These last few weeks I have been hearing more and more people speak of the state our nation is in, and their opinion on the solution. They are mostly friends of mine, though some are just random things I find on the internet. All of them are from a Christian perspective, believing that the only way anything will ever be fixed is if this nation turns back to God and repents of its ways. While I definitely agree on that particular point, I am heartbroken at their thought process, which is basically something along the lines of "It's going to take thousands of families raising up generation after generation of families who walk in the fear of the Lord to ever see visible changes in the culture." It's been said in different ways in different contexts, but that's the gist of it.
How utterly heart wrenching. To be so completely blind to the raw power of the Holy Spirit that you are convinced it will take generations upon generations to change the heart of a culture.
Let me share something with you.
Jesus changed the world.
He was one person.
He lived for 33 years.
He changed the world.
In less time than is required to be considered a generation, the entire known world was radically changed.
Because One.
Knew.
The power.
And He imparted it to us.
Don't even try to tell me "Well obviously Jesus could do it; He's God!" True. However. When He came to earth He gave up His divine nature and became fully man. He had to function in communication with His Father the same way we do. Because otherwise it would have been cheating. He couldn't have kept part of His divinity and then told us to live the same way without it.
But He was empowered by the Holy Spirit. He knew His identity, and He knew His purpose: the Son of God, born to bring Heaven to earth. (Matthew 6:10)
He gave us the same mission. Our mandate is simple: Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons (Matthew 10:8). Not of ourselves, but through the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through us.
It's actually really easy. Be obedient, trust God, and miracles happen. Period. If you don't trust God to invade the impossible now, how can you say you believe He will after thousands of generations? "Well, God will be more free to move after hundreds of thousands of believers have been raised up." Mmm…. I disagree. Numbers have nothing to do with the moving of God to change the hearts of people. The Spirit may be more openly welcome in those instances, but this generation has a desperate hunger for a radical encounter with the living God, and we say "Well you'll have to just raise your kids to serve God so they can raise their kids….. Until God moves in the culture" No. Not on my watch. I refuse to put the responsibility of bringing people into an encounter with the power of God on the generations to come. It happens now. Freedom happens now. Healing happens now. Chains are broken now.
And don't tell me the miraculous power of God was only for Jesus, or only for the early church. God is the same yesterday, today, and FOREVER. He doesn't change His methods. Radical encounter with the raw power of God is still His modus operandi. I am living proof of that. I can tell story after story of how God has healed me, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And not only me, but those around me.
When I was fourteen, I tore a ligament in my wrist. But instead of having to go through eight weeks of a cast above my elbow and months of PT, God healed it, and to this day I've had no problems.
My freshman year of college I had a really bad flare-up of bursitis in my shoulder, which I'd dealt with throughout high school because of sports. It usually happened 2-3 times a year, but that time it had gotten so bad I couldn't even carry my backpack across campus because it hurt so much. Once again, God intervened and it hasn't hurt since.
And this summer, it got even better. My entire life I've been lactose intolerant; therefore, no milk, no ice cream, limited cheese and yogurt, etc. Two of my friends prayed for me one night this summer and since then I've eaten….. Ohh, a lottt of ice cream, and had plenty of milk. With no issues. And believe me, even the month before I had tried to eat some to see if I had just outgrown it. Nope. BAD choice. I got sooo sick.
Last January one of my small group girls' grandpa got radically healed of esophageal cancer.
In July my little brother got healed from chronic headaches.
I could go on. In three months we saw multiple healings from cancer that was expected to take lives. Chronic back problems, asthma, four people in one month got healed of lactose intolerance. This last month has been crazy-full of God stories. And on and on it goes.
My. God. Heals.
When I came to college, I was broken, insecure, and alone. God broke through the walls I put up and healed things in my past I'd never dealt with before; He brought me into a family that showed me love like I'd never seen; and He has shown me how to walk in confidence of who I am as a daughter of the KING.
In less than six months God has radically transformed my brothers and they have become world changers. One of them is preaching at the largest, most God-centered, and anointed youth group in Fargo tonight.
Bible studies are happening on the high school campuses in Fargo/Moorhead. Healings are a regular occurrence downtown and at the skate parks. Walk across NDSU and you'll see crutches being thrown in the garbage because they're not needed anymore. I can't even study in the Union in the evenings anymore because the whole place is filled with Bible studies. No exaggeration. Seriously. It's almost frustrating, but the reason is way too amazing for me to complain. And worship nights happen almost every night.
This city is getting rocked.
And it doesn't stop here.
It takes one person.
One person being so passionately filled with the Holy Spirit that they will not stop seeking a move of God until they get it. The thing you need to remember is that the supernatural realm is God's natural realm. And that's the realm we are commanded to operate in. We trust God so much that we can jump head-first into a situation where we will fall flat on our faces unless God shows up. Give Him that kind of faith, and I promise you, He will show up.
One person.
One person to be Jesus to one other person. To refuse to stand by and be the "average" Christian who goes to church and reads their Bible and sticks to their little comfort zone of "Christian" friends. To bring one other person into an encounter with the living God. To be the channel God uses to change one life.
And then that person takes it to the next.
Repeat.
See a pattern?
It doesn't take long for a fire to spread.
Just one person willing to burn.
Other cities in North Dakota are catching fire. It's spreading. Northern Cali is getting rocked. An entire culture is being transformed because we have a generation of people who are so hungry for a move of God that they refuse to wait any longer.
In less than a generation, the early church moved throughout the known world and proclaimed the name of Christ. They brought healing, deliverance, freedom, and salvation. They ROCKED their cities.
We have more people. And the same Power.
What's our excuse?
