God gives us more than we ask for

So, when we were all on TSM we were on the streets regularly stepping out and praying for the sick or talking to people about Jesus both in Bedford and back home and then… when we finished we were encouraged to keep going for it, so we didn’t lose momentum.

So, how’s everyone doing now… nearly a year on?

I know I’ve plateaued in this area and hearing testimonies recently and remembering the freedom I used to move out in I began to ask God again to open up opportunities.

I’ve started asking God for words of knowledge and this morning I was quite specific. I asked God for two, one for the Staff Prayer meeting I was going into and one for out on the street.

In the Prayer meeting I delivered the word of knowledge God gave me for someone and towards the end of the meeting as people were praying for increase of kingdom opportunities I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me and I shared an equipping practical encouragement about recognizing the ways the Holy Spirit often attracts our attention. It seemed well received and particularly by our lead Pastor which is always encouraging!!!!

Then after the meeting… as Julie, Carol and I started to walk towards Costas God led us into an encounter!

Carol suddenly stopped to speak to a man she knew. A bit surprised to see him wearing a white crochet prayer cap and hearing he was now a Muslim, she asked what he was up to. He told us he was preparing to leave for Syria tomorrow because he had felt deeply moved by the plight of children there and he was going to help in an orphanage.

It was one of those moments where probably all three of us were knowing God had set this up and were feeling our way trying to hear what the Holy Spirit wanted us to say. There was the whole converting to Islam, the compassion he was expressing and his willingness to count the cost! What actually happened was we got to prophesy encouragement that the compassion he was feeling was God’s compassion and that God had a plan for his life. I felt the Holy Spirit say to ask if he had a need we could pray for either physical or practical. At first he said no and then he started to tell us about a lump he had in his shoulder, which sounded quite a serious health risk. Carol stepped up with great boldness and said, “We’d like to pray for you. The Holy Spirit will come on you and we will pray for God to remove the lump and heal you” Standing against the wall in this alleyway with people going past Carol prayed… in our excitement we forgot to get him to check it out but he certainly went on his way blessed and said he’d get in touch once he was back.

In Costas after a while, the girls had to go but I stayed on to carry on prepping a talk I am giving tomorrow, on the Father. As I looked up I noticed a man with the cutest little boy. As a dad I could see he loved his little boy so much and was paying him so much attention, kissing him and talking to him and it was drawing my attention.

I heard the Holy Spirit say I want you to tell him that in the same way he loves his little boy I love him… but even more! His friend had gone to the loo so I went and sat opposite him and said I’m a Christian and sometimes God speaks to me and told him what I’d felt the Holy Spirit say. He nodded and smiled and so I asked him if he knew God. He told me he was a Muslim and believed in the one God. His English was quite poor and his friend came back and the conversation ended there. When I sat back down I realized that God hadn’t spoken to me just twice today as I had asked but 5 times already!

And then…

A little while later one of the staff who has always seemed friendly and said hello asked me if I was writing an essay. I told him it was a talk I was giving to a group at my church and how it was the same church that one of the other Costas staff went to. I asked him if he knew of it. He said he did and that was when I found he was also a Christian and went to another great church in Brighton. I told him about the different people I had got to speak to about Jesus in Costas and what a special place it was.  I also told him we were planting into Hove this September and wanted to reach into the community and especially around that area. He then mentioned that in the past a church had asked to use Costas for an event and so if we were ever interested to use it we could speak to the manager!

If you’ve plateaued at all I hope you are encouraged to ask God. He loves to speak through us and gives us more than we ask for!

Timings and Seasons

Walking in God’s prophetic promises…there are timings and seasons

Just yesterday Hubby and I were having one of those great chats about what we were sensing God was saying to each of us about the now and the not yet?

We are living in exciting days and have a growing sense of anticipation that God is leading us into more…on many levels.

Back in February 2011 God said ‘I am positioning you in preparation’ I didn’t know what that meant at the time but had a sense as others did of movement. Even though I felt it personally, I knew it wasn’t just for me, for us, but it was about something bigger and God was speaking about his Kingdom advancing.

A lot has happened since then and even though it still feels as though it has been happening mostly underground like the growing that takes place before the buds first poke through, there are definitely signs of Spring appearing! In fact earlier this year I felt God say that when the first signs of spring appear they contain within all the promise and certainty of fruitfulness even though it is not yet the time for harvest.

This morning in a worship time a friend prayed out that God is never worried about his plans or purposes, he is not anxious in any way. He knows the end from the beginning.

One of the prophetic words over my hubby 25 years ago was ‘As some things in nature break forth rapidly, others have a slower time of maturation but that do great good, and so in your latter years, the word went on…

Yesterday as we read prophetic words that God had spoken to us over the last 30 years, we were freshly excited as we saw a thread running throughout realizing that soon would be coming a time that God had been pointing to. We feel an aligning of our hearts to his promise. Its hard to explain but what had seemed on the distant horizon now seems to be coming nearer, more in view and we feel humbled and overwhelmed by God’s faithful hand, his patience, his shepherding, his timing and seasons, his never letting go, his great love and his covenant with us… and we gave thanks to God.

So our ministry is not what we do but who we are and it seems that even the nuances of our personality, our interests and particular ways are tied in with the destiny he has already written over us. God is a God of purpose and intention and everything he has made is beautiful and intricately detailed. The bible reminds us of this…

In Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. In Psalm 104 we read of God’s creation and how even the animals are all made in wisdom, for they all answer the end they were designed to serve.

It occurred to me recently that throughout our married life my hubby has loved maps, countries and travelling whereas I am a ‘home girl’ who loves relationship, friendship and familiar surroundings. So… when God called us to serve him in South Africa many years ago, it was he whom God first spoke to and recently again it has been he who has begun to hear God about future plans. God could have spoken to me first but I kind of get why it was easier to get my hubby’s attention about adventure, it’s the way God has wired him. Its like we have different languages and God knows our language and how to communicate best to us to get our attention.

As we continue to walk in the now and not yet on many different levels we marvel at the minute glimpse God gives us of our tiny part in his greater purpose in the earth.

Do you regularly carry round or read prophetic words God has spoken over your life? I recommend you do. God speaks to us in many ways, in different seasons and for different seasons. If you are seeking God for direction, its good to be reminded of what God has already said.

Our destiny is so much bigger than us in fact its not really about us at all its about his beautiful bride he is preparing for the display of his glory. One day, like a peacock when it opens its wings and shows its beauty we will see the magnitude of God’s unfolding purpose and it will be breathtaking!