Awakening…

Awakening…

Awaken my soul, come awake
To hunger, to seek, to thirst
Awaken first love, come awake
And do as You did, at first!

Spirit of the living God
Come fall afresh on me
Come wake me from my sleep
Blow through the caverns of my soul
Pour in me to overflow!
To overflow ~ Fall Afresh, Jeremy Riddle

What an amazing group of words that have the potential to open the heart, the mind and the spirit to the point of surrender.

This has been one of those days, one of those weeks, that is a reminder of the power of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. As the week has progressed door has opened wider and the Spirit of God has filled this space to the point of overflow. It’s not to say the enemy hasn’t been prowling around making attempts here and there to disrupt everything, he has. What has happened is the enemy would make a move, turning to Jesus became the norm. As the enemy growled, hands would raise in surrender. As the enemy leapt, all eyes remained focused on Jesus. It has been something to experience.

This morning, during prayer meeting, the topic was 1 John 1 NASB Ryrie Study Bible. What a truly beautiful way to finish out the work week.

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. 1 John 1 NASB

We read this chapter 3-4 times to really drive it home and then we discussed the different aspects of the chapter based on a set of 6 different questions. What does it say about God? What does it say about man? What does it say to you / what do you like? What did you not understand? What will you share and who will you will share it with this week?

Fellowship is huge. Over the course of 2020 we have all learned that people are important to us. If we are just now learning this, imagine how important we are to God and how long He has known this? Now imagine how important our interactions with one another are to God? When we come together, in His name, He is with us. When we come together in His name, we are truly with one another, we are His children coming together in His house. WOW! You know how beautiful it is when your home is filled with friends and family, it seems that God would be filled with the same joy on a scale that we can’t even begin to know.

When the Christians came out of the shadows on Pentecost Sunday they announced to the world they were no longer afraid, they were no longer going to hide their faith, they were no longer going to allow anyone or anything to stop them from being with God, Jesus Christ, openly, even if it meant they would be killed. The first Christians were going to be together, sharing and spreading the Gospel, period. What mattered to them and what should matter to us is fellowship with one another in His name, at His table in His presence.

Either the Gospel is divine inspiration, the Word of God teaching us how to live and how to be a reflection of Him, or it’s nothing more than a historical account of events.