I received this word in prayer today.
YOU CANNOT FIND THE MOVE OF GOD BY CHASING OTHER CHURCH’S REVIVALS. THE MOVE OF GOD MUST BE FORMED IN YOUR HEART, AND THAT IS DONE BY BEING STILL AND KNOWING HE IS GOD.
DON’T GO CHASING
Prophecy
SABBATICAL DAY 8: ON ORDINATION AND DELIVERANCE
This week is all about the projects.
Yesterday I harvested the last of the vegetables from the garden and began moving some of the herbs indoors for the winter. The temperatures are starting to get below forty during the nights now so it is time to start putting the outer Vicarage to bed and getting everything set for winter.
Early morning view from the Vicarage
Today I filled out the paperwork for my ordination and began looking at all the church budgets for FY25 which are due by the end of the month for review by our church finance committee.
In prayer I have begun to hear about a coming move of deliverance for our region. Here is something I heard in prayer today.
“The next season will be about deliverance. Like repentance, deliverance is more about what you are moving toward than what you are moving away from. In fact you will never be delivered until you have a firm vision of what you are getting in place of what you are giving up and until you believe that what you are getting is better than what you are leaving behind.”
SABBATICAL DAY 5: CONFERENCING
This sabbatical feels different from my last. During the last sabbatical my mother was just entering the most intensive part of her medical need. Travel was not really an option. Now Mom is gone. I guess I could go anywhere I want, but I don’t really have any desire to go anywhere.
I know many people think of sabbatical as a vacation. I don’t. I see it as a necessary change of life rhythm for the purpose of clarifying vision. I really need that. I feel more deeply than ever before that I need to see what is coming down the road. More than that I feel like I am commanded to it.
One thing I did learn about sabbatical from last time was that the rhythm and events of sabbatical are only truly determined by God. I made intricate plans last time and God intervened heavily in my plans to change them. I didn’t get done all that was on my list, but I know now I did get done what I needed to do.
This time my plans are not as detailed, but I feel like I have come closer to matching God’s plans for this sabbatical. This first week of sabbatical was given to prayer and conferences. I attended several prayer services at TWR House of Prayer as they held their annual growth conference. Yesterday I was at Liberty Church in Shrewsbury MA for their L2L conference. Today I was at my own church for our Better Man Conference. I have pages of notes to pray through this next week as I seek vision from them for our church.
This next week I am spending time in deep prayer, in working around the Vicarage, and in planning administratively for the church: I have budgets to do; missions job descriptions to update; and infrastructure plans to consider; I also think it is time to fill out the paperwork for the next step in my ministry licensing process.
My son and his wife are signing papers this week on a condo so I am beginning a big fall cleaning as they prepare to move at the end of the month. It feels like threads are coming together and I am beginning to see the tapestry, streams are blending in a divine confluence. I certainly am not the only one sensing this. I don’t even understand the bigger parts of it, but I am very clear on the fact that I need to understand my own small part of the stream. I think much depends on it.
DO YOU FEEL THIS NEXT YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT THAN THE LAST?
SABBATICAL DAY 2: WE NEED TO KNOW
My son and I were talking about this sabbatical our church is on. I explained to him that sabbatical is not a vacation for the pastor or the church. It is a change of rhythm for the purpose of finding God’s direction and strength for next steps. The change of rhythm does involve rest, but it also involves other practices as well.
Today was all about the practice of flexibility. I set my plans to pray for at least two hours at the Worship Room House of Prayer this morning. I made it forty minutes and then… God showed up and I ended up taking a trip with my daughter to a town about an hour and a half away to pick up some equipment that had been wrongly shipped to another Cornerstone Church.
I was going to go by myself, but you know I am learning to be the DOING LIFE TOGETHER guy. It was good we went together, as it turned out. My leg has been bothering me the last few days and it cramped up pretty badly just as we were arriving at the other Cornerstone Church. Amanda had to drive home so I could stretch out.
Anyway, we made a morning of it. The drive was through some of the most beautiful autumn territory of the Quabbin Valley and we stopped for lunch at Herrick’s in Orange. So I actually accomplished one of my other goals for this month which was to take a leaf peeping drive.
There were a few other “divine interruptions” in my plans today. Some unplanned reorganization of schedules shortened my time to burn brush by about an hour and once again reoriented how I was going to pray. I think learning to be flexible with my prayer life is something God is trying to teach me.
In the midst of all the reorganization I got this thought. “As a people we need to know God’s plan for the next years. We do need a clearer vision of the future. We do need to understand what God is doing. That said, we don’t just need to know God’s plan or the future or what God is doing. We need something more. We need the church to also have a revelation of itself, a revelation of who we are to Christ, who we are to ourselves and who we are to our communities.
TELL ME WHO OR WHAT DO YOU THINK THE CHURCH IS?
SABBATICAL DAY 1: ETERNAL DEFINITIONS
I need to begin living by God’s definitions of things rather than the world’s definitions of things. I need to bring the definitions of words from eternity into the here and now. I need to begin living by those eternal definitions in the here and now.
For instance, the Bible teaches us that the word “power” means something different in eternity than it does here. I…we must begin living by the eternal definition of the word “power” rather than living by the temporal definition.
As I begin to live by the eternal definition of all things in the here and now, the New Heaven and the New Earth, when it is finally established, will be a stepping into the presence of a long awaited friend rather than a violent shift to a new thing.
PREPARE!PREPARE!PREPARE!
I am getting ready for sabbatical in October. Sabbatical is about getting the next prophetic steps for ministry and for the church family. As a church we are seeking a word from God for 2025 and 2026. Here is the current prophetic word our church is working from.
THE LEADERSHIP RHYTHM
This week God has been speaking to me about fully embracing the rhythm of my leadership. I believe, there is a leadership rhythm that spiritual leaders must follow consistently if we are to walk in the fullness of our giftings from God. Without the consistent rhythm we will not walk in the fullness of our gifts or reach the fullness of our ministry callings.
I don’t believe that this rhythm looks the same for everyone. Each of us are called to discover the rhythm of our spiritual leadership for ourselves, and then to live it constantly We must no longer allow distractions of the world to take us away from the rhythm.
For me, this involves a rhythm of constant prayer throughout the day, everyday: Matins, Laudes, Prime, Terce, Sext None, Vespers, Compline. For me, work and the rest of life flows out of prayer and back into prayer. Prayer is the constant rhythm and it must not be allowed to stop…ever.
The Lord showed me that this rhythm is the manifestation of the armor of God for us as leaders in the church, this is why Paul says…“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 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. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground” (Ephesians 6: 11-13)
This means that letting go of the rhythm is akin to taking off the armor, and therefore not being able to stand in the day of evil against the agents of evil.
Here is the struggle I am having. I have sought God and told Him how overwhelming this thought is. I know I cannot be consistent to this level of constancy on my own. In my own nature I am too distractible, too flighty.
The Lord has sent me a quiet assurance in prayer that the rhythm is not something I accomplish on my own. It is something He accomplishes and I receive.
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.Ephesians 2:10
So now I am taking time everyday to believe and receive the rhythm that is God’s gift to me and which opens up my ability to use my gifts for Him.
DO YOU HAVE A RHYTHM GOD IS TRYING TO ESTABLISH IN YOUR LIFE?
DIGGING DEEPER DEVOTIONAL JULY 22, 2024
DIGGING DEEPER DEVOTIONAL JULY 19, 2024
WELL, THAT DIDN’T GO TO PLAN!
Last time I wrote, I said that I planned for my Fourth of July to be filled with grilling and gardening. We at the Vicarage were about as far from that idyllic form of celebration as we could be on the Fourth of July holiday.
It all started with a call from my daughter at 6:30 A.M. Melanie was having a gall bladder attack and was heading to the emergency room. She asked if I could watch Daniella and Abigail for the day.
The girls arrived around 7 A.M. and Melanie and James headed off into the uncertain wait that is our American medical system today. That’s not a criticism of the doctors and nurses who work so diligently in our hospitals, just a commentary about the state of our system. You never know what is going to happen when you head out to the hospital these days. It turns out this time around they would keep Melanie over until surgery could be scheduled. The girls would be at The Vicarage for the day.
At this point, I still thought we could rescue the holiday from the ashes of the fire pit. My nephew , Tyler, was still coming over. James was planning to pop by and check in on the girls if Melanie was in a place where she could be left for a bit. Kristine was willing to bake the cookies and make the Jello salad that Melanie was going to bring originally. I got the meats marinating and the barbecue started.
It was all going according to plan B and then our family cat, Picasso, had a stroke while my daughter Amanda was holding him. A few hours later, my daughter’s dear little companion for the last 13 years would pass.
It was not lost on any of us that this is the second family celebration in less than a month that has been effectively cancelled by illness and trauma. A week ago my daughter, Melanie, had sent me a word she felt was from God for our family. It read, “The garrison attacks are a distraction from the true objective of the enemy.”
Well we can now see what the garrison attacks are. What, I wonder is the true objective of our enemy, the Devil.”
LORD DO NOT LET ME BE DISTRACTED. LET MY EYES SEE AND MY HEART PERCEIVE THE TRUTH THAT IS BEING HIDDEN BEHIND THE HORRIFIC DISTRACTIONS.
Notes From the Vicarage 