4 Dec 2001

I was due to speak at a conference in the United States. The topic in the brochure next to my name was clear: "The Coming Move of God". It was a topic I had preached several times before, though each time I go to tackle the task I pray and see what 'updates' God might have. I went through my usual process before preaching. I humbled myself before the living God, asking him to come dwell with me (Isa. 57:15). I confessed with Isaiah that I was, in myself, both blind and deaf (Isa. 42:19).

I then said, "Lord you said to Amos that you reveal your secrets to your servants the prophets, please come and speak to your servant" (Amos 3:7). My intention was to tell people exactly what I heard from him.

He retorted, "A gossip reveals my secrets, but one who is trustworthy in spirit keeps my confidence" (Prov. 20:19 & 11:13). As if reading my confusion he clarified, "Yours is not to share everything I tell you, but say that which I ask you to speak".

Reeling from this new information, I was stymied. "Pardon?" I said.

"You ask me about the coming move of God? My church can't get there from here. My church is not positioned to enter it. She needs to leave aside her old ways and adopt a path she has never walked before. Let me ask you something son, do you think the Scripture is inviolable?" he asked.

I honestly didn't know what that word meant. Grabbing a dictionary, I quickly understood that his word was sacred, not to be broken, indestructible.

"Yes Lord, that is my view of your word," I replied.

His reply was sharp. "It is written, 'No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him'. I tell you the truth, 'I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?' ".

The coming move?

This conversation was not going well. It had taken a nasty turn. "Lord, I'm about to preach on a topic that you're claming up on," I thought out loud. On top of that, he seemed to be taking a poor view of my telling his 'secrets' to those who had gathered to hear them. Did he just call that gossip, I wasn't sure. I had nowhere to go, and nothing to say.

God had at least told me we could not get there from here. What had brought us 'here', what struggles have helped define the modern church for us? In the charismatic and Pentecostal church, Nigel Scotland (in 'Charismatics and the next Millenium') identifies at least four struggles (listed here in my own terms):

* Traditional vs. modern (old vs. new)
* Church vs. house (corporate vs. cell)
* Indoors vs. outdoors (above ground vs. underground)
* Pastor vs. apostle (elder vs. ascension gift)

The struggle for identity is good, and we have wrestled with such issues in the last few decades. It is right to find the place of apostolic and prophetic ministry; it is right to find a balance between cell and corporate gatherings; it is right to get the church out on the streets. However, these issues do not define the coming move of God. We know it is NOT going to be about these things.

God's advice for a new era

There came a defining moment in the life of Israel where their past and future met shoulder to shoulder. On the one hand they had Moses, who had brought them out of slavery. He represented the past. On the other hand stood Joshua, the servant of Moses who represented their future. After handing power over to Joshua, Moses died.

God met Joshua just before they crossed over the Jordan and gave him some advice about their uncertain future. That advice would serve us well at this juncture in church history too. "Follow [the ark], so that you may know the way you should go, for you have not passed this way before. Leave a space between you and it, a distance of about two thousand cubits; do not come any nearer to it" (Josh. 3:4).

For the sake of reference 2,000 cubits is 1,000 metres. If you were at the front of the line you were about 3,000 feet away from the 'leader'. If you were at the back of the pack, you could be up to 15 miles from the lead. God asked for room - leave him room to be God in our midst. Give him liberty, license and space to lead us. I know there is a current trend among Charismatic and Pentecostal fellowships to be 'God Chasers'. For goodness sake don't catch him!

Israel was told to back off, why? Because they had never been this way before. The distance was set so that they might know which way to go. Who do you follow if no one has been this way before? Only God can lead the way forward. We can't get to our future employing the ways of our past. These we must bury and leave on the other side of the river. We cannot employ our present methods, modes of operation or old technology. We do not have a paradigm for what's coming.

Let God be God, and give him room! Back off and follow. We must loosen our vice-like grip on the controls and let him take the wheel. He must lead and we must follow.

The prophetic will of course play a part, as the Levites did in carrying the ark forward. But prophetic people only receive a sketch, a dim view or a shadow of the future. Anyone who tells you they know for sure, is lying. The tension in the prophetic ministry is that it does indeed bring the future to light, but it is a dim light. It does indeed help us light the way. But we 'know in part and prophesy in part' (1 Cor. 13:9).

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