October 5, 2015

I don't quite have a title for this post mostly because I haven't yet decided what I'm going to put in it. There is so much...

Over the last 2 months I've been introduced (as you can see from my previous post) to a group of people who are not just having a "Bible study" but actually own and USE dictionaries, concordances, commentaries etc. Why is this important? Well, because we come from an Americanized mindset and don't have all the facts or knowledge to always properly breakdown scripture. We are not scholars in Latin or Hebrew nor do we have the word bank that the writers of the Bible had nor the proper context. It really is beautiful and I've grown so much in such a short time. Thank you Lord.

In the middle of all this change in my life, I've had the privilege of meeting up with a friend to start praying. When we started it was mostly listening to sermons and worship music and just basking in the presence of the Lord and feeling His broken heart for the people and also feeling His love. It one day turned into a, "Hey, we should start praying during the week." So we did. We had no idea what we were doing except that we wanted to seek His face and only do what He wanted us to do and pray the way He would want us to pray. So again, we spend time in the word and we would walk around Palmdale and pray in the Spirit or talk or both and then get the Word out. We began understanding that the purpose of our praying was to begin breaking down and soaking the atmosphere with the Word of God and calling out the demonic strongholds that are over this Antelope Valley. We soon realized that we needed a battle plan but didn't know what that would look like and to be quite honest, are still in process. My prayer partner had the idea of learning how to pray straight from the Bible. Now I know this would seem like a DUH moment, but when you've heard so many people pray or THINK you know, going back to the root and the Son of God Himself is the ONLY place to start a foundation.

I feel like that's what is happening. A foundation of something that will last far beyond me or my prayer partner. That our names would be forgotten and only the name of Jesus would remain after we are gone. This place that has been called barren, the armpit of California, the black hole, a wasteland and one of our cities, Lancaster as the #1 most stressful city in California with Palmdale being #5 will be called a place where the Spirit of God dwells. A place people go to find peace and rest in the one true God. It will become an Oasis for anyone who is spiritually dry to come drink from the fountain of Living Water.

That is what we are asking God for. We are asking God for THIS land. For THESE people. Right NOW. It has already begun.

I've been a part of UYA or United Young Adults for the past 2 months and started going to the prayer before service and have already seen a drastic change in the format and focus of the sermons and services. Last night there were two speakers I know are seekers of God and the sermon was truth spoken in love and they prayed for the infilling of the Holy Spirit to empower those who already had a relationship with Christ.

That is the first time in I don't know how many years I've seen it. It wasn't this crazy rolling around emotional moment but a sweet, sincere answer to the call of becoming ambassadors of Christ. I just prayed and sat in awe of what was happening right before my eyes. The little prayers of us as individuals, the consistency and steadfastness to not let go of this vision until it comes to fruition was barely even touching the surface in this church service. I sat with my friend and said, "This is it, this is how it starts."

Now we need to keep praying, keep seeking, keep yearning and learning or else this will be just another flicker of a flame and then die out like all the rest. We will not give in and we will not give up. This is only the beginning. I already understand that it won't be easy and that there will be many obstacles, the years of death that has been spoken over this place and the people in it and our own flesh getting in the way of what God is wanting to do.