Interested or Surrendered

 I have neglected this blog for some time now, Like most of us, life has gotten in the way, some silly, some serious, but the result is the same, that although things have been going on, and God has been involved a lot in my life, I've just not got round to this blog.

 In the interim period though, a good friend of mine has started up his own blog, which you can find Here and also on the top left of my blog page, called Faith in Heresy. Its a very good read, and I highly recommend checking it out, PGC, the blogs author, looks at things from the bible very differently to many people I have encountered and theology discussions with him over the years have been somewhat eye opening.

 I get slightly sidetracked, but only slightly as PGC is actually the reason for this next blog really. Well indirectly. A number of years ago PGC gave me a book called 'A More Elite Soldier' by Chuck Holton.(you can buy it here).

 I have read the book many, many times over the 8 years that I have owned it, and just recently, for no perticular reason, I grabbed it off of the book shelf at random (at least for me it was random) and started reading it again.

 I say random, because I hadn't thought about rading the book again, but god obviously had a reason for me to read it, that I was unaware of, as I approached the book case. But it is this book that is the subject of this next blog, as i feel God is telling me something as I read and I plan on putting that in this blog as I learn what He is telling me.
As I opened the book, there is a personal inscription inside the front cover, that is relevent today as much as it was the day that it was written to me. But it struck me that although it was personal to me, taht it has relevence to us all as Christians. Its reads: - 

   'I pray this book plays a part in your training. I pray it speaks to you warrior, and that you learn the lessons God has to teach you through it. This is your army. This is your unit. Christ is your cause'

 In chapter 2 of Chuck Holtons book, He talks about Airborne school and jump training - basically, parachute training military style, explaining how having an interest in becoming an airborne trooper, might get you into the harness, might even get you on the plane, however in the air, inside the aircraft there is a line befroe the door. Mr Holton notes that having an interest might even have prompted him to 'peer out of the door' but would never have gotten him Airborne qualified.
 
 The books says 'There's a line where the floor of the aircraft meets the open jump door. That line is where curiosity stops and commitment begins'.

 Now I have the utmost respect for the forces, the people that choose to train as elite warriors to keep the freedoms taht we enjoy. But even with my major interesr in most things military, personally I could never get my head around the idea of jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane which has ever intention of going to land not long after I jump.
But its the next statement in the book that really struck me as I was reading: - 

'I had known people who were ''interested'' Christians as well/ They attend church every week, and some even sang in the choir or held prominent positions...being a christian was really more of an academic pursuit that a relationship with God built on trust'
A More Eltie Soldier - Page 42

 Many Christians I have met over the years are this exact way. We can very likely, all think of people we know just like this, even thought its not our place to judge, I imagine every person just thought of someone they know.Many of us have been here ourselves. Myself and by his own admission Chuck Holton have 'shown up in that category...from time to time'.

 All too often our lives are so busy with the things we do, the everyday, mundane and exciting stuff that we call life, that we get so bogged down and our 'christianity', our walks with god suffers. We become weekend worshippers, even those of us taht are better disciplined can get bogged down in the ideal of having a regular 'quiet time' or 'prayer closets'. Our devotion becomes habit, ritual. in essence religion - Dogma, as a good friend of mine recently put it.

 And in light of all this, we wonder why people are turned off to the Good News. Why our society shuns Christianity, why we readily hears accounts such as this: - 


' "it's been a long time since I talked to the big Ranger in the sky. I guess I don't see the point sometimes"...Lear's tone was dry, almost bitter, as he spoke through mouthfuls of sausage and hashbrowns. "I grew up Catholic. Went through confirmation class, the whole shebang. but as I got older, I started noticing how people in the church acted during the week. I started to get a bad taste in my mouth after seeing these 'Christians' treating others badly, spreading gossip and not helping people who needed it" He put his fork down "It just didnt make sense to me how they could go around believing that they were going to heaven just because they prayed and went to church. Finially I got to the point where I couldn't stand to believe anymore'
A More Elite Soldier

 This is the account of a ranger buddy of the books author, its an account echoed countless times, not restricted to the catholic church by any means, but one that can and is found in every denomiation that has ever existed. Similar stories of people abused by churches, not just physical like we read about in the papers, but spiritually and mentally also. People hurt by people they trusted. the list goes on and on.

 How then can we expect people to turn to Christianity, true Christianity, to hold belief and faith in the god of the bible, when the example that they see so often falls short?

 Although this is an understandable question to begin with, it is in fact the wrong question to be asking. Why the wrong question? Lets start by going back to Chuck Holtons book

 In response to the above statement by Lear, Chuck Holton replies: -
'Well by your line of reasoning, we should have quit the regiment along time ago. After all, if everyone isnt maintaining the standards, then they are a bunch of hypocrites. The Ranger Creed must be worthless. But that inst the case is it? The Ranger Creed doesnt lose one bt of its value because a Ranger fails to maintain its standards. Its still as worthy of our aspirations as ever'
A More Elite Soldier - Page 70

 This is just the same for the bible, as it is for the Ranger Creed of these highly trained warriors. The bible itself tell us in Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

 Do the actions of an individual, claiming to be a Christian and therefore a disciple of Christ (the word christian meaning christ like) deminish the restorative power of Jesus' work on the cross, when they do these things?

 How could it possibly take anything away? Especially when taken in light of Romans 5:8 - that while we were still God enemy, He sent Jesus His only begotten son into the world to take on the sin of those very enemies.John 15:13 tells us that greter love has no one but this, than he who lays down his life for his friend, but We were not yet saved, not yet redeemed, our status was still enemy of God not friend when Jesus came to earth. How much could we possibly deminish this glorious gift in our mistakes when the gift was offered while we were turned away from Him at the time of the offering?


 Of course this doesnt excuse Christians for porr behaviour or attitudes, far from it, Christians should hold their lives to a high account.


'You should be appalled when someone who claims to be a christian doesnt act like it. But what you cant do is throw out Christ with the hypocrites...The fact that some of His children haven't yet become like Him, doesnt leave a scratch on His integrity. it simply means they are students, not the master'
A More Elite Soldier  - Page 71

 So how then do we live better, doing our utmost to live up to the higher standard?

'Surrender'. Chuck Holton says ' thats what its really about isnt it? Airborne school taught me that whether it was jumping out of a perfectly good airplane at thirteen hundred feet or letting go of my need to be in control of my life, the act of surrendering was the same'
A More Elite Soldier - Page 42

 Jesus taught His disciples, throughout His short 3 year ministry on earth, that he only did what He saw the father doing. Our responcibility is to become more like Christ. Studying God's nature, seeking His face daily, all this will lend itself to our lives being lived the way that Jesus lived. Learning to do what the father tells us, Knowing that what we are doing matches His will becuase of the level of intimacy we have gained in our walks with the father through Jesus.

 The aim for our tie on earth is to get to a place where what john the Baptist stated in John 3:30 - He must increase, I must decrease, becomes our attitude in life, the very nature of the idea in the 24-7 prayer poem I posted previously where its says 'Their DNA chooses Jesus. He breathes out they breath in. Its an aim and a journey. So what happens when we get it wrong, mess it up or fail miserably? Do we beat ourselves up? dig our the burlap sack and ciliase, flogging outselves?


 Actually no, none of the above - rather remind ourselves of the work done on the cross on the day at Calvary, recall to mind 1 peter 4:8 Love covers a multitude of sins, and tht although we are 

'not the perfect Christian...that doesnt mean I'm going to give up and stop trying to get better. Fortunately I dont have to be good to go to heaven'
A More Elite Soldier - page 71

 That thankfully is the grace of God, that through the redemptive power of the cross and the risen Jesus and victory over death and sin, that we can now have the certainty of heaven and stand before the throne of God in jugdement spotless, pure and blameless as a result of the blood of the lamb.

 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God 

 So continually emerse yourself in the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 16:24-27 and the remember James 4:8 and 1 Corinthians 10:13

 I want to leave you with a quote I also found in huck Holtons book, by Phillips Brooks

'Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks'

 Until next time - This is your army, this is your unit, Christ is your cause.

(I would like to once again stress that the quoted sections of the book A More Elite Soldier are not owned by myself other than in the form of my personal copy of the book, they are owned by the publisher and the author, and appear in this blog simply as illistration of what god has been speaking to me)
 

Revival

Over the last week I have heard a lot of history on revival, mostly the history of the Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles that started in April of 1906. How the 1904 Welsh revival had a hand in bringing it about, and ho the result of that revival was the birthing of numerous Pentecostal movements.

I got to thinking, Revival is something that Christians ask for , there are songs about it, there are prayers said in untold numbers of churches across the world each week for it. And aside from smaller awakening of the recent history (the Toronto blessing, the Pensacola outpouring etc come to mind) 

But we have not seen anything of the magnitude of say the Welsh Revival - which history shows had a vast effect, not only on the nation itself, But that also spread way beyond the borders of the nation.

I mean look at some of the impact the welsh revival had - where a conservative estimate of 150,000 people were saved during the first 6 months, Public houses became almost empty. Men and women who used to waste their money in getting drunk were now saving it, giving it to help their churches, buying clothes and food for their families. And not only drunkenness, but stealing and other offences grew less and less so that often a magistrate came to court and found there were no cases for him. 

Men whose language had been filthy before learnt to talk purely. It is related that not only did the colliers put in a better day's work, but also that the pit ponies turned disobedient! The ponies were so used to being cursed and sworn at that they just didn't understand when orders were given in kind, clean words! The dark tunnels underground in the mines echoed with the sounds of prayer and hymns, instead of oaths and nasty jokes and gossip.

People who had been careless about paying their bills, or paying back money they had borrowed, paid up all they owed.
People who had not been friends for a long time because of something that had happened in the past, forgot their quarrels and were happy together again.

So I thought to myself, what do these great revivals have in common?

I came across this website  - Banner of Truth

I have copied a section of the article that caught my attention, and I would recommend reading it all from the link above - but here's what I have been thinking about alot today

So what do all these revivals hold in common? First, mighty prayer, fuelled by an intolerable burden of present circumstances, moved God’s people to pray for his glory to come down, for his praise to be in all the earth. The one hundred and twenty met in the upper room after Jesus’ ascension and prayed for ten days for the promised Holy Spirit to come. The Presbyterian Church in Connor, prior to the Ulster revival, had one hundred weekly small group prayer meetings.³ The revival in New York City in 1858 ⁴ and Wales in 1904 were both ignited by mighty prayer.

Second, all of these revivals, including the ones happening currently, occurred in the absence of modernity. By modernity I mean all of our modern conveniences — twenty-four hour sports, news, weather, and movies, internet, cell phones, iPods, etc. Even the awakenings occurring in China, Algeria, India, and Iran are largely among the poor, those who do not have access to our modern conveniences. Why is this? I suggest our affluence and all it buys is killing us spiritually. There is too much noise, too many distractions, too many 'lesser' things to steal away our hearts from sincere devotion to Jesus. We are too easily satisfied with 'cotton candy' when we need a nutritional meal. You know how it goes — you purpose to be more earnest in prayer and Bible study and attending your small group weekly covenant group, but you cannot resist the desire to sit in front of your computer until midnight, looking at Facebook or checking out various news or sports websites. 

The first part we can do with a little discipline - prayer is something that we can conscientiously choose to engage in for revival, so great - that's one thing to get the people of God going after.(some already do)

But its the second part - Can true revival come in our instant society. In a world where we can get our meals in minutes (take aways, microwave meals etc) where we can have things on demand - pause TV, playback TV, even watch the shows we miss on the Internet, all of this while on the move through smart phones that are often smarter than the people carrying them.

If its true that all previous revivals have been in the absence of modernity, can we see it in our lives/nations etc in such power with all the mod cons of today's world.

I don't mean can God do it, because we know that nothing is impossible for God, we have to be available, and willing to be used - Isaiah 6:8

What I mean is in our instant coffee, immediate 'I don't wait for anything' culture, can we really be open to God using us.

Its a challenge for me, its something I put to you - surely our facebook induced nature should be a help towards spreading the good new of the gospel - but do you and I make it a hindrance to the move of the Holy Spirit?

Taking Christ out of Christmas

Something struck me today, and got me thinking - a dangerous prospect I know, but still, the ramblings of the inner workings of my mind sometimes come up with something interesting, and this was one of those things.

At this time of the year you always see the shops with decorations and such like, and I remember seeing over the years a bunch of places that would make a point of putting Merry Xmas in the windows, I would guess the idea is not to offend people at this time of year.

After all there are many people that do not celebrate Christmas. Some out of religious belief, some from an issue with it being about Jesus being born in December when they believe he was not. Others have their own reasons and my point is not really about that.

However in this country, we have gone politically correct mad, and as a result people have tried to take Christ out of Christmas with their Xmas banners.

I started thinking about this today - first we know that one of the major reasons that we celebrate Jesus birth at this time of the year is down to Roman Catholics way back when Rome had power over a vast majority of the world, their Emperor Constantine who had once been a pagan was converted to Christianity, however did not wish to alienate the people by removing a long standing tradition and so simply replaced it with a Holy day for the people as the time to celebrate Christmas and the birth of our saviour.

Now the bible doesn't actually state when Jesus was born, and the experts tend to lean towards some point at the end of September - due to the facts stated in the bible, Mary would likely not have travelled in the harsh cold that this time of year brings in the region. But it was very common and acceptable for people to travel at the end of September during a season called feast of the tabernacles.

But whenever Jesus was actually born, or why we have this date in December as a celebration doesn't really change the point of the celebration. You see without Christ there can not be a Christmas.

Let me explain.

Christmas itself comes from the joining of two words Christ (obviously) and mass which originally one form of the word meant sent. So although we often celebrate it as the birth of Christ the celebration itself is actually of the fact that Christ was sent.  Mass is also what liturgical Churches call the celebration of the Lord's Supper, and what we refer to as communion. So you take the celebration of the Lord's supper, and the celebration of the sending of the Christ, and it doesn't matter what the date it -

1 corinthians 11:23-26  Paul tells us of the words of Jesus himself, that every time we eat and drink of the bread and cup we proclaim Christ - you don't need a set date for that - a lot of churches do it every week, some every month.


However there is something else that made me think about all this. The political correctness try to stop offending other faiths by taking Christ out of the Christmas celebration, they call this time of year the holiday season, or chance the very name of Christmas itself to simple Xmas.

That is the part that I get a kick out of - they try, but they can not take Christ out of this time of year. And here is why - before the Cross became a symbol of Christianity, a widely recognised symbol for Christians was the Chi Rho.

The symbol is that of an X and a P merged. So why the X???

The X is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ - Χριστός

So when you see X mas in place of Christmas - its not actually any different - its still proclaiming Christ Sent!!!!!

How great is that!!!!!!

Self Sufficient or Christ Sufficiency?

I recently gave this word in our Church service, its something that God has been speaking to me about recently, something that I am learning to walk out.

This is something that right now I feel is a vital message to the church at large.

You see, no matter what you are facing, good bad or otherwise, you have before you a set of circumstances. And while seeking God about a situation in my life He led me to Philippians 4, where Paul is talking about this very thing.

I want to set a little background for you, in case you are unfamiliar with the history of books of the bible. Phillipians is a letter Paul wrote to the first church that he had planted in Europe. Philippi was a Roman colony in Macedonia. At the time that Paul is writing this letter to them, they were a strong and healthy congragation. Doing well and Paul is writing to them as an encouragement - A letter to say - keep going, your doing well, stay strong and vigilent, follow Christ and the examples of the Godly men set in your midst, such as Timothy.

As you read towards the end of the letter, specifically Philippians 4:10-20 - you find that Paul is explaining his contentment.

Philippians 4:10-11 

Paul makes mention of two aspects that bring about this contentment.

The first is about generosity - something that is a whole message in itself and one that I may look at in a later blog. But the sencond aspect Paul refers to is about attitude, more importantly attitude towards circumstances.

As I have already stated, no matter what you are facing in your life right now, it is a set of circumstances. Sometimes they are good circumstances and we hope that they last a long time, othertimes they are not good, and we hope they change quickly. SOmetimes we pray for those to change.

I once heard someone teach that, when you pray for your circumstances to change and they do, what are you left with? - Another set of circumstances.

So in all our lives we have two choices.

1) You can complain about things
2) You can choose to discipline yourself to be content in all things, reckoning that we have enough, no matter what.

Now thing is not something that comes overnight, not something that just happens - its something that we have to work on in our lives.

Philippians4:12

Its a practise that we need to go through, Paul tells us. As he himself went through degrees of progressive detachment from the things of this world, its comforts and discomforts alike.

Detachment being the release from desire and consequently from suffering.

Paul tells us that he has 'finally' come to maturity in this. He says 'I have learned the secret'

By Pauls example, we know that contentment doesnt come easily - its purchased at the price of discipline.

There are two main keys that Paul gives within this chapter that unlock the secret that Paul talks about

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me - Philippians 4:13

This is a well known verse, often quoted for any number of things, but consider it this way - Paul is telling us that he has come to understand that no circumstance could ever arise that was bigger than His God.

This is a truth that we need to grasp hold of in the church today - one I feel we cant afford to miss out on.

One commentary I was reading put it this way

'the real source of our contentment will never run dry, no matter the circumstance'

The second key then is: - 

And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 4:19 

As well as never being overwhelmed by our circumstances, as He is bigger than anything that we could ever face - God gives us a promise in this verse, He will meet/provide for our every need in full.

Now understand that I am not saying that God will provide everything that you ever want, thats not the promise here at all.

The Rolling Stones songs tells it well - 'You cant always get what you want, but i you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need'

But the promise here goes further than just providing, its tells us its a provision according to His riches in glory.

God is not limited by your circumstance or by the size of your needs, but ONLY by His rihes in glory - thats unlimited - The promise is in proportion to His infinate resources. and the good news is taht this is not a promise of what God intends to do for His children when they reach heaven, but of what He will do for them here on earth.

Contentment - Aristotle says is 'possessing all things and needing nothing'

but for the Christian we need to see it so differently.

The vital backbone for these two keys Paul gives us, the FUNDERMENTAL, FOUNDATIONAL key to the whole thing

IN HIM/IN CHRIST JESUS

It means literally joined with Christ.
The Isrealites at Passover, when they had spread the sacrificed lambs blood around the door frame would have been known to be 'in the lamb' this is what it is talking about

David in the psalms talks about this very thing over nd over again - you find it all through the psalms examples are psalms 17, 61, 91 - Hiding in the shadow of His wings, my strong tower, my place of refuge.

Its means you have to turn and run to Jesus, seek Him, surround yourself with Him, His word, His presence in everything, every aspect of your daily life.

The backbone of it all is relationship with Jesus.

For the person who possesses Christ posseses all.
however a relation can only be enjoyed by consiously attending it, you have to choose to give it your time and your effort and give your eneergy to it.

You see other religions believe Christ existed, JW's do, muslims believe Jesus to be a prophet second only to mohammed, buddists see him as a friend of Budda. Even history books can provide more documentation to prove the existance of Jesus, than they can produce to prove the existance of the ceasers of Rome.

But it only the Christian that gets to experience a truth far greater than existance - Jesus is alive - he wants us to have, and we can have relationship with Him.

Personal, intimate relationship.

I finished my message in church this past sunday with a bit of a chalenge to the congregation, one that I would like to repeat here  -

Take a look at your life, whatever you are facing, whatever circumstances that you are going through - Do you consiously attend your relationship with Christ?

The amplified bible for Philippians 4:13 has Paul telling us 'I am self sufficient in Christ sufficiency'

Your see our goal in this walk with God is not self sufficiency, but rather an utter dependance on God.

Rainbows in Strangest places

Its been quite some time since I last wrote a blog, and although I have been busy putting together a few things that I will share in due time, I have not really had a lot to put up here.

However today I would like to share something. A little while ago I read an article on the Daily Mail website about a guy who while travelling on the motorway took a photo of the end of the rainbow. The photo from the article is the on the left here and the article can be found here

I had thought at the time that it was crazy how lucky someone could have been to have seen this. I remember as a child that I was told that you could never see the end of a rainbow, mostly because of the way that a rainbow is formed. That however is obviously not true.

Now for the Christian, the rainbow holds a different meaning - its a reminder of the promise of God to Noah after the flood as can be found in Genesis.

And then today I was driving (I finally passed my test and bought a car) back from Cardiff after doing some shopping, the sun was shining a fantastic Autumn sunny day, as I approached Bridgend it began to rain hard, but the sun still shone brightly. 

I looked in my rear view mirror in order to change lanes, like you should and low and behold, I too saw the same event that's described in the daily mail article. A rainbow appeared from the sky and hit the motorway behind the car.


I am sharing this because over the past few months I have been faced with a situation that's been pretty stressful, and although I will not go into it here, I have been trusting in God to get me through it.


This week there was breakthrough in this situation and things have turned out well, all sorted and its nothing that I could have done to sort out, I have left the situation in the hands of Christ and trusted that He will get me through and that is just what He has done.


I felt like that rainbow today was a little message to me, remember my promise. The bible tells us God has plans for us, to prosper us and to give us hope and a future, a promise you can find in Jeremiah 29:11

I guess the purpose of this quick blog is as an encouragement, for those going through things or are awaiting God on something in Prayer - remember His promises.

Update

Well after the last blog the world didnt end, and we can be sure that in this fact the Bible and once again not man is the authority on ALL things.

Praise the LORD for that at least.

SO today my youngest turned 1 year old, and I got to thinking (I know - surprise it was not a movie related thing for a change) about how fast time goes by.

I recently talked touched upon evangelism is a rather broad and sweeping way, and I guess thats on the forefront of my mind again as I type this blog tonight.

This past weekend I was leading worship at an outreach event in Cearau for a good friend of mine, and as per usual when asked to lead worship I have been battling with a flu type virus. The event over all was good, if not massively attended, but these things are about planting seeds and making first steps.

Evangelism then, I am saying its a marathon and not a sprint? well I guess in some ways yeah it is. Albeit a marathon with a limited time frame.

As I said in my last blog matthew 24-36 tells us that no one knows when the return will be, and so we need to make the most of the time we have.

In my old church back in london there was a poster on the wall of a Calin and Hobbes and a quote from its creator that used to make me laugh but has stuck with me through the years

'God put me on earth to do certain things, right now I am so far behind I will never die' Bill Watterson




Another oft seen quote is

Now I am not the overly religious tye, and find these things funny, but there are elements of truth to all sarcasm, and this is a truth that we as Christians need to grasp.

2 Peter 3:9   The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance .

The scary fact is that God has chosen in His infinite and unparalleled wisdon to use YOU and ME as the tools for this very thing. Its doesnt matter which side of the predestination coin your view lies, the bible gives Jesus' command to each of us.

The Great Commission as we find in Matthew 28 gives clear instruction -
Go then and make disciples of all nations

what does this really mean - well whats a disciple?

simply a follower of a teaching

But how can someone be a follower of a teaching that they neer hear, and they never hear because you are too afraid to tell them???

Thats just not going to cut it.

ANd I am talking to myself as I write this blog, I am no evangelist, I am not winning souls to the kingdom everyday, in fact to my knowledge I have not singlehandedly lead even one to the Lord through my words.

But we need something in this country. Our ground is hard and the roots of our past spiritul revivals have dried up. Our wells have been blocked, and we need to have something happen to change that.

Its starts with the power of the word. We need to stop looking back on the past and telling ourselves it will never be like that again. This nation was labelled Godless recently, that it was hard to win souls to God as people here think they have it all sussed, we need to change that mind in the church, and then get the church into the world.

You can not make a disciple by sitting inside your four walls each sunday morning and tuesday night, you got to be getting out there telling people about the great and wonderful gift that you have recieved through Christ on the cross.

People are going to hell, and I believe I have said this before, but you sit around doing nothing, living in your shell is just buying the people around you a one way ticket to damnation.

You, me, and the next brother in Christ have to pull our finger out, get out to the world and tell the world what Jesus did.

Jesus is coming, you dont need to look busy, you need to get busy, get busy praying as if it all depends on God, and live like it all depends on you!!!!

what follows is the words of a peom that were written o the wall of a 24/7 prayer room, they are the words of a man named Peter Grieg

'The words of 'The Vision' were written late one night on the wall of the first ever 24-7 Prayer Room. It wasn't a big deal, says Pete Greig, ... just a very personal thing - trying to work out the call on my life and why I was awake at 0300 praying when sane people are all tucked up in bed! But somehow the words of The Vision escaped that Prayer Room! They must have been copied off the wall by someone and sent as an email to a friend. Pete recalls: I didn't realise any of this until someone in Canada emailed my own poem to me saying they had come across it and thought I might like it!

The Vision

So this guy comes up to me and says "what's the vision? What's the big idea?" I open my mouth and words come out like this… The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.
The vision is an army of young people.

You see bones? I see an army. And they are FREE from materialism.
They laugh at 9-5 little prisons. They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday. They wouldn't even notice. They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won. They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations. They need no passport..

People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence. They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying. What is the vision ? The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes. It makes children laugh and adults angry. It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars. It scorns the good and strains for the best. It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation. It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games. This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause. A million times a day its soldiers
choose to lose that they might one day win the great 'Well done' of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don't need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: "COME ON!"

And this is the sound of the underground The whisper of history in the making Foundations shaking Revolutionaries dreaming once again Mystery is scheming in whispers Conspiracy is breathing… This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.

Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms. The tattoo on their back boasts "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain".

Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes. Winners. Martyrs. Who can stop them ? Can hormones hold them back? Can failure succeed? Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays

like a dying man with groans beyond talking, with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and with great barrow loads of laughter! Waiting.

Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.
They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive
inside.

On the outside? They hardly care. They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide. Would they surrender their image or their popularity? They would lay down their very lives - swap seats with the man on death row - guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,

they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.) Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus. Their words make demons scream in shopping centres. Don't you hear them coming? Herald the weirdo's! Summon the losers and the freaks. Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes. They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension. Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it will come soon. How do I know? Because this is the longing of creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of God. My tomorrow is his today. My distant hope is his 3D. And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great 'Amen!' from countless angels, from hero's of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.

this poem has been taken from the 24-7 prayer website here and has no ownership by myself.

End of the World

Welcome to judgement day, apparently.

It was said that today the world would end right about now, that a massive earthquake would bring about the end of the world and with it usher in judgement day.

This got me thinking, especially as the predicted time (at least where I live in the world) came and went without incident, in as much as there was no earthquake in the UK.

As Christians, we believe that the rapture is coming, and the end of the world will come with the judgement of God.

But as Christians, should we be trying to predict when?

Matthew 24:36 is a passage of scripture that for me makes it really clear. NO ONE knows the time or the day.

This is the word of God, so shouldn't we be paying attention to that fact.

Now I don't wish to seem judging of those that feel lead to make these predictions, but my view point is, why waste that time when God has already told us that we can not know the time. This is Jesus telling us that while here on earth that only the Father will know when these events will happen.

What does this mean for us here on earth.

We have a ticking timer, that will run out. What are we to do. Surely there is no better time than right now to do what we were commanded to do.

What follows are my notes from a sermon by a good friend of mine, Pastor Josh Hannah from Friendship World Outreach in Tennessee. Taken at a recent service at Bethel Elim Church.

GO

The greatest challenge facing the church, the biggest obstacle - changing your mindset to make a difference.

We don't need to get the world into the church, we need to get the church into the world.

Jesus said Go.

Luke 10 - Go to Homes, that's what Jesus said, and if you find a man of peace you stay, meet the needs.

The challenge is not to pray 'Oh world come' its to pray 'Oh church Go'

Mark 16:15 

If its got breath and its kicking Preach to it

Revival is coming but its not like we have ever seen before. Its NOT going to be people coming in.
Its gonna be the few that are willing to Go - that's whats gonna bring in revival.

Pray that they will be sent to the harvest

Luke 14:23 - Go and compel them to come in

1 John 3:18 

Anybody can go, its not about your Words. Jesus didn't just love in words, Jesus loved people in His deeds too.

Matt 5:16 

What is your light? What do people see?

Its your good works that they see, and when they do they glorify your Father in heaven.

And its not about your money either, You can never ever out give God.
What you do for others, God will do for you.

John 2 -  Canaan wedding, and the first miracle.

Jesus had done nothing by this point, He had not walked on water, healed the sick or any of that stuff.

The servants didn't have to obey Him, they didn't have to do anything Jesus said, yet they chose to serve Him.

Verse 9 says that the master of the house did not know where the wine had come from.

The servants know what nobody else does.

Jesus didn't make them serve, and He will not make you serve either.

But its not about what happens to you if you don't serve that should motivate you, - its the things that God would do in your sight if you serve that should motive you.

You'll see God more if you serve.

When you do a good deed, you release endorphins in your body. Science proves that serving God by serving others put you into the joy of the Lord.

When you serve others, God will do for you.

Ephesians 2:10

Blessed means happy

We need to go out - Go into the world.

Go make a difference.

(I would like to point out once more that these constitute my notes of the preach, they are the things that stood out to me in the sermon, and are not Josh's notes - so as a disclaimer, the content is my interpretation of the message given only)

To finish I would like to share one other thing that Josh shared and that I already had knowledge of from the person involved testimony, but I feel its important to realise.

Another friend of mine committed his life to Christ just about a year ago now, and His journey to God began because one christian said five simple words to my friend. But those 5 words changed His life forever - all because one person was willing to Go, be obedient to the command of Jesus.

Those words

'Put Your Faith In God'

If that was enough to change one persons life, Why not another person.

Time is running out. Go