Show up and Do it Afraid: O Come to the Altar....and sacrifice

I haven't written on this blog for a few weeks because I honestly wasn't sure how to put what I have to say into words.  

Then I remembered that the majority of you will be reading this after the fact...so I decided I needed to write it down while in the middle so that you can get an accurate depiction of what it's like to be in the middle and also so that you can see God's hand upon the situation.

I want there to be no mistaking this was all divinely orchestrated and there was no way I could make this up.

3:33 a.m.

One Tuesday morning the week of the Altar Conference (which I will talk about a little later in this post) I woke up at 3:33 a.m.  I was annoyed because exactly why I woke up that early. 

"There's something you need to hear" said the Holy Spirit

I was trying to make myself go back to sleep.  I even wrote out a list of why I should not do what I knew was Holy Spirit led.

Finally I told myself that: Delayed Obedience is still disobedience

So I put my theme for this season into action: 

I showed up even though I was afraid.

In the spiritual realm there is something significant about 3:00 a.m.  I have heard from many pastors and teachers about waking up at 3 a.m. and receiving a word from God or other ocurrencess.  

I definitely believe waking up at this specific time was on purpose so that I wouldn't think that I was the one who came up with the idea.

The Altar Conference in Fresno

Francis Chan is one of my favorite Christian authors so when a brother from Shiloh asked if anyone was interested in attending a conference where he was going to be speaking I was all in. 

I was very interested in hearing what he had to say.  I finished his book, "Letters to the Church" a while back and I agreed with a lot of what he had to say.  I didn't want to pass up an opportunity to hear him live.

After doing more research about the conference, I realized this was about way more than Francis Chan.  This was about to be on a revival level.

And that is exactly what it was.

  

They had so many awesome worship leaders like Tasha Cobbs-Leonard, Bryan and Katie Torwalt from Jesus Culture, Nikki Mathis, and people from Bethel Music.  It was an incredible time of worship.  At one point we did a congregational shout that lasted forever and I literally felt something break and come down.

Francis Chan was fantastic of course and so were the other speakers.  Everyone agreed that revival is coming or it's at least here and getting warmed up.  

It's time to stop the religious attitude of

"I know that" because that's where boredom with God comes in and reversing curses.

It was incredible.

But y'all let me tell you who shocked me:  Derek Carr, QB for the Raiders.  The man is so genuine and sincere.  He preached an actual sermon from Matthew 3. 

 It was amazing to watch a young man like that be bold and rooted in his faith.  In a society where there aren't many good role models for men, it was a true blessing watching a man lead out with his faith, proudly devoted to his family, and proclaim that he was in it to see souls saved and set free.  He was clearly emotional about the whole outcome of the conference because it was his idea.  

Imagine that...it wasn't a pastor who came up with the idea for this conference.  It was a Football player....and one from the Raiders at that.  
(I'm a 49er fan and even though I am a Derek Carr Supporter, I will not be switching to the Raiders anytime soon.  Thank you kindly)

Derek Carr

What do you do at an altar?

Sacrifice.

I asked myself why did I attend the conference?  It was for a myriad of reasons and some that I'm sure I won't understand until later but for the most part it was to sacrifice and surrender my life and my future.

My future and life will not look like I thought it would.

My future and life will not be what I thought it would be.

My future and life may even be totally out of left field and not make sense to most folks.

But it will be worth it.

I went to that conference to Sacrifice and literally put it all on the altar.  I said, "Have your way God."

The temptation is to be like the world and think you can get by with a shortcut and not paying anything but that is not how it works in God's kingdom. We shouldn't want that either because we don't value a thing when we haven't paid for it. 

2 Samuel 24:24 

24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver[a] for the threshing floor and the oxen.

Launching the next volume

The week before we attended the conference our beloved Pastor Nina had another springtime word: She talked about how when you're getting ready to launch something new temptation comes.  She was so spot on as usual.

Bob Sorge said something that connected with me this week in his book, "Exploring Worship"

The Israelites were about to LAUNCH their wilderness trek, and so the Lord promised Moses “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

Leading up to the conference I was a little worried because it was a small group that was going to be attending and this was going to be an interesting opportunity.  If you don't get what this means and what this is referring to, then you may need to go back and read some of the previous entries.

I came back somewhat puzzled. 

I couldn't understand why I wasn't flustered, freaking out, melting down, over analyzing everything, coming up with schemes and plans, or creating drama for myself like I normally did.

I was amused more than anything and thought about how much I had enjoyed myself.  I didn't feel like I was playing a role and I felt comfortable in being me.

I realized there was something different about this entire experience.  I felt peaceful and I had a "Whatever happens...will happen and even if nothing happens, I'm proud of myself for even showing up.

What was that about?

Then I got it:  It's the peace of God because His presence is with me.  This has been completely different because God is present. He's given me rest.  I couldn't believe how I was not freaking out or trying to figure out why x,y,z wasn't happening or what x,y,z meant.

Who cares?  

God's Got it.  He's in control and he's with me.  I'm sure everything will turn out even better than I thought.

My sister Jamie prophesied New Things over me and I know that we're getting ready to launch the next volume of life.  This was one of the reasons I took Cleansing Streams last year because I knew I would miss out on my next volume of life if I didn't do it.

Isaiah 43:19

For I am about to do something new.    See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?I will make a pathway through the wilderness.    I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

Let's Get after it!  Show up and do it afraid!