TRUST

O really the devils is in the Detail

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / 1 Comment

“The Devils in the detail” ever heard that quoted to you?   I am not sure why the statement is such perhaps this is where we miss out, or is it that where we get caught out in the work necessary involved in detail?     By what I can tell, it actually means that small things in plans and schemes are often overlooked and they are the things that can cause serious problems later?  Like many proverbs which involve the devil, it is meant to sound a note of caution. It may also be used to excuse or explain the obfuscation of an otherwise very simple project or task, now that’s a new word to look up!.

In one sense, one might say “the devil’s in the details” to refer to small but ultimately important components of a larger task.  For example, performing a scientific experiment in a laboratory is a hugely involved task which can sometimes be highly dangerous. A small error at the beginning can translate into a useless experiment at the end, so experimenters are reminded that the devil’s in the details. This reminder is intended to encourage the scientists to check their work, and to be thorough and careful in the lab.

But really I would suggest to you that this is far from the truth and it’s not the devil there, but “God is in the detail”, that all life is detailed through a wonderful and marvelous Father and not some other.     It is rather a miss statement that is a distraction,  it is actually quoted incorrectly, there is a great in the detail of your life, from time to time we have to be reminded of this fact that so easily gets away from us.

The Psalmist reminds us of the very fact that  GOD IS IN THE DETAIL and none other, some times we just end up not seeing God but I can assure you God is.   It is a wonderful truth  that we need  to be reminded of, especially in our society today.     We are reminded loudly and clearly that our Father, God is in the detail.    It is so simple yet we forget, if we could grasp it and live by this simple truth,  it would be transformational.

God is there, God made us wonderfully and we cannot ignore him,  this is the Psalmist in Psalm 139:13-18 he wants everyone to know that God is in your intimate moments, in your beginning, in every detail and continues throughout your life. To be able to see and realise that God is in every detail brings great security and challenges us to step out into great adventures.

This is one of the greatest passages of literature about the miracle of human conception and birth, Eugene Peterson once said “in the presence of birth we don’t calculate – we marvel.”     This small thought is here to trigger you to discover God in the detail of your life.  There is no devil there but there is a God who is intimately interested in every bone formed, every bend of every artery intrinsically weaving, embroidering each one of us and each one of our lives. What a tragedy to miss this truth that God is there, embroidering the pathways of our life before we even walk, God is in the detail!

He planned and determined our days (V16)  which includes the length of our lives (Job 14:5)  and the tasks that God wants us to perform (Eph 2:20; Phil 2:12-13).    These plans coming from a loving God with a loving heart planning all the very best for us (Rom 12:2).   Let us fix in mind and settle on the security of this confession of God is in the detail!

This simple confession, God is in the detail, displays that the Psalmist has the most mature individual faith in the Old Testament, it also indicates that the writer has the clearest anticipation of the life to come. God is in the detail means unbroken companionship, intimacy, detailed knowledge and understanding, we can’t go anywhere to hide from God.

You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day.

The security of “…you know…” is wonderful and life without it would be all to pot I think.    The knowledge of you knowing is a gift to you and me, a gift of God that he knows, that there is intimacy in his knowledge that there is detail, there is minute inspection in Fathers knowledge.   This is too wonderful for me the Psalmist says and it how great that a great mighty God can have such detail intimate working in you.

You know me inside and out

You know every bone in my body

You know exactly how I was made

You know me – every – exactly  its marvelous, what and who you are with this insight, more than that onward interest.   Great God I want to shout, wonderful  Father, I want to cry  help me as i throw my self back on you  every moment of every day.

God saw every detail.    God pre-recorded all the days of the psalmist before he was even born. This statement may mean that God determined how long he would live, but in view of verses 1-4, it more likely refers to everyday details. God marvelously planned out his life.

Okay where do we go to from here, daily confession that God is in the detail. As we awake, as we journey to work, as we start every day, as we deal with the detail of life we discover God is in the detail and it will change the way we look, change the way we work, change the way we treat life, in the small  things, realise God is there, God is working, and this is his way of displaying his intimacy.

Leadership – discovering again its SERVANT nature.

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / Leave a comment

There are so many Leadership styles along with books urging us to discover style would be the best to lead making your mark amongst people and society.    We some times get confused how we who are followers of Christ should reflect the Christ in our work.    Jesus said in John 1:18 (NASB) “…came to explain the Father.” he has invited us to continue what he started, explaining the Father.    I have repeatedly stated and asked the challenging question of my self “do I  explain the Father” as I live my life, do we explain him.

My interaction with people, my work ethic, my conduct, character, the way I live life, are people gaining an explanation?     You and I have to admit we will through word and deed explain something of to others, I wonder what.     I wonder how I conduct myself in a supermarket line, the way I drive the car, my conduct towards those older, younger, or of any difference to me, what do I explain?   Do people walking away from me depart with an explanation of God or is it something else?

We have been called through our own temperament, they way we are cut our character and life not be like the leadership style in our own way but one that explains what God if like.   Leadership is clearly to be rediscover, is in urgent need to be seen as a SERVANT style, one that pours out for others, one that is more interested in establishing an inheritance for the next generation that building for our selves, that serves the society around giving away to build and establish through a servant leadership.   Let us rediscover in world govern by business, getting more and more, amassing wealth, gaining control a servant leadership that flows from being a son of God rather than endorsing an orphan spirit of protection of me and mine, working to make secure my provision rather than trusting the Father and being a Servant Leader.    the people of God would be different in itself if we could driver our delve storm celebrities to servant ministries and taking that model to our world.    Sometime we are so caught on making a mark we have forgotten the desired Christ like style to do so and fall to become “Christian X-factor” leaders rather than poured out Servant Leaders, Christ will triumph and we will become the Servant Bride- a Challenge to be different but explaining God!

‘Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.’

J. Donald Walters

‘You don’t have to hold a position in order to be a leader.’

Anthony J D’Angelo

‘Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.’

St. Augustine

‘Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.’

Winston Churchill

‘But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave.’

Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.”( Matt 20:27, 28)

Jesus the Christ

Good read to consider further – Leadership, Greatness & Servanthood Phillip Greenslade

Thought of Giving Up?

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / Leave a comment

The woman who would not give up

 Society all around us is in so much flux, our world is at a pace of change from one day to the next we wonder what will come next.    I come across many who just want to find rest and make a fundamental adjustment to bring peace.    Others who have had enough so to speak, they have tried and tried again but things have worked, what ever the ‘thing is for their life.

We live in a world that constantly speeds things up, instant, immediate delivery, drive thru’s not only for food but for banks, waiting for many has become an alien pastime.     Farming and waiting for a harvest is so far removed from many of us today, this is one factor in us losing the art of cultivation, to get a harvest, our harvest today is determined by the fields of fresh food in our supermarkets rather than watching the green shoots raising, waiting for the produce to grow and mature to bring about harvest time.   Being distant from the soil disconnects us from some of life’s schooling, being patient and persistent for example.    Perhaps a modern parable, rather than one of the soil is this one, I am writing this while in Cape Town with its ‘fast speed’ broadband computer connection, that is as it is sold by Telekom, the government telephone service.    The advertised ‘fast speed’, FAST SPEED!    It is 384 kbps; about half the speed of the old dial-up-network, that old buzzing hissing noise connection, where Virgin/UK are advertising 20 MB speeds.   You can purchase an even FASTER speed of 1 Mbps but its at double the cost for the line!   I give up downloading or uploading as its so slow, I give up waiting and persisting, it takes so long, even some necessary downloads i delay until I get to a faster environment.

We struggle to wait and be patient, wanting things NOW, we don’t wait and persevere so easily, we want to see things advancing or we determine it is not working.

We even do strange things, in reading the Scriptures, because we can read the book of Acts in one weekend, we think it all happened in 48 hours.   We treat our Christian walk in the same way, thinking it all happens in a weekend, but from Paul’s encounter with Christ on the Damascus Road to his standing before King Agrippa, it was a 20-year period.    We see every miracle, healing breakthrough in terms of immediate rather than reality, and we expect it all over and done with in a weekend.    By the way, this is not an appeal not to see the immediate work of God but one that adds to us as we have to learn the cultivating and preserving journey of our faith as well.   As we learn to see the immediate and the long-term, it gives sense to our daily lives, i hope.

Through out the scriptures we are introduced to people who stayed in, persisted when nothing was happening to the natural eye.   Introduced time and time again to a quality of living that is patient, persistent, consistent, staying in.

Two women for you to consider, just don’t switch off on me now, consider these to be shadows of the bride of Christ, the church and outlining attitudes that we find in the church.    The first being Mary the mother of Jesus who having had been delivered the earth shattering news of the plan for her life, in giving birth to Jesus having said “be it unto me” learned to cultivate the promise, she held it in her heart, quietly with drew and cultivated the word until it become a living promise in the arrival of her son.  Until the word arrived at a place where it could sustain life in itself, interesting thought, how many times have we left the word go before it had life enough to stand by its self, when it still needed our cultivation?     She shows us the attitude of how to cultivate all that God speaks to us.   There will be the gift of time delivered to us, so that we can cultivate the promise of God, to work with the words to bring it to pass, maturing it first in the inner life before we see it fully.    She knew its reality on the inside but it did take a while, 9 months, before it hit the seen realm.   The evidences of the promise had a challenged effect on her relationships and as her physical body changed shape to align with the promises, we are to stay in hold on too, being persistent as we change to bring about the promise, that more often for us all takes time.

The next woman who would not give up reading Luke 18:1-8, It’s the parable of the Woman Who Would Not Give Up. She was unrelenting in her pursuit of an answer to her plea.    This parable is a standard Jewish “how much more” (qal vahomer) argument: if an unjust judge who cared not for widows can dispense justice, how much more will the righteous judge of all the earth. Who was known as the defender of widows and orphans?      It was in a day when it was difficult for widows to get justice because they lacked the means for bribing the officers who would get the judge to act.   But this widow would not quit until the judge had given her what she was supposed to get.      You and I are to adopt the same attitude of faith.     More than that the church of God requires the same attitude of faith.    In recent years I have heard people use the phrase of “failed revival theology” a sadness from not seeing what we thought, or we thought by now the Kingdom of God would have arrived and transformed our worlds.    It is necessary for us again to take up this woman’s attitude to persist a little while longer.

I don’t know about you but I long for the church to be known as a people of faith who will not give up but press through, I want to be known as a man of faith who will not give up.   What i see must be big enough; my message must be big enough to keep me persistent.   I must add that God is not unwilling at all but I would focus this on us and our attitude not the Fathers willingness.

Jesus asks his disciples, “When I come, will I find faith in the earth?” As you meditate on this verse consider this:

“Will I find faith?” Jesus asked His disciples, “When I come…will I find faith?” When we have asked for something over and over, and there is no answer, we are tempted to give up, to give in to unbelief. Jesus, knowing the weakness of His disciples both then and now, taught this parable about faith through unrelenting, persevering prayer. A widow who would not give up she persisted, she would not give up. With that in mind, lay hold of what you have seen and the big message Christ brought.

“When I come…” We don’t know when Jesus will come or how he will return with the culmination of every promise made, but when He comes I want to have faith in my heart. By His grace, I will have faith.

‘Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he really find faith on the earth?’ (v. 8). This implies that faith is often strengthened by waiting on God and persistence in prayer, even if we do not receive immediate answers. Job had faith to recognise the goodness of God even when, humanly speaking, all seemed lost (Job 23:8–10).

Persist, persevere, staying in, keeping faith, are all necessary attitudes for our journey how are you’re doing? Given up doing good, don’t let go of promises learn to stay in and hold your heart, keep the faith and watch it grow.

21st C Apostolic – Part 2

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / 1 Comment

Let continue with our journey into an understanding on the Apostolic, it is needed to be said that this is my journey to date which is not complete as yet, as we join with other ministers with different understanding we will find a fuller meaning in for today rooted in the scriptures.   These relationships will also adjust thinking and practice I am sure as well as add to understanding.   Now for my continuing thoughts to date.

Apostles are part of eternity’s plan; they were commissioned before they were born, chosen by God.  Apostle ship is not a learned skill it is an eternal choice, selected, appointed “… Before the foundation of the world…” when asked, Paul said of himself, he had been chosen from his mother’s womb (Galatians 1:15). To be an apostle is an issue of choice in eternity, to be sent forth by the Father with a mandate to preach the kingdom of God and lay the foundation of Jesus Christ into people’s lives. The apostolic burden is to establish a people and a community of believers, who are  willing to be led by the Holy Spirit and demonstrate a life under the order of God (Acts 2:41-47).

Apostles work alongside elders, having a responsibility and appointed by the Holy Spirit to love and care for the people of God, carrying a charge before God for the body. Paul talked about his “… light afflictions…” (2 Cor 4:17) Considering his catalogue of beatings, whippings, left for dead and his sea experiences, I wonder what our understanding of light afflictions are (1 Cor 11) he then goes further to clearly establish what was his non-negotiable charge and weighty matters 1 Cor 11:28 ”…Besides everything else, all the light afflictions mentioned, he also faced the daily pressure of his concern for all the churches…” Paul carried a burden for the church, this is necessary for all apostles, unless you have a God-given “charge” the responsibility is too great.   It is so much of a charge long with the matter of building a family it is not a light thing that the care or work towards a church responsibility for the churches can be given away easily, the churches do not become commodities to trade with or without much thought.    The church of God is not like a football team that transfers their players at payment, the call and the church are not the “transferable”.

Today’s church, family is being passed around from so-called apostle to apostle, being tossed around as a commodity, surely the passage above indicates that some apostolic gifts carry a “fathering grace” and cannot trade on the church. I have heard the sentence “I don’t care for the churches under…” this surely does not display the fathering apostolic grace. How abusive it would be if a parent treated his children in that way, not caring for them.  It would be questioned whether they were truly parents. Paul clearly looked at the church in Corinth as his children.

Those with the charge towards the people of God seek to continue the cause of God, and his Christ, seeking to be in the same heart and mind, and bring that oneness to the people of God, the church. The apostle carries the heart of God and their commission will be in line with Gods heart.   The commission, an apostolic task, is outworked along side a people group.   Paul is an example to us again as he outlines to King Agrippa in the book of Acts 26 in the years following his encounter with the Christ, Paul’s commission is seen in that he was not “disobedient to the heavenly call” this was his vision, his agenda, he worked with heavens work, he underlined that he was called to bring “light in darkness” and to a specific people called the Gentiles. Whereas James and Peter were called to a different group of people, Jewry.

Apostles must work and I would even go as far as to say they cannot work in isolation, they are not autocrats they are to enable all the ministries of Christ to flow together, they are catalyst ministries. They do not sit on the top of the pyramid structure, they are not CEO’s of an organisation structure and they seek to work within relationship.   It is evident from the Scriptures, as we look at the various named examples that each apostle functioned through different mantles, gifts. For example Paul saw himself as a preacher, a prophet; James and Barnabas were clearly teachers and pastors etc.    The apostle will function through another gift and will recognise and realise the need, and sometimes the inability to function, without other ministry compliments alongside them.  They seek friendship, and counsel and are accountable to others personally they know that they must give themselves to each other as influencers in the community of God.

It is the aim of the Ascension ministries to bring the restoration of Christ to his body, so that his body might be Apostolic, Prophetic – interpretive of God’s action; Teaching – the mountain of the Lord shall be the highest mountain and all of the mountains shall come and say teach us your ways; Pastoral – caring for God’s creation and people; Evangel – proclaiming the good news. These gifts are Christ himself and therefore we must not only have the individual gifts in our world but these characteristics must be seen in the body, the corporate Christ, so that the mountain of the Lord shall be the highest mountain and all other mountains shall come and say teach us your ways;

It is necessary the apostolic gift be seen in terms of characteristics, to avoid qualifying as it’s about Gods choice.   These characteristics are to be transferable in order that a people group – the ecclesia of God, that ultimate we must see the restoration of an apostolic people as well as having apostles as catalysts to bring a corporate maturity to pass.   That the people of God mature to be an apostolic, prophetic, pastoring, teaching and evangel people while being a fathering and mothering community in our world

Listed below is a catalogue of characteristics I see are necessary of the apostolic ministry, characteristics which ultimately will be transferred into a people. When the maturing Church embodies these characteristics what an amazing group of people we will have.

To close, consider this, Paul as an apostle saw the necessity of the apostolic so sharply that he defended his apostolic commission in the churches to which he worked as a father. One either concedes that Paul was a very insecure man or is considering something else in his defense of the call.    If one takes a wider view on Paul’s writings, his instructions, encouragements, retorts and appeals, one would conclude that he was not insecure at all.    I would suggest to you that Paul clearly had maturity, growing up in Christ in mind, and in Paul’s defense I suggest that the view of the apostolic he had was more to do with the maturity of the coming generations. So he defended the apostolic with the full knowledge that if the apostolic gifting was removed today tomorrow’s generation would not achieve the full maturity of Christ spoken of.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE APOSTLE AND MINISTRY

1.      A true apostle will have had a personal encounter with the resurrected Christ. (Acts 22:8)

2.      They have been personally commissioned/charge to an apostolic task. (Acts 26:16-18)

3.         They fulfil their apostleship through some other gifting, e.g. prophet, teacher, pastor. (Acts 13:1)

4.       They will be an equipper of the saints, releasing and empowering. (Eph.4:11-12) – Apostolic task is the empowerment for others

5.         They have a foundational grasp and a steward of the mysteries of God, of which they have a divine revelation.

6.         An apostle will recognise and be recognised in their order of apostleship, i.e. they may lead, or they will certainly be a part of an apostolic       “body of ministries”  and they will prove to be the catalyst for the other ministries. They may be an apostle built into another apostle’s sphere as Barnabas was with Paul, and therefore although have a valid apostolic ministry did not necessarily have the same task of Paul in which he would have been required to be the catalyst for many others.

7.       They will be a wise master builder (architect) of the house of God. An astute user of the plumb line of the mystery of Christ to what is being built with everything being measured against the end purpose for the house. (1 Cor. 3:10)

8.         Their authority is given by Christ. (2 Cor .10:8)

9.         They will demonstrate grace and wisdom in their relationships with people so that a sphere of apostolic ministry and influence emerges in the lives of the people. Their positive relationship with the people of God will provide the people with a deep sense of security. This will produce a committed, productive people who happily help in the task called to. It is inside this sphere of committed people actively pursuing God’s desire for His house that they have the authority of rule, not to be engaged in an authoritarian manner but following the example of Christ who came to serve rather than be served. (Matt. 20:25-28)

10.      They pursue a vision in which is:  Clear, and can be  seen in their commission – they are committed to its completion, they are obedient to the will of God in its commands, they patiently persevere despite any and all setbacks to be obedient to the heavenly vision.

An apostolic commission is fulfilled in phases – it is a process. With the completion of each phase (Acts 14:26) the apostle will be sensitive to God to be ‘sent’ into the new phase. When all phases of an apostolic commission are complete they will be able to say with Paul an apostle, ‘I have finished my course’. They then can then with joy be received by the Lord for his reward. (2 Tim.4:7)

11       An apostolic ministry by nature of what they are to bring about are filled with persevering faith; regardless of enticements, setbacks, or opposition from mankind or demons. Their faith enables them to persevere. This faith will extend itself to lay hold of all that is necessary of the supply of God’s grace to fulfill their ministry, and lay hold of the people and money resource required for the task. Faith will demonstrate the supernatural power of God so that God is seen to be working with confirming signs and wonders following.

12       The apostle will be the living example of all they want the people to become, and do. Therefore, personal Christ-Likeness will be evident to all so that they are secure in following their example. They may unashamedly stand before the people and say, ‘you yourselves know how you ought to follow us’ (2 Thes.3:7-9).  The apostle is humble, prayerful, long-suffering gentle with the weak, firm with those that require it, full of integrity and honesty in all business matters and dealings with people,  all should  speak well of them, so that when testing an apostle,  by their fruit they shall be known, as indeed for all Christians.

13       Apostolic Continuity – Paul had a deep sense of Abrahamic continuity and that being part of an apostolic call to walk in the continuity of a line of faith.       Paul had a theology developed from the eternal realm, drawing on Dream, Prophecy, and Visions.

14       Supernatural involvement, heavenly assistance to bring about a system of life to enable economy, love and care in creation

He Stole My Bible again…

/ 'face2face' - Gareth Duffty / 1 Comment

I am not sure how you read your scriptures and what you draw from the arranged letters that are offered to us.    A number of years ago I was presented with a new translation of the scriptures every year, it was a planned and purposeful exchange, so i would change the way i read and listened to what I read.  It took me a few years to realize what was going on, I was a little slow, rather funny really, every year the question came “What bible are you reading?” I offered my translation and by the end of our conversation, in those first days of each new year my old bible walked out of the room and  a new translation was let in return.   Excuse me I said but my notations are in that bible, the reply was “Yes” my comment was  “Hmmm” and his “that’s exactly why I am taking it”.   But it instructed me to read from different a different vantage point the same word, it brought the scriptures alive again as I saw the different angles of the diamond of this book.   It was a challenging lesson initially, then every first of the year meeting I learned to present my old 1-year-old bible and open my hand for the new one to be exchanged.

One of the lessons of reading the Scripture is to grasp the fuller story, the panoramic view of Gods dealings with his people, some times we get so caught up with this and that little thing, and  we have not understood the over all panorama of Gods working, cause and purpose.   I long for more people to catch what God is doing from a distance rather than getting into the minutiae, when we don’t understand the wide aims of his purpose.   For instance You can look at the book of Joshua and see all the in’s and outs – all good stuff walls falling, inheritance gaining, conquering armies, trust and obedience, establishing a people etc.   But one thing that encourages me in the narrative is simple when we get across from the deliverance from Egypt the victory of transferring from supply upon supply, that is food, water, clothes never wearing out etc., to a place, as we enter the promise and realize there is still unfinished business!    The book is the story of unfinished business, the settlement in the land is the account of unfinished business. We often wish it was not so, why did God not do it all?     Perhaps its the issue of God making us partners with him in everything, he has done his bit, now we have to take hold of the unfinished business and bring it to pass “earth becoming like heaven, his likeness and image in you and me.   That’s another blog.

Unfinished business.    Each new episode of life, each new year each new day is the account of unfinished business.

So you wake up each day with unfinished business, not procrastination on yesterday’s stuff but today is the continuation of completing the purpose, the set course that God has for humanity and creation, your story and mine is the story of unfinished business until a generation comes to see Christ filling all things.    The small reading of Scripture can so easily introduce to us a narrative of me and the immediate, yet we are about a course of direction the Father has begun and we are involved in unfinished business.   I wonder what your unfinished business looks like?

Lets’ Keep Moving Hitting the Mark

You cannot get away from Paul’s encouragement to have one goal in mind and heart as we travel through our Christian journey, the goal to become more and more like Christ until ‘he fills all things’ or until he has the pre-eminence in our lives in book of Philippians he says we are to ‘press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’.    It was with this in mind that we set out every year to so call Hit the Mark, to get entwined with unfinished business of the cause of God.

As ever Now in our journey we take steps forward, to grow from strength to strength, glory-to-glory, faith-to-faith and favour-to-favour, it is not the time to settle back and simply enjoy the inheritance we already have.     There is Unfinished business here.

The children of Israel had to be ready at all times to up stakes and move on whenever the cloud or the pillar moved, they moved, sometimes they stayed a month in one place other times a day, they had to be ready and willing at all times to be obedient to the call of the Lord.   As soon as they heard the trumpet sound they were to up camp and move on.    I wonder how they felt about the trumpet sound, did they wait eagerly to hear it knowing that they would be moving closer to Gods purpose for them, or did they dread the sound knowing that once again it would mean uprooting and change.     They journeyed and crossed into the inference which was full of unfinished business.

The trumpet of the Lord is certainly sounding across His church in these days calling us to wake up and step into the fullness of our calling.    It is calling us to move on and not simply camp around our experiences of the past whether good or bad, it is calling us to press on and embrace the revelation that is being birthed in this day.     Unfinished business prevents us from stopping around anything that is not the full cause of Christ.   People say this and that is the main event, the thing God is doing, this is the structure and pattern, it’s that theology and practice, it’s this experience and encounter, yet the main event has always been one thing God’s cause “Christ filling all things” and all is unfinished business until that happens.

Each generation have their own journey to walk, their own milestones to reach, and we are so aware of the continuity of the body of Christ knowing that the achievements of each generation build on the last and prepare the way for the next.   I remember once being told that God had no grandchildren, meaning that each generation will have their own encounter and task to fulfill in the great scheme of things.      It is our joy to be in the position to build on what we have received whilst knowing that we will advance a greater unfolding of what we had received – faith-to-faith.

We recognize that the children of Israel had certain milestones in their journey, and likewise we know that the Lord has given us certain milestones that we must reach towards in our journey together.   These are marks for us to hit, things for us to reach towards together and see achieved in our day and generation.

You and I have unfinished business and the grace and supply of god is there as we make his cause our unfinished business!    As you move further and further into this year may you truly finish unfinished business for this is the draw of God s work.  Complete that which is in our day to finish.