Changing the culture

Glory to the King of kings!

It has been another awesome week with God! The Lord is imparting more and more spiritual revelation to us in our meetings and we are excited about our King and His Kingdom and the life-changing truth He is making known to us by His Spirit!

On Tuesdays we meet for Bible study and prayer and at present are studying the letter to the Romans and receiving powerful insight into God's Word. At our weekly prayer meeting, the Lord is showing us how to use His Word to worship Him and how to pray over our own lives and intercede for one another as well as the Church, the city and whatever else the Holy Spirit leads us to pray over!

The women and the men meet on Thursdays and Fridays respectively and have wonderful times of fellowship with God and one another. The youth (IMPACT!) meet on Saturdays at Subzone in central Frankfurt and are influencing the city with their presence and joy!

Yesterday the Lord continued to speak to us about Kingdom Culture and this is what He showed us:

• Culture is a way of life that is determined by what influences you and the convictions you have.
• Influence is what we allow to flow into our lives that affects us.
• Convictions are the unshakable, compelling and conquering beliefs we have that affect our way of life.
• There are 3 approaches to living in a foreign culture:

1. Cultural Chameleons: someone who is able to adapt and conform to whatever culture they find themselves in. This person simply allows the culture they're in to influence them so that they become one with the culture.
2. Cultural Cliques: someone who joins others of the same culture and isolates him/herself with them to form a seperate culture within the culture they are living in.
3. Cultural Conquerors: someone who influences and changes the culture in which s/he lives because of the unshakable, compelling and conquering convictions s/he has.

Looking at 1 Thess. 1:3-10 we saw that the Thessalonians were cultural conquerors because of the unshakable (1:6), compelling (1:3) and conquering (1:8,9) convictions (1:5) they received by the Holy Spirit.

Kingdom culture is a way of life that is determined by Kingdom influence and Kingdom convictions!

We praise God that He has given us everything we need to live Kingdom culture and to conquer the kingdom of darkness with Kingdom convictions. Hallelujah!

Yesterday evening we had another wonderful opportunity to put our convictions into action as we ministered to the poor and needy with God's love. Many came and entered into Kingdom Culture as we served them and fed them and simply enjoyed God's presence and love together with them.

Quote of the week:

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2 (emphasis mine)

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The anchor of our soul

Hallelujah!

God is awesome! It has been another exciting week together with the Lord! More and more people are attending the prayer meetings and the Lord is continuing to pour out spiritual revelation to help us know Him more and walk in His ways.

Yesterday the Holy Spirit led us gently into the Lord's presence as we worshiped and took communion together. God is revealing the significance of the Lord's Table to us more and more and yesterday He showed us how the taking of the body and the blood of Jesus is a prophetic act that realises the past and the future. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10), and as we take of the bread and the wine, we remember Christ's death (past) and proclaim His death (present) until He comes again (future) - 1 Cor. 11:23-26. As we partook of the Body of Christ there was an overwhelming and powerful sense of His presence (The bread of the Presence - Exodus 25:30) as we proclaimed the victory of Christ's death on the cross over sin, sickness and all the power of the enemy! Hallelujah!

Continuing with learning to pray and living a lifestyle of prayer, the Lord spoke to us yesterday about the true meaning of hope. This is what He showed us:

1. The world's understanding of hope is: hoping that something may happen but with the possibility of it not taking place.
2. The Bible's understanding of hope is: certain expectation (Heb.11:1)
3. God has given us His Word to inspire hope (Rom.15:4)
4. God wants us to have divine hope that is certain of the outcome (Rom.4:16-25)
5. God has placed hope in us - Christ the hope of glory (Col.1:24-29)
6. Having this hope cleanses us (1 John 3:3)
7. God wants us to overflow with hope (Rom. 15:13)
8. Hope strengthens us (Isa.40:27-31)
9. Hope is the anchor of the soul that enters into the Most Holy Place (Heb.6:17-20)

Hope is the anchor of the soul that enters into the Most Holy Place!

We praise God for His faithfulness and for His wonderful encouragement! Yesterday evening we minstered to the poor and needy with a team of 20 people! Glory to God! Our people are eager to know God and do His will to see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you Jesus!

Quote of the week:

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

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A lifestyle of faith

Praise be to the King of kings and Lord of lords!

The Lord is continuing to grace us with His wonderful presence in our meetings and He is speaking very clearly to us about spiritual love (agape). We believe that God is preparing us for greater spiritual breakthrough as we learn to truly love one another and be united in spirit.

Yesterday the Lord showed us the following:

1. Agape (spiritual love) comes "from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Tim. 1:5
2. Sincere faith means a faith that is genuine, real and without hypocrisy.
3. Faith is not only hearing the Word (James 1:22) nor is it just believing (James 2:19) and neither is it just confession or proclaiming truth (Luke 6:46).
4. Sincere faith is always accompanied by action!
5. Faith is a lifestyle because of God. Rom. 12:1,2
6. Our faith is tested, tried and tempted continuously. James 1:2
7. Every test, whether we are confronted by the flesh/ self-centredness (Gal. 5:16-25), the world (1 John 2:15) or the Devil (Matthew 4:1-11) requires a faith response - choosing to God's will or one's own will or the world's way or the Devil's way!
8. Our lives consist of taking faith initiatives and giving faith responses.
9. As we are faithful in the small tests, God will entrust us with greater opportunities to do His will and glorify Him! Luke 16:10

Faith is a lifestyle because of God!

We are very excited about new opportunities to serve the poor and needy in Frankfurt and it is wonderful to see the whole Body get involved in some way, demonstrating agape love. We therefore minister to the needy on the first Sunday of every month and on the fifth Sunday (when there is one).

Quote of the week:

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors." James 1:2,3 (The Message)

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Agape

Glory to God!

The Lord is building His Church and raising a spiritual people who reveal His glory and love! Hallelujah!

The Lord is speaking to us about spiritual love (agape) and yesterday He showed us the following:

1. We are to be like God (Eph. 5:1; Rom. 8:29; Eph. 4:24; 2 Peter 1:3; 1 Peter 1:15,16; Matthew 5:48)
2. We are dearly loved (Eph. 5:1; 1 John 3:1; John 17:22,23)
3. We are to live a life of love (Eph. 5:2)
4. We are to love as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us (John 13; 1 John 3:16; Phil 2:6-11)
5. When we love like Christ loves us we honour the Father (Eph. 5:2; 2 Cor. 5:14,15; Rom. 6:6-14)

The Lord also challenged us not to just listen to His Word but also to do it (John 13:17; James 1:22-25) since His glory is only revealed through us when we speak and act according to His Spirit within us (John 18:6; Matthew 7:16)!

We give God all the glory for what He is doing in and through us and for blessing us with His awesome presence in our meetings. He is adding to our number and He is maturing us in walking in the Spirit. We also praise Him for more opportunities to serve the Body and the poor and needy in Frankfurt. Hallelujah!

Quote of the week:

"Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 6:1,2

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Zeal for God's House consumes us!

Glory to God!

This past week has been another exciting week as we sense the Lord preparing us for a greater revelation of His glory. Hallelujah!

Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about preparing the Temple for His glory as we looked at Ephesians 2:19-22; John 2:13-22 and Mark 11:17. From these Scriptures, we learned that:

1. The spiritual Temple of God is both the individual believer as well as the church, the Body of Christ. 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21,22
2. God wants to clear out the church of all wordliness, self and evil. John 2:15,16
3. God does not want the world in the church. John 2:14
4. God is radical about holiness in His Temple. John 215,16
5. Zeal for God's House must consume us. John 2:17
6. God wants His people to be a people of prayer. Mark 11:17; Rom. 12:11,12

God's desire is to fill the Church with His manifest presence, power and love so that
His glory is revealed to the world through His people!

As we learned about what God's glory is, we looked at 2 Chronicles 5:7-14 and 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 where the Lord showed us that,

1. God's presence is in the Most Holy Place/ the spirit of the believer. 5:7
2. We, as a kingdom of priests, must consecrate ourselves. 5:11; Rev. 1:6; 1 Pet.2:9
3. The church must join together in unity of spirit. 5:13
4. The church must worship God. 5:12,13
5. God will fill His Temple/ the church/ the soul and the body as well as the spirit. 5:13,14
6. God's glory will be upon the church so that nations will bow down before Him. 7:1-3

We praise God for this exciting revelation and we expect the Lord to reveal more and more of His glory to us as we consecrate ourselves and seek His face! Hallelujah!

Yesterday evening we had a wonderful time blessing the needy and homeless as we worshipped together and fed them spiritual and physical food. Relationships and trust are steadily growing so that many more people are responding to God's love as they receive prayer and compassion. It is so moving to see our children and teens help at our soup kitchen and to see the love and care they demonstrate as they serve our needy people. Yesterday we had a team of 14 people that enabled great efficiency as everyone in the room was cared for and could sit peacefully as they were all served. We praise God for this opportunity to demonstrate His glory through word and action.

We are greatly looking forward to the Christmas dinner for the homeless and needy on the 23 December. We are preparing filled shoeboxes to give to the people and we are thrilled that a hotel chain has agreed to provide a 3 course meal and presents as well! Glory to God! What's also exciting is that 4 churches will be participating. God is indeed bringing His people together to glorify His Name!

We have finally managed to put the podcast and notes of our prophecy seminar on our website so please check that out under "teaching."

The Lord is blessing us and His favour is clearly upon us. He is deepening our walk in the River; He is adding to our number; He is healing people in our meetings and He is releasing and anointing workers among us to build up His people. Thank you Jesus!

Quote of the week:

"It is this spirit of dominion when restored to the Church of Christ that will bring again the glory triumph to the Church of God throughout the world, and lift her into the place, where, instead of being the obedient servant of the world, the flesh and the devil, she will become the divine instrument of salvation in healing the sick, in the casting out of devils, and in the carrying out of the whole programme of Jesus' ministry, as the early Church did." John G. Lake

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Building a spiritual House for God's Glory!

Glory to the King of Kings!

God is speaking to us about building spiritual walls and that as living stones (1 Peter 2:5) He is calling us to build walls of salvation (Isaiah 26:1) as a church that will influence and protect our lives and the lives of those around us. God is challenging us to understand the cost involved to be "Repairer(s) of Broken Walls" (Isaiah 58:12) as we seek to stand in the gap for the Church and this city. Consequently as KLF fasts for 21 days this month we will be interceding for the Church and the city of Frankfurt and praying for the glory of the Lord to be revealed in and through His Body and in Frankfurt (Ezekiel 43:1-12). The Lord is calling us to consecrate ourselves (1 John 2:15-17) so that He can glorify His Name through His people.

Yesterday the Lord showed us how the glory can depart and we saw from 1 Samuel 3; 4:12-22 that:

1. We must never assume that God's glory will automatically be with us and become over familiar with His presence. We must guard and honour the Lord's glory at all times!
2. Just as Eli's eyes grew dim we are not to allow our spiritual eyes to become dim by relying on past revelation rather than on fresh revelation.
3. Eli was heavy and immovable but God wants His people to be ready and moving with Him all the time. The Church is never to be settled and comfortable but continuously on the move with God.
4. Eli didn't raise up the next generation in the fear of the Lord so that his sons sinned against the Lord and were not trained in the ways of the Lord. Likewise Samuel wasn't taught how to recognise the voice of the Lord!

If we, as the spiritual House of God want to see God's glory, we must humble ourselves and seek the Lord's face. We are being called to vulnerability before God so that He will clothe us with His glory (Gen. 3:8). Hallelujah!

We believe that God is taking us to a new level in our relationship with Him and that our 21 day fast is the doorway to new and even more exciting things in 2008! Glory to God!

We praise God for 3 opportunities this month to feed the poor. On the 9th and the 30th we will have our regular soup kitchen and on the 23rd we are joining other churches to provide the poor with a Christmas dinner and celebration. For this purpose we and TPLF are making up 200 filled shoe boxes with lots of goodies in them to give to the needy.

Quote of the week:

"May the glory of the Lord be praised in His dwelling place!" Ezekiel 3:12

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United in the River!

Praise be to God!

In these past 6 months the Lord has been speaking to us individually about how we can enter, stand and walk in the River of Revival. God’s fresh revelation to us has encouraged us to enter in by faith, realize the truth of God’s Word, yield to the Holy Spirit and see what a life looks like that has denied self and has yielded completely to the Holy Spirit.

Yesterday we sensed God begin a new phase in the life of Kingdom Life. The Lord is teaching us what it means to be a spiritual Body. Looking at Ephesians the Lord showed us the following:

1. Jesus has been appointed to be the Head of the Church (1:22)
2. Jesus has been given all authority and power over every other power and has been appointed as Head of the Church for the benefit of the Church! (1:20-23)
3. We are being built together to become a spiritual building (2:21,22)
4. The Lord appoints leaders to train and equip the Body so that the church reaches full maturity (4:11-16)
5. When the Church is one in spirit and purpose, she will reveal the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm (3:10.11)
   

In view of these truths, the Lord helped us to see what a spiritual Body isn’t and what it is. He showed us that there are 3 types of Bodies:

1. Physical-Body

A group of people that may look like a church but are really only connected by the fact that they are in the same place at the same time.

2. Soulish-Body

A group of people that are connected through the soul (mind, heart and will).

Everyone gets along as long as there is agreement in selfish mind-sets; selfish needs are met and selfish desires can be executed.

Superficial unity operates until there is an obstacle: disagreement of mind-set; selfish needs aren’t met and selfish desires are not given room to operate.

Once this soulish unity is challenged, the spirit of offense begins to poison the believers so that they must either repent and submit to God’s will, or they leave the local Body to find another soulish Body where they can fit in, or they cause division in the local Body as they poison others, or they remain passive and resort to operating like those in a Physical-Body.

3. Spiritual-Body

A gathering of people who lay down their lives for one another. These people recognize that the only thing that stops one from being one in spirit is self since there is only one Spirit and He doesn’t bring division or disagreement! So they lay down self in submission to one another so that they are one in spirit and purpose.

The Spiritual-Body recognizes that in order for the Body to reach full maturity, God appoints leaders to whom the Body must submit so that the people are equipped and order is in the house as the leader is led by the Holy Spirit to orchestrate the various anointings in the Body and “each part does its work.”

We praise God for what He is showing us and challenging us with.

God is faithful and we were greatly encouraged by reports of His faithfulness in healing people and for His provision. All glory to Him and may we continue to risk for His glory to manifest His presence, power and love wherever we go!

Yesterday evening we joined Treffpunkt Leben to feed the homeless and needy. God is stirring things up with these people and yesterday a Polish-German man gave his life to the Lord and will begin attending either TPL or Kingdom Life. Hallelujah!

Next month we will be providing food for the needy on 3 Sundays: 9, 23 and 30 December. For the Christmas dinner on the 23rd both TPL and KLF will be collecting approx. 200 shoe boxes and filling them with good things for the needy.

I praise God for the way He is truly fulfilling the vision He has given KLF to raise up a people after His own heart, marked by His presence, power and love who reach the lost by risking for His glory!

Quote of the week:

“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit.” Ephesians 4:2-4

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Realising the Kingdom

Hallelujah!

What another awesome week with God! His favour is upon us!

The Lord is speaking to us in all our meetings about who we are in Christ and how to apply His Word to our lives. He is teaching us to proclaim His truth in spiritual warfare and also over our lives so that we live according to the Spirit and not according to the natural (Romans 8:5).

What is particularly exciting is how the Holy Spirit is quickening His Word in us and blessing our people with spiritual revelation, understanding, knowledge and wisdom (Ephesians 1:17). The Lord is revealing truth to us that we are beginning to understand by His Spirit so that we know Him better and are able to apply His Word in His power! Out of this wonderful move of God, our people are writing songs, poetry and are growing in boldness of faith! Here is a precious sample of one verse from a poem written by one of our youth:

There's going to be a strange kind of Light,

in my bedroom at night.

Stay silent my fear,

He is near,

bringing Heaven down

here.

A lady was gloriously saved last week as she approached a couple of our people on the street as they sought opportunities to risk for God's glory. She was asking for money but she received the riches of Heaven in Christ Jesus! Hallelujah!

Yesterday's meeting was exciting once again. The Lord is continuing to release gifts to His children and yesterday He was releasing prophetic song and wonderful revelation by His Spirit. God's Word to us yesterday was that,

God wants us to REALISE His presence and power both WITHIN and WITHOUT!

The Lord wants us to lay hold of and apprehend clearly what He has accomplished for us in Christ Jesus. He wants us to receive spiritual truth by faith and walk in it. It's becoming increasingly clear to us that realising spiritual truth will not come about through our natural minds but only by faith. It is by faith that we understand (Hebrews 11:3)! The Lord is teaching us that just as the Word became flesh, so we must realise or "make real" by faith God's Word which the Holy Spirit quickens in us by revelation. He is showing us that the truth of His presence, love and power is beyond our natural understanding (Ephesians 3:17-20) and can only be apprehended by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit! Glory to God!

Yesterday evening KLF had the privilege of feeding the poor and homeless and providing clothing. Once again the people left blessed and filled (both spiritually and physically) and God's peace rested upon the whole meeting. We are planning a Christmas dinner for the homeless that will be scheduled for the 24th December. This will be a joint venture with Treffpunkt Leben and we are praying for a suitable location to feed 100 - 200 people.

We give God all the the glory for what He is doing in and through Kingdom Life! Thank you Lord!

Quote of the week:

"You will never reach ideal purposes in any way unless you become the living epistle of the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. You become the living force of the revelation of God, the incarnation of the personality of His presence in the human soul. Then you know that you are His children." Smith Wigglesworth

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Moving in Grace & Glory!

Glory to God!

This past week has been very eventful and exciting! On Tuesday the founding members of KLF met to set up KLF as a charity organisation. We now need to wait until we are registered as a charity organistation to be recognised as an "e.V." (registered charity).

On Saturday IMPACT! got together again and we had a great time looking at session 3 entitled, "Choosing to believe the truth" of Neil T. Anderson's excellent discipleship course called "The freedom in Christ discipleship course." Our young people are growing in their faith and are excited about doing God's work to further His Kingdom and making an impact in this world!

Yesterday we had another wonderful time with the Lord. He is continuing to speak to us through Psalm 84 about the kind of people He wants us to be. Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about how a people who know His provision and protection will live for His glory to be revealed in them and through them. In particular we were encouraged to imitate the apostle Paul's perspective in 2 Corinthians 3:6-5:10 where we see that:

1. Paul saw his life in the context of eternity.
2. Paul was heavenly minded.
3. Paul lived to glorify God.
4. Paul lived from glory to glory.
5. Paul knew God's provision and protection.
6. Paul understood spiritual warfare.
7. Paul looked forward to glory.

We praise God for His grace and glory (Psalm 84:11) and that He has given us everything we need to grow in godliness (2 Peter 1:3) and are transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory! (2 Cor. 3:18)

Yesterday we also had another opportunity to feed the poor and homeless both spiritually and physically. The Lord made sure we had enough food to feed over 85 people so that everyone left satisfied and blessed. Our prayer is that the people we touch with Christ's love will not only meet with Him but that we will know how to help these precious souls to be discipled long-term in their various languages (the group we minister to includes Bulgarians, Hungarians, Romanians and others). We praise God for this precious opportunity to share His love with others!

Quote of the week:

"What is all God‘s effort with the world but to bring out the real man in the image of Christ, that real man with the knowledge of God. And when you stop to reason that to its proper conclusion, that is the only way that Jesus Christ Himself or God the eternal Father will have fellowship with man forever.

When one stops to analyze that fact, we see that God is trying to make us in all our nature and being and habits and thought, in all structure of our life, just as beautiful and just as real and just as clear-minded and just as strong as Jesus Himself.

Then we understand what Christ‘s redemption means. It is the bringing out of Christ in you, until Christ in you is the One manifest – manifest through your eyes just as God was manifest through the eyes of Jesus; manifest through your touch just as God was manifest through Jesus. It is not a power nor a life seperate from yourself but two lives made one, two natures co-joined, two minds operating as one. Christ in you." John G. Lake (emphasis mine)

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