An Invitation to the Dance of Life

It's interesting this one - I don't think Christians like dancing very much. Particularly Western Christians! And I must confess I'm not overly keen on it in church - maybe once a year at the Brighton conference during the offering night. But I do have a guilty pleasure - I like going out and dancing in clubs. If you assumed I got drunk when you read that - you assumed wrongly and shame on you. I just like dancing.

So I was at the gym yesterday and was listening to Madonna's newish song "Celebration" (I won't post the video - you can watch it only if you're bad like me!). Say what you like about Madonna and disapprove of her if you will but it was the lyrics that caught my attention. In particular;

"And if it makes you feel good then I say do it
I don’t know what you’re waiting for ...
But for now just come here, let me whisper in your ear
An invitation to the dance of life".

I love the song and have heard it and danced to it a number of times but surprisingly as I was running on the treadmill I felt the Holy Spirit remind me of a prophecy that Terry Virgo brought at the first Stoneleigh Bible Week I went to (2000) which said;

"As you come on your hands and knees, ground that you would have thought was outside your sphere that you were disqualified to get near, I've cleared the ground for you" says the Lord. "I've cleared it for you so that you can dance now. You can dance on holy ground. I've cleared the ground for you! I've provided grounds that are level and clear and steady. Even as I came to My servant Isaiah, undone and ruined by the revelation of My purity, undone forever, I've provided him a burning coal - clensing and purging so that he could be in the holy place. I want you to know that I have provided for you, my sons and my daughters out of My love. You will never stamp the ground to make it level, you will never clear the grounds of thorns and weeds. I have cleared the ground for you.

You are free to dance now because of my eternal grace to you, my kindness and my celebration over you. I celebrate in My finished work. I celebrate in embracing My sons and daughters running home. I invite and welcome the prodigal into dancing ground. I draw back the man whose head is hung low with a sense of inadequacy and failure and say, "This is dancing ground! This is dancing ground!". This, My son, was dead, he is alive again! He was lost and now is found. This is dancing ground! I welcome you into My heart and into My Presence as mercy and a gift to you", says the Lord.

"Out of My heart of love and out of My full embrace, I don't want you to come timidly. I don't want you to come wondering, can I accumulate enough worth, can I demonstrate enough merit that I am allowed in? I tell you, I have cleared the ground by My blood. Only there will you find fullness of mercy and because it is fullness, it is not simply ground to kneel upon but it is ground to dance upon for your welcome is complete. The ground is clear! Come My sons and My daughters - I welcome you to this very place. I am full of ambition for you, full of desire to bless you with My love. Full of tenderness and mercy because of the obedience of My Son that frees Me to bless you. Some come dance, rejoice, drink deeply of My love, says the Lord. Enter in, enter in to the mercy of God. The joy and favour and everlasting love of your God, says the Lord".

The two threads seemed so obvious.

A Christian + real grace = dancing.

Don't worry - this wasn't some legalistic charismatic way to force dancing. The impression I got was simply that when Christians really get grace, they will be so overflowed with joy and celebration that they will dance. The more I thought about it as I sweated on the treadmill, I became rather overcome with an image of nightclubs left empty - because the wonders of the grace of God were so thrilling the church and drawing the lost - that who needs a nightclub to dance in (and hide away) when you can dance and celebrate and rejoice in the church?

Whereas the void at the moment is that if you do dance in church (even many so-called charismatic churches) you will be seen as excessive and "showy". Maybe that's why many Christians do escape to secular music. Maybe that's why God can and does use secular music to speak to His people!

But a day IS coming when the wonder of the revelation of the New Covenant WILL break through to His people and the earth will shake in awe at a people who dance and must dance to express their joy!

Your Daughters Shall Prophesy!!

I came home from work today to read an incredible email from Pete just before he left for the "Life in the Spirit Conference" where Sam Storm is ministering. I had sent him my iPOD in the post so that he can enjoy Rob Rufus on MP3 while he is at the conference and just as I was posting the parcel, for some reason I wrote; "FIRE!!" on the back of it. Don't know why! Maybe to freak out the postman - maybe I hoped Pete would be laid out in the Spirit when he got it. But in his email he wrote this;

Ruth asked me today "why did Dan put FIRE on the back of his parcel." I explained about the fire of the Spirit. Then she started making up a song using the words of "London's Burning". It is quite prophetic;

"London's burning, London's burning, fetch the people, fetch the people. FIRE, FIRE, FIRE, FIRE,DON'T pour on water, DON'T pour on water."

There is a fire to come in London.

Pete's daughter is only a child! Yet I was absolutely staggered at the prophetic edge to what she wrote. I don't know whether she was aware of it or not but Joel's prophecy says clearly; "Your sons and daughters shall prophesy". The Church either is disobeying the command; "He who hath an ear to hear ... let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches". So is it any surprise that children are beginning to speak forth what the Holy Spirit has on His heart?! And it is clear - London SHALL and MUST be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea!

Why? Because first and foremost God promised it! And secondly London is the first domino to fall - when London comes under the cloud of glory, surely the United Kingdom cannot be unaffected. When I was at the "Grace and Glory" conference in Hong Kong, I heard again and again God speaking; "London is Mine!".

Grace + Glory = REVIVAL!!

I had an extremely exciting day today - one of much revelation where I virtually felt like I had a glass stuck to the wall of the Holy of Holies and was listening in on the council of God. If only I could learn how to walk into the Throne Room itself ... ! But anyway. I exchanged a couple of texts with Pete Day and he said one very interesting thing which provoked an awesome vision. In his text he said (I should explain I have leant Pete my iPOD next week when he goes to the Life in the Spirit Conference where Sam Storms is preaching);

"Wow. Thank you so much. In the few minutes of trying to figure it out (the iPOD), God has already spoken! I heard Rob say; "The Grace and Glory Conference is now open!". And God spoke to my heart; "Grace and glory is open! - Now, here, wherever are we are living in grace and glory!".

Suddenly without even thinking about it, I saw a vision of being back in my GCSE Chemistry. I didn't like Chemistry and wasn't very good at it but we were shown a chemical reaction by our teacher very similar to this one;

And I felt God say; "My grace on it's own is indeed a sign and a wonder. My glory on it's own is wonderful to behold and many long to come into it. But I tell you this - the one who hears My voice and learns to bring My grace and My glory together will experience and see a reaction far beyond anything you have ever dreamed! The reaction will be far greater than even this:

He went on; "But whereas these reactions have been used for hatred and for war, when you see My grace and My glory brought together in simultaneous combustion, the shockwaves of life and power shall shake the earth and send principalities and powers screaming for cover, for finally My Church will have learnt the truth - that at the Cross I legally bound the powers of hell - and now nothing not even hell's gates can stand against the relentless advance of My Kingdom and My glory shall cover the earth as waters cover the sea!

So bring the truth of My grace and the power of My glory together and sit back and watch ... ".