Everything Good Comes From You, Father Of Lights

Hello, Good evening!

These past few days have been phenomenal and fruitful! Continuous thirst for Him, truly at the center of my gaze, describes them. I feel the Lord preparing my heart for the upcoming year at Virginia Tech. He's really been revealing to me his teachings in the Bible like never before, as I read Isaiah and Paul's and Peter's letters. I just see a lot more passages that stand out to me that I thought had nothing in them. Like in Jesus Culture's "Awaken Me", He has given me eyes to see and ears to hear. Of course, I still have many things that I wish to improve on, but right now, I am just very thankful of the Lord.

After I'm done reading Isaiah for the day, I go on to the New Testament. Lately, there's this one concept that has been sticking out to me: Give thanks to God. Though some may overlook this concept in the Word, I believe it is an important one. It is a way to love others, by showing appreciation to them. In most of Paul's letters to the churches, he often starts out by giving thanks to the Lord. God has done marvelous things in my life and without Him, I would be a different person, perhaps living a life of darkness. I'm very thankful that He introduced me to a great community with amazing people and I accepted it and ran with it. On twitter (@romac17), I see various athletes thanking God every day and that definitely brightens my day. Give thanks to others and God in prayer, worship, with love, always!

I received a text from Jenna at around 10 pm on Sunday notifying me of a 'free' movie on betheltv about God. I was praying during the weekend, and she was one of many people in my mind that I prayed for. When I got the text, I felt excited, but at the same time, perplexed. I usually don't get texts at night and I was actually about to call it a night early. It was a "free" movie about God on betheltv, I couldn't resist. BethelMusic has been my seasonal favorite music recently. Then, I found out the movie was called Father of Lights, the 3rd movie to Finger of God and Furious Love.

I probably smiled the entire movie. Seeing God's heart, love, and power in action filled me with happiness and joy. I could relate to most of the situations on the film. My favorite part was when they went to Chicago and talk to gang members of the "Latin Kings." I spent about 11 years of my childhood in Chicago or around the area. I had little fear when I was a child; I didn't know what to fear. Sometimes when I visit, gangs have always been in the back of my mind. The way God touched Sam put joy in my heart. He's a light shining in Chicago. Sam mentioned blasting Christian music in his car and crying for Jesus. I wept when I first felt God's presence during VTXA's Fall retreat and afterwards, I favored Christian music over all my secular music.

Here's a funny part: They're talking to the wife of a "witch doctor" and they both have a sense of confusion.
"Can I pray for you?"
"No, I don't want you to pray for me."
-Pauses-
"Father, in Jesus name, I pray that you release this now!"

The last thing I would like to mention about the movie happens towards the end of it, their journey to the Dome of the Rock. Earlier that night, I was talking to Stephen about speaking to Muslims about Jesus. Recall that from SICM, I believe that God has called me into International ministry. Seeing God work through Todd White in the Muslim section in Israel filled me with awe. All he did was love people and that lead the team to their goal: The Dome of the Rock. As Jesus said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matt 19:26).

Overall, Father of Lights was very encouraging for me. It's another way that the Lord uses to prepare my heart for the Fall. I actually wished I was down at Blacksburg right now to talk to the upcoming freshman at their orientation! But I must be patient. I thought Jenna's text was a text from God. Remember, I was about to go to bed and I had no communication from her in about a week. Still, I watched that film and stayed up for about 2 more hours and I did not get sleepy at all.

Since the movie is called "Father of Lights", I thought this would be fitting..haha. The song is actually played in the end of the movie. There's other great songs in that album as well.

"Everything good comes from you, Father of Lights..."

Song: Father Of Lights
Album: Awakening: Live from Chicago
Artist: Jesus Culture

Now, wayyyy back, I mentioned that something I wanted to learn more about during the summer was love. I listened to True Love a few days ago and it reminded me of that early summer goal. Sometimes, I wonder about the "one", that future spouse in my life, as my true love (I also need to really be patient about that haha). Well, she will be someone that I will love for sure, but True Love is Jesus. When he sings, "Jesus is alive" over and over...I'm just listening in awe, gazing at Jesus. I'm pretty sure (I have sources!) that this song was also played at Fall Retreat at VTXA's 2011 Fall retreat. Every time I listen to it, I like the song even moreee.

"Come close...listen to the story..."
"Lose your life just so you can find it"

Song: True Love
Album: Cannons
Artist: Phil Wickham

Starts at ~1:22

Here's the cd version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sonjpHbeDQ

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful" (Col 3:14-15)

- Being Spontaneous, with Purpose