News: Views

27 Nov

[11-11-08] Update on our 08-09 Goals
We've been pursuing our strategic goals for 08-09 for over two months now, so I thought it would be good to update everyone on how they're going.
[06-10-08] The Ten Commandments
This term we are looking at the Ten Commandments - barely 300 words long in English, yet they form the basis of our legal system, the foundations of our parliament and lie at the core of western civilisation.
[01-10-08] Open Heaven at 15 Years Old: Growing Up
This summer, Open Heaven turned 15 years old.
[26-09-08] Welcome to Loughborough
If you're a fresher (or even someone who's just thinking of coming along to Open Heaven for the first time) we'd like to give you a warm welcome.
[15-09-08] To be Loved, to Love and to Serve
Here is a short account of what my last year has been like my aim is to encourage, motivate, and challenge us all, as we seek to be continually transformed into the likeness of our king, Jesus.
[10-09-08] The Hidden Beauty of the Church
While walking around inside an old but still well used church building, I found myself in a kind of gatehouse with a dusty old staircase leading down from one end.
[28-05-08] I Am the True Grapevine
Looking at a tree outside my office window the other day I realised how strong the trunk was and that the branches did little to support it.
[12-02-08] Responding to the Call
We are embarking on a journey of adventure, into the unknown; a little nervous, anticipating many challenges but determined to position ourselves to be ever more used by God in establishing the Kingdom in every area of our personal and corporate lives.
[27-11-07] Getting Closer...Part 2
For a while it's been everywhere.
[08-11-07] What on Earth is Daniel on about?
So you've finished reading the story of the lion's den and you fancy reading on to find out what happens to Daniel next.

Getting Closer...Part 2

For a while it's been everywhere...the sound of...'there's more'.  I came to Closer feeling like I was carrying something, something that maybe wasn't that 'nice' but that was GOOD. A sense of God's discipline, a heavy calling back to the Father, that my deepest part connected to and felt at home in, but also felt uneasy 'cos I know I'd been trying to run from it most of the time, but 'now is the time'.

I didn't share this at Closer exactly word for word but felt I was carrying it and it was being worked out through other ways amongst us, but I'll share it now...


        Photo © WilWheaton on a Creative Commons Licence

It is a new season, but (like in Joshua) we don't want to go into the Promised Land uncircumcised, (in our case, with uncircumcised hearts). In Joshua it was a new season, the manna had stopped falling, Moses - the older generation - had died and the younger generation had stepped into place. God asked them to be circumcised and then they rested in the camp and healed.

We are that generation - the ones who would go and take the land, and to whom God's promise at the moment is "be strong and very courageous...and wherever your feet tread, I will give you the land". Yet we are also the ones who need to submit, to let our hearts be humbled before our God, to not rush off and do it on our own but to embrace this time of submitting to God. It hurts sometimes, being disciplined by God - but this is all about learning to be fathered by God - Prov. 13:1 'a wise child accepts a parents discipline'. When we submit we realise it's good and it's because he loves us.

When we know the Father we don't need worth from anything else. He fulfils us, and we can rest.

So I feel it's a time of God circumcising our hearts, leading us to submit to our father, repent, 'cos we don't have it all together-(phew!). Let's be the fatherless generation who found the father.

At Closer, when we'd been in God's presence for a while, 'lingering' (!) we went on to connect with God's heart for the people in the town, uni' and workplaces, but only after we'd loved on him and he'd loved on us.

This is the process we went through at Closer, and we want to share it with the church because it was so GOOD to be at and don't want to keep it to ourselves!

 

Posted by: Lucy Purves on Tuesday Nov 27th, 2007

Comments
Sally Ann Dyer writes:

Come on Lucy! Come on Open Heaven! Closer and deeper with Him. Intimacy is the key to everything. Apart from Him we can do nothing. Love you all and cheering you on, Sally Ann and Martin xx

...left on Wednesday Nov 28th, 2007

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