God of THIS City

For the past few weeks I've heard the song, "God of This City" each time I've left church on Sunday morning.  There was a time within the last 4 years as this song reached it's popularity that I didn't care for it.  Not because it doesn't have good lyrics, but because for one thing I didn't fully grasp the power of the lyrics and for another thing it was way overplayed.  Radio has a tendency to do that to most songs for me.

However, it's had me thinking for weeks now.  To claim an entire city in the name of God is quite ambitious, don't you think?  We claim our kids as we baptize them.  We claim our marriages, our lives, our homes, and our church buildings in the name of God.  But do we have the guts to claim a whole city in His name?  Claiming all of these things is nothing to take lightly.  Satan is threatened when we do this.

Today there was a baptism at church.  A baby boy was baptized and the Church claimed that it would nurture him and bring him up in the ways of the Lord for the next 18+ years of his life.  As a visitor of this church I sat and wondered if the congregation realized the commitment it was making.  And how many times have I spoken the words on the screen at my own church, agreeing to participate in seeing that a child is brought up in Christ, and never paid attention to that kid again?

So what about a city?  How much dedication and hard work does it take?  A lot!  But it can be done.  I really believe that it's time to stand up as the Church and proclaim our cities for the Lord.  There is so much boldness to it!  If we look at the beginning of Paul's ministry in Acts we see over and over again how he boldly spoke for the Lord, how he boldly preached Kingdom truths in many places.  Who was Paul?  Look at where he came from, his education and his faith growing up.  He was working in direct opposition of the Kingdom for a while, but was turned around and knocked upside down by the Truth... as a result he went.  He fulfilled the Great Commission with boldness.  He saw cities come to know Jesus in powerful, very real ways.  How encouraging!  If Paul was able to do that, so can we.  There's no magic behind Paul's ministry.  He came to know the Lord and began to preach.  He didn't attend tons of seminars or years of seminary.  Kooky, right?

Although we don't know for certain who the author of the book of Hebrews is, it's widely believed that Paul penned the book.  Chapter 4, verse 16 says, "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.  There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."  God doesn't call us to be bold without backup.

So all that said, I believe we have the power, with the Holy Spirit to radically change the cities we live in.  God is ruler of all and will be acknowledged as so by everyone someday.  It'd be nice if as His bride, we the Church would stake His claim over all the earth.  Mountains will move, lives will be changed, His Kingdom will reign on earth.  For me, it begins with prayer... being very intentional about praying for the cities of Plano and Oswego.  That's where 95% of my time is spent and I want to see those cities won for Jesus.  It's that way where ever we live.  When I lived in Kampala I prayed for Kampala.  To clarify, I've not stopped praying for that city, but I know there are people there focused on furthering the Kingdom, so for now my focus is more towards where I'm actually living and worshipping.  I can't speak enough about the power of prayer.  Miracles happen when people pray.  God is glorified when His people pray.  All glory to God.

You're the God of this city
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope in the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city

Greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this city

Amen.