It's been a while...

Goodness, it's been a while.

We've been busy this week seeking some refreshment from God. Our church invited Life Action Ministries back for an 8 day revival summit. If you've been reading my blog since the beginning you might remember they came for a 4 day conference back in November 2008. It was great then, and has been truly amazing this time around. I know that different people and denominations, etc. have varying ideas of what "revival" is all about.

To me, the intent of this ministry (and our pastors intent in bringing them again) has been to transform lives...to get people on their knees and their face before God and each other. To get people to love like they should, pray like they should, give like they should, and lead like they should. And for it to not end on Sunday night. That we would not just get caught up in emotion of the week, but that our lives would be changed long term and that our families would look different for generations.

We started the week with three hours of church on Sunday morning, two hours on Sunday evening, and 2-3 hours every night this week. I went to a lunch on Tuesday and we'll go to a family seminar for 4 hours Saturday. Then Sunday we'll finish up the week with morning and evening services. It has been a little bit hard having the kids out every night and not getting them to bed until 10 a couple of the nights, but it has been worth every minute.

Many of the team members from Life Action are the same ones that were here previously, but this time they also brought along a man named Tom Nesbit who has focused on speaking to families. Seriously. If you EVER get a chance to hear this man speak, you must take it. His call to men to lead their families is the best I have ever heard. His Scriptural teaching on submission to authority, binding the devil, and seeking/giving forgiveness were amazing.



There is no way I could share everything that I have gained from this week, but I wanted to post a few thoughts and quotes that I'm holding close.

• I Kings 18...repair the altar, make the sacrifice, pray...refreshing will come. One of the things that especially struck me from the teaching on this passage was that the real sacrifice was not necessarily the bull, but the water. The drought had been going on for so long...how could these people afford to pour that much water on the altar just to prove Elijah's God? So many times we think we are making a sacrifice that will prove who God is, but how much more or what bigger thing is He calling us to give up?

• The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toils, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray. -Samuel Chadwick

• Matthew 12:25-29 "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house." How long does Satan need to bind up a husband/father with things like pornography, sexual immorality, dishonest business practice, and self-centeredness until he is able to steal that man's wife/children and destroy them with the same sins? The answer: not very long.

• A mother who prays for her children can bind a thousand demons. A father who prays for his children can bind a thousand demons. But a mother and father that pray together for their children can bind 10,000 demons.

• I Timothy 5:14 "So I counsel younger widows to marry, to have children, to manage their homes and to give the enemy no opportunity for slander."
  Ephesians 5:23 "For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church." Tom asked the congregation who the head of the household is and most of us said the man. But he pointed us to the verse in Timothy and assured us that the women is the head of the home, and according to Ephesians, the husband is the head of the wife. God is the head of the husband. There are umbrellas of authority. While the woman is to manage the home, the husband is responsible for what happens or doesn't happen under his roof. He is ultimately responsible for the success or failure of his marriage and the children who live under his roof.

• To piggy-back on the previous verses and thoughts, Proverbs 14:1 says "The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down." Tom preached that a woman who tries to be the spiritual leader in her home will end up tearing it down. This is the husband's responsibility, and she is foolish to think that she can do a job that he is commanded to do. I heard it as a call to women to give up control (we tend to be control freaks) and allow the men to lead.

Well, I have more, but I want to get this posted before it's too long or outdated. I'll try to come back this week with some more resources and thoughts about what God has stirred in me.