I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ – to the glory and praise of God.
Phil 1:3-11(NIVUK)

Key phrases:

• I always pray with joy when I think of my church family
• I am abounding in love & depth of knowledge & insight
• I am filled with the fruit of righteousness
• I am producing glory for God through my life of faith

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Eph 6:10-20(NIVUK)

Key phrases:

• I am strong in the Lord & his mighty power
• I am able to stand & will not give up
• I recognise the enemy’s work & I don’t attack people
• I am alert & sensitive to God’s leading
• I fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel

Divine Timing, Divine Will, Divine Purpose.

How many times have we heard this Word, how many times have we prayed Lord please send revival. We are praying and believing we will see our towns, our nation changed for the Glory of God!

2013, What is taking place here and in different places around the world is the prophetic Word coming from The Lord to His church. We are in the End Times, God is preparing His church for the next great revival which will be like none that has gone before!

Revival comes through prayer
2 Chronicles 7:14

We have to listen to what the Lord is saying to us at this moment in time. He has already laid that mandate before us for the year 2013; our starting place is to Step Up. The Lord is wanting us to increase the time we spend with Him meeting with Him in prayer, this would be our devotional time when we talk with our Father but we need to take time to listen to what He the Father is saying to us.

Are we as a church preparing for this great revival, can we say with all confidence yes we are ready for the greatest influx of people we have ever seen, are we saying Father we are willing to lay aside our own agendas, to do all that is needed to help bring in this great harvest, are we saying yes Father we will do all that you are instructing us to do to be prepared and ready for a great reaping of souls.

This is an exciting season and time to be living, we are going to see and experience Signs and Wonders following the preaching of the Word, lives changed, the Light and Glory of God and His Word impacting our families friends, towns, cities, nations. Are You Ready?

Step Up, Step In, Step Out.

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,  in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.  But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Eph 2:1-10(NIVUK)

Key phrases:

• I have been raised up with Christ & seated in heaven
• I am continually being shown mercy & kindness
• I am filled with grace
• I am God’s workmanship, created to do good works

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:42-47(NIVUK)

Key phrases:

• I am teachable & devoted to the Word
• I am open in my relationships, loving others
• I am filled with awe & wonder as I meet with Jesus every day

Why are you here? Maybe you were born and bred in this area. Maybe your family moved here and you followed. Maybe work or study brought you here.

Well, as good as all those reasons seem, I’d like to tell you that’s not why you’re here! Sure, those things may have caused you to be here, but actually God had preordained your time here. He has called you and chosen you to be right here, right now, for a purpose. Not for family, not for study, not for work, but to carry out the plan God has for you.

Queen Esther is one of my heroes and there have been times in my life where I have felt I could relate to her story. In 2006, God called me to leave my home, my family and friends in Horsham to come and serve in Greater Manchester. And let me tell you, Horsham and Manchester may be in the same country but sometimes it seems like they are worlds apart in culture! Queen Esther went through something similar, and she became my role model for how I should act!

Esther was taken and put in the palace by the King for his own use, not exactly part of her life plan! But God had chosen her for a much higher purpose. God had called her “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14) and she ended up saving all the Jews from being killed.

She did not have an easy time of it either. Being torn away from her family and friends and all that she knew and thrust into a life that would have seemed alien to her and contrary to everything she was brought up to believe and do. But Esther walked daily in who she was, she held to the Word of God, she stood out from those around her and saw God’s favour. Esther shone like a star.

And that’s what we are to do, Philippians 2 talks about living in a crooked generation and how we are to act, verses 15-16 says “Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.”

We’re to hold firm to the Word of life and to SHINE! What do we shine with? God’s glory! Romans 8:30 says you were predestined, called, justified and glorified. So God already has it worked out. He chose you, made you fit for purpose and then gave you His glory so that you can carry out His will wherever you are.

You are here to glorify God! Right where you are, in your town, in your city. In your home, in your school and university, in your workplace. When you walk down the street, when you’re driving in your car and someone cuts you up, when you’re in the shop and someone rams a trolley into the back of your ankle! You are there to glorify God!

All you have to do is obey! It’s so easy to get bogged down with life, work, family, “doing church,” running the kids around, all valid things that must be done. But don’t forget your divine, preordained purpose in it all. You are here to shine!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More than conquerors
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
As it is written:

‘For your sake we face death all day long;we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:28-39(NIVUK)

Key phrases:

• I have been called according to God’s purpose
• I was foreknown, predestined & called
• I am called, justified & glorified
• I am being conformed into the likeness of Jesus
• I am more than a conqueror in Christ

In this amazing 9 point sermon, Pastor Claire looks at some of the different aspects of Encounter, as we start our week of Prayer, Fasting and encounter

• Expectation
• No Distraction
• Christ centred
• Open heart
• Unveiled faces
• No comprise
• Teachable
• Earnestly seek God
• Revival

Find more information on this Week of Encounter

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Cor 13:1-13(NIVUK)

Key phrases:

• I have love
• I am patient, I am kind
• I do not envy, boast, keep records of wrongs
• I am not rude, proud, self-seeking, easily angered
• I rejoice with the truth
• I always protect, trust, hope, persevere

This week as we focus on seeking God we are living in revival, expressing the life of Jesus everywhere we go.

‘Blessed are the poor in spirit ,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn ,
for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek ,
for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness ,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful ,
for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart ,
for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers ,
for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness ,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
‘Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matt 5:3-12(NIVUK)

Key phrases:

• We are hungry for righteousness
• We are full of mercy, pure in heart, peacemakers
• We are the salt of the earth