Got any gift ideas for Valentine’s Day? We do. from Angel Mission on Vimeo.

As 2009 is upon us I am always encouraged by people to “make resolutions!” Well as much as I don’t want to “make resolutions” just because it is 2009 I feel compelled to. Just thought I’d share a few new ones.

I want to serve my wife more. She works so hard and loves me so well that I want to pour into her what she pours into me.

Make more defined times to study the word, not just do a devotional. 

Wake up every morning to watch the sun rise…Even if it is cloudy. (This is going to be the hardest of them all.)

Fast more than I have in the past. 

blah blah blah the list goes on. I think the ones I really want to try that are different are the waking up early for study and watching the sun rise. There is something so beautiful about the sun rising. I don’t know if it is because a new day is upon us, or because it is a day of second, third infitiny chances to love God in a deeper way. Who knows, but what I do know is that God is in the sunrise. He is in the warmth of the rays that shine upon us. I love that He uses creation to bring glory to Himself.

To a new day.

Dustin

I’m really struggling with something. Where do you go when you have some really incredible moments with God to not having them any more? I guess I should give a brief background of what I’m talking about. 

On August 8th of this year I decided to fast food for 40 days. I drank water and when I felt weak I had juices. During this time of fasting I really enjoyed the closeness that I felt with God. I felt like I grabbed onto another part of His heart for me and for others. The fast was to minister to God. In the old testament the priests would minister to God and do nothing for themselves. Their entire purpose in the temple was to serve God. That was my heart in all this. I didn’t ask God for things, but rather I came to Him with thanksgiving and adoration. It was a very hard thing for me not to ask God for things simply because I am so used to going to God and saying, “Please give me this or that…Oh yeah and thanks for being good…Amen” I mean I had a prayer life beyond that, but the bulk of my prayers were directed at my needs etc. Anyway, this fast was just for Him and not for me.

Well about 38 days into it I decided to fast water as well. So for 2 days I fasted food and water. I locked myself in a room for 3 1/2 days with nothing but my bible, journal, guitar (which I don’t know how to play) and a bed. For two of those days I had no water, which I do not recommend! I thought I was going to die, but that’s not the point of all this. Anyway, I ended up adding 5 days to the fast turning it into a 45 day fast with 2 of those days being no water as well.

During that time in that room God met me. I mean it wasn’t super spiritual or anything like that, but I felt like I touched God’s heart. I felt like He appreciated what I was doing. I felt like He was proud that I went that long without food just because I loved Him and wanted to serve Him. This encouraged me tremendously, and I have not been the same since. From the time I broke the fast and every day after I have hated eating. Don’t get me wrong food tastes so good, but I miss the connection I had with God. I miss feeling like I was able to have incredible intimacy with Him unlike anything I had ever had. 

So I ask again, “Where do I go from here?” I can’t very well fast right now because my body is still sorta shocked from not eating for 45 days. I will continue to seek Him, but I miss the solitude. I miss the closure that everyday seemed to give me. I definately miss having something deliberate to give God. There was nothing left that I had to give Him when I was fasting. I had no food, no water, no essentials at all. I feel so disconnected. I’m not depressed, but I am at a loss for where to go from here. I know that God always has plans to move us up, up and away with Him, but I’m having trouble seeing where “up” is.

Dustin

I’m so hungry…for God. One of the biggest lessons I have learned so far during this 40 day food fast has been how to be hungry for God. I have learned that if I can be this hungry for food then I NEED to be even more hungry for God. I have always been really good about keeping God in everything that I do, but I am loving this time with Him. I love that in everything I do I take Him along and ask Him loads of questions. I spend time loving on Him and receiving love from Him. I have had to learn how to receive love from Him even though I don’t “feel” it. 

What I have discovered about God’s love is that it is ever present. I know that isn’t anything new, but I have seen His love in a deeper way. I have seen Him be faithful in times where I have been unfaithful. I have seen His love for people when they are acting completely against Him. I have seen His passion for the lost and I have loved to see them grow and find Him. His love for us is so consistent and constant. He loves us beyond measure. He loves us greater than we can ever fathom. I love the idea that God’s love in inexplorable. It cannot be explored enough. I love that I have all my life and eternity to find out how and why God loves me so much. 

Thank you for your love Father,

Dustin

This was where my splinter sat. 

Whitney and I helped build my mom a craft room. We converted my old bedroom into a large craft room with lots of shelves. As I was cutting the shelves I got a huge splinter that was the size of a log. Ok, so it was only 1/2 inch. Most of it was sticking out so I pulled it out, but the part that wasn’t remained in my hand for 3 days. As I spent today digging through my hand to pull the rest of it out I thought about our christian lives.

We often have things in our lives like this splinter. The size of our problem doesn’t have to be huge to really bother us. This splinter really bugged me even though it was so tiny. I couldn’t close my hand without it really irritating me, and sin, pride or arrogance can easily do the same thing. Many times in our lives we let a splinter cause us pain and suffering because we don’t allow true healing into our lives. We can’t get relieved of pain until we get help from God, or in my case a good set of tweezers. Even though it hurt when I dug into my skin to remove the remaining pieces of wood my hand doesn’t hurt when I close it. I can grab things and hammer nails or whatever with it because I removed the splinter.

When we allow God into the painful areas of our lives we can experience freedom like He originally intended. God’s heart for us is to be pain free because we know He can heal us. I have to learn that when I get another splinter to immediately pull out the tweezers and start digging. I believe that God is always willing to reach out and remove the painful things in our lives, BUT we must humble ourselves and let Him.

Till next time.

Dustin

I have a question… Why do we as Christians seem to get so complacent? I mean we don’t put much effort into our relationship with God beyond Sunday services and/or devotionals? What about healing the sick, praying for the poor, seeing people saved, etc? 

I think we get complacent because we get busy with our own lives and forget about God’s command to love people, and go out into the world baptize and make disciples. I have been really having some major soul searching about how I can cooperate with God to further develop my maturity in Him and to love people more. I am going to start taking steps to be more bold in my faith by finding people that need prayer and praying for them. I am really going to find people down on hope, sick, and just need prayer. I want to see the book of Acts come to life unlike anything I have ever seen. I have prayed for people and seen them get healed, but not in years, and it was someone in my church. I’m setting out to the streets, to the poor people of this city and I believe that God is going to start something amazing.

Would you join me? You don’t have to go pray for people, but seek out how you can mature in your walk and take steps in that direction. Get out of your comfort zone and be challeneged! Send me your name and I will post it up here so people can pray for you.

I’ll start…

to pray for courage and strength-

1.Dustin Beasley

Whitney took this picture

I was talking to a friend tonight and I said something without realizing the truth contained in it. I said, “Forgiveness is only true when it comes before and apology.” I was amazed that this came out of my mouth. What I mean by this is that forgiveness isn’t just something you do when someone apologizes to you, but rather a reaction that comes from your heart. When we forgive someone only when they apologize we are making it conditional. Conditional forgiveness sucks. It says, “I’ll forgive you if you are sorry, but if your not I won’t forgive you.” I’m not saying you can’t forgive someone after the fact, but it’s nice to have a heart that is prepared to forgive any pain caused to you.

Now I am not saying that I have all the answers in this one comment, but I do think it is where forgiveness must begin.  I do know that the next time someone hurts me I will make it a point to forgive them before they ask for it. Jesus exemplified this perfectly when He asked God to forgive the men crucifying Him before they realized what they did. He didn’t wait for them to apologize. He just loved them before they responded. That is a great heart to aspire to. I hope that we can all come to a place where forgiveness isn’t a second thought, but rather an immediate action. Don’t keep people out of your heart because of your pride. Forgive today!