That We May Live in His Presence
Pastor Ashley McArtney
In November last year I journaled the following prayer:
“Disrupt us Lord. Shift and shake us that our lives be modelled after Yours. Let our community look like Acts 2:42. In your mercy Lord - disrupt us!”
I believe we are in a season of holy disruption. There are things playing out both corporately and in the lives of individuals that have been permitted by the Lord. Romans 8:28 “God works all things for good” is one of scriptures most quoted verses but do we know what we are saying? Deep in its meaning lies the sovereignty of God to permit evil and unjust things for His own good ends.
“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence. Hosea 6:1-2
For He has Wounded Us
It is vital that we see the heart of God in what He permits. I see the fingerprints of His mercy and goodness all around us. What good end does He work towards when He permits things that shake us? Why the Wounding? Why the hardship and pain? v.2 “That that we may live in His presence”. Glory! He wants to be with us. Isn’t this what we have been crying out for? A habitation of Glory? It’s just that His ways and methods are very different to ours.
Jesus and Simon-Peter
The idea that God wounds us is not a popular doctrine. It’s easier to blame the devil. Possibly the greatest example of this in all scripture is Jesus’ wounding of Simon-Peter.
‘Get behind me Satan. You are a stumbling block to me; you don’t have in mind the things of God, but the things of men’ Matthew 16:23
Wound-tear-cut! The pang of those words! This comes on the back of one of the greatest prophetic words in history (Matt 16:18). Jesus doesn’t wound without cause, He wounds out of mercy for us. What was the goal of Jesus’ cutting words in Peters life? To destroy Peters false self so he could lay hold of the prophetic word spoken over his life: Matt 16… “I say you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church”.
Jesus Permits the Sifting
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:31
Hours before Jesus crucifixion Peter again swears loyalty to Jesus. But is was all going to fail, and Jesus knew it. Peter would deny Him on the most important night in history - Peters own strength would fail. Jesus knew the workings of God had not been completed. Satan asks for permission to sift Peter and Jesus, well within his authority to deny such a request, instead prays for Peters faith to not fail. Peter needed to go through the sifting, and Jesus didn’t stop it…
Stepping out of the Shadow
I believe the Lord is dealing with vicarious faith. Vicarious faith is not a faith at all. What do I mean by vicarious faith? A pseudo-faith experienced through the life of others. A second hand walk with God, living on the testimonies of others. Feeling strong because of others who are strong in God. Operating with mediators and priests in our lives… never growing up, never maturing. Like a sucker fish that hitches a ride on a shark - vicarious faith!
Picture two trees, one large and one small. The large tree provides shade and protection for the smaller tree to thrive initially, but as the years pass, the small tree need more room, nutrients and sunlight to keep growing. People and church structures can be like this for us. They serve us as we grow up from babes in Christ, but will begin to hinder our maturity if we become settled in their ‘strength’. What the Lord wants from each believer is an intimacy and strenght that is found in Him, and not lived vicariously through the lives of the men and women who lead our churches. Few lean on God alone. It is one thing to flourish under the shade of a great man or woman, its another thing entirely to rest in God alone.
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.
The Expansion
We knew that we were in for a time of expansion in 2023, and here we are, needing to expand! Both Jeannette and I see the goodness and mercy of God at play. I truly believe that the expansion is firstly in you and me as individuals. The whole church will benefit as we get big in God. In times like these where the rubber hits the road, we have an opportunity - an invitation - to draw nearer to Him.
In the year that King Uzziah died…I Saw the Lord: Isaiah 6
Who was King Uzziah? He was a good King - a rare thing after the reign of David. During the period of Uzziah’s reign, the nation prospered, and desert areas were reclaimed by water conservation. Jerusalem’s walls were reconstructed, towers were added, and engines of war were mounted at strategic points. A large army was also maintained. The nation’s prosperity under Uzziah was considered to have been a result of the king’s loyalty to God. His reign of 42 years marked the height of Judah’s power.
He was also Isaiahs cousin. Uzziah was a tree to Isaiah, under which he flourished for a time. He represented strength and stability, a familiar and dependable source of friendship and counsel for the prophet. In the year He died, Isaiah saw the Lord…
There are times in life where people of stature and strength are removed from our lives, either though circumstance or by death, be it parents, spouses, spiritual parents, mentors or best friends. Oswald Chambers says “God has to remove the familiar in order to bring Himself in their place.” This is where we faint and fail and get discouraged. Take it personally: In the year that the one who stood to you for all that God was, died, how did you respond? Did you give up? I became ill? Get disheartened? …. or did you see the Lord?”
That we may live in His Presence
How does God get us closer to Him, aware of Him? Through shakings and disruptions. He shakes everything - our false self, our relationships and our structures. He is disrupting our saftney nets. He removes people from our lives, changes our postcode or permits seasons of sifting in order that He would have the first and last place in our lives. In His mercy He brings us, sometimes violently, into a place where we cry ‘whom have I in heaven but You!?’ The LORD is the only One we can rely on. No other person cuts it - not wife or husband, mum or dad. He alone can take the full weight, all our cares and sorrows, all our fears and insecurity. He can take it and He wants to take it. This is how we move close to Him.
