Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Beginning the Year With The Passion Conference


Like the last two years, my family started 2013 by watching the Passion Conference online.  Here are some of my thoughts from opening night.

First, it is a joy to see my children excited about watching Passion.  All four of my children (ages 18, 15, 11, and 8) could not wait for it to start.  Throughout the day, they were playing Praise and Worship music for Passion Prep.  During Giglio's message, the oldest three were taking notes.  Yes, three children were taking notes and this was without any parental persuasion!  After the message, my kids were quoting their favorite lines from the message.  As a parent, I love the fact that my kids love God and are passionate about Him.  I pray that this will continue.

Second, I pray for the salvation of my Foster Children, especially the oldest one, who is nine.  He has not accepted Jesus as his Saviour; although, he has been presented with the gospel numerous times.  While we watch Passion, he is with us.  Having an unregenerate heart, he does not understand or experience it like the rest of us do.  I am glad that he is being exposed to the Word again and in a different format.  He is getting an opportunity to see our family, and thousands others, getting excited about Jesus.  He is hearing that, no matter your past or what enslaves you, Jesus can give you a new life and freedom.  These are things that he needs.  I pray that God's word will not return void.

Third, when God is working, Satan will be opposing.  With the Georgia Dome only able to hold 60,000+ young adults worshipping God, the Conference is streamed on the internet so people all over the world can join in the worship.  When the conference started at 7:30, we could not get the stream.  After checking around online and on Twitter (the first time I have ever checked Twitter), we learned that the Conference was having techical difficulties (perhaps too many people wanting to worship for human technology?).  Eventually, they fixed the stream and we were able to participate.  Personally, I saw this as an attack by Satan.  The last think he wants is hundreds of thousands of people around the world worshipping God and being energized to let God work through them.  I also found it ironic how upset Christians (presumably) got when they could not get their "religious" program.

Fourth, God can do more than we can imagine, as Giglio preached.  God is the all powerful creator of the world and can do anything.  But, we limit His power in our lives.  Instead, we choose to be a slave to sin and to be satisifed with ordinary, mundane lives.  We need to ask God to do more in, and through, us.  He wants to do it, we just need to ask and have faith.  When we lack faith, we should pray that He will help our unbelief.

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