{"id":3708,"date":"2011-11-14T03:36:22","date_gmt":"2011-11-14T03:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=3708"},"modified":"2011-11-18T20:41:36","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T20:41:36","slug":"cut-me-loose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/?p=3708","title":{"rendered":"Cut me loose…….."},"content":{"rendered":"

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After a pretty rough early week, the weekend blossomed into a great two days! \u00a0 Saturday night Sherelene and I went to a Chris Tomlin concert in our hometown. \u00a0I’m a big fan of his music and his strong stance for Christ. \u00a0It was more than an enjoyable concert, it was a deep worship experience. \u00a0As often happens when you spend several hour in worship, it really started to focus me on the task at hand. \u00a0The second thing that happened was a sweet email I received from my dear brother, and shooting buddy, Jim Haverstock. \u00a0Jim expressed his thoughts on my postponed retirement plans, and said he thought that maybe God was not finished with my ministry opportunities through my service to Nikon. Finally this morning Sherelene and I went to church and a guest speaker delivered a wonderful, thoughtful, and very timely message for me.<\/p>\n

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He spoke of our need to reach out to the Least<\/strong>, the Last<\/strong>, and the Lost<\/strong>, he called it, \u00a0looking for people that no one else wants. \u00a0 All of these things came together to create something of a perfect spiritual storm in me! \u00a0I’ve made it clear what my hearts desire is, but tonight sitting in another Courtyard by Marriott in Nashville, it’s more clear than ever. \u00a0My ministry has always been about trying to live in a way that points others to my Heavenly Father, and while I have been involved in personal evangelism, it has not been on the front burner. \u00a0It is now! \u00a0I will start to pray that God will send me those people that are seeking Him. \u00a0Some time ago I prayed the Jabez prayer for several months and He sent me countless people that were seeking someone to share Christ with them. \u00a0I’m ready for another round. \u00a0I’m not talking about handing out tracks or approaching total strangers in the mall! \u00a0I am talking about asking God to make me keenly aware of those that I meet that are searching, or lost, or in need of an extra large helping of His love. \u00a0I’ve kicked plenty of doors down for Jesus, and it never works, but when He opens a door, that’s when the fun starts. \u00a0I’m pumped about a renewed commitment to serve Him more deeply, more completely, and more faithfully.<\/p>\n

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I want to thank, the speaker at church, Jim Haverstock, and Chris Tomlin for helping me to re-focus on my intended purpose in life. \u00a0I never lost complete sight of that purpose, but the point of my focus was beginning to get, forgive me, “blurred”. \u00a0Couldn’t resist a photography term. \u00a0 Now I have a very big favor to ask to all of you that frequent this blog. \u00a0I would ask that you pray for me. \u00a0I want Him to prepare me, strengthen me, and show me through the Holy Spirit, how to be a witness for Him. \u00a0I also want to be more aware of what is happening spiritually around me, and lastly, I ask that He will send me those that He knows I can share His love with. \u00a0I’ll make a deal with you, when He starts to answer our prayers, I will share the stories of victories with you. \u00a0I will call them, Unrestrained Stories<\/span>!<\/p>\n

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I’m excited and filled with hope about what God is about to do!<\/p>\n

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Thank you,<\/p>\n

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the pilgrim<\/p>\n

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The Song: \u00a0 \u00a0 From the Inside Out<\/p>\n

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A thousand times I've failed\r\nStill your mercy remains\r\nAnd should I stumble again\r\nStill I'm caught in your grace\r\n\r\nEverlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades\r\nNever ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame\r\n\r\nMy heart and my soul, I give You control\r\nConsume me from the inside out Lord\r\nLet justice and praise, become my embrace\r\nTo love You from the inside out\r\n\r\nYour will above all else, my purpose remains\r\nThe art of losing myself in bringing you praise\r\n\r\nEverlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades\r\nNever ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame\r\n\r\nMy heart, my soul, Lord I give you control\r\nConsume me from the inside out Lord\r\nLet justice and praise become my embrace\r\nTo love You from the inside out\r\n\r\nEverlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades\r\nNever ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame\r\nAnd the cry of my heart is to bring You praise\r\nFrom the inside out, O my soul cries out\r\n\r\nMy Soul cries out to You\r\nMy Soul cries out to You\r\nto You, to You\r\n\r\nMy heart, my soul, Lord I give you control\r\nConsume me from the inside out Lord\r\nLet justice and praise become my embrace\r\nTo love You from the inside out\r\n\r\nEverlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades\r\nNever ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame\r\nAnd the cry of my heart is to bring You praise\r\nFrom the inside out, O my soul cries out\r\n\r\nEverlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades\r\nNever ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame\r\nAnd the cry of my heart is to bring You praise\r\nFrom the inside out, O my soul cries out\r\nFrom the inside out, O my soul cries out\r\nFrom the inside out, O my soul cries out.<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After a pretty rough early week, the weekend blossomed into a great two days! \u00a0 Saturday night Sherelene and I went to a Chris Tomlin concert in our hometown. \u00a0I’m a big fan of his music and his strong stance for Christ. \u00a0It was more than an enjoyable concert, it was a deep worship experience. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3708"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3799,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3708\/revisions\/3799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}