The engagement between Prince William and Kate Middleton has hit the headlines recently, and

I’ve been wondering what it will feel like for Kate to become part of the royal family, with all their joys and imperfections...which in turn raises an interesting question:

Are we living in the reality of the fact that we have already been made a part of something far greater than anything Kate will experience?!

1 Peter 2:9 says “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God...”

These four wonderful descriptions of our identity as the people of God each warrant an article/sermon in their own right, never mind Paul’s description of us as the (royal) bride of Christ. But I’d like to share a few thoughts on what it means to be part of THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GOD as this is something the Lord has been specifically speaking to me about recently. (For more on this topic I recommend reading “The Supernatural Ways of Royalty” by Kris Vallotton & Bill Johnson).

I’d really not fully appreciated how important the royal part of my identity in Jesus is until recently. I’d also not appreciated just how important growing up in Pharaoh’s palace was for Moses, or how significant the royal training Daniel received was, or the preparation Esther underwent in the royal courts. All these people influenced nations and changed the course of history because they came to understand this was their God-given destiny. They learned the ways and the expectations of royalty. Let’s take Moses as an example – how significant was the fact that Moses was brought up as the King’s son rather than a Hebrew slave?

When Moses was in Pharaoh’s household he did not relate to others with a slave mentality – he knew he had the rights and influence of a royal prince and would have expected people to respond to him accordingly. He also had the compassion (a quality found in all Godly leaders) for his Hebrew brothers, but hadn’t learned how to channel his anger over injustice in an appropriate, God –honouring way. Although the lessons in humility and Godly character Moses learned in his wilderness years were hugely important, the fact that Moses did not have a slave mentality himself but knew where he had come from (and to Whom he truly belonged) were just as important in enabling him to fulfil his destiny of setting a nation free - a person who is in slavery internally cannot free those who are in slavery externally.

It’s interesting to ponder – if you actually were Prince William (or Kate Middleton), and had grown up being constantly told you were destined, yes for a life of service to your king and country but also for a life of great influence – how would this affect the way you thought and lived?

The fact is, whatever our previous experience may be, and however insignificant we may have felt in the past, Jesus has made us a part of His royal family and has called us to greatness! As Princes and Princesses we have the authority of the King of all Kings! And ours is no dysfunctional royal family with its relational distance, politics and protocols – we are invited to share with The King the same intimacy of relationship that a bride shares with her husband – INCREDIBLE! We can live in the permanent presence, grace and favour of our King.

As we think about our identity in Jesus this term, my prayer is that any shreds of a slave’s mentality in our minds would be broken, and that we would be able to see afresh the royal robes in which we are clothed! Those robes are not just a reminder that we are loved, accepted & adopted, and that righteousness and not sin is now our master, they also signify our royal authority to rule and extend the reign & the Kingdom of The King.

It would be an honour to find myself in Kate Middleton’s position. But it can’t possibly compare to the honour I already feel as Princess in The King’s Palace!

Lindsay Lonchar

Rhythms of Prayer in the Workplace

Jeremiah Lanphier (Taken from revival-library.org)

In 1857 a Dutch missionary called Jeremiah Lanphier was employed by Fulton Street Church to minister to the unchurched in the city of New York, USA.  After spending a time going from door to door of people's homes delivering tracts and inviting people to church meetings, and running boys clubs and Sunday School classes, he felt discouraged as he felt that for many nothing seemed to be changing.

Jeremiah looked around him and watched the people who worked in the city as they went about their work, and he became distressed by their weariness and sense of indifference to life.  He conceived the idea of starting a lunchtime prayer meeting for businessmen, to provide some mid-day spiriturual refreshment.  He put together a simple invitation which he left in shops, hotels and factories as well as to the homes he had visited, where he invited anyone who wanted to come together to pray for 5 minutes or upto an hour, whatever people could manage:

"A day of Prayer-Meeting is held every Wednesday from 12 to 1 o'clock in the Consistory building in the rear of the North Dutch Church, corner of Fulton and William Streets. This meeting is intended to give merchants, mechanics, clerks, strangers and businessmen generally an opportunity to stop and call on God amid the perplexities incident to their respective avocations. It will continue for one hour; but it is also designed for those who find it inconvenient to remain more than 5 or 10 minutes, as well as for those who can spare a whole hour. Necessary interruption will be slight, because anticipated. Those in haste often expediate their business engagements by halting to lift their voices to the throne of grace in humble, grateful prayer. Mr. Lanphier set the very first meeting for noon September 23rd 1857 in the lecture room on the third floor of the Consistory Building of the North Reformed Protestant Dutch Church."

On the first Wednesday 6 men had joined Jeremiah.  Week 2 became twenty, and by Week 3 it had become forty, and the meeting moved to daily.  The structure of the gathering was led like a business meeting, it was simple and was easily reproduced when the prayer meetings spread to multiple locations across the city:

1. The meeting started promptly
2. Scripture was read out loud
3. There was some sung worship
4. The meeting was then opened up and everyone present were invited to say prayers of thanksgiving or intercession. (Anyone who attempted to start giving a talk or a long prayer (more than 5 minutes!), or debate theological issues etc was simply interrupted and reminded it was just a prayer meeting
5. The meeting lasted maximum one hour long.

The meetings and fervency in prayer grew, the Holy Spirit moved powerfully amongst the meetings, people from all classes and denominations began to gather together, and people started giving their lives to the Lord.  Soon other churches were hosting meetings and gatherings across the city in department stores, police departments, music halls and theatres.  Within 6 months the prayer meetings were having such an impact that businesses began shutting down over an extended lunch.  It has been estimated that at it's height there were 50,000 conversions a week throughout the city.  Even the secular press recognised this extra-ordinary move of the Holy Spirit, and has become known as the beginning of the Third Great Awakening in the history of USA revivals.  Within 2 years, the churches involved had seen an extra 1 million new believers.  You can read more about it here

Whilst of course revivals are unique moves of the Holy Spirit, there are some distinctive features about this move of the Holy Spirit which I wonder could be insightful for missional communities seeking to see God move amongst our workplaces.

Firstly, it started with one guy looking around him and asking himself: how can I connect all these people with the reality of God's presence, without requiring them to come to one of our church meetings?  He then set about establishing a rhythm of gathered prayer and the communal reading of scripture at a time and a place for which the people it was designed to be available to could easily take some time out of their busy to day to come along.

• What would a lunchtime gathering centred around prayer look like in your workplace, town or city centre?
• Where and when could you meet and how could people know they were invited?
• How could you keep the structure simple, the space open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the centrality of God's Word being read speaking into peoples lives?

Working abundantly

Last week at a team planning day we spent the first part of the morning reflecting on Psalm 23 together. We were asked to pick out a phrase from the Psalm that stood out to us, and as it was read I was drawn to a short phrase from verse 5, "...my cup overflows", and God began to speak to me.

Recently I've been getting frustrated by the amount of time I have to do everything I want to in. I'm a mum mostly at home with the kids all week but I also work 1 day a week (plus extra volunteer time) for the church. I love the work I do and there are many exciting things I could get involved with and would dearly love to make happen but I feel like my constant limitation is TIME (sound familiar?) I get frustrated that I can't put more time into the work I do with young adults and missional communities. I'm a pioneer and can see possibilities and potential laid out in front of me which I get excited about, then find I just can't commit to being part of making them come into being because I don't have the time! And at home too, I'm always imagining what I could enjoy doing with more time - I would bake more, sew more, clean more(!), play the piano more. So it goes on.

Now I don't think I'm just being hard on myself, or feel inadequate compared to those around me - I know I work hard and that I'm not superwoman! I just see the amount I am able to do in these different spheres as less than I would like to be able to do. I would love to have the capacity to mentor more people, to see community leaders more often, to have more time thinking, reading and praying - to be able to 'achieve' more in any given week. I feel like I make very slow progress sometimes!

When I was reflecting on this phrase from Psalm 23 God started to change my perspective. He says "my cup overflows". This also reminded me of 2 Corinthians 9:8 which says "God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." I will abound in every good work.

He doesn't see what I do the way I see it! He doesn't feel frustrated and wish I would achieve more. He says I abound in every good work. Which means that whilst I look at what I do and see the lack, he looks at me and sees the abundance. Where I see frustration and limits, He sees an overflowing cup. That is an altogether different perspective!

So I am going to try and think differently about the things I put my hands to in the time I have to do them. God sees what I do and sees an abundance and I need to learn to be more content with achieving what I do instead of wishing I could get involved more, do more, see more, get more done.

What about you? Do you feel frustrated, or guilty, or pressured by self or others to achieve more? Do you feel inadequate? Maybe it's time to stop being hard on yourself and get God's perspective on the things you do - He sees what you do, He is well pleased and His word is that He makes you abound in every good work.