I’m deliberately avoiding doing a Lent blog. However, as we’re hurtling towards Easter, I thought I’d do a blog on New Year resolutions!
Inspired by Asbury (does that work as a single word? Come on folks, get with the programme) – So personally, I have been longing to have some extended time with God, to realign and recalibrate my life with His. Once again, to choose to …keep in step with His Spirit.
So, it’s already been that time of year (a January, New Year) when the prophetic voices have made their declarations. Others may have played with our Christian jargon or found a nifty phrase to present a New Year challenge. Such as, Let’s stop trying to be attractive or relevant - let’s just be biblical. Really?! Is that a revival stirring mantra? So, what will (the rest of) 2023 bring? Did any of us truly expect Asbury and the events at that Kentucky college?
It’s now Lent. Whether we keep to a church calendar or not, I sense the need to seek His face.
Now to be honest, I’ve lost count of how many personal ‘quiet days’ and extended retreats have begun with a physical or metaphorical blank sheet of paper, as I attempt to seek His face – ‘Speak Lord, Your servant is listening.’
Similarly, I’ve lost count of how many of those sessions have resulted with the biblically obvious being brought to mind. Though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Love one another, from John’s 13th chapter and repeated throughout his epistles.
Go into all the world and make disciples, Matthew 28 – the great commission.
‘Just Jesus’ – let’s get back to our Saviour. For I have resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 1 Corinthians 2:2
Act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Your God (Micah 6:8). A helpful focus for our compassionate ministries.
Choose the way of love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:1). Not a bad starting place for any New Year, Lent, Easter, or Pentecost recommitment – priceless biblical advice.
Psalm 23 – there’s always Psalm 23 and the Lord’s Prayer… you can’t go wrong with these two, the simplicity, yet the multiplicity a d focus of instructions for our walk with God.
And for me, personally, Colossians 2:6-7 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 – some timeless favourites.
On such occasions, you genuinely start with nothing, truly hoping you can be open and sensitive to God’s Spirit. You remind yourself, ever so briefly, that Christian meditation is not the same as the mind-emptying blankness of Eastern mysticism, and then suddenly – oops! Your mind is consumed with timeless truths! Drat – the floodgates have opened! All your favourite Scriptures start plopping into your head. There’s no stopping them. And if you did, wouldn’t that be blasphemy to deliberately quench the Spirit?
Arrrrgh! How do I get the new, the fresh, the ‘now’ word of God? Perhaps there’s a clue in Revelation 8:1,
…there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
So, I set the timer on my mobile phone. I put away my notebook, I even close my Bible. I sit quietly, “Dear God, here I am, may I experience the revelation of Your silent heaven.”
And with that, I start the timer.
It’s not easy. I’m definitely not going to thumb through my Bible – that wouldn’t be silence. I’m trying not to think too much about God – otherwise my head will just explode with overwhelming words and images. Without too much distraction from my mind, I seek to simply rest in the peace of a silent Heaven.
Wait. Rest. Repeat.
Thirty minutes later I begin to write,
Be more aware of the angelic in ministry. Wow – did not expect that!
Never presume your agenda is God’s agenda. Always stay open, sensitive and vulnerable.
Encourage one another… specifically ‘remind one another’ of the spiritual journey you’ve each been on. Don’t assume past revelations and personal disciplines have taken root. Don’t keep asking for more, unless the previous more is bearing fruit.
Re: discipleship. We’re not surprised that almost everyone’s salvation story is different. So in the same way, don’t limit how God chooses to disciple His church. Learn to walk with people, not over them.
The trumpets of heaven still herald fresh seasons. God rarely says, ‘one thing’, but He does say, ‘This thing…’ Let those with spiritual ears listen to what the Spirit is saying to the local churches.
And at the end of the revelation, the small print always contains these words… God’s love, grace and mercy are in His Triune existence, evident in His creation, His restoration and redemption. These three attributes are in His every design, hovering over His every touch, detectable in His every breath and infused in His every action. Therefore, as His ‘hope and glory’, may His love, grace and mercy be also evident in all you do in His Name.
Just to clarify, these were not things I was (consciously) thinking about during the 30-minutes. As the time ended, this was the simple gushing flow of my now re-engaged consciousness. Nice. Quite happy with that… or….
Alternatively, as the season turns, I could talk about wars and rumours of wars. I could pinpoint a Scripture, a discipline or even a sin, and herald a timely word of encouragement or warning. But oh dear friends, God has so much more for us, than to manifest as an angry disappointed parent. He doesn’t want His shepherds frightening and threatening the sheep. Sheep that He personally found, rescued, carried, healed and homed. Instead, like Him, be a good shepherd. A shepherd that leads the flock to healthy pastures. Amen. Biblically, spiritually and metaphorically, the Exodus has happened, and the Exile is over. Let those with understanding and insight discern the favour of the Lord in this Redemption season.
2023, or indeed any year or change of season – always, your own theology will either limit or expand your hopes and expectations, with language that will either bring fear or life. So, please dear friends, for the glory of God and the health of His church, when you pray and speak – choose life! Life-giving, eternal life, abundant life, pressed down and running over. Let’s stop the ‘friendly-fire’, call forth the ‘gold’ and speak prophetic hope. The Lamb has been slain, and now the Lion roars our Kingdom victory. Can you not hear His voice? Stop. Do nothing… until you discern and hear the eternal echoes of that glorious roar resonating in your soul. Amen and amen.
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