Where are we now?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but one of the signs of the season changing is birdsong. as spring turns to summer, the month of May is quite full of lively birdsong. It all goes a bit quiet in June and July as they have young to look after. It picks up a little in August. Then as we enter the last days of summer and autumn is on the horizon, birdsong becomes very intermittent little tweets with lots of silence in between. (Pigeons and starlings never stop, but I’m talking about the nice garden birds).

In terms of the seasons or times in a spiritual sense, where are we? What’s going on? What happens next? It’s easy to suss out what might happen next week, but actually as the Church (which is the Body whose Head is Jesus) we need to have a better sense of the future than just next week.

I have a sat nav on my motorbike which is useful up to a point, but when I’m touring I like a proper map as well so that I can see the bigger picture. The Church needs to see the bigger picture, especially at this point in time. I believe that where we are now is very significant, and if all we can think about is next week, next month or even the next year we will be in danger of being caught unprepared for what God is doing and is about to do.

• I believe we are about to see a major outpouring of Holy Spirit on this nation and spreading through Europe, and at the same time we are going to see many many other nations similarly affected, with billions of people being saved
• I believe that in this process, miracles, healings, signs and wonders will be commonplace. Healings will be the the first way in which this move of God will become obvious.
• I believe that we will see the Church become what it was always meant to be, one unified body. I don’t mean that the leaders of different Denominations all get together and hammer out an agreement to become one denomination. I believe that whatever our style and way of doing things, the important thing for us will be that Jesus is actually the Head. Not just in name but in practice. We won’t move until He says so. We will be working together in harmony, not because we have a joint committee, but because we are each doing the bit that He has told us to do.
• I believe that as this happens, whatever part of the church they look at (large church, small church, home church, individual believers), those who are not yet Christians will see that these people follow Jesus.
• I believe that this will be a time that makes our past experiences seem like a faded black and white photograph compared to the amazingly vivid colour of what God is about to do.
• I believe it won’t always be easy. There will be opposition, there will be trials and for some there will be suffering too. Jesus once said to 72 of His disciples after they witnessed healings, miracles and deliverances, “Many prophets and kings longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it”. Like those 72 in Luke Ch. 10, we are about to see things that previous generations of believers have longed for and prayed for. We were chosen to be alive at this time, for this.

So, the question is, are we up for this? Are we ready for this? It’s time to get ready. How do we make ourselves ready? Simple. Fix your eyes on Jesus.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus…..”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭12:1-2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This race has been marked out for you. Let’s fix our attention on Jesus. Let’s put Him at the centre, and the head, again. Then we’re ready for the adventure ahead.