I Cried Every Day This Week

'Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of yours can be thwarted. My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you.' Job 42:1-2,5

There are moments in one's life that are so filled with awe that one is hushed before them, humbled by their significance and honored to have had them rush past in power.

There are monuments in one's life, not tangibly visible with the eyes of the flesh, but discerned and seen only with the eyes of the heart.

There are memories in one's life that are special, that will be remembered forever, that have an impact that lasts and remains to forever transform the man who experiences them.

In the last four days, I have been blessed beyond measure to witness such moments, stand before such monuments, and press such memories into the diary of the heart, never to be forgotten and always to be cherished.

Seeing the power of God intersect lives and the truth of eternity brought to bear upon time leaves the seer with a perspective that is so new and so radically different that one cannot be but impressed with its enormity.

As followers of Christ, we often live a routine of normalness that causes us to be made immune to the miraculous, even to the point that we never expect to be visited by His divine omnipotence.

We often become so comfortable with the ways of this world, so settled here and in love with the temporal, that we settle for comfort, sin, and mediocrity and convince ourselves all is well.

And then God moves and all is changed.

To see God work in power through one faithful, obedient servant who loves with a love that hurts, because he is so burdened that he must die to self and live for God in total surrender and see others die and live as well, is beautiful beyond words.

Such an example of one striving to imitate God is convicting. I now know how far I need to go and yet, I know in my heart that God has saved, called, equipped, and purposed my life, and the life of every child that is His, to do exactly the same.

To see young people, whom the world disparages, discards, and destroys, coming to Christ in total honest surrender is a sight I thank God He has allowed me to witness. We are reminded in such times that God is still sovereign in this place and He is calling a generation, or at least a remnant of it, to storm the gates of hell and plant His flag upon the ramparts of the earth.

And they will do it. I believe this completely because I know my God and that nothing is impossible with Him.

And that generation, this generation, and particularly, the young people of Mount Airy Christian Academy now have seen His power, felt His love, and knows it is real, forever, and for them.

They know He is their God, not just their parent's, or teacher's, or friends', but theirs.

And they know the choice is theirs. They know they need to take steps of faith, steps of commitment, steps that are not their own and in a direction they choose, but trusting steps that are in the direction that God has chosen for them to walk.

To do so, every member of this portion must first allow Him to reside unopposed upon the throne of their hearts, with nothing else remaining therein.

Nothing.

Has the heart been broken and self completely poured out upon the altar of offering? Not until then can God create within us a new vessel in which he can pour out His Spirit unto overflowing, allowing every precious life to fulfill His purposes in power.

Is it all gone? Is it? Even ourselves? If it is, if you are, then, and only then, in the nothingness, you will discover that you have everything.

You will have Him, honestly, completely, and forever. That not only will be all you need, but it will be all you want.When that happens, the power will go forth in you, through Him, and the world will be changed.

Surrendered, emptied, fully sacrificed and consumed lives for God have always been the lives that have left a legacy, that have made a difference, and that have lived forever, announcing to the hurting that healing is in His wings, to the unloved that love is in His heart, to the lost that He forever seeks them unto finding and to the dying that death has been destroyed.

I cried every day this week, and the paradoxical truth is I can never remember being happier.

There were expressions of fear from many that the fire will not last, that it will be smothered and stilled. Fear not. The only way it will go is if we remove ourselves from the altar and choose not to be that acceptable sacrifice unto Him.

He Himself is a consuming, eternal fire, the Scriptures remind us, and He is in every believer, making us truly alive, living for Him, burning forever in power.

Stay right where you are!

It is only when we are fully engulfed in Him that the dross can be burned away and we can stand wholly, purely, completely, alive like never before, in resurrection, joyful life, ablaze to the glory of God.