Morning Meditions.
Pete and I were awake at about six am and decided to go prayer walk on the beach. I said to him that I felt that "stomach-drop" feeling in myself just before the rollercoaster goes over the edge. We agreed we knew it was going to be quite a week. While I was reading my Bible before breakfast I felt like God was directing me to Isaiah 40:22;
"Get yourself up on a High Mountain".
I found myself asking the text - why does it have to be "high"? 1. You can "see" afar! Again and again in the Old Testament the prophets are referred to as "watchmen". To watch and see anything at a considerable distance one must be high up! What might we see if we achieve our high status? (Ezekiel 43:2) came to my mind.
"The glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east ... His voice was like the sound of many waters and the earth shone with His glory".
Surely that is what the coming tidal wave (or whirlwind!) of revival will look like! 2. You can be "seen" from afar! Surely this fits in with the context of the passage. (v5);
"Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together".
Then? When? After the voice has called for the clearing of the way in the wilderness. (v4) "Lifted up". The low places and the dark places will be brought up! No hiding! Zion must be high! (Isaiah 60:3).
"Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising".
This backs up what Rob Rufus said - one on one evangelism isn't enough anymore! Our talk must be of nations coming to the light of Zion! Kings and dignitaries and governments will bend the knee to King Jesus and declare He is God! Then 3. You can "speak" afar. You can be heard further when you are up on high! The next verse declares that;
"Lift up your voice mightily".
We go up to speak and surely this is what this week at Brighton is all about! A high mountain stands before us that we must ascend! These past months have been the hard ascension but now we are here! We are here to see afar. Prophets will speak to us and show us God's will for the future. We are here to be seen. The city of Brighton will take notice but the nations will have to take notice as we go back to our cities and nations. We are here to speak of the glories and wonders of God. We must see because the tidal wave is on the horizon!
To the Brighton Centre.
"Get yourself up on a High Mountain".
I found myself asking the text - why does it have to be "high"? 1. You can "see" afar! Again and again in the Old Testament the prophets are referred to as "watchmen". To watch and see anything at a considerable distance one must be high up! What might we see if we achieve our high status? (Ezekiel 43:2) came to my mind.
"The glory of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east ... His voice was like the sound of many waters and the earth shone with His glory".
Surely that is what the coming tidal wave (or whirlwind!) of revival will look like! 2. You can be "seen" from afar! Surely this fits in with the context of the passage. (v5);
"Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together".
Then? When? After the voice has called for the clearing of the way in the wilderness. (v4) "Lifted up". The low places and the dark places will be brought up! No hiding! Zion must be high! (Isaiah 60:3).
"Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising".
This backs up what Rob Rufus said - one on one evangelism isn't enough anymore! Our talk must be of nations coming to the light of Zion! Kings and dignitaries and governments will bend the knee to King Jesus and declare He is God! Then 3. You can "speak" afar. You can be heard further when you are up on high! The next verse declares that;
"Lift up your voice mightily".
We go up to speak and surely this is what this week at Brighton is all about! A high mountain stands before us that we must ascend! These past months have been the hard ascension but now we are here! We are here to see afar. Prophets will speak to us and show us God's will for the future. We are here to be seen. The city of Brighton will take notice but the nations will have to take notice as we go back to our cities and nations. We are here to speak of the glories and wonders of God. We must see because the tidal wave is on the horizon!
To the Brighton Centre.So with those wonderful thoughts in mind we went to the conference and found the queue for the doors stretched right around the corner from the Brighton centre and up the street! This eagerness was to characterise the whole week and it was something I have never seen before. People were literally rushing to get to each session as if afraid that if we were late we would miss something. However the atmosphere in the queue was buzzing with electricity. Finally the doors opened and we were let in. I have the most tremendous admiration for the Newfrontiers conference staff. They were cheerful and helpful throughout - despite the biggest conference attendance ever.
We got excellent seats near the front at the side and the worship began led by the wonderful Kate Simmonds. The list of songs can be found here at our worship blog. There were two extremely key prophecies from David Stroud and Julian Adams which impacted me greatly. The summary that I scribbled down can be found here at Spirit of God. When the prophecies are brought out I will transcribe the whole thing. Finally Terry Virgo got up and introduced Stephen van Rhyn who was to open the conference again as he has done in past years.
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