Who are you?

Who are we? You are not of this world, you dear friends are seated in heaven with Jesus. One day I was stuck by an amazing vision of Jesus on the cross, and I new right there and then that he was real and I had to decide. I new that day it was all of me or nothing, nothing else would do. Six months later I gave my whole self to Him, and I have done every day since. On that day if not before I was irrevocably forever His. Never to be parted, I was marked as His, death had no hold on me. That day I became a citizen of heaven, earth was no longer my home, I may live here but I do not belong here, heaven was my home.

1 corinthinas 13 v 11 -12

'When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.'

Gal 3 v 23 - 25

' 23 Before the coming of this faith,[j] we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.'

I was set free but my mind was still captive. I was in love with Jesus but I didn't know what his freedom meant. I was like a child I thought like a child. In Galatians the child is the one under the law, the guardian till Jesus came. Now Jesus has come. We are free, we are now children of God and we do not live under law but under grace. It is by grace that you have been saved and not by works so that no man may boast (eph 2v8).

Why is it then that we apporach God with the mindset of this world. This world does not know grace until it meets it in the person of Jesus. In this world if you do not have enough bread you do not have enough bread. In this world if you have nowhere to live you have nowhere to live unless you make it happen. In this world you do not have money unless you earn it or are lucky enough to be given it. In this world our mindset is law, our mindset is we must take control so that it may happen.

I am seated in heaven (eph2v6), heaven is my home. Jesus is my lover and my brother. My God is my Lord and he is my daddy. In heaven there is bread, there is lots and lots of it. In heaven there is home lots of them, my dad hasn't let any of his children not have homes because he loves his children, he loves them fiercely. Which father if his child asked for some bread would give him a stone... how much more does our father in heaven give good things to those who love him. My daddy gives me the very best, yet I saw you get what you earned, so I read my bible and that is what I thought. I thought like a child under the law.

I was captive to my earthly mindset even though my Lord Jesus had set me free. All the time I was trying to earn it, I thought like a child, I lived under law. But the lord is making me into a man, I am putting childish ways behind me. My God is love, my daddy is love. Need I worry? No. But I worry. My mind has not been renewed that to man a thing may be impossible, but to God all things are possible. But he doesn't just give us things because he loves us, he wants to give us good things because he is in love with us. How many years have you live thinking you need to be better to earn his love, how many years have you thought you are not good enough for his love. How many years have you denied yourself what he is desperate to give you because you thought yourself unworthy. Did you not realise it was by grace that you have been saved, not by works, it is a gift.

How many years have you thought I must work hard to please him not realising that his desire, the reason he has saved you is you. He is desperate for you. No no no I must read my bible, I must feed the poor, I must pray. Yet you were the very thing he wanted. You. Jesus didn't die on a cross and shed His precious blood so he could watch you do some stuff, he wants you. Now we know in part then we shall now in full, even as we are fully known. He wants to see you face to face. But what about the work, you think he needs you to do His work, he wants you. But I am ugly as the bride says in song of songs, dark am I yet lovely. Dark with sin yet even in our sin he saw us and he loved us. Jesus did not go to the cross for a sinless world but a world full of it. He died so that by his blood we may be free of sin and seen as pure and spotless. He died to form a covenant of blood, a covenant of oneness with him, we are one with him. When the father looks at us he sees him, we are one with him.

Who are you, you are a son. Saved by grace by the precious blood of Jesus shed because of his love, his great love for us. Is it time to stop trying and to let him love you. Jesus' commands are not to enter his love but to stay there as it says in John 15 to remain in his love. They are acts of love in response to the wondrous love of our Jesus. It is time to respond to our first call, loving him. It is time to grow up and put these childish ways behind us, if you think you may earn his love you may try. You can try and you will break yourself because you will be saddled with the law. Or you can chose to receive that which he is most desperate to give you. His love, it is a gift, it is time to receive it. It is time to stop and let Him love you.

Dream bigger Dreams

On tuesday night we had a very last minute prayer meeting, to pray for our nation. It was really well attended and really powerful, we have such an amazing comunity here at St Thomas' Philadelphia. We worshiped, encountered the presence of Jesus, spoke with authority in the spiritual realm and command the angelic host to go forth. Praise Jesus no trouble in Sheffield.

Knowing Jesus is amazing, not only is He absolutely lovely and wonderful, holy and awesome but we have a security in Him that cannont be shaken. We have long heard of the shaking that will be comming and not only is it really encouraging to not be surprise but to also know we are one with the one who conquered sin and death. Yesterday I could not stop singing death has no hold on me, sin has no hold on me.

There is a shaking in our nation, and it is not a time to sit idley by but it a time to stand up and take authority in the name of Jesus and speak forth His love and power. I am not disheartened, I am hungry because I know that Jesus is comming and I am honoured because we have the role of ushering in His coming. I am not overwhelmed, because He has already defeated satan on the corss, sin has no hold on me, death has no hold on me. Revival is close to our generation, do we want to take hold of it?

So in the midst of all of that yesterday we went out prayer walking. As we were praying before we left we really felt that there was no fear or need for fierce contending, but that our weapon in the heavnely realm was peace and intimacy. To that end we went to Sheffield uni campus and enjoyed the presence of the Lord. We welcomed Him and we dream dreams and spoke in faith what we saw.

I saw people having powerful peace encounters in weston park. On the concourse I saw people weeping at the manifest presence of Jesus, this is what revival looks like to me. People having powerful initmate encounters with Jesus everywhere, then desperately trying to find someone who came tell them who this person is. Who is this Jesus? Are you ready to teach them?

Ephesians 6 says we do not fight with weapons of this world, but the spiritual powers in the heavenly realm. I have so much faith for breakthrough because I know Jesus has the power!

Hungry

Today I was joined by Mina and Jon two awesome people. We adhered to the rules of no striving and having fun particularly well. We had great fun catching up and chatting away. After a bit of natter we got to praying and we had such a lovely time praying and hanging out in the presence of Jesus we didn't leave the office! We finished by doing some prophetic art, with crayons! Mina said we could use paint once we had proven we could use crayons, only joking, but probably good news for my office carpet.


Part of what the Lord was doing with us today was leading us to be hungry for Him. We can go and try as hard as we like to claim land but revival comes when the reviver comes. We invite Him and he comes, nothing else can bring revival to a person, nothing else can bring revival to a city, only him and his presence.


Are we hungry for him, are we so hungry for the presence of Jesus everything else is loss. When we are fully given over to Jesus, when we have grasped that we are one with Him and sitting with Him in heavenly realms our reality doesn't change, but our perception of it does.


You could beg the lord, petition for Him to draw near it won't change a thing, He already has. He came near to us in the person of Jesus on the cross and has never drawn back. All we need to do is to recognise who he is and what he has won for us and step into it. When we chose to join Jesus in heavenly realms, Holy Spirit comsumes us and our hearts burn for Jesus, we throw aside all other things that make us unclean and hunger and thirst for righteousness, for purity so that we may see Him. When His love and presence consume us, then we will see his kingdom come around us for it will have come in us.


There is an amazing Hymn by John Wesley call let me see thy face and die, and I think this captures brilliant a snapshot of a heart that was so hungry for Jesus it saw revival come, because it came in him. Wesley said I set myself on fire and let the world watch me burn. Do you want to set yourself on fire?


To Thee, great God of love! I bow,
And prostrate in Thy sight adore;
By faith I see Thee passing now;
I have, but still I ask for more,
A glimpse of love cannot suffice,
My soul for all Thy presence cries.
I cannot see Thy face, and live,
Then let me see Thy face, and die!


Moses Thy backward parts might view,
But not a perfect sight obtain;
The gospel doth Thy fulness show
To us, by the commandment slain;
The dead to sin shall find the grace
The pure in heart shall see Thy face.
I cannot see Thy face, and live,
Then let me see Thy face, and die!


Surrounded by the saints of old,
We now by faith approach to Thee
Shall all with open face behold
In Christ the glorious Deity;
Shall see, and put the Godhead on,
The nature of Thy sinless Son.
I cannot see Thy face, and live,
Then let me see Thy face, and die!


By John Wesley

Maranatha

Today was the beginning of a journey to start praying in and claiming the university and campus for Jesus this summer. I am planning on every day i am working at philly over the summer to head out and pray in the reaping of a mighty harvest that awaits us in this new season of student work in the city.

On the first day of this adventure I was joined by the wonderful Tim Maiden. We went over a few ground rules;

1. We go as Children of God
2. No Striving, we will let Holy Spirit do it
3. Have Fun
4. Stop and bless/pray for/help anyone the Holy Spirit points us to especially the poor

We started by reading some scripture, praying and enjoying the Holy and heavenly presence of our Father in heaven. I am increasingly convinced that simply His presence is the key, wether we are at rest or out breaking in the kingdom, He is the one who does it. We are hungry for revival and the only way we will see it is if His presence becomes manifest.

I believe it was wesley who said, I simply set myself on fire and let the world watch me burn. In this whole process it is not about putting in lots of effort and hard work in the hope we may see Him come. He dearly loves us and his presence his touch in one moment can set our hearts at rest and transform any situation. He does it, only Him, all Him. We are just in the process of putting that into practice in all the student places.

After a wondeful time in His presence we wandered off to Encliffe student village. On the way however we went past crookes valley church, the big derelict one on crookesmoore. I have for a long time felt the Lord leading me to pray for it to be returned to its intended purpose, to be a home for his family. As we walked up to it some people were in there looking around so we sauntered in as nonchalant as you like. In fact, so nonchalant we nearly got locked in!!!

As we stood and prayed there the Lord showed us the place filled with students hungry for His presence, worship raw and powerful, His presence come in so much power no one could stand for the weight of His glory! We prayed in faith we would see it.

After thinking we had actually been locked in and realising the door was just closed we headed up to encliffe student village. We only made it as far as the grass in the middle and here we stayed in worship. Just as there is a battle won in the old testament which was won by worshippers going first and worshiping, so we felt that we win the battle for this ground by worship.

So we prayed maranatha, Lord come, Jesus come. Jesus come.