Notes from FUSION - oil
Sorry it has taken me so long to put up another post on this website, I had internet issues at 5am this morning!!
I am just about to head down to the church again now, although I had intended to get there about an hour ago but the oil filter on my car decided that it needed to come off and cover the road with all my oil! Needless to say Ruth was a little surprised when I phoned her from just our side saying "I need to to get a towel, some kitchen roll and the large bottle oil from the shed. It's kind of urgent!"
Have you been down to FUSION yet?
I'm so used to going to prayer meetings that take a little time to get started, it is such a delight to find a prayer meeting that has been going on for 6 hours before you have even turned up. The atmosphere is electric! You just step into an atmosphere of prayer.
That's what I discovered when I got down there ever at 2am.
Sure I am tired and my eyes stung from not enough sleep before waking up agin, but it was beautiful! This is some of the stuff that I wrote while I was there at this crazy time in the morning:
It is now about 5am and I have been here praying with Chris (sometimes together, sometimes alone) and it has been awesome, there is such a sense of God’s closeness here. My mind is not sharp at this hour but God’s Holy Spirit is! Thank goodness :o)
When I arrived here, swapping over with Steve, Kelly and Mike who had been here for a good many hours, I had a glance through the visitors book. It really encouraged me because as I looked at the names I realised how many people were being drawn by God to himself; couples, youth, whole families, parents, husbands, wives, bands … all of them attracted to His presence.
I entered the hall looking for a place to sit, I picked the sofa … at 2am it looked very inviting. As I settled in Chris and I prayed for God’s anointing, and that is what He did. It was as though we experienced God’s Spirit infuse us from the top of our heads down to our toes! This is God’s time, He is King and we are His privileged guests here!
As I prayed and looked around the hall I felt the Holy Spirit speaking into my heart. Sure I had spent months planning this event, and the other evening getting it all ready, but as I looked and listened it was as if everything was new to me! The cross, for example, just seemed to over powering for the first time. Jesus told us that we should take up our cross and follow Him, but do we – really?
As I gazed at this rough wooden cross I felt the truth uncomfortably burning inside of me (you can’t maintain an illusion or lie in God’s presence, it just doesn’t work), am I more often than not a ‘convenient Christian’? I am comfortable for His will to be done until my control of things is threatened [because He wants it]. We are a people called to surrender! He is King; we are not. “Lord, protect me from my prayers that say ‘Your will be done (when it is convenient)’”.
There is a picture in my Good News Bible that accompanies Matthew 16, it depicts a group of believers carrying their crosses and following Christ. In this crowd are the elderly, the young, the middle aged, even children! Each one has a different cross, but they are following the same Lord! As I look at this picture I think to myself, ‘if a child can do it surely I can too.’
As I shared some of this with Chris he reminded me of the number of prophecies that had been spoken over Wales concerning ‘wild fire’, but we realised that this kind of prophecy doesn’t come to pass simply because it has been spoken. It requires us to want it, if we don’t we won’t see it. We may say that we want the fire of God but it is not a tame thing, it is ‘wild’ and threatens our reserved and ‘in control’ manner. Wild fire is not respectful, it does not stay in the fireplace or the alter. Wild fire spills out of our desire for God into our churches, homes, pubs, and street corners alike. It doesn’t care for our boundaries, God’s fire wants to burn and is looking for a vessels willing to be ignited.
We continued to pray and God’s spirit continued to stir in this place (it is an awesome atmosphere … you’ll love it).
In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us not to hide our ‘light’. He humorously says the no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a bowl, so why should we? It was dark when Chris and I drove down to Bethel and as we did God spoke to us through the car headlights that passed us.
Drivers don’t tend to notice headlights on normal beam. Yes they light things up but they are easily ignored. The same can be said when we try to live as ‘convenient Christians’ (obedient when it is convenient). However, drivers do notice when headlights aren’t working (never let you light go out!) and when you leave your FULL BEAM on! We need to be full beam Christians whose lives radiate God with such brilliance the fill passing cars will light!
We need to be wholeheartedly His to be on full beam. Sometimes His will is compatible with our, but at other times it is not, and we must sacrifice our will to His. I want to be follower that obeys God even when it is not convenient. To be of use to God in the world He wants us to be either hot (healing) or cold (refreshing), not tepid (blurgh!). Christ is calling us to ‘die to self’. This is not something that happens once and then we have graduated, it needs to be done every day. It is not easily done (I am reminded of Woody Allen who said that he wasn’t afraid of dying, he just didn’t want to be there when it happened!) but it’s result is that our lives will be ablaze with His glory!
This has been what God has been stirring in our hearts last night, but here are some of the prayers other people have wriiten down:
“Thank you for the world. It says in John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.’ So I thank you that I can live.”
“God’s Word has again showed me how he has chosen me for a specific plan and purpose and I intend living my life like a princess, chosen for such a time as this. Even though I have strayed from His path I have found that in rededicating my life to him and putting my total trust in Him He has again embraced me and set me on the right course. I pray that the young people of my church and Newport will also find their way back to the path that He has chosen for them and that through everything God’s will be done. Amen.”
“Just as Paul sent Timothy to the early Christians to stir and encourage the people let us also, in like mindedness encourage the members of our churches. I pray that your love will be evident in this place, Your sanctuary, always!!! Thank you for Your love, the love that washes over us continually. Amen.”
I am just about to head down to the church again now, although I had intended to get there about an hour ago but the oil filter on my car decided that it needed to come off and cover the road with all my oil! Needless to say Ruth was a little surprised when I phoned her from just our side saying "I need to to get a towel, some kitchen roll and the large bottle oil from the shed. It's kind of urgent!"
Have you been down to FUSION yet?
I'm so used to going to prayer meetings that take a little time to get started, it is such a delight to find a prayer meeting that has been going on for 6 hours before you have even turned up. The atmosphere is electric! You just step into an atmosphere of prayer.
That's what I discovered when I got down there ever at 2am.
Sure I am tired and my eyes stung from not enough sleep before waking up agin, but it was beautiful! This is some of the stuff that I wrote while I was there at this crazy time in the morning:
It is now about 5am and I have been here praying with Chris (sometimes together, sometimes alone) and it has been awesome, there is such a sense of God’s closeness here. My mind is not sharp at this hour but God’s Holy Spirit is! Thank goodness :o)
When I arrived here, swapping over with Steve, Kelly and Mike who had been here for a good many hours, I had a glance through the visitors book. It really encouraged me because as I looked at the names I realised how many people were being drawn by God to himself; couples, youth, whole families, parents, husbands, wives, bands … all of them attracted to His presence.
I entered the hall looking for a place to sit, I picked the sofa … at 2am it looked very inviting. As I settled in Chris and I prayed for God’s anointing, and that is what He did. It was as though we experienced God’s Spirit infuse us from the top of our heads down to our toes! This is God’s time, He is King and we are His privileged guests here!
As I prayed and looked around the hall I felt the Holy Spirit speaking into my heart. Sure I had spent months planning this event, and the other evening getting it all ready, but as I looked and listened it was as if everything was new to me! The cross, for example, just seemed to over powering for the first time. Jesus told us that we should take up our cross and follow Him, but do we – really?
As I gazed at this rough wooden cross I felt the truth uncomfortably burning inside of me (you can’t maintain an illusion or lie in God’s presence, it just doesn’t work), am I more often than not a ‘convenient Christian’? I am comfortable for His will to be done until my control of things is threatened [because He wants it]. We are a people called to surrender! He is King; we are not. “Lord, protect me from my prayers that say ‘Your will be done (when it is convenient)’”.
There is a picture in my Good News Bible that accompanies Matthew 16, it depicts a group of believers carrying their crosses and following Christ. In this crowd are the elderly, the young, the middle aged, even children! Each one has a different cross, but they are following the same Lord! As I look at this picture I think to myself, ‘if a child can do it surely I can too.’
As I shared some of this with Chris he reminded me of the number of prophecies that had been spoken over Wales concerning ‘wild fire’, but we realised that this kind of prophecy doesn’t come to pass simply because it has been spoken. It requires us to want it, if we don’t we won’t see it. We may say that we want the fire of God but it is not a tame thing, it is ‘wild’ and threatens our reserved and ‘in control’ manner. Wild fire is not respectful, it does not stay in the fireplace or the alter. Wild fire spills out of our desire for God into our churches, homes, pubs, and street corners alike. It doesn’t care for our boundaries, God’s fire wants to burn and is looking for a vessels willing to be ignited.
We continued to pray and God’s spirit continued to stir in this place (it is an awesome atmosphere … you’ll love it).
In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us not to hide our ‘light’. He humorously says the no one lights a lamp and then puts it under a bowl, so why should we? It was dark when Chris and I drove down to Bethel and as we did God spoke to us through the car headlights that passed us.
Drivers don’t tend to notice headlights on normal beam. Yes they light things up but they are easily ignored. The same can be said when we try to live as ‘convenient Christians’ (obedient when it is convenient). However, drivers do notice when headlights aren’t working (never let you light go out!) and when you leave your FULL BEAM on! We need to be full beam Christians whose lives radiate God with such brilliance the fill passing cars will light!
We need to be wholeheartedly His to be on full beam. Sometimes His will is compatible with our, but at other times it is not, and we must sacrifice our will to His. I want to be follower that obeys God even when it is not convenient. To be of use to God in the world He wants us to be either hot (healing) or cold (refreshing), not tepid (blurgh!). Christ is calling us to ‘die to self’. This is not something that happens once and then we have graduated, it needs to be done every day. It is not easily done (I am reminded of Woody Allen who said that he wasn’t afraid of dying, he just didn’t want to be there when it happened!) but it’s result is that our lives will be ablaze with His glory!
This has been what God has been stirring in our hearts last night, but here are some of the prayers other people have wriiten down:
“Thank you for the world. It says in John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.’ So I thank you that I can live.”
“God’s Word has again showed me how he has chosen me for a specific plan and purpose and I intend living my life like a princess, chosen for such a time as this. Even though I have strayed from His path I have found that in rededicating my life to him and putting my total trust in Him He has again embraced me and set me on the right course. I pray that the young people of my church and Newport will also find their way back to the path that He has chosen for them and that through everything God’s will be done. Amen.”
“Just as Paul sent Timothy to the early Christians to stir and encourage the people let us also, in like mindedness encourage the members of our churches. I pray that your love will be evident in this place, Your sanctuary, always!!! Thank you for Your love, the love that washes over us continually. Amen.”
posted by Andrew at 12:03 pm
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