Flooding of the Presence of God
Last week’s storm tide in King’s Lynn didn’t breach the floodgates thankfully, but it did remind me of two of the prophecies over The Gateway Church.
Paul Thompson: River Ouse regularly breaks its banks but it is contained in King’s Lynn. God wants to break the banks and flood the presence of God that will combat a lack of expectation in a deprived town. Prepare the ground and sharpen the plough: it needs to go deep and long to break ground from previously spiritually impoverished centuries.
Keith Hazell: I saw by the Holy Spirit that there is like water, there is like a wave that’s gathering. I see a gathering wave. It’s like the wind has got under it and it is gathering. And the Lord says that from where you to stand on the beach it looks not much more than like a ripple. But from where he stands, it is a wave that is beginning to flow. It is a wave that is going to being to flow onto this church into this church and God says that the cry of the heart of the people of this church has gone up to Heaven and has been heard. The Lord says that there is coming a time of the Holy Spirit in this church which requires you to prepare, which requires you to get ready. The scriptures say that Jesus said to the disciples “I want you to go up into the upper room and prepare a meal because I am going to eat with you” and God says there is a time of preparation for the church. God says don’t just look at the wave. Get ready for the wave. Don’t just say a wave is coming. Prepare for the wave. The Lord says that there will be an ingathering in this place that will cause you to be so busy that if you haven’t prepared you will be swamped and overwhelmed. The Lord says: Don’t try and make the wave happen. Don’t try to drag the wave along. Just get in the wave as it comes. Allow the Holy Spirit to do this. There is going to be an outflow of evangelism into this community, says the Lord. I am going to stir up the gift of God that is in some of you. There is some of you that have never done anything for God and never heard anything from God and sometimes don’t know whether God knows about you. I declare to you tonight that God is going to release you into active work in the kingdom of God. The work of the kingdom here is going to increase, says the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord is upon you. The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on you.
God has promised to break in. Our part is to prepare the ground and sharpen the plough and to be prepared so we are not overwhelmed!
We’ve had a great year of God breaking the banks – 11 people have become Christians and our Sunday congregation has grown to 75.
We are preparing the ground and sharpening the plough…
- By getting ready to move to a bigger venue.
- By increasing the number of small groups we have to 4 – Our small groups are the place to connect, grow and reach out. Will you step up to lead a new one in 2014?
- By strategising to keep growing