Changing the 'Norm'

Our world is changing, no doubt about it. Unfortunately, we can't honestly claim that it is getting better. Every day, new battles are arising and the new generations of Pentecost have more challenges being presented to them. I am in a battle with the norm.-with the norm of the world and even with the norm of the church.

The world says that gay is normal. The world says that violence is normal. The world says that many things that go completely against the word of God are normal. It has turned an ear of ignorance to so many important and dangerous issues, deeming them 'normal' when they are actually incredibly far from any such thing.

The church says that backsliding is normal. (It happens, you know? Natural processes.) The church says that sin is normal. (Everyone does it, right?) The church declares many things to be normal that should never be in the first place.
I say that revival should be normal. Sinners and backsliders running to altars of repentance during preaching should be normal. Saints fighting in the Spirit and being used in the Kingdom should be normal. Churches sending out missionaries, evangelists, pastors, and teachers should be normal. The Body of Christ rallying together in warfare and in prayer should be normal. The use of the Gifts of the Spirit should be normal.
Why isn't it?

Rather than it being a competition, rather than focusing on what society is currently accepting, rather than trying to ensure that we are 'politically correct', why don't we make a new normal? Why can't we raise the bar? Why can't we have a more powerful experience than they did in the book of Acts?

What is holding us back?

Normal.
Everyone wants to be normal. Everyone wants to fit in and go unnoticed by the mockers and naysayers.

Why are we allowing a few people to decide what is normal for the world? I want to decide the normal.

I want the normal to be moves of God sweeping through so powerfully that our mere mortal bodies can barely stand in the presence of Jehovah. I want normal to be people getting the Holy Ghost at a turnpike toll booth because a van of young people are having a prayer meeting that is so explosive, no man can deny it. I want the new normal to be people being healed on outreach because a few saints had enough faith to pray for someone that was sick and needed a healing.

I want a new normal.

Do you? What can you envision in your new normal?
Let's make it happen.

Romans 8:31

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

My Strength

As some of you know, I've really been lifting weights and things to get my strength up. Just kidding. The only weight that I've been lifting is a loaded fork.

I just got some insight last night and it pretty much amazed me, so I wanted to share it.

We often hear, especially growing up in the church, that "the joy of the Lord is our strength". What does that mean? I, along with many other people I'm sure, believed that it meant that the Lord would give us joy to strengthen us right? Well last night totally changed my mind about this. Check it out;

The joy of the Lord is our strength.
Our strength is the joy of the Lord.
Our strength is the Lord's joy.

We get strength, when we bring the Lord joy.

We read our Bible. It brings the Lord joy, and it gives us strength.
We pray. It brings the Lord joy, and we get strength.
We spread the gospel. It brings the Lord joy, and we get strength.

BOOM.

I get strength when I bring the Lord joy. You get strength when you bring the Lord joy. So your walk with God is getting tough? Go ahead, bring the Lord some joy. *runs aisles*
Is this just me, or is that not pretty amazing?

Just thought I'd share that tidbit. Be blessed! ;)

All in God's Time

Young people get a lot of pressure. From society. From school. From friends and family. From the government. And even from the church. It surrounds us and is constantly jostling us, hoping to get our attention long enough to change us.-either for better or worse. We get pressure to be in a relationship, to follow after a certain career, to vote a particular way, to be a particular person. Sometimes these pressures have negative influence in our lives and we have to learn to combat them so that we don't succumb to every pressure that comes along.
At this particular point in my life, the pressure gets increased a little bit more. All we hear is, 'What are you going to do?', 'Where are you going to work?', 'Who are you going to be?' and so on. Its strenuous and intense. I'm trying to follow the will of God, but am I? Can I even hear His voice through the crowd of people interrogating me?
And of course, we have to factor in the pressure of the world. Pressure is continually increasing. Gay marriage, humanism, new age beliefs are all on the rise.-and that is barely scratching the surface. There are fights, riots, shootings, and other acts of violence imposed on the people that dare to take a stand. (Why would we stand up when we could be killed or persecuted for it?)
So as young people, one thing that we hear often is that it is time. It is 'time to grow up' or it is 'time to embrace change' or it is 'time to settle down and have a relationship'. We have to be careful what we let ourselves listen to and who we submit ourselves too.
I've thought a lot about this and asked myself some questions, truly wanting to know. Who am I listening to? What are they saying?-Is it something that could help me or does it have the potential to lead my soul down the wrong path? I don't want anything to hinder my relationship with God or inhibit my work for God. I don't want to open the door to a voice that leads me astray and have to live with that for the rest of my life. -And I definitely do not want to get in the way of God's timing. Its too important to me. All His way, all His time. All the time. I mean that.