EPHESIANS 3 RELOADED

This is real stuff you know. It is so real to me that I was willing to take prison for it, even take a bullet for it if I have to. It is my mission to make God’s mysteries known, plain and simple, accessible to everyone. In case you hadn’t figured it out yet – God has a plan! In the past it was hidden like a treasure in the deepest sea, but now it is now being shown to you, clear as crystal.

The plan is this: Everyone gets the chance to be one of God’s children. Everyone gets an equal share in the inheritance –the good stuff usually reserved for the posh or the privileged. If we were God’s body, then every part would be connected together, legs, arms and all, because we are connected to Jesus by the heart.

I tell you what, I feel like the luckiest guy in the world, because I get to spread this good news everywhere! I absolutely love telling you about the endless possibilities that exist for you, now you have Jesus in your life. It feels like I have been let in on an awesome secret, and I can finally let it out!

God wants to show you off to the world, together with all his other children. Some people will call you “church”, others will simply call you “family”. But everyone will see how special God is, because of how special he has made you. Even the angels, demons and the things you can’t even see with your eyes, will not believe their eyes, when they see how loving and wise God has been with you.

So come on, don’t worry, step right up and come on in – God has a warm welcome for you, right now. You can be close to God anytime you want, that’s exactly why Jesus died for you!

Excuse me, but I am about to go nuts again. It just gets better and better. I can’t even stand up anymore when I really think about it. I simply have to fall to my knees and pray. But I don’t pray for myself, I always pray for you. I pray you will be super strong on the inside, when you realise how strong and powerful God is. I pray Jesus will feel completely at home in your life – with every room in your heart clean and ready to be occupied by God.

But most of all I pray you will get it into your head and your heart, just how loved you are. I pray you will understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. Let yourself sink into that love, lose yourself completely in something that you will never fully understand, but will spend eternity enjoying and experiencing forever. Lots of people in this world want to be powerful, but I know you just want to be loved. And this love will help you see how much power that there truly is. It is a power, just waiting to be used for the good of everyone; by the person who has figured out that God thinks they are amazing.

I think it is time to take a moment again to say just how brilliant God is. He is amazing, and his power in our lives will take us in new directions, give us new ideas and help us succeed in new ways of living that we could never have asked for or even dared to dream about in and beyond our wildest imagination. God rocks!

EPHESIANS 2 RELOADED

Let’s think for a minute about the ways things used to be. In the past you were totally switched off to God and you were controlled by anything and everything around you. You always went with the crowd. You never went against the flow because you were so scared inside.If you are honest, you were pretty selfish and thought only about yourself. It didn’t matter about anyone else and because of your wrong thoughts, actions and choices you made a right mess of your life.

This mess should have meant that God would look at you and be mad. He should have been disappointed and you should have been ashamed. But it wasn’t like that at all. Even though you were broken inside, it was God’s amazing love that fixed you right up. We deserved the worse, but God has given us the best instead. It is as if we were dead and God has given us the kiss of life.But it doesn’t end there! God loved us just the way we are.

But he didn’t leave us that way.

He pulled us out of our mess, cleaned us up and his love made us feel so high that we could never ever stoop down low again. He did this because he wanted to show the whole world how kind he really was. The real point is this. God has done all this – not you. You didn’t earn this one bit, so you shouldn’t ever be prideful, but you can always be thankful. We simply need to be grateful that God has made us such a masterpiece. Your life is like a work of art, and all the good things you will do will help paint an amazing picture for the world to see how great our God really is.

Some people think they are better than others. Some people think that if they try harder God will love them more. But the truth is that we are all the same. We all messed up and we all need God’s love to bring us close to God. Do you really think you are good enough to do it on your own? No matter how good or how bad we try– it all comes back to God’s efforts, not ours. The wonder of it all is that it doesn’t matter if you are short, tall, fat, thin, black or white – all of us have a chance to know God as a Father. We can all be close to God.

If you have ever felt excluded, insignificant or insecure then now is the time to realise that you have been included in something amazing. You are not alone anymore. You are like a piece in a puzzle. You are like a brick in a house. And this is a house that God lives in, a house where you can experience true family life, and a place you can feel at home.

EPHESIANS 1 RELOADED

My name is Paul and God thought it would be a good idea for me to write to everyone who calls themselves a Christian and remind them about how great it is to know that God loves us like a Father. In a world that sometimes feels so unsafe, this can help you and I to be at peace.

I don’t know if you realise this, but we have a Father in heaven who has given us so many good things, it is a bit like being given a blank cheque and told to write in any amount we need, any time we need it.

What kind of good things has God given us? Well, first of all he has created you and given you life. You are alive! God designed you and me from the very beginning of time, even before he sat down to decide what the world would be like. Before any trees, rivers or mountains, God thought about you. And he loved you then like he loves you now.

And God didn’t stop there. When God made you, he didn’t just want you to be his friend. He wanted you to be his Child. What would it be like to get a completely fresh start, to be able to start again, like the whole world was made new? This is the kind of forgiveness God offers us when we trust in what Jesus has done.

Because of what Jesus has done on the cross, God has made a way for you to be his special child, perfect in his eyes – totally forgiven and totally free. You are all his number one kid!

God’s generosity is something we don’t deserve at all, but he gives it to us anyway. It is God’s cleverness, not our own, which helps point us in the right direction. All you have to do is trust Him.

God has had a master plan right from the start and he really wants to share it with you. He doesn’t want his plan to be a mystery to you any longer. If you want to know what your life is all about, where you came from and where you are going, then concentrate on Jesus.

Everything you need to know about life can be found in him. Everything that happened in history and everything that will happen in the future will all focus on Jesus. Jesus will transform everything for the better.

There are good plans that God has for this world and there are good plans he has for you. You are not a mistake. You are not an accident. You are not some helpless, worthless, insignificant dot floating through life. You are chosen by God. You were chosen for a purpose. You were born to be part of something bigger than yourself.

When you prayed and asked God to come into your life, it was for so much more than just so you could get into heaven when you die and feel a bit happier while you live. God chose you as his child, so he could work with you to help you change your world for the better.

How do you know if you are a child of God? It is about not the way you look, or who your family are, or where you live or even how many good things you have done. The proof that you belong to him is when God gives you his Holy Spirit as a guide in life. The Holy Spirit is like a gift that will bring peace instead of fear and joy instead of sadness. All you have to do is ask for it.

The more I think about what God has done for you, the more excited I become. I have been praying for you loads and asking that God would help you know God better for yourself. I have been praying that you would realise the truth about what God has created you to be. I pray you will understand just how much power God has given you to be able to do everything that you need to do in life.

If you are worrying that God may not be powerful enough to change your situation, then remember that Jesus was actually dead, and God was strong enough to bring him back to life. And not only did Jesus come back to life, but he is no longer the underdog, he is the president of the universe. Now Jesus is in charge of everything and nothing can ever challenge his title as ruler of the world. So remember – this mighty strength that God has, can also make you strong too. His power is big and God doesn’t keep it to himself. My prayer is that you will begin to believe how great this power really is for your life today.

Everyone in the church can share in God’s power because Jesus really is in control of what is going on in the world, even if it doesn’t always seem that way. We simply need to trust God that everything is going to be ok.

The Welsh Revival Pt 5: A River Runs Through It

This account comes from Lester Sumrall's book - Pioneers of Faith. Sumrall relates how he met Smith Wigglesworth during the dark days of World War II and gives the following account about a vision of Revival Wigglesworth was given by God:

"... Shutting his eyes again, he said, 'I see the greatest revival in the history of mankind coming to Planet earth, maybe as never before. And I see every form of disease healed. I see whole hospitals emptied with no one there. Even the doctors are running down the streets shouting.'

"He told me that there would be untold numbers of uncountable multitudes that would be saved. No man will say 'so many, so many,' because nobody will be able to count those who come to Jesus. No disease will be able to stand before God's people... 'It will be a worldwide situation, not local,' he said, 'a worldwide thrust of God's power and God's anointing upon mankind.'

"Then he opened his eyes and looked at me and said, 'I will not see it, but you shall see it. The Lord says that I must go on to my reward, but that you will see the mighty works that He will do upon the earth in the last days.'

"... The idea that I would get to see this revival was almost overwhelming. And in the last decade or so, I believe we have seen this revival begin to sweep the earth. We have seen amazing moves of God in Africa... Recently, I was in China and met with the underground church. I was told there are at least forty-five million Full Gospel Christians in China. I discovered a depth of prayer and integrity there that I have not felt anywhere else in the world... So I believe we are seeing Wigglesworth's prophecy begin to be fulfilled. We are seeing the first stages of it."

Or as my welsh friend so aptly put...

"No matter how bleak it looks, when the time is right, the tide HAS to come back in. It is inevitable..."

The Welsh Revival Pt 4: The Tide Is Turning

"I see the greatest revival in the history of mankind coming to Planet earth, maybe as never before.." Smith Wigglesworth

The River Loughor sits just behind Loughor village and next to the Pits where Evan Roberts regularly worked as a child.

This area of the Bristol Channel has the second highest tidal range in the world (the first is in New Foundland). However when the tide is out, the picture of barreness is striking. The lack of water leaves vast areas of rocky, muddy desolation, with nothing but a few quiet streams trying desperately not to dry up in the bleakness.

As we looked out over this river, with revival and restoration on my mind, I was reminded of the desolation I see in my generation today. Millions of hurting, lost, broken people, desperate for an answer and escape from their dry lives. Thousands of children growing up in broken homes, with no hope of an answer. Myriads of teenagers left barren and empty due to alcohol, drugs and abuse. The list of problems is endless and the scale of the bleakness overwhelming. Nations oppressed by a Devil they no longer believe exists.

It was whilst looking at this bereft but beautiful coastal scene that our guide began to share a vision he had of the turning tide in Britain. He said something like this...

"This tidal range in Loughor is the second highest tidal range in the world. And so too was the Welsh Revival, part of the second highest wave of God to hit the nations in the 20th Century. But look again at the desolation you see around you.. Because the tide that is to come will be bigger and greater than the all the ones that have gone before. The tide will sweep away the barreness and restore life to the wasteland. For no matter how bleak it looks, when the time is right, the tide HAS to come back in. It is inevitable..."

The greatest challenge of the aspiring revivalist is choosing what we focus on. Do we look to the desolation or do we begin to wait expectantly for the river to flow afresh... Look at the small stream in the middle of the desert land... are you ready for it to burst out? Isaiah 35 puts it like this...

"Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert."

The Welsh Revival Pt 3: The End Of The Affair?

This Visitor's Book from Moriah Chapel unexpectedly held one of the most exciting secrets of the Welsh Revival and perhaps the most enduring image of my personal visit to Loughor... You will soon see why.

The Revival storm that hit the hills and valleys of Wales in the dying months of 1904 soon became a hurricane that affected the world. Visitors from France, Turkey, the U.S, to name but a few came to visit and as they caught the flame they passed it on to new countries. Welsh communities throughout the world felt the effects and news of God’s powerful work soon had many other churches praying that God would visit then as well – the Khasia Hills in India being a perfect example of prayer answered. The public excitement of the local Revival had died down by 1906 - Evan Roberts went to Leicester to recuperate – the newspapers went back to politics and other things but for many, the honeymoon of these 2 years developed into a lasting and loving relationship with a risen Christ that continued a lifetime.

"When someone asked one elderly Revival convert some years ago as to whether the Revival stopped in 1906, she answered – it is still burning within my heart – it’s never been extinguished – it had burned for over 70 years..."

Herein lies the great secret of the Welsh Revival, which was revealed to me afresh as I scoured the pages of the latest jam packed Chapel Visitors Book. All over the pages were personal hand written prayers of hope and fire, written in almost every language ... from Chinese to Arabic, these words expressed an ongoing burning desire and passionate prayer of Christians, crying out for God to move afresh today.

What is the secret? It never stopped. It never stopped. IT NEVER STOPPED!!! Millions of hearts are still burning today because of what happened in 1904. Yes, the chapels of South Wales grew cold and the light of Roberts was forgotten across the valleys. But yes it will return again. Because across the nations... the light was just beginning to shine. From Khasia Hills to Beverley Hills, the ongoing fire of God's spirit has burnt brightly ever since.

The simple truth is that it was PENTECOST that gave us the Welsh Revival not Evan Roberts. It was PENTECOST that gave us Asuza Street in 1906, and PENTECOST that has sparked the seeds of the greatest revival the world has ever known brewing throughout the 20th Century. It began with Pentecost and it will end with Christ's return... And maybe, just maybe, you and I will be graciously allowed to see it in our lifetime. Maybe we can be part of the river. If we are willing to get ourselves wet. The Welsh Revival was a snapshot... the best is yet to come... and indeed, if you are willing to flick through the pages of an insignificant visitors book, in a cold empty chapel, at the edge of the valleys, you may just find it has already begun...

The Welsh Revival Pt 2: Beyond The Chapel...

Real people were changed in so many ways during the Welsh Revival.

The waves of reviving power reached way beyond the walls of the chapel... There were hard to reach, tough nosed locals impacted by Jesus. Men from the pits who did not take lightly to religion, brought to tears and repentance by the surprising presence of God.

There was a landslide of "goodness" all across the valleys because of the prayer, worship and evangelism of those who were gripped by God. Colliers and tin-men of the working classes expressed their joy in so many ways – so many original prayers. The coal pits themselves became chapels of Grace.

The crime rate dropped, drunkards were reformed, and pubs reported losses in trade. Bad language disappeared and never returned to the lips of many – it was reported that the pit ponies failed to understand their born again colliers who seemed to speak the new language of Zion – without curse and blasphemy – even football and rugby became uninteresting in the light of new joy and direction received by the Converts.

"Families were made whole again as fathers, who were once more concerned with drinking and violence, returned to take their place at the family table."

Why not take a minute to think about what Revival would look like in your town, in your workplace and in your family. How will the hard to reach people in your land, be transformed forever? How can the darkest of places, become chapels of Grace?

What will the landslide of Goodness look like for you?