Saturday 31 August 2013

I Give Waters In The Wilderness And Rivers In The Desert

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Isa 43:19
Recently, I have been preaching on the streets with the support of my five year-old son, Charles.

Leading up to our first mission, I prayed about where the Lord would have us take the word of His grace. I wanted somewhere close to a good local church where we could direct new converts and other seekers of truth. I also wanted somewhere dark where the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ might shine in a powerful way.

But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Cor 4:3-4
Holy Spirit put a suburb of Brisbane on my heart and I started praying into it and looking at street maps. I began talking about it with my wife and my church leadership and even mentioned it to the students at the high school where I was teaching. I had caught a vision of preaching the Gospel on the street, in the power of the Spirit. I could see it ... rivers of living water flowing in the desert. There is no hope for mankind apart from the Gospel of the Kingdom. The lost and hurting of this world must know that, in Christ, we can be reconciled to God our Father. They must know that Adam's race can be restored to fellowship with God and to our Creation mandate of ruling and reigning on the earth.
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them… 2 Cor 5:19
But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. John 1:12
Finally the day arrived when I wasn’t called in to work. “Today is the day,” I said to Charles. We prayed together and thanked the Lord for evangelists and other Christian workers who had gone before us into this needy suburb. Amazingly, in the next hour and just around the corner from home, Charles and I would unexpectedly bump into one such worker. He shared some of his experiences and encouraged us in our mission.

With our water bottles and a folding chair, we headed to the harvest field. Without so much as a street map or GPS, we found somewhere to park and then headed off on foot to see where the Spirit might lead me to preach. After sharing Jesus one-on-one with a few people, we came across the place where I would lift my voice and proclaim the Gospel for the next two hours. Getting started was like stepping off a waterfall! Thankfully my co-worker was full of faith and as I hesitated at the start, he said to me, “Come on, Dad! What are you waiting for?” And so I stepped off the waterfall, declaring, “I’m here today to tell you the good news about Jesus Christ.”
…Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3-4
About twenty minutes or so into my preaching, Charles and I were suddenly embraced by two beautiful women of God coming from a prayer meeting. They came around the corner to find me preaching and Charles handing out tracts. Although we’d never met before, we rejoiced together in the Lord’s timing and prayed together. They would spend the next hour or so praying and handing out tracts and leading people to Jesus, while I declared the Gospel. My little team of two had just doubled, according to the foreknowledge and wisdom of God.
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He delighteth in his way. Ps 37:23
There are many Muslims where the Lord has led me to preach and it’s a blessing to witness them listening carefully and observing the moving of the Spirit during the preaching. Even as I preach boldly that Jesus Christ is the Healer and that He alone is the Way to the Father, we are receiving great favour among the people. I have met some of the shopkeepers and they seem visibly happy when we arrive to proclaim the word of His grace. Occasionally we are mocked and insulted for Christ’s sake. However, one thing is for sure … the atmosphere in the place is changing! It’s being seeded for salvations and miracles!
Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of His grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. Acts 14:3
My experience has been that many Muslims are hungry for truth and for the power of God. A few years ago, I had an encounter with a group of about six or seven Muslim men. We were at a local river baptising people and, following the baptisms, a group of us broke into spontaneous praise and worship in the park near the river. Nearby was a group of Muslim men eating together and watching us with interest. They were serious Muslims  at one point they went through their ritual of bowing to Mecca.

As we finished singing and began heading off for lunch, our group had to walk past the men. Suddenly I found myself veering towards them and introducing myself. The baptisms and spontaneous praise and worship had opened a great door of opportunity to share Jesus. From Saudi Arabia, they were very hospitable and insisted I eat with them. For the next hour or so, I sat with them and shared the Gospel and answered their many questions. Fiona told me later that it was a heartening sight to behold  me sitting there on an esky with a group of Muslim men gathered around, hanging on my every word.
For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Acts 2:39
The preaching and public proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom is like the gushing forth of pure, refreshing water. 


And in a dry and thirsty land like Australia, don’t we need those rivers flowing? In the short time I have been preaching on the street, Charles and I have witnessed domestic arguments, a police arrest, and intoxicated people wandering aimlessly. And this in the middle of the day!

As we drink deeply of His love and consecrate ourselves and seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, our God can use us as conduits  mobile reservoirs  of Jesus’ living water! We can truly be the revival we want to see on the earth…
The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. Isa 43:20 

Thursday 29 August 2013

We Are Just Going to Use the Name of Jesus

Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947) fanned the flames of revival in countries throughout the world through his audacious faith and spectacular healing ministry. Thousands came to know Jesus Christ as their Saviour, received divine healing and were delivered from demonic oppression and possession...


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"Sitting on the summit of the mountain praying, Wigglesworth heard the silent voice of God speaking to his inner man, 'I want you to go and raise Lazarus.' He descended the mountain and sent a message to the village that he was coming to pray for Lazarus. But when he arrived, the man to whom he had addressed the card informed him gloomily, 'The moment you see him, you will be ready to go home. Nothing will keep you here.' [Formerly a lay preacher, Lazarus had been crippled by tuberculosis and, for the last four years, had been bedridden and spoon-fed.]

When Wigglesworth at last saw Lazarus, he realised that what he was told was not an exaggeration. 'The man [Lazarus] was helpless. He was nothing but a mass of bones with skin stretched over them. There was no life to be seen. Everything in him spoke of decay.' Wigglesworth tried to instil some faith into him, but someone had prayed for his healing two years before and had failed to raise him up and now he refused to believe. 'There was not an atom of faith there,' recalled Wigglesworth. Neither could he find much faith in the village. When he asked who would be willing to join him in prayer for the man, none responded. Eventually he was able to persuade the couple who had given he and his companion lodging to join them the next day. Refusing to eat dinner, Wigglesworth fasted and prayed and then went to bed. That night the battle commenced:
When I got to bed, it seemed as if the devil tried to place on me everything that he had placed on that poor man. When I awoke, I had a cough and all the weakness of a tubercular patient. I rolled out of bed and ... cried out to God to deliver me from the power of the devil. I shouted loud enough to wake everybody in the house, but nobody was disturbed. God gave victory and I got back in bed as free as ever. At five o'clock the Lord awakened me and said, 'Don't break bread until you break it around my table.' At six o'clock, he gave me these words, 'And I will raise him up.' I put my elbow into the fellow who was sleeping with me and said, 'Do you hear? The Lord says that he will raise him up.'
The next morning at eight o'clock, Wigglesworth, his companion, the couple they were staying with, and four others who had had a change of heart and decided to accompany them, arrived at Lazarus' house. They stood around the bed and formed a chain by linking hands, including Lazarus himself. 'We are just going to use the name of Jesus,' Wigglesworth told them.
We knelt down and whispered that one word, 'Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!' The power of God fell and then it lifted. Five times the power of God fell and then it lifted. Five times the power of God fell and then it remained. But the man in the bed was unmoved. Two years previously, someone had come along and had tried to raise him up and the devil had used his lack of success as a means of discouraging Lazarus. I said, 'I don't care what the devil says. If God says he will raise him up, it must be so. Forget everything else except what God says about Jesus.' The sixth time the power fell and the sick man's lips began moving and the tears began to fall. I said, 'The power of God is here. It is yours to accept.' Then he made a confession: 'I have been bitter in my heart and I know I have grieved the spirit of God.' As we again said, 'Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!' the bed shook and the man shook. I told the people who were with me that they could go downstairs. 'This is all God. I'm not going to help him.' I sat and watched that man get up and dress himself, and then we sang the doxology as he walked down the steps.
The epilogue to the story was that the news of Lazarus' healing spread beyond the confines of the village to the whole district, and as he testified to what happened, many were converted."

From: Wilson, J. (2011) Wigglesworth: The Complete Story, Milton Keynes: Authentic Media Ltd, pgs. 51-53.

Thursday 22 August 2013

The Energising Hope That Leads To Purity - Part 2

And those whom He predestined, He also called, and those whom He called He also justified, and those whom He justified He also glorified. Rom 8:30
Praise God, we are on a journey that will soon culminate in the transfiguration and glorification of our bodies! We are about to be revealed as the sons of God on earth! (Rom 8:19).

As a seal of this glorious redemption, we have received the precious Holy Spirit. His Burning Presence in our life is our guarantee that we will receive a crown of unfading glory when Christ returns to close this age and usher in His millennial reign on the earth.
… you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. Eph 1:13-14
Here is powerful truth. To reign with Christ in the full manifestation of His glorious kingdom, we must have resurrected bodies.
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 1 Cor 15:50
Meditate on this truth for a moment…

To rule and reign with Christ in His soon-to-be established millennial kingdom, our lowly bodies must be changed into the likeness of His glorious body (Phil 3:20-21). Our bodies must be glorified. Our ascension to millennial authority requires a resurrection! And a resurrection  by definition  requires a death.
And they overcame him [the accuser of the brethren] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Rev 12:11
To sit with Jesus in His throne, we must overcome (Rev 3:21). And to overcome, we must be willing to die. “… they loved not their lives unto the death.” This is why Paul considered so excellent the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and conformity to His death. It was because through suffering and dying, Paul knew he was positioning himself for a glorious resurrection (Phil 3:10-11).
… if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. 2 Tim 2:11-12
I am greatly encouraged and inspired whenever I read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Through the ages, our precious brothers and sisters have experienced amazing anointing and supernatural deliverance as they have laid down their physical lives. The martyr's blood is never spilled in vain. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Ps 116:15). 


Understanding that death precedes resurrection, must we all lay down our lives physically to participate in Christ’s glorious appearing? Must we all experience a martyr's death? The answer is, ‘No.’ We are talking here about deep truths of the faith (1 Tim 3:9). Let us proceed humbly. 
Behold I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep [die physically], but we shall all be changed. 1 Cor 15:51
Having established that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God and that death precedes resurrection, we now discover a mystery. Laying down our lives physically is not a prerequisite for participating in the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And yet there is a ‘death’ that must be embraced by all who want to rejoice when Christ returns in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.

The death and suffering, brothers and sisters, that beckons all of us, is the death to our flesh and our sinful desires. It is the death to this world and its sexual immorality and covetousness. It is the death that Paul revealed when he declared, “I die daily” (1 Cor 15:31). It is the death that Jesus meant when He taught that all who would be His disciples must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Him (Lk 9:23). It is a dying to the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life (1 Jn 2:15-17). It is a dying to this world which, in its present form, is passing away (1 Cor 7:31). While a martyr's death may not be required of all of us, we must all embrace suffering and dying as part of our preparation for glory.
… rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed. 1 Pet 4:13
Praise God, He has equipped us for the dying process! By the redemptive power of Jesus’ blood and by the energising power of His grace and anointing, we are empowered to share in His sufferings. We have been redeemed and empowered to overcome the flesh, the world, and the devil. As we lay hold of the hope of Christ revealing His glory through us (Rom 8:18), we eagerly begin looking for and talking about His appearing and we purify ourselves in preparation! (1 Jn 3:2-3). This is the hope and power and vision of the Gospel of the kingdom, brothers and sisters! Catch the vision today!
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Col 3:4-5

Monday 19 August 2013

The Energising Hope That Leads To Purity - Part 1

And every man that has this hope in Him purifies himself as He is pure. 1 John 3:3
What an exciting time to be alive! We are about to receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken! (Heb 12:28). A kingdom demonstrated in Jesus’ transfiguration on the mount (Matt 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-9; Luke 9:28-36). Meditate on that glorious event. Here we see Jesus, the last Adam, clothed in Heavenly glory and fellowshipping with saints that lived on the earth some thousands of years earlier. We see Him discussing with Moses and Elijah the very plans and purposes of Almighty God. Here we see Jesus, the firstborn among many brethren, demonstrating what it is to be manifest as a son of God on earth ... while also present in heavenly Jerusalem among the spirits of just men made perfect! (Heb 12:22-24). What we see in the transfiguration on the mount is the kingdom of God coming with power.


And this awesome glorification will be the portion of those who are eagerly looking for the appearing of Christ  not to bear sin this time  but to deliver full salvation!
... unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Heb 9:28
... we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. 1 John 3:2
That which creation has been groaning for; that which our spirits groan for is about to happen! We who are Christ’s are about to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; the sons of God are about to be manifest on the earth! (Rom 8:18-23; 2 Cor 5:1-5). Our longing is soon to be fulfilled  we are about to be transfigured into who we really are!
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 1 Cor 15:49
This hope that Christ will soon appear, in and through those that are His, has inspired the elect throughout the ages to purify and consecrate and separate themselves unto holiness (1 John 3:2-3). After all, our Lord and Saviour is pure and holy and those that would be consumed by His burning presence do “cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor 7:1). This hope, this vision, this upward call of God in Christ Jesus is our motivation for living a crucified life  as regards the flesh, the world, and the devil. 
... one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil 3:13-14
Everyone who has this living hope  of Christ's soon appearing and the full manifestation of His kingdom  finds dynamic motivation for embracing His purifying fire. Hallelujah!


Sunday 11 August 2013

I Have Been Found By Those Who Did Not Seek Me

Some years ago, I was volunteering in a library when the opportunity arose to direct a lost traveller ... to Jesus! 
... I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. Rom 10:20
I had begun volunteering one day a week at a little church library. It was just a short walk from home. Located in a wooden shack on the grounds of a traditional/denominational church, its shelves were stuffed full of a surprising variety and wealth of resources! Crammed into every available space, there were books, tape sets and videos  all available to borrow free-of-charge. I remember, among other things, working through videos and books from the Brownsville revival. Although I wasn't a member of that church, I used the library enough to get to know the elderly ladies looking after it and they happily agreed for me to volunteer there one day a week.


It was great working at the library. There was a kettle so I'd make cuppas and sit there reading books and watching videos to my heart's content, interrupted only when fellow pilgrims dropped in to borrow resources. Sometimes we'd pray together, other times we'd talk about revival or the things of God. Sometimes mums came in to borrow videos for their children. I loved the cross-denominational interaction I experienced while volunteering in that little library. (One such encounter led to an outreach ministry into the local caravan park but that's another story...)
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Prov 27:17
One particular day, my reading was interrupted by a young lady who ventured into the library with a small child. She wasn't there to borrow anything  she was lost and so she'd driven into the church grounds. Seeing the door to the library open, she came in to ask for help.

"I was wondering if you could give me directions?" she asked politely.

I smiled. "Directions to God?"

She was a little taken aback. "I'm sorry," she said. "What did you say?"

"Do you need directions to God?" I repeated. "I can give you directions to God."
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life..." John 14:6
That was all it took. The next thing I knew, I was sharing the good news about Jesus with this precious woman, who introduced herself as K_____. As I shared the love of God and the way of salvation, K_____ opened up and shared the difficult situation she was in. She began crying and I knew she was being drawn to Jesus.

I decided to close up the library a little early and I invited K_____ and her child back to my house just down the road. I called Fiona and told her to expect us shortly.

At home, Fiona loved on K_____ and together we led her to Jesus and into His glorious kingdom. By God's grace, we were able to walk with K_____ through some difficult times and help her find freedom from a damaging relationship. K_____ would eventually move towns and we were blessed to later visit her and find she'd planted herself in a church in walking distance to her home.

Lives are saved and transformed when we give the Holy Spirit something to work with. It doesn't take much  just a little step of faith on our part. As we're faithful with the little opportunities that arise, He entrusts us with greater things. And we find the burning presence of Jesus in our life intensifies! 


Each time we step out and take risks, we stoke the fire!
John was a burning and shining lamp... John 5:35
Some time later, the church closed the library. When I last dropped in there, they were using the old shack to store furniture! I made a few enquiries and found out that the resources had been sold or given away. It was sad news. There was something special about that little library and the way it served as a feeding station for God's children. 
Seek ye the LORD while He may be found... Isa 55:6
I'm blessed to hear that readers are being encouraged by these testimonies. More to come, glory to God!

Friday 9 August 2013

Walking With A Limp

A word from Watchman Nee...


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By faith Jacob ... worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff. Heb 11:21

How striking that the New Testament writer should choose this mark of apparent weakness to depict Jacob's faith. For Penuel, with its crippling divine touch, had indeed spelled an end to the supplanter with all his superabundant natural energy. In his place there stood now this gracious prince with God – and worshipped.

I was sitting one day at supper with a young brother to whom the Lord had been speaking on this very question of our natural energy. He said to me, "It is a blessed thing when you know the Lord has met you and dealt with you in a fundamental way, and that disabling touch has been received." There was a plate of biscuits between us on the table, and I picked one up and broke it in half as though to eat it. Then fitting the two pieces together again carefully, I said, "It looks all right, but it is never quite the same again, is it? When once your back is broken, you will yield ever after to the slightest touch from God."


From: Nee, W. (1965). A Table In The Wilderness: Daily Meditations from the Ministry of Watchman Nee, London: Victory Press.

Keith Green also touched on discipleship and the breaking of the Lord in his Song for Josiah. You can listen by clicking the following link.


Monday 5 August 2013

Renovating And Purifying Fire

Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Dan 3:17-18
For those of us wanting to see with absolute clarity the plans and purposes of God for our lives and for our time, we must understand the power of living without compromise. Our spiritual vision is blurred, our spiritual radars scrambled when we make deals with the devil. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, in contrast to the many thousands of other Hebrew captives living in Babylon, opted to burn rather than compromise and bow down to the Babylonian edifice (Dan 3:16-18).


We read in 1 Samuel 11 the consequence and cost of compromise. There we see the people of Jabesh-gilead in a seemingly helpless situation and facing annihilation at the hands of their enemies. They plead for their lives and the enemy craftily offers them a way out, an opportunity to compromise. They will keep their lives but it will cost each man his right eye. The pressure will be removed, the enemy will retreat but it will cost God's people their depth and scope of vision. And, of course, their marred visage will make a statement to all their future enemies  here are a people who have no recourse in battle other than to admit defeat and compromise.
But Nahash the Ammonite told them, On this condition I will make a treaty with you, that I thrust out all your right eyes and thus lay disgrace on all Israel. 1 Sam 11:2
Scripture reveals that those with the most penetrating and divinely-inspired wisdom were those who lived by the rule of 'no compromise’. Just to mention a few: Moses chose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin (Heb 11:24-26); Joseph preferred death over lustful seduction (though he was thrown in prison, he could easily have been executed for his alleged crime. See Gen 39); Daniel preferred death over obeying an evil ban on worship (Dan 6:10); Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego chose to burn in a fiery furnace rather than bow down to an idol (Dan 3); Jesus embraced rejection and persecution over compromising with the religious spirit of his day. In all of these men, and particularly in our Lord Jesus, we see a spirit of wisdom, an ability to discern the times and seasons, and a finely tuned receptivity to the voice of God.

Knowledge is a wellspring of life to him who has it and wisdom is a tree of life to them that lay hold of her (Prov 16:22). But make no mistake, just as fine gold is purified through fire so also wisdom and discernment and prophetic insight are with those who choose fiery trials over the comforts of compromise.
But He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10
Moses, Joseph, Daniel, the three Hebrew friends, and Jesus our Lord all resisted the god of this world system and experienced the fury and backlash of that system. And we also can expect to endure fire as we engage in holy resistance and stand on God’s Word in a compromised world. The stakes are high  our lives and reputations are required of us  however the rewards are sweet. A promised land awaits.
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom ... Length of days is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Prov 3:13,16-17
His renovating and purifying fire blazes in us as we choose truth and the way of the Kingdom over the wisdom of the world. And we discover that the same fire that purges us also protects and liberates us ... as was demonstrated so powerfully in the deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.