Both Naked and Unashamed

This is a paper I wrote last semester in Genesis class. Thought I'd post it and just have it up and share revelation. Just like I promised :)



Both Naked and Unashamed







Eva Duong




The Beginning and the End of All Things
Mark Kazmier
College of Sacred Scripture, November 29, 2010

Before the universe was created, God was fully satisfied in fellowship with Himself, the Trinity. But sometime in eternity, He provoked Himself to create a kind of longing. Ephesians 1:9 says God, “…made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.” And Ephesians 1:4 says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world.” From the beginning, the LORD God created yearning in Himself for a Bride who needed the blood sacrifice of His Son in order to be grafted into fellowship with Him forever.
Even a short passage in the first book of the Bible, one can see the cross and the process God took leading up to the cross. Genesis 2:18-20 is about God creating longing in His heart for a Bride. The very fact that He uses His covenant name, “LORD God” is evidence that He intended His Son to be torn for mankind. Another time, in verse 21, the Father calls Himself the LORD God. He is the LORD that desires covenant and God who is the Supreme Being over all creation. In verse 18, He begins by saying, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” From Genesis 1:3, one can find that when He speaks, He creates. The Father begins to make longing in Himself for a helper. In verse 19, God takes the dust that He has created and forms beasts and birds out of it. He knowingly created creatures unlike Himself to continue to grow in the yearning for beings in His own likeness. He brought them to Himself or the Second Adam, Jesus to give them names. One can imagine that with every name God spoke aloud for a bird or a beast or a creeping thing, a fresh realization came upon Him that these creatures were nothing like Him. God desired a race that could give and inevitably withhold love from Him. He desired a race of helpers, who would be voluntary lovers of God. In verse 20, Adam felt loneliness through the monotonous giving of names to all creatures. Creatures had to receive their name. God let Adam feel what He felt before mankind was created. Like Adam desired a helper in a woman, God desired a helper in His Bride, the Church.
After creating a zealous longing in Himself, He had to follow through with satisfying that longing.4 So He caused His Son to fall into a deep sleep. Jesus had to leave His glorified state and veiled His divine nature as a man in order to take on the sin of mankind. The sin that mankind could not pay for. In reading Genesis 2:21 with the story of Adam and Eve in mind, this sleep is sleep. But applying this passage to Jesus as the Second Adam is a little more difficult. The Son of Man felt a degree of separation from the Father as a human. For example, in Psalm 22:1, Jesus cried out on the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Also, the covenant God made with Abraham led to the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross . This degree of separation does not mean the Father forgot Jesus! He was not an orphan, as a baby in Mary’s womb up until His last breath on the cross. He always was the Father’s Son and always will be His Son forever. In Luke 2:49, Jesus said to Joseph and Mary, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” Even on the cross, Jesus knew where He was going.5 Also in Luke 3:22, God the Father says, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased,” after He got baptized by John the Baptist. Jesus’ ministry and life on the earth was like a deep sleep in a sense because He had to leave the glory He had with the Father to become a man. When He got put to “sleep,” He was still fully aware of His identity as the Holy Son. But He also knew that when He woke up or returned to the Father after the finished work on the cross, the degree of separation He felt on the earth would dissipate. God and the Son, together with the Holy Spirit would again enjoy the fellowship they had before the foundation of the world.6 The sleep also speaks of the trust Jesus had in the Father. The Father anointed His Son to walk by the Holy Spirit.
Continuing still in verse 21, God had to draw blood from Adam’s side to take out the rib. In the same way, Jesus had to spill His blood in order for His Bride to be clean, pure, and spotless.7 His Bride needed part of Him to be grafted into fellowship with the Godhead. The last part of that verse, the LORD closed up the flesh in its place. Similarly, after the work on the cross, Jesus rose from the dead. Every stripe that He suffered was healed and so was every iniquity wiped away from His Bride. The exhilaration of the union of God with His Bride inspired a divine song in verse 23. Finally, the yearning the LORD satisfied! To have a Church made from His own flesh and bone!
Therefore, it pleased the LORD to bruise His Son.8 Through His Son’s suffering, the LORD received His reward. The Son was stripped naked for His Bride and He was not ashamed. Because of the love of God, the Bride realized her hopeless estate without the Father. She was not ashamed to receive the gift from the Father and the love of the Son. For a short time, God risked the defilement of his perfect love and holiness to weak and broken beings. But the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End finished what He started.9 The Father received His sons and daughters and the Son received His Bride.




















Bibliography
Blue Letter Bible Board of Directors. Blue Letter Bible-Home Page. 1995. [online] Available from http://www.blueletterbible.org/. 24 November 2010.

the time for dancing & singing has come

All the Burn interns graduated this past Sat. I'm so proud of them & excited for their futures in the LORD! Please pray for them if the Holy Spirit brings them to mind. Yesterday, it felt like they've been gone a week!! When you get to know people really well & live with them for a long time & they leave...you definitely feel like you miss them almost immediately. I've been asking the LORD for grace to be home for the next 2 wks. I really desire that my dad gets saved and just for more of God's love to be revealed to all of us, including myself. :)

Anyways, I am super stoked for Intro to start Jan 5. That's right! God has led me to do the Intro to Staff program at the Prayer Furnace. I should be moving in Sunday, Jan 2. I'm so excited I could just skip break & go straight into Intro! Hopefully, I'll be doing more art and writing more poetry and attempt to write some worship songs...hehe :) ...at least start singing some of the poems that I've written.

God has been still hovering over His heart for me as a Father & a Bridegroom too. The Book of Esther and 2 Samuel 7-9 have been really sticking out to me recently. I'm getting revelation slowly, but it's good! I'd really like to share some. :D In a couple days when I arrive in Richmond, I can definitely do that. Pray for me, I need His grace to just look at Him & set my mind on Him. I really desire to love Him with my mind.

Blessings...and may He grant you grace to love Him with your mind too,
Eva

Here We Are.

So. Things are changing fast for me still. I feel like I've been in transition since the Lord called me to do the Burn Internship in January. I can't believe it will be January again pretty soon!-the start of a new year!
Speaking of January, I will not be core group leading the next Burn Internship. I will be starting the Intro Staff program at the Prayer Furnace. Intro is 6mths long and I will be raising my own support hardcore. I need $350/mth, which includes rent+utilities, 2 meals a day for 4 days (We fast Mondays.), & two Bible classes for free. I guess I'll be attempting to cook some Chinese food on the weekends!! :) I will be considered a full-time missionary at the base. Prayer room and service hours add up to 42 hrs a week.

I'm really glad that the Lord has made this transition clear. Wednesday morning, He kept telling me I was His songbird. I knew He was directing me to be a worship leader. I also got confirmation through other people. There are so many things I have to learn! For example, on Tuesday, I learned that water takes 26 mins to get your vocal chords. That's why drinking water on stage doesn't help for the first half an hour :/
But now I know!
I am excited to live with the girls from this internship again! All but one of my girls from my core group will be doing Intro too. :)
Of course I wish all of them would stay in Fredericksburg, but if they feel the Lord is leading them elsewhere. Then, what can I do but let them go. I love living in community with my sisters in Christ. Such a privilege! And everyday, I get so encouraged by how they carry the presence of God and their love. Another perk of Intro is TIME! I've been putting off art and poetry for a while...it seems like forever! I'm so grateful that the Lord has given me this anointing for worship. I've played piano for a couple sets for this past month or so. And I'm eager for the time to cultivate this anointing. Thank You, Jesus!

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If the Lord is not calling you to give at this time, please consider praying for my needs and revelation of the Father heart. I'm really hungry to go deep into who God is as my Father and who I am as His daughter.

Blessings in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Eva

Splash me a little. Awaken me a little. Surprise me a little.

Happy morning!

This past Friday, I was super stressed about direction for the coming season. Before Thursday, I was SO sure that I was going to be core group leading again for the Spring Burn Internship. But now I am torn in the middle between two options. I can core group lead again OR I can go onto Intro Staff.
Friday, I could not pay attention at the Burn Service. I stepped out even before worship ended and my friend, Kayla, talked with me outside of the service. We talked about our fears about the future. She prayed for me, but I think my attitude kept me from receiving much from the Lord that night.
But! On Saturday, the Lord really gave me peace about the direction He was to send me in. Praise God!!
...As of now, I am leaning toward doing Intro Staff for various reasons that I will share later :) But I haven't gotten a 100%, definite go from the Lord, so I'm still praying about it.

For all who read this, please pray for me.
Blessings,

Eva

A Fresh Kiss Planted on My Heart

Long past due for an update-But here is what the Lord has been tenderizing my heart with...

This weekend was SUCH a refresher! The Burn Internship family went to Powhatan this last Saturday to the home of our fellow core group leader brother, Tim. :) God reawakened the His father heart to me. Through a father figure, He really told me a lot of the things that I needed to hear. And also, during class yesterday, the Lord opened up some wounds that I've held in. He told me the only way to have them healed is to know His heart as a Father.

I've gotten at least 3 words on being a butterfly and how this new season I'm in is like a butterfly breaking out of her cocoon. I learned that the only way a butterfly gets her strength is through breaking through the shell of the cocoon. If she is helped out, then she will die. The butterfly is a picture of where I am right now. It's hard, but bearable, but challenging at the same time. God has been speaking to me through Psalm 73...He is the strength of my heart & my portion forever.....

Lastly, He is encouraging me to express the heart He has formed & is forming in me. I have something to offer because He has given me. I tend to lean toward holding words in; used to holding in my thoughts. But not anymore, God is going to give me confidence in His love.

May His love be awakened,
Eva

It's Been ______________

The interns have been here for a little over a week now. And so many things have happened! I feel like they've been here forever!
There has been deliverance and times of fellowship and worship together. There have been many good testimonies of what Jesus has done already!! Healing and addictions breaking off and interns just feeling the love of Jesus. :)
I'm not gonna lie. I feel so tired and burnt out. Ministry and working and praying is labor intensive! Today I've just been resting & I'm happy that tomorrow is Consecration day. Fasting always creates good fruit. And so excited for what God is doing in these new interns. Even though it is a lot of work, I know it is going to be worth it.
:)

The Long Night

Only 2 weeks and 2 days til' I head back up to Fred!!!!!!! Well, one day actually since it is almost twelve. I'm super excited for this new semester coming up. I know there will be many changes. I'm not gonna be an intern anymore, but a core group leader. DUN, DUN, DUN! A core group leader! Haha, but I am truly SUPER SUPER excited and really giddy. I feel like God is going to help me "grow a backbone." I am big on showing mercy to others, but I am hesitate a lot of the time to correct in love. Not that I've never corrected somebody in love. My heart is not big enough to do it all the time in love. Only His heart is big enough. :) So I am looking forward to learning from my Abba & from my sisters & brothers in Christ to help. Yes, it is uncomfortable to die to myself, but it gots to happen! So let the trials come & may I cling to my Lord in the midst!!
This summer is soon over and I'd say spiritually it was a hot, hot desert. I left the internship in the wilderness and I'm still in it. Still running into me & seeing stuff I don't like. Apathy & laziness & a spirit of slumber are the main ones I'm struggling with. God is gently, but firmly speaking to me throughout this time. A lot of the time I feel so weak. I don't really like it, hahaha, but that's when His strength is evident. He really does chase me with His affection in every season of my life. I am so grateful to my God. He is so good. :)
So that is where I am now with the Lord. Just crying out for intimacy. And really...to just feel hungry again. To enter into grace to set myself before His face & receive from the Holy Spirit. I'm learning more & more that I am not just living for my relationship with God, but the people He wants to touch through me. Knowing that He has planned for me to be a leader in the next internship really puts into perspective, the ones I am to shepherd the next 4 months. He's gonna use me to mold them into His image through the Holy Spirit. I'm really excited! It's gonna be SO worth it!

If anyone reads this..which I am not sure if anyone does..pray for me & the new interns & the leaders. It would mean a lot <3
Blesssings,
Eva