This week has been so good! I really do not know where to start with all that has happened. The moral of the story is that God showed up.
This week was an amazing time for IWT, Impact World Tour. With most of the ministry back in Kansas City we had the entire week to seek the Lord together, and hear what He had for us, and it was dynamic. God gave us a lot of vision and direction for this next season. He is entering us into a rebuilding season, where we are going to start rebuilding on the foundation of IWT. There are a few things that He is really highlighting for us as a ministry. The first, is that we would have a lifestyle of prayer in everything that we do. As a ministry, we want to become so dependent on God that we cannot even have a meeting until we have prayed into and have received the Lord's direction. We need to become more pro-active through the leading of God then reactive. So, this next season will be a time where we simply seek the face of God, and everything that happens will be an outflow of falling in love with Jesus, and that is exciting to think about.
In addition, to developing this lifestyle of prayer and intimacy with the Lord we feel that God is calling IWT to develop more lasting foundations into the cities that we are going into. As a result, we are trying to form the ministry in a way that we can partner with the church in every community and build something that will be lasting, and can be used by the church in the foundations they are building. We want to help every community become a hub for missions. In which churches and even individual people's homes become training centers that train followers of Christ to reach those who are not in the Kingdom of God both in their own community and communities around the world. It is such an exciting vision to be given, and each day God reveals more to us of how this will happen.
The cool thing is that God is developing this lifestyle in all of us individually/corporately, so that we can not only spread the vision, but by His love become an effective model to all of those we seek to partner and work with. It is really cool! He is building IWT into a powerful missional community, that not only loves others, but that deeply loves each other as close knit family. It such a privilege and honor to be part of this ministry, in this season.
In addition, to all that God is doing with the ministry. He is just wrecking my heart for Him, and it is so good! Each day I find myself being drawn closer and closer to Him. My quiet times with Him have been awesome. He has been speaking to me with so much clarity about this next season of my life. But the best part has been Him just telling me how He sees me, and when the King of Kings tells you how He sees you it is the most humbling and uplifting thing ever. I am His glorious Son, and He has taken me into deep parts of His kingdom and wants to take me even deeper. When He looks at me He smiles as He sees passion and desire for Him and His Kingdom. And ther was so much more! When, I heard God talk to me like that I was in tears, but it gave me so much healing and confidence. It has embolden me to be His messenger and servant. It is so good!
As I continue to have my identity as a Son of God illuminated He is opening more and more of His Kingdom to me and allowing me to reach more people. This is the message that people need to hear. They can become a child of God. In fact, that is what they were created for, to be children of the most High God, and then it was stolen from them. Their identity was high jacked, and they were told they were of this world and worthless. God is screaming for them to be His kids again, and they are screaming to have a Father. This is the message that I am taking to Minnesota. Your Father is waiting for you. No more fear. No more shame. No more guilt. You are not fatherless. Your Father is waiting with His arms wide open to protect you and to restore you. Let me take you to your Father, to our Father. He has so much to tell you!
I am so pumped for what God has in store for Minnesota, and it all starts tomorrow. Tomorrow I am driving up to Minnesota with, Mike Stanley, and picking up Marty from the airport in Minneapolis, and then we will have a bunch of meetings through out the week to get ready for the Fall Tour in Northerwestern Minnesota and Fargo where we will help tell Minnesota about their Father. So that we can guide them back to Dad, and then Dad can tell them how beautiful they are to Him, so He can take away their fear, guilt, and shame, because perfect love casts out all fear.
My prayer is that you all would join with me in this journey, and pray for our travels and favor with all of those that we meet, and clarity to hear the direction of God in all that we do. Also, join me in spreading this message. If you do not know how Dad sees you as His child ask Him. He will blow you away, and heal your soul. And if you know someone who is hurting tell them about their Dad and take them to Him, so that Dad can heal them and whisper His love into their ears. All we have to do is ask Him. He has been desperately waiting for us to ask. So ask you have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.
I love you guys, and I pray a rich blessing of provision and love from the Father for He is good and loves to lavish on His children, and you are His child!
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There is one more thing I want to ask you guys to help with. Over the last few weeks God has really been talking to me about my debt that I incurred in college. Currently, it is at $48,000 and growing because 3 of my loans are in forebearance and as a result getting bigger. I want to ask for your help. I need vision and strategy to start paying on these loans, and right now I have none, and I am living off about $300 of committed monthly support, but because God is always faithful that is always supplemented with random gifts that give me enough to cover my monthly expenses, such as gas, car payment, my Compassion Kid, insurance, and 1 of my student loans (I have 4). He has shown me that I need to start paying on all 4 at the beginning of next year.
So, the first thing I would ask for you to pray and seek God with me so we can find his strategy and plan to develop a budget to pay these off. I also want to ask you all to pray and see if He is asking you to help with this through financial support, whether that is monthly or a one time gift. Then write whatever you hear from the Lord as a comment to this blog, and we can go from there!
Right now my loans are a huge barrier and burden to the ministry God has called me to. The good things is that God is bigger than them, and He wants me free, so He will show me the way to freedom, and I just need to be obedient and follow my Dad. Thank you for your help in finding the way!
If you have any questions or would like to support me give me a call, 330-754-7878, or email me at matthew_woods31987@yahoo.com.
Love you guys!
Matt
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