THE REASON WHY ...

Yesterday I was reminded why we continue to do the art/craft class in the family centre.

Sometimes I grow weary in doing good ... it's the end of the year and the demands are great. My physical person gets tired, and in many ways I feel a whole lot less generous than Jesus would be with all the good things He has given me!

Yesterday a very tired and broken woman sat next to me at the table. She is expecting her 10th baby and had a demanding 18 month old at her side. She had never done anything creative in her life and was nervous and hesitant about beginning.

As we sat side by side she began to make some cards for Christmas, slowly at first and then with ever growing enthusiasm and skill.

When it came time for the class to end and the other women left, she worked quietly on ... lost in a world of her own, making something beautiful and distinctly her own. I was certainly not going to break in on the process!

Eventually she finished and began to talk to me about what she was going to make next week, already looking forward to it.

I write this with tears. How little we need to do to make another person's life just a little more joyful, and yet how wonderful it is to see someone find that place of peace and joy.

It was good to remember the reason why we love to serve Jesus, and the reason why He was born and died. There is truly wonderful meaning in the Christmas season as this is reinforced in my life once again. I am grateful, always grateful.

POWERFUL UNITY

I feel that God is giving us a new directive for this time, and that it is a way to move forward and to move in His power more than we have previously. We know that He is instructing us in fresh ways about prayer for this time, and this seems to fit amazingly with where we are at right now.

For a long time I have believed what He showed me years ago - that there will come a time when we weave prayer and worship together in a way that releases a new level of God's power and authority - way beyond anything we have previously seen.

In reading Acts 16 recently there was a fresh revelation, it opened up by the Spirit, and I saw something of what He has been talking to me about. I believe that He is giving us a pattern to work with in this nation in this hour.

In many ways prayer and worship are one and the same, and yet here in Acts 16 we see that they are deliberately stated as separate and yet happening at the same time. The end result of this is:
- a violent earthquake
- foundations shaken
- prison doors opened
- chains broken
- salvation
- baptism
- God’s authority released in the city

As we live in increasingly uncertain times, it’s good to remember that Paul and Silas had been:
- unjustly accused
- Stripped (humiliated)
- Beaten (severely flogged)
- Put in a cell with no windows
- Their feet were shackled
- It was midnight

None of these things would have made them feel great and would have provided areas to be overcome in order to be able to PRAY and SING HYMNS TO GOD. In other words, this kind of action did not happen in the ‘comfort zone’!

I believe there is something new to be undertaken in this kind of prayer. A change from worshippers getting on with songs and music while the prayers/intercessors look in from the outside and cover that activity. What is spoken of in Acts 16 holds the two actions separate but together. I see us as ‘prayers’ far more than ‘intercessors’ now, the prayer function having become more defined and much more a ‘life’ rather than a random action.

I see this action as being like the centre plait in a kete from which it takes it strength and from which the weaving of the whole basket is done.
As prayer and worship weave together in this way, moving side by side, it creates a movement like that of a waka. The prayer paddle moves through the water on one side, then the worship paddle on the other, in perfect rhythm moving the vessel forward smoothly and safely.
The strong sense I have is that in the working together there will be a definite rhythm established, one function pushing forward and then the other moving in and establishing that ground while the other pauses. It will be this definite rhythm that will keep the strength and the forward movement, and I believe the movement will be dictated by the Holy Spirit.

In the old testament the priestly functions were quite defined as in 1 Chronicles 9 (I have put a portion of that below). We are now all priests in His kingdom, but I see the praying people as having the gatekeeping function which keeps the temple guarded while the musicians stay inside and do their work. They are all taking up positions in and around the Lord’s house (which we are told is a house of prayer) and so are serving before Him constantly and together.

Probably the most powerful outcome of the Acts 16 prayer and worship is that of God’s authority being released in the city, and those who had previously oppressed Paul and Silas were now required to come and give them respect and escort them out of the city. In other words, the oppression was overturned, and events turned in their favour. They appear to have been completely focused on God, His greatness, and His ability – El Shaddai moved to turn the flow of events in the direction He wanted them to go.

There is much more to all of this, and it is hard to condense it in this way. However, there is a powerful anointing on what He was showing, and I have prayed for God to give opportunity for it to be expressed. So far where it has been spoken out people’s hearts have been moved, and I have seen that the Lord has given them understanding, especially the worshippers.

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1 Ch 9:13 The priests, who were heads of families, numbered 1,760. They were able men, responsible for ministering in the house of God.
1 Ch 9:17 The gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman and their brothers, Shallum their chief
1Ch 9:18 being stationed at the King's Gate on the east, up to the present time. These were the gatekeepers belonging to the camp of the Levites.
1Ch 9:19 Shallum son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his fellow gatekeepers from his family (the Korahites) were responsible for guarding the thresholds of the Tent just as their fathers had been responsible for guarding the entrance to the dwelling of the LORD.
1Ch 9:20 In earlier times Phinehas son of Eleazar was in charge of the gatekeepers, and the LORD was with him.
1Ch 9:21 Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was the gatekeeper at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
1Ch 9:22 Altogether, those chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds numbered 212. They were registered by genealogy in their villages. The gatekeepers had been assigned to their positions of trust by David and Samuel the seer.
1Ch 9:23 They and their descendants were in charge of guarding the gates of the house of the LORD—the house called the Tent.
1Ch 9:24 The gatekeepers were on the four sides: east, west, north and south.
1Ch 9:25 Their brothers in their villages had to come from time to time and share their duties for seven-day periods.
1Ch 9:26 But the four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasuries in the house of God.
1Ch 9:27 They would spend the night stationed around the house of God, because they had to guard it; and they had charge of the key for opening it each morning.
1Ch 9:28 Some of them were in charge of the articles used in the temple service; they counted them when they were brought in and when they were taken out.
1Ch 9:29 Others were assigned to take care of the furnishings and all the other articles of the sanctuary, as well as the flour and wine, and the oil, incense and spices.
1Ch 9:30 But some of the priests took care of mixing the spices.
1Ch 9:31 A Levite named Mattithiah, the firstborn son of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with the responsibility for baking the offering bread.
1Ch 9:32 Some of their Kohathite brothers were in charge of preparing for every Sabbath the bread set out on the table.
1Ch 9:33 Those who were musicians, heads of Levite families, stayed in the rooms of the temple and were exempt from other duties because they were responsible for the work day and night.
1Ch 9:34 All these were heads of Levite families, chiefs as listed in their genealogy, and they lived in Jerusalem

EMPTY BASKETS

 

Yesterday as I prayed, asking how we might help and reach the people around us, and how we might see them walk out full and purposeful lives in Jesus, I felt the Lord say that many come "with empty baskets".

As He said this, I realised that in many cases the whole emphasis is on people coming to know Jesus, but there is less importance given to helping them walk with Him and get to know Him better.  An hour a week in church wont do that for the majority, they need something a whole lot more personal.

It seemed to me that the challenge was for each of us to keep our baskets full, always containing something ready in season for where it would be needed.

The empty baskets appeared to be the outreaches, and good works that salve Christian conscience but cost the individual only a small proportion of their time and effort out of all the rest of daily life.

Coming with a full basket into daily life and into the midst of the communities in which we live has a constant and ongoing influence way beyond what we may ever see.

Are our baskets full enough to be carried daily, hourly, into the lives of those around us, giving our the live, love and hope that is ours for all eternity in Jesus Christ?

I believe as we allow Him to fill the basket, and then go out with what we have been given, we will find ourselves distributing the loaves and the fishes.  I don't believe the baskets will ever be empty but will be constantly filled, replenished as we empty them.  I believe our own lives will be enriched beyond anything we have yet experienced.

How full are our baskets?

The lines of purpose in your lives never grow slack, tightly tied as they are to your future in heaven, kept taut by hope. The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time.
It's the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you. From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you've been hungry for more. Colossians 1:5 & 6 (The Message)