GOD SEES POTENTIAL

by Jean Packer

Sunday 6th February

Pam O’Leary had been unable to attend the meeting but had sent a note encouraging us to “do something beautiful for God today – do something that you have never done before.”

Ian shared that God wants us to be in a place of grace and not bondage. He wants us to know that His finger is not pointing at us in any way. He is not judging us. We are encouraged to accept His grace and give Him praise and worship and to enter into His presence with joy. To taste and see that God is good.

Later in worship Wes continued to read the word from Pam O’Leary, ‘“God always leads us in triumph; we are in His train. Those who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness.  Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it, but keep pushing though until the very sand becomes holy ground. We sing but do not understand the words – but listen to the sound. Sharron had a picture from ‘The Railway Children’. The girl was waiting at the train station at the end of wartime. The steam from the train hid a person coming onto the platform but as he walked towards the girl she recognised her father and ran to him shouting “My Daddy. My Daddy”. This is how God wants us to run to Him.

Another prophesy came from Penny that this was a time of surrender of things we use for self comfort. We must lay them down. A vision that as the River in Ezekiel 47 got deeper it was flowing and releasing a multitude of fish as we were allowing the river to flow into our lives as we open our eyes to it. We were exhorted to let go of control and let go of ourselves. A call to surrender and yield to the deep flow of The Holy Spirit, that would sweep through this place, community, and out into the nations.

Pastor Bill O’Leary from Tewkesbury Baptist Church was our visiting speaker and spoke from the word about finding God in the desert. Moses was looking for food for his sheep. God told Moses to take off his shoes because he was on holy ground and stay there. We are to stay where we are until God moves us. Our place of strength and blessing is to stay in the arms of Jesus.

Colossians 3:3 For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. This is our place of strength and blessing. He loves us.
Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Stop making yourself secure. If we open the ‘big gates’ of our lives it can be a vulnerable thing, but our security is in the King (Jesus) coming through. Nothing is more secure than being in His arms. Step out. How vulnerable are you to allowing God to have His way in your life?  Be willing to step out into the unknown.

Bill continued by sharing with us the story of the woman at the well John 4: 1-6 27-33 She was amazed at what Jesus told her and ran to tell others to ‘come and see’. People need to hear our testimony because they don’t know that God is good. First, the men believed because of what she said. Then they believed because of what Jesus Himself said.

Bill then brought out a ram’s horn that someone had given him and shared how he had seen the potential to make the handle of a shepherd’s crook with it. He then showed us one that he had made earlier out of the other horn. The rod was made out of what he called “a grotty stick that had been lovingly soaked, shaped and smoothed to make it straight and useful.

Proverbs: 29:18 Where there is no vision the people perish, but he who keeps the law, happy is he.

God sees potential in us. He wants us to be compliant so that he can straighten us out mould us, smooth us and make us useful. We might sometimes feel ‘rubbish’.but we need to know that God’s got a vision and purpose for our lives. Bill then showed us a cracked and warped block of wood and we saw drawings on it that marked out two shepherd crooks. We may also have cracks and warps but God sees the potential in us. He can get more out of us that we can see for ourselves. He can see things in us. There are people who only you can reach.

If you don’t have a vision, then other people perish. Where you live and work is no accident. When you have done what he has called you to do, he will then move you on. You are here to live for Jesus, everywhere, wherever you may be. Move from your place of safety and make yourself vulnerable.

Bill then showed us another shepherds crook that was very fancy and smart to use, but it wasn’t really functional. It would break easily and was more of a show rod. He exhorted us not to be ‘show’ christians but to see that the fields are white for harvest – pray to the Lord of the harvest for workers – us!

BILL O’LEARY PREACHING AT GOLDEN VALLEY

We are very pleased to be welcoming Rev. Bill O’Leary, pastor of Tewkesbury Baptist Church, to preach this coming Sunday.

He has been a good friend and colleague of the leaders of Golden Valley Church for many years, and it is exciting that he will be sharing with us again.

Come along and hear for yourself! Worship will be awesome, and the Presence of God very real.

The service is at 10:30am, at Innsworth Community Hall. Coffee will be served throughout.

Bill’s full bio can be found on the Tewkesbury Baptist Church website.

There will also be a ‘soaking prayer’ session in the afternoon from 2:30 until 3:30.

THE FRUITFULL BOUGH

by Jean Packer

Sunday 31st January

It is so good to have Wes and Sharron back with us this week and there was great prophesy brought to us throughout the worship time. Wes sang that God wanted to take us to the banqueting table. He wants to take us by the hand and lead us there because of how much He loves us. His love never fails and He is always for us.  Muriel saw a vision of  ‘Sleeping Beauty’ who was trapped by the wicked witch. She slept until the Prince came and kissed her back to life. We were exhorted to allow God to kiss us back to life. Sometimes we have a film over our eyes and do not see with His eyes. He wants to come and embrace us until His face is all we see. Wes also pointed out a party balloon that was on the ceiling. He told us that God wants to take the ceiling off so that we can rise up with joy!! We allowed God to kiss us and we danced with joy through a fire tunnel and enjoyed splashing and playing in His presence.

Sharron shared what God had put on her heart this week from Genesis 49:22; a prophetic blessing over Joseph from his father – which we can step into under the New Covenant, as part of our Father’s Blessing.

“Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall.”

The teaching was that a bough is not like a branch that can break easily. It is thick and stable. Joseph was a fruitful bough and stayed faithful to God throughout the years of captivity. At the right time, God brought him into freedom and raised him up into a place of great authority. He was second only to the King of Egypt. He was commissioned to organise the grain of the land into the storehouses throughout the 4 -7 bountiful years of harvest. This was so that there would be enough grain in the barren years to feed everyone in the land. Joseph could supply because even though he was initially rejected, he trusted God and stayed close to Him. He was faithful and stayed by the well of grace and drank, with joy. He was not a spindly twig but a strong fruitful bough. We are encouraged to close our eyes and imagine carrying the weight of Egypt on our shoulders. Daunting isn’t it? Joseph could do this because he stayed faithful throughout the years of trial. He had a wall in front of him but raised his eyes up, and over the wall to look beyond his present circumstances.

Fruitful means bountiful, liberal, prolific, full. If our ministry has been rejected we may become discouraged, but if we have fruit then even those who have rejected us in the past will come to us when they are hungry, as they did for Joseph.

John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name He may give you”

A well is a drinking place of refreshment, saturation and deep drinking. We must let down our bucket and draw up the water that is always clean and pure. Drink by faith. This is an act and something is happening! Soaking is tuning into the Spirit realm by meditating on God’s word. Joy goes with drinking.

Isaiah 12:3 – ‘Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation’.

Our Father is committed to giving us water: Isaiah 41:17, John 7:37, Psalm 1:2-3, Psalm 87:7

Do we see walls in our lives that we can’t see over? Joseph was thrown into a  pit, and experienced prison through Potiphar’s wife lying about him Genesis 37:18. Yet he grew taller and his fruitful bough grew over the wall! The bough stretched across the wall so completely into new territory. He became the head and not the tail.

“The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, Deuteronomy 28:13

Sharron shared how she looked over her wall and saw an orchard with fruit all over the ground. The gardener was picking up all the fruit and storing it away in a dark shed until it was the right time to give it to others. Another time, when she looked, she saw a mighty lion and he shook his mane and all the fruit fell off the trees. We were exhorted to too over our own walls and see what we could see.

One testimony from Maggie was:
“I saw kids playing freely without a care and then Jesus walked into the garden carrying lots of candy sticks and the children rushed up to him and took them with such joy and he was so happy to give them away – there was no standing on ceremony asking politely – the children just took them AND HE WAS HAPPY THAT THEY DID!!! “

The meeting finished with us getting into small groups and praying for one another to drink of the Holy Spirit, and that we would look over our walls and take hold of all that God showed us!