Volcanoe (vision)

Last weekend, I was in Big Bear for a retreat with my church's college group. On Saturday night, we were having a prayer and worship session when God's Spirit completely set in. We were all basking in God's presence when God gave me a vision. I was writing it down and asking God who I needed to speak it to when He said to read it out loud for everyone to hear. As I read it, I could sense a fire stirring in us all, a fire and passion for revival. I began to pray with a fervor I've never experience before, and everyone began praying with all their might.

       I saw a desolate, flat, dry, dead land. Trees were bare, the ground was all dirt, no grass. The people living there were scrawny, starving, and weak. A mountain stood near the town--I could see that it was a volcanoe, long thought dormant. Suddenly, it erupted and fire came spewing out of it. The fire covered the dead land a spread rapidly. But instead of destruction, the fire brought new life as it burned. The trees sprouted green leaves, fresh grass grew and colorful flowers blossomed. The people became healthy, joyful, and vibrant. The fire spread rapidly to nearby towns, continuing the transformation of death into new life.
       We live in the desolate wasteland--the people are starving and feel hopeless. The body of Christ, the church, the believers... We are the volcanoe, long thought dormant. We must erupt with a passion and filled with the Spirit. We must spread the holy fire. People are longing for new life; we must show them how to attain new life. If we are obedient to God's will, the land will come alive again in a miraculous revival, a revival that will spread from person to person, town to town. We need to take responsibility for the lives around us and lead people to Christ so their souls will be satisfied.

       Lord, I pray that You will convict us of our unwillingness to reach out to the people in the world who hunger and thirst for You. Give us the boldness to speak truth in love to those who need You most. Show us the weight of the responsibility You have given us. Rid us of our stubborness, laziness, pride, or whatever it is that gets in the way of doing exactly what You say for us to do. Unite us as the body of Christ and ignite a flame in our hearts for revival.

                 Amen.

Ephesians 4:1-6

"As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." 

Romans 13:11-12

"And do this [love God, love your neighbor], understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light."

Lightning and God's Spirit

        I have a heart for people--I want to help, I want to love. I just have a hard time putting myself out there. It's not because I don't know how--I don't know where to begin.

        I want to be the lightning--
                unpredictable;
        There is no beginning or end--
                it just happens.
        It doesn't think where it will go--
                it just goes.
        But lightning is fleeting;
                it never has a lasting effect.
        Does anything on earth last?
                Everything is but a breath--
        A peal of thunder--
                it rolls for moments, then
                        disappears...

        Since life is so brief, I want so much more to impact the people around me. It seems like an impossibility to touch people's hearts, so I find comfort in the words of Zechariah 4:6. "Then he said to me, 'This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the LORD of hosts.'" I looked up what the Hebrew word for Spirit meant in this context, and found that it means "wind, breath, mind, courage, blast." It usually imparts warlike energy and executive and administrative power.
        I know that I can do nothing to make someone believe. I can only trust God to work in each person's heart. Too often, I find myself like Martha., "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She has a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed-or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.'" (Luke 10:38-42).
        I need to stop doing, and start being. I, like, Martha get caught up in the preparations. I think "if I say this and this, maybe a person might come to know Christ." I think about all the ways I can try to convince someone to believe the same as me. The truth of it is if someone can be talked into something, they can just as easily be talked out of it. Becoming a Christian isn't following a series of steps and processes and then getting a "Salvation Certificate." It is stepping into God's presence, and being in an intimate relationship with God Almighty, knowing that He has saved you from the death you deserve, instead giving you eternal life with Him. Likewise, being a Christian is not about realizing you love God but realizing God loves you. It is realizing that God is near enough to you to hear the faintest whisper of a thought in your heart.
        When I come into conversation with someone who is not a Christian, I don't pray "God, give me the words to speak to them so they can know you," like I used to pray. Instead, I pray "God, let your presence be upon me so this person can feel your presence." God's Spirit is the most powerful force, so why--and how--do we forget His importance?