Chapter 4: Carry Me

Hey again. The blog returns. I told you it would.

This blog isn't about doing a message before breaches or even a record of the events that took place. This blog is, as best possible, the attitude and direction that God is taking us captured in but a few paragraphs every time there is a significant encounter between God and us. None more memorable so far than last friday and this monday. Two events won't be forgotten by those who were.

For whatever reason, we had a difficult time arranging a band for The Service, and so we decided this could be an opportunity for God to do youth - rather than our methods and schedules getting in the way. So we decided that we'd pull it all back to an acoustic guitar, a game and some chilled out talking about our walks with God.

God turned up.

The worship songs we'd planned and the structure of the evening sort of changed the moment we started to worship God. Instead of a message I'd planned, I felt God was leading us down a path that told us - He loved us and He wanted us to connect with Him in a new way.
We talked about the new creation we were each becoming as we let go of us and grabbed ahold of Him (2 Corinithians 5:17-20).
The song that echoed through the night was Carry Me. And this flowed through to the prayer meeting on Monday.

I truely believe that this new direction and fresh perspective is flowing from our complete abandonment unto God. as we remove ourselves from our situations, our pride, even our success's - I am starting to see what happens. God takes over. And when that happens, we we say "we can't do this on our own" and actually allow Him to carry us through - that's when our lives start to change for the better. But more than that, like it says in James 1 - God does a perfect work in us. We become more complete.

So if someone came up to me and asked what God did on those two nights. I'd have to say - He did something new. He stopped everything. In our lives and in that meeting. And picked up the pieces to put them together into something greater than we've ever seen. God has started the inner work in each of our lives. It's undenyable. It's becoming apparent. And I wouldn't miss it for anything.

Truth be told, there have already been stories and testimonies from the events that have taken place in this season and I want to hear them - more than that though, your world needs to hear them. I encourage you to post them after this blog, just click post comment and talk about what God is doing in your life now. Coz this isn't about me. It isn't even just about Devoted. This is about The Church of the Living God and what happens when you're a part of what Jesus is doing in it.

Love you all. Post your story.

A moment in time

This blog isn't over :)
I just don't want to write it half-heartedly :)
Prepare for an update soon.


Next chapter: Carry Me.

Chapter 3: Imagine.

Awooohooo it's Friday...

It's become an excitement and a highlight of the week, to write in this blog, and so for me, it is with a great sense of anticipation I continue writing this blog. And this entry is where it turns practical. We were at the stage where God was telling us where He wanted to work on us and how He wanted to move us forward, and now we are at the stage of starting to see fruit.


At the prayer meeting this week, we prayed for purpose and that the Holy Spirit would identify the things that are holding us back, so we can remove them and then lay hold of what God is drawing us towards. It was an incredible prayer meeting that resulted in us eventually praying for the direction of the church, God's plan for The Church and how it will look for us. It came to a point where all of us were picturing the things that we want to see. From friends and family coming to the church, to healing of sickness right through to the image of the multitudes waiting for church to start. For me, I saw the church dictating the culture of the world around us. We will be the best, the wisest and the most reliable people in the world and as a result, we shall be the ones the world turn to...

All these things are not without purpose, for we know that God is a creative God, creating an entire universe in under a week. I believe those pictures will be instrumental in seeing those things come to pass. None more than others, every heart-felt cry and every tiny request is more than enough for God to move and as we picture them coming to pass, we actually engage our expectancy and our faith levels. When we picture these things, we ultimately imagine them into existence. You may think this is unusual, but since Monday I have been told that at least one of these images has come to pass. Check out the story at The Service tonight, or if you're reading this port-service, grab ahold of the podcast....


This isn't a new principle that God is just introducing. God has been using this for generations. Right back in Genesis we can see God working through the imagination of Abraham.

Genesis 15:4-6 (New International Version)

⁵ He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be."
⁶ Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

God is doing some thing new. Something fresh. And the beauty of it is that I'm a part of it. You're a part of it. And it's the Church. Not just our church, but every church, as one... The Church of the Living God. Prepare for something massive, so big that is may be difficult to imagine it. Now push yourself to imagine it and ask the Holy Spirit to help you. See it. Believe it. This is the season. Now is the time.

Love yas. x

Chapter 2: Never 'another week'

Hey all!!

Hope you've had a chance to read and listen to the way Devoted is going over the next few months. I've had great feedback from the blog so I'm excited to write this next chapter. The truth is that as we move into this new season, God is revealing new twists and turns that bring more blessing, hope and more importantly, opportunity to grow even more.


I think it would be easy for us to see this growth and development as a corporate thing and remove ourselves from the challenge set before us, but just as it is with money (when you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves...), as we look at our own walk with God, Devoted will develop on it's own. I feel I could write be writing many verses during the course of this blog but in reality, I never want to steer too far from the verses in the last chapter. Psalm 1: 1-3. And today, this week, or whenever you read this, I want to focus on verse 2. I want to bring a revelation that hit me this week and it may get more intense before it gets smiley and wonderful, so stick this chapter through and hear it in the love and compassion it was written in.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,                                                                                                               
And in His law he meditates day and night.                                                                                                                  

This verse isn't talking about religiously dwelling over things we have done well or regretting over the things we have messed up on, it is saying that when we plant ourselves in God, it is a "delight" is following in the direction that God takes us in. So to take it into the context of this season, I believe that it is the individual that will make the difference and the individual relationships that we have with God that will push us further together. Because we won't always be in a meeting, but we will always be living our everyday lives and we will be having an everyday relationship with our everything, Jesus.

 Take the way we act when we come into a meeting. Are we excited to be there? Or will we 'get in the mood once there'? The reality of it is that we need to be bringing a spark in a gas filled room when we walk into THE SERVICE or CHURCH and not so much a dead fish being slapped onto a cold slate. No-one appreciates that. I'm just as guilty of anyone of this; but I can tell you this much. If you aren't getting what you want or need out of church. It's so very rarely the church. It's your expectancy level. The Bible talks of the way we act in Revelation 3:15... and it's not a particularly fantastic thought, that when we have an apathetic approach to CHURCH and our relationship with God, He wants to vomit us out...

 The Bible is the ultimate in encouragement and guidance and God doesn't put this challenge to us empty handed. When He directed these verses at the church in Sardis through John's writing, He continues by saying this in verse 20;

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and  dine with him, and he with Me.                                                                                                                          

It's not an un-returnable situation and it's not a difficult thing to overcome. The truth is this, Jesus eagerly awaits for you to let Him back into your life completely. And as you do, He will enter in and bring all joy, peace and restoration where there was none. He wants us to rest in Him. Read the last few verses of the chapter, after verse 20 to see the true rewards of overcoming the things that make us 'lukewarm'.
As we return to Him and return to the quiet place. At home. On our journeys. Wherever we are, we will suddenly become that spark in a gas-filled room. Don't get apathetic and don't let this season pass you by, for we can be all that we can be in the days that follow.
Imagine a church that is made up of believers with uncountable stories and testimonies of what God has done in their lives every week.
Imagine the church that doesn't need to pump people up at the start of the meetings because the church is already pumped.
Imagine the church that is full of uncompromising, spirit-led people that refuse to settle for second best and pursue God with everything all week long.
Be encouraged, if you can imagine it - God can do it.
Let your imagination dwell on this verse, Psalm 92:13

13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD                                                                                                     
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.                                                                                                               
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;                                                                                                               
They shall be fresh and flourishing,                                                                                                                                     
15 To declare that the LORD is upright;                                                                                                               
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.                                                                                                                             

Chapter 1: This New Season

HEY DEVOTED!

This is the first post of many in a blog that will record the new season that we are in. Why am I logging it online? Because sometimes there won't be Services and there won't be Prayer Meetings and there won't be Bloc'ed's but God still speaks to us. And I wanted a place to log what God is saying to us and people's experiences along the way. Feel free to reply to these posts and add your say to what God is doing at the moment...

I used to keep a blog, so try and stick with me until I find my feet again in all things 'blog'. But don't think for a second this is about me, coz it's not. This is about the God one and only, who is at work in my life and at work in Devoted's life even now.I refuse to let this season pass without coming out the other side changed and even more in love with the Saviour who desires us more than we can imagine. And that brings me to the subject of this blog.

THE SEASON OF FRESH PERSPECTIVE - Psalm 1:1-3

It all started at the prayer meeting on the last day of August 09. What was seemingly an average prayer meeting with an ounce of expectancy turned into a full-on encounter with God. Over the last month, there has been an emphasis in my life on what God wants to do with my relationship with Him. And I believe that is every bit as relevant for Devoted as it is for me. More importantly, in that prayer meeting, as we put aside our plans and our thoughts for this next season and surrendered it to Him, He was evidently ready to meet us where we were. It seemed like the words "I've been waiting for you, let's do it..." echoed through our hearts. We prayed for Him to take hold of our lives, our worlds and who we are so that He could work through us and so that we could see something new and something so undeniably miraculous to take place in us and the world we interact with.

So what is this 'season of fresh perspective'? Well, in it's simplest form it is Psalm 1:1-3.

  ¹ Blessed is the man

         Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

         Nor stands in the path of sinners,

         Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

 ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,

         And in His law he meditates day and night.

 ³ He shall be like a tree

         Planted by the rivers of water,

         That brings forth its fruit in its season,

         Whose leaf also shall not wither;

         And whatever he does shall prosper. 

This is a season like no other. A season in which we will push away the things that are holding us back and "delight" in the things God has given us to do. And as it says in verse 3, we shall be like trees, planted by the rivers of water and which bring forth fruit in it's season.

I encourage you, young person, to get involved and plugged into this. With a 1 Timothy 4: 14-16 mentality, give yourself entirely to things that God has placed on your life and see what He will do as a result. 

I refuse to be left the same. If you trust God and take action on His word, then I believe you too will grow and develop further than you could ever imagine in this season.
Try it and find out.

Love you all so much.
Stephen :)