Unprecedented

UNPRECEDENTED:

Without previous instance; never before known or experienced; unexampled or unparalleled, unique, extraordinary, exceptional.

An Unprecedented walk. A lifestyle that the world has yet to see. Men and women with a faith that has never been witnessed. Creative miracles that are unexampled. Salvations that are extraordinary. Stories that are unparalleled. Courage without previous instance. Love that is exceptional.

Is that prideful—to think such a walk is possible? To want it for myself? I don’t think so. Smith Wigglesworth kicked a baby because God told him to do that. The baby’s limbs grew back. That was unprecedented. Jesus Christ walked on water. That was unprecedented. Paul’s shadow healed a man. That was unprecedented, too.

And if Jesus said that we would do greater works than Him, I’m thinking He meant what He said. “Just believe.”

God is changing the face of the church, which means we need to be open to some unprecedented things. The face of the anointing is not going to look like the stereotypical, suit and tie dressed, four years of seminary trained, certified through some church denomination, kind of pastor. What if the current city drug dealer is about to encounter Jesus? What if he gets so ruined by the love of God that he becomes the biggest soul winner in the neighborhood? That could send our minds reeling. Most likely it will stir up a lot of judgmental and religious spirits—especially when he starts preaching with his tattoos showing and his secular song lyrics still stuck inside his head and the occasional cuss word slipping out because he is still learning how to get his mind renewed.

To be unprecedented is to be misunderstood. Not on purpose. That would just be stupid. But to be misunderstood because you are following the leading of the Holy Spirit seems to be a typical thing throughout church history, especially when things of the Spirit start awakening a culture. Maybe He is going to give you ideas that have not yet been thought of by human minds. The unseen is often misunderstood because it takes imagination and faith to believe that it can come into actual existence.

I guess I’m writing this because I want to be a part of whatever God’s doing—even if it is unprecedented and unfamiliar. I don’t even really know what I’m talking about, but I do know that I’ve been “churched” my whole life. Now, I just want to be real and allow God to “unchurch” me if that’s what it takes. Cliches, regurgitated truths that make people think I’m spiritual, and irrelevant speeches aren’t getting the Kingdom advanced. I want what is alive—the fresh manna that fills me and not moldy bread from yesterday that will just make me sick. I want the Holy Spirit stirrings and the Jesus Christ of Nazareth who died to bring the real thing kind of awakenings.

A good friend of mine quoted a famous rapper who once said, “Talk is cheap.” Sometimes God has a way of gently correcting us through small sayings like that. He did that to me tonight as I was thinking about the unprecedented things that He might start doing on the earth. “Just do it.” That’s what He told me—to stop talking about all of the things I want to do, while at the same time including all of my excuses, always saying that tomorrow will be the day that I take a risk and try something new. Mountains were made to be climbed...and they are ready to be climbed today. There is only so much planning that you can do. Eventually, you just have to get up and go on the expedition. If you wait too long, your chance may be lost—or if you get afraid, you may get passed by, just like a majority of the children of Israel who were afraid to go into Canaan because they didn’t know if they would be victorious. There are some mountains that have been designed specifically for me to claim—to put a flag on as a symbol of the Kingdom—to take as an inheritance. I guess in the past I would apologize for even the thought of wanting that mountain. It seemed prideful or arrogant to talk in such a way. But I don’t feel that way anymore. God is brilliant. He deserves to be glorified through His people. He is coming back for a bride who is glorious and shining forth His majesty. So if He isn’t apologizing for that desire, why should we ever apologize for wanting to possess the mountains and for wanting to walk in the unprecedented? We shouldn’t.

Let’s just do it….this unprecedented thing…whatever it looks like, sounds like, smells like, tastes like, feels like…as long as God’s smiling, we’re okay.