Pointers from the online gathering on Sunday 1st February
Our online gathering began, as always, with a time of open worship and silence before the Lord. These Pointers are a summary of the key themes which emerged during the subsequent times of sharing and prayer.
- Kingdom Authority – flows from our communion with God. The Lord wants His Church to exercise authority over evil. This starts with ‘internal governance and order’ and requires an alignment with God’s plans and purposes. The Lord is training us as a Community and we are endeavouring to keep in step with Him.
- A Time of Change – particularly in perception and mindset. Keeping in step with the Lord requires a willingness to embrace change, in order to see as He sees. We must learn to perceive what the Lord has done and is doing, though it may not yet be visible to human eyes. Change has already taken place in this new time. We can learn from the account of Joshua and Caleb (Num 14.6-9) who demonstrated a willingness to change their mindset according to what the Lord had said, over and above what they saw. We cannot generate faith or change our spirit, but we can change our mind! Do we believe that the King has extended his sceptre to us and we therefore have authority to change things, according to His direction?
- Seeds and Roots – The seed of God’s Word that has been sown into good ‘soil’ may remain dormant for a long time before growth becomes visible. Various images of trees and roots were shared illustrating that the ‘roots of the tree of life’ are fast growing and deeper than other roots; they are able to deprive other roots of nutrition. “…a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Prov 13.12). Jesus has a longing for what He wants to see fulfilled in the earth. He is starting to reveal it in the ‘sons of God’ (Rom 8.19) – His followers – and is beckoning us to catch up! Counterfeit trees are being uprooted, even though they appear to be flourishing. We are being called to actively deepen our roots in Christ (Eph 3.16-19).
- Build Capacity – this is a time to expect answers to prayer. We should be prepared to act according to what the Lord is pointing to. For example, we are already seeing what has been termed ‘the quiet revival’. How are we preparing to receive significant numbers of new believers? Are we ready to provide teaching materials and opportunity for fellowship? Don’t wait for people to come, make space in advance and it will be filled. We are encouraged to offer the Lord our diaries, making space available for His initiatives.
- A clearly defined way and focus – a laser beam is produced by the amplification of light, reflected between two mirrors, producing pure light with high ‘coherence’. This was seen as a metaphor for the way in which we will be given precision of vision and action as we embrace God’s will on earth as it is in heaven, or put another way, when heaven and earth are mirrored.
- Let there be LIFE! – there is a major life and death battle taking place in the heavenly realms governing the UK and this is manifest in our Parliament with attempts to pass legislation for assisted dying and increased liberality for abortion. We proclaim “Let there be LIFE”
- Word given during the gathering: “All that you want to know, to find, can be found in My Book. There it says ‘ I am the Way the Truth and the Life’, meaning follow Me; stand fast in the truth – no deception; and resilient, health-giving, abundant life is yours for asking.” and, in answer to the question, Lord, what are You doing? “This is easy, don’t you see? All these years I have formed you into the person, the people, I want you to be. And that forming hasn’t ended, you are still a work in progress. This means submitting to My will in your life, which is for you, to build you up, to strengthen you, so that you can go out and proclaim My Kingdom in all the land. I will equip you, don’t be afraid, get on with it.”
COMMUNITY UPDATE
Over the past 5 years we have endeavoured to be diligent in our obedience to the Lord’s leading, recognising that He has been speaking to us about ‘a new thing’. In every gathering – online and in person – we have offered the Lord a ‘blank canvas’ for the period of our meeting and have devoted ourselves to learning what it means to ‘ASCEND’ and ‘ADVANCE’. We believe this has been a time of shaping and training for us as a Community, in keeping with a prophetic word given to us some years ago: ‘Same clay, different form’.
Last year we sensed God inviting us to consider the question, “What does the Lord want to teach us about how to govern in the heavenly realms?” A small representative group of Maranatha members gathered together to consider this in June, following which we were led to engage in a 40-day period of prayer and fasting as a whole Community. A further small gathering, held last November, resulted in the compilation of a list of ‘Resolutions’, as if we were part of a heavenly council. During the members’ weekend in Davyhulme last month these ‘Resolutions’ were shared and considered prayerfully in more depth. The feedback from this is now being used to develop a resource for members to use in their own situations, which will be circulated soon.
