From time to time I feel prompted to republish a past post.

As it happens I was undoubtedly prompted tonight.

I felt it was actually imperative and urgent.

I have no clue why.

So the following rehashed post from early 2011, I guess becomes a kind of prophetic call tonight.

So here goes.

A mix of sun and torrential rain invaded my walk on the streets around my Neighbourhood this morning. The rain though, felt strangely nice as it bounced on my face relentlessly.

Most days I take a walk around the streets.

As I walked today I really noticed the shabbiness that adorns some of the streets of this former mining community, a community that has seen more prosperous days when the local coal mine was up and running.

I saw weeds, lots of weeds, growing out of walls and pavements. I saw litter, lots of it strewn around the streets. I saw the barrenness left by a recent demolition project right in the centre of the place. A few odd walls were still standing looking out of place and almost lonely. I walked amongst the sparse scattering of shops on the main street and watched as people went about their daily routines. The rain clouds above were almost black and this cast a bleak glaze over the whole of the place.

On one of the odd walls sat a teenage girl, she couldn't have been more than 16 years old and she was pregnant and already had one other child with her. I saw a guy struggling up the hill towards the doctors surgery with two walking sticks to help him he looked extremely pale and withdrawn.

As I walked down one of the streets a couple of guys now in their twenties, who I have talked to on these streets before shouted, "alright Gaz," then proceeded to take the michael out of me by mimicking a priest walking with his hands together.

I laughed to myself!

But didn't laugh for long.

As I walked in and out of the streets today I felt like crying.

I didn't know why.

I began to pray over the houses, the businesses, a couple of Church buildings, the community centre, the streets.

I prayed the Aaronic blessing, The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace.

I prayed it over houses with barbed wire over their fences, I prayed it over overgrown gardens and back alleys. I prayed it down streets lined with houses.

I began to imagine the different needs that probably lay behind those doors.

You don't really need to waste time doing fancy questionnaires to find out what the needs are in your community.

Your eyes will show you.

Your heart will show you.

The Spirit of God will show you.

I began to weep. Not much, but enough to ask God what is going on here Lord?

I heard six words drop into my thoughts.

"You are humbled by the need."

Humbled by the need?

I understood that sentence straight away.

Yeah.

Humbled by the need.

Being effective out on the mission field requires it.

Becoming humbled by the need.

Not in some attempt to become humble or practice getting good at doing humbleness, or carry out a way of being humble that I've read in some book somewhere.

But by becoming humbled by seeing and sensing the things that God is so humbled by.

I guess God is longing for the Church to rediscover humility.

What it means to be humble.

If we aren't humbled by the need in our communities, in our cities, our families, our circles of friends, our workplaces, our streets, then how can we reach out to the need?

My mind hit on a scene from the bible.

Just before Jesus made an amazing miracle happen that saw a crowd of around 5000 hungry, needy, people fed from a few loaves of bread and a few fish, the scriptures give us a glimpse of the motivating factor behind this miracle.

Matthew 14:14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

As soon as Jesus saw the need. He was humbled by it.

It fired up a compassion in him that led him to do something about the needs these people had.

He was humbled by the need.

He didn't need to try to be humble.

He just was.

For me it makes so much sense. We can go out into the world to make a difference. We can create mission plans, We can do need surveys, we can do the intentional thing.

But are we humbled by the need?

Do we feel it deep inside?

Do we have a compassion that comes from the heart of Christ himself.

A compassion that spurs us into action. That catapults us into feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, slaking the thirst of the thirsty?

God is relentlessly calling his church to be humbled by the need.

I think all great revivals were birthed in prayer that's for sure. But before the prayers, those prayers came from people who were humbled by the need that surrounded them. By the needs of a nation. It was always the motivating factor.

People moved with compassion.

Is God calling the church to be like a Jeremiah who would weep over a nation?

I think so.

The time is now.

To get into the heartlands of our communities, our circles, our mission fields, and look around. To allow God to show us the need. To allow the compassion of Jesus to touch the nations through us.

To be humbled by the need.

Prayer and life Seminar 2017

Hi

A request.

I have been working on an idea for a new seminar centred around prayer and life. Very much looking at individual prayer life and how it interacts with every day living.

It will involve teaching and the opportunity to share stories and discussion. It will last around two hours.

I am going to take it out and about early 2017.

If anyone is interested in booking me to come to your Church, cell group, event or any other type of gathering, and to find out cost, then please contact me on wglacey@outlook.com or text your interest on 07462544414.

Thanks for continuing to support my blog.

Blessings

Gary

Omnipotence

Its Saturday morning 9am.

I am sitting in Church.

The soft lighting and the quiet grab hold of me.

My cell phone notification sound breaks the quiet.

It's my daily scripture from life Church Bible app.

It's significant.

My journey into the world as I have taken a break from all church involvement has taught me so much. I've learned about my inner strength and my potential to seriously up my relationship with God has been unleashed.

But this morning I was reminded that Church is important but definitely not everything.  And I totally understand the scripture that flashed on my QHD screen this morning.

Here it is.

Jeremiah 23:24

New International Version

Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord. “Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.

I began to wonder.

I mean wonder as in feel the awesomeness.

God doesn't just sit in the shadows of the church.

He is everywhere.

Omnipotent.

And.

I've totally experienced that lately.

I have felt the power of God in magnificent measure.

The Lord has spoken to me today.

Urging me never to hide in the shadows in the Church. He urged me that getting amongst the mess of the world is vital.

I'm getting closer to being able to return to be a part of a church community once again.  Maybe even pastor one once again.

But I feel the Lord has equipped me more than any other time as a Christian.

And.

To stand safe in his omnipotence.

Re-run

This is a re-run of a blogpost from back in 2011. 

I felt an urge to republish it tonight. 

So for whatever reason the prompt has come.

May it bless you massively. 

Here goes.

Tonight I am Just chilling.

My earphones are firmly in my ear canals.

From the depths of my Smartphone streams a song. Leona Lewis singing "The first time ever I saw your face." It sounds like pure golden liquid pouring into my ears.

As the song played its spine tingling notes, I began to reflect on the first time I ever saw the face of Jesus.

It was in Victoria train Station in London back in 1999.

And on reflection tonight, it was the very moment that changed my life forever.

No flashes of lightning, or claps of thunder.

I saw a homeless girl sitting down propped up against a wall.

She was so young.

She was tired, dirty and obviously hungry.

I don't know what made me stop.

As from a distance I looked at her, I saw another girl, also so young, but much healthier, clean and well dressed, walk over to her and simply kneel down beside her.

She placed her hand on the girls shoulder and whispered something into her ear. She was seemingly to oblivious to the thousands of people coming and going to their respective destinations. More than that the thousands walking past seemed oblivious to the homeless girl lying on the floor.

As she placed her hand on her shoulder, she closed her eyes and began to pray for the homeless girl.

As she prayed, I saw tears start to stream down the homeless girls face. They left tear-trails in the dirt on her face.

I watched.

Transfixed.

I had never ever encountered Jesus in my life before, due to my indifference.

But here in the face of this young homeless girl, I saw him.

I saw Jesus.

I encountered him in her hot tears.

I saw him in her pain filled face.

I was so touched.

This was a simple act of kindness in a frantically busy London train station. But I knew that in that one moment something big happened in my life.

I think that was the first time ever I saw His face.

It was so amazing.

It changed my life forever.

All the rubbish that was attached to my life, stuff that I had been dragging around with me for years seemed to loosen. I had a feeling inside that this was a real chance to draw a line on the past and begin a new life.

In that moment I couldn't get away from the feeling that the only way to experience a new, full, amazing life, the only way, was to be in relationship with Jesus.

I was also dumbfounded by the girl who had taken the time to care for this young girl.

How brave she was.

How beautiful.

How breathtaking was the unconditional love she was showing.

I was in a daze, I just felt like abandoning my life altogether and spending the rest of my life wiping the tears of the lost and the lonely.

My life up until that moment meant nothing. All the partying and overspending just suddenly came out into the open and I saw it clearly as a worthless pile of hopelessness.

I wanted desperately that my life should mean something.

And the first time ever I saw His face? It all changed.

Changed in an instant.

I remember saying over and over, "Will you fix my broken life?"

And all these years on? He has.

So do you remember the first time ever you saw His face?

Hey, maybe you have never seen His face?

Look around you.

He is absolutely everywhere.

In the eyes of brokenness.

I urge you to look for His face.

Maybe you haven't seen Him for a while?

As I say, maybe you have never seen him.

The other day I gave a pair of my jeans to a guy who has nothing. He had soiled his one pair of jeans in a drunken stupor. As I handed them over to him, his face just lit up. 

His face looked almost angelic.

Definitely, I was giving the jeans to Jesus.

It felt like an act of communion somehow.

More and more amidst the often lifeless religion and church, and all that stuff, I see Jesus crying out for water, food and even a pair of jeans.

So if you have never seen His face?

There is always a first time.

Mr Likeable

I was desperate to be liked.

Growing up.

That was it.

The unknown goal.

The unseen dream.

It drove me on.

To do?

Many outstandingly stupid things.

What was behind it?

Well that took a year of prayer and psychological counselling to begin to understand and unravel.

That’s a story for another day.

Being desperate to be liked is only part of a much wider desperation.

That being.

To be accepted.

I somehow from birth felt an outsider, in church, in school, in work, in my family everywhere.

Yes, the root of that has been uncovered.

Thankfully.

Again that is a story for another day.

Being desperate to be liked is has its side effects.

One massive one being blaming everyone else for making you feel like an outsider and completely shirking any responsibility for oneself, one’s actions, one’s reactions, one’s lifestyle.

Being desperate to be liked makes you do stuff, like buy stuff you can’t afford, be someone you are not meant to be, be untruthful to get where you think you should be, make relationship choices that are not right for you. Be led by other people even though you don’t like what they are doing.

All this can lead to debt, false self, disastrous relationships, unsettling work relationships and ultimately gross unhappiness.

Yet.

In my case?

The world thought I was Mr likeable.

The world thought he has got it sorted.

I’ve come to realise I was an expert in creating and wearing various disguises.

I could invent and be whoever I needed to be for any given situation.

In that life of ultra-falseness?

I lost me.

The genuine me.

The person I am destined to be.

But.

Wait.

This isn’t a sad eulogy to my former life.

No.

I have to tell you the truth.

The truth is.

You can change.

Especially with Jesus help.

I know there will be people reading this blog who are thinking deep down oh my! That sounds like me!

I know that because I have sat in the course of my ministry with hundreds of people who have been devastated by their false self. And indeed are continuing to be devastated right now.

But.

You can purge that false self out of your life and rediscover who you are.

The simple key to do this for me was this.

To firstly stop looking at how others or circumstances were treating me and blaming them for my gross unhappiness. Secondly, look at my own part in the unhappiness, what have I contributed to it. Thirdly, to take responsibility for the inside and outside of me.

I remember the day I got so excited that I could actually let go of being a false me. It came with such clarity that I couldn’t understand how I had actually spent most of my life trying to be Mr likeable, trying to please others, trying to impress, trying to be the top dog, the number one. That is so tiring to keep up that no wonder we end up exhausted, unhappy and unfulfilled in life. I remember I was deeply upset by the fact I had not got a certain job that I really wanted and was wallowing in self-pity and rejection. I began to think seriously that no one actually liked me, no one thought I was of any worth and I began to really get depressed by the way I was living and that things didn’t seem to go my way as much as I truly wanted. On the back of a book in my office was a bible verse that was backing up the title of a book I can’t even remember. It was Psalm 10 :5 the first few words hit me and struck me as if having been hit with a stun gun. ‘His ways prosper at all times.’ I don’t know why but I realised that my own ways weren’t prospering at all.  My own ways were a problem. I saw it. The life I had been leading for years in the false self was all about me. And as simplistic as this sounds I knew I had to discover more about God’s ways. I was sick of a none prosperous life. Now so as we are not confused here I am not talking about financial stuff. I’m talking about every aspect of my being.

             I knew I had to change.

             I’ve now stopped blaming others for my circumstances. Even when people are not nice with me. I’ve practiced and learned to look at my own self, to take responsibility for what I do and say, for my own responses and actions.

Once I did that I discovered some amazing things about the real Gary.

I found I was humble.

I found that happiness was sourced in loving and caring for others.

I found that other people actually only hurt me if I let them.

I found that I have more energy because I’ve stopped the tiring drag of trying to be something I’m really not.

I found that I can’t control what others think or say about me.

I found that because of that I didn’t have to invent a Mr likeable anymore.

I found I like the real Gary and hated the inventions of the past.

In all of this?

I am recovering my life.

The reason I write this today is probably slightly prophetic as I started it by just practicing my typing on a new piece of software.

Then.

This came out!

So.

I’m sure this will help someone.

I pray it really does.

No eye has seen

I rocked up at the prayer centre in London that Dawn and I pioneered and planted this morning. All set to pray specifically for my future.

Things are hotting up in my life.

God is really moving.

I pray daily.

But.

Right now as the future starts to stir before me, I sense the need to pray harder.

So I secure a prayer room.

As I entered the building this morning I was met by Frank. A guy who Dawn and Nicky and the team at Sanctuary West London have stood by, loved, helped and are hanging in with as we speak, caught up with me.

He excitedly said, "Gaz, remember to Love Jesus today."

Frank has got transformed since coming to the sanctuary. He had been in prison for violence and kidnap among other crimes. He has been amazingly healed of a life of drugs and alcohol and now helps the team with the arduous work of helping the many addicts that use our place.

Remember to love Jesus.

I think he meant to say remember Jesus loves you.

But.

That phrase remember to love Jesus hit me in the head hard!

I carried that phrase into prayer room 4 at Sanctuary West London.

And.

From nowhere.

A scripture reference zoomed into my mind.

Literally like this, "1 CORINTHIANS 2: 9"

Now immediately I didn't know what that verse says.

So.

I looked it up.

It contains these words.

"What no eye has seen, Nor no ear has heard, Nor no human heart has conceived, the things God has prepared for those who love him."

A spectacular clarity filled my life.

It is massively important to remember to love Jesus.

And.

Oh my life how at do love Jesus.

And.

With the future imminently about to change for me I felt a security I haven't felt for a long time.

I sometimes forget that God has great things in store for me. My eye doesn't see it, my ear doesn't hear it, my mind doesn't grasp it.

Yet.

It's the truth.

So in the quiet of prayer room 4 with the city loud and proud outside, I no my future is safe.

I know God is going to use me.

I know I am fully recovered from past hurt.

And.

Anyone out there burdened by the future?

Take strength from this amazing scripture.

What no eye has seen, nor no ear has heard, nor no human mind conceived, the things God has prepared for those that love him.

Jesus loves you.

Yet

Remember to love him back.

Blessings.

A plea

This morning I have been hit by the risen Lord big time.

He has woken me up from my lean times over the last two years.

He has reawakened the vision He have me to carry for the rest of my life.

I sat wondering am I just missing home or is the Lord leading me back to Liverpool. To the Wirral specifically.

The answer is both.

But.

The Spirit of God says carry what I have laid on you to that place.

I thought it was over.

The vision to create places of prayer for those who are disillusioned, lost, wayward, outcast even.

But.

God says no.

He says to me this morning in no uncertain terms, 'Go to Merseyside and to the Wirral specifically and pray. I will do the rest.'

And.

A fire starts in my heart.

The passion to help people, to teach people, to release people returns stronger than ever.

So.

I respond to God and say Yeah I am listening.

I am heading home!

The thing is God asks me to write this on my blog today.

The other thing is I have no Idea how it will pan out.

And that's exactly how God intends.

All I know is God asks us to carry on building what he asked us to build. He says ' finish the task. '

We have no money.

We have no house.

We have no specific place to pray.

But.

We have been there before and God has blessed our hands in his work. We have seen miracles and lives changed along the way.

That work will never be finished.

But.

God says he will provide. He will send those to work with us. He will send everything we need to build a praying community, a house of prayer in the Wirral.

The fire is burning.

The passion has returned.

It's real.

So what I ask today is those who know our ministry. Those who have supported us in prayer. That you will pray hard for us. And support is in any other way the Lord directs.

And please pray for me.

I am stronger now than ever. I have been through the worst of times. Yet I am healed and ready.

I'm like a caged lion. Ready to speak. Ready to act. Ready to build again.  Please pray for us. Dawn has been like a rock in a super storm. She has watched me go down and now rise up again. For both of us massive change is a coming. So I truly appeal for your prayers as we start to look towards future days.

Thank you

Refill

This morning.

Saturday morning.

After a lie in I head up to the church.

Sanctuary.

The house of prayer Dawn and I planted and brought from vision to reality.

Its feels a bit strange for me now I'm not the minister here.

But I see this morning the very reason God brought Dawn and I here to London and enabled us to build this sanctuary here in West Ealing.

I watch a homeless man come in for a warm and some food and drink.

I watch as Dawn sits with him.

I watch as he asks for some help.

I catch his words.

He starts to cry.

Real big tears.

His words reflect how lost and hopeless he is.

I watch as Dawn lovingly comforts him with her kind words and openness.

I watch as she takes decisive action to help him.

I see hope flood into his hopeless eyes.

Pure.

Simple.

Devastatingly effective action.

O man.

My heart leaps at the simple yet majestic love of Jesus flowing through the heart of a human to a desperately needy heart of a man with literally nowhere or no one to turn to.

I am touched.

Deeply.

Refilled.

It's as if God is reminding of my own calling and purpose while I am on this earth.

There are so many.

Who need love.

There are so many who need simple action.

There are so many who need a saviour.

I needed this so badly this morning.

My passion comes flooding back.

So

I don't know where God will take me from this precious moment this morning.

But.

I'm ready.

Are you?

The now

Mornings have always been my favourite time of the day.

This morning is one of those golden mornings.

Temperature below zero.

Completely clear London sky.

A gorgeous red gold sun beaming its spectacular glow on the waking world.

I’ve come into work early today. 6.30 to be precise. It is quiet in the office. The world is stirring outside. Traffic is building, people are stepping out into the day, all with their earphones in and backpacks on, all treading their well-worn paths to school, college, work, wherever.

I have a couple of hours until my work day officially begins at 8.30.

So

I am reflecting on where I am now.

For those who don’t know in the after-shock of my ministry being put on hold I took a job with a funeral company.

It’s been fantastic.

As mad as that sounds.

Obviously as a minister I have conducted many funeral services all over the country. The other thing is in my previous career as a nurse obviously I have dealt with death before. So here I am in the midst of people’s grief and despair every day.

Yesterday I sat with a lady in this very office who just wanted to talk about her mother who had died recently and our company had taken care of the funeral. She was struggling badly with bereavement and kept saying “I wish I could just talk to my mum right now”. I made her a cup of tea and just sat and listened. I was able to encourage her to speak out her grief to open up her emotions and let the tears flow. She shared with me that she had not been able to bring her emotion and grief to the surface in front of her family because she felt she needed to stay strong. I was able to help her to break down that stronghold yesterday.

And

I understood why I am in this job right now.

I am carrying a wealth of pastoral experience into the heart of people’s despair.

And

Although I miss some aspects of looking after the spiritual needs of a church. Even though for now I’ve put speaking on platforms and stages aside for a short period, I understand that this job is the best possible place for me to be right now.

Being in the midst of the darkness of bereavement is truly reigniting my passion to help people, to minister, to be there as a light in this dark world.

People have said to me isn’t it a bit depressing working in funerals.

Listen

It’s far from depressing.

It’s actually an honour.

It’s an opportunity to touch the lives of people who in desperate need.

I know that soon my speaking and writing will return, I am healed now of all the wounds that were inflicted spiritually and emotionally over the last few years. I feel strong, and I feel I am in totally the place where I need to be right now.

So.

I thought I would let you know exactly what I am up to right now.

And.

I want to say thank you to my readers all over the world for your tremendous encouragement to me and I leave this simple message today.

Whatever your circumstance is right now. However deep the trouble seems. However, locked in to a spiritual, mental or physical prisons you are, it can be turned round.

It doesn’t have to be forever.

Blessings on you today guys.

Life Saver

Sitting in the midst of this new world that I am experiencing I feel something that I haven’t felt for a long time.

Calm.

True calm.

In many ways I am sad I had to leave my ministry in the Salvation Army.

But.

I really did have have to.

It definitely didn't feel great at the time, making the decision, planning an exit strategy and then taking the action required for me to leave.

But I had to.

I may have gone mad if I hadn't.

Church politics and extreme unhealthy hierarchical systems have the capacity to kill you.

Spiritually.

Mentally.

And.

Literally.

And.

It almost did in my case.

So.

Here I am. nearly a year since I quit. Feeling calm, feeling rested, feeling good again.

I haven't been to church for around seven months.

It has been blissful to rediscover who I am. Not to mention my relationship with God has risen to new levels without the interference of the church.

It has been an essential part of God's plan for me to take a break from everything church.

Matthew 11: 28-30 says, are you tired? worn out? burned out on religion? Come to me. get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything ill fitting on you. keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

And.

Through really listening to this word.

I took the action that is required.

I was burned out on religion. Especially the often unhealthy religion that the church can serve up. religion that controls people, damages people and stifles dreams.

So I felt in my case that when God says, "Come to me, get away with me and you will recover your life, that I had to step away from the church altogether for the unforeseen future.

And here I am heading up to a year on that Journey.

I am recovering my life.

I know one day sooner or later that I will step back into the church but things will be different for me.

I will come back sharper, wiser, stronger and way more effective that I have been in the past.

During the time I haven't been to church, i've stepped into a new job that has taken me into the world, the world we as Christians are called to operate in.

I've been able to watch first hand how lost people are but also how near they are to the life changing encounter with Jesus that change everything for anyone. Ive been able to minister day in day out to my work colleagues and many others and I have seen the power of God at work in a new way. Ive walked with God and watched how he does things. Ive been able to connect with God on a new plain, free of the shackles of bland sad religion. Ive seen how there is a hungry world out there. Hungry for a Saviour. I have took a step back and watched how the world needs something way different than what the traditional Church is right now. It needs way more than services. It needs way more that ceremonies. It needs way more than great music or eloquent words. 

I would say it needs love.

And.

In love, I think the world desperately needs the church to stand down from its holier than thou perch and seep its vast resources into a world that needs an embrace. 

Yeah.

Ive learned just how near the kingdom is.

But.

Most of all I have been able to experience the free and light christian life that God promises. Ive been able to engage with God free of boundaries and interference.  I have got up everyday just being able to think about my relationship with God and the world. 

Its been a lifesaver for me.

What I would like to do here is relay this.

If there is anyone out out there burning out on religion. 

Then take a break from Church. 

For a day, a week a month a year whatever. Thats up to you and God.

I really believe that you will recover your life.

Maybe the church needs to recover it's life?

Then.

Matthew 11: 28-30 says, are you tired? worn out? burned out on religion? Come to me. get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything ill fitting on you. keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.

Mice

It's a brave step to take to turn away from something that has been part of your life since birth.

In fact for four generations.

Something that has been your ministry and your life.

But in the Salvation Army for me the restrictions of its system were suffocating.

That's just me.

I know for some the religious restriction put upon officers is comforting and reassuring and gives them security.

Whether you think I am right or wrong, I personally found it impossible to be all that God wants me to be while caught up in the system.

It felt like I had got myself entangled in a roll of barbed wire and was constantly fighting to get loose.

I believe God will break through that system one day.

But for me?

The plane has left the runway and is heading for the open skies.

It's funny how following years of restrictive and misused authority being heaped on you that when you break free it takes time to heal and rebuild.

You keep expecting someone to tell you what to wear or not to mention demons, or not to be a bit weird in your worship!

Or.

Worse.

Much.

Much.

Worse.

But.

I'm heading for the skies.

So.

None of those things will happen again.

Ever.

Praise God.

And the healing is taking place. I'm being fixed so to speak. The broken bits are being welded back in place. A sense of peace is settling nicely. Doors are opening before me to carry my ministry into a new sphere in a new atmosphere, in a new stratosphere even!

And here is the thing.

I once heard a preacher who had taken over three struggling churches and these congregations had been put together to form a new church, two about the moment he heard God speaking about a way forward.

He said these three congregations had never liked each other. They had battled for years. When they were put together a new intensity invade the battles.

The preacher had been abroad at a conference. He had a vision and a dream for his new church but they just wouldn't get on board with the vision he was sharing. He had been praying to God to show him a way to move forward.

While he was in the airport waiting to fly back to the UK, an announcement was given that his flight had been cancelled. He found out later that the plane that was to take them home had been infested with mice in the old. They had been chewing wiring and lots of other things.

He was despatched to a hotel and told his flight would leave the next day.

In the morning when he arrived at the airport he discovered that they had tried to fumigate the hold of the plane, but the mice persisted. So the only way they could destroy the mice was to take the plane up into skies where at a certain altitude the mice would die off.

And.

As he thought about that he felt the Lord speaking.

He knew that in terms of his vision he had tried fumigating the people by trying to resolve matters pastorally but the mice wouldn't go away! So he knew there and then that God was encouraging him to take his vision down the runway. In other words just do it. When the vision would reach a certain altitude spiritually the mice would either be changed or die off!

In two years his congregation grew from right people to two thousand.

And.

That is exactly how I have done things.

The mice are still chewing away as I take the visions and dreams God has laid on my life down the runway but they are getting fewer by the day.

Don't be held back by a sence of duty or any of those crazy concepts they will be mice. Don't stay entangled in that painful barbed wire that your life might be tangled up in, take your dreams down the runway and head for the skies.

The only one who can make that decision is you.

But.

Here is the truth that some people and the enemy will not want you to believe.

God will be with you whatever you decide, he will not abandon you.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery! (Galations 5:1)

Stand up and claim your freedom.

One life to live.