here, now, you

I can remember when I was a child going to the beach in the Summer holidays with my family.
We would be laden down with deckchairs and windbreaks and picnic blankets and towels and buckets and spades and food in baskets.

The first thing we always did was to find somewhere to 'camp' - one bit of beach looked the same as another to me and yet my dad would take us on a long trek to find the perfect place to stake our claim. For miles, it seemed, we would walk when I just wanted to stop, get my trunks on and jump in the sea.
Strangely, now that I have a family of my own, I do the same thing as my dad - looking for the perfect place for the perfect beach experience.

God is calling us to stop looking for the perfect 'somewhere else, sometime else, someone else' - pitch your tents and set up camp because it is here and it is now and it is you that God has called you to.
Your 'here' is the place where you are - maybe not forever but certainly for today. Your work place, your home, your course, your friendships, your area where your living now, your family, your region, your church. Your location of all the places in the world is where God has called you so immerse yourself in it and celebrate it and be 'incarnational': become part of your community rather than looking for the ideal community elsewhere to set up your deckchair.

Your 'now' is the 21st century - you cannot live yesterday. Society has changed and we must change with it if we are to be relevant with the gospel. To bring the eternal values of God into the context of today.
At this time of redundancies and terror and post-post-modernism what is the church saying and more importantly what are you (the church in flesh) saying - how are you impacting the now - is it with the strategies of the past?

Your 'you' is being the best that you are in God. Fearfully and wonderfully made. No-one is like you and therefore God chose here and now for you to be - it is a perfect fit. Take all that God has made you to be and be it where others are - incarnationally present here and now reflecting all the glory of God that He has placed deep in you for this time and for this place.

What are you doing on a Friday night? Where are you going on a Monday evening? Who are you with in the middle of the week? What difference have you made this week in the eternal salvation journey of those around you?
Here, now, you.

cutting edge

It was great seeing so many people at the Encounter prayer for our community gathering on Thursday.

Here's some of what God said through Steve (& others):-

-'more of the same' (i.e. keep praying and growing in God)
- we need to rediscover/find our cutting edge personal vision for our lives
-re-energise vision and stir it up
-vision needs relationship with God and with each other

-walk together and know each other's hearts

-like a virus we need to spread the gospel (infiltrate and influence with the power of God)
-we are in a time of preparation
-we need to expand
-establish vision, purpose and significance
-not where is the God of Elijah but rather where are the Elijah's of God?

Others:-
-go against the grain
-keep tapping like a chick on the egg and we will break through
-each prayer is a turn of the combination on the safe into the treasures of God
-God will crush satan beneath our feet
-we have authority: understand our position
-a forest may be dark and damp but if you rub the wood together you can make fire: light and the dismissal of fear

created

Why a year of seeking God? Why prayer? Why hungry for Him?
These are not stupid questions. 'Why' is an important question - one we should be asking constantly.
Genesis 1 v1 says 'In the beginning God...'
God was here first. He was present first and has first rights on us. He is our source, our beginning and everything flows from Him.
God created - His presence is a creative place to be.
To be in His presence is to be created.
I want us as a church to be a creative community that has an impact on those around us by being close to this creative presence and drawing others to that same presence.
Why are we praying this year and seeking God? - because it's fun, adventurous, creative, joy-filled, the best thing we can do with our time, a foundation for everything else we will BE