God knows what He is doing, I tell ya!
We re-vamped our schedule quite a bit at the start of the year, as many of you know, and were suddenly faced with a significant challenge or two. We had new themes that we were excited about singing and praying through, but not as much understanding about any of them as we had believed. The focus on singing around the "one thing" concept (we focused on Psalm 27:4 and David's request that he be of one thing all his life) was really good for the first number of months. When we left it behind for a season and chose to take on singing through the Song of Songs, for example, the challenge was obvious: we had much to learn about this book.
Well, hour #2 was equally challenging to start. One of our worship leaders, Johan, came to me with the idea of focusing on the "dwelling place of God" in the scriptures. I knew what he meant, actually. It had been a private area of focus for me for the last 2 years and I was fascinated with the implications for our house and the city we pray for. God often dwelled in a very specific place in much of the Old Testament. Was it something locked in history or were there principles there for us to explore and pray into for our time and geography?
With this in mind, we set out to sing and pray through it. We had a few favourite verses and took the approach that we would ask for God to come and dwell in a more manifest way in our prayer house, the bride in our city and the city of Winnipeg itself. We decided that an intercession format was best for this. Let’s just begin to ask for more of God and see where He takes us.
The first few weeks were good but still a bit confusing. What exactly were we asking for? Did we want God to come as He did when He shook the mountain in Exodus, smoke and fire and all? Or, were we looking for His presence manifested in us and the way we lived our lives differently? Did we want some form of spiritual warfare to happen? Were we hoping that the spirit of murder or something equally powerful was going to be dislodged by our efforts? Or, did we want Acts 2 and the outpouring of the Spirit in power to come one more time? I don’t think we really knew, actually…
Last week, however, things came together a bit more. Somehow, despite our weakness and lack of understanding, the Spirit of God drew it all together and we were clear for an hour. We saw something that showed us a house where God was tangibly felt, His power made manifest in healing, deliverance, kindness and salvation. We realized He wanted to dwell in our midst and the midst of every group of believers anywhere in Winnipeg even more that we knew. He wanted to rest in us, speak tenderly of His feelings for us and make us like His son. He wanted the whole city to love the King of Heaven. He wanted the kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven. He wanted Winnipeg for Himself as He will one day have it when Jesus returns to rule the earth. We prayed for the salvation of every person in Winnipeg. We asked for power to come to the church in every area of life and ministry. We asked for God to rest in this city in a way that we have not experienced in living memory. And, we KNEW that this is what He wanted to do.
There are dark and troublesome days ahead for this earth. The bible is clear on it. In the days before the Second Coming of the Son to the earth, Jesus himself said that there would be "distress unequaled from the beginning of the world until now--and never to be equaled again." The indicators are everywhere. Political turmoil is coming. Disease is coming. Storms are coming. But, God has in mind to find people and cities that He will rest in, setting His kingdom in place in a profound way and drawing all people to Himself.
God doesn't dwell in a building or a box made with hands anymore. He dwells in and with the ones He loves. May He come to us and may He come quickly.
Brian Creary
Ministry Director
Ministry Director
