Moving on from the past?

I walked into Sanctuary 21 morning after dealing with emails, a few calls and some other admin over coffee.

As I approached the building, the builders who are revamping phase 2 of our prayer centre overhaul had stripped back the frontage of the building. A sign from the past had reappeared from under the boarding that had been fixed in place for many years.

The sign in faded yellow signage paint read SALVATION ARMY HEADQUARTERS. (see picture)

The building had housed an old divisional headquarters in bygone times. It has been a long time since the yellow faded sign has seen daylight.

I felt a kind of good feeling inside.

Firstly it gave me a reminder of how far Sanctuary21 has come since it was just a picture in my head and heart. How it has actually materialized from vision to reality over a few years.

Secondly it reminded me that this building has had a past. I found myself reflecting on how the past generations of Salvationists have faithfully sought to minister in Durham. Without that we may have not had a Sanctuary 21 in Durham at all.

Thirdly it spoke to me how if we strip away the present the past will be revealed. The sign is faded and a reminder of once was, but it wouldn't be a good idea to leave the faded past sign exposed as it holds no meaning to the future.

We ain't a headquarters anymore, we are a prayer centre.

It's like that for us a bit I think.

I think it's good to remember we all have a past. And our past can be a pretty good plumb line to measure how far we have come in our lives or indeed whether we have moved on at all. How visions have or have not become a reality.

Our past can remind us of past influences and experiences that have shaped us into who we are right now.

Our past can be used to remind us we have a future. It can remind us that the fadedness of past experiences, as much as they have helped or hindered us, won't really be useful now in the present or the future.

It's good to move on.

It's good to be a movement.

I'm not the type of guy that likes to be stuck in a rut.

I've got to keep moving.

I've been like that all my life.

Some people see that as a kind of problem.

I don't.

I am what I am, and trying to be what God wants me to be.

I love that verse in the bible (Matthew 8: 28) where Jesus says, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has no place to even lay his head."

This verse always reminds me that Jesus is always on the move.

It reminds me that spiritual movement is alive.

So I guess today for my readers it's worth asking the question, do you feel a bit stuck in the past? Do you feel the yellow faded sign of the past is being displayed in the now?

Maybe a simple message today is move on.

We are getting a really futuristic and lovely new frontage erected in phase 2 of our building. It's moving on and the past headquarters sign will be covered once again. Maybe for the last time.

But I'm glad I glimpsed it today.

I'm glad I've been reminded that I have a future. One that moves from glory to glory. A future fueled by a God that has no place to lay his head.

We are blessed by our past.

But we have to move on.

Blessings guys.

Salvation Army Soldiership? A tool for measuring kingdom work?

Grey, wet, hot, and pretty miserable is the only description I can give to the early morning weather situation in the city a couple of mornings ago.

My venture into work at S21 was an early one, and I was looking forward to an hour or so quiet before the buzz of a typical day would begin.

As I crossed the main square in the city Dawn spotted a man sprawled out on a public bench. We both instantly recognised him.

It was Richard.

One of our regular guys to S21.

Richard for many years was homeless, we worked extremely hard to get him housed, managing it about eight months ago.

So I was more than concerned to see him flat out on a city bench, fast asleep.

I'd had my suspicions for a few weeks that he wasn't going back to his bedsit.

For the whole time he has been in the bedsit we managed to get him into we have kept a watch on him checking he was still there. I knew he had a few problems settling in. He had slept on concrete for so long when he was on the streets that for the first few months when I visited him I would notice he had made a bed on his bedroom floor!

So this morning when I found him sleeping in the city, I gently shook his shoulder and woke him up.

I asked him why he was there.

It then became apparent he was totally drunk. He had the Salvation Army hoodie on that I had given him last winter because he had no hat and his ears were freezing, so it didn't look to good a guy drunk in an SA top! Ive told him loads of times if you wear that don't get drunk!

He will get me the sack!

We got him up to S21, and I sat with him for the whole morning.

After some coffee and then later some soup, his drunkenness diminished hour by hour.

I got it out of him that he didn't want to stay in the bedsit anymore.

I was gutted.

We've seen a real change in Richard since he's been living inside.

He's cleaned himself up a bit. Mainly because he had a bath and a washing machine.

So I really felt gutted because we've made such progress with Richard.

After dealing with his physical needs we are beginning to make some progress spiritually with him, getting into many conversations about Jesus.

I'm worried for him.

The winters here in the North East of England are harsh and cutting.

And Richard will probably be back in his old space, a doorway in the city.

I really am gutted.

He won't even come home with us, he just feels that the only place where he feels at home is the street.

Later that day I sat in the main prayer room and tried to get my head round this problem.

I prayed hard.

I've seen God do some miraculous stuff. In my own life and in the lives of others.

But it's amazing how that fades into the mists of the past when someone seemingly doesn't get a miracle.

I felt a bit at a loss what to do next.

What else can I do for Richard?

As I reflected on this in the prayer room my mind switched to a difficult conversation I had a while back.

I was being challenged about our approach at S21 as to how we gauge growth etc, which without getting wrapped up in the measurement business is to try and measure our progress in terms of kingdom values.

This person had challenged me and said the only way to measure Kingdom success is by the number of soldiers you are making.

Soldiership is a Salvation Army membership avenue open to all who want to make that particular commitment.

I think Soldiership is amazing and it's great when people make that commitment. It's such a blessing.

But as the only measurement tool for the kingdom?

I don't think so.

If we get into that game, saying a church is successful by how many members they have on the role then in my opinion we are on the road to nowhere.

As I thought about that challenge that was given me, God kind of used it to softly speak into my heart about Richard.

Richard, in his tattered clothes and with his filthy body, in his fight for his very life against the power of alcoholism. In his complete depletion of self worth and motivation, right now is not heading for Soldiership.

Don't get me wrong.

That is totally possible.

There is evidence of that I'm sure.

But right now? Richard doesn't give a monkeys about Soldiership or membership of the church.

He is right now actually dying in every way.

So because he isn't a number on a role does that mean we have failed this guy?

Does that mean he doesn't belong?

So what do I do next Lord?

As a Salvation Army officer, as a christian what more can I do for this guy?

As I'm writing this I'm drawn to a poem someone has written on the wall in the prayer room, I don't know whether they have wrote it or whether it's a published poem so I can't give the source but this is what it says.

I kind of think it says it all really.

You are the caller, you are the poor, you are the stranger at my door, you are the wanderer, the unfed, you are the homeless with no bed. You are the man driven insane, you are the child crying in pain. You are the other who comes to me, if I open to another? You are born in me.
(S21 prayer room 1 wall)

What do I do next.

As I read this, God shows me that kingdom work is mostly about standing with the broken. It's essential we stand beside those in need. The Richards of this world. It's about seeing Jesus in everything and everyone.

It is vital that we open ourselves up to others, no matter what.

You can't always put that on a set of statistics.

We need soldiers, don't get me wrong. We need workers for the harvest field. I pray that our Soldiership increases and continues to be blessed in the Salvation Army forever.

But let's not limit the work of God by using that as a gauge of how successful we are.

As frustrating as it is right now in this case with Richard. Richard is one of many who we all come across in life and ministry. As frustrating as that can be sometimes, the next move is a kingdom move.

I realise today more than ever that God requires us to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

That requires standing and hanging in with those who seem so hopeless.

Whether they become a member of the church or not.

And they are and always will be a part of us anyway regardless whether they are members or not.

As I prayed this morning I think the answer I got was pretty immediate this time! I just have to be there. To continue to hang in with him. To love, accept, and be compassionate towards him.

All the time.

Relentlessly.

I'm sure if we leave Soldiership or membership of our congregations to God. Trust him to add to numbers those are being saved, and focused more fixedly on the needs of those who need saving?

We do trust him to do that?

Don't we?

Then I truly believe we will see kingdom results. Whatever they are or whatever that means. We will see movement and transformations in our own lives and the lives of others.

I pray God will continue to touch the lives of millions through your ministry guys.

Amen Rising (A call to the church)

Church was so cool last night.

I got lost in a song.

A very very old song.

I got struck dumbfounded at one line in it.

"Let the amen sound from His people again."

Tears came.

Man, I couldn't get that line out of my head. I even woke up with it sounding in the morning-empty space of my mind.

"Let the amen sound from His people again."

I had a kind of prophetic blast of HD vision. A dense picture of a person shouting amen over all the nations of the world.

Who can fail to be moved, touched, angered, bothered, sickened by what took place in Aurora colorado a few days ago. A guy dressed as the joker walked into a packed cinema taking in a late night showing of "The dark knight " and started shooting. People were killed, many were injured.

Unbelievable?

Sadly not in the times we are living in.

It's happening way too often.

It really is sickening.

Evil is happening.

We live in dangerous times.

We live in times where it seems Christianity isn't really having a lot of impact.

Some Christians who I have spoken to are even giving up.

Jesus interjects at this point and says. "Hey guys I have overcome the world."

Sounds like we need an amen.

According to Wikipedia, that great resource that academics love to hate, says that an amen is a statement of affirmation.

Amen

Let the amen sound from his people again, sounds like a cry straight from the heart of Jesus.

Sounded to me last night like Jesus is challenging the church to let the amen sound from his people again.

I got this real sense last night as those words drove deep into my soul and challenged me there, that Jesus is really tired of the church faffing around.

Because?

The amen needs to come from his people, the Church.

His body, hands and feet on this planet.

An amen is a statement of affirmation.

An amen speaks hope over the nations of this world.

An amen speaks of change and transformation.

An amen speaks of another way.

An amen speaks of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

Amen is more than a word.

It's prophetic and pure.

It requires action, every time we say it it should be a starting point. A turning point even.

It should be a spiritual call to arms for every Christian.

An amen rising.

Let the amen sound over Aurora Colorado. (Lord, touch that community with your hope. Bless them Jesus)

Let the amen sound over the communities where you live.

Let the amen sound over your deepest soul.

Let the amen sound over this world.

Over the lost and the broken.

Let the amen sound from his people again.

Amen

Majesty

One of those weeks.

That's all I can say about the week just gone.

One of those weeks.

Lots of niggly small things have cropped up. A couple of Church issues which required dealing with have reared their head. Someone was sick in our toilet and just left it (Dawn dealt with that!) On top of that we are having building work done at our main venue in Durham, so a couple of site management issues have contributed to it being just one of those weeks.

On Thursday Queen Elizabeth came to Durham.

People lined the streets.

We just stood outside our door. After waiting for her to arrive for what seemed like ages, we finally got a glimpse of her, a great glimpse from about ten yards! (see photo) She was sitting in the back of a big black limo with prince Phillip.

I maintain she looked right at me!

I can tell my staff at S21 doubt that massively!

But I'm sticking to my belief!

I couldn't get over the fact that loads of people waited for hours for a five second glimpse of Her Majesty.

It kind of mirrors this week really.

In all the conflicts, busyness and uproar of this week, I've had a few glimpses of the King of Kings.

I saw him in the neediness of our homeless people. I saw him in the weary travellers looking for rest and space in our prayer centre. I saw him the policemen and women who have come in to have their breaks. I saw him in the conflict I've had to deal with I didn't really have to wait around for a glimpse because when I think about it he has been in everything and could be seen everywhere if I had looked a bit more.

And I know for sure God has looked right at me this week.

He's been there with me every step I've taken, every person I've talked to, every situation I've tried to deal with.

I guess sometimes we simply need reminding that God is with us.

Always.

Every second.

Every phase of our life.

If we look we will get a glimpse of the king of kings.

If your having one of those weeks? remember God is around.

Always.

Finding it difficult to pray?

The thing is that when I pray there are times when I can get lost in God, then there are times when I can't seem to even feel like God exists.

Prayer.

The most awesome experience or the driest place ever?

I don't care really!

I have learned (and still am learning) to get down to it.

As much as possible.

Whatever I feel.

whatever is going down around me.

So in a "lost in God" moment this morning in the ultra-charged prayer room 1 at Sanctuary 21 Durham, I massively felt God prompt me to share some stuff about prayer today.

That usually means this is for someone out there today!

I used to really dislike prayer.

My experience of it for the most part of prayer amounted to sitting in a circle waiting in absolute trepidation for my turn to come round, and rehearsing what I would say like mad so that I at least wouldn't sound daft.

An interesting fact though is that when I look back I had a more interesting prayer life when I wasn't a Christian than in my initial years as a Christian.

I can remember before I got into any groove with God in terms of relationship, asking him all kinds of stuff and speaking to him wherever and whenever I wanted, even though I didnt really know who I was talking to. So in the first year of my life with God in it, when I was required to pray, I found it so completely and insanely difficult.

Possibly because I started going to prayer meetings!

I guess I can say now that I lost the freedom I had experienced years ago by relegating God to set periods of times.

That meant that developing my relationship with Jesus after my initial explosive encounter with Him was let's just says, well, tough.

Because.

And I say this with experiential certainty.

If we don't put prayer at the centre of our relationship, then we aren't really having one.

Are we?

I realised this more than ever when my old man died.

I had a distant relationship with my own Dad. Without going into a whole story, let's just say we didn't hit it off.

Until he was dying.

I knew at whatever cost, and because of Jesus, I needed to reconcile my relationship with my earthly father while there was still time.

And inside I was having a bit of a battle because I still had a bit of anger hanging around towards him from the past.

During those days as I started to visit him, eventually sitting with him and sorting it out, and then finally being able to say goodbye to him in his final hours, I began to talk to God (without thinking) like I used to, only this time I really knew him. I talked to him and listened for his voice.

I kept getting, what I call 'lost in God.'

I found that prayer is best served in abundance.

In other words its best to just work at it.

Constantly.

its OK to pray in meetings or quiet times. But really we are better making sure we do not relegate God to a quiet time or a prayer meeting.

in those early years, I had to pray through some kind of barrier.

Now I find it has become ingrained into my way of life.

I mean I could write all those amazing cliches down like, No great revival has happened without prayer etc, and really those sayings are true, but in my experience prayer isn't always a fantastic experience.

It can be hard.

It can be dry.

It can be seemingly fruitless.

Yet?

it can be amazing.

It can be crazy.

it can be sumptuous.

whatever it is?

It has to be done.

otherwise?

Our relationship development, our holiness adventure, will never take off.

Ever.

God's side of the relationship is forever assured.

So what about our side of the relationship?

Now guys, if there is a point to this blog post (It feels like God has taken over the virtual keys of my iPad!) I think it possibly is a timely reminder for us to look at our relationship with God.

And ask ourselves are we really praying?

Is prayer relegated to a slot here and there or is it the life and soul of our relationship with God, in good and bad times?

As i've reflected today on my own prayer life, I can only say this, I want to pray, I love to pray, I now understand that it is vital to pray. A mate of mine says that prayer is a relentlessness that isn't an option.

I agree with him.

If you haven't prayed for a while, why not drop what you are doing and do it right now. If you are battling with prayer and find it hard, especially in times of great difficulty, drop that battle now.

And.

Don't get caught up in the barbed wire of the expectations of cut and dried answers.

Oh no.

Trust God to answer.

Not our feelings on the right answer.

Instead get lost in God.

It's the only way.

Looking beyond problems

The clanking sound of trolleys with dodgy wheels. The clinical smell filling every area of the building. The noise of sirens coming and going. The bustle of people in array of different coloured overalls. The rows of people sitting in a kind of nervous bubble waiting for their appointments.

It can only mean one thing.

Hospital.

This last week was a testing one in many ways. Not least because Dawn and I had to take one of our daughters to hospital. She was going to receive the results of an MRI scan she had a few weeks before.

The reason she was having it is that a large mass had been detected on her ovary.

So here we were sitting in the waiting room of Bradford Royal infirmary, waiting to hear the results of the scan and the tests Bailey had had done the week before.

In my head, it was a straight choice.

She either had cancer or she didn't.

So as you can well imagine, sitting in that waiting room was probably the longest wait I have ever experienced. I can't imagine how Bailey must have felt.

After what seemed an age, a nurse with a clipboard came out into the packed waiting room and called Baileys name out.

All three of us rose from our seats in trepidation really. We were ushered into a small examination room. The room was cold and bare except for an examination table, an X-ray viewer, a sink and an ominous looking trolley with an assortment of rubber gloves and syringes on it. We were told to wait in this room and the Doctor would be along in due course.

"In due course" turned out to be a further 40 minute wait.

All this time waiting, I managed to somehow let all my Christian faith float away. A stronghold was building at breakneck speed in my head.

I managed to convince myself that the news would be bad.

And my heart was bleeding inside.

Obviously I didn't communicate this to Bailey as she had more than enough on her plate. But I have to say she was so relaxed about it. Even to the point of still giving me her normal levels of cheek!

After another eternity, a young doctor entered the examination room holding a big clipboard and a set of notes.

The tension was almost unbearable.

She sat down opposite us and looked directly at Bailey. The first thing she said was, "The good news is the mass isn't cancerous, but you do have a massive cyst that needs to be removed ASAP via an operation.

My body seemed to just degenerate into a mass of jelly. I didn't know whether it was relief or shock.

Needless to say, we were all relieved. Even though there is still some stuff to go through for Bailey.

In the car on the way back to my daughters house to drop her off, I told Bailey of my sheer fight with myself before that decision, how I had convinced myself it would be bad, how I had forgotten to trust God in all of this.

She said.

Nonchalantly.

"I would have beaten it if it was cancer."

She said it as if it was Just something she would have dealt with.

Her faith is so strong.

Inside I felt beautifully corrected.

I knew in that moment I had learned something from my daughter. I knew I had moved another step up in my glory to glory journey.

God showed me something in HD!

Bailey always looks beyond the problem to where the possibilities lay.

She knew it was possible to beat it, I had convinced myself there was a unassailable problem in the way.

I'm not always like that thank the Lord!

Dawn and I were reflecting on these two verses of scripture yesterday.

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3 NIV)

Set your minds on things above, not earthly things.

It may as well say, focus on the possibilities not the problem!

The thing is everything is possible when we focus on God.

Bailey was able to do this in a very serious situation.

So today I wonder how many of you guys reading this blog post have some kind of seemingly impossible issue, blockage or problem standing in the way of your future?

Maybe it is time we looked past the problem to the possibilities?

Maybe physically and consciously it is time to set our minds on things above not on the earthly impossibilities.

Setting our minds on things above will help us to see past the problem and connect with the hope that is found in Christ Jesus.

Because in Christ the hope dynamic changes dramatically, earthly hope is just that, hope, but heavenly hope is a place where visions and dreams, solutions and healing are found in abundance.

I really pray this post will shift something today for someone.

The Spirit of God, through my daughter, has without doubt shifted some stuff in me this week.

Setting our mind on things above means we look past the problem and lock in to the infinite possibilities that God offers through immeasurable grace to every last one of us.

May the Spirit of God fall smack bang on you today.

The commander of the Lords army.

Looking out on the city street this morning I am transfixed on the busyness of early morning city life.

Potential new students are arriving with parents and friends to visit the university. Workmen are starting to repair some gas pipes in the road, coach loads of tourists flock towards the Cathedral headed up by people holding up coloured signs so that the group won't get lost. Shoppers enter the stores with wide eyed anticipation of what they will buy. Buses, lorries and cars go bumper to bumper or fender to fender for my USA readers!

So I am sitting on our reception desk today. It's the only desk I can get today, as we are having a new office built right now next door.

Sanctuary 21, the city prayer house Dawn and I oversee is open and ready to roll today.

As I watch the thousands of people walking the pavements directly outside, I wonder how many of them know God?

I feel a bit overwhelmed by the responsibility we have to usher the love of christ into this world.

The task seems too big.

Way too big.

Then my eye catches the latest prayer request, freshly attached to the walls along with the many thousands of other prayer requests written on cards from our city prayer hatch.

It reads.

"Please take my pain away, even for just one day. And please let the Judge be an in a good mood this afternoon"

I know who wrote it.

A young lad of 19. Hopelessly lost in the world of drug addiction. He is due in court this afternoon on possession charges.

So I think to myself

"How on earth can I even begin to help this lad?

The task seems to big.

Then my thought trail is interrupted by Kay.

Kay is a city beat police officer. She comes in on a regular basis to chat with us about stuff happening in the city and it is vital information for the positioning of our prayers for the city. I completely adore her. She has such a heart for the lost.

She isn't a Christian.

Yet!

Kay and I chatted about stuff happening currently, and by the time she had finished, I was wondering? How can we possibly help in these situations?

They seem way out of our league.

Even last night we were praying with a lady who had lost her daughter a while back, but understandably hasn't been able to get to grips with it at all. As her tears and groans and words spilled out, as she wondered out aloud where is God in all of this, I sat afterwards and wondered, how can I really help this woman?

But!

Wait!

Scripture dropped into my heart just now.

Joshua 5: 13-15

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[e] have for his servant?”

15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

I guess Joshua was faced a few questions like, "how on earth can we penetrate those walls around Jericho? There's probably no chance, it's way too big a challenge?"

A bit like my thinking this morning.

But!

The vision of a man standing in front of him with his sword drawn high, claiming neutral standing, and confidently claiming to be commander of the Lords Army, startles Joshua.

He suddenly realises who this is.

And many theologians claim we are talking about Jesus Christ here, and it's amazing how Joshua suddenly realises this and falls to the ground in reverence.

The commander of the army of the lord instructs him to take off his sandals for the place he is standing is Holy.

I think the word is today that however big a challenge we have in front of us.

Whatever that challenge may be.

However big it seems.

If we stay close to God.

Give him the reverence he requires, if we take off our sandals as it were, then notice how he has his sword drawn.

He will fight for us, he is going before us, he is victorious.

So.

Nothing is too big.

No challenge too daunting.

No scenario unconquerable.

If.

If we recognise the commander of the army of the Lord.

Nothing is too big.
Nothing is unconquerable.
Nothing is so daunting that we convince ourselves that we may as well give up now.

Joshua conquered Jericho.

But in order to conquer Jericho he had to allow Christ to conquer him first.

He had to hand over the command to Jesus.

In his own strength? He'd probably never of even made it over the river the walls of the city.

So guys that big massive thing we see standing in the way of us?

Don't tackle it in own own strength.

Recognise that we are not the commander.

Allow the commander of the Lords army to conquer us first.

Take off our sandals and fall to our knees.

Allow the spirit of God to overcome our desire to be in control, to command our own steps, or to fight our own battles.

Then we can conquer whatever comes before us, in the strength of the Lord.

Anything!

I prayed like mad for the young lad going to court.

He is back now.

The Judge was in a good mood.

So the work goes on to fight for this lads and loads of others very lives.

But with the commander of the army of the Lord at the front?

I can be confident of victory.

Loads of favour on your lives today.