Revolution

5-18-2013

Morning:

I have blotted out your transgressions

Like a cloud

And your sins like

Mist;

Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Sing, O heavens,

For the Lord has done it;

Shout, O depths of the

Earth;

Break forth into singing,

O mountains,

O Forest, and every tree in it!

Isaiah 44:22-23a

Prayer:

--Thank you for seeing my sins, forgiving me, and wanting me anyway

--I love that you’re so incredible that all Creation shouts your name

--If the trees and the mountains do it, why aren’t we??

--Trees can’t even see, but all your wonders are laid out in front of us and we still hide your word.

--We let embarrassment, persecution, and fear of losing our reputation silence our vision and our voice of an all-consuming God

--I pray for more than a revival, I pray for a revolution

--I pray we would cast off the chains of wanting to fit in and not offend anybody, and we would begin to proclaim your name loudly.

--I pray for the strength and wisdom to start leading people in this revolution

--Put my focus off of me and onto you.

--I pray for the gift of learning languages quickly, so that I may share this revolution with other parts of the world.

Ask for the Gift

4-15-2013

Father,

My generation, at least much of it, is full of hopelessness, fear, negativity, and yearning.  We cling to the shadows thought they are the source of our blindness.  We chain ourselves tighter as we search for liberation.  Because of this seemingly endless cycle, the Color Life fades grayer and grayer.

Father, you’ve given me a gift; the gift to see.  I get swept up in your light and love to the point of giddiness.  You have shown me the value of peace and joy, and taught me that I have nothing to complain about.  This is a very, very powerful gift.  I cannot be comfortable keeping it to myself, I must share it with the world. 

May your love and your spirit be a fuel for my eyes that never goes out.  Take over and touch the world through me.

Mark

Release

4-11-13

Father,

You have taken the time to search and know me.  You know me far better than I do, or even than my best friends do.  You know who I am now and who I’ll grow to be.

So there is no need to worry.

Something I’ve been working on lately is learning to give all I have to you.  I used to worry so much about my future, thinking about how everything I do could help or hurt my plan for what I want to be.  But I’ve learned not to have a plan for my life, Lord.  Life is so complex that I wouldn’t know how to get there and would end up angry and disappointed.  But you, Lord, know the way, and you know the destination.

Help me to release any worry or stress I have, Lord.  Part of Faith is believing ridiculously in you.  Help me to let go of my plan and trust yours, even if I don’t know it. 

Mark

Open My Eyes

4-3-2013

Morning:

Father,

You are magnificent.  The stars and sky truly proclaim the works of your hands.  So many people take stuff like that for granted, but you have shown me how beautiful it is. 

In your wonders, in your works, I find peace.  I see your glorious creation and it shows how much you truly care about me. 

Open my eyes, Father.  There’s so much that I miss on a daily basis because of how I let myself get consumed with school and [learning] Spanish and guitar and photography, and so much more!  Those things are not worth your grace. 

Thank you, Lord,

Mark

Light vs Darkess

4-1-13

Morning:

Father,

You are light.  This world is filled with darkness and negativity, but you have provided a way that I can be joyful, thankful, and content.  However, the ignorance of our world really saddens me....  It is real; there ARE children being manipulated and mutilated, stolen and forced to do terrible acts.  Why must people be so apathetic to decry a powerful cause so they don’t actually have to get up and DO something in this world?  It’s awful Lord; the world is so lacking in compassion and brotherly love. 

Help me to be someone who burns away the darkness of their negativity with light.  We have so much to be thankful for.  While some people devote their lives in hatred of something.  

 

Darkness will not be my default.

Mark

NOTE: Mark had been watching documentaries about human trafficking and mistreatment of women and children around the world. 

The Most Fulfilling Life

May 28, 2014

Morning:

Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;

Shout, O Israel!

Rejoice and exult with all your heart,

O daughter of Jerusalem!

Zephaniah 3:14

Teach me to love, God.  Teach me how to show people they’re valued and how to bless them.  Give me your eyes of perfect love so that I may see what you see and feel what you feel toward those around me 

Humble me, Father.  If I have a selfish perspective God, break it.  The most fulfilling life is a life of loving you and others so much that I don’t have time to be self-centered. 

Longing for Light

3-30-2013

Morning

Father,

2,000 years ago you died so that I may be free from sin as your child.  And that’s what I am, a free child of you.  You have given me strength, zeal, passion, joy, peace, love for the service of you.  My sin is not failing, and does not make me a failure.  It just means I’ve still got some human in me.  The holiest, most righteous person still sins; I am not evil for sinning.

I live in a beautiful world.  It is broken and permeated with sin, but it is also ablaze with your beauty and glory.  That doesn’t mean it’s a failure, it just means it needs to be cleansed.  The same goes for me.  I may have darkness in me (as a result of my mortality) but I am ablaze with your Holy Spirit as well.  Someday, all that darkness will be gone. 

I can’t let that hold me back, though.  I may be mortal, but so is everyone around me, and they’re longing for light.  And I must show it to them.

Mark

I'm In

May 22, 2014

O Love of God, teach me to love! Teach me to see those around me as masterful, beautiful creations with bits of you in them.  Show me how to put others before myself. 

For the sake of Christ, then,

I am content with weaknesses,

Insults, hardships, persecutions,

And calamities.

For when I am weak,

Then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:10

“Think of how much suffering it’s taken for him to earn that kind of faith” *

Let me suffer for your sake, God.  If that’s what it takes to fall more in love with you, I’m in.  

*Note: Mark's Mom said this regarding one of the boys in Nicaragua who had faith in God when others disappointed him.  

Wild Joy

May 29^th, 2014

Morning:

Was hit by the realization last night that I don’t really view myself as God’s child very well.  I think pretty low of myself, and though we’re called to be humble, I’m realizing the way I’ve been thinking has actually been kinda selfish.  I’ve been so caught up in the idea that I’m weak and unworthy of God’s love that I’ve forgotten to fully live in the light of what He’s done for me.  Yes, I’m a sinner, and it’s important to acknowledge that.  But I’m also beloved to the creator of the earth, sky and sea.  That’s cause to live with wild joy! I don’t need to live in shame of my sin anymore.  My cage door’s been unlocked and I can live in joy of my freedom.  I’m not filthy.  I’m white as snow...

...I love how in Psalm 107, both people dealing with tough circumstances and those who’ve blatantly denied you are quickly met with grace when they cry out.  You show no partiality. 

Remind me

2-27-13

  

Lord,

  

I seek you and I find you, for why would you hide yourself from me? No, you are constantly seeking me; when I feel far from you it’s my fault, not yours.  God, fill my cup.  Open my eyes to the blessings around me.  You have given me far, far more than I have ever deserved.  Thank you that you forgive even though I sin time and time again.  Remind me of your beauty and grace that are far more fulfilling than any amount of earthly pleasure.

I love you,

  

Mark

I Give You my Life

3-29-13 

Evening

Oh Lord,

What a sacrifice you gave 2,000 years ago.  All for us, all for me.  You felt the pain that I deserved so that I no longer had to pay the price for my sin.  Lord, I will never be able to express fully the gratefulness a sacrifice like that is due.  So I give you my life, Lord, that you may use it to tell the world of what you’ve done for us.  That I may be a beacon of light and hope to those seeking a Savior.  Thank you for bearing the shame that I deserved.  I love you.

Mark

All of Me

3-20-2013

Evening:

Father,

Oh how I await the day I’m face to face with you.  The day that I am no longer tempted, that I no longer sin.  The day that I’m all I’m meant to be.  But even though I long for that day, Lord, I pray for the understanding that I have a purpose here.  And that purpose is to worship you and proclaim your name to all the nations.  God, I can do that now.  I can do that tomorrow as I worship you in chapel.  I pray that you would create me into the person who is out of their mind for you.  You deserve all of me Lord, remind me of that. 

Mark

Deliberately

May 8^th, 2014

Morning:

The steadfast love of the Lord

Never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

They are new every

Morning;

Great is your faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22-23

God thunders wondrously with his

Voice;

He does great things

That we cannot

Comprehend.

Job 37:5

I want to love deliberately.  Selfless love makes incredible things happen.

You are so at work, so prevalent, and we ignore it.  We sit down and fold our hands out of tradition, not recognizing that we’re in the presence of God.  Open my own eyes, God.  I will be grateful for how much of a miracle it is to step into your presence. 

Thrive

1-23-13

God,

You are all that I’m made for.  I’m not made to excel in school, to make music, or to take pictures.  I’m made to worship you, to enjoy a relationship with you that surpasses all understanding.  Right now, I’m stressed by the amount of work I have to do.  Really stressed; I know I’m going to be up pretty late because of it.  But Lord, I wanted to spend this time with you.  I shouldn’t have to find time for you in the midst of schoolwork. I should base my schoolwork around my time with you.  Because I know my time with you is more rewarding and refreshing than anything.  Yeah, I’m gonna be tired as mess when I wake up tomorrow.  But Oh God, this is worth it.  I can’t live without time with you.  I mean, I can survive but I can’t live, thrive.  I need you or my life is colorless.  Your beauty penetrates my life and sets it aflame with Peace and Joy.  Lord, I pray for that peace and joy right now.  Strengthen me. 

You’re worth this :)

Mark

Closer

Quotes in Mark's Summer 2012 Journal


These are things he felt God impressing/saying to him:

Dear One, this is only a fraction of what’s to come.  Keep your eyes open.

 Mark, I want you to see me.

No matter how well you think you know Me, I will always be able to amaze you even further. 

A quote he liked:

“I want to be a freaking revolution.  I want to ruffle feathers.  I want to burn with holiness.  I want to offend society by my existence.  I want my hands to heal and cast out demons.  I want to die a lover of God, going closer than anyone has ever dared.”

--Ariel of Icon for Hire

 

Potential

May 27, 2014

Every day has the potential to be incredible if I would choose to love.

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, and to love kindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?

Micah 6:8

He does not retain his anger forever,

Because he delights in steadfast

Love

Micah 7:18b

God does not have to love.  He isn’t forcing himself to love.  He delights in loving me.  Because truly, I’m beautiful to him. 

Unfair

6-19-12 

Right now, I’m staring at the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.  I’m 40,000 feet above the ground, and it’s 7:48 PM.  I’m on a flight from Miami to Washington D.C., coming home from the two-week Nicaragua trip. 

It’s a sunset.  Rays of light fill my eyes and blast the sky and the Atlantic Ocean below with golden light.  There is no land in sight, only water and sky.  Puffy clouds of all shapes and sizes dot the scene far below, lit on fire by yellow beams.  The ocean miles beneath me is laughing joyfully painted with the sun’s reflection.  Shadows are cast across the canvas by the sun exploding over the clouds...

...I’m staring into that blinding light right now, while what I should be looking at is utter, crippling darkness.   “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

What I’m talking about here is grace.  I did not choose God, I chose me.  I chose my way, so that I may have fleeting pleasures that have no worth.

But God chose me. 

He looked at me and didn’t find something about me that was better than other people.  I was no more righteous than any other man, because we are not righteous in ourselves.  God bestowed righteousness upon me, though he found no merit or love for him.  God ripped me from the grasp of Satan and said to me that He is so much better, so much brighter than anything I could ever comprehend. 

And he was so, so, so right. 

My dreams can’t rival this.  My deepest thoughts cannot create anything as incredible as the scene that’s bestowed up me.

I’m wondering right now: If this broken, fallen world can have this much of God’s beauty in it, what will the New Earth be like?  An Earth purged of selfishness, of corruption, of pain?  I’ll definitely need a new body in order to stand before that because I’m pretty sure the one I’m in now would explode if I saw anything more beautiful than what I’m already looking at. 

All I know is this: Trouble will come.  I will cry, I will hurt, I will break.  But the Lord of the sky will always, ALWAYS be by my side.  He will always be amazing me beyond the boundaries I try to put Him in. 

I just can’t believe the Lord of the sunset loves ME.  I mean, of course I believe it, but it’s just so….so unfair.  Fair equals me never seeing a sunset.  But “the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair.”  I am so, so thankful for that. 

Your Love is Strong

1-22-12

Father,

Your love is strong.  You show your love for me, for the world, through an uncountable amount of blessings.  Lately, I’ve been sitting down and writing down a lot of those blessings.  It’s amazing how many there are.

Thank you for loving me, God.  I,a sinner, who lived in death.  You died for me; you took those lashes; you wore those thorns.  It’s amazing, the sacrifice you made.  I’ll never be able to fully understand it.  I wish I somehow could so that I could be more thankful to you.  You are the most precious gift, the most powerful sacrifice, the most courageous King.

Thank you. 

                       

                                                                        Mark R