I am literally sitting here listening to music that shaped my foundation as a young Christian and leader almost 14 years ago. This song America Again is the pinnacle of our hope for this world. The hope is not in our government, its not in the school systems, its not in our finances or even our jobs, IT’S IN CHRIST JESUS.
We are standing in the moment where we are in a slumber and desperately need to WAKE UP. For the simple promise of security and financial improvement, we have forsaken and compromised ourselves. We have to take a stand and draw a line in the sand saying WE ARE NOT FOR SALE AND WILL NOT COMPROMISE. We need God in America again, not just as the hope of the world, but to be our very breathe. Simply put, this song says it all.
Every so often the Lord begins to throw phases at me during my time of intercession and worship & this time was no different. I was in worship and here comes God is bringing reconciliation between the generations.This hit me hard, as it was something that churches have been trying to cope with – the idea to bridge the gap between young people and adults.
In comes this statement of God reconciling the generational gap. This gap is not a gap solely based on style of music, fashion/clothes, or even viewpoints, it also includes a merging or convergence through love. God is in a desperate pursuit to get everyone on the same page and in order for him to do this, HE MUST RECONCILE US TO ONE ANOTHER.
I felt a leaning on my heart from the Holy Spirit to look at two portions of scriptures – Malachi 4:5-6 and Luke 1:13-17
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6
“But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17and he will go before himin the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, andthe disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” Luke 1:13-17
John the Baptist was the forerunner for Christ and even walked in the Spirit of Elijah -It was him who prepared the way for the Lord. His messages – repent for the Kingdom is near? In both portions of text, it is clear that the heart’s of the Father will be turn towards the child, and that the child’s heart will be given unto the father. Luke goes on to add to make ready for the Lord a people (bride) prepared
Oh God, if we can just get the birthing of Zechariah’s and John’s in this nation… where the Zechariah’s [fathers] are prophesying over the Johns [sons/child]. That they will be sealed with the Nazarite calling and marked as a forerunner for the return of Christ Jesus…
Even as I write this and in the same token, God is preparing and birthing people to walk in this forerunner mentality and spirit as their main vocation and lifestyle. Where we will begin to mend the generational gaps and bring alignment to the young and the old. Too long have we just pushed this issue aside… and I believe God is desiring to deal with this NOW… so that he may have a readied bride for Jesus!
I also believe God has given me a mandate to be apart of this reconciliation at the young people level. That’s one of the reasons why I am in student ministry, to help bridge the gap with teens to adults and vise-versa.
Man, what a weekend I had. I have a chance to attend one of the most powerful and unique conferences of all time, thanks to some friends of mines. The Forward Conference 2008 by Jentezen Franklin/Free Chapel was off the chains. Worship, the message and the ministry was totally amazing. We missed Thursday night, but what I could tell, Jentezen brought down the house with a much need word entitled “Chasing the Lions.â€
Louie Giglio (268 Generation/Passion Conference) did an amazing job speaking about Life & Light. Coming out of the bible text 2 Cor 5:17-21. Louie shared a dramatic story of grace about a girl who hated God and everyone who wanted to do with him… But as the pages of her journal unfold, we found out that our God is Mighty to Save. She accepted Christ as her Lord and Savior. As he (Louie) continued in her story, we found out that she died after being a car accident 3 months after her salvation. Louie reminded us not to be sad, but to know that her life meant something and now countless people will know the power of God. And yes, he is Mighty to Save. Being a fruitcake for God..lol wow!! Yes Lord. (You have to read the journal to understand)
Due to a prior leaders meeting at my church, I missed Ron Luce. I really wanted to hear him speak. I think he is a great warrior for our generation. I did catch the main points of his message, which was “Climbing Mountains†when they was recapping from early that day.
Jentezen Franklin finishes off the conference. Let me just start off with saying he is one of the most passionate pastors I have ever came across. I always enjoy listening/watching him. I just know I going to be blessed from what he says. And for him to put on this conference for young people show a lot about his character and how he has a desire for youth. He spoke on how we are in a race and God wants to fill us up so that we can complete the race and how our culture and Satan tries to throw different things in our way to stop us. He used an illustrated sermon approach with a race car prop and other props. Towards the end he said God wanted to deliver everyone there who had any tobacco addictions. Literally hundreds of adults and teens ran to the front of the stage at Gwinnett Arena. People where instantly deliver, even to the point that they began throwing their cigarettes and chewing tobacco on the stage… Interestingly enough, people with other addictions came up and receive their deliverance. People were throwing their condoms, and CDs.
Worship was totally amazing for the times we were there. Chris Tomlin, Ricardo Sanchez and Jeremy Camp are all three wonderful and powerful musicians and artist. John Gray hosted the event and boy was he funny and powerful.
For the recap and other related info, please visit www.forwardconference.com
One Prayer¦
There is the sweeping prayer movement that is about to take place, like no other. Over 550 churches, have decided to come together under 1 banner… PRAYER! If you visit www.oneprayer.com, you would notice that churches from all over America, from different denominations, are being asked, “If God would answer ‘one prayer’ for the church at large, what would you pray?”
My answer: Oh God, would the church walk in intimacy? Why you might asked??? Well that’s simple. We need to be found in an intimate love walk with Christ. We are just coming off a series on Matthew 25. We learned that we must always be aware of the time and prepare our hearts with intimacy. If the foolish brides would have been intimate with the bridegroom, they would have realizes there need of oil. We have a direct relationship with Christ Jesus. He has called us in to love and romance with him. Just as in a natural marriage, God desires that we are intimate with him. The same God who created the heavens and earth, desires our heart so much that he crushed his own son, Jesus so that we may love him. The bridegroom, Christ Jesus, willing die so we could understand how much God desperate wanted to show love. That through his death, man could understand the Father’s Heart. Through much pain and suffering, we are called to share in the same idea.
Going back to Matthew 25: When we have intimacy with Jesus, we understand that the talents (physical and financial) the Master has given us, does not belong to us. We have to invest what the Master has given us, so that others are served. Whatever we do to the weakest person, we have also done it to Christ Jesus. All 3 sections of Matthew 25 at the end, they all received a reward but at a earthly lost. With intimacy – suffering must come and surrendering must take place!
One Prayer – Intimacy in the church!
For the past couple of weeks, the Lord has been showing me and speaking to me about repentance in our generation. So I begin studying this thing we call repentance and came to 4 underlying fact….
Lets break it down….
The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it. (Jer.18:7-10)
I will leave you with this…..
If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.(2 Chronicles 7:14)
Authentic Repentance, God, Jesus, Jezebel Spirit, Love, repentance
Have you ever wondered why our generation is so far from the past generation…? I mean, we have advanced in so many ways from a technology standpoint, media, creative ideas, and even to the point of how we view God, the Church, and the people who called themselves “Christians.”
Why is it that so many teens called themselves Christians, but really don’t have a true understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Now lets throw sinning to the side, cause we all know that its wrong and that we will be judge for it…. but what about the things we should be doing. Such as reading our bible, praying, fasting, praise & worship… wasn’t we commanded to do those things also. God did not tell us just to obey and follow the 10 Commandments… but we also were told/given the core value system of the Kingdom of Heaven by Jesus. (Matt ch. 5-7, John ch. 14-17, etc)
Why is it that we who claim to be Christian don’t even do the simple requirement that has been demanded of us…. We claim to be Christians, but we are never praying, never witnessing and we dont even carry our bibles to church.
I remember about 2 months ago, I had to literally deal with this in our youth ministry. The teens were just showing up to church; no bibles in hand, they were hardly praying/worshipping during services… it were as if they was coming just to party and see each other. We would visit other churches and only 1 particular person would true be into the message, taking notes and engaged in his bible during the message.
I had to sit down on a Saturday evening with them and find out what was going through their heads… What drove them to proclaim that they are Christians and that they couldn’t even do the simple requirement in bringing their bibles to church and follow along with the speaker… What made me really upset and disappointed was that majority of them didn’t even know the vision of the youth ministry – And mind you, that these are the regular kids who attend and how we hit our vision someway or another every month. This 3 hours spill from me had some interesting things come out it.
I found out that they had lost the passion not only for the youth ministry but that they had also lost the passion for Jesus. They were exhausted from the wear/tear of school, their family and the pressures of life. It wasn’t a result of boring teaching, it wasn’t that there was no fun, or that they was physically tired from their day…. it all resulted from them being ill-equipped. No matter how fun the youth services are, how excellent and relevant the teaching is, or how much technology you have.. if their hearts are not already motivated and ravished by the man, Christ Jesus… at some point the passion will dwindled down. They have to allow this to take place… its not on mommy and daddy, nor is it the youth pastor job. They must take accountability for themselves.
We are in a desperate need for something that is real and raw for this generation of young people. Can we just stop faking the funk and truly allow Jesus to ravish our souls and radiate our hearts. Let us truly be Christians… there is nothing worse for a person who claims to be a Christian to not show/act like what they are. We are Christ followers… lets carry our cross daily
