One thing I think we have both been challenged with over the last few weeks, is what it is to pursue God’s presence. For a real, living relationship with Papa God (American term!) to have priority in how I spend my time and do life on a daily basis as I just walk through everyday life.
I know what it is to love Jesus, to live for Him, to worship with all I have, to seek His face and want to see the world change, to want to see the church rise up and take Her rightful place, but I think there’s a new level - of romance, pursuit, encounters, whispers and power. And the cost? My time.
What might my days look like if I started giving each of them to God and choosing to see each moment through His eyes? Or what might I notice around me, if I listened more intently to what God had to say about unfolding situations, or people that I met? What would it feel like to be so hungry that I wake up each morning longing to just hang out with God and hear His voice again? How would I see myself if I spent more time with the one in Whose image I am made?
Honestly, I don’t know the answer to these questions yet. This is the beginning of a new part of a journey for me. What I know is that being in an environment with people who truly love God and see Him work in incredible ways isn’t enough. It’s not fulfilling my potential in Him, it’s just watching other people’s. I know that learning new mindsets and theologies may change the way I think, but won’t affect how I encounter God – unless I encounter Him!
In the midst of hearing some amazing revelations, in learning to step out in faith, to hear God, to encounter Him more deeply, to learn to love others more authentically, I think I have realised that the bottom line is, unless I spend time in the secret place with the One who lives in me, none of this will be mine. It will just be stories.
I don’t want church on a Sunday to be a place we all go to encounter God, but a place where we all share how God has been encountering us all during the week.
I want to be hungry; hungry for an authentic, gritty, everyday relationship with God. I want stories of people I have prayed for in line at the bank, with the cashier at the supermarket and with the person walking the dog by my house....
...I want to see revival; lives changed, hearts mended, bodies healed, relationships restored and people saved – I want to see people sold out, on fire, madly in love with Jesus.
And I know that starts in me.
