Month: November 2012

Changing Your View

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / Leave a comment

Changing your view: “We must pray the promise not the problem”.     We increase in faith as we boast in our hope, as we are a testimony of things to come. Heb 3:6

Faith must find it’s true measure; it has to be unlocked, unhitched from the wagon of healing, goodies & money and  given a wider and deeper application to our time & our lives, faith is bigger than the few issues mentioned above.   Unfortunately any one looking in on the church will think there are only a few things that are impacted by what we call faith, don’t get me wrong these issues, money, healing and provision will be reorder by our faith but there is so much more to unlock in our understanding when we consider faith.    So many themes, life factors are hijack to a narrow view of our understanding when there is much more to take hold of in Gods promises.   For example healing, when your sick it’s a blessing but when the promise of God to us is full health then healing  for the world around us let’s believe for health as a covenant people, prosperity finance only when prosperity is a fullness of life in peace, even blessing for me when we are to be blessed to be a blessing.    Rediscovering the truth of “living by faith” is a call for our hour, it is a call to live beyond the immediate, beyond my need, it is a way of life, living by faith is not when I look for income its a way of live continuity not just to get my need we are to live by faith not by events of faith only.

Faith must enrich us in every way and not simply adjust the material realm.     Indeed to be in the worst kind of poverty is to have all the material wealth you could ever wish for and yet be empty, unfulfilled, frustrated, and miserable, then, you are really poor.     Poverty is not a lack of resource but a people who are dependent on others for basic resources, our dependency should be on God not on resources.

In the same way that faith has to be unhinged so too Prophecy.   Prophecy must be seen bigger that just used in the realm of signs and authenticating a man or woman and their ministry, its time to find it’s true message to our time.    Prophecy does have a predictive aspect to it but much more we are to be a people who interoperate God to our world in our daily life, this is prophecy.     Prophecy gives the people of God a voice to interpret God’s onward creative acts in society and our world telling and interpreting.       Prophecy is to confront us with a plumb line of truth, enabling us, asking us, to build in the light of it, the prophecy that is, building according to a divine pattern and foundation, this requires our faith to be applied in our daily living.

Prophecy must be elevated in the ministry, to deliver us into our world, and the Kingdom of God into us.    Prophecy takes the taste of the age to come and increases the taste, allowing the breaking in of the Kingdom of God to enfold further in this world.

Faith and Prophecy are twinned, for many prophecy is shouting out things that come to mind, but our faith is tied to that which we utter and live.   Prophecy must be a life style as well as an utterance, the people of God, the church, will become the direct manifestation of prophecy just as the prophets of old, their lives, the way in which they lived was a gift, you could see the life’s message in their life style choice and the way they lived.

Faith and prophecy twinned, Romans 12:6 says “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith” as we are told to prophecy to the measure of our faith it becomes necessary to re-asses our place, that is, what we are involved with or  what we are doing, checking that it is in line, not only with the prophecy but also with my faith, living by faith every moment of every day.

Two basic questions:

Do we feel content to continue as we are?

Do we desperately want to break through into different realms?

These twins are necessary in order that the twins of mercy and goodness can follow us all the days of our lives…There is no release from the lower sphere of this material realm, of content existence, unless we have experienced the liberating prospect of the Spirit freeing us to rise as an eagle, to climb the air to the high altitudes of living.

Faith and Prophecy unlocks us to soar free, to live out our potential in the Grace of the Father.

Kingdom, Kingdom!

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / 1 Comment

“Your responses to life’s situations, your behaviour and actions are the result of your theology not of your intellect or emotions”.   We concluded with this last time I wrote going on to say that, we have come to a world that react rather than living out convictions from the foundation of life actually from the Christ, who is our foundation….to believe is to live out our belief, this has an impact on our view and should reflect what new birth is in reality.     If this cosmos rules in our life then it is questionable, if the other place the Kingdom has been either seen or entered, it will alter our way of life.

The word may have entered the mind, even been welcomed by the emotions even germinated thought through influence but we have to see that only when we have come to live by the Spirit (Romans 8 “…led by the Spirit are we not the sons of God…”)  birthed in us is a power greater than any other.   Christ has incarnate himself in us by the Spirit, that is Christ in you the hope of glory will now rule our direction, emotions, actions and decisions.     A power works with in transforming, forming and conforming us to Christ causing us to become those who are taking on board his interests, his cause as our first cause.   The company we keep, Money decisions, Homes we build , our families  all become expressions and demonstrations of the Kingdom of God, we are disciples of the Kingdom.    The Holy Spirit is so integral to the coming, the establishing of the Kingdom, the coming of the promise of Holy Spirit was a demonstration for early Christians that surely the Messiah had come and his Kingdom is here.   We can not have the Kingdom of God with out the Holy Spirit Romans 14 says it is not external things “…eating and drinking…” but that the “…Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit…” that is the Kingdom of God  in the Holy Spirit, as a great teacher Ern Baxter always stressed.

This is the reason we should not get excited about a kind of Christianity that marginalise the Holy Spirit.  How do we marginalise? through over planning, through not giving room for the Holy Spirit in direction and influence in lives.     Do not allow life  to become a system of lists that replaces any form of listening to the Spirits voice, actually not allowing us to learn the art of listening.   To give preeminence to the Holy Spirit means letting go of control and trusting another.    If we are not Holy Spirit directed we will end up making much of minors and little on major issues in our walk and Kingdom life.     Years ago it was getting lost on such issues, minor ones, such as “they had a drink of alcohol”, compliance to dress codes, attendance at all meetings, to show commitment, whilst at the same time allowing people’s attitudes  to stink, allowing un-forgiveness in hearts to remain, divisive conversation and gossip being the major issues we should have been dealing with.   The fight of the cosmic system that continues to try to ‘run’ the agent of the Kingdom of God in this world.

There is a  challenge in getting trapped into programs to ‘attract’ rather than being centers of Holy Spirit activity  where the kingdom of God is manifest, that is what is attractive.   Imprisoned by wrong expectations we have created in people’s hearts a faith of minimum cost and involvement whilst giving maximum rewards and benefits.

There is areal sense on the one hand of God working purpose and advance in some parts of the world, of people turning to Christ, yet we still have a church that has promoted a religion rather than the advancement of the Kingdom of Heaven.   Many Christians have weekly round trip tickets from the Kingdom of God to the Kingdom of…???… Returning to spirituality on Sunday.

To advance the Kingdom of God is to serve God in our generation, it is to serve Gods purpose, God aims and objectives, taking up the Fathers interest and living according to Gods’ will rather than mine.

Actions

1        Bring our own lives in line with Divine rule (not a common term these days but how else should we say it?) letting a Godly order come in our lives

2        Determine for yourself all you have, and see it as totally available for the advance of the Kingdom of God – a son of the kingdom (see blog…???)

3         Recognise you are joined to the body of Christ, discover where you are to be planted by God with a people and function, be yourself there, not a title, but invest you into the lives around you.

4       Rule and overcome in your world (personal, circumstantial, Spirit, possessions…)

5         See your own life as extending its’ influence to the ends of the earth as Abraham’s seed

6         Deal with the enemies of progress in your life.

  1. Possessions – the materialistic chains of the Cosmos, it is not a problem having stuff,  it is a problem  when the stuff has you.
  1. Ambition – ungodly drives that conflict with the Kingdom of God
  2. Position – status,platforms of life you will seek to protect
  3. Relationships – when they bring other kingdoms to distract you
  4. Possessiveness – you are a steward and servant you don’t own any one

May you aim to see Gods order and God’s image and likeness restored to our world in fullness, the coming of the Kingdom of God.