Saturday did not start out the best way.  Christy and I had spent all day inside, tending to things that needed to be done.  We never left the house.  Early in the day we found out we had no gas to cook on all weekend because of a mix up in the gas bills.  Then by about noon or one o’clock I realized that I hadn’t heard the furnace kick on in the last hour or so.  So I trudged down to the basement to find the furnace cold and unresponsive to the thermostat being raised.  Saturday wasn’t looking like a day the Lord would show up.

House church began the same way.  I spent the first 30 to 45 minutes of house church helping the heating guy fix our furnace.  After all was said and done we had a working furnace and I managed to snag a few tacos and some French silk pie in enough time to catch the beginning of the 501(c)3 conversation that some of us have been having throughout the week.  I wish I could say many people saw their walk with the Lord grow by leaps and bounds because we had the discussion.  It was looking like house church for this week was going to turn into little more than a business meeting…

That’s when a cute blond (Christy) stepped into the conversation and thoroughly rebuked us for being consumed with the legal ramifications of tax exempt status.  Really what we needed was to pray.  I think most of us were a little taken aback; no one in the house church (besides me) had ever been rebuked by Christy before.  And so we set out to pray and see what how our God would answer.  Novel idea, huh? 

The crazy thing is that God responded.  We ended up caught up in worship and intercession for the better part of two hours.  We were only planning on having house church for two hours this weekend, in reality we ended up going about 4.5 just because the Lord kept meeting us and speaking to us and giving us things to pray.  It was amazing.  Spontaneous repentance broke out in the room.  People began asking God to remove their petty grievances.  Holy Spirit began to highlight different people that needed prayer and as we prayed for them, prophetic words began to flow easily and with power on them.

Now I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t this what house church is supposed to look like?”  Of course, this is what we all want, but we can’t make this happen.  You can as much make this sort of house church happen as you can walk down the street and heal a person from a broken leg.  It only comes by the supernatural power of God.  We meet in a little tiny room and hope that He shows up, but in reality, that’s the only thing we can do is hope and pray that He does.  We become the responders to His divine initiative. 

But in a way that you can only describe to someone who has been part of a house church, the Lord showed up and took control of an un-lead meeting.  He proved once again that He is the head of His church, and even when we bring our little agendas and tired programs, He is intent in taking full control of our lives.  The result, I’m hoping, is lives a little more put together than when they came.  I’m beginning just a little bit to see a few hearts knit together in a way that can only happen when Holy Spirit lubricates hearts.  I’m beginning to see humility and repentance touch us just a tiny bit.  We started out rough, but Saturday night was the house church we’ve all been waiting for. 

Sunday night ended up being the first night that everyone interested in our house church actually ended up in the same room.  You can catch some of the highlights from the perspective of another blogger here.  The night was interesting.  There was food, worship, and discussion.  All in all things went well.  I was impressed by the level of commitment that everyone had to the group.  Everyone came with a passion for what we were doing, which was incredibly exciting.  A friend who was there was impressed by the humility and boldness that accompanied each person in the group.  All in all it went well.

Mostly the meeting was deciding who we are and what we must be.  We have to have the supernatural operating in our midst.  We must have spiritual mothers and fathers sowing into the little spiritual family we’re forming (Malachi 4:5-6, 1 John 2:12-14).  We have to keep our hearts free from bitterness and divisiveness.  More than that, we must open our hearts to one another and be willing to be vulnerable (2 Corinthians 6:11, 1 Thessalonians 2:7-8).  The Lord also made it incredibly clear that we will face demonic assault on the journey ahead.  Prayer would be an absolute must if we wanted to survive.  Kevin pointed out that we have to be free from jealousy and envy in order to move forward in a significant way.  My big admonition to everyone is that if we can get 5 people in a room to be miserable together, we’re going to be successful. 

All in all I think it was a good start.  The Lord called what we’re embarking on a five year experiment and I believe that really good things and really big mistakes are ahead.  But we’re going to learn and we’re going to go forward.  I’m excited to see who is going to be here in five years to find out what the results are.  We’re in this to see God change the understanding and expression of Christianity in the earth in our generation. 

I just finished reading the last couple of “Morningstar Word For The Week” postings and I want to hartily recommend them to you, the reader.  This year Rick Joyner is looking at the promise of God to transfer the wealth of the wicked into the hands of the righteous.  Part of his premise is that most believers are not prepared to handle the wealth of the nations that are coming to us and that in order not to be destroyed by the wealth that is coming, we must prepare now.  I think every believer, from the newest to the mature, would benefit from this study. You can check it out here and the best place to start would be with this post.

“For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. ‘I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts,” (Haggai 2:6-9).