Bond

It has been nine years that we have been pursuing this dream. This dream of seeing a global awakening, a movement of young people transformed into the likeness of our Lord Jesus moving into every nation and every area of society. I believe this is a dream birthed in the heart of the Father.
I was recently at a gathering in North America where we had over six hundred mostly youth together seeking his face for the nations, and calling out for His plans and purposes in the earth to be reveled in us and that we would lay down our dreams and pick up his. I have been at many such gatherings over the years seeking revival, seeking the face of God. I have cried out many times these past nine years for it to happen not knowing what it would look like. I have read about the past revivals in a hope to see what the future one may look like. What we have been seeking is something that is really found within us already. God has been bringing a global network of relationships around the world all marked with this common bond of Jesus, a passion to see this movement of Marked people going into the earth and a love for each other that transcends all national boundaries. We are a people that are different and may not agree on all things but the bond of our love is deep. There is a commitment to our relationships that is worship to the Lord; it is a bond that hell cannot break nor time diffuse.
At this gathering I looked out during worship, looking into the faces of my friends, the relationships God has given me. And in that moment I saw the beauty of the Lord. I saw the worship that those friendships are. I wept over my friends, I battled for them, I became better because of the love and bond that I saw and that all we experience together. There is so much to this life besides what the world says is important. I live and die by my friends. Our love is our bond. What we have all the world seeks after. It is why we see a disenfranchised youth culture; it is why we see such problem with gangs. It is why we participate in blogs and online forums. It is what the world is dieing for, true life or death relationship and it is what we have.
But how do these relationships affect the world? Why has God given them? It isn’t so that we keep them to ourselves is it? My friend Tre gave me an illustration that goes like this. I have been married to a beautiful woman for the past 15 years named Ellen. We have wrestled and struggled through so much together and we are the best of friends. We practically grew up together getting married at the ages of 18 and 19 respectively. After almost nine years of marriage we came to a place that we wanted children. Why do you think we wanted to have kids? Was it merely to pass on our heritage, our family name and carry on the human race? No, we wanted to have kids so that they could join us in the party! This dance that the Godhead has been in since eternity past and which Jesus is calling us into, we wanted them to be part of it and to feel the joy that we feel. We were not satisfied with keeping it to ourselves. That is what the kingdom is like, we were never meant to keep it to ourselves, within the four walls of the church, it is for the streets. Shouldn’t this Gospel affect every area of society? Shouldn’t it affect the AIDS orphan in Africa, the poor, the homeless, the refuge, and the imprisoned?
Shouldn’t it affect every area of society? That is the power within these relationships and that is the thing that will spark a revival affecting every area of society. Will it happen if
we just pray and fast long enough for it? Maybe. But Jesus gave us friendship and relationship for a purpose and a plan, yes for our benefit and enrichment but ultimately for His Kingdom. As we act together we will see the transformation happen.
God the father gave Jesus friends, don’t think for a minute that Jesus was merely the teacher and the disciples his students they where far more than that. They where His mates, his accountability group, his best friends in the whole world and also the ones He planned on to take this Gospel through out the Earth. Eleven guys did it, they went out and shared the love and was it deep! They had a dream to bring Gods kingdom to Earth through Jesus. We are called to do the same with these precious relationships we have. Some have more and some have less but they are all given to us by God. Ellen and I have been in YWAM for over 10 years now and O have they been the richest years. I would not trade the world for these years and the depth of what God has given me. YWAM may have many problems but what is at the core is relationship. It was founded by a bunch of friends that dared to believe and followed a crazy dream of youth going out into all the nations. What is the dream you and your friends have? Is like mine, to see a global movement that is going out to transform every area of society? If you don’t have a dream, ask God, He will give one to you as well. We need to ask God what His dreams and desires are for our lives. We think so small and temporal. God has a dream and destiny so much larger so much deeper then you can even imagine. He is not interested in Lone Rangers who trumpet their own calls but He is interested in the building of something bigger, our God is a consuming fire. He puts us together with others who dare to dream the same crazy dream of God and O is it so worth the sacrifice. Let me tell you a story of sacrifice and humility that is personal to me. God introduced me to what have become two of my closest friends in the world, Tre and Trent Sheppard. At the time I didn’t know that it was God who was introducing us but as I began to see, God is often the one who connects us with what become some of our closest relationships. I met them at a DTS gathering we held in Kona, Hawaii in January 1999. We brought together the three schools from Honolulu, Maui, and Kona for a week of worship, prayer, and seeking God for revival in our time.
God met us so strongly during that week we where all marked forever. I have never been the same after that time and it re-fired an idea that had faded in the previous years of seeing a global awakening in our generation. My heart was also knitted to Tre and Trents and thus began a friendship that has grown these past six years but it wasn’t without testing. Later that year as Ellen and I wrestled with the idea of moving to England to join up with the Factory, a ministry they had started to pursue this dream, I faced a challenge to these new friendships. Because of simple miscommunication on my side of the world the enemy planted a seed of frustration that began to develop into what became animosity in my heart towards these dear friends. We were to meet again at conference later that same year in Colorado. Weeks before this God revealed that I had begun to allow this frustration into my heart. He led me to repent of my pride and selfishness in not defending this bond and in allowing the enemy and my flesh to break what God had given. To Tre and Trents surprise I grabbed them on our first meeting in Colorado and I
washed their feet and asked forgiveness for my attitude towards them. The funny thing was that they had no idea the battle that I had been fighting. It took them by surprise that I had asked them to allow me to do this. I was walking in obedience to God to defend and protect what have become two of my best friends and most valued relationships I have today. If I had not walked in obedience to what God asked of me Tre and Trent would never have know what was in my heart but it would have forever brought a wall between my heart and theirs. I illustrate this point to say that there is nothing I won’t do to defend the relationships that God has given me. They are a gift from God and they are one of the treasures that the enemy seeks to destroy. I am not sure exactly how that would have changed my life but I have a feeling I would not be where I am today without them, their input into my life and I am sure it is mutually true. Every relationship is not without its testing and trials. Our response to these trials are what either bind us together even closer or what can drive an invisible wedge between them. In the series “Band of Brothers” a true story about a group of soldiers that became so much more than friends as they faced the specter of war. They grew in this bond beginning during their training time running up and down a hill called “Churahee”. The eternal bond and friendship of this Band of Brothers is something that came out of the intensity of the conflict and the need for each other. Are we not engaged in a conflict with the stakes so much higher? I feel that we have been in a season of training these past years and are now really entering the true battle.
Out of these and many other connections God has given to Ellen and I we have grown the stronger, the Kingdom has been advanced, and we have drawn closer to seeing a movement birthed. Not out of one mans dream but the dream of God placed in a bunch of friends who dare to believe the impossible. Loren Cunningham’s quoted as saying “The key to YWAM is the creating with God the things that are on Gods heart.” The call is simple, hear the voice of the Lord and obey. As we walk out together in obedience the word of the Lord to us and to be open to the dreams of God we will see this movement go out into the entire world affecting every area of society. It will be a nameless faceless army with Jesus as the General. What is the crazy dream of God you are dreaming?