Living in the Fear of the Lord

Glory to God!

The Lord is continuing to rebuild, restore and renew us. He is dealing with KLF on a foundational level to help us identify what our true convictions are.

Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about how He created man to know Him and to be continuously aware of His presence and how, as a consequence of the Fall, man became self-conscious rather than God-conscious (Gen. 3:6-11). Jesus came to restore man's awareness of God so that he would live in reverent consciousness of God (Eph. 2:13). This reverent consciousness of God is the fear of the Lord that marks the people of God who no longer live for themselves but for God (2 Cor. 5:15).

The essential conviction of every true believer must be that God exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Heb. 11:6). To acknowledge that God exists and to honour His presence continuously is to live in the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:1-3; Prov. 3:5-10). The early Church lived in the fear of the Lord and therefore witnessed the revelation of God's presence - His glory (Acts 2:43; 9:31).

After God's Word to us we spent time in the Lord's presence and we gave Him room to manifest His presence in us and with us. We praise God for the work He is doing in us and for the transformation we are experiencing as a result of His presence in our meetings and in our lives. Hallelujah!

Quote of the week:

"The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord - and he will delight in the fear of the Lord." Isaiah 11:2,3

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The power of unity and love!

It has been another exciting week with God! On Saturday a group of us walked the streets of Frankfurt to be available to the Holy Spirit to touch people's lives with God's love and power. We were greatly encouraged as God gave us opportunities to share His compassion with people who were amazingly open to listen to the truth and receive His love through prayer. Glory to God!

Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about the power of unity and how the Church must guard the unity she has in Christ (Eph. 2:15-22) by dealing with conflict in a godly way. The Lord is revealing what His priorities are for us to be able to influence our city and extend His Kingdom. It is only as the Church walks in true unity and love that the world will recognise that we are Jesus' disciples (John 13:35), loved by God and that Jesus was sent by the Father (John 17:23).

Unity and love is the fruit of a Spirit-filled Church!

Quote of the week:

"All the believers were together and had everything in common." Acts 2:44

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Saturated with the Truth

Glory to God!

The Lord is continuing to rebuild, restore and renew us as He is exposing wrong mindsets, attitudes and behaviour in order to rebuild solid and strong foundations into our lives. Through this process, the Lord is moving us out of a place of being ruled, or roaming and moving us into the place of fullness in Him where we are reigning in life (see previous posts).
Yesterday we had a powerful time with God as He showed us the important difference between a "believer" and a disciple. Looking at John 8:28-59, this is what the Lord showed us:

• A believer believes in Jesus and knows what He says.
• A disciple believes Jesus and does what He says.
• Jesus modelled true discipleship as He only spoke and did what the Father told Him. John 8:28,29
• Jesus challenged those who believed in Him by showing them that everyone is mastered by that which s/he is obedient to, whether it be:

1. Sin. John 8:34,35
2. Abraham. John 8:39
3. Satan. John 8:44
4. God. John 8:47,55
5. Jesus. John 8:31, 51

• A true disciple believes Jesus and does what He says.
• Those who hear and don't do, deceive themselves. James 1:22
• The disciple looks intently into the Word to see his spiritual reflection and to be saturated with the Truth so that s/he will naturally overflow with what s/he is filled with! James 1:23-25
• Those who are saturated and overflowing with the Truth are those who receive the Word "with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction" so that their faith becomes visible and known. 1 Thess. 1:4-8
• To be convinced is to be saturated (Greek:plero) with the truth and to bear it continuously (Greek:phoreo).

This Saturday a group of us will be "hitting the streets" of Frankfurt to demonstrate the love of God and to overflow with His Truth.

We are excited about what God is doing with us as He is rebuilding, restoring and renewing us so that we can help others be rebuilt, restored and renewed.

Quote of the week:

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." John 8:31

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He is Risen!

Praise be to our victorious King!

Yesterday we had a great time celebrating the most significant event of all time - Christ's death, buriel and resurrection! Both the cross and the grave are empty but heaven is filled with Christ's glory! Hallelujah!

The Lord spoke to us about "letting go to gain."

1. Jesus let go to gain by not holding on to His exalted position but humbling Himself as a servant even to the point of death on the cross so that He could gain life for all mankind. See Philippians 2:4-11.
2. Jesus taught His disciples the same principle when He told them that unless they let go of their self-life they would not gain eternal life. See Matthew 16:24-26
3. The apostle Paul practised the same principle and describes his attitude toward what he let go of as "dung" compared to what he gained in Christ. See Philippians 3:3-11
4. God honours those who let go of self to gain the Kingdom! See John 12:25,26

The more we let go of our self-life,
the more we will gain Christ's life!

Quote of the week:

"...I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him..." Philippians 3:8,9

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