A word for somebody?

When I was praying tonight, these words came and I wrote them down.

I thought they were for me. 

And they may well be. 

But I had a strong urge that I should put them out on my blog tonight. 

So I pray they will resonate with someone.

I believe so anyway. 

Here are the words. 

Bless you tonight.

Prepare to be amazed. 

Get ready for some real action. 

The force of the spirit is on its way. 

The momentum of the spirit will carry you along into the clear. 

The harsh winter is thawing and the spring of life is pushing out its crystal waters from the hard ground. Discontent will turn into pure joy. The abrasiveness of unrest will turn into the silence of peace. Those who pursue you with attack in mind will retreat into their dark shadows as the light of God envelopes your soul. The sour hours that you have spent searching for a way out of the soulless place will be gone, and the sweet scent of contentment will reach you swiftly. 

Yes.

You are moving out now. 

Do not fear the anger of the night. Instead embrace the hope of the day. 

You.

Yes you.

Listen.

The sword is raised high. 

I go before you. Ive seen the days that lie ahead of you. 

They are days that you will inhabit. Grace will reach your heart and change everything. An abundance is coming.  An abundance of riches like you have never known. Its time to drop your weary battle. Its time to walk away from the degradation of the mire. Your chains are snapped. 

So walk away. 

Walk away from the struggle in your heart.

I urge you. 

The truth is you do not have to stay where you are. 

There is a way. 

All you have to do is follow me. 

Prepare to be amazed. 

Now is the time. 

Now is the time. 

The Salvation Army: Get the Kingdom look!

So we have been in London three months. 

The thing that has struck me most?

It is a city that feels like a destination. 

Although we cant discount where God will send us in the future. 

Yet, it feels like our place.

A place we have been drawn to. 

A place where the needs are so complex and so massive that we have no choice but to do what we can to join what is already an ongoing mission firstly by Jesus, secondly by many who are called to its cry of need.

There is an advert on UK TV screens that invites ladies to try out some make up, and, the girl putting the make up on invites the nation to get the London look.

A friend of ours told us that it is important for us to be in London. She said that whatever happens in London is amplified throughout this nation.  

I'm a Liverpool boy through and through, but even I can see that it's true.

This is the birth place of the Salvation Army.

On the streets of the East end of this significant city, Booth and his people touched the very lives of the poor, took action that often literally saved lives both literally and kingdom wise. This bold work was seen by others who caught the wave of passionate outreach that was happening in London and took the work to other Parts of this Nation. Then it spread like a uncontrollable fire throughout the globe.

The Salvation Army in its early days got the London look.

What happens here is often amplified even globally.

In all walks of life. 

As I stand on the streets in the West of this great city, and try to get to grips with the question of why so many Salvation Army Corps have closed, which is one of the reasons Dawn and I have been brought in to this appointment, I can guess some of the reasons, but strangely I don't really care much for the reasons why.  I just don't feel it. But what I do see is opportunity and hope. There  always is with Jesus. 

Here?

The Salvation Army in parts of West London has lost its look. 

But maybe its not the London look its lost.

It could be that its the Kingdom look that has more truthfully been lost. 

But.

Its no good fixing our gaze on that.

Wallowing in the self pity of seeing a once great Army in shreds before our very eyes.

Wondering what might of been.

Longing to connect with past glories. 

Thinking because we have lost the past that the future is dead. 

No.

Jesus says this.

"No-one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:62)

Looking back renders us unfit for service. 

I guess because in looking back, constantly, we are immobilized.  

And we believe the lie that the future is dead. 

So Dawn and I were sitting having a coffee. In walks Nancy, a lebanese lady who owns the coffee shop. She has a beautiful little 18 month old daughter called Sarah. Sarah was born prematurely and has struggled with encephalitis which has rendered her so unwell that her little short life has been a weekly series of medical treatment and care, including some very serious special care baby unit admissions to hospital that were very trying moments for Nancy and her family. Nancy and Sarah sat with us the other day and Nancy shared with us her story. Dawn and I saw the determination in this mothers eyes that Sarah would live a normal existence. We were able to share with her about our work and our savior. But i saw in Nancy's eyes, and in her conversation, that rare kind of determination that says, I'm not going to get stuck in the past, I'm not going to think about what might of been, I am believing in a future for my gorgeous little treasure of a girl.

I rose from my coffee shop chair and knew that God had spoken directly to me. 

I had a new depth of passion for our appointment. 

I took in a brand new level of determination. 

And.

We carry a vision into West London that I believe has the Kingdom look. 

So.

We cannot stand and stare at past glories, or the sad state of the Salvation Army in this part of London. 

Or listen to those who speak of a dead future for the Salvation Army. 

We have no choice but to look at the need staring us in the face.

The Nancy's and the Sarah's.

The people worshiping anything but the one true God.

The man I can see lying in the filth of a doorway right now. 

Those everywhere, who for them, a savior is needed but seems so far away. 

Thats the Kingdom look. 

Thats the Kingdom work. 

Thats our future. 

We have agreed to put our hand to the plough. To push into new ground. To join God in his saving work.

So if we are looking back. 

And long to stay in an unhealthy relationship with the Salvation Army's past.

Is it time to Leave that behind?

Look forward.

Your life can be a mission. 

Thats what Jesus wants.

Thats what will raise a new Salvation Army from the ashes of decline. 

Get the Kingdom look.

It will resonate throughout the Kingdom of God. 

In earthly terms it will spread throughout the nations!

And

The future will never be dead for us, the Salvation Army, the Church. 

Never!

While we agree to put our hands to the plough.

Blessings. 

Refuge

Flying back from Riga was not the most pleasant experience. The weather was unsettled and consequently the flight hit frequent bouts of turbulence. 

I am not very happy in a plane when it's turbulent.

I kept looking at my watch. Longing for the plane to land.

It seemed to take forever.

We were flying to London Gatwick. Everyone knows that you will be in a queue and circling for a while when you get near London,  I have yet to land on time at Gatwick.

And it was the same on this flight.

As we were circling in the London Skies I found myself willing the plane to land as it was battered by the strong winds making it shake and drop at will.

We eventually descended from the murky clouds and ironically landed very smoothly.

I relished the feeling of relief as we taxied towards South terminal.

All of this gave me some thinking to do.

It's so much better to be on solid ground than up in the air.

I love the solid ground that is Jesus Christ.

The rock.

The safe house.

The place of refuge.

I think about all the times my life has been up in the air. 

Hit by turbulence.

Battered by disturbing storms.

Yet.

I at least knew where my solid ground lay.

And I longed to get there.

Sometimes I thought I'd never get to the safety of solid ground.

But I know where to head for.

Psalm 48 talks of a city of safety.

A city built on solid ground.

The City of God.

Jerusalem.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise.  The city of our God, the Holy mountain. Beautiful in its loftiness. The joy of the whole earth. Like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion.,  the city of the great King. God in her Citadels, he had shown himself to be her fortress. 

This is a city that is so great and so full of God,  that even a mighty army consisting of amalgamated forces led by kings could not even stand to go near.

Nothing could attack it.

But those who inhabit this City, they know that God makes this solid ground secure forever.

The City of God.

Solid Ground.

The security we all long for. 

Is God.

His unfailing love.

His unfailing presence.

His unfailing protection.

Walk about Zion, go around her ramparts, view her citadels,  that you may tell them to the next generation. (Psalm 48: 12-13)

This sounds like an invitation to head for this City.

The City of God.

The spiritual Jerusalem.

Experience for yourself the total security that God provides.

When life gets turbulent,  where do you head for?

Do you stay up in the air or do you head for solid ground?

Are you, even as you read this, 'up in the air' so to speak?

Getting battered?

Are you looking for solid ground?

Then head for the City of our God.

The City of safety.

The ultimate security.

Found in the spiritual presence of God.

You'll be totally safe there.

Latvia: A Report

Day 1

The City looked incredible as we approached it from the Baltic sea on Air Baltic flight 631 from London to Riga. It took us no time at all to get through passport control and the baggage hall. We stepped out into the arrivals concourse and was met by the amazing Sarah Illsters, AssistantRegional Commander for the Salvation Army in Latvia. She drove us through the city straight to the Salvation Army Headquarters in Central Riga which is also the home of riga 1 SA Corps. As we drove through the city, it was a picture book glimpse of how one imagines Eastern European cities to look. The SA Hall is no different. A magnificent massive building. The first thing i caught a glimpse of was a massive Salvation Army flag hanging over the street from the front of the building. Written on it in massive letters was this, "Latvia for Christ! Considering the unfathomable oppression in Latvia's history, from both nazi and Russian occupations, this flag brought a massive and serious lump to my throat, it hung like a defiant prophetic statement over this city. 

As we entered the hall, Dawn and I were just so humbled by the Salvationists we met, including dropping in on the after school club the Corps runs for children who have nothing. The passion and the desire for God is massively evident. 

We then went back to Sarah's place for a meal and met Aivis, Sarah's husband, a former Russian Army soldier who has had an amazing conversion and is so on fire for 

God. I reveled and was further humbled by the conversations before we went to bed.  

Day 2

We were up early on friday, showered, had breakfast (why does bread, cheese, eggs and meat taste so fantastic in other countries!) we then went to the SA headquarters to meet the Regional commander, Major Christine Bailey, and the rest of the Latvia team. Sarah then took us on a City tour. The first building she showed us was a former KGB headquarters just around the corner from the hall, this included a commemorative plaque that read, "During the Soviet occupation the State security agency, the KGB, imprisoned, killed, and morally humiliated its victims in this building." this was one of many visible signs  that many horrendous struggles had taken place in this country, costing the lives of many. We also stood outside the famous freedom monument erected to celebrate Latvia's independence. This sense of oppression and freedom was very real in this Latvian air on this rainy and cold autumn day, that seemed to make this city glisten in the daylight. We went to a restaurant and ate the biggest pizza I've ever seen. We marveled at the aesthetics of the glorious buildings that grace the streets of this wonderful city. We also caught glimpses of the extreme poverty exacerbated by homelessness, alcoholism and the sex trade. We walked back to the hall where major Christine Bailey kindly let us rest in her apartment before we were due to pray with the worship team who were part of the prayer conference the next day. We eventually went to the main hall and prayed with the worship band members. In the evening riga 1 Corps had a meal and an open evening planned for their corps members. The food was fantastic Latvian delights followed by Both Dawn and I being asked to share our testimonies and about our work. A guy who was slightly drunk and asking for help came into the event, he sat throughout the whole of it. At the end we ended up praying for him and he said he would be back on Sunday. Sarah drove us back to her place, a beautiful Latvian apartment on the outskirts of the city for a much needed nights rest. Hearing the some stories of the lives that have been changed since the Army re started in the early 90s following the fall of Communism in Latvia touched both Dawn and I deeply. We knew we would never be the same officers again. 

Day 3

We were up early on saturday and after breakfast made our way to the hall in Riga where the regional Prayer day was being held. We heard how there would be many people, many traveling from distances around 300km just to be there.  When we arrived excitement was in the air. You could see people arriving and they seemed really happy. After a brilliant time of worship I took to the platform to speak. I spoke on the importance of intercession. It was beautifully chaotic in the hall. I had an interpreter translating my words into Latvian. Then over on the right hand side was a whole section of Russian speaking people having it translated into Russian via translation equipment. God really moved in the first meeting it was an incredible experience for us. 

After an amazing Latvian meal at lunchtime, we reconvened in the massive and beautiful hall. Dawn led a session of praying for people. Within two seconds of us releasing people to pray, the mercy seat was lined, people were praying all over the hall. It was an amazing sight, one we wont forget in a hurry. Major Christine bailey the regional commander for Latvia, invited the Latvian Salvationists to pray for Swedish Salvationists, feeling that Sweden help Latvia with finance, but they could give them something back in blessing. It was truly humbling to see Latvian Salvationists, who really have very little in terms of material things, giving so massively generously in heartfelt prayer. The session concluded with some amazing worship led by Sarah ilsters and the worship band. 

The third session I felt that we needed to intentionally listen to God. I did a short teaching session on the benefit of using silence in prayer. Then we had half an hours total silence. You literally could have heard a pin drop. It was truly and insanely quiet! Following that we had a time of sharing. Testimony after testimony exploded into the incredibly God-charged atmosphere. One man shared how he wanted to thank God and his corps people for helping him to be released from alcoholism. Another lady said she had been challenged to pray for her son who isn't a christian, there were just so many I wish I could record them all here. One after the other stood up and shared it was just so humbling. 

We finished the evening with a meal along with Christine and Sarah at the famous Latvian restaurant Lido. I had no real idea what I was eating but it was fantastic!  

Day 4

Before flying back to London, I preached a sermon from Malachi 3 in the morning service at Riga 1. God was at work, we prayed with many people who had asked for prayer at the end of the service. It was a life giving experience for Dawn and I and we were really taken by the warmth and grace of the people in Latvia. 

We had a bit of a turbulent flight back home to London, but it gave us time to reflect on an amazing four days in Latvia. It has been such a privilege to be invited to speak into the Salvation Army work that is happening in Latvia. We pray we have been a blessing to those people as much as they have to us. 

God is God (Is God listening to our prayers?)

My coffee was just how I like it best. 

Straight, black and hot. 

I sipped it and watched a London morning come alive. 

My blackberry Z30 suddenly rings. 

It was T. 

T is an alcohol addict, and a drug addict. 

He was so drunk I had to strain my ear to grasp his words. 

He said he needed me to pray with him. Through drunken, but nevertheless heart wrenching tears, he pleaded with me to pray with him then and there. He explained to me how he had drunk four litres of cider and felt like he was dying. His voice was laced with desperation. Ive known him for a long time. I feel like his desperate struggle with multiple addiction is nearing its end. 

And.

I think of all the times I've sat with him, sometimes in the street, sometimes in a police waiting room, once on a bridge persuading him not to jump, sometimes over a bowl of soup. I think of all the times I have prayed for and directly with him. 

And here we are. 

His life seems to be fast spiraling towards its end.

I prayed a prayer over him over the phone. 

I heard him crying. A shuddering, pleading cry. 

His drug worker had arrived so he had to go.

On Saturday last I preached about prayer at a prayer training day at a London Church. Tomorrow I fly to Latvia to speak to the Salvation Army about the importance of intercession. Im convinced and passionate about the vital place that praying for others should hold in life of the church. 

Yet. 

T is dying. 

Ive prayed like a caged lion for him and I know others have too. 

Humanly it looks like the prayers are making no difference in this case. 

I long to see his chains fall off. I long to see full healing come to him. I long to see heaven engulf and evaporateTs hell. 

But he's dying.

The twin evils of alcohol and drugs are choking him to death.  

Someone asked me the other day, "how do I keep praying when my prayers don't seem to be answered?"

As I lay my blackberry on the table in the coffee shop. I understand what the person meant. 

But. 

Heres the thing.

God is God. 

He knows exactly what he is doing. And sometimes we just wont get it. 

God is God. 

I prayed a deep from the heart prayer for T in the coffee shop. And Far from getting discouraged. I felt a burning desire to up my prayer rate. Because I know that we are required to pray. Required to intercess for the broken. I know that God breaks chains. I believe that I have to keep focussed and keep going. Faith is like that sometimes. I think of the times I've seen remarkable answers to prayer, as well as seemingly none answered prayer. 

None of that matters really. 

God is God. 

He has it all covered.

Hearing Ts desperate cry over the phone far from deflating me, only served to fan the flame of passion I have make it my life's work to pray for and help those who desperately need a saviour. 

If anyone is reading this and is maybe having trouble believing that prayer even works. 

This word is for you. 

God is God. 

Let him be God. 

We cant be God. 

We need to do a Micah. 

He has shown you O mortal what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

I encourage you today to pray.

Keep praying.

Even when it is difficult to pray.  

T needs all the justice and mercy he can get. 

And I humbly leave him in God's mighty hand. 

And there is an never ending ocean of need that requires us to pray even when we cant see the point. 

God is God. 

He always wins, he always listens to our prayers. He always has it covered. 

Blessings today. 

A word about Prayer

So here I am.

Preparing for two important speaking engagements that are fast approaching. 

Next saturday at St Mary's Church in London where I will be teaching on prayer in three sessions. Then next thursday, Dawn and I fly to the beautiful City of Riga in Latvia to speak at the Latvian Salvation Army regional prayer conference, and I will be preaching at Riga 1 Salvation Army Corps a week on sunday.

I've done a lot of contemplating and reflection as part of the prep for these events. More and more church communities both collectively and individually are getting hungrier to discover more about deepening their relationship with God through prayer. I feel massively privileged to speak into this hunger, and I am more convinced than ever that one of the main contributors to a decline in the Christian faith is not just how the church does things, but it is a lack of prayer, and definitely a fading understanding of the sheer vital importance of putting prayer first. 

Of course you can't deepen your relationship with God without prayer. 

If you don't pray, you're missing out on your part of that special relationship. 

And.

As I reflect. 

I see the seriousness of the consequences of a lack of prayer.

The really sad consequence of not praying or relegating it to a place of low importance, is this.

No prayer? No mission!

I remember an old lecturer challenging me on something i'd wrote in an assignment at University. I had made a statement that prayer fuels mission. He fixed his old but vibrant deep green eyes on mine and said, "Gary, prayer doesn't fuel mission, it is mission."

And I find more and more that he is right.

Prayer is mission.  

Ive seen peoples lives changed through it. 

Ive seen my own life dramatically turn from a life going nowhere, to a purposeful existence through it. 

So why?

Why do I get so many requests to speak on prayer? Usually accompanied with a reason that goes something like this, especially from leaders, "How can I get my congregation to pray?" 

And its true.

Here is a story extracted from an earlier blogpost of mine. 

A few years back now where I went to speak at a prayer conference in the North West. I had been asked to do a talk kind of aimed at getting people to pray more effectively. At the end of the session there were loads of people queuing at the back of the auditorium for a cup of tea at some strategically placed tables. People were shaking my hand, hugging me (I so hate that!) saying really encouraging things as they thanked me for my talk. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guy walking towards the back. 

A guy about 75 years old.

His face looked like he was chewing a wasp. 

He looked very angry.

I knew he was heading for me.

I just felt it!

And sure enough a couple of seconds later he came straight up to me and said in a very agitated voice, 'I want a word with you.'

As he said it, his face was about three inches from mine.

As he spoke his bottom set of teeth did something really weird they kind of came out of his mouth, but he managed to sort of suck them back in in one swift movement.

They were like hydraulic teeth.

I so wanted to laugh.

But I thought if I did he would probably hit me or something!

He continued his vocal attack.

'Are you telling me that you believe prayer works?' he asked, as his teeth did the hydraulic thing again.

Trying to keep the laughter locked in was getting quite painful now!

' If you were faced say in a Russian roulette situation and you had a gun pointed to your head would you pray then?

I thought to myself, mate that is one time I would definitely not forget to pray!

'And anyway', he continued, 'has the Salvation Army got a department that can prove prayer works?

I said, 'well we've got SP&S?

He finished his little rant by rounding it off with a very authoritative, 'that talk was a load of rubbish. You have nothing to back up that prayer works.'

I looked at him as he had to physically place his teeth back in this time as the sucking motion was not working very efficiently now. As he was tending to his problem, I asked him, 'do you go to Church then?' he replied, ' O yes I've been to church for fifty years.'

Fifty years!

He didn't understand that prayer was important?

Church for him must not have been a very dynamic experience. 

How many more are there?

How many?

I meet so many Christians who are where this guy is with prayer. 

So today. 

Don't leave it so late. I implore you. More than that, much more, God implores you to speak to him and listen to him. 

If your prayer life is not amounting to much or worse still its none existent, then don't leave so late, don't leave it too late either. 

Just start talking to God and listening back. 

All the time. 

In every part of your life. 

Believe me.

It can change a person. 

And to the church. 

Sooner or later you will need turn to God otherwise someone will have to hand your church building keys over to an apartment developer or a furniture warehouse or something.  

And.

Without speaking and listening to God? We will never know what he is doing in this world. We will never experience his love for he poor, his healing for the broken, his passion for this world to be changed. 

Put prayer first. 

Capture God's urgency on this. 

Start now. 

Time for simple Prayer?

Dawn and I made the short journey from our house into central London yesterday for a meeting at THQ in Elephant and Castle with the guys who look after the prayer network for the Salvation Army here in the UK.

My friend Karen told me a great story. They had been at a prayer gathering at Banbury corps the previous week she told me that one person had prayed this prayer.  

"Thank you Lord for bringing me here today because it's better than bingo!"

I love it. 

That's my kind of praying. 

Honest, simple and expressive. 

God must love it so much.

It reminded me of the power of simple, without limit, prayer.

I go to lots of prayer meetings in the course of my ministry and I've got to be honest there are times when I lose the will to live in them! We see the technical prayer people who use terminology and phrases that leave me totally bemused. And sometimes lost! I see the prayer people who have the gift of extended prayer, you know it starts so well, and then goes on so long that you take your eyes off Jesus and fix them on your watch. I've seen the repeaters who repeat the same phrase over and over again and you start to think, "I'm sure God got it the first time!" I've seen the dramatists who like to leave long silences in between their sentences and very rarely say amen, so no-one actually knows if they've finished or not, and then just when you think they have finished, and you go to say something, they start up again! And so on and so on. 

Don't get me wrong. 

It's all prayer and therefore it's all valid and important. 

But.

I'm not the most patient in prayer meetings. I just want straight simple talk and dialogue with God. 

So when a little child says something like, "Thank you God for my cat" or like this person prays, "Thank you God for bringing me here today because it's better than bingo", it feels so refreshing. 

I believe this kind the genuineness will bring the church back to life. 

Simple prayer. 

The expression of exactly what's inside of us. 

God never gives me a technical answer to my prayers.Thinking about it I always understand what he says! even if I'm not sure if I like his answer!

God gives us a number of clues in scripture about his desire for straight talking communication.

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to standing in the synagogues and on the street corners be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full." Matthew 6:5

Genuine soul extracted prayer is maybe not as popular in 21st century Christianity as it should be. 

You know?

Those very real outpourings of how you actually feel or of what you need to ask or say, or express?

Prayer has never been and never will be a religious chore, or a dish best served cold. 

It is life.

True life.

The essence of a relationship that can't just be reserved for prayer meetings or private sessions.

And.

I write this because I ask the question, is there anyone else out there who is tired of laboured drab prayer? The relentless tirade of clichéd prayer?

Lately I've personally come out the other side of a difficult period in my ministry and my Christian life in general. 

And.

Looking back at it.  

I think I didn't bare my soul enough. 

My prayers had resorted to dry, unrelational prayers that came more from head than my heart.

After Karen told me this little story, I was really challenged to keep my prayer real. Not how others do it, not how the so called expert prayer people do it.

But.

To just be me.

I don't play bingo, so I've no idea if the meeting at Banbury was better or not! 

But the prayer from the heart of that person who prayed?

It reminded me that simple prayer, unblemished by technicality, prayer correctness, or effectual depth, is the key to kingdom bringing prayer. The gateway to a real relationship with a God who loves us deeply. And the slipway to ushering in the seeds of revival to this broken world. 

So I feel challenged and leave the challenge with you guys today. 

When we pray?

Be real. 

Keep it heartfelt.

Keep it you.

Keep it real. 

Blessings.