The Journey

Man...I'm not even sure where to begin tonight. The love of God is so strong upon my heart, and there are so many thoughts that I hope to express. How do you even express the love of God...the unchanging, uncompromising, never-ending, eternal, transforming...love of God? How can you describe the love that God has for His people. It's impossible to explain...impossible to comprehend...Even after feeling His love, it makes it even harder to express...So, I'm going to do my best tonight to share what God has placed on my heart.

A friend and I went to Rhema Church tonight, and I can't even begin to express how amazing it was. Just a short little set-up to the story...We didn't even know where we wanted to go. I just felt God lay a mission on my heart...Go to a place where I could meet with Him and He could work on my heart. My only goal was to go somewhere and worship God...rest in His presence...allow His truth to penetrate my heart. We ended up going to another church and before the service started felt that God wanted us to go somewhere else...So we just started driving...and went to Rhema. :) And...this is the story that follows...lol

Geez...I'm having a hard time expressing myself tonight. I feel the love of God so strongly. The only thing that I want to do is worship and spend time with the King of Kings...The service started with awesome worship...God was definitely present and His Spirit was moving mightily. The speaker started ministering, and it was like the Holy Spirit just fell all over the congregation. I was sitting there listening to him with cold chills shooting down my spine. He was ministering about the power of God and the ministry of Paul. He was talking about the miraculous and how God is just waiting for us to step out in faith and receive all that He has for us. He shared that through the power of preaching the Word of God, people should be set free, delivered, healed, and made completely whole. He said that signs and wonders and miracles should follow after the Word of God being preached. We shouldn't be chasing after signs and wonders...the signs and wonders should be following us as we minister...He began to preach on the joy of the Lord and how the Holy Spirit comes in and gives us true happiness. He began to call people up that the Lord led him to pray for and they were healed. He prayed for tumors, and lines and lines of people came up to the front to receive prayer. The Spirit showed up in a huge way and was ministering to people all around the room. It was absolutely amazing...You could hardly stand in the presence of God. People were laughing and so joyful in their worship to God, and I could literally feel shackles breaking off of my heart. It was so amazing...The presence of God was so strong.

And...I only said all of that to set the stage for all of the things that I hope to express tonight...As many of you know, this first semester of ORU has been extremely challenging for me in many ways. I've been struggling with a situation that has been hard and very confusing. Even up until today, I was angry, upset, and hurt. I'm not saying that all of that is completely gone, and that there is not anymore healing left to experience, but tonight definitely changed my whole outlook on everything. I just want to take a few minutes to encourage you tonight...No matter what you are going through...No matter how many times you are hurt...No matter how many times you feel alone...No matter how many times the enemy knocks you off of your feet...It is never too late for the love of God to come in and invade your heart.

As I've said many times, NOTHING else matters except our relationship with God. We have been placed on this earth to minister to the broken, the sick, the hurting, and above all, the lost. We have been called to set the captives free, to loose the bound, to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked...One thing that I've been really thinking about lately is the kind of relationships that Christians in America, even here at a Christian university have with people and with God...and how we spend our time. We spend all of our time planning out our days...doing school work...hanging out with friends...watching TV...spending time on the internet...We do all of these things that we feel are so important to us, but what we don't understand is that...although those things are not necessarily bad, they sometimes get in the way of our relationship with God...I was just at a place tonight that I was so sick of all of those things...so sick of school...of relationship issues...of all of the pressures of life. My spirit was hungry for God...So many times, we spend 20 minutes with God, and go down to our rooms and spend 3 hours doing homework or hanging out with friends. God has just really been showing me how twisted this is. We're taught..."Just make sure you spend your quiet time with God, and everything will be ok...You need to spend ALL day working on studying for that test...You haven't hung out with your friends in two days, and you really need to spend time with them." As I said earlier, these things aren't bad at all...But...our sole purpose and destiny is to bring glory to God with how we live our lives. God has placed us on this earth for a very specific purpose. He has called us to great things, and He desires our communion with Him. How would it feel if your best friend decided, "No...I'm going to spend 5 minutes with you today cause I have other stuff to do, and you're not really that important." And...this happened day after day...? This person wouldn't be considered your best friend after months of doing that. And...if you think about it, God is the GREATEST best friend. He is our King. Our Creator. Our Shelter. Our Defense. Our Love. It must break His heart to have such a small place in our lives. I'm not just preaching to all of you guys. I am just as bad as anyone else about this, but I feel God speaking to me very powerfully tonight about this.

God wants ALL of us! There is a perfect plan that God has for each and every one of us that is so great that it can't even be comprehended. Tonight as the speaker was speaking, I could just feel the power of the Word flowing out of Him...He had filled himself with the Word of God and was full of the Holy Spirit. I couldn't help but think God, "How do I walk in that anointing God? How do I walk in that kind of authority and power in Your name?" And...I heard the voice of the Lord so clearly say..."You go on a journey with Me. Come with me and meet with me. Place Me above everything else in your life. Take a journey with Me into my Word. Walk in My presence...Spend more time with Me than you do anyone or anything else in your life. Become a student of My love...Hear My voice...and obey...no matter what the cost." I've been hearing God say that for many months now as I've reflected on my time here at ORU so far. So many times we let circumstances and situations...our quest for acceptance and popularity...and our love for worldly things get in the way of our relationship with God. God wants us to walk in the miraculous. He wants us to minister out of the fullness of His Spirit inside of us...Everything that God is...Healing...Deliverance...Salvation...Forgiveness...Love...all of that is inside of us. We have been given every spiritual tool to come against anything that the enemy throws our way. And...we are called to minister out of the well of the anointing of God inside of us.

None of that junk of the world matters. All of it is going to pass away. Everything that is so important and so consuming to us now will mean nothing in eternity. I've been thinking about that so much lately. All of our arguments...our pretentious goals...our quest for "rightness" means nothing. The only thing that matters is our love for people...how we treat them in times when they need us most and above all....God and how we allowed Him to use us to bring great and lasting change to the world.

There is an awesome journey that God wants to take all of us on. It's a journey of falling in love with the King of Kings...Falling in love with him more than the world...more than your friends...more than your education...more than your popularity or your desire to obtain a high status. This journey is a journey of intimacy...It's a journey of commitment no matter what the cost. And...God has been reminding me that it does come at a high cost. It does take sacrifices to obtain...because sometimes when you stop spending those 4 hours a night with your friends...you might lose some of them. Sometimes when you stop going to the coolest places and hanging out with the coolest people, you stop being considered cool and popular. Sometimes when you decide that God is more important to you than anything else and that He deserves ALL of you...Situations change in your life. And...that's ok. Jesus never promised that the road would be easy. He actually said that the road would be narrow and that few would find it...But...I can promise that if you make a commitment to go on the journey with Him of digging in to His Word...falling on your knees before Him in worship...letting Him speak life and identity into you...letting Him affirm you...and forsaking every worldly pleasure that keeps you from Him, you'll find that narrow road, and God will use you mightily for His kingdom. But...there is an exchange. Our life for His. When we become a Christian, we no longer get the rights to the driver's seat of our life. We no longer get to have the popularity that we once had...the time to do whatever worldly thing we want to do...He has to become first. And this is something that I'm learning more and more everyday.

In America today the church has almost been more harmful than helpful. "You can be a Christian and come to church twice a month...You can be a Christian and spend hours and hours with your friends hanging out and doing other pointless things...You can be a Christian and long for acceptance and affirmation from those around you and the world...Just make sure that you spend 10 minutes with God a day. At least read a daily scripture." And...all of these things aren't necessarily wrong. You can be a Christian and do all of those things...But is that really the life that Jesus modeled? Is that really the kind of exchange that the King of Kings, who was beaten beyond recognition, and crucified for you and I deserves? I mean...I know that all of that is not talked about today. The church doesn't want to speak like that because it might turn people away...But...Honestly, God deserves all of us. He deserves way more than we could ever give Him. And...He's waiting for us to turn away from all of the junk of the world and other weights that are holding us back and run after Him.

God wants more than anything to minister through our brokenness. He wants to set the captives free, to restore sight to the blind, to bring deliverance to the oppressed, and to bring the good news of salvation through us. And...just like the service tonight...God will show up and minister to people in a very powerful way when we seek Him first...when we fill our well with nothing but Him. He is worthy and deserving of way more than the mindless worship and "fast food" mentality that we give Him. He's not just a quick fix. He's everything that we can't be...He's Almighty...He's El Shaddai, He's Addonai...He's Healing...He's complete Deliverance and Wholeness. He's Joy. He's Rest. He's Peace. He's a true Best Friend who will never leave or forsake you. And...He's waiting to reach out and grab your hand and take you on the most fulfilling, consuming, intimate, and crazy journey of your life...not only for you but for the many that your life will touch. Will you go with Him?

I'll leave you with this passage of scripture from Amos...in the Message Bible...(Amos 5:21-24)
"I can't stand your religious meetings. I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions. I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretentious slogans and goals. I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making. I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music. When was the last time you sang to me?"

Feel free to comment...

Goodnight Guys,
-Joe