Peace of Mind is Your Portion.

  "Where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow." - Isaiah 35:7

(Where there used to be no peace, victory, or flourishing. God promises He will replace it with flourishing land, peace, and His glory.)


Do you ever feel like you're constantly being tested? Just as soon as something starts going right in your life something else crashes in and makes every good thing seem like it has lost its goodness. I think this happens to all of us. We go through seasons and days where we feel like we are constantly being attacked and most of the time it doesn't even make sense. For example the other day I spent my morning worshiping on my face. I love getting down on my face before God,I experience Him in such an intimate way when I do that. Anyways I spent that morning seeking God's face and asking Him for nothing more than to wreck my life and fill me up till I'm overflowing, basically I was just crying out for more of Him. About ten minutes after leaving that posture of worship I found myself being spiritually attacked in my mind. I got upset and confused and said "God why am I feeling like this and thinking these things, why is my family struggling, I just came out of worship with you I don't understand." A few minutes later I heard Him say to me. "Sofia I don't think you understand you've asked me for the most dangerous thing against the enemy." The Holy Spirit began to deal with me and I realized that asking God to fill me up and take complete control is a serious weapon against the kingdom of darkness because seeing God's face is what sparks revival. It's what breaks chains and causes men and women to rise up and radiate the glory of God that others may get saved and come into the kingdom. Seeking God with this earnest abandonment of the heart causes reverberations of his glory to go out into your city, household, church, workplace and so on. The enemy can't handle that so he attacks. You know one thing the enemy love is a stale Christian. He loves a Christian that isn't burning with passion for the gospel and the tangible glory of God. Why? Because this kind of staleness produces churches where people walk in sick and leave sick, where people walked in dead in their sin and leave even more dead in their sin, where people walked in depressed, stressed, and worn out, and leave the same way. If Satan can't get someone to be a non believer he will try with all he can to get a believer to be dry. If you ask me that's even more dangerous. So when the cry of our hearts becomes "Fill me up God" we become an even bigger target. I have to be honest I struggle a lot with my mind. As the stress piles in and I get caught up in my flesh and everything else that's going on around me the battlefield of my mind begins. Thoughts of worry, anxiety, pain, and tragedy will randomly pop up in my mind. Things that shouldn't consume my mind consume it and I begin to get frustrated with myself. This is why God's Word is vital. When attacks like this start to flood my atmosphere there's two things I do  1)Plead the blood of Jesus. You can call it old school but I promise that it works. The blood of Jesus is what saved you and me from hell and broke every chain of sin and condemnation off of our lives. What makes us think it still is not just as powerful to take charge over our minds and say "Not today Satan I plead the blood of Jesus over my mind which is renewed in Jesus, these thoughts do not deserve to enter me, I am a child of God." 2) Declare the promises of God over your life. The promises of God are found in His word so in order for this to take place you must read His word. These words have life and power. When Jesus used the word of God against Satan in the dessert the devil had to flee. Satan can not stand against the wonder working power of the blood of Jesus and His word. Use it. 

It's not as easy as it sounds. Sometimes I would much rather cry and just sit in my thoughts and sometimes I do. We are human and it will happen. But I hold on to the fact that God is refining me. That through the battlefield of the mind and trials and tribulations God is building me and fighting for me. That's why this life can sometimes seem like a war. Because God and His angle armies are literally fighting for our souls and minds every single day as the kingdom of darkness tries to overtake it. The good news. Jesus has already won and the devil has been defeated. Praise God! Even when it may feel like Satan is winning know that is a lie from the devil himself. He will never win. Your portion is not a disturbed mind your portion is Jesus and Jesus is "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isa 9:6).  Prince of Peace come and sit on out hearts and minds today. Transform us God and help us to pick up the sword of the spirit and shield of faith so that every attack on our minds from the enemy is  brought down to your feet and removed far from us. Fill us up God, so much to  the point that we are overflowing. In Jesus Name!

I pray that this doesn't just encourage you guys but that it makes you realize the power that lies within you and that we need to be people that seek the face of God and put the enemy in his place. We are not defeated. We are victorious. -Love Sofia.

Sweet Victory.

Have you ever been so in awe of God that you just can't stop laughing and rejoicing?! You find your breath taken away and can't seem to come up with words to describe the goodness of what He has just done. Yep that's me right about now. Last night I went to a strip club. Never did I think I would be standing outside in the dark night submerged in 18 degree weather, huddled in a circle with girls (and one guy) standing outside of a strip club in the middle of no where singing "How He loves." Declaring His promises, and singing praise over such a dark place that the enemy has invaded was incredible. It was amazing how as we lifted up the name of Jesus outside of the club with a guitar, voices, prayer, and God's Word chains of darkness began to fall off that place and it was made into Holy ground. This process started last year. A girl on my hall, Katelyn had a vision and heart for reaching out to girls suffering in Human trafficking and prostitution. She made an announcement during our hall meeting asking if anyone would be interested in praying with her and seeing what the Lord wanted to do with this dream placed in her heart. Two fundraising clothing stores and 4 group meetings/time of prayer later we all loaded up in two cars with 20 gift bags completely unaware of what was going to happen. Only having the knowledge that Jesus is sovereign and is in complete control. We show up at the club around 9 pm and started off in prayer and worship. I've never been so cold in my life but I've also never felt so close to the heartbeat of Jesus. It was beyond humbling. I mean think about it, Jesus suffered so much for us because He is passionately and endlessly in love with us. It was amazing to see Him place me in a spot where there was suffering and a passion for souls. After praying and worshiping together for about 15 minutes. Two of the girls who have been our leaders through this took the box of gifts inside as we all waited in the car outside off the doors interceding and praying that God would do a work in that place. (Side note: the gift bags were valentines day themed and had chocolate, nail polish, face wash, hand written letters declaring God's promises and love towards the girls, and new testament bibles.) They were inside for about 25 minutes. We were honestly expecting nothing more than for our girls to deliver the gifts to the manager of the club and then leave but of course Jesus always does exceedingly above or beyond anything we could ask or think. When Kendall and Katelyn came out of the club with a man we were all a little shocked, but it turned out to be something amazing. This man was one of the managers of the club. He came to walk them out and say thank you. He wanted to let us know that he is going to make sure every gift gets to every girl and that he is glad we came to do this because the girls need hope. Not only that but he invited us back  and gave us discount cards to get in the cub so we could share our testimony of Jesus Christ with the girls face to face! The head manager took down our leaders e-mail just in case some of the girls at the club wanted to get in contact. The crazy things is, is that this is exactly what we prayed for. We prayed that the managers heart would be softened and that doors would be opened for us to build a relationship with him so the girls at the club could be ministered to. Look at God!!! Oh and the manager even opened up about his spiritual life and where he is with God, which then led him to say that because we came there he will be in church this Sunday! UMMMM JESUS!! We were all so pumped and overwhelmed by the power of prayer and the power of our awesome God. Because of Jesus 20 strippers are going to get a gift that tells them they are loved, valuable, precious, and the King of the universe is passionately pursuing them. I believe those girls are going to get saved because I believe a seed was planted last night and God is going to water it with the only living water and make it bloom into salvation. Gosh the sweetness of Jesus is amazing. Guys never underestimate the power of prayer. Never in my life have I felt so unworthy and so unseen yet so engulfed in Jesus' heartbeat. Who I am that I get to go and stand outside of a strip club crying out to God and asking Him to break chains when I am no better than the men and women inside of that club. That's how our redeeming Savior works. He is a miracle worker. I pray that this testimony encourages you guys to be passionate for souls and willing to go into the lowest of the low so that people can get saved and experience His amazing love. God wants to do marvelous things through you, you just have to be willing to say yes. Please continue praying for the girls in this club, the manager, and our team that went out. We are going to continue pursuing God's heart and seeing where He wants us. But while we are pursuing we are praying. This ministry didn't stop with us giving the gifts and leaving , it has now just begun for we have been given a mandate to pray for these women and men and trust God to have His way in their hearts. Satan is defeated and every chain is broken in Jesus Name.

- Cause I loved you before you knew what was love

And I saw it all, still I chose the cross

And you were the one that I was thinking of

When I rose from the grave,

Now rid of the shackles, My victory’s yours,

I tore the veil for you to come close

There’s no reason to stand at a distance anymore

You’re not far from home. (Steffany Gretzinger)

Preparing the gifts and praying over them!

The coupons the manager gave us.

God's Glory

Purpose Behind the Glory (pt 1)

"Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you." Exodus 16:4

 Something that the Holy Spirit has been teaching me, God's glory has different forms but always has purpose. I've found that as I pray over and over for particular things God teaches me on what I'm praying for almost as if I'm in Sunday school. What's amazing about it though is that all the teaching is literally being delivered by the Holy Spirit. I'll find the Spirit taking me through scripture and placing verses heavy on my heart and He will begin ministering them to me and bringing a fresh revelation. A lot of the time I find this happening before the prayer is answered. It's like God is saying, "I'm going to answer this prayer but first I want to teach you something about what you're praying because you really have know idea what the purpose for what you're praying for is." I find myself thinking, "God of course I know why I'm praying for this or else I wouldn't be praying for it right?" and then of course He's like "Sofia no you don't stop questioning and be a vessel that I can pour my word into, I'm trying to equip you and mature your spirit and mind, will you let me do that or are you going to continue questioning me?" At this point I'm like "okay I need to take a step back and listen to Jesus before I miss out on what He is trying to speak into my life." So last night I began praying for fresh bread from heaven to fall. Previously I've been praying for the glory of God to fall so hard and just completely wreck us and take over our hearts. This morning God said to me "There is always a purpose for my glory and when I send my glory I send instruction." Look at Moses. From the time he first encountered God's glory in the burning bush, to when he continually approached Pharaoh, to when the Red Sea was parted and the people were led out to the desert, God's glory was poured out and Moses was always receiving instruction from it. It was a humbling and wrecking process. We need to be humbled and wrecked by the Holy Spirit constantly so that we can be people that are instructed by glory. God's glory is always poured out for purpose. We can not drive away from that purpose. When God sent His glory in the form of manna to the Israelite community it came with purpose/instruction. "Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning." (talking about the manna). (Exodus 16:20) but they disobeyed the instruction. "However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell." (Exodus 16:20). We must obey God"s instruction on His glory! If He is telling us to give it we must not keep it to ourselves or else it will leave a stench and rot just like the manna. When we pray for fresh bread we should also pray for a heart of instruction on what should be done with that glory. God's glory results in salvation, healing, breakthrough, direction, hearts humbled and wrecked from the spirit, victory. Worship is the key into His glory and brings the cloud, and aroma of His presence. His banner begins to surround us as we worship. He becomes our Jehovah-Nissi. God said to me "We need to have glory saturated lives so Jethros can be birthed." Jethro was Moses' father-in-law. When he found out about what God had done for Moses and all of the Israelite people he "Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. He said, “Praise be to the Lord, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.” Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God. (Exodus 18:9-12). Jethro worshiped God and proclaimed His glory and encountered His presence. God was glorified and that is always the purpose. Now the question is are you willing to loose everything for Jesus? That His glory might be displayed as you say yes to Him and dive into the river of His instruction, power, and Spirit. I want to see this generation taken over with the glory and instruction of Jesus so that more Jethros may be birthed, that souls will come into the kingdom, and that we might be constantly changed, offering sacrifice, praising God, and encountering His presence, just like Jethro. I pray that God opens your hearts to His supernatural glory and that you receive His instruction and that will take you to a place beyond your imagination. -Sofia

Revival Is in the Air

Jesus is a chain breaker. That's all I can think of on this Sunday as the week ends. This week has been challenging and full of hurt and emotion. What's amazing though is that the devil set this week up to be binding and empty, but God turned it around for good and made it freeing and full of His Spirit. At the beginning of this week I found myself with a crushed spirit and hurting heart, and now the week is coming to an end and I'm finding myself with a renewed spirit. It's all because of Jesus. This week at my school (Liberty University) we had the amazing opportunity of witnessing the launch of Propel Women. Christine Caine's new ministry initiative to launch women into the workspace usisng their God given talents and abilities to bring people to the saving grace of Jesus. It was such a powerful week full of teaching from some of the coolest, God loving people ever. Oh and not to mention Christine Caine and Beth Moore brought a powerful word that wrecked me and birthed out things in me that I didn't even realize existed. On top of all of that I finally found my church home. It's such an answer of prayer. I've been longing to get plugged in with a church and people my age who are on fire for God and embrace the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit and the gifts he has given to the church. It feels so good to be divinely placed by God and know it because of His overwhelming peace. Basically I've been so poured into and wrecked by the Spirit this week. God is so faithful and even in the midst of heartache and a crushed spirit He meets me where I am, touches my heart and gives me grace through the good and bad. It's not always easy, sometimes we struggle for long periods of time. But God is doing something. He's shifting things and as uncomfortable as that might be the outcome is going to be glory.   Revival is in the air because chains are being broken off and the miraculous is happening. I'm believing that as I pursue God this month a fresh anointing is going to be released and miracles, signs and wonders are going to breakout all around me. I'm believing this is the year of God's presence and my prayer is that I know Jesus like I never have before and fall deeper in love with my bridegroom, Jesus, the lover of my soul. Praying that you guys are blessed and released into the world to be an encourager to others as the Holy Spirit breaks away your stone heart and renews the spirit within you. Trust me He will do it all you have to say is "yes Lord have Your way, have my heart."
  I finished reading the book of Genesis this week and this verse just wrecked my heart and spoke to me right in the middle of my situation. God is so good.

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."- Genesis 50:20

This is me and my lovely roomate Katarina. I just wanted to brag on her lovelinss and how much she has helped me this week. She's the best and so are her shoes.