Not about me

I am beginning to sense a great Spiritual awakening. At first I thought it was just living here in the Bakken, because there is truly something different here…but the more I study and listen the more I think, God is trying to send His church a wake up call.

I have always strongly believed that God was going to use our marriage as a testimony, that the hubby and I would be leading in some capacity and helping others stay in their covenants. But that has such a ‘me’ feel. I am feeling more and more that it is really not about me at all and ALL ABOUT HIM. And He is calling us to rise up and be different. To look different than the world that we live in, to act different, to live differently. Don’t you think it’s time for the church to start looking different than the world. How can our divorce rates be as high as the world? How can teen rebellion be as high as the world? How can we look the same as the world, when we have the Power of the Holy Spirit at our side, living inside? Didn’t Jesus say that when He left, the Holy Spirit would come on us and we would do greater things than Him?

We have cherry picked several verses and made it so that they fit the American dream…I don’t think there’s anything really wrong with the American dream, unless of course, it contradicts what the Lord has called out for your life. He has good plans, plans to prosper you…Jer 29: 11, Rom8:28…now I’m not saying that He’s lying, merely that I think we get confused on what is good, and we rarely look at the verses surrounding the cherry picked ones. He knows what is ultimately best and ‘His’ looks different than ours. I don’t think He’s talking about riches, or the hottest husband, or kids that are robots, I think ultimately He’s talking about a fully surrendered life, because that is where we find contentment. Contentment bleeds out onto others and they demand to know what you have that they don’t…only the Holy Spirit can draw us to Him, but our lives should be lived in such a way that others want what we have. And let’s face it, money does not satisfy, unless God is filling that void, you will always be chasing something.

Back to my initial thoughts…I think it’s time for us to listen! He is calling us out, it’s not going to be comfortable, it may not even be pretty J we will probably be stretched in ways that we never dreamed of, but He is calling us to stand up and take a stand. I believe our country needs us! But, more than a bunch of people yelling about all the things we are against, we have got to be a praying people. But, we also have to be a reconciled people, we must humbly repent before our God and then be reconciled so that we can beg Him for mercy. We can keep saying that we are a Christian nation, or we can wake up and face reality…if we were a Christian nation, the enemy would not be holding our politicians, our children, our marriages, our friendships, our families, our business men hostage with his lies.

I’ll be the first to admit my prayer life has a long way to go…but now is the time! He is calling us up. It is time for us to gather together and throw off petty complaints and grudges, work together, love and encourage each other’s strengths, don’t belittle our weaknesses but let’s stand in the gap for each other. We are the body and there isn’t a member of the body that is not important, every part of the body is vital to accomplish His Good Works.

Here are a couple of passages that the Lord has been showing me while being led to prayer:

II Chron 7 13"If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15"Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.…

Ezekiel3:12
"Therefore, son of man, say to your people, 'If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person's former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person's former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person who sins will not be allowed to live even though they were formerly righteous.'

 

◄ Psalm 2 ►

New Living Translation 1Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? 2The kings of the earth prepare for battle; the rulers plot together against the Lord and against his anointed one. 3“Let us break their chains,” they cry, “and free ourselves from slavery to God.” 4But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. 5Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury. 6For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem,a on my holy mountain.”

 

7The king proclaims the Lord’s decree:

“The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son.^b

Today I have become your Father.^c

8Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,

the whole earth as your possession.

9You will break^d them with an iron rod

and smash them like clay pots.’”

10Now then, you kings, act wisely!

Be warned, you rulers of the earth!

11Serve the Lord with reverent fear,

and rejoice with trembling.

12Submit to God’s royal son,^e or he will become angry,

and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—

for his anger flares up in an instant.

But what joy for all who take refuge in him!