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Posted in Ghana by Haley Smith on 3/16/2010
The Lord really spoke to me through this song. He is calling His people to rise up, to step into our fullness. To live according to kingdom principles so we may inherit His Kingdom. That is our only goal: for His kingdom to come on this earth. I dare you to ask God to shake up the way you live. To remove you from the comfortable life you are living. Pray for Him to shake up the way you believe. For him to shift your way of thinking so you may serve him unrelentlessly.
God of Justice, Savior to all
Came to rescue the weak and the poor
Chose to serve and not be served
Jesus, You have called us
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give
We must go
Stand beside the broken
We must go live to feed the hungry
Stepping forward keep us from just singing
. Move us into action.
We must go
To act justly everyday
Loving mercy in every way
Walking humbly before You God
You have shown us, what You require
Freely we've received
Now freely we will give
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out
Fill us up and send us out Lord
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Posted in Ghana by Haley Smith on 3/4/2010
We are heading out of Vietnam this morning..Crossing the border to Cambodia then heading to Thailand tomorrow.
Sunday we fly to Kenya and from there, to Ghana. We will Arrive in Ghana by Monday morning
and will start ministry on the Cape Coast University Campus.
My team and I are so pumped!
Please Pray for traveling mercies as our squad of 44 crosses all of the borders over the next days!
I love you all very much and thank you for your continued support! May the Most High King dwell richly among each of you and may Hus favor reign in each of you lives in Jesus' name.Amen.
Many stories of healing and lives being returned to the kingdom soon to come!!
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Posted in ATL by Haley Smith on 3/1/2010
During my time in Vietnam, God has
finally had the chance to break me and expose the nastiness that was
rooted so deep within me. This process has taken many years and the
breaking point has been such a long time coming. I have prayed for
this and I know that my family has done the same for many years. To
begin, I will say that God has allowed me to see the person in the
mirror with His eyes and with unveiled eyes...to see my true heart
and to see my motives. Without the mighty work of Christ's hand in my
life I have absolutely nothing to offer Him. I can't be
effective in my sole purpose (expanding His Kingdom and spreading the
truth) when I have a cloudy perspective of my heart. I have been
living with a viel over my eyes and satan has been lied to me for so
incredibly long. I have bought into his lies and have become too
comfortable in my own skin to change. This is exactly what satan
wants to do. He wants to lie to us and deceive us, but never to a
point where we might really allow God to change our hearts. Last
month in Cambodia, I heard a sermon by Bill Johnson and he asked,
"Would you continue to believe a friend who lied to you as much as
satan does?" This really hit home for me. I knew I needed to be
free.
I grew up in a loving family, with two
supremely awesome Christian parents and an upstanding Christian
brother. My family raised me with Biblical principles and loved me
like Christ calls us to love one another. They taught me the bible
and our household was dictated by God's word. They sacrificied
things they wanted in order to send my brother and I to a Christian
school when we were young. My Stepfather came into my life almost 9
years ago and from day one always gave me the best. He gave me things
he worked for as a child and blessed me far beyond what was
necessary. He opened his home and life to me and has taught me so
much from the wisdom he has acquired over the years; many invaluable
lessons that really saved me a lot of heartache. My brother always
looked out for me as well. I irritated him, pushed his buttons, and
triend to manipulate him while growing up. He beared through so many
years of it and loved and served me without end. My family has gone
out of their way to serve me like Christ calls us to serve one
another for so many years. They have done many great and
unnessecarily nice things for me. They relentlessly gave me mercy and
grace. In response to the love and blessings that were poured out on
me, I spit in each of their faces with my actions. I rejected them
and dishonored them. I didn't obey them and treated them like dirt
most days. I took out my emotions on them and caused them many nights
of unrest and undue stress. Somehow, for so long, i justified these
actions to myself. My heart grieves at the thought of how I treated
my family, especially the most beautiful woman in the world, my
mother. I have been so filled with selfishness and was so ignorant to
the effects of my behavior. My heart is broken by the words I spoke
to my mother. All I can do in this moment is weep about my ways. I
owe each member of my immediate family and also my extended family
but most importantly God an apology for the way I have treated them
and represented them in a way that was not in line with the way they
raised me. I also owe my friends an apology for the way I have
misrepresented Christ in my life. My prayer is that God gives me many
years ahead to make it up to all of you. By the grace of God, He has
changed my heart and is teaching me that this life, in fact, is not
all about me-contrary to my previous way of thinking. I pray that He
renews my mind daily to this reality. With this reality, I know that
with much grace and mercy I am on the road to a life that glorifies
God and all of His creation. Repentance is truly good for the soul! I
have found such joy in knowing that God gives us revelations about
our sin because he fully intents to bring us to a higher place with
him, to a higher calling. In Isaiah it says that God's word never returns void and He brings every work He starts to full completion...because of this I have confidence and hope!
God is stirring in me, shaking me,
and causing me to question. To what extent does selfishness live in each
of us? How much selfishness if any, is permissible? Must unbelievers
be selfish to a certain extent in order to make sure their needs are
met, and what about us Christians? Is there any room to be who God
calls us to be, a servant, and still hold on to our own rights, our
own expectations, our self-serving tendencies? Does God not say that
He is our Portion, our Provider, our Shelter in time of need? If He
is all of these things to us, must we still look after ourselves and
place ourselves at #1? He promises in Matthew 6:25-34 that we never
have a reason to worry.
We really do put so many limits on God and we
define him based on our own terms. We expect Him to move and to heal
us, but how can he move when we have him bound with such a low view?
We must be clueless when it comes to His power.
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Posted in ATL by Haley Smith on 2/17/2010
Part of a Journal entry from the 31st of January:
Lord, I feel SO blessed to be in this village in Cambodia. Before the month began, I knew you were sending me out to live "in the sticks" I was craving nature and You gave it to me. You have taught me so much this month; especially about your provision and about your perfect love. On several occasions I have stated my desire for something totally impractical or unnecessary and you have provided it, no matter how trivial it may be. You are all I need. You are Provider, Sustainer, and more than enough.
I missed my cousin Anna and you sent me a friend named Anna.
I wanted chocolate and coffee after a long day and voila!
I have always had a fear of speaking in a large crowd and You gave me an opportunity to overcome this fear with people i truly love.
You gave me a heart of celebration toward teaching English when I was not feeling adequate.
I wanted a bike to ride....check!
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Posted in ATL by Haley Smith on 2/15/2010
A stolen blog that spoke to me... check out the full story here. new blogs to come tomorrow!!! thank you for your patience :)
Sex is not just an act, but a
fusion of hearts- an expression of love to that one person you are safe
with. It's sad when people treat sex as some sort of
currency. They became so jaded at the spending and using till it isn't
worth anything anymore.
Magic is reduced to science.
Soul to soul becomes just skin to skin.
What God created as good, beautiful and mysterious, becomes cheap, vulgar and uncovered.
Throughout the Old Testament, there is this crazy and perhaps
offensive symbolism of us as the church being a whore. Running from
God, the ultimate lover, to others that just use and abuse. We trade
true love for temporary satisfaction, a lifetime commitment for a
casual moment- breaking the heart of God, but we are breaking our own
hearts as well. I get the feeling it may not be so obvious as blatant
fornication. As most things, it's always going deeper then just the
physical. We are good at divorcing the body with the soul and sprit,
but it's clear they are all intertwined. What we do to one affects the
other. It's easy to be distracted by the physical and forget the
emotional spiritual roots certain decisions have.
As Christians, we have the bad habit of outlining sexual sin in red and
ignoring the heart issues that make us do what we do. Our history is
tainted by scarlet letters handed out instead of grace, rocks being
thrown instead of forgiveness extended. We are quick to see ourselves
as closer to heaven when we abstain from these "sin of all sins," but
the irony is, in our self-righteousness we can be further from God
than the tired prostitute. Jesus was quick to proclaim this kingdom
truth in the things he spoke and the people he spoke too. You may think
you are holy because of what you do or don't do, but true holiness is a
heart issue- and it only comes from His spirit living in you. We love
because He first loved us. We are able to be whole because He is whole
in us. There is a mystery in the unity we have with Christ, a mystery
that can only be likened to the oneness of a loving marriage.
We cheat ourselves when we attempt to have these cheap encounters with
God through a series of meaningless rituals. Religion is all about the
act void of intimacy. It says do this and you will be loved, instead of
do this because you are loved.
I know people that have slept with so many people it ceases to mean
anything. Sure, maybe it's a thrill for a moment, but in the end,
nothing is ever enough. It's not just about sleeping around though. A
good Christian couple could be physically close but emotionally
distant, and cheat themselves out of the fullness of what God
intended. I have been to too many churches that are completely void of
any life. We talk about going through the motions, but we can't seem to
get past our religious tendencies so deeply engrained in us. God is a
distant deity to appease at worst, a hard husband that loves us but
expects too much of us, at best. We try to make love happen, but it's
never enough.
But what is? Yes, relationship over religion, we have all heard
that. But what would walking out an intimate and emotionally
fulfilling relationship with our God look like? I guess that's the
journey we are all on. We talk about passion and intimacy, and it
scares most people. It scares me. Yet I know I was made for it. I was
made to be one with God, as every human being was.
We were made to find ultimate pleasure and fulfillment in this
reality. To bathe in complete and total love. To be honest in every
way. To be okay in our own skin and know we are beautiful and accepted.
We don't need to dress up or dress down or show parts of ourselves to
try to gain attention. We don't need to fake it, to go through a tired
ritual attempting to find ourselves in a fleeting moment of plastic
pleasure. We have the real thing.
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Posted in Cambodia by Haley Smith on 1/8/2010
In
the morning (which is tonight for many of you) our squad is leaving for
Cambodia.
My team of six will be doing ministry in a village. We will
be building relationships through teaching
English to the
villagers and working for a local church. As of now we have no idea where the village is or if we
will
have internet to keep everyone updated! Please
keep us in your
prayers as we travel in a school bus 10 hours and cross the borders
into Cambodia. from what I hear the borders are unsafe however, I know
that we have the favor of the
Most High upon us! Please pray for
supernatural favor and traveling mercies as we travel for the next four
days...
I love you all and thank you for the many ways you allow me to continue
to minister to God's
children around the world.
You all are so awesome
and your dedication to me is more of a blessing than you know!! !!
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Posted in Thailand by Haley Smith on 1/4/2010
there is nothing quite like the relief I feel when I am reminded of the assurance Christ offers to us in a fresh start.
how amazing that our God, our Creator, would give us the opportunity to start over any day.
even if we mess up terribly, forgiveness is always waiting.
I love that we serve a God that is ALWAYS true to His word. His word never returns void.
Isaiah 55:10-11
10 "The rain and snow come down from the heavens
and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow,
producing seed for the farmer
and bread for the hungry.
11 It is the same with my word.
I send it out, and it always produces fruit.
It will accomplish all I want it to,
and it will prosper everywhere I send it.
After spending only hours in the bars a few nights a week, seeds of Christ's love have been planted in these women's lives and we can already see tangible results. As I was leaving the bar on the first night of our ministry, one of the women working, named Aor, stopped me and looked me in the eyes and said, "You are a good woman". This shows us all how powerful the presence of our God is. There is nothing we must "do" in order for His presence to be felt. When we walk in obedience to Him, we radiate His love.
Around a week ago as I was ordering McDonalds for the girls, my teammate, Chelsea had chance to chat with the women and another girl, Na, told her that there is something so different about us, that we were unlike anyone she and her friends had ever met, that we were good women, and that we are always smiling and happy. Chelsea was able to briefly explain that our love came from the love we have received from our God, our Father, who is named Jesus.
On New Years eve, on our way home from counting down, we all stopped by the bars and brought our teammate Melina with us (who usually goes to a different bar). She immediately introduced herself to the bar owner and he told her that she should hang out with us more often because we are good women. There is absolutely nothing we do when we are with these women other than be ourselves and try to get to know these women, but obviously God is shining His marvelous light through that!
I share these stories to just let you all know that changing lives has nothing to do with what we, as Christians, can do under our own strength or abilities. God can use the weakest people and the most unlikely people to accomplish His will
(look at me for an example! :D). All we must do is trust Him and realize that we have nothing to offer Him but that He holds the world in His hand and is completely sovereign and is always in control.
I feel so incredibly honored to be a part of the work He is doing in Thailand!
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Posted in Thailand by Haley Smith on 12/31/2009
The enemy works to have you question number 1, What God has said to you, and number 2, Who you are in Christ. If he can get you weak in either area, certain things become attractive to us that in our nature in Christ are not attractive at all. We weaken our own foundations by saying, "Has God really said...."
The Kingdom is at hand. Everything you need is always within reach. If you are in a dry place, well water is within reach!
from a sermon by Bill Johnson, "Recognizing God's Voice"
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Posted in Guatemala by Haley Smith on 12/28/2009
God has power to restore in miraculous ways. He can redeem even
the most lost people. Let us tell you about a man who defines God's
grace. His name is Benjamin and he has a great need for his ministry in
Panajachel, Guatemala. We are inviting you to be a part of this. He
now pastors a church named Mi-Reto (Ministry of Total Restoration) and
lives his life by complete faith. He serves the community to the
extent that he sacrifices all he has to share Jesus with the people
around him. He does this not only with words but with his actions. Ben
has been building homes, putting in plumbing, wiring electricity, and
been an overall handy man for Pana. He has been doing all his projects
with broken borrowed tools and transporting everything with a borrowed
motorcycle. He carts everything around in wheel barrows which triples
the time of each project compared to how easy it would be in the states
to do with a truck. Ben would be able to serve his community and reach
multitudes of people if he had a truck.
Ben has not always lived a life of sacrifice. The testimony that comes
from him is one that has a great impact on anyone who comes in contact
with him. It was only 7 years ago that Ben went from a drug and alcohol
addicted member of the occult to a radical lover of Jesus. Ben used to
own a tattoo shop and a discotech. He was of the verge of suicide when
a woman asked him to give God one more chance, and if God didn't come
through he could kill himself. With his wife and kids rejecting him,
and nowhere to go Ben decided to give God one last chance, but he
wanted to prove God wrong. Instead Ben was proven wrong, and his life
was radically changed. Ben was immediately freed of his dependency on
drugs and alcohol and from that day forward has lived a completely
transformed life. Little did he know that God was also doing a work in
his wife's life as well. She also gave her life to Christ.
Together they started the ministry Mi-Reto. They give all that they
have to serving. They don't even have a steady income. They live month
by month, and God has pro vided
for every month for 7 years and will continue to provide for them. All
the money that goes into the church goes toward ministry or the church.
They do not take any salary out of the church. This family is changing
not only the community that they live in but the people that they come
in contact with.
They have made a great impact on our lives over the month that we were
there. They are family that we will never forget. While there we saw
the need for the truck and what a blessing it would be to Ben's
ministry. It takes Ben at least a year to pay for a power tool, imagine what a truck would be for him.
Even though we can't be there we know God is changing lives through
Ben. We hope that you consider being a part of this ministry and
reaching out to the people that are making a difference.
A truck would bring:
-a way to transport materials
-a way to move families into new homes
- a way to transport missions teams
- a way to get to the city (Ben is trying to get his
residency and has to make trips to the city)
- a service that may not be provided otherwise
- a symbol of God's provision
- safety to him and the help beside him
For the program drop down menu, choose Support a World Race Project.
In the box to fill in which project, enter "L Ministry Project."
If you wish to send a donation by mail, please make your check payable to Adventures In Missions and mail it to:
Adventures In Missions
P.O. Box 534470
Atlanta, GA 30353-4470
Please indicate "World Race L Ministry Project" in the memo section of the check.
The last day to donate to this project is January 11, 2010. Any donations received after this date will go toward the overall ministry of the World Race program.
I want to stress this so there is no confusion - donors should not
give to this fund via your personal world race blog page. If they do,
it goes into your support account, not into the ministry fund.
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