The Tabernacle

—From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the temper of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take.—  

^{1 Chronicles 12:32}  

What a great heart is God’s!
I have come to treasure so dearly the fact that God wants us to know some things. I have also begun to see a pattern in his ways. He is always using the present to prepare us for the future. He’s been teaching me to look at the present & see seeds of the future. In a way, having some understanding of the —temper of the times.— God wants us to know things! Isn’t that a comfort? Isn’t that a wonderful freedom?

Yet I have come to see a consistency in this way of his. His pattern it seems is summarised in 3 words: obedience, experience, understanding & in that order! Repeatedly the Lord has said to us, —My heart will mess with your head. I want to free you from what binds your minds. I will teach you to obey Me. I won’t lay it out for you, you must trust me.— You see, often complete understanding has come later, after the obedience & the experience of that obedience. This is how his heart has messed with our head.
Such an occasion was in September last year. We were in Croatia taking a needed break in a little God given miracle, the private villas of a Prince & Princess from Germany. In this place of refreshment, the Lord gave me a picture that until now I had shared only with Mark & one dear friend in Australia. The picture was brief. I saw 3 Tabernacles on the globe of the world. One was in Munich, Germany, the second it seemed, in the geographical area of Israel & the third one, south in Melbourne, Australia. At the time of receiving this picture, I was unsure if it was my imagination or something sent from the Lord, so I shared it with Mark & “put it on the shelf’ for time to bring confirmation. The Lord had been asking of me to obey him by having faith & confidence that he speaks to me about the times we are in. I had wrestled with unbelief & self doubt. I knew well the attack of the enemy of God on this part of my identity. His whispering often heard in my ears, —Who are you to see such things? Who do you think you are anyway?—   I knew that while God speaks perfectly, I didn’t always hear perfectly. This I knew all too well. So when the Lord gave this picture, I wondered & waited for him to confirm. This action becoming a beautiful discipline for me. One not always easy, but one in which I see time after time, the power of God to confirm his word, his way.

And so I waited. And so he confirmed.

And now 2 weeks after hearing & knowing his voice calling us to move our base from Munich Germany to Melbourne Australia, I have witnessed the power of God confirm not only this action to move base, but also the picture he gave in Croatia last year. The emails   & impressions have encouraged our hearts & built faith as we heard from people whom God has been making ready. Ready & wanting a place, a Tabernacle to experience the presence of God & worship Him in their home town of Melbourne. Dreams shared of what they thought this might look like & be like… And interestingly, these dreams have been dreams deep our hearts for years.

God wants us to know things. He wants us to have some understanding of the times, so like for Israel, we know the best course to take. The BEST! This is our God. He only & always wants the best for us. What is your present? And what are the seeds that God wants you to see for your future journey? Be encouraged, He is trustworthy!      

—It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.—

Zech 4:6

—But the time is coming and is already here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for anyone who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.—    

John 4:23, 24  

   
Taste the experience.
It is a day of worship.
A day of the heart.

The Age of Enlightenment is over.
It is no longer a pursuit of man
Of his mind
His understanding
His reasoning
His strength
His power.
 

The Enlightenment is over.
And with it Greek values,
that put man in the centre of the cosmos,
exalting him.

It is the day of the Spirit of God.
There are things we understand & know by other means
There are things done not by human might or power.
   

—Then after I have poured out my rains again, I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions. In those days, I will pour out my Spirit even on servants, men and women alike.—      

Joel 2:28-32  

   
It is a day of worship
It is a day marked by the Spirit of God
gushing forth in new ways
through men & women
Old & young
Jews & non Jews.

Worship as we have never known before.
Worship not by man in his skill & knowledge.
Worship by Spirit & Truth
Not in might, not in power
But by the Spirit of God.

The Enlightenment is over.
We no longer stand in the outer courts of God’s house reaching through to him because of what we do.
Our working, our striving is over.
So is our trading & exploiting.

The noise subsides as we are ushered into the inner courts.
Beckoned by a King who did it all for us.
The one who did it & still does it.

Holy
Holy is He!

It is almost impossible to stand in his court.
Facedown is the more common posture…
experience.
When men worship the great I AM.
When their eyes on upon him
They step into his presence
& fall facedown.
Seats are not in this court.
Nor platforms.
It is not the place of men
It is the courtroom of God.
What happens next is refreshing
Not wearisome.
What happens next God alone knows.
This is the experience.—

I know God is in control. I truly believe that, but then there are times when things happen that just make you smile. We are so covered and He so has things sovereignly ordered. Ours really is just to:
1/ Get in a position to be hearing His voice, whatever that takes and
2/ Do what He asks whether we understand it or not.
We have just come from our regular worship night. While there, Steffi talked about how after reflecting on our news of hearing from God that ‘we were to return to Australia’, she had felt like she did just after “giving birth’. Like the baby was now out and that the “job was done’. After all of the ‘having a baby’ and ‘having 2 babies’ words and metaphors that we have received and believed, this was an amazing word. It also seemed so right, we were all  sitting there saying  “wow it’s done’. What a load off our shoulders. Later in the night Roger shared that on Thursday night he believed he had heard from God, to offer to transplant the entire physical tabernacle from our apartment to a space in theirs. (which happens to be in the east) Again this seemed so right, it was an amazing time. The Tabernacle will remain in Munich in a German home.

The Munich Tabernacle was never Helen’s & my idea, it was God’s and He simply asked us to carry it for awhile, to come here and to plant seeds. The three ladies that have such a huge heart for Tabernacle here in Munich didn’t get the vision from us they got it from God direct, and now the establishment of His Tabernacle here in München, is truly going to be done in His time and in His way. I mean why not it is His vision and idea after all. Tabernacle is all about people going to God direct, and about Him doing it! Now this is how He wants to play it out in Munich.

Also now we are hearing from people back in Melbourne who are keen to talk about such a place back there, seems He has prepared the way. So God! So all in hand and all covered. None of it in the timing and way that we would have done it, none. But it’s not understanding that matters, it’s obedience.

What’s the word for obedience without understanding? Is it Faith?

This is how you walk in the supernatural.

Helen & I had a scheduled trip to Australia  coming up in  April 07. We assumed it was just to be a few months to rebuild our prayer & financial partnership team, to spend time with family and to have a break back in our own culture. Then the Lord started to talk to us about team, that our time in Australia was to be about building team, this caused us to wonder about how long we would be back.

The next development was the strong sense that our time in  the apartment we have been living in was over. This was no huge surprise. When we were preparing to leave Australia  last year  to move to this current “rent free blessing’, I believe God said to me that our time in Franz-Fihl-str would be around 9mths. I remembered this when we moved  in as the owners were talking 2 years, but inside I just knew that this wasn’t to be our home for that long.

Then last week while we were in Croatia, Helen & I both got the sense that while we were expectant that God had said He had our next house in hand, that we were to pack up our little apartment regardless, as that season was over. That was scary huge as this could mean returning to Germany with no set up house to go to, a big thing with a family. So we were making plans to put everything in storage if need be.

We were also in the process of getting our bi-annual strict roadworthy on the car, when on the trip home from Croatia we found out what it is like to hit a Fox at 160km/h. I’m sure it was worse for the Fox, but our car lost a light and some internal panels around the wheel. This, along with some oil leaks made the car “not viable to repair’. The car is fine to drive at the moment, just not good enough for the roadworthy. We then discovered that we can legally drive the car until the end of March, but not afterwards, this is exactly when we were planning to leave. So God!

Yet now, all of a sudden we were looking at leaving Germany and not having a car or house to return to… Actually we were fine with this as we have seen God provide these before and  knew He would do so again. It was looking like a fresh new season next time in Germany.

I received an SMS from my Dad  Friday afternoon  and in it he asked, “With these changes is the Lord closing your time in Germany?” Helen & I thought “NO WAY! He is just rearranging things.” Then just a few hours after the SMS and  immediately after an hour talking to my mentor in Israel, I started to chat with Helen.

It will be hard for me to describe as it was such an unusual experience, (actually very similar to what happened in France described in the Blue waters story on our website)  I started to talk about our situation but what I was saying were different conclusions to my own. I knew this to be a revelation from God so I just kept speaking it out, it was a very very powerful time. As I spoke, God showed me that Building team back in Australia was right, that moving even more into the Apostolic role was right, but that our home base was no longer to be here in Munich, but that we were to now go back to our home and to base out of Melbourne. Whoa!!!! That was absolutely huge! How do you absorb such change??!! Yet there was such peace & freedom in both our hearts as we contemplated this. Helen & I had both so set ourselves to this, to Munich and to living in Germany. So much effort. So much focus and intention in order to sustain ourselves here.
Well now after a few days to absorb the shock and change,  and hearing the testimony of close German friends here who say that while really sad, this ’seems right’ and that the Lord had in fact also pre-prepared them. We now sit in the reality that in  8 weeks we will return to Australia and then base out of there.

So we believe God is asking us to ‘even more’ embrace our Apostolic calling. To  base from Melbourne no longer Munich, and that this next season is going to be about team, and team building. We are very excited as we anticipate this, like a burden has been lifted from us, it feels very right, also we know that His plans for us are ALWAYS for good and not for evil, giving us hope and a future. Jer 29:11

John 3:8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it’s sound,  but  you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.—

God  is good! therefore we trust and follow His lead whether or not we understand.