An Adventure in Ministry

  This week we had the absolute joy of going on retreat and sharing with other ministers in the Salvation Army working across the North West of England. For us it was a wonderful time of affirmation and allowed time for the spirit to minister to us through teaching, challenge and healing.  While at breakfast one morning, we were sharing with someone about some of the challenges we have faced in the past couple of years and how God has been faithful throughout it all, and they made a comment that has been percolating in my spirit ever since. They said that in times of difficulty “God has a way of directing the disruption” The phrase hit me like a ton of bricks! The more I thought of it, the more I could see this principle at work in my life.  The retreat we were attending was due to have a guest speaker who had to pull out three days before the event due to ill health. I can only imagine the disruption that ensued as our leaders tried to bring it all together. However we s...

We entered Jerusalem through the Lion gate. We then walked to the ancient pools of Bethesda. We sat in the gardens of the church and read from John Chapter 5. we considered how in verse 8 Jesus told the man to: "Get up, pick up and walk!" For me, however, I considered how the man had been looking for healing wherever it could be found. He couldn't even get into the pool but he was desperate to cure himself.  When Jesus saw him, his first words were, "Do you want to get well?" So often we look to other things to give us the healing only Jesus can give. We need to look ONLY to him and faith that we will Get up, pick up and walk! We went inside a beautifully simple church and sampled the acoustics singing 'Praise my soul, the king of heaven' it gave me goosebumps!  We then stood and looked over the ruins of the pool of Bethesda. At the side of the pool was a plaque that read: 'Jesus is all-powerful, omnipotent; He alwa...