By: David
When I preached in August, one of the things I said was that, after being pruned, a tree or plant has a season of bulking up, getting ready for the growth that will come. This bulking up is vital as the new growth needs to be established on a stronger, beefed-up root and branch system so that when the new budding and fruiting season comes, the plant can handle the increase in fruit it produces.
We, both individually and corporately, as we stay in the fire, are being beefed-up, or upgraded, by Father God. Our current focus on remaining in the fire demonstrates our willingness and desire to keep the door open to Jesus changing us so that we can remain cutting-edge for God. I believe this Autumn is very much the season for walking even more closely and intentionally with Him, being built up in Him and established even more deeply and securely in our faith. So this Autumn, that is our focus: strengthening ourselves in the Lord. As Paul says in Colossians 2:6-7:
“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.”
This will include:
- Measuring ourselves against the Word and letting Him bring our daily reality up to a new level, for example, learning not to worry, or to pray always, or to give thanks in all things;
- Letting Him unblind our eyes so that He can purify us (refine us in the fire) even more—consideration of habits, our vocabulary, our mindsets, etc.;
- Developing our prayer life—personal intimacy, intercession, warfare, petition, binding and loosing, tongues, etc.;
- Deepening our worship times;
- Increasing our praise warfare.
And more besides! I look forward to hearing how our preaching team will unpack that for us. I expect our new monthly worship time, the 1st Friday of the month, and our monthly Bible study, the 3rd Wednesday of the month, both at 7:30 p.m., will be two new initiatives that can help with that.
I am convinced that the word Mark and Lora Beth brought us back in January about senescence/moulting/letting God purify us is still very much the word for us at this end of the year too. If we will continue to stay in the refining fire of Daddy God’s love for us, we will be ready for Him to use us fully in the spiritual awakening that is coming to the earth soon.
So be encouraged, keep standing firm, keep seeking His face in all things, and we will see God’s calling and purpose of Sanctuary fulfilled in and through us to affect our spheres of influence and Whitley Bay.
I’ve included below some passages (there are many more; these are just a few) for your meditation that I think speak to our Autumn season.With my blessings,
David
Meditation Passages
Zechariah 4:6
‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.
Ephesians 2
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
Romans 12:1-2
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Acts 20:32
“So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
1 Peter 2:5
…you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Kings 20:22
And the prophet came to the king of Israel and said to him, “Go, strengthen yourself; take note, and see what you should do, for in the spring of the year the king of Syria will come up against you.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20
I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:19-22
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.Jeremiah 23:29
“Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”