The Way to Freedom - Part 1

Jeremiah 29:11 has been the theme of the past two months. God took me on an incredible journey of restoring and strengthen my confidence in my true identity in Christ.

May 18 - Papa Mark & Mama Debbie came down to San Diego for a 2-night stay. I met up with them over lunch and did a one-hour worship/prayer set with them @ the Boiler Room in downtown SD. The worship time was so so so tender and it's been a while since I teared up and let God take my heart and break it open. Every time when I spend time with Mark & Deb, I always receive so much from the Lord because just by simply being with them, what they obtain from God would just overflow unto the people around them.

May 20 - @ my apartment in San Diego. I received a text from Annie asking me to listen through the mix of the Love*Togo album, and somehow when I reached the last two tracks, I broke down crying like never before. For an hour I kept on replaying those two tracks and letting God work with my heart (the song is called "God is at Work" too. It is such a beautiful song!). I was a wreck but God was opening up my heart and let Him in.

May 21 - Went to receive prayer from Auntie Sharon. The moment she started praying, river of tears started to flow out from my eyes, and after more prayers asking the Holy Spirit to come and fill me up, I started to cough uncontrollably. Then the coughs turned to burps, and I could not stop from burping, and it became so severe that at times I thought I was going to puke something out. And during those times, Auntie Sharon spoke to all the bondages and the spirits that were chaining me down and cast them out one by one by one, and that was the reason why I was burping and coughing and wanting to puke things out; and the burps were spirits leaving my body because the LOVE of God cast out ALL fear, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is FREEDOM. 

For a good 30 minutes I was on the floor, being delivered from darkness as God's light exposed my heart from the inside out. I have never, ever been through a deliverance session before--I've seen people being delivered, but I never thought I would encounter such a strong pull between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. I knew that God's going to win in the end, but the process of battle was not pretty nor was it comfortable. I felt like my body was this battlefield and God was tearing down the strong towers that the enemy had built within me. After that morning prayer session, I felt like a new person, cleansed and set free. And this encounter boosted my faith to a new level because I saw God's power and His hands at work within me, and that I needed to be filled by His Spirit constantly, day in and day out. But God wasn't done with me yet.

After a month and half.....

Kedrick Pinex - awesome!

July 6 - During ReGen night session, I felt the Lord telling me that he's going to do something special on the next day -- July 7. I quickly forgot about it, but I was very much looking forward to the worship night with Kenny. I was really exhausted from all these days of leading worship, but I didn't want my physical body to be blocking my spirit man to encounter God. This day was especially cool because Kedrick spoke words of knowledge from the Lord things that are just so beautiful and incredible into my sister Annie and brother-in-law Jack, and my soon-to-arrive niece Annya's lives.

Before I went to bed, I made a decision that I was going to completely give Jesus my full attention. For the past three months or so I have been wanting to have a relationship with someone, and we have been in contact, but I knew that God wanted me to stop because she has become a distraction for me to completely have my love for Jesus, and vice versa. Annie said to me a week ago that if I really care about someone, then what I should desire is to see this girl to have more of Jesus in her life more than my wanting to be with her. So I decided to really cut down our communications and set a rule because I knew that's what God wants, no matter how hard it was going to be for us.

I knew one thing -- I simply cannot afford to lose my relationship with Jesus, and if anything stands in the way, it has to leave. And once I realized that, the seemingly difficult decision was easy to make.

Check out The Way to Freedom - Part 2...


Johnny