I am constantly blessed and challenged by the dedication and devotion of our Pastors here in Cornerstone Santiago. I know that it was not easy for them while I was in Scotland, and as I have blogged a few weeks ago, there were some compromises made in terms of our vision and direction. Praise God, we have worked it all through and we are heading for greater harvests. There is an excitement in the air ....
...especially this morning! Every morning, our Pastors meet together for 'Early Morning Prayer'. Believe it or not, we meet from 5am-6:15am every morning from Monday to Saturday. Sometimes there are 5 or 6 leaders, but today there were 12 of us. I am trying to get there at least 3 mornings a week ... pray for me! I go there dressed like a on-holiday-tourist ... they are dressed like frozen eskimos!
Ptr Marlou is in charge of our intercession at Cornerstone and he is there every morning. He just encourages us to seek God. We worship the Lord and wait upon Him. When we seek God with all of our hearts, we find ourselves at the edge of revelation and at the beginning of revival.
Ptr Marlou is in charge of our intercession at Cornerstone and he is there every morning. He just encourages us to seek God. We worship the Lord and wait upon Him. When we seek God with all of our hearts, we find ourselves at the edge of revelation and at the beginning of revival.
This morning was extra special. Imagine, we are on the roof of the Fire Centre, what a beautiful view. When we start the meeting the moon and stars are out, but half way through the meeting the sun begins to rise and by the end it is a beautiful sunny morning. This morning we prayed for each other and our churches. Wow ... so powerful! When I first heard these guys pray when we returned a few weeks ago I thought there were at least 100 people praying, but when I went down to the Fire Centre there were only 7 of them! They can be loud!
There is no short cut to a move of God. There are no easy ways to find revival... you can't buy it; you can't send away for it; you can't copy it and you certainly can't manipulate it. All we can do is prepare ourselves and ask God to do something in us, at His right time. It sounds old fashioned, but can you tell me any other way? I cannot find any other way in the Word of God or history ... God never sends the fire on an empty altar. When he sees the tears and the sacrifice, he will send the fire.
At Cornerstone Santiago, we are not there yet, but we have begun our journey of intimacy. We will learn along the way by way of trials, testings and tears. Yes, we want to be a modern church with up to date songs, use our best technologies and to be as excellent as we can be. But they are not the top priorities; the priority is to know, experience and lift up the Lord... for our churches to be temples of His glory.
I get concerned at the way churches 'buy into' other churches' vision and programmes. If we cannot pray, then lets not waste our time and money. Simple as that. It all starts through repentance, prayer, fasting and declaring His promises. Just ask Jehosophat, Nehemiah, Josiah, Isaiah or any of the 120 in Acts 1.
I want to leave you with a few quotes I came across this week.. Allow them to challenge you, as they have me. Have a great weekend and live for Him...
"Jesus today has many who love his heavenly kingdom, but few who carry his cross; many who yearn for comfort,few who long for distress. Plenty of people he finds to share his banquet,but few to share his fast. Everyone desires to take part in his rejoicing, but few are willing to suffer anything for his sake.There are many that follow Jesus as far as the breaking of bread,few as far as drinking the cup of suffering;many that revere his miracles,few that follow him in the indignity of his cross. "
-Thomas Kempis (Imitation of Christ)
"A huge religious marketplace has been set up in North America to meet the needs and fantasies of people just like us. There are conferences and gatherings custom designed to give us the lift we need. There are books, videos, and seminars that promise to let us in on the Christian "secret" of whatever it is we feel is lacking in our life- financial security, well-behaved children, weight loss, sex, travel to holy sites, exciting worship, celebrity teachers.... It isn't long before we're standing in line to buy whatever is being offered. And because none of the purchases does what we had hoped for, or at least not for long, we're soon back to buy another, and then another. The process is addicting. We become consumers of packaged spiritualities. "
- Eugene H. Peterson (Living The Resurrection)
"A huge religious marketplace has been set up in North America to meet the needs and fantasies of people just like us. There are conferences and gatherings custom designed to give us the lift we need. There are books, videos, and seminars that promise to let us in on the Christian "secret" of whatever it is we feel is lacking in our life- financial security, well-behaved children, weight loss, sex, travel to holy sites, exciting worship, celebrity teachers.... It isn't long before we're standing in line to buy whatever is being offered. And because none of the purchases does what we had hoped for, or at least not for long, we're soon back to buy another, and then another. The process is addicting. We become consumers of packaged spiritualities. "
- Eugene H. Peterson (Living The Resurrection)
"God makes it quite clear in His Word that He has only one answer to every human need -- His Son, Jesus Christ. In all His dealings with us He works by taking us out of the way and substituting Christ in our place. The Son of God died instead of us for our forgiveness: He lives instead of us for our deliverance. So we can speak of two substitutions -- a Substitute on the Cross who secures our forgiveness and a Substitute within who secures our victory."
-Watchmen Nee
"It is only when the whole heart is gripped with the passion of prayer that the life-giving fire descends, for none but the earnest man gets access to the ear of God."
- E.M. Bounds
"It is only when the whole heart is gripped with the passion of prayer that the life-giving fire descends, for none but the earnest man gets access to the ear of God."
- E.M. Bounds
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