A Lovesick Generation

               I just got finished writing my last blog post, “The Emotions of God” and something continued to stir inside of me again. I am gaining that sense of urgency yet again. I have a new sense of passion for God that is truly deeper than ever before. The flame in my spirit for Him began to well up to a higher heat of intensity. I can hear Him calling me by name yet again. His presence is falling on my face now as I type. It is such a heavy presence of love consuming my entire being. He is in the very room with me enticing me to go into a communing place with Him. I am more lovesick for Him than I have ever been in my life. This passion left me for a few months, but I continued to dig and pursue Him no matter what I felt like, and He has faithfully given me this burning yet again. It is like a deep groaning in my inner man for a higher knowledge for who He is. It is like being fulfilled but empty all at the same time. His presence is so magnificent and fulfilling, but it only leads me to longing for more and understanding I will never have enough. It is an hour to become addicted to Christ. It is a time where nothing else should matter, but to spend just a moment in His presence. We are to relish the times that we have with Him. He reminisces of these special moments with Him. He desires for us to have a lovesick feeling for Him for all of eternity as He is lovesick for us. I am so in love with Him just to feel Him with me is so overwhelming. My emotions are growing and tears are welling up. I cannot control myself, but to cry out for more, and to ask that He reveals more of who He is to me. His very breath is in the room that I type in. I can feel His wind swirl throughout the room, and it is only for the reason that I have called out to Him. He is here because I long for Him to be with me. He is here to let me feel His emotions that He has for me and others. He knows that I am truly lovesick for Him, and His people. I can feel His hand on the covenant place in my heart. I just pray that those that read this have this same encounter with Him. I just pray that you too become lovesick for the One that has created us to love Him. We need to get to the point where we eat less, sleep less, and live righteously without even knowing it because of our passion to pursuing Him. I can feel a Holy griping in my heart that is alluring me closer to Him. He longs for the same with you. He wants to allure you to His heartbeat. Let us have the same experience that John had with God in John 13:23, “23 Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.” Let us rest on the very bosom of Christ. Let us lay on His chest to hear His heartbeat for us. With each beat of His heart, His heart is saying, “I love you, I long for you, come up here, spend time with me, I burn for you, and you are my beloved.” To have a lovesick generation is to have a generation that will change the global atmosphere.

                With lovesickness for Him as you walk, His love protrudes through the darkness of this world. With His love in you no enemy can overcome. His love is what conquered sin, and He is asking us to walk in that very same love. I know I used this scripture in a blog a few weeks back, but I cannot get away from it. Jeremiah 2:2, “2 "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.” He is remembering the times that we went after Him with everything that we had. He wants us to become as lovesick for Him as He is for us. He wants us back into His embrace, in the covenant place with Him. O beloved, the secret place with Him is so overwhelming. I am really having a hard time keeping myself together as I type this, because His presence is resting over me so heavily right now. My eyes are pouring tears like a river flows violently from its mouth. My belly feels as though it is going to burst, because it is so full of His love. I am feeling such a holiness, such a love, and such a pleasantry that I cannot contain this passion that I have for the One who created me. He wants to spend time with us only so that we can experience His love.  I am mourning for y’all so that you too can have what I am encountering. This is not a hour to give up, but an hour to press in to the deeper things of God. Let us cry out for more, because we have right now is not enough. He can never give us enough of Himself if we are lovesick for Him. He will always give us more if we ask for more. We cannot be complacent to where we are at right now. Lord a pray for a burning hunger to arise in those that read this. Instill in them a passion greater than their own capacity for You that You can only give. O Lord, let a lovesick generation arise. Let us arise to the positions that we are called to be in. Let us not be wimpy Christians, but mighty love warriors for You that burn with passion.  Let the call come forth, and let the chosen ones assemble. Let us burn aflame with Your love so that lives are transformed just by us passing by. Bring to us a greater presence of You that has ever been on this earth. Let this revival be greater than the revival in Acts Chapter 2. O Lord, each time you knock at my door I fling it wide and invite You in. Take me to the chambers of Your kingdom, so that I can see Your beauty.  Song of Solomon 5:8, “8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, That you tell him I am lovesick!” When you find Him let Him know that I am even more lovesick for Him than ever before. He is asking for us to continue to search for Him, even in the wilderness and destitute place.

                The Shulamite woman was so lovesick for her Bridegroom that she began to declare who He was to her friends in Song of Solomon Chapter 5:10-16. We are to declare the beauty of God. As a man is to compliment a woman, so are we to compliment our Bridegroom. He is always compliments us, telling us how beautiful we are, how lovely we are, and how He delights in us. Let us make the same declarations to Him. Song of Solomon 5:16, “16 His mouth is most sweet, Yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, And this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!” His presence is so sweet, His face is so lovely, His eyes are so enticing, and He is altogether beautiful. To gain the revelation of being a Bride of Christ is a life altering revelation. Nothing can contain this love I have for Him. I feel as though my heart is getting ready to burst at the seams. My heart hurts for a longing for more of Him. Let this lovesick generation arise. Let us cry out to live as He lives, to love as He loves, to yearn as He yearns, and to pray as He prays. O Brides, He is romancing us into the secret place with Him so that when opposition arises we act in a place of love. He has wrapped us in His wings, He is our shield, He is or strength, and He is our strong tower.

                Lord I pray that those that read this feel the flame in their heart for You become rekindled and grow ablaze. I pray that this generation becomes lovesick for you as they once did in their youth. I pray that we return to the old ways, and the ancient paths as those that lived before us. I pray that You pour out the same anointing as those that were on Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Elijah. Let us live as Christ lives, Let us have compassion as He did, let us lead by example, and let us learn who You are. Lord I pray that we burn for You with the same fire that You burn for us. Overtake us with Your presence Lord. Consume us to the very depths of our heart. Let this generation be a generation of holiness and love. Let this generation be one that is not conformed to this world, but transformed into Your likeness. Let us pant after you are the deer pants for the water. Come and awaken a new love that has never been awakened. Wake up Your Brides Lord, so that we as united ones under You can take over this world. Let us dominate this world with Your love. Let these last years to be years that are filled with those who are consumed by Your love. I pray for a holy gripping to take over our hearts. Come Lord, we need more of You. Let us decrease to that You can increase. Give us a deeper understanding and revelation of Your love, and I seal this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen!

The Emotions of God

God has been really talking to me about His emotions of late, and how people lack the understanding that He is an emotional God. So many people have an ideology that God is just sitting on His throne just looking down on us with much detachment. We have characterized Him into a stoic God with no emotion. Some of us believe that the only emotions He has are negative emotions of anger, disappointment, and resent. We need to stop putting God in the view of our likeness, and begin to view ourselves in His likeness. Throughout the Word it is riddled with the emotions of God.

In Psalms 30:5 it states, “For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; Weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning.” In this scripture we can see four emotions of God. First He is a God of anger, but this is not an everlasting anger but a momentary anger. He is a God of righteous anger against the injustices of His people. He is a God of favor, which in turn is a God of pleasure and set affection. I thought it was interesting how in this scripture it was stated that His anger was for a moment, but favor was for a lifetime. Think about that statement for a moment. Most of us believe that His anger is for a lifetime and His favor is for a moment. He has a lifetime set affection for us. He longs for us and burns for us for all of eternity. If we could only grasp just a portion of the reality that He loves us forever no matter what we do. Weeping only endures for a night, but joy always comes in the morning. He is a God of sorrow, but only in a sense that He mourns and intercedes for us. His compassion for us draws Him into weeping. He longs for us to come back to Him as our first love. He is interceding for our eyes to be opened to His beauty. He lives to intercede on behalf of us (Hebrews 7:25 25 Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them). He hears our cries. He knows our desires, and He burns to labor with us in prayer. We have our own free will, and it is a matter of what decisions we make whether or not we see the fullness of Him. He is a joyful God as well. Let us get out of the mindset that God is somber and serious all the time. You must understand that we are made in His image, and let’s face it some people here on earth are hilarious. If people on earth have a sense of humor then God Himself must have a sense of humor. He is very much a Person like it states in the amplified version of Philippians 3:10.

I am a living testimony that once you allow God to take over your life your emotions become His emotions and your desires become His desires. I am not saying that I have everything He wants for me, because I know that I have so much to work on. What I am saying is that from the moment of me laying down my life to serve Him I have become more like Him in the sense of my emotions. I used to be hardened and jaded to people. I had a very negative view on life. There was little joy in my life, and I lived depressed and angry. I had no compassion for others, and simply lived for myself. In the past few years my whole demeanor has changed as a person. I live to serve others, I love what He loves, I hate what He hates, and I burn with compassion for people. When God shows me somebodies heart I cannot control myself and I break down and mourn for them. Tears begin to well up and stream down my face as I intercede for their hearts to be mended and complete. He does the same thing when He sees us get hurt. He breaks down with much emotion and mourns for us. He mourns and intercedes for our pains, and rejoices over our victory. To have the emotions of God is such an important thing, and the only way that is accomplished is to gain a personal relationship with Him. We must gain knowledge of God to know His emotions. He is constantly showing His love by pouring into us His very Person when we search for Him. He shows us His love by having mercy on us, by sending His Son to die for us, and by creating us for the purpose of companionship. Many books in the Bible are parallelisms to the Him as the Bridegroom and us as the Bride. His love is shown throughout the Word, and yet we cannot grasp that His strongest emotion is love. I could give numerous verses in the Word that show that He loves us, that show that He is emotion, and that show that He longs for us. It is completely up to each of us individually to find out how emotional God is by gaining knowledge of who He is. He wants us to know His emotions so that we may live as He does, and that we understand what He is feeling. Do you not want the love of your life to know your feelings and emotions? Do you not want your bride or groom to have a knowledge of who you are, and what is on your mind? He is no different He longs to let us know His emotions, so that we can partake in the interceding for this world. We are to partake of His love, so that we can show others His love. Everything started and will end on this earth with the emotion of love.  It is our inheritance to feel what God feels. John 17:24, "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” There is so much emotion in this cry out to God. Jesus desires for us to be with Him where He is at, so that we can obtain His glory. He wants to be with us. What a weighty reality to have. He loves us so much and desires us so much that He burns for us to be with Him wherever He is at. We are to gain revelation by knowing who God is, and experiencing His love.

Recently I was given the position of youth pastor at the ministry I serve under, Touched By Grace Ministries. If you would have known me before God showed me His emotions you would have questioned such a position. I generally hated children, especially youth. They were annoying, bratty, and all around nuisances to society. Within the first week of being a part of the ministry I developed a love for the kids and the youth. My heart was transformed by God to feel what He felt for them. The young ones in this nation are so lost, and have no knowledge of who God is or what they are called to be. My mandate from heaven is to instill a passion in their hearts to gain knowledge of God by living by example. I am determined and driven to live a life consecrated to God not just because my love for Him, but to show this younger generation that blessings follow obedience, that His favor follows those that truth in Him, and that if you stay in the will of God He will show you your path. I want to lead a youth group that is more on fire than any adult congregation. I long to lead a youth group that lives by example, and are willing vessels to do whatever the Holy Spirit guides them to do. I want a youth group that will fast in pray in these times of crisis. I want a youth group that will lead people back to God’s embrace. This youth group will be one that is here to take over, and take back every soul that satan tried to steal. This youth group will understand that they have an inheritance with God. This youth group will not look at themselves as mere youth, but as righteous and holy warriors for Christ. This youth group will be one to change the world. This is the vision God has given me, this is the emotion God has stirred in me for them, and this is the passion in the wells of my spirit. I will not bend, because I cannot until the mission God has imparted to me is finished. I have been given a love for the youth to lead the youth. I have been given an understanding of serving so I can serve them. He has imparted His emotions into my spirit so that I can live for others. Times may get hard, but His delight in me is my driving force. His passion and love for me is what makes mountains seem like molehills. Let us stand together in the gap for the seed of this world. Let us intercede for them as He does. He yearns for their hearts to be turned away from the idolatry and harlotry of this world so that they may know His love. Let us show these youth who God is and His emotions by being so consumed by Him we only show who He is. Let us arise to take on the emotions of the Lofty One on the throne.

The Love of Your Betrothal

As many of y’all know we just had the first of three women’s retreats up here in Moss Hill, and I can say that this was a much needed weekend of the manifest presence of God. I have been having a very hard time with the mental warfare for the past 2 months or so, and God brought so much clarity this weekend. Prior to this weekend I was noticing that I was becoming a bit more whiney than usual, and my attitude wasn’t the best. I felt so lost, I felt as if the revelation wells had dried, and I no longer felt God. God reminded me that living for Him is not a feeling, but a knowing. At times you are going to walk through some hard things, but that is only in preparation to where you are going. What Lavonne preached this weekend really pierced the depths of my heart. She talked about the preparation of Ester for her king, and that the myrrh oil that was rubbed into her skin daily was for preparation for her to meet her Bridegroom. Myrrh is a representation of bitter oil and during our preparation stages the oil may feel bitter and hard but it is only to prepare us for a new season with the Bridegroom. God began to speak to me, and give me the vision of why I am here and why I am living my life consecrated for Him. I am here to live as an example for my generation, and every generation that is to follow. I have a mandate from God to take back this young generation to live only for Him. I burn in my heart to go after and pray for those young ones that are lost. I burn for them to get off of drugs, to not drink, to not get drawn into sex and pornography, so that they can live lives consecrated towards God. I am to live a life of holiness with no compromise, so that the younger generation can see that it can be done. I am to live this way to prove that not all Christians are just talk. God told me it is not about what you say, but about how you live. He is burning for a generation that has the knowledge of who He is, and that become friends of the Bridegroom as John the Baptist was (John 3:29). God has given us a call to virtue, which leads us into holiness. We are to live not for ourselves, but for the younger ones behind us. I refuse to allow things in the church to continue as usual. We had miracles occur this weekend. People that had to walk with canes walked without them, people that had broken hearts were restored, and people that had torn shoulders were healed. O, to have the glory and wonder restored to the church is what He is calling us to. We are not to whine any longer about what we go through, but are to rejoice for what He is preparing us for.

Jeremiah 2:2

2 "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.

                This scripture has been griping me to the core of my existence for the past week. I believe this is what God is saying in this very hour. God is so emotional, He has real emotions. He reminisces of the days of our youth. He remembers the beginning days of our Christian walks when we burned with passion for Him. He thinks of the days where we didn’t eat or sleep just because there was another meeting to go. He remembers when we would do anything to get more of Him, and when to just spend time with Him. We need to get back to our first love just as Hagar did with Hosea (Hosea 2:7). We used to go after Him in the wilderness, and now when we see a little lack of rain we abandon Him. Let us get back to the place where we searched for Him in the hardest places of our lives resting in full assurance that we will find Him. Let us sow our time in the wilderness place with Him, so that when He causes it to rain that we reap a good harvest bearing good fruit. He is wooing us to the secret place with Him. He is longing for us to run back to Him in the secret place. He wants to show us His heart. He wants for us to burn for Him as we once did in the early days. Let us run to His feet as Mary did just to hear Him speak (Luke 10:39). It is not about how much work we do, but how much time we allow ourselves to give to have a relationship with Him. The word betrothal means engaged to or promised to marry. He wants us to go back to the place of love as in an engagement. I have never been married or engaged, but I can imagine the excitement and love there is in engagement. Being married to God is no different than being married to a person on earth. The engagement and beginning of the marriage is so wonderful filled with puppy love, but as the marriage progresses it takes continual work. Yet again I speak from no experience but just simply from what I have seen. It takes work to upkeep that same burning love you have for your spouse that you had for them in the beginning. You will go through hard times, but true love endures all things. It is the same with God. You will go through things with Him in the marriage to Him, but you must remember the engagement to Him. He is always wooing us to a deeper place with Him. He is always longing to show us more love, but there comes pain with the growth process. Allow yourselves to rekindle that fire to burn for Him as you once did.

                Lord I pray that each of those people that read this gain a revelation of your love. I pray that they rekindle that first love fire that they had for You in their youth. I pray that they run after you in the wilderness, in the dry place, that they once did as before. I pray that you open their eyes to new facets of who they are in You. Take them deeper Lord, take them deeper in the secret place with You. Spark the same passion in their hearts for You, that You have for them. I pray that when they look at You or hear Your name their eyes burn with passionate desire. I pray a renewal of the kindness of their youth, and the love of their betrothal. We need more Lord. Let us decrease so that You can increase in our hearts. Give us a new understanding of being Your Brides. Teach us to love you when we do not feel Your love. Teach us to press deeper when we do not feel like it. Teach us to praise You when times get harder. O Lord, we long and burn for you as the seraphim do. Let this be sealed upon our hearts Daddy. We need you so much more. Shoot a fire throughout our bones. Send a reviving breath to our Spirits. Let us once again be wooed by Your love. Let there be a new betrothal to You as we had in the beginning. Let there be a longing and burning. Begin to say yes to Him as He asks for your hand. Let Him take you up here as it states in Revelation 4. Allow Him to show you things, great and wondrous things.  Let Him become the very essence of your life once again. Let us return to the place of first love. Do not feel guilty for falling out of love with Him, but yearn to run back to His embrace. Do not settle for where you are at, but yearn and long for more. Allow yourselves to be live in purified devotion for Him. He is awakening love yet again. He is awakening His Bride to a new love, to a deeper love. He wants our hearts flowing for Him like they were in the early day. Let everything for Him come forth from Your heart. Amen!

What is a Christian

I have been pondering this very question for the past few hours while trying to sleep. Sleep has somehow evaded me again tonight, and getting lost in thought I figured I should blog. There are so many today that claim to be “Christian” I just had to bring myself to the realization that most do not know what being Christian is. Society thinks being Christian is just simply saying that you are Christian, but not actually acting on the meaning. The church believes that being a Christian is being a good person, and going to church one to two times a week while putting money in a bucket. Dictionary.com gave the definition of Christian as exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike.  Now if being a Christian is exhibiting spirit that is Christlike then our actions are showing completely opposite of what the word itself means.

                When I was still in partying and not doing anything pertaining to Godly things in my life I still would say that I was a Christian. I would say this because of my upbringing of a Christian background, and that I still did believe Christ died for me. I had no revelation of what Christ did for me, but had the generic understanding of it all. I was a hypocrite at this point in my life.  I was smoking vast amounts of marijuana, taking pills, eating mushrooms, drinking alcohol, and living a life of debauchery while saying that I was a Christian. The adjective Christian has become so watered down that everybody thinks they are one if they have opened a Bible, or have been to a church. We need to allow ourselves to get back to the root meaning of what it is to be a Christian. We are to be like Christ was on this earth. We are to be full of love and compassion towards one another. We are to live as servants to others on this earth. We are to encompass the nine fruit of the spirit. We have allowed ourselves to think that we are doing “good” when in fact we are doing nothing. I understand that we are all progressing in God, and this walk is a process but we have grown so complacent with where we are at. There is so much more that we can gain by searching for more of Him. The moment that we stop striving for more of Him and thinking that we are doing good where we are, we have become spiritually immature.

John 13:5

5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.

                Jesus led with meekness and humbleness. He washed the feet of the very men that served Him. As ministers we are not to try to preach the gospel to pump up our own name, but to glorify His. To be a Christian is to be a servant. Christ said, “11 But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:11-12).” Ministers have gotten so lost in their own name that they forget that they are to be servants to their flock. I am personally scared to death to ever get to a point where I want to put my name above God’s name. I pray that I only walk as a servant to others, so that I can only bring glory to Him. Yes, it is great to have people be influenced by what I say and do, but it is better to have God say “Well done, good and faithful servant.” He is the reason that we need to live. He is the One that we need to look to in order to understand how we are to live our lives. Let us walk in love daily not allowing our tempers to get the best of us. I used to have a horrible temper, and I would explode and go on mass tirades over little things. God has broken me and taught me how to have self-control and patience. I still have to keep my temper under subjection at times, but it is one area in my life that I do not struggle as much with. Christ did get angry, but it was a righteous anger. He was angry that people we soliciting in the house of God, and drew them out with a whip. The Word says be angry and sin not (Psalms 4:4). Being angry is not a bad thing if it is out of a place of love and not hatred. Father’s get mad at their children when they do something they aren’t supposed to do, and they correct them. God does the same with us; He corrects us when we do wrong. Since God corrects us out of a place of love that is the way we are supposed to do it with others.  The two greatest commandments that we have are, “37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-39)” I guess what I am getting at is to be a Christian is to walk in love daily. I refuse to allow people to say their Christian one moment, and the next moment they are cussing up a storm.  The reason people have such a hatred towards Christianity is, because of the people that represent it falsely.

                If we are going to proclaim that we are Christians then we need to act accordingly. I do not even really use the term Christian when describing myself, but choose to use the phrase a follower of Christ. I do this because saying that I am Christian no longer holds any weight do to how horrible people have represented us. To live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). We are not even truly living unless we are living as Christ. Let us become so entranced by the beauty of God that we begin to become like Him. Let us get so lost in who He is that we being to live as He lives. Let us perform miracles, signs, and wonders as He did so that others can see how powerful our God truly is. We are to live as Christ to bring glory to Him, and for no other reason.

                People are always going to be watching how we live our lives, so let us live according to the Word. If you proclaim yourself to be a Christian then act like Christ did. You have no idea whose lives are affected by your walk of faith. If you happen to screw up along the way pick yourself up, and keep heading towards the path of righteousness. He shows so much mercy and grace towards us it is almost incomprehensible. I urge each and every one of you to show others who Christ really is, and not who others say He is. Use the personal relationship and understanding that you have of Christ as a guideline to lead your life. Blessings always follow obedience, and to be obedient is to be like Christ. Be a shining light as Christ was, so that others can see who God is that in doing so they will fall to their knees and proclaim Him as their God.  Remember we have nothing to earn salvation it was simply given to us. We are all capable of being like Christ, because that is what we created to be.