Jesus
wept over Jerusalem…………..
As
you read this magazine I hope you will see that in one way or another the
writers are urging you forward towards the Kingdom.
Phil shows from Luke’s Gospel that Jesus needed the Holy Spirit and
constant refreshment gained through time spent alone with the Father.
Paul Thompson actually asks the question, “Where do we go from
here?” He examines
the church over the last 250 years or so and then points us back to the vibrant,
successful plan of Jesus described in Acts 2.
Place alongside that the statement in Stuart Bell’s article, A
People of Vision, “He
(i.e. Jesus) didn’t only know where he wanted to go, but he also knew the
means by which he was going to get there”.
He says clearly that we must take risks and move forward in response to
hearing God’s word. Mike
Endicott (see his book Heaven’s Dynamite) never ceases to remind us
that the Church has the authority to heal the sick and we should be doing so,
and Chris Webb in his address at our Spring meeting exhorts us to grow in
Renewal. In addition we hope
that you will come to Flames of Fire prepared
to offer yourself, for the theme is Here I am, and allow the Holy Spirit
to move you on towards the reality of the Kingdom of God here on earth.
As
I put this magazine together I am thinking and praying that the Church simply
becomes what God wants it to be, what Jesus intended.
It should be the vehicle through which He reveals Himself to the world -
for it is His body. But as we
look at the churches in Britain we see a confused uninspiring muddle.
We know that the world does not see Christ in us for in recent time
Christianity has been criticised, by Moslems in particular, who are sure that
Islam is more moral and more caring.
So my heart cries for the Church, for the individual Western Christians
who do not know the scriptures and live according to the world’s pattern.
I long for us to take holiness seriously and be filled with the fullness
of God.
Prayer
turns to intercession as we are called to stand in the gap, bringing the Church
to Jesus and identifying with Him as He intercedes at the throne of God.
No words are necessary but I have been led to meditate on a scripture and
seek to understand it. Why
did Jesus weep over Jerusalem?
Not only was it in bondage to a foreign power but the clerics of the day
hardly began to understand his message of the Kingdom.
They stuck with the rules and the traditions but with no real
understanding of the first commandment.
In
Luke 19:42 Jesus said, “If
you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now
it is hidden from your eyes…..” They
were about to reject the Prince of Peace.
Few
in Jerusalem have ever known Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament
promises that God would dwell with man, and in man if we are willing.
But Jerusalem is God’s city and his choice of an obedient man, Abram
from Ur in the Chaldees, (Iraq) changed him to the righteous Abraham, father of
Israel, the father of the Jews . As
Christians we too are children of Abraham by faith (Gal.3:6-9) this gives us an
interest in the holy land, but what sort of interest is it?
In
Luke 21:24 Jesus prophesied over Jerusalem:
“They
will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations.
Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles
are fulfilled”.
The
times of the Gentiles are running out.
We as the Church have still much work to do
if we are to carry out the Great Commission and take the GOOD NEWS to
all nations, but we must take it with love especially to the Jews and Arabs. We must take notice of Romans 11 and see how much God
loves the Jews and intends to graft them back into the olive tree. (I urge you to pray and meditate into these verses)
Jesus
still weeps over Jerusalem but also over the Church.
In recent times as I have prayed for the world situation, taking to God
the pain that I feel, I hear only “TRUST ME”.
This should bring me joy and indeed it does but it has not yet taken away
the pain of intercession and the shame of British troops fighting.
I am glad to live in a democracy and so accept the decision of
Parliament, but go to God asking what His will is.
Brian
and I read the Bible and pray together each morning, we always read a chapter
from the Old Testament, a Psalm and a chapter of the New Testament.
We do not have a planned scheme but work through various books in turn,
but it is incredible how often there is a God ordained link between the
passages. Currently we are
reading Nahum, a prophecy concerning Nineveh (Iraq) and 1 Peter, instruction to
the Church. This morning we were
shaken because we read of the destruction of the city of Nineveh, it echoed the
news we had heard of Baghdad. It
was awesome and I prayed immediately that if it meant what I thought it did God
would show us more in the other two readings.
So Psalm 94 was read with
expectation and awe, it speaks of God’s vengeance but the “Lord has
become my stronghold” (v.22) This
was followed by 1Peter 5 and such a warning to the Church!
An exhortation to church leaders to tend the flock “in the way that
God would have you do it”, to be examples - and we must all humble
ourselves. Our anxiety must be
given over to the Lord but we must be disciplined and alert, resisting the devil
by remaining steadfast in faith and remembering our fellow Christians throughout
the world in their suffering. We must especially pray for the Christians of
Iraq, Israel and the whole Arab world.
I
believe that God has let this war happen and we must trust Him for what comes
next, we may all have to suffer in this time of tribulation but I know that he
is saying, “Trust Me” and I know too that He
wants the whole of the Trinity to live within us, that is being filled
with “the fullness of God”.(Eph.1:23; 3:19; 4:13). Are
we are willing to be changed? That
is real Renewal.