rIsE uP aNd SeRvE tHe LoRd!

  The last few days I have been thinking, again. And tonight all I've been thinking and feeling has started to come together into one tangled blob of something....something that I don't know if I can express through words but I want to try. I cant promise it will make any sense, but here goes.
    I do a lot of observing, and a lot of listening. And sometimes I get lucky and see or hear something that catches my attention. Well lately I have been seeing and hearing something that has been doing just that, but it has brought a lot of heaviness to my heart, partly because I see it in myself and partly because I have seen where it is going to lead us in 10 years.
    When I look around I see so many of us young people wandering around, lost, not sure where we're going or what we should do. We can't figure out why we cant live victorious or why we don't have the joy of the LORD flowing though us. We feel aimless and lost and we don't know how to fix it. Our Bibles are gathering dust and our knees? Well lets just say kneeling in church on Sundays is a little awkward due to the lack of conditioning on those knee cap muscles.
   We are trying so hard to not become legalistic and to still have a little fun in our lives. We don't want to appear as radicals for fear others would think us strange, or super-spiritual. We don't want to be odd balls because we might get put in the spot light. Oh and those things we love that aren't necessarily bad but they're not necessarily good.....I mean, the Bible doesn't say anything bad about it and I do seriously like it.....Well what if that is all that is keeping us from what we're seeking.
    Oh I believe we're seeking. In fact I know we are. We long for more of Jesus, we long for that sweet relationship, we want communion with Jesus, victory over sin and joy in our hearts, but for some reason we don't get it, and yet we pray and ask GOD to send revival etc, etc.
    Well I think I have the answer. Awhile ago I was reading in Ezekiel and something scary started striking my attention. I realized that he was dealing with idols in Isreael, and that GOD was using Ezekiel to proclaim His punishments on them. And I realized that we as youth [myself so included] have a lot of idols. We have so many things that we love more than GOD. Yes idols are anything that takes away from GOD. Whatever we don't want to willing lay down for the sake of the Cross of Christ is an idol.
    GOD will not chose to continue dwelling in a vessel that keeps crowding him out. He wants hearts that yearn after him and seek him with all their heart, soul and mind. Not someone that loves him on the side. GOD wants our full attention, our complete love, and if he doesn't get it we will pay a price. We can not live with one foot walking on the path of righteousness and the other foot walking on the path of the world. We have to be one or the other. We have to be hot or cold. We CANNOT serve 2 masters. Either we will hate the one or love the other. And if we are lukewarm GOD WILL SPIT US OUT!
   If we continue living our lives the way we have been we are in for a lot of heart ache and sorrow. Sure we need reviving, and revival etc. But more so we need deep relationships with Jesus Christ and that is not going to happen unless we smash down the idols in our lives and turn back to GOD. We must choose, one or the other. You cant walk the middle line.
    I propose an assignment so to speak, for the next 40 days. If we want GOD to really come through we have to come through for him too. And the way to do that is to fast and pray. I am not saying abstain from actual food, but searching your heart for the idols/possible idols you have and fasting from them for 40 days. And instead of reading that book, watching that movie/game, buying that outfit etc.....spend that extra time focused on prayer and studying the Bible. That is the only way these bondages in our lives can be broken. It is the only way for us to gain that relationship with Jesus. It is the only way we can become the person we are meant to be. And I honestly believe GOD will come through for us.
     This 40 day 'fast' will start September 1st and go until Oct. 3.  If you are a young person who is searching but cant find the answers, then please do this with me. Please, let us become all GOD called us to be. Lets be willing to sacrifice our idols for a Holy Jesus that sacrificed his  life, his family and friends and even GOD himself, for us. All for us. Lets rise up and be either IN or OUT. Lets stop trying to take the world with us to heaven because it will only cause us to detour towards hell.