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Showing posts from November, 2012

What Do You Want?

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I haven’t written a new post for a couple of weeks but it hasn’t been for lack of trying. I’ve been at my computer a lot, a blank screen staring back, trying to formulate my million thoughts into something profound and life changing. I have about 25 half-starts - ideas that will eventually turn into posts and/or messages because I firmly believe if it’s good for me, it’s good for others. But through all the ideas I have to write about, I am stuck on the one thing I want – more than anything. It’s especially front and centre in mind because as we approach the Christmas season, I’ve been asked by family to formulate my Christmas wish list. I love everything about Christmas and I especially love Christmas presents (heck, one of my love languages is gifts) but what I want can’t be bought by anyone and it can’t be given by anyone either. All I want is his Presence. I don’t mean his abiding presence, but his manifest Presence. The Presence which is also his power, you can’t sep

Lessons from the Glory

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It happened. I’ve been asking the Lord for more than a year, and it happened. I saw a glory cloud. I’ve just returned from more than a week in Redding, CA where I attended a Leaders Advance conference at Bethel Church – 800 leaders and pastors from 37 countries. I stayed a few extra days to spend time with friends. All week, the Presence of God almost felt tangible. It’s why I love going to Bethel. During the conference, the hunger and single-minded focus on Jesus of everyone there was inspiring, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if a glory cloud showed up at any one of those meetings – even if we were talking about strategic parking plans or discussing the coffee shop offerings – everything was focused on Jesus. Everything in heaven centres on Jesus, so if I had been heaven’s stage director, I would definitely have chosen one of those high points to introduce the glory cloud. But it didn’t happen during the conference; it happened during the Friday evening service. Ther