Journey of the Heart - A Letter from Christa Pitcairn

Dear Sought Out Family,

Greetings from Kansas City, Missouri!  Because many of you do not know me personally, I wanted to take the opportunity to share a bit about myself and the journey the Lord has me on.   I thought it would be good to give each of you a glimpse into who I am and share a bit about the journey of my heart. 

Back in July I ended up unexpectedly visiting IHOP (International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO.)  It was a whirlwind of a trip and I ended up only being able to have 1 hour to bask in the House of Prayer.  During that 1 hour the Lord surprised me by asking me to give Him the month of September.  I heard Him so clearly.  He asked me to give Him that time to consecrate myself and allow Him to establish a House of Prayer in my own personal life (Mark 11).  Without hesitation I said, “Yes.” I didn’t know how it would work out or even how financially I would be able to pull it off.  But, I knew that when He asks you to do something He works out all the details.  He was calling me to obedience and surrender, not to understand and worry about all the ins and outs. 

With an open heart I approached this journey not knowing what to expect, but knowing that it would be difficult, and outside my comfort zone for sure.  Never in my life have I taken an entire month to consecrate myself totally to Him and do nothing else.  No TV, no social life, no distractions.  Just Him and I, 24/7.  It sounded amazing and scary.  It’s been both.  I’ve been on this journey for the past 20 days and as soon as I started this journey the dying process begun.  Day after day the Lord has touched different areas of my heart that He is after.  Things that I didn’t even know were in me have surfaced.  It’s always amazing to me that when you step into light ALL the dirt and dust within us is exposed.  When we step into Him, His light shines into the uttermost depths of who we are going after every crack, every piece of dust in our hearts that contradict the fullness of covenant He has designed for us.   In His ever kindness and gentleness He takes them, one by one, and replaces them with Him. 

Although this journey is not over for me, I hope it never ends because it has been a time of exchanging hearts; He has allowed me to feel what He feels, love what He loves and hate what He hates.  I have cried over the broken and wept for the abandoned, constantly exposing the hardness of my own heart and the softness of His.  As I weep His tears I feel the calluses of my heart began to peel away.  Each day I am here I feel His heart continually being shown to me and I’m getting rocked with the truth that He LOVES us.  Oh my goodness, how He loves us.  I know we hear this over and over, but do you really understand this?  Have you mediated and rested in the truth that He just loves YOU?  Not for what you do, but simply because you are His.  He delights in you, not just you in Him.  He, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, the Great I AM delights in you.

 It’s an overwhelming concept that wrecks my heart and blows my mind.  It is His loves that undoes me every day.  It’s His love that draws me in and breaks me down.  It is His love that moves me to weep for the things He weeps for.  It’s His love that restores my soul and breathes life into my bones.  It is His love that He gave His only Son to be crucified for me—and for you.  He allowed His Son to be murdered, so you and I could have eternal life, to be blameless before the Father.  The kindness, beauty and love of that sacrifice are beyond comprehension for me. Everyday I am asking for more understanding of the depth and width of His love.  And everyday He undoes my heart that much more, unlocking an unquenchable flood of love, deep and enveloping.  The depth and breath of our Jesus—I stand in awe, humbled in His presence.   The prophet Isaiah says it best:

So I said:

“Woe is me, for I am undone!

Because I am a man of unclean lips,

And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips;

For my eyes have seen the King,

The Lord of hosts.”

~ Isaiah 6:5

My prayer is that all of us take time to meditate daily on who He is and the love He has for us.  Let us not go through this life not understanding His heart for us because it is when we encounter His heart for us that we are truly transformed into laid down lovers, fully surrendered to loving Him with all of who we are. 

As October approaches so does Sought Out’s first meeting October 23^rd.  For those of you planning to attend, I so look forward to connecting more with you and partnering with you in this journey of encountering more of Him and His heart!

Created to Love,

Christa Pitcairn

 SOUGHT OUT

- Pursuing God's Presence

- Focused on the next generation

- Encounter a loving God

- Intimate relationship with God – nothing less!

Join us on Sunday, October 23 @ 7pm.

Event details @ Sought Out Global on Facebook.

Jesus dysfunctional…really?

Jesus had every dysfunctional excuse that we have ever used:

• His mother, Mary, was viewed as immoral woman and a liar because she was pregnant before marriage and claimed to be a virgin.
• Society viewed His stepfather, Joseph, as either the man who got her pregnant or the man who helped Mary by marrying her.
• Jesus was viewed as an illegitimate child.
• His dad and mom left Him when He was 12 and completely forgot about Him for 1 day. He was missing for 3 days. 
• His parents did not attend when Jesus was debating with church leaders.
• They did not understand Him—what was important to Him.
• Satan took advantage of Jesus when He was in a weak place and tempted Him with physical needs, power and worshipping something above God.
• Jesus hung out with people who were viewed badly in society:  thieves, sexual deviants, drunks, corrupt businessmen and prostitutes.
• All of His friends left Him in crisis. (example: when the army arrived to arrest Him)
• He was a single man who never married—a virgin at 33.
• He was accused of breaking church laws.
• His leadership was challenged.
• His knowledge was disputed.
• Jesus was arrested and accused of crimes.
• People gossiped about Jesus and Mary Magdalene’s relationship—she had been a prostitute.
• He was abused by the military.
• He was abused by the government.
• He was abused by church leaders.
• He was rejected in His home town and by His country.
• God, His Father, abandoned Him—Jesus who had done everything to please His Father.

Jesus had to choose His heart condition and His attitude towards God when what God asked Him to do made no sense.  He chose the best way to walk out every situation.  Jesus chose to trust God and run to God in every instance.  He obeyed God.  He faced and wrestled through obedience, costing Him everything valuable in this life.  In the end, He was misunderstood, was tortured and died because He obeyed God.

Unconscionable!  Unbelievable!  But that is not where it ends. 

Jesus was not only reunited with His Father, but was given the highest authority by God.  Because Jesus understands everything that we go through, He is our attorney.  Satan is the prosecutor—our accuser.  Jesus is constantly intermediating before God (the just judge) on our behalf.  You see, because of Jesus’ attitudes and decisions, He was obedient and perfect.  Jesus became the replacement for us before God, for our sins. 

We can have all that God intended for us from the very beginning, the things we were designed for—our core values, identities, purposes, etc.  We just have to get first things first:  get our relationship right with God through Jesus.  Start communicating and learning from another view.  God is the component we need—the missing piece.

Jesus didn’t allow dysfunction in His life as an excuse.   He lived life optimally—not only for Himself, but for all of us as well!  Read the Bible, the writings about God and Jesus, for yourself.   Check for yourself the points I have made about the dysfunction Jesus rose above.  You will find yourself in the pages; you will see situations that correlate to your life today.  I challenge you… J  dig deeper into Jesus.

By Bethany Marks

 SOUGHT OUT

- Pursuing God's Presence

- Focused on the next generation

- Encounter a loving God

- Intimate relationship with God – nothing less!

Join us on Sunday, October 23 @ 7pm.

Event details @ Sought Out Global on Facebook.

RUMBLING & SHAKING

Joel C. Rosenburg stated in his blog a few weeks ago ... 

"In the last few weeks, the U.S. stock markets have tanked. Americans have lost more than $2.3 trillion in personal wealth. Our economy has nearly stalled. Some 14 million Americans are out of work. We may be facing a double-dip recession. Our debt is exploding. And Washington is nearly paralyzed with partisan gridlock, even as Iran is building nuclear weapons, Syria and Libya are slaughtering thousands, Egypt has imploded, and Israel is increasingly threatened. Put it simply: Storm clouds are gathering. The winds are picking up. The tectonic plates beneath us are shifting. America is being shaken. Israel and the Middle East are being shaken. The Church is being shaken. Why? Where are we headed? What is God doing? And what is He asking followers of Jesus Christ to do?"  

On Monday, August 22 we all woke up to the current uprising happening in Libya. Tripoli Square has been over taken by rebels and the people chant “FREEDOM!”  More than ever, we have felt the rumblings and shaking of government structures and economic systems.  Systems that once seemed so strong are now dangling on delicate threads threatening to break at any moment.  Never in history have we faced what we are facing today. 

I think many of you would agree there is a hunger in people we have not seen before.  As the unrest becomes more apparent, so does people’s hunger.  I am convinced, the more the fragile the world becomes the more people’s hearts become awakened to God. I would rather of course have people’s awakening come without the crisis, but my prayer has and always will be, “whatever it takes.”  No way, am I pointing a finger or would even attempt to blame current world events on God.  No, this is the power of free will at its finest.  But, I do believe that God can and will use ALL THINGS FOR GOOD.  So, when things get bad, I look for the good. 

Honestly, everywhere I go right now the Lord is bringing people into my path that need an encounter with Him and His love.  I can feel the pursuit of the Father over His sons and daughters and the flow of releasing His heart over people has never been so easy.  People are more open right now than I’ve ever experienced.  Again and again, with tears streaming down their faces people share with me how they have been praying, for the first time in years, asking God if He is real to reveal Himself.  Then here comes the kindness of the Father showing them how much He loves them, speaking to them on such personal levels, things only He would know.  As they share, my tears flow freely too. 

One of my favorite encounters happened two weeks ago. I was on one of my many flights and as the flight began to prepare for takeoff I begin to do my usual routine.  I got out my head- phones, the book I was reading and just as I was opening up my book the Lord said to me, “Close the book and start a conversation with the girl next to you.”  As I did this, I looked at this beautiful, free spirited young woman sitting next to me.  She was in her early twenties with hair in dread-locks and she carried this essence of adventure about her.  Just as she was about to put in her headphones I asked her the classic travel question, “So, are you coming or going?”  

This simple question led into us talking the entire flight about the Lord.  She, being a new Christian, was on her way to spend a week with her sister and take some time to figure out ‘what in the world did she want to do with her life’.  And here I sat next to her.  What a gift I was being given.  As she and I shared our hearts I began to hear the Lord speak things over her.  Things the Lord was calling her to and how He wired her and the way she approached things was of His design.  In the natural flow of conversation I began to share with her what the Lord had showed me about her.  With tears in her eyes she said what I had just shared were the answers to the things she had just been praying about. I know, right there on that plane, this girl fully searching for her purpose, just encountered God.  Her life can never be the same.  When we are led by His spirit the course of one’s history can be changed.   I know on that day, this young girl’s life was being re-written by Him. 

So, I say let the world shake! Let the rumblings take place!  Hearts are being opened and you and I are alive for this time, for this place!  Open your eyes and look around you and share His heart! People are hungry and people are searching and we have the answer—JESUS!  In all this instability people are looking for security.  The only security we have is Jesus Christ.  Share that with someone today. 

By Christa Pitcairn

SOUGHT OUT

- Pursuing God's Presence

- Focused on the next generation

- Encounter a loving God

- Intimate relationship with God – nothing less!

Join us on Sunday, October 23 @ 7pm.

Event details @ Sought Out Global on Facebook.