Revelation 1

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lamp stands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man, in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

I am convinced the process which the Lord brings us into a new season must go into another phase because the gear to gain speed and momentum is different than the gear which maintains that speed.

I set my heart on all the benefits made available to me by taking this step. I was Convinced this new endeavor would satisfy in me everything I was disappointed with currently, as great potential was now afforded me. I was about to embark on something radical, new, exciting, with great opportunity, apostolic, fresh and organic, a fulfillment in the dreams and ambitions of my God. I looked to all those lampstands. God bless each of these wonderful reasons, but when we try to draw eternal life from lampstands, we will find ourselves frustrated and disappointed. In all my preparation for the move I didn't consider I was coming to Concord, Charlotte, NC to met with Jesus! Who is just past the lamp stands. I was coming to have my heart satisfied by a church movement that is radical and apostolic. Praise be to God who puts all things in my heart in order. His order. That is why He has assembled us. He wants to be our main attraction. Let's look to Him!

We can so easily have our focus of worship distracted by the variety of “churches” or lampstands. All churches in Revelation had somethings right and somethings wrong, but Jesus has it all right all the time. We should worship Jesus. Jesus will not be in competition with His churches when it comes to worship focus. Our hearts will come up empty if we seek ultimate satisfaction from a certain style of church. Granted being with the people of God is great and does bring satisfaction to our hearts, but there is a satisfaction our souls long for that can only be found in Jesus that often gets misdirected to a style of church. Yes even good old fashioned apostolic church. Let's look past the lampstands and Be overcome with Jesus. Let's worship Jesus.

mjh

He brought me out into a spacious place....2 Samuel 22:20

Whenever you get somewhere you haven't been before, you can be assured that it will not be at all like you assumed. We have this uncanny habit of referencing everything we're experiencing back to something we've experienced before, and can find ourselves disappointed when the new thing isn't anything at all like the old thing. But, funny thing is, that is exactly why it's called "a new thing."

• new   [noo, nyoo] adjective, -er, -est, adverb, noun –adjective unfamiliar or strange: ideas new to us; to visit new lands: Ring out the old, ring in the new.

So, fancy that this new place, with new people, new experiences, new ways of living, new everything, would be so entirely different from the old things we were so nicely used to.

Don't get me wrong, I would be the one that would intentionally go to a restaurant I've never been to, eat the strange food I can't pronounce, sit somewhere I never sit, and visit different countries just because they are different. But get me just a little bit too uncomfortable and I start looking back at what was.

The word I felt God was giving us as we moved was 2 Samuel 22:20 - "He brought me out into a spacious place." Sounds exciting and promising and...big! What I didn't realize that once the boundaries of what had become so comfortable were removed, and I was faced with that "spacious place," I would want to default back to whatever looked familiar, just because I don't yet know how to be here.

There are things that make me uncomfortable here. No job. No permanent home. No idea where things are. But these things have been strategically placed in my life to make me uncomfortable so that I learn peace and trust and rest. Because who needs those things when life is easy?

And for this I have Jesus.

r.

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