"Behold! How They Love One Another"

Central Thought

We Desperately need Him and His Love at work in us.
We also Desperately need each other to love.

I read this often quoted line a few months back. The line itself is believed to orginate from a report given by a Roman procurator to Caesar (Tiberius, Julius??) about the potential threat of this new cult that was spreading throughout the empire. That statement frequently poked into my thoughts.

During a night watch the following came to me during a time of soaking prayer in 1 John over GCC. It became an on-going prayer that the Lord continues to add to as it is given out. While this one wasn't the most peculiar or flashy communique, its subtle. soft voice grabs our attention as it invites us to carefully consider its simplicity. Here is how it unfolded:

This is Our Witness, Our Testimony, to the world and to each other, before a Loving Holy God, that the world will know that we are His because the great love He lavished on us has been evidenced in our great love for each other.

He then told me to put a banner over that statement, “Behold How They Love One Another”. Love is as simple as it is complex and facinating. It would be un-realistic to believe we can completely describe its facets. However, the Lord began to describe some of the important ones i believe He wants us to consider and act on.

“Perfect Love:

... Covers a multitude of Sin
... Casts out all Fear
... Permeates our Being
... Is Seen – Our Fruit
... Looks for the Lost and Lowly
... Lifts the Fallen
... Restores to Righteousness
... Gives Life by Giving it up for another
... Always Hopes and Trusts
... Never Fails or Gives up
... Gives deference to the other
... Seeks His Neighbour's welfare

Each time i would enter into a soaking prayer or pray over this word, He would give me a few attributes. The interesting thing about them is that the majority are verbs:

Lives Larger
Encourages
Lifts
Builds
Gives Instantly
Dreams
Shares
Rules
Lives Larger
Swings Wide the Gates
Makes Room for More
Welcomes
Comes out of Brokenness and Surrender

I believe this is a good start and we all can and should, no, must, add to this list within the words of our testimonies. We can ask the Father which ones He wants us to add. It is an on-going thing. While we can't be all things to everyone, we can be someone to somebody. We just have to ask the Father who and He will show us.

Initial Impressions

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. -- 1 John 4:12 (NIV).

While this verse is a huge statement in itself, it should not be seriously considered without meditating on the whole of this chapter let alone the book. Out of all the things God desires and calls us to, Love is the head, framework and foundation. It really is what we are to be focusing on; Loving Him, foremost, passionately without reservation, and, Our Neighbours. The rest of the things we need to be mindful of would become instinctive within this context.

A Greater Sense
The most powerful moves of God will come out of a spirit of humility, anonymity and keeping a low profile but keeping a watchful, prayerful eye on each other, as opposed to bringing our ministries to the forefront, synthesising community through process and program, and merchandising God's truth and healing.

In the world today there is more money, food, goods and services available than at anyother time in history. As a race we can generally say we lack for nothing corruptable or temporal. Yet famine, pestilences, poverty, loneliness, sickness and abandonment are wide spread. We are in a glut of truth in the Church these days. Everyone has a book, a conference to stage or a ministry to tell about, but, are we really about the doing of what we know? There is a literal smorgasbord of truth to feast at, which in itself is a great thing. but we have become spiritually obese. We eat and don't exercise like we should.

Before this starts to sound like yet another world vision appeal, i would like to say that we, the church, heirs to the kingdom have the best position in this world to not only just relieve these things grieving the Father's heart but to also bring His presence in to those places, into the cracks where a huge populace has fallen into. I believe this to be observable and measurable.

For every three healthy souls, there are five broken. For every one visibly broken, there are four who have fallen through the cracks, For every one we stumble across in the cracks, there are four we may never see. That is, of course, without asking the Father where the are.

The Mailbox – Part Three: Alive!

The Body Becomes Vibrant and Vital.

Initial Sense:
God not only identifies our current states, circumstances and tells us how we got to where we are but He shows us a way forward. That way is inviting as it is wonderful. It may also be hard work for us if we seize this prophetic bit as the opportunity He sees for us to press in on.

This one came during John Micklefield's exposition on becoming peacemakers for that is what we often need to be in the Kingdom. I believe that teaching is very much integral with the whole of the mailbox transformation. The following came to me as he was impressing us with the facts that we have the Holy Spirit within us to release joy within the midst of sufferings, perhaps even the hard road of peacemaking too. The transformation of the mailbox is all about taking the hard road of peacemaking. The definitions he used to describe peace would also serve as evidence that the mailbox has been in deed transformed. I can't explain how it segued but the following is the result of it.


The realisation of the jealousy that forms the roots of control within us individually and corporately, makes way for the Holy Spirit to release us from its effects, as He begins to move freely within each cell. Seing jealousy the way it is and in its varied and subtle forms makes the way for repentance. Repentance makes the way for the Spirit totake hold of us individually. His life begins to flow and we begin the (possibly rapid, if not immediate) process of transformation to His purposes. We begin to take upon the shape He has predestined for us.


The ridgid, well defined shape of the mailbox becomes supple and pliable in the flow of the Spirit. The essential oils of grace and mercy soften the hardness in the cell walls. The scars left by jealousy, indifference and pride are removed and pure delight in Him and each other begins to take root and manifest.


The cells move and bend to embrace each other's form. They delight in their Creator. They delight in each other. They begin to shimmer and move; dividing and imparting new growth, new cells. Each cell is unique and fit to each other perfectly.


We become bendable to the will of God. We not only begin to find it joyful and satisfying; we are excited in the prospect of being conformed to our individual shape within that very unique and wonderful shape He has for us together; His children, His cells, formed in an organ of community with in the body with Christ as the head and essences of life. The Connections and life within is vital and vibrant, from the least cell, throughout every organ to the head, without exception. There is no cancers in this body as the cells all love each other to the point that it becomes the glory of the whole body. It can not be mistaken or hidden.


The three scenes imparted about the mailbox need some though and reflection. We need to put the three stories together for ourselves and seek God in what He is saying to us individually.

What do you think?

Purpose in Connecting

Further posts will explore the nature of connections, their contexts, purposes and the barriers obstacles we face in connecting.

why thoughts to finish the phenomenons of .... dissonance ... disconnected-ness in the light of why we are here (in the Kingdom, our Kingdom Communities and in (not of) the world.


Knowing the nature of a thing or a matter often reveals its purpose
Connecting is a term that is almost too cliche in these days but it is a good synonym for relationship. Perhaps it is a better word for relationship as it implies a bond where relationship can mean anything from disconnected to vital, depending on the context. I have a relationship to my rabbit. He thumps the floor when there is no food in his bowl; i feed him in response. That pretty much describes that relationship. It may be vital to him but it is not that vital to me. Nothing meaningful is shared or imparted. There is little if no mutual edification.

Connecting does imply something vital. It is simply a bond that exists between one another where interpersonal transactions take place. It comes to my mind as two one way transactions that are not governed by anything other than love (agape); no other conditions other than meeting another in a need (emotional, spiritual, material, physical, etc.).

The Word describes vital connections in detail and is perhaps best left for our own honest and earnest discovery. Most prominent in my mind are the Gospels, Acts 1-6, 1 John where the vitality of the connections are exemplified in community. It is the conduit of community. We see it in forms of encouragement, kindness, forebearance. The attributes of vital connections and their workings are laid out in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

Love is also about Community and Connecting: ordinary people with extraordinary relationships; to the Father, to the Son and in the Spirt to each other. It Goes Beyond Forgiveness, past Reconcilliation, past healing into Restoration into what God desires for our lives. It is Connecting to the Father's heart to release the Spirit of Might (true power) and going beyond the appearance of being connected (a form of godliness but denying His Power).

1 John 4 (New International Version)

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.


One of my favorite paraphrases of Love comes from a band called the 77's. Not too many people know of their work. They don't fit the molds well in either secular or Christian music. Larry Norman calls them “too Christian for the radio and too radio for the Church”.

This Is The Way Love Is (Mark Tootle)

When I gave up, you held up
When I ran out, you filled me up
When I kept runnin', you kept up
When I let you down you lifted me up

This is the way love is

When I couldn't find the words, you understood
When I didn't find the time, you were in no hurry
When I wouldn't make ends meet, you tied them together
When I cheated you kept to the rules

Well, this is the way love is
This is the way love is
When it's a one-sided double-minded mirror with no reflection

When I was keepin' it in, you were givin' out
When I was losin' out, you'd let me come back
When I was holdin' back, you were holdin' on
When I was losin' my cool you were keepin' your love warm

Well, this is the way love is
This is the way love is
When it's a one-sided double-minded mirror with no reflection

When I kept it all to myself like a miser holds on to his last dime
When I closed up myself like a desperate hand on a lifeline
Well I was bled, I was dried, all wrapped up in my pride
This is the way it is when you're on the wrong side

Well, this is the way love is
This is the way love is
When it's a one-sided double-minded mirror with no reflection

Bless you all.

Connecting Understood

Connecting has been defined in our post modern times. Most of it has taken on a post modern meaning mostly in social contexts. The Wikipedia, the popular post modern reference work, defines social connections as "the human desire to experience the integration of the self and the other... accomplished through communication and empathy".

Like many of our worldly definitions, it reflects some truth but is lacking in its completeness when compared to what God defines it as. True connections go beyond social contexts and involve much more than a single emotional vehicle. In short, the worldy, post modern definition while true in some aspects is shallow at best. God's definition is as deep, complex and vital as its subject.

The desire for deep and meaningful connections is buried deep within us. I believe it compliments the God-shaped hole.

Shallow connections (relationships) are pretty much the norm in our present culture and much of that shallowness is also in the Church.

Inter-changeable terms: The Body, The Church, One Another, Brethren.

Fear of connecting and the safety found in shallow relationships.

programs, technology while enabling activity does little to connect us unless we take the initiative to go deeper. People connect through blogs, e-mail, instant messages, texting. We may understand what is being communicated but we dont connect with each other albeit abstractly; we connect to each other through a blog like this, just as much as through a program in person although we have an illusion of connectedness.

To understand God's design for the Body is to understand connectedness. Ephesians chapter 4...verse 13 refers to maturity (in the Greek it is "completeness"). expand on this one...more examples ... Romans 12:4-8

Ephesians 1:22-23..." And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."...Ephesians 4 (all) ...

Connection in the Body, a reverse definition out of Colossians 2:18-19 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

Paul uses body illustrations to describe the church relating it to Christ's body. The Body form, gifting and purpose...1 Cor 6:19 our individual bodies are a dwelling place for the Spirit just as it is collectively. .. 1 Cor 10:15-18... 1 Cor 12 (entire) is the central teaching ...

Colossians 3:14-16 peace rules in the Body, an attribute of connectedness?

why thoughts to finish the phenomenoms of .... dissonance ... disconnected-ness in the light of why we are here (in the Kingdom, our Kingdom Communities and in (not of) the world.

Here to Connect!

Our Connections and the ways and means we connect to each other is a central thought through out this blog. I believe we can connect in many ways (spiritually, socially, intellectually, emotionally, physically, etc.) and in varying degrees.


Most of our connections are often superficial and our motives to maintain them vary. However, the utmost motives we are called to reflect are out of love; the one-way, outward kind that gives without concern for self. In their pure forms, authentic and vital connections are initiated and maintained out of love for the Lord and towards one another.


I am learning that we are here to experience consistent connections between God and each other in the Body. The strength of those connections witness to others in the world and act as signposts pointing them towards the Father. The Lord gave me a dream recently that is drawing me into better understanding of what connections are in the Body and what it means to connect. I would like to take the risk and share what i have been learning, starting with the dream.


This post has to do with something shown to me during time in the Furnace. For me, the most valuable time spent their, whether share or alone, is in the night watches. It is clear of most distractions that inhibits connecting to the Father's heart if we are inclined and dare to do so. Sometimes dreams come about after an intense nightwatch. This is an account of one that remains clear to me.


Why are you here? ... You are here to Connect!

Night watches in the Furnace for me are a paradox; energizing and tiring, more so when things get intense. I came home after a rather intense night watch and seemed to immediately fall into a dream as soon as i hit the pillow.


A short clip began to play in my mind as i drifted off. I was still alert but it was clear i was somewhere else. I was standing amidst a full gathering of our community in the gymnasium where we do the event part of church.


There was the normal buzz of voices talking amongst themselves as we prepared to worship. We stood in a full grid of neat rows and columns. No one seemed to be coming forward to speak or to lead worship and the buzz became louder as the absence of leadership persisted.

Suddenly, the whole stage area and the back wall became like a huge website that quickly re-directed our attention to the blank, clear screen. The buzz suddenly ceased and everyone fixed their gaze on the display. There was no way to avoid looking at it.

A bold text banner floated to the top-centre of the screen, captioning ...

Why are You Here?

The screen broke out into columns of many lists of plausible reasons, each with a check box adjoining it; as it were a survey. It seemed apparent to all that it was the Lord working an interactive presentation with us. I had the sense that He was concerned with why we were gathered here.



We began pointing at the screen as if our fingers were co-joind to a mouse. The lists flew up on the screen rapidly and we began to anxiously click at each line as they appeared. They all seemed like reasonable answers...

To sing praises...
...for the teaching
To pray for others ...
...for healing and deliverance
To serve in sunday school ...
... for friendship

The list grew to be quite huge! Then suddenly, before we got a chance to finish our hurried responses, the whole wall blanked out, like a page reload. Another wave of silence washed over everyone until a new banner appear as if to exhort us, in likeness to the correct answers being revealed after a multiple choice quiz ...

You are Here to CONNECT!
You are Here to Connect with Me and I to you.
You are Here to Connect to One Another as I am with you.

Everyone began to look at each other. Some appeared offended, bewildered, bothered but all very surprised. I seemed that no matter how many good answers we came up with to the question, there were only three that mattered. None of us seemed to have gotten them either.


Then i woke up. I didn't have much choice in the matter and it was only a short time after i went to bed. The whole thing gripped me to the point that it re-engaged my thinking to the point that i was distracted from a much needed sleep. I journalled the account and fell fast asleep.


Now What Was That All About?


The whole dream seized my thoughts and got me thinking again about why we are really here in the context of what we are calling church. What we do seems to be right but there seems to be something missing. We have good teaching, programs and excellent times of worship in song and adoration. However apart from all that there seems to be something missing.


Our experiences of church in the programmatic context can be quite empty. Church can and often is a lonely place in spite of the attendance and activities.

Most have come to see it as a place where we are busy being busy for the sake of being busy. Paradoxically, it can be one of the most loneliest places on earth. I believe this is a prominent phenomenon out of discussions at large.

The intent of this post is to provoke thought into the nature and purpose of connecting to one another, in the Kingdom and in our communities. Hopefully, some dialog would come out of it, preferably outside of this blog with one another. Even better would be to see real vital connections flourish, but that can not be done by words alone; they have to be shared and experienced together.

Further posts will explore the nature of connections, their contexts, purposes and the barriers obstacles we face in connecting.

What do you think is missing? What has the Lord been impressing you with?

Share your thoughts!

Bless you all.

Out of the Furnace

Most of what i have learned has come out of furnace experiences. Furnaces are those places of fiery trials and adversity. Furnace experiences are common to all, but the effects or outcomes vary in accord to our responses. We can get burnt to some degree, consumed or refined. In the latter, God is with His own in the midst of the refining fires to guide the process of melting us down and separating our new natures from our old flesh; to conforming us to the image of the Son.

God speaks to us out of the furnace of adversity in the midst of the pain with His presence reassuring us that He is in it with us. He gives us words (scripture, visions, dreams) to apply to our burnt places for healing and encouragement. I have come to trust Him more through each heat. It is a good thing for me as i have more heat to go through yet.

There is also the furnace of His presence; intense, intimate times where we are overwhelmed and barely able to stand. I can see why we will need transformed bodies to remain there. I see it as the furnace that contains the other furnaces.

There is another furnace that is important to me, a place of intercession and worship called the Prayer Furnace, a little white house called the Prayer Furnace; (aka www.pegwatch.com). It has come to be an important place to meet with the Lord for many in the church at Winnipeg. It is a house set apart for set apart folks who set apart their time to meet with the Father, intercede for others and receive His Heart for things that matter to Him as well as us. To me it is a vital part of day-to-day of body life where we can connect with Him and to each other. I see Him changing us and the way we do church with each other through that place.

It has a lot in common with the nature of the IHOP's south of the border as it operates on a 24/7/365 basis, but on a smaller scale. We share the same Spirit and heart, pray for the church, our nations and communities; the peace of Jerusalem. It operates on a schedule, manned by single or small groups of intercessors. The people and groups are represented by families, small groups within our fellowship, as well as other ministries in the city of Winnipeg.

I find The Furnace to have many facets. It is a place where we can come to be alone with the Lord, to intercede for others and to intercede with each other in His presence. It is a comfortable place to come for worship with others. It is the family room of the church where we can enjoy the Father together. Some families come for their devotional times. There is always someone at the Furnace.

Also like the IHOP's south of our border, it is a place where God is intimate with us, speaking directly and in power. It is in our intimate gathering together where i have found there is real life. We often think of gathering in the context of the event(s) of our church experiences; like Sundays or conferences and the like. We often think of Hebrews 10:25 in that context. The context does concern our communion (with Him and each other) for encouragement to love each other and to do the works that come out of that. Communion implies intimacy in relationships. It is hard for that level of intimacy to be realised in the context of an event alone without vital relationships.

As good as the larger programmatic events can be, it is hard to be intimate with one another in the Lord in the event unless we are intimate with Him and each other first. It is hard to do that in the framework of a couple hours or in a programmatic context. Ultimately, I believe the gathering the Lord does not want us to forsake is the intimate communion of saints. Consider how one could really consider and encourage one another to love and good works apart from an intimate fellowship. it is in the intimate times we experience the Father together where we find life.

I think the mission of the Furnace defined on the Pegwatch home page facilitates that intimate gathering quite well;

To Gather those who tremble for joy
for the pleasure of the One
Who seeks those
who worship in Spirit and in Truth.

There is no question that this Furnace was birthed out of a move of God. It has been gently raised and cared for out of obedience to a burden given to Jonathan and Carolyn, a couple who put their whole selves in to see God work in ways that can only be His work. The working of their courage, obedience and love for the Father and His Children is an encouragement in itself, as they walk in an observable daily dependence on His hand. It is a real blessing to see it at work.

I believe God is using it to change us individually so that He can change us corporately. He wants to connect with us so that we can connect with each other. I believe this a prominent facet of Kingdom living. The more we connect with the Father personally, the better we can connect with each other and demonstrate to the world that we are connected.

I have learned a good deal in this furnace, especially that we are to connect, not so much in the ways that we have come familiar with but in ways we all have to learn. Much of what i will write about comes out of the furnace and those vital connections with the Father and His children.

Like any move of God, it needs to be handled in reverence, as it is His desire for His Children. It needs to be guarded especially in this age where worldly influences press in with a great intensity. Many moves of God have become mere forms of godliness, taking on synthetic structures out of the world and of our own motives.

We need to guard against the things that can come out of our collective flesh; our natures that harbour them. Pride, jealousy and fear are powerful inhibitors of any move of God. Satan is waiting to put down moves like this and will leverage our flaws. The thin edge of his wedge is mis-understanding. Therefore we need to be vigilant and take personal responsibility to have the Lord sift our motives and to pray earnestly for one another and for understanding.

Thank you for being with me so far. I hope that you would continue with me. All posts are for your comment and our mutual edification.

We are in deed Blessed in Him.