Transition LTE

“Jesus, help me please! I can not do this! I am about ready to pull my hair out, but Lord, I know that you are in control. You are my strength when I am weak. You are my rock on which I stand! You are my comfort and shield. Your promises are true and your hand is mighty! You will not give me more than I can handle, and you will keep me away from temptation. You are my God, and I am yours!” This has been my cry for the past several days. Here at Teen Mania we just had graduation for the August Class. Now, the January Interns, and Graduate Interns are here going through what is commonly known as “Transition LTE” because a class has just graduated and an entire new class is getting ready to come and start the internship. For me, being a January Graduate Intern, I went through this last year and it is weird for the January classes because they were on the “train” of one internship and then it ended, so they have to get off that train and hop on another one. It is equivalent to running a race, but starting in the middle, then finish that one and start the next race only to pull out in the middle. It hurts! I went through this transition last year, but this year is a little different. Being a January myself I can understand how hard this and as a Graduate Intern it is even harder, at least for me.

Last week some of my closest friends graduated and went out into this crazy world to be the light in a dark place. They are going to influence their colleges, work places, homes, family, friends, and many other areas that impact the world that we live in. I am excited for them and I know that they will do wonderful, but for the past year to year and a half I have lived, ate, prayed, cried, laughed, worked, dreamed with each one. It is like ripping off one of my arms or legs. It hurts to see them go, not knowing if I will ever see them again. This is only apart of what is going on. I get ready to start school again. I am taking 9 hours of accelerated classes with Liberty University, which is like taking 18 hours. Also, in September I am taking over a staff members job in Telecommunications, I am a house leader to about 10 Graduate Interns (Praise Jesus for Ryan Foster who is helping me), I am getting ready for a Japan Trip in October, and a possible deployment next year sometime, and all the Honor Academy requirements that I have for being apart of the Management Associate Program. As you can see I have a very full plate. This is my ESOAL, (Emotionally Stretching Opportunity of A Lifetime.) I am at the reaching the end of myself and allowing the Lord to be my strength. Once I finally get to that point I know that joy is coming. Paul says in his letter to James to consider it joy when we face trials of many kinds. To get there and accept that is painful but in the end it is well worth it.

All of this is going on for a reason. The Lord is in control of this, but I am having a hard time accepting that. It is one thing to know something, but it is another thing to grasp, understand and believe it. I am asking for your prayers as I go on this journey. I need rest and that is only found in Christ Jesus. He never promised an easy road, but a road full of hard times. Why? Because He knew we as humans couldn’t handle it on our own. That is why He came to this earth to take on all of our sins and our burdens. He wants them, so why are we or I, holding on to them?

Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

May Update

Hello everyone!  May is coming to an end, and I thought I would send out the May newsletter.  As many of you know I have made it easy for you to keep updated with my life by adding a subscription to this blog. Thank you signing up for that.  If you currently are not signed up to receive the automatic email please look at the top of this page and click on “Subscribe to this Blog.”  (If you are at my website: http://wildatheart01.wordpress.com )

May has been a very interesting month.  I started out this month being a few weeks behind in my college classes, but I ended up ahead.  I got pretty good grades; B’s in both my English and Introduction to the Bible classes.  I have learned so much about the history behind what I read in the Bible and why it was placed in the Canon, the books that were chosen to be placed in the Bible.  I have recently started summer classes and am taking Introduction to Philosophy and Introduction to Visual Basic (computer programming).  If you could please be praying that I keep ahead in these classes because it is now summer and there are many things that I would like to be doing instead of homework.

The Lord is doing amazing things in my life.  I have been learning total dependence on Him for everything.  He is showing Himself faithful, as always, and it is amazing to see the great things that are happening.  Here is a little story about something that happened last week: My friend Pablo lost his wallet and was pretty down about it, so we prayed about finding it and he was going to look again in the morning, but I decided that we were going to find it that night.  I walked into his room and started looking at possible locations.  After about five minutes I asked him to pull out his draw and check in there. As he searched in the drawer I looked around the bottom of the wall, and when Pablo pulled the drawer completely out his wallet was laying right there underneath.  Many people would say, “Why would you even pray to find that?  God is too busy to answer that small of a prayer!”  However, they would be wrong.  The Lord tells us to have a child-like faith.  And, He loves to answer the prayers of his children.  There is NOTHING too small for Him! 

The Lord is moving here at Teen Mania and we are gearing up for the summer.  We will be sending thousands of missionaries all over the world.  We have added a couple of new countries this year; Madagascar and Uganda.  For more information about Global Expeditions you can go to http://www.globalexpeditions.com

Financially, I am currently at $ -675.00.  I need $ 3,525.00 to pay off my account.  If you would like to donate to my account please go to the top of this page and click on “Support Me” or if you are receiving this by email please go to http://wildatheart01.wordpress.com/support-me and follow the directions there on the screen.  

Thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call, email, or write me.  My contact information is found on my website at http://wildatheart01.wordpress.com/about 

Keep your head up and your heart higher, 

Jacob Erickson

Finally

Last night I finally finished my spring semester of college. I turned in my research paper over The Glass Menagerie and I hope that it was good enough. This last semester was the hardest semester of college that I have ever had, and that is probably due to the fact that I have so many things on my plate at once. However, the Lord has used this to stretch me and help me understand that I MUST rely His strength. As I was reading The Promise and the Blessing: A Historical Guide to the Old and New Testament. I started to understand that I didn’t know much about the history behind the lives that the prophets, disciples, and other characters mentioned in the Bible had.

Paul is my favorite character in the Bible because he is an encouragement to me. It is amazing that even though he was being persecuted and looked down upon he was still able to praise the Lord. There are times in my life, these past few weeks, when I feel weighted down and I don’t know how I can possibly go on, but after looking at Paul’s life I praise God that I haven’t been through all the trials he went through. In his letter to James he tells us to, “Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds.” As I walk away from this semester I am more aware of the intended messages that each letter Paul wrote to the churches and various people.

I know am working on summer classes. I am taking a Visual Basic, computer programming, class and a Philosophy class. It goes through July 4, and if you could be praying for me that I would remember what it was like to get behind in classes and that I would not do that ever again. Please also pray that I will be a witness to the soldiers at my National Guard unit in Shreveport, LA. Also, for finances to continue with my year here. If you would like to donate please click on “Support Me” at the top of the page. Thank you! Have a wonderful day!

This is my Prayer. This is my Plea.

It is funny how the Lord uses things to grasp our attention. There is a song by MercyMe called “Bring the Rain.” In the song it states, “Bring me joy. Bring me peace. Bring the chance to be free. Bring me anything that will bring you glory. I know there will be days when this life brings me pain, but if that is what it takes to bring you glory then Jesus bring the rain.” Well, I am in that time where the rain is pouring down. This life is bringing me pain, and it is difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Finals are this week, and I am still a little behind. I start summer classes May 12 that goes through July 4. There is so much stuff going on in my life that needs to get done, but for some reason I am being pulled to my limits. I know that the Lord is in control, but I am having a hard time understanding it. I wish this was over. I hate being here, and I wish that I could just go home to Missouri.

When I started this year I thought that I was going to have a wonderful experience, but all I have seen is pain and hurt in my life. Sometimes I feel as if I have to put on an act and let everyone think I am okay, but really I am not. I don’t understand some concepts and there are those who knowing it or not make me feel like I am an idiot. It is a flashback to when I was younger and I was picked on for being the skinny kid who was dumb. I have forgiven those who did that to me, but it doesn’t change the fact that it happened. I do still remember it.

So, this is my prayer and plea. I want to get out of the slump, I want to be mentored, I want to move forward in my relationship with the Lord. I want to be challenged by Godly people, but I also want to be understood and loved. This is my cry! Please help!

Unreached People Group LTE

On campus during this time of year we are taking part in many of the Life Transforming Events. This past weekend we had our Unreached People Group LTE. We split half the interns up as Tribal Groups and the other as Missionaries. We try to make this as real as possible so they have passports and visas. They go through Customs and not what. We made up a country that was closed off to spreading religion. It isn’t illegal to be a Christian, just as long as they don’t spread it, but that is what they are there to do.

Last year I went through this and I was a missionary. I had to overcome the language barrier as the tribes make up a language. This year I was able to facilitate the event. I played the part of the government of the Bach Forte aka Back Forty! Lol. I didn’t get much sleep, as I was out running all over the campus questioning the missionaries and finding out that they were spreading the Gospel to the tribes. As we played along I started throwing out statements that might said about American’s and Christians in other countries such as; “These American’s came over to study you and put you on a TV. They came to treat you like animals. They don’t care, they just want to use you!” ” They lied to us when we asked if they were going to spread their faith! They said no, but look they are doing it. They are a bunch of liars and they cannot be trusted!” These are just a few. This allowed the missionaries an opportunity to speak to us as government. Most of the time the missionaries are so focused on reaching the tribal people that they over look the government’s need of hearing the Gospel. For a few they caught on quick and did share it with us. Of course, we took them to jail where we interrogated them, similar to what they might see in a closed country. However, there was no physical harm done, only awareness that they must be able to trust in the Lord for strength when they are faced with such issues.

This LTE was great for the interns. They now have a better understanding of how to share their faith and the Gospel to people. For me as a facilitator I still learned from this experience. As I saw the reactions of the missionaries to the Government I started to realize that this could happen to me! If I go to a closed off country I will be in the Government’s eye and I must be strong in my faith. Only the Lord can give me that strength, but He promises that He will be wherever we go!

Well, I hope that you are having a great day! Please let me know if there is anything I can help you in any way!

April Update

 

First off I would like to say thank you again for your continued support for my second year at Teen Mania’s Honor Academy.  To briefly catch you up on exactly what I am doing:  I am a Graduate Intern, GI, at Teen Mania’s Honor Academy in Lindale, TX.  Teen Mania has many different parts to it such as Acquire The Fire and BattleCry Youth Conferences that are held all over the United States every year.  As a Graduate Intern I serve the ministry in Information Technologies and Telecommunications.  There I am a supervisor to six undergraduate interns where I disciple, challenge, hold accountable, and lead them not only in the technology realm, but also in the spiritual realm.  I am also taking classes that help me in my leadership, personal growth, mentoring, church administration, and various other classes that will prepare me to enter into either a ministry or secular work environment.

I am currently taking college classes online through Liberty University at Lynchburg, Virginia.  I am right now taking classes about the history of the Bible, worldviews, hermeneutics, and advanced writing.

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Last week half of the 900 interns on campus took part in a Life Transforming Event, LTE, known as the Spring Fasting LTE.  We have one in the spring and one in the fall.  This year instead of doing the normal 2 1/2 day fasting, we did a 96 hour fast.  As I was praying about the fast I asked the Lord for intimacy with Him and to go deeper in my walk with Him.  As Graduate Interns we have special sessions separate from the undergraduates, and we got the privilege to study the Tabernacle.  It blew me away with how it was set up and what everything meant. The best thing about it is how it represents Christ and more importantly how it is a model for us to enter into the presence of the Lord. We must first acknowledge Christ, walk through the gate, then we must confess our sins, brazen alter, then we must be washed by the word, brazen laver, then we must enter the inner-courts and have communion with the Lord, table of shew bread.  The oil lamp-stand represents the Holy Spirit, and the incense represents intercession that Christ does for us.  The Holy of Holies is where we should be living!  This is where we have “face time” with the Lord!

We are priest and priest build tabernacles.  As priest we are to connect other to the Lord.  As I look back on my prayer to be more intimate with the Lord I realized that I must first walk through the gates and confess my sins, be washed by His Word, and begin to commune with Him.

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Financial update:

Recieved:     $1476

Needed:       $3924

What is my purpose?

Have I lost my purpose? The first question I must ask myself is what is my purpose? I believe that the Lord has called me to speak to the heart s of the young and old and instill truth into their lives. I would do this through the gift the Lord has given me which is speaking. However, am I even living what I am called to tell others to do? The answer is sadly no. Why is that? Well, it is mostly because I stopped believing that I can do such a thing, and the truth is I cannot do it, it is going to have to the Lord working through me. It is funny how things boil down to faith. As Christians do we really believe that Jesus is who He says He is and that He will do what He said He will do? As I look at Hebrews 11 I see that Moses and Abraham had faith to believe that God was going to deliever, and even though they never saw the outcome they still believed.

 

My purpose in this life is to be a disciple to Christ, and I believe that is everyone’s main purpose, but how has God equipped up to be better at serving Him? For me I know I have dropped the ball several times. I miss quiet times because I think I can do a better job running my life! I don’t like to be wrong and the scripture is yelling at me that I am wrong. My Pride is hurt so I stop. But, when I do read the Word, I am energized. I want to point to myself and say “If only I was more disciplined! I will work harder on that! I need to do more!” That is sinful thinking! I am looking to myself to get over it instead of Christ. I am not able to do anything! In order for those things to be changed the only thing I have to do is cry out to God for faith to believe that He is going to make this happen. Once I turn my heart towards Him, there is no more “I.” It is all Him!!! If I ever want to get to a place where the Lord uses me in ways I cannot even imagine my faith is going to have to increase, and by the Lord’s strength and a heart change to submit to that is going to have to happen.

 

So, what is the plan? Well, the plan is this; to ask and believe that the Lord can give me a new heart! A heart that is passionate for Him! A heart that is willing to listen to the Lord’s voice and take the things that He says seriously.