Last Saturday night at Blazing Fire, Sierra Lout shared a message about intimacy with Jesus and how it can transform the world around us when we choose to lean in close to His heart. Sierra is a missionary with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) in Toowoomba, Australia. She’s part of an initiative called the Mercy Campaign, where she and her team serve those who have suffered from social injustices in her community. They work with refugees, middle school girls who have experienced trauma, victims of human trafficking, etc.
Sierras' back in Australia now and hit the ground running, so I thought I’d include some amazing truths she shared with us last Saturday:
*Intimacy- close familiarity or friendship; closeness
*Intimacy with Jesus is something that you have to intentionally cultivate and stay consistent in. It often doesn’t happen in an instant, but is a continual journey with Him.
It’s inviting Him into our messiness and broken places.
*From the place of vulnerability and truly knowing that God loves us, we then can give Him permission to challenge us. We lay offense down.
*Lack of intimacy causes us to seek our own interests rather than His.
“The sheep that are my own hear my voice and listen to me;
I know them and they follow me.”
John 10:27 (Amplified)
*Jesus is asking us to not only hear His voice but to listen. Listening leads to joyful obedience as we become more intimately aware of
WHO is speaking to us.
*King Josiah grew in relationship with the Lord. Other kings failed to really seek Him which blurred their vision of what was really causing Israel to sin and rebel. Even those who did what was pleasing to the Lord were either afraid to address what was really preventing Israel from transformation or were only addressing surface level issues. Josiah’s relationship with God gave Him eyes to see the root of injustice, address it and bring transformation.
*How can true justice and transformation be brought if
we don’t KNOW the originator of justice?
*If we don’t cultivate intimacy with Jesus and gain His heart,
we will only see counterfeit change.
Sierra shared a testimony when she was in the red light district this past year in Thailand. She and her team were there working with girls in the bars/ brothels. After spending time with Jesus, she was surprised when He began to soften her heart toward the men who were purchasing women (“johns”). She met a man who was there for that purpose and he began to share his story of pain. She and her team prayed with this man and he decided not to do the evil he originally set out to do that night.
God is inviting us to be part of the solution; to identify the root cause of injustice and to be the light.
I pray that Jesus would reveal to you if there is anything that is preventing you from closer intimacy with HIm. As you lean in closer to His heart, I pray He would begin to show you your part in seeing greater transformation in the world around you. And I pray for the courage to take a step today! He loves you with an everlasting love!
Love, Sierra & Karena Lout
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