More Jesus

Last weekend, I went to a youth conference in Ocean City. It made a great impact on me and I'm sure a lot of other people as well, so I figured I'd share about it. Be prepared for a long post. I'm a note taker for one, and for two, we had a lot of great times.

On the way to OC, we played guess who. Which is basically 20 questions, but not limited to 20 questions. Love that game. We finally arrived at the beach front condo we were staying at, and I was shocked at how huge it was. It was basically just a big 2 story house on the water. And the kitchen looked like it came straight out of an '80s movie. :)

Before the conference actually started, there was a time of prayer. So when we arrived, the V Youth circled up in the corner and started to talk to God about the upcoming weekend. What I kept praying for was open hearts and that we would let what we hear change us dramatically. 

One of the first things out of the bald headed preacher from Louisiana's mouth was that somebody is looking at our life. We are all following someone and someone is following us. And whoever is watching us, needed us to hear this message.

Pastor Greg's (bald guy) first message was called Get A Grip.

We are in a tug of war battle and the enemy is pulling back. We want to see change but we keep getting weaker. What we need to do is take a new grip. The first step in that is letting go. Letting go of something old that can cause us to be ineffective. Letting go of our hurts: We need to trust in God even in our pain. Don't substitute God with something that will only temporarily numb our pain. When Jesus was on the cross, he didn't take the sour wine to numb His pain. He knew that God was big enough to over come it. Letting go of our habits: Our strength is sacked by habit. The devil wants us to believe that we're sick and he wants us isolated. We are only as sick as our secrets. The secret to letting go of habits is telling one right person, who can help us. The second step in getting a new grip is taking a fresh hold on our purpose and our commitment. The devil attacks our identity not our purpose, but our purpose is tied in to our identity. That's why culture tries to get us to conform. But we are unique, created to stand out. We are the most stable when we are in God's identity. Not everyone is going to like you, but someone is needing you to be you. Someone is looking at your life. Also, we are to fulfill our duties. Use our gifts and talents.

After that message, there was another time of prayer and some of our youth group went up towards the stage. At one point during the prayer, he came over to the corner of the room where we were and started prophesying. He said that he saw artists. He saw musical talent, creativity, drawing, and things along that line. The amazing part? The only people in that corner of the room was our youth group. Then he began to lay hands on and prophesies over a few people individually. First, he came to me. He said that there was a gift that I wasn't sure if I'm supposed to use and he told me that I am to use it. God has not given me a spirit of fear. He said more but I can't remember it all. I wish I could cause it was one of the coolest things to happen to me. 

It was time to go back to the condo. We played a game of pterodactyl. Hopefully, I'll be able to get the video of it so you can see how funny it was. My face hurt the next day because of it. We ate lots of cupcakes, popcorn, and spicy chili doritos. We played "what if I answered the wrong question", which is  one of the funniest games ever invented. We stayed up til 4 am talking about our future children's names. And lastly, we (well, me and Christa) got up at 6:30 to take pictures of the sunrise. I think I took 100 pictures. But that's just how I roll.

For breakfast, we went to Denny's. We talked about cancer. And things that can give you cancer. Which is pretty much everything nowadays. It took us forever to get our food and we were a couple minutes late to the first session. But it was all good. No one got yelled at or anything. 

The first session of the day was about SWAG. Staying Wild About God. 

I just realized that this preacher must like steps. Cause that's how he always breaks it down.

Step 1: Build strong relationships. We can't go solo in life. We have no idea what one good relationship can do. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls down and has no one to help them up." Step 2: Plant seeds of encouragement. People who love Jesus encourage others. Small seeds of encouragement will grow. Even with our body language we can draw people to God. Step 3: Plan to have good attitudes. In the middle of chaos is when our attitudes are challenged. Sometimes we just need to step away and get a new view of the situation. Step 4: Hand off our gifts to others. Our gifting is what makes us awesome. Use it to bless others. Who are we blessing with our gifts?

After the message, there were breakout sessions. The one on Spiritual Authority really spoke to me. 

If you can't find your Christian life in the Bible, you aren't in the faith. (How convicting) God has authority over everything and the authorities that exist have been established by Him. We need to submit to every authority then, because ultimately, it is submitting to God. The opposite of submission is rebellion. Rebellion is a principle of satan. It says to do what you want, that you have authority over yourself. The only exception to following our authorities is if they are telling us to sin. That is the only exception. He also talked about dating and I agreed with most of it since my recent change of heart when it comes to that stuff. Dating practices marriage, but then it also practices divorce. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, so if we want to be with them, in a way it's like incest. When we get married, we become one, so then it's not incest because you can't commit incest on yourself. God is going to send you a spouse, and a boyfriend or girlfriend might get in the way. 

After the mini sessions, we had free time. So we went out for pizza and then mini golf. I got 2 hole in ones. (I'm aware that's not proper grammar) I did a happy dance and then yelled it to everyone else in our whole group, who were usually across the room. :) Then we went back to the condo and played some more games before the night session. 

The last session was called 2 Secrets the Devil Doesn't Want You to Discover.

The guards beating Jesus at the time of His death were just pawns of the devil. And the devil couldn't hold back. But he made a mistake. He let us know the two most important things that he tries to destroy in us. The first, prophetic is magnetic. The guards mocked Jesus, telling Him to prophesies. Prophesying speaks hope into hopeless situations. It strengthens and encourages. It brings life to people. The second secret is becoming a worshipper of God is the first step to becoming a leader. The guards mock worshipped Jesus. Worship establishes our positioning with God. Pride is the enemy of worship. If the devil gets our present worship, he gets our future leadership.

After that message, we just had a time of worship. And after that, a time of prayer. Pastor Greg prayed over the youth pastors there, and then he began to pray over the youth there. Which is when he came up to me again. He said that he saw leadership in me. I don't remember everything, but that was what he mainly said. It really hit me, because about 5 years ago I visited a youth group and that youth pastor prayed over me and said that I was a leader. I didn't understand then, because I barely had a relationship with God. But in the past couple of years I've realized that what he prayed was true. Also, at dinner right before we went to the session, I was talking with my Aunt Christine about that moment from 5 years ago. We were talking about how I got prophesied over on the first night and she asked if that had ever happened before. So just a few hours after that conversation, I was told once again that I was a leader. 

Much to our dismay, the conference was over and we had to get in our cars and head back to the church. Unfortunately, I had to drive home being indescribably tired. The next day, I took a four hour nap after church. :)

So, there was the weekend in a nut shell. Hopefully, what you read spoke to you just like it spoke to everyone else there too.