God, Give us an Anointing to Turn a Generation
Recently, I (Jonathan) was sick for over a week. One of the nights, when I just could not sleep, I wandered outside to my backyard and just sat and enjoyed nature. I began to talk to God about the past week of being sick. To be honest, I had watched a little too much Netflix. I began to realize the power of the pull of the world on my own heart. I began to think, If I am giving myself to a lifestyle of prayer and fasting and still feeling this what is the pull of the world like on a teenager growing up in this media driven society where anything you want is instantly available? When I was younger, you had to wait until something came on TV and maybe you taped it so you could watch it later. Now, you pull it up on your smart TV and consume it instantly.
I have encountered God. Deeply. I know that He is real. I have been tested intensely the past few years. But after all that I’ve been through, I am not going anywhere. Jesus has the Words of Life and there really is nowhere else to go.
Having said that, I realized that night that I have focused on my own personal relationship with God the past 15 years. We are taught at IHOPKC that the most important thing is having reality between us and God. Now all these years later I have reality in God! It’s not perfect, it’s not where I ultimately want it to be, but it is real. However, I am leading worship and teaching and ministering to young people and still losing them. Where is the anointing to grab the hearts of a generation? I have begun to cry out to God, “Come on God! Give me an anointing when I lead worship to pull a generation with me!” I began to realize that we contend on the one hand for our personal relationship with God but over here is something different—it is our ability to lead a generation into the reality that we ourselves have encountered.
On August 26-September 16 IHOPKC is calling a Daniel Fast for our community. At Hope City, we are focusing our fast specifically on getting an anointing to communicate truth to a generation. Maybe you have a young person or a friend that is not following God anymore. Join us! My family is setting our hearts to also do a media fast after much prayer and mourning (I mean no Daniel Tiger for the Daniel Fast? 😂) We want to unplug from the world for a second. Who knows what God could do if we call on His Name and beg Him for the grace to speak of what we ourselves have encountered from Him? Maybe we could turn a generation back to God.
