Saying Yes

This past summer, I was serving at an event where I asked someone for prayer for healing.When they began praying for me, they said they heard the Holy Spirit say,

“He is so pleased with your yes, and that you have always given Him your yes.”

It was one of those words that I have treasured in my heart. I had been wrestling and praying through all of the radical decisions we’ve made and questioning whether I was really doing everything God was asking of me.

Was I obedient? Was I radical or bold enough?

That word brought such peace and affirmation. I began to ponder and pray through what it really is to give God my yes.

The Ongoing Yes

We all give God our yes in the beginning- yes, we will follow You; yes, we will love You and read Your Word.

But as we grow closer and walk with Him longer, are we still willing?

Praying Over Our Neighborhood

A few years ago, a house went up for sale next to ours. My husband and I prayed so fervently that God would bring the right people into that house. We didn’t even know exactly what that meant, but we knew we needed to pray it through.

A few months after that, another house came up for sale, so we prayed again. Then, about a year or so after that, two more houses went up for sale, so we prayed even more.

God moved mountains in those prayers, and we are still in awe. God filled those houses with the most incredible, God-fearing, and loving people.

One woman moved here from North Carolina, house unseen.Another came from California, looking within an hour radius of us.The last family, on paper, had no chance of getting the house, everything pointed to it being completely out of reach. But a friend wrote a letter asking for blessing and favor, and God did a miracle by providing this house in a miraculous way.

All in all, God filled these houses.

There are six homes, side by side, each representing different churches and different walks with God—but united with one heart to love Him and one another.

Costly Prayers

During the time while we were praying, my husband and I were reading a book on community, how indigenous communities thrive and why. They depend on each other daily, their doors are open, they have no choice but to work together and rely on one another.

We started to pray that we would walk in community with supernatural hospitality, the way God intended, the way these indigenous cultures were thriving.

We had no idea what we were praying that these were actually costly, radical prayers.

The Gift of Community

Walking in community is one of those most amazing things we will do on this earth, this side of Heaven. It will require us to be more humble than we can imagine, to lay our lives down, to be refined, and to love with all our hearts.

We know God has given us this gift with our neighborhood. It’s something only God could have done not by our own strength and now we have to steward it well.

Giving God Our Yes

Every day God is asking us again:Will we give Him our yes?

We are all Christians and it’s safe, but will we offer that same love and safety to others around us who don’t know Him?

Will I lay down my life for my friends, as Jesus says?When I’m consumed with my own life, will I stop what I am doing and invite these people in to be family to them?

My Life Is Not My Own

Every day I hear the Holy Spirit remind me:

“My life is not my own.”

Will I align with the lies of the enemy and allow dissension and offense to take root? Or will I stop and rebuke those lies, and choose truth?

Will we freely give what’s been given to us?

Revival at the Table

What would it look like for all of us to come together, built on the foundation of Jesus, and pray for Him to move through the rest of our neighborhood?

What would it look like to lay down our lives for each of our neighbors?

I believe this is revival in this hour one heart at a time, burning for Him and coming together to build a fire.

It’s not flashy or loud; it’s not huge or held in tents outside.It’s simply sharing the radical love of Jesus at our dinner tables, and quietly giving God our “yes.”