24 hr God

God can move in 24 hrs.

Yesterday I set out to find the will of God in my life...again. I have come to conclusion that I am to be in ministry. Fine. Ok.

I have come to the conclusion that I must plug in somewhere despite what my opinions are of the church and mainstream Christianity.

That being said, I have meandered through the last two days with no vision whatsoever. It has been difficult. But Terry has been there to prod me. And the Spirit has kept me moving forward asking the right questions by delivering divine appointments and circumstances that draw me on.

I have had a divine appointment with a friend who used to run hard after God but is dealing with issues right now. We ran into each other at a coffee shop that I have never mentioned to her, neither have I seen here there before, but I was able to listen and not judge her, so she was able to get some of it off of her chest.

All that being said I have been at this place with God before where I reach a boiling point. I have to do SOMETHING to move forward in the things of God.

When I called Natalie to ask what it is that she may need with her youth group, she was excited, but it didn’t really feel right. Then I called Michael Lynch to ask him what he thought. I told him that we had to do something. He had some great ideas right off the bat.

Next, I just looked up ministries that had events on Tuesday night around 7 p.m. I found that the church I had been attending, Tree of Life, had prayer at 6:30 p.m. Then I found that Victory Church had a “30 and up singles” group at 7:00 p.m. Well, torn by my commitment to my friend, Randy (who attends Tree of Life), to plug in and the prospect of meeting new Christians at Victory, I decided that honoring my commitment was correct.

So, I drove to Tree of Life church. I arrived and found out that they had moved the prayer group to Wednesday nights. Praise God for making the decision for me!

Quickly I ran across town to meet up with this purported “singles” group. As I was walking across Victory’s mega-campus of a church, I passed the chapel that was built for the young people ages 18 – 25, called Quest. Though I had visited once, I didn’t remember that they met on Tuesday nights.

I wanted to go, but I am 27 going on 28, and I decided to honor my commitment to attend this “singles” group. Call it determination or bull-headedness. I don’t know which is better.

When I arrived at the singles group, I was despondent. It was all grey hair complaining about their ex-husbands abusing them, and the male white-hairs were just sitting quietly. Yet, Bob, the leader, was a nice fellow. They asked me to sign in, which I did, and there I sat, praying for a way out.

Bob had left the room but return suddenly asking my age.

“27,” I responded pleasantly.

“Grant, I think you may find Quest more of what you are looking for. They have a band, and they go up to 30.”

Not believing my ears and not wanting to looked too overjoyed, I asked, “Bob, do you think I should go?”

Ever so pastorally he said, “Yes, Grant. I think you should.”

I said my farewells and walked (sprinted) to Quest.

Upon arrival, my memories of cheesy-fake, youth-group-for-adults fear faded. The skit was cheesy but funny. The worship was spot on. They rocked (though I always feel that leadership does not let worship go on long enough! As was the situation here; they cut it off just as the spirit was moving and people were entering in. But, oh well.)

And the message was the first relevant message I had heard since being in Lakeland (and I told Glenn so afterward). It was about destiny. They taught out of Esther 4 about sensitivity to our destinies.

As I left that night I was excited. (And Bob was waiting outside to see if I enjoyed it. I thanked him, but will call the church and "tell on him" about his kindness.)

They were then meeting at Chili’s and perhaps I should have gone but I didn’t. I went home to get some rest.

The words God has given me lately (“bring the intensity”) were ringing in my ears, and the journey for the day seemed fulfilled. I lay in bed awake for an hour. I was in awe of what God has been doing. I wanted to get up and pray in the morning.

When I awoke this morning (after hitting my alarm off twice), it was still dark out. Usually when I sleep in, it is too close to sunrise to get a good work out in as well as pray out by the lake in the dark, but not this morning. I was totally rested and ready for my day. I could feel focus and direction take one step closer to me.

I worked out and then went in to prayer. However, unlike my usual declarations and such, all I could do was pray in the spirit, pray in tongues. I just prayed in the spirit the whole time. Every time words seem to come into my mouth, they seemed insufficient as if they would cut the misty morning dew. So, I refrained. I just prayed in tongues. Somehow, it works to bring peace about my day and direction as efficiently as praying and visualizing.

Then, I ran upstairs to read my Word and journal. I opened to Romans 8 to read about how the Spirit makes intercession for us when we don’t know how we ought to pray. And it did. I feel totally ready for my day. Anything could happen, but I feel an aggressiveness now. There is much that needs to be done and many calls to make, but somehow with a place to turn my ministry focus toward I feel that I can begin to form vision. Without vision the people perish, therefore with vision people start to live!

It is time to bring the intensity!