Sep | 02 | 16 Benefits of good separation

CONNECT

16 Benefits of good separation

John 17:22
And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: NKJV 

He said: “With 16 food banks in my city how dare we say that Christian unity is leading the way? 16 separate churches, 16 separate organizations, 16 separate fundraising appeals, 16 separate charities set up, 16 separate missions, ministries, outreaches, 16 separate helps to the poor all doing the same thing, and all completely separate!”

May I say that I believe the search for practical Christian unity this side of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ is an impossibility and is therefore a waste of time. Therefore, to abandon the cause of Christian unity is neither an attempt to negate this prayer of Jesus Christ, nor an attempt to try and remove it of its own efficaciousness and power, nor is it a suggestion of ts never being answered! No, the abandonment of the search for Christian unity will quite simply save money, heartache, harm, energy, and further disruption to Christian congregations.

In addition to this, is historical precedent of the proof that the push for Christian unity does not force all of us towards Christian orthodoxy, but rather, forces the definite compromising of the essentials of Christian doctrine. To stop this happening alone, means that there is therefore greater safety in separation.

Does this mean that I am propagating division amongst the churches by saying this? By no means. On the contrary, I want to promote the right kind of Christian unity and I believe the very best display of Christian unity, with integrity, is seen in that ‘no strings attached’, succor, support, and steadfastness that the compromise a fake unity can never bring.

 Be assured of this, that there is no division of Christ, nor with Christ, nor in Christ! Indeed, we are all one in Christ Jesus. This is a spiritual oneness that only will manifest itself in a material oneness when the material Christ places His feet back on this planet. Until then, let us consider that the Word of God by His almighty power might just be sustaining the separation of things that need to remain separate. Even good things.

What I am about to say is maybe an enigmatic paradox. However, “I believe it is time for Christians not to promote division but rather, by embracing separation with integrity, to promote true Christian unity.”
v Here are 16 benefits of good separation for your consideration:

1. Separation allows the full expression of distinctives’ and diversities.
2. Separation allows fighting to be done on a multitude of fronts.
3. Separation allows for true love, true compassion, and true comradery, rather than that which is forced and given out of compulsion.
4. Separation allows for challenge without protection and politics.
5. Separation stops cancer spreading quickly.
6. Separation allows for further and wider separation where necessary and yet still allows for life to continue in those that are separated.
7. Separation does not make way for popes.
8. Separation allows for the possibility of more leaders being raised up.
9. Separation allows for the creation of new spiritual endeavors and the rise of other entrepreneurial spiritual exploits that need to be birthed and to exist often times outside of the present family and borders of a current confinement.
10. Separation allows for the birth of temporary ‘structures’ and more especially for the easy death of the same without the collapse of the whole body.
11. Separation allows for immigrant cross-pollination, and by that I mean that it allows for Saints to travel and to become embedded in those other organizations which would give them life rather than death.
12. Separation allows for intelligent complexity and speedier adaptability in an ever-changing world whose fighting fronts and borders shift and morph so very quickly.
13. Separation allows for the rise of the fragrance of freshness. It eliminates the problem of a continual staleness.
14. Separation fosters a spirit of adventure and of pioneering.
15. Separation allows for the preservation of orthodoxy.
16. Separation makes way for the cultural fit of families, tribes, tongues and nations.

There is one Lord, one faith and one baptism, but friends we do not all ride in a one-horse open sleigh just yet! And we need to thank God for that, especially in days like these.

Listen:- ess, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. Ephesians 4:1-6 NKJV

Pray: -  Father, grant us that generosity of spirit that true unity brings so that Lord, through all the safeties of right separation coupled with true integrity, your church would be made to prosper and to grow on every front that Your Holy Spirit directs. Amen and let it be so.

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Oct | 24 | A Kicker With A Gun 'til Heaven Doth Come

Dream Word – CONNECT

Luke 3:7,8 Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? NKJV

A Kicker With A Gun, 'till Heaven Doth Come

Like it, or not, intended or not, released in 1967, the Paul Newman film classic, ‘Cool Hand Luke’ is a veritable mine of Christian Metaphor.

In 2007, Donn Pearce the writer of the both the novel and the majestic screenplay for this film, was still living and writing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Leaving home aged only fifteen, the author’s personal life is a rich source of story for the film. Pearce, lied about his age when joining the army in 1944, went absent without leave because he was a rebel against unnecessary rules, spent time in the stockade before the intervention of his mother, who finally informed the army of his true age. Thrown out of the army, Pearce then joined the merchant navy, travelling the world, only to be imprisoned in France for the black market counterfeiting of money! Escaping from the outside prison detail, he fraudulently made his way back to America where he took up a new career in burglary. Being imprisoned, aged twenty, for safe-cracking, he had to serve two years in the Florida State Department of correction chain gangs. At the very least, this young man experienced more of the bad life in those eight years than many would dare to do in 800 years! Having previously given up writing, as a much older man he had now taken up his pen once more. In those intervening years he had an office, where I used to live in Dania Beech, from which he arrested run away killers from the Carolinas and Store Front Preachers who moonlighted in the drug trade. I often wonder if some of the latter are still operating in that same trade in Broward county today!

I tell you all this because Don Pearce is not a financially successful author. He is struggling to take care of his ailing wife, and to find extra money for medical bills. He most certainly feels like Sysiphus, bound to an eternity of frustration in forever rolling a rock uphill and never reaching the top. Ben Alsup, writing in Esquire magazine from an interview with Pearce in 2005, records Don Pearce telling him one very particular story:-
“A man, beaten and bleeding, is crawling after a gun. Every time he comes near to laying hands on the gun, another man kicks it up the road a little farther, keeping it always just out of reach. The kicker holds a gun of his own. And the crawler knows, should he ever succeed in reaching the gun he's after, that the kicker will shoot him dead. The kicker knows this as well. Still they travel up the road. The crawler crawls, and the kicker kicks, and the road, it never ends.”

Friends, under this present sun, there is a seeming futility in the circle of life, there is seeming pointlessness to all our journeying. If that outrages some of you, then you are either too young, or too insulated to know the truth of it. The former condition is excusable and will pass with time, the latter however, is a chosen state of lunacy and the church is full of such people.

Tonight I say to you three things:

Firstly, enjoy your journey, enjoy the day, the night, the peace the fight, the hot still days and the wind borne kite. Enjoy life!

Secondly, enjoy your story! See yourself as a character within the pages of a book where you have a start a middle and an end, and with it a development. Enjoy being who you are and enjoy becoming who you can become. Enjoy life!

Thirdly and above all though, know that this story, under this present sun, is terribly tainted. It is marked with a curse and a futility, it is stained with loss, it is full of open crosses, upon which you might climb or be forced upon. In the middle of a groaning creation, all creaking and falling apart, happy endings are rare and frankly, so they should be. So, wherever you can, enjoy life!

You see, “What we’ve got here, is a failure to communicate.” The church under this present sun, is guilty today. Absolutely and totally guilty of selling snake oil to the masses. Guilty of promising heaven on earth. Guilty of promising better days ahead for a small weekly tithing. “Yes siree, just turn up, sit up, shut up and pay up and all shall be well this side of heaven!” I tell you now, this snake oil selling of better days under the sun for a small fee, is not Christianity and it is a damnable lie! Under the sun, life is tough, yes, life is often a kicker with a gun.

For you to find hope at the beginning, middle and end of your story, for you to find true hope at the end of each hard day of yours under this present sun, you must turn your mind to thoughts fantastical! Yes tonight and every night, you must steer your heart to the deepest of dreamy wonders. Tonight you must pass beyond the outer and much restrictive boundaries of human possibilities and step through the portal of child-like fancy, into gross and startling human impossibility! Tonight, you must fly, Peter Pan-like, into unknown worlds, even worlds to come, worlds that one day, as in the long, so long ago, will once more shatter the space-time dimensional boundaries and shine bright again in our forever changed and starlit skies. For friends, amidst the frustrations of the long journey which we find ourselves upon, true Christianity will be a dream yet realized, even an unclothed mystery yet to sprout its breasts of fullness. Do not forget tonight, that in our Christian story, the best is always yet to come, yes the best is ever and is always, “Milk and honey on the morrow, with skipping lambs and jam tomorrow.” Tomorrow, as much as you can, enjoy your life under this present sun but expect frustration until heaven doth come.

Listen: - Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful." And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." NKJV

Pray: Lord, help me tonight to see beyond the boundary, in Jesus name I pray, amen!

Sep | 25 | Robbing Churches

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- Robbing Churches

Philippians 4:19,20 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Living in America exposes you to the largest of multi-media ministries, radio and television being the most expensive with respect to running costs. Though I am thankful to be able to see many godly ‘Word & Spirit’ related ministries on television, costly ministries do have the tendency to keep asking for your money and when you have to ask so consistently for the same thing, you tend to become innovative and in becoming innovative you become ‘edgy’ and such ‘edginess’, has to be justified and such justification, leads to what so many have called, ‘The Gospel of Health and Wealth.’

Involved in church planting, I find that in the early stages you wear every hat imaginable. That of ‘Fund Raiser’ is the one I hate the most. It takes me well outside of my comfort zone and into an high octane, dangerous and strange mixture of bombastic humility. How else can I describe the feelings and functions of a mystic missionary, a visionary but penniless entrepreneur, a righteous robber even? A robber indeed, for Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:7-9, hyperbolically adds this to his sins and vices, when in castigating the Corinthians he says, “Did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you free of charge? I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to minister to you.”

It would appear from the scriptures, that is not good to rob God, but it is OK to rob churches! Am I being edgy? I see the red light of danger flashing in the corner of my eye.

Now, I may have related some of the following story previously but let me unpack it a little more. You see, there I was, returning from investigating an area for a possible church plant. A brother had placed $140 in my pocket before leaving home, but I had been so well taken care of by the Pastor I was visiting, that I still had $100 left over. Arriving at the ‘check in’ desk, tired and eager to get home, the lady looked at me quizzically and said, “I’m sorry sir, you are a week early for your flight.” Sure enough there was the date on my ticket. Either a human or technical error had placed me on a return flight, two weeks from my departure and not the one week I had intended. “Listen,” she says “I can transfer you to the flight today but there will be a cost of $100.” I reached into my pocket took out the folded bills and laid them before her. “Let’s do it!”

In times past I have come home from wealthy churches and literally had to pick corn from the adjacent field to my house to feed my family that day. I have gotten up in the morning and had ‘apple sauce’ for breakfast with my children for it was all we had in the cupboard. That day though, I had $100 dollars. A prepared payment for a tired traveller. The spiritual journey of the Christian traveller is also a strange financial roller coaster as well. At times, it is unfathomable. This spiritual journey of ours will contain both abasing and abounding! Now there's a sermon title....Be prepered for both!

Listen:- I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:12-13

Pray :- “Lord, neither fullness nor want is a sign of Your blessing O God. Yet I tell You dear Father, that if Your manifest presence is not with me, if I am not aware of Your 'stickable' faithfulness, then truly, I am a pauper amongst the princes of this world. Lord, in all my gifts, in all my presents, let me know Your presence today. In Jesus name, amen.
 

Aug | 21 | Kisses & Whispers

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- Kisses & Whispers

Romans 16:16 "Greet one another with a holy kiss..."

Love song lyrics can be both banal and cringe-worthy! Yet an examination of cultural musical trends can give us indications of social anxieties, structure and even some prevailing problems. I suppose ‘Gangsta rap’ being one example in the U.S. and ‘Punk’ another example in the U.K. These two genres of music can be viewed as dangerous, anarchistic and violent, whilst the only damage a simple love song lyric can do is maybe mislead some silly women and sad men into stupid affairs. Yes, musical genres do say something and unfortunately, even if be it ever so nice, all cultural expression rooted primarily in a fallen world, always carries with it a duplicitous danger and seduction to sinfulness that we would do well to be aware of.

Yet friends, we must also be aware that singing rises from the soul, even from the depths of our being and so may bring to the surface some of the lost jewels of our deepest desire, even some of the hidden things of God? For if eternity is indeed laid up in our hearts, then as we open our souls, maybe some of the bright sands of that lost shore will sparkle sometimes in the words we sing and in even the way we sing them? So then, to my fascination with ‘love songs,’ for my observed premise is that everything that is true of love as expressed in various songs, everything, is in the end talking about Jesus, who is, love incarnate!

It seems to me then, that two noticed and ever present themes in successful love songs, keywords if you will, are ‘kissing’ and ‘whispers’.

First, I want to suggest that the kisses and whispers of love songs are in fact, reflections of some deep spiritual issues, for whilst kissing is the sign of deepest intimacy, of connectivity and Holy knowing, whispers are the private caressing of the kind and delicately used keys of unlocking words to a person’s most innermost being. Maybe even here then, in seemingly banal loves songs, lies some of the secret evangelism of God?

For example, ‘Lonestar’, in their song ‘Softly’ (Annie Roboff/Holly Lamar) sing:

Baby, with the sweetest kiss
You came along and stole my breath
Tore down my defences with a whisper
Oh you showed me how love can be
You broke through to my heart
Softly, baby softly

In my long examining of love song lyrics it is obvious that our chief and deep desire, is to be embraced and held close. I would suggest this desire is a metaphysical echo of the deepest need of ours to be embraced intimately by God, to be held softly by Him. This is at least one answer to the unusual scenes surrounding the Hindu Guru, ‘Mata Amritanandamayi Devi’ (mother of absolute bliss), who at the beginning of the 21st century is reported to have divinely ‘hugged’ over 30 million people in the prior 30 years? Imagine that! People do need embracing you see. That shake of a hand on Sunday morning, that moment of manly hugging, is for many sometimes the only intimate human contact people will get all week. Think about that. Embracing one another is very important for the soul.

Second then, love song lyrics indicate that our own soul’s longing is to hear unlocking whispers, and in particular I would say, His unlocking words, even His whispers to our own lost and hurting hearts. Is this why so many desperate Christians run to every prophet, approved or other wise, every seemingly wise whacko even, with the hope of hearing but one word directed especially to them, just for them, from Him, just once? People are longing for a personal whisper from the Lord. Aren’t you?

Friends, let us the church, at least learn to embrace one another in Holy intimacy and godly gentleness and then to speak to one another from the depths of who we are to the depths of who they are, with tender and touching tenderness. I wonder if then and only then, we shall begin to truly be the body of Christ engaged in singing His eternal love song over one another? Those who have ears to hear, let them hear and those who have arms to hold, let them embrace!

Listen:- … and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ……1 Kings 19:12b-13a

"Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:16-17 NKJV

Pray: - My God, my Father of absolute bliss, embrace me today. Do not leave me without a whisper from Your mouth, for as the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth for your love is sweeter than wine. Come close dear Saviour, come close. Amen.

Aug | 16 | Come O Breath and Breathe!

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- Come O Breath and Breathe!

Ezekiel 37:9,10 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

We left another one of our favourite poetry groups to depart for new pastures. There amongst other poets, we had immensely enjoyed our fellowship around words and hearts; indeed, chiefly we had enjoyed hearing other people’s voices, always distinct, often dancing and sometimes even, dangerous! For voices when released do cause revolutions. Selah!

One of the poets there, immense and intense, had written for us a going away poem entitled “A Song of the Four Winds” It’s a treasured gift. It is beautiful and focuses around life, friendship and fellowship. Did you know that life comes from the four winds?

Ezekiel is not called to chant some strange incantation into thin air, but as a prophet of God, as a ‘lord’ of the earth under the Lord of the Earth he is commanded to speak words of power greater than any strange magic. We can summarize his prophetic command in a simple sentence; “Come O breath and breathe”

The four winds blow from the four corners of the earth. In other words they come from everywhere. They blow at different times of the year, with differing strength and carry with them distinct tools. In Israel,

the NORTH wind brings substantial rain at just the right time to be favourable to vegetation and so, is indicative of GROWTH.

The EAST Wind comes from across the wilderness and brings with it enough violence to clear out every hidden cobweb of our life. It is a wind of CLEANSING, a wind of CLEARING.

The WEST wind is of a lighter touch, bringing REFRESHING showers.

The SOUTH wind brings the HEAT. The close heat of COMMUNION and COMFORTABLENESS.

Cleansing, refreshing, growth and communion are all marks of friendship and of fellowship; are all marks of life, if you will. Let me ask you today then, do you have these four winds blowing across the face of your soul? Let me ask you as a local church today, do you have these four winds caressing your tall colonnades? If not, then today maybe the Master asks you to stand on your feet and shout in prophetic command to the four winds to fall upon you with life and love and friendship and fellowship? Yes, O Christian, you ruler and reign-er with Him, maybe today God has put it in you, to call life into yourself and into your community and with prophetic and believing cry to also lift up your voice with Ezekiel of old and shout, “Come O Breath and Breathe!” Go on! Shout it to the four directions of the compass today, “Come O Breath and Breathe!” Do it. Keep doing it! And don’t you dare go home until one of the good winds of God billows in your cheeks.


Listen:- And He rode upon a cherub, and flew; He flew upon the wings of the wind. Psalm 18:10

He causes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain; He brings the wind out of His treasuries. Psalm 135:7

Pray: - Lord in Your Great Name and by Your sovereign and unassailable power I now stand and call to these four winds today and in believing words I cry “Come O breath and Breathe!” Now O Lord, clothe these dry bones of ours in flesh, stand us on our feet and make us into a great army. O God! Send amongst your churches these four winds today. In Jesus mighty name I ask it, amen.

Aug | 15 | Solitude & the Solace of the Son

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- Solitude & the Solace of the Son.

John 6:15 He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone.

John Eldridge writes from the heart, about the heart. He sees the absolute necessity of small communities living and fighting for one another’s hearts. From his book ‘Waking the Dead’ I have pulled just two comments referring to small community and what is necessary for them to work. Here’s the first “Most churches survive because everyone keeps a polite distance from the others” and secondly “Community cannot live without solitude.”These two statements describe the two extremities of ‘community’. The first being the ‘toe dip’. The ‘toe dip’ is like getting all dressed down to go swimming, then wrapping the thickest towel around you whilst tentatively dipping your toe into the waters in front of everyone who’s urging you to come in, but in response you simply smile politely, saying “Ooh it’s freezing, I’ll just wait a while..” You are there but your are not there and truth is, have no intention of going there. It’s might be bad English, but it’s the truth. Most of us are like that.

The second statement describes the ‘dive bomb’. You’ve gone and got yourself naked and then ran screaming with joyful expectation, leaping into community from the side of the pool with a giant “I’m here!” explosion of a splash, only to find people wished you would have least put some bathing attire on and actually, they can’t look at you properly anyway now because they are rubbing the chlorine water splash that you made, out from underneath their eyelids, and the waves of that same splash are lifting them up from their own grounded bottom and bouncing them up and then thumping them down again. This community cannot cope with your naked and needy, naughty and noisy arrival. Stop doing that! No community can meet your every naked need!

The church is an organism not an organisation. The church is a community not a convocation. The church is a body of mutual ministry. These three good statements that the church is an organism, a community and a body of mutual ministry may be true, but can also lead us to a thoroughly unwarranted belief that the church is a community where everything that is lacking and needful for us to glorify God, is in fact most wonderfully provided for. For after all, the church is a community where we get every need met and every hurt healed! You know, church community is fun, fodder, fellowship and fixing! HA! If only it were so.

With such unrealistic expectation in our hearts, community can move from the place of encounter with God to replacement for God! The church community however is not a replacement for God, because the church community even when it is at its best in being powerful and spiritually productive, cannot fix everything!

Eldridge has it! 'Community cannot live without solitude' In other words, total reliance on others, whether in community, single friendships, marriage or even children, to come and meet our deepest need is simply an unrealistic madness. No one, no matter how lovely, can meet the deep needs of our heart. We need to get alone with God friends.

You see, the solitude I speak of is actually the ‘company of Jesus’. We need to get alone with Him. Now, for most of us, this is a challenge of gigantic proportion. We fear being alone with ourselves, for we do not truly know (or like) ourselves and are uncomfortable in even our own presence. We fear being alone with ourselves for we do not truly know ourselves. In the same way, we fear being alone with God, for we do not intimately know Him (or really trust Him) and so are also uncomfortable in His presence. Yet being alone with God is absolutely vital to our own health and healing and consequently it is directly related to the blessing, or lack thereof, that we bring to community. Do you see that?

Solitude is to be with oneself and with God, and solitude is the only place where we can receive the intimate solace of the Son. So despite our fear, despite our manufactured business, we need to seek some solitude each and every single day. It is only when we get naked with God that we can see ourselves for who we are. It is only then, that we can accept, honour and help others in our Christ-like communities.

I remember a wreck of a woman, quickly and most fearfully finding herself naked, hurt, ashamed and alone with Jesus…….

Listen:- When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you? She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” John 8:10-11

Pray: - Lord I have once again believed the lie that You do not care and that You do not speak and even if You do, it is but to pick and to condemn. I have believed the lie that You do not love me and are not good. Will you seek my company again dear Lord. Draw close to me today, call my name, call me to You dear Jesus.
Amen.

Aug | 11 | The Secret Place

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- The Secret Place

Matthew 6:17,18 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.


My father’s death was prefixed by strokes. The last one left him comatose and unreachable. He knew the gospel but I am not sure if he understood it or knew Jesus as his Savior. Though he still inhabited this physical world, he was lost somewhere in that twilight zone of the unconscious, or the subconscious realms and as far as I was concerned, he was left undecided, unrepentant and unforgiven in this unreachable secret realm.

There are many physical and metaphysical secret realms or places, if you will. Some of them we long for when the dangers and demands of the conscious world beat on us like the unrelenting waves of the sea. Some of them we flee to and hide behind when we are hurt or embarrassed. The reflection of their portals may appear to others to be but a present smile on our face. However, the smile is not us, it’s a clone, even an abarition we project, whilst our true self has withdrawn to its own secret place. Our true self may be withdrawn in torment, or withdrawn and shaking stubborn in anger and hurt, swearing at you with secret rebellious fist shaking high on it’s battlement of disdain, flinging spiritual rocks and curses at the person who feels everything, somewhere deep inside, but beholds nothing but our fair smile. Some of our secret places have become prisons and dangerous places for us to go and friends, for some of you, these secret places of fantasy have become nothing more than deep dark dens of iniquity, a sickening playground for Satan. Selah. Selah.

This adjective, 'secret' is only found in this verse in the New Testament. Its meaning in this context is simple; 'a secret place is a place hidden from others.' In this case, Jesus is saying “When you fast, keep the fact, the inconvenience and even the pain of it hidden from others. Be secret about it.” This secret place Jesus talks of here is much more than a closed room, it is a metaphysical place. It is a place we can fully inhabit whilst also inhabiting the physical world. It usually differs substantially from all our other secret places in that we are in it by righteous design and invitation of the Father. Or rather, we inhabit the secret place where we are both being beheld by and beholding the Father. We know we are not alone in the secret place because the Father is communing with us. Indeed, our secret place has become His secret place to meet with us. It has become a secret place of hearing, of helping and of healing.

You will go to one of your secret places today. If it is to sin, know that nothing is hidden before the all- seeing gaze of God. If it is to hurl abuse at others or to simmer sins committed against you in some selfish and surly pot, know that God smells the stench. However, if it is to commune with the Father, to be with Him in righteousness and honour, then know that He is waiting there for you. Rejoice in this!
I spoke despairingly concerning the condition of my comatose dad to the old Salvation Army Brigadier lady that had prayed me into the Kingdom. Lovingly she replied “Robert, don't worry. There is no place where God is not; even where your father is now, God is there and God can speak to Him and he to God.”

Dear friend, fear not. Your Father awaits you in the secret place.

Listen:- Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD. Jeremiah 23:24

Pray:- Lord. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. Psalm 139:7-10

Jul | 14 | Of Pigsties & Palaces

Dream Word – CONNECT

Acts 16:14, 15 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." So she persuaded us. Acts 16:14-15. NKJV

Of Pigsties & Palaces

The grey dawn broke over the residence of the Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. Job-like in her life's experiences, this illness looked as though it could be her last. Her personal chaplain George Whitfield, who had preached in all of her houses to most of her noble friends, now moved purposefully towards the window. Cracking it open, the voices below of thousands of admirers came prayerfully to the end of their petitioning hymn:

Uphold this star in thy right hand
Crown her endeavors with success;
Among the great ones may she stand,
A witness of thy righteousness,
Till many nobles join Thy train
And triumph in the lamb that's slain.

Eighteenth Century England was a hard and brutal world to live in. Alcohol and poverty proved a malevolent mix for the masses of the lower classes and there was many a highwayman still roaming the heaths along roads into London. Poverty, inequality and drunkenness became a heady cocktail for violence. However, it was not only Whitfield and Wesley that feared not the mobs whilst loving the masses and preaching Christ to the forgotten and poverty stricken, no Selina, since her conversion, had become very active and compassionate amongst the poor, visiting them and praying for them in their sickness with such a love and concern, that when they died, they left their children to her as a legacy, that they might be cared for by the Countess!

However it must be remembered that not only did she care for the lowly, but also for the high and the mighty. Selina was a regular visitor to the Royal Court, even appealing at one point directly to the king concerning the lifestyle of the then Archbishop and his wife. Her witness was indeed, to both pigsties and palaces. However, Selina was more than a kind benefactor, she was a woman of great vision, zeal, courage, continuance, sacrifice, understanding, and discernment.

The Upper Classes did not mingle with the minions in education, society, health or amenities. The Evangelical preachers call to conviction, confession and repentance may have been well understood and received by the much poorer masses, but on the whole, the rich mobility rejected it. Indeed, the then Duchess of Buckingham did not believe that people with 'blue blood' had to listen to such humiliating truths. Sneering at the then growing sect of the Methodists she wrote, "Their doctrines are most repulsive and strongly tinctured with impertinence and disrespect towards their superiors, in perpetually endeavoring to level all ranks, and do away with distinctions. It is monstrous to be told that you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl the earth….." It took a woman of courage like Selina to place the claims of Christ before such arrogant pomposity. Selina was aware of all the blind danger associated with her rich estate, for she remarked many times concerning herself that she “Thanked God for the letter 'M' in 1 Cor 1:26 where it says, ‘For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.’ The M thankfully indicated NOT MANY rather than NOT ANY!”

‘It is estimated that through the tireless efforts of the Countess of Huntingdon, no less than 200 chapels and mission stations were opened and it is recorded that in 1828, forty years after her death, there were some 35,000 people regularly attending these places of worship, cared for by 72 officiating ministers.’ Though at the time Oxford and Cambridge were still the only places where men could train for the ministry, Trevecca House near Talgarth in Breconshire was set up by the Countess and had more than 150 preachers passing through it, dispatching them all over England and even to the Americas! Indeed, Missionaries sent to the southern state of Georgia in 1772, though there primarily to preach to the Indians and set up a college for the native Indian nations, never the less, became instrumental along with Whitfield, in the conversion of many African slaves then in the south. Following their emancipation from slavery, some 2,000 are reported to have left for Sierra Leone in 1792. At least half of these were associated with the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion of churches and indeed, a group of Connexion churches still exist today in Sierra Leone and are in fellowship with the remaining few Chapels still left in England.

Paul had his Lydia, but Whitfield had his Countess. Maybe today, many of you Pastors are still in need of some godly and powerful patronage? Possibly we should be praying that more fish shall be caught and found to have money in their mouths, mercy in their gills and influence at their finger tips!

The story is told of a bishop who complained about the Countess's Ministers who had created some kind of sensation in his diocese. His majesty offered a solution "Make bishops of them-- make bishops of them." The prelate replied: "That might be done, but please your Majesty, we cannot make a bishop of Lady Huntingdon." At that point the Queen interposed, "It would be a lucky circumstance if you could, for she puts you all to shame."

Listen: - Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Hebrews 3:1-6 NKJV

Pray:- Oh Great Apostle, may we be like You, faithful in all our appointments, whether they be to pigsties or to palaces, may You be clearly seen in us. In all our works for You then Lord, enable us through the provision of great and godly benefactors, in Your great name we ask it, amen!

May | 04 | Five Bee’s From God’s Honey Hive

Dream Word – CONNECT

1 John 4:1-2 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. NKJV.

Five Bee’s From God’s Honey Hive

The father of (James) Joseph Jacques Tissot, was not happy this his son wanted to be a painter. However James, the anglicised name of this French painter, ensured that he made his father eat both his words and worries, by becoming a very famous, painter-preneur.
Tissot was born on the French coast in Nantes and studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris under Ingres, Flandrin and Lamothe. Already a successful painter of fashionable French women, never the less, Tissot changed professions for a while when he went on to fight in the Franco-Prussian War. After his return and not much later, under an undisclosed cloud, he left Paris for London where he then studied etching with Sir Seymour Haden and drew caricatures for Vanity Fair, whilst painting what was considered at the time, not a few very “scandalous” portraits! Sometime later in the 1870’s, Tissot met a divorcee, a Mrs Kathleen Newton, who became his companion and the model for many of his works. Mrs Newton, nearly half his age, moved into Tissot's home in 1876 and lived with him until she was in the late stages of tuberculosis, when she then committed suicide, aged just 28 years. Tissot was devastated. He sold his house in St John’s Wood and moved back to France and picked up what he did best, that is, the painting of fashionable ladies.

Tissot, now back in France, met up with the Medium/Conjuror, Mr William Eglinton, who was purported to have been able to make manifest the spirit of Kathleen, his departed lover and mother of his bastard son. Tissot was so impressed by this, that he painted the scene “L'apparition Medianimique” which for many years later, hung in the offices of the then London Spiritual Alliance. Oh and lest you think Tissot was an idiot, please note that even the Prime Minister of England, Gladstone himself, was induced/seduced by Eglinton into becoming part of the early areas of paranormal, investigative endeavour. As also by the way, was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and many, many others. Yes, you have to understand that at the time of this great changing of eras, the use of mediums was widespread in Europe.

Tissot then, having left the Roman Catholic church, would later, whilst visiting a local church for artistic inspiration, be arrested by a literal ‘Vision of Jesus taking care of the poor.’ This church vision, turned Tissot’s life around and though his contemporaries thought that this dramatic ‘conversion’ in later life was a great money-making scheme, Tissot never the less, did completely spend the last 10-15 years of his life, more than any other great artist, becoming totally and completely immersed in the Gospels and by his Middle Eastern travels, absolutely immersed in the geographical and social landscape of the Bible. From this position of total immersion, Tissot was then able to produce, probably for the first time and with a most vivid and stunning reality, some hundreds of pictures relating to a pictorial imagery of the Life of Christ. It is truly magnificent and over 100 years since its first publication, it is still a prize for any library! Indeed, for a give-away price, I picked up two of Tissot’s four volume set from a local charity bookshop.

Tissot, totally immersed and having gathered all his data, still needed what he referred to as ‘The illumination of intuition,’ some of which in his forward he said, had been agitated by certain induced receptivity. Indeed, it was as though he had been anointed with hyperaesthesia, thus becoming, exceptionally and sensitively heightened to any spiritual stimuli which had been evoked by certain material objects outside of himself. He was obviously claiming that it was meditation and the opening up of his mind to such excitements, that had brought him such prolific and stunning results in his paintings and sketches.

Now I mention all of this tonight, because not only did Tissot righty immerse himself in physical fact but also in Roman Catholic Mysticism, even consulting the visions of St Anne Catherine Emmerich, who by the way, also had her visions consulted by Mel Gibson for his film, ‘The Passion of The Christ.’ Yes, Tissot by these religious and mystical associations and also his connectional associations with the early New Age Movement in the person of Eglinton, conjures up for us, some pictures of the present, post-modern, therapeutic, charismatic-mystic movement.

Now, being myself a present believer in the existence and function of the five-fold ministries and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, it is important for me and I think also important for all of us who operate in the spiritual realm, indeed, even for all of us artists seeking inspiration and also ministers seeking power and movement, to understand the difference between the evils of channelling or divination, and the blessings of receptive creation and prophetic instruction. That is, whilst being in touch with both spiritual and material reality, we should be able not to allow, any lying intrusion or manipulative control of beings, who whilst maybe having angelic eyes, still possess the coldest and darkest of hearts. In other words the question for us is how can we be open to the illumination, the revelation and instruction of God The Holy Spirit, whilst at the same time, remain closed to any possible demonic intrusion? Believe me, if you are consciously operating in the spiritual realm, this is so very important!

The Five basic safeguards for those Christians both conscious and daring to move in the spiritual realm, are The Book, The Believers, The Battle dress, The By products of the past and the Blessings of the present.

The Book of course is the Bible. Eat that book and let it swallow you whole. Know it, spout it, quote it, move in it, regurgitate it, and let it rule you.

Secondly, ‘Be with Believers!’ Let them together with you, apply the Word to any speaking spirit. Test them. Together. All the time.

Thirdly, ‘Put Your Battle Dress On.’ Take sword and shield and armour for every part provided, for be sure that every part provided for, shall indeed be most viciously attacked! Get some folks to stand shoulder to shoulder with you and get some even braver folks, who do not sleep too much, to cover your back in any attack you are engaged in.

Fourthly, ‘Be aware of the By-products.’ Past associations often leave openings for re-visitation. Be aware of any By-products of the past and make every endeavour to close the windows and the doors still remaining open in your own spiritual house. Some of you have some evicting still left to do.

Finally, rejoice on the blessings of the present. The Charismata of the Spirit are for the present edification of the saints in light whilst they are dressed in armour and walking the Kings High Way. Use them and use them well.

Listen: - By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world. You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:2-4 NKJV.

Pray:- Lord, send these five bees from Your honey hive, to save me from deceit and sting to death the spirits that might bring deceiving lies. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Apr | 26 | Acquiring The Accent

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- Acquiring The Accent

Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled.

Not so very long ago, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, if one wanted to get on in broadcasting, then one had to speak the Queen’s English in a very proper, polite and monotone kind of way, don’t you know. Indeed, once upon a time speaking this way seemed to be the only real sign of good breeding and good schooling. “Jolly good, old chap!” Now of course, the more of a regional accent you have, the more you might be heard! Regional accents today have “street cred” you see, because it’s seemingly more authentic, less pompous, more PC, don’t you know. My, how times have changed. “Rather!”

My own origins in the Midlands of the United Kingdom, make my accent very regional indeed, even common, that is in the lower, poorer, less educated understanding of the word ‘common’ of course. You can imagine then how wonderful it is for such a commoner to have lived in the South of the U.S.A. and find it hilarious, that the accent of such a commoner is regarded there with real enchantement, endearment and appreciation. If only they knew!

The early apostles were ‘perceived’, that is seen to be, uneducated and untrained men. I want to suggest to you it was because they were Galileans and you could hear it in their voice, in their accent and after all that’s said and done, everyone knew that ‘nothing good ever came from Galilee!’

These poor uneducated men that looked the part, walked the part and sounded the part of goofy Galileans, did on the surface, seem to be living proof of that very same discriminating saying! Yet these regional renegades caused the authorities to marvel, even to be astonished in wonderful admiration at how they handled themselves and spoke with such authority. It would appear that these Galilean scum, had acquired a new and overriding spiritual accent. Thankfully it is a new and universal overriding accent and all who hear it, give testimony to its power, its loveliness, its veracity and its desirability and like so many accents, it is best acquired by spending a lot of time around the person speaking it.

Friend, just who are you spending most of your time with? It’s going to tell in the way you speak don't you know? "Rather".

Listen:- ……they marvelled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13-14

Pray:- O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise. Psalms 51:15. NKJV.

Apr | 11 | Touching Lepers

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- Touching Lepers

Leviticus 13:45,46 “Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his moustache, and cry, 'Unclean! Unclean!' He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

In my personnel report, which was submitted to the human resources department, I recommended him for ‘sincere consideration for any job openings within the company.’ Indeed, I encouraged the company concerned ‘to take him on’ by writing “As soon as a vaccine exists, I recommend that you employ him.” Of course, I had meant to say vacancy . What a difference the addition a small consonant can make to a phrase!

The spell checker took me from vacancy to ‘vaccine’ in one fell swoop. That is my case your honour and I’m sticking to it! Spell-checkers aren’t that clever after all, but then again neither am I. By the way, they never did ask me what disease I thought he had, or how infectious he was. Maybe it didn’t matter. Thankfully, it doesn’t matter to Jesus either; He was and is very familiar with the touching of lepers.

The cruel and crippling desensitizing and disfiguring nature of leprosy, from the beginning, has led it to be a despicable picture of the internal corruption that sin besets us all with. Most of us are aware of this within us, but live in such a denial of its all-pervading influence, that we function on the level of cynical comparisons saying, “Well, I’m not as bad as her,” or “I could be worse, like him over there” and “It’s not that bad really.” From our early years, we have all been trying to change the habit, improve the propensity, and practice pleasant-hood, all in an attempt to remove the leprous spot from us. It cannot be done. I wonder maybe, if we need to see the horror of it more, or be more filled with the stench of it, or have it consume us and eat us up a little bit more, before we lay aside our pride and go running to Jesus, in desperation for help and healing.

You know, I see desperation more and more, as a divine gift. Maybe the most merciful one we could ever receive. Luke, the doctor, tells us of a man in a certain city, FULL of leprosy who ran to Jesus and said “If you are willing you can make me clean.” Tell me, how full of leprous sin do you see yourself today? Where are you running to for help?

Listen: - Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him. Luke 5:13

Pray: - Thank You that You are more willing to heal me, than I am to be healed. Reach, touch, and cleanse me today, oh my Saviour, for You are my only hope. Amen.

Jan | 01 | "Skinny Dipping With God"

Key Word:- CONNECT

Title:- Night Swimming

Genesis 12:1 Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, From your family And from your father's house, To a land that I will show you."

Skinny Dipping with God

Let us this coming year be rid of the loneliness that acting brings! Please God this year that we might be loved for who we are and not for whom others think we should be. Indeed, let us begin to love other people for who they are as intrinsically valuable in themselves and in themselves alone. Let us honour one another and ourselves this coming year. Let us obey the truth. Hmmm…Love, honour and obey. What familiar sounding words! Tell you what, let me better put it this way; why not let us finally get married to Jesus this coming year?
Now, regarding the marriage ceremony, I wish I could open the Bible and say, “repeat these words after me” but the problem is that there appears to be no instruction in the Bible for words to be said or practices to be followed concerning a wedding ceremony. This fact takes on an air of some mystery when you begin to see that a wedding is both the beginning and the end of God’s revealed purpose in both space and time! The Bible’s presentation of this fact is akin to having identical bookends that frame a collection of stories in 66 separate books, all possessing the same embracing theme. Indeed, this consistent Scriptural theme of marriage is set in the whole Bible like apples of gold in settings of silver… just beautiful.

In Genesis, Adam the first man is brought a bride, formed from himself, for himself. In the Book of Revelation, Jesus the last Adam is brought by God the Holy Spirit, a bride formed from Himself, for Himself. In this final book of the Bible we also find that the big, even the everlasting 'Parteh' of heaven, is called the 'Marriage Supper of the Lamb!' yes, in the Bible, the Start, the Middle and End of the Revelation of God revolves around a wedding. Imagine that! No, you cannot ignore it friends; marriage presented to us in the Scriptures, is seminal and climactic, pregnant with picture and instruction. (Oh and don't worry about the sexual terminology, it's all God's.) This marital and faithful intimacy, this unique oneness, this ultimate closeness, this naked and ecstatic knowingness that marriage should bring to us, are all that God intends for each one of us to have with Him in this coming year.

So this year, why not unfurl that great sail of destiny and discovery, which has been flapping disconcertingly in the knowing depths of your heart, moved by the growing wind of the latter days now gone by and begin to push out and embark most thoroughly, upon your very own, great marital adventure with God. Even setting out into the depths of God's great love for you. After all, “One day,” He says, “You shall call me 'my husband'.”

Until that great and heavenly communal marriage party begins for the whole church, let us personally get naked with God and go night swimming in all His moonlight fair. What does this mean? Well, this year friends, yes this very year, it means to be real, to be honest with yourself and to be honourable with God, by aspiring to be only yourself with Him and with His people. In this way, let’s all finally get married to God!

Listen: - Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters, They see the works of the LORD, And His wonders in the deep. Psalm 107:23-24

Pray: -Jesus, this whole year, as we aspire to be who You created us to be, please fill our hearts with faith and all our hopeful nets with joyous, naked wonder, In Jesus name I ask it, amen.
 


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REM Night Swimming:-

Night swimming deserves a quiet night
The photograph on the dashboard, taken years ago,
Turned around backwards so the windshield shows
Every streetlight reveals the picture in reverse
Still, it's so much clearer
I forgot my shirt at the water's edge
The moon is low tonight

Night swimming deserves a quiet night
I'm not sure all these people understand
It's not like years ago,
The fear of getting caught,
Of recklessness and water
They cannot see me naked
These things, they go away,
Replaced by everyday

Night swimming, remembering that night
September's coming soon
I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe nightswimming

You, I thought I knew you
You, I cannot judge
You, I thought you knew me,
This one laughing quietly underneath my breath
Nightswimming

The photograph reflects,
Every streetlight a reminder
Nightswimming deserves a quiet night, deserves a quiet night

Hos 2:13-23
13 I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense. She decked herself with her earrings and jewelry, And went after her lovers; But Me she forgot," says the LORD.14 God's Mercy on His People
'Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfort to her.15 I will give her her vineyards from there, And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there,As in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.16 "And it shall be, in that day, "Says the LORD, "That you will call Me 'My Husband ,'And no longer call Me 'My Master,'17 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals, And they shall be remembered by their name no more.18 In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,To make them lie down safely.19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me In righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy;20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,And you shall know the LORD.21 "It shall come to pass in that day That I will answer," says the LORD;"I will answer the heavens, And they shall answer the earth.22 The earth shall answer With grain, With new wine, And with oil; They shall answer Jezreel.23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not My people,' You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!'" NKJV