Remember that time I went to Africa and it completely changed my life? Well, that happened again. Except this time I didn't have to leave the country. I just had to go to Atlanta, GA to take part in Passion 2012.
When I left, I was incredibly excited. I was anticipating great things. To be honest, I thought I might be anticipating too much at one point, and I was afraid I would be let down. I wondered if I would really hear from God or be moved by the speakers, music, and people. Sometimes I get myself so worked up about something that it ends up being a disappointment. Turns out, my expectations weren't high enough. The experience I had in the four days in the Georgia Dome rivals my two weeks in Kenya. I never thought I'd experience God move in my life that immediately or obviously again...but He did. It's going to take me a very long time to process all that I learned, which means you'll probably get about 20 installments of "Passion 2012" blogs, so I hope you are ready.
I honestly don't even know where to start. Over the course of the week, I feel like the Lord really laid specific words and phrases on my heart. I made a list of them all and came up with 14 different topics. Who knows...more may come, but I guess I will just begin by going through them one by one...
#1. Hearing From God
So, let me get transparent for a second. Until this week - when I very clearly heard the voice of God -I'm not so sure I ever really put stock into actually hearing from Him. I mean, I think I believed that if I read the Word, listened to the leadership and my peers within my church community, and prayed, the decisions I made were based on Biblical truths and therefore were right by God. When I felt like I should do a certain thing or not do a certain thing, I guess I thought I was just making good decisions because I was doing all the "church" things I was supposed to be doing in my life. But actually hearing from God directly? That seemed dicey. I didn't realize that I wasn't paying attention to His voice until He was literally screaming at me. I ignored the fact that there is no way I can make good decisions on my own. That small voice wasn't my conscious - it was my Savior! It's crazy how I let doubt creep into my heart without even knowing it, and it's even crazier how God loves me (and you!) enough to point that doubt out.
I think the most powerful links to God we have are His Word and prayer. There is power in the Word of God, and when we are eagerly seeking to learn and connect, He will speak to us through it. And as for prayer, that is a direct connection to our Father. We get to have conversations with Him anywhere and at anytime...and we don't take advantage of it! One of the most powerful parts of Passion 2012 was just a simple reading of Ephesians that allowed us time to just stop, be still, and ask Jesus to speak to us. In those moments of stillness and quiet, I knew that our Father was speaking to each of us. We just had to be willing to ask and listen.
I think Christians and non Christians alike often wonder how to hear from God, how to know it's Him that's speaking, how to separate our selfish desires from our willing surrender...and in that wondering, we over analyze, we doubt and question, and we miss the point. Hearing from God isn't about the Heavens opening up or our Bible magically fluttering to the exact page we need it on. It's about being vulnerable and earnest in our seeking of His voice. It's about surrendering doubt and becoming a captive of our faith. It's knowing that He wants to speak to us and desires an intimate relationship with us. We just have to ask.
When I left, I was incredibly excited. I was anticipating great things. To be honest, I thought I might be anticipating too much at one point, and I was afraid I would be let down. I wondered if I would really hear from God or be moved by the speakers, music, and people. Sometimes I get myself so worked up about something that it ends up being a disappointment. Turns out, my expectations weren't high enough. The experience I had in the four days in the Georgia Dome rivals my two weeks in Kenya. I never thought I'd experience God move in my life that immediately or obviously again...but He did. It's going to take me a very long time to process all that I learned, which means you'll probably get about 20 installments of "Passion 2012" blogs, so I hope you are ready.
I honestly don't even know where to start. Over the course of the week, I feel like the Lord really laid specific words and phrases on my heart. I made a list of them all and came up with 14 different topics. Who knows...more may come, but I guess I will just begin by going through them one by one...
#1. Hearing From God
So, let me get transparent for a second. Until this week - when I very clearly heard the voice of God -I'm not so sure I ever really put stock into actually hearing from Him. I mean, I think I believed that if I read the Word, listened to the leadership and my peers within my church community, and prayed, the decisions I made were based on Biblical truths and therefore were right by God. When I felt like I should do a certain thing or not do a certain thing, I guess I thought I was just making good decisions because I was doing all the "church" things I was supposed to be doing in my life. But actually hearing from God directly? That seemed dicey. I didn't realize that I wasn't paying attention to His voice until He was literally screaming at me. I ignored the fact that there is no way I can make good decisions on my own. That small voice wasn't my conscious - it was my Savior! It's crazy how I let doubt creep into my heart without even knowing it, and it's even crazier how God loves me (and you!) enough to point that doubt out.
I think the most powerful links to God we have are His Word and prayer. There is power in the Word of God, and when we are eagerly seeking to learn and connect, He will speak to us through it. And as for prayer, that is a direct connection to our Father. We get to have conversations with Him anywhere and at anytime...and we don't take advantage of it! One of the most powerful parts of Passion 2012 was just a simple reading of Ephesians that allowed us time to just stop, be still, and ask Jesus to speak to us. In those moments of stillness and quiet, I knew that our Father was speaking to each of us. We just had to be willing to ask and listen.
I think Christians and non Christians alike often wonder how to hear from God, how to know it's Him that's speaking, how to separate our selfish desires from our willing surrender...and in that wondering, we over analyze, we doubt and question, and we miss the point. Hearing from God isn't about the Heavens opening up or our Bible magically fluttering to the exact page we need it on. It's about being vulnerable and earnest in our seeking of His voice. It's about surrendering doubt and becoming a captive of our faith. It's knowing that He wants to speak to us and desires an intimate relationship with us. We just have to ask.
Comments
Post a Comment