Thus saith the Lord

Coming from a Pentecostal/charismatic background I have always been aware of the emphasis on spiritual gifts and hearing God speak. In fact I have at times in the past been recognised for carrying a prophetic gifting and being able to speak and reveal accurate Words of the Lord. Being excited at both the giving and receiving of words of knowledge and wisdom, and speaking destiny over people’s lives. I have also been aware how easy it is to use specific phrases to give these words extra weight and make it very difficult for people to judge them and weigh them up. These words then become like a binding factor on people’s lives and they can spend their entire lives in pursuit of seeing a fulfilment to the prophetic word given. Throw in a good old Pentecostal ‘thus saith the Lord’ or a more modern version ‘God is saying’ or ‘I believe God is asking you to…’ and there is no doubt that what is being spoken is straight from the mouth of the Father. Much of what has been the prophetic movement has been controlling and manipulative. Trying to get an individual to see things a certain way. Piling pressure on to see this happen in their lives or they are missing the mark, walking in disobedience to the plans of God. These phrases have been thrown at me a few times, from being told that God wanted me to marry a certain girl by an elder of a church (I didn’t want to and didn’t. This caused me to have to leave that church.), to being given words about how to improve my ministry and where to take the church I was pastoring. These phrases are useful when we want to leave somewhere- God has told us to move on, to starting a ministry- God has called me to do such and such. I have heard them used in prayers when someone wants to make a point, and given strange voices when publicly shared with some-one’s personal good idea. I felt compelled to say it, couldn’t stop myself if I wanted to, I was taken over and He moved my lips. I am not just throwing blame at what has been aimed at me I am taking blame for times I have used the weight of those words to get MY IDEA, MY VISION, MY THOUGHT above all others. I believe in the prophetic, but I also believe it is time for a new day. It is I believe less about what comes out of my mouth and more about what we see, hear all around us at all times. Equipping people to know God in all spheres of life. Sharing stuff but giving freedom to ignore without being rejected.

Personal Prophecy

The phrase personal prophecy is not found in the Bible. In my experience the most exciting words of knowledge and wisdom have not come about in prophetic conferences but in day to day conversation. With the woman at the well Jesus never said, ‘I believe God wants to reveal this to you’ He just chatted. As He chatted truth was revealed. This holy chat worked at the heart of the woman without having to use funny voices, back-up phrases or God’s name in any way as force. It just happened. Jesus never told her what to do with the ‘Word’, He chatted. He walked on. She went on. No pressure, no control, no manipulation. Stuff happened in the everyday life. I think many of us have missed God speaking in the natural because we are waiting for the supernatural moments. The anointing. The prophet to come to town. The opinion of the oracle. The prophetic movement almost has to get rid of the prophets to hear again. The prophets need to become invisible as they were called to be (foundational ministry? Since when have we bought a building because we loved the look and sound of the foundations? This is the sound of the underground). My Word is not your bond!!!

Do As You Do

If Elisha had listened to the word of the prophet and the encouragement of the sons of the prophets he would have missed out big time. At each stage of Elijah’s final journey he would say to Elisha ‘stay here.’ The sons would join in, ‘yeah, stay here with us.’ Elisha stayed deaf to the pleas and continued on. This happened numerous times but Elisha chose his own path. He made his own decisions, and in the end there was incredible blessing and reward. Whatever we hear we have to chose our own path in life. Yes we listen to advice, but no one has the power or authority to dictate our pathway to us. We are free to chose right or left. God told Elijah up the mountain to do A, B, C. Elijah only did C, and even that was almost half hearted. What was God’s reaction to such disobedience? He gave Him a whirlwind ride to heaven. The prophet Agabus says to Paul, ‘you carry on and you will be bound like this in chains.’ The other leaders and the crowd urge him not to go. This cannot be God’s will, God has told you not to go. Paul went anyway. He ended up in prison. Punishment for not listening to the prophet. God didn’t seem to think so, and neither did Paul. Interesting that although Agabus shared what he thought he never tried to stop Paul. There was still choice in his eyes. There must always be choice, and 98% of the time there is not a wrong choice.

Let the Chains come off

If I listened and followed everything that God had supposedly said to me I would be in many countries, in many churches, doing different ministries, married to different people, be rich, be speaking to parliament, walking in the mantle of every saint that ever lived. No one ever saw me struggling to pay my bills. No one ever saw me working nights in Asda. No one ever saw me being a good father to my kids. But I am free as a bird. Free to soar. Free to live. Free to love. Am I teachable? Yes. Do I believe in the prophetic? Of course. But it is a new day. No longer is the voice of God the monopoly of the few, it is for all to hear. No longer can it be a tool of manipulation and spiritual abuse. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Are you feeling bound by something that has been spoken over you? It is time to let it go. God’s name has been taken in vain too much by us all. It is the day of holy chat. And if you just listen you may just sense the heart of God. And if you don’t the chat was great anyway.

Prayer of a Prodigal

While in the aisles of Asda they keep us servants entertained with the music of Asda FM, a mix of music and ads that is supposed to keep the customer happy and make them want to buy loads more than they intended. The tunes played are a mixture of pop, softish rock and nice dance music. Many of them time and time again. One of the songs that has got my attention lately is a song by Robbie Williams called ‘Feel Real Love’, a song that sounds like a heart-felt plea from a real life prodigal. Robbie is after all a son of a Christian mother who keeps praying and praying for her son as she sees his lifestyle played out in the press before her very eyes. Not pleasant viewing for a loving mother, but this song to me shows a heart cry for the discovery of a real love, a cry that I am sure resounds in many hearts of people out there living life in the real world. Yet there is a couple of lines in that song that get me thinking and I wanted to share a few thoughts here today.

“I sit and talk to God
And he just laughs at my plans,
My head speaks a language, I don’t understand.”

My plans

This echoes a thought that has been said to me a few times during my walk. ‘If you want to make God laugh just tell Him your plans.’ At first reading it would seemingly make sense as again we are told His ways are higher than my ways. He knows best. Living the will of God for my life is the best I can ever do for myself. Lay down our own plans, dreams and ambitions and live for Him instead. Not my will but your’s be done. This all seems fair enough but in reality it only leads to one thing, very lazy Christians who stay put because they are either sitting around waiting for the will of God or they are trying to get confirmation for something they are thinking, confused as to whether it is God who is speaking to them. This can put a fear to move and do anything incase it is not the plan for my life. After all to live outside the will of God is to miss the mark. I need His plans because my plan just makes Him laugh. It is pathetic to Him as He has something far grander and more majestic lined up for me, it is just I cannot seem to find out what it is. I think this leads many Christians to actually miss the mark they are already standing on. Where we are is where God wants us to be. Stop looking to be somewhere else. The grass is not greener anywhere else, this is a place where earth and heaven connects.

He Wants To Listen

I believe Father loves to hear what is on our hearts. He wants us to be imaginative and share our plans. He wants us to live life to the full not afraid of missing any mark. Our imagination and creativity are God given qualities and He wnats us to use them. Every thought and dream and plan is a sign of God, the creative God working through us. What dad doesn’t want to hear their childs dreams for the future? Dreams are a sign of hope, purpose, creativity, desire. It is only bad parenting that tries to force parental ambition onto a child. We see it all the time, parents having ambitions for their children to become doctors like them or teachers or highly qualified people with successful careers. These children often grow up with warped perspectives of life and dreams and parental love. Love comes from approval of doing the right thing. This is not the love that God has for us. He is not a parent trying to live His life though his children by force. Good parents want to see their children fulfil their own dreams and plans and stand with them to encourage them, be there for them during the struggles and failures, and love them when they rise or fall. God stands alongside us just like that. He wants us to be creative. He wants us to dream dreams and see visions. He wants us to try new stuff without fear of consequences if we mess it up. He listens and never laughs at our plans.

Day of the dreamers

It is the day of the dreamers. It is the time of the creative. Whatever is on our hearts lets just do it for Him. We have to stop being afraid of what he thinks about us and what we are doing, this often nullifies so much of our walk. We need to express ourselves and do the stuff that is upon our hearts to be done. Not waiting for permission as I believe that has already been given. Not waiting for confirmation because we could miss a spontaneous moment. What if we get it wrong? It is not the end of the world, just a chance for grace and humility to be displayed. And there is unlimited supply of that. No one ever achieved anything by waiting for it to happen. It is time to make stuff happen. It is time for those plans to be shared. Father would love to hear from you.

Can You Hear The Sound?

Have been taken back to a time in the 80′s this week when a few bands were being labelled together for creating a sound that would be made for stadiums and outdoor arena’s. Today this seems to be the norm as festivals take place all over, from Glastonbury to Latitude, from High Voltage to Big Chill, each week there is a music festival somewhere through out the so called summer evenings. But this was not always the case. There were festivals but it was the hold of the rock fraternity with their loud guitars and crashing drums, and the folk artists with their protest songs. Unless you had long hair and loved to go naked they were out of bounds to many young people. Then came the Big Music, taking it’s description by a song from the Waterboys of the same name. A type of music that was too big for indoor venues. A sound that would not be contained by walls. A sound that was made for fields and mountains and the stadiums of the world. It was big but not heavy. It was rock but had enough pop. It became the soundtrack to the big outdoors. Music would never be contained within studio’s and four wall venues again. The more well known bands to emerge here were U2, the Alarm, Big Country, Simple Minds, Midnight Oil, the Call and the Cactus World News. It was more than music. It could be felt. There was a spiritual aspect to it. The creed of these bands would often be debated but whatever their belief system they carried something of God in their chords and in their lyrics. Their concerts were like celebrations and parties. People would experience joy from being there. It was big music. Interesting that over this past few weeks during this fetsival season U2 have played Glastonbury and Simple Minds and Big Country are playing a festival in Ireland. Mike Peters from the Alarm is singing for Big Country.

Release of a new sound.

Why am I sharing this? Because God has often spoken about the release of a new sound. The place where I live, Tonypandy, is named after a sound, it means the sound of the Mill. The place where I was a pastor was called Tonyrefail, which means the sound of the anvil. God loves sounds. Whenever I was in times of corporate worship I would always listen for the sound. Singing another song was never enough for me. Songs were for between the four walls. I wanted to hear a sound because sounds seem to be bigger than songs. Often the sound would come unrehearsed (can you really programme and rehearse true heart worship anyway?) and then it would just carry. During these times an atmosphere of expectation and hope and joy would be transmitted. It was bigger than the building. It was made for the big outdoors. Always careful about interpreting a new sound because if there is nothing new under the sun there may have been similar sounds before but it will be new to us. I keep listening. And I keep being aware that it may not come with musical instruments this time.

Can You Hear It?

Adam and Eve heard the sound of God walking in the cool of the garden, David heard the sound of marching int he tops of the balsam trees, Ezekiel heard the sound of many waters, Elijah heard the still small voice, John heard a trumpet voice and the followers in the upper room heard the sound of a rushing mighty wind. He who has ears to hear let him hear.

I have heard the big music
and I’ll never be the same
Something so pure
just called my name

I have drowned in the big sea
now I find I’m still alive
And I’m coming up for ever
shadows all behind me, ecstacy to come

I have
climbed the big tree
Touched the big sky
I just stuck my hand up in the air
And everything came into colour
like Jazz mana from sweet, sweet chariots

I have seen the big mountain
and I swear I’m halfway there

(You’ll never get there, you’ll never get there, you’ll never get there)

But I will, I will always climb the mountain
because…

I have heard the big music
and I’ll never be the same
Something so pure
has called my name

(Mike Scott)

In stillness and silence

I have recently become very aware of those moments when I sit with Allison my wife and we just are. There are no words spoken, there are no activities sexual or otherwise, we just sit or lay. There is a place of silence that we have found as a couple that we feel no need to fill. Whether it be on a long car journey or just in the house, we are so comfortable with each other that we do not have to do anything to know that we love each other. We do not have to talk about anything and the silence communicates so much about how we feel. That is not to say that we do not enjoy talking and being active together, but we have learned the art of dwelling. Resting. Being still. Over this last week a glow has risen in my heart at these moments because I have felt the love just by being. There is no pressure to reach a standard or to earn the love like in the days of courting or early marriage. We are one whether we are doing something or not. Our oneness is not dependent on any activity, it is not measured by doing more. We just are one. I love those moments. It is a place of relationship that we all need to learn with God. Or re-learn.

Re-evaluating Intimacy

I think we need to re-evaluate our whole thinking on intimacy. It is about passion, and boy do we need passion, but so often when we live in the realm of passion it just becomes a performance based relationship. How often and how long we pray, how much we read the Word, how often we serve others and do worship. There is a place for all that, but we need one thing more than anything else, we need to dwell. We need to just be. Be still and know that I am God. Realising that He is passionate about us before we do anything, and no less passionate if we don’t. We can dwell under the shadow of the Almighty, just dwell. We don’t have to say anything when we get there. We don’t have anything to prove. There is no song that we can sing that will turn Him on more. We need to learn to enjoy the silence. We need to be secure when He says nothing because He does not need to keep talking in this relationship. There was a time when I would strive to hear God’s voice everyday and think that was a measure of approval and relationship with Him. Keep a prophetic diary of all that He said. If there was a day when I heard nothing I thought I was back-sliden. We cannot measure relationship by that. In-fact real relationship is not measured by anything. It just is. I have a friend that I have had since I was in Bible college. We’re just friends. We write every now and again. We hardly ever talk. But when we do there is no condemnation or thought of,’ I must do better at keeping in touch’, we’re just friends. And he knows more about me than many people do because when it comes to it we can share anything without condemnation. I want to walk with God like that. Just knowing that He is there is enough. What did Jesus say to Thomas, ‘you are blessed because you have touched and seen, but more blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.’ There is a place of blessing that we can enter into that doesn’t need stuff to be going on all the time. And I am discovering more and more that it takes no effort to get there because I dwell there anyway, the big problem is re-programming ourselves from a performance based Christianity.

Just the Two of Us

Although I know it is all be grace and not works I was surprised how much of my mind-set was set on performance based relationship with God. When I stepped down from being a paid pastor I never realised that so much of what I saw as legitimate ministry was tied up in my view of my walk with God. The whole doing church stuff, the daily devotions, the preaching and teaching and invites to speak other places, prayer and praise gatherings, worship songs, evangelism etc. There was a sense that relationship and approval were built and based on these things along with expectations of people. When all this was taken away in an instant the relationship felt strain. Now I realise it was not because God changed from His perspective but I needed to find a fresh perspective on us together. Just dwelling, being, abiding. There was nothing that I could do to re-connect other than just be and know that He is God. I have learned the art of just dwelling. I cannot please Him anymore than I already do. I am not going to get more brownie points for doing stuff for God. I just need to live. I just need to walk with Him. And I do. I am no longer dependant on hearing His voice but I know He speaks. The whispering breeze is enough, the breathing, He doesn’t have to say anything. We just sit and watch the world go by together. We listen to music together. We watch a film together. When I used to go to the cinema I went to hear the voice of God and find the message hidden in the film. Now I just watch a film. The Word of God dwells in me and is not hidden in a book. Do I still pick up the Bible? Yes, but my life in Him is not dependant on it. Do I still pray? Not as in a quiet time. How would Allison feel if I just scheduled conversation into my diary to fit around the rest of my life? That is not relationship and freedom. Prayer is life. We just chat when the need arises. But we don’t have to. My relationship with God is greater than just talking to Him. The silence is just as powerful if not more so. Some people say they are called to a life of prayer, what does that mean in the context of living relationship? Surely it means being still. I live now with a weight off my shoulders. I dwell, abide, be still. And even now a warm glow rises inside me because I know that I know that I know that He loves me just as I am. He created me as a human being not an human doing. It is time to be.