Are You Giving? Are You Receiving?

When Scott wrote his review of "Together on a Mission 2007" he bemoaned the lack of Dave Holden's contribution to the preaching ministry last year. He had a fair point. I love Dave Holden! He is very practical and down-to-earth in the way he imparts truth but that truth is life-changing. I spent a quiet Sunday afternoon re-visiting some of the past "Together on a Mission" DVD's that I have got in my library and was taken by this point.

It is far too easy to get caught up in the politics of arguing which speaker would be best to speak at a conference but we can forget why conferences are actually of benefit to us. Yes Mark Heath wrote recently that they can be "feasts of the Word" when Mark Driscoll comes to visit. But I prefer to see conferences as Rob Rufus instructed Mobilise in July. They are high points of encountering God - where the opportunity is available to "learn the address of the Holy Spirit". To be able to go back to our homes, towns, cities and nations and remember how we can encounter God in power. Why is that important?

Dave Holden had one answer:



Yes it is vital that we encounter God for our own personal walks with Him. We must get to know Him as "Abba!" - our intimate and loving heavenly Father who has so much to pour out and lavish on us. But we also must get to know Him because there is a lost and needy world out there who are just as desperate to encounter reality. And what greater reality than the Living and awesome God - Creator of the Universe!

Are you receiving the Holy Spirit in power? Are you "be being filled"? If so - are you giving out? Are you ministering the Holy Spirit in power? If not, why not? Am I being filled with the Spirit like a wind filling my sails so I am moving? Am I ministering the Holy Spirit in power? If not, why not?

Terry Virgo and Dave Holden on Being Truly Charismatic!

I have just added these two quotes to the Pentecostal Post-It Notes Blog. They are fruits of my labours spending some very happy hours going through my Archives of old Newfrontiers Magazines prior to them being made available online! However both quotes were of such gravity and challenge that I really felt that I should reproduce them here for our consideration. Is the Holy Spirit truly free to move among us?

Terry Virgo said;

"Our churches must be centres of Holy Spirit activity. God is with us! His Presence is to be enjoyed. Beware the danger of thoughtlessly grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit and getting used to meetings where His Presence is hardly known ... When did you last feel the powerful sense of the Lord's Presence in your meetings? When were you last genuinely built up by a prophetic utterance? We must 'covet to prophesy'. Beware creeping passivity and simply waiting to see what the lead guitarist will do next.

God is present! He is willing to scatter spiritual gifts among you and the manifestation of the Spirit is for the good of us all".

And Dave Holden urged;

"Being a charismatic church means that you have a deluge of spiritual gifts in your worship. Is that true for you? How can you be truly charismatic if it is only by reputation and not in reality? When was the last time you had a tongue and an interpretation in your meeting or a time when many individuals brough "songs in the Spirit"? Gifts are not an option; they are essential for biblical worship and for the churches to come to maturity. Gifts are not the pinnacle of worship; they are aids to help us to worship more effectively".

A "deluge" of spiritual gifts! He used the same phrase in our seminar at Together on a Mission. Can any of us claim that we have a "deluge" of spiritual gifts? If the Holy Spirit is eager to pour out those gifts and Paul commands us to "eagerly desire ... especially" then there is nothing wrong with God. The problem may be us!

Prophecy from 2nd Session - TOAM '07!

There was just one prophecy in the second session from Dave Holden but it was powerful and life-changing. He said;

"The glory of God is coming to us and will lift our heads and change our perspectives. As the Spirit of God moves us now, we will feel increasinly our heads being lifted up from our troubles and our trials and will lift our heads so we see things from heaven's perspective".

Even as he was prophesying I could feel the atmosphere becoming electrically charged in the room as the Spirit again began to brood over the gathered thousands and I could actually see heads lifting up and smiles appearing on people's faces. Yes we are not trouble-free. Yes we haven't wafted to Brighton on clouds of glory - most of us have trudged, crawled, struggled through the mires of the Slough of Despond - but now God was coming down and was showing us that this all had worth and value from on high!

Awesome God!