Total Surrender

So, I wanted to share with you guys my experience in Mozambique last summer because I never really did. This was the sermon i preached the sunday after my return home, when i was completely wrecked for 7 days straight with the presence of God. I thought I needed to share this word because surrender is what leads us to intimacy with Jesus. This is going to be a little long, but I pray you receive!

Before I went to Mozambique I had no idea what to expect. I knew it was third world and we'd be seeing the poorest of the poor, But I had no idea what it would be like to live there or what the orphanage would be like. I was scared of what to expect. But when I went, I was welcomed with loving arms. The kids had so much love to give. From the moment we got there, they ran up to the car to greet us. Everytime we walked out of the visitors compound, theyd be climbing all over us. Theyd beckon us through other visitors. These kids could not get enough of us.
These kids also had a faith I had never seen before. Even if you didn't ask for prayer, they would just come up, lay their hands on you and push you into the dirt to pray for you. Whenever I was laying out in the Spirit, the kids would come over and sit by me and pray for me as i layed there. They knew the power of God and they wanted to see it. They desired to be apart of it. I believe noone is ever too young to know and experience the love of Jesus or give his love away. Jesus said let the children come because theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.

The spirit moved there in ways that I've seen before, but is not prevalent in America. Every single time we met together, the Lord showed up. Even on the streets for street ministry. Even when there were only 8 of us in a dark park. The Holy Spirit showed up. While I was there, I did crafts with the kids, I went on street ministry, I went to the bush and I did hospital ministry. At the hospital ministry, we would pray over every child in each individual bed and we passed out bananas. A blind girl got healed, and when I went back the second time a week later, half the beds that I had prayed over before were empty because the kids were better and left. What I thought would be the hardest ministry for me to do, was my favorite ministry. I went 3 times and I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Street Ministry was where we gathered kids in the area and held a little service on the street. We sang songs and preached. And we handed out bread. The kids were so hungry for Jesus. When we prayed over them, they were so ready to receive. They wanted more of God. One older lady stopped by, she had stopped by the previous week, and becky and I prayed for her. She started to cry because she was so blessed by it. She was smiling and the Lord had clearly touched her that night. It was so powerful to see Jesus worshipping in the streets.
We also went to the Bush, the wilderness where it felt like New Testament times. There was no running water, no electricity, one room houses. They cooked outside on a fire and spent the day washing clothes and doing dishes. It was mostly women in the church. They were mixing their old ways with Christianity and a lot of ministry needed to be done there. We walked door to door and prayed for the sick as well.
The first Thursday I was there, we were at church and at the end of the service, we were in worship and I was sitting worshipping the Lord when a mozambiquian friend came over and started to pray for me, just whispering. He put two fingers on my back and the Lord's presence just came upon me and I laid down on the floor in the Spirit. I started to cry as images of the U.S came to my mind. My heart was broken for America. Here I was in Mozambique and my heart was crying for the U.S to know God.
The following Thursday, the preaching was about God's Calling on our lives. When I went to the alter for clarity of my calling, I again just fell before the Lord Weeping with tears. I couldn't stop. My Spirit was BROKEN for America. Don't get me wrong, I felt joy in the spirit, the joy of the Lord after all this, but the Lord was just placing in me a heart for the States.
God didn't stop here. I thought he was done, but he wasn't. The Monday before I left, we had church in the morning. We worshipped, and danced around and they prayed over us because we were leaving the next day. After we received prayer, we prayed in groups of 4 or 5. I prayed with the same guy that had prayed for me that Thursday before and a longer term missionary that had been drunk in the spirit for 5 days. (I didn't know he had been filled by the Spirit for 5 days until afterwards) Well, I went down in the Spirit for the entire service. Just resting in God's presence. God said to me "I'm not Done". "Im not done with you and then He said "I have yet to reveal my glory in the States". "Im not Done". Rolland Baker was speaking this entire time and i had no idea what He was saying because I was out. the only part of the sermon i heard was you should be in the presence of God all the time! when your doing dishes, playing soccer, doing laundry, whatever your doing. Amen! But all I could do was sit with Jesus and say Lord, I want more, more of your presence. So the service ended, and I thought I was fine, I stood up and I walked out of the prayer hut, the meeting room, and I saw sasha, another visitor, and I put my arm around her, and the Spirit just came over me and fell down in laughter bringing her with me. We both rolled in the dirt for a few minutes laughing. She got up and I didn't. I laid there for another 10 min in the dirt. Finally someone came and told me I had to go back to the compound. So they helped me up and the kids walked me back. I was really weak, and I was drunk in the Spirit all day long. All I could think was don't take your presence from me, More of you Lord and less of me. The long term missionary that had prayed with me that morning, was drunk with me and he looked at me and told me "God's not done with you". Total confirmation. Some of the girls on my team had never experienced the Spirit like that before, some of them wanted it, and some of them just didnt even know what to do. I hadnt even thought of what they were thinking. But my team leaders both wanted it so bad. Jennie got in the dirt with me and i prayed for her and she started rolling in laughter with me. She was fillled with the Spirit and the joy of the Lord! I went to bed, and woke up with more strength, but I was still drunk. I had more strength i believe because God knew I had to get a plane to go home that day. In the airport my friend Becky had to help me walk at times. Doug had told me the day before that I would be a distraction on the plane tomorrow. Well I was. It was 3am, all the lights were off, people were all sleeping except me and my friend next to me. I was totally drunk, but had learned to control the volume of my laughter, to the point of silence by that time, but the Lord wouldnt let me sleep, and quite frankly, I liked his presence so much i didnt really wanna sleep. But I ended up putting my arm on the armrest right next to Caitlen. And as soon as i touched her, she burst into laughter. So loud, and so much that tears were flowing from her eyes. the Spirit is contagious! Id never seen her laugh like that before!
The Lord was preparing me to come home, and to bring the anointing with me. God wants His PRESENCE HERE!!!! God wants you to be carriers of the anointing! God wants you to be carriers of His presence! He's not DONE!!!

Theres 3 important factors to address in cultivating His presence. Recognizing the Holy Spirit as God, Complete Surrender, and Making Time.

The first thing is that we need to recognize and acknowledge the Holy Spirit as God. We need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is a vital part of the Trinity in which God reveals Himself to us. 1 Corinthians 12:7 says the manifestation of Spirit is given to each one for profit of all. 1 Corinthians 2:10-13 Says the Spirit searches all things, the deep things of God. The Spirit of God is the only one that knows the things of God. We have received the Spirit from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. The Holy spirit teaches.
Chapters 14-16 of John tell us that the Holy Spirit is the Teacher, Revealer, Reminder, and Predicter. He tells us things to come. He reminds of what God has done, He brings revelation, and He brings the Glory of God.
He comes to glorify the Father.
Exodus 33, The Spirit came to Moses. The Lord said My Presence Will go with you. Moses said Show Me your Glory and the Lord descended and passed over Him . The Holy Spirit was given that we would be able to experience God's glory. We would be able to walk in His Presence at all times.

D. We do not pray enough to the Holy Spirit. We ask for God's power and his presence, but we do not pray directly to the Holy Spirit. We address him as Father God, or Lord Jesus. We do not say "Holy Spirit, speak to me."

E. Acts 1:8 says the Spirit gives us power from on high. When we minister, when we come before God to enter his presence, when we want to listen for God to speak, whenever we are seeking the Lord for his goodness, we need to recognize that the Holy Spirit is the one we should be addressing. Its through Holy Spirit that we receive His presence, His voice, and His power. the Holy Spirit is a person and just as much God as the Son and the Father. Why not address Him like He is.


The second factor is that In order for the Holy Spirit to manifest His Presence, He needs an empty vessel. Matt 16:24-27 Jesus says to his disciples, if anyone desires to come after Me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. God requires Complete and total Surrender. We have to die to ourselves in order to live in Christ. We have to deny our lives and seek Him. Matt 19:16-22 The Rich Young Ruler- He kept God's commands, but when Jesus said Sell all that you have and give to the poor and follow me, he walked away. Jesus requires all that we have. God requires our WHOLE heart. There can be no partiality. This is the scripture God gave me in my dream. Deuteronomy 4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4:29 From there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. I had asked the Lord mid way through my trip how I could give him my whole heart. The Lord answered my prayer, he made me want him more than anything else. he made it about him. Midway through my trip, the Lord was telling me to fast and pray. I had never fasted for an entire day before because of my headaches so I didn't fast. Well one night, my friend Domingos said something along the lines of you need to fast if u want to learn portuguese. And then I read in 1 Samuel 7 that Samuel prayed and fasted. I wrote in my Journal "The Anointing power will come when I pray, fast and prepare my heart. It costs my sacrifice and surrender for God to work through me. Sure enough, I fasted and the Lord gave me a dream to preach to the people at street ministry. 1 Samuel 6 The Ark symbolized the presence of God. They had to sacrifice soooo much just to get the Ark to another place. Sacrifice and Offering is required.
When we want God more than anything else, that is when the Holy Spirit comes. When our hearts are not parted with anything else.

The Last point is that if we want God more than anything else, we will spend most of our time with Him. When we love someone we can't get enough of that person. As Americans we have crazy busy schedules, but God calls for our time. It is the most important thing we can give. When we give up our time, it shows our priorities. God requires our Time! There is no time limit on God. He moves when he wills. In Mozambique is is so easy for the spirit to move because they have so much time to give him.They Wait for Him. The Psalms tell us to wait patiently for the Lord. This requires time. God's presence shows up when we give him time.
In Conclusion, We need to keep the presence of God with us at all times. When we are doing the dishes, talking with friends, typing on the computer, doing our day to day activities. We need the Holy Spirit in our lives. We need to have complete dependency on the Holy Spirit.
Romans 5:1-5 says that faith is produced by dependence on God. Dependence on God produces hope and hope comes from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Therefore the outpouring of the Holy Spirit comes when we have full dependency on God. We need to examine our lives, surrender our whole heart, and receive the anointing and the presence of God He freely gives to us.

Just pray now, Jesus, search me and know my heart, show me the things I need to give up or the things that are in the way of you, show me where i can spend more time with you. Show me how to surrender my whole heart. I give you permission Lord to wreck me. I give you permission to take all of me. I want you God, more than anything else. Come Holy Spirit, and fully posses me!