Desperate Generation

We really are a generation of desperation. As the world becomes even more corrupt, our generation is continually seeking for something to fill the void. It's come to a point of utter desperation. People are doing things that our ancestors would have never imagined in an attempt to get rid of that hopeless feeling that consumes them. Every action, every word from their mouths is a cry for help. They don't know how to handle the darkness our world has embraced. All these things you see around you - uncontrolled eating, self-mutilation, shallow relationships, eating disorders.... these are all symptoms. We need to see them for what they are, evidence for the deepest longing to be fulfilled and satisfied, a satisfaction that only comes from a knowledge of who you are in God. Our world is far from at peace. It really is a terrible joke. There is and will be no peace without God. He is the Author of peace, the Creator of a perfect world. But we cannot expect that to be how it is now. Each of us know so many who we see struggling, desperately searching for what will fulfill that longing He placed in every one of us. I choose to be desperate for more of Him. Nothing this world can offer will ever compare to the deepest fulfillment we find in Him. I think of Hannah. She is a perfect example of someone who was truly desperate for something. She cried out to God with such passion and perseverance that she was actually assumed to be drunk. I can only imagine what those people must have thought. I want that kind of faith, that passion. She knew what she wanted, and she was willing to do absolutely whatever it takes to get it. We may be the "Desperate Generation," but what side of that do you want to be on? Which side do you choose?

Full Abandon

I think we may have forgotten what the deepest form of worship is. Many of us may have never experienced it. To worship with full abandon, seeing nothing but the love and majesty of our King. I think we're settling for these brief experiences with Him which just barely scratch the surface of the kind of worship we long to experience and He longs to receive. We are told so many times that we are overcomers and warriors, but there are demonic forces we don't even realize we need to rebuke. Distraction, for one. That is HUGE. To get to that place where we see the complexity and magnificence of His power and all He can really do, we need to eliminate what is really holding us back.. When we tap into that kind of worship, of that focus on our Savior, it releases a move of His spirit like you have never seen before. We need to stand together as a church, as a body, but it is also deeply personal. Your heart becomes intertwined with the very heart of God, the Maker of the UNIVERSE. And yet, we allow ourselves to be bombarded with thoughts of all these things, which in comparison are nothing. In this state of being, this intense worship, breakthrough comes. Our focus on what WE want and what WE think we need overtakes us sometimes, but when we're fully devoted to magnifying Him with ALL that we have, He gives us what we truly need - an encounter with Him.

Loving With Your Life

I deeply believe that love is so much more than a feeling, but rather a commitment. Saying we love God and not really knowing what exactly we're expressing when we say it. Growing up, I never really knew what being in love with Jesus meant. It was kind of one of those Christianese statements that we say, and I never really delved into what it meant. But this summer He's shown me what the genuine love of our Father truly is. It's affected every aspect of my life. When we understand the capacity in which Christ loves us, we're released to love in that same way. This summer, God's been showing me his character, His very essence, and the love that He has for me. So many people never get to experience what it's like to have someone who ADORES you, no matter what. That's how He feels about us. God created every part of us, perfectly, to correspond with His nature. No other creature on earth has that! When we say we love God, it's a commitment to serving and honoring Him NO MATTER WHAT is going on in our lives. He's taught me what it means to love Him with all my heart, and I'm still striving to love Him through everything that I do. You know how people talk about worshipping Him with our lives? In the same way, we can LOVE Him with our lives. Our relationships with people are meant to exemplify the love He has for us. How do we really learn to love people in the way Christ loves us if we don't know what that love is like, or what it means when we say that we love God? Define yourself as someone who loves with their life, not just in worship, but in everyday things we go through. When you show integrity in even the little things, He can entrust you with the monumental things for the Kingdom.

Beauty in the Breakdown

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

I've been through so much in the past year and I have to admit that I certainly did not shine gloriously through the trials. I know many of you have been deeply hurt before, whether it was by a guy, a girl, a friend, family member, whatever. It's the things in our lives that we struggle through that make us who we are. I know without the situation I put myself in, I would be drastically different, and not as broken before God as I am now. I had to learn to rely on Him completely, because there was no one else I could trust. That lesson is invaluable to me. We'd all like to think that life should just go perfectly 100% of the time and that's how God shows He loves us, by making your life go smoothly. But if you really think about it, you never press in harder or rely on Him more than when you're in a trial. It's when everything's going wrong and nothing is the same and all stability has been stripped away from your life that you learn that He is the same no matter what. His love for you NEVER changes. Even when you screw up seemingly EVERYTHING, He's there rejoicing over the tiniest of victories. One worship song I love says this, "All of my life, in every season, you are still God. I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship." It's in those times that we learn that NO MATTER WHAT, God is still God, and He still deserves to be worshipped. It's when we bring our heart to Him, completely broken, and make a CHOICE to worship, is when we begin to see His majesty in absolutely everything, even the worst of situations.