Who Are We Fooling? - Brooke Fraser & Aqualung (Lyrics)

Marriage.
I had no idea.
I didn't know what to expect and even if someone had told me everyday everything to expect I still wouldn't have understood.
It is something you must experience to understand and I have been experiencing it for 2 and a half years now.
To my complete surprise it didn't taste like chocolate and smell like roses.
It was like taffy, kind of sweet but so chewy you couldn't really enjoy it like you wanted to because it was so exhausting!
That's how the first 2 years were for me.  I knew it was right and what God had in mind but sometimes I wondered....
This past month my Pastor has been talking about marriage and had a key piece of advice that changed my thinking, marriage isn't supposed to just work, it's supposed to shine
Marriage is a picture of Christ and the church.
It is a prophecy for the world to see.
It is a witness for the world to see.
God, in the beginning made man, the species, not just the man.
Adam was male and female within himself until God pulled Eve out of Adam.
God separated them with full anticipation of bringing them back together.
So in marriage you are one with your spouse and the fullness of God is there.
The only way to make marriage work is to not try to fix anything about your spouse.  I repeat, anything.
YOU WILL NOT CHANGE THEM.
God can, but you can't!
The only person you can change is yourself and that's hard enough.  Try loosing 10 lbs.!

Once you forfeit the game of "Change Your Spouse to be Better" you're on your way to success in marriage.
God calls men to love their woman like Christ loves the church and women to respect and honor their man as unto the Lord.
There is freedom when we focus on our roles. I don't respect my husband because he deserves it, there are a lot of times he doesn't, but I do it because the way to joy and peace is through obedience to the Lord.
I don't deserve his love but he loves me because God told him to.
I used to want to try and manipulate situations to get him to love me more but it always backfired or he'd see right through it so I decided to respect him more instead of manipulate and what do you know, in return he loves me more!

There is only one reason for divorce, selfishness.
That's it.
As Christians we must die to our flesh daily! We take up our cross daily so we should never be living for ourselves but that is quite contrary to what the world teaches us.
Sometimes in the morning I just declare that I am dead.  I say it out loud so Satan and I can hear it.
"I, McKenna, am dead to my flesh.  I am living today by the Spirit alone."
It's simple but it transforms your mind early on, sometimes I put a finger gun to my head and pull the trigger just to solidify my statement.
Now it doesn't matter how my husband acts towards me because I am living by my spirit and it obeys the Word of God so I choose to respect him and not talk bad about him or joke in a way that is disrespectful.
When I do my part and he does his, not for each other but for God, we s h i n e.
God's glory gets involved in our marriage and it shows the world what love is.
The problem is that even Christians don't know what their marriage is really about.  Most people think its about them and their desires but its not.
When the world sees Christians divorce at almost the same rate as unbelievers I'm not surprised that a loving God is a far off fantasy to them.
Marriage is hard if you don't die.
I know that sounds funny but it's true.
The reason married people fight is because they think they deserve what they want.
We don't deserve anything.
God deserves everything.
Most importantly he deserves us to be obedient to Him.
In our obedience He works behind the scenes in our partners and in us so that we become what He has planned for us to become.
So next time you find yourself fighting or wishing your spouse was different get out your finger gun and kill that flesh! Spend time in prayer for them!  Spend time in prayer for you!
Respect him!
Love her!
That is what will cause the necessary change in your relationship.
You might be thinking,
"Oh, McKenna that's too simple!"
Well it is simple.  Boil every situation down and see that the key to a successful marriage isn't complicated.
I'm so glad that this knowledge has sunk down deep into my "knower" so early in my marriage because now there is no reason I shouldn't have a God-glorifying marriage.

Jotta A Performing Hillsong's Still in Portuguese

Don't stop this. Watch the whole thing. You will get goosebumps, I promise.

Live life to the fullest

"It is much better to try and to fail than never have the courage to go after something. Too many missed opportunities lead us into the valley of shadow, where we are a pale version of what we could have been. Passivity, procrastination and caution are all forms of regret. It is where we look back at our fainthearted approach to life and discover how timid we have become. It is vital that our past does not become our future or regret will shadow us all our lives." Graham Cooke


This says it all. Look at who are you today and see that every choice you have made has lead you to this point.  I am too passive and I procrastinate and sometimes use too much caution as an excuse.  My future is bright though and there is no excuse any longer.  I am going to chose to live with passion, chose to do and not procrastinate, chose to risk everything so I don't regret opportunities left unsiezed. 


Note: Unsiezed is not a real word but it describes what I need to say so I'm going to leave it and maybe someday it will be a real word.


I want to live life to the fullest, that used to be my motto when I was young, I scribbled it on everything, I used it as my quote in yearbooks so what happened to me? I choose to live and see all that God has for me because I believe most of us are barely scratching the surface when it comes to doing all God has in mind for us to do.

You'll Come - Hillsongs This is our God W/Lyrics

I have always loved this song but I heard it again on Sunday and I can't stop listening to it! Especially the part, "Mighty Deliverer, our Triumph and Truth"!! That is our God, that is our Jesus! I love seeing all these people worshipping and praising and I can only imagine what it would be like to be there someday and be a part of it.

On Sunday a guest speaker told us the story of the beginning of Hillsong. She said the week they were supposed to record their first album the music director quit and took all the music with him! The little secretary, who happened to be Darlene Zschech, had written a song, so she brought it to the table and that's how Shout to the Lord became a household worship song!

The message was to be ready for opportunity and to write down your vision so that when the time comes you'll be ready to seize it! Darlene had a song so she wrote it down even though she was just a secretary, and when the time came she brought it up and now look at her! God has used her in so many incredible ways! She has had profound influence on worship music all over the world!

Jason Upton - Lion Of Judah

Oohhh man, this song gives me chills every time!

I love thinking about Jesus as that roaring lion as I think I have previously mentioned.  I think of how powerful He is! In the words of Misty Edwards, "He's not a baby in the manger anymore, He's not a broken man on a cross, He didn't stay in the grave and He's not staying in Heaven forever!"
It gets me excited!
I have a hodgepodge of things I want to write about, they don't really go together but I don't mind if you don't mind, I haven't written in a while but I've been learning!!

Isn't it interesting how many Christians are stuck between Calvary and Pentecost? We receive what Christ has done for us by taking our sins upon Himself but we don't live empowered by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus didn't do ANY miracles prior to being baptized in the Jordan by John and then the Spirit resting upon Him like a dove (Mark 1:10).  He was still born of the Spirit, he was born of a virgin!  But he didn't start living a life of significance until after that day.
Same with the disciples, Peter was a coward! Denying Jesus 3 times!  Then After Jesus is resurrected He breathes on the disciples and says to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.."(John 20:22) so they received it then and there but their ministry didn't start until they were baptized in the Holy Spirit in Acts 2.  All of a sudden Peter is quoting the Old Testament explaining boldly what was going on to the outsiders who had heard the 120 speaking in foreign tongues (they thought the men were drunk) THEN the church begins. Then thousands are being converted by just a few men and miracles are happening and there's a power and boldness in the once scared disciples and there's a power and boldness in the new converts who are being baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Jesus sends us the Holy Spirit.  He tells us to be baptized in it, John the Baptist told us that Jesus was going to baptize us in it (Luke 3:16), it is plainly two separate events and the evidence that lives are completely changed by it is undeniable!
So much of the church is trying to live like Jesus lived as a carpenter, a good, quiet life.
What if we started to live like Jesus did during His ministry? This world would be rocked by the church! As I believe was His intention!
People should hate us and others should be indescribably drawn to us. (We should always live in peace with one another but not compromise.)
We've become so grey when it should be so black and white!
I am preaching to myself more than anyone else but its a conviction and vision God has laid on my heart!
I know that when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit I was delivered from alcoholism.  The chains just fell off and I was empowered to never drink too much again.  To this day I am free! I have barely any desire to drink any kind of alcohol at all anymore when I had built my life around it for a good 6 years! I am free of tobacco as well and its so refreshing to know that I'll never have to be in bondage again!(As long as I keep myself in the love of Christ and keep a renewed mind)
That's my personal testimony of the night and day difference that happened to me when I was baptized in the Holy Spirit.  I began to prophecy almost immediately.  I became bold in my prayers and praying for others. A certain fear and insecurity left me and I was filled to overflowing with more love for people and more desire for Christ! All I want is to know Him better and die to myself each day so He can live through me, its all His power and His strength by His grace! Praise God for the work Jesus completed! Praise God that this life in this world is conquered, I've already won because of Him! Whom have I to fear?(besides man which I still struggle with sometimes)
"It is finished" has such a deeper meaning that what I originally had thought.  The law has been fulfilled! Death has been conquered! Sin and disease was taken upon Him and is no longer mine to bear! Hallelujah!

John Piper - Don't Waste Your Life

Who came up with retirement anyway? Probably some lazy people.

I guess it's not wrong to quit working an American job but our working and contending for the faith should never end!! No matter where you are or what you're doing you should be living as Christ. I hope I'm 80 and preaching somewhere! I would love to go abroad and share the gospel but I'm called to share it here in LA for now and I'll admit I'm not doing it as much as I would like to.

When you put your whole life in perspective of what you're going to give an account for before God it really gets you motivated to go out and truly live.

Not American Dream live but Kingdom live.

Misty Edwards has a song about the "inside, outside, upside down Kingdom where you lose to gain and you die to live" It's against everything of this world but it is the path to satisfaction and to abundant and eternal life.

I pass so many homeless people or people asking for money and I try to give something as much as I can, even if its just a dollar. Then the homeless person says, "God bless you!" which I appreciate and I say, "Yes and God bless you!" But I'm no different from the next girl. I don't give up my time to talk further with them, I don't offer them anything more than the dollar I gave them. I want to be like Peter and John and say, "look, I don't have much money to give you but how 'bout I heal you (and offer you a life-saving relationship)!? Sound good?"

That's what needs to be happening in this town.

I've decided that I'm going to start asking people if they would let me pray for them.

It's not ok with me anymore to just say, "God bless you" or "Jesus loves you" because that has become sadly cliche.

If I can't preach the gospel in my own neighborhood how am I going to do it across the world?

To me missions is selfishly tempting because you go, preach and then come back to a cushy life.

I'm turning in my cushy, comfortable life for Kingdom life.

I'm gunna hug the stinkers and listen to the people who are dying for someone to listen to them.

I'm going to give and pray and spread truth and hope where its lacking.

I don't know who reads these blogs but hold me to it! I'll begin writing my experiences and documenting the work that God is doing through me.

I want to be used by God.

I don't want to waste my life.

Wake Me Up

"We've tolerated Jezebel, we've given in to her seductions, everything is infiltrated with sexual innuendos, targeting to shut our spirits down and to keep us the walking dead, and we don't hear what God is saying to this generation. Sound the alarm." - Corey Russell

I've recently discovered Corey Russell, he is a preacher out of IHOP KC and though some of my favorite messages from him are almost 4 years old they are all relevant to today. He is calling the church to quit getting by, doing "business as usual" and start pressing in to the knowledge of God.

He is calling for Pastors to relay revelation knowledge.

He's tired of the church simply playing church on Sundays.

He also speaks about the 2 biggest problems in the US, abortion and pornography. It boggles my mind that we still say that we are a "Christian nation" We are NOT behaving like a "Christian nation." It makes me sad. We are behaving like murderers and adulterers. I am convicted by this because I'm not doing a thing to change this. I can talk all day and say I don't "agree" with abortion and porn but what am I doing about it? Nothing.

Am I seeking out the hurting girls who are considering abortion and showing them love and telling them truth and praying with them? No.

Am I seeking out those who have been wrecked from getting an abortion and in need of deliverance from shame and praying with them? No.

Am I showing love to porn stars? Yes. That I am doing. They come into my Starbucks everyday. Have I ever offered them a better way? No.

When people joke about sexual things do I laugh to fit in? Yes.

One of my old coworkers knew that porn was "against my religion" and so I didn't watch it. Did I take the time to explain to her that it's so much more than that? No.

I see the effects of porn and sexual immorality around me everyday. EVERYDAY. And I'm taking a backseat to the restoration of people's souls; to offering freedom through the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is more a blog to myself to start speaking up and searching out the captives.

We are living "as in the days of Noah" and I know the Lord is coming back soon so why wait?

I've already died to my flesh and as Cheryl Salem always encourages, you can't offend a corpse so who cares what people might say or think about you? I'm immortal now, my spirit is born again and I'm not going to die but there are a lot of people around me who are at this point and its my job to offer them eternal life, not just for the future but abundant life for right now.

God, I know your desire is to use me. As part of the church I am your hands and feet to go to the lost and be a witness of who you are and your love for the world. Empower me with the boldness to speak and not back down. Your love casts out fear so I am declaring that fear of man must go in Jesus' name. My whole life's purpose is to preach the good news and make disciples in the Kingdom, remind me of that everyday, every time I start to feel self-concious remind me that I am yours. You will speak through me and by your spirit convict the world of sin and their need for your grace. All you ask me to do is stay dead to my flesh! So today I chose to die to myself and live for You and by You. That is the only way to be satisfied. I love you, Lord and I thank you that you are completing the work you began in me.