Magnitudal shift re-run (A word for the whosoever)

This morning as I pray God turned my attention to this blog post that I wrote back in early 2012. It reminded me that God is doing immeasurably more than we dare ask or imagine. 

He's doing it right now. 

Prophetically I feel more than compelled to re publish it today.

I had been doing a lecture on silence at a university. The students were then asked by their overseer to go into a silent retreat for the rest of the day. I was invited to stay. 

In that silence, god really spoke to me. And asked me to share this prophetic word on my blog.  I think its relevant to me right now but God again asked me to press the publish button.

So here goes, I pray it is the right word for someone today as it is for me today.  

I'm sitting today in a silent retreat.

It's excruciatingly silent!

Amazingly I have gone straight into a deep connection with God. I feel his presence on my life like the river that makes glad the city of God.

So I feel compelled to write something down.

The Spirit of God is speaking.

And even though I don't want to write this, God says, write my boy, write, because I want you to share something.

I see pictures in my Spirit of hard ground breaking. Compact, hard,dry ground.

It's so hard that it seems unbreakable.

But it's breaking up.

As the earth cracks, great chasms appear in the ground. They are so wide and of epic proportions.

Shafts of brilliant white light are shining through. The light is so bright that I see people running towards the light.

An Army of people.

Being drawn to the chasms in the dry ground.

I feel Gods voice as I see people embracing the light and being drenched in it like white rain.

The Spirit of God says, "There is a magnitudal shift coming. Salvation is near. The ground is breaking, i am breaking it with my power, the hardness will be gone. The cracks are starting to appear. run towards the light. Do not run away from it. Run! Run for your life! This is a time of change, of righteousness, the light will make you bold. The light will give you the ability to risk everything for my cause. Be drenched in it, let it rain down on you. I want to take your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh! It's a straight choice, dry ground or the light. the light will stretch your dreams and visions far beyond the natural. The light will build an Army with an effectiveness not seen in past history. The light will compel this Army to the lost with an abandon to self unprecedented in the book of time. Run towards it. Run! A magnitudal shift has begun. The light will resource you beyond finance, strategy and human vision. The light will draw those who do not yet know me. This light from the chasms in the hard earth will change everything. It's coming. So start running."

Wow.

God asks me to share this word.

So guys pray about it.

Test it!

I believe God is speaking to us as a Salvation Army worldwide here.

But praise God I'm just the messenger.

So, as I write I feel the hand of God on my life right now.

I pray God will speak into the life of whoever reads this today.

Blessings in bucket loads.

Ruthless caring

At my graduation yesterday, there were some awe inspiring moments.

I completed my Masters degree in mission at Cliff College Derbyshire.

It is a Christian College and the graduation was undoubtedly to celebrate the successes of people who have worked incredibly hard to get academic rewards.

But more than that the graduation yesterday was totally about worshipping Jesus.

In the morning worship before the graduation ceremony, there was an invitation given to any student to come and testify about what God had done for them while at College.

There was some awesome words I tell you.

One of the students was Tom.

Tom is a young guy for whom gaining a degree was a daunting prospect. In a wheelchair, and expected to die at a young age, and indeed he was honest enough to say he wasn't sure how long he would live into the future, testified to the fact that its not about the future but what's you do now that counts. He testified to the power of God to carry you through and give you strength to achieve anything. He said he didn't know why but he just knew God wanted him to do this degree. He also thanked a couple of people who had stuck with him, he had to have carers with him right throughout the course to help him, and he acknowledged the care they had given him.

As he received his award on the stage at the graduation, I was so inspired by the very sight of him that it gave me a real lift just when I needed it.

My mind wandered to his carers, even though I didn't know who they were.

How they had given up time and effort and love, doing jobs that others may not want to do, so that someone in need could achieve something amazing.

This truly was awe inspiring. I was so touched I almost forgot to go up and collect my own award.

Then today at work, I had a coffee with a soldier who has been on a couple of tours to Afghanistan. He is just getting into a relationship with Jesus. Just starting out having accepted him into his life.

He mentioned something that so hit a chord with what God had shown me yesterday.

He said that in his unit they were effective in war because they 'ruthlessly cared for each other.' and he said that what he felt was the main thing that drew him to Jesus because he ruthlessly cared for him. And he said ultimately if the church is to be effective in war, then we have to ruthlessly care for each other.

Ruthless care.

Toms carers obviously ruthlessly cared for him and by ruthlessly cared I guess it meant laying large parts of their own lives down so that someone else could flourish.

Imagine a church that ruthlessly cared for each other? I guess that would make it easier to ruthlessly care for those who don't know Jesus?

And the soldier I had a coffee with is right, if we are to be effective in the spiritual battle then ruthless caring is essential to the outcome.

After all Jesus showed what ruthless caring was all about when he carried and hung and died on a cross for you and for me.

I don't know about you but I so want to see others flourish. I want to see the people who seemingly have no chance get a chance? I want to see lives transformed through ruthless caring.

So that means laying things down.

Do we show ruthless care to each other? What does that mean to us? What should we lay down so that others might flourish?

Jesus laid down his life so we can live.

That fact alone should in fact strengthen us to ruthlessly care for anyone who crosses our path in life.

So I pray today that God will help us to be ruthless carers of all people.

I surrender some?

My daughter, one of my two precious daughters, Bailey, found out she has to go to hospital for an operation very soon.

I won't go into the details of her illness, but I hate the thought of her having to go alone to the operating theatre. I would rather go on her behalf and have the operation for her. I guess you know what I mean?

It's also an important year for Dawn and I, as we possibly move appointments in less than a year now. And of course the way the Salvation Army do their appointments is still on a "someone else makes that decision" basis. So in effect we could go anywhere! A bit worrying to say the least!

Both these things have been weighing a bit heavy over the last couple of weeks, obviously Bailey being the dominant worry.

I got a bit lost in the fear of it all a week or so ago. We were on our two week holiday, which we desperately needed. The fear kind of stole our holiday really.

I began to look hard for God and found myself almost convincing myself he wasn't around!

I guess the real problem was that in times of need, I was having trouble giving the whole lot over to God and trusting him totally!

I saw this really funny clip on you tube, of someone singing the song, "I surrender all" only instead of singing those amazing words they sang, "I surrender some."

Funny, but challenging.

That was me last week!

I surrender some!

In other words, you can have a few things from me Lord but I'll keep lots of things to myself because I'm not sure I trust you with them!

Then, I read this scripture.

Job 23

23 Then Job replied:

2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;
his hand[a] is heavy in spite of[b] my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find him;
if only I could go to his dwelling!
4 I would state my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would find out what he would answer me,
and consider what he would say to me.
6 Would he vigorously oppose me?
No, he would not press charges against me.
7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him,
and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.
8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
if I go to the west, I do not find him.
9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
11 My feet have closely followed his steps;
I have kept to his way without turning aside.
12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
13 “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
He does whatever he pleases.
14 He carries out his decree against me,
and many such plans he still has in store.
15 That is why I am terrified before him;
when I think of all this, I fear him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me.
17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job finding was it hard to locate God in the centre of his particular troubles.

But.

He hangs on to God.

Desperately.

Then he makes that fab statement.

"God does what ever he pleases!"

This statement shocked me back into sync with God.

Straight away.

Like Job, I remembered that God is in total control. He does what he pleases.

So the ball is in my court to give control over to him.

To surrender all.

" He does whatever he pleases. He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store."(Job 23: 14)

Amazing.

Bailey I leave in God's hands. My gorgeous daughter.

My future I leave in his hands.

So guys.

Here's a mad but real question.

Do you surrender some?

Or do you surrender all?

Whatever the deal is right now. Give it to God.

As I responded positively to this word from God, peace poured in.

Reassurance overwhelmed me.

Restoration of resolve flooded back.

Maybe today a restoration of resolve is needed in your life.

I pray strength over you this day.

Strength to surrender all.

Re-emergence (calling out the prophetic!)

The view from the Mersey-rail underground train was clear enough.

Rows of new low cost housing stood in the once congested streets that at one time hosted thousands of run down terraced two ups two downs.

The area still didn't look too good.

Still congested.

A bit overcrowded.

Still with a run down feel.

I was looking at the very streets I grew up in.

A tough area, an area where probably my inner resolve developed into an essential strength for the rest of my life.

I looked at a group of kids kicking a football around on the same bit of Tarmac that I once kicked a ball on.

I saw my first school, still with the barbed wire protecting its perimeter. I was never sure whether that was to keep people out or to protect the public from us kids!

I thought back to a time in my early life where I thought I would live forever in those streets.

I never even imagined there was a world outside that one.

Peering out of the train window, my life kind of flashed forward through many years of my life to the now.

I have come a long way since those early days.

Last night I was reading scripture. I read Jeremiah 38.

I was struck by the fact that Jeremiah, a major prophetic speaker into the times that he lived, was thrown into a Cistern, and sank into the muddy base, for speaking a word that the King and his officials didn't like.

So he was trapped.

But he did get out.

A guy called Ebed-Melech convinced the king to have a rethink and get Jeremiah out of the Cistern, because he knew that Jeremiah's word was a serious word from God.

This action by Ebed-Melech, allowed the prophetic voice to be brought back into play.

Those streets I grew up on seem just like that, a Cistern.

Cisterns were really just spaces for holding water. They were often pear shaped and very deep. They usually had a kind of three foot diameter opening in the ground.

If you, like Jeremiah, were ever thrown down one? Unless an Ebed Melech was around, you wouldn't be able to get out.

There was a time when I really thought that I wasn't getting out of the life I led back then.

But I did get out.

Not only from those tough streets and an equally tough life, but from a life that was heading nowhere that is until Jesus, came and rescued me.

I guess there are resonances here.

Yet that's not what I want to write here in this post.

Lately I have been thinking how my own denomination, the Salvation Army in the UK, really needs a release of the prophetic. It kind of feels like many voices are trapped in the cistern so to speak. Things are hotting up, prayer is doing better, people are understanding worship much more deeply, social action is being taken very seriously, all positive great things and we praise God for that. Yet alongside everything we do? The prophetic has to be released. The voices have to speak out. Right now the Salvation Army needs to listen to what God is speaking into our times and act on it.

Maybe this post is a bit of an Ebed- Melech word? Calling the prophetic out of the cistern?

So if you have something to say and you believe it is from God? Speak it out.

If you feel you have something to share ? Share it.

I am speaking out tonight that God is calling out the prophetic from out of the cistern, do not stay there. However hard it is to speak out, however people receive it, be strong and raise your voices.

I believe God is calling for a re-emergence of the Jeremiah's!

For a time such as this.

Cold Heart (Compassionate Mission)

"How could we let our hearts go cold?"

Kay Warren from Saddleback Church in California, said this at the HIV and AIDS conference in November 2006. She was speaking of her confrontation with her own hardness of heart when she was first confronted with her own attitude towards AIDS and HIV. She was being massively honest while describing her amazing journey through brokenness to stand with the poor and the marginalised.

I am sitting in another hotel room, and I can't get this question that Kay Warren poses out of my head.

How could we let our hearts go so cold?

Cold hearts, it seems to me, are a contradiction to the churches mission to the poor.

I remember a time when my own heart was cold.

Freezing in fact.

Yeah, I journeyed from birth a Salvationist, doing Salvationist kind of things, in my case case you could call it going through the motions. I am a fifth generation Salvationist. It was taken as red that I would ingratiate into the ranks without question.

And I guess I didn't question it.

It was a way of life.

A kind of separate world to the big wide world.

I joined the brass band, after learning to play a cornet. I was made a junior soldier because that was what you did.

I had no choice.

I was made a senior soldier, again with no real choice.

The brass band became an obsession. I did all those mad things like live in fear of not wearing my cap from the car to the hall. Like sacrificing my possible football career because I couldn't play footy on Sundays.

I could list so much more of this madness.

I lived in a Salvation Army cocoon.

I had absolutely no idea about a relationship with God.

And my heart was cold.

And hard.

This carried on until I hit my thirties.

My heart was cold towards God.

My heart was cold towards anything really.

I had no idea that I could possibly make a difference in this world.

I had absolutely no idea what compassion was.

I remember sitting in the stands at the Heysel Stadium in Belgium on a balmy night I was there to watch my football team Liverpool playing in the European Cup final but ended up watching many people die in some of the worst football violence ever seen in Europe.

I remember feeling shocked at how cold my heart was back then.

I felt nothing.

I did not have any idea about compassion or even true passion.

Of course all that changed one day when I recognised my need of a Saviour when I took my first tentative steps into a relationship that will be forever.

When I encountered Jesus my hard heart softened, almost straight away. I began to see others differently. I began to open my emotions instead of stifling them. I began to see my family, my friends, the whole world in fact, in a completely different light.

I guess I was moved with compassion.

Compassion.

Let's put that another way.

A warm heart.

And further down the road of my relationship, my heart is getting warmer all the time.

I think I want to be bold prophetically in this blog post and please, I say this not in any judgemental way, no definitely not. And I am definitely not saying that everyone has cold hearts, no not at all. But I believe the spirit of God says, "The church cannot carry out its mission with cold hearts."

How can we see the pain of the broken with cold hearts?

How can we cry with the poor?

How can we reach those who need help, healing and life, without the compassion of a God who sent his only Son to die for me and for you?

What do you feel when you see the injustices worldwide on our TV news bulletins? What do you feel when you see thousands of children and whole families dying of aids? What do you feel when you see people dying of starvation when others have plenty?

Do you cry?

Do we feel anything?

Tonight as I sit and throw this around in my head I know this. My heart needs to continue softening to be able to respond to the needs of the world.

And the church has to be responding to the needs of the world.

Kay Warren states a challenging question. How could we let our hearts get so cold?

Sounds like she's generalising?

I don't think so.

I know when I look back at my life before the moment I encountered Jesus.

I can definitely pose that question to myself.

And maybe it's a question for someone out there reading this?

Maybe your tired of a cold and hard heart.

Maybe it's time for your heart to grow warm?