Friday 19 October 2018

Step-In Step-Out in 2018

As we have sought the Lord for 2018 as a core leadership team at LNC, we have felt God speaking to us about His presence. We are to ‘step in’ to His presence and then from being empowered and built up in His presence we are to ‘step out’ as His ambassadors to touch lives around us. As we experience Jesus in His power and presence we have the scent of Him on us and His presence changes everyone it meets.

How do we step into the presence of God and step out empowered? 

As a young man I prayed without power. Then one day someone showed me how to give my life to the Lord. Although I knew I was forgiven I didn’t know Jesus power to overcome sin. Then I learnt about the Holy Spirit:

Acts 1: 8 – ‘You Shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses…’ This totally transformed my life:

I couldn’t help but live for Jesus – I loved his presence and would spend hours with Jesus in prayer, praise, thanks, intercession, tears and laughter,
I couldn’t help but obey his Word to me. Everything He said seemed so clear and powerful and I didn’t want to let Him down.
I found him releasing me from impurities as a teenager and literally felt unclean things leaving me.
I found a new boldness to share the gospel and saw my brothers, sister, mum, gangs at school and teenage girls and boys as well as the dying come to know the Lord.
Again, myself along with others saw the sick healed.

So how can we step into the presence of God and stay there each day in 2018?

1) By Faith – 2 Corinthians 5: 7 – ‘For we walk by faith not by sight’. How does faith come? By hearing God’s word. Hearing God’s rhema (creative word). Spend time this year based in Scripture. Listen to God every day. Meditate on His Word every day. Sometimes it will seem dry, but it is food to your inner most parts. Ps. 119: 11 says ‘Thy word have I hidden in my

heart that I may not sin against you’. Ps. 119: 130 ‘The entrance of your word gives light, it gives understanding to the simple.’ When you meditate on the Word even for 10 minutes a day you will find that it will empower you from the inside out and clear your mind and transform your thinking. You will make decisions bathed in God’s presence and will.

2) Make it your ambition to please the Lord – 2 Corinthians 5: 9 – 10 – Realise you have a purpose on the earth and a destiny to fulfil. Every day have the attitude that you are going to find out and fulfil a little bit more of that purpose that God has for you today. Consider that we must all appear before Christ and give an account. Although, we know we are saved by grace (thank God), but it will be great to stand before Jesus having fulfilled our purpose on the earth. Don’t let any fear of other’s opinions stop you fulfilling your destiny. It is Christ you will ultimately account to.

3) Let the Love of Christ control you – 2 Corinthians 5: 14 – You see God is love and he has demonstrated unconditional love ultimately in Christ dying in our place. We love because God first loved us (1 John 4: 19). In my life I have found myself empowered to love others because I know how much I am loved by the Father. It has helped me to love guys on the streets that no one else cared for and weep for them and see them come to know Jesus. Always remember to love and forgiven others – whether family or enemies. Step out as an ambassador of God’s powerful love.

4) See things from God’s perspective in the spirit – 2 Cor 5: 15 – 17 – People are either in Christ or not. He died for them all. We should now recognise people the way Christ recognises them. That includes ourselves as new creations, our brothers and sisters as new
creations. And the ultimate need of someone who doesn’t yet know Christ as the need to be a new creation. We can help improve someone’s habits, education or wealth but ultimately, they need Christ’s life-giving presence inside them to really live life to the full.

5) See yourself as an ambassador of Christ with a message – 2 Cor 5: 18 – 21 – You have had the word of reconciliation placed in you. The New Age Movement and people in general are trying to bring the message of hope and positivity without Christ. But it only makes sense in Christ. He loves you. ‘He became sin ….so that you might be made the righteousness of God in Christ’. We are carriers of His presence and ambassadors of that Good News. ‘God is not holding your wrongs against you’. 

It’s time to be presence-based ambassadors this year! ‘Step-in’ to His presence! ‘Step-out’ empowered to touch lives and see them transformed!

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