Journey of Reconciliation

Glory to God!

As we enter the last week of our 21 day fast and our 180 days of prayer for 180° reversal, we are seeing God do wonderful things among us. Relationships are being strengthened, faith, hope and love are renewed and a general excitement and expectation is rising in our hearts. God is taking us deeper in worship and in His Word and giving us a clearer vision of what is on His heart for us as His people.

The word God has given us for this year is Reconcile! Consequently, through the messages given on Sundays and the daily devotional Richard has been sending the church, we are seeing how God is unpacking what His word to us means and how He wants us to put it into action.

Two Sundays ago, Alexander shared a message entitled, "Don't allow unforgiveness to block your destiny!" Looking at the life of Jacob, Alexander showed us key lessons on reconciliation that Jacob had to learn before being able to enter God's promises for his life. We noted that Jacob had to be reconciled to Laban, to God and to his brother Esau before he could take hold of God's destiny for his life. As we studied Jacob's life, we learned the following principles; that even though we may have received a Word from God, our relationships are important to God; that in conflict situations, mutual respect must be shown; that there needs to be mutual agreement as to a way forward; that it is important to see things from the other person's perspective; that one should not ignore the facts; and  that we need to trust in God's wisdom and not our own.

Yesterday's meeting was significant! Already during our pre-service prayer we sensed God take hold of us and the meeting. Consequently, during worship we made a lot of room for God to lead us and He certainly did. The Lord was already touching hearts as He drew us closer and closer to Him in preparation for the Word He had prepared for us. Frances then shared a message entitled, "The heart of reconciliation" in which she showed us the Father's heart of reconciliation and how He wants His people to carry the same heart towards one another. In order to have a heart of reconciliation, Frances shared her own experience and very powerful and practical steps to help us on the journey of reconciliation. Looking at the example of how the Father reconciles us to Himself, Frances explained that each of us needs to take responsibility for his own behaviour (Col 3:13; Mt 5:23,24; Lk 15:11-32); that we need to take initiative (Rom 5:8); that we need to be kind and compassionate (Eph 4:32; Rom 2:4); that we should go the extra mile (Mt 5:38-42); that we should keep no record of wrongs and that we need to release blessing (1 Cor 13:5; Ps 103:12; Lk 15). In response, we were invited to decide whether we wanted to go on this journey of reconciliation and had a very powerful and intimate time of prayer as the Father ministered to us.

Upcoming Events

13.01 - 02.02: 21 days of prayer and fasting
29.01: KLF prayer meeting at 19:30 at Alt-Hausen 34
29.02: Paint and praise workshop
25.04: Seminar with Alexander Blair 
07.06: Baptismal service at 11:00
21.07: Joint summer celebration with CZF and Quelle des Lebens

Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

Reconcile!

Glory to God!

We praise God for His faithfulness to us in 2019 and we are excited about what the Lord is already doing among us and showing us for 2020! The word the Lord has given our KLF leaders for 2020 is RECONCILE! We believe the Lord is calling us to be reconciled to Him, to one another and for us to help the Lost be reconciled to God. This is very much in line with our overall vision to reach up, reach in and reach out as we live the Kingdom life. In order to understand God's heart and His reconciliatory purposes in Christ, Richard reminded us and encouraged us to read Psalm 122 and to ask the Lord for revelation of its significance as a prophetic description of the New Jerusalem (see Rev 21), its significance for us today and where God has placed us and for its significance for the people at the time it was written. As part of our 180 days of prayer for 180° reversal and our 21 days of prayer and fasting, Richard is sending a daily devotional to encourage us to pray and to be transformed by God's truth. You can receive the daily devotional on request to pastor@kingdomlife-frankfurt.com.

In preparation for our 21 days of prayer and fasting from the 13th January to 2nd February, Richard shared a message on Sunday entitled, "Being satisfied in God." Exposing the worldly view and lie that only the new satisfies, Richard showed us how we can lose our excitement and enthusiasm in our relationship with God, the Church and others when we stop appreciating what we have; when we imagine the grass to be greener on the other side; when we stop doing the things we did at first; when we disconnect ourselves and when we look to other things to be satisfied. In order to avoid becoming familiar and dissatisfied, Richard encouraged us to be thankful (Col 3:15-17); to keep the one thing the main thing (Ps 27:4; Mat 13:44-46; Phil 3:13,14); to do the things we did at first (Rev 2:4,5); to remain in Jerusalem during the night (Neh 4:22,23; 2 Pet 1:19) and not to fill ourselves with worldly things but to be satisfied with God (Ps 63:4,5). Richard encouraged us to fast in order to challenge our affections and to renew our devotion to God because He longs for us (SS 2:14); we are precious to Him (Ps 139:17,18); He wants to make His love known to us (Jn 17:26); He is faithful even we are not (2 Tim 2:13) and nothing can separate us from His love (Rom 8:37-39). We are excited about our corporate fast and expect these 21 days to be a significant and powerful time with God!

At the beginning of the year, Alexander spoke to us about "Being positioned for favour." Looking at Esther 5:1&2, Alex showed us that it is important that we understand God's timing. As we considered the significance of "the third day" we noted that it is God's timing for favour, fruitfulness (Gen 1:9-13), clarity, fulfilment of dreams (Gen 41), resurrection, restoration and healing (Lk 24:46). Alex showed us that just as Esther was properly dressed in her royal attire, so we must realise that being clothed in Christ means walking in His righteousness and authority as well as being clothed with garments of praise (Is 61:10; Ps 67:5-7). Esther aligned herself to receive favour from the king. Similarly, we are called to position ourselves for favour as we seek the Lord's attention and release heaven on earth.

At the end of 2019, we had a lot of fun as Richard organised a spontaneous play that we performed in the service. Going through 2 Kings 7:1-20, we enacted the story as people played the various characters mentioned in the account. Apart from enjoying discovering hidden talents in our midst, we were excited by the message God was giving us of "Plundering the enemy's camp" in 2020! Richard encouraged us to stand in the finished work of Christ and to take back what the enemy has stolen as we do the works that Jesus did when He came to destroy the devil's work (1 Jn 3:8)! Hallelujah!

Over 40 people gathered for our Christmas Eve service in our new premises in Frankfurt-Hausen for fellowship, worship and a reflection on the significance of the gifts that the three wise men brought Jesus (Mt 2). In his message, Richard shared how the greatest honour we can give someone is to seek to be a reflection of the person we worship. Seeing how the three gifts, gold, myrrh and incense reflected Christ's identity as King, Priest and Sacrifice, Richard encouraged us to see how we honour the Lord in being like Him as kings, priests and holy sacrifices (Rom 12:1; 1 Peter 2:9,10).

In his message on the Sunday before Christmas, Richard spoke to us about Jesus as "The Light of life." Looking at John 1:1-18, we saw that just as Jesus came to his own, full of grace and truth from the Father's side to reveal the Father, and to impart life as He made His dwelling among us, so God's children are called to be like Him. Richard showed us that as we dwell in Christ, in intimate union with the Father, we can make Him known and impart life wherever we are. Richard challenged us not to be a sub-culture like a light shop, but to be life-giving light in the world as we do the works Christ that will cause people to praise our Father in heaven (Mat 5:14-16).

Upcoming Events

13.01-02.02: 21 days of prayer and fasting
14.01 at 19:30: Joint worship evening with YWAM, Frankfurt Betet and KLF at Salzschlirferstr.15.
15.01 at 19:30: Joint prayer evening with CZF, Quelle des Lebens and KLF at Salzschlirferstr.15.