Pursue God
When I was nineteen, revival came to my church in Fort Worth, TX. Individuals and groups of people spent hours in prayer, praise, intercession, worship, Scripture reading, and the like…and God met us there. It started with a hunger—a hunger for God’s Word, for His Spirit, for His Presence, and it grew and grew and grew until it became a desperation.
Lunch hours became times of fasting. Normal services became times of repentance and weeping over sin. People prayed for people. There were bondages broken, hearts were healed, and many received the call to ministry…but none of it came easily. There was a cost.
The cost of desperation was sacrifice. In the pursual of the things of God, it meant that each time we would hear the sweet, firm, and steady voice of the Spirit calling us to pray instead of watch a movie, fast instead of going out to dinner, read scripture instead of reading a book…we would have to make the choice to sacrifice that which was already in the moment, change course, and choose to follow the Spirit’s leading, and…it was worth it.
The intimacy, the freedom, the joy, the adventure of following God was LIFE-CHANGING! I know, for me, because of that time of revival, I will NEVER be the same. Learning to know the Presence of God and His miraculous power, learning to lean deeply into an even more personal relationship with Him…it changed me.
Why do I share this? I share this because revival is on our radar again. God is moving powerfully and many of the hearts of the people at First Baptist Church, Aztec, long for what God is currently doing in a university amongst a group of passionate young people to happen here as well. I’m on that crew, too—because I know first-hand that God can use revival to change individual lives, homes, churches, towns, and an entire region, like San Juan County.
What do we do then? PURSUE GOD!! It’s just that simple and just that difficult. The answer is simple, but it requires effort, sacrifice and obedience. The real question is…Are we ready? Think back to the picture Pastor Mike showed us of a child and a mother on a roller coaster (aka us and the Holy Spirit). Are you ready to take that ride? My friends, I cannot imagine saying “no” to this kind of adventure.
Isaiah 26:7-9a says, “The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth. Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.”
Today, let’s pursue God. Let’s pursue righteousness and holiness and walk in His ways. Let’s allow a holy desperation to begin taking over; let’s wait for Him, yearn for Him, long for Him. Let’s allow the desire of our hearts to be His renown that His name might be made famous and that others may also come to know Him through the word of our testimony.
Katie Botello
FBC Aztec Member