I feel like a refreshing wind has blown over me and filled my lungs with fresh air these last few days. The experience I had in Atlanta this week at Passion 2012 was, for lack of a better word, incredible. And, honestly, it's not fitting to say it was an experience, but rather an encounter. As I spent my days with 45,000 of my brothers and sisters in the Georgia Dome, I became increasingly more aware of God's presence and His intentions to speak to us, both at large as His Bride but also personally. As I sit here and reflect on what I heard from the Lord at Passion, I am overwhelmed. I won't go into everything now, but here are a few of the realities that took grip on my heart over the last four days:
1. The Lord's primary desire is to see Himself glorified, and married to that desire is His heart for the proclamation of the gospel and the establishment of justice among the nations. As a big fan of Piper, the reality of God's fundamental desire being His glory was not new to me, nor was the idea that God has a desire for the nations (a concept I studied last year in Perspectives). However, it wasn't until this conference that I realized the depth of God's heart for justice. A few books (The Hole in Our Gospel, Generous Justice, The Irresistible Revolution) had brought the idea to my mind a few times over the last few years, but it never clicked until now just how serious the Lord is calling His people to be about justice. I'll write more about this another time, because this was huge for me.
2. If I don't claim Truth, I will believe lies. There wasn't any particular teaching on this idea, but this reality kept striking me throughout the conference. Francis Chan spoke about the critical importance of being people who read through the Word again and again and again, which was really convicting to me. I realized that it's not enough to be familiar with the Word of God; we must be a people who feast on the Word continually, because this produces life in us. It really struck me that Satan desires to deceive us, and that he is very, very good at it. Lies and death push into our hearts without ceasing, and the only way to survive and thrive in the face of this is to be constant in our intake of Truth.
3. My weaknesses, imperfections, and areas of brokenness do not disqualify me from living a life of significance and influence. One of the lies I face again and again is the idea that because I am weak and imperfect, I will not be able to live my days out of significance and meaningful, positive influence. Often, I do feel disqualified, as if I have nothing to offer because I keep messing up in life. However, through various conversations with friends and other moments of reflection, I felt a great peace that God is taking my struggles and making them into areas of expertise for my ministry. I remember tweeting sometime last year, "The things Satan intends to use to destroy your ministry are the same things God uses to build and equip you for ministry." Oh, how quickly I had forgotten to hold on to that! I am thankful that God reminded me of that revelation and set my feet back the solid ground of that truth.
4. The time is now. The final major revelation I walked away with from Passion 2012 is that living out my purpose and walking in significance begins now, not later. In his closing message, Louie Giglio said, "Our culture teaches us that significance can't come until 'after... [fill in the blank (college, marriage, a secure job)].' But Jesus comes and says, 'Today!' Our purpose and mission are already established, and we are called to walk in it daily, starting the moment we gain life in Christ." I regularly wonder the purpose of life in regards to "today," and Louie spoke truth I desperately needed to hear concerning that--that we make our days purposeful and significant through our dedication to proclaiming and portraying Christ wherever we go. I also came to realize that experiencing, loving, encountering, worshiping, enjoying, and living in relationship with God day by day is also a fundamental part of the purposefulness of our lives. After all, that is how we will spend eternity, is it not?
All in all, Passion was a phenomenal encounter with the Lord, and I received so much from my time in Atlanta. I had a blast with my friends, worshiped with the largest crowd of believers I've ever experienced, and was pumped full of truth and encouragement. I'm sure I'll blog more these next few weeks as I continue to process the things I learned there. But for now, this will suffice.
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