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