Last night, my husband and I watched the movie, I Am Legend with Will Smith. The movie itself was okay, but some of what was said, has been with me all day. At one point, Will Smith's character quotes Bob Marley. Bob Marley believed that in order to stop violence and hatred, more love and music should be interjected, therefore diminishing the power of violence. My mom used to say, "kill them with kindness...it's like heaping hot coals upon their heads." The idea is if more of us rise up with love, it will overshadow hate.
Lately, God has been talking to me about this very idea. As brothers and sisters gather in His name, as we have community, love one another, meet for meals...we bring the light. The more believers, the more light. As we build relationships and share the love of Jesus, the light gets bigger...it pushes out the darkness.
What if a house church meets right in a community and neighbors come to know Jesus. The house church grows so that another house is needed up at the top of the street...then another around the corner...or over a block. The light is being brought into darkness. Because Jesus is being lifted up, all men are drawn unto Him.
I had a vision last year of "safe houses". I was standing in a field, and dotting the field were white tents all aglow. It was night...but the tents were glowing. To me, they represented safe houses, places where Jesus offered safety, healing, restoration, family, fellowship, nourishment, refreshing...from the darkness.
I think this is what He wants to do with His church in this season. I think Jesus wants there to be safe houses all over our neighborhoods and in our cities. He wants to interject more light than darkness...more love than hatred...more peace than violence.
But, just like in the movie, I think we need to be willing to lay down our lives. We need to be willing to be uncomfortable. We need to be willing to lay down our fears. We need to be willing to be on guard and watchful all the time. We need to be willing to be inconvenienced.
I'm tired of seeing so many people living in the darkness. I'm tired of meeting so many broken people. Just in the last two weeks, in my neighborhood, I have witnessed three drug deals, two prostitutes being picked up, crack addicts smoking a pipe, squatters making a home under a porch, all of my husband's tools be stolen out of his car, suicide and violence in the elementary school. Everything in me wants to run away...but, I don't want to give into fear. I don't want it to control my life or my kids lives. I want to stand and believe and hope that the light can be bigger. But, from experience, I KNOW, my light alone can not push it all away. I need "us", my brothers and sisters...I need community...I need the church.... My neighborhood needs love to be bigger than the darkness. My city needs Us to be Legendary.
Lately, God has been talking to me about this very idea. As brothers and sisters gather in His name, as we have community, love one another, meet for meals...we bring the light. The more believers, the more light. As we build relationships and share the love of Jesus, the light gets bigger...it pushes out the darkness.
What if a house church meets right in a community and neighbors come to know Jesus. The house church grows so that another house is needed up at the top of the street...then another around the corner...or over a block. The light is being brought into darkness. Because Jesus is being lifted up, all men are drawn unto Him.
I had a vision last year of "safe houses". I was standing in a field, and dotting the field were white tents all aglow. It was night...but the tents were glowing. To me, they represented safe houses, places where Jesus offered safety, healing, restoration, family, fellowship, nourishment, refreshing...from the darkness.
I think this is what He wants to do with His church in this season. I think Jesus wants there to be safe houses all over our neighborhoods and in our cities. He wants to interject more light than darkness...more love than hatred...more peace than violence.
But, just like in the movie, I think we need to be willing to lay down our lives. We need to be willing to be uncomfortable. We need to be willing to lay down our fears. We need to be willing to be on guard and watchful all the time. We need to be willing to be inconvenienced.
I'm tired of seeing so many people living in the darkness. I'm tired of meeting so many broken people. Just in the last two weeks, in my neighborhood, I have witnessed three drug deals, two prostitutes being picked up, crack addicts smoking a pipe, squatters making a home under a porch, all of my husband's tools be stolen out of his car, suicide and violence in the elementary school. Everything in me wants to run away...but, I don't want to give into fear. I don't want it to control my life or my kids lives. I want to stand and believe and hope that the light can be bigger. But, from experience, I KNOW, my light alone can not push it all away. I need "us", my brothers and sisters...I need community...I need the church.... My neighborhood needs love to be bigger than the darkness. My city needs Us to be Legendary.
