Revival in the Church of Hope

In the past 5 days we've spent over 12 hours in church, and by we I mean all of us, the boys and Jubilee included. Kenol and the rest of the church staff led a conference and revival services every night this week.

Each night was incredible in it's own way. Truly I tell you, you could not have been in the building and not felt the Lord's presence this week.

One the second night Pastor James Alcindor was speaking and called out to someone in the crowd, "There is someone here who struggles with thoughts of suicide. You are constantly in a battle for your life. The Lord loves you and wants to deliver you from this tonight. If I'm speaking to you come forward." A young woman slowly made her way down the aisle, with tears in her eyes. Pastor James walked out to meet her, and spoke powerful words of love and encouragement over her, and then prayed over her. It was such a powerful moment. I tried to imagine how she must have felt, to be called out by God in that way in a crowd of people, then to have those loving words spoken over you and to be held while you are prayed over by so many. I pray if she ever gets to that dark place again she will remember what it felt like to be called out by God in that way. Love poured down at Church of Hope that night.

One another night Pastor Lindor spoke about the power of our words. He shared from Mark 11, when Jesus cursed the fig tree by speaking to it, and the next day the fig tree had withered from the roots. I had heard this story a hundred times before, but what he said next is what really hit me. He said Jesus spoke to the tree and the tree withered. We need to follow His example, we need to do the same in our lives. Instead of talking about our problems, we need to speak to our problems with the word of God and they too with wither. Our words hold so much more power than any of us realize. 

I actually used this as the basis for the Bible study I lead with the 3cords staff on Friday morning. We talked about how we can bring both life and death with our words, and how careful we need to be with what we say over ourselves and others. When I was leaving after the study one woman pulled me aside and shared that she felt the message I shared was specifically for her. She said has been speaking negatively over herself and her family for so long, she said she was so thankful for what I shared and that her eyes were opened to the power of her words. I was so blessed by what Lindor said, and the 3cords staff in turn were blessed by what we studied together the next morning. 

I really don't know if there will be words to describe what happened during the revival service on Thursday night. Worship was led by Pastor Delly Benson, who is an incredibly anointed worship pastor. The entire church was brought into this incredibly joyful moment of praise. The entire building was filled with joy, everyone was laughing, smiling, dancing (Jubilee included) and then shortly after we were collectively brought to a deep place of worship. Adults and children alike were brought to their knees and crying out in deep adoration. 

I recently watched a sermon that talked about the importance of exposing our children to the anointing, to these awesome God moments. My children have been on an incredible journey of faith over the past few months, and I see how week has really impacted them. Look closely at the picture above and you will see my son Joshua worshiping. 

Then last night Joshua brought me a notebook and asked if I would look over something he had written. He had written a rap song, in almost perfect English I might add, about our need for Jesus. Here are a few lines of his song, "I am far from you. I want to be closer to you cause I know with you my life will be better. No matter what happens I won't care, I know that you are there. You died for my sins and made me new. Took away my pain and lit me up inside." I am very proud of him, that on his own with no direction for Kenol or I this is what he's thinking about, writing about and singing about. 

I don't know that I can truly convey in words how deeply moved I was by the Lord throughout this week. What I can say is that I am thankful to have been in His presence, I am thankful my children were exposed to his presence, I am thankful to have learned, I am thankful to have grown and I wait in anxious anticipation to see what the Lord does with us and the church next.  I am also thankful to be married to a man who so selflessly gives of himself for the greater good, a man who loves his country and desperately wants every person in it to know and love the Lord. 

There really was a revival in our hearts this week. 

Rachel