Dear Subscribers,
Please take the opportunity to transfer to our new blogging platform. From now on, my posts will be planted there. To do this, you must create an account. Here is a step by step tutorial. If you have questions please email me at [email protected] or text me at (320)-333-1827. This current platform will be removed soon, so please be hastefull in your transition, thank you!
1. Click this link, https://missional.life/reid-johnsonr
2. Press, “Follow me”
3. Press, “Register as new user” at the bottom of the page
4. Enter info/create account
5. press register
6. You should then be able to see blog posts made, the most recent one being “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”. Thanks!
For the sake of your convenience, I will post this newest blog on this platform, although this platform will be removed shortly. Thank you for you patience.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God
Dear Family, Friends, and Community,
Thank you for constructing the time to read my blog. I am excited to breed vulnerability, to share what the Lord has shown me in my short time here in Cambodia. This post will include what the Lord has been showing me in my heart, a separate post will include physical happenings and experiences in Cambodia. Thank you for your patience as I carefully construct a blog that is meaningful, genuine, and glorifying to the father. Last week, we were encouraged to commit and meditate on one of the Beatitudes listed in Matthew 5. The Lord led me to, and is working through this verse with me, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”(Matthew 5:8). Who is to know the longevity, but I have been distracting myself from a suffering heart. The word suffering is powerful, but it explains my heart posture completely. Why am I to distract myself from how I truly sit? Now is the time to work towards purity of heart, towards freedom. The cause, unknown to my soul, but the reality, so great it weighs. I sit down with the Lord daily, I ask him to rip my heart in two, and flush out all that is not for Him. The beautiful thing is the Lord comforts me through all of it, I have seen his love on a level incomparable. Below are a few of my raw journal entries further describing how I honestly sit, what I actually feel when no distraction attempts to distract.
November 6th, 2022 1961 Throne Room
Father, closest Father, your intimacy abounds. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into His presence with singing”(Psalm 100). Singing, suffering, and scripture, you give me what I need. Singing can silence suffering, singing can be silenced by suffering, and singing will one day come after suffering. Lord, now I sit in mental suffering, but singing, strumming, worshiping, it sustains me, you sustain me. The greatest songs are born out of the greatest suffering. The throne room, beautiful, in white you have shown me, worship, crying to you we have commenced. Lord thank you for satisfaction without filling of any other desire but you. Thank you for this Shabbat, this time with you, this time to praise you.
November 7th, 2022 Temple Coffee
Good Father, closest friend, companion through all. Thank you, for another day with you, another day resting in your love, a day of continued renewal and sustainment. Though it was not my desire, you gifted me with a song last night; one of truth, the posture of my heart, and beauty. About freedom you taught me, freedom may I rest in today. Honesty, dedication, and surrender to you floods me with your peace. Walking with you, brings others to walk too. A song to you, one that you have gifted and cries from my heart, that brings others into your presence. Lord from what does my heart suffer, from what design do I crawl to sadness? To walk with a saddened heart Lord, it does not seem fitting. When I walk with thrill, excitement, is this genuine, or am I masking pain? Is this joy from you, or temporary happiness as distraction from the heart? Lord show me, teach me, reveal to me your truth. Show me how to walk, show me how to live while I am burdened with a saddened spirit. Thank you father, Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
The Lord’s answer to the previous journals cry
To sulk in my suffering, to be downcast through trial? No, says the Lord. Rejoice in my sufferings, for this produces endurance. “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us”(Romans 5:3-5). Trust flowers joy and peace.
This is the song I had mentioned in my journal. This is written and sung from the true cry of my heart, and made to bring praise and intimacy with the father. If you would like an audio recording just text me!
Freedom
(G,C,G)(verses 3rd line=Em,C,G)
| verse 1 |
Freedom, is next to you
Suffering, you walk me through
Steadfast love, it’s nothing but enough
Jesus, there’s nothing without you
| verse 2 |
Freedom, my heart cries to
And lord you always, (you always) follow through
The devil, my heart he crawls into
But freedom, I find next to you
| pre-chorus | (sing octave up)
Jesus, rip my heart in two
Flush out, all that is not you
Oh Jesus, I give it all to you
| chorus | (C,Em,C,G)
Jesus the Nazarene has come
By blood I’m washed from what he’s done
Jesus the fathers son I love
For sin ruled, Christ died, now I am free
| verse 3 |
Blessings, to the pure in heart
Oh the father, they will see him clear
But blessings, to me they flow
For Jesus, your love ,it’s unconditional
| verse 4|
Suffering, it’s all my soul turns to
But through song, sustain me you do
I walk through life, as though my eyes don’t see
My affection, lord grow it new
| pre-chorus | (sing octave up)
Jesus, rip my heart in two
Flush out, all that is not you
Oh Jesus, I give it all to you
| chorus | (C,Em,C,G)
Jesus the Nazarene has come
By blood I’m washed from what he’s done
Jesus the fathers son I love
For sin ruled, Christ died, now I am free
| outro | (3rd line=G,C,C,Em)
You know my burdens, my sufferings here
A patient love, one I must endure
Not my valleys mountains and idle that you look through,
but freedom, it’s always found in you
November 8th, 2022 1961 Coffee House
Pappa! I wake from my slumber, unsatisfied I am, restless my heart sits. Impatience I seem to fall upon in the highest capacity. Lord, why can I not wake, start my day, with peace? It does not seem as if you rule over my slumber. In contentment I rest my head, but in agony I wake, desperate for escape. Is it an impure heart, guilt, conviction, condemnation, a stuffed spirit, a suffering heart, or the devil attacking in my rest? Lord speak life over me, remove anything of lies, and fill me with your truth oh so powerful, oh so pure. I long to release my burdens, to weep, to cry out to you, but I cannot, trapped are my tears. A flood gate so high, so strong, placed incorrectly, holding back life from the dying meadows of my being, from the huts of my relationships. Father, good Shepherd, how am I to remove this dam, how am I to poor out all that I have? May your will be done in me Father. To Lord Jesus, Amen.
Conclusion
So what does this mean? I know the Lord has me placed perfectly, I know that everything I endure and experience is for His glory. I know that he has suffered every trial, and he walks with me, he walks with you, holding your hand. We are his children. When trials come, we are to simply bow on our knees and allow the glorious Father to fight for us. Even the demons bow in His name, In Jesus’ name. I know he hugs me, wrapping his arms around me, saying, “I love you son”. I know he walks me through trials so I may trust him more. I know he wants me to walk in freedom, for I am free.
