Stay

I’ve written before about my life calling – that the church would be radiant. (Read more here.) The last year I spent intentionally in an environment where I witnessed what that could look like. Bill Johnson says that he never wanted to build a big ministry, he wanted to build big people. I can honestly say that Bethel is absolutely a church and a culture where that is put into practice. 

I remember hearing a well known speaker many years ago talk about how it was not about us – we were just designed to reflect God and not be anything ourselves. This sounds all well and good – it’s about God, not about us. Tick. No problem. But something never sat right with me about this message. Similarly some will say that John the Baptist’s words ‘He must increase, I must decrease’ are to be our own prayer. Sounds great. And certainly, I would like to have more of God in my life. I’m hungry for that.

But again, are we maybe missing something? You see, Jesus said to His followers ‘You are the light of the world’. Hang on a second, isn’t He the Light of the world? Yes, He certainly is, but He says we are. And John the Baptist, Jesus said, was ‘the greatest of all the prophets, but even the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he’. John had to decrease because Jesus was ushering in a new Kingdom – and those of us who know Him are part of that. John had prepared the way for the Lord, now the Lord has come. We’re not in the same season in history as John was.

We’re not supposed to decrease. We’re supposed to increase, that Jesus would be made visible to the world who misses Him. We are the Light of the world, because He is within us and He is the Light. We’re supposed to increase, because we are in Christ and ‘of the increase of His government there will be no end’.

What I discovered while studying at Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) was a culture where people really believed in people. No doubt, it was a culture that believed in the power of God, but the power of God made perfect in human weakness; the treasure held within jars of clay. People who believed that we can allow Him to transform us into vessels for special purposes.

This is what makes for a radiant church. And in February this year, I was asking God about whether I should return to Bethel to do a second year of BSSM. Straight away in one worship time I heard the Lord say ‘stay’. I knew deep within that I needed more time. I was seeing radiant people and I needed more time to learn from them; to absorb their way of believing and living. And so in a few days’ time I will return to the US for a second year at BSSM!

This year is already stretching me in trusting Him – I still haven’t managed to secure somewhere to live, and still need to raise significant funds – so if you are able to support me in this next step either in prayer or financially, please let me know. You can comment below and just say ‘I’d like to support’ and I will be able to contact you by email.

Thank you for following this next step in my adventures with God!