There Must Be More Than This

Hey,
I've got some thoughts that are probably scattered. They're not in any
order. I'm gonna try and write them here. Forgive me if they're not
understandable at first. I know the Lord will give you understanding.

I was listening to John Francis this morning. He talked about the era
of fear in the church vs. the era of grace and celebration. He, like
I, grew up in this era of fear. It wasn't all fear though. You found
people wailing and praying, fasting, and preaching the "or else"
sermons. There was no "whould you like to," "This is an option," or
any of that. We only heard "You must," or "You better." People fasted
a lot, prayed a lot, warfared a lot.

I grew up in a church like that. I don't mean grew up in years, but in
God. The church I went to, you fasted, whether it was a holiday or
not. You fasted because God had called a fast. You prayed, no matter
what time it was. You did it because God said. The preaching? There
was no sugar-coating or candy-coating. It was raw and uncut.

I miss some of that time tremendously. However, there were people who
did things out of duty, not out of love and joy. I understand that.
I'm even sure I did some things out of duty too.

But now, the era of grace and celebration has come. We're so happy. We
come to church talking and laughing. Sometimes, we don't even respect
the house of God. There are no all-night prayers and such anymore.
It's all about "having a good time in God." This is a necessary era.
People should know the joy of God. I myself remember longing for the
celebratory side of God back in the era of fear.

Now, being in the "joy" era, I long for the "fear" era. But I see that
it's not about either. We must have a meeting, a union of the two
eras.

We must bring back the all-night prayers and fasting. The
unadulterated Bible studies where we're not trying to worry about
offending people. We've got to once again respect the house of God.
But at the same time, we must serve God out of joy and celebrate Him.

Oh, how I long for that meeting. That union. I enjoyed so much seeing
demons casted out. I miss the heavy prayers. I long for the raw Word.
But I also like the celebration of God. I enjoy the joy of the Lord.

Lord, bring these two eras together, for they are both expressions of
Yourself. Teach me how to live in the union and unity of these
eras--where there is both sobriety and joy; fear of the Lord and love.
Oh--- that's what I want.

As I close this entry, please, no one take offense. I'm not pointing
to any church, teaching, sermon, person in particular. I'm expressing
my heart in my journal that you chose to read.

God bless,
Sharonda