Responding to the call?

The policeman takes a sip of his coffee.

 

Just as the cup touches his lips, his radio emits a high pitched ringtone.

 He raises the radio/phone to his ear.

 

I can't hear what he is saying, but he immediately stands up, leaves his coffee on the table and leaves quickly.

 

He is responding to a call.

 

Something needs dealing with.

 

And his action is needed.

 

I watch this.

 

And.

 

As it happens I am reading Jeremiah 1.

 

In fact I am studying it for a couple of talks I have to do after Christmas.

 

I have also read a resume of the life of Jeremiah, this morning in the same coffee shop the policeman sat in just a few minutes ago.

 

It's funny really.

 

Jeremiah gets a call too.

 

A call to be a prophet to the Nations.

 

A call direct from God himself.

 

He doesn’t really respond like the policeman did.

 

His human side kicks in.

 

"I do not know how to speak, and I am too young."

 

That’s Jeremiah's initial response.

 

Sounds like a couple of really lame excuses to me. 

 

Someone once said to me, "The first thing that drops into your head is usually God, the second thing is usually you."

You see this in action here in Jeremiahs response to a calling from God.

 

I was reflecting on my own calling into ministry.

 

God literally and supernaturally had to pin me to the seat to get me to listen to him!

When I heard the words in my thoughts, "Gary I want you to be a Salvation Army Officer," My immediate response was, "Please God no." Quickly followed by a deluge of other thoughts came into my head, Amongst them were things like, "I will have to give up my career, my car, my season ticket at Anfield!" "Please God no."

 

The lameness of my initial response, resonated with Jeremiah thousands of years after he had encountered a calling.

 

But.

 

The thing is.

 

God spoke a zinger of a promise to Jeremiah.

 

"You must go to everyone I send you too and say whatever I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord."

It's funny.

 

I felt that sane language hit my heart and I knew I had to respond.

 

Immediately.

 

Like Jeremiah, I didn’t have a clue why he would choose me, the clueless, fly by night person that I was back then, who had spent most of my life as a Church going unbeliever who lived with an indifferent attitude to anything remotely spiritual.

 

But.

 

The call was real.

 

So I responded.

 

Jeremiah as a prophet, kept close to God from that point on. Listening to God, seeing the pictures God gave him. Keeping a conversation going relentlessly.

 

A total friendship.

 

A total relationship.

 

His remit was to speak to Nations, Kingdoms, to uproot, tear down, destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.

 

Destroy what?

 

Well I think pretty much anything that got in the way of people knowing God.
 

And to build and plant what?

 

Anything that advances the Kingdom of God in this world.

 

That is a prophets remit in a nutshell I think.

 

It doesn’t make us popular really.

 

In fact Jeremiah was thrown down a cistern, a hole in the ground for it.

 

I know a few people who would like to do that with me! (Thankfully not the wife! I hope anyway!)

 

But.

 

Nevertheless.

 

Answering the call for Jeremiah meant that God used him to pave the way for massive reform in his time.

 

I don’t believe it is any different for us today.

 

God desperately needs people to hear his call.

 

More than that he needs them to answer his call.

 

I still miss my season ticket.

 

But the things God has shown me, the lives changed and healed, the great changes in my own character and life, the blessings, the miracles, the trials, the joys, the challenges.

 

More than makes up for that.

 

Never a dull moment!

 

Why do I write this today.

 

As I watched the policeman respond to his call on the radio. A call to action. I had a picture of people sitting at work or at home today, thousands of them, struggling with responding to His call.

 

Maybe.

 

Someone reading this blog post today.

 

Is doing the same?

 

The Spirit of God says to you. "Let go, of the struggle. Drop the lame excuses. I truly need you. Despite what you think about yourself, or despite what you think others feel about you, I am calling you. Calling you to Speak to nations and kingdoms, calling you to uproot ad tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."

 

If you hear this call then take a leaf out of the policeman I saw this morning's book.

 

Respond immediately.

 

Respond despite your fears and your excuses.

 

I finish with a few more words from Jeremiah 4.

It's God speaking.

 

"Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you to say. Do not be terrified by them or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land. Against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you but will not overcome you. For I am with you and will rescue you says the Lord."

 

So if this is for you today.

 

If God is calling you to be a prophet? 

 

If he is calling you to ministry? 

 

If he is calling you to take action of some kind? 

 

Then.

 

What are you waiting for?

 

Blessings today guys

Pray for Latvia

I grab my coffee. 

I set down my phone on the polished metallic table, right next to my straight black coffee, settle back into the soft black leather sofa. I stare out over the expansive corridors of Westfield Shopping Centre near Shepherds Bush in London. 

Expensive shops.

People everywhere. 

My thoughts go to another shopping complex in another city in another country.

The terrible tragedy in Riga, Latvia, this week when the roof of a shopping centre collapsed killing many people was fresh in the centre of my mind. It was made even more poignant by the fact that I had visited Riga just a few weeks ago. Dawn and I had been keen to check this week that people were OK.  We wanted the people we had met there to know we were praying for those people who had lost loved ones over there as well as for the emergency services and the decision makers in that country. 

I just can't imagine the pain they feel. 

Major Christine Bailey the regional commander in Latvia assured us everyone was safe, and told us that the Army had done what we do best, serving tea and kindness at the scene.  

Having just experienced the warmth of the Latvian people and marvelled at the development of the Salvation Army in Latvia since it reformed following the end of the Occupation in the early 1990s, I just want to praise God for the passion and the dedication of the Salvationists in that Country. They dont have anywhere near the resources materially that some other territories do, but they have deep spiritual resources that they continue to rely on, and they use them for the expansion of the kingdom of God.

So I ask you to pray for the victims of this horrendous tragedy. 

But I also ask that you would join me tonight in praying for the work of the Salvation Army in Latvia.

That it would continue to grow.

That it will be blessed abundantly.

That it will continue to raise new churches, new leaders and new soldiers.

That above all lives would be touched and changed through its work as it joins Jesus in his saving mission to the this world. 

Thanks. 

 

The church facing extinction?

Sorry for whacking another post on so soon after my last one!

Forgive me!

But I felt I had to put this one out today. So I am just being obediant!

Here goes. 

Waking up is always a pleasure. 

Some people are morning people.

Some are not. (My wife for one!)

I am.

I love getting up early, getting a coffee, and just sitting, basking in the quiet of the waking hours of the day. 

Its a time to ponder the day ahead.

Look to the possibilities, the joys, the conflicts, the meetings, the encounters that lay ahead. 

Not to mention pondering the thought of a cheeky full English breakfast and thinking of ways to do that without Dawn finding out!!!

I co-inhabit the morning hours with God.  

Waking up is easy for me. 

Why do I share this little personal glimpse in to the morning life of Gary?

Because this morning I am wide awake and have come for a coffee at Starbucks. 

I read the headline in a national newspaper. Its the front page headline blaring its message out from the thin paper in thick black font.

It reads. 

THE CHURCH FACES EXTINCTION!

It goes on to say that the Archbishop of Canterbury has said that the Church of England faces extinction just one generation from now. 

Get with the programme media!! 

People have been saying that for years. 

Its nothing new. 

Its nothing we don't know already. 

I have met the very same Arch-Bishop a few times, he is a nice guy. Im sure he would be the first to say that this isn't ground smashing news. 

Of course its probably fairly accurate.

But its not new. 

But the Spirit of God whispers. He whispers into my fresh morning awaking ears. 

"The church is just sleeping."

I felt a sharp clarity in my being that allowed me to see a picture of the church in bed, sleeping, snoring, dribbling, warm comfortable and in no danger of waking up soon. Don't ask me to describe what the church looks like in bed. 

But.

I can say with confidence. 

The church is not a morning person. 

It likes.

Bed. 

Sleep.

Dreaming of creating more brilliant new structures and frameworks to help keep it in bed. Dreaming of more strategies to help it not to reach anybody. Dreaming of more arguments, disagreements, and mind numbing red tape it can create. Dreaming of creating meanings for mission, when actually guys, hello, God is the mission, he's already carrying it out. Dreaming of more ways to make prayer an irrelevant thing that gets in the way of our slumber.

But.

It cant stay in bed for ever. 

Well it can actually. 

It could sleep till it literally dies. 

It could confirm the Arch-Bishops suspicions. 

But.

Listen up Church. 

To the bible. 

At risk of God repeating himself. 

Time and time again.

Through his word. 

God says.

"Wake up O sleeper and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

Wake up!

Stop with the "I don't do mornings thing!

Wake up.

Get washed in the blood of Christ. Get dressed in the righteousness of Christ. Breakfast on his word, literally eat it guys. Ponder on the day ahead prepare for the challenges ahead in his presence. Put your backpack on for the day, put in it the love of Christ and carry it with you all day and share it with anyone you meet. Go into the day with your ultimate companion and speak with him all day. Leave the warmth of the dangerous duvet and get yourself up. Youve slept that long now you should have enough energy to save the world. 

Wake up. 

God is already up guys. 

He is ahead of us. 

He's ready. 

He expects the church to be too.  

A prayer for the now

Faith.

Faith is revelation.

A true revelation inside of us.

Here's something Paul a timeless apostle says.

Galatians 1:11-20, 22-24 NIV

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.   For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.   Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.   I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me.

I write today, from an antiquated Welsh tea room overlooking a fast flowing silver grey river. The start of a two week break.

Feels like bliss.

I've been throwing everything I have into work since we  got to London.  Trying to make sense of a Salvation Army that seems to have lost it's way completely where we are.

But.

God is moving!

I am truly glad of the break though. 

Lately I've been asking God for something precious.

A prayer.

I've been seeking for the most pressing prayer that I could pray for the Salvation Army right now.

And.

My eyes and heart fell on the above slice of Scripture.

I can relate to what Paul is saying. 

It wasn't through any teaching or anything that man did that God revealed himself to me.

He just.

Fell.

Fell into my life.

I instantly knew.

Knew it was Jesus.

As I reflect on the devoured remnants of a once vibrant Salvation Army in West London.

The vital prayer comes.

If you can forgive me may I be bold? 

I think it's a prophetic prayer for the Salvation Army across the globe.

It's a simple prayer, probably not a prayer that hasn't been prayed before either. 

But I'm praying it into the now.

Lord Reveal yourself to us.

Bless us with a revelation of you. 

Help us to really know that  we have been called by your grace. I pray that the Gospel we preach will not be from human origin, not from any man,  but help us to receive it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Bless us with a revolution through revelation. I'm praying it over us God. In the name of Jesus Amen.

Praying: something missing?

Praying. 

I've found myself doing a lot of it recently. 

I used to find it hard.

So hard. 

At the start of my relationship with Jesus I marvelled at the sheer beauty of it.

Prayer that is. 

Yet as I moved onwards through the strands of time, I regressed to a place where I found it hard.

Really hard.

It seemed pointless, it seemed empty at times. Like no one was listening. Like God didn't really feel like listening to me.

I read about prayer, studied it, searched for the essence of it, had conversations about it, learned from people who really know about prayer, taught on it, spoke about it, championed it, while doing it less and less. And when I did it felt dry, forced and cliched.

Praying.

I wondered what it was? I wondered why I was fascinated by it? And I wondered why it seemed to evade me. 

I used to find it hard.

Yet.

It changed.

Why?

Because I realised something.

Something important to me. 

I saw prayer as a thing that I had to do. Which of course in one sense it is.  I saw it as something that was required. A discipline that was a necessary part of being a Christian,  but in a kind of unhealthy regimented way. Something I should perform at various points throughout the day in order to fulfil my christian walk.

But. 

I was missing the beauty of a relationship with Jesus that in fact can be every minute of every day. 

And

Because of that. 

It was dry

Really dry

There seemed to be something missing. 

So as I studied, observed, experienced and participated in many aspects and traditions of prayer from the monastic to the mad, I kept seeing quite a bit of the same trudge towards fulfilling a requirement. 

The definately was something missing. 

Then.

It changed for me. 

It was the night I sat with a homeless man in the quiet hours after midnight, in a small city doorway on a street prayer shift. 

He was slightly drunk. I had gone to see if he was OK. I knew him from our church, and I wanted to check on him. I ended up sitting with him for a few hours. He was looking up at the sky. He offered me a swig of his half bottle of vodka. I declined. He asked me why I didn't drink. I told him about my decision to become a Salvation Army Officer. He laughed. He then said that he wished he could give up the drink. He knew it is killing him. He then switched the conversation around. He said That he was very glad he was not a Salvation Army Officer. Intrigued, I asked him why? He said "You have to pray officially!" He then went on to tell me that he prays, right there in the doorway, "And God talks back to me" he said with a kind of nonchalance that was utterly genuine. 

I spent the next few days fixed on his words. 

And.

The penny dropped. 

I had made prayer official.

An official part of my work.

I know we have to pray officially in one sense of the word, and the bible urges us to pray without ceasing. 

But.

I had been doing it out of a weird sense of duty.

Officially!

I hadn't meant to.

But after all the knowledge of prayer gleaned over having my head in books, or my ears in a lecture hall, or my eyes watching people pray, I had made it a thing that I should do instead of a thing I really wanted to do. 

I had made it official. 

And it was dry and lifeless. 

And.

Meaningless. 

In a flash.

I really wanted what this man in a doorway had.

A simple dialogue with Jesus. 

It's all I ever wanted really. 

And I dropped my old way of praying and picked a new way straight way.

I've never looked back.

The complexities of prayer have so often succeeded in stifling the simplicity of it. 

I often wonder if I was actually speaking with Jesus in that doorway. Because it was a crucial moment in my life. For all the lectures and books, which have taught me so much, it took a homeless man, in desperate danger of death, to teach me a ground breaking lesson.

That prayer isn't official. 

A thing we have to do or should do.

But prayer is a precious thing that I should want to do.

And I found that I desperately wanted that.

So I just started doing that. 

Talking to him not in cliches or a particular style. 

I just started being, well, me.

I dropped trying to speak to God like an eloquent man, which i'm not, or sitting around moping because I didn't get an answer. I dropped trying to pray like some of the people I had seen praying what I thought were amazing prayers. I closed the distance I had created by making prayer a chore instead of a want. 

The beauty of a real relationship with God returned to my life.

Vibrant, real and true. 

Prayer is the essence of the covenant. 

The binding strand between us being His people and Him being our God. 

Praying.

Without it there is no relationship. 

Without it there will be no Church. 

Is it time to stop making it difficult?

Is this for you tonight?

Is it?

A Dying Army?

I looked in our hall at Ealing today.

There is so much clearing out to do.

Years of clutter is piled up in almost all the rooms. I look at the walls of the church building slick with damp, a shady brown colour adorns the pipework. The carpet has seen better days, the wood that surrounds the main hall makes it look like a sixties Norwegian Sauna. Racks of videos line bookshelves in the office, Videos!  A throwback to the eighties. The red velvet cover on the piano looks so horrible I cant even describe it. 

I looked at the empty hall. 

I saw.

Decay.

I think deeply about the task we have been set to try and help to reverse the trend of Salvation Army Corps deaths in the West of London. 

We have three flags standing at the front of the hall.

One represents Ealing. 

The other other two represent two Corps that have already died. 

They speak of memories for some, yet they also speak of what the bible would describe as a city long devastated.

And as I look in the empty hall.

I wonder why.

Why is the SA fading away into a wistful memory in this part of the world. 

I can guess. 

Yeah I can guess alright, yeah others can have a go at guessing, and I've heard some people offer a reason why the SA is dying in West London.

Sadly it ain't just West London.  

Yet.

It's no good staring at the past. 

I begin to long for change for this situation. 

My heart feels like it bleeds for a dying Army.

I almost see its funeral in my minds eye. 

And?

Really?

Thats one funeral I dont fancy attending. 

So.

I feel stirred as I face the decay. 

A deep pang of excitement rises from the hope in my Soul.

Because.  

Thankfully I've seen the restoration of Corps that have died. Ive seen it first hand. I am a witness to the power of God saving people, saving Corps. Ive actually been part of seeing a Dead Corps rise from the ashes of destruction and become alive and effective once again. 

And.

I know this.

If we keep believing and building upon the one true foundation. 

Jesus. 

Jesus of Nazareth.

And if we can say with certainty my hope is built on nothing less.

Or dare I say built on nothing else!

And we place all our trust in him.

Every ounce of trust squeezed out of us. 

And truly believe what the bible says is true. 

Then.

We will see transformation like never before. 

Restoration.

A turn around.

An epic renaissance of effectiveness in kingdom business. 

I wanna see that. 

I have seen it.

I am seeing it. 

Decay doesn't bother me. The death of the Salvation Army doesn't bother me. 

Because.

I don't believe it will die. 

Because. 

God always wins. 

So listen up to a word from Isaiah. 

They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations. (Isaiah 61:4 NIV)

Is that you?

Are you up for it?

Do you believe it?

 

Praying the street

The uxbridge Road was slick with rain.

My street prayer/Spiritual reconnaissance this morning feels cold, wet, but worth it.

We are zooming in now on God's positioning for the new project here in West London.

My work started at 8.30am today, with prayer, emails and coffee. Then it was my allotted time out on the streets of Ealing London. Dawn was at a pan-London meeting of SA emergency services at THQ today so it was just me.

My task this morning was to keep gathering information straight from the street while praying blessing on everything that I see. Spying out the land as it were. 

The first thing I see is a small gang of guys standing on the street corner. The heady aroma of wacky baccy emanating from the middle of the group. I then see another gang, one I'm getting to know, especially after I spoke some sense into a very volatile situation with these guys outside our church last week. They gave me the thumbs up. Thats progress. I see the weary trudge through the rain of some who have a kind of lonely look about them carrying heavy plastic bags with provisions in them. I see a guy look right, then left, then behind him, before stepping into a seriously dodgy looking massage parlour. The busyness of this major London thoroughfare is almost overwhelming. There is hardly a space on the pavement to walk. This is the poorer end of Ealing broadway.

I saw much more.

So much to bless.

So much work to do.

So many lives that need touching, saving, loving. Transforming.

The Salvation Army was birthed on streets like these. In a different part of London.  

Jesus was there already ahead of them on those streets.

I saw him this morning.

He is still there.

I saw him in the eyes of the people. 

I saw him in the urban park lying on a bench while the rain soaked his skin. 

And I know we have heard this preached and all that jazz, we hear people say it, a lot, but the Salvation Army really should get out more. 

Joining God.

He will show us stuff.

Stuff that we would never see from the warmth of our buildings. 

People ask me well whats the difference between praying outside or inside? I always answer with theres no difference because all prayer is valid, but, when we pray in our communities, our cities, our towns, our villages, we really do sense and see what God is sensing and seeing. 

This morning as I take a break and down another cappuccino, I feel a passion, a sharpness, a desire, not just a want but a deep desire to help him in his transforming work in this world. 

And.

I think thats the other thing about intentional work on the streets. 

We stoke up our passion for the lost. 

Its great to sing our songs that say stuff like, for our inheritance give us the lost, but there nothing like coming face to face with them. 

And

We get real life information which we can use to pray. It makes our prayer even more effective. 

So come on guys, get wrapped up and bless the streets.

Ask God to show you stuff.

It really will stoke up the fire in your heart.