Monday, March 24, 2008
The Burn: Friday March 28th
Hey all - We're burning before the Lord in worship this Friday (March 28th) at the House of Prayer/King' s Corner from 10 am until at least midnight and I'm looking for those who are interested in taking a "slot" to lead worship. Interested? contact me a.s.a.p. so I schedule you in at the time you prefer. My email is gworship9@yahoo. com Love! t
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Praying for America
(I've listened Asher teach and he's brilliant - with a tender heart toward God & His people. Can we also include Gov. Patterson & Spitzer in our prayers? Love, t)
Asher Intrater is a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ, serving the Messiah in Israel. Asher's perspectives and insights are highly valued in Israel and beyond.
Praying For America
by Asher Intrater
(En Español)
Israeli press briefly covered the story of Barak Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ, preaching a sermon in which he repeatedly shouted, "God damn America, God damn America!" (There is no word in Hebrew for "damn" and the statement had to be translated as "God curse America".)
It is not my purpose in this article to deal with the political implications of his connections with Obama, nor with the theological issues of "liberation theology," nor even from the question of Obama's personal faith – as he openly professed that he "found Christ" in that church. I would like to approach it from a perspective of prayer: the need for us to be PRAYING FOR America.
The Jewish people were commanded to pray FOR the nation of Babel (Iraq) when they lived there in exile in the 6th century BC – Jeremiah 29. All Christians are called to pray FOR those in authority – I Timothy 2.
Jeremiah 29:7
Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it: for in its peace you will have peace.
No doubt it was difficult for the Israelites in Babel to pray for the nation they felt had abused them. Yet in their generation, Babel was the world leader, just as America is the world leader today. Although it seemed to them paradoxical, praying for Babel's well being would result in their well being. So today, America's well-being is still beneficial for most Christians, Jews, and suppressed peoples around the world.
It is easy to feel resentful against America, even for those who live there. The entertainment industry has spread sexual immorality and licentiousness; the people are often over-fed, comfort-worshiping, and self-indulgent. And yet, would you really want a world without America?
America is the only nation that has made a clear stance against Islamic Jihad. It is the only nation that has consistently supported Israel in the U.N. It is the nation which has produced most of the biblical and faith-based literature that is available. It is the nation with the best form of elections, court systems, and law making in the world. (On Friday, Iran held national elections in which all of the candidates who stood for reform against Ahmadinejad' s regime were disqualified before the voting began.). America guarantees civil rights and freedom of religious expression more than any nation.
Over the last six months the U.S. dollar has fallen almost 25% on the international market. The majority of Christian charitable organizations, as well as evangelistic missions, receive their financing through the dollar. That means this year all those ministries have effectively lost 25% of their support base.
While most true believers in Yeshua (Jesus) would never voice such harsh statements as Reverend Wright, the spirit of revenge and resentment against America has had a subtle influence on many. Much so called "prayer" or "prophecies" concerning America have been nothing more than complaining and accusations before the throne of God. The result has been an inadvertent cursing of the nation and its leadership. Others have had their prayers simply neutralized, figuring it is just best not to pray for America at all.
I believe it is urgent to pray for America right now. Here are a few key pointers:
1. Moral repentance – May there be a sweep of revival across America, resulting in a sincere turning to God, integrity in government and business, a breaking of the spirits of Jezebel, rebellion and lust, a flourishing of true communities of faith.
2. Politics – May godly and righteous people be elected for the presidency, the Congress, the Senate, governors, mayors and judgeships in this year's election in November 2008. May President Bush have an effective and fruitful last year in office.
3. Economy – May the dollar stabilize and rise again on the international market, and may all the charitable and missionary organizations have their budgets met. May godly men and women arise to prosper in the business world.
4. Military – May there be a clear victory in Iraq, with the international terrorist forces being broken and scattered, with a stable and just government coalition of local Iraqis arising to run the country, and with the return of American troops. (And I personally would hope for Bin Laden to be captured or removed approximately 60 days before the elections in America.)
5. Israel – May the U.S. continue to be a loyal friend to Israel in these End Times. (The Israeli papers were quick to note that Wright's "damning" of America was partially connected to America's support of the State of Israel.)
Note: President Bush and other world leaders will be in Jerusalem for the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary at the same time as the Global Day of Prayer and "The Call, Jerusalem" scheduled for May 11. (In fact, they will be meeting immediately after us in the same auditorium at the Jerusalem Convention Center.) Perhaps you should plan to come take part in this sacred assembly, or at least take the day to fast and pray together with us.
www.frangipane. org
Asher Intrater is a Jewish believer in Jesus Christ, serving the Messiah in Israel. Asher's perspectives and insights are highly valued in Israel and beyond.
Praying For America
by Asher Intrater
(En Español)
Israeli press briefly covered the story of Barak Obama's pastor, Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ, preaching a sermon in which he repeatedly shouted, "God damn America, God damn America!" (There is no word in Hebrew for "damn" and the statement had to be translated as "God curse America".)
It is not my purpose in this article to deal with the political implications of his connections with Obama, nor with the theological issues of "liberation theology," nor even from the question of Obama's personal faith – as he openly professed that he "found Christ" in that church. I would like to approach it from a perspective of prayer: the need for us to be PRAYING FOR America.
The Jewish people were commanded to pray FOR the nation of Babel (Iraq) when they lived there in exile in the 6th century BC – Jeremiah 29. All Christians are called to pray FOR those in authority – I Timothy 2.
Jeremiah 29:7
Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it: for in its peace you will have peace.
No doubt it was difficult for the Israelites in Babel to pray for the nation they felt had abused them. Yet in their generation, Babel was the world leader, just as America is the world leader today. Although it seemed to them paradoxical, praying for Babel's well being would result in their well being. So today, America's well-being is still beneficial for most Christians, Jews, and suppressed peoples around the world.
It is easy to feel resentful against America, even for those who live there. The entertainment industry has spread sexual immorality and licentiousness; the people are often over-fed, comfort-worshiping, and self-indulgent. And yet, would you really want a world without America?
America is the only nation that has made a clear stance against Islamic Jihad. It is the only nation that has consistently supported Israel in the U.N. It is the nation which has produced most of the biblical and faith-based literature that is available. It is the nation with the best form of elections, court systems, and law making in the world. (On Friday, Iran held national elections in which all of the candidates who stood for reform against Ahmadinejad' s regime were disqualified before the voting began.). America guarantees civil rights and freedom of religious expression more than any nation.
Over the last six months the U.S. dollar has fallen almost 25% on the international market. The majority of Christian charitable organizations, as well as evangelistic missions, receive their financing through the dollar. That means this year all those ministries have effectively lost 25% of their support base.
While most true believers in Yeshua (Jesus) would never voice such harsh statements as Reverend Wright, the spirit of revenge and resentment against America has had a subtle influence on many. Much so called "prayer" or "prophecies" concerning America have been nothing more than complaining and accusations before the throne of God. The result has been an inadvertent cursing of the nation and its leadership. Others have had their prayers simply neutralized, figuring it is just best not to pray for America at all.
I believe it is urgent to pray for America right now. Here are a few key pointers:
1. Moral repentance – May there be a sweep of revival across America, resulting in a sincere turning to God, integrity in government and business, a breaking of the spirits of Jezebel, rebellion and lust, a flourishing of true communities of faith.
2. Politics – May godly and righteous people be elected for the presidency, the Congress, the Senate, governors, mayors and judgeships in this year's election in November 2008. May President Bush have an effective and fruitful last year in office.
3. Economy – May the dollar stabilize and rise again on the international market, and may all the charitable and missionary organizations have their budgets met. May godly men and women arise to prosper in the business world.
4. Military – May there be a clear victory in Iraq, with the international terrorist forces being broken and scattered, with a stable and just government coalition of local Iraqis arising to run the country, and with the return of American troops. (And I personally would hope for Bin Laden to be captured or removed approximately 60 days before the elections in America.)
5. Israel – May the U.S. continue to be a loyal friend to Israel in these End Times. (The Israeli papers were quick to note that Wright's "damning" of America was partially connected to America's support of the State of Israel.)
Note: President Bush and other world leaders will be in Jerusalem for the celebration of Israel's 60th anniversary at the same time as the Global Day of Prayer and "The Call, Jerusalem" scheduled for May 11. (In fact, they will be meeting immediately after us in the same auditorium at the Jerusalem Convention Center.) Perhaps you should plan to come take part in this sacred assembly, or at least take the day to fast and pray together with us.
www.frangipane. org
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Wisdom for the Generations
I thought I'd pass on what is a well thought out, balanced challenge to the current state of the church and should initiate thought provoking questions.
Last week I had a dream that a variety of people were ministering in the House of Prayer and I was loving that it reflected the resources of many churches and really was being fueled by cooperation. Then, I was alone and it was my slot. As I began to worship a group of young people began to ram the door and I wasn't sure if they were attacking and destroying the House and planning on killing me or just wanting to get in. They broke in, went right past me and through another door into the school building we were housed in and I realized they had no problem with what we were doing, but they were heading to the office area and I knew they wanted change and input. As you read the article, ask the Lord to help discern what is legitimate and what is incendiary and then perhaps we can pray and consider how to respond personally and locally.
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
They Love Jesus They Don't Like The Church
Gary Wiens
Mar 11, 2008
Greetings, Everyone!
Marie and I received this article recently, and we believe it is a powerful word to us who are interceding for the coming generations. Please read it with sober minds and prayerful hearts.
They Love Jesus; They Don’t Like The Church
Michael Craven
This appears to be a growing sentiment among many younger Christians in America today. They love Jesus but they want little to do with His Church. It’s not that they don’t like the their local church or even other Christians—it’s that they don’t like how Christianity in America is frequently represented by many professing Evangelicals, which in their minds is often unloving, judgmental, arrogant, and hypocritical.
This assertion finds support in the data revealed in Barna’s most recent research. For example, “four out of five young churchgoers say that Christianity is antihomosexual; half describe it as judgmental, too involved in politics, hypocritical, and confusing; one-third believe their faith is old-fashioned and out of touch with reality; and one-quarter of young Christians believe it is boring and insensitive to others.” (Kinnamon & Lyons, unChristian, Baker Books, 2007, pp.33-34)
Those outside the Church hold increasingly negative views of Christians as well. Among young people (aged 16-29), roughly 49 percent hold an “extraordinarily negative” view of evangelical Christians and only 3 percent have a “good” impression!
Kinnamon and Lyons summarize the problem well by pointing to the comments of one thirty-five year-old believer who says, ‘Christians have become political, judgmental, intolerant, weak, religious, angry, and without balance. Christianity has become a nice Sunday drive. Where is the living God, the Holy Spirit, and amazing Jesus, the love, the compassion, the holiness? This type of life, how I yearn for that.”
Before you dismiss this criticism as overly simplistic or somehow lacking in credibility, humbly listen to what the next generation is actually saying. Love of Christ, love of one another and humility should compel us to try and understand why so many young people and Christians, in particular, feel the way they do. In my own frequent interactions with younger serious-minded Christians—many of whom invigorate me by their enthusiasm and zeal for Christ—I often find that they are very turned off and even angered by the watered-down, politicized, shallow, culturalized Christianity that has come to dominate American evangelicalism. According to Kinnamon and Lyons, “The Christian life looks so simplified and constricted that a new generation no longer recognizes it as a sophisticated, livable response to a complex word.”
This younger generation of Christians is simply and rightfully frustrated by the fact that this very real condition serves to inhibit their efforts to share the love of Christ with others. In other words, contemporary American Christianity carries with it a lot of negative baggage. So much so that “they feel raising the ‘Christian flag’ would actually undermine their ability to connect with people and maintain credibility with them.” And so, they feel they must “distance themselves from the current ‘branding’ of Christianity.” (Kinnamon & Lyons)
I can tell you from the perspective of one who spends a great deal of time engaged with those outside the faith; a significant portion of any conversation begins with me making apologies for the many misrepresentations of Christianity, the abuses suffered at the hands of misguided Christians, and correcting their many misconceptions—this—just so I can get to any meaningful dialogue. I can fully appreciate the need to “distance” one’s self from the mainstream “brand” of Christianity in order to earn any credibility with the person to whom I am speaking.
This generation sees what many are only recently coming to realize; the Church is in a pathetic state of decadence and decay. It is, to a large degree, fragmented, watered-down, and retreating from cultural relevancy. Biblical and theological ignorance, cultural apathy, and social indifference are a plague upon the American Church and what passes for Christianity in many circles is often a mere shadow of historic orthodox Christianity or worse something altogether different.
I recently spoke with a young man who is training to be a pastor. He was absolutely heartbroken and angry at the state of the Church. He laments the culturalized Christianity that surrounds him. He described the Christian culture where he lives as one in which “So many people live their lives avoiding hell instead of seeking the kingdom of God.” I think he makes an excellent point: for many American Christians; the purpose of their faith is ultimately bound up in going to heaven when they die. In the meantime the real world, the one into which Christ’s kingdom has come and is coming is ignored and the Christian’s purpose abandoned. We end up living for ourselves instead of for Christ. As I have said before, the gospel is more than just the personal plan of salvation; it is more accurately as the Lord himself said, the “good news” of the kingdom. The former has led to narrowly programmed evangelism; the latter fulfills the great commission by means of the two greatest commandments.
What concerns me most is that this reaction among young evangelicals is fraught with peril as are all reactive movements. On the one hand they can, in an effort to accommodate the increasingly antagonistic culture, become so generous in their orthodoxy that they compromise the faith. On the other hand, they can become so angry toward the Church that they fall into an un-biblical ecclesiology that encourages revolution instead of reformation. Both movements are in place right now and their respective “leaders” are gaining converts. In either case, the results will no doubt be destructive.
I believe the Lord is awakening many in this generation. They seek an authentic, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and they understand His lordship extends to every aspect of life and culture. I can’t tell you how often I encounter this positive spiritual theme and yet it is almost always accompanied by an equal frustration with the present Church.
What is desperately needed is spiritual wisdom that can carefully guide this generation between these two extremes toward real and orthodox reformation. The younger generation can offer insight that can properly contextualize the full gospel in such a way that it is once again relevant and our generation can provide sound guidance that preserves and promotes a love for Christ’s Church and orthodox theology. We must be willing to listen to each other, to learn and work together being of one mind and one spirit. This we must do for the sake of the Church and the next generation.
________________________________________________
S. Michael Craven is the President of the Center for Christ & Culture, a ministry of discipleship and Church renewal that works to equip Christians with an intelligent, thoroughly Christian and missional approach to culture. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources, and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org
Last week I had a dream that a variety of people were ministering in the House of Prayer and I was loving that it reflected the resources of many churches and really was being fueled by cooperation. Then, I was alone and it was my slot. As I began to worship a group of young people began to ram the door and I wasn't sure if they were attacking and destroying the House and planning on killing me or just wanting to get in. They broke in, went right past me and through another door into the school building we were housed in and I realized they had no problem with what we were doing, but they were heading to the office area and I knew they wanted change and input. As you read the article, ask the Lord to help discern what is legitimate and what is incendiary and then perhaps we can pray and consider how to respond personally and locally.
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
They Love Jesus They Don't Like The Church
Gary Wiens
Mar 11, 2008
Greetings, Everyone!
Marie and I received this article recently, and we believe it is a powerful word to us who are interceding for the coming generations. Please read it with sober minds and prayerful hearts.
They Love Jesus; They Don’t Like The Church
Michael Craven
This appears to be a growing sentiment among many younger Christians in America today. They love Jesus but they want little to do with His Church. It’s not that they don’t like the their local church or even other Christians—it’s that they don’t like how Christianity in America is frequently represented by many professing Evangelicals, which in their minds is often unloving, judgmental, arrogant, and hypocritical.
This assertion finds support in the data revealed in Barna’s most recent research. For example, “four out of five young churchgoers say that Christianity is antihomosexual; half describe it as judgmental, too involved in politics, hypocritical, and confusing; one-third believe their faith is old-fashioned and out of touch with reality; and one-quarter of young Christians believe it is boring and insensitive to others.” (Kinnamon & Lyons, unChristian, Baker Books, 2007, pp.33-34)
Those outside the Church hold increasingly negative views of Christians as well. Among young people (aged 16-29), roughly 49 percent hold an “extraordinarily negative” view of evangelical Christians and only 3 percent have a “good” impression!
Kinnamon and Lyons summarize the problem well by pointing to the comments of one thirty-five year-old believer who says, ‘Christians have become political, judgmental, intolerant, weak, religious, angry, and without balance. Christianity has become a nice Sunday drive. Where is the living God, the Holy Spirit, and amazing Jesus, the love, the compassion, the holiness? This type of life, how I yearn for that.”
Before you dismiss this criticism as overly simplistic or somehow lacking in credibility, humbly listen to what the next generation is actually saying. Love of Christ, love of one another and humility should compel us to try and understand why so many young people and Christians, in particular, feel the way they do. In my own frequent interactions with younger serious-minded Christians—many of whom invigorate me by their enthusiasm and zeal for Christ—I often find that they are very turned off and even angered by the watered-down, politicized, shallow, culturalized Christianity that has come to dominate American evangelicalism. According to Kinnamon and Lyons, “The Christian life looks so simplified and constricted that a new generation no longer recognizes it as a sophisticated, livable response to a complex word.”
This younger generation of Christians is simply and rightfully frustrated by the fact that this very real condition serves to inhibit their efforts to share the love of Christ with others. In other words, contemporary American Christianity carries with it a lot of negative baggage. So much so that “they feel raising the ‘Christian flag’ would actually undermine their ability to connect with people and maintain credibility with them.” And so, they feel they must “distance themselves from the current ‘branding’ of Christianity.” (Kinnamon & Lyons)
I can tell you from the perspective of one who spends a great deal of time engaged with those outside the faith; a significant portion of any conversation begins with me making apologies for the many misrepresentations of Christianity, the abuses suffered at the hands of misguided Christians, and correcting their many misconceptions—this—just so I can get to any meaningful dialogue. I can fully appreciate the need to “distance” one’s self from the mainstream “brand” of Christianity in order to earn any credibility with the person to whom I am speaking.
This generation sees what many are only recently coming to realize; the Church is in a pathetic state of decadence and decay. It is, to a large degree, fragmented, watered-down, and retreating from cultural relevancy. Biblical and theological ignorance, cultural apathy, and social indifference are a plague upon the American Church and what passes for Christianity in many circles is often a mere shadow of historic orthodox Christianity or worse something altogether different.
I recently spoke with a young man who is training to be a pastor. He was absolutely heartbroken and angry at the state of the Church. He laments the culturalized Christianity that surrounds him. He described the Christian culture where he lives as one in which “So many people live their lives avoiding hell instead of seeking the kingdom of God.” I think he makes an excellent point: for many American Christians; the purpose of their faith is ultimately bound up in going to heaven when they die. In the meantime the real world, the one into which Christ’s kingdom has come and is coming is ignored and the Christian’s purpose abandoned. We end up living for ourselves instead of for Christ. As I have said before, the gospel is more than just the personal plan of salvation; it is more accurately as the Lord himself said, the “good news” of the kingdom. The former has led to narrowly programmed evangelism; the latter fulfills the great commission by means of the two greatest commandments.
What concerns me most is that this reaction among young evangelicals is fraught with peril as are all reactive movements. On the one hand they can, in an effort to accommodate the increasingly antagonistic culture, become so generous in their orthodoxy that they compromise the faith. On the other hand, they can become so angry toward the Church that they fall into an un-biblical ecclesiology that encourages revolution instead of reformation. Both movements are in place right now and their respective “leaders” are gaining converts. In either case, the results will no doubt be destructive.
I believe the Lord is awakening many in this generation. They seek an authentic, life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ and they understand His lordship extends to every aspect of life and culture. I can’t tell you how often I encounter this positive spiritual theme and yet it is almost always accompanied by an equal frustration with the present Church.
What is desperately needed is spiritual wisdom that can carefully guide this generation between these two extremes toward real and orthodox reformation. The younger generation can offer insight that can properly contextualize the full gospel in such a way that it is once again relevant and our generation can provide sound guidance that preserves and promotes a love for Christ’s Church and orthodox theology. We must be willing to listen to each other, to learn and work together being of one mind and one spirit. This we must do for the sake of the Church and the next generation.
________________________________________________
S. Michael Craven is the President of the Center for Christ & Culture, a ministry of discipleship and Church renewal that works to equip Christians with an intelligent, thoroughly Christian and missional approach to culture. For more information on the Center for Christ & Culture, additional resources, and other works by S. Michael Craven visit: www.battlefortruth.org
Monday, March 03, 2008
Anna's Note on Human Traffiking
Everyone: Please read this carefully and methodically. What I am writing I honestly believe is of upmost importance to the heart of the Father. We can be used by Him, partner with him with our prayers and worship to change this situation…… So to get right to it…….I am currently in school getting a degree in political science, and one of my classes this semester is “Human Traffiking and Contempory Slavery”. A sobering subject and quite a party killer! But seriously this thing is so on the heart of God guys, many times in the middle of class I am crazy close to weeping because the Presence and absolute love of God falls on me for his people that are literally(and spiritually) in slavery! We have to be a part of what God is doing in this, I believe so desperately that us crying out to the Father in the midnight hours we can put a stop to this!!!!
Some numbers for you…… 27 million people around the world exist has slaves (sex slaves & labor slaves). 800,000-900,00 NEW people(children of Jesus) are enslaved every year. 80% are women and 50% are children.Selling people is the 3rd largest criminal activity in the world, behind selling illegal drugs and arms. The Int’l Labour Office estimates this generates $32 billion per year .Every year 1 million children forcibly take part in the commercial sex industry. So something that is crazy, and I think just another showing how God has stratigicly placed the Burn.
The other day in class my professor put up a slide showing the “routes” that sex traffikers take victims across the US. The first thing that I noticed was how many of them are where Burns are located or are close too!!!! Here is a short list of some of the cities…..(I have also attached the slide that shows the routes in the US, take a look)Seattle, Sacramento, Denver, Dallas, OKC, Mineapolis/St.Paul, Houston, Detroit, Boston, NYC, Richmond.These are just the major cities!
Most likely, by their proximity to bigger cities, I would guess that every single Burn city has human trafficking go through its limits. And mind you this is only the routes for Sex Trafficking in the US, this doesn’t even include those that are forced into labor. Human Trafficking is something that is happening in our communities, not just overseas!! We need to be lifting this up before the Father!! His children(literally those under 18) are being sold for Sex. His children are being sold to be nannies, and maids, and to pick crops. They are constantly physically, verbally, and sexually abused. We must open our eyes to this, bring this before the Father and plead and interceed for those who can not!! We need to pray that the routes that are taken in and between our cities would be abolished and that the Love of the Father would overtake the traffickers and pimps and that instead routes of the His Presence and His Love would be established!I know that is hardcore guys,, but we need to be hardcore and we need to listen to the heart of the Father for his children. We can be a part of downfall of Trafficking just by Burning!!! Let God Arise and his Enemies be scattered!!!!
No comments
Some numbers for you…… 27 million people around the world exist has slaves (sex slaves & labor slaves). 800,000-900,00 NEW people(children of Jesus) are enslaved every year. 80% are women and 50% are children.Selling people is the 3rd largest criminal activity in the world, behind selling illegal drugs and arms. The Int’l Labour Office estimates this generates $32 billion per year .Every year 1 million children forcibly take part in the commercial sex industry. So something that is crazy, and I think just another showing how God has stratigicly placed the Burn.
The other day in class my professor put up a slide showing the “routes” that sex traffikers take victims across the US. The first thing that I noticed was how many of them are where Burns are located or are close too!!!! Here is a short list of some of the cities…..(I have also attached the slide that shows the routes in the US, take a look)Seattle, Sacramento, Denver, Dallas, OKC, Mineapolis/St.Paul, Houston, Detroit, Boston, NYC, Richmond.These are just the major cities!
Most likely, by their proximity to bigger cities, I would guess that every single Burn city has human trafficking go through its limits. And mind you this is only the routes for Sex Trafficking in the US, this doesn’t even include those that are forced into labor. Human Trafficking is something that is happening in our communities, not just overseas!! We need to be lifting this up before the Father!! His children(literally those under 18) are being sold for Sex. His children are being sold to be nannies, and maids, and to pick crops. They are constantly physically, verbally, and sexually abused. We must open our eyes to this, bring this before the Father and plead and interceed for those who can not!! We need to pray that the routes that are taken in and between our cities would be abolished and that the Love of the Father would overtake the traffickers and pimps and that instead routes of the His Presence and His Love would be established!I know that is hardcore guys,, but we need to be hardcore and we need to listen to the heart of the Father for his children. We can be a part of downfall of Trafficking just by Burning!!! Let God Arise and his Enemies be scattered!!!!
No comments
The Bridge Builder - will allen dromgoole
Jamie gave me this poem describing the reason we are building the House of Prayer and the Burn. Thought I'd pass it on.
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today
A youth, whose feet must pass this way."
"This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?"
The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today
A youth, whose feet must pass this way."
"This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."
Monday, February 25, 2008
The Burn, E-Courses & "The Baby"
First- thanks to all who came out to keep Long Island's "Home" fire burning before the Lord yesterday and to those who ministered to the Lord from home. We were so honored by you and value your friendship and commitment tremendously. I told many of you to stay home because of the weather and I appreciate you deeply for your desire and thank you because you were one less person for me to worry about yesterday. Love you ALL.
Second- IHOP-KC is offering classes that can be audited or taken for credit online now. You can audit a course for $50 and it's ALOT easier than re-locating to KC for a year (unless of course Dad says to). The material is really great stuff whether you agree with a particular point of view or not and it is worth wrestling with. The classes being offered include those that I took during my internship there and more are coming. There are a couple that I absolutely loved - including and especially Corey Russell's The Eternal Glory of an Intercessor. Here's the link in case you are interested. ALSO - if you are interested in taking a course, we can also choose to do it together and interact with the material and each other together or online. Let me know what delights you.
http://www.ihop.org/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000023673
Finally, I had a dream the morning of The Burn - what else is new. In the dream, I was giving birth to a baby in a really large, warm tiled tub. The birth was fast and relatively easy and although the labor was right on time the baby had the affect of being pre-mature ( about 5 months old or so) (which by the way, that is about how long we've been meeting regularly at King's Corner). As the midwife cleaned the baby, it took weak breaths and didn't cry much. I thought it was still in pretty good shape but the midwife was troubled that it was weak and not crying deeply. Additionally, it had some placenta/skin around the sides of its eyes that I cleaned off so it could see correctly.
I went to breastfeed the baby and it spoke to me and said "Three Stormtroopers tried to stop me." What he was describing was a dream he had as he was being born that symbolized a spiritual experience in reality (kind of like the opposition received by the angel of Daniel's visit). I was only mildly impressed at the baby's ability to speak and realized that although I had conceived the baby with a man I barely knew (the relationship felt a little illegitimate because I barely knew the man when I was first with him and we weren't married when it was conceived) and although I felt like a single parent, I didn't feel like the baby or I were out of God's heart or love. As a matter of fact there were clear indicators that God cared for the baby and had gifted it with dreams and revelation as a matter of His own desire to lay favor on the baby despite the circumstances of its conception. I put my finger in its mouth and felt around only to find that the baby also had a full set of teeth - of perfect little white teeth all the way back to include little molars and I realized it had maturity in advance of its years.
Because of the concern over the baby's breathing I was told to take it to the hospital. As I was waiting at the bus stop with the baby, I looked around and realized I would never be seen at the Hospital even if I did get there. I was surrounded by and counted among the poor and I knew they were not treated well and I thought, "If I take the baby home and care for it and love it, I'm sure it will do well." Shortly after, a tall, large black woman walked up to me and said "Trust your insides. You are right, you'll never get seen in the Hospital. It will take forever and it ultimately won't help it anyway. Take the baby home and love it deeply and help it breathe right and it will do well there."
I went back to my apartment and the baby's family (on the Father's side) was there to celebrate its birthday but I wasn't sure about how they felt about the baby and whether they would claim it as their own and love it. I wasn't even sure how I felt about them and whether I could love THEM. I kept looking at the baby's face which was dark skinned like it's father's family; trying to see its beauty - because at first I wasn't sure if it WAS beautiful, but the more I looked to see if it was, and I mean intently looked at it, the more beautiful it became and while it looked like the Father's family, it started to look more like me as well. I knew that if the Father's family would love deeply it and adopt it as their own it would in fact do very well and become more and more beautiful and eventually, the Father would come and call it his own.
As we prayed yesterday, I began to get some understanding about the dream and wept quite a bit about it. Here's my best shot at explaining it: The baby is the House of Prayer. Breathing - deep breathing - is prayer and the inspiration that comes from meditating on the Beauty of God ("The Beauty of God inspires Deep, Breathing (inspired) Prayer.") Crying is the groans of travail and longing. The Hospital is the Church. The Father's family is exactly that. Dark skinned refers to us in the Song of Solomon "I am dark but I am Lovely" and I believe the admonishment from the Lord is as follows:
a.) as "people of the House" we need to see clearly and set our thoughts and eyes on Him - to contemplate the Beauty of God and praying from that place, we need to travail for the things on His heart - to long for Him - in order to be strengthened
b.) keep looking intently for the beauty of this movement/house/baby/clan and value it - it will become more beautiful as we do
c.) we need to love this baby and adopt it as our own - taking responsibility for its growth and up-bringing as if it is our own and as if it was a baby who's life depended on it -because it does - and if we do this . . . The Father will come.
What I'm trying to convey is this: the baby is not just mine - it is all of ours. Please ask the Lord what He would have you do in order to adopt it into your heart and love it and nurture it as a member of your own family. Then, please let me know what He says.
Much, much love and blessing to all you, t
Second- IHOP-KC is offering classes that can be audited or taken for credit online now. You can audit a course for $50 and it's ALOT easier than re-locating to KC for a year (unless of course Dad says to). The material is really great stuff whether you agree with a particular point of view or not and it is worth wrestling with. The classes being offered include those that I took during my internship there and more are coming. There are a couple that I absolutely loved - including and especially Corey Russell's The Eternal Glory of an Intercessor. Here's the link in case you are interested. ALSO - if you are interested in taking a course, we can also choose to do it together and interact with the material and each other together or online. Let me know what delights you.
http://www.ihop.org/Publisher/Article.aspx?ID=1000023673
Finally, I had a dream the morning of The Burn - what else is new. In the dream, I was giving birth to a baby in a really large, warm tiled tub. The birth was fast and relatively easy and although the labor was right on time the baby had the affect of being pre-mature ( about 5 months old or so) (which by the way, that is about how long we've been meeting regularly at King's Corner). As the midwife cleaned the baby, it took weak breaths and didn't cry much. I thought it was still in pretty good shape but the midwife was troubled that it was weak and not crying deeply. Additionally, it had some placenta/skin around the sides of its eyes that I cleaned off so it could see correctly.
I went to breastfeed the baby and it spoke to me and said "Three Stormtroopers tried to stop me." What he was describing was a dream he had as he was being born that symbolized a spiritual experience in reality (kind of like the opposition received by the angel of Daniel's visit). I was only mildly impressed at the baby's ability to speak and realized that although I had conceived the baby with a man I barely knew (the relationship felt a little illegitimate because I barely knew the man when I was first with him and we weren't married when it was conceived) and although I felt like a single parent, I didn't feel like the baby or I were out of God's heart or love. As a matter of fact there were clear indicators that God cared for the baby and had gifted it with dreams and revelation as a matter of His own desire to lay favor on the baby despite the circumstances of its conception. I put my finger in its mouth and felt around only to find that the baby also had a full set of teeth - of perfect little white teeth all the way back to include little molars and I realized it had maturity in advance of its years.
Because of the concern over the baby's breathing I was told to take it to the hospital. As I was waiting at the bus stop with the baby, I looked around and realized I would never be seen at the Hospital even if I did get there. I was surrounded by and counted among the poor and I knew they were not treated well and I thought, "If I take the baby home and care for it and love it, I'm sure it will do well." Shortly after, a tall, large black woman walked up to me and said "Trust your insides. You are right, you'll never get seen in the Hospital. It will take forever and it ultimately won't help it anyway. Take the baby home and love it deeply and help it breathe right and it will do well there."
I went back to my apartment and the baby's family (on the Father's side) was there to celebrate its birthday but I wasn't sure about how they felt about the baby and whether they would claim it as their own and love it. I wasn't even sure how I felt about them and whether I could love THEM. I kept looking at the baby's face which was dark skinned like it's father's family; trying to see its beauty - because at first I wasn't sure if it WAS beautiful, but the more I looked to see if it was, and I mean intently looked at it, the more beautiful it became and while it looked like the Father's family, it started to look more like me as well. I knew that if the Father's family would love deeply it and adopt it as their own it would in fact do very well and become more and more beautiful and eventually, the Father would come and call it his own.
As we prayed yesterday, I began to get some understanding about the dream and wept quite a bit about it. Here's my best shot at explaining it: The baby is the House of Prayer. Breathing - deep breathing - is prayer and the inspiration that comes from meditating on the Beauty of God ("The Beauty of God inspires Deep, Breathing (inspired) Prayer.") Crying is the groans of travail and longing. The Hospital is the Church. The Father's family is exactly that. Dark skinned refers to us in the Song of Solomon "I am dark but I am Lovely" and I believe the admonishment from the Lord is as follows:
a.) as "people of the House" we need to see clearly and set our thoughts and eyes on Him - to contemplate the Beauty of God and praying from that place, we need to travail for the things on His heart - to long for Him - in order to be strengthened
b.) keep looking intently for the beauty of this movement/house/baby/clan and value it - it will become more beautiful as we do
c.) we need to love this baby and adopt it as our own - taking responsibility for its growth and up-bringing as if it is our own and as if it was a baby who's life depended on it -because it does - and if we do this . . . The Father will come.
What I'm trying to convey is this: the baby is not just mine - it is all of ours. Please ask the Lord what He would have you do in order to adopt it into your heart and love it and nurture it as a member of your own family. Then, please let me know what He says.
Much, much love and blessing to all you, t
Saturday, February 16, 2008
To Write Love On Her Arms
I ran across this site and movement (To Write Love on Her Arms) and thought "This is where it's at. It's what we're to be about doing. It's what I see in the hearts of the House and The Burn." So I thought I'd share it. Love to all, t
TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS by Jamie Tworkowski
Pedro the Lion is loud in the speakers, and the city waits just outside our open windows. She sits and sings, legs crossed in the passenger seat, her pretty voice hiding in the volume. Music is a safe place and Pedro is her favorite. It hits me that she won't see this skyline for several weeks, and we will be without her. I lean forward, knowing this will be written, and I ask what she'd say if her story had an audience. She smiles. "Tell them to look up. Tell them to remember the stars."
I would rather write her a song, because songs don't wait to resolve, and because songs mean so much to her. Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness. These words, like most words, will be written next to midnight, between hurricane and harbor, as both claim to save her.
Renee is 19. When I meet her, cocaine is fresh in her system. She hasn't slept in 36 hours and she won't for another 24. It is a familiar blur of coke, pot, pills and alcohol. She has agreed to meet us, to listen and to let us pray. We ask Renee to come with us, to leave this broken night. She says she'll go to rehab tomorrow, but she isn't ready now. It is too great a change. We pray and say goodbye and it is hard to leave without her.
She has known such great pain; haunted dreams as a child, the near-constant presence of evil ever since. She has felt the touch of awful naked men, battled depression and addiction, and attempted suicide. Her arms remember razor blades, fifty scars that speak of self-inflicted wounds. Six hours after I meet her, she is feeling trapped, two groups of "friends" offering opposite ideas. Everyone is asleep. The sun is rising. She drinks long from a bottle of liquor, takes a razor blade from the table and locks herself in the bathroom. She cuts herself, using the blade to write "FUCK UP" large across her left forearm.
The nurse at the treatment center finds the wound several hours later. The center has no detox, names her too great a risk, and does not accept her. For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life. It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms.
She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I've known, like a Johnny Cash song or some theatre star. She owns attitude and humor beyond her 19 years, and when she tells me her story, she is humble and quiet and kind, shaped by the pain of a hundred lifetimes. I sit privileged but breaking as she shares. Her life has been so dark yet there is some soft hope in her words, and on consecutive evenings, I watch the prettiest girls in the room tell her that she's beautiful. I think it's God reminding her.
I've never walked this road, but I decide that if we're going to run a five-day rehab, it is going to be the coolest in the country. It is going to be rock and roll. We start with the basics; lots of fun, too much Starbucks and way too many cigarettes.
Thursday night she is in the balcony for Band Marino, Orlando's finest. They are indie-folk-fabulous , a movement disguised as a circus. She loves them and she smiles when I point out the A&R man from Atlantic Europe, in town from London just to catch this show.
She is in good seats when the Magic beat the Sonics the next night, screaming like a lifelong fan with every Dwight Howard dunk. On the way home, we stop for more coffee and books, Blue Like Jazz and (Anne Lamott's) Travelling Mercies.
On Saturday, the Taste of Chaos tour is in town and I'm not even sure we can get in, but doors do open and minutes after parking, we are on stage for Thrice, one of her favorite bands. She stands ten feet from the drummer, smiling constantly. It is a bright moment there in the music, as light and rain collide above the stage. It feels like healing. It is certainly hope.
Sunday night is church and many gather after the service to pray for Renee, this her last night before entering rehab. Some are strangers but all are friends tonight. The prayers move from broken to bold, all encouraging. We're talking to God but I think as much, we're talking to her, telling her she's loved, saying she does not go alone. One among us knows her best. Ryan sits in the corner strumming an acoustic guitar, singing songs she's inspired.
After church our house fills with friends, there for a few more moments before goodbye. Everyone has some gift for her, some note or hug or piece of encouragement. She pulls me aside and tells me she would like to give me something. I smile surprised, wondering what it could be. We walk through the crowded living room, to the garage and her stuff.
She hands me her last razor blade, tells me it is the one she used to cut her arm and her last lines of cocaine five nights before. She's had it with her ever since, shares that tonight will be the hardest night and she shouldn't have it. I hold it carefully, thank her and know instantly that this moment, this gift, will stay with me. It hits me to wonder if this great feeling is what Christ knows when we surrender our broken hearts, when we trade death for life.
As we arrive at the treatment center, she finishes: "The stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds. We miss them in the storms. Tell them to remember hope. We have hope."
I have watched life come back to her, and it has been a privilege. When our time with her began, someone suggested shifts but that is the language of business. Love is something better. I have been challenged and changed, reminded that love is that simple answer to so many of our hardest questions. Don Miller says we're called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding. I agree so greatly.
We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love. I have seen that this week and honestly, it has been simple: Take a broken girl, treat her like a famous princess, give her the best seats in the house. Buy her coffee and cigarettes for the coming down, books and bathroom things for the days ahead. Tell her something true when all she's known are lies. Tell her God loves her. Tell her about forgiveness, the possibility of freedom, tell her she was made to dance in white dresses. All these things are true.
We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home.
I have learned so much in one week with one brave girl. She is alive now, in the patience and safety of rehab, covered in marks of madness but choosing to believe that God makes things new, that He meant hope and healing in the stars. She would ask you to remember.
TO WRITE LOVE ON HER ARMS by Jamie Tworkowski
Pedro the Lion is loud in the speakers, and the city waits just outside our open windows. She sits and sings, legs crossed in the passenger seat, her pretty voice hiding in the volume. Music is a safe place and Pedro is her favorite. It hits me that she won't see this skyline for several weeks, and we will be without her. I lean forward, knowing this will be written, and I ask what she'd say if her story had an audience. She smiles. "Tell them to look up. Tell them to remember the stars."
I would rather write her a song, because songs don't wait to resolve, and because songs mean so much to her. Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness. These words, like most words, will be written next to midnight, between hurricane and harbor, as both claim to save her.
Renee is 19. When I meet her, cocaine is fresh in her system. She hasn't slept in 36 hours and she won't for another 24. It is a familiar blur of coke, pot, pills and alcohol. She has agreed to meet us, to listen and to let us pray. We ask Renee to come with us, to leave this broken night. She says she'll go to rehab tomorrow, but she isn't ready now. It is too great a change. We pray and say goodbye and it is hard to leave without her.
She has known such great pain; haunted dreams as a child, the near-constant presence of evil ever since. She has felt the touch of awful naked men, battled depression and addiction, and attempted suicide. Her arms remember razor blades, fifty scars that speak of self-inflicted wounds. Six hours after I meet her, she is feeling trapped, two groups of "friends" offering opposite ideas. Everyone is asleep. The sun is rising. She drinks long from a bottle of liquor, takes a razor blade from the table and locks herself in the bathroom. She cuts herself, using the blade to write "FUCK UP" large across her left forearm.
The nurse at the treatment center finds the wound several hours later. The center has no detox, names her too great a risk, and does not accept her. For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life. It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms.
She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I've known, like a Johnny Cash song or some theatre star. She owns attitude and humor beyond her 19 years, and when she tells me her story, she is humble and quiet and kind, shaped by the pain of a hundred lifetimes. I sit privileged but breaking as she shares. Her life has been so dark yet there is some soft hope in her words, and on consecutive evenings, I watch the prettiest girls in the room tell her that she's beautiful. I think it's God reminding her.
I've never walked this road, but I decide that if we're going to run a five-day rehab, it is going to be the coolest in the country. It is going to be rock and roll. We start with the basics; lots of fun, too much Starbucks and way too many cigarettes.
Thursday night she is in the balcony for Band Marino, Orlando's finest. They are indie-folk-fabulous , a movement disguised as a circus. She loves them and she smiles when I point out the A&R man from Atlantic Europe, in town from London just to catch this show.
She is in good seats when the Magic beat the Sonics the next night, screaming like a lifelong fan with every Dwight Howard dunk. On the way home, we stop for more coffee and books, Blue Like Jazz and (Anne Lamott's) Travelling Mercies.
On Saturday, the Taste of Chaos tour is in town and I'm not even sure we can get in, but doors do open and minutes after parking, we are on stage for Thrice, one of her favorite bands. She stands ten feet from the drummer, smiling constantly. It is a bright moment there in the music, as light and rain collide above the stage. It feels like healing. It is certainly hope.
Sunday night is church and many gather after the service to pray for Renee, this her last night before entering rehab. Some are strangers but all are friends tonight. The prayers move from broken to bold, all encouraging. We're talking to God but I think as much, we're talking to her, telling her she's loved, saying she does not go alone. One among us knows her best. Ryan sits in the corner strumming an acoustic guitar, singing songs she's inspired.
After church our house fills with friends, there for a few more moments before goodbye. Everyone has some gift for her, some note or hug or piece of encouragement. She pulls me aside and tells me she would like to give me something. I smile surprised, wondering what it could be. We walk through the crowded living room, to the garage and her stuff.
She hands me her last razor blade, tells me it is the one she used to cut her arm and her last lines of cocaine five nights before. She's had it with her ever since, shares that tonight will be the hardest night and she shouldn't have it. I hold it carefully, thank her and know instantly that this moment, this gift, will stay with me. It hits me to wonder if this great feeling is what Christ knows when we surrender our broken hearts, when we trade death for life.
As we arrive at the treatment center, she finishes: "The stars are always there but we miss them in the dirt and clouds. We miss them in the storms. Tell them to remember hope. We have hope."
I have watched life come back to her, and it has been a privilege. When our time with her began, someone suggested shifts but that is the language of business. Love is something better. I have been challenged and changed, reminded that love is that simple answer to so many of our hardest questions. Don Miller says we're called to hold our hands against the wounds of a broken world, to stop the bleeding. I agree so greatly.
We often ask God to show up. We pray prayers of rescue. Perhaps God would ask us to be that rescue, to be His body, to move for things that matter. He is not invisible when we come alive. I might be simple but more and more, I believe God works in love, speaks in love, is revealed in our love. I have seen that this week and honestly, it has been simple: Take a broken girl, treat her like a famous princess, give her the best seats in the house. Buy her coffee and cigarettes for the coming down, books and bathroom things for the days ahead. Tell her something true when all she's known are lies. Tell her God loves her. Tell her about forgiveness, the possibility of freedom, tell her she was made to dance in white dresses. All these things are true.
We are only asked to love, to offer hope to the many hopeless. We don't get to choose all the endings, but we are asked to play the rescuers. We won't solve all mysteries and our hearts will certainly break in such a vulnerable life, but it is the best way. We were made to be lovers bold in broken places, pouring ourselves out again and again until we're called home.
I have learned so much in one week with one brave girl. She is alive now, in the patience and safety of rehab, covered in marks of madness but choosing to believe that God makes things new, that He meant hope and healing in the stars. She would ask you to remember.
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Lent to Love
LOVE to all. Today is Fat Tuesday and tomorrow begins Lent. I'm feeling particularly fat this Tuesday so I thought I'd suck you all into my misery. The lousy Catholic I am - I never actually pay much attention to Lent- can't even contemplate a fast right now - but it is part of the rhythm of Long Island and the Liturgical Calendar so lots of people are paying attention to it.
What is of more interest to me though is the heart of our God over injustice and His desire that we would spend our strength on making wrong things right. That's a fast that pleases Him. That's a fast that can last for more than 40 days and actually be great and outrageous fun because justice brings joy.
This is a particularly strong concern of mine for all of us who serve in the House of Prayer because, in fact, you are all quite generous and kind; fasting your time, energy and finances with remarkable grace. The impact of combining generous lives with prayer and fasting is earthshaking and I believe that you are earth shakers.
Years ago I drew a picture of Long Island with a flag stuck in the middle. On the flag it said "RAW 58"- "a Radical Army of Worshippers who live out the fast of Isaiah 58 on their knees". Who knew it would come true. That's you. You are a people who will walk this out under the grace and care of Our Loving Father.
Vineyard Central in Ohio started a Lent group on their facebook page as a movement for this season with Isaiah 58 at the clarion call. I think it was meant to say "Hey, wake up. Let's do the stuff."
I'm sending a modfied version for a little different purpose. Not to shame us into action but to encourage us. To say that I see your hearts and lives in these sentences and to say your light is about to break. I see you in action and want to urge you on; to encourage you to love being the radical army of worshippers that you are and to admonish us to please be sure to pass these ideals on to the next generations TODAY! While we still can.
Will you pray with us as a House to see Mercy- Justice increase and flow from our hearts and our lives; transforming our relationships and eventually transforming Long Island.
5 Practices for a Justice-ful Lent
1. Immerse yourself in Isaiah 58. A Long Island paraphrase of that chapter is at the end of this email. Read it. Pray it. Live with it. Live IN it.
2. Personally meet someone's basic needs for a connection to another human being. Perhaps the need is simply a hug and some love, a bag of groceries, shelter, or clothing. There are lots of resources available that will help you reach out. Listen to someone. Hear their story and validate them. The first step for many of us might be just to get to know someone. The needs will soon become apparent. If you need help making that kind of connection or want to voluntee time changing ourenvironment, contact Jamie at King's Corner or Lighthouse Mission or the Family Service League. Go to the local Department of Social Services. It is EVERYWHERE. Kindness is where it's at.
3. Connect with someone - maybe even in your own family- who you feel far from or need to reconcile with. Perhaps there's someone in your family you just need to spend more time with. Do that.
4. if you don't already have one, introduce a Sabbath day into your weekly schedule. Reserve a day a week to only do things that bring you joy and honor God. It's not selfish. It's a good, Godly practice with several millennia of precedence.
5. Worship & Pray.
****************************************************
A paraphrase of a paraphrase...
Isaiah 58
"Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell the family of God on Long Island what's wrong with their own lives,
face your family Long Island with your own sins!
Friends we’re busy, busy, busy at worship gatherings,
and we love studying all about God...
By all appearances we’re a group of right-living people—
law-abiding citizens, God-honoring, even patriotic Americans...
We often ask God, 'What's the right thing to do?'
We love having God on our side, blessing all our plans...
But we also complain,
'God, why do we fast and pray and you don't look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves on this Island and you don't even notice?'
Well, here's why... God says, I’ll give it to you straight:
"The bottom line on fasting and your pious “suffering” on my behalf - for you it is your own gain, what you will profit from it.
You drive your kids and co-workers much too hard. Your schedules are overcooked!
You ‘fast’, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you bash people I love with your unkind and harsh words.
That kind of fasting
won't do jack squat! Your prayers won’t even get off the ground!
Do you really think this is what i want you do?
Is this a season to show off how humble you are by giving up something meaningless and suffering for me by going to church in a poor neighborhood?
Is this about putting on a pious long face
and parading around solemnly?
Do you call that fasting?
Is that the kind of fast that I, God, would like?
"Here’s the kind of fast I'm after:
break the chains of injustice, the invisible yet real chains all around you, start looking you’ll see them...
get rid of exploitation in your workplace, stop taking advantage of others who make less than you do and complaining about those who make more!
free the oppressed right here in your own backyard!
cancel debts... let people who owe you money off the hook... do you really need to get every penny back? Are you really going to keep score with your closest friends and family?
What I'm interested in seeing you do is meeting some basic needs in those around you:
share your food - a real meal!- with someone who is hungry and can’t afford to go to Friday’s to get whatever they want, whenever they want like you can!
Invite the poor into your home... Are you more concerned about a carpet stain or justice? You know its really me in disguise anyway, right?
put clothes on the shivering ill-clad and cold... go through your closest - it’s cluttered anyway and you could use the space! Give those seldom used garments to someone who really needs them and will use them right away... its cold... do it now!
Be available to your own family. Is there a conversation you have been putting off? Is there a sibling or parent you need to forgive? Is there an elderly grandparent crying out for a visit? Don’t wait... start at home. Today. Call. Visit.
Now here’s the good part!!
Do this and the lights will turn on,
Your lives will turn around at once. That area of life where you feel stuck? It will be a distant memory. I’ll take of it for you if you care of the them for me....
Your righteousness will pave your way.
I, the God of infinite glory will make you secure and prosperous in the ways that matter most.
Oh and when you pray, I will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am. Right here. Totally available. What can I do for you?'
Get rid of all unfair practices,
quit blaming suffering victims, I’ll sort them out not you!
quit gossiping about other people's shortcomings, you have enough of your own to deal with!
Be generous with the hungry, lonely, underserved, underclothed,
start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your life will begin to glow in the darkness,
our shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—right here in this abandoned and ridiculed Nazareth of Long Island!
You’ll have firm muscles, strong bones Strength to accomplish more than you can now imagine!
Long Island will be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, lives up and down the back streets of Long Island!
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore even the old ruins, rebuild and renovate homes all over this forgotten, abandoned place...
Together, with me, we can make this Island livable and thriving.
Keep a Sabbath
and don't use this holy day for personal gain,
Treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
God's holy day for celebration,
Honor it by refusing 'business as usual,'
making money, running here and there—
Be free to enjoy Me!
Then I'll make you ride high and soar.
You’ll feast on the inheritance of your ancestors"
God himself says so! It’s available to all who want it. These promises are real and available to you today!
Links to IHOP-LI: the Ark House of Prayer On Long Island
Loving Long Island with 24-7-365 worship-filled prayer
http://www.IHOP-LI.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IHOP-LI/
http://www.squidoo.com/IHOP-LI/
http://gworship9.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ihoplongisland
http://theburn247.com/longisland/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7748449673
What is of more interest to me though is the heart of our God over injustice and His desire that we would spend our strength on making wrong things right. That's a fast that pleases Him. That's a fast that can last for more than 40 days and actually be great and outrageous fun because justice brings joy.
This is a particularly strong concern of mine for all of us who serve in the House of Prayer because, in fact, you are all quite generous and kind; fasting your time, energy and finances with remarkable grace. The impact of combining generous lives with prayer and fasting is earthshaking and I believe that you are earth shakers.
Years ago I drew a picture of Long Island with a flag stuck in the middle. On the flag it said "RAW 58"- "a Radical Army of Worshippers who live out the fast of Isaiah 58 on their knees". Who knew it would come true. That's you. You are a people who will walk this out under the grace and care of Our Loving Father.
Vineyard Central in Ohio started a Lent group on their facebook page as a movement for this season with Isaiah 58 at the clarion call. I think it was meant to say "Hey, wake up. Let's do the stuff."
I'm sending a modfied version for a little different purpose. Not to shame us into action but to encourage us. To say that I see your hearts and lives in these sentences and to say your light is about to break. I see you in action and want to urge you on; to encourage you to love being the radical army of worshippers that you are and to admonish us to please be sure to pass these ideals on to the next generations TODAY! While we still can.
Will you pray with us as a House to see Mercy- Justice increase and flow from our hearts and our lives; transforming our relationships and eventually transforming Long Island.
Father, will you help us to respond to the fast of Isaiah 58 as a course of daily living. Will you help us fulfill Mercy-Justice in every arena of our lives and in the places that we still struggle to do so, will you send perfect love to cast out our fear. We love the things that bring You pleasure Lord and it is our desire, even though we don't always line our lives up with it, to see You and live with You in the place Your Glory dwells . So, in the places where we don't trust in Your care and provision, will You grant us repentance and renew our hearts to run with You. We love You SO!
5 Practices for a Justice-ful Lent
1. Immerse yourself in Isaiah 58. A Long Island paraphrase of that chapter is at the end of this email. Read it. Pray it. Live with it. Live IN it.
2. Personally meet someone's basic needs for a connection to another human being. Perhaps the need is simply a hug and some love, a bag of groceries, shelter, or clothing. There are lots of resources available that will help you reach out. Listen to someone. Hear their story and validate them. The first step for many of us might be just to get to know someone. The needs will soon become apparent. If you need help making that kind of connection or want to voluntee time changing ourenvironment, contact Jamie at King's Corner or Lighthouse Mission or the Family Service League. Go to the local Department of Social Services. It is EVERYWHERE. Kindness is where it's at.
3. Connect with someone - maybe even in your own family- who you feel far from or need to reconcile with. Perhaps there's someone in your family you just need to spend more time with. Do that.
4. if you don't already have one, introduce a Sabbath day into your weekly schedule. Reserve a day a week to only do things that bring you joy and honor God. It's not selfish. It's a good, Godly practice with several millennia of precedence.
5. Worship & Pray.
****************************************************
A paraphrase of a paraphrase...
Isaiah 58
"Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout!
Tell the family of God on Long Island what's wrong with their own lives,
face your family Long Island with your own sins!
Friends we’re busy, busy, busy at worship gatherings,
and we love studying all about God...
By all appearances we’re a group of right-living people—
law-abiding citizens, God-honoring, even patriotic Americans...
We often ask God, 'What's the right thing to do?'
We love having God on our side, blessing all our plans...
But we also complain,
'God, why do we fast and pray and you don't look our way?
Why do we humble ourselves on this Island and you don't even notice?'
Well, here's why... God says, I’ll give it to you straight:
"The bottom line on fasting and your pious “suffering” on my behalf - for you it is your own gain, what you will profit from it.
You drive your kids and co-workers much too hard. Your schedules are overcooked!
You ‘fast’, but at the same time you bicker and fight.
You fast, but you bash people I love with your unkind and harsh words.
That kind of fasting
won't do jack squat! Your prayers won’t even get off the ground!
Do you really think this is what i want you do?
Is this a season to show off how humble you are by giving up something meaningless and suffering for me by going to church in a poor neighborhood?
Is this about putting on a pious long face
and parading around solemnly?
Do you call that fasting?
Is that the kind of fast that I, God, would like?
"Here’s the kind of fast I'm after:
break the chains of injustice, the invisible yet real chains all around you, start looking you’ll see them...
get rid of exploitation in your workplace, stop taking advantage of others who make less than you do and complaining about those who make more!
free the oppressed right here in your own backyard!
cancel debts... let people who owe you money off the hook... do you really need to get every penny back? Are you really going to keep score with your closest friends and family?
What I'm interested in seeing you do is meeting some basic needs in those around you:
share your food - a real meal!- with someone who is hungry and can’t afford to go to Friday’s to get whatever they want, whenever they want like you can!
Invite the poor into your home... Are you more concerned about a carpet stain or justice? You know its really me in disguise anyway, right?
put clothes on the shivering ill-clad and cold... go through your closest - it’s cluttered anyway and you could use the space! Give those seldom used garments to someone who really needs them and will use them right away... its cold... do it now!
Be available to your own family. Is there a conversation you have been putting off? Is there a sibling or parent you need to forgive? Is there an elderly grandparent crying out for a visit? Don’t wait... start at home. Today. Call. Visit.
Now here’s the good part!!
Do this and the lights will turn on,
Your lives will turn around at once. That area of life where you feel stuck? It will be a distant memory. I’ll take of it for you if you care of the them for me....
Your righteousness will pave your way.
I, the God of infinite glory will make you secure and prosperous in the ways that matter most.
Oh and when you pray, I will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say, 'Here I am. Right here. Totally available. What can I do for you?'
Get rid of all unfair practices,
quit blaming suffering victims, I’ll sort them out not you!
quit gossiping about other people's shortcomings, you have enough of your own to deal with!
Be generous with the hungry, lonely, underserved, underclothed,
start giving yourselves to the down-and-out,
Your life will begin to glow in the darkness,
our shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.
I will always show you where to go.
I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—right here in this abandoned and ridiculed Nazareth of Long Island!
You’ll have firm muscles, strong bones Strength to accomplish more than you can now imagine!
Long Island will be like a well-watered garden,
a gurgling spring that never runs dry.
You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, lives up and down the back streets of Long Island!
rebuild the foundations from out of your past.
You'll be known as those who can fix anything,
restore even the old ruins, rebuild and renovate homes all over this forgotten, abandoned place...
Together, with me, we can make this Island livable and thriving.
Keep a Sabbath
and don't use this holy day for personal gain,
Treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
God's holy day for celebration,
Honor it by refusing 'business as usual,'
making money, running here and there—
Be free to enjoy Me!
Then I'll make you ride high and soar.
You’ll feast on the inheritance of your ancestors"
God himself says so! It’s available to all who want it. These promises are real and available to you today!
Links to IHOP-LI: the Ark House of Prayer On Long Island
Loving Long Island with 24-7-365 worship-filled prayer
http://www.IHOP-LI.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IHOP-LI/
http://www.squidoo.com/IHOP-LI/
http://gworship9.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/ihoplongisland
http://theburn247.com/longisland/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7748449673
Monday, February 04, 2008
The Quest For Wisdom - Bill Johnson
What follows is an absolutely brilliant article on wisdom by Bill Johnson as a follow up to the dream and article I sent. Let it roll around with 1Corinthians 1 & 2and Ephesians and then let me know what you think. Lots of love, t
The Quest for Wisdom
In the last few years I've talked about a tragedy of revival, which is that there is no record of revival accelerating in the second generation. Every great move of God has declined in the next generation. But I think I have found one exception; when David was king and he passed the baton to his son Solomon, revival was taken to another level. I think that may be the one exception in human history where things have actually accelerated instead of declined.
Solomon was given one wish. Most of you know the story; God appeared to him and said, "You can have anything you want." There's a reason he was given that choice.
Proverbs 4:3-6 says,
When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands, and live. Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her and she will keep you.
Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore, get wisdom. I would like to suggest to you that the reason Solomon was given the choice to have anything he wanted is because he had a dad who trained him to make the right choice.
The story about David and his kids is interesting because he wasn't that great a father. Sometimes people in ministry don't translate the authentic relationship they have with the Lord, or the effective ministry they have with everyone else's kids, into the practical setting of their own home. It's one of the great tragedies through the years of failure in the church. David was no exception. He is called the "man after God's heart," yet he had troublesome children that he just didn't correct or raise correctly. He had his deal with Bathsheba, which was a huge mistake. (To show you how God redeems such a horrible sin, David's heir, Solomon, was born through Bathsheba. When God redeems a situation, He redeems it so completely that He turns it into a benefit. It's all the way through the scripture. It's so stunning. The grace of God should stun every person because it's the opposite of even our really good thoughts about what it should be like. It's way bigger than that.)
So here's Solomon; God appears to him and says, "You can have anything you want," and he says, "I choose wisdom." When I was living in Sacramento, California, I was in the garage talking to a friend. I had just heard the story about Solomon making this choice. Somehow it really impressed me. You have to understand, I wasn't known for making great spiritual choices.
I remember talking to this friend and saying, "If you could have anything you wanted, anything at all, and God showed up and said you could have anything, what would you choose?" I forget what he said, but I said, "I'd take wisdom." Now, I was clueless what that meant, but I knew one guy in the Bible did it and it worked really well for him. So I thought, "If I have half a brain I better do it the way he did it." So I said, "I'd choose wisdom," and went on to explain, "That's what happened to Solomon. He had a choice and he got whatever he wanted." Somehow that stuck in my mind all these years, and has actually become a principal pursuit. I know a few years ago we encouraged all the men in the church in Weaverville to read Proverbs every day, just to take a chapter according to the date: "Today is the 3rd, so we're going to read the third chapter of Proverbs." There are thirty-one chapters so it seems to work out. But here's the principle thing: the pursuit of wisdom.
Our understanding of wisdom is somewhat lacking. I want you to go to Proverbs 8 for some additional insight, and we'll try to build a case for this quest for wisdom. In Chapter 8, Wisdom is actually talking. Wisdom "cries out" in verse 1, "I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence" in verse 12, and then starting in verse 22 Wisdom talks to us and says,
The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.
Wisdom is not a stoic trait; Wisdom is like the party-animal of heaven. It delighted in what God made, the order God made and how it functioned, and His massive delight was in the sons of men. That's because you and I were created for several things. We were created, number one, to live in and dwell in the Glory. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." That was the original target. Redemption restores us to the original target, which is dwelling and living in the manifest presence of the Lord. The second thing is, Wisdom found its supreme delight in the sons of men because you and I were born to walk in the wisdom of God, and express and display the wisdom of God. Wisdom is generally thought of more as a stoic trait, yet it's celebratory in nature. It rejoices, it celebrates, and it parties in right things.
The other thing I want to point out about Wisdom from this passage is that Wisdom calls itself a "master craftsman." Now, Wisdom was standing next to the Father as the Father would speak. If you could imagine this, the Father would speak, "Let there be light," and light was formed. Wisdom was there working with the Father, designing, establishing boundaries and the nature of the very thing God was creating. It was Wisdom, we find out later in I Corinthians 1:30, that was actually the person of the Lord Jesus Christ working in tandem with the Father. Now, there's a nature to Wisdom that I don't remember ever hearing until recent years. Wisdom was a "master craftsman," so Wisdom worked in tandem with God to create. Wisdom is creative in nature.
When we lived at that same house in Sacramento we had some neighbors called the Blankenships. The father was a very famous woodcarver. His father before him was a famous woodcarver, and they had large pieces of furniture that were all carved out of pieces of wood. They were the most amazing things I'd ever seen. (John F. Kennedy had a piece of this furniture in the White House.) He was very highly revered and respected--a master craftsman. When you think of a master craftsman, perhaps you'd think of a stained glass maker or a glassblower, some kind of artist who is at the top of their field, perhaps a cabinetmaker, somebody who does precise work. A master craftsman is what Wisdom is. It is creative in nature. Wisdom is the creative expression. You know there's wisdom when there is a freshness and a creative nature to what God is doing. Wisdom has always been thought as that which handles knowledge correctly, but it's so much more than that. It is the creative nature of God. Here Wisdom speaks, and says, "I was beside Him on the day of creation as a master craftsman."
We have been given a call and a privilege to walk in wisdom. It's not a sterile call to be smart and live correctly; it is an invitation to walk in the creative nature of God. The call to walk in wisdom is the invitation to partner with the Lord, that His creative ideas, His creative expressions, would flow in and through His people. People are bored, and Christians especially are bored. For some reason, something "got into our water" that makes people sterile, which is the fact that if there are desires, dreams, visions, or aspirations, they get shut down in the name of devotion to Christ. The religious spirit loves routine without purpose and calls it suffering. You were born to live with fulfilled desires.
Solomon is the brilliant example. Here's a man who became the example in all of scripture, with one exception (who is the Lord Jesus Christ), of the wisest person to walk the earth. Picture this: the stories of his wisdom were so extreme that they scattered all over the world. A queen in a faraway country put together an army of people to escort her to come and see Solomon. She had questions. She wanted to see if the stories she'd heard were true. After she got to him she found out, "I wasn't told half the story. It's far bigger than I ever imagined." Do you know what she brought with her as a gift besides the jewels and spices unlike anything Israel had seen before? She brought four tons of gold as a gift. Four tons. How many people do you need just to carry gold, let alone protect it? Here was this army carrying this queen across the known world into Israel so she could sit at Solomon's feet, another king, just to hear wisdom.
I would like to suggest something to you. Both Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 say that the nations of the world are going to stream to the people of God asking for the word of the Lord. In the last days, the people of God embrace the true Spirit of Wisdom, which is always looking for fresh, creative expression. Then the world will come looking for answers and solutions to the dilemmas, the issues of life. When creative ideas, artistic expression, inventions and the whole world is led by unbelievers, the church has embraced a false kind of spirituality. They have shut down the very thing that God created us to be, do, and function in. They have shut down ways to live and ways to do things better. The religious spirit looks to lock people into routines without purpose. We have some sick gratification by just sticking with a routine that doesn't work. Now, I realize things are changing, and hopefully there are not too many in this room who are saddled under that, but so many have a simple religious routine with so little life, so little release of freshness, so little release of power. The mantra is, "We're just holding course. We're just doing what we were told to do." They shut down all the realm of dreams, aspirations and desires. This is the way it's supposed to be: You are one huge creative machine waiting to explode upon an unsuspecting world. That's really the truth.
Let's go to 1 Kings 10:4-5:
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
It is just amazing to me that this queen traveled to the other side of the known world to sit at Solomon's feet and ask him questions. She was stunned by the wisdom, answers, his insight to nature, how things live, and how they function. This is your inheritance as a believer, to have all Solomon had and more, because you're not a disciple of Solomon, you're a disciple of Jesus, who is wiser than Solomon. The queen of Sheba came, sat at Solomon's feet, and this is what rose to the top of her list: "the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants. . . How many ways can you seat servants? The food, the way it was delivered, their clothing, the stairs that went from his house to God's house"; every one of those has to do with artistic expression. Food, design of clothing, the way they function in service in some way, everything you and I do has got to be represented in that list somewhere, because it's just an oddball, weird list. They way they were seated, the way they served, the way the food was prepared, the food that was prepared, the house that he built, the stairs--everything had to do with some artistic, creative design.
Now most people check themselves off of that list because at five, all of us were artists. Everyone's an artist at five, but there are very few left by the time you get to ten, right? Why? Part of the reason is that we enter an educational system that weeds out those who don't paint or draw well. Art, in other words, has been reduced to painting or drawing or music or something of that nature, when the businessman who's about to start a business in a new city needs an artistic mind to come in with fresh ideas to create something that's going to work. The politician who's going to run a clean campaign needs creative ideas to communicate his convictions. The school teacher needs the anointing of the artist. The Bible calls it "wisdom," to know how to touch the one child who just doesn't seem to learn. We have a group in the church who work with students who have a very, very difficult time learning, and God has given them wisdom and strategies to see dramatic and immediate improvement.
Here's the thing: We do best serving and fixing problems. That's just what we do best. We don't do so hot when our goal is to become president of this club or to get notches on our Bible. Too many people want to help in the public school system because they want to have souls saved. What's wrong with that? Not a thing, but it becomes obvious to everyone in the school that you're after that instead of wanting to help the school become better. See, to stand alongside someone to help them succeed is what Wisdom did with the Father. Wisdom stood alongside the Father to make Him successful in His creation of all things. To stand alongside the leaders of a community, whether it be a police department as a chaplain, or down at the hospital, as an employee working at a department store; it doesn't matter what field you work in, there are always opportunities to stand alongside someone else and help them succeed, help them be better at what they do.
The people of God have legal access to God's vast realm of mystery. It is His good pleasure to give you the mysteries of the Kingdom. That means all the secrets are your inheritance. Nothing is withheld. The believer has the privilege of engaging in life and finding a problem. Let's say you're a school teacher and there's a massive problem at the school, truancy or whatever. The believer has the responsibility and privilege to enter into the situation and say, "We've got a major problem. God has the answer. In His Kingdom exists the way this should function. I have legal access to His mysteries. I will therefore seek Him for the answer so that this gets fixed." That's called "wisdom." You have just become the master craftsman. You didn't paint a picture, you didn't build a cabinet, and you didn't do a stained glass window. But you walked in the same anointing to carry out God's purposes and plans in a creative, fresh, expressive way where His Kingdom is established.
Anne Kalvestrand is one of our heroes. She just got back this week from Bahrain. She was in a situation working with the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain where they were having discipline problems with high school students. She took the DNA of this house (Bethel), which is made of Kingdom principles. The Bible says that Jesus is the Desire of the Nations; He is what everybody is longing for and they just don't know it. So it's wisdom to have Jesus come and fill the longing of that heart in some way to fix this problem. It's not just a thing of preaching and saying, "Listen if you don't repent you go to hell," it's that we have the opportunity to step in as His representatives of the Kingdom and bring Kingdom order so people realize, "Oh, Jesus is the One that I want." Anne wrote a paper based on what happens in this house (Bethel) regarding discipline according to Kingdom principles and the U.S. Embassy was so impressed by it that it was adopted in Bahrain. Then the U.S. Embassy stamped it and sendy it to all the U.S. embassies, on discipline for high school students. Anne does this very well. She looks for a problem and how to fix it. It's the Kingdom mindset; it doesn't say, "What do I have?," it says, "What do I have access to?
Go to Exodus 31:1:
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you."
They were filled with the Spirit of God. It's the first mention of someone being filled with the Spirit in the Bible. And yet he was filled with the Spirit for what purpose? Wisdom. Why? He had to build God's house. God just told him, "This is what I want you to build." Moses had to find somebody with wisdom, because wisdom will know how to do what God just said to do. God didn't give a blueprint, He just said, "Go build this." So Moses looked for the guy with the Spirit of God on him. He was filled with the Spirit and wisdom to do artistic design.
In the New Testament, the outpouring of the Spirit is for the demonstration of power. In the Old it has to do with prophetic declaration and wisdom. When the new revelation came, it didn't wipe out the former, it built upon it. Wouldn't it be nice for the church to walk in a fullness of the Spirit that enables us to infiltrate the system, serve to help the schools get better, and help the hospitals be more efficient? Then we would say, "By the way, if you have cancer I can pray for you and you'll get healed!" It's not either or; this is the life we were born for.
So here we find Bezalel. Moses assigns him to the task because he's marked with wisdom. The wisdom he has is marked with creative expression so he would simply KNOW how to do what God commanded them to do.
A story I shared with you some time ago is about a guy named Matt MacPherson who is an archer who developed a tremendous bow. He's a wonderful man and wanted to serve in churches, but churches couldn't afford him. He's a worship leader and wanted to travel and preach. To make a long story short, as a hobby he would build bows and arrows. He was a hunter and liked to shoot bows. He asked the Lord for understanding on how to build a bow, and the Lord literally dropped a blueprint down in front of him with the design of a bow. He now produces Matthew's Solocam, which is one of the most popular bows in the world. In fact, a large percentage of professionals shoot that particular bow. It was developed by this guy who copied a blueprint that was lowered out of the sky. He gets the blueprint, creates the bow, and the Lord speaks to him and says, "Thanks for asking." The Lord went on to say, "I have a lot of good ideas." That is so fascinating to me, that because it mattered to him, it mattered to God, and God spoke to him about what he was pursuing.
We compartmentalize too much. People will come to me and say, "I want you to pray for me. I have a hurt leg, but I really need you to pray for my brother. He's got cancer." Like God can't multitask, or only takes serious things and doesn't do the lesser things. We do the same in our thinking with God, that if He's going to give us creative ideas, He should give it to scientists who are trying to find a cure for cancer. That's really what He ought to do" as though God can't do more than one thing at a time. The whole point is if it matters to you, it matters to Him. That's the deal. I love this because here's a guy sitting in his workshop day after day trying to create a nice bow and God drops down a blueprint. That's brilliant, as the British would say. It's also lovely.
Whether you're working in a department, as a school teacher, a housewife, a den mother for the Girl Scouts, it doesn't matter. Any place you have influence, you have the right and responsibility to look for creative influence. It is not to dominate, nor for self-glorification, but to help the others succeed. There are ideas in music that simply sit here in the realm of mystery, waiting for someone to ask. There are ideas regarding medicine and science, and ideas regarding the simplest of things in life.
It's tragic that hundreds of years ago, if you wanted to hear quality music, you had to go to the church. If you were going to see drama or art, painting, the masters, they were believers. So many of them were in the church; you had to go there if you wanted to see excellence. Something happened some time ago where we were taught that to really follow Christ you had to get rid of everything in your heart that you like to do.
We've gone over this through the years here, but there's the narrow road that we take coming to Christ, the straight and narrow road, and the entrance to the Kingdom. There's only one door, Christ Jesus, and the only way in is "not my will but Yours be done. I give everything I am to you." But something happens as we begin to walk in life in the Kingdom, in intimacy with the Lord. He continually turns to us and says, "Whatsoever things you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them." He starts looking to the desire and the heartbeat, the talents, the gifts, the desires.
He's the one who said, "A desire realized is a tree of life." That's amazing. What's the tree of life? The tree of life was the tree that Adam and Eve were forbidden to go to after they partook of the forbidden fruit. Once you take the fruit of the tree of life, it marks whatever it touches with eternity. So here's Adam and Eve in a sinful condition; if they eat of the tree of life, it makes their sinful condition permanent and unredeemable. So an angel stood guard at the tree of life. Proverbs says you still have access to the tree of life. Let all your agendas get sanctified by your devotion to Christ and then let them rise to the surface because "a desire realized is a tree of life." Your fulfilled dreams and desires are those which identify you and lock you in with an eternal perspective.
That's huge. It's having a cry to write that one song about a message and getting it done. The religious spirit doesn't want you to eat the fruit once you've gotten your desire realized. The religious spirit wants you to say, "It wasn't me, it was Jesus." It's like the guy who sang a beautiful song and was told, "That was a beautiful song." "It wasn't me, it was Jesus." "Well, it wasn't that good. It was good, but it wasn't that good."
Time with God impregnates you with Godly desires. It's the absolute truth. The sperma of His word gets planted in you and things begin to form desires, dreams--and they are there because He not only wants the fulfilled desires, He wants you to get locked into eternal identification, identifying with your place in eternity. It's the fulfilled desire.
What did Jesus say in John 15 and 16? He said, "I want your prayers to get answered so that your joy is full." Why do you think He was the happiest guy on the planet? Every time He prayed for the sick, they got well. When He's praying the day ahead of time and knows ahead of time, "We're going to have a big crowd of folks who will have no food. Oh God, it would be great if you fed the multitudes again." He gets there and the food is multiplied. Why do you think He was the most rejoicing person on the planet? The Bible says His joy was head and shoulders above all His companions. He excelled them all. Why? Because He lived that? "A desire realized is a tree of life." Day after day He went to bed munching on the fruit from the tree of life. "Another day with the Father where He fulfilled the desires of my heart." It's no wonder that Solomon, the man marked as being the wisest man, was also marked as the man who had all his desires fulfilled.
Zechariah 1:18 says,
Then I raised my eyes and looked and there were four horns. And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" So he answered me, "These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. And I said, "What are these coming to do?" So he said, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter."
Horns represent spiritual powers. This is amazing. Not since God sent a choir into battle first has He come up with such an outlandish strategy for war. I mean, we thought the choir thing was weird, but we finally learned about praise and found out, "This is amazing; when we praise God, He fights for us." Well, now He's pulling a new one on us. Here are these four horns, these four dominions rising, they're oppressing the people of God, and they're dividing and scattering them. They're running away in fear. Their heads are hanging low. They've lost all awareness of the presence and the promise of God. Look at the wicked work these horns have done. What is God's answer? Here are four people coming with hammers and saws, stained glass and furniture polish. It's a person with a canvas and a paintbrush, a photographer, a musician. It's the creative anointing, the anointing of wisdom. It doesn't just scatter the enemy. The Bible says it terrorizes them. Does that sound fun to anyone else besides me, terrorizing the terrorists?
Listen, you're working at Macy's, and you're thinking, "There's got to be a better way to do this. I bet I could save this department 10,000 bucks a year if we did it this way." You submit the idea to your boss, they do it, and guess what? That creative idea just chased a horn away. It chased away that which divides and causes people to be downcast. What is it doing? It's creative people reflecting the creative nature of their Father. It's an agreement between heaven and earth. It's giving heaven a target for invasion. It doesn't mean you are even a great musician you just sit down and make that special love song between you and Jesus, and you sing that song. That moment of creativity chased away the horn of division and oppression.
We've learned this through the last thirty years, that you can sit with the guitar and start to play and suddenly there's a peace that settles. There were things going on spiritually in attack-mode that are now dissipated. We've learned somehow that God is so moved by that musical instrument that He just settles. My dad and mom took us into this in the early seventies. We've seen that as musicians with the instruments we play, the presence of the Lord settles and the powers that were working against us are broken. It's glorious. The same is happening now, not just for the worship team, not just for those of you who play instruments privately at home, it's every real estate agent who looks for a creative way to present a property. It's every school teacherwho looks to work with a child who doesn't seem to "get it." We know we have legal access to the mystery of wisdom that unlocks whatever is in the heart of that child. It's the musician who gets the song of a lifetime. They wanted to write it and do it well. It's for every single person, whether you consider yourself an artist, or you just have the routine of working in a department store or garage or wherever it might be. Every person has the privilege of creative expression, and when you do, it terrorizes hell, because that's when you look most like the Father.
The Quest for Wisdom
In the last few years I've talked about a tragedy of revival, which is that there is no record of revival accelerating in the second generation. Every great move of God has declined in the next generation. But I think I have found one exception; when David was king and he passed the baton to his son Solomon, revival was taken to another level. I think that may be the one exception in human history where things have actually accelerated instead of declined.
Solomon was given one wish. Most of you know the story; God appeared to him and said, "You can have anything you want." There's a reason he was given that choice.
Proverbs 4:3-6 says,
When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me, and said to me: "Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands, and live. Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her and she will keep you.
Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore, get wisdom. I would like to suggest to you that the reason Solomon was given the choice to have anything he wanted is because he had a dad who trained him to make the right choice.
The story about David and his kids is interesting because he wasn't that great a father. Sometimes people in ministry don't translate the authentic relationship they have with the Lord, or the effective ministry they have with everyone else's kids, into the practical setting of their own home. It's one of the great tragedies through the years of failure in the church. David was no exception. He is called the "man after God's heart," yet he had troublesome children that he just didn't correct or raise correctly. He had his deal with Bathsheba, which was a huge mistake. (To show you how God redeems such a horrible sin, David's heir, Solomon, was born through Bathsheba. When God redeems a situation, He redeems it so completely that He turns it into a benefit. It's all the way through the scripture. It's so stunning. The grace of God should stun every person because it's the opposite of even our really good thoughts about what it should be like. It's way bigger than that.)
So here's Solomon; God appears to him and says, "You can have anything you want," and he says, "I choose wisdom." When I was living in Sacramento, California, I was in the garage talking to a friend. I had just heard the story about Solomon making this choice. Somehow it really impressed me. You have to understand, I wasn't known for making great spiritual choices.
I remember talking to this friend and saying, "If you could have anything you wanted, anything at all, and God showed up and said you could have anything, what would you choose?" I forget what he said, but I said, "I'd take wisdom." Now, I was clueless what that meant, but I knew one guy in the Bible did it and it worked really well for him. So I thought, "If I have half a brain I better do it the way he did it." So I said, "I'd choose wisdom," and went on to explain, "That's what happened to Solomon. He had a choice and he got whatever he wanted." Somehow that stuck in my mind all these years, and has actually become a principal pursuit. I know a few years ago we encouraged all the men in the church in Weaverville to read Proverbs every day, just to take a chapter according to the date: "Today is the 3rd, so we're going to read the third chapter of Proverbs." There are thirty-one chapters so it seems to work out. But here's the principle thing: the pursuit of wisdom.
Our understanding of wisdom is somewhat lacking. I want you to go to Proverbs 8 for some additional insight, and we'll try to build a case for this quest for wisdom. In Chapter 8, Wisdom is actually talking. Wisdom "cries out" in verse 1, "I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence" in verse 12, and then starting in verse 22 Wisdom talks to us and says,
The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.
Wisdom is not a stoic trait; Wisdom is like the party-animal of heaven. It delighted in what God made, the order God made and how it functioned, and His massive delight was in the sons of men. That's because you and I were created for several things. We were created, number one, to live in and dwell in the Glory. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." That was the original target. Redemption restores us to the original target, which is dwelling and living in the manifest presence of the Lord. The second thing is, Wisdom found its supreme delight in the sons of men because you and I were born to walk in the wisdom of God, and express and display the wisdom of God. Wisdom is generally thought of more as a stoic trait, yet it's celebratory in nature. It rejoices, it celebrates, and it parties in right things.
The other thing I want to point out about Wisdom from this passage is that Wisdom calls itself a "master craftsman." Now, Wisdom was standing next to the Father as the Father would speak. If you could imagine this, the Father would speak, "Let there be light," and light was formed. Wisdom was there working with the Father, designing, establishing boundaries and the nature of the very thing God was creating. It was Wisdom, we find out later in I Corinthians 1:30, that was actually the person of the Lord Jesus Christ working in tandem with the Father. Now, there's a nature to Wisdom that I don't remember ever hearing until recent years. Wisdom was a "master craftsman," so Wisdom worked in tandem with God to create. Wisdom is creative in nature.
When we lived at that same house in Sacramento we had some neighbors called the Blankenships. The father was a very famous woodcarver. His father before him was a famous woodcarver, and they had large pieces of furniture that were all carved out of pieces of wood. They were the most amazing things I'd ever seen. (John F. Kennedy had a piece of this furniture in the White House.) He was very highly revered and respected--a master craftsman. When you think of a master craftsman, perhaps you'd think of a stained glass maker or a glassblower, some kind of artist who is at the top of their field, perhaps a cabinetmaker, somebody who does precise work. A master craftsman is what Wisdom is. It is creative in nature. Wisdom is the creative expression. You know there's wisdom when there is a freshness and a creative nature to what God is doing. Wisdom has always been thought as that which handles knowledge correctly, but it's so much more than that. It is the creative nature of God. Here Wisdom speaks, and says, "I was beside Him on the day of creation as a master craftsman."
We have been given a call and a privilege to walk in wisdom. It's not a sterile call to be smart and live correctly; it is an invitation to walk in the creative nature of God. The call to walk in wisdom is the invitation to partner with the Lord, that His creative ideas, His creative expressions, would flow in and through His people. People are bored, and Christians especially are bored. For some reason, something "got into our water" that makes people sterile, which is the fact that if there are desires, dreams, visions, or aspirations, they get shut down in the name of devotion to Christ. The religious spirit loves routine without purpose and calls it suffering. You were born to live with fulfilled desires.
Solomon is the brilliant example. Here's a man who became the example in all of scripture, with one exception (who is the Lord Jesus Christ), of the wisest person to walk the earth. Picture this: the stories of his wisdom were so extreme that they scattered all over the world. A queen in a faraway country put together an army of people to escort her to come and see Solomon. She had questions. She wanted to see if the stories she'd heard were true. After she got to him she found out, "I wasn't told half the story. It's far bigger than I ever imagined." Do you know what she brought with her as a gift besides the jewels and spices unlike anything Israel had seen before? She brought four tons of gold as a gift. Four tons. How many people do you need just to carry gold, let alone protect it? Here was this army carrying this queen across the known world into Israel so she could sit at Solomon's feet, another king, just to hear wisdom.
I would like to suggest something to you. Both Isaiah 2 and Micah 4 say that the nations of the world are going to stream to the people of God asking for the word of the Lord. In the last days, the people of God embrace the true Spirit of Wisdom, which is always looking for fresh, creative expression. Then the world will come looking for answers and solutions to the dilemmas, the issues of life. When creative ideas, artistic expression, inventions and the whole world is led by unbelievers, the church has embraced a false kind of spirituality. They have shut down the very thing that God created us to be, do, and function in. They have shut down ways to live and ways to do things better. The religious spirit looks to lock people into routines without purpose. We have some sick gratification by just sticking with a routine that doesn't work. Now, I realize things are changing, and hopefully there are not too many in this room who are saddled under that, but so many have a simple religious routine with so little life, so little release of freshness, so little release of power. The mantra is, "We're just holding course. We're just doing what we were told to do." They shut down all the realm of dreams, aspirations and desires. This is the way it's supposed to be: You are one huge creative machine waiting to explode upon an unsuspecting world. That's really the truth.
Let's go to 1 Kings 10:4-5:
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
It is just amazing to me that this queen traveled to the other side of the known world to sit at Solomon's feet and ask him questions. She was stunned by the wisdom, answers, his insight to nature, how things live, and how they function. This is your inheritance as a believer, to have all Solomon had and more, because you're not a disciple of Solomon, you're a disciple of Jesus, who is wiser than Solomon. The queen of Sheba came, sat at Solomon's feet, and this is what rose to the top of her list: "the house that he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants. . . How many ways can you seat servants? The food, the way it was delivered, their clothing, the stairs that went from his house to God's house"; every one of those has to do with artistic expression. Food, design of clothing, the way they function in service in some way, everything you and I do has got to be represented in that list somewhere, because it's just an oddball, weird list. They way they were seated, the way they served, the way the food was prepared, the food that was prepared, the house that he built, the stairs--everything had to do with some artistic, creative design.
Now most people check themselves off of that list because at five, all of us were artists. Everyone's an artist at five, but there are very few left by the time you get to ten, right? Why? Part of the reason is that we enter an educational system that weeds out those who don't paint or draw well. Art, in other words, has been reduced to painting or drawing or music or something of that nature, when the businessman who's about to start a business in a new city needs an artistic mind to come in with fresh ideas to create something that's going to work. The politician who's going to run a clean campaign needs creative ideas to communicate his convictions. The school teacher needs the anointing of the artist. The Bible calls it "wisdom," to know how to touch the one child who just doesn't seem to learn. We have a group in the church who work with students who have a very, very difficult time learning, and God has given them wisdom and strategies to see dramatic and immediate improvement.
Here's the thing: We do best serving and fixing problems. That's just what we do best. We don't do so hot when our goal is to become president of this club or to get notches on our Bible. Too many people want to help in the public school system because they want to have souls saved. What's wrong with that? Not a thing, but it becomes obvious to everyone in the school that you're after that instead of wanting to help the school become better. See, to stand alongside someone to help them succeed is what Wisdom did with the Father. Wisdom stood alongside the Father to make Him successful in His creation of all things. To stand alongside the leaders of a community, whether it be a police department as a chaplain, or down at the hospital, as an employee working at a department store; it doesn't matter what field you work in, there are always opportunities to stand alongside someone else and help them succeed, help them be better at what they do.
The people of God have legal access to God's vast realm of mystery. It is His good pleasure to give you the mysteries of the Kingdom. That means all the secrets are your inheritance. Nothing is withheld. The believer has the privilege of engaging in life and finding a problem. Let's say you're a school teacher and there's a massive problem at the school, truancy or whatever. The believer has the responsibility and privilege to enter into the situation and say, "We've got a major problem. God has the answer. In His Kingdom exists the way this should function. I have legal access to His mysteries. I will therefore seek Him for the answer so that this gets fixed." That's called "wisdom." You have just become the master craftsman. You didn't paint a picture, you didn't build a cabinet, and you didn't do a stained glass window. But you walked in the same anointing to carry out God's purposes and plans in a creative, fresh, expressive way where His Kingdom is established.
Anne Kalvestrand is one of our heroes. She just got back this week from Bahrain. She was in a situation working with the U.S. Embassy in Bahrain where they were having discipline problems with high school students. She took the DNA of this house (Bethel), which is made of Kingdom principles. The Bible says that Jesus is the Desire of the Nations; He is what everybody is longing for and they just don't know it. So it's wisdom to have Jesus come and fill the longing of that heart in some way to fix this problem. It's not just a thing of preaching and saying, "Listen if you don't repent you go to hell," it's that we have the opportunity to step in as His representatives of the Kingdom and bring Kingdom order so people realize, "Oh, Jesus is the One that I want." Anne wrote a paper based on what happens in this house (Bethel) regarding discipline according to Kingdom principles and the U.S. Embassy was so impressed by it that it was adopted in Bahrain. Then the U.S. Embassy stamped it and sendy it to all the U.S. embassies, on discipline for high school students. Anne does this very well. She looks for a problem and how to fix it. It's the Kingdom mindset; it doesn't say, "What do I have?," it says, "What do I have access to?
Go to Exodus 31:1:
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship. And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and I have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you."
They were filled with the Spirit of God. It's the first mention of someone being filled with the Spirit in the Bible. And yet he was filled with the Spirit for what purpose? Wisdom. Why? He had to build God's house. God just told him, "This is what I want you to build." Moses had to find somebody with wisdom, because wisdom will know how to do what God just said to do. God didn't give a blueprint, He just said, "Go build this." So Moses looked for the guy with the Spirit of God on him. He was filled with the Spirit and wisdom to do artistic design.
In the New Testament, the outpouring of the Spirit is for the demonstration of power. In the Old it has to do with prophetic declaration and wisdom. When the new revelation came, it didn't wipe out the former, it built upon it. Wouldn't it be nice for the church to walk in a fullness of the Spirit that enables us to infiltrate the system, serve to help the schools get better, and help the hospitals be more efficient? Then we would say, "By the way, if you have cancer I can pray for you and you'll get healed!" It's not either or; this is the life we were born for.
So here we find Bezalel. Moses assigns him to the task because he's marked with wisdom. The wisdom he has is marked with creative expression so he would simply KNOW how to do what God commanded them to do.
A story I shared with you some time ago is about a guy named Matt MacPherson who is an archer who developed a tremendous bow. He's a wonderful man and wanted to serve in churches, but churches couldn't afford him. He's a worship leader and wanted to travel and preach. To make a long story short, as a hobby he would build bows and arrows. He was a hunter and liked to shoot bows. He asked the Lord for understanding on how to build a bow, and the Lord literally dropped a blueprint down in front of him with the design of a bow. He now produces Matthew's Solocam, which is one of the most popular bows in the world. In fact, a large percentage of professionals shoot that particular bow. It was developed by this guy who copied a blueprint that was lowered out of the sky. He gets the blueprint, creates the bow, and the Lord speaks to him and says, "Thanks for asking." The Lord went on to say, "I have a lot of good ideas." That is so fascinating to me, that because it mattered to him, it mattered to God, and God spoke to him about what he was pursuing.
We compartmentalize too much. People will come to me and say, "I want you to pray for me. I have a hurt leg, but I really need you to pray for my brother. He's got cancer." Like God can't multitask, or only takes serious things and doesn't do the lesser things. We do the same in our thinking with God, that if He's going to give us creative ideas, He should give it to scientists who are trying to find a cure for cancer. That's really what He ought to do" as though God can't do more than one thing at a time. The whole point is if it matters to you, it matters to Him. That's the deal. I love this because here's a guy sitting in his workshop day after day trying to create a nice bow and God drops down a blueprint. That's brilliant, as the British would say. It's also lovely.
Whether you're working in a department, as a school teacher, a housewife, a den mother for the Girl Scouts, it doesn't matter. Any place you have influence, you have the right and responsibility to look for creative influence. It is not to dominate, nor for self-glorification, but to help the others succeed. There are ideas in music that simply sit here in the realm of mystery, waiting for someone to ask. There are ideas regarding medicine and science, and ideas regarding the simplest of things in life.
It's tragic that hundreds of years ago, if you wanted to hear quality music, you had to go to the church. If you were going to see drama or art, painting, the masters, they were believers. So many of them were in the church; you had to go there if you wanted to see excellence. Something happened some time ago where we were taught that to really follow Christ you had to get rid of everything in your heart that you like to do.
We've gone over this through the years here, but there's the narrow road that we take coming to Christ, the straight and narrow road, and the entrance to the Kingdom. There's only one door, Christ Jesus, and the only way in is "not my will but Yours be done. I give everything I am to you." But something happens as we begin to walk in life in the Kingdom, in intimacy with the Lord. He continually turns to us and says, "Whatsoever things you desire when you pray, believe that you receive them and you shall have them." He starts looking to the desire and the heartbeat, the talents, the gifts, the desires.
He's the one who said, "A desire realized is a tree of life." That's amazing. What's the tree of life? The tree of life was the tree that Adam and Eve were forbidden to go to after they partook of the forbidden fruit. Once you take the fruit of the tree of life, it marks whatever it touches with eternity. So here's Adam and Eve in a sinful condition; if they eat of the tree of life, it makes their sinful condition permanent and unredeemable. So an angel stood guard at the tree of life. Proverbs says you still have access to the tree of life. Let all your agendas get sanctified by your devotion to Christ and then let them rise to the surface because "a desire realized is a tree of life." Your fulfilled dreams and desires are those which identify you and lock you in with an eternal perspective.
That's huge. It's having a cry to write that one song about a message and getting it done. The religious spirit doesn't want you to eat the fruit once you've gotten your desire realized. The religious spirit wants you to say, "It wasn't me, it was Jesus." It's like the guy who sang a beautiful song and was told, "That was a beautiful song." "It wasn't me, it was Jesus." "Well, it wasn't that good. It was good, but it wasn't that good."
Time with God impregnates you with Godly desires. It's the absolute truth. The sperma of His word gets planted in you and things begin to form desires, dreams--and they are there because He not only wants the fulfilled desires, He wants you to get locked into eternal identification, identifying with your place in eternity. It's the fulfilled desire.
What did Jesus say in John 15 and 16? He said, "I want your prayers to get answered so that your joy is full." Why do you think He was the happiest guy on the planet? Every time He prayed for the sick, they got well. When He's praying the day ahead of time and knows ahead of time, "We're going to have a big crowd of folks who will have no food. Oh God, it would be great if you fed the multitudes again." He gets there and the food is multiplied. Why do you think He was the most rejoicing person on the planet? The Bible says His joy was head and shoulders above all His companions. He excelled them all. Why? Because He lived that? "A desire realized is a tree of life." Day after day He went to bed munching on the fruit from the tree of life. "Another day with the Father where He fulfilled the desires of my heart." It's no wonder that Solomon, the man marked as being the wisest man, was also marked as the man who had all his desires fulfilled.
Zechariah 1:18 says,
Then I raised my eyes and looked and there were four horns. And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" So he answered me, "These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. And I said, "What are these coming to do?" So he said, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter."
Horns represent spiritual powers. This is amazing. Not since God sent a choir into battle first has He come up with such an outlandish strategy for war. I mean, we thought the choir thing was weird, but we finally learned about praise and found out, "This is amazing; when we praise God, He fights for us." Well, now He's pulling a new one on us. Here are these four horns, these four dominions rising, they're oppressing the people of God, and they're dividing and scattering them. They're running away in fear. Their heads are hanging low. They've lost all awareness of the presence and the promise of God. Look at the wicked work these horns have done. What is God's answer? Here are four people coming with hammers and saws, stained glass and furniture polish. It's a person with a canvas and a paintbrush, a photographer, a musician. It's the creative anointing, the anointing of wisdom. It doesn't just scatter the enemy. The Bible says it terrorizes them. Does that sound fun to anyone else besides me, terrorizing the terrorists?
Listen, you're working at Macy's, and you're thinking, "There's got to be a better way to do this. I bet I could save this department 10,000 bucks a year if we did it this way." You submit the idea to your boss, they do it, and guess what? That creative idea just chased a horn away. It chased away that which divides and causes people to be downcast. What is it doing? It's creative people reflecting the creative nature of their Father. It's an agreement between heaven and earth. It's giving heaven a target for invasion. It doesn't mean you are even a great musician you just sit down and make that special love song between you and Jesus, and you sing that song. That moment of creativity chased away the horn of division and oppression.
We've learned this through the last thirty years, that you can sit with the guitar and start to play and suddenly there's a peace that settles. There were things going on spiritually in attack-mode that are now dissipated. We've learned somehow that God is so moved by that musical instrument that He just settles. My dad and mom took us into this in the early seventies. We've seen that as musicians with the instruments we play, the presence of the Lord settles and the powers that were working against us are broken. It's glorious. The same is happening now, not just for the worship team, not just for those of you who play instruments privately at home, it's every real estate agent who looks for a creative way to present a property. It's every school teacherwho looks to work with a child who doesn't seem to "get it." We know we have legal access to the mystery of wisdom that unlocks whatever is in the heart of that child. It's the musician who gets the song of a lifetime. They wanted to write it and do it well. It's for every single person, whether you consider yourself an artist, or you just have the routine of working in a department store or garage or wherever it might be. Every person has the privilege of creative expression, and when you do, it terrorizes hell, because that's when you look most like the Father.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
The Lion's Second Roar
I had a dream recently that I was in a grove in Middle Earth talking to a King/Wise Man. Wise and key people were gathering around him and He instructed us to call out for wisdom throughout the land and more people began to gather (they were characters from The Lord of the Rings) and I saw that the 'Fellowship" was being reconvened and began to rehearse in my mind other characters in the story/land that also had wisdom including Galadriel and Celeborn and Arwen and Aragorn. One man asked if he could invite his cousin who had victory in understanding and overcoming pancreatic cancer in her life. The king said "Yes, because she has acquired wisdom in that arena." As everyone began to disperse in order to gather those who had wisdom, I piped in and asked if I could ask a question. He turned to me with patience and I asked what seemed to be an absolutely crucial question. "Can you tell us why we need wisdom at this time?" and he said "Yes, because we believe war is at hand again." The last time I dreamt of war was just before the renewal broke out and it was the beginning of both a blessed and yet very challenging time. There was a battle for souls and for wisdom and understanding in the Church. I submit that to you as you consider the dream and read the article. love, t
January 28, 2008
Bob Hartley:"The LION'S Second ROAR--Building Cities that Love God Well"The Lion's Second Roar:
Building Cities that Love God Well
In 1983, I had been asking the Lord what the desires of His heart were. His answer came to me in an open vision in a stairwell. The Lord showed me a vision of a city in which God was being loved well in all areas of life. The Lord also showed me those who were called "City Builders." These individuals would rebuild cities and would sing the "Song of Wisdom," which represents the knowledge of God. These City Builders would have the wisdom and love to rebuild cities and would teach others to love the Lord with excellence. In this open vision, the Lord began to reveal characteristics of these City Builders who would sing the Song of Wisdom. He showed me values which would be highly esteemed by these builders and the tools they would use to advance the Kingdom of God in these cities. With these advance tools, they would be able to rebuild cities that "love God well" and help others discover the heart of God in every arena of life. In previous visions, the Lord spoke to me about the discovery of the "forgotten faces of God," which were areas where we have forsaken the knowledge of the Holy (i.e. the Benevolent face of God). These City Builders would have authority to receive the revelation of God's heart and would bring others into a greater understanding of it.
More recently, He has begun to speak to me through a vision about the "Lion's Second Roar". This is a call for City Builders to love God well and to sing the Song of Wisdom with 'authority and ferocity.'
"The History of the "First Roar": The Call to Spiritual Mothers and Fathers
In a visitation from the Lord in 2005, He spoke to me about how the spiritual mothers and fathers (marketplace people) had been brought to the Lord's Holy Mountain and were given joy through a vision in His house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7). The Lord spoke to me that the spiritual mothers and fathers had received a vision like Moses in Exodus 26:30, which says, "Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan which you have been shown in the mountain." After the Lord spoke this to me, I saw them come down the mountain with the vision, and then the events of Isaiah 56:9 began to happen among them, "All you beasts of the field, all you beasts in the forest, come to eat…" This represented their mountaintop experience, but when they descended, they lost perspective and chose to see with their eyes instead of their faith (hearts).I am aware that this verse (Isaiah 56:9) is about the accusations against the wicked, but in my visitation of the Lord, it was also about spiritual mothers and fathers in the marketplace who were coming into the valley after receiving the vision. They had been given a vision to see their city love God well, but the "beasts of the field" (worries, worldly concerns and fears) devoured the vision of the Lord.
In Exodus 32, when Moses came down the mountain into the valley, the circumstances he faced were devastating (people had constructed a golden calf and were immoral). Moses could have easily sacrificed the vision because of the circumstances and completely lost hope. However, he chose to see more with his eyes closed rather than with his eyes open. He was not blinded by what he saw. He had faith and understood that the vision of the Lord would come to pass--even when it did not match the circumstances around him. The Lord showed me that the spiritual mothers and fathers of the marketplace went down and the beasts of the field came after them. I dreamt that they had been stabbed in the "belly of their ideals" and had lost their way. These beasts were able to devour many, and the vision of the Lord was sacrificed. The marketplace people became blind and lacked knowledge as in Isaiah 56:10, which says, "His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber..." They were not able to roar for their dream. Instead, they would sleep with a slumber of sorrow. They had turned inward and lacked true understanding of God's plans in the marketplace. Spiritual mothers and fathers had turned to their own way and sought their own gain, security and protection. Many of us had chosen the "Esau Lifestyle," where spiritual mothers and fathers were giving up their spiritual inheritance in God for physical provision. They had gotten into the world and reaching for God was too hard for them. They had become full of doubt, and the only reason the devil was keeping them alive was so that they could spread doubt and unbelief to their children and their grandchildren. However, the Lord had another plan. They would desperately need a recovery program called the "Daniel Lifestyle."
Restoring the Lost Vision & Coming into the "Second Roar"
The Lord showed me that He would have mercy as in Hosea 2:14, where He would allure spiritual mothers and fathers into the wilderness and speak tenderly to them. Although they had given into the gods of the world, He would bring them back to the mountaintop and give them a "Second Roar." In order to accomplish this, He would have to draw them into the wilderness and speak kindly to them, restoring their true affections. He would give them their "second roar" as they sought Him with all of their heart and committed to choose the right lifestyle--the Daniel Lifestyle. Those who had a vision from the Lord at one time, but had it devoured, would be given another opportunity to roar with their vision for a second time. They had roared first when they had received their vision, but their vision was based on circumstances falling into place, not on the divine order of the Lord.
This first roar was from the "outside" out. It was based on circumstances and on a "if everything goes right" mentality. The second roar, however, was like the roar Shadrach, Meshach and AbedNego had when they said, "Our God will deliver! But even if He doesn't, we're not about to bow to what everybody else bowed to" (Daniel 3:17, paraphrased). These ones would roar for a second time on the basis of an "eternal perspective." They were not looking at the promises of circumstances. They were those who would sing the Song of Wisdom and were God's pioneers--they would keep reaching and never stop roaring! If necessary, they knew their bones would cry out for the vision to come to pass, but they believed for each day. They had faith in a Big God now! This was the "second roar" of the spiritual mothers and fathers in the marketplace.
Survival
This past summer, I had the opportunity to discuss the current condition of the marketplace with Bob Jones who has been a longtime friend. He stated that marketplace individuals have been on "the other side of the Jordan," where the goal was just to stay alive within the marketplace. He felt that spiritual mothers and fathers had lost their roar of vision for their cities; they were now merely focusing on survival. Bob went on to explain that it was now time to cross over to the other side of the Jordan into the Promised Land. It was now time to take "with a roar" the cities they had been called to reach. The seasons had changed; there had been a great shift. Although doors had been closed in the past, believers would now be able to do things they had not been able to do before. They needed fresh faith to recognize the open doors and step into the new season.
The Problem of Doubt
Doubt and unbelief were the greatest obstacles hindering marketplace believers from roaring again. They had begun to put themselves in prisons of their own making; these prisons were called "doubt" and had been birthed out of the failures from the first roar. In the prisons of doubt, it had become easier not to believe in God's goodness and faithfulness. Those in prisons of doubt were shortsighted and lacked the perspective it took to build a city of faith and wisdom. They had adopted three "wrong ways of seeing," through these lenses of doubt.
The first wrong view was of the "nature of prayer," and how God answers. Their prayer times were weak, doubtful and lacking as they mostly focused on unanswered prayer, their problems, and their own limitations. They needed eyeglasses to give them a corrected perspective of prayer. Often they would put God in a box, expecting Him to meet them on their own terms, or in a particular way or time. They did not know how to look to His goal and His vision and have trust in His prevailing faithfulness.
The second wrong way of seeing was of their "personal history" and God's goodness in it. They perceived their history as a history of where God was not, instead of where He had been throughout the difficult circumstances of their lives. This misinterpretation missed the goodness of God and focused on the bitterness and the mistakes of the past. These ones who roar the second time would need to become fresh in perspective of God's proven faithfulness to them. Then they would be ready to roar the second roar with no hindrance of bitterness or doubt.
The final wrong way of seeing was "of themselves." They viewed themselves as "less-than Christians," and they doubted the power of their own cry before God and their ability to roar again. Limited by their own self-condemnation, they did not correctly perceive their own position before God and His affection towards them. To think less of God's love for us is an injustice to Him and the Cross. And if we are unable to receive His love, we don't walk in our full authority and position before Him, and we limit our ability to impact and bless the lives of others.
The Doubt Addicts
Many marketplace individuals had actually become "doubt addicts." Presently, doubt was the socially accepted disease in our midst. To have a doubt addict in the room was disastrous for children, extended family, businesses, etc., yet it was fully accepted! The enemy was excited about keeping doubt addicts alive so that they could spread their doubt to all who were around them and into the city. I saw some that were living in the "woe is me, the ship is going down," mentality, without a perspective of faith or understanding of God's heart. The Lord said in this season it was not okay for His people to repeat their problems and pain without looking, in the fear of the Lord, to God's faithfulness; because to doubt Him is to malign His character. They needed to be in a place of satisfaction and contentment with Who God was to them and what He had done for them.
Many of God's people have been given much, but were thankful for little. "Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore...you will serve your enemies" (Deuteronomy 28:47-48). Because the Israelites did not serve God in gladness and thankfulness, recognizing their prosperity and the goodness of God towards them, they were condemned to serve their enemies. Today, in the absence of thankful hearts, many have been handed over to their enemies of "depression and fear."
The Second Roar
I saw that it was now time for City Builders to roar again with a "second roar." This roar was unlike the first roar of marketplace believers. This cry would be based on cultivated faith and spiritual vision that superseded circumstances. It was beyond zeal. It was based on real love and would be founded on a vision coming from the inside--an internal reality of deeper understanding. In this second roar, wisdom and longsighted faith would go hand in hand with enthusiastic love. The second roar would be different, it would last and it would profoundly influence different cities across the world.
Those who roared again, a second roar, would have a new perspective of their circumstances based on marveling at Jesus--that He would be magnified above their circumstances. This is where the first roar had been derailed. People had looked to their circumstances above God's leading hand. The second roar would be fueled by prayer. By praying continually, City Builders would receive new lenses of love for God and life. Circumstances would be seen through the eyes of faith as people turned their hearts towards Heaven, daily. As part of the promise from God, they would also be given "marvelous comrades," true friends who would stand with each other and fight for each other while providing encouragement and friendship. This vision based on faith, coupled with earnest prayer and marvelous camaraderie would empower marketplace people with a roar that would transform cities. These cities would become all they were ever meant to be as they loved God well.
A Proclamation Lifestyle
Proclamation was to come forth with strength. There was to be a proclamation full of belief in the goodness of God versus what they lacked and what the Lord had not done. As they roared this second roar with a proclamation of God's goodness, cities were transformed in the glory of His presence.
Bob Hartley Deeper WatersEmail: deeperwaters@sbcglobal.netBob Hartley's
Bio:Bob Hartley is currently the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hartley's Executive Cleaning in Kansas City, MO. Before entering the marketplace, Bob served as a pastor at Metro Christian Fellowship. Also, he was a missionary in Africa and Israel, an area director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a chapel leader for the Kansas City Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs. Today, Bob serves on the Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Kansas City Inner City Outreach to Youth and the Inner City Outreach to Alcoholics. He travels extensively in order to encourage the Body of Christ. As one who carries the vision of the Joseph Company, he is a frequent speaker at Regional and local JoCo events. Currently, Bob resides in Kansas City with his wife and four children. Permission is granted (and you are also encouraged) to reprint these articles in hard copy form, as well as sending them to your own email lists and posting them on your own websites. We ask only that you keep ElijahList website, email contact info, and author contact information intact.ElijahList Publications310 2nd Ave SE, Albany, OR 97321 www.elijahlist.com email: info@elijahlist.netPhone 1-541-926-3250
January 28, 2008
Bob Hartley:"The LION'S Second ROAR--Building Cities that Love God Well"The Lion's Second Roar:
Building Cities that Love God Well
In 1983, I had been asking the Lord what the desires of His heart were. His answer came to me in an open vision in a stairwell. The Lord showed me a vision of a city in which God was being loved well in all areas of life. The Lord also showed me those who were called "City Builders." These individuals would rebuild cities and would sing the "Song of Wisdom," which represents the knowledge of God. These City Builders would have the wisdom and love to rebuild cities and would teach others to love the Lord with excellence. In this open vision, the Lord began to reveal characteristics of these City Builders who would sing the Song of Wisdom. He showed me values which would be highly esteemed by these builders and the tools they would use to advance the Kingdom of God in these cities. With these advance tools, they would be able to rebuild cities that "love God well" and help others discover the heart of God in every arena of life. In previous visions, the Lord spoke to me about the discovery of the "forgotten faces of God," which were areas where we have forsaken the knowledge of the Holy (i.e. the Benevolent face of God). These City Builders would have authority to receive the revelation of God's heart and would bring others into a greater understanding of it.
More recently, He has begun to speak to me through a vision about the "Lion's Second Roar". This is a call for City Builders to love God well and to sing the Song of Wisdom with 'authority and ferocity.'
"The History of the "First Roar": The Call to Spiritual Mothers and Fathers
In a visitation from the Lord in 2005, He spoke to me about how the spiritual mothers and fathers (marketplace people) had been brought to the Lord's Holy Mountain and were given joy through a vision in His house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7). The Lord spoke to me that the spiritual mothers and fathers had received a vision like Moses in Exodus 26:30, which says, "Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan which you have been shown in the mountain." After the Lord spoke this to me, I saw them come down the mountain with the vision, and then the events of Isaiah 56:9 began to happen among them, "All you beasts of the field, all you beasts in the forest, come to eat…" This represented their mountaintop experience, but when they descended, they lost perspective and chose to see with their eyes instead of their faith (hearts).I am aware that this verse (Isaiah 56:9) is about the accusations against the wicked, but in my visitation of the Lord, it was also about spiritual mothers and fathers in the marketplace who were coming into the valley after receiving the vision. They had been given a vision to see their city love God well, but the "beasts of the field" (worries, worldly concerns and fears) devoured the vision of the Lord.
In Exodus 32, when Moses came down the mountain into the valley, the circumstances he faced were devastating (people had constructed a golden calf and were immoral). Moses could have easily sacrificed the vision because of the circumstances and completely lost hope. However, he chose to see more with his eyes closed rather than with his eyes open. He was not blinded by what he saw. He had faith and understood that the vision of the Lord would come to pass--even when it did not match the circumstances around him. The Lord showed me that the spiritual mothers and fathers of the marketplace went down and the beasts of the field came after them. I dreamt that they had been stabbed in the "belly of their ideals" and had lost their way. These beasts were able to devour many, and the vision of the Lord was sacrificed. The marketplace people became blind and lacked knowledge as in Isaiah 56:10, which says, "His watchmen are blind, they are all ignorant; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber..." They were not able to roar for their dream. Instead, they would sleep with a slumber of sorrow. They had turned inward and lacked true understanding of God's plans in the marketplace. Spiritual mothers and fathers had turned to their own way and sought their own gain, security and protection. Many of us had chosen the "Esau Lifestyle," where spiritual mothers and fathers were giving up their spiritual inheritance in God for physical provision. They had gotten into the world and reaching for God was too hard for them. They had become full of doubt, and the only reason the devil was keeping them alive was so that they could spread doubt and unbelief to their children and their grandchildren. However, the Lord had another plan. They would desperately need a recovery program called the "Daniel Lifestyle."
Restoring the Lost Vision & Coming into the "Second Roar"
The Lord showed me that He would have mercy as in Hosea 2:14, where He would allure spiritual mothers and fathers into the wilderness and speak tenderly to them. Although they had given into the gods of the world, He would bring them back to the mountaintop and give them a "Second Roar." In order to accomplish this, He would have to draw them into the wilderness and speak kindly to them, restoring their true affections. He would give them their "second roar" as they sought Him with all of their heart and committed to choose the right lifestyle--the Daniel Lifestyle. Those who had a vision from the Lord at one time, but had it devoured, would be given another opportunity to roar with their vision for a second time. They had roared first when they had received their vision, but their vision was based on circumstances falling into place, not on the divine order of the Lord.
This first roar was from the "outside" out. It was based on circumstances and on a "if everything goes right" mentality. The second roar, however, was like the roar Shadrach, Meshach and AbedNego had when they said, "Our God will deliver! But even if He doesn't, we're not about to bow to what everybody else bowed to" (Daniel 3:17, paraphrased). These ones would roar for a second time on the basis of an "eternal perspective." They were not looking at the promises of circumstances. They were those who would sing the Song of Wisdom and were God's pioneers--they would keep reaching and never stop roaring! If necessary, they knew their bones would cry out for the vision to come to pass, but they believed for each day. They had faith in a Big God now! This was the "second roar" of the spiritual mothers and fathers in the marketplace.
Survival
This past summer, I had the opportunity to discuss the current condition of the marketplace with Bob Jones who has been a longtime friend. He stated that marketplace individuals have been on "the other side of the Jordan," where the goal was just to stay alive within the marketplace. He felt that spiritual mothers and fathers had lost their roar of vision for their cities; they were now merely focusing on survival. Bob went on to explain that it was now time to cross over to the other side of the Jordan into the Promised Land. It was now time to take "with a roar" the cities they had been called to reach. The seasons had changed; there had been a great shift. Although doors had been closed in the past, believers would now be able to do things they had not been able to do before. They needed fresh faith to recognize the open doors and step into the new season.
The Problem of Doubt
Doubt and unbelief were the greatest obstacles hindering marketplace believers from roaring again. They had begun to put themselves in prisons of their own making; these prisons were called "doubt" and had been birthed out of the failures from the first roar. In the prisons of doubt, it had become easier not to believe in God's goodness and faithfulness. Those in prisons of doubt were shortsighted and lacked the perspective it took to build a city of faith and wisdom. They had adopted three "wrong ways of seeing," through these lenses of doubt.
The first wrong view was of the "nature of prayer," and how God answers. Their prayer times were weak, doubtful and lacking as they mostly focused on unanswered prayer, their problems, and their own limitations. They needed eyeglasses to give them a corrected perspective of prayer. Often they would put God in a box, expecting Him to meet them on their own terms, or in a particular way or time. They did not know how to look to His goal and His vision and have trust in His prevailing faithfulness.
The second wrong way of seeing was of their "personal history" and God's goodness in it. They perceived their history as a history of where God was not, instead of where He had been throughout the difficult circumstances of their lives. This misinterpretation missed the goodness of God and focused on the bitterness and the mistakes of the past. These ones who roar the second time would need to become fresh in perspective of God's proven faithfulness to them. Then they would be ready to roar the second roar with no hindrance of bitterness or doubt.
The final wrong way of seeing was "of themselves." They viewed themselves as "less-than Christians," and they doubted the power of their own cry before God and their ability to roar again. Limited by their own self-condemnation, they did not correctly perceive their own position before God and His affection towards them. To think less of God's love for us is an injustice to Him and the Cross. And if we are unable to receive His love, we don't walk in our full authority and position before Him, and we limit our ability to impact and bless the lives of others.
The Doubt Addicts
Many marketplace individuals had actually become "doubt addicts." Presently, doubt was the socially accepted disease in our midst. To have a doubt addict in the room was disastrous for children, extended family, businesses, etc., yet it was fully accepted! The enemy was excited about keeping doubt addicts alive so that they could spread their doubt to all who were around them and into the city. I saw some that were living in the "woe is me, the ship is going down," mentality, without a perspective of faith or understanding of God's heart. The Lord said in this season it was not okay for His people to repeat their problems and pain without looking, in the fear of the Lord, to God's faithfulness; because to doubt Him is to malign His character. They needed to be in a place of satisfaction and contentment with Who God was to them and what He had done for them.
Many of God's people have been given much, but were thankful for little. "Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore...you will serve your enemies" (Deuteronomy 28:47-48). Because the Israelites did not serve God in gladness and thankfulness, recognizing their prosperity and the goodness of God towards them, they were condemned to serve their enemies. Today, in the absence of thankful hearts, many have been handed over to their enemies of "depression and fear."
The Second Roar
I saw that it was now time for City Builders to roar again with a "second roar." This roar was unlike the first roar of marketplace believers. This cry would be based on cultivated faith and spiritual vision that superseded circumstances. It was beyond zeal. It was based on real love and would be founded on a vision coming from the inside--an internal reality of deeper understanding. In this second roar, wisdom and longsighted faith would go hand in hand with enthusiastic love. The second roar would be different, it would last and it would profoundly influence different cities across the world.
Those who roared again, a second roar, would have a new perspective of their circumstances based on marveling at Jesus--that He would be magnified above their circumstances. This is where the first roar had been derailed. People had looked to their circumstances above God's leading hand. The second roar would be fueled by prayer. By praying continually, City Builders would receive new lenses of love for God and life. Circumstances would be seen through the eyes of faith as people turned their hearts towards Heaven, daily. As part of the promise from God, they would also be given "marvelous comrades," true friends who would stand with each other and fight for each other while providing encouragement and friendship. This vision based on faith, coupled with earnest prayer and marvelous camaraderie would empower marketplace people with a roar that would transform cities. These cities would become all they were ever meant to be as they loved God well.
A Proclamation Lifestyle
Proclamation was to come forth with strength. There was to be a proclamation full of belief in the goodness of God versus what they lacked and what the Lord had not done. As they roared this second roar with a proclamation of God's goodness, cities were transformed in the glory of His presence.
Bob Hartley Deeper WatersEmail: deeperwaters@sbcglobal.netBob Hartley's
Bio:Bob Hartley is currently the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hartley's Executive Cleaning in Kansas City, MO. Before entering the marketplace, Bob served as a pastor at Metro Christian Fellowship. Also, he was a missionary in Africa and Israel, an area director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a chapel leader for the Kansas City Royals and the Kansas City Chiefs. Today, Bob serves on the Board of Directors for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, the Kansas City Inner City Outreach to Youth and the Inner City Outreach to Alcoholics. He travels extensively in order to encourage the Body of Christ. As one who carries the vision of the Joseph Company, he is a frequent speaker at Regional and local JoCo events. Currently, Bob resides in Kansas City with his wife and four children. Permission is granted (and you are also encouraged) to reprint these articles in hard copy form, as well as sending them to your own email lists and posting them on your own websites. We ask only that you keep ElijahList website, email contact info, and author contact information intact.ElijahList Publications310 2nd Ave SE, Albany, OR 97321 www.elijahlist.com email: info@elijahlist.netPhone 1-541-926-3250
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
BUILDING AN ARK FOR OUR GOD
Written in June: It's time gang. This is not about building my vision, so please chuck that thought. If you want to know the truth, my vision had to be put to the side. But I'm pretty confident about God wanting to do something here on Long Island. There's an "Ark" to be built on Long Island- a "city of refuge" - and its not a light endeavor. Really, it's about the lives of Long Islanders and our part in bringing the Kingdom of God into play for them. I'm out to serve you and them. By the way, if you would like to let me know what you and God have been dreaming about together and how we can help with that - I'm all in.
November 27, 2007
Leslie Herrier:
"BUILDING AN ARK FOR OUR GOD--GET READY FOR HIS PRESENCE TO IMPACT OUR LIVES"
I kept hearing the Lord saying to make an ark, for He is about to bring the animals into it. What does that mean? That was what I wanted to know as the Lord kept bringing this message to me. I couldn't get away from it. It was confirmed again and again. But I had no clue what it meant for me and for the Church. What, apart from Noah's ark itself, would that look like today? As I decided to seek the matter out, I felt that what the Lord revealed to me wasn't just for me--it was for all of us. Please allow me to share this timely word with you.
The ark is a refuge for people who will allow Him to lead them to the safety of His presence. I believe that many who will come into the ark, then, will be those who will receive the salvation of the Lord. This message is remarkable, because it means that the Lord is about to bring into His Kingdom multitudes of people who will sense the uncertainty of the times. That is why they will come.
First of all, we know that the times are becoming more and more uncertain every day. God will be getting people's attention, one way or another. Recently, during the southern California fires, I looked out the window and it was amazing, because I felt as if I were in the book of Revelation, in one of those difficult passages describing the tribulation period. Because of the days we are living in, the ark must be in place.
The Ark--A Place of Rest and Safety
First, it is interesting that the name of the Biblical ark's builder was Noah. His name meant "rest." The ark will be a resting place as we trust in the Lord, as life as we know it becomes more and more unstable. As the dove dwelt in the ark, so God will dwell with people that trust or rest in Him and Him alone. He chooses over and over again to come to dwell in a heart or a church that trusts and loves Him, and who simply believes in the power of so great a salvation.
Next, it is interesting to know that there were three arks in Scripture:
1. Noah's ark
2. The little ark that carried Moses away to safety when he was a baby (read Exodus 2:3, 5 King James version).
3. The Ark of the Covenant, which rested in the Most Holy Place.
Simply put, it is a place of safety. Except for Moses' little reed ark, they were made of wood, hewn from trees. It was a tree that the Lord instructed Moses to throw into the bitter waters at Marah (see Exodus 15), to sweeten them for the Israelites to drink representing the Cross that purifies.
Covering the Ark of the Covenant was the mercy seat. Inside the ark were the Ten Commandments. In God's mercy, the requirements of the law are filled. The ark also contained what God called the testimony. This was the evidence of God's deliverance, miracles and relationship with the children of Israel. These were things that built up Israel's faith. It was the proof of His saving power.
The ark was where Moses would go to commune with God and get wisdom and strategy to lead God's people. It was where David went to be assured victory in time of war.
It is the secret place of Psalm 91, the shelter of the Most High, under which we are to abide for safety. Over the ark's mercy seat, the wings of two cherubim stretched out toward one another, indicating the protective nature of the mercy seat. The ark was prophetically revealing the Cross and its benefits.
Building an Ark Today
To build an ark today means to bring the saving power of the Cross into our cities. It means to provide a place for the mercy seat to rest. But how do we do that? Simply, it is prayer. In this way we establish the secret place, the covering of God in every town, on our jobs, and in our schools. Wherever we can, we begin to build through prayer--a canopy of mercy for our cities and our churches. We pull this over our loved ones and those who don't yet know Christ.
Noah's great ark was built in a time of great judgment and difficulty. Wherever regions have houses of prayer, wherever people are crying out to God and standing in the gap, there will be a measure of God's mercy over that area. You see, the Lord will be watching cities, and what His people in those cities are doing. Are they interceding for them?
Building an ark on a personal level simply means intimacy with God. One of the greatest warriors of all time, David, knew that the key to Israel's victory was to worship and love God with all of her heart. In these days, the enemy will try to lure people away from the tabernacle of praise. Don't let him do it! Keep close to God, stay on the ark. Just read Psalm 91 to see the protective benefits of dwelling in the secret place.
I truly feel this is an urgent message from the Lord and we should be seeking Him about our part in building an ark of His presence in our own spheres of influence. He will show you. Together, we all have a part to bring to it. I believe that many lives be influenced by it.
One of the more humorous confirmations I received about this word (after God gave it to me) was on an evening that I rented a movie called Evan Almighty. I didn't have my glasses on when I picked the movie, but I could tell by the title that it might be good. But the real treat came as I watched it; it turned out to be all about this guy who is called by God to build an ark! Don't you just love the way the Lord speaks?
These days, the Church has been involved in prayer more than ever before. And this is what we are called even more to today. This is the march of the saints. We march and win our cities and the nations on our knees. If you don't belong to a house of prayer in your city, pray about joining one. If there isn't one, pray about starting one. Who knows, maybe you will feel the call to be an ark builder yourself!
Leslie Herrier
Email: leslieherrier@yahoo.com
Leslie's Bio:
Leslie Herrier has been an intercessor for key ministries for the last ten years. A graduate of Harvest Rock Church's ministerial school, Harvest International, she has been involved in powerful intercession with such leaders as Lou Engle for the nation and for the Body of Christ. In 2004, she joined Streams Ministries International where she worked as Editorial Assistant for two years and was closely involved with intercession there also. She has ministered in many churches in countries such as France and Mexico, with a heart to inspire believers to reach their full potential in Christ and to engage the Holy Spirit at a higher spiritual level. Regional intercession in these and other countries has been the very passion of Leslie's life and the fuel for her ministry. Leslie now resides in Ventura, California, where she is involved in teaching and prayer ministry.
Permission is granted (and you are also encouraged) to reprint these articles in hard copy form, as well as sending them to your own email lists and posting them on your own websites. We ask only that you keep ElijahList website, email contact info, and author contact information intact.
ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250
November 27, 2007
Leslie Herrier:
"BUILDING AN ARK FOR OUR GOD--GET READY FOR HIS PRESENCE TO IMPACT OUR LIVES"
I kept hearing the Lord saying to make an ark, for He is about to bring the animals into it. What does that mean? That was what I wanted to know as the Lord kept bringing this message to me. I couldn't get away from it. It was confirmed again and again. But I had no clue what it meant for me and for the Church. What, apart from Noah's ark itself, would that look like today? As I decided to seek the matter out, I felt that what the Lord revealed to me wasn't just for me--it was for all of us. Please allow me to share this timely word with you.
The ark is a refuge for people who will allow Him to lead them to the safety of His presence. I believe that many who will come into the ark, then, will be those who will receive the salvation of the Lord. This message is remarkable, because it means that the Lord is about to bring into His Kingdom multitudes of people who will sense the uncertainty of the times. That is why they will come.
First of all, we know that the times are becoming more and more uncertain every day. God will be getting people's attention, one way or another. Recently, during the southern California fires, I looked out the window and it was amazing, because I felt as if I were in the book of Revelation, in one of those difficult passages describing the tribulation period. Because of the days we are living in, the ark must be in place.
The Ark--A Place of Rest and Safety
First, it is interesting that the name of the Biblical ark's builder was Noah. His name meant "rest." The ark will be a resting place as we trust in the Lord, as life as we know it becomes more and more unstable. As the dove dwelt in the ark, so God will dwell with people that trust or rest in Him and Him alone. He chooses over and over again to come to dwell in a heart or a church that trusts and loves Him, and who simply believes in the power of so great a salvation.
Next, it is interesting to know that there were three arks in Scripture:
1. Noah's ark
2. The little ark that carried Moses away to safety when he was a baby (read Exodus 2:3, 5 King James version).
3. The Ark of the Covenant, which rested in the Most Holy Place.
Simply put, it is a place of safety. Except for Moses' little reed ark, they were made of wood, hewn from trees. It was a tree that the Lord instructed Moses to throw into the bitter waters at Marah (see Exodus 15), to sweeten them for the Israelites to drink representing the Cross that purifies.
Covering the Ark of the Covenant was the mercy seat. Inside the ark were the Ten Commandments. In God's mercy, the requirements of the law are filled. The ark also contained what God called the testimony. This was the evidence of God's deliverance, miracles and relationship with the children of Israel. These were things that built up Israel's faith. It was the proof of His saving power.
The ark was where Moses would go to commune with God and get wisdom and strategy to lead God's people. It was where David went to be assured victory in time of war.
It is the secret place of Psalm 91, the shelter of the Most High, under which we are to abide for safety. Over the ark's mercy seat, the wings of two cherubim stretched out toward one another, indicating the protective nature of the mercy seat. The ark was prophetically revealing the Cross and its benefits.
Building an Ark Today
To build an ark today means to bring the saving power of the Cross into our cities. It means to provide a place for the mercy seat to rest. But how do we do that? Simply, it is prayer. In this way we establish the secret place, the covering of God in every town, on our jobs, and in our schools. Wherever we can, we begin to build through prayer--a canopy of mercy for our cities and our churches. We pull this over our loved ones and those who don't yet know Christ.
Noah's great ark was built in a time of great judgment and difficulty. Wherever regions have houses of prayer, wherever people are crying out to God and standing in the gap, there will be a measure of God's mercy over that area. You see, the Lord will be watching cities, and what His people in those cities are doing. Are they interceding for them?
Building an ark on a personal level simply means intimacy with God. One of the greatest warriors of all time, David, knew that the key to Israel's victory was to worship and love God with all of her heart. In these days, the enemy will try to lure people away from the tabernacle of praise. Don't let him do it! Keep close to God, stay on the ark. Just read Psalm 91 to see the protective benefits of dwelling in the secret place.
I truly feel this is an urgent message from the Lord and we should be seeking Him about our part in building an ark of His presence in our own spheres of influence. He will show you. Together, we all have a part to bring to it. I believe that many lives be influenced by it.
One of the more humorous confirmations I received about this word (after God gave it to me) was on an evening that I rented a movie called Evan Almighty. I didn't have my glasses on when I picked the movie, but I could tell by the title that it might be good. But the real treat came as I watched it; it turned out to be all about this guy who is called by God to build an ark! Don't you just love the way the Lord speaks?
These days, the Church has been involved in prayer more than ever before. And this is what we are called even more to today. This is the march of the saints. We march and win our cities and the nations on our knees. If you don't belong to a house of prayer in your city, pray about joining one. If there isn't one, pray about starting one. Who knows, maybe you will feel the call to be an ark builder yourself!
Leslie Herrier
Email: leslieherrier@yahoo.com
Leslie's Bio:
Leslie Herrier has been an intercessor for key ministries for the last ten years. A graduate of Harvest Rock Church's ministerial school, Harvest International, she has been involved in powerful intercession with such leaders as Lou Engle for the nation and for the Body of Christ. In 2004, she joined Streams Ministries International where she worked as Editorial Assistant for two years and was closely involved with intercession there also. She has ministered in many churches in countries such as France and Mexico, with a heart to inspire believers to reach their full potential in Christ and to engage the Holy Spirit at a higher spiritual level. Regional intercession in these and other countries has been the very passion of Leslie's life and the fuel for her ministry. Leslie now resides in Ventura, California, where she is involved in teaching and prayer ministry.
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Staying the course
I've attached two articles that I thought were relevant to the House - encouraging us to stay focused on what we are called to.
This past week, God has been speaking to a number of key 24-7 activists through dreams. The Bible tells us to expect the Lord to speak supernaturally in this way, and there is one particular dream we want to share because it is both an encouragement and a warning to this community.This dream was given to Tim Hewitt, a dear friend, and echoes remarkably the word the Lord spoke to us ( see below) at our recent ‘Feast’ in Seville - even though Tim had not been there to hear that message.
"My wife Anna and I went to Ibiza last week, to go back and see everyone. It was also a kind of pilgrimage to seek God about moving to be part of the 24-7 community on the island. On Friday morning I woke up after having a dream. This is really unusual for me. Through the dream God seemed to be speaking about the urgent need to strengthen values and distinctives. He is calling us [24-7 Prayer] back to the core of who we are."
At the recent 24-7 Feast in Spain God challenged the 24-7 Prayer community to live up to our name as a people of prayer. The message to stay true to our original call and to keep intimacy with Jesus at the foundation of all the fruit and good works inspired by prayer was received with passion. However Tim’s dream goes beyond simply confirming that word to bring a sober warning:
"I also felt like God was warning us that this could be a year of disease. Sounds quite dramatic, I know, but I didn’t feel in any way that it was physical or for anyone specific. It was warning about not letting ‘disease’ creep into and through who we are (from within or from outside), and what we’re about. By coming back to prayer we will be vaccinated. I felt that the ‘disease’ wouldn’t be a passive thing but that there maybe people attacking us, some of those wont even know that they are doing so. I woke up with a real sense of urgency about this all, it felt quite important."
God’s word is not designed to sow fear but faith. He’s calling us to love him more, to feast in His presence so that all our mission, creativity and communities are an overflow of intimacy with Him. The only we as a family and movement can make sure that what we are spreading is the good news of Jesus, nothing else, is to take the words of our Savior seriously in our own walk of prayer in the prayer life of the Church:
"Remain in me and I will remain in you." John 15:4
Petes' word:
As Pete Greig perched himself on a tall stool and lent forward to catch the attention of the crowd with his story, a sense of expectation grew within me. I looked around the room at the many faces gathered for the 24-7 Feast and I felt like everyone was holding their breath as Pete began to speak…
Pamplona, Spain is famous for the festival of San Fermin, more commonly known as the running of the bull. Thousands gather from the 7th – 14th July every year for a right of passage that can be traced back to the 13th century. An animal rights group was so incensed by the spectacle that they approached the council with a unique proposal: cancel the running of the bull and we will provide you with an alternative, animal friendly event that will attract the tourism you’ve come to enjoy.
Hmmm… what could equal such a daring race? Why, the running of the naked people! Sadly rather than replacing the traditional event the nude run is now merely a foretaste to it. The day before the traditional festival people turn up, strip down and run the traditional route minus the bulls and without a stitch of clothing.
When Bob Jobe and his intrepid filming team recorded this unorthodox sprint they were surprised by the answer of one Australian guy, in reply to the question, “Why are you running?” With a grin the Ausie shouted, “No idea mate, I saw everyone turn up, take all their clothes off and run that way. I thought I better join in!”
As everyone enjoyed the irony of the tale Pete’s face grew serious. “It’s easy to get caught up in a movement of the Holy Spirit and totally forget why you’re doing it.”
His words rang out clearly and their import struck home. There was silence as everyone considered this truth. Movements of the Holy Spirit can be fun, adventurous, challenging, exciting and fruitful, but if we loose our focus on the impetuous that gave birth to our first steps, where are we moving to?
Pete continued, “I remember the story of Napoleon inspecting his troops. As he made his way to a cowardly and pathetic soldier who shared his name he looked him in the eye and said, ‘Live up to your name or change it!’” Again Pete’s words echoed around the room: 24-7 Prayer, live up to your name or change it.
A few weeks ago I wrote an article that’s currently slipping down the news archive. It was called Eight Years, One Month and 28 days of Unbroken Prayer. In it I celebrated the fact that we are part of an unbroken prayer meeting embarking on it’s ninth year helping Churches learn to pray in creative tabernacles across the globe. Incredible when you stop to think about it! So why then, when all this prayer is happening, would God’s word to us be ’live up to your name’?
24-7 Prayer Rooms have been a birthing place for so many great initiatives that have built the kingdom of God. In Macedonia the 24-7ers felt moved to organise a protest and petition as part of the Stop the Traffik campaign that grabbed the attention of local law enforcement and the American embassy. In Finland one group felt compelled to leave the prayer room and go preach the gospel and see people saved at a New Age festival. In South Africa last year I heard a woman speak who had seen people empowered to break their drug addictions through time in prayer. All these things are good; social transformation, mission and setting captives free. One of the things I love about this movement is that it’s full of people willing to become the answers to their own prayers when God says, ‘Go’. Hence these encouraging testimonies…
Pete Greig has a beautiful, bubbly wife called Samie. They married because they were in love, their love led them to intimacy and from that intimacy came fruit: two gorgeous sons Hudson and Daniel. “Did I marry Samie as a strategy to bear fruit?” Pete asked those of us at the Feast, “No, I married her because I loved her and I wanted to be with her. Then we celebrated when that love produced such a wonderful result. Now that we’ve been fruitful do I abandon loving my wife and pour all my attention into my boys? No! If I did that my marriage would shrivel and die and the family that loves and supports our sons would fall apart.”
Behind every story of fruit in the 24-7 movement is a story of faithful, persistent prayer. We often tell stories of encounters and answered prayer on the Island of Ibiza, but what we sometimes fail to highlight is that the community there spend an hour a day praying. We love telling stories of Kelly Greene befriending prostitutes in Boys Town, Mexico but forget the faithfulness of Kelly who prayer walked it’s walls for 15 months before she doing anything else. We love the stories of miracles and healing from Churches praying in prayer rooms around the world but if we only pray in hope that something will happen we’ll miss the true amazement of intimacy with our Father God.
24-7 Prayer is not about new forms of community, it’s not about mission and it’s not about social transformation, creativity or even miracles. 24-7 Prayer is about prayer. As I remember the Feast in Seville (the friends I made from many different nations, the night of feasting, dancing and celebrating all God has done) the deep personal challenge to keep my life rooted in prayer has travelled with me back to the UK. God is speaking to us. We have an opportunity to respond in our own lives and in the life of the Church. Lets continue to push on and, “…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Eph 6:18) I cannot wait to see where this renewed wave of prayer will take us.
This past week, God has been speaking to a number of key 24-7 activists through dreams. The Bible tells us to expect the Lord to speak supernaturally in this way, and there is one particular dream we want to share because it is both an encouragement and a warning to this community.This dream was given to Tim Hewitt, a dear friend, and echoes remarkably the word the Lord spoke to us ( see below) at our recent ‘Feast’ in Seville - even though Tim had not been there to hear that message.
"My wife Anna and I went to Ibiza last week, to go back and see everyone. It was also a kind of pilgrimage to seek God about moving to be part of the 24-7 community on the island. On Friday morning I woke up after having a dream. This is really unusual for me. Through the dream God seemed to be speaking about the urgent need to strengthen values and distinctives. He is calling us [24-7 Prayer] back to the core of who we are."
At the recent 24-7 Feast in Spain God challenged the 24-7 Prayer community to live up to our name as a people of prayer. The message to stay true to our original call and to keep intimacy with Jesus at the foundation of all the fruit and good works inspired by prayer was received with passion. However Tim’s dream goes beyond simply confirming that word to bring a sober warning:
"I also felt like God was warning us that this could be a year of disease. Sounds quite dramatic, I know, but I didn’t feel in any way that it was physical or for anyone specific. It was warning about not letting ‘disease’ creep into and through who we are (from within or from outside), and what we’re about. By coming back to prayer we will be vaccinated. I felt that the ‘disease’ wouldn’t be a passive thing but that there maybe people attacking us, some of those wont even know that they are doing so. I woke up with a real sense of urgency about this all, it felt quite important."
God’s word is not designed to sow fear but faith. He’s calling us to love him more, to feast in His presence so that all our mission, creativity and communities are an overflow of intimacy with Him. The only we as a family and movement can make sure that what we are spreading is the good news of Jesus, nothing else, is to take the words of our Savior seriously in our own walk of prayer in the prayer life of the Church:
"Remain in me and I will remain in you." John 15:4
Petes' word:
As Pete Greig perched himself on a tall stool and lent forward to catch the attention of the crowd with his story, a sense of expectation grew within me. I looked around the room at the many faces gathered for the 24-7 Feast and I felt like everyone was holding their breath as Pete began to speak…
Pamplona, Spain is famous for the festival of San Fermin, more commonly known as the running of the bull. Thousands gather from the 7th – 14th July every year for a right of passage that can be traced back to the 13th century. An animal rights group was so incensed by the spectacle that they approached the council with a unique proposal: cancel the running of the bull and we will provide you with an alternative, animal friendly event that will attract the tourism you’ve come to enjoy.
Hmmm… what could equal such a daring race? Why, the running of the naked people! Sadly rather than replacing the traditional event the nude run is now merely a foretaste to it. The day before the traditional festival people turn up, strip down and run the traditional route minus the bulls and without a stitch of clothing.
When Bob Jobe and his intrepid filming team recorded this unorthodox sprint they were surprised by the answer of one Australian guy, in reply to the question, “Why are you running?” With a grin the Ausie shouted, “No idea mate, I saw everyone turn up, take all their clothes off and run that way. I thought I better join in!”
As everyone enjoyed the irony of the tale Pete’s face grew serious. “It’s easy to get caught up in a movement of the Holy Spirit and totally forget why you’re doing it.”
His words rang out clearly and their import struck home. There was silence as everyone considered this truth. Movements of the Holy Spirit can be fun, adventurous, challenging, exciting and fruitful, but if we loose our focus on the impetuous that gave birth to our first steps, where are we moving to?
Pete continued, “I remember the story of Napoleon inspecting his troops. As he made his way to a cowardly and pathetic soldier who shared his name he looked him in the eye and said, ‘Live up to your name or change it!’” Again Pete’s words echoed around the room: 24-7 Prayer, live up to your name or change it.
A few weeks ago I wrote an article that’s currently slipping down the news archive. It was called Eight Years, One Month and 28 days of Unbroken Prayer. In it I celebrated the fact that we are part of an unbroken prayer meeting embarking on it’s ninth year helping Churches learn to pray in creative tabernacles across the globe. Incredible when you stop to think about it! So why then, when all this prayer is happening, would God’s word to us be ’live up to your name’?
24-7 Prayer Rooms have been a birthing place for so many great initiatives that have built the kingdom of God. In Macedonia the 24-7ers felt moved to organise a protest and petition as part of the Stop the Traffik campaign that grabbed the attention of local law enforcement and the American embassy. In Finland one group felt compelled to leave the prayer room and go preach the gospel and see people saved at a New Age festival. In South Africa last year I heard a woman speak who had seen people empowered to break their drug addictions through time in prayer. All these things are good; social transformation, mission and setting captives free. One of the things I love about this movement is that it’s full of people willing to become the answers to their own prayers when God says, ‘Go’. Hence these encouraging testimonies…
Pete Greig has a beautiful, bubbly wife called Samie. They married because they were in love, their love led them to intimacy and from that intimacy came fruit: two gorgeous sons Hudson and Daniel. “Did I marry Samie as a strategy to bear fruit?” Pete asked those of us at the Feast, “No, I married her because I loved her and I wanted to be with her. Then we celebrated when that love produced such a wonderful result. Now that we’ve been fruitful do I abandon loving my wife and pour all my attention into my boys? No! If I did that my marriage would shrivel and die and the family that loves and supports our sons would fall apart.”
Behind every story of fruit in the 24-7 movement is a story of faithful, persistent prayer. We often tell stories of encounters and answered prayer on the Island of Ibiza, but what we sometimes fail to highlight is that the community there spend an hour a day praying. We love telling stories of Kelly Greene befriending prostitutes in Boys Town, Mexico but forget the faithfulness of Kelly who prayer walked it’s walls for 15 months before she doing anything else. We love the stories of miracles and healing from Churches praying in prayer rooms around the world but if we only pray in hope that something will happen we’ll miss the true amazement of intimacy with our Father God.
24-7 Prayer is not about new forms of community, it’s not about mission and it’s not about social transformation, creativity or even miracles. 24-7 Prayer is about prayer. As I remember the Feast in Seville (the friends I made from many different nations, the night of feasting, dancing and celebrating all God has done) the deep personal challenge to keep my life rooted in prayer has travelled with me back to the UK. God is speaking to us. We have an opportunity to respond in our own lives and in the life of the Church. Lets continue to push on and, “…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Eph 6:18) I cannot wait to see where this renewed wave of prayer will take us.
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