Coincidence
or Godincidence?
Mary
Newsom
At
the start of our first conference at the Royal Showground Builth I looked out of
the window of the International Building as I prayed for the event and heard the
words, “The glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore
afraid.” It
was June 1996, but these were the words spoken of the shepherds at the birth of
Jesus,
could they apply to us as we came to a point of repentance and
submission?
Each year at Flames of Fire I have hoped for that to be
true, this is the last year when ARM(Wales) will be responsible and my hope is
enhanced because of a number of ideas or visions that have come together.
Earlier this year whilst kneeling in church one Sunday morning I briefly
visualised the glory of the Lord
and it set my imagination running as to how I could represent something
showing brilliant light as this year’s altar cover.
There was absolutely no way that I could reproduce the light I had seen
for it was not just a brilliant golden light but a feeling of presence within it
and colours that I could not see.
I looked for things that I found beautiful and could not understand and
so I
was drawn to pictures of galaxies and nebulae, I was also thinking of
creation with everything originating from the word of God.
I sensed the importance of light
spreading out from the centre and Jesus being there with the seven stars
of Revelation 1:16.
So I have done the best I could and produced something unusual but not
doing justice to the glorious fleeting vision I had.
However it has served a purpose for me, for making banners and altar
covers becomes a part of my prayer for ARM(Wales) and Flames of Fire.
As I neared the end of it I found myself singing, “Open your eyes,
see the glory of the King, lift up your voice and his praises sing…..”
We have often sung that at Flames of Fire
but this year the banner which was still to be started was to read “Open
your Eyes and Look at the Fields”.
Could
they come together, could the harvest and the glory become one?
I believe that we can see the answer in Romans 8, that wonderful chapter on
victory and fulfilment of God’s purpose.
Verse 21 refers to "The glory of the children of God"
and comes in that section that God has laid before me before (vv18-25),
all the world is waiting for the re
It
is God’s purpose
to "bring many sons unto glory" (Heb 2:10).
This makes it easier to understand Romans 8:29 and 30, we don’t deserve
it but it is God’s will.
“For
those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his
Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those
whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified;
and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
This
is the Harvest that God intends.