Will you humor me and imagine something with me? What would happen if there was a generation that lived on the earth today-a generation that let their actions flow out of their core convictions? Imagine if the Christians alive today actually lived out their day thinking about the all powerful and all loving God who wanted to reach every person they passed by. What if we really understood the undeserved love that is lavished on us every day? How would you act differently? Would you smile at the people whom you passed on the street? Would you take the time to say 'how are you'-and really listen to the answer? All this was stirred within me at the Radiant Youth Conference I attended this weekend. David Perkins' closing session challenged us to live without caring what others think- to live radically found on our convictions.

+ Romans 11:33-34a Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How wonderful are his riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his methods! For who can know what the Lord is thinking?

This is the God that we serve. He is wonderful and marvelous; we don't even pray like he is so awesome. God help us!

Have you ever been convicted by a fictional character? Any avid readers would know what I'm talking about. I recently started to read Francine River's Mark of the Lion Trilogy, in it there is a young Jew girl named Hadassah. You see her stand up for her convictions in face of most horrible ridicule. She never speaks a sentence without allowing her heart for an Almighty and all loving God to shine through. Rivers depicts young Hadassah as such a convicted young woman that I felt my heart ache to live with such zeal, such passion. I like to fancy I have my helping of zeal, but when it comes down to it-how man opportunities, the little one-have I passed up in the last week alone. How many conversations have I been involved in without as much as a thought of letting my God come into the conversation. You ask me and I'll tell you God-he is my all, he is my life. But are my actions, my conversations reflecting that? I was moved to tears reading Rivers' book about a girl who faced death because she knew one who held her life. We can't even endure the mocking expressions of friends, let alone the leering of thousands as we are lead out to the center of an arena where hungry lions await. Dear one, how much could God reach our friends-our coworkers-our family if we would make every decision based on the convictions that our hearts were tied to.

One afternoon as I let my mind muse over my life, over my convictions, over the seemingly lack conviction in my conversations- and God laid this poem in my heart. I pray it speaks to you. I pray it challenges you. I pray it convicts you.

Words Laced With Conviction

I want to speak words laced with conviction

In light of heroes of the past

Shadow to follow-their words did last

My steps have hardly followed.

Their words I have borrowed.

But now its time.

I see a girl standing in the arena

No sign of fear upon her face

The crowd jeers and lions roar

She is solid to her core.

An unseen God holds her tight.

The smile on her lips reflect days past

When she stood and broke fear-

Those are the times she felt him most near.

With death at the door

Pain round the corner

Suffering was a small cost.

Her words rang true in the ear of accusers

Her words were laced with conviction.

The conviction I feel with comparison done-

I can hardly stand tall.

Falling down has been my pattern

My fears had wrapped me tight.

But to a fight I've been called-

Flesh against Spirit.

Words of lie are on my tongue

But how am I to live a life without a care?

Will my God carry me there?

I know he has seen passed opportunities-

Too many to count!

Does he still care to use me again?

Am I able to walk the path

Only martyrs go there.

I am to die to self daily.

But my words are full of me

Words are things to easily taken

Words are things to be treasured and spoken

Stand up for your beliefs.

Declare the One God's Glory

Live a life of love

Out loud speak the words-

Words laced with conviction.

How do I measure up?

Fear or Faith

Pain of Peace

Chilled or Charged

Hateful or Healing

Dragging or Determined

Shy or Saving

Helpless or Hearty

Angst or Righteously Angry

Careless or Convicted?

With the power I know

With the Father I have

With the glory I've seen

I must stand.

I will follow the path walked before-

Silence won't rule me now.

My words will drip with passions aflood

No excuses to grand

No hesitation to true

My god calls me forward

No matter the depth of friction

I will speak words of Conviction.

+Job 37:1-5 My heart pounds as I think of this. It leaps within me. Listen carefully to the thunder of God's voice as if rolls from his mouth. It rolls across the heavens, and his lightening flashes out in every direction. Then comes the roaring of the thunder-the tremendous voice of his majesty. He does not restrain the thunder when he speaks. God's voice is glorious in the thunder. We cannot comprehend the greatness of his power.

Friend-this is the God we serve, this is the one we have the privilege to announce to the world. How do we ever go a day without tears for the missed opportunities to point the way? How can we go one more minute without an ache in our souls for a passion that consumes? May your passion be for God alone, and may that zeal rise up in a fire that burns in your words. I pray that God would awaken this generation to live radical lives that drip with the living water that is offered from a mighty, powerful, loving God.

I have learned afresh the lesson that whenever you 'know' what to expect in an event, God has already planned to smash your nicely created box into unrecognizable splinters. My box this summer was comprised of previous mission trips, preconceived notions of how God works, and the confidence in my own ability to be used as a vessel for God. I knew how they would act. I knew how they would respond, I knew. It was all about me; but His box is crafted in the shape of the power of God. I thought I knew; then came Monday afternoon.

At our first ministry site we had just left a small church and crossed a muddy street to spend time at a nearby school. A girl on our team slipped in the mud and got her foot dirty. Allow this snapshot to materialize before your mind's eye-an elderly woman on her hands and knees with a bowl of water literally washing this girl's feet with her hand. I couldn't hold back the tears that gingerly slid down my face. God was blatantly saying, "La bienvenida a Nicaragua Cassie; welcome to Nicaragua." God began to pull at my quaint box; he was allowing me to see the heart of these beautiful people.

As the week progressed we went to the schools, kids grasped the idea of how God saw them. The dramas were impacting lives and hearts were being captured by Christ. However, one defining difference between these people and those we met in the Dominican were how receptive they were. The people of Nicaragua weren't quite as quick to trust. One example in particular was our bus driver Carlos. The first two days he had with us were hard as he adjusted to the new experience. When we decided to buy him a dinner after a particularly hard evening he had, you could see God softening his heart. He smiled, he thanked us; nails fell from my box. Our third day together was another encounter with the Holy Spirit where God tore my heart from my chest as I saw the servant heart of our friend Carlos. We attended a 2 hour church service and when we left our bus pulled over and through our interpreter, Carlos told us his three year old daughter was in the hospital due to a heart attack. He asked us to pray. He "knew that when we prayed, God did things." Carlos stayed with us even though his daughter was sick; this trip was NOT about me. This trip was about the people God wanted to reach. God preserved Carlos' daughter, God heard our prayers, and God began to show us how even our actions were reaching people for eternity.We had numerous opportunities to pray with the staff of the hotel where we stayed. Maids were healed, cleaning crew got saved! My deceivingly sturdy box was being crushed yet it was barely still intact. The response of these people tore at my heart strings. They were so hungry for a touch from God. There was a boy on our last night at the crusades that had a tumor on his forehead, as our group prayed over him the tumor began to shrink! A woman was healed from spine and stomach pain and as she cried and thanked God, her children ran up to embrace her with tears of their own.

The people were asked what they felt when God touched them with healing and time and time again different people at different times said it was the power of GOD. I experienced the power of God anew. We cried for God to open the flood gates and capture these people once more, he did. We put the results of our prayers in God's hands and anything you commit to his hands will succeed.

Every prayer you uttered, every penny you gave is counted to you in God's record of remembrance. He will bless you, he will move on your behalf. Thank you for investing in the precious nation of Nicaragua, thank you for ushering in the power of God to satisfy the hungry hearts of a generation.The power of God broke my box and the power of God broke the hard hearts of these people, and you dear one, made all the difference.

The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power 1 Corinthians 4:20

We are on the verge of a season of forthcoming flood waters; uncomfortable change; a time where flood waters will be released from Heaven. The prayers of God's people have been lifted up to Heaven and the clouds are heavy with the weight of their plea. God is about to open up the flood gates, with this release comes growth. Change. A turning point. A new start. New patterns. A time where our past bondages will be broken and God will preserve us through this time of trial and uncomfortable change. But what are we to do in this season? We have learned we must prepare, be obedient to the Spirit's leading-here let me show you what I have learned will be some of the events could be in the midst of this flood. I also feel God spoke a word, but that I will place in another blog..

I was praying over these little promptings the Spirit was depositing in me and asking him what it meant for me personally. As I was studying Genesis 6 and 7 some points jumped out, a outline, a glimpse of what the coming season means. I don't know where you are in all this. Maybe you are in the prep for the season of rain. Maybe you are in the desert just crying out for anything from God-even if it means a time of uncomfortable change, or maybe you are in the flood, and you don't see an end. Either way-this is what the Spirit spoke to me as I read.

Are you at a place where you just need a change, no matter what that means? I can feel the thickness of the air in the Spiritual realm God is moving, and I want to be around to see what he is doing. But as I've said, I feel like what is coming will call for endurance and ultimately sincere faithin a Creator who is working all things together for your good. We read in Genesis of the 7 days until the rain. Then once this rain comes, it comes hard. It's a crushing feeling that washes away all we once knew. But our Protector doesn't leave us by ourselves. Oh the jewels he reveals in his inspired Word!

+ Genesis 6:18 But I solemnly sweat to keep you safe in the boat…

Amidst our obedience to God he will guide us through the flood waters…

+ Gen 7:11b-12 …the underground waters burst forth on the earth, and the rain fell I mighty torrents from the sky. The rain continued to fall for 40 nights.

This is a violent picture of the confusion and overwhelming sensations that can reign in your time of flood, these times are an outpouring of God's answered prayers, but he is always giving us the opportunity to grow and to learn and to change. The underground waters burst onto the earth-the foundation you think you have laid, will be tested. Can you confidently stand and say that you won't be shaken, you wont be swept away in the middle of a catastrophic flood?

+ Gen 7:18 As the waters rose higher and higher above the ground, the boat floated safely on the surface. Finally, the water covered even the highest mountains on the earth.

Please know, this season that some of us feel like we are entering is not a thing to be afraid of, we just know that as we go into it that you need to trust God to help you through any trial that may present itself. But note, in the above scripture-one, the boat floated safely above the waters. Second, the flood waters covered the mountains. As I prayed over this I thought of the mountains in my life as two things. It could be the mountains-obstacles-I can't seem to get over. Or are these mountains that are covered, in the midst of this overwhelming uncomfortable change, are they our past victories? The change that is coming-we will be safely delivered through it. But in the middle of it, if we aren't careful we can lose sightof all past victories. BUT PRAISE GOD HE IS IN THE BUSINESS OF MAKING ALL THINGS NEW AGAIN!

+ Gen 7:22 Everything died that breathed and lived on dry land.

Do you see how God is still in control even when we can't see the victories? Do you see that he is working all things to our good as he makes all things new? A month or so back I was at this amazing event called "Jesus Now" where area youth groups and young adults from all sorts of denominations come together for one purpose-to praise and worship God. At the end we were all just listening to God and what he had to say to us in that time. I kept hearing him say the wilderness is over. The wilderness is over. Do you see that in this flood that he is allowing to rush into our lives and make us uncomfortable- it is REMOVING ALL THAT THE ENEMY HAS CREATED THAT IS THRIVING IN THE DRY PLACES. The dry areas of our lives have become breading places for apathy, discontentment and our complacent spirit. This flood that is painful, frightening and seemingly unending-it is striping the dry places in order to bring NEW LIFE! Yes, in the middle of this flood that covers all our victories we may not see the end. Yes, it will be painful, yes it can be intimidating-YES your God will carry you through!

+ Gen 8:1 But God remembered Noah…

Oh God. OH Father, you do not forget us in the midst of our trials. When we can no longer see the places you have brought us through- you are still ever so close. You are allowing us to grow, you are calling us to change, you are calling us deeper. We have cried out for an increase of your presence-may we see your hand in every drop of rain. Every answered prayer, God may we understand you have greater things for us and Lord, may we trust that you REMEMBER your children. God in the middle of the unknown, unmatched, unveiled flood, we cling to the one who has called us righteous! Lord Jesus, hold us and teach us in this flood, you are not a man that you would lie Oh god. Oh God , Oh Jesus, open the flood gates..