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'What
is God saying through His Spirit to the churches today?'|
He speaks in different manners and different places. He spoke to Moses on Mt. Sinai in a thunderous voice. He spoke to Elijah in a still small voice. He spoke to Samuel in the temple at night. He is constantly speaking to us and He calls us to listen to him with our whole being. Sadly, our nation has sought to exclude him and many have deliberately turned their backs upon him. In the light of this God uses strong language - "Hear this you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear" (Jeremiah 5.21). Today we live in a noisy confused culture, with piped music in public places, a flow of frenetic pop music on our radios, and an unbroken continuity of sound on our streets through our 'Walkmans' and seemingly endless conversations on our mobile telephones. God is the friend of silence In stark contrast with all this. Mother Teresa said "God is the friend of silence". Emphasising that the essential thing is not what we say to God, but what God says to us, she said "If we really want to pray we must first leam to listen, for in the silence of the heart God speaks... we need to find God and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness". As the Good Shepherd, Jesus made it clear that His sheep recognise and listen to His voice. The voice of God was clearly heard by the prophets. Ezekiel was told "Listen to what I say to you" (Ez. 2.8). God said to Isaiah "Go and tell this people..." (Is. 6.9). He said to Amos "Go prophesy to my people" (Amos 7.15). He said to Gideon "Go in the strength you have" (Judges 6.14). The language of God is simpler than many of us realise. The words of Jesus were straightforward - 'come', 'go', 'ask', 'seek', 'knock', 'follow', 'peace'. We are often in danger of making the simple call of Jesus complicated and obscure.
So what is God saying through His Spirit to the churches today? Some time ago at a large Maranatha Gathering a team of over 30 Christians with roots overseas, Catholic and Protestant, shared their common faith and responded powerfully to the question "What is the Spirit saying to the churches today?" It was a day of great hope and challenge because the same message came across from those drawn from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Caribbean Islands, South America and right across the Europe. It was that God is calling His people in the United Kingdom today to wake up, to hear His words and to face up to the extreme seriousness of the spiritual condition of our nation and our churches. Speaker after speaker called for a reaffirmation of the basic truths of the Gospel - the non-negotiables. Samuel from Ghana declared "Wake up! What you dream is real - God is shaking your nation". Mylena from Peru said "We must speak the straightforward truth about Jesus - only the truth will set us free". Yaqub from Pakistan declared "It is time for us to preach Christ with greater confidence and with one voice". Arnold from Uganda "We must ask God's forgiveness for our divisions - there will be no breakthrough without humility. Godwill purge the land by repentance ". Nermin from Egypt "Our disunity is a disgrace. We must start with Jesus. He is our first love". Undoubtedly the churches in this country are going to be greatly enriched through Christians from other lands. They have been quick to recognise the spiritual malaise in the United Kingdom and we are undoubtedly being prompted to rediscover the healing ministry of Jesus among sick people and in a sick society. Urgent call to repentance In the face of the tiredness and apathy which is so widespread in the churches of our country today, we are surely being drawn back to consider the great messages to the Seven Churches of Asia in the New Testament. To those who are doubting, disillusioned and perhaps in despair, the message of God's Spirit is very clear. To ourselves, as well as to the church in Philadelphia it is "Hold on to what you have" (Rev. 3.11). Similarly, to dormant churches in steep decline, the message is the same as to the church in Sardis "Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die ..." (Rev. 3.2). To those who sit on the fence and are not prepared to commit themselves fully to the Kingdom, the stark message both to ourselves and the church in Laodicea, is deeply challenging "/ know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. 1 wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth! "(Rev. 3.15 & 16). The great messages to th(? churches in Asia were a warning and a very urgent call to repentance. The message to the church at Ephesus surely applies to us today. There are real consequences of us not repenting and admitting our need for the grace of God: "If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp-stand from its place" (Rev. 2.5). While the influence of the Church diminishes and young people have left in droves, our nation now faces a monumental crisis evidenced in broken families, widespread drug addiction and alcohol abuse, soaring rates of violent crime and the insidious growth of pornography. God is surely prompting us to face up to the crisis in both the churches and the nation. God can transform curses into blessings Recently, there were powerful Christian presentations at special consultations in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, which warned the nation of what is happening. Following these meetings Catholics joined Protestants and members of other churches in the Chapel of St. Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster to pray in repentance for our nation. The precondition for revival of faith is surely conviction of sin and repentance. It is when we are on our knees that we will hear God speak with great
clarity. As hope-filled Christians we know that God can transform
curses into blessings, and that when we come before Him in our weakness,
He will make us strong. The promise is secure - "You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you" (Acts 1.8).
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