Confessions of a Bonafide Pastor's Kid.

You know, the first part of that title is very obviously self explanatory. And yet, is it? In life, we’re thrown situations, circumstances, hard times, good times etc etc. That’s no surprise to any of us. In fact, half the time we EXPECT something (bad) to happen, especially when we are experiencing something good. There is a fear that arises that tells us ‘too good to be true’ or ‘all good things come to an end.’ In my humble opinion, that is a load of absolute baloney. To sink to the thought that we don’t deserve that happiness or we aren’t worthy of it, is actually denying the gift of God’s goodness in our lives. We subconsciously deny God the right to show His goodness in our lives. Not cool. NOT cool. 
    The fact is, God is good. There is never a time where He is not good.(double negative FOR THE WIN). But, there are definitely times where our vision is clouded, and His goodness is difficult to see through our situation or our circumstance. But regardless of what we think or what we decide… He is still good. He doesn’t need our permission to be good. LOL. Imagine? Anyways, which mindset are we living in? Either He is God or He’s not. Either He’s good or He’s no- just kidding HE’S ALWAYS GOOD REMEMBER?! 
     One of the hardest things to grasp for us as Sons and Daughters, is that we have access to the goodness of God, and that there is no limitation. So when something bad happens in our life, where are we reaching? What do we turn to? WHO do we turn to? Because if we know the goodness of God is always there-always available to us, then why is it that we hardly reach out to take part in that goodness? It’s a daily struggle to choose God in a moment of trial. In my life it’s been something God has been talking to me about, and I can honestly say that it’s one of those things that becomes easier with time. When something has gone amiss, I swallow my pride, and reach out saying “God i need You, and I want your goodness’. This is an accessible lifestyle. I challenge you to make the conscious decision to designate God as your go-to man. 
    Now, the other side of the spectrum is actually, in my (humble)(i just like saying that) opinion, more difficult! dun dun dunnnnn. In our tough times we can cast our bitter woes on the Lord and cling to the cross in sickening desperation and pain. But when we are feeling on top of the world, DO WE REMEMBER TO ACKNOWLEDGE GOD?! (capitals needed for emphasis, obvi.) Honestly, I could have the greatest day, get into bed smiling and then think GULPPPPPPPPPPPP I HAVEN’T EVEN TALKED TO YOU TODAY GOD. Lord forgive me! sheesh!.. It’s so simple to forget! It’s like. Things are going well, nothing is out of place. Why go to God if I don’t need anything? Another big load of 100% pure canadian baloney. GOING BACK TO THE PART WHERE HE IS ALWAYS GOOD….. He was the source to my good day. His blessings He has poured over me are the reason I went to bed smiling! And I had the AUDACITY to leave Him out of it. Okay, I’m not trying to convict you. That’s not my heart. I’m using my life as an example so you feel better about yourself. lol. What I am getting at is that it is so important to remember Him in the good things, to praise Him for them, and to thank Him. To acknowledge His goodness in your everyday life. ‘God you are so GOOD! thankyou for showing me your goodness.” When we begin to make this our lifestyle, we begin to recognize His goodness even more. Eventually, we can’t help but acknowledge Him in everything because we are so caught up in who He is and how thankful we are for who He is.
 
  In our low times, reach high to Him. In our high times reach even HIGHER to Him. Our praises and thanks to Him should not alter depending on our situation. He is God. He is good. He is worthy. We will never be able to change our circumstance, but we can determine our outcome. Finish well. Finish strong. Finish by praising Him through everything.

Psalm 100:3 ‘The Lord is good, and His love endures forever. His faithfulness lasts for all generations.” 

#BOOM
#ALWAYSGOOD

(via akthejourney)

(Source: akthejourney)

Love is not just a feeling, it’s also a person, a blessing, and a choice. It is not just the showing of your affections, but the showing of your willingness to sacrifice, and your willingness to compromise. Not compromising yourself, but to create compromise because the only thing you want is for things to work, and for that person to be happy. Because that will make you happy. Love is about finding the person whose small emptiness you are willing to fill. That person who’s love can fill you. It’s not about finding someone to complete you though. Because the only time you will truly be able to love with all of you, is when you love yourself. This person can’t be your only reason for living, but this person enriches everything you live for. They are the blessing that you find in your day. You can’t rely on this person to give you life, but rather rely on this person to be by your side, during life. Joy, laughter, and smiles should be your daily routine. And when those three things are lacking, because of circumstance, or ‘life’, you make the choice to love, and to maintain the promise that love holds. Love is not just a feeling, it’s a person, a blessing, and a choice. 
-Tal
 

  What does it mean to be on God’s agenda, receiving the fullness of God’s glory, and bringing Heaven to earth look like today? Danny Silk’s book has opened the door to this revelation, and is a great resource for people everywhere to enter into Kingdom alignment. Culture of Honor highlights the keys we are missing in today’s Church, that can bring us into alignment with God’s intentions. The main thing I will be touching on in this report is the fivefold ministry, and where it is missing in our lives. This culture of living out leadership according to God’s instruction has been brought to the surface in Silk’s writing. This being said, there is a movement in which churches are pursuing this model of government, such as Bethel. Some churches have succeeded, but many churches and leaders are not aware of it.  This book expresses the importance of a five fold government and how each member of that five fold operates to bring heavenly life into the church. 

    Reading about Bethel Church and the glory that God is revealing there, does nothing but inspire people to press in further, and to make a change where needed. Silk is explaining how a culture of honor is a supernatural environment that they have cultivated and which they try and sustain in their church and operate within. Bethel church is known for its supernatural happenings that range from healings and creative miracles to dreams and visions, and they say that the reason they are experiencing such a high level of supernatural activity is because of the Culture of Honor that has been established. Danny speaks of how a removal of control in the church and an increase of love, freedom and grace is in fact what provides a platform for the supernatural to operate freely within the church. He speaks of how heavenly mindedness is so key in the body today, and how the Lord is restoring Heaven and The Kingdom of God to its rightful place in the church and in the minds of believers. These people are called to place the agenda of heaven as their top priority. One can’t help but believe them, as what this book says matches up with the Bible in numerous ways.  

    He goes into detail about the specific role of the fivefold ministry according to chapter 4:11 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. This section of the book really gave me revelation as I realized that we are each given our own gifting with our own calling and we can’t try and take on the calling of another person because it seems better, or more appealing than ours. We are each given a grace and an ability to operate in a certain field of church ministry that God has appointed to us. 

  Silk also talks about how in the church’s past and still today, the role of the pastor or evangelist etc, is placed at a higher level than it was designed to, and because of this, the roles of the apostle and prophet who are called to bring heaven agenda’s to Earth, have taken a back seat, and thus the people have become the focus of the church rather than the Kingdom of God. No wonder there is so little of the breaking forth of the supernatural realm in most churches today. This is something that I see very often in churches. It is something that has always bothered me, but I have never been able to properly identify why, and this book has helped me do that. Ever since I was little I knew I had a different point of view than other people. This is not saying that mine is better than others-or vice versa- I am just simply stating that I have seen things from a different perspective, one of these things being the church and how it operates. I’ve always felt that people focus too much on Pastors, and treat the Pastors as another God. The pastor is there because they have received an anointing to help people walk their journey with God, and to help Heaven invade Earth through leadership. But, the whole point here is that we are forgetting about the other 4 vital leadership anointings.

   In Ephesians 4:11, God tells us about the fivefold ministry; “ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers.” However, in most churches we only have pastors.  Sometimes there are teachers or evangelists, but rarely apostles or prophets. These two are the missing leaders of the church today, and this is an issue that needs to be addressed. The passage then goes on to read in verse 12 and 13 that the reason these leaders are given to the Church is to “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Obviously the Church has not reached such unity and measure yet. Therefore, these leaders are a necessity, and a key piece to the puzzle we’ve been trying to complete for years.

  So where are these five types of leaders and why are they not in the churches? Why are churches led only by a pastor and his associate? This has been the protocol for many years. However, it is not God’s intention or protocol. God clearly intends for all of these 5 leaders to be used and appreciated in the church, and we wonder why we are not reaching the fullness of Him, or why our potential is not being reached. This is not to say that God is necessarily punishing us for not obeying His command, but going off of what we read in the bible, we are not following Him, therefore the stage we are at in the church should not be a surprise.

    There are two things that I think we are missing most in understanding this type of government. The first is that all of these types of leaders have the same job description, more or less. They are all messengers, sent and chosen by God to bring the Gospel of Jesus to people around them. They are the bridge from Heaven to Earth, in tune to where the Trinity is going in a church service, and in life. However, the point is that although they all have the same description, it is about how they do it. Their delivery and the way that they accomplish their message and their calling is what makes the difference between them. For example, a prophet gets a word from God for someone or something, and he shares it with people, while a pastor helps people to understand what God has said, by researching and planning out a sermon that will deliver the Gospel. The second thing that I think we are missing is that not just leaders are given these gifts. Everyone in a church congregation can attain these gifts, and should develop and use them-all the time. As I mentioned before, we spend so much time focusing on the leaders in the church, and where they are spiritually, rather than stepping back out of the spotlight, and letting a church congregation grow in their gifts. I think for myself I have a bit of each gift, so my goal is to further develop and practice them so that I can truly see which ones I feel I am called to. Or I could simply journal about it… that works too.

   John 4:14-18 says, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

    This verse highlights and defines the Culture of Honor that Silk is writing about. To be completely joined in the body of Christ, holding eachother higher than ourselves-with reaching the fullness of one Kingdom in mind- is the message that I have grasped from this book. The points highlighted in Silk’s writing should not only be a life goal for people, but a goal of the Church. The only way the Church can align with this verse, and with God’s desires for us, is if this culture flows from the leadership down into the church. And in order for this movement to flow into the leadership, is if we focus on what needs to change. The truth is that we are comfortable in our own routine, and the typical church of today. But God never said that things would be comfortable. I believe that He wants us to be calling out the fivefold ministry in our everyday life. To lift up the leaders in not only church settings, but in the way we live. This book has inspired me to challenge myself, and the way I press into the lifestyle of Christ, through the church. It has provoked the desire to expect more than what we’ve settled for in our environments. I feel drawn to make a change, and to stay committed to the example that Christ set before us. I know that other people have felt this way after reading this book, so I was excited to read it. Danny Silk has done an amazing job drawing in the reader and conveying his message in a simple, yet impacting manner. I would recommend Culture of Honor to anyone that is hungry for more of God’s supernatural glory in their daily life.

 The word I would use to describe my experience on my 3 week outreach trip to Sweden, would be HUMBLED. Every day there, the Lord was putting reminders in my life of the important things, and placing me in (stretching) situations where I was humbled beyond belief. You know how people carry a message, kind of like that one thing they are super super passionate about in the Kingdom of God? Well I’ve found mine. I had a little bit of an idea before this trip, but to say my eyes were opened would be an understatement. 

  No matter what the situation was, or how I was feeling, whether our team was tired or hungry- God showed up. And he brought his bro’s with Him- Jesus and Holy Spirit. This never ceased to amaze me. I could be having zero expectation or motivation for something, and God would still come and bless the meeting or whatever was going on. It’s not about us. Woah now, I know, read it again. It’s not about us. 

Even if we aren’t moving- God is. Even if we aren’t in a good mood- God is. Even if we don’t want to have fun- God DEFINITELY does! 

 My passion in life; my goal for my future, is to live in every moment that I’ve been blessed with. Not just live, but be ALIVE. God is in every moment from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed- and everything in between. The glory of God is all around us, just waiting to be provoked! I ask myself everyday ’ am I living in the Glory that God has given me, the glory of NOW? ’ Or are we too busy looking to the future to live in the glory of now, the glory He has ALREADY given us? Often times we talk about waiting for what is to come, and we are missing what is right in front of our eyes.

Our God is not a God who will only provide in the future. He is a God who provides in the future, the present and the past. 

I want to live out a lifestyle where I know I am living in the fullness of what God has for me. Where I wake up greeting the Holy Spirit, inviting Him into my day, into every situation, and every encounter. I want to celebrate the Glory and the miracles that are in my ‘now’. 

Psalm 118:24 “This is the day the Lord has made, We will rejoice and be glad in it” 

It doesn’t say “This is the day the Lord has made… but I’m in a bad mood so I’ll rejoice and be glad later.” OR ” This is the day the Lord has made… but I’m still waiting for the glory to come down.” no. no no NO!

The glory is here, choose to live in the fullness He has for us!

This right NOW is the moment, seize it. 

My life message is simple: Live.  

http://soundcloud.com/taliahope 

check it out and support :) 

I am excited about life.

I am excited about JESUS.

I am excited about LOVE! 

I am excited about MY DESTINY

I AM EXCITED ABOUT LIIIIIFE! 

:D 

Living my life for the One who gave it to me.