Revival - Being Decoratively Moulded

I was in London having met a friend. I had found our conversation stirring and I was not ready to travel home so decided to walk and prayer in the City. I was talking to the Lord and not too aware of things around me until I was confronted with a large white van with “Revival” emblazoned on its side parked across the alley I was walking up. There was building work going on and the Revival van had “Decorative Moulding” written on it too.

I had to smile, the Lord leads me up a blind alley to discover building in progress for Revival. He is the potter, we’re the clay and in essence revival is us being moulded into something beautiful. Let the master craftsman mould you and your city today.

“[Mugabe], to you it is spoken…

… the kingdom is departed from you.” Daniel 4:31

I posted on Zimbabwe in March and I must admit am disappointed to have not seen a shift take place in the nation. I know that he is there illegally, (I am referring to his spiritual mandate before God (cf. Rom 13:1) rather than the obvious electoral mandate) but he has shown himself able to withstand all the pressure that is being put upon him.

Mugabe’s recent assertion that “only God can remove him from office” reminded me instantly of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4. This passage (v17) I felt was a word regarding Zimbabwe in March and I feel that this wider passage is of relevance today. v17 explains that what is going to happen occurs so that people will know that God is control (I paraphrase greatly). However, the action does not start until Nebuchadnezzar makes his proud assertion. This releases the decree from heaven in v31 and Nebuchadnezzar loses everything and is driven out to live with the beasts.

Mugabe’s recent assertion is that Nebuchadnezzar moment, and following these haughty words I feel I can declare v31 over Mugabe: “The Kingdom is departed from you.” So today I speak it. Mugabe must go from Zimbabwe. There can be no power sharing, no compromised unity-rule but we need to establish his removal from that land. Let every knee bow, let Your Kingdom come.

Big but small

Following from old but new… If the new shape needs to connect the old and new it must also connect the big and small.

The vision that I recently posted has this challenge at its heart. It has churches that are regional in vision, with sufficient resources to establish themselves as centres of prayer and worship and draw people from across the city. To me this is large church doing the usual thing, albeit well. They are needed to punch through the opposition and create the atmosphere where there is a release of heavenly activity.

I am reminded of the parable of the mustard seed. It is only when the tree has grown that it provides a place for the birds to nest (angelic activity) and as Mark adds, provides shade. I know this is about the Kingdom not the church, but the principle is there. Large churches have a spiritual weight and authority to establish a place which enables angels to rest there. They also provide spiritual overwatch for developing ministry and churches within their patch (shade). Without this many of the new shoots would be scorched too early and die.

Back to the vision - what about the small? The emphasis upon small, real, and missional community that characterises my experience of emerging church is vital for the new. The light dawned in the city as people got out into it. Mission focused communities achieve this not big church. Society will change as people engage with it, and that means spending time in it, not in a church (which is where we forget how to relate to it). However, for the small to be effectively empowered is has to be related in to the big. Walking away from big because it’s ‘old shape’ may help mission but it will mean a disconnection from fresh revelation, strategy and anointing released by the big as it punches through.

Following on from my last post then (Lakeland), large scale evangelistic crusades are not just an expression of old mantles but they by definition are an expression of the big. Therefore, if we still need to connect the big and small in today’s shape then we can’t automatically reject this style of evangelism as part of the old - it may be part of the new too. So to Todd Bentley then: Is this a new anointing in an old shape or a new anointing in a big shape punching through to release something to the small? Would the new evangelists inspired by it be scorched quickly if it was not for the spiritual shade this fore-runner ministry has released?

Old but new

One response that I had to what I saw happening in Lakeland (see last post) was jealousy. I was jealous for London. I wanted the good things that were happening in Lakeland to happen in my city. I want old wells opened up with the new things that God is releasing today. I am calling for the old wells that Billy Graham (Haringey 1954), Spurgeon, Moody & Sankey, Wesley and Whitfield dug to be renewed.

Spurgeon is perhaps the most well know evangelist to stir London. One of my favourite stories is when he tested the acoustics in Crystal Palace by declaring, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”. A roofer on top of the palace was so convicted that he left work, went home and wrestled with his soul until he had made peace with God. Today Lord!

It is interesting that the huge crowds Spurgeon preached to or the American evangelists D.L.Moody and Sankey (his singer) were by today’s standards not remarkable. The recent London prayer gathering which was part of the Global Day of Prayer on Pentecost Sunday was larger than any crowd these evangelists preached to. Yet their ministry captured the city in ways we have not seen in recent years. We need these old mantles released and the wells of revival that are in London opened again; we need evangelists anointed by God bringing conviction of sin with signs and wonders.

But what about the new? Something tells me that the old is not enough, that although we want old wells and mantles released for today they need to be new too. If Spurgeon preached to 24,000 in the same power that he did in 1857 would it open the city in the same way? No, London has moved on, but it inhabitants need the same God and message of hope. There needs to be a partnership between the old and new. The old mantles and all that they carry need to be released into the shape that God is bringing forth today.

Lakeland: personal reflections

I am not someone who is unfamiliar with the supernatural and with healing. I was fortunate to grow up in a family where prayer was the 1st response if we were unwell (and often the last as we were healed). For example, I was deaf with a congenital condition that could not be treated. My parent’s prayed and when nothing happened did not give up. One night as part of my bed time prayers I asked for and received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Seeing God was touching me my mother prayed again for my ears and I was instantly healed. Imagine the reaction when I went to my primary school for ’show and tell’ with my now redundant hearing aid! I can’t imagine what the teacher thought of us.

Despite this and even seeing God use me to heal in the past I was overwhelmed from the first time I watched the Lakeland meetings online. The scale of the healings both in number and significance (although even the smallest healing is significant to the sufferer) was remarkable, but the thing that most struck me most was the presence of God and the response it created in me. There was something about the spiritual climate there that felt the same as I experienced in meetings in the UK during 1994 following the Toronto Blessing. You could feel the freshness in the atmosphere. Watching the meetings made me hungry; it refreshed vision and expectancy and made me jealous for what they had. I’ve seen increase in revelation, surprise encounters with the Holy Spirit and a desire for the word resulting in myself spending more time in prayer before Jesus since I’ve opened up myself to God and what he is releasing through Todd Bentley.

Visions of London

On Sunday 9 Dec 2001 during the worship in the Sunday service I had a vision. I saw a very stylised looking English Anglican parish church with a spire. I assumed it was my church [I am an Anglican] even though it looked nothing like it. The view then zoomed out vertically and as I went up I could see the city around me. The sky was very black and heavy with low clouds. The atmosphere was not horrible, just heavy, the everyday heaviness not a particular threat or storm. I knew there was more to see and I wanted to move up higher but the vision ended.

The following week during the Sunday service worship I had the same vision, but this time I zoomed up slightly further. I could see across what I assumed to be London. The land was bowl shaped with a river running through it although the city appeared stylised. I was travelling up inside a beam of light and managed to get up into the clouds. Once I entered these clouds I was into bright light and a whole sense of lightness. The sense of gloom and the oppressive nature that existed beneath the clouds was completely lost. My Spirit was so excited and yearning to enter the light and I wanted to go further up more into the light but then the vision stopped.

In early Jan 2002 (about 3 weeks later) during a church service I had the vision again. This time I went up the elevator of light and stopped half way. I was amazed to see the clouds were not clouds at all but tightly packed demons, their grotesque forms twisted so they could be packed tightly together. This realisation left me reeling; I was so shocked. I was then led away so I was then looking down upon this whole scene. I saw about 5 more beacons of light identical to the search-light elevator I had been travelling up in punching upwards across the city. I then saw people coming into the churches - not loads, just their normal congregations. As they did they stepped into the base of the light beams and were bathed with the light. They then left and looked like Christmas lights twinkling as they went out into the city. As I watched this scene I then noticed that the city was getting brighter. As people (these lights) went into the city their light made it brighter and reduced the thickness of the demonic cloud layer so more light was getting through normally. This continued until the city was full of light and the clouds dispersed.

I was told in the vision that the light beams were churches which had established an open heaven. They were centres of worship and intercession which went up unhindered to heaven and where revelation, strategy and the angelic came down. The establishment of these places were key to what I realised I was seeing - revival in London, not as sudden shift but a gradual dawning.

Too much to say.

I’ve neglected the blog recently as you may have noticed. This is not because I’ve not had anything to say, but recently I’ve had so many competing and half developed ideas in my mind I’ve not known where to start. I’m not very good at writing things until I’ve chewed it over. I think I need to learn how to post up thoughts in progress.

So things that are in progress at present are:

• Zimbabwe
• Irish election result and the EU
• A series of visions that I had in 2001 about London and revival that have come alive again.
• This is partly in response to my thinking through the impact of the Lakeland outpouring.
• A prayer for London’s old wells to be opened again - where’s today’s Moody & Sankey?
• Leading onto thoughts about the role of big church/mission and small communities
• Which leads back to the vision again…

Lots of circular thoughts make it hard to know where to start, but I will be writing about the visions over the next few days.

And the Irish say…pray

Next Thursday (June 12th) Ireland has a referendum on the new EU Lisbon Treaty which emerged out of the remains of the EU Constitutional Treaty that fell apart following the French “Non!” (and subsequent Dutch “Ne”).

The Treaty has important implications for the EU and the outcome is uncertain. Let’s have a week where we remember to pray for the EU’s future. EU politics may not be in our everyday consciousness but it shapes our continent and needs our prayers.

So for all those Europhiles out there - pray; and those of you who are Eurosceptic - shouldn’t you pray for your enemies?

Europe is open - Will France lead it the right way?

I’ve not written for a while as I’ve had too much going through my head recently to know where to start! However the news today from Europe has stimulated me into action.

 

The Manchester United win of the European Cup I think signifies an opening in Europe and this opening needs to be watched over. In a season of change we need to stand as doorkeepers and possess these gates.

 

France is a pivotal nation and in pivotal seasons its choices have a wider implication. In 1968 the world looked to Paris as it hosted the Vietnam peace talks and protestors gathered on the streets. In 2008 Sarkozy seeks to build a greater Paris than Housmann (who’s Masonic street map still lies over the city today) by connecting it to the sea and from July 1^st he takes over the leadership of the EU as France hold the Presidency of the EU.

 

The EU does not have a permanent president but each nation takes it in turn to lead the EU for 6 months. (Assuming the Lisbon Treaty is ratified this arrangement ends in December). During this time they are able to set the EU’s agenda and seek to steer it in a direction that matches their own vision of Europe. President Sarkozy has recently outlined France’s priorities and top of the list is: Boosting the EU’s military capacity.

If I were a betting man…

Tonight Man U and Chelsea fight for the European Cup. Two English clubs fighting for Europe is interesting enough, but add in Moscow and a bit of history and it all gets more interesting.

Today in 1968 Man U were preparing for the European Cup final, a final that they then went on to win and by doing so became the first British club to win the European Cup. Another 1968 first. For those of you who like me are not football fans then you may not know that Man U have just secured their win of the football league. A close thing - in fact they went into the last week of the football season on level points with their rival, something that has not happened since the league battle of 1968.

Which brings me back to tonight, now if I were a betting man….