A Consuming Fire

THIS WEEK I'm blogging kind of late in the day, but it's because I just got back from an amazing event called Campus Harvest all the way in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina - 7 hours away! Campus Harvest is an annual conference for Christian college students and high school seniors from many states (and even a few different countries). It was an inspiring and transformative experience like I've never had before.

Going into this experience, I had this one verse in my heart. I was already thinking about it before I left, and on the long van ride up north I read the chapter it comes from. I'll give it to you with the verse that comes before, to put it in context.

Hebrews 12:28-29 "[28] Therefore, since we are receivign a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. [29] For our God is a consuming fire."

Read that again - "our God is a consuming fire." That's very assuring. It means that God is personal and near, and that it is His heart's desire to light us aflame with a desire for His will to be done. Having such a desire for the glory of His name, for righteousness, and for the advancement of His kingdom is called being holy. God tells us to be holy, for He is holy.

My desire as I anticipated Campus Harvest was to be consumed by this consuming fire. I want to hear what God says and just know that I am near Him. I can confidently say that I got what I was looking for.

The theme of this year's event was "Transformation." I would be blogging for way too long tonight if I went into detail on every amazing aspect of Campus Harvest. It would be too much to recount the awe-inspiring testimonies of salvation I heard from people who had been as lost and anti-Jesus as people could be; the true stories of faith healings that I'm surprised weren't on the News; the brilliance of the words spoken in the seminars we attended; the quiet confidence of the small group discussion in my hotel room; the mighty, holy thrill that illuminated in our worship; and the vast crowds of people milling forward either to be saved by the grace of God or to declare that they have been called toward evangelism. I simply do not have time to tell everything, although I wish I could.

I'm careful with the word 'awesome.' This was awesome. It's just so amazing to see these many hundreds of young adults all expressing such sincere devotion to the God we worship. It makes me think, maybe the world isn't doomed. There is hope in the name of Jesus, by whom all men can be saved, and here is a lively, youthful multitude whose faith is resulting in actions. Sparks are flying, and they will cause wildfires.

The greatest thing I remember was the worship. We arrived at church yesterday around 7:00 PM, and we started worshipping around 8:00. We did not stop until midnight. But it wasn't just singing either. People sought God. We shouted and screamed praise to Him, we prayed together, we begged God to fill us with His Holy Spirit. I had an image of a clay pot left outside in the rain, how it gets full to the brim with water when the rain comes down. I prayed we would be filled with the Spirit the same way. Many people prophesied or spoke in tongues, and many were baptized - including my friend Ebun Bolujo! Once, I joined a prayer circle of people I don't know and just shouted my prayers to God. I made a new friend who was born in Ukraine.

Earlier this very week, I attended Engage the Spirit - an awesome event at my church where we worship God expressively and with reckless abandon, just to draw near to Him. This time of worship was somehow even greater than that. Maybe it was the great length of the session: I don't think I've ever worshipped for so long all at once in my life. Maybe it was the baptism of over 200 people. Maybe it was the intensity of the worship - I'm very surprised I didn't lose my voice with all the shouting I did! The Spirit of God was definitely in that place, so surely that I can't imagine who wouldn't be saved, or at the very least deeply touched, staying in that Sanctuary for those hours while we praised God.

This weekend God taught me a few things. Firstly, He helped me expand the boundaries of my worship. I'm even louder and more passionate now than I was before! Not that it's the volume that makes the worship, but I just feel like I get into it even more than I already did. I love worship to begin with.

Secondly, He encouraged me to take away all the remnants f bitter feelings I have kept toward people that I have grievances against. Everybody gets hurt or offended sometimes. But when we forgive completely, God pours out blessings on us abundantly and extravagantly. He just loves it when we forgive others as He has forgiven us. He spoke to me through Ephesians 4:31-32 : "[31] Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. [32] And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." I know that's extremely hard sometimes, but by God's grace alone it is possible. And more importantly, it is necessary. One of the speakers, Josh McDowell, pointed out that when we don't forgive, we are only hurting ourselves. So I have resolved to finally forgive all the hurts I remember.

Finally, He helped me understand what He was telling me last week. God isn't trying to confuse us. In fact, He wants us to seek Him for understanding when we get confused. If you read my post last week you'll remember that I heard Him encouraging me to get better at evangelizing. Now, through a seminar I attended taught by Rice Broocks (co-author of The Purple Book!) He helped me understand that I am not being called right now to be an evangelist, but to "do the work of an evangelist." At this seminar, called "Are You An Evangelist?" I heard that God has called some people to be evangelists, but He has called all of us to make disciples and share the gospel. Evangelizing is part of our faith, for all of us, and He wants me to get better at this. Yet He has given a special gift of evangelism to certain people, while He gives other gifts to others. I have resolved to jump on any chance I get to share the gospel. I don't want to miss the chances I get.

I got what I wanted out of this amazing weekend. I am grateful for this experience, because I truly feel confident that I have begun to be consumed by this God who is a consuming fire. It was a weekend I will not forget. A multitude of college-age youths got together and sought God for a few days, many of us far from home, and we left transformed.