another day, another lesson

Wow....so another day of craziness. It's like day two of my vacation, and God keeps showing up in crazy ways. It's definitely been a long and tiring process though. Yesterday, I finally sent out my support letters for my Japan summer project. I need $4,800 by June 23, so I trust God will take care of me and provide the support that I need. It took a really long time to print out and prepare all my letters, but I'm really thankful my mom helped me out a lot....i know, I'm spoiled, but I can't help it if my mommy loves me :)

But anyhoo, after that I went to the youth service at my church that night. We read through Daniel chapter 1. While we were reading through it, I got to kind of explain and summarize what was going on in the chapter to some of the people in the group I was in. It was really cool because I felt like God was really showing me how radical Daniel really was. I didn't realize how much of a revolutionary Daniel was, or at least I had forgotten how profound his decision to obey God was. Daniel was forced to go to a new country, learn their culture, learn their language. That must have been pretty crappy having to be forced to go to school and learn things that were totally different from your cultural, social, and religious beliefs. I mean like one of the only benefits or advantages that Daniel may have had in return for all this suffering was to eat the King's food.

Yet because the food was sacrificed to false idols, the Bible says Daniel "resolved" in his heart not to eat the kings food and wine. He and his friends chose to eat vegetables and water over prime rib and fine wine. Why? Because, he resolved to follow God. He was determined, he was focused, he had a purpose. The dictionary defines resolve as coming to a definite or earnest decision. Daniel didn't make a wish-washy decision; he was set. He knew God's will, and he didn't second guess it. He followed through and obeyed God all the way. His parents weren't watching him to tell him what to do, his religious leaders weren't there to put him in check, he wasn't even in his home land anymore. He lived in a society that lived almost totally contrary to the will of God - sound familiar?

What happens next seems so counter-intuitive. So four guys eating vegetables and water were stronger, healthier, and wiser than the other guys eating the freshest cut of meat and wine? There were not only better than their peers, the Bible says they were ten times better than the king's astrologers and magicians. 10 times! These astrologers and magicians had practiced their trade all their life, and yet the favor of God was so strong on Daniel that he received visions and dreams from God that allowed him to have wisdom beyond his years!

I find that to be amazing! God wants to honor our obedience by having favor on us! God wants to raise up a generation that will follow hard after him without looking back even in the midst of a society that opposes everything that God wants to offer. But we must choose to follow after Christ and purify our hearts. Like Daniel we must resolve to fast and pray in seeking God's face. We must rid ourselves of the contaminants that are holding us back from God and stand firm in our decision to follow hard after God. Daniel wanted to go hard after God no matter what it took. He was radical. Will our generation follow in the footsteps of Daniel?

I know that I personally want to run hard after God. I want to do what it takes to live the radical life that is sold out for Jesus. But it's not easy. In the past couple of weeks, I felt called to fast and seek God for the next 40 days before going to Japan. I want to receive the Holy Spirit's filling and resolve to follow God with all of heart. I want to be radical like Daniel and stand in the gap on behalf of our generation. I want to know and to have the radical love that God offers us through His son Jesus Christ. So that's where I am at. I'm pursuing God and seeking personal breakthrough in the next 40 days. I want to be equipped for Japan, but more so I want to be ready to be a forerunner for the coming revival. I want to know the love of God and be intimate with him. I want to be filled with the knowledge of God's love for me so much that it overflows into the lives of others. What is hard is that lately, I feel misunderstood. I feel like sometimes others around me don't understand why I'm doing the things that I'm doing. And it's hard to explain; it's hard to understand - but it's simple. God loves us. When we understand the true significance of that statement - which we probably never will - we will discover a new way to look at and understand the world. God wants to bring revival because He loves us and desires all to come to Him.

Anyway, I don't know if I'm making sense at all. It's been a long, hard week, semester, year. I'm just looking forward to stopping and resting in God during this summer. I'm finally moved out of my dorm and back at my house. I'm ready to do some quality time with the Big Guy upstairs.

But, I guess the craziest thing that happened today and what I've been trying to get to (Just so much on my mind, don't know how to sort it all out) is something that happened today while I was driving home by myself from ASU. While I was driving back with a full carload of bags and stuff, I was listening to Hillsong United just worshipping and praying. All of a sudden, I just started crying out to God and then I began weeping. I don't know; it was crazy. I have never weeped out to God and cried out to Him ever like that before. I don't know what happened; but all of a sudden, I just wanted to cry out to God and ask Him for forgiveness and ask Him to fill me up more and more and more. It was an act of desperation that I have never experienced that ever before, but afterwords, it was so refreshing. It was a cry of desperation - a cry that God would hear my prayer and honor the desires of my hearts to be filled by Him, consumed, and set apart for His work.

And I don't know, I just feel like that is going to be something that our generation needs to do. Cry out to God in desperation asking for forgiveness on behalf of ourselves and our generation.

God, I pray that you would raise up an army of radical followers of Christ, who will not be afraid to go against the status-quo. A generation of disciples who will stand in the gap on behalf of our generation and pray.

God, I pray that you would raise up an army who is radically on fire for You. No more lukewarm or half-hearted attempts to follow Jesus. We want to be like Phillip in Acts who heard your voice and ran to where you sent him. We want more of you. God, we want to be an army that cries out in desperation to you. Asking you to forgive the sins or our generation. We are desperate for your filling - we want to see revival. We want to usher in the presence of God. We want to be the voices calling in the wilderness making straight the way of the Lord.

Open up our eyes, our ears, our hearts. We want to see you lifted High. We want to know you and follow your will. God raise up a generation on whom you have your favor on like Daniel. May you make us 10times better than the rest because we were willing to give up everything for the cost of following Christ. Give us a double-portion of your spirit! We want revival! We want Jesus! We want to know your love! God you said in Isaiah that the least will become a thousand the smallest a might nation! In your time you will do this quickly because you are the Lord! So God, we will wait for you! We will wait for you and delight in your presence, meditate on your law, listen to your voice. We will seek you in fasting and prayer, and wait for you to touch us and anoint us with your oil! God we want you more than ever. Hear the desperate plea of our hearts! amen