Heaven meeting Hunger in Lakeland.

Lakeland, FL l 04.30.08I am completely blasted, undone, and tender towards the Lord right now. I don’t know if its because I am just a little emo after being up until 2am in Lakeland with old friends, new friends, burners, and people who actually believe God is willing to come and do all the things we dream of. I am completely physically exhausted on this plane back to Dallas after this quick 16 hour turnaround…but my inner man is built up with so much faith, courage, and hope of all God is doing. I feel like I have new eyes and vision to see impossibilities as perfect opportunities for God to show Himself strong.

The word God gave me earlier this month and that I have blasted on my blogs, burn newsletters, and sung in cities all over America has been “April showers will bring May flowers.” It is happening. Not just in Lakeland , FL…but in cities all over the world…reports are pouring in now that prove God is raining down His presence in unprecedented levels in history. Its no longer theory…but REALITY!!! Its happening with some of our burners in Cincinnati, OH and even in Charlotte at Morningstar where youth in the high school are leading the way. They cried out to God during school one day are leading thousands every single night into deep encounters with the Presence of God manifested through signs, wonders, salvations, healings, and more!!

I released this word God gave me and sang it over the missionaries at the YWAM Kona base last week and shared it again with the top leaders flying in from all over the globe (over 20 nations last night!!) to GET SOME of this Outpouring…I believe this reveals what God is doing.

Zechariah 10:1

Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime;
it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds
He gives showers of rain to men,
and plans of the field to everyone.

Guess what…..IT IS SPRINGTIME!!!!! It is THE LORD who makes the storm clouds!!! AND he is pouring them out!!! Not just in Florida…but ALL OVER THE WORLD!!

Last night…as The Presence began to invade and fill the 8,000 seat hockey stadium we were in (they are moving it to a bigger outdoor stadium this friday!)…God was simply in the room. He was translating beyond “styles” of worship or personalities of preaching…but it was just His RAW power and glory in our midst.

I began to ask the Lord…what is happening Lord and why is it happening here? The Lord told me to come away with Him to the very farthest back seat in the stadium and that He wanted to show me something. So I left in the middle of the some of the incredible healings I’ve ever witnessed in my life…blind people since birth beginning to see…paralyzed people getting up out of their wheelchairs they’ve been in for over 20 years..tumors and lumps dissapearing…and the craziest things you can imagine!!

As I climbed to the very last seat in the back row and sat down…the Lord began to speak two things to me that I wanted to share with you about what He is doing. He told me very clearly…”Sean…look at my people.” I began to look around and He would highlight people’s faces in the crowd that were desperate and crying out…a few of them I will mention. Two young girls…maybe around 11 years old with their hands stretched to the sky and singing at the top of their lungs..you could see raw passion and abandonment in their worship and it was captivating. One elderly couple who still had their plane tickets in their back pocket from just arriving in town…they were hugging each other and weeping together on the ground and I could see God’s healing power was flowing over their weary hearts. A twenty-something sprawled out on his face and shaking under the heavy power of God. Then a frail older man got on stage and was pushing a large oxygen cart with tubes connected to his nose. He shared that he had terminal cancer with 22 tumors eating away his body. They prayed for Him last night and he was back again tonight. When he was asked the question why he came back…the man spoke up with all his might “I will come back every night until I am healed and WILL NOT BE DENIED.”
Upon hearing this and seeing all the other people mentioned above…I broke open and began to weep. It was uncontrollable.

The Lord spoke to me in the moment and said “Look at my people…they are hungry. I am here because they are hungry.”

I then realized that there was nothing special about the building. the people leading this, the worship, the city of Lakeland (which is off the beaten path)…but that God was showing up night after night, healing after healing, salvation after salvation because of one thing - HUNGER!!! People were flying in from ALL over the world just to get one drink!! They were staying up until 2am like me with a 5am departure time!! They were anticipating something great and weren’t going to stop until they got the breakthrough they came for!!

THIS IS A PICTURE OF THE STATE OF THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. THEY ARE DISILLUSIONED, CONFUSED, FRUSTRATED, OVER RELIGION….BUT HUNGRY FOR A REAL ENCOUNTER!!
The Lord began to teach me how Heaven will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS meet hunger! The bigger our hunger, resolve, and fight to see God show up grows…the more Faith we have to see Him as He really is.

I was blown away to think that - HEY…THIS COULD HAPPEN ANYWHERE PEOPLE ARE HUNGRY!!
The Lord responded by simply saying “Yes, it can. Yes, it will.”

The second thing the Lord began to show me was how much our day and night grassroots BURNING is is paving the way for this. He showed me that if we STAY CONSISTENT…He will do this anywhere and everywhere we keep the flame lit and give him room to take over!! It is travesty to build a slick and neat “24-7 program” of events in our cities with the whole focus of getting God around through night and day prayer and worship…and then when He shows up..we don’t give Him room to TAKE OVER and are stuck on models and formulas!! One of the things I love about this Florida Outpouring is that its SO MESSY and NOT POLISHED!! Its just raw, organic, authentic power of God!

WE ARE BURNING SO HE CAN COME IN AND TAKE OVER AT THE BLINK OF AN EYE!!

I want to end by encouraging all of you BURNING night and day in your cities…

1) WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS NOT IN VAIN! Outpourings in Florida and around the world are a direct result of your BURNING. Night and Day Vertical worship will bring these SHOWERS!!

2) STAY CONSISTENT AND DONT LET UP! Don’t slack down on the hours you are BURNING…but stay consistent and on task…and HE IS LONGING TO VISIT LIKE THIS!!

3) BE HUNGRY!! BE HUNGRY!! BE HUNGRY!! STAY HUNGRY!! Don’t ever get comfortable…but stay wasted, broken, and unsatisfied and WATCH how Heaven will meet you.

4) DREAM BIGGER AND ANTICIPATE MORE!! God loves BIG dreamers and sons and daughters with MASSIVE expectations…because it reveals how BIG we think God is in our lives and what He can do.

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!! I BELIEVE WITH BOB JONES THAT THIS 3RD WAVE GOD IS RELEASING WILL SWEEP ACROSS THE EARTH!!! DO IT LORD!!

DO IT IN OUR HOMES, CITIES, NATOINS AND WORLD!! WE NEED IT NOW MORE THAN EVER!!

more Lord!

_sean