Dear God,
I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
and to discover that I am not what I own,
but what you want to give me.
And what you want to give me is love,
unconditional, everlasting love.
Amen.”
— Henri J.M. Nouwen (The Only Necessary Thing: Living a Prayerful Life)

WHAT A WAY TO LIVE!    For ‘ordinary’ believers

Recently a couple of separate things have come together in my thinking and I’d like to share them with you if I may.

Last year we were delighted and blessed to have David and Nina, Con and Olive—all from Ireland—visit us here in New Zealand.  As I was sitting alone on the last afternoon they were here I asked Father, “Is there anything else you would like me to share with these precious friends before they leave?”  Immediately a scripture leapt into my mind.  It was John 21.22 “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?  You must follow me.”  The initial emphasis to me was in the command “follow Me” which seemed a very simple thought to share with these folk who have been following the Lord Jesus for many years.  READ MORE…

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.”

It is my deep conviction that as the people of God we need more than ever to allow the Holy Spirit to have free reign in our lives. If our hearts are to be revived afresh with passion for God and the Church  set aflame by the Spirit’s blaze we will need to put aside our ‘talking’ and lean  on the power of God. Paul puts it this way;

“My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power.”   1 Cor. 2:4,5

In this time in history we call the ‘Information Age’ we have become well adjusted to thinking that information = experience. In other words, knowing about God and the Church means we have the experience of the same. This could not be further from the truth.

It is essential that you and I experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives each day and surrender ourselves utterly to His desires. This ‘complete surrender’ to Him is not widely apparent within the Church although there are definite signs that people are beginning to realise that Church is not what God intended it to be and there is a different  way forward based upon friendship with God because of all that Jesus has done! This is our message of hope!

 Before we travel any further, looking at the nature and work of His Spirit I have written out most of the statements found in the book of Acts which underline the activity of the Holy Spirit within the early Church.

It would be worthwhile reading them through before going any further.   ACTIVITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Confession

At times I’m full of gentile                                                     

At times I’m full of jew

But all the time, I long and want

For life that’s full of You.

…

Each morn afresh you fill me

Yet my human shell does leak

When I think I’m standing strong and sure

For certain, I am weak

…

Sometimes it’s flesh that’s driving

What appears a noble goal

Other times your spirit carries

Mind and heart and soul

…

Still rough around the edges

(You know all my many flaws)

I come to say it, once again:

I’m wholly truly Yours

…

Please hold me for this dance

Though failing feet do trip, ‘til

Unveiled I see your crystal eyes

And glide with grace in step

…

Please cast out all earth’s glitter

Replace in me your gold, ‘til

From heavenly seat, I too can watch

Your mystery unfold

N.K.

[The 2^nd article in a series  from Acts]

The power of the Spirit!

I’ve already mentioned I’m rereading Acts lately with a view to understanding something of the ‘heart’ of the early

He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire!

Church. One of the key differences within this band of ordinary people is the preparation, impact and effects on their lives from The ‘gift’ – My Father promised – the Holy Spirit. Jesus instructs his disciples over a meal – “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised…” “…but in a few days you will be baptized (immersed) with the Holy Spirit.”

Immersed with the Spirit of God!  The Person of the Holy Spirit always comes alongside to bring change to the ordinary and everyday! It is striking how often our ‘agenda’ is changed by the gentle but powerful work of the Holy Spirit. It is time once again for our plans and ideas to be changed and transformed by the power of God as He displays His life in our visible world.

Everyone was filled with awe!

John the Baptist spoke of Jesus, “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Jesus returned from the Jordan after baptism, “full of the Holy Spirit.” And was – “led by the Spirit into the desert.”

Luke further tells us – “Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit” and in the Temple, “was anointed by the Spirit.”

In reading these statements we will surely understand why Jesus tells his disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit. If we are to experience true church life it must be by the inspiration and anointing of the Holy Spirit as well as the control and power of the Spirit as well. Without joint participation of the Spirit of God our actions are dead, our plans without purpose!

The promise of the Father unleashed a new dimension of life and power upon the early Church. At 9 o’clock in the morning an ‘open-mouthed’ gathering watched and listened as they heard the 120 speaking in tongues and exalting God. The overflow of this event is staggering! These disciples ‘clothed with power from on high’ turn the known world upside down. The passionate Holy Spirit within us longs to impact our own neighbourhood through open, humble hearts as we go about our daily lives. “And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” is part of knowing God, while Kenneth Wuest translates this same statement, “and the partnership of the Spirit.” Bear in mind that He is the senior partner and His power is truly awesome!

Peter & John

These two disciples were heading up to the temple when they came across this man crippled from birth. “Walk!” and once again people were talking and were completely amazed.

These two men were asked – “By what power or in what name did you do this?” Their response was clear – Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit told them it was by the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Even more staggering is that all the Jews and Greeks living in the province of Asia heard the Gospel within 2 years.

This joint participation with the Holy Spirit enabled Peter and John to pass on what they had heard. They had heard and demonstrated the life of God.

“God does his work by the power of the Holy Spirit while Christian leaders attempt to do theirs by the power of the trained and devoted intellect.” AW Tozer

My conviction

It is my understanding that if we are to experience the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives in a fresh and powerful new way it will start with “death!” By this I mean, a laying down of all that makes the ‘I’ important to us! To be of no reputation and instead of being ‘me’ centred to become Christ focused. To set our hearts and minds on Him and by grace alone trust Jesus afresh to have his way within us.

“In the last days, God says I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams.”

Watch what God does and then you do it

But how many of us actually know what God does? And, how do we  learn to watch?  JB Phillips puts it like this; “As children copy their fathers you, as God’s children, are to copy him.” Paul uses the analogy of parent and child to encourage us to live as God lives.

This is quite unlike the relationship between the people and the Pharisees. Jesus warns the crowd – “so you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.”

The relationship between Father and family is established through ‘new birth’ – fellowship is a participation in that relationship that encourages experiential intimacy. When religion has a foot-hold in our lives there is ‘hard-heartedness’ and Jesus wants to free and gently lead us into His fear-free wonderful purpose.   Jesus goes on to expose the motive of the Pharisee heart – “Everything they do is for men to see.”

This is for YOU!

The heart captured by grace finds an amazing energy to love God because it ultimately realizes it is all about knowing Him. A heart set on God is freed from performance oriented living and finds a deep rest and peace in knowing that He is with us. Let me encourage you to find that space!

Contrary to current opinion amongst many church goers our relationship with God is not about us getting our own way or even seeing how much we can achieve for Him. No, it is all about going His way and enjoying what He has already done for us.

What does God do?

“Mostly what God does is love you.” Some would find this hard to understand but being loved by God restores my life to such an extent that I begin to see more clearly than ever His plan for my life. It is the call of God to embrace what He does for us rather than what we want to do for Him that restores the soul.

I find that some Christians may be quite bewildered by the thought of ‘copying God’ and want only to know ‘how this works’ Well,   here are some pointers from Paul as to how we can experience His love. Quite simply…

“Keep company with Him and learn a life of love”

“Observe how Christ loved us.”

“His love was not cautious but extravagant.”

“He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of Himself to us.”

The challenge for us is to  -“Love like that!”

But if it is from God

It is encouraging to see believers who have deep desire to walk away from routine and religious lifestyles towards the horizons of God’s freedom. These friends of God are no better than anyone else but they have simply responded to the call of God in their hearts to follow the Lamb. I love this statement spoken by Gamaliel;

“For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” [Acts 5:38, 39 NIV]

The ‘Acts’ of the early Church

I’ve been reading Acts again lately with a view to picking up the heart and lifestyle of the early Church to find out what motivated these early Jesus-lovers. How come they made such a huge difference to so many people? They shared a devotion to fellowship, testified with great power, much grace was upon them all, there were no needy people among them! These early disciples were passionately obedient, supernaturally aware worshippers of God.

They had spent time with Jesus prior to his resurrection and now with much expectation had waited for the Holy Spirit to be poured out as Jesus had promised. They were immersed in the life of God – and that made the difference!

Ordinary people

I realize that these were just ordinary people like you and me. They did not have the X-factor, but as a mix of people from different backgrounds they faced untold challenges such as being stoned in some cases, ridiculed, beaten, and hated, flogged, thrown in prison and yet lived their lives in devotion to Christ with fearless confidence!

We all know that Acts is Luke’s continuing story of the early Church with this book covering a period of about 30 years. It has been written to encourage us! I do not see the early Church as a ‘model’ we should duplicate but rather as a story that may trigger deep desire within our own hearts to live fully in the grace of God.

I simply want to highlight aspects of Church life found in this story to encourage, strengthen and spur us on to something much better in quality! An expression of Hislife experienced in our hearts and lived out in our society.

Here is what I discovered…

The Kingdom of God
One of the first statements that stand out for me is found in the early part of the Acts drama. “He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” I would love to have been there during those times. If the kingdom is an unseen realm where Christ rules and is not of this world then it follows that his disciples would live in this truth as an ‘ever-present reality’ – the early Church certainly did!

Paul speaks to the leaders in Miletus; “I taught you out in public and I taught you in your homes, urging Jews and Greeks alike to a radical life-change before God and an equally radical trust in our Master Jesus.” [The Message]

It is the impact of a radical life change as Jesus comes to deliver us from darkness and transfer us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. This call of the King is an offer to share intimate fellowship with Himself and as a result to shape within us a radical trust in His ways. The word radical in our society conjures the thought of extremism but within the kingdom of God it is simply laying the axe to the root of our old life and living by another life!

I do not think that it is a coincidence that Luke opens the continuing story by telling us about all that Jesus began “to do and teach.” He always demonstrated The Way and taught about it afterwards.

Is this one of those keys which helped the early believers to live the way they did? An awareness that the kingdom of God had been opened up to them like a wide door and seeing for the first time what God does with a life as he sets it right, puts it together and completes it  with the promise of righteousness, peace and joy!

The kingdom and the King were not separated in the minds of those who went out to ‘gossip’ the good news of the Kingdom. He told them in no uncertain terms that they would receive power and be his witnesses.

These ‘convinced’ people had been deeply changed with the Promise of more to come.  Life would never be the same as they thought back to the ministry and powerful words of John the Baptizer;

“I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama- compared to Him I’m a mere stagehand – will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out.” [The Message]

Father, we ask that you would ignite a fresh fire in our hearts and begin to fill our lives with a new passion today!

Natalie,  a  dear friend of ours wrote this poem and it expresses our need to draw aside to drink from the well of Life – Jesus.

The Well

There is a well inside me

Goes down into the deep

Place of rest and comfort

From the pace of life’s drum beat

It’s walls are never shaken

It’s presence ever strong

There I’m washed and drink

And fill my thirsty soul’s long

The well springs up with water

A loving liquid life

Collecting up my tears

And calming fleshly strife

With hope afresh I rise

Return to day’s demands

To follow deep’s direction

And live in love’s commands

Following on from some statements that John Beaumont made on our last post, here is a poem he wrote that will encourage you deeply…

ALL THAT GOD IS

All your love, Lord, yes, all your love,

Immense as earth and the heavens above,

Has filled and flooded this simple life

And lifted me high above struggle and strife.

You love me now as much as you’ve ever done,

And as much as you ever loved anyone.

……………..

All your grace, Lord, yes, all your grace,

Speeding its way through time and space,

You pour out sweet blessing, encouragement, love,

Imparting your life through the indwelling Dove.

I’m strengthened, encouraged, inwardly new,

And seated in Heavenly places with you.

………………….

All your glory Lord, yes, all your glory,

Where are words found to carry the story?

Limitless power, majesty, gentleness, love,

Revealed as you choose, as in heaven above.

Your intimate presence is awesome, sublime

And finds me silent and prostrate time after time.

…………………..

All your power, Lord, yes, all your power

Can accomplish your purpose in my life this hour.

God of creation and its sustainer is He,

Making triumphant living possible for me.

Though least of all, yet with a full trusting heart,

I revel in the joy and peace you now impart.

………………….

All of my need, Lord?  I need nought but you.

Your care leaves no lack; I’m blessed through and through.

I am safe in your hands, fully satisfied too,

Each day without fail you my spirit renew.

Your love is so special and your grace is enough

To carry me through when my day’s very tough.

……………………

All your grace, all your glory,

All your love, all your power,

Extended to me each moment each hour

Are a foretaste of heaven

Right here, and right now!

And I love you with all my heart.