KP: Procrastination

Hello everyone. I have procrastinated long enough on this entry. As many of you know, I am a perfectionist. So, I did not want to journal until I had perfected a writing on what the Lord is teaching me or what is currently going on in our lives. I have been intimidated as I read what others who are much younger than I are writing with such great impact! (Ashley G., Kurt M., Ashton P.) Then I compare my thoughts/writing to the 'pros' like Wes Martin, Dan Diaddigo and...I just don't write at all.

Well, you love me (us) or you wouldn't be reading this. God has called me to this new ministry as part of this family. So I am going to trust that He will equip me to adequately write something that is for someone out there. So here goes....eloquent or not, here are my thoughts today.

We have had an incredible amount of change over the last six weeks. We have completed renovations and updates on the house. We have sifted through 21 years of accumulations and purged ourselves of many unneeded and unused items, passing them on to others who can use them. In this process I have had to come to grips with the fact that I had a poverty spirit and was operating with a poverty mentality. My rationalism was that it was all good stuff and "what if I needed it some day". (With my newest excuse being-especially down the road when we were not officially employed with a 'real' paycheck) Folks, that is greed and hording! I do not need it. I am not using it. I have not used it in quite a long time! This provision was given to me, but I was not passing it on to the ones that were the intended recipients. I was hording "just in case". I was in essence telling my Heavenly Father that I didn't trust Him to be sufficient to meet my needs and that I needed to provide for myself. First of all ,He is sufficient. Secondly, we cannot provide for ourselves but for the grace of God. Most of all, He is my Father. And, just like our earthly father He desires to give us good gifts and to take care of us, only more so because He is the God of the universe. So, the house is cleaned out, many people have been blessed, and I feel a freedom that I cannot adequately describe.

The house is on the market and has had good traffic with good reviews. Now we wait on the Lord's timing for the 'right' buyer. The Lord has begun to raise up our prayer and financial partners. This has been an exciting time for us as we watch Him do that which we cannot do. Faith. I have been praying and asking the Lord for more faith for about 15 months. Interesting isn't it. I liken it to praying for patience. Typically you receive as your answer to the 'patience prayer' trials which are designed to develop patience in and through you. Well, I am seeing that when praying for more faith, you receive circumstances that cannot be solved or achieved in and of yourself. Hence, faith is developed. I have heard some say,"Faith is spelled R-I-S-K". Well, that might be true because on several occasions lately I have thought that faith surely must be a four letter word!

I was reading a newsletter from Tom Schmidt, a missionary acquaintance of ours. The article that caught my attention was "Be Strong and Courageous. Be Strong and Very Courageous". He was talking about change and how that seems to be the buzzword in the political arena now days. He went on to comment on how much he did not care for change but would like to convince himself that it was related to him being older, wiser and more experienced, yet knowing that it was not. (I could not even try that excuse as I have never cared for change.)

He went on to write the thoughts of my heart and I would like to quote this excerpt:
"I wonder how much of my anxiousness finds its roots in fear of the unknown; fear of the 'what ifs'...if we fail, if God doesn't provide, if we get hurt, if it's not what we thought it would be...and the list goes on."
"BUT GOD PRODS THE VERY DEPTH OF MY HEART WITH THIS QUESTION: Am I like the spies of Numbers 13 who chose to be led by fear and concern of what laid ahead of them? Or rather, am I going to align myself with Joshua and Caleb whose report was prompted by faith in God? The God who provided a grape cluster so large that it took two people to carry it upon a pole with pomegranates and figs. The size of the grape cluster indicating the goodness and provision of the Lord, in spite of the woe-sayers surrounding them!"

This old testament story is one place I have been praying into. Lord, give me the faith of Joshua and Caleb in the midst of people with bad reports. We have heard it all! I started writing the things we have heard, but although they are true in the natural, they do not supersede the things of the Lord. Instead I testify to what is true and everlasting: He has called us to be missionaries in such a time as this. His ways are perfect. His timing is perfect. He is good. He is above the real estate market, the banking and loan industries, the stock market, the economy, and the political realm. He owns all the cattle on a thousand hills. He loves us. He will provide for all of our needs. He equips those He calls. He uses the weak.

We all know these truths. Are we going to act and speak like we believe that they are true? What do you believe? Not just what you say you believe, what do you really believe? I have had to ask myself these questions and make decisions. I am choosing to stand on the Word of God, put myself out there in a place of vulnerability before you and everyone else, putting everything as I know it on the line. I am choosing to believe that I have heard the voice of the Lord, been obedient and in FAITH am handing it all over to Him and believing Him to be who He says He is and do what He says He does!

It really boils down to who is your God? Where is your trust? This has been another track I have been on and a topic for a future writing....

I love y'all! I am thankful for you!
Blessings,
Kristian for the Prices

AP: Life

God is so good when life is hard.

Our deadline to put our house on the market Oct. 1st was not accomplished, but great things have happened because of it. In order for our house to stand out against so many other houses on the market at this time, we discovered that not only do we have to have our house look great, but it has to be practically empty! This means we have to take down all the tacky wall paper that we hated when we moved in, sand it, prime it, and paint it. We also have to pack up most of our belongings. So my parents decided to pull Mallory and I out of school for our fall break to help paint and pack. On my mom's birthday, one of the presents that she received was the prayer room live for one year. So while we have been peeling wall paper, preparing the backing to come off, pulling the backing off, washing the walls, priming the walls, and painting them, we have been listening to the prayer room. The cool thing about it is that we are drawn in to the music and intercession while we are working and now have a greater passion and burning desire to be there. We are so excited that we can barely contain ourselves. Even though we will miss all of our family, church friends, school friends, and dance friends, we know that God has great and amazing plans for us. "For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) Mallory and I are excitedly preparing for our Christmas show even though we know it will be our last show with PHWD. We also found out that Intro to IHOP will not start on January 9th as we had expected but on January 12th. That is good for us because it gives us extra time here at home before we move. During the first week in January, we will be packing up the final items while going to our last FaceDown at RiverStone, our last youth on Sunday, and our last Sunday morning service. It will be sad, but it will be exciting when we get there. You can be sure that I will post pictures on the blog to show you our trip and our new house!

Anyway, I just got back two weeks ago from my high school retreat for my church. God showed up in amazing ways. Christian, a worship leader from IHOP-Atlanta, led worship with his team. God used them mightily that weekend. We had powerful times of worship and intercession. Pastor Steve Hambrick, the pastor of our new church plant, spoke for us that weekend. On Friday night, he talked about us being called by God as world changers. He said that God wants us to not only wake up to do what he wants us to do but rise up. We need to have endurance for what he wants us to do and not give up. We have to be aware of parasitic sin. We may be able to deal with sin for a moment but it will try to come back and we must be aware and on guard against it. We also need to be aware of the extra-spiritual fat, the things that are not necessarily bad but are hindering you from doing your best for God. We need to look at what takes up most of our time, thoughts, and money. The way to get rid of spiritual gluttony is when you get something, you give it away and then go back for more.

On Saturday night we had a powerful worship and intercession time. At one point during the night, Christian got off stage and started to pray for people that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit and that we would begin to operate in the Holy Spirit. People began to dance like David danced, sing songs to Jesus out of the depth of their hearts, prophecy, become drunk in the Holy Spirit, and pray in tongues. While this may have been new to some people, I was used to it from exposure I have had from Mountain of Worship conferences and other conferences. I was very excited and ran to find Kathy Ryan. I had gone to ATC (Awakening Teen Conference- a 2 week conference at IHOP KC) over the summer with her and Brooks Tompkins, and we had prayed that these very things would happen to our youth group and that God would move mightily. When I found her, we both grinned huge smiles. We both knew that God was answering our prayer and we couldn't be more excited. About an hour and a half into that, we began to pray that the wind of the Holy Spirit would blow into our youth group and set us ablaze with a greater hunger and desire to know him more. As Christian was prophesying that God's wind would blow over us, a door to the right of the stage blew open with such force it startled me even though I was on the opposite side of the room and through the loud music. (Youth music is always loud-the louder the better!) Christian ran off the stage to Mason Tanner who was standing by the door and asked him if he opened the door. Mason said that he hadn't done it but rather the wind had. Coincidence? I think not! Christian, then very excited, began to prophecy not that the wind of God WOULD blow over us, but that it WAS blowing over us. Needless to say, it was a very powerful time. Pastor Steve Hambrick told us that God wants to do something IN us so that he can move THROUGH us. He said that we can never stand still in our walk with God. We are either moving away or towards him. Continuing to move forward means that we must continually be giving our life away for the things of the kingdom. Everyday, God wants to draw us in, love us, and send us out to love his children. After he spoke we went back into ministry time. We prayed for three things: to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit and operate in them, and for healing either emotional or physical. We worshiped and prayed until well into the night. I was so energized by what had happened that night in our youth group that I could not go to sleep until at least 3:30 in the morning!

Well this one has been a long one but I hope it has been good. I am planning to update the blog every Sunday, so you can check Monday morning and a new post should be there from me. My family members may update it during other times of the week as well. Please pray that God would continue to send his peace to us about our house selling. Also that he would continue to stretch us as we prepare to be continuously soaking in the atmosphere of night and day intercession and worship. We love you and can't wait to see you during our weeks!

Ashton (for the Prices)

AP: Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you know what is going on in our life. Wow. That about says it all. Well, back in January while we were at OneThing in Kansas City, my parents both felt God's lead to move to Kansas City. At first they thought that we would go through the Missions Apolistic School but after they went out there in April they felt that God was not calling our family to that. They then decided that God was telling them to go through Intro to IHOP and become staff members. As staff members we would be intercessory missionaries. We would pray for the nations and for God to break in. I had also felt God telling us to move to Kansas City while I was there for ATC, Awakening Teen Camp. They told Mallory and I this August right before we went to The Call. We are so excited to see what God has for us.

As you probably know we have a lot that we need to do before we move. We are starting to paint the whole house while continuing on with normal life! What a job! We are planning to put our house on the market Oct. 1st but we still have a lot to accomplish before then. We also need to raise support and prayer coverage for our up coming adventure. The Intro to IHOP course begins on Jan. 9th, my birthday, so we are going to move out a week before to unpack into our new house. We always go to the Onething at Christmas time so we really don't know when we are going to move because it would be a waste of gas to go out there for Onething, come back, and leave for good three days later. Pray that we would hear God clearly about how to go about this. As more and more people begin to learn about our exciting adventure please share this site with them so that they can keep in touch with us while we are in Kansas City. Please pray that we will be able to sell a lot of stuff from our house that we are trying to get rid of. Thank you so much for praying for us! We love you!

Ashton (for the Prices)