Ablaze UK 2010: Monday
The prayer meeting at Ablaze is an exciting event. For a start, it's unusual and very encouraging to gather with so many people to pray together. For part of the prayer time on Monday morning we gathered into regional groups to pray for the cities in our own regions. So people from all across the north of England gathered in one block to pray for key cities like Newcastle, Bradford and Leeds. For those under the mistaken impression that prayer meetings are boring, the Ablaze prayer meeting will certainly change your mind.
In Monday's morning meeting God spoke through the prophet to all those who were battle-weary, saying that He had come to refresh, renew, bind up and help us understand that the battle is His already and He reigns victorious. The sound of rustling is not the enemy but rather God's hosts behind us and no weapon formed against us will prosper for we are more than conquerors. So stop cowering! Declare in your hearts that the battle is the Lord's and He is victorious in your circumstance. Listen carefully and hear the footsteps of the heavenly host.
To those in leadership God spoke in the prophecy of the need for five smooth stones, saying that we are to identify, release and nurture ascension ministries in our setting, for they are of strategic importance.
Ps David Patterson (Great Victoria Street Assembly, Belfast) was Monday morning's preacher. Ps Patterson drew our attention to what Martin Luther said about the 'Thy Kingdom Come' petition of the Lord's Prayer: 'if we really knew what we were praying for then we would shudder with fear'! The Kingdom is both here and yet to come, for the kingdom is present wherever God reigns. When we pray 'Thy Kingdom come' we are really praying for God to transform us. As Luke 17 tells us, the Kingdom of God is among us and therefore we are Representatives of the King ( 2 Cor. 5:20).
Even in tragedy, God is sovereign. Sometimes the will of God may involve us going through very difficult situations, yet we must trust in God's sovereignty. We need to have trust that God is always in control.
Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek fist the Kingdom of God. However many Christians have given Jesus a prominent place in their lives, without giving Him the preeminence. We need to submit every area of our lives to His rule and His reign.
As for the evening service, well I was on carpark duty again, but by all accounts it was a wonderful meeting. God spoke through two prophets (Stuart Walker and Ps David Williams) about His light piercing into the darkness, and many people received ministry. Finally, Dr John Avant preached his last message of the Convention from Colossians on living as if we were about to die.
In Monday's morning meeting God spoke through the prophet to all those who were battle-weary, saying that He had come to refresh, renew, bind up and help us understand that the battle is His already and He reigns victorious. The sound of rustling is not the enemy but rather God's hosts behind us and no weapon formed against us will prosper for we are more than conquerors. So stop cowering! Declare in your hearts that the battle is the Lord's and He is victorious in your circumstance. Listen carefully and hear the footsteps of the heavenly host.
To those in leadership God spoke in the prophecy of the need for five smooth stones, saying that we are to identify, release and nurture ascension ministries in our setting, for they are of strategic importance.
Ps David Patterson (Great Victoria Street Assembly, Belfast) was Monday morning's preacher. Ps Patterson drew our attention to what Martin Luther said about the 'Thy Kingdom Come' petition of the Lord's Prayer: 'if we really knew what we were praying for then we would shudder with fear'! The Kingdom is both here and yet to come, for the kingdom is present wherever God reigns. When we pray 'Thy Kingdom come' we are really praying for God to transform us. As Luke 17 tells us, the Kingdom of God is among us and therefore we are Representatives of the King ( 2 Cor. 5:20).
Even in tragedy, God is sovereign. Sometimes the will of God may involve us going through very difficult situations, yet we must trust in God's sovereignty. We need to have trust that God is always in control.
Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek fist the Kingdom of God. However many Christians have given Jesus a prominent place in their lives, without giving Him the preeminence. We need to submit every area of our lives to His rule and His reign.
As for the evening service, well I was on carpark duty again, but by all accounts it was a wonderful meeting. God spoke through two prophets (Stuart Walker and Ps David Williams) about His light piercing into the darkness, and many people received ministry. Finally, Dr John Avant preached his last message of the Convention from Colossians on living as if we were about to die.