God Will Win !!

Just been reading ‘The God Chasers’ by Tommy Tenney. Many parts of the book have struck me even though I am only a couple of chapters in. One thing in particular that I have felt for a long time but been unable to articulate very well is this :

We box God in so much. Church is so structured and constricted by time schedules and expectations.

From reading the book and meditating on it I have really been inspired. How much do we trust God ? How much do we let Him do what HE wants to do ?

We prepare and arrange and set everything up to build the ‘right’ sort of atmosphere. We guide and coax people to a religious experiences.

I recall the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal ( 1Kings 18: 22-40 )

Elijah challenged 450 of Baal’s prophets to call on the name of their God and ask him to set fire to a stack of wood with a sacrificial bull on it.

” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “O Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.

27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. 29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.

30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD, which was in ruins. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”

34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.
“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”

38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.

39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD -he is God! The LORD -he is God!”

40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

Elijah trusted that God was God all powerful. He let God prove Himself.

How much do we trust God ?
Do you trust God enough to say the mountain move and KNOW that it will move ? Do you claim His promises ? Do you stand and preach His will ? If He doesn’t give you the words to speak what are they worth ?

How much do we let Him do what HE wants to do ?
I have determined next time I go to my devotion time with my students that I am not going to prepare anything. I will call on the name of the Lord and I fully trust ad believe that He will be there and The Holy Spirit will accomplish the desire of His heart.

Lord, forgive us for being so mediocre ! Your will be done. Shake us up Lord ! Let children and teens proclaim your word ! Let parents pray into the lives of their children and see miracle after miracle, victory after victory. May your spirit flow through our churches and set your people on fire with the anointing you have prepared for us. Let your light flow from corner to corner, from street to street, from home to home. Push the darkness out of our cities, free the people from the grasp of drugs and prostitution, crime and hopelessness. May your love and your light bring salvation to all. Hallelujah !

I BELIEVE YOU CAN, I BELIEVE YOU WILL, I FEEL YOUR SPIRIT IN MY ACHING TO BURST FORTH AND DO MIRACULOUS THINGS TO BRING YOUR WILL TO THE EARTH !! ALL GLORY AND HONOR TO JESUS CHRIST ! AMEN, AMEN, AMEN

Phillip Ian Tri

Here is a part of a post from 2007… http://yearn4god.com/2007/12/06/philip-ian-tri-11207-51207/

Philip Ian Tri (1/12/07 – 5/12/07)
When Andrew and I received the following text message from Pak Stefanus (Head of Ada Hari Esok Orphanage) we were of one mind:

“There is a woman in Tandes who needs to give birth by operation, there are a lot of complications and she is very poor. Is there anything you can do?”

In just a few seconds we agreed to bless her with the money that was left over from the Charged Retreat. We sent Rp.4,700,000 (US$507.15) and waited. After a few days we heard that the woman’s blood pressure was too high to do the operation. We prayed for her and finally were told that the baby was born on the 1st of December (2007). The problem was that he was only 1.8kg and needed to be in an incubator in intensive care.

We subsequently helped with further medical costs and raised an army of prayer warriors to pray for the baby. The mother of the baby even allowed us to name the baby. His name was Phillip Ian Tri (Philippians 3) as God had put the following verse in my Spirit :

Philippians 3:7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Phillip died at 8 days old. Yet I believe he knew God and is with God. Even more, I believe that his short life did a great deal to teach a lot of people about the value of their lives. I pray the same is true for you. Don’t live a long, lost life. Set your eyes on Jesus and run the race to the end well.

God bless you and your family and loved ones.

What A Thrill !!

I had a great holiday in Bali !! I went paragliding and flew 8 times. I had forgotten almost everything but it soon came back to me. My most memorable flight was just as the sun was setting.

I took off and gained height. As I was soaring I had a view over the land toward a pink and orange sky and to the other side I could see out over the ocean. I felt an overwhelming urge to Praise God and that is exactly what I did.

As I soared above the land, beach and ocean I just gave thanks that God had created such a beautiful earth and He had equipped humans so well that we could work out how to do things like fly.

I left Bali with a wonderful feeling that God is good and life is good. No matter what circumstances throw at me I pray I can keep the perspective that My God is an awesome God and as His son I AM A WINNER !  ( For if He is with me, who can be against me ?)