Skip to main content

Step Up & Step In - Fan into flame the gift of God 2 Tim 1:6

By
The mini conference that we are having at Life Church is titled "Step Up & Step In" - why?  Because we believe the Lord is calling for the charge to go forth.  There is an army ready and waiting to move forth together in the power of God to see transformation come into our nation.  And I believe that now is the time that He is calling those who believe to stand up in what they believe and step up into it by faith and action and see what He will do.

It is no longer a time of needing to know your salvation is in Him which is all good and necessary but there is a call for maturity happening at the moment to take our salvation, everything that the Lord has deposited into us and step into seeing His Kingdom come here on earth as it is in Heaven.  We have a responsibility as children of God, as sons and daughters of the Kingdom to make His Kingdom known.  He has given us - you and I - the earth as our inheritance to rule and reign over and now he is saying to take hold of everything I have taught you and take what is rightfully yours.   We have been found by him and we are found in him and now he is saying rise up people of God and take hold of the authority that I have given you and step out by faith and speak to those people who don't know him, to rise up and lay hands on the sick and believe for them to be healed, to set the captives free.  To speak with truth into injustice etc etc.

2 Tim 1:6 says "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on my hands.  For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner.  But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, has has saved us and called us to a holy life - not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace...."


Something the Lord is showing me at the moment is that as I step out sometimes having nothing in mind or thought or feeling but step out in faith that his power is released in a powerful way.  It is no longer about me, what I feel, what I have or don't have, but simply a knowledge that God has it all, that God can do it all, that God knows what he wants done in a situation.  I simply have to act in faith and step out literally and then I see His Kingdom come in way that just excites me and blows me away.

I love to preach.  I used to have really good sermons with a three point plan type thing.  But now I struggle to do anything like that as I lend more and more on the spirits leading believing that God will give me what I need when I need it.  There are times now when we are going to preach somewhere and I have done everything I can in preparation, I have prayed, sought the Lord on the word, everything for a couple of weeks prior to going, but the Lord has not given me anything to actually speak on. Then the morning I go the Lord may give me a dream which speaks straight into situations and we see really exciting things happen in a way that I never would have dreamt.  In this I have had to come to a rest and a peace that God will give me what I need when I need it.  We pray in the Lords prayer for the Lord to give us our daily bread - this is actually a prayer I believe for his provision for us for the day.  We have all sorts of needs and we need his provision in everything and if we believe that and step out believing he will give us what we need when we need it, we will see God move in ways we never expected or dreamt.  

Last week we had a man arrive at our home to sell insulation.  It was Gods appointment for us for that day.  It was so special.   He spoke into our lives and we spoke into his.  I felt the Lord say "Bless the man, ask him how you could pray for him" and so I stepped out in faith and asked him and we were honoured and blessed as he shared his story and how we could pray for him.  It was a very powerful time and a time where I know the Lord worked powerfully showing His love for this man.  But I had to step out on what I believed the Lord said to me and as I did, the man shared his heart and his needs.   So many people come into our lives and every one of them have needs that we can stand together in, but sometimes we just need to step over the "chicken line" and ask the questions, and out of that relationships are formed, seeds of the Kingdom are sown, and we look foward knowing that those seeds will bear fruit in due season.   

God brings people into our lives, whether its the man selling insulation, whether its the woman selling Life Insurance, whether its the Jehovah's Witness that comes to our door, whether its the workmate in the cubicle next door to us, whether its our family members - all are opportunities for Gods love to meet their needs through us.  And as Paul says in Timothy above, he did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.  I want to encourage you today that it is no longer about you but about the free gift that is within you - God.  We have something special, we have the good news that people need, in whatever way they need it.  Whether its just a hug of compassion in their grief, whether its a word spoken that brings life and encouragement, whatever it is, step up in the faith that you have and step out and see what the Lord will do through you.

Lord I ask that today you would encourage people in faith to step up and step out in what you say to them, in the small quiet voice, that we would be obedient no longer worried about ourselves but looking forward to what you will do through that bit of obedience.  Lord I pray encouragement would come as people step out, that they would see that mustard seed of faith in that situation become a mighty tree.  Lord thank you that you will multiply the work of our hands.  Take what we offer and use it mightily for your Kingdom.  Thank you Jesus that we can do all things through you who strengthens us!


Popular posts from this blog

"I am ruined for the ordinary"

By
“I am ruined for the ordinary” A statement that can possibly be to some, come from a place of judgement, or it can be from a place of there is more in the Kingdom of God that I am yet to experience or understand, revelation that I have tasted of something that actually shows me that I have not tasted of anything yet.  A place where there is such a contentment and joy in what I have seen and longed to see and yet a revelation that there is way more "beyond what I think, ask and imagine" (Eph 3:20) and one that spurs me on to seek and discover all the fullness that could be ours in the Kingdom of God. When we as Christians see other Christians going places or experiencing things that we don’t understand or perhaps we have not yet moved in, we can either become jealous of that person and judge and bring them down to our level, exclude them from our lives or we can choose to be excited by what is happening and be encouraged and spurred on in the Lord for the more than ca...
Read more

Obedience and Commitment are big things in Gods Kingdom

By
Reading in Acts 7 this morning the story through Stephen of Abraham being told by God to " Leave your country and your people and go the the land I will show you"   So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.  He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground.  But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child." As I reflected on this and the journey of Abraham stepping out in faith into a land that he received no inheritance in but a promise of what was to come for his descendants of which we live in the fruit of that, I thought of todays generations in which often is only doing things that we want to do or that will benefit us personally as we live for 'today' not worrying about tomorrow.  A sense of if it feels good then do it, if it doesn't then we will move on -  perhap...
Read more

"A man's enemies will be the members of his own household" Matt 10:36

By
Recently we have been pondering how to deal with situations in our family that don't line up with the word. What action do we need to take?  Are we being too harsh?  Do we accept the behaviour or be considered by those around us as "too radical" or "too black and white"?  "Where is grace in all of this? How do we love the sinner but hate the sin?  What about forgiveness?  What is the role of discipline?   What makes that sin any worse than lying?  What is true love?  And there are a lot more questions going through the mind in how to work through this and know God's will and desire for the situation and the person. And firstly to say we have not come to any conclusions and are growing and learning day by day in this but I want to throw it out there. In Matt 10:34-39 says "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to turn "a man against his father, ...
Read more

Aphids and Slugs - Resisted or Received?

By
Morning. The last week or so I have had some very powerful pictures through my garden and life in which the Lord used to speak to me that I would like to share. The first picture: While caring for my roses, I notice that one particular rose is not doing well and I see aphids and disease on the plant and so I spray it again hoping that it will kill what is attacking them.  A week later I see it has not been effective and so I am prompted to try another different form of disease killer, an oil rather than the pesticide, and the Lord speaks to me; "Sarah, what was used in the last season, won't work for this new season". We are in a different season, and the way we ministered or dealt with things in the past, won't work in this new season we are in.  The reason being we (as a people) have become 'familiar' with the styles and ways of ministering and hence the 'enemy' is already aware of it and becomes 'resistant' to it. A bit like how...
Read more

6 legged sheep???

By
In the weekend I saw a vision of a sheep that had six legs. And what I believe the Lord is saying, there are many sheep, (followers of Christ), but they are trusting in their own strength and not in mine.  When we trust in our own strength and abilities we forfeit the grace that can be ours, the enabling that comes from stepping out in faith in the impossible, the testimonies that give God the glory rather than the expectation of what should be because we have put our hand to  something.  God is the God of the impossible and in order for the miracles, the testimonies, we need to be a people that step out in what we can't do and allow God to come in and do the impossible.   That may simply be asking the Lord to help you to forgive someone that has hurt you so much, to getting on a plane with no finances because the Lord has asked you to, to continue to stay in a job/church/marriage/relationship you don't want to because that is where God has placed you, to pra...
Read more

Year after year

By
I was led this morning to the book of 1 Samuel and the first thing that jumped out at me was the phrase "year after year". How many of us are like this.  We have so much and yet we are still crying out to the Lord for things that have not happened or come to pass yet.   And we look at others and see what they have and compare and it causes us to not see the love that is poured out to us. Hannah's husband would say to her "Hannah, why are you weeping? ... Why are you downhearted?  Don't I mean more to you than ten sons? The Lord would say this morning.  Am I not enough?.   See my love poured out to you.  See what I have given you.  Come to me, find your peace and your joy in me, not in what you have or don't have, what is or isn't done yet, but in me alone.    Those 'things' don't fulfil you but come to me and find rest for your soul.  I will satisfy you and give you rest and peace for your soul.  Psalm 62  Truly my soul finds r...
Read more