A little over a month ago, a friend of mine from high school - I'll call her Jennifer - came to Tulsa, visiting for the weekend. She had briefly communicated (via facebook wall posts) that it would be nice to sit and talk about the Lord with Brett and I, and that for the past couple years she had been running away from the Lord, finding that nothing could satisfy the deeper longings of her heart. I got to see her with some other friends of ours on Saturday night for a little while, but we didn't really get around to talking intensely about the Lord. I was about to head back to Norman with Brett on Sunday, believing the Lord would just keep pressing on her heart and reveal Himself to her more and more. As I hopped in the car with Brett, he told me Jennifer was coming with us to a prayer meeting in Edmond.
My heart leaped. I had a strange assurance that the Lord would completely redeem her that night. She was going to drive her own car to Edmond and back that night, while Brett and I were going to just keep going to Norman. I felt like it would be good to ride with Jennifer on our way to Edmond, hopefully to engage in some good conversation before the meeting. Well, the good conversation I had anticipated turned into great conversation that resonated deeply for both of us.
You see, I had just gone through a year of the Lord redeeming me and starting a revival in my life, the Lord slaying me in order for me to receive my inheritance of peace, relentless love, hope, power, etc. There is no argument about it. The Holy Spirit was literally sitting with Jennifer and I in that car for an hour and a half, pouring out themes and verses and an atmosphere of Heaven leaving us in awe of who Jesus is. I love that the Holy Spirit always glorifies the Son.
The prayer meeting was intense. A normal small group house bible study thing turned into a Jesus rave with a flip of the light switch and a cue on the sound system. It was loud. And I must admit I wasn't a huge fan of the first couple songs. But I couldn't help but feel the presence of God in that little cleared-out living room. A 50 year old man was choosing songs, pouring out all his energy vocally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. A passion for Jesus was so thick.
This opened up a beautiful time of intercession among the believers, the blessed ones and the mourning ones were receiving love from the Lord all at once. Jennifer got prayed over, and I saw it with my own eyes - she was restored. She was always known in high school for her huge smile, her bright eyes, and her laughter. What the Lord imparted to her was more than that. She simply could not stop belly laughing, enjoying the passionate unity of herself with her first love.
It's funny because just before this meeting I told Jennifer about how the Lord has a true version of every counterfeit and vice the Enemy has ever offered.
for drunkenness on alcohol : drunkenness on the 'new wine' of the Spirit
for sexual indulgence : an intimacy with the Triune God that surpasses all lust
for highs found in pills and weed : ecstasy of open visions and community with the Most High
But these are only found in the death of ourselves.
We have a backwards way of inheriting things from God. Every other inheritance depends on the person who has the inheritance dying - then it falls to you. But in this inheritance, it is we, the heirs, who die. As we die, we are filled. As we pass away, (in THIS LIFE, by dying to ourselves) we inherit the Kingdom of God. HERE. NOW. It belongs to us. NOW.
After staying the night in Norman that night, she went to Tulsa before going back to her house over 10 hours away. The Lord didn't hesitate. She, being filled by the Holy Spirit, got to witness her own brother get drunk on the new wine of the Holy Spirit and transformed instantly from a critical analyst into a prophetic lover of the Man Jesus.
Jennifer, over a month later, is still living in the presence of God. She had a deceptive but true comfort before she returned to the Lord that now only exists as she draws in deeply to the Father. The arrows of the Enemy are flying toward her like they never have before. But in her emptiness, in her unity with Jesus, in that place of refuge under the wings of the Triune God... it makes sense. It's right. It's good.
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