recreate

It’s like we’ve been to the palace so many times, we forget we are standing in the presence of royalty.

I had the privilege of going to the Recreate14 conference this week at Church of the Highlands. I absolutely love things like this. Christian Concerts. Mission Trips. Disciple Now. Conferences. Retreats. And Camps. What can I say; my parents introduced me early. I grew up going to youth things from the time I was very little and my dad was in the ministry.

The problem though, is that I get so pumped up at something like this, that when the event is over I feel utterly depressed. I asked the Lord:

How do you go from being in the continual presence of God back to the everyday mundane of reality?

And God whispered back to me.

You don’t have to have speakers, lights and music to have that kind of moment with me. You can meet me in My presence every single day. It’s not about where you are physically; it’s about where you are spiritually. Location doesn’t matter. It’s your heart.

I know God is right, but how often do we know this in our heads and forget it in our actions? We get really excited about Jesus and we go out ready to take on whatever comes our way, but then we adjust back to the world and we lose our fire. We forget to go back to that place with God that we experienced so freely. We forget to create that kind of environment every time we go before the King of Kings. It’s like we’ve been to the palace so many times, we forget we are standing in the presence of royalty.

The conference was filled with many wonderful things. I think one of the things I love the most is the name of the conference. Recreate. It reminds me, oddly enough, of my car.

The first time I saw my lovely Honda Accord, it was pretty banged up. The entire front hood was crumpled and smashed together. It had been wrecked and clearly showed signs of damage. The car guy, an expert at restoring wrecked vehicles, assured me he could get it looking good again.

He set about to fix the engine and hood and all the many things that were wrong with it. It was a long process waiting for everything to be just right and many people thought I was crazy waiting for this particular car.

But deep in my heart, I knew this was the car for me. I could see the potential of what it could be and as the weeks passed, I was amazed at the transformation the guy had done with the car. It dawned on me as I drove my prized wheels home that it was an amazing picture of how God works in our lives.

Some of us are walking around with a damaged and beat up body. Our headlights might be out. Our engine might not run the way it should and people think we would be better off in a pile of rubble. We start to believe our value has declined. We lower our price or value until one day we sell ourselves for little or nothing.

But God sees the potential and He is the master of Restoration in broken lives. He polishes us and transforms us little by little until we become whole and complete once again. He recreates us from the inside out and brings forth a new and beautiful creation.

Speaker Julia A’Bell stated, “God has something new for you in your life! God does not go over old history. He turns things around and makes us brand new.”

I’ve seen this illustration come to fruition in my life with my car and in my own heart. We can look to Isaiah 43: 18-19 which says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

Julia also said, “The only person in your life that can stop the plan and purpose of God is not the devil—he has been defeated—it is you.”

Don’t stand in your own way. Step into all that God has for you. Enlarge your territory and claim land in the big tent. Don’t hang onto yesterday…let God love you unconditionally and recreate you piece by piece.

What an amazing two days. Thanks to all that made it happen.

-Only Hope