The New Life Outpouring
Dear Beloved New Life Family,
Eleven Sundays ago, Jodie prophesied at the start of our weekly gathering that God was wanting to encounter us afresh. No sooner had she declared this, that the Spirit of God started to powerfully envelop us.
This outpouring has continued ever since. We have adjusted our service plans to orientate ourselves around what God is doing. I have not preached over this time. God Himself is the message. Often God focuses on a specific thing in our gather times, be it shame removal, physical healing, a call to repentance and holiness or just revealing His love to us.
Testimonies of Transformation
We have received many wonderful testimonies from people about how God has been refreshing, convicting, healing, transforming and speaking to them. People have had deep encounters with the Spirit of God. Some have had open visions.
Wonderfully, we have seen numbers of totally unchurched people come to the Lord in our meetings. What is clear is that God is at work and we love it.
Two people that had surrendered their lives to Jesus over recent weeks were baptized in the bathtubs of the people that had brought them to church .
Eleven Sundays ago, Jodie prophesied at the start of our weekly gathering that God was wanting to encounter us afresh. No sooner had she declared this, that the Spirit of God started to powerfully envelop us.
This outpouring has continued ever since. We have adjusted our service plans to orientate ourselves around what God is doing. I have not preached over this time. God Himself is the message. Often God focuses on a specific thing in our gather times, be it shame removal, physical healing, a call to repentance and holiness or just revealing His love to us.
Testimonies of Transformation
We have received many wonderful testimonies from people about how God has been refreshing, convicting, healing, transforming and speaking to them. People have had deep encounters with the Spirit of God. Some have had open visions.
Wonderfully, we have seen numbers of totally unchurched people come to the Lord in our meetings. What is clear is that God is at work and we love it.
Two people that had surrendered their lives to Jesus over recent weeks were baptized in the bathtubs of the people that had brought them to church .
Guidance for the Journey
I have been praying to God for a deeper insight into both the what and the why about what He is doing. Recently, a respected senior leader from a Canadian Leadership Network, who we have relationship with, contacted me to say that he felt the Lord had given him insight into what God was doing in New Life. He felt that the word was so significant that he needed to rearrange his schedule so that he could share the word of the Lord with Jodie and me.
I have been praying to God for a deeper insight into both the what and the why about what He is doing. Recently, a respected senior leader from a Canadian Leadership Network, who we have relationship with, contacted me to say that he felt the Lord had given him insight into what God was doing in New Life. He felt that the word was so significant that he needed to rearrange his schedule so that he could share the word of the Lord with Jodie and me.
God is Brooding over New Life
The essence of what he shared was that God is brooding over New Life. He reminded me that when God broods, He is in creative mode.
In Genesis 1:2 it says that, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was HOVERING over the waters.” The word translated “hovering” in this verse, is a Hebrew word that can equally be translated “Brooding.” It is the same word used of a hen sitting on her eggs.
When God broods, He is resting upon us. Our role is to yield to His resting. Think of a hen sitting on her eggs. From an eggs perspective it must feel uncomfortable and even dark. The role of an egg in this process is to allow the hen to do what she is doing and to remain in the nest as long as she is incubating. Eggs that aren’t in the nest don’t get incubated and fail to birth their potential. I want to propose to you that this is a time to not miss a Sunday service. Don’t get above his brooding.
When God broods, He separates light from darkness (Gen. 1:4). There is a deep healing and even a deliverance process happening at the moment. God is addressing things in our lives that have caused chaos and pain. One of the things I am hearing from lots of people is that as wonderful as they find what God is doing on Sundays, they are also finding that lots of emotional pain is being stirring up in their hearts. This is normal to hear in revival. In the light of God’s glory, things that laid hidden in the recesses of our heart are illuminated. He turns on His light to reveal and heal. Our response to this work is to lean into this process and unpack with Him the “dross” that He is refining (Ps. 66:10-12; Zec. 13:9).
When God broods, His Disire must be satisfied, not ours. God is recalibrating us and inviting us to align our wills with His will, laying down our personal ambitions and desires, and recalibrating our hearts. He is wanting to restore to us a passionate intimacy. Only this will satisfy Him. But God is using His love to woo us back to an unbridled first love. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). He was to impregnate us His aroma so that people will smell Jesus on us in a way that will cause them to seek you out. Our world is starving for God’s pure, Holy love. God wants you to carry this, and the more you do the greater the light of God you will carry on you.
A Closing Prayer
“Heavenly Father, we submit to Your divine brooding, trusting in Your creative work within us. May we fall deeper in love with you and carry the aroma of Christ so that the world may seek Your love through us. Amen.”
In His Loving Service,
Matti
The essence of what he shared was that God is brooding over New Life. He reminded me that when God broods, He is in creative mode.
In Genesis 1:2 it says that, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was HOVERING over the waters.” The word translated “hovering” in this verse, is a Hebrew word that can equally be translated “Brooding.” It is the same word used of a hen sitting on her eggs.
When God broods, He is resting upon us. Our role is to yield to His resting. Think of a hen sitting on her eggs. From an eggs perspective it must feel uncomfortable and even dark. The role of an egg in this process is to allow the hen to do what she is doing and to remain in the nest as long as she is incubating. Eggs that aren’t in the nest don’t get incubated and fail to birth their potential. I want to propose to you that this is a time to not miss a Sunday service. Don’t get above his brooding.
When God broods, He separates light from darkness (Gen. 1:4). There is a deep healing and even a deliverance process happening at the moment. God is addressing things in our lives that have caused chaos and pain. One of the things I am hearing from lots of people is that as wonderful as they find what God is doing on Sundays, they are also finding that lots of emotional pain is being stirring up in their hearts. This is normal to hear in revival. In the light of God’s glory, things that laid hidden in the recesses of our heart are illuminated. He turns on His light to reveal and heal. Our response to this work is to lean into this process and unpack with Him the “dross” that He is refining (Ps. 66:10-12; Zec. 13:9).
When God broods, His Disire must be satisfied, not ours. God is recalibrating us and inviting us to align our wills with His will, laying down our personal ambitions and desires, and recalibrating our hearts. He is wanting to restore to us a passionate intimacy. Only this will satisfy Him. But God is using His love to woo us back to an unbridled first love. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19). He was to impregnate us His aroma so that people will smell Jesus on us in a way that will cause them to seek you out. Our world is starving for God’s pure, Holy love. God wants you to carry this, and the more you do the greater the light of God you will carry on you.
A Closing Prayer
“Heavenly Father, we submit to Your divine brooding, trusting in Your creative work within us. May we fall deeper in love with you and carry the aroma of Christ so that the world may seek Your love through us. Amen.”
In His Loving Service,
Matti
Questions for Reflection and Response:
- Personal Encounter: How have you personally experienced the outpouring of the Spirit in recent weeks? What moment that stood out to you?
- Transformation Witnessed: Have you witnessed a transformation in others that you would like to celebrate? Perhaps a healing or a newfound peace in someone you know? Write in the comments box.
- Emotional Stirring: As God "broods" over us, what hidden pains or challenges in your life have come to the surface? How are you dealing with these revelations?
- Divine Alignment: In what ways do you feel God is inviting you to align your will with His? Are there areas in your life where you sense a need to surrender or recalibrate?
- Carrying the Aroma of Christ: How can we, as a church family, better carry the "aroma of Christ" to those who are seeking His love? What practical steps can we take to embody this in our daily lives?
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