Charis Bible College is amazing! Year 1 DONE!

Wow, it's honestly amazing how fast this year has gone! It has flown by! Wow! Am I different, um YES! I know there are definitely people who come to this school, they sit under the Word for the entire year and remain unchanged but for me that just isn't possible. The Word of God means so much to me and I CRAVE it. I CRAVE listening to awesome men and women of God talk about Jesus and how He has changed their lives and things that He has taught them! One of my favorite teachers here at CBC is Barry Bennett. He references SO MUCH WORD in his teaching and I love his organization. Probably because I am also a teacher and he clearly has the teaching gift. (here is a link to his site with some of his articles in English, they are also in Spanish! http://www.barrybennett.org/contenido/english-articles).

When you get a hold of the LOVE of God, you honestly can't get enough of Him! You want to listen to music about Him, talk to people who love Him and listen to people teach about Him!  I have entered into some unfamiliar territory in my life. I've never truly understood the love of God and trust me I haven't arrived but I've left (as Andrew often says). I feel almost as if I'm at the edge of the cliff of His love and I'm ready to take a DIVE into the ocean of His love and I'll never EVER be the same!

The Bible tells us God is Love (1 John 4:8).  If this is so, then LOVE is a person.

John 8:32 says, "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free".  Truth is a person.

LOVE and TRUTH are descriptions of God. There are so many more but I want to highlight those two for now.

People talk about experiencing the presence of God. When they do, they experience LOVE and TRUTH.  These are who God is. Love is not an emotion, it's a state of being.  When we say "oh I love that movie" and so on, love is not the right word. Of course, we know what we mean. We mean we really like it. However, love is a description of God, therefore a description of us!

Romans 8:11 in the JB Phillips translation says, "..once the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives within you he will, by that same Spirit, bring to your whole being new strength and vitality."

I like that!  We have the same power within us that raised Jesus from the dead!  That power is the power of God! We have God living inside us. Wow. No wonder the Bible says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" Philippians 4:13. If that is true that I can do all things THROUGH Christ and Christ lives in me...... then wow, I can LOVE unconditionally as He does. I am LOVE! Since God is LOVE, so am I!  Since God is TRUTH, then so am I!  I reflect the image of Christ everywhere I go. God is Love and Truth. I am Love and Truth. That should be obvious to those around me!

As I continue feeding on the Word of God, I am recharging myself spiritually, if you will. Now technically, yes, your spirit has everything pertaining to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). HOWEVER, not everyone knows that, therefore, they are not experiencing what is available to them through Christ! It is so important to be constantly filling yourself with the Word, to not only discover what belongs to you and WHO YOU ARE! but also to "recharge". Proverbs 4:22 tells us that God's word is life and health unto all our flesh. As you read His word, you are actually being healed. It is THAT powerful!

I'll end with this, my version of John 16:13 is "you have the spirit of truth living on the inside of you! He guides you into ALL truth AND shows YOU things to come." Thank God for Jesus! Jesus said he wouldn't "leave" us per say but that He would send another comforter (John 14:16) which is that Spirit of Truth! The Holy Spirit! We are NEVER left alone people! We have the author of TRUTH and LOVE living on the inside of US! We have ALL we need! As you read His word, that LOVE and TRUTH is stirred up within you, so to speak, and you will notice you are operating in more LOVE and more TRUTH every day!

Feed your Spirit, Spirit food, the WORD!

IDENTITY!

If you don't identify with God, the world is RIGHT there to tell you who THEY think you are.... and give you an identity, a false one that isn't a true reflection of who you are in CHRIST!

The Bible Heals-It's Powerful Yo.

Good morning. Can't sleep due to the 3 hour nap I took earlier today, so I figured instead of laying in bed trying to sleep, I might as well blog from bed :)

I guess over the course of my past 2 year journey with the Lord I've heard people say that the Word of God (aka the Bible) is powerful. However, I never realized just HOW powerful it is. Until now! (and I believe I've only just begun.....)

Proverbs 4:20-22

"My son (that's us!), attend to my words; consent and submit to my WORD. Let them not depart from your sight; keep them in the center of your heart. For they are life to those who FIND them, HEALING and HEALTH to all their flesh."

Do you want to know how powerful the Word of God is? It heals your flesh. Aka your body. Let's think about this. God spoke the world into existence, right?

Genesis 1 "and God SAID, let there be light." "God CALLED the light Day...." "God SAID, God SAID, God SAID."

So God created this entire world we live in PLUS the animals and people here by SPEAKING His Word. Everything God SAID came to pass. And this is still true today. If we SPEAK the Word of God (the Bible) into our lives..... it comes to pass. Why do you think the devil works so stinkin hard to keep you from reading and studying the Word for yourself? Because it's POWERFUL!

Testimonies: In Ephesians 3 the Bible mentions us being FULL of God. That has a whole new meaning for me now that I'm in Bible College, listening to the Word of God for roughly 4 hours a day. Plus the studying, reading and listening of teaching I do outside that 4 hours.... plus the ministry I give on the phones for the ministry which is ENTIRELY based on the Word of God. It adds up to a TON of my day being spent in the Word of God. So here's what's happening with me, and as previously stated, it's only just begun!

1. I've lost weight.

Now I'm not talking about a diet plan, exercise plan or what have you. I seriously was NOT trying to lose weight. I didn't pray about it. I didn't ask the Lord to take my desire for food away. I didn't even consult Him on the matter. So, here's how it's happened...... As I became FULL of the Word of God (Eph. 3) my fleshly desires went away. This is going to sound strange to you if you've NEVER been submerged in the Word for extended periods of time. But I'm telling you, the Word WORKS! As I grow closer and closer to Him through His Word and relationship with Him, my desires of the flesh disappear. Yes, I'm still eating, but food is no longer my REFUGE, SAFETY, or COMFORTER. It apparently used to be, since I gained a lot of weight in the past 4 years. God is now my REFUGE, SAFETY and COMFORTER. And He doesn't make me gain weight :) hehe

2. I'm happy :)

John 6:63 "It is the Spirit Who gives life, the flesh conveys no benefit. The WORDS that I have spoken to you are spirit and LIFE."

John 10:10 "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that they might have life and have it in abundance."

What is your definition of a good life? Mine is: happiness. The Word of God brings life to you. Makes you come alive. Makes you joyful, happy, and excited!

3. My mind is being healed!

Ephesians 4:23

"And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind (having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude)."

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the entire renewal of your MIND....."

Wow, this revelation literally came to me tonight as I ministered to someone over the phone from 2 Timothy 1:7 about having a "sound mind". I have not always been well in my mind. I guess the one area I kinda thought I couldn't keep the devil out of was my mind, so I had, in a way, opened my mind up for him to play. Without going into too much detail and making this 14 pages long..... the major thing I realized tonight was that all throughout school, I knew I learned things differently than others. In order for me to "study" I've had to read and re-read my notes many times to retain anything. If I had text book reading, I had to be in a super quiet room with zero distractions and even then I had to read it multiple times to retain anything. It always frustrated me that I couldn't read with anyone around making noise. Also that I had to read things many times to understand them. What a waste of time! I also would tune out most teachers and hear nothing they said. This got a bit better once I got to college because I was able to choose my classes and study things I was interested in, so I paid a little more attention.

Now that I've been in Bible class for 2.5 months, I notice that I don't have these issues as much anymore. My mind has been healed! I have closed the door to the devil and the Word is healing the parts of my mind that he destroyed. The best part is it's a painless process, the same with losing weight. The word is healing my flesh and it's completely without my cooperation! Pretty powerful!

--Thank you God for the Bible! Thank you that this blog inspires people to research more scriptures that talk about the POWER of your Words! AMEN!

Perhaps I'm not as "great" at blogging as I previously predicted.....

Well, be sure to thank "Praying Medic" from FB for finally getting me to update this blog! I've been saying I'll update for the past month when people have asked me, but he wanted to share other people's blogs on his Facebook page so his readers would be encouraged and I posted my link and said "yup, I gotta update it now, don't I?" Haha, it's not that I don't enjoy writing, because actually I really do..... I think it's just the TIME that it takes me. Anyway, here we go!

A lot has happened since the last post. God continues to bless me (as He does ALL His children) in ways that amaze me :) So I'm going to start by speaking of more recent things and we'll see if I opt to make this super lengthy or not.....

(on a side note: July 21st-24th the Power and Love Conference was here in CO Springs, my friend Dawn flew out here to see me and to see Todd White, Dan Mohler and Bob Hazlett at this conference and she and I were changed FOREVER, wow, talk about powerful.... I should probably do a post just on some of the truths we learned from these awesome men of GOD.)

Ok, finances.... oh finances..... Andrew just spoke to us on Finances Thursday at school. It was powerful. One of the things he said that struck me was "if you aren't faithful with little, you won't be faithful with much" He was referring to Luke 16:10. He spoke about how trusting God with your finances is the smallest use of your faith. It should be step 1 in our Christian walk. If we can't trust God with our finances, how can we trust Him for healing, deliverance, job provision etc. We've got sowing and reaping which is a proven tactic when it comes to finances, so we need to be trusting God with money before we can TRULY trust God with anything else. Andrew spoke about how our hearts are attached to our wallets. We're always fearful that someone might take our money and it's hard for us to give it away, especially when we think we need it most.

Well, I moved out here to Colorado 2 months ago. I had saved money from my great teaching job this past year, so when I first got here I was thinking "oh this is fine, I trust God, it's going to all work out." Really though, I wasn't trusting God in that sense, I was trusting the number in my bank account. I KNEW that I had enough money for a few months. The month of July was a breeze, it was gone before I knew it. I felt confident with that "large" number in my checking account. Now I knew I was going to pay for the first year of Charis Bible College in cash, so technically that amount was spoken for, but still the number deceived me because once I paid the tuition, and got my last check from my teaching job..... I realized quite quick that this wasn't going to last me like I thought. I trusted in the wrong thing. I didn't trust in God. So I determined to change. After I paid some bills, I looked at that number and did some quick math and realized "hmmm I better go find a job." Well I searched in apparently "all the wrong places" because after 3 good weeks of applying places and not getting hired my lightning fast mind, as Andrew would say, realized something was wrong. I asked the Lord what I should do and I heard Him tell me "just rest and stop looking". Pffffff that wasn't what I wanted to hear. So I kinda justified myself to the Lord saying "well ok God, if you've got that perfect job for me, then cool, but it's not going to hurt if I still keep loooooking.....". Wow, what a waste of my time that was, note to self: listen to God next time. Looking for a job, when you're not supposed to be looking for a job, is a major let down. I knew I wouldn't be hired at any of these places because in my heart God had told me to rest and to stop looking. Somewhere in the beginning of this 3-4 week process, my roommate had forwarded me an add from Craigslist looking for tutors. I had told the Lord I wanted nothing to do with teaching this year because I was burnt out. Well, usually when you tell the Lord "I won't do blah blah blah, He has you do that." haha, and really it's because you know in your heart He's leading you to do "that" but your flesh doesn't want to. God blessed me with the ability to teach, so duh, makes sense He'd use me in that here :) So I applied to be a tutor because I looked at the hourly rate compared to the hourly rate of the "other" jobs on Craigslist and was like "well yeah my degree might as well pay for itself here...". I got a reply right away saying this company was interested in me. I set up an interview and was hired on the spot. It's a "temporary" tutoring job, so I continued looking on Craigslist and found yet another tutoring company, applied with them, they offered me a job. I went into Wells Fargo, chatted with the bank teller, found out her daughter needs a tutor and gave her my number. So, yeah God is providing, but not in the way that I thought He would. Funny how that works, isn't it?

Now, God has also been teaching me to not depend on the number in the bank account. That's subjective. It can change at any moment. According to the account I don't have enough money to last me this month. According to God I have MORE THAN ENOUGH. Some of you might be thinking "Oh Amie, that's a nice thought, but you might want a plan B incase God doesn't come through." You don't understand..... there is no plan B. God is plan A and there are no other plans. I have to trust Him, I have NO other options. And guess what? He's coming through for me, as He ALWAYS will because I TRUST HIM. Without faith, you cannot please God (Heb. 11:6). I have faith. I didn't have faith in God for my finances before, I had faith in myself and my bank account and my good job.

So the tutoring companies have told me I won't start tutoring until mid to end Oct. And like I said above, my bank accounts (where they are at right now) will not last until then..... so here's how God has provided so far and He's NOT DONE! The one tutoring company that is "temporary" called me and wants ME out of all the tutors (yay!), to accompany them to promote the company at a "tutor fair" next week a few days and I'll get paid to do it! That check will come JUST in time! I'll get money in other ways too..... the thing is, I'm NOT WORRIED! Worry is the opposite of faith. And remember FAITH pleases God!

It's really nice resting in God. There is a peace here that I'm not sure I can really explain, you kind of have to experience it yourself. I suppose it's a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). No one can shake me out of this peace and this rest. Not my bank account, not friends, not family, not the devil. NO ONE can shake me. I stand on the solid ROCK of Jesus Christ. Man this is a great place to be.

God's provision, wait, is it for ME? You can't mean ME? Really?

Ephesians 1:7-10 (MSG) Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people-free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of EVERYTHING, PROVIDED for EVERYTHING we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.

Wow- isn't that powerful. I emphasized a few important words there. EVERYTHING and PROVIDED. God has provided everything. You see, I chose to go to Bible college because I heard the Lord suggest it to me in Oct. 2009. However, God began making provision for me before I was even born. God took DELIGHT in making the plans for my life that He wanted me to follow! How cool is that?! Pretty cool :)

I now know I am walking in that plan that God took delight in making for me. How do I know? His provision is here. I am blessed beyond what I could even fathom. Now this isn't to say that God doesn't provide for you if you're not walking according to His plan. He does bless all of His children and He is constantly trying to get us back on "track" in the plan He so intricately designed for us. As Andrew Wommack says "God's at least as good as a GPS, He can recalculate" :)

But let me tell you, when you know that you know that you know that THIS is what God wants you to do RIGHT at THIS MOMENT..... it's probably the best feeling, ever?! So, how do I know? Let me tell you.....

1) I feel complete and total peace being here.

Col. 3:15 AMP: "And let the peace of God (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] to which as [members of Christ's] one body you were also called [to live]. And be thankful (appreciative), [giving praise to God always].

2) I have a GREAT apartment to live in, all my "things" fit in the apartment and I have the sweetest roommate and neighbor!

Psalm 37:4 AMP: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart.

Eph. 1:11-12 MSG: "It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. (Gosh that's good) Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had His eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose He is working out in everything and everyone.

You see, my roommate is someone that God worked out FOR ME! She is part of God's plan for ME! He loves me SO much! (He loves you just as much, fyi ;) )

3) I got free internet.

Gonna go with Psalm 37:4 again on this one! I desired the internet. It's one of the ways I am growing in Him. I am on Facebook a lot and my Facebook is ALL ministry. I Skype with people and I pray for people over both FB and Skype. God knows this. He knows all things. He KNEW I would need internet at my apartment in order to continue doing these things.

After I spent a day driving around trying to decide how I was going to get internet, I came home, sat down and decided to stop thinking about it. Went over to my neighbor's apartment that evening and she says to me as she opens the door, "Amie, the Lord just told me to give you my wireless password so you can use my internet for free!" I offered to pay half and she said "no, no I want to bless you." Well, ok then! Thank you JESUS!

4) I've already made INSANE connections at the college with the "RIGHT" people. I put "RIGHT" in quotes because they aren't "right" for everyone ;) God has a purpose for ME, remember! All of the "important" people for me to meet in regards to the Bible College and the prayer ministries that I want to be involved with just "happened" to be in the foyer of the conference I attended with my neighbor Friday evening. They were all there AT ONCE. Coincidence. Nope, no possible way.... that has GOD written all over it. My neighbor introduced me to all of these people and I spoke with them.

2 Corinthians 9:8 AMP: "And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work].

5) I've received money from a few people who want to "plant a seed" by helping me out!

2 Corinthians 9:8 and Philippians 4:19

So, am I "worried" about money, housing, jobs or anything else the "world" worries about? No way. Why?

Philippians 4:19 AMP: "And my God will liberally supply (fill to the full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

You see, God WILL supply every need I have. In fact, He already HAS supplied every need before I even have the need. That's my God. That's my Abba. That's my daddy :) He's got me covered. Oh what peace that brings, to KNOW that God loves me unconditionally and has taken care of me totally....... forever.......

Until next time, in which I just KNOW I'll be able to add more examples of how God has blessed me, I trust this blessed you! God LOVES YOU! He'll do the SAME for you as He has for me...... if you believe :)

How Amie decided to go to Bible College!

This is my first attempt at a video..... we'll see if it works and if you can see me! I'm sorry it got so long.... I tried to redo it and kept messing up, so this is what ya get for now until I learn iMovie :)

This video basically goes quite well with my previous post.

Amie's journey with healing!

It's been too long my friends, I apologize. It is the end of the school year and this group of children is particularly challenging. But hey, I have 12 teaching days left! I CAN DO IT! :)

Ok, so I wanted to write out my journey with healing and how I got started. Perhaps it will help you, or you can relate. This is also for myself so that years down the road if someone asks me how I got started, I can simply find this post and remember "all" the details :) Blogs are awesome!

Once upon a time...... or as one of my students wrote once a pond a time....... Amie graduated college (2007) and chose to move to Kansas City, Missouri to teach. (switch from 3rd person to 1st)

I felt a lot of peace about moving from Minnesota. At the time I didn't know that it was "peace" I felt or what it was exactly, but I KNEW that the Lord wanted me in KC, MO. So, I moved in with my fantastic Auntie for a few months in KC. I immediately got my first teaching job, miraculously, and taught summer school for 8 weeks. I also worked part time at Linens N Things (may it rest in peace, bankruptcy). August rolled around and I didn't have a teaching job for the "school year" yet. I was thankful I wasn't paying rent.... and that I had a part-time job at LNT. The entire time, I wasn't worried about getting a job. That is what was "strange" (it was God, obviously) about the whole thing. I wasn't worried.... I had this confidence in my God, that He would provide for me.... He always has. I've never experienced "lack" in my life and I've always been protected.

I was at summer school one of the last days and I had a missed call and voicemail on my cell phone. I listened to the VM and it was a principal of a school in KC asking me to interview. I called him back and he asked me if I could come in Saturday at the school to interview with him. It was for a 4th grade position. I said "YES!" and met him that Saturday. We sat in the flippin hot school (no AC in Missouri.... in August....) and he interviewed me, telling me that he would know by the end of the interview if he wanted me or not. It was a bit of pressure. I immediately liked the man and he hired me right after the interview! He then showed me around the school and this is where I began my teaching career.

Amie, what does this have to do with healing? Ah, let me tell you!

So while in Kansas City, I got hooked up with a church and met my girlfriends. We started hanging out and I was so grateful to God for these girls! Carrie, Danielle, Noe, Jess, Jennifer, I owe this journey to you! Thank you for helping me grow in the Lord!

Alright, so there is one friend in particular who helped me in my journey. Carrie, I'm forever grateful. Thank you for loving me enough to show me the TRUTH! Carrie and her fantastic mom brought me to a church over on the Kansas side once that preached about healing. I hadn't really been taught anything about healing.... so I didn't have any preconceived notion either way, so I was open to it. I immediately got hooked on this teaching! The pastor graduated from Rhema Bible Institute and I began listening to other people from that "realm" such as Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Charles Capps and Willie George. After being in this church for a few months I noticed these people prayed in "tongues". I had heard of that, but didn't know what it was. I asked Carrie and her mom if they prayed in tongues they said "oh yes! It's wonderful". I began to wonder and a few weeks later, I went up to a woman at the church and she prayed over me to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I began to pray in tongues. Carrie's mom gave me a teaching from Willie George on praying in tongues, and I listened to it and saw the truth. I prayed in tongues all the time for a few weeks.... it was good!

As I listened to this teaching on healing.... I questioned..... I wondered and I believed with all my heart that it was true. I saw things in the scriptures that I didn't see before. Scriptures jumped off the page at me, I had never really experienced this before like I did in Kansas City. My pastor taught that healing WAS God's will..... every time. That everyone should be healed. I had the typical questions that anyone new to this or anyone reading this who isn't healing has..... "why are there sick people?, why isn't everyone healed? why aren't pastor's preaching this?" etc.

Well, I was in the church for about 6 months (2009) before I felt the need to move BACK to Minnesota. I moved back, got a teaching job (God appointed) working in North Minneapolis 5th grade. I found a church near by that taught on healing and speaking in tongues, so I attended there and they introduced me to Andrew Wommack. As soon as I discovered Andrew's teaching of the Word, I couldn't stop listening..... I loved this truth. I had always felt like sickness and disease was evil and I never, NEVER thought it was from God. I'm so grateful that I never was sucked into that lie, that God gives people sicknesses to teach them things.... how awful. Not my God :)

Ok, so I attended this awesome church for a year (2009-2010).... but I still wasn't healing others. I was just healing myself. I realized that God wanted me well, so I spoke to my body and told it to be well. I had heard Andrew talk about commanding and telling the sickness to go, so I was doing that with myself. I had also begun networking on Facebook and finding people who believed that healing was FOR us and that we COULD operate in it. I was pumped. The things I healed myself of were : Asthma, hip pain, knee pain, numerous sore throats, numerous headaches, back pain and other random pains that would come and go. But I hadn't tried healing anyone else. I was scared.

The summer of 2010 is where things skyrocketed for me in regards to healing. I mentioned that I had started networking on Facebook. I went to Andrew Wommack's FB site and started befriending people who went to his college (Charis Bible College). I befriended Brian Doolin. Brian and I started chatting about healing and he shared with me how he was out healing the sick everywhere he went. I asked him how he was so passionate about this and how he decided to just "get out there and do it". He introduced me to John G. Lake Ministries (JGLM) and I began listening to this teaching called the DHT (Divine Healing Technician) training. I LOVED it and realized it was the truth! Just like how I had felt when I listened to Andrew Wommack. This Curry Blake guy who taught the DHT sparked something inside of me..... inside my spirit. I realized I HAD to help the world. Our purpose in life was to help and impact the world. We're not just dropped here on the earth so we can make a mess of our lives and then die. We're here to preach the gospel, heal the sick and cast out demons (Mark 16:15-18). I was determined to override my fear of approaching others in public. It's now been almost a year and I am still overriding that fear, but it's easier every time..... practice definitely helps!

In October 2010 I found a "life team" here nearby and I had just decided to no longer attend my church I was attending, so I began attending this "life team" on Thursday nights. Now before I get into that I should mention that I met the McCoys through Facebook and went to stay with their family in Iowa in October. I blogged about that experience.... it was life changing. Thank you McCoys. That experience pushed me over the edge, if you will, with healing other people.

It is now May 2011 and I've had quite a lot of healing under my belt. My confidence in the Lord grows every time I see another person healed, every time I read the Word and every time I share the truth with someone! This life team is so incredible. These amazing men and women of God preach the gospel and desire the truth from God and only the truth. They research things, they challenge me and each other, we study the Bible together to determine, what the truth is for us here in 2011 :) I am so thankful for all of these people that the Lord has placed in my life to help me grow! He is so good! I have had many friends who have helped to steer me in this path when I seemed to get a bit off track, so to speak.... Thank you! They know who they are :)

As I sit and reflect on the past 2 years of learning about healing, I realize how the Lord worked it all out to teach me. He knows me better than anyone else, obviously. The Lord just slowly introduced me one baby step at a time.... so I wouldn't freak out and say this stuff isn't real. Thank you Lord :)