A new song

In your sanctuary Lord,this is what I have on my heart today.

I'm humbled by you.

So humbled. 

I cannot move. 

You have rooted me down into your presence this day.

And I physically can't move. 

I want to stay here forever.

I hear from the mists of your presence a new song, distant, yet strong and clear.

A Holy clarity.

Bonded with peace. 

I know in this sanctuary a new song has been sealed with a declaration. 

A declaration that you are king. King of all.

The new song I hear speaks of new things. As the sounds meet my ears they flow straight to my heart. The new song carries the words of a father. Words that are full of strength and glory. Words that speak gently and powerfully at the same time. Words that change us in an instant. The new song beckons me to move out of the things that hold me back. The things that I need to step out of.  The words invite me to stop singing the old song. To stop holding on to the old song hoping that it might open up new things for me. 

I hear this. 

"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21: 4

The old order of things.

The old song. 

Has passed away.

I am ready to pick up this new song and carry it like a bag of gold into the rest of my life. 

A resolve. 

My life has been a continuation of generations of Salvationists. 

Five generations. 

I was birthed into Army life. 

Literally.

And.

Here I am now an officer.

And I see so much of it confined to the old song. 

And even though I see it, Lord, that is in your hands only.

For me I want to step into the new song. 

I see the dying, the broken, the sick, the lost. I see there hands outstretched and their necks straining trying to catch a sound from the new song. I also see a different Army rising up singing a new song. An Army raised from the streets of despair, from the cities that have been ruined, from the listlessness of the old song, rescuing, loving and giving, not with the complexities of doctrine and theology but with the simple love of Jesus. 

Which song are you singing?

Sing to The Lord a new song. Sing to The Lord all the earth. Sing to The Lord praise his name; Proclaim his salvation day after day.declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples. For great is The Lord and most worthy of praise, he is to be feared among all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols., but The Lord made the heavens. Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary. Psalm 96: 1-6

May God pour favour on your life today. 

Awakened: God doing His thing!

The emptiness is beautiful.

The silence is pure.

My body is relaxed and my mind quietened. 

I sit alone in a very empty Salvation Army hall, recently relieved of years of clutter, stripped of its past and it's icons. 

All there is in this space is me, a piano and a flag.

I don't play the piano.

I'm not really that interested in flags. 

So I just sit.

In almost inexplicable quiet. 

It is the calm after a storm, a quietness of surreal quality, the air is filled with the presence of God, thick, and very very real.

And I'm thinking.

Only the future lies ahead.

The past has passed away.

This week has been an amazing week. A defining week really. We have found ourselves praying with so many people, people just drawn to this place even though right now we are closed. We have heard from people who we have never met wanting to become part of this project of building a Sanctuary here in Ealing, London. An altar, a place of prayer, a place of hope, and a place of restoration. A Salvation Army Centre of prayer in one of the worlds biggest cities. A place that will bring the hope of Jesus to many who desperately need hope. 

And right now. 

Sitting in this awesome quietness?

I feel like I'm sitting on the precipice of something special. 

For all the misery of the passing of the old in this place, for all the conflict, for all the standing up for Jesus that we've been involved with lately! God has granted me a glimpse of whats to come. I've seen through his eyes today the effects of the power of God. I've seen the red sky of the threat of a storm change to the glorious morning sun of the kingdom. I've seen the darkest of souls being changed in an instant as they step into this divine illumination. I've seen what power that compassion holds.

And in the silence.

I feel overwhelmed.

I've seen God do some breathtaking things. 

But I admit I had my doubts this time. Dawn and I have always planted things from scratch. This time that wasn't quite the case. And looking at this fresh task we felt out of our depth. I don't really do tradition I'm afraid, not in its horrible religious sense anyway. I don't do retro Army or any of that stuff. Neither do I criticise it now. I just love Jesus, and want to help people. 

But.

Here is God.

Doing his thing.

Whether Dawn and I are out of our depth or not.

He just astonishes us.

Relentlessly. 

So then.

Suddenly.

My senses have been awakened to this task.

To build something new, something real.

God is making my weakness strong. 

And.

As the ashes of a Corps that has seen better days smoulder and fade, God stokes them up and it soon it will be roaring with the flames of Holy fire. 

It's just astonishing how God does it. 

And the Spirit of God says to those who doubt him (including me sometimes), "Believe in me, rely on my word, I can change everything in an instant. Stay close to me, watch what I am doing. I love you and have everything in hand. Trust me, love me, wait on me, know that what I have for you is good and right, truly, wait and see."

The lost art of waiting

There was a guy today who rushed and nearly paid heavily for it. 

London is busy.

Crossing the roads is potentially dangerous. 

I've already learned to wait for the little green man to appear on the traffic lights, because one false move and the next step we take might be onto Heavens soil. But this guy? Didn't bother. A double decker red London bus turned left into the road we were waiting to cross. But the bus driver misjudged the turn and realised he would have to back up to avoid the stationary traffic which were facing it. The little red man was showing on the lights. The old guy decided he wouldn't wait for the green man to light up, and dodged in front of the red bus. Another car in the outside lane had to brake suddenly and narrowly missed the old guy. 

Impatience can be dangerous.

Waiting is safer.

I haven't been the best at waiting for things over the years. 

But waiting is something God is fashioning into my life just now. 

We live in a world where the now is seemingly vital. We want things now. We do not want to wait. I even pay for my coffee by swiping my phone on a NFC thingy in Starbucks, probably to save me putting my hand in my pocket and pulling out some cash! That would be far too lengthy a process. This morning I was air printing a document and it wasn't playing ball so I whipped the plug out of the wall socket and started again, all because I got tired of waiting!

We want things now. 

I want things now. 

Waiting is a lost art. 

I  have lost the art of waiting, of being patient, of not rushing.

And Gods Spirit working in my Spirit is telling me to slow down.  

Waiting is an gift. 

Like the old guy who nearly came a cropper today while crossing the road, rushing makes us do rash things. It's almost as if the common sense button in our lives gets stuck. We make rash decisions, we act out of context and sometimes character, and way to often we get hit. 

God wants us to wait.

To rediscover the art and the gift of waiting.

For him!

There's loads of scripture that tells us that. 

Psalm 27, Wait for The Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for The Lord.

Psalm 130: 5, I wait for The Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my trust. 

Lamentations 3:26, It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of The Lord. 

Just tap the word wait into your bible app or search engine and you will see that God wants is to wait. 

And.

He wants us to learn and rediscover the patience that he considers a fruit of the spirit. 

So I know this a bit of a random blog post, but I felt the need to write it anyway. 

Are you impatiently raring to do something that God is actually asking you to wait on Him for? Are you running ahead of God on anything? I know with the developments here in London as we once again raise up a Sanctuary 21 from the ashes of an enemy ravaged former expression of the Salvation Army in this area that humanly we want to get it done now! But God is asking us to wait on him! Wait for him to move! Wait for him to raise up! Wait for him to mobilise a new expression here. 

Waiting on God means the right paths are found, the right approaches, the right connections are made. Rushing ahead of God means we are heading for onrushing traffic and might not make it across to the other side.

Of course waiting doesn't mean just doing nothing. Nor does it mean taking our eye off the ball. 

What it does mean is developing patience, solid trust and a sure hope in The Lord. It means constantly seeking him, having conversations with him, looking for him in our neighbourhoods. It means relentlessly having our hearts fuelled with the word of God. It means acting on the things he gives us in his own good time. 

Waiting.

I pray we will rediscover its delights and it's purpose. 

  

The face of the church? Reflecting what?

My face can change a room. 

I've just got one of those faces.

I'm not good at hiding my feelings.

Take for instance, meetings.

I mean business type meetings.

I find most of them insanely boring. 

I dislike them with a bit of a passion. 

Being a Salvation Army Officer means I unfortunately have to attend my fair share of pointless meetings. 

And my face?

Usually let's people know I am not really interested in it or worse not pleased to be there. 

And.

My face can change the atmosphere in a room. 

I honestly wish it didn't. 

It gets me into trouble sometimes. If not with the people who's atmosphere it changed, then definitely with Dawn when I get home!  

She always says to me, "Couldn't you have put a smile on your face." 

I'm a bit of a "wear your heart on your sleeve" type of guy, probably not always a great policy. 

In short my face reflects what I'm feeling inside sometimes. 

Proverbs 27: 19 says, Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart. (Message)

As I take a look at that verse it gets me thinking about reflection.

In terms of face reflecting the heart. 

Hey, how often do I reflect the heart of Jesus to the world?

If my face can change a room, then how can it change a room, or a person, or a situation for good?

More to the point, I need to make sure that happens. 

 And.

Thinking about it, my mind centered on the church. 

How does the face of the church reflect the heart of God?

And my head returned to a night in my life. 

A bad night.

One that I actually felt ashamed of being a part of the church. 

I had been invited to speak at a large City Carol service. I had mentioned it to a guy who was homeless and said he should come, and I'd get him some Chips afterwards. 

There was a few thousand people there and I was seated at the front so I couldn't see if he had showed up or not. The event came and went. The next day I met this guy. He said he had showed up but was turned away at the door.

In his words, he said it was probably because he was dirty. 

A night to forget for the church. 

A night when the church did not reflect the heart of Jesus. 

Or at least some member of the church didn't. 

The Spirit of God says we have to do better. 

We need some radiance.

Those who look to Him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame. (Psalm 34: 5)

Maybe there's the key.

Maybe there is the simple key to unlock the door to our faces and let our hearts reach it. 

Look to God. 

Fix our eyes on him.

More than ever the church needs to take its eyes off religion and fix them on Jesus. And in that gaze a relationship begins, a relationship between a saviour and the church that will impact this world in a an amazing way. 

Because if our eyes were truly on Jesus then no one would ever be turned away from the church. No one would ever go home unforgiven, no one would ever be denied compassion, no one would not be mobilised by leadership, we wouldn't have superstar preachers, no one would be deprived of Heavens Justice. No one would feel unwelcome. Everyone would be loved. 

Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart. 

For all of us who call ourselves the church, that tiny proverb carries a big message. 

A message straight from God. 

I pray that the face of the church will change not only a room but change this world. That it will reflect what is in its heart, and if we are looking to God, locking into a living relationship with him, then what is in its heart should be Jesus Christ himself! Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Then we will be radiant. 

I pray that an avalanche of radiance will be reflected from our hearts. 

Now. 

I'm going to work on my face this year! No not cosmetic surgery! But on how it is reflecting my heart. And to do that I need to work even harder on whats in my heart for sure. 

For a time such as this. 

Dont look back

2013 was a year that I would rather forget.

It was a year full of struggle.

We have had to deal with conflict. Lots of conflict. Stupid church stuff. The kind if stuff that drives Jesus daft. We've had to move City, house and appointment which is stressful. Then we have had to instigate quick and dramatic change to Salvation Army Corps that was in trouble, which in itself brought big time conflict.

Although we are strong.

I've felt the force of it all lately.

So at midnight last night.

2013 ended.

2014 began.

This was my prayer.

Lord if you could please try and make 2014 a truly smoother experience I would be grateful.

I don't know what lies ahead.

We now have three months without any people at our base Corps.

While we revamp everything ready to start again from scratch.

That sounds like a breeze.

But we know the real hard work is just beginning.

And this verse came into my head with astonishing force at midnight last night.

Anyone who puts their hand to the plough and looks back is not fit for service in the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9: 62)

And.

In my Spirit.

The Spirit of God.

Meant it.

Bigtime.

Do not look back.

So I sit here in Starbucks on New Years day 2014. And I resolve not to look back.

If I do.

2013 will suck me downwards.

Pull me back into its deadly grip.

Tie me up with the chains of self pity.

And leave me there.

Stranded.

And in that state?

Jesus is right.

I won't be fit for service.

Jesus is always walking forwards.

So in that light.

This morning I am free of that dreadful year.

Free.

With a clear path ahead no matter what.

So.

For some of you 2013 would have been a great year. For others it might have been a bit rubbish.

But I felt I needed to send this message out today.

This is what the Spirit of God says.

Don't look back.

Press into God. He is moving ahead. Claim his freedom this hour. Make this a great year. Declare it. However great or bad 2013 was, don't look back.

I declare that this year will be a memorable one for our ministry and our lives.

The year of the Lords favour.

And for you.

I pray favour beyond understanding for you guys today.

Don't look back.

Be free.

Blessings

Gaz