This week, I came to Charlotte to house/dog sit for a friend. While dropping her off at the airport, she mentioned that it would be nice for me to visit a church while I was here. I was honestly still sleepy from the day before. Long story short, I assumed that I was going to go back to her place to get some sleep. As I left the airport, I began to talk to another good friend and she encouraged me to go and experience something different. In that moment, I still wasn’t set on going, but I felt a strong nudging to go.
As I made my way back, I made up my mind. I was going. As I put on my clothes, still tired, I headed to elevation church. When I got there, I felt so welcome. I began to wake up a bit. I went inside and sat down. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot. Not that the word wasn’t going to be on point, I was just still tired and I felt kind of weird being in a new place. We got through worship and as I sat back waiting on Pastor Furtick to deliver a message, he began to announce that there would be a guest speaker. He introduced her as the “hurricane.” Although many others got it, I did not. Soon, it was revealed that this “hurricaine” was indeed Christine Caine!
I was ecstatic. Not only is Christine Caine one of my favorites. she is indeed a “hurricane.” God has anointed her to stir things up in the spirit. She is not afraid to speak to this generation without sugar coating. So, I got my notepad out because I knew this would be a word.
I’m not sure what the title of her message was, but I am assuming it was “Don’t drop the baton of faith.” She talked about how the people served the Lord all the days that Joshua was alive and all the days of the elders. When Joshua died, they buried him and then comes this scripture…
When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which he had done for Israel.
Judges 2:10 NKJV
“We are all running a race, but we must not forget the ones who came before us and we must set the tone for the ones after us.” Clearly, the text shows us that the baton was dropped somewhere from one generation to the next.
So, here are a few points that she gave and that I took home.
1. We can’t commit spiritual malpractice.
If you were diagnosed with something and the doctor knew the cure, he wouldn’t tell you something just to make you feel better. He would tell you the truth and what you had to do to see real healing.
There are many faiths and many alternatives to the gospel. In a generation where the name if Jesus seems to be thought of less and less, many of us try to get people in my watering down the message. The thing is, the message speaks for itself. We shouldn’t sugar coat it. Jesus tells us that he is the truth. It is not our job to convince people of that. We are to be messengers and watch God’s word work. It is alive and powerful after all. It splits the soul and the spirit. That is not always going to be comfortable. We have to speak and be led by the spirit. So, delivering the truth of God’s word and watching it work for itself is key.
2. What once catapulted you in one season can become a weight in the next.
“Not all weight is sin.” This point speaks for itself. Sometimes, we have to let go of those things that hold us back from our purpose and destiny. A good example is my friend and I. We were always together. She was the Jonathan to my David. She helped plant seeds when I lived in darkness and her being right there got me a long way. One day, we sat down and she told me she felt like God was saying it was time for us to separate. She had fulfilled her mission in Savannah and it was time for her to go. I was sad when she told me. I honestly didn’t know how I would be able to stand Savannah without her. A lot of great memories were made with her. So she left!
When I look back on the situation, I realized, we were weights to each other. Some stuff I aspired to do, I didn’t do because I was always with her and ahe didn’t like everything that I did. Some things she aspired to do, she didn’t because she felt held back in this city. We weren’t going to make it much longer together. I couldn’t see it then, but it’s so clear now. We were suffocating each other’s potential. Today, we have grown tremendously. We are still best friends, but we now have room to grow.
3. Sometimes you have to look foolish to the world.
Sarah pregnant at nearly 100 years old, Noah building an ark for rain that had not been seen, Moses parting the Red Sea, Joshua and the Israelites marching around 7 times, Daniel in the lion’s den, Shadrach, Mechach and Abednego not bowing down, Mary a virgin who was going to give birth and Jesus, who hung on a cross and didn’t even seem to be able to help himself…I could go on and on about the amount of people who were willing to look foolish in biblical history, but caused real change.
The point is, you may look foolish to the world, but when you are obedient to God, you will cause real change.
In closing, remember, we are running a race, but there are other people involved. Serve, give, wait, be obedient. Whatever you do, just don’t drop the baton!
Chasing Real 