I have just come back from a fantastic two days in London at the HTB Leadership Conference. I thought I would write down my reflections from the two days, mainly just to help me process what the Lord was doing and teaching me! If any of it is helpful to you then that's an added bonus! Here are some further reflections from the conference. | Find Ben on social media |
Word and Spirit
Ellie Mumford spoke on day two of the HTB Leadership conference and reminded us to hold fast to the Word of God and that we need to be filled with the presence and power of God - the Holy Spirit.
She said that the words of Scripture are not just words but that "they are life".
What really challenged me was her own personal testimony of how when she first became a Christian she started cutting out all the bits from the New Testament that were scary, weird, or did not make any sense. The parts that spoke of healing, the power of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues etc! Unsurprisingly, she was not left with a lot in her New Testament! She said: "I took scissors to my New Testament, desembowelled them and they became strangely ineffective".
We must let God be God and trust in his Word. If he says we must pray for the sick to be healed, then we must do it! Ellie reminded us we can only bring our obedience to the Word and that the Holy Spirit will use that.
I am praying through which parts of the Bible I metaphorically cut out and am asking the Lord to do a work in me!
Which bits do you cut out?
Praying "come Holy Spirit" is not an option for those who follow Jesus. It is the most ancient prayer in the Church. Pray it every day.
She said that the words of Scripture are not just words but that "they are life".
What really challenged me was her own personal testimony of how when she first became a Christian she started cutting out all the bits from the New Testament that were scary, weird, or did not make any sense. The parts that spoke of healing, the power of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, speaking in tongues etc! Unsurprisingly, she was not left with a lot in her New Testament! She said: "I took scissors to my New Testament, desembowelled them and they became strangely ineffective".
We must let God be God and trust in his Word. If he says we must pray for the sick to be healed, then we must do it! Ellie reminded us we can only bring our obedience to the Word and that the Holy Spirit will use that.
I am praying through which parts of the Bible I metaphorically cut out and am asking the Lord to do a work in me!
Which bits do you cut out?
Praying "come Holy Spirit" is not an option for those who follow Jesus. It is the most ancient prayer in the Church. Pray it every day.
The Bible tells us who we are
"We spend our whole lives auditioning for a part that God has already given us!"
-Steven Furtick
When Steven Furtick was preaching on the last evening of the conference and he said these words there was an audible gasp in the venue I was in. I have already blogged about this in the past but it's worth saying again... what's most important is WHOSE we are, not WHO we are. Steven said we must stop auditioning for God, the audition has been cancelled! We were baptized into the affirmation of the Father!
There is nothing we can do that would make God love us any more or any less. The Church will be at her most effective when she operates from a place of confidence in knowing her identity. That means her members (us) need to know who we are in God.
How are we going to know this? By reading our Bible!
Romans 1:17 - This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
If we want to know who we are we we have got to pick up our Bibles and read about who we are. The Word of God is the only thing that will tell us the truth about who we are.
There is nothing we can do that would make God love us any more or any less. The Church will be at her most effective when she operates from a place of confidence in knowing her identity. That means her members (us) need to know who we are in God.
How are we going to know this? By reading our Bible!
Romans 1:17 - This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
If we want to know who we are we we have got to pick up our Bibles and read about who we are. The Word of God is the only thing that will tell us the truth about who we are.