emotional high…

Since I have gotten back from camp it seems that all I have heard about is how satan is on the attack. He truly thinks that most of us are on an emotional high…well I got news 4 him!  I have continued reading the verses that we concentrated on one night in camp and I see how God wants me to be renewed daily.  I have heard this statement so many times” I wish I could just feel God” or “I wish I could worship like them”.  I have been in both of these places and it can leave you feeling numb and as if God doesn’t hear the cries of your heart. We look to people for fashion and we look to people for constant validation, for directions, advice, and music and so on… I realized that we allow people to lead us spiritually and then when we see a decline in their joy, their passion, and their worship we suddenly think something is wrong with our relationship with Christ.  In Exodus 33:7-11 Moses is going into the tent to experience God and to be in His presence. The people would stand outside of the tent while Moses was in it and would worship…but then when Moses would leave so would the people (stay with me now) In 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 it says Moses would cover his face with a veil to keep the Israelites from seeing the radiance fading. When they saw Moses worshiping and glowing with radiance they in return also worshiped and when the fading occurred so would their worship. But Joshua he stayed at the tent wanting to continue to worship not because of Moses but because he wanted to encounter God for himself.  I stood in church this past Sunday evening and I asked the students what was the one thing that they wanted to see God change in their own lives.  The answers were deep and encouraging but many of them said “allowing others to dictate my worship and how I serve God”.  Once we realize that serving God is not a one time deal, or that falling in  love with God is a daily renewing of the heart (2 Corinthians 4:16) we begin to understand that its not about how we feel.  I was talking to one of my very close friends last night about passion and wanting to express it. I thought about that over and over and I see her passion and her love for God. But even though it is so evident to me it’s not to her. She feels it but says “I can’t get it out”. Why is that? I truly think it’s because she is basing her love for God with the way she feels. She is very active with her kids, and her husband and she cares deeply for people.  Many of us need to experience this freedom. The freedom that we ourselves take away! We allow satan to fill our thoughts with past failures, failed expectations and ultimately the fear of not being good enough. It says in 2 Corinthians 3:17 where the spirit of the Lord is there is FREEDOM. This tells me that its attainable we just have to shut out the very one who wants to enslave us over and over and over again. I am thirsty for God and I want to be in His presence all the time not just at conferences, or worship on Sundays…Its sitting at the red light looking up and seeing the most amazing sunset or watching my kids play in the yard as I feel that fresh breeze sweep across my face!  I have thought more and more about my passion and how I truly want to change the world.  I think about so many people who have such deep rooted passions in their hearts but never allow their dreams to become reality just because of fear.  Once you begin to see God’s power everything begins to change. I am watching so many of my friends see God’s power in their lives and their anxieties have begun to slowly come down and they are learning to trust with abandon!

Today as you sit here reading this glimpse into my life I want you to look at things you wanted to accomplish but didn’t, or dreamed of becoming but stopped and realize that God made you with a PERFECT purpose. I was made with perfection in mind! Embrace that and know that God will equip you, provide for you, and show mercy to you, open doors for you and BLOW YOUR MIND in the process!

Exodus 33 ⁷ Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. ⁸ And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. ¹⁰ Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped each at the entrance to his tent. ¹¹ The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.

2 Corinthians 3: ¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. ¹³We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away,. ¹⁴But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect^[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.