I went to a healing meeting/service on Saturday at Bath City Church, with some guys from Telford - not my scene, but we do try to walk with each other... there was much good stuff, there was healing going on, it was very unspectacular, low key and rather than one guy setting himself up as a healer, he co-ordinated the prayer, getting people who said they had been healed to pray for others with similar issues... a "method" I've never seen from this type of Church/Christianity before, and it spoke of a level of humility that encouraged me... along with the guy saying "If revival is to come it is not going to be in here, it will be out there in the people in the city"... not talk of Angels fetching body parts etc. no shouting and drama, no reference to money, mind you there was very little scripture either. But, there was a genuine heart there and no-doubt in my mind that God spoke to people... indeed several of us received prophecy which as I mentioned in the previous post was uncannily similar to things we have bee told before on several occasion... and there are obviously people desperate and in need of healing and peace and I respect those who feel and desire to heal their pain.
The first half of the meeting was very strange, and difficult, for me... It felt incredibly 'Old Testament'... the language (and indeed the only bits of Scripture read all evening) where from Exodus and Psalms... much talk of the Glory of God descending on a place, reference to the Tabernacle (a reading from Exodus 32 - and an exhortation to stay in that place, under the cloud waiting for it to move on before going out) and of coming into Gods Holy place... much talk of being a people that will march through the land, take the nation etc. etc.... much talk (and hope) of a coming Messiah and the sending of the Spirit... talk of overcoming weakness and becoming a nation of power... much dualism - yearning for the day when "Heaven and Earth collide" ... all very "Mosaic Covenant"... I kept being drawn back to John 20 when Jesus says "Receive the Holy Spirit and I will send you as the Father sent me"... which to me speaks of becoming a servant people, a people who put off power to serve (1Thess 2) and a people of sacrifice... incarnate disciples of an incarnate God. In Exodus the Tabernacle came into use because the presence of God was too powerful for the people... even Moses had to cover his face after being in God's presence to protect the people from the reflected glory... They had to keep God "boxed" as they went on their journey... but those days are over, the curtain of the Holy of Holies was torn apart, not that all can go in, but rather that God's presence now goes with all... indeed Peter on the day of Pentecost quotes Joel to show that the days of the Temple and the Priestly system is over, God is out there.
Having watched some of the Florida stuff and praying through what I have seen and felt... I don't think this is "Revival" but I do pray that it will be a renewal and that "Revival" if it does happen does what the "Revivals" of previous centuries did... transform society, change the world... and not just in a internal/spiritual way but real lives of real people... challenging poverty, slavery, oppression etc. just as the "Revivals" of old did.
Thanks to Jem for the link to this reflection on the Florida stuff.
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Posted by: Deacon & Usher | 24/05/2008 at 02:16