Hope City

I have been to many churches in the last seven years. There are many that appear to have the same "style" or "order of service," but not all have the excitement of the Holy Spirit and commitment to agree with Jesus in what HE is doing.

Tonight, I visited my sister's church in Houston. I was very happy to be in a congregation with a multicultural demographic, diversity in ages and a pastor fired up to give every chance to honor and glory to Jesus.

There is just something that clicks within me when I sense the balance of the love and honor of Jesus, the power of His word, and revelation of the Holy Spirit moving in a church congregation.

The offering time was before the sermon, and I felt led to give something, but in the middle of the sermon, I felt like the Holy Spirit was reminding me to name the seed, to declare to God what investment I am putting in to honoring this house as I expect this offering seed to multiply with a return. The pastor was not speaking of this subject at the time, but I quietly and quickly prayed for the seed of spiritual breakthrough in me and my family.

I continued on listening to the sermon and was so thankful that all that I had been sensing earlier on this year had been confirmed. There is an order in which we move forward. If you are out of order, things will fall apart. Jesus is the "I am." Not me. When the thought, "He is..." comes first, the second, "I am" naturally follows. If it is the other way around, then it falls to being self absorbent and hindering or people please and idol-ism. Such a GOOD word!!! COME ON JESUS!

Here is the video of the sermon on YouTube:

He/Is
The sermon starts at 23:35


Afterward, I stayed after for prolong worship and though I was sitting in the back and most people had emptied out from the middle to the back of the auditorium, I stayed to praise and worship. It was awesome and sweet. There were people praying for those who would come to the front, and I saw a lady standing there as she had just finished praying for someone.

I grabbed my purse and bee-lined straight to her. I knew somehow that she would pray what the Holy Spirit would tell her. As I told her my simple request and my name, she laughed with agreement and went into a rapid-fire prayer that had been, again, confirming all that I was sensing. She didn't now much about me, but she prayed like she knew me and that I love obedience better than sacrifice like God does. She kept saying that I had the power, anointing and calling to "go out" and she kept using that phrase "go out" repeatedly over and over again. I was laughing because she didn't know me, but she knew the Holy Spirit who knows me. This woman was a mighty prayer warrior and I felt like she was hacking off dross and heaviness with her prayers like a machete and I could feel the fires of the Holy Spirit burning away what didn't belong. The music was getting louder and she was praying louder. She was yelling at one point because the praise was so loud but it just intensified the prayer and I was also yelling in agreement. Thank you Jesus! I think I already received my return from the seed I just sown!

I love Jesus. If I ever cover him up, for whatever reason, whether it be fearful of what others think, or dwelling too much on my own stuff, I think I die a little each time. We were meant to shine for him. That doesn't mean making a campaign out of him. It just means we reflect who He is as we draw near to Him.