REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (24) - WAVES OF LIQUID LOVE

We’d been away for a couple of weeks. But walking in to the 9.30 service on Sunday told us that God was continuing to work in just the same way.

When we arrived at Chroma Church five years ago, the first service was maybe a bit sleepy. No longer! The presence of God is tangible. From the first chord in worship, it’s hard not to kneel, just to acknowledge the overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit.

The title for this post is ‘waves of liquid love’. It’s a well-known phrase from church history. When Charles Finney was baptised in the Holy Spirit at the start of his remarkable revival ministry, back in October 1821, he described it in this way:

‘Without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any memory of ever hearing the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression, like a wave of electricity, going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way.’

Leicester is an exciting place to be. At the start of a new educational year, I’m expectant for much more. There are so many prophecies over our city, from people around the world who have never even been to Leicester, but felt in the Spirit that God was about something special.

We live in the good of those prophecies. Pretty much every meeting – the three services on Sunday, Student Church, Kids and Youth, Revival Nights and more – are soaked in the Holy Spirit. God’s presence is tangible. Waves of liquid love.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (17) - DAYS OF HEAVEN

I’m not usually lost for words, but it’s hard to describe these last few days. Friday saw the start of the two-day Leaders Gathering, with around 350 people from churches up and down the country as well as from many nations including India, South Africa, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and more. (This was the same event as last year that started us on the revival road). This was followed by a wild Sunday in all three services. And then the Revival Prayer night on Tuesday.

The worship has been exceptional. Such a presence of the Holy Spirit. An awareness of the Father’s love. What can you do in such a time but worship?

The practical sessions brought a Holy Spirit anointing as people moved out in the gifts of the Spirit with many experiencing a new found freedom in prophecy and words of knowledge.

Sunday night’s service was particularly precious for its heartfelt worship and six people coming forward to give their lives to Christ.

Again, there have been angels in the building. Often  they are dancing. On Tuesday night’s Revival Prayer meeting, they seemed to be standing to attention. It was as if we had broken into a holy place, with increased awe and reverence.

What days to be living in. Days of heaven. And lost for words.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (16) - REVIVAL UPON REVIVAL

A year ago, revival came to Leicester. It was during the Chroma Church Leaders Gathering at the beginning of the year. The presence of the Holy Spirit was so thick, it was hard to stand. People had to be lifted out of the meeting, unable to walk. Others felt the presence of the Holy Spirit even as they parked their car in the car park. None remained unaffected.

Through the year that has followed, the Holy Spirit has continued to move. We’ve seen oil on hands as a common experience, some of our ladies having oil dripping off them. There have been angels seen regularly – some guarding doors, others entering into worship with wild dancing. Children have seen angels in their bedrooms, guarding them. In the children’s meetings, the sound of heaven has been heard.

We’ve seen 115 people walk to the front of the Sunday meetings over the year to give their lives to Christ. On top of that there have been hundreds on the street and in the youth and children’s meetings. 51 have been baptised. As Rachel says in our New Year message (from about the 1 hour 20 minute mark here) salvation isn’t a prayer, it’s a person. Jesus has been good to us in our times together. 115 times.

People of other faiths have started turning up to meetings, hearing that there’s healing to be had. Whole families are coming to Christ through healing encounters. Sikhs and Hindu’s have come to faith this year, some having dreams of Jesus that brought them to the church.

We’ve seen people give their lives to Christ where addictions have instantly lifted off them and they have remained free. We’ve seen new believers devouring the Bible, reading through the whole book in a short time.

The most dramatic healing was of a young lady with a heart condition. The doctors were unsure she would live, and certainly would not be able to work. She and her parents joined in the meetings online and the day we prayed for heart conditions, she was healed. Today she is active and has her first job.

There have been many other healings from the young to the old, sometimes happening in the worship without any prayer or particular emphasis.

Worship has been a key to the revival this year. ChromaWorship have been sensitive to the Holy Spirit and have consistently led us into God’s presence. Their heart for the Lord has been recognised too and they are beginning to lead in large international gatherings around the world.

The start of the revival in January a year ago caused us to start a weekly Revival Prayer meeting on Tuesday nights. These have been especially precious, with an overwhelming sense of God’s presence causing fear and reverence one week, outrageous praise on another. The weekly meetings have gathered others from other churches, including significant leaders of church networks. One of these leaders who had been particularly involved in the Toronto Outpouring in the 1990s commented that the revival was ‘like Toronto but more mature’. We’ll take that!

As 2022 was a year of revival, so for 2023. Revival upon revival. Every age group, every background, every nation represented. Revival has come to Leicester.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (14) - TIMES OF LAMENT, TIMES OF REJOICING

The Psalms are the hymn book of the Bible. Full of worship and praise.

But also full of lament, crying out to God that His purposes would be fulfilled. Psalms of lament comprise the largest category of psalms, making up about one third of the entire book of Psalms - beautiful poems or hymns expressing human struggles.

Last week at our Revival Prayer night, we experienced something really special.

The couple leading worship that evening were from the Ukraine. Running for their lives and having lost everything back in their home country, they have been with us for some months now. That evening, Petruso was on bass and Nathalie sang (names changed).

As Nathalie led in worship, we moved into singing in the Spirit.

And then. The most beautiful thing happened.

Nathalie began to sing of living through pain, of trusting in the hard times. A God who is there in the most difficult of times, One to be worshipped all the time, whatever we face.

We knew what Nathalie was singing about. Together we began to get caught up in the worship – and the lament. Together we sang, together we cried out for Ukraine. Together we thanked God for His protection, His love, His providence – He will have the final say.

Such an awesome moment and one I haven’t quite experienced before, despite over 50 years as a Christian.

And then there is such rejoicing in this revival too. 

Eighteen people were baptised in water last Sunday. Young and old. Different backgrounds and different nations. Some from Sikh and Muslim families too. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one losing his voice towards the end, such was the rejoicing.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (12) - REVIVAL SONG

It has always been God’s intention to have a worshipping people. Psalm 117 says ‘Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.’ It’s something God wants. And it’s something that brings blessing to the worshipper. It’s John Piper who says ‘God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him’. And how better to be satisfied than through worship – communion with the One who made us.

It's no surprise that with the premium God puts on worship, worship itself is both a catalyst and a result of revival. The Welsh Revival of 1904 spread through song. The hymn ‘Here is love, vast as the ocean’ was particularly used by the Holy Spirit to spread revival fires.

In the earlier revivals of John Wesley and George Whitefield, song was again a key. In the mid-1700s not so many could read, so one way to remember scripture and key theology was to sing it, and that is exactly what happened. John Wesley’s brother Charles became the voice of the revival song, writing many classic hymns during this time such as ‘And can it be that I should gain?’, ‘Hark the herald angels sing’, ‘Love divine all loves excelling’, and ‘O for a thousand tongues to sing’.

We are enjoying revival at Chroma Church Leicester right now, so again, it is no surprise that worship is at its centre. We have a band, Chroma Music, that are passionate to worship. And it has been recognised. They have just returned from Rotterdam, leading worship in a conference of 20,000 and seeing many lives changed.

If you have yet to hear their music, look them up on YouTube. Enjoy the revival songs.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (3)

Full meetings, lots of visitors. Many healed, including verified by doctors. Many finding faith in Christ. Young people coming forward to offer their lives to Jesus, willing to go anywhere for Him. The monthly prayer and worship meeting moved weekly (come and join us on a Tuesday evening). People reporting a Holy Spirit presence that can be felt from the car park. And chaos in the car park with so many cars. A sense of God’s presence in the meetings you can almost touch. Leaders visiting and taking back the blessing – then reporting back that what they experienced appears to have become contagious.

Here's a quote from a much earlier revival – the UK revivals of John Wesley and George Whitfield. The quote is from an attendee at a Wesley meeting in the late 1730s:

“If there be such a thing as heavenly music upon earth, I heard it there: if there be such an enjoyment, such an attainment, as heaven upon earth, numbers in that society seem to possess it. As for my own part, I do not remember my heart to have been so elevated in divine love and praise as it was there and then for many years past, if ever; and an affecting sense and savour thereof abode in my mind many weeks later.”

The description of that John Wesley meeting could well be applied to what I am experiencing at Chroma Church right now.  

The revival in Leicester continues.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER

On Saturday, revival came to Leicester.

I’m a bit of a Christian History geek and have studied revival most of my Christian life. And I’ve been fortunate enough to experience revival out in Argentina. So what I saw and experienced on Saturday at Chroma Church Leicester was, I think, the real deal.

The event was a leaders gathering of around 300 leaders from around the UK, starting the year off with a time to worship, prayer and of encouraging each other. Led by Steve & Juliet Barber and Paul & Sue Manwaring, the two days together were precious. More than that. On Saturday afternoon God came.

I know the theological arguments that God never leaves, but there was a time on Saturday afternoon, 8^th January 2022, when His presence was so thick in the atmosphere, it was hard to stand. It was impossible to stop worshipping. We were in His presence. There were angels in the room. Time became unimportant.

The weekend was not particularly a time for healing, but God healed anyway. 25 confirmed bodily healings and probably many more, some just happening as we worshipped.

Saturday afternoon saw a number of young women spontaneously take the stage and pray and prophesy over the leaders. Generations together meeting Him, receiving His mandate for the year ahead.

Revival is always accompanied by prayer, so it is no surprise that as preparation for this event, the church at Chroma had spent three days in prayer and fasting, with over 100 people turning up to pray each evening right at the start of the year.

Historically, revival comes at moments of crisis. None more so that now, at the end of a worldwide pandemic – something no one living has seen before.

Why Leicester? There are many revival prophecies over this city (there’s a need for a separate blog on that). It’s a city that has embraced a multicultural society in a way few other cities have, so it seems an appropriate place for a new Pentecost. In Jerusalem on that first Pentecost outpouring, there were people from ‘every nation under heaven’ (Acts 2:5). And so for Leicester. The BBC calls it the ‘most ethnically diverse’ city in the region, with well over 50% non-white residents.  Pretty much in the centre of the country geographically, Leicester has become a hot spot for the work of the Holy Spirit.

Revival has come to Leicester.

The Sound of the Stars

Well done to NASA, the American space agency.

In a new experiment, they put music to the stars. By identifying the position of the star, its size and its density, this all counts as to how the sound is then reflected.

First NASA identified an image from the Hubble telescope with which to work. They call this particular image a 'galactic treasure chest' because of the number of galaxies displayed. Each visible speck on the picture is a galaxy which is itself a home to countless stars.

Then NASA added a computer generated sound.

Objects near the bottom of the image produced the lower notes, while those near the top produce the higher ones. The higher density of galaxies near the centre of the image results in a swell of mid-range tones halfway through the video. Short galaxies give clear tones and spiralling galaxies have longer tones.

It’s a reflection from NASA on the message from the stars and although it is a computer generated sound, it shows in sound what we see in the skies.

The Psalms say ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims His handiwork.’ (Psalms 19:1).

And now we can hear it:

Listening to the Silence

Officially it’s called the Bryniau Glo Walk. I call it the Hidden Valley Walk.

You climb up a long way on a well-defined trail, through a forest, over the hills and into a hidden valley. It’s protected on three sides by higher hills, with a view out to the rest of Snowdonia.

I guess it’s because of that protection that it’s so silent.

I stopped in the valley and listened. Nothing. No bird song. No wind. Just silence. The most perfect silence.

For a moment in time, I was part of that silence. Transfixed by it. Such a perfect moment. Listening and hearing nothing. Looking out onto such stillness and beauty. Worshipping.

Silence is not always welcomed. One of my favourite songs is The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel (check out the version by Disturbed – amazing!) But the lyrics are slightly depressive: ‘Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping.’

Too often we shut out silence. We surround ourselves with noise and activity. The TV drones in the background even if we are not watching it. Music plays through our headphones as we travel. The car radio is on. The mobile has its own playlist.

But what if for a moment we stopped and listened? Listened to the silence. Relaxed for a moment, with our breathing as the only sound. And maybe pray a prayer - thanking God for a moment of complete silence; for a moment of complete peace in a noisy world.

Philosophical Walking

Did you know there is such a thing as ‘philosophical walking’? You do now.

There’s even a group in Yorkshire who arrange such walks, complete with a friendly walking philosopher.

But if we think for a moment, all walks can be philosophical – especially those away from our daily routines. We see new things, we plan to get somewhere, we consider routes, we observe the new things around us. All that adds to a philosophical walk.

I’m just back from one of my favourite places – Dolgellau, just south of Snowdonia. Walking in the foothills there is invigorating, uplifting, challenging, tiring…. all these things and more.

One day I went out on my own on what is called the ‘bird sanctuary walk’- basically climbing half way up a hill and walking through a nature reserve. The only bird I saw was a crow! But there was plenty to enjoy, consider – even meditate on.

Those that know me will know that for me there is a ‘God connection’ too. To appreciate the creation made by God is special. There’s a favourite song of mine at the moment that says ‘Every painted sky, a canvas of Your grace. If creation still obeys You so will I.’

For me, that’s what walking does. I see the sky, the plants, the birds. And I worship.

Looking for my Telescope

I live in a beautiful place. On the edge of a village, our house looks over open fields with an ever changing landscape of sun, sky and clouds. The photo’s illustrate – but don’t do justice – to God’s creative grandeur.

For me, such beauty always points me to the Creator behind it. I find it incredulous that someone can say for a moment that all we see, from the snowflake to Everest, from the flower to the flowering of the Grand Nebula are simply the chance encounters of atoms. No. There is a Creator. And He is to be worshiped.

We only worship Him in an incomplete way. As C S Lewis put it:

‘We are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.’

So, we don’t fully understand or see. But what we do see is sufficient to worship. Enough is on show to thank Jesus Christ for His life that points to the next. We can look to the skies and say ‘hallelujah!’

Sam Stones says:

‘Each of us is under a divine mandate to become an amateur astronomer, to peer into the incalculable depths of sky and space and behold the handiwork of our omnipotent Creator.’

I’m looking for my telescope.

Sunday Sunshine in Leicestershire

A few musings from my daily diary today.....

'It's a beautifully sunny Sunday morning and I'm sitting in the back garden, looking over the rolling fields. The sheep are on the far side today and I can see the cattle in the distance.

The bird feeder is doing good business. A flock of sparrows come and go. They do great damage to the two containers with normal seed, spilling the contents onto the floor in a flurry of wings. Having seemingly spilled a lot and eaten little, they contentedly sit as a flock in the nearby rosebush, observing their destructive handiwork.

There's two starlings in attendance too. They don't balance too well as they try and eat the fat cubes. One seems to be the baby of the other and even in this extended summer, it's still calling for attention.

A robin stands contentedly on the floor below the feeders, picking up a King's breakfast from what the sparrows drop.

A blue tit flits in and out from the peanuts, startled by the noise from the starlings. There's a great tit in attendance too.

The swallows are still here, occasionally landing on our roof, and because of the Velux windows, we get a close view of their beauty.

A cock crows in the distance and I pray a prayer of thanksgiving to the God of all creation.'

Heartwater

Her heart was pounding. Slowly she opened the door. As an ‘outsider’, a prostitute, she had no right to enter the house and interrupt the meal. But her passion was greater than her fear. She ran to him, poured perfume on him, washed his feet with her tears, dried them with her hair.

This story from the Bible (Luke 7:38) is a beautiful picture of worship.

In those times, it was usual for the host to arrange for his guests feet to be washed- kind of necessary because of the state of the roads. But the host had not done so.

This lady does what should have been done. She should not have been there. She should not have entered the house. But her love for Jesus overcame her fear of being turned away.

It’s a powerful picture. Giving her all. Overcoming fear. The reformer Martin Luther called her tears ‘heartwater’.

As we go in to another year, what is it we are worshipping? (We all worship something!) What are we passionate about? And when we cry, cry out, shout or sing- are the tears heartwater?