What we do in life echoes in eternity!

What do we do when a move of God ‘seems’ to end?

"The people of Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him—those who had personally experienced all that the Lord had done for Israel". Joshua 24:31

"After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Which tribe should go first to attack the Canaanites?” Judges 1

The tribes continued to help one another conquer the land and take possession of it as their inheritance. This was a work that had been ongoing for over thirty years.

It’s interesting to note that the ones who continued to serve the Lord were those who had personally experienced all that the Lord had done for Israel!

These ones experienced over several years the manifest presence of God, where they saw and participated in the answers to prayer.

Their obedience enabled them to see and be part of all the miraculous ways that God gave them victory over their enemies.

The book of Joshua is full of miracles; the holding back of the Jordan river, the fall of Jericho, the sun standing still, and the moon staying in its place. The only times that Israel suffered defeat was when they failed to consult the Lord, as found in Joshua chapters seven and nine!

“But Israel violated the instructions about the things set apart for the Lord”.

Judges 7:1 NLT

“So the Israelites examined their food, but they did not consult the Lord”.

Judges 9:14

We are made for intimacy with God, His presence lives on the inside of us, through the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament the Holy Spirit had to come upon individuals, but as New Testament believers we have the Holy Spirit living within us. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. How we treat our bodies can reflect how we treat Holy Spirit!

Jesus said, “The first in importance is, ‘Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.’ And here is the second: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ There is no other commandment that ranks with these.” Mark 12:30 MSG

You can only love others to the degree that you love yourself!

“But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor—Counsellor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will help you remember everything that I have told you.” John 14:26 AMP

The role of the Holy Spirit is to help us become more like Jesus, from the inside out.

From one degree of glory to the next. Notice our starting point is glory!

"Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiselled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him". 2 Corinthians 3:18 MSG

By the time we get to Judges 1:19, we find that although each tribe took the land they failed to drive out the inhabitants. Each tribe was now fighting solo instead of the commanded way of fighting together.

Those moves of God that are inclusive, that invite different styles of ministry to participate, often continue to thrive.

In my opinion the Toronto move of God that started in 1994, before some of you were even born was very inclusive; many different styles from all over the world ministered there. Many ministries were birthed within that time that honoured that move before birthing their own individual ones.

"After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel".

Judges 2:10 NLT

Every christian should have their own experiences with the Holy Spirit, no christian should settle for anything less. Testimonies should inspire us all to want to see and experience the presence and power of God ministering powerfully through each one of us!

Here we have the disobedience of Israel, all they had to do was stick to the plan!

They would have enjoyed the continual manifest presence of God.

"The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to Bokim and said to the Israelites, “I brought you out of Egypt into this land that I swore to give your ancestors, and I said I would never break my covenant with you. For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this? So now I declare that I will no longer drive out the people living in your land. They will be thorns in your sides and their gods will be a constant temptation to you.” Judges 2:1-3

There are consequences to disobeying God! Look at what He said, “I will no longer drive out the people living in YOUR land. They will be THORNS in YOUR sides and their gods will be CONSTANT temptation to you!”

Have you ever had a thorn in your finger? I have and it became so swollen and painful that I had to have a course of antibiotics.

God’s antibiotic to spiritual thorns is obedience!

“The Israelites did evil in the Lord’s sight and served the images of Baal. They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshipping the gods of the people around them. And they angered the Lord. They abandoned the Lord to serve Baal and the images of Ashtoreth. Judges 2:11-13

I remember in the 70’s when prayer was taken out of schools. I was a young teacher, not a Christian, in one of the largest inner city comprehensive schools at that time, but I recognised that classes were so much calmer when we started the day with a traditional Christian assembly. When it was stopped, the atmosphere was chaotic, and the pupils were far less peaceful! Jesus went out of the window and other gods filled the void and were a thorn in my side!

I also noticed that the Toronto move rattled the cages of the inhabitants, the ‘giants’, the religious spirits not only in Canada but from countries around the world.

UK newspapers were reporting on it and mostly negatively. Churches were split over it. Mostly the criticism was towards the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. It caused division. You might ask, “Well if it caused division then surely it couldn’t have been a move of the Holy Spirit?”

Jesus said this:

“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favour of me, and two against—or two in favour and three against.

‘Father will be divided against son

and son against father;

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother;

and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” Luke 12:49-53 NLT

It saddens me on FaceBook when I see Christians making negative comments and making judgements. The misogyny that is finding its way onto the internet by Christian men, and some women, I find very disturbing. We aren’t called to judge one another but to love one another. As Jesus is being removed more and more from society other gods are moving in, causing hatred and division. The church needs to wake up and find its voice again!

The church should be the birthing place for ministries to grow and become established, both within the church and the marketplace. As carriers of his presence every Christian should be influencing our world in every sphere of life.

Unity is the answer; that doesn’t mean that every church and ministry must lose its uniqueness or vision, but it does mean that we must have the heart of God and celebrate and support the work that others are doing.

Jesus said:

“How wonderful and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! For harmony is as precious as the anointing oil that was poured over Aaron’s head, that ran down his beard and onto the border of his robe. Harmony is as refreshing as the dew from Mount Hermon that falls on the mountains of Zion. And there the Lord has pronounced his blessing, even life everlasting”. Psalm 133 NLT

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

John 13:35 NIV

“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me”.

John 17:20-23 NSAB

John said this to Jesus on one occasion:

John spoke up, “Teacher, we saw a man using your name to expel demons and we stopped him because he wasn’t in our group.”

Jesus wasn’t pleased. “Don’t stop him. No one can use my name to do something good and powerful, and in the next breath slam me. If he’s not an enemy, he’s an ally. Why, anyone by just giving you a cup of water in my name is on our side. Count on it that God will notice. Mark 9:38-41 MSG

As leaders we must deal with our insecurities and comparisons and competitiveness.

Our allegiance first and foremost is to Jesus not our organisations, as good as they are.

“So then, while we [as individual believers] have the opportunity, let us do good to all people [not only being helpful, but also doing that which promotes their spiritual well-being], and especially [be a blessing] to those of the household of faith (born-again believers)”.Galatians 6:10 AMP

That’s me and you! There are times for a variety of reasons that I don’t want to give my time, energy, resources or equipment to someone else. Let someone else use my car, my camera (LOL), my home? Obviously, my flesh still needs to be crucified!

I’m laughing about it, but what if the Holy Spirit asks me to do that? What will be my response? Maybe a question for all of us!

I believe that there is a great need for the leaders of churches and ministries to acknowledge, recognise and work with the Watchmen, Intercessors and Gatekeepers, as it’s their gifting to see and identify where the enemy has access, to name these false gods and help empower the church to drive out these inhabitants from our land. The times I have heard, ‘Intercessors are weird’ or ‘Prophetic people are weird’. I have news for you, my friend - we are all weird to someone!

We can learn much from the book of Joshua and Judges. When Israel's tribes worked together there was complete victory; when they fought alone, they failed.

All twelve tribes went out to fight, the ones who were settled and didn’t have to cross the Jordan river sacrificially went and helped the tribes whose inheritance was yet to be secured. They left families, friends, comfort and safety to help another tribe.

Whatever tribe you belong to or lead, are you willing to give the support, time, energy and resources to send out others if you can’t go yourself to stand with another church or ministry, even if it means you get no credit or recognition? Even if it means that church or ministry explodes with numbers, or finances, or ends up on the front pages of a national newspaper?! But the Lord sees all and no matter what your position is - leading, praying, watching the equipment, watching the children, in the worship team, greeters, tea makers, toilet cleaners, or car park attendants - we all partake of the spoils of war.

We are in a war, a war for the souls of men and women, a war to drive the enemy from OUR land, a war that Jesus has already won! We can only enforce His victory if we work together in a spirit of unity!

Maximus to his fellow gladiators in the arena: (from the film Gladiator)

"If we stay together, we survive.”

“What we do in life echoes in eternity!”

illustrations from freepik