Trusting the God of the Impossible for the impossible!

Two years ago as I was in Redding, California attending 2^nd year of Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, God spoke to me about part of the vision for my life.  He told me that I would see the end of sex slavery in my lifetime.  I spent a lot of time on my knees in my room as he broke my heart for his lost sons and daughters, those who perpetrate and facilitate these horrific and degrading actions on their fellow human beings.  It was huge, it felt far too big for me but I knew it was God and that I would play a part in seeing the end of sex slavery within my lifetime.

Full of hope and passion I wrote a couple of blogs on this issue to start a conversation.  Partly because I had no other idea what to do and because there is lots of information in relation to seeing the girls rescued (a key part of the solution) but very little regarding reaching those who are stuck in this at the other end of the scale.  Sadly, I quickly talked myself out of believing that I could make a difference and let it all slide.  Thankfully, God is the God of second chances and he is patient with us and willing to work on our insecurities and feelings of inadequacy to enable us to step out where he calls us.

2 years on and God has been stirring my heart again and opening my eyes to the fact that though I cannot solve this problem and it is far too big just for me, I still have a responsibility to do what I can and to play my part.  This started when I began to realise how many homeless people there now were in Leicester.  I used to run the council team that worked with rough sleepers in 2003 and there are far more now than there were then.  This is what all the cuts have done, taken provision from those who most desperately need it.  But this is not to be a piece on cuts, this is about one person taking a stand and doing what they can.

As I walked around Leicester my heart broke because I could not change their situations.  I didn’t have the solutions but I knew that I know the God who does!  As I spent time with Jesus I knew he was just asking me to do the bit that I can.  So, I do.  Every week I make up 10 bags with sandwiches, fruit, chocolate and socks and I go out and spend a little time with the first 10 guys and girls that I meet.  It isn’t a lot and doesn’t change their circumstances but it does show them that they are loved and that people care.  Though I have prayed and I do talk about Jesus, this is not my primary objective, my primary objective is to show them that they are loved, to show them that they are worth more than their current circumstances suggest.  Like doing coffee on the church steps on a Friday morning this is fast becoming one of my favourite hours of the week.

Through starting to take sandwiches out and seeing the difference it made to those I spent time with God began to remind me of the bigger dream I have of seeing the end of sex slavery.  Not only that but he began to tell me the dream was bigger than I think and that we will see the end of slavery.  Full stop!  Wow!  All I need to do is take the steps he shows me and trust that he truly does know what he is doing.  He is the God of the impossible and though I may feel inadequate in this task, he is more than capable and is just calling me to be obedient to him in each step.

Around this time I got Kristene DiMarco’s new album and two of the songs on this stir my heart greatly.  One is Could You Be This Good and the other is I Am No Victim.  There are days when I play these 2 songs over and over and over as I want the truth that is in them to permeate to the very heart of me.

Could You Be This Good reminds me that God is even better than I think.  The very question, ‘Could you be this good?’ challenges me to realise that I can never reach the end of God’s goodness and therefore I can never exaggerate it or come close to knowing it.  This gives me such hope for believing him for the big dream because freedom for all of his children is his heart, he wants it far more than I do! 

Here are the words of the second song, I am no victim:

I am no victim, I live with a vision

I'm covered by the force of love

Covered in my Saviour's blood

I am no orphan, I'm not a poor man

The kingdom's now become my own

And with the King I've found a home

He's not just reviving

Not simply restoring

Greater things have yet to come

Greater things have yet to come

He is my Father, I do not wonder

If His plans for me are good

If He'll come through like He should

'Cause He is provision and enough wisdom

To usher in my brightest days

To turn my mourning into praise

I am who He says I am

He is who He says He is

I'm defined by all His promises

Shaped by every word He says

I love this and the faith it gives me to trust him in this journey.  This time I will not back down.  This time I will not allow anything to change my belief that this is his heart and he is calling me to play my part.  This blog is my first step in being obedient.  My next blog will be the next step and we will see what comes next.  I only know one thing for certain, if God says I will see the end of human slavery within my life time then that is what I will see. 

Watch this space for my next blog in the new year about what God is asking me to do to play my part in this.

Happy heart!  Blessed indeed!

When you focus on want you want, other things just fall away

I have recently read ‘Walking on Water’ by Jennifer Miskov and would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to be challenged to live a life outside of the boat, a life where Jesus is the sole focus and where he needs to turn up or else! 

The book challenged me on many levels but also created an excitement in me as I realised that I was made to live life like this.  I was made to rely on Jesus in every circumstance and to risk everything to be closer to him.  Wow!  How amazing is that?  I was created to live an adventurous and risktaking life with Jesus.  I was never designed for the mundane, but like Peter, to walk on water as I look to Jesus and seek to grow in intimacy with him.  This is so good! 

So, as one of the challenges Jennifer suggest that you fast from social media for a week as it can become a distraction.  I don’t spend much time on social media (I use Facebook and Instagram) but I had begun to realise that I could look at the apps on my phone many times a day, even if just for a minute or two.   It wasn’t the time I was spending that was an issue but the fact that I realised that if I had a moment or two spare during the day, the first thing I reached for was social media.  This is not what I want!  I want all my spare moments to be focussed on Jesus and not on how many likes my latest post has or what the latest video is that’s going viral! 

As a result of this, Jennifer’s suggestion of a social media fast came at a good time for me.  I decided though that if I really wanted to make a difference in my life and to train myself away from using social media in my spare moments then I needed to do a little more than a week.  I decided on 21 days as they say if you do something for 21 days it becomes a habit. 

I thought it might be hard but that just wasn’t the case.  From the moment I decided to do it, it was just something I was doing.  I deleted the apps from my phone and that was that.  There was no going cold turkey as I went to check them but they weren’t there.  I had just made a decision and that was that.  In fact, when it came time for me to break my fast I didn’t straight away as I just was not that bothered about being back on social media.

During my social media fast I did find myself more present in the moment as I was not continually distracted by checking Facebook and Instagram but was just enjoying what I was doing.  It was so freeing.  It was such a blessing and is something I will do again, whenever I feel like it is becoming a distraction.

It’s not that social media is bad and I love that I can keep up with friends all over the world with it.  I love that there is lots of encouraging and inspirational stuff posted too.  However, I have come to a place where I want to have social media work for me and not me for it.  So, from here on in I will go on one or two times a week and that is it and continue to live my life enjoying the moment!

Happy heart!  Blessed indeed!

As He is, so are we in this world........

A few weeks ago I was at a Revival Alliance conference in Birmingham and one of the speakers, Beni Johnson, spoke on the power of communion.  Something struck a chord in my spirit that day and I knew that this was a journey that Jesus was inviting me to join him in, a journey of discovering the power of communion.

So, over the last month I have taken communion almost every day, sometimes on my own, sometimes with friends and sometimes more than once in a day.  I feel like I am only beginning to get the slightest revelation of the power of communion but the little I have discovered leaves me undone by his kindness and blown away by his complete and abundant provision for us.

How I have taken it has varied but each time I have stood in the gap for whatever I felt Holy Spirit impressing upon me and this has included healing and family reconciliation.  Almost every time I take it though the phrase, ‘as he is, so are we’ comes to mind and I have been pursuing revelation on what exactly this has to do with communion but my thoughts on that a little later.

One exciting thing to happen during this time is that I took communion with a friend and we chose to stand in the gap for some issues that were happening in her family.  One of these things involved a situation that she had been unable to talk about with one of her siblings for a number of years.  We stood in the gap and declared that this thing that had been kept hidden would be brought into the light and healing could begin for everyone concerned.  It felt like a really significant time that we had but my friend left and I thought nothing more of it.

Exactly one week later my friend was round again and she was so excited because during her regular monthly get together with her sibling they had discussed the issue that had been like the elephant in the room for years.  This truly was an amazing breakthrough and though they have a long way to go for wholeness in the family, this small step has opened the gates wide for that healing to begin.  Thank you Jesus!

I was blown away by how Jesus worked when we took him at his word and took communion choosing to stand in the gap for the needs of someone else.  This leaves me even more excited to pursue the more of this journey with Jesus. 

Sadly, I think for most believers it has become something that happens once a month at church and maybe occasionally at a home group but I believe Jesus intended for it to be much more than that, He intended it to be very much a part of our daily lives.  This is the example that was set by the early church where it says, ‘They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.’  This suggests that it was a fundamental part of the believers’ lives then.  I wonder what it would mean to us, to our neighbourhoods, to our cities and nations if it became a fundamental part of believers lives again?

So back to the phrase, ‘as He is, so also are we in this world’ which is found in 1 John 4:17.  What amazes me about this verse is that it is in present tense, that is, as Jesus is now (He is the risen, ascended and glorified Son) is who it says we are and not who we are becoming.  Wow!  I know that my experience of myself is not that I am like Jesus is now and, to be honest, lots of the time I feel like I am a very long way off being like him at all!  However, this is a truth that is stated in God’s word and I know it to be truth so I need to pursue to discover more until my experience more clearly matches God's truth that I know.

This is where communion is bringing me at the moment, every time I take communion I think about what Jesus did for me and for my community, my family, my friends (whoever He has placed on my heart at that time) and I also think on the fact that he rose again and ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of the Father.  This is how He is now. 

This then reminds me again of who I am now and what I look like now in the Father’s eyes. 

It reminds me again that Jesus did it once for all and that He does not need to do it again.

It reminds me that all sin was dealt with.

It reminds me that all sickness was dealt with.

It reminds me that Jesus has won the victory and that I am on the winning side and I fight or stand in my circumstances from that place of victory.

This for me is the power of communion because it reminds me of all of this but the key is that it also takes my eyes up to a higher perspective, to see from heaven’s perspective, to look from heaven down and that changes everything!  

From this perspective, there is nothing I face that it is not vastly overshadowed by my Jesus, He is so much bigger than any Goliath I may be confronted with. 

From this perspective, I have everything I need and all the resources of heaven are freely available to me, I just need to learn to partner with heaven for this to become my reality. 

From this perspective, I am as Jesus is and I can do all that He calls me to do and the supernatural becomes the natural because it is all natural to Him.

This is the journey I am on and communion is becoming a daily part of it and I know there is so much more for me to discover.  If you don’t already, I would love to challenge you (if you believe in Jesus) to try it for yourself and see what happens.  I’m excited to hear your stories!

Happy heart!  Blessed indeed!