and I'll continue talking about what happened next and what enjoying Him means in the next blog.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Human Trafficking Training
Hey Friends and Family.
Let me start with saying God is doing some AWESOME, AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, LIFE CHANGING, things in my heart and I cannot wait to share about those things. However, this blog isn't going to go there yet :) Just want to keep you on the edge of your seat for the next blog LOL actually I'm just waiting until I have some more understanding and feel like I can convey some events that happened and how that affected my heart.
What I want to talk about in this blog is the training I went to yesterday for Redeemed Ministries. Redeemed Ministries is a ministry in Houston TX that works specifically with Human Trafficking in the Houston Area. They work on different levels of Prevention, Prosecution and Protection. In other words they try to keep it from happening, they rescue people out of this horrible business, and they work on the legislative side trying to change laws to help protect girls rescued and prosecute the ones responsible.
While I was looking for mission trips to do this summer I was looking at Cambodia and was seeing how horrendous the problem of Human Trafficking was there. If you're unfamiliar with human trafficking I'll give you the Jessika (non-official) definition it's taking any persons and illegally putting them into a lifestyle of sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, etc. Redeemed Ministries works specifically with sexual exploitation (i.e. prostitution). So, I was studying Cambodia and my heart began breaking for the issue of human-trafficking in the world. Light bulb, does this happen in America? As I researched I found that it not only happens in America, but it happens in my "own back yard" so to speak. Houston is ranked 3rd in the country for the amount of human trafficking it has.
Yesterday's training was just the tip of the iceberg really giving us all the information on human trafficking and how real it is. We were given shocking statistics, but also hope. REDEEMED, what a name. These girls can be redeemed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I'm ready for the trainings that I have up ahead (2 more until I start volunteering) and I wanted to give you some statistics that shock and awed me...
-There are 219 KNOWN brothels in the Houston area... This only includes brothels out of businesses, in other words it doesn't include prostitution being sold out of hotel rooms, apartments, houses, etc. and once again only the KNOWN ones.
-50% of runaways will be approached by a "PIMP" in 48 hours or less. There are 300,000 runaways a year in America.
- There are 250,000 sex slaves in North America
- The avg age for these girls is 14
- They avg amount of time in the "business" is 7yrs before they die or are kicked out because of one reason or another (too worn out, diseases, etc)
- The women service on avg. 15 men a day
There are tons more statistics, but I am running out of time to type them all out. The point is we have to do something about this problem. Young women are being sold as sex slaves, illegally, they're being forced into prostitution by threat of harm done to them, or someone they know, or perhaps manipulative coercion.
I cannot hear statistics like this, I can't hear about a problem like this and be inactive and ignore it. These victims (and honestly all others that are in this business or use this business) need hope, they need Jesus, they have spiritual and natural needs, all of which mean life or death rather spiritually or physically. Im ready to help in any way I can.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
Let me start with saying God is doing some AWESOME, AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, LIFE CHANGING, things in my heart and I cannot wait to share about those things. However, this blog isn't going to go there yet :) Just want to keep you on the edge of your seat for the next blog LOL actually I'm just waiting until I have some more understanding and feel like I can convey some events that happened and how that affected my heart.
What I want to talk about in this blog is the training I went to yesterday for Redeemed Ministries. Redeemed Ministries is a ministry in Houston TX that works specifically with Human Trafficking in the Houston Area. They work on different levels of Prevention, Prosecution and Protection. In other words they try to keep it from happening, they rescue people out of this horrible business, and they work on the legislative side trying to change laws to help protect girls rescued and prosecute the ones responsible.
While I was looking for mission trips to do this summer I was looking at Cambodia and was seeing how horrendous the problem of Human Trafficking was there. If you're unfamiliar with human trafficking I'll give you the Jessika (non-official) definition it's taking any persons and illegally putting them into a lifestyle of sexual exploitation, labor exploitation, etc. Redeemed Ministries works specifically with sexual exploitation (i.e. prostitution). So, I was studying Cambodia and my heart began breaking for the issue of human-trafficking in the world. Light bulb, does this happen in America? As I researched I found that it not only happens in America, but it happens in my "own back yard" so to speak. Houston is ranked 3rd in the country for the amount of human trafficking it has.
Yesterday's training was just the tip of the iceberg really giving us all the information on human trafficking and how real it is. We were given shocking statistics, but also hope. REDEEMED, what a name. These girls can be redeemed physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I'm ready for the trainings that I have up ahead (2 more until I start volunteering) and I wanted to give you some statistics that shock and awed me...
-There are 219 KNOWN brothels in the Houston area... This only includes brothels out of businesses, in other words it doesn't include prostitution being sold out of hotel rooms, apartments, houses, etc. and once again only the KNOWN ones.
-50% of runaways will be approached by a "PIMP" in 48 hours or less. There are 300,000 runaways a year in America.
- There are 250,000 sex slaves in North America
- The avg age for these girls is 14
- They avg amount of time in the "business" is 7yrs before they die or are kicked out because of one reason or another (too worn out, diseases, etc)
- The women service on avg. 15 men a day
There are tons more statistics, but I am running out of time to type them all out. The point is we have to do something about this problem. Young women are being sold as sex slaves, illegally, they're being forced into prostitution by threat of harm done to them, or someone they know, or perhaps manipulative coercion.
I cannot hear statistics like this, I can't hear about a problem like this and be inactive and ignore it. These victims (and honestly all others that are in this business or use this business) need hope, they need Jesus, they have spiritual and natural needs, all of which mean life or death rather spiritually or physically. Im ready to help in any way I can.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
Sunday, May 8, 2011
A plethora of descriptions
WOW... what a week!?!
I want to take some time to go through some emotions and events of this week in a desire to share praise to God, to ask for some prayer support in several areas, and because I'm writer and this is what I do :) Try to stick it out to the end.
Let's start out with the past weekend as I give a few details on a battle that I'm fighting physically this week and ask for your prayer in this battle. Sunday night I split a sermon with one of my best friends, he did his half of the sermon, and as I was giving my part... I began to feel something weird in my body. When I wrapped up the message, hugged some necks, etc. I went straight to my Pastor's wife (who acts as a 2nd mother in my life) and told her my body didn't feel right. With some prayer and medicine I went home. By Monday I had a terrible headache, diarea, vomiting, and a fever that got up to 103.5. On Tuesday I woke up with a low fever and my throat so swollen and hurting that I could not get pills down to take for the headache. By Wednesday I was feeling well enough to go to work and then Thursday I woke up with a fever again, a rash all over my body, and the returning headache and swollen throat. Needless to say my stubborn self finally went to the doctor. My symptoms have been all over the place and I'm continuing a battle of not feeling 100%. I have a little over a week for some other issues I'm having in my body to leave or my physician is making me go to a neurologist. Please pray for healing in my body. It has been a week since I've been able to workout and obviously that in and of itself is frustrating for me when I workout 1-2x a day usually!
Battling sickness was not exactly something I wanted to do as I also found out disappointing news this week about going to Japan. Let me say this. It is a difficult process to communicate with people in other countries and try to coordinate plans, it's often a slow process that requires patience, but more than anything trust that you are doing what God wants you to do and that He will direct your steps. If you read this blog often you know that being a teacher was not my choice job for this year (feelings have changed) but I encouraged myself throughout the year by telling myself Jessika this is the best job to enable you to do what you really want to do! Be in ministry and travel the world telling people about Jesus. As a teacher every weekend is open, hardly ever events on Wednesday nights, and summer is free to travel the world. So as it got to be time to start planning for my summer (yes i began early because of eagerness) I just thought of the places that were on my heart and began exploring options.... Well I'm now at 4 failed attempts of planning trips for this summer... After hearing about Japan this week... I'm having to take some long hard looks at myself and in prayer. Yes, in humbleness I admit that I was trying to make it happen. I was trying to pick where I'd go and what I'd do. I was going to make sure that I created an opportunity for me to go and be a light to minister about "what's His name again?"... hopefully you can catch on to the sarcasm of my own failure, but that's what I had done. I was so busy trying to make a way for me to go share the love of my Jesus that I didn't take as much time as I should have asking Jesus what He wanted me to do. So here I am. 3 1/2 weeks of school left and I don't know where I'll go this summer or honestly if I go and now I know that wherever/whenever I go or stay I'll be a missionary, because it's not about going that makes us missionaries, it's about knowing. I'm a missionary because I know Jesus, that is part of who we are as Christians, sharing the love of Jesus. In America and/or abroad. Pray with me about my summer plans, that I will stay out of them... :)
MAEGAN IS GOING TO BOTSWANA. Yesterday, Maegan left for Bots. I am so excited for her. LBOM was an awesome experience for me and I know it will be for her as well. Maegan has felt the calling to be an African missionary since she was 12 years old. Last year I was blessed to get to go with her for her first time to go to Africa. Maegan was in her element. As we walked down the dirt roads of Rwanda young children flocked to Maegan (admittedly not me lol) and she would hand them smarty's pick them up, kiss on them, love on them, and tear up as we'd leave them. Maegan's heart is for Africa. That is why I can be so excited as I watch her leave to spend 3 months in Botswana. Love Botswana Ministries has a school, orphanage, church, outreach programs, widows program, etc... Maegan will have every opportunity to use her gifts and passions as she spends 3 months helping out an amazing ministry that has greatly impacted the country of Botswana.
Let me share something AWESOME about this week. I had been hearing a lot about a local youth group and the passion and growth they had been experiencing. It was such a God thing that I was asked to come and speak to them this past Wednesday night. *Notice that Wednesday was the one day this past week that I was not feeling strong side effects of being sick, wasn't running fever, and was able to work.. is our God not awesome?* Wednesday all I kept getting from the Lord to share about was "I'm Daddy God, share about me"... honestly God that's a very wide spectrum, to just talk about You, but okay... so I went and I just talked. I talked about the heart of my Father. The heart of my Daddy. How He loves me adn cares about me... I shared stories of supernatural protection, healing, guidance, and love... I talked to them about sharing the love of their Daddy with others. It was just a night praising my Daddy for being Daddy. I wasn't sure what God wanted to accomplish, but kids flocked the alter. 10 KIDS GOT SAVED... several others came up for prayer to renew passion and relationship with Him.. several came up to pray for friends and family members to know Him... I'm so glad that I could help kids know who God is, I'm so thankful for the opportunity to indroduce them to Him. In the midst of my own sickness, confusion, disappointment, weariness, God healed, He talked, He spoke, He met with His children, and He reminded me of who He is to me and why I serve Him. I won't lie I'm tearing up writing this now because His grace and love and mercy so melts my heart. While I struggled, while I doubted, while I was hurting... He gave a message, He spoke a message through me, that needed to be heard by me and He used it to bring children to Him... That's my Daddy.
Today is Mother's Day. I just want to give a shout to the mommy's out there. I have one of the best mom's in the world who has never stopped telling me that I can DO ANYTHING... literally anything. Ususally to the point of annoying me (lol) my mom thanks I can do anything I want. She believes if I want to travel and preach I can be a Joyce Meyers, if I want to write then I can write 1,000 best sellers, If i want to be a wife/mom then I'll be the best wife/mom in the world, whatever I want to do my mom truly believes I'll be the best at it. She's awesome that way.
I've also had several 2nd mother's in my life. Women who have literally taken me in bought my dinners, prayed over me, cried with me, loved on me, kissed my cheeks, and believed in me. These women have poured into my life to teach me how to be a woman of God who is a loving and caring wife/mom one day.
I can't wait for the day that I get to be a Proverbs 31 wife/mother. I believe in praying for my husband/children now, learning and soaking from wiser/older women, so that when it comes time for me to be a wife and a Mom I've listened and learned from those who are more experienced than me. Thanks mothers...
I know your eyes probably burn, but thanks for continually loving and supporting me.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
I want to take some time to go through some emotions and events of this week in a desire to share praise to God, to ask for some prayer support in several areas, and because I'm writer and this is what I do :) Try to stick it out to the end.
Let's start out with the past weekend as I give a few details on a battle that I'm fighting physically this week and ask for your prayer in this battle. Sunday night I split a sermon with one of my best friends, he did his half of the sermon, and as I was giving my part... I began to feel something weird in my body. When I wrapped up the message, hugged some necks, etc. I went straight to my Pastor's wife (who acts as a 2nd mother in my life) and told her my body didn't feel right. With some prayer and medicine I went home. By Monday I had a terrible headache, diarea, vomiting, and a fever that got up to 103.5. On Tuesday I woke up with a low fever and my throat so swollen and hurting that I could not get pills down to take for the headache. By Wednesday I was feeling well enough to go to work and then Thursday I woke up with a fever again, a rash all over my body, and the returning headache and swollen throat. Needless to say my stubborn self finally went to the doctor. My symptoms have been all over the place and I'm continuing a battle of not feeling 100%. I have a little over a week for some other issues I'm having in my body to leave or my physician is making me go to a neurologist. Please pray for healing in my body. It has been a week since I've been able to workout and obviously that in and of itself is frustrating for me when I workout 1-2x a day usually!
Battling sickness was not exactly something I wanted to do as I also found out disappointing news this week about going to Japan. Let me say this. It is a difficult process to communicate with people in other countries and try to coordinate plans, it's often a slow process that requires patience, but more than anything trust that you are doing what God wants you to do and that He will direct your steps. If you read this blog often you know that being a teacher was not my choice job for this year (feelings have changed) but I encouraged myself throughout the year by telling myself Jessika this is the best job to enable you to do what you really want to do! Be in ministry and travel the world telling people about Jesus. As a teacher every weekend is open, hardly ever events on Wednesday nights, and summer is free to travel the world. So as it got to be time to start planning for my summer (yes i began early because of eagerness) I just thought of the places that were on my heart and began exploring options.... Well I'm now at 4 failed attempts of planning trips for this summer... After hearing about Japan this week... I'm having to take some long hard looks at myself and in prayer. Yes, in humbleness I admit that I was trying to make it happen. I was trying to pick where I'd go and what I'd do. I was going to make sure that I created an opportunity for me to go and be a light to minister about "what's His name again?"... hopefully you can catch on to the sarcasm of my own failure, but that's what I had done. I was so busy trying to make a way for me to go share the love of my Jesus that I didn't take as much time as I should have asking Jesus what He wanted me to do. So here I am. 3 1/2 weeks of school left and I don't know where I'll go this summer or honestly if I go and now I know that wherever/whenever I go or stay I'll be a missionary, because it's not about going that makes us missionaries, it's about knowing. I'm a missionary because I know Jesus, that is part of who we are as Christians, sharing the love of Jesus. In America and/or abroad. Pray with me about my summer plans, that I will stay out of them... :)
MAEGAN IS GOING TO BOTSWANA. Yesterday, Maegan left for Bots. I am so excited for her. LBOM was an awesome experience for me and I know it will be for her as well. Maegan has felt the calling to be an African missionary since she was 12 years old. Last year I was blessed to get to go with her for her first time to go to Africa. Maegan was in her element. As we walked down the dirt roads of Rwanda young children flocked to Maegan (admittedly not me lol) and she would hand them smarty's pick them up, kiss on them, love on them, and tear up as we'd leave them. Maegan's heart is for Africa. That is why I can be so excited as I watch her leave to spend 3 months in Botswana. Love Botswana Ministries has a school, orphanage, church, outreach programs, widows program, etc... Maegan will have every opportunity to use her gifts and passions as she spends 3 months helping out an amazing ministry that has greatly impacted the country of Botswana.
Let me share something AWESOME about this week. I had been hearing a lot about a local youth group and the passion and growth they had been experiencing. It was such a God thing that I was asked to come and speak to them this past Wednesday night. *Notice that Wednesday was the one day this past week that I was not feeling strong side effects of being sick, wasn't running fever, and was able to work.. is our God not awesome?* Wednesday all I kept getting from the Lord to share about was "I'm Daddy God, share about me"... honestly God that's a very wide spectrum, to just talk about You, but okay... so I went and I just talked. I talked about the heart of my Father. The heart of my Daddy. How He loves me adn cares about me... I shared stories of supernatural protection, healing, guidance, and love... I talked to them about sharing the love of their Daddy with others. It was just a night praising my Daddy for being Daddy. I wasn't sure what God wanted to accomplish, but kids flocked the alter. 10 KIDS GOT SAVED... several others came up for prayer to renew passion and relationship with Him.. several came up to pray for friends and family members to know Him... I'm so glad that I could help kids know who God is, I'm so thankful for the opportunity to indroduce them to Him. In the midst of my own sickness, confusion, disappointment, weariness, God healed, He talked, He spoke, He met with His children, and He reminded me of who He is to me and why I serve Him. I won't lie I'm tearing up writing this now because His grace and love and mercy so melts my heart. While I struggled, while I doubted, while I was hurting... He gave a message, He spoke a message through me, that needed to be heard by me and He used it to bring children to Him... That's my Daddy.
Today is Mother's Day. I just want to give a shout to the mommy's out there. I have one of the best mom's in the world who has never stopped telling me that I can DO ANYTHING... literally anything. Ususally to the point of annoying me (lol) my mom thanks I can do anything I want. She believes if I want to travel and preach I can be a Joyce Meyers, if I want to write then I can write 1,000 best sellers, If i want to be a wife/mom then I'll be the best wife/mom in the world, whatever I want to do my mom truly believes I'll be the best at it. She's awesome that way.
I've also had several 2nd mother's in my life. Women who have literally taken me in bought my dinners, prayed over me, cried with me, loved on me, kissed my cheeks, and believed in me. These women have poured into my life to teach me how to be a woman of God who is a loving and caring wife/mom one day.
I can't wait for the day that I get to be a Proverbs 31 wife/mother. I believe in praying for my husband/children now, learning and soaking from wiser/older women, so that when it comes time for me to be a wife and a Mom I've listened and learned from those who are more experienced than me. Thanks mothers...
I know your eyes probably burn, but thanks for continually loving and supporting me.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
Sunday, May 1, 2011
The message
A good friend and I decided to tag team a sermon for our youth. We spoke on media and entertainment. I must say that Paul did an INCREDIBLY awesome job and I am going to find a way to upload the sermon to post to my blog for everyone to hear.
Paul took from the view point of music and I took movies. I want to note here that we were not doing this from the stand point of ALL secular entertainment is bad!! Neither of us believe that. In fact Paul LOVES music and I LOVE movies... hence why we took the parts we took.
I'm writing this blog because Paul's part really pierced me and it led me to want to do a little research. Paul read some lyrics from the popular songs for right now, a few artists in particular, one being Lady Gaga.
I came home to read some more on her story and among some lady Gaga quotes I found these.
"I'm telling you a lie in a vicious effort that you will repeat my lie over and over until it becomes true"
"I don't want the 5 dollars in your pocket, I want your soul"
"Sexuality is half poison and half liberation. What’s the line? I don’t have a line. "
"I remember watching the mascara tears flood the ivories and I thought, "It's OK to be sad." I've been trained to love my darkness."
There were a few more I would have loved to posted but felt were way too inappropriate for my blog.
I want you to read these quotes and I want you to think. Do I as a Christian have any business listening to music by someone who willingly admits she is lying.
Philippians 4:8
Music is influential. It can be positive or it can be negative. But I see the media of our time making a huge impact on our generation and I'm not a huge fan of the direction it's taking us.
When I get the message uploaded listen to it. It'll make you examine yourself.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
Paul took from the view point of music and I took movies. I want to note here that we were not doing this from the stand point of ALL secular entertainment is bad!! Neither of us believe that. In fact Paul LOVES music and I LOVE movies... hence why we took the parts we took.
I'm writing this blog because Paul's part really pierced me and it led me to want to do a little research. Paul read some lyrics from the popular songs for right now, a few artists in particular, one being Lady Gaga.
I came home to read some more on her story and among some lady Gaga quotes I found these.
"I'm telling you a lie in a vicious effort that you will repeat my lie over and over until it becomes true"
"I don't want the 5 dollars in your pocket, I want your soul"
"Sexuality is half poison and half liberation. What’s the line? I don’t have a line. "
"I remember watching the mascara tears flood the ivories and I thought, "It's OK to be sad." I've been trained to love my darkness."
There were a few more I would have loved to posted but felt were way too inappropriate for my blog.
I want you to read these quotes and I want you to think. Do I as a Christian have any business listening to music by someone who willingly admits she is lying.
Philippians 4:8
Music is influential. It can be positive or it can be negative. But I see the media of our time making a huge impact on our generation and I'm not a huge fan of the direction it's taking us.
When I get the message uploaded listen to it. It'll make you examine yourself.
Be Blessed,
J. Tate
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