The Tabernacle

Weight is an interesting experience when it comes to God.

Just today, as I waited on Him, His weight started to descend upon me physically.

Before I knew it, I was face down, prostrate (meaning completely laid out). I could hardly move, let alone breathe. His presence was heavy, thick, weighty. There was absolutely no way, I was going to move, let alone want to move. His weight rested on me.

As He lay his weight upon me more, both my hands begun to burn sharply. Though this was well & truly not the first encounter like this, it was however all the more intense.

He begun to share with me some of His great passion, heart, zeal & jealousy for His Bride. His whisperings were from the very centre of His heart. These were holy, intimate reflections from the core of love itself.

I was completely undone & in awe.

After about 4 hours of this, I crawled out of the Tabernacle on all fours.

Let’s just say that I remained not far from the floor for the rest of the day.

The word glory in the Scriptures means weight. It is what He is. The Glory of God relates to His presence & it is a weighty thing, literally.

Yet how weighty is His great undying love for His bride! How jealous He is over her… over you, over me. Jealousy in Hebrew means to be intensely interested in the honor, the purity, the prosperity of another.

God’s jealousy over His bride is related to the journey of holiness. In crucifixion, our old way of thinking & acting is dealt with. Our heart of stone, full of lies we’ve believed, is taken away. In resurrection, God’s holiness (a renewed mind & way) is called forth in us as He puts a new heart & a new spirit in us. (Ezekiel 36:25-27)

A holy bride is the Father’s desire for his Son, our bridegroom. For it reveals His glory.
And that is a weighty thing!

A few months ago, a colleague of ours wrote me an email. We were discussing our upcoming visit with her in North London. As she closed off her email she wrote, “In these days I am saying to the Western European Leaders, ‘LESS VISION, MORE PURITY.”

These words vibrated strongly in my spirit.

Holiness has been my meditations of late. The Lord keeps drawing me back to this theme, this idea, this part of who & what He is.

Holy means to seperate from everything else that is going around.

Holy is what God is. God will always distinguish himself from the spirit of the day. So in the Old Testament records, we see God presenting himself as a cloud in the day & fire in the night. HE is always contrary to the world.

Peter, the disciple & friend of Jesus wrote, “But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.” (1 Pet 1:15) As a Jew, Peter knew what being ’set apart & seperate from” looked like. Jews still stand out in a crowd today! It required of Peter to be, dress, eat & live in a way that was opposite to the world surrounding him.

For Noah, holiness looked like building a boat & dwelling in it for over a year when the world & its spirit was corrupt & in rebellion to the God who made it.

Holiness looked like the a cave in the wilderness when David was being hunted by a King who feared man more than God & ended up consulting witches rather than being led by the Spirit of God.

Holiness looked like the belly of a fish when Jonah sort to do his thing rather than God’s.

All through out the record of God with man holiness has required a set apartness, a seperation from the world.

In Numbers 16:9 a stunning revelation is given. Moses is speaking to the Levities who were part of the Priesthood. He says, “It is no small thing that God has called you OUT from the congregation of Israel to draw near to Him, to do the service of the Tabernacle & to minister to the people.”

Holiness will call us out. It will call us away. It will require of us to distinguish ourselves from everything that is going around.

The Early Fathers of our faith walked in this, hence their other name of the Desert Fathers. You see there is a process of salvation. Paul says, “work out your own salvation with fear & trembling.” ( Phil 2:12b)

Salvation says Dr Artef, a Coptic Priest walking in the way of the Early Fathers, “always requires a man of God who has the calling to enter into seasons of seclusion, fasting & prostration before our God, to wait on Him”.

There is an element of seclusion, of seperateness that relates to holiness. It always has been & always will.

What happens in the set apart places & times is that we are taken away from all that is in the world & our world. These moments, seasons & experiences squeeze out of us the spirit & ways of the world.

One walks very differently in a desert place.

A distance is created. Space is placed between us & the world. In a way we are preserved from what is normally around us.

In my own journey, the result is that is makes my heart very sensitive to God & to the constrasting world. In this place of no or little distraction we are invited into more of the fullness of God. A joining to God takes place after the removal of other things.

If we want to walk with God, it will require us to be where He is. Where He is will be opposite to the ways & mindsets of this world. Expect God to put you in contrary situations so He can be seperate & seen.

In every case when I have been with those who’ve sort holiness & yielded to the process of developing it, I have tasted & been in awe of a beauty that surpasses anything of the world.

All beauty is an expression of His holiness. For it is an expression of God’s nature in us that is not contaminated. Holiness reveals beauty.

God is restoring a royal priesthood who will minister to Him & to others in the beauty of His holiness.

My spirit continues to join in the cry, “Less Vision, More Purity.”

We all have a story.

A tale of triumph. Of tragedy. Pain. Glory. Intrigue.

My story is probably no different to yours. Its themes, it struggles the same, yet the way, the circumstances different. We all have our ashes. We all have our beauty, & we can all have joy.

What is the story that God is telling?

He is telling us something in these days. He is telling us something about himself, ourselves & of a greater story unfolding.

You see our stories, our personal tales of triumph & tragedy, weave into a larger story. This is part of the beauty & joy. This is part of community, of family, of Kingdom of God.

The story that God is telling, is really all about him. The irony is that it is not about us, but about who he is & what he can do.

Threads run thru the tapestry of our lives & they often begin when we are young. His nature shows its hand when we are young, very young.

There is a truth, a truth about God. Would you, would I, be prepared to live a journey to find this out?

The challenge of this journey that I embarked upon was that it had to be traveled his way, not mine.

This still remains the challenge. Perhaps even more so now than when I first begun.

In our story are answers. Answers for a generation that God is now forging. Answers of his glory, his majesty, his victory, his goodness.

There are declarations to be made. Revelations to be spoken out, triumphs to be had.

Your story matters. My story matters, because in them there is something important God is saying… and this is the point.

Hello!!!

We hope you enjoy our quick 3 min video update!

Listed below are the dates mentioned in the video for your prayers. We thank you for your prayers, friendship & most of all your own love for Jesus!

As many of you know for over 2 years now, the Lord has had 3 nations on our radar – Australia, UK & USA. Our trip to UK continues in this.

May 18                 Fly to London UK
May 20                 Global Legacy Meeting – ministry of Bethel Church. We sense the Lord leading us to link more with Global Legacy which is a apostolic, relational network of leaders whose purpose is to bring personal, regional & global expansion of God’s Kingdom through God’s manifest presence.
May 22                 Sharing at Asian House Church in Surrey London.
May 24-27           Cheltenham with friends who have just moved from Australia
May 27-29           Meetings with a dear friend & leader of Western Europe YWAM who’s opened a Tabernacle in North London & is a study under Dr Atef, a coptic Priest.
June 1                   Fly back to Colorado, USA

Mark & Helen Goatley
Mark & Helen Goatley are faith based servants commissioned by the Lord in an apostolic ministry. This means that they are not paid a wage by any organisation, but live from gifts & regular financial support given by people, churches & organizations who believe in them & the call of God on their lives.

Right now we have friends emailing or facebooking from all over the world who are stranded on route. The result of a volcanic eruption in Iceland is an ash cloud lingering over Europe stopping all flights in & out. One friend trying to get back home to Germany is stuck in New York, another is stuck in London trying to get back to USA.

People are being made to WAIT.

This morning the Lord took me to Ecclesiastes. “To everything there is a season. A time for every purpose under heaven.” (3:1) On God’s calendar it is now the time between Passover/Easter & Shavuot/Pentecost. In Acts 1, Jesus instructed his disciples to “wait in Jerusalem for the Promise” (1:4). What was the promise?

Something completely new. Something completely different to what God had EVER done before.

God was about to come, no longer to dwell in a physical building, but dwell in the body of men. And He would give himself to not only the Jew but to the Gentile. The Tabernacle of God would be with & in all men!

The route to this moment in time was waiting.

Isaiah 40:31 says, “Those who wait on the Lord, He will renew their strength.” The word ‘wait’ here means “to bind together by twisting, to expect, to tarry”. There is something about the experience of waiting that involves twisting & binding. As we wait & continue to wait, we naturally seek out something to bind to.

On the Jewish calendar, now is the time between Moses first appearance from Mt Sinai (when the “Law” was written on two stone tablets) & the second time from Mt Sinai.

These two stone tablets containing the “Law” (defining their identity from God’s perspective), ended up being destroyed because as the people of Israel waited, they chose to bind themselves to the lies & deception that Moses would not return & that the Land God was taking them to would not be better than the slavery of Egypt (unbelief).

What we do in the waiting matters.

In both these events (Israel waiting in the Wilderness & Jesus disciples waiting in Jerusalem), God was about to do something He had never done before. In the waiting, He was preparing them to host the presence of God within them!

Again now we sit waiting. Being rather than doing. Stranded to be. Stranded to wait.

What new thing does God want to do with men, in men?

He is looking for a resting place, not a doing place.

As He rests in us & as we wait on Him, we are bound together with Him.

He is doing a new thing. Are you ready for this?

This prophetic picture I saw during a fast time with the Lord on Jan 23, 2010. Watch for the shadows of this. I submit it is coming to pass on the earth now as you read these words…

“I saw upon the mountains a whirly.
It sprung up from nowhere & began descending down the rugged, stony slopes to the plains & valleys.
It moved around with an intentionally.
It did not move fast
but at a deliberate pace.
It was a pure white.
Then it stopped in one place.
And many from the mountains
Who’d been taking refuge there came down. (Matt 17:1-5)
They were dressed in animal skins,
All were thin
& long haired. (Mal 3:1)
They came down & stood before the white whirly looking up at it in wonder.
A strong sense of mission upon them
& in their eyes.
As I saw their eyes
they were filled with fire
& intense love for only one thing, Jesus.
Nothing else.
Nothing else.
There was a strong sense of internship upon them.
Slowly by 1’s, 2’s & 4’s
They were very carefully assigned to places & people.
There were not many people that they were assigned to
& those with no people
Where assigned in groups of 4 to a place.
They went & simply sat in these places
& camped around fires.
And slowly various numbers of individuals & families
Came together & gathered at these fire places.
These who joined them also were slim in figure,
consumed with no other agendas or focus,
but Jesus. (Isa 40:3-5)
I saw the whirly go & rest upon each fire place
then move onto the next.
After its departure from the fireplace,
I saw the people gathered there
disperse in all directions carrying swags
& a burning torch lit from the fireplace,
tattooed upon their foreheads was the word “NEW”. (Isa 43:19, 2 Cor 5:17, 20)
They went in all directions of the compass
Consumed with one thing, JESUS.”

“Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple..” (Mal 3:1)

“It is not the first time in history that God has required a people to be ready for a paradigmatic change.

Many generations have longed to see the glorious impact of God’s Kingdom tangibly into their own time & space, & failed to see what we are about to experience.

At this point then we must be prepared to learn from the disciples on the road to Emmaus & be ready for our hearts to burn within us as we consider Him opening our eyes to new perspectives & possibilities that we haven’t yet even considered in the Scriptures. What a paradigmatic change was in store for them & is yet for us!”
(Roger & Mary Mitchell, Target Europe, 2001)

Since reading these words in 2005 while living in Europe, they have echoed in our spirits over & over again with pulsating rhythm.

When Jesus appeared to his two friends on the road to Emmaus, they had no idea of all that was about to unfold into world.

Passover was finished for these two friends of Jesus & now they waited for the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost). But this year they had no idea of what radical change would come their way.

This year the Spirit of God would dwell IN them, pouring out his “Spirit on all flesh” (Acts 2:17); doing something God had NEVER done before…. giving himself to the Gentile not only the Jew.

Now again here we are, on the road between Passover & Shavuot (Pentecost). The invitation beckons again…. Are we ready for God to mess with our paradigm’s? Our paradigms of how we see Him, ourselves, our nations, His Church? Every holy cow in our paradigm He will mess with.

Are we ready for His Kingdom to come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven?

Jesus – Solely, wholly, indisputably
Jesus.
Jesus revealed
experienced
transformed
The Wonder of Him
Exclusively Him
His majesty, His beauty, His fullness, His Spirit

His presence

Jesus magnified
worshipped
adored
lavished with love
unquestioningly
extravagantly

A people
hungry
desperate

Pursued by Him
Undone & overwhelmed by His Love
Lost in the wonder of Him

They abandoned to Him
living, breathing, wanting for nothing else
HIM

A people prepared to walk with the Wind, the Ruach Himself
The quest, His Breathe

Shifting, moving where He goes
Knowing truth & freedom
Yet addicted
Fused with Him
Abiding IN Him
Living in His presence
Knowing, seeing, hearing Him

Complete union

Burning with consuming fire
Living outside boxes
mindsets
Systems that enslave to another relationship
Another god
Another time

Present in holiness that hurts the eyes
designed for praise
applauding only Him

Storming strongholds
Raising the dead
living rest
& surrender to the breadth of Him

Existing for the One Thing
His presence
His breathe
His heartbeat

And the world is changed.

“Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with man.” Rev 21:3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZG1e20yMFQ

A year ago, the Lord showed me this as we worshipped in Melbourne Australia. While this was immediately relevant for the community we were with that day, I beleive it is also for those in every tribe & nation now who love Jesus.

For your spirit man & heart’s ponderings.

The Lord has had me mediating on a thought for a few days now. It is this;

“We have been called to live beyond reason & far beyond the boarders of our own abilities.”  (Kris Vallotton, Senior Pastor of Bethel church)

Funny the truth about this, because it requires faith in God not in ourselves. What a deliverance to be set free of ourselves!

So as I was contemplating this, a friend sent me this blog. It’s a ripper & follows this thought on more! Hang with it, until the end if you are game enough to read it! =)

http://freebelievers.com/blog-entry/the-trinity-and-the-cow

“Beloved. Some things are only achieved by rest.
It is not all about work,
programs,
business,
directional strategies.
What you dont do is just as significant.
When you rest,
you create space for Me.
Never underestimate what your NOT doing creates.”

This was His whisper to me this last weekend as I just sat with Him in His space.

 ”Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest, still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.” (Heb 4:1)

“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down, out of heaven FROM GOD, prepared as a bride adorned FOR HER HUSBAND.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold the dwelling place of God is with man… And God HIMSELF will be with them as their God.” (Rev 21:2-3)

   During a moment of worship & deep adoration of Jesus. I heard Him say,
“It is the time of the son.”

“Immediately I saw the country of the USA. I saw sons working in the fields, suddenly hear & see Jesus the Son of God, standing before them, calling them, “Come follow Me.” I saw millions of them get up immediately from their field & walk away.

I saw some turn & wave goodbye to their family of origin who were standing by their houses, & I saw others getting up, eyes unmoved off Jesus, simply walk off, no turning back to look at what they were leaving behind them.

Then I saw Jesus on a ship, standing at the entrance point on the ship, waving them welcome. Line after line flooded on board, some full of joy & dancing, some heavy of heart knowing what & who they were leaving behind them. Every son that had boarded was young.

The shipping port they were leaving from was lined with old, weathered buildings that had upon them the signs “Founding Fathers”. While the dock had some people moving around on it, it was no longer a busy port. In the background of this port, I saw a steal gray city, noisy, busy, & stuffed full with men in gray suits rushing from one high rise building to another. These buildings so numerous they almost blotted out the horizon. A thick heavy pollution hung in the city, falling lower & lower.

At the dock, the sons continued to board, all with empty hands, none took anything with them only the clothes on their back. They boarded knowing that they were receiving an exchange of Provider & an exchange of the way of provision. Gladness filled their being.

On board, some stood by the side waving goodbye, others simply went about the business of settling. All were alone, no family with them.

Written in charcoal on their chests were the words, “The new.”

On the inside of their forearms, was tattooed the words, “For Jesus, the Son of God.”

Once on board, I saw them being given new uniforms. They exchanged their old individual clothes pale & pastel in color, for new Venetian uniforms, stripped blue & white.

As they donned the uniforms, an atmosphere of deep romance filled the ship.
Jesus who was large & brilliantly white walked down the centre of the ship. As He did, they fell to their knees weeping & worshipping Him in the awe of His beauty & power. They were spell bound in love of Him. Not moving or daring to breath the rarified air of His holiness.

As Jesus walked He handed out new tools & gifts. Some received large ancient swords, some yellow flowers, others blacksmith hammers. I saw that only those who eyes where unwaveringly on Him received these.

Others lay prostrate, face down on the deck of the ship. They simply lay there overwhelmed with a deep awe & fear of Him, the Son of God. Light flooded upon their bodies. It was evident that this was the very purpose of their existence. These ones especially drew warm affection & respect from Him. Stopping, He would sit with them talking, as one would to a close friend. Their love for him & His for them, was so much it could not be contained.

The number of those who lay prostrate far outnumbered those who were looking up at His face. Infact those who fell laying prostrate before Jesus, created the effect liken to red carpet being unrolled.

A thundering voice was heard from heaven, “Father exchange. The sons have left home.”

A stillness & complete silence followed.

After what seemed an all too brief moment, a deep chant begun to echo not only in the ship but across the waters;
“Time of The Son”
“Time of The Son”
“Time of The Son”

This chant grew louder & louder. Its vibration shifting the earth’s very soil, causing a movement that can only be likened to that resulting from an earthquake. I saw every structure on the land mass these sons had just left, crumble.

All on board were completely safe & unaffected in any way.

They continued over the waters, sailing towards the rising sun.”

—————————————————-

“God is speaking to us, every one of us, & trying to get us to leave the shoreline. There is only one place where we can get the mind & will of God; it is alone with God. There is a close companionship between you & Jesus that nobody knows about. It seems to me that God wants to get everyone of us separated to himself…” 

Smith Wigglesworth, Greater Works

  The last 5 days I have been in a ‘walkabout’ with the Lord. It’s been a set apart, intentional time with Him. On day 3, suddenly for the first time in 3 months, the wind sprung up. During this day, the following picture I saw. Isaiah 5:26 is echoing in our day.. “He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, And will whistle to them from the end of the earth, surely they shall come with speed, swiftly.”

“I saw dry wheat fields surrounded & littered with eucalyptus gum trees.
I saw people who looked like ghosts – white & pale.
They suddenly stepped out from behind the gum trees.
As I saw these people,
lots of them
I realized they were Australian Aboriginals painted with white paint on their faces & hands.
There were as many of them as trees & the boundary fence line was stacked with trees.
They stepped out & simply stood there.
They stepped out as if their name had been called.
Suddenly balls of fires from the heavens
shot down
hitting them in the chest.
After impact, I saw them immediately transformed.
They were hugely tall
like Afro-American basketball players.
They assumed the position of a dance as in a Corroboree.
They were wearing what is worn at such an event.
Their chant echoed
strongly across the plains.
I saw what seemed like sudden chaos in the heavens
As stars shot in all directions
clouds moved rapidly across the skies
coming together with a thunder clap & bolts of lightning.
A strong wind blew violently
& I saw ones in other nations who were at work in fields,
homes
buildings
suddenly stop & turn as if hearing all this.
Right across the nations,
one by one they stopped,
looked,
listened.
Then one almighty lightning hit across the entire earth’s sky;
so that at one time
all could see it
together.
Upon seeing it, they dropped what they held their hands & walked towards the east.
Suddenly they fell one by one
on their faces
lying prostrate on the ground.
A deep holiness consumed them.
They were so in awe of the beauty of His holiness,
they almost dare not breathe.
Under their bodies they felt the movement & vibrations of the earth that comes when a Corroboree dance is in action.
Their bodies vibrated with the rhythm & beat of the stamping of feet.
This vibration filled their inner being
& they rose
& walked
with a new song
& dance.
They exalted & hailed the coming of the KING.
They saw each other & joined hands
all around the world,
linking together the entire circumference of the earth’s globe.
Dancing, singing praise to the King of Kings.
Their song echoed in the universe
& in the depths of the earth’s crust.
Strong was their link to each other.
Long & loud was their song.”

“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God & keep His commandments.” 1 John 5:2

This morning as I was getting up, the Lord grabbed my attention as my eyes glossed this verse. I stopped & read it again. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God..”

We live in a time of history where one spiritual gift has been elevated into leadership of the people of God, the gift of pastor/teacher. With it comes a focus that is naturally upon people.

I was speaking on the phone to a friend in Australia the other night. This lady is an amazing woman & mother who has been lavishly gifted with a pastoral heart. As I shared some of what I was sensing prophetically, a response came out of this huge pastoral heart of hers. Empathy, compassion, care leaked through the phone line & flooded all over me. I was impacted.

Her heart was all about me – the person & for other people.

As I chewed on this verse over breakfast & the morning’s activities, I pondered.. when we love God, this is how we know we love the children of God. What a radical thought, that as we love God, we know we love His children.

Loving God is in a very real sense loving His children.

Just as others love our own children, we experience a dimension of that love & acceptance also as parents.

How many times have I been blessed as someone loved God, showing me what that looked like, like my Dad when he was alive, or tasted the fruit in a person who loves God. His perfume, fills them & is ‘smelt’ by others. As they ‘taste’ of Him, (Psalm 34:8) that flavor spreads.

Loving God is our greatest pastoral focus. Perhaps this is why it is the first & greatest commandment.

“This is a time & way not walked before;

I, Jesus, have invited you, “ Come walk with me,”

into the cloud of my Father’s presence, I go.

Transfigured. 

A generation needs to hear who I AM,

from my Father.”

“A voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved; listen to Him!” 

And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.” Luke 9:35-36

It is 2 days before Christmas. I awoke aware of all the things still yet to do, make & get for Christmas.

Yet I was also aware that it is Tuesday, & Tuesday is one of the days I spend in intentional, set apart time in the Tabernacle with my Lord. So I yielded myself, my day, my time, the pressures, needs all to my Father. He called me into His space.

Immediately, He rested upon me. I cannot find other words to express what I experienced, other than I just laid down. Simply laid down & rested. As I rested there, sensing an unusual heaviness over this day, He begun to immerse me in His truth & love.

My tired, weary body begun to experience reviving. My spirit filled with light.

He reminded me again of His call upon me, to simply be with Him. The words of Beni Johnson echoed in my memory. “To me, the mystics are just normal people. They are normal people consumed by the presence of God. Mystics are no different than you & me. They are everyday people who have chosen to lay their lives down to seek after God. They do not limit God. Mystics seek after God with their whole hearts. They go before God & say, “God, you are all that I desire. No matter what it looks like, or what it costs me, I must have more of you.” The heart cry of the mystic is, “Take the world but give me you.” (The Happy Intercessor, p.167)

I became sharply aware of the contrast & ‘clash’ with what was happening all around me. While the shops thicken up with that last minute ‘rush’ & people bounce from one Christmas event to another, He invited me to simply be with Him. The ‘note’ of the world’s hum contrasting so strongly to His song over me.

My son came running into the Tabernacle not long after this, & grabbing my bible which sat next to me, He opened it up, lay down next to me & said, “Mummy, read this.” He had opened to Psalm 62.

“For God ALONE, my soul waits in stillness; from Him comes my salvation.”

Again it struck me. This was what the Father had called me to this day. “FOR GOD ALONE, my soul waits in stillness.”

“For God alone” I reflectively reiterated as if to remind myself.

Not long after my son’s visit, my phone rang with a prayer request from a pastor we have been getting know. Their daughter’s friend, a 10yr boy, Drew, was right now in emergency heart transplant surgery.

Again, the words of Beni Johnson echoed in my memory. “Mystics do not seek after fame, glory or worldly desires, but they have chosen instead to lay their entire lives down so that they can hear the heartbeat of Heaven.”

The greatest action we can do for ourselves & on behalf of others, such as Drew who fights for his life right now, is to seek for God alone, making our soul wait in stillness for His salvation. When we do this, we are able to hear the heartbeat of heaven.

And heaven’s heartbeat is exactly what this season is all about.

The other day I was in the Tabernacle just lingering there.
After a time, I left.
I left with no prophetic word, no great revelation from the Scriptures or experiences with my Father.
I left only knowing as I had other times before,
that I had simply been with the Lord, just sharing time & space with Him for Him.
I had simply gone to BE with Him.

In our Western world, life is so much about productivity.
Here in the USA, a key word it seems is ‘DUTY’.

But what of just being with Jesus for HIM?

What if being with Him was actually about Him!

Being with Him
not for what He gives
or for what He has promised over our lives,
or because it is our ‘duty’.

But because He is heart too!

He longs as we all do,
to be sought after because of who He is
not what He does
or will give.

This is the ‘one thing’ David sought for most -
“to dwell in the house of the Lord delighting in Him” (Psalm 27:4)
David, the man God said was ‘after His own heart’.

When Jesus came, the first thing He DID was BE.
Be a baby.

There is an ache today in the heart of the Father
for His children
His people
His bride
to simply BE with Him
doing nothing,
no intercession,
no ‘pushing into his heart for others’,
but simply hanging out with Him,
enjoying Him.

This is relationship.

Today I linger in the rather new & fairly empty Tabernacle space just set apart in our home in Denver. A week ago we moved into our own home after living with friends in their home for 2 months. This completes a big move from Australia to USA. A new season has begun.

This morning the Lord had me meditating on this scripture;
“And He humbled you & let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your Father’s know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deut 8:3)

The word manna means “What is it?” I have reflected time & time again as we have travelled this apostolic journey, how when we see something new, we do not recognize it & inevitably end up asking, “What is it?”

When God saves His people & brings them into His new for them, there is a journey that will be required. A journey that they have not known previously nor did their Father’s know. Such is the experience for every generation.

On every occasion when God has ushered us into a new season, there has been an experience of hunger. Hunger is in fact a sign of God having done something new.

Hunger results from not having what you have had previously. Where do we go when we are hungry? What do we do with the ‘fasting’, the emptiness that comes when God moves us? We will grieve & need to grieve what was lost. But where do we go to “fill up”?

The people of Israel had been slaves in Egypt. As God brought them out of that slavery, the Scriptures record that “He humbled them & let them hunger..” Transition & moving involves this. Whether the transition is moving countries as we have just done, or whether it is something like a job change, there is an element of humility & hunger.

What does God do with humility & hunger? He feeds His saved people on manna. It is so easy & natural to stay in a stage of rejection when God brings something new into our worlds. But that new is the very thing that will sustain us for this next season.

The ultimate purpose for why God does this, is so that we might know for ourselves that man does not live by the stuff of the natural world, the man made only, but by every word from the mouth of God.

The only way to move forward in the new that God at times thrusts us into is by His EVERY word. I don’t want to miss any word that comes from His mouth!

I was amazed this morning as I discovered that the Hebrew used in the phrase, “man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” means “a source, a gate, a spring; specifically from the dawn, from the rising of the sun in the east”.

The new Tabernacle space here faces east as did the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. The message is clear. The source for knowing, understanding & living with manna (what is it?) comes from the mouth of the Lord.

In the New Testament, it was expressed this way, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple & that God’s spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor 3:16) Therefore let us “look to Jesus, the founder & perfecter of our faith..” (Heb 12:2)

Today I was in the most precious place on earth. This place was a time. It was the time Father asks of me several times weekly to meet with Him. It is an appointed time. I call it affectionately, TT (Tabernacle Time).

This time the Lord took me to Isaiah 55. As I meditated on these words I was struck by the cleanness of the Word of God. There is something profound & supernatural that takes place when God’s Word contacts with our spirit. It engages us, bringing order & sense of clearing deep within.

Anyway, I was holted by the words, “and it shall make a name for the Lord” (55:13b).

When we ‘go out’ as Apostles, the Word of God says this will be marked by joy & peace (55:10). This joy & peace are not dependant on circumstances but on Him. Our joy & peace are in Him, not in things that are temporary. The fruit of this is that it ‘makes a name for the Lord’.

I want to make a name for the Lord, not myself or anything else. What a mind blowing thought that we can make a name for the Lord!

How we follow Him, makes a name for Him on the earth.

This is not the day of one man ministries, power churches or organisations that seek to glorify themselves. This is the day of the LORD & His name is what is to be exalted. The call of any Apostle is about this, making a name for the LORD!

Who are you making a name for?

 Since arriving here in Denver & living on the dry grassy plains of Colorado, I have learnt quickly a new respect for the wind that blows upon them. I have noticed how the wind on these plains can appear from nowhere bringing a change so suddenly & so extreme. These winds dominate this landscape & in doing so creates their very unique beautiful character.

The last few days I have been meditating on Matt 14:22-33 & specifically the ‘wind’ in this story. Jesus ‘makes’ his disciples get into a boat & go before Him. So they go & they end up being “tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against them” (14:23).

In Genesis 1 the Spirit of God hovers over the waters (1:2). This word for Spirit is the Hebrew word ‘Ruach’ meaning “wind, breathe, spirit.” A similiar picture now appears in Matthew 14. The wind is over the waters moving & the disciples do not understand what is happening.

You see when God calls you to ‘go before Him’, His wind, His breathe, His spirit is there & it will create something as well as confront something. In the Hebrew mind, this is a picture speaking of God confronting the kingdom of darkness thru the creation of faith in Him.

The wind was “contrary” (14:24). The wind of God will always be contrary to the world, for “the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, & he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor 2:14)

The ultimate thing that His Spirit wants to create in us is faith in God. For the only way to ‘go before Him’ is in faith!

In the midst of this wind, Jesus appears & the disciples testify in fear, “It is a spirit!” The incredible wonder of the love & gentleness of God is demonstrated here as Jesus IMMEDIATELY speaks to them (14:27).

God never wants us to be in a vacuum of understanding for too long, especially when it relates to his ways. When the Holy Spirit moves, we feel & see His wind on us as individuals, families & communities, Jesus is there speaking. He wants us to know things & above all, beckon us onto more faith in Him.

The message in this story is the same as in the previous. It’s all about what GOD can do, not what we do. The feeding of 5000 men thru 5 loaves of bread & 2 fish, was because of what Jesus did, not the boy who had them. If God calls you, He is faithful & HE WILL DO IT. (1 Thess 5:24) He wants you to understand what the wind of His Spirit is doing.