Passion Conference 2014 in Houston, Texas:
Put yourself in this place with me.
It is quiet.
You are small relative to your location.
Thousands surround you, and all that is audible is a dull
humming of indiscernible conversations.
The lights go out completely and you see nothing.
Silence.
Then, everything around you erupts with light and sound at
once, and the Lord’s name penetrates the atmosphere and your body.
THOUSANDS proclaiming their love for ONE at one moment in
time.
Bright faces shine wherever the light catches the
perceivable.
You are consumed in the middle of a stadium transformed for
His glory.
Thousands of students in our generation are losing
themselves in the name of the Lord.
There is no other like this.
You feel the beat of the music in your soul.
You feel Christ flowing in and out of every heart in this
vast place.
He is EVERYWHERE.
You couldn’t escape Him if you tried.
There is no place to hide.
There is nowhere to go but to Him.
He is omnipresent, and this feeling doesn’t cease when the
music stops.
He flows through you like your heart beats and like your
lungs breathe.
It’s second nature at this point.
It never ends.
It never stops.
I don’t want this feeling to ever stop.
I can be so overwhelmingly joyful that it won’t ever stop
for me because I get to spend eternity with the Greatest to have ever walked this
earth.
THAT is something to rejoice in.
THAT is something to glorify.
THAT is something we should never take for granted.
Everything tangible on this earth is fleeting.
The Lord’s name can reach further than the tangible.
His name pulses through my veins.
His grace penetrates into my soul.
He is in me and I am in Him.
He is the safest place to be.
No other compares.
In the Instagram caption words of a friend, “Experienced a
tiny tiny Glimpse of what heaven will be like one day. All of God’s people,
unified in one, singing Holy, Holy, Holy."
“My heart is yours
My heart is yours
Take it all
Take it all
My life in Your hands”
I noticed something else.
Looking into the vast darkness of this arena, I saw a light.
One simple light- shining on a phone all the way across the place. I thought to
myself, how beautiful and amazing it is that I can see that light even though
it is so minute and so far away. I was able to see that light because it was
surrounded by darkness. This world is complete darkness, y’all, so if just one
person is on fire for the Lord, you can tell from a mile away. We stand out
that much. It is our job to be that light and show people around us how
different we are from society and how much brighter we shine than the rest of
the world. Don’t hide it. Proclaim your love and burn with passion so that
everyone can revel in His glory through you. When the whole stadium lit up with
the lights on everyone’s phones, it was truly a spectacle to take in. Something
as simple as light. And when you hold up your own light, it’s okay if you
aren’t able to see it. When you hold up a light in a dark crowd, it’s not for
your own benefit, it’s for others to see and appreciate. When they see your
light and when they are affected by it, then they may choose to shine theirs,
and that is when you get to see the light you spread to the world. When the
people around you are lit up for Christ, as you are, that is something to be
proud of.
When it was time for people to stand in declaration of their
newly found faith in Jesus Christ, in front of thousands, my eyes were struck
in awe. I witnessed thousands of hands lifted up to You, Lord. As the speaker
was speaking and declaring Your name, we were lifting all the glory up to You.
I saw a girl walk 8 rows in front of her, to place both of her hands on the
back of a stranger who had stood up from her seat announcing her acceptance of
Jesus Christ as her savior. I saw chains of hands linked on multiple backs
along multiple rows around me of people praying over the new believers. Sending
our prayers to You, Lord. We were rejoicing because we witnessed the inception
of eternal life for those who asked for it. They get to join us into forever.
Tears couldn’t help but trickle down my cheeks. I was taken back to the
feelings I felt when I accepted You into my heart many years ago, those
feelings I will never forget, and back just two weeks ago when I felt Your
presence over me again. It is indescribable. And my heart leaps for joy at the
thought that someone else was able to catch a glimpse of You tonight. Just a
glimpse. That’s all it takes. And after that, we don’t want anything of this
world anymore because it doesn’t even compare.
The Lord affects and impacts people in so many different
ways.
There simply are no words that can reflect the magnitude of
what I experienced.
But this was my attempt.
And this was just my point of view.
God is good, y’all.
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