I listened to a good sermon yesterday by Marcos Witt entitled, “Burning Up Without Burning Out.”  He talked about the fire of the Spirit and gave four different characteristics of the fire of the Spirit…

o       Source of Light:  Like leading the Israelites out of Egypt, the Spirit shines in us to lead us in wisdom and also lead others to Christ
o       Embracing Warmth:  The Spirit will cover you and embrace you (like the fire in the desert leading the people)… the Spirit is our Comforter… if we are filled with the Spirit we too will have desires come up to comfort others
o       A Purifying Force:  When the heat gets turned up, things get purified/cleansed.  A goldsmith will purify his gold over and over and over (taking off the dross) until the job is done, it is up to the gold to cooperate.  The Spirit wants to burn all the evil out of us. 
o       Equalizing Power:  Fire turns things into what it is (touches wood, turns it into fire)… if we are touched by Him, we will become like Him (act like Him, think like Him, shine like Him)… Deuteronomy 4:24: God is a Consuming Fire…

I’m praying for His fire.  I need and pray for each of those characteristics of His fire to work through me.  God is moving.  His fire is truly spreading. 

And one last note… despite the times of tough attitudes, of whining/crying, of disobedience and failure… I really do love my kids.  I love them so much.  God is good! 

Pictures from England and then Italy (Milan)

Family picture… yup, I was the 7th wheel this trip… from left to right… older sister Katie, her hubby Todd, younger sister’s now fiance Andy, younger sister Laura, mom, dad, me

One night we met up with the orphanage global leader team in London, which included a boy from my home Jong Hyun and a dorm mother from my home Kyung Mi.  We all ate together at a really good Korean restaurant in London’s China Town. 

My boy Jong Hyun (left) and Joon Hyuk (another orphanage) inside the restaurant where the kids and my family ate together

Laura and Andy on the bench where Andy proposed to her during our trip.  Congratulations little sis!  They’ll be getting married May 10th next year.  They are 20 years old, attending JMU.

Katie and Mom at the subway platform that Harry Potter took to wonderland or something…

With my mom and dad in a park where CS Lewis used to sit and write.  The park is right next to CS Lewis’ old house.

Katie and Todd outside the pub where CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and other writers liked to gather and talk. 

Riding the Tube (the Underground subway)… Seoul’s subway system is better

My mom and I riding a tour bus past the Tower of London

Katie, Mom, and Laura outside the bookstore that was in the movie Notting Hill

Last for England, a picture of Big Ben

After England I joined the orphanage global leader team in Milan, Italy…

Our first dinner in Milan (eating after midnight due to our late late arrival)… those are bottles of water 

Outside the cathedral Duomo that was ridiculously huge, too big to fit in a picture…

With Jong Hyun sharing some tasty steak… the waiter couldn’t speak English so I would point to things on the menu and when he would put his fingers together on his thumb and kiss them and say, “Good good!” in Italian, I would order that item.  We ate well. 

Shooting pool with the kids… Milan didn’t actually have that much to offer, so we found a rec room at night and had a good time together

I went to Milan to play ping pong… it was worth it! 

We also did window shopping at some of those ridiculously expensive shops (Gucci, Versace…)… places where you can buy a belt for $200 and a scarf for $400.  Ridiculous.  I did help my boy Jong Hyun find a good AC Milan soccer team jacket and warm up pants for a decent price.  He had saved up his allowance money to get one. 

My travel in Europe was good.  I really just went for my family and then for the kids.  My time with them was blessed.  Take care!

Reuben Morgan – All I Am

Philippines mission trip…

Last week I went with 9 other people from my church to the Philippines for a mission trip.  We went to Manila, Dumaguete, and then Cebu.  Our main task was to go church to church and do children’s ministry and then have a “revival” service.  We could almost always first tell the spiritual health of the church by the children when we would visit.  We would first do simple hand motion songs, a funny Bible skit, and then crafts with the little kids.  In the places where the kids responded and were enthusiastic, we found it to be the same for the adults.  And in those places of hunger God’s favor was evident.  Right after finishing our time with the kids, we would start a worship service with the adults.  After the message we would invite people up for prayer and lay hands on them.  Most of these times were very powerful but I remember one church where it was pretty much spiritually dead.  When we prayed for the people it felt like we were praying to a wall… the Spirit wouldn’t flow and the people would just stand there as we would pray, completely untouched.  Similar to what happened during my trip to Indonesia last September, we discovered that within the church many of the members will attend church in the morning and then go worship idols at night.  Literal idols.  (In the Philippines they bow down to objects, in richer countries people work their lives to buy and obsess over objects).  The pastor and wife of the church had rebuked their members over the worship, but the people were unwilling to stop.  Our pastor felt convicted to confront them straight up about it.  We also discovered that the pastor’s parents are involved heavily in witchcraft, and if I remember right so was his wife’s parents.  The spiritual warfare at that church was heavy and a bit suffocating, but I know if the pastor, his wife, and some strong Christians can unite in prayer and be bold in trusting in the Lord, Satan’s grip on those people (including their parents) will be broken and revival will flow.  Lots of Scripture backs that up.  Most of the other churches were more hungry and open and so during the prayer time the Spirit moved powerfully.  I was blessed to witness the Spirit poured out on each of the members of my mission team.  As my team would pray for people the Spirit would manifest in mighty ways in the people we prayed for… tears, joy, praises, falling in surrender, peace… all sorts of ways.  Many of the team members were used by God to pray for people in much more powerful ways than they had ever experienced before.  I felt I was witnessing Joel 2:28 (“I will pour out my Spirit on all people..”) beginning to be fulfilled for this generation.  God is building us up.  I’m hungry for so much more… healings, deliverances, miracles, signs, and wonders… and I know they are to come… for the hungry.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” – Matthew 5:6.

“Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy” – 1Corinthians 14:1.

I’ll update with pictures of my travels to London, Italy, and the Philippines later.  God bless!

Miracle of Life…

I got back from my England, Italy, and Philippines (mission trip) traveling last night to discover a new girl at our home.  Her name is Sun Ah.  She is one month old.  She was born premature, three months early.  She is only 6.6 pounds now and sleeps all day. 

Cute little one.  

I’ll try and update with pictures from my travel later.  Travel was good.  God bless!