Some mid-week encouragement from Tim with the Thought for the Week
I had so many thoughts in my head; the bride of Christ, grapes ready for harvest and struggling in despondency. I couldn`t make sense of which one to share with you until in that prayerfully sleepy transition between awake and asleep I found all 3 made perfect sense. I hope they make as much sense on paper!
Rachael brought a prophetic picture on Sunday of tents, transitory/ temporary/ flimsy/ blown about by the wind; but then God showed a picture of a tent dressed for heaven. It`s canvases were beaded and beautiful, the fabric was moving with and flowing in the wind, not fighting it. These were expeditionary tents that were getting ready for a wedding. Anybody who has been involved in preparing a wedding knows how much effort it takes to plan and every detail has to be perfect. There is an air of excitement, anticipation and worry. What many brides and grooms don`t realise that the hard work really begins after they say I do! Stephen and I celebrate our 21st Wedding anniversary this week; 21 years a coming of age and whilst we`re certainly not newly weds and the honeymoon period came and went quite some time ago it is a celebration of love and endurance. This year for many reasons our celebration feels like a victory of many hard fought battles (between ourselves and circumstances) but a well earned victory none the less. So it is with preparing for a wedding or to be a bride of Christ. In Matthew 25:1-18 it tells the story of the 10 virgins, 5 were wise and came prepared, the other 5 were foolish and as a result missed the wedding. It isn`t something as easy as saying I do and then just letting the marriage take care of itself. I do is a verb, a doing word, it means its necessary to takes action; preparation, planning, compromise, agreement ( and quite a bit of disagreement along the way!) resilience, endurance, love, grace and hope. |
updatesfrom Revive City Church Archives
November 2020
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