God changes everything, I mean everything!

God changes everything, I mean everything!  I just got back from Aldersgate Renewal Ministries conference, held at Lake Junaluska in NC.  I am blown away by the God we serve.  For the next few weeks, I’d like to share some of what I experienced.  I believe it is in our sharing that we catch glimpses of God at work in our lives.  Because God is so big, God works through us in ways we cannot even imagine.  It’s like throwing a pebble in the river and watching the ripples roll out.  I feel like I am that pebble and I just got dunked in the water of the living God.  I pray my ripples spread out further than I could ever imagine and that in my sharing you will catch glimpses of God and experience God in brand new ways.

I arrived at Lake J on Thursday with a suitcase full of fear; fear of the future and fear of my finances.  Most of you already know this because I keep writing about it.  You can check out my posts on worry and fear later if you’d like.  I knew going into this weekend that God was going to do a work in me.  I could feel it.  On Thursday night, after the praise and worship, God laid it on my heart to go to the prayer team and confess this fear once and for all.  I knew it was actually holding me captive and that I could not go forward until this fear was dealt with.  So I anxiously went and met with a precious couple of 51 years.  They prayed over me, anointed my head with oil and we named the fear.  Apparently, saying out loud what it is that I fear is crucial.  The prayer was short but powerful and I knew that I left my fear with God that night.  I knew in my heart everything had changed.  You see, when we encounter the Spirit of the living God, we cannot help but be changed!   To the outside world, nothing had changed.  My situation had not changed.  However, I knew everything had changed.  Internally, I had changed.  I gave that heavy baggage to God and when I left, I was lighter than I came.  God changes everything.  Praise the Lord!!!

I want you to know something,  it does not matter where you are or what situation you have found yourself in.  It does not matter how bleak or desperate it may be.  God changes everything!  In fact, I think the more desperate we are, the more amazing the work God can do.  It’s like it opens us up because there is no other alternative.  There is no other way.  I cannot change my situation.   God’s going to have to do it.  And God does!   It doesn’t matter how big or small the issue is.  God changes everything.  We lost a bible on this trip.  For 2 1/2 days it was gone and for 2 1/2 days we prayed that God would find the bible.  We couldn’t find it.  There was nothing we could do to make it appear.  God found the bible.  God is working all the time.

So you might be thinking, “sure Melissa, you had this great big experience, but I’m sitting over here praying and God is not doing anything.  What about me?”  You might have been praying for 2 1/2 days or 2 1/2 years.  Let me assure you, when we wait on God, God is working on our behalf.  We can’t see it, but what is faith anyway?  God is working out the best possible solution.  For you.  How do we know?  Because the Bible tells us so.  My prayer is that God will encounter you in a brand new way, that you will experience God in a way you never have before.  And in that moment, in that experience, you will know that God changes everything.  How will you know?  Because God just changed you!

I want you to close your eyes and listen to this song below.  Then let’s pray the prayer at the bottom together.  You know I want to hear from you.  Either let me know in the comments how God changes everything, or go to my prayer page and let me know how I can be praying for you.

Listen to this:

Let us pray: Spirit of the Living God, breathe your breath into our lives and change us.  Let us encounter you in brand new ways .  Thank you that you love us more than we could ever imagine.  Thank you that you are with us even in the waiting, especially in the waiting.  Thank you that you are teaching us who you are and who you are in us.  In Jesus name, Amen. -M