Set Apart- Intimacy with the Father

^“But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;  who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.”

-1 Peter 2:9-10

I don’t want to live for myself.

That is something I had to come to terms with over and over, yet I still fall short to the desires of my own flesh. It is “easier” to give in to what is comfortable, to be complacent, but it leaves you empty. But I believe, that what the world needs more now than ever are Christians that live boldly and unapologetically for the Lord. I think the world is aching for God and we are given the responsibility to be His vessel in the world. Just think, God chose us to reveal Himself to the world. But let us not get confused, He doesn’t need us, but He willingly chose us to be His partners. And so it is an honor that we get to reveal more of who God is in our own obedience to God. It’s as simple as that.

So imagine how powerful it is, to see a group of young people come together to eagerly seek after the Lord. Over the past few months of preparing for this trip, I have been able to get to know the members of this team and it has been such an encouragement for me. This trip won’t be about where we go, what we learn academically, the relationships we grow, or the missions work we will do, although all of those things are beautiful and good. In the end, its the intimacy we will each individually grow in with the Lord. I think He wants to do something powerful in my generation and it starts with the individual relationships He wants with each of us. Our God is a personal God, we love because He first loved us, which means we can’t live out our calling without first knowing who our God is and being fully rooted in His love for each of us. And that’s the beautiful thing, we don’t need to strive for anything, we don’t live out faith in our own strength. Out of an overflow of the grace and love God pours out to each of us, we touch the world around us without even trying. I think we as Christians get worn out with faith because our entire culture is go, go, go. We see our own relationship with God through the same lens. It’s always doing, always chasing, always needing more, instead of just being. Being with God. 

Until you have given up yourself to Him

You will not have a real life.

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have

not given away will really be yours. Nothing in

you that has not died will ever be raised from

the dead.

Look for yourself, and you will find in the

long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage,

ruin, and decay. But look for Christ, and you

will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.

C.S. Lewis

My prayer for this team, for each individual is that we would be even more in awe and encapsulated by the love of God, and because of that reality we would overflow into a dark world around us. A city on a hill, a generation set apart.