5 Years on

About 5 years ago we were in London in a prayer meeting, when a very weighty prophetic word broke into our time of worship together .

Several things made it important - not only did it call to attention the importance of the voice of prophets to whom God often speaks first, but it spoke of new alignments, allies, partnerships. These circles within circles created an Ezekiel-like notion of blurred lines... wheels within wheels. The future would be very different.

Now, half a decade later, it is remarkable to see how all of this is playing out. Of course there are some who were drawn to the excitement of the prophecy initially, until it became clear that it would disrupt the old order, so they retreated behind the fences of the known. Others wished and expected everything to change overnight and stepped from the prophecy because it did not happen fast enough. This discouraged them deeply.

I guess the lesson we have all had to learn is the humility needed to let God lead us through these unchartered waters, living daily with uncertainty. None of us thought it would be like this. Of course we were unfortunately guilty of mismanaging the moment and fragmentation went where multiplication was meant to pioneer.

Yet I am so grateful that the Father is righting the wrongs and building the beauty of his divine design. That word was not given for simple creative architecture. It was for the sake of taking the "gospel of the kingdom to all nations and then the end will come". When that soul is lost, some will defend the status quo while others will rage about the new, the eclectic, the radical.

It is not about either. It is, was and will always be for the sake of the gospel. To miss that is to draw earthly battle lines, losing friendships, defending causes, missing collaborative moments. If it is not for the gospel, it not worth anything. If we lose this we will be authors of implosion or institutionalization and not co-conspirators for gospel advancement - and that is what Jesus died for.