With all that’s been going on in Lakeland, Florida. Things that I’ve seen with my own eyes and touched with my own hands I can’t get one question out of my head
How can things ever be the same?
On one side of things there’s this huge outpouring in Florida. Meetings have grown from 700 to 8,000 and people are clearly having a huge experience of God. Many are being healed and a large number of these have been medically verified. Also, since it began some 60 days ago there have been 13 verified resurrections from the dead.
On the opposite side of things natural disasters are happening. In Burma the official death toll from the Cyclone stands at 78,000 although external agencies put these figures above 100,000. In China the government puts the death toll from the recent Earthquake is in excess of 12,000. While a third Earthquake in Bogota, Columbia, already has a death toll of 78.
If you look at things in a different perspective here in Western Europe we are entering an economic slow down. Rich nations are becoming poor, primarily this is down the cost of crude oil which is currently running at about $135 a barrell. However in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa almost the reverse is happening economies are growing and poor nations are becoming rich.
God is on the move. In a sense it’s a return to the Old Testament values when every 50 years (the Jubilee) things were reset: Debts were cancelled, land was returned and slaves were freed. Wealth was divided equally. It’s almost testament to God’s sense of humor, Bono et al have been banging on for ages about dropping the debt and spreading the wealth and almost with one click of his fingers God has done it naturally. Again the question:
How can things ever be the same?
If you look in one respect there are parallels to the Old Testament. There are also parallels to the New Testament looking at what’s going on in Lakeland puts in mind the book of Acts. After Jesus ascends to heaven the disciples are left waiting around for something to happen. They know that they’ve been promised a helper but have no idea when or where. In Acts 2 they find themselves Jerusalem for the festival of Shavuot, the Spring Harvest, when the Holy Spirit is released. For those disciples who start to speak in the tounges of nations and God, then Peter declares the prophecy of Joel resulting in the baptism of 3,000 they must have had one question:
How can things ever be the same?
At the start of Acts 3 something breaks and we see the first post-Jesus healing when Peter heals the crippled man. There is no laying on of hands Peter, probably overflowing with the Spirit, just commands that this man gets up and walks. And guess what, for Peter & John, the crippled man and those saw him there was one question that they must have been thinking:
How can things ever be the same?
And really that’s where I am now. How do you come back from seeing tumors disappear? From seeing the blind able to see and the deaf able to hear? And ultimately seeing legs starting to grow? You can only be expectant for God to turn up and start doing stuff in your own congreation, and I’d love to see more it at Arun.
I want the signs and the wonders but actually I want more than that. I want the intimacy with God; To know that He is within me and is guiding me and speaking to me daily. I want the lessons I learnt in Lakeland to be with me forever and not just a couple of weeks. And there were lessons, primarily I learnt the vital importance of pressing into what God has for us. Whether that’s in our days at work or in our Church services.
So you don’t like the worship leader, or don’t like the style of preach? Well, have you ever thought that God may want to speak to you in it? All it takes from us is a little effort to get beyond the natural and listen for the subtle heart beat of our creator whispering to us.
I’ll be honest here - I struggled one evening out in Florida they were resting the normal worship leader and had a guest in his place. Instead of entering into a place filled with praise, and errors, as the band practiced and worshipped there was, nothing. Then a Jack Black look a like, with mohican, took to the stage and sang a whole load of songs he’d written and I’d never heard before. Being honest I felt about as connected to God as the biggest Atheist in the world. My friends were fully engaged - Joe was on the floor giggling his head off and Matt was in a similar position, mostly without the giggling.
I, again, felt completely out of sync with God’s heart beat. And then it kinda happened instead of taking the cynical view:
“Oh, it’s not for me this evening!”
I heard the faintest whisper saying “press into me, this is for you!” So, I tried and slowly the negativity melted away and pretty soon found myself face down on the carpet praising God for what he could do both in me and others. The time of worship after that was amazing, almost the most powerful since I’d been there, but I struggled to begin with.
It’s been a journey; 8,000 miles, a lot of sobbing, even more carpet time and even more prayer. I know that I won’t ever be the same, but a week after I started this post I still can’t process it enough to come up with an answer to the question I started with: How can things ever be the same?
