A Place for Corporate.

Over this spring break, I got a change to go with a team of about 30 others to Chicago. Not really to evangelize or anything, but simply to strengthen the church there. We held a total of 6 prayer meetings, as well as having group devotional and worship times. One of the days, we went to a Onething regional in Rockford and ran a prophesying room, prophesying over 180 people in three hours.

 And in Chicago, not really for the first time, but for the first recognizable time, I got to see corporate encounter in full effect.

Every night, during our prayer meetings, and then also on the mornings where we held personal devotional times and then group worship, the Holy Spirit's presence was tangible. The later into the week we got, the thicker it became until finally, the day before we left, we held a prayer meeting in Zion. Now, Zion was the first town born out of the Azusa street revival. If you ever go there, pay attention to the street names; you'll find them all to be biblical. You can drive dow David and Gabriel street, etc. But since then, as often happens, people forget and time wears away at things... And it isn't really a revival town, any more.

But that doesn't mean the Spirit is dead. The Holy Spirit never dies, nor forgets.

Very few actually came to the meeting. But the ones who did came clearly had been interceding for this for a while. Actually, it turns out every church we went to had been interceding for someone to come from somewhere and bring a refreshing. And bring a refreshing we did. It's what we meant to do, and when you go into a situation willing for the HS to use you, consider yourself a tool.

By the end of the night, with many of the church members already drunk in the spirit, their pastor stands up and announces that, before we leave, he wants to pray over us. All of us. Individually. He wants his church to bless us... So could we please line up in front?

Not knowing what to expect, we shuffled up to the front an stood in front of the stage. Members of the church came forward and, one by one, each of us got prayer.

It was incredible. One of the women, she just went straight down the line prophesying and nailing each of us, hitting on personal stuff immediately. Not bad stuff. Just... Stuff only God would know. For instance, I'd been missing having close friends and family nearby because we all hug each other. In a group with 9 girls and 19 guys, hugging is a little more awkward and sparse. I'd been telling God all day how lonely I was and how I just needed a hug.

No one knew.

The lady comes to me, looks at me in silence for a moment, then says "You know what? I just want to hug you." And proceeds to do so.

God hears guys. Just btw.

 Anyways. By the time they were done, about a third of us had been filled with the joy of the Spirit and were on the floor. It took all we had to be able to tear ourselves away from the place and go home.

The next morning when we met, we were a totally different group. Everyone was visibly lighter and happier and more refreshed, even more so than we had been every other morning.

And that's when I figured it out.

What I was seeing was a corporate encounter with the Holy Spirit, and a corporate filling with new wine, unto a refreshing.

See, that's what I fell like we've lost sight of. It's easy to do. If there is a time for everything, then when denotes the times? Why do things happen when they happen?
I said the wine isn't bad, but I didn't give an example of when it wasn't. Well. Here is your example. We spent a week using our spring break, time given to us to rest, going to other churches and missions and serving them. Every church we left was refreshed by the HS, either filled with new wine or simply lighter in spirit. The joy of God affected a change of heart, a strengthening and a reminder. And it refreshed us. Instead of coming back to school worn out because we'd spent the week fighting to keep ourselves to a standard, we came back filled with life and only worn out emotionally because we'd been made so sensitive to the spirit over the week.

The spirit is given us to comfort and to teach. he is known as the Helper, as the Comforter. So when we become spirit filled, it is logical that we should have comfort at all times. But as humans always have and always will on this earth... We forget. Like Israel in the desert, we forget that we have the strength of God with us. We forget who made us and who loves us.

The Awakening brought revelation of who we were in God. It strengthened us, refreshed us when we needed it. We brought a sort of awakening to the places we went in Chicago, bringing a reminder of god's love a strength It is unto prophesy and healing, in that when we know the God who loves us and resides in us we can move in His power.

And that, in totality, is the place for corporate encounter. When, as a group, as the bride of Christ, we forget who we are and feel as though we have nothing left. When we are crying out as a group because all we have is revelation of weakness. When we need help.

Our God is good to us. He hears, He cares. He does. He send. We are never alone... We just need to be reminded once in a while :)

~Silver

The Dangers of Being Human.

So the title puts forth a pretty broad topic. I'm not going to write about all of the dangers, that would take too long and never be finished. I'd have to write about everything from random happenstance, to the physical dangers we put ourselves in, to the dangers other people are to us emotionally, to the dangers we are to ourselves emotionally, to the dangers of ignorance and sin. (See, now you have something to think about. Being human is a risk. Sorry.)

Anyways, the dangers I'm going to write on right now are the type you'd normally expect to find here; the dangers of liking someone.

That's also a pretty broad topic.

This is going to be simple, like a checklist. In essence, the point I want to get across is that you should be careful. And I want you to question yourself by how you see others. It somewhat relates to this post. Think of it as a sort of continuation.

When we see people, and judge them by what we know in ourselves, it's not just tied to the bad stuff. Believe it or not, the human heart tends to look at things based on how it sees itself about... 87% of the time. (Also, 57% of all statistics are made up. Both the statistics you see here are such imaginary numbers. But they are general estimates. And the first one is fairly close to truth.)

When we dislike people, it's usually because we see things we hate about ourselves. But what about when we like people?

A lot of times, we like people because they are what we wish to see in ourselves. Meg likes Dave because he is outgoing, happy, and follows God with complete abandon. Meanwhile she is shy, sad, and can't seem to compel herself to do everything God wants her to do. Sure, Dave is cute and a really likeable guy, but Meg is being drawn to something that fills her lack.

It's not a bad thing, per say. It's how we were made. God completes us. The problem here is what the future for this relationship would be.

So let's play it out.

Meg dates Dave, and finds herself happy with him. But for some strange reason, she still feels sad, and she starts comparing herself to Dave. She still feels incomplete and like a failure. She wishes she could be like him.

She did before, of course. But this is different. Now she's dating him.

She starts to see everything that she hates about herself highlighted, because he lacks those qualities. It's like being full of darkness and dating a light. Suddenly you find your life illuminated, and all the dark things are blazingly obvious.

(You: But God is light...?)

Right. God is light, but he is the light of a fire as opposed to a reflection. If your heart is with God, then the darkness gets burned out of you. If your heart is with a reflection of God... Get my point?

It's not just limited to the Meg and Dave example, but those are the typical things we see that we want. Confidence. A good God relationship. Happiness. Selflessness. Even gifts of the spirit, such as prophecy. Leadership skills. Faith.

There is nothing that makes you feel quite as bad as someone who is more ______ than you are. Someone who you think is more faithful will kill you inside, if that's your focus.

Another thing that often happens in christian communities is everyone develops a crush on Z because Z burns brightly for God, and reflects the face of God in Z's own face. It's a longing for God, reaching out to whatever the closest thing is.

It's a longing for fulfillment, reaching out to whatever looks the most like fulfillment. But you can never get your own satisfaction out of someone else's completion. It's like listening to a song and admiring it. You can enjoy it, but you won't get the same out of it as the song writer. It hits your heart and moves you, but it doesn't mean the same thing to you.

So now you see both sides of the coin.

Judgement because we see what we hate about ourselves..
And judgement because we are always longing for something to fill that gap.

It's a dangerous thing to be, a weak empty human. And we know the answer. To gaze on God and to have an identity in Him.

But this is why relationships are dangerous, especially for someone younger. As a young adult, you are (usually...) just coming out of the identity you had under your family and developing an adult identity for yourself. It is not impossible to do this while in a relationship with another person. but your personal identity will Always be affected by who you date. It'll just be more affected when you "grow up" as opposed to after you've "grown up."

I'd like to say I am not hitting on anyone I know's relationships. I know plenty of successful young adult relationships. But so often, every relationship likes to compare itself to the successful examples. Failure is marked off and forgotten because that's what you're suppose dot do with failure.. Except people forget the part where you're supposed to learn something.

Everyone knows being in a relationship is dangerous, but we tend to look to the 10% who did well as our goal.

Not saying the goal shouldn't be successful. Simply be cautious, and prepare your heart before trying to attach it to someone else's. And also that if you have a crush on someone, take a step back and figure out why first. Make sure it isn't because they are what you aspire to be.

The optimal match is someone who is your equal. God said don't be uneqally yoked. This doesn't just mean don't date/marry a non-christian. This means find someone who is an appropriate maturity level. Someone you get along well with. Someone who both matches And balances you, instead of simply one or the other. Not your clone. Just... Your equal.

Make sense?
Awesome.
Doesn't make sense?
Doesn't surprise me. This post feels scattered. Tell me where it's fuzzy, and I'll fix it.

Grace and peace to you!

~Silver

Cooperate vs Personal

I realize I focus a lot on the individual. What about the cooperate? Doesn't that exist too?

Yes. We are the Body of the church. The bride is, in its entirety, a conglomerate group of people who love God whole-heartedly and therefore, out of love, follow His commandments. It is a group of people who individually know who they are before God, and thus in that spirit, under the Holy Spirit to be very specific, love each other and work together in love.

It's a definition. But it isn't a working definition.

See, here's where the problem lies. People do not like to do things alone. People do not truly like to stand out.

Sandra dyes her hair pink and wears heavy make up to make a statement. To be an individual... By which she isn't standing alone, she's standing above with everyone's attention on her. Peter is sitting in the corner writing songs because he doesn't like the group, feels rejected, and knows he doesn't fit in. He never did. He always was, and therefor thinks he always will be, a loner. He's told himself it will always be that way and has resigned himself to that. When he gets a girlfriend, or a close friend, and learns to trust them, they will be his life. It will practically kill him if that person betrays or leave him, and will further cement the opinion that he deserves to be a loner.

It is out of this that a "mob mentality" arrives. One or two key people do something and, all of a sudden, everyone has to do that. Key figures want to burn witches? So now everyone's wielding pitchforks and torches and running around branding the loners as witches.

A lot of people are getting hit with the Holy Spirit and are falling over drunk? It's infectious. Suddenly everyone is.

LET ME BE EXTREMELY CLEAR HERE!!!!

I am NOT SAYING THAT everyone's simply faking it. I AM NOT SAYING that a majority is faking it. I AM NOT SAYING the joy of the spirit is a lie or anything.

What I am saying is that there are people who saw what was going on and decided they wanted it too, so they therefore produced it in their own lives themselves.

... I am NOT pointing fingers. I don't have names behind this.

Yes, I did totally just compare HS drunk to witch burning. Yes, that is a terrible comparison. But I'm trying to get a point across.

(You: OMG you're a doubting Thomas!1!! I bet you never got drunk in the spirit and NOW you're Jealous. Spirit of envyyyyyyy !!!!1!1!!)

You're right. During the awakenings, I didn't spend any time on the floor. I did, however, spend lots of time praying for people and knocking them over. And I did get drunk in the spirit separately.

What bothers me isn't that people were getting drunk. It isn't that people were laughing hysterically and falling over. What bothers me is the people who I could pray for without them knowing it was me, and nothing would happen, but as soon as they knew who was praying for them there was a reaction...

And what bothers me is the people who, after the awakneings were over left to go chase the next high.

I believe that the joy of the spirit should be unto something. There are many people who were seriously changed by their encounter with joy. Depression was broken off. And then there were the people who fell right back into depression once the awakenings ended and, ever since then, have been praying furiously for a new awakening. Who have been chasing the high.

It's been two whole years since the awakening. Should we stop praying for it? No. Does that mean it should be a main focus on our hearts? Absolutely not.

This is the problem with cooperate bodies. We went somewhere, as a group. And now, as a group, we refuse to leave that place, when there is more even for us.

We need to be tending to the next thing... We need to be living under the banner God has put us under now.

The times I have gotten drunk in the spirit, it was always unto a spirit of prophecy. It would go from uncontainable laughter straight to a proclamation of truth.

I believe this is what a move of the spirit is unto.

But under mob mentality, the "new wine" became simply another cooperate Thing.

And therein lies the problem with a group.

And therein lies my focus on the individual.

Once who you are is set right before God, and once God is no longer a means to any sort of an end Other Than God... (Yes, God is a means to God. God isn't just the means, He is the End too. It's in revelation... sort of.)

Anyways.

Once the individual stuff is set straight, all else will follow. Why do you think Mike Bickle is where he is? Is it because he has his heart set on the group? No. He has his heart set on doing what is right before God. Was David;s focus on Israel? No. It was on his own heart before God. Is Lou's thing just the Call? No. It is what is right before God.

(Not that I'm saying every leader is like that. I do believe some leaders in some positions are there because God designed them for that position. But it is not our place to judge who God has put into leadership... It is our place to set our own hearts before God.)

So yeah.

And that's why this tends to be a blog about personal walks with God...
Please don't kill me?
(But do comment if you disagree...)

~Silver

Since THAT clearly did Not work...

I'll simply touch on that subject later. Today let's talk about people. And seeing them. And thinking about them. And judging them.

You know, since we all do it in some way or another. I know I do, anyways. My guess is that you do too...

Because, you see, not everyone is perfect. And only God, in His perfect judgement, can tell what is or isn't perfect. But then Eve had to go listen to the serpent, and Adam stood by, watched, and partook... And now we all think we can judge good from evil. Go figure.

We've heard "judge not, lest ye be judged," right? Well, if you haven't now you have. It's a verse in Matthew 7, I do believe. And we get the basics of it. If you judge someone, so God will judge you.. But have you ever really thought about it? What's that supposed to even mean? After all, God is going to judge everybody anyways. What difference does it make whether you judge or not?

The origin of Judge isn't actually to condemn someone. It's really, simply, to form an opinion of someone.
Meaning, when you look at someone and decide they are annoying and talk too much, you're judging them. (You: right, that's sort of obvious.)

Yeah but see, it's Your Opinion. About someone you barely know. But I'm not going to rant about that. I'm sure you've heard it all before. Omg how could you you don't know them or what they've been through etc...  Actually, what I'm about to do could, I suppose, be considered me judging You. Except in doing so I'm totally judging me too... Eh. Moving on

What you see in others is what you will likely ignore in yourself.

You know the phrase "Takes one to know one."? Yeah it's totally true. If you think you talk too much, for instance (Which, I think I talk too much. So this is a personal example) it makes you very, very conscious of others who talk. Therefore, people who talk as much as you do, or more than you do, are automatically deemed to talk too much.

But see, there's nothing wrong with talking... I find it annoying because, when I was younger, I talked a lot, and I knew a lot of things (Like... All of the answers.) and was accordingly told I talked too much, and asked (Not usually very politely) to shut up, which in turn trained me to notice when people are talking "too much." "Too much" is merely a concept defined by my past experiences, but because of that hurt, and that definition, I have struggled with people who talk "too much," and amd still struggling to not hate myself for talking "too much."

That all sounded like a really long sob story, but it wasn't. It is merely an example. A lot of people I know that are, for instance, homophobes, tend to be straight people who were teased about being gay. People who have trust issues are usually people who have problems being straightforward and honest themselves.

You see what you know. If you don't know a trait so personally, you're way less likely to see it, and since there are so many things you do know personally you are almost guaranteed not to notice the issues you do not yourself have.

The people who hate the ones who simply get everything are usually the people who believe themselves to be more deserving.

So now that we are aware of, well, awareness I suppose.... Now what?
The most obvious, and simu,taneously the most wrong answer, is to focus on yourself and fixing yourself.

You can spend HOURS and HOURS and DAYS and MONTHS and ENTIRE SEASONS focusing on fixing yourself, and what's wrong with you, and in the end you'll be just as bad, if not worse, and in a heck of a lot of pain.

Rememebr how often I bring it back to who you are, and how God loves you, and how God is in You, etc?
Now is a really good time to put that into action.

Instead of focusing on other people's faults and thereby simultaneously ignoring and furthering our own, the clear opposite is to focus on who God calls us, and who God calls others. On the earth, it is soooo easyyyy to see all the problems. People get hurt, and therefore retaliate and get mad. Nothing is perfect, so people complain. People want to get away with things, so they lie. People want to feel safe, so they control. Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. You can see that anywhere. But as a human, we are not of this world. Even more specifically, as someone accepted into the beloved of God, we are not of this kingdom.

This isn't forever. Focusing on the problems here is like focusing on an M'n M. You can know everything about it, down to exactly what shade of red it is, and what the milk-coco ratio is, but once it's been eaten that's it. You cannot do anything with it. You can have a candle, but once it's burnt out it's gone. You're stuck in the dark and empty handed (And possibly burnt, if you were holding the candle.)

... I like that scenario, actually.

The world is like a dark room. If you have a candle (Or are following someone else who has one) you can see arrows on the ground telling you where to go. But if you have no candle, you can see the exit. You can see the world outside the cave. And it's opposite of where the directions in the candle-light tell you to go.

And there is a time, for everyone, where you will die. And when you die, you want to be living in the light and the world to come as if it has already come, instead of focusing on your candle and where its light says to go. Make sense?

(You: How the heck is this related to judging?) Because by judging others, you are making them a candle. By focusing on yourself, you are making yourself a candle. You are your own light. The Only Truth is to focus on God... God, who is Love, Love, with is patient, kind, and Does Not Judge (Or fail or give up, etc.) See my point?

If you don't get it, tell me what was fuzzy, and if this strikes a wrong (Or a right..) chord in you, tell me about it. I really want to know.

Till next time!

~Silver