Graveclothes? What graveclothes?

     Anyone who knows me will know that my heart is for prayer and the power of God that is released as we pray.  My overwhelming desire over the years has been to see the saints released to walk out that which Father places on our hearts as we look upon His face and into the eyes of Jesus.  I believe that our faith if it lies dormant festers and becomes as dirty rags before the Lord.  Lazarus was told by Jesus to "come forth" and the disciples were commanded to remove the grave clothes.  Many in the body of Christ are responding to the heart of the Father to remove the graveclothes from the church so that the saints can walk in His Spirit and bring life to a world that is hungry and crying out for Him.  If you're up for it you will find that your faith in the Lord will soar as you step out and meet the needs of the world headlong.  Holy Spirit will move you to respond with Father's love for the lost, the broken and those who have been marginalised by society.  A society that thinks more about its own belly than those who are not blessed with three meals a day and a comfortable bed on which to lay their heads.  A society that despises slavery and forced prostitution but does little to stop it.  A society that blames the social services for not doing a job that they are unable to do because the need is so great.  (I ask, "where is the God of Elijah?  Where is the church?") A society that spends more money, even in a time of 'recession', on eating out and entertainment than it would cost to pay for every hungry person under the poverty line to have three meals a day.

     Come on.  What are we thinking?  What are we doing?  What are we praying?  Are we willing to be the answer to our own prayers?  Are we willing to walk free of our graveclothes so that we can take hold of peoples hands and pull them out of their hopelessness into the arms of Jesus?

     I'm going out with friends this evening to celebrate a birthday and I've determined to have the cheapest thing on the menu and to put the difference between that and what I would have liked to eat into my Uganda jar.  I'm not telling you this to make you think about how good I am.  Rather it's so that you might think of ways that you might be an expression of Christ Jesus in this world by being a part of the answer to your own prayers - if you dare pray them.

     If you feel that you're being smothered by festering graveclothes all you need to do to break free is to ask Jesus to show you His heart.  He will bring you close to people who will help you to remove the graveclothes.  Then take hold of His hand and walk with Him.

Love you.

At the end of a busy God worshipping Sunday

Frankly, I'm completely blown away by just how much God loves me.

Shepherd's Stream

I spent the day breathing in the beauty of God's creation as I travelled to and spent time with friends Gill and Peter at their beautiful retreat in the mountains of North East Wales. Winding through the hills in my little orange motor every turn brought another "Wow God" from my lips. If you don't know the back roads of Wales then you are missing so much. However if you all came to visit you'd spoil it so don't all come at once....please!? By the time I arrived at their place I had a grin that was firmly fixed on my face. Gill promptly gave me a tour of their five and a half acres of land which has a stream running through it that was running fairly low but when it rains gushes down the hillside forcefully making the statement that God's presence is here! And there is the tangible presence of God in that place. As we prayed the Lord's Prayer together at midday, sitting on the hillside, I could feel Jesus sitting there with us bringing us before the Father and joining with us in our worship to the one we love.

Later, after eating lunch, we went to one of their log cabins to talk and pray away the afternoon. Father showed us much about being at rest and being attentive to Him. Peter spoke of how a sheepdog watches his master intently waiting for the command to go and only moves when he receives that instruction...likewise we are to wait until we see what the Father is doing and do only what He prompts us to by His Spirit. Gill was intently writing everything that the Lord was saying in her prayer journal...she'll get through a forest of trees before she's done!! As we prayed there was an overriding sense that God wants us to hold what He's given us loosely in our hands and not to possess our ministries but to allow Him to work in and through us for His glory. I say Amen to that. For Gill and Peter, I believe that the Lord will provide all that they need to fulfill the vision that He's given them. They need people to come alongside to help with building and they need the resources with which to do it and we know with certainty that Father has that work planned and paid for so committing it to Him is the easiest thing. How wonderful it is to be able to rest in that knowledge.

I returned home in the dark after enjoying a hearty meal. I drove the roads as they need to be driven, ironing out the bends as the moon reflected the sun and brightened the way ahead. I almost didn't need my headlights...even at night the beauty of God's creation sang His praises.

How utterly blessed I am to know the One who created such a wonderful world...if only we (I) appreciated Him more for all that He's done!

Every day holds a fresh encounter with God

I hear criticism of those who seek one experience after another of the Holy Spirit and I agree that living by our experiences alone, focusing on our emotions alone is a dangerous thing. God calls us to live by faith, not by feelings.
So how do we experience faith?
By reading His Word, through prayer but also by serving Him and loving others. All of our experiences of God are valid and help strengthen our faith in Him. When we look at Hebrews 11 we see so many faithful men of God who experienced Him in powerful ways. There was Noah who when warned of things to come, built an ark and was the laughing stock of those who were to die in the flood. There was Abraham whose faith was so great that he was willing to sacrifice his much longed for son. Their experiences of God were of obedience and waiting - and so it is for us. Often the Lord meets us in a place of solitude and stillness, often in the turmoil of our busy lives; He also meets us in the dry and difficult times. There may be times of sweet refreshing where we see daily the wonderful outpouring of His provision, His power and His love. All of these states hold experiences of God, encounters with Him. If in the dark times, the times of sadness we are able to look to Jesus, we will experience a side of His character that we do not find at any other time – His heart of compassion. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalm 23.
Jesus doesn’t leave us when our friends turn from us; He doesn’t leave us when we struggle with temptation; He doesn’t forsake us when we are weak in our faith and unable to see Him. He is gracious and compassionate, doesn’t anger easily and loves us a whole bunch! So whatever state you feel that you are in physically, emotionally or spiritually, if you’re tired or sick, sad or feeling a long way from God, Jesus never leaves you and every day you are having encounters with Him even when you don’t realise it. But how do you know? With the eyes of faith. I think of faith as being hindsight before the fact. With hindsight we look back and see that God had His hand on us and that everything worked out as He planned. With faith we can look forward and see that God is in control even when (or especially when) we’re not. By faith we know that Jesus will always be with us, because His Word says so. Do you know that? He will never leave us or forsake us. Do you know that in your heart as well as your head?
But what about those God encounters that we don’t realise we’ve had? What are they?
When did you last help someone who was in need? Maybe a friend with their coursework or an old person with their shopping. Have you ever had someone let you go first in the queue? Ever had a friend tell you that you look good when you feel rotten? Ever had a baby smile back at you? Ever given someone a hug when they’ve really needed one? Ever prayed for someone who’s sick and asked God to heal them? I could go on giving you examples but it’s for you to come up with memories of the encounters of God that you have experienced and thank Him for them. Consider where the love came from behind all of those acts of generosity and grace that you give and receive every day. Simple things. Sometimes it’s that we’ve woken feeling moody or unwell and realise a few hours later that we feel great – maybe someone prayed for you? It is as simple as that; by praying for someone you are touching the heart of God. He showers us with His love and comes and meets with us in ways that we cannot always understand or recognise. God would love us to be able to recognise Him in all of the simple ways that He loves us and loves through us every single day. Start praising Him for the simple expressions of His love and your faith will grow ... maybe one day He’ll ask you to build an ark!

Uganda School Building project

Building a School in Uganda

From the 22nd July to the 7th August a team of mainly adults will be going to the remote hilltop community of Kigazi in South West Uganda to build new school rooms. This is the place where a team from St Michael’s Church constructed two 100,000 litre storage tanks for the safe collection of rainwater in 2007 (as seen in the photograph). The provision of water made it possible for the children to attend school more regularly instead of walking for water every day. This provision has made a huge difference to the lives of many and the children are now able to attend school more regularly because they no longer have to spend up to two hours twice a day to fetch water from the bottom of a very steep hill. The existing school rooms are inadequate for the increased numbers of children attending and although the roof of a new building was constructed to catch the rain, (to fill the water tank) 2 years on the walls still remain un-built. We are looking to raise sufficient funds to facilitate its construction. Lindy and Dilwyn Morgan are taking a small team of volunteers from Aberystwyth to assist the local builders who will also be paid out of the funds raised.
You may wonder why it’s necessary for teams from the UK to go and build, and you may be asking why they do not build a school for themselves. The answer to this question is two-fold. The community survives on subsistence farming and when there is surplus crops produced to the needs of the families the excess is sold at market to cover the cost of sending the children to school or in the worst cases the man of the house will squander the proceeds on alcohol. So there is no financial provision to facilitate the building costs. Also, there is a culture in many areas such as this where the women work the land and care for the children and the home whilst the men meet together to make decisions and often drink. The only way that these customs will ever change is through educating the children. Many of the men aren’t interested in change but the children have a desire to be educated. Our going to build the school for them will bring lasting change to this remote community that would otherwise probably not happen.
It will be fantastic to return to this village where we have already formed relationships and see how their lives have been changed through the provision of water and to offer these further opportunities through building the school. It’ll be hard work but well worth it to know that we have been the agents for change and blessing to these wonderful people.
If you would like to contribute financially to this project please contact me by email. (windylindy24-7@hotmail.co.uk)

Walking on water without getting wet! Matthew 14:25-33

Matthew 14:25-33 (NIV)
25During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. "It's a ghost," they said, and cried out in fear.

27But Jesus immediately said to them: "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

28"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."

29"Come," he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!"

31Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?"

32And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

Do you know how it feels when you know that God is asking you to do something but you don't have the courage to break through the fear and follow Him in obedience to Holy Spirit's prompting? If you do, then you will have an idea of how I was feeling leading up to Christmas. All of the seasonal stuff was wonderful. Having my family together to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus; allowing ourselves to spoil each other with gifts and simply enjoying each others company - it was the best. At the same time I knew that I was not walking totally in step with the Holy Spirit so there was a dis-ease or disquiet in my soul.
What was it about?
I along with some friends from our emerging 24-7 Prayer community in Aberystwyth had viewed and prayed in a building in the centre of town for use as a permanent prayer room/base. I knew that I was to make an offer but was coming up with excuses as to why not to do it. I was actually paralysed with fear! After being in bed with the 'flu' for 5 days I emerged knowing that I was to get on with it. The Lord spoke to me. He said, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." He delivered me from my fears - and.....I've offered the owner £5K less than the asking price (the figure that both I and a friend heard in our spirits). I'm now waiting on God to place it on the owners heart to bless us. I know that I have nothing at all to loose, least of all my reputation because it is the Lord's idea and so He will provide. I've stepped out of the boat, I'm enjoying the process and don't feel even the tips of my toes getting wet. I'm simply trusting God in this. If I take my eyes off Jesus I'll sink, so I'm fixing my eyes on Him and whatever He wills I'll do for His glory.