December 31, 2011

GOD’S ABILITY TO COMPLETE HIS PLANS – 2012

…being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

God completes what He has begun, that is more important than what we think we can do!

As I sat praying about the year to come, and thinking of past visions and words He has given, that the Lord was saying it was ‘time to rest and get ready’.

PICTURE

Rows of soldiers wearing old fashioned amour – the sense is that what they wear and walk in is not new but very foundational and strong.

These soldiers are happy, and instead of traditional weapons each one is carrying a branch covered with fresh green leaves, they look ‘evergreen’ as if they will not wilt or drop.

On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding it’s fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 2:22

The branches the soldiers carry are for the ‘healing of the nations’ many will soon be sent out. Wait for the Lord’s call and sending, it will be right on time and the choice of destination will be His alone.

SHAKING

We have experienced ‘shaking’ in both the natural and spiritual realms. I see that those who are part of the church that the Lord Himself is building will stand in Him and in His strength alone.

Their earthly roots have been shaken loose in order that the Lord can put His living stones in their right places. I feel that the shaking in Christchurch has been a prophetic picture in this regard – the central place of worship for each of the major denominations was severely shaken.

Felt the Lord then said there was more to come but right now I should sleep … maybe a dream! When I awoke I had to attend to email and a dream that had been sent to see if the Lord would give me an interpretation. The content of the dream confirmed that the Lord’s visions are being outworked in His own way and plan causing us to be vulnerable but the unexpected is leading to the purposed destination.

MOVING IN THE UNDERGROWTH

I saw God’s people moving unnoticed through low bush and scrub. This was God’s safety and protection and it was a very quiet and beautiful place. HIS movement is currently hidden and will remain that way until He wants it seen. There is a sense of great connection with birds, animals and all of nature – this would seem a very good and natural place for us as Kiwis!

Though moving beneath the scrub, the direction is always upwards towards the top of a mountain, and even there the scrub and bigger trees provide safe cover.

I see again the ongoing picture of a great eagle flying over the tree tops and drawing flocks of smaller birds up out of the tree cover to fly high and free towards a great outpouring of light. (See Vision of a Higher Place below).

It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and becoming mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:11 and onwards)

The whole of this reinforces the sense of God’s building out of the eternal plan He alone knows. This is a time to place our desires and plans on His altar, putting them safely in His hands as He alone is able to bring this to completion in His Son. It is a place of faith and trust in God alone.

I feel we need to stay quiet, stay low and hidden in Him as something momentous is being outworked in and around us. I hear Him saying “And so it was ……” which to me speaks of a time of fulfilling what God has spoken to and through His true prophets. I believe it is a time when He is raising up His standard in the face of much of what we see in the natural in the earth in this time.

VISION OF A HIGHER PLACE (August 2005)

I can feel the raw newness of what is ahead. It is raw, fresh, and edgy in a way we haven’t felt for quite some time. It looks like bush/forest, wet from rain, when the sun comes out. You know it is beautiful but not comfortable. It is beautiful but still being viewed from a distance and not yet engaged.

I see the eagle swooping and dipping in the clear blue sky above all of this, seeing it’s surface but not knowing what is hidden below the shining, glittering, surface. No space to land has appeared.

As the eagle swoops over the forest, many smaller birds begin to emerge and also fly around above the trees, as if they are being awakened to their ability to do so. Their numbers increase until there is much activity. “Cannot see the wood for the trees” comes to mind.

It seems something new has begun but it is not visible in the midst of our current life and circumstances. I see a very strong prophetic call being released to call people up higher. As they rise to this call and seek all that heaven offers them, they will move into a clear space and begin to see and move in the purposes of God in a fresh and new way. There is a clear distinction here – the call is to the purposes of God, not of man and this will not be found by man’s direction, but by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I felt to read Psalm 139 and is seems to give good direction for this journey which is INTO the Lord.

As I watch the flying eagle, smaller birds, and glistening treetops, the sun appears to shine continually brighter, and the sky becomes filled with golden light.

The scripture that seemed to cover what I was looking at is found in Ezekiel 43 v 2:

…and I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with His glory.

There are many who are feeling the tug and pull of change right now, circumstances radically altered. I believe the Lord is beginning to do His building, and calling those who will come, wait on Him, and serve Him out of a place of His rest.

December 11, 2011

CUPS OF WATER

Christmas 2010 Pic

It's THAT time of year again when all reason seems to fly away on tinsel and glitter and materialism reigns.  I love the family side of Christmas, the time together is full of surprises, food, and laughter, but it's sad to see the long check-out lines and over-laden trolleys, and the stressed faces of those who are trying to make their few dollars go a very long way.

Yesterday I spent the morning with some people who are struggling to get their heads above water and to deal with the hand life has currently dealt them.  We talked about what it meant to really live.  It isn't about what we do or don't have materially and externally (although those things help keep us comfortable) but more about what is happening on the inside of us.

It is so important that each of us is able to live life, to live out of something internal and untouchable that sustains us through whatever we encounter day to day.  It is a choice - to live minute by minute and hour by hour to the full, not waiting for all the other things to fall in to place but making a decision that we will grasp and live the life we have this very moment.

The next stop was with a solo mum and her six week old baby - taking the remains of our banana cake and having a cuppa and a catch up with her.  While she fed the baby we re-arranged her living room and folded washing for her - all those things new mums don't have time for.  There were lots of laughs and a tidy home at the end of it all.  Nice to wave goodbye to a smiling mum and a contented baby.

Those things don't sound much, they weren't difficult to do, but faces lit up and hope and joy increased in those lives as a result.  The very hope and life that came to earth in a humble place as a free gift to each of us was passed on once more.  It didn't cost anything except time, and came out of the abundance of what has been given to each of us.  Is this not what it means to live?

My hope this Christmas is that many will choose to live in the fullness of all we have been given and then let it overflow into the lives around us.  We have been given a priceless gift that cannot be taken from us, and it needs to be passed on and ignited in the lives of others.  We have the gift of Life Himself, we celebrate that He was born, and we honour that gift by sharing it with the very people He visited when He walked on this earth.  It is a cup of water for the thirsty - how many free cups of water can we give away this Christmas I wonder?

 

 

November 14, 2011

DELIGHTS IN THE DESERT

Beehive huts, Skellig Michael

This Saturday I had time to browse in my favourite second-hand book store, and found a book that is delighting me with it's insights - it's immensely encouraging.  So, I'm putting a couple of quotes here for any fellow travellers who might get joy from them also.

The writer is speaking of her life as a Benedictine living in the inner city: "It is here, in a place that the late Trappist monk Thomas Merton called the new wilderness, that I built my hut.  Merton thought it the new desert because the centre of our cities are barren and dry, devoid of hope, of promise, of possibility."

"What do I do here?  I plead a case for presence, beauty, community, and a call to follow God into the wilderness.

Once upon a time men and women who wanted to seek God relocated themselves in abandoned places.  These 'wilderness places' often associated with the desert, gave the seekers a unique perspective and freedom.

Living on the margins of society, stripped of the trappings of social expectation and pressure, they began to see differently.  Immersed in the word of God, they began to listen differently.  They put on the broken heart of God and spoke the truth on God's behalf for the poor, the victims of injustice, the suffering.

Their location in the wilderness gave them great freedom.  Why?  Because no one paid attention to them.  Because they were not the movers and shakers of the city.  Because they had no political influence, no one cared what they did.  No one even noticed their quiet works of transformation among the poor until suddenly "the desert and parched land bloomed with abundant flowers"."

Quotes are from "A Monk in the Inner City" by Mary Lou Kownacki.

This expresses so accurately what is happening in many cities in the earth right now.  Let us become unafraid to see and listen differently, and just maybe we will hear God calling us to come and walk in dry and barren places with Him, and have the joy of seeing Him make these same places bloom with abundant flowers!  May we too find a new perspective and new freedom.

November 06, 2011

GRAIN, NEW WINE & OIL

For the last few days I have been reading Joel 2 and Luke 5 again and again. 

The seriousness of this hour we live in, and the depth of the cry in my heart that God would be with us, leading us, teaching us, enabling us, grows daily.

All of Joel needs to be read to keep this in it's true context, but chapter 2 :12-19 are speaking loudly to me.

"Even now", declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."  Rend your heart and not your garments.  Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.  Who knows:  He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing - grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast.  Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.

Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar.  Let them say, "Spare your people, O Lord.  Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations.  Why should they say among the peoples, "Where is their God?"

THEN the Lord will be jealous for his land and take pity on his people.  The Lord will reply to them:  "I am sending you grain, new wine and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object of scorn to the nations."

Luke 5:37-39

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins.  If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.  No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.  And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.' "

Many of us have tasted and loved what has become old wine, and we are as dried up old wine skins.  Let us ask that God would bless us to be made new and flexible, letting go of the old (even though it tasted good) so that we may be filled with new wine once more.

My Prayer : Lord I can feel the flow and power of Your Word as I read it.  We have become incoherent for the lack of Your Word, with it's power and truth.  I see us in Your Body as various groups who have become so excited over a portion of the truth you've revealed to us that we have made camp there and made it our all.

Please shake us loose and lead us on, help us to realise that You are infinite and there is so much more You want to teach and reveal to us.  Help us to be awake, alert, with our lamps filled and oil to spare in this hour.  Give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand what You are saying and doing.

We bring our hearts and our cry before You Lord, and ask that You would send us grain, new wine and oil in this season to strengthen us to call that You would 'spare Your people O Lord' and the cry would arise again and again out of the nations.

October 18, 2011

THE HOUSE

In recent days I have been considering the place I find myself in - moving backwards and forwards between working with struggling, marginalised people and then my quiet place of prayer and contemplation.  The gap feels huge at times, and I have cried out for a place in The Body where I can find fellowship in the midst of this.
The comment I made to myself recently was "I feel like a worm in some kind of rotting board in the basement of a crumbling building".  A tiny life holding on to an original concept long forgotten.  This spark of life that we carry must be constantly kept alive by time in His presence and in knowing the Spirit of God beyond the froth and bubble of current 'revival' seeking, so that we can walk out a life that carries His light into dark places, to the poor and marginalised people - not necessarily the economic poor - that they might be revived and find life.
ALL earthly buildings eventually begin to break down, ONLY the house the Lord builds can (and will) remain standing.
Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain.  Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.  (Psalm 127:1)
ONLY the house God builds will stand and He builds, not with bricks and mortar, but with living stones, men and women.  Are we willing to let Him join the stones together?
When men actively recruit and draw numbers into the organisation or building they have made, who is building the house?
When a group considers it holds the truth and begins to exclude all who do not abide by it's truth and rules, who is building the house?
When the drawing is to 'church' rather than to relationship with the Lord and the life He gives, who is building the house?
Should we wonder that boards and buildings and organisations and programmes decay and fall into disrepair if they are not built by the Lord?
Surely if we live, move and have our being in Him, then each of us will know that same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Ephesians 1) .....and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is HIS BODY, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way.
Surely we can trust Him in His great power to oversee HIS BODY of which He is THE HEAD, to take care of every single, even the most minute part, of what is His alone.
Perhaps if we could love, trust and serve Him in this way He would build His church and display the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in heavenly realms as God ordained it should do, and we would see the change (revival?) we cry out for.
Do we need to be reminded again to 'let go and let God' have His way.
I am convinced that we have not yet seen this beautiful bride that is His church because we have either been unable or unwilling to let Him shape and clothe her.
Can we humbly admit our weakness and ask that in this place He might come and show Himself strong.  "God of nations, at they feet..." is not an anthem designed for rugby games alone.  Are we able to take our rightful place, not just at, but under His feet, in order that His great love and lordship, wisdom, majesty and power, can be displayed.
As a prisoner of the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.  Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  There is ONE BODY and ONE SPIRIT - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6)
Jesus Christ gave Himself up in order to present His bride/church in what was the ultimate sacrifice of great love.
"...to present her to Himself as a RADIANT CHURCH, without any stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." (Ephesians 5).
The desire to see something fitting and radiant brings me to tears.

September 26, 2011

THOUGHTS TO PONDER

Sometimes we gain greater understanding by looking at events outside of our usual thinking or calendar.
This week provides a great opportunity to do that.
For some time I have found a verse in Ezra really highlighted and so will share the findings for anyone who would like to ponder it further.
Ezra 3:6 (and you will need to read the surrounding chapters to get the full context of this) "On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord's temple had not yet been laid."
The people of Israel were doing what they could, with what they had, where they were, in that moment in time.  We can do exactly the same - too often we are held back by some idea that we can't move until everything is perfect and in place - this means that much actually never comes to pass!
In terms of the Hebrew calendar, the first day of the seventh month (1 Tishri) is the first day of a new sacred year.  This takes place on Thursday 29 September 2011.  It is marked by the blowing of the ram's horn and known as the Feast of Trumpets.  This is a call to prepare for the Day of Atonement which comes 10 days later - a solemn period of cleansing and preparation.  Five days after Yom Kippur begins the Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth) - a time of remembrance of the tent dwelling during the Exodus, and a celebration of the fruit harvest.
These were feasts ordained by God to bring His people together before Him in repentance, remembrance, and rejoicing.
As many of us find ourselves in a time of change, it is good to remember that there are patterns and experiences set out for us in God's Word. 
Perhaps the most useful thing we can remember in this season is that God's endings are also new beginnings.  He closes off the old to bring us into the new.  He Himself is the 'first and last, the beginning and the end' and the 'finisher of our faith'. 
He has shown us a process He works through with all of us that will be like a lamp to our path to show us the way through this current time.

September 12, 2011

CHANGE

It seems so long since I have written anything here!  This is mostly because of the tremendous pressure of change.  Right now there is a feeling of being tossed around in pounding waves - at the same time I sit with the deep peace of God in my heart and know that all is well with Him.

Many years ago now, I stood at the tip of the North Island, New Zealand, and looked at the collision of two great oceans meeting. 
There was foam and flotsam that marked the meeting point, and I remember the Lord speaking clearly to me and saying "When you are at a point of change, stay in the boat, don't get out and try to swim".

If I am sure of anything right now, it is that I am not alone in this place.  Many find themselves caught up in the process of change.  So, stay safely in the place you know in the Lord, hold to Him and He will hold on to you, and you WILL make it safely to the other side.

Right now we have the Rugby World Cup games taking place in this country.  Last night I watched Wales and South Africa play a tremendous game, both sides showing great strength, and there were many collisions in the game, but only one winner. 

There will be many collisions for us at the point of change, many decisions to be made, and we know above all else that God alone rules and reigns, we have chosen to align ourselves with the winning side!

Today I have read Hosea chapter 6 again:

"Come let us return to the Lord, He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.  After two days He will revive us, on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in His presence.  Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him.  As surely as the sun rises He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

We have a great promise and a certainty that is the boat that carries us through the tumult of change and safely into the calm waters on the other side - changed by the process, but ready to embrace all He will now bring our way.

June 14, 2011

BECOMING PRAYER

In recent reading I have found some gems on prayer and want to share them with anyone reading this who has the same passion to go deeper with God until we no longer 'do' prayer but become a prayer He prays through and uses.

Thomas Merton in "New Seeds of Contemplation" describes this outworking in a wonderful way!

"......in all things, in your interior life and in your outward works for God, you desire only one thing, which is the fulfillment of His will.  If you do this, your activity will share the disinterested peace that you are able to find at prayer, and in the simplicity of the things you do men will recognize your peacefulness and will give glory to God.

It is above all in this silent and unconscious testimony to the love of God that the contemplative exercises his apostolate.  For the saint preaches sermons by the way he stands and the way he sits down and the way he picks things up and holds them in his hand.  The perfect do not have to reflect on the details of their actions.  Less and less conscious of themselves, they finally cease to be aware of themselves doing things, and gradually God begins to do all that they do, in them and for them, at least in the sense that the habit of His love has become second nature to them and informs all that they do with His likeness."

As we ponder this need for an unconscious rather than self-conscious outworking of His life in us I am compelled to give everything back into His hands and re-enter the place of surrender and trust.  My prayer becomes one of open-handed flexibility to His Way and His Will.

"To you Lord I give my heart, mind, soul and spirit, all of my life.  I am still, knowing that you ARE all You say You are. You are the source of ALL my life, and it is through You, from You, and in You that everything exists.  I am encompassed and enveloped in You, and I choose to surrender myself to all that was in Your heart when You created me, when You saw my unformed substance and knew both the beginning and end of my life, and everything in between."

April 24, 2011

STILL AND STRONG

There is a beautiful stillness about Easter, as if we pause and become quiet in the face of something so powerful and mysterious.

Once again the love and grace of God settles over His creation, and it feels as if He is brooding, waiting, for hearts to respond to the gift He has given the world.

The bustle of excitement that is around the baby's birth gives way to the impact of the death of the man.  The Son who was not dragged kicking and screaming to the cross, but who calmly and silently walked there carrying You and I with Him. 

Everything we would ever struggle with was laid upon Him, and He broke it's power to hold us.  He became our answer and, as He rose triumphant over sin, death and EVERY work of the enemy, He became the ONLY Way, Truth and Life we will ever need.

In the quiet of the garden Mary found an empty tomb.  Her dismay and alarm were then met by the One she sought.  Here He was, in person, alive and talking to her, the One she loved who was dead and now lived.

This is how He comes to each of us in our moments of distress, quietly there, alive and walking with us.  What He has done and still does for us is profoundly beautiful in every way.

May everything that Easter sets before us be yours today and always, Jesus Christ is the centre of the story and the centre of our lives.

I AM 03

"I AM" by Brett a'Court

March 19, 2011

TIMELESS INSTRUCTIONS

IMG_0031

In the face of all we are seeing and experiencing right now I found myself drawn again to Matthew 24 where Jesus spoke of the things that would take place around us and made some pretty specific statements:

"See to it that you are not alarmed" (Matt. 24:6) and

"but he who stands firms to the end will be saved." (Matt. 24:12)

in the midst of a whole lot of other amazing advice!  We are brought back time and again to one of the verses that has always secured my life :

"Be still and know that I am God" which is enough in every situation.  In the fact of almost every situation we could ever experience or imagine, this wonderful statement takes hold of us, steadying and calming us in the face of the storms of life.

There is so much richness to be gleaned from such a short verse. :)

KNOW that He is still God.

KNOW that He is unchanging, always the same, yesterday, today and for all time.

KNOW that He has won the victory and rules and reigns for all time.

KNOW that His eyes range to and fro over the whole earth, waiting to show Himself strong for those whose hearts are turned towards Him.

KNOW that His nature is LOVE, and He will not deny who He is.

KNOW He created everyone and everything and knows ALL He has made and all the plans and purposes He has determined for His creation.

As we know this we are not tossed to and fro by the changing tides of human action and opinion, but carried forward in the strong steady flow of the river of His Life.

I am often unsettled by things I see, and things I hear men saying and doing, and then I remember that He is God, and His great plan and purpose will be worked out for them and for me.  Once again I can be still and KNOW He is sufficient, all I will ever need, and my soul and spirit become quiet before Him.

Thomas Merton says "Here the truth is One whom we not only know and possess, but by Whom we are known and possessed."

I am so grateful that such a big and wonderful God who never sleeps, made me, came looking for me, and made me His own.

"Lord, who do You say that I am?"

"MINE".

March 01, 2011

HOPE

1cross 100 

In the midst of the devastation that has rocked Christchurch and all of this nation I have watched the images and wept again, again and again.  We are indeed one nation and when one part is hurting we all hurt with it.

Today as we observed 2 minutes silence to honour and respect those who have paid the ultimate price in this disaster, I could feel a shaking deep within me, something alive and feeling this loss with every fibre of my being.

As I've sat contemplating the damage and death and loss faced by the people of Christchurch and those who love and care for them, I am reminded of one of my favourite stories in the bible, Noah's ark.

Having survived total devastation of everything around them, and floated in the ark for a long time, Noah and his family begin to think ahead and Noah opens up the ark and eventually sends out a dove to see if she will find some dry land.

The dove returns, having found nowhere to land, and Noah puts out his hand and draws her back into the safety of the ark.

Time and again we are like that dove, we have faced things that are difficult and we do not know where to stand in them.  It is in these times most of all that God, in all his loving kindness and compassion, puts out His hand to draw us deep into Himself.

Eventually Noah sent the dove out again, and this time she returned with an olive leaf that showed that indeed there was life to be seen and found, and then on the third time, she did not return at all as she had found a place to land.

May it be so for those most affected by this terrible earthquake, and for those who love and care for them.  May our loving and merciful God take them into His great and creative hands, and hold them safe for a season of healing and restoration.  When the time is right, may they be released, strong and able, to go out and find their place to stand.

February 22, 2011

PRAY FOR CHRISTCHURCH

People of Christchurch we pray for you to know the love and comfort of God in this awful situation.  Please know that our love and prayers go out to you.

We ask Lord that you will be with those trapped in collapsed buildings and lead the rescuers to them.  Please comfort those who have lost the ones they love, especially the 65 lives we know of so far.  Please be with those sleeping in parks and places away from their homes.  Please give wisdom to those overseeing the rescue efforts.

We pray for the very heart of the people and city to be strengthened and comforted, and that you will give to them a fresh vision and hope in the days ahead.

February 11, 2011

EXPANDED!

This is my first week back with my new friends in Refuge, after the first real holiday break in 2 years.  As a result I am in a very rested place and find it possible to evaluate and see things a little more clearly than this time last year - to see and feel my function in facilitating these groups.

The true function is that I pick up these women and carry them in my heart before the Lord!  I could feel it all of Wednesday night, a constant conversation.  And again the same thing on Thursday.

It feels as if, way beyond what may be taught or learned, the love of God embraces and begins to work in and with them, and they respond quickly and openly to that love.  I am encouraged to think that somehow without my fully comprehending it, this has indeed become prayer.

It was not that the circumstances had to change as much as my heart had to be enlarged and expanded for the task - this is what has taken  time.

For many years I have asked the Lord that I would not 'do' prayer but become a prayer in action in all of life - it feels this year as if I might actually have my foot on the first rung of the ladder.  He is indeed the God who answers!

Mother Teresa said "Prayer in action is love, and love in action is service.  Try to give unconditionally whatever a person needs in the moment."

January 31, 2011

TRULY LIVING

Image030

As we look at all that's taking place around the world right now it becomes more apparent each day that we need to know who we truly are, and how we will live and maintain our peace in the face of what we see!

Sometimes I think we forget that although we are born of our natural parents, by God's intention and design, this natural birth is wrapped in something far bigger and wider in it's reality.  To recognise and engage with the author and designer of our lives is to move outside of our limited understanding and into the path of the One who lovingly works to be connected to those He created. We are able to enjoy the benefits of His tireless watch over His children, and His leading into things that are eternal rather than simply contained in the here and now.

We move beyond our natural birth into a new kind of life, one that gives us new eyes to see, ears to hear with, and hearts able to understand the love and wonder of a life filled with far greater promise than we had ever imagined. 

In this process we begin to find the self we were truly created to be, leaving behind the false self - an image woven by our desire to obtain the approval and acclaim of men and women whose expectations and demands weigh heavily upon us.  We move beyond the ideas and expectations that are human and limited.

This deeper walk with God takes us deeper into who He truly created us to be, not what we think, but what He actually knows and has always known.  The search for this takes His children down many paths, most of which are dead ends, and some stop there.  However, there is a need to keep walking and when we find ourselves gazing at a wall it's time to turn and look around for Him again.

The depths of this search can feel dark and lonely to our souls, but our spirits are being constantly and steadily awakened to this great light that shines in the darkness.  Jesus said "I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."  It was God's idea to let light shine out of darkness and increasingly lets this light shine in our hearts.

Jesus was the invisible made visible, and so his face was displayed in the earth for all to see.  Now that same light is reflected in our hearts and He continues to shine in the darkness when we walk in the birth of the person we were truly created to be.

This world we live in needs more and more light shining against the darkness that pours out violence, hatred and disorder around us.  Jesus said "You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men ...."

The end result of becoming our true selves, willing to be lights that shine in dark places, is an increase in us and in those places of love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

It's my desire to shed the dark garments of my false self so that more light is evident.  To walk into the great promise that the plans God has for me are for good and not evil, to prosper and not harm me, to give me a future and a hope.  Those are the things so many seek not knowing that they are only found fully in being the true selves God created.

We thought we were born of our natural parents alone, but there was always this higher, wider, greater, thing going on.

January 02, 2011

2011

Here are a few gleanings from waiting and listening at the end of one year and as we move into a new one.  May each of you who read this blog be held in God's plan and purpose for you through this year, and know that all He has in His heart for you is GOOD.
On the morning of December 28, 2010 I woke up with the words of Matthew 5:16 on my mind:
"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
There is such a strong sense of our need to step out of the shadows and become fully what God created each of us to be.  As we live this out it brings great glory to Him.  It is true humility to embrace and live all that He desires for us, for then we are living in the Truth.
I continue to be aware of a great pathway of heavenly love and power  between heaven and earth.  It is open, but requires utter truth in the innermost parts of those who walk it.  Was this Enoch's path I wonder?
Again on 30 December I saw this same heavenly connection between God and those who will walk fully in His Truth.  It is like a highway of great substance that stands out from everything else around it and makes all else appear to have no substance at all.  It flows out of heaven and spreads out as it goes.  Moving on it towards God would be like moving upstream against the currents of the world's flow - not easy, but worth more than anything else in life.
Psalm 46:4 came to mind as I looked at this flow:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
The whole of Psalm 46 seems important to hold in our hearts as we move into what is ahead.
oo0oo
During the night of December 28, 2010 I had a very vivid dream.  In it I was with the group of young adults in a gymnasium somewhere in the USA.  They were all in very serious training, running, exercising, doing press ups.  At the same time, some of their group had been caught up in a huge tornado-type storm and I could see them being hurled around in the midst of this as it carried them along.  One young man was very apparent and seemed to have been sucked into the very centre of the storm which was full of lightning and thunder.  At the end of the dream this young man appeared, he seemed to be the only survivor and was very battered but recovering.  It was evident that the experience had made him fit for leadership and all the others now looked to him for wise direction.
oo0oo
Twice I have been lead into 2 Chronicles 34.  King Josiah, young as he was, did well in returning Israel to the Lord - the thing that caused the greatest change was finding the book of the Law that God had given to Moses, and in reading discovered how far they had strayed from God's instructions to them.  I believe again God is calling us to pursue His Truth and His Word and use this as the plumline to evaluate our lives. In spite of all the good he had done, Josiah eventually died because he was carried by his zeal to fight a battle that the Lord was clearly telling him not to fight - our greatest strength can also be our weakness, and this needs to be watched as carefully at the end as at the beginning of our life and work.
oo0oo
Ezra 3:10 - The rebuilding of the altar.  When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel.
There are many who have been faithfully following a path they truly believe the Lord had led them to.  They have at times wondered if they heard Him right, especially as they can see so few, or no, results.  I feel that the Lord has indeed been building, against great opposition, as was the case in the time of Ezra.  The word I hear Him using is that He has established BEACHHEADS and in 2011 the result of those being established will be seen and will be cause for rejoicing - it will be an indicator that He is truly building HIS House, and there will be fruitfulness from what has been sown.
These results will be seen especially by those who have been willing to leave the froth and bubble of the shoreline and have the courage to move out into the deep oceans of His presence.  Now He will begin to draw on what has been deposited and resides deep within their souls and spirits.  They are deep wells and many are thirsty.  There have been those in the church who were not willing, or have not had the courage to move into these deeper waters, but the courageous are those who have been used to establish the beachheads the Lord desires in this time.
oo0oo
I believe that for the year ahead the Lord is encouraging us through Ephesians 6 to 'stand firm'.  He will continue to be true to His word in Amos 3:7 that He does nothing without revealing it to his prophets - listen for His voice.  In John 15:4, He is reminding us that we must remain in Him, and He in us, if we are to see fruit.  Finally in Revelation 20:2-10, He is reminding us of His total victory over the enemy.
We must never forget that God spoke EVERYTHING into being, and He never ceases to be God.
Shalom in 2011.