Donning the garments of prayer (Parakletos 2012 – July 5 – 8).
Some have decided that it is too late, some have folded their hands in despair, but we believe that the Most High still reigns in the affairs of men. We believe that He is calling His church to once again don the garments of prayer and call forth His purposes into the earth.
And in July it will be Parakletos season again, our European prayer convention that fans the flames of prayer in the hearts of all. Parakletos is the gathering of lovers of God, men and women who have a heart for the future of their nations. This is our story……
Our Story
The first conference held in 2006 was born of a vision of the Lord to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Azusa Street which led to an extraordinary renewal of the church and a new era of the manifestation of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit on the earth.
Prayer focus
Two and a half years ago, (more…)
Forfeit stuff or forfeit God
That Moses was an amazing man. One of the things he said that has remained a major part of my prayer life is that unusual statement he made to God shortly after his people had set up an idol for themselves and incurred God’s displeasure. It so happened that Moses did not share their disgrace, and while we are on that, may I say that each and every one of us needs to have the same fibre as Moses, the whole world may fall away from Jesus but i shall not. Everybody is doing it does not make a thing right. Aaron followed the people, Moses led them; will you follow your flaky friends or lead them. Chew on that!
Anyway, so Moses had God’s promise that an angel would go with them. And then later, as he hung out with God, He insisted on God telling him who would go with them, while pointing out that God Himself had said that he had found favour with Him. God answers him favourably, but Moses continues, and this is the thing that has featured in my prayer for many years. Moses says to God ‘If you will not go with us, don’t take us there’. End of story.
In other words, the company on the journey matters more than just reaching the destination. Remember, He was sending them to a good land, yes, that’s what the Bible calls it, a good land; a land flowing with milk and honey. The future was bright, but Moses decided that without God, it was not bright enough. Many of us, believers, would have actually felt more comfortable without God coming along to cramp our style. An angel, for instance would be quite ok; because what matters most to us is all that milk and all that honey.
For Moses, it was all that God that mattered. A journey without Him was no journey. All the milk and all the honey in the world could not tempt Him to go without God. In essence God must be the solitary star in our firmament and everything loses flavour and appeal in the absence of God. No wonder God spoke to that man as a man speaks to his friend. The same question arises for us today.
How much does God matter to us? How much do stuff matter to us? What are we willing to get even at the expense of the pleasure and the presence of God? Are we willing to turn our backs on milk and honey if the journey there will separate us from the Lord? The answer to those questions will determine how deeply we will know the Father and how much of Himself He will show to us. Moses takes the temerity even further, and says to God, ‘show me your glory’? And God did. So I take my cue from Moses and tell God I only go where you delight to go. Where your heart is not, mine will not be.
I pray that in our generation, Father God will find men and women who would rather forfeit stuff than forfeit God.
Shalom!
The way we began
I love the non conformism of Jesus. He surprised, He angered, He stunned people with His behaviour. He overturned tables everyone else felt comfortable with. He did not wash where the done thing was to do it, ostentatiously. He held forth about praying secretly rather than where everyone could see and marvel at your holiness. Then He came up with stuff about giving secretly, giving secretly, now what is that? How are people to know how amazing you are if you do not do your amazing stuff for all to see?
Strangely He did not seem to think that what people saw mattered as much as what God saw, and went on to add that your heavenly Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you openly. That’s good, but then He said if you do your good stuff to be seen by men, then their admiration is all the reward you’re getting, God considers you’ve had enough. That’s slightly less palatable. And some of us still choose the admiration of our peers over God’s approval.
So Jesus kicked against things people thought normal, much to the delight of the common people I must say. The religious leaders were not His favourite people. But we His followers are constantly seeking, desperately breaking our necks to climb the ecclesiastical ladder and have our photograph taken with the new high flying man of God. We would not have approved of Jesus because He publicly excoriated the ‘bishops’ and ‘apostles’ and like of His day for hypocrisy and sundry sins. We excuse ours and put it down to the pressure of ministry. We close ranks against the Scriptures.
He set us a tough act to follow because we want to succeed in ministry by making everybody happy with us; giving them five steps to joy and ten to eternal bliss while lying on your couch watching whatever the flavour of the month is. As for Jesus, He went and said stuff about picking up crosses, losing your life, and loving Him more than father and mother. He even took a swipe at those who care more about the opinion of men than that of God.
Then there was the strange blood business, drinking His blood and eating His flesh; oh of course we understand what He meant by that, or do we? It cost Him some popularity, some people left Him and said ‘can’t take anymore of this stuff, too way out for me’. In fact, it was a major exodus. Then Jesus, rather than tone it down, do a public relations stunt, invite a major prophetic figure to come and stand by Him publicly with a pre-prepared text, simply turned to His disciples and asked if they wanted to leave as well. If only pastors had the gumption of Jesus. Some churches have stopped mentioning the blood; it would seem that it offends some people. Why are we not surprised!
Anyway, bottom line is, reading the gospels you realised that Jesus’s personality would not have suited many of our churches. Of course He was God and had the prerogative to disagree with man; the problem is that He set us an example to follow; and everything He taught, and did, we are meant to practice, teach and do. We are meant to hate hypocrisy, greed, manipulation, selfishness, ostentatious giving, religious tradition that exalts itself above God’s word, and such sundry evil that we holy people and our leaders are prone to.
We are meant to love God above all, give our whole lives to Him. We are meant to love people while not caring that they love and approve of us or not. We are called to disagree, publicly if need be, with wrongdoing, even if it provokes the ire of the powers that be. He modelled purity in the midst of impurity, godliness in the midst of hypocrisy, love in the midst of indifference, strict adherence to God’s law in the midst of moral laxity, and built a ministry by telling the truth. That is the way it began, the way we began …
Counterintuitive, countercultural, hugely successful and profoundly challenging.
When God is not ‘nice’.
On one occasion some people interrupted Jesus’s sleep and He did not quite like it. I guess they had felt they had good reason, they were in danger of death and needed His help. The gospel of Matthew, in very few words recounts the story of the disciples of Jesus as they were caught in a violent storm; the boat was overwhelmed with the waves and all were in terror of losing their lives, all, save Jesus. He, we are told, was sleeping. When they could take it no more, His disciples, feeling lost and abandoned, went and woke Him. Another gospel writer, in his account, says they wondered if Jesus did not care that they may drown. Jesus woke up and stilled the waves, but not before rebuking them soundly for their attitude of fear and faithlessness.
Now that is quite something. Now those poor men were fighting for their lives, Jesus was sleeping, at such a pressing time, and He rebukes them? And, why, one might ask did He feel the need to put His disciples through that trauma? I confess I was in stitches as I reread this story, (more…)
From desires to manifest reality
I am very touched by the goodness of God, by the kindness of the Lord. He is totally pure, wonderful and loving, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. When you pore over the new covenant, you get a profound picture of the loveliness of God’s heart towards people. He wants to help, He wants to save, He is conscious of the human condition. It was His idea to destroy the devil’s yoke over mankind and to give him the capacity and authority to prevail over the devil. You must settle in your heart that God is good and He is your ally.
Secondly their is a devil and he is evil. Whatever you know or do not know about him, know this, evil is a reality and it is personified and its attacks are also personified, tailor made to you. Against him and his minions you, as a believer have the power to stand, and are commanded to stand. You are given by God the means to overcome and to stand firm. These means are different from the ones you employed, in vain, before knowing Christ.
If we have God on our side, and the means to prevail, why do we often not prevail? Because many are unaware of the extent of the problem, out of lack of revelation or teaching, and attribute it to other causes, namely human; many are rebellious and will not deal with the problem using the means provided by God, because it will involve a change to their ways; many are lazy and foolish and just hope it will go away, it does not. What is guaranteed is that for those who will believe and follow God’s word on the matter, the outcome is victory, righteousness, peace and joy.
Engaging in a battle that is already won is fun, it is fun because I have chosen to play by the rules. And one of the rules is prayer, that steady communication with God where He clears my mind and fills it with His thoughts, where He conveys to Him the majesty of His Person that fills me with confidence, where I honour the One who is above all, where I present my petition for assistance and receive help, where I oppose the one who will accuse and destabilise me and destroy his evil purposes, prayer, where God’s desires are invited to become manifested reality and do.
Shalom
Steps of joy
If you are ever looking for me in heaven you will find me sitting with Paul the apostle discussing the book of Ephesians (or perhaps Romans, or perhaps, well, never mind). The point is that the man had a revelation of God that must surely be sweeter still as we dwell in the presence of the Master and savour the wonders of Him. And one that can never be exhausted, even in eternity.
Perhaps it’s part nostalgia, but as we near the end of our nearly six month study of the book of Ephesians, I could almost hang up my preaching robes, sally fort to meet Paul, sit with Him to listen as he expounds on these truths that have nourished generations of believers; hence carry the discussion into eternity. No I most certainly do not have a death wish, but the Bible does make it clear that the family here on earth and out there in heaven is one and the same.
The point is that these truths of God’s word just eat into you so much that you cannot get enough of them. And as usual I think I am more blessed by what I preach than my listeners are. I have literally been having the time of my life preaching this series. I lean, you read, you meditate, you chew on these truths and you just get thoroughly excited; then you preach them and get even more excited. You try to sit still but you find yourself jumping up and preaching, to…God. Has to be, He’s the only one there.
The greatness of what God planned for us in Christ is staggering and startling; and in the light of that it seems churlish to refuse him anything and to live for ought but His pleasure. And that is what comes out so beautifully in the second part of the book, what we are to do, in view of what He has already done. It makes obedience a privilege, not an imposition. And as we mount steps of obedience, we mount steps of joy.
Shalom!
pastor, preacher, pontificator, professional interpreter, part-time blogger.
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