Week 1 and then some

Well it's been almost 2 weeks wince I started my internship here at IHOP. God is showing up in mighty ways. Already he has healed me of my anxiety, insomnia, stomach issues, and depression. He has healed my heart from emotional trauma and has lavished me with the love He has for me. As I dive into His heart, He is showing me the burdens He has for the world and breaking my heart for the things that break His heart. He is showing me true hatred for sin and a true love for righteousness. As I draw into Him, He is drawing into me tenfold. I praise God for the time He has allowed me to spend here already. In the last 10 days He has done more in me than I had hoped He would do in a lifetime and He has told me this is just the beginning. He is a God who is consumed with love for me and for all of His children. He doesn't just desire to forgive us, but He desires to sit us on His lap and give us the world. As Mark says in chapter 16, "'These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues;

they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."'

This is not a God who we have to beg to forgive us, it is a God who desires to lavish us with His love and to pour out His power through the use of His spirit within our lives daily. As I look at the season of life that lays in front of me, I am reminded time and time again, both by God and by the leadership here at IHOP, of the story of Mary of Bethany. She did the one thing that was necessary. She sat at the feet of God. It wasn't service or ministry that allowed her to follow God wholeheartedly, but the fact that she actively sought to cultivate a wholehearted passion for the word of Jesus. She was the only one in the company of Jesus who knew He was going to die even though he directly told His disciples that he was going to Jerusalem to die three times in scripture. I thank God that he has allowed me the finances and the desire to have a Mary heart for the next six months and I pray that He continues to allow me the time and freedom to sit at His feet for the rest of my days. So many pastors "burn out" because of their ministry. They give up time at Jesus' feet because they decide it is a waste. With the 2 hours a day they spend in prayer, they could build houses, feed the poor, serve at orphanages. While all these are great things, they are not the one thing which God has deemed necessary for wholehearted devotion. If more leaders would cultivate a Mary heart in this Martha world the life of the church would propel itself into an era that would be far beyond even what the church described in Acts experienced. This is the calling on my heart, to usher in a life of wholehearted devotion for God. To be even more tender and vibrant at the age of 50 than I am now. The "burn out" described by church leaders of today is merely a bitterness at God for not fulfilling them in the way they desired because they neglected the biggest non-negotiable thing God called them to in the New Testament. It is my hope and prayer that all of those who follow my blog would begin to cultivate this Mary heart and "waste" time in the presence of God that he might open up the doors to heaven in the church today and bring a manifestation of His glory that is unprecedented on this Earth.

God Bless,

CJ Heintz