Each time we have gathered for a
"Listening Day" in recent years the Lord seems to leave us
with several key images or words. As we have started this new year,
two words seemed to be recurring in the Bible passages and
conversation we shared in our reflection times on Saturday, January
5th. The two words were: "Deep" and "Bold".
"Deep"
After our first quiet period where we
were asking the Lord to speak to us on a more personal level, the
first idea shared was of being "Shut In With God". The
idea of taking time like we were at the Listening Day and spending
intentional alone time with the Father is to be a common practice
among us. Luke 6:48 was cited where Jesus exhorts his disciples to
dig a "deep" foundation to build our life on. This
invitation to go "deep" was affirmed by several others who
hear the call for us to return to our "first love". It
seems that the Spirit was inviting us to pursue after God in the
coming year with the excitement and passion of our first love, but
not just at a superficial level. We are to go "deeper"
with God. Another image shared that had a similar theme, was a call
to come dance with our Heavenly Father. Someone shared that they
were given Jeremiah 10:23 which says that our steps are ordered by
God. Its is delightful to imagine the Lord sees our life in Him like
being a dance partner with us who together are creating a beautiful
waltz. When done right we move in tandem. We speak in tandem. We
work in tandem to accomplish something that is beautiful and good.
Good dancers must spend time together in order to establish a deep
and strong relationship that produces a dance that looks seamless and
effortless.
The call to love God deeply was met
with a second call to love deeper. Two individuals were led to 1
Peter 1:21-22 which exhorts us to "love one another deeply, from
the heart". We were reminded that this was not just to be with
words only but in deed. This call to all who were present and the
churches we are members of, was to take our love for each other to a
deeper level. This should make us consider what does it mean to
"love deeply"? Perhaps it means to be more aware of each
others needs. It probably means we are to give more of our time
and of ourselves to each other. It certainly means we are to be
quicker to forgive and reconcile with each other when we offend. We
are to understand that even our hardships, struggles and testings,
like Peter's, are meant not just to shape us, but are also meant to
allow us to "return in strength" to our faith community to
help others in their time of need. (Luke 22:31-32) The question is,
will we heed the Spirit's call to go deeper with God and deeper with
each other in 2013?
"Bold"
The second word was "boldness".
This word seems to be the main idea that was expressed after our
second time of listening when were were specifically asking the Lord
to speak to us as a church. June Olsen was not able to be with us at
Covenant Hills but was praying at the same time at her home. Listen
to the prayer the Spirit placed on her heart:
"Good morning Lord. 'This is the
day that the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!'
Help us Lord in this special listening time to employ the talents and
gifts you have given us. To use them for the growth of your body
among us. May we be so filled that there is no choice but to speak
your given words and with boldness do whatever your bidding.
Come Lord Jesus!"
She was drawn to a passage in Hebrews 4
which ended with verse 16: "Let us then approach the throne of
grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help us in our time of need." This was just what we were
hearing at the camp at the same time of her prayers.
Luke chapter 11 recounts Jesus'
teaching on prayer. In this passage we are to be bold like the man
who asked for three loaves of bread when a visitor came unexpectedly
to his home. Jesus encourages us to "Ask" and "Seek"
and we will find. The word that day seemed to be that we were to be
bold and ask for the full measure of what we need and to be specific.
We felt that in 2013 we need to boldly ask the Lord for 10 new
people to join New Wine on our
mission. We ask this not to be just be transfer growth, those
who are already believers, but we ask that we might see new births
happening in our midst. In this part of our time of reflections we
sensed we were to be bold and confident in prayers.
We are also to approach 2013 with
boldness and confidence in what we are doing. The Lord encouraged
us with passages of promise like Isaiah 35 where it says:
"The desert and the parched land
will be glad...be strong, do not fear; your God will come...gladness
and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."
The Spirit seemed to be saying that
even though our "body will be changing" this year that the
Lord approves of our "mission of belonging". A mission
which is about helping people build relationships with God and with
each other. As we send people out, God will help us raise up new
people and leaders to take their place in the ministry of New Wine.
An image of a flock of geese flying in formation was shared. In
this image was the idea that in our midst the Lord was calling each
of us to take our turn in leading at the point of the "V"
and to prepare others to take their turn at the lead. Ephesians 4:
11-16 was given as a reminder that the Lord will raise up apostles,
prophets, evangelists and teachers among us. We will not be lacking
in that which is needful. This is particular poignant in the fact
that this year two from our midst are exploring holy orders. The
number of leaders both lay and ordained being raised up from our
small work is a extraordinary and we need to be encouraged! Though
small we pray we shall not shrink back, but boldly move forward
mentoring and discipling new leaders.(Zach. 4:10) The challenge
this year will be, are we willing to fully give ourselves to the work
of ministry in our house churches, our Sunday celebrations, and in
the giving of our time and treasures?
We are always encouraged when the Lord
uses our "Listening Days" to speak to us individually and
corporately. Yet the ultimate challenge as we get better at
listening to the Lord is not just being "hearers of the word"
but to be "doers". In 2013 will we love more deeply as
well as pray and act more boldly? Time will tell.
