This past week I attended a gathering called AWAKEN and experienced the power and unity that comes from community. Some 25 people from all over North America travelled to engage in a conversation about how we, as believers of God can better become followers of Jesus Christ in our spheres of influence.
The vision of Awaken was birthed out of the reality that the God of the bible is truly the God of today. In the Old Testament, Israel was given specific instruction on how to properly make sacrifice for their sins that would make them right with God. Once a year the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies (part of the temple where God's spirit dwelt) and make a sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation of Isreal. In this process, the priests would tie a rope to the leg of the High Priest with bells attached so if he was struck dead in the Holy of Holies that they would be able to pull him out without themselves being struck. The whole idea in this is that, when Jesus died on the cross and resurrected, we were given the Holy Spirit inside of us. This day was what the Isrealites had been waiting for, that one day they wouldn't have to make sacrifice for their sins but that God would provide a sacrifice and that they would be able to harness the actual spirit of God inside of them. We see in Acts 2 where the Holy Spirit fell for the first time on the church and people began manifesting the power of God's spirit. This really struck me. We have the spirit of God living in us! What does that mean? 1 Peter 2:9 tells us that 'we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.' We need to see that we have the authority, not because of anything we've deserved or earned but that God chose us out to be his 'royal priesthood'. I think, as a priest, we are to be an example of what it looks like to devote our lives in single-minded pursuit of God.
This week was a time where we were able to seek God for the visions and passions that he has put on our heart and look at how we can influence the seven spheres of society (Family, Church, Education, Media, Sports/Arts, Business, Government) through with the intentionality of discipleship and sincere love. We collectively realised that before we can change the world we need to change ourselves; every action has a reaction and that if we place our relationship with God as the primary goal, then we will be able to participate in what God is already doing in the world and in the church.
I hope all this makes sense so far, I have a lot to process still and hope to share with you all that God has been speaking to me in this last week.
"Apart from me you can do nothing" John 15:5
Until the world wakes up
-Jer
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