Our Next Steps

I love this picture! I remember seeing this sign as we crossed into Nova Scotia near the end of our 35 hour drive from Kansas City, and welling up with an incredible excitement; we were actually doing this thing! For me, there was a sense of stepping into the larger story of God at work in an area. There was a sense of the Kingdom advancing.

Well, living under the active rule of God in our lives always engages us in an incredible tension:

On the one hand, God has spoken. We've experienced sort of a charismatic catharsis inside us, and there's a sense of great favor and empowering in the Spirit that takes place. During these times, we can immediately become convinced that from now on we'll essentially live in the third heaven, coming down to earth from time to time for an occasional Starbucks run.

However, what we discover as the journey unfolds is that responding to the voice of God tends to work differently than that. Often there are very mundane things attached to our new seasons of life; things like unpacking boxes, sorting out trash from recycling, and lifting heavy objects to move them to new locations. Then in the midst of these things, we experience God breaking in around us with tremendous power.

This has always been the way it's worked for people who sense God speaking to them:

Moses had these dramatic encounters with the manifest presence of God, and then spent much of his time simply doing hard work like walking through a desert, organizing groups and administrating food service for a group of complainers.

Paul would raise the dead one day, and have to go make some Coleman tents for the Boy Scouts group the next day.

Our new adventure into Halifax is a wonderful combination of both the Natural and the Supernatural . On one level we're doing the hard work of transition- moving, looking for work, planning, getting provincial driver's licences etc. And yet all the while God is doing things.

In the 17 days that we've been here:

-I've told the story of God's leading to a guy in the Shell station- (He asked- "Are you really from Kansas!? What the heck are you doing way up here for?"). As I explained it, he got so excited to hear what was going on. (It reminds me of John Wimber's advice to church planters: "Tell your story everywhere you go. Tell it to anyone who will listen. Tell them why you're here, and what God has spoken to you." There's definitely something about that that can grab people's hearts and allow them to see the treasure of the kingdom).

-We've been able to give words of knowledge for healing to people and pray for the sick with demonstrations of power.

-I've been invited to do a 4 week training on Intimacy with God and Empowering in the Spirit beginning later this month on Sunday nights.

-God has been giving intense vision about training young leaders in the area to do the ministry of Jesus; learning to heal the sick and move in authority and spiritual gifts.

So much has been happening already. What have I learned?

Very simply, in the course of it all, I've become convinced that in everything we're doing, we must look for and invite and expect the arrival of the kingdom. As we do, God will work in great ways around all of us.