To: My royalty....... Love: The Master Artist

i feel like God has been telling me a lot recently. this is probably going to be a lengthy blog... unless i split it up a bit.
some of you have probably already heard me share some of the things i am going to talk about, because i just had to tell you all. im just so in awe of God... how can we remain silent, you know? God's really been prompting me to share the following (:

When you look back into the beginning of the Bible... all the way to Genesis and the Creation story, you'll find that MAN is the only thing God did not speak into existence. He set us apart from the rest of His creation and fashioned us with His hands... then BREATHED HIS BREATH into Adam's lungs. Adam was BREATHING GOD'S AIR!! When God gave us dominion over the rest of the earth, He didn't just do it randomly. He set us apart... why else would we have been created differently? Why do we have souls? The Bible says that God gave life to His creation: including all animals. But it does not say that God breathed His BREATH into them like He did for us.

In that dominion over the earth, He has promised authority over everything.
Including: evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, mighty powers of this dark world, & evil spirits of heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

During the times of Jesus if you were very old man and had no heirs to your inheritance, you were supposed to adopt your slave that way when you passed away you would have a human heir. God has adopted us as slaves to sin and darkness and brought us into His perfect Family so that we might be heirs to His throne (Galatians 4:5-7). If you are an heir to a throne, that makes you royalty doesn't it? So picture this: a slave with no hope, filthy and disgusting... a really nice looking King decides that He needs You to be an heir to His throne. So He places a crown on your head and seats you on a golden throne and hands you a scepter... giving you ultimate authority over everything.

Over every thought.
Over every spirit.
Over every demon.
Over every power.
Over all evil.
Over starvation.
Over every temptation.
Over every dart of doubt.
Over every disease and sickness.
Over famine.
Over brokenness.

We are heirs to the throne of Jesus Christ and have His same authority over everything- because we have been created in the image of God. His royalty courses through our blood.

We have no excuses to not except Him. Not to believe. Not not love.
I have at times cried and questioned over why a God so perfect could love a person like me so not-perfect. Doesn't He see what i have done? What i have become? Who i am? Of course. But when He takes off the discipline costume and downs the uniform of Love, He does not see the ugly thoughts as a limit to His movement in the church. He does not see the evil and the spirits and demons and dark powers as a limitation to His Mightiness. He does not see the starvation and famine and overall hunger for the lust of the eyes & flesh, and pride of life as something that would hinder His ability to overflow our empty cups and satisfy our spiritual longing. He is not phased by the disease and sickness. He is not directed away from our brokenness. He is not going to stop pursuing us because of doubt.

When the Almighty God looks down at His creation, He sees His own image... His breath. Its almost like God looking at Himself... how could God- without flaw- not love Himself? Of course He does not love what we have partaken of the world, but He does love the parts of us left untouched and left as He originally fashioned them. And like that glorious day of Creation, God declares that "It is good" over all of us. He looks at everyone of His sons and daughters who have allowed Him to dwell in their hearts as precious and beautiful- and ultimately, He sees us as Royalty.

And He longs to be intimate with us. The Bible says that Adam knew his wife in Genesis- but the way "to know" was used was different than what one would normally expect. He used the Hebrew word YADA which means basically to know someone intimately, to become one person; unified. God wants to us to "yada" Him. To know Him as extremely intimate... not some distant Creator in the corner of our minds that only exists during Sunday morning worship and bible study.

I have been seeing God lately as the Master Artist of a huge piece of artwork of our lives. I already wrote a blog October 2008 called "The Radiant Tapestry" (http://chelsea-cameron.blogspot.com/2008/10/radiant-tapesty.html)- so i wont go into detail about really how significant every piece of thread in our lives' tapestry is, but i do want to emphasize that God remains the Master Artist. He holds the brushes and tools used to fashion our future. When we try to steal the brushes out of His hands, we begin to destroy what He originally planned for us. Which gives Him more work to do on our hearts. He only asks us that we let go of our own desires to be in control and let God be. Just like an inexperienced child grabs hold of a paint brush, with untrained use we could ruin the canvas. We only bring disaster by interference. Like i said: He only asks that we be completely yielded in His hands. He makes no idle strokes on our portraits... His every move is of vital creativity and every stroke is apart of the whole composition. Let it be. Let Him be- so that when it is finished we might say in unison with our God: "It is good."


chelsea cameron
february 15, 2009

ps. i need to credit amanda for telling me about YADA... then Real World Worship Center Pastor Williams emphasized it today in church.

is it really ours?

the thing about holding onto what is "ours", is its really not ours to hold on to. thats why we are shocked when we lose what we thought was ours...

i think if we give to God what is already His, we might not go through the same kind of shock when what is ours is removed from our lives...

giving up authority over something we thought we always had rightful ownership over will probably be the hardest thing i will ever do.

i've gotten so mad at God for taking away what was mine and what He allowed me to grow close to... but it was His to handle all along... we're the ones acting unreasonable.

my dad taught me this in a way last year when we were dealing with the loss of Carter... he wrote this february 2008 in his own blog:

"It is right for me to be protective and to make attachments in love with them but I have to remember that they are not mine. They are, have always been, and shall remain God's property. In that, He may use them as He wishes, and direct them to wherever He wishes - to include calling them home."

knowing this i have two choices:

1. I can not allow myself to become close to anyone because i know that anything could happen... and i couldnt lose them in a literal heartbeat. This is especially hard since i become very attached to the people in my life...


2. I could just go with it and be cool with people and let myself make friends and be friends with them, even know though i know i could get hurt....

alright. this blog seems be totally edging towards ending negatively. and really... thats where i half expected it to end. but with God, it doesnt work that way.

right when i got to the point of like just completely ending this entry, i got a phone call from meredith and i shared what i was writing about... before we even made it halfway through the conversation we came to the conclusion that:

life is a risk.
it is better to have loved and learned than to never have loved at all... i have grown so much to the people i have become close to in my life. and even though i might have lost a couple of them i still do not regret those relationships.

right now there will be a period of mourning but joy will follow... its not providential to keep living a lifestyle of grief for it is easy to become trapped in the oppression and completely miss joy that could have come if only we sought it. i am NOT saying that is wrong to grieve... grieve all you want with your own time. but living with grief for someone is totally different than living a complete lifestyle of grief where there is no effort to move on and to once again experience the true joy that can be found in living life to its fullest. its definitely okay to cry and to feel hurt... but its also okay to feel happy again... your allowed to laugh. your allowed to talk about things other than the tragedy surrounding us right now. its okay. you do not have to give up your own life just because someone else ended their's.

-chelsea
1/11/09

For My HCHSers... In Memory of Adam Bierbauer ♥

i lost my brother August of 2007... while it wasnt under the same circumstances- loss equals loss. death equals death. Hampton Christian, we can make it through this. Do not EVER lose hope. Jesus Christ can break the same chains holding you down that held Adam back. In the name of Jesus, we (CHILDREN OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD) have the power to cast out demons! Even the little tiny ones that whisper LIES in our ears... the same lies that killed our brother. We are EVEN more than conquerors. We have been REDEEMED from the hand of the enemy. We have been DELIVERED from the powers of darkness. We are excersizing our AUTHORIY over SATAN. We are above only and NEVER beneath. We are bringing all evil thoughts into CAPTIVITY. Hampton Christian, we are STRONG IN THE LORD AND THE POWER OF HIS MIGHT!!! we have the power through Jesus Christ to BREAK and ANNIHILATE every sort of chain holding God's kids in bondage. Lets stop talking about making a change... Lets take some ACTION.


hopefully some of these verses will encourage you.... :)

Isaiah 43:2
"When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you."

1 Thessalonians 4:13-14
"And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died."

Matthew 5:4
"God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted."


Isaiah 41:10
"Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand."

Psalm 119:50
"Your promise revives me;
it comforts me in all my troubles."

Isaiah 49:13
"Sing for joy, O heavens! Rejoice, O earth! Burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on them in their suffering."

Isaiah 61:1-3
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,
for the Lord has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted
and to proclaim that captives will be released
and prisoners will be freed.
2 He has sent me to tell those who mourn
that the time of the Lord’s favor has come,
and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies.
3 To all who mourn in Israel,
he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

Revelation 21:4
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

1 John 4:4-19 is really good too :)
Psalm 139 has also always been an amazing comfort.

two good songs:
zero by hawk nelson
smiling down by pillar

*they may not be your type of songs- but they speak the same reality we are living right now.

i love you all. even the ones i have never told you so... i hold you all so close to my heart. i love you soooo much.... so much. EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU.

Made for Me.

with the pain- with the brokenness,
with the confusion, hear this:
"i take thee my bride.
forever to hold
with all of my heart, eternally i do."
because your heart was made to love.
your heart was made to save- made for mercy.
your heart was made for love.
your heart was made to feed the hungry.
your heart was made to heal the broken.
your heart was made to free the captives.
your heart was made to repair the damaged.
your heart was made for me.
so do what you will
i am ready now
my heart was made for you.

The Ascent '08- The Message I Received

i had a few really good "word pictures" tonight at the Ascent. theres one specific one that i want to share....

i saw a 3D front view of a dark red heart.... it had bruises and scars and stitches and was covered in pain- with the definition of affliction and torment. the heart had cold metal chains binding its freedom... they squeezed every part of the heart... holding it in an agonizing bondage. some of the chains were rusty and old- representing the myriad of years they enslaved the heart. while i was looking at the heart... i noticed an extremely bright light coming from behind the heart... illuminating the foreground and edges of the heart. it seemed to be inching closer to the heart, for the light was perceived to be growing brighter.
when the light was finally close enough, the ugly chains suddenly broke and fell off of the heart. the view of the heart was then switched to a top view (as if i was looking straight down). i watched the heart fall backwards into the light.
i cant explain what form the light took... except that it was holding the heart. i saw that the heart had a different glow to it than its original countenance of despair and utter hopeless brokenness. the scars of the heart still existed... and i could tell that the heart could still feel some type of anguish. but there was a feeling of HOPE written all over the heart. i tried to figure out what the emotions of the heart were... but my mind just would not shift from the word HOPE. even though the heart still had its scars, it had a sense of HOPE.
the chains laid broken and shattered next to the heart... but they no longer bound the heart with their oppressing and enslaving nature. they will still be present in the life of the victim... but not present in the way that they are murdering her. the chains will never ever go away... as hopeless as that sounds, there is still hope in the fact that the CHAINS ARE BROKEN. the chains have been removed and now there is room for freedom to drape itself around and about the heart. the restored heart.

alright.
so in addition that...
we had a couple hours where everyone went into these different rooms where we could be prophesied over. i signed up for one of the first sessions. when i walked in... i had no idea what to expect. im going to share what i was told... and hopefully i will receive some revelation about them as i write. There were 7 pictures that the 3 people in the room had.... I will write down exactly what they told me... and they knew nothing about me.... not even my name.

1.) God was seen as a teddy bear... like children cling to a teddy bear, God was going to be my friend when it seemed there was none other.

2.) A pair of closed eyes were envisioned... the eyes had very long black eyelashes. I was told that the eyelashes were from God to protect me from what i see. And in this, He was showing me love.

3.) A picture of a moving flip book was revealed... there was a picture of a flower that was growing bigger and growing more and more beautiful. God is preparing me for a big transformation.

4.) The Lord was anointing my arms in this vision... apparently for worship unto Him. I was reaching to touch His heart... And that i was going to be using my arms and hands to serve people. I am going to be doing a huge hands on ministry in the future sometime.

5.) In this picture, a cell phone was envisioned. It was laying prostrate on a table... it had an antenna that was facing towards the viewer. The cell phone's antenna started to grow longer and started stretching towards the person...

(In this image, the man that shared this with me told me that He had NO idea why God showed this to Him... He told me that i needed to seek God in finding out what that meant. When he was sharing this all with me i kept thinking about how cell phones are used for communication. And how antennas are used for reception... to help make the call more clear. I thought that maybe God was using that picture to represent somehow how our communication with one another (me and God's) was going to start growing in clarity... that the reception was increasing. I am not sure if this is on point or not... but it could be?)

6.) A pad of paper and a pen was revealed to the woman who had this imagery etched in her head. She saw that a leaf was on the end of the pen and that it was growing bigger and richer. She told me that it represented some sort of creativity and growth in the subject of writing. That it was going to increase. (This lady doesnt even know me........)

7.) In this last vision, a giant eye was shown. It was a very large beautiful blue eye... as the viewer of the eye looked closer, he noticed that the world was reflected in the eye. That the eye took the form of the world... God wanted me to see the world and feel it apparently. The man that told me all of this also shared that he felt like God was saying that this was the "most important" prophecy... that i should really talk to Him about it and ask Him what it means... and to show me His word. I was told to ask God what He was saying to me.



So anyways... i thought that was all very powerful. And thats not even all. I sat in on two other sessions of other people because i had to be a "scribe" and write down the prophecies of them so that they could cry and whatnot. And i witnessed some AMAZING stuff. I sat in with another close friend... and while we were discussing what happened in there, i saw something too. I shared with her what i was seeing and apparently it meant a lot to her. It was so encouraging to see God use me like that.... it gave me so much hope. That He could still work through me, no matter what i have done. I saw so much change in people tonight... So much.

In another instance, the speaker of one session of the conference, spoke something over me too. We were up at the front of the auditorium to receive the fire of the Holy Spirit... i wasnt really sure what it meant, but i went up anyways. When the man finally got to me, i was trembling and shaking so much that i could barely stand. I was praying that God would make this huge thing happen to me and that i would be outrageously filled with Him. That if it was His will, i wanted it soooooo bad. I submitted to Him completely and told Him that i would still love and devote myself to Him even if I did not receive what i expected. When the man's hands touched my head, He told me that God kept saying the word "dance" to me... (and if you know me, you know that i have no dancing capabilities.) He asked me if i minded if he prayed over my feet. So he knelt down and placed His hands on my feet and started praying. He kept saying dance.... Then when he had arisen he placed His hand on me again and told me that he was hearing from God that i had already received the fire. that i already had it. and i was like, "no i dont... i dont feel anything. i never have." and he only responded with, "you already have it...." and he moved on to the next person.

So i kinda collapsed right there and started crying. i starting like yelling at God. i was so mad... i didnt understand how i could have this fire if i couldnt feel it. But i just kept hearing that He was not a feeling. And i thought about how he had moved so much in me already... and i didnt have to feel Him to recognize that. It was crazy... i still felt depressed though. i got up from my spot on the floor and just kind of walked around like a zombie. i was mad that i didnt get anything... but then i went and spoke to the speaker again about some of what he spoke over me and over the congregation. And after he prayed for me, i felt like i understood. Not that there was knowledge in that understanding... just a peace about it. I still want to FEEL God more than anything... but God revealed Himself to me in such a huge way this weekend, there is no way that i cant tell Him that He hasnt done enough. That if He doesnt let me feel Him, He doesnt exist. I know He exists... and now i have a confidence in his work in me and through me.

about the dance thing- i told you that i couldnt dance. and im so serious. but when i was worshiping i really had this humongous urge to just spin around in circles with my arms wide open. i started to at one point, but after a couple times i stopped... i was like "okay.... yeah. not feeling it." i was disappointed. but i WILL do it next time... no matter who's around haha. i started to think that maybe that was the dancing that God was trying to talk to me about... but then i thought maybe that he wanted me to use my feet AND my arms and hands (as said in a prophecy from earlier in the day...) to serve Him.... dont you use your hands and feet and arms and your whole body to dance? Maybe God doesnt mean a literal dance... maybe He means a dance to His movement of ministry? I'm not entirely sure... but i will embrace it, even though i may not completely understand it...


dude, this is all so crazy... i could go on for hours on everything i experienced. but i will be surprised if any of you actually read this whole thing. though i am interested in what half of you will have to say about all of this. but thank you so much if you made it all the way down here. this all means so much to me... im so "woah" about it all. its insane!! haha

alright.
so i guess i will end this now =]
love you all! and thank you!!!!

-chelsea