I’ve never seen so many coolers in my life!

Posted by adamlepp in Heaven Bound, Relationships

We were on an adventure.  We were on a hunt.  We were looking for a treasure.  Six times, the coolers let us know we were on the right path.

The InterVarsity chapter at Bemidji State University has been meeting regularly over the summer to study the book of Daniel, and we had been looking for some ways to share Christ as a group.  We landed on two things – a game night next week and a Treasure Hunt tonight.

I think Treasure Hunts originated from Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.  You can check out those two links for more information but I want to share our encounter with God with you.  We did a modified version of what they do.

After tonights study ended of Daniel Chapter 9, I did a super quick introduction and training session with 6 others.  I was so excited, and surprised to see their excitement to try this Treasure Hunt thing out – I’ve never had people respond like that.  After I gave my training, we split into two groups, and I prayed a blessing on our adventure as we set out.  One group had a group of four, and my group consisted of two others – Mark and Michelle.

I learned a lot in this process.  The first thing is that 15 minutes isn’t very long if you are planning to pray and listen for God to respond.  Prayer is the first and most vital part of the whole Treasure Hunt.  It’s where we go off by ourselves to seek God and ask him to give us clues to put on our map to find His treasure.  I felt like I barely had any time at all.   Read More…

The Lord’s Army

Posted by adamlepp in Heaven Bound, Hope

This, the vision I saw:

I saw an army, a great army.  They charged forth against the enemy.  I watched as they ran into battle with their armor on, but no weapons of any kind.  No swords, no axes, no shields, no maces – no weapons of any kind.

This army, this magnificent army was no ordinary army.  It was the army of the saints.  Every saint was at war against the evil one.

Every Saint.

As they charged forth, without their weapons, the outcome became obvious to me.  Because I was wrong – they had a weapon greater than any hand could forge.  Now I could see it.  I could hear it.  It was the sound of power.  It was the sound of strength.  It was a song of redemption.

It was the song of Jesus!

Scripture of the day

Posted by adamlepp in Heaven Bound, Hope, Identity

I was reading this today and wanted to share it with you.

Isaiah 61

¹ The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
² to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
³to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. Read More…

West, sounds good to me

Posted by adamlepp in Heaven Bound, Hope, Identity, Life

But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.

Ah, good old Jonah.  I love how Jonah is never running away from some thing, or some place.  But he is always seems to be running away from the LORD.

I like to run from the Lord.  I don’t think I do it on purpose, or even consciously, but I find my self running from God all the time.  This last month or so has once again been one of those times.

Thanks to the help and love of some great friends, I started to dive into my running.  I didn’t even know why I was running.  I had even less idea how to solve my problem.

And to be honest, I think it was/is the same stuff that was depressing me before.  It was just masking itself differently.

So, what is this answer I seek after?  I don’t know entirely.  If there is one thing I’m convicted of though, it’s this:  I need to fight for what I believe is Truth.  I haven’t been.  It’s scary.

So, please pray for  me, that I would have strength, and courage, to always fight for Truth.

We Need to Pray

Posted by adamlepp in Heaven Bound, Hope

I am so convicted of this right now.  We have forgotten how to pray.

You know how it goes, we open in prayer and we close in prayer, but how often do we spend that time asking God what He wants us to do?

Instead our prayers look something like this: “God we have this thing we are going to do, please bless it.”

God is moving – are we moving with Him?  are we even listening?

It’s my prayer that we would become a movement of people that pray like it matters.  That everything we do would be saturated in prayer.  And that we would ask God where He wants us to go – and then go there.

but that is not what ships are for

Posted by adamlepp in Heaven Bound, Hope, Identity

The above was my Facebook status the other day.  I spent a good deal of my day yesterday in a state of frustration with God.  It seems like I keep finding myself in these places where I am just coasting along, doing the motions.  It drives me nuts!  I can’t stand it.  I realized yesterday though something I hadn’t processed or understood in my heart before.  I fall into those habits because I fear what would happen if I didn’t.

The quote on my Facebook status says it perfectly, a ship in a harbor is safe.  There are no waves or storms that capsize it.  There is dry and safe land just a few feet away.  A ship, however, was not made to spend it’s days in a harbor.  They are ment to sail the sea.  They are built to go out.  They are designed to cross the vast seas.

And that’s what hit me yesterday.  I’m not built to spend my days in a safe harbor going through the motions.  NO!  I have a purpose and it’s to let the winds take me out into deep waters.  There are many storms out in the sea.  There are many unknowns.  Will I get wet if I leave this harbor?  Yeah, probably.  Will things get messy?  They very well might.  Will Jesus be there to calm the storms, pick me up when I fall, and make things right?  Most defiantly.

I mean, lets be honest.  If my purpose to be out there, then that is what God designed me for.  Even more so, that is His will for me to be there.  I think Erwin McManus got it right when he said:

To live outside God’s will puts us in danger; to live in his will makes us dangerous.

Therefore, in reality, docking in the harbor is probably much more dangerous then being out where I belong.

So I declare now, for the world to know.  I am setting sail.  I’m not waiting for morning, or even for the weather to clear.  I leave now.  I trust in the Lord God almighty to take care of me.  For He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.