Helsinki.
I want to give an update on my recent trip to Europe.
I have been back home in New Zealand a couple of weeks now, the jet lag is over, and normal routine is resumed.
I had a great time in Europe.
FINLAND
First of all I spent time in Finland. I was the main speaker at an event called “Living and Growing in Father’s Love” organised by Fatherheart Finland. The other speaker was Tommy Feldberg from Norway and the event was facilitated by Pekka Daniel Rimpeläinen from Finland. It was a joy to be translated by Tarja Nieminen .I have worked a lot with Tarja in the translation of James and Denise Jordan’s books into Finnish. She has recently translated my own book, Creating a Shape for Life to Flow and is now working on my book, Primal Hope. It is exciting for me to see my books being translated into other languages.
My time in Finland was very fruitful. It was a stretch of faith; I hadn't done as much speaking in my life before. I spoke for 15 sessions over 5 days, but I discovered and am discovering more and more that the river of Spirit keeps flowing. It flows much easier when the hearts of the audience are very open and hungry to what I am saying. Because of this I was able to push the envelope, as it were, into revelatory teaching that I have not done before. Towards the end of the week I thought that I had run out of things to say, but Pekka Daniel smilingly wouldn't let me off the hook and so I experienced a flow of revelation coming from the eternal source. I am grateful to PD for stretching me in this way.
I loved being in the cold North. The crispness of the snow, gleaming against the blue sky, framed within the forests and frozen lakes brought peace and joy to my soul. I will be back next year.
Walking on the frozen Baltic Sea.
TRAVEL PROBLEMS
After Finland my plan was to spend 4 nights in Belfast, seeing my family and then I was due to go to Norway. However, things didn't go entirely to plan. I was caught in the middle of two weather systems that hit the British Isles— the ‘Beast from the East’ and ‘Storm Emma.’ Heathrow Airport was in total chaos and my flight to Belfast was cancelled after sitting on the runway for 3 hours waiting to be given clearance to take off. We were unceremoniously ‘dumped’ back into the terminal after midnight. No one was around. There were no alternative arrangements, no hotel accommodation, not even a meal voucher. Everything was shut apart from one cafe. They told us that there was zero chance of getting a flight the next day. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights, not knowing what to do.
My sister in Belfast messaged me and snapped me out of my paralysis. Get out of Heathrow and London was her advice. I followed it and caught a train to Liverpool in the middle of the night. After 36 hours without any sleep and after many delays, I eventually flew to Belfast, stopping over in an extremely windy Isle of Man. As our plane approached the landing in Belfast, we were told to identify the emergency exits! The pilot made a fast and hard landing, biting the undercarriage into the runway to avoid skidding out of control.
Spending a few days in the biting cold wind of Belfast, I chose to avoid Heathrow and booked a flight to Norway from Dublin. Dublin airport was completely shut for 3 full days, however, it opened the day before I left to go to Norway.
NORWAY
I arrived in Norway two days later than planned, was met at the airport by my friend Erich Wessel and driven in swirling snow to Gjovik. It was a joy and relief to arrive and be welcomed by dear friends and to reconnect with James Jordan again.
The morning after I arrived I was right into teaching, doing 7 sessions over 3 days. Again, it was a very hungry group, ready to move into new frontiers in the life of sonship.
OBSERVATIONS
Our life is continually progressing from glory to glory. Our destiny is Christlikeness, not as clones, but to be Son-like in our unique way, in the full expression of our individuality, then synergising together in a Body.
My trip showed me something with fresh clarity. Ministry boils down to one thing. This can be expressed in different ways but it is the same essential thing.
Ministry is the removing of impediments to experiencing the reality of God.
In a real sense, ministry doesn’t produce anything of itself; it doesn’t originate or create anything. It removes the sticking points, the blockages and the impediments to the dynamic life of God that is already there. It opens blind eyes to see the eternal reality. It sets captives free by removing the barriers to freedom. It binds up the broken hearted by taking away the cork of pain so that the vessel becomes flooded with the Father’s love.
As ministers of the Gospel we cannot, of ourselves, give anything to anyone. We are commissioned to help them see and receive what has already been given to them.
I have so much faith for European Christianity. We can only have hope for European (Western) Christianity if we are able to see a new way of doing life, a new paradigm and the emergence of a new wineskin.
I used to think that African or Asian expressions of church life were more living and dynamic than tired old Europe or faltering America. It may initially appear that way, but only if you believe that Church History is static.
The Body of Christ in the East, in Africa, and in the ‘developing world’ is at a different stage in the cycle of Church History than the West.
Europe is at the end of a particular cycle of Church History. It is ready for rebirth; for rebirth of spirituality and doctrine. I am totally convinced that the revelation of the love of the Father and of sonship and all of its ramifications is the foundation that needs to be built on.
But Europe is also ready for a new way of being, for a new way of doing. This is not entirely new, it is a synthesis of the ancient with the new. Rise up, sons and daughters, break off the chains of condemnation and fear. Resurrection life is here.
Isaiah 11 speaks of a new shoot growing out of the stump of a chopped down tree.
All you see may be a stump, but look again and keep looking. Look for the new shoot to appear out of the devastated stump.
