Samson

Samson lost his strength and became blinded. Is not much of the Church grinding corn and walking in circles? That speaks to me of the burden of religion when we have lost sight of God. When Samson returned to his covenant with God by letting his hair grow, he regained his strength. The Church will regain her strength and unlike Samson, her sight. We will achieve the greatest victory of our lives when we push down the Temple of idolatry; The temple represents the structures of men which oppose God. The resulting persecution and confusion will fall on our own heads but we will have achieved our objective.The Church will have learned the value of warfare.

Tolerance

The word tolerance is not in my Bible. Yet people will lean over backwards to say that it is. Some modern versions include it but then they may be inaccurate. I have a problem with the word. It is not a gift of the spirit. Intolerance will wear thin and eventually it will snap. We may tolerate, even enjoy the drummer next door for a while , but if we start working  shifts we might find the noise  intolerable. The Bible finds a better word. We are told to love others with the love of God. Love does not wear thin. We are told love never fails. Tolerance is not the same as mercy, gentleness or patience.They are the outcome of love. 

What is going on?

Strange days indeed. Christians are so mixed up as to why there is such political turmoil in this country. Why should there be such a policy of austerity in such a wealthy country as ours? Why have so may people demanded that we leave the E.U.? How can man like Donald Trump become president of the United states? There are of course answers to be found in the many articles and books published about these events which are well worth researching. A peculiarity of recent changes has been the controversy and even venom displayed between people of opposite persuasions. I can't remember a time when we were so interested in who became the American president. There is also the political correctness and surveillance that we seem to have imported from the old communist Russia.
           So, where is God in all this? We would think that God does not have any opinion on all this and that we just had to argue it all out between ourselves. If we gather together as Christians we are told to lay down all personal bias so that we can keep our unity. There is a problem with this. What if God wishes to break into our meetings with His own agenda. Should we tell Him to keep His opinions to Himself whilst we get on with church?  That is exactly what we do if we are not willing to listen to His voice through the prophets. We should also be listening carefully to God for ourselves so that the prophetic voice gives us His confirmation. We are then in unity in our prayers because we are centred on Jesus. We can then address the political turmoil with the wisdom of God and accuracy. God does care about the destination of nations. We see this throughout the Old Testament. God does want to bless the U.K. 

There was a quiet period where there were some notable prophetic words but there were a lot of repeated words given as God confirmed His Word. We now seem to be in a new season where there is renewed movement. I thought I might summarise a little of what God has been saying more recently.
         There have been very many words given about the coming revival.We do need the encouragement in what has mainly been a very dry season. We have been told that it will not be received in many quarters. Some church groups will run with it; others will be convinced it is not of God. The Body of Christ will function with the array of ministries we observe in the Book of Acts. Many Christians will have to leave an increasingly apostate Church. A new wave of leaders will emerge that are servants to the flock instead of controllers. Persecution will arise, even to the point of death. Beware that deceptions will also abound. Power and purity will return to the Church. Prodigals will return to the Church and we shall reach out to those who would once have been ignored. God will shake the Church and He will shake the world. This is a necessary thing. Darkness will increase but the church will shine. All these things can happen if we will repent of our pride and  dead works.