A month ago tonight I found myself preaching in a church
in Nelspruit to an audience that rounded out at just over 600 in an atmosphere
which had nearly close to everyone present believing that anything was possible
and that we were truly born to change the world. That night, huge faith stirred
between preacher and audience as the life of God rose up within us in a
significant way. People turned their lives over to Christ without much human
prompting, repentance ran true, tears of joy and acceptance flowed strongly,
blind eyes, deaf ears and other various healings of physical ailments were
heralded without laying on of hands, and an uncommon unity that bypassed racial,
economic and social lines was caught as something that looked extremely like
the revivals of old was happening before our very eyes.
After 31 days of pondering
this earth shaking night and the JobiJol camp as a whole, my heart has
settled on five ingredients that contributed to what God did and is continuing
to do. This is not an attempt to conjure up a recipe, but more just recognizing
the fingerprints of heaven that are quickly becoming stronger and stronger.
1. Missional
friendships
-represented at this 4 day
camp were multiple churches and personalities that came largely from the
greater Johannesburg area but also from Nelspruit, Durban and Cape Town. This
wasn’t a forced attempt at unity but rather the result of different layers of
friendships that have been built over the last 4 to 5 years (and some longer).
The camp, which happens every year in the December/January slot has gathered a
momentum not because of strategic meetings, an organizational mandate or clever
marketing but rather because of men and women whose hearts beat for the same
thing, devoting themselves to building intentional friendships with the King and
His Kingdom at the centre.
2. High
value of the bible
-What we are learning more and
more these days is that God is faithful above all else to His Word. And with
that as a cornerstone in our belief system we are beginning to have the
audacity to believe what He says! So high on our agenda is to follow Paul’s
admonition to Timothy to “preach the word” and to do so with a faith, knowing
that “his word does not return to Him void."
3. Recognizing
the anointing of the Holy Spirit
-We didn’t all fast for days
on end leading up to the camp. In fact, I came straight from holiday. But we
are quickly understanding that the heavens were opened not by our pleas and
rain-dances but by Jesus’ blood, never to be shut again. When Jesus declared
that “the Holy Spirit will come upon you”, he might as well have shouted the
child-hood adage of “OPEN GATES!” That Sunday night, a friend (Craig Herbert)
and I met at our parked car to change shoes for the meeting, but quickly
recognized that the Holy Spirit was stirring something special in our hearts.
The shoes were abandoned and we prayed. Bold prayers. Open heaven type prayers.
The Holy Spirit was with us, and we expected “to receive power.”
4. A
response of worship
-In every session of the camp,
including the last one, the preaches culminated in us landing in worship. Or
should I say taking off again in worship. It wasn’t a pre-camp decision but God
so shifted our hearts from looking to push people to an emotional response, or
to a manipulated altar call moment, but rather to recognizing that God was present and he was at
work in the hearts and lives of the people there. It was in the worship that
healings happened. It was in the worship that hearts were saved, that rejection
was broken off, that the Holy Spirit filled people, that sin and addictions
were broken, that lives were forever changed and commissioned. When Christ is
lifted up all men will be drawn to Him.
I love moments like these.
I love doing high ministry moments with mates like these.
But more than that, I love the momentum that these four days up country have created in me, in my peer group and in a generation who are beginning to respond to the something that is brewing in the atmosphere.
Can you feel it?
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