I apologize for not posting my thoughts on my daily devotionals the past three days.  I actually had a pretty crazy, eventful, and exhausting weekend…but if you want to know what happened, talk to me… because there is really only one experience out of this whole weekend that I want to talk about because it had such a profound affect me! It is so crazy that I can’t really stop thinking about it…
It actually has to do with Harvest Crusade that I went to last night. I wasn’t planning to go in the first place because already had plans, and I knew this weekend was a packed one; yet plans changed and all of a sudden I was driving people to Anaheim Stadium. Everything that preceded the Harvest Crusade pointed for me not to go - I was extremely sore and tired from all the activities of the weekend, ride arrangements were thrust upon me to figure out (and it almost seemed impossible to get everyone there), ran into some heavy traffic on the freeway and super long signal at Disneyland (5 minutes long!!!), got there late, waited in line to get in, no more seats so we had to stand out in a porch-like area and watch everything on the Jumbo screen, our group was split up, and the list can go on and on… It almost felt like something, or someone…ahem…Satan…cough…cough, was making its best effort to make me not want to go. I’m sure many of the other 50,000 people who were there also faced similar challenges… In fact I’m surprised that he didn’t attack by cutting out the power or seriously screwing around with the sound, but I’m sure there were many prayer warriors asking God for provision and to make this night go accordingly….and I must say, I believe their prayers were answered.
Yeah, worshiping with Chris Tomlin (AHHHHH 😀 ) was pretty great, especially with 50,000 other people…but that’s not what had the profound effect on me. It wasn’t even Greg Laurie’s message about Heaven…even though I love his sense of humor and his books and sermons that I have read and listened to. The experience that I was really moved by was when Greg Laurie did an alter call for those who wanted to accept Jesus as well as prodigal sons and daughters (people who were Christians and turned away). I remember sitting on the floor, and in front of me is a clear view of the field, and when people started flooding into that field it was almost like Heaven was rejoicing for those people who were making a public statement ready to believe in Jesus as their personal Savior. I felt so happy and had tears of joy and I just kept saying to myself that I need to pray for them, praise God that He is being glorified at that very moment. This was the very thing that Satan didn’t want me to see, and the very act he didn’t want others to do… I can still see it clearly and it really opened up my eyes that the harvest has been ready for a very long time… In John 4:35, Jesus says: “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
Unfortunately, the group I went with wanted to leave early to avoid the traffic and eat, and I was very reluctant to go, in fact I wanted to stay and praise God for all the souls that were saved that night and get a small taste of what Heaven might be like…a paradise I can’t wait for. But, it would be selfish and foolish of me not to tell others about this paradise…and equally important to tell others about the other place they would go if they cannot get into Heaven or do not believe.
We all have our own agenda and I think it blinds us to the things that God is doing in our lives and others as well. It creates walls that will be much harder to break down later on and cause us to be stubborn and prideful of our ways. When we control our lives, we sometimes miss out in a unique encounter with God and the longer we continue to be in control we become more oblivious to the Spirit. Even for myself, I constantly wish for my own agenda before God’s, and it is so hard to just let go of the reins that guide my life and hand it over to someone who has much more experience in handling life. I need to trust that He will take my life and propel it forward in doing BIG things for God. Do you have your own agenda? Everything you are working for will probably one day come to a screeching halt at which you won’t know what to do. We need to start living with a greater purpose in our minds and hearts…we should be heavenly-minded people!