blind eyes open
-1 Corinthians 6:19~20-

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

I started working on this post the week after my 23rd birthday. There are too many things to mention, so I only typed out what I felt led to share. I have not written such long post for a long long time... but this post is definitely worth reading because God is really amazing. Here it goes:

Part 1: Childhood
A mother, 6 month into pregnancy with identical twins, was hospitalized because her water broke and the pain of her womb was too great for her to work. After being bed-ridden for one full month, the doctors decided that it was time to perform c-section, hoping to save the mother and the babies who were all in critical conditions. The mother's condition was stabilized, yet the two boys, each weighted around 1,000 grams, were delivered into incubators. With tubes all over their bodies, the little boys weren't looking too good.

It's the gaze.
I told a friend the other day that my future wife will have the most beautiful eyes in the world because it's the eyes that will win my heart and make me fall for her. People say that one gaze can mean a thousand words, and I want my gaze to be the gaze of love, hope, peace, and happiness.

"What did Jesus look like?" I said.
Abruptly, Colton put down his toys and looked up at me. "Jesus has markers."
"What?"
"Markers, Daddy...Jesus has markers. And he has brown hair and he has hair on his face," he said, running his tiny palm around on his chin. I guessed that he didn't yet know the word beard. "And his eyes...oh, Dad, his eyes are so pretty!"
As he said this, Colton's face grew more dreamy and far away, as if enjoying a particularly sweet memory.
"What about his clothes?"
Colton snapped back into the room and smiled at me. "He had purple on." As he said this, Colton put his hand on his left shoulder, moved it across his body down to his right hip then repeated the motion. "His clothes were white, but it was purple from here to here."
Another word he didn't know: sash.
"Jesus was the only one in heaven who had purple on, Dad. Did you know that?"... "And he had this gold thing on his head..."
"Like a crown?"
"Yeah, a crown, and it had this...this diamond thing in the middle of it and it was kind of pink. And he has markers, Dad."

"...You mean like markers that you color with?"
Colton nodded. "Yeah, like colors. He had colors on him."
"Like when you color a page?"
"Yeah."
"Well, what color are Jesus' markers?"
"Red. Daddy. Jesus has red markers on him."
At that moment my throat nearly closed with tears as I suddenly understood what Colton was trying to say. Quietly, carefully, I said, "Colton, where are Jesus' markers?"
Without hesitation, he stood to his feet. He held out his right hand, palm up and pointed to the center of it with his left. Then he held out his left palm and pointed with his right hand. Finally, Colton bent over and pointed to the tops of both his feet.
"That's where Jesus' markers are, Daddy," he said.
I drew in a sharp breath. He saw this. He had to have.

I'd once heard a spirit "riddle" that went like this: "What's the only thing in heaven that's the same as it was on earth?"
The answer: the wounds in Jesus' hands and feet.
Maybe it was true.

- Excerpts from Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo

Colton Burpo had a visit to heaven at the age of 4.
And that's all I'm going to give out.

THE gaze of Jesus got me. Tears blurred my view right after Colton described where Jesus' markers are. He is real and alive and will come back the SAME WAY he left the earth--with wounds in his hands and feet. God could've fixed the "red markers" but Jesus will come back and show the world LOVE like He showed, his doubting disciple, Thomas. I have never finished reading a book in two days, but I did with Heaven Is For Real because I was so fascinated by Colton's visit to heaven and what Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit has to say to us. I will share more in the next couple posts snippets that totally wrecked me.

Johnny

There are a lot of 3:16's in the Scripture that are amazing verse to chew on, and here are just some of them:

Joshua 3:16 -- Crossing the Jordan River
...the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

2 Chronicles 3:16 -- Pomegranates are Awesome
He made interwoven chains and put them on top of the pillars. He also made a hundred pomegranates and attached them to the chains.

Proverbs 3:16
Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.

Ecclesiastes 3:16
And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there,in the place of justice—wickedness was there.

Jeremiah 3:16
In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.

Daniel 3:16
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.

Joel 3:16
The LORD will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; the earth and the heavens will tremble.
But the LORD will be a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.

Malachi 3:16
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name.

Matthew 3:16
When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.

Luke 3:16
John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Acts 3:16
By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

1 Corinthians 3:16
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

2 Corinthians 3:16
But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Galatians 3:16
The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ.

Ephesians 3:16 -- One of my favorites indeed. That's why I'm putting down v16-19.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Philippians 3:16
Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

Colossians 3:16
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

2 Thessalonians 3:16
Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.

1 Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:
God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit,
Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles,
Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

1 John 3:16
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

Revelation 3:!6 -- I laughed with conviction.
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Have a blessed 3:16 DAY!

Johnny

I still have race to run and faith to keep because I'm still struggling and fighting battles every day. I'm thankful for the goodness of God and His never-ending grace and mercy that I can still stand and proclaim over myself who I really am. I am loved. I am a Prince. I am a Son. I am blessed. I am highly favored. I am free. I am God's beloved one and nothing can separate that because Christ died on the cross in my place. And I am eternally grateful. I don't know when I'm going to my eternal home, but when I do, I will have to kiss the feet of Jesus.

But now I needa walk with Him, step by step.

May the words of my lips and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord my Rock and Redeemer.

Johnny