Moving

 I saw a wonderful video on Facebook this morning that blessed my heart and spirit. A young man approached an elderly woman and asked her if she believed in Jesus. She immediately said with great joy that she did. Then she gave a small testimony of how this had come about. She said in her youth during the late 60's, she had been heavily into drug use along with her boyfriend. She was descending ever deeper into darkness....but the Lord was moving. She said one evening, as her boyfriend was shooting up in the bathroom, in brokenness, she cried out to Christ. She said immediately there was a powerful presence that came down upon her and she was filled with a peace and joy she had never known before. She left that place and that life and never looked back. Now, as a woman coming to the end of her life, she sang a hymn of praise as she and the young man prayed together, her joy and peace still full and vibrant. She was radiant with the beauty of it all.

As I think on this I'm also thinking of all the tragedy, pain, and suffering we're witnessing in this world.There is the devastation of the Los Angeles fires and Carolina floods. Of the Florida hurricanes as well as the destruction taking place in Russia and the Ukraine and in Israel and the Middle East. Add to this the misery and suffering of all those lives enslaved in the sex trade. Everywhere I look, where we look, there is pain and sorrow. Yet what I also see is Him, Jesus the Savior, moving and ministering in the midst of it all. It is who He is and what He does. I have seen it first hand throughout my ministry and in the current ministry of the church I'm a part of and serve in. He is moving upon lives heretofore trapped in darkness and hopelessness. He is moving here and all across this nation. People of every age, social strata, and occupation. Celebrities and unknowns alike are being found by Jesus wherever they are, no matter how great the darkness of that place, and coming out of their captivity and lostness. 

The enemy is at work. That can't be denied, but the King, Jesus Christ is at work as well, through His Holy Spirit. Where sin abounds, grace abounds more. Everywhere, miraculous life transformations are happening. People, once spiritually blind have received their sight. Healing, miraculous healings are happening everywhere. The devil would have us be paralyzed with fear at his works. Refuse to give in to that fear. The Lord is moving....everywhere. Look for Him. Expect Him. Intercede for all those trapped in darkness and believe that He is answering....because He is. No matter how deep the darkness, it can never stop it being pierced by His wondrous Light.

Blessings,
Pastor O