John Mark McMillan’s “How He Loves” song, featuring this very simple yet loaded introductory line, has become an anthem for this generation because it deeply resonates with our hearts; our spirits come alive when encountering the truth of God’s zealous affections for us. His dealings with man are centered in these affections; but they are not simply sentimental.

As I write this this morning, I sit in a prayer room in Tauranga with intercession directed towards and on behalf of Christchurch; I am still rocked to the core by the events (speaking of the earthquake and the reactions associated with it) that took place in the latter just over a month ago. In one way, I hope I never recover—I don’t want to simply forget and move on. I want to carry Christchurch in my heart as long as I am given grace to do so. We pray for that city every day as a community. We pray for her restoration from the ashes, for the Church to emerge as a powerful light that cannot be hidden. Our prayers will continue in the months and years ahead.

In the midst of praying, I have witnessed some clear distinctions about how people view the character and nature of God in this nation. The events last month not only cemented certain theological viewpoints, but also revealed major gulfs between many people’s theology. Some cannot begin to consider that the God they know and relate to could be involved in the crisis, while others deeply affirm the role of their God within it.

The delicate context in which this discussion takes place must be considered. It was our crisis, and it is our people that have been affected. We cannot just posture ourselves as detached theologians armed with principals, verses and opinions. Furthermore, to simply relate to the situation through the pain and suffering without the whole counsel of the word of God will leave us rudderless as we negotiate the seas of perplexity.

Noticeably prominent in the discussion is the bigger question related to Jesus as both Lover of our souls and the Judge of the earth. This is not a new discussion in Church history. It is, however, a discussion I perceive to be incredibly important. The temptation to resort to reductionism is great, but comes at a cost we cannot afford. The love of God is not reduced because He judges, nor is the judgment of God reduced because He loves. The great 20th century theologian A.W. Tozer made this statement in relation to this tension: “God never suspends one attribute in order to execute another.”

Tozer was alluding to our need to view the whole Jesus—as revealed in Scripture. It is unwise for us to simply take a portion of Jesus, typically the portions we enjoy comfortably, and dismiss the rest. He is who He is in the totality of His personhood. I have heard people say, “I love Jesus, but I don’t want to read about Him in the book of Revelation.” I understand their predicament; the Man who loved all whom He met in the first four books of the New Testament shows up in the last one as a Man with tattoos, coming on a white horse with weapons of mass destruction directed at the nations of the earth who have rejected Him (see Revelation 19:11-16). These two faces seem at odds with each other.
How do I then reconcile the goodness of God and His face as Judge? I believe the answer is found in the doctrine of the jealousy of God; because of His fierce commitment towards me, He kindly reveals to me how other lovers have crept into my heart. It is these revelations that reassure me of the fact He loves me too much to allow me to be captured by things that not only will not satisfy me now, they will neither have value in the age to come.

This journey unravels uniquely for each one of us. To describe it, Solomon penned these words while also explaining how our hearts are to be gardens reserved for the Lord alone:

“Awake, o north wind
and come, o south!
Blow upon my garden,
that its spices may flow out.
Let my Beloved come into His garden
and eat its pleasant fruits.”

Song of Solomon, 4:16

Solomon is using poetic language to point out a profound truth, one which stewards the hearts and lives of men: under the leadership of the Almighty, we will be led into testing, suffering and tribulation (this is the “north wind”). And under the leadership of the Almighty, we will be led into blessing, favor and prosperity (this is the “south wind”). The point is this: we need both. The goal of each season is for our hearts to grow in love towards and dependence upon Jesus. Judgment is the expression of His love towards us when the impostors, those “other lovers,” that have taken a wrongful place in our hearts have been revealed. Kindly, He gives the opportunity to partner with Him in their removal from our lives. His jealousy is necessary to compensate for our spiritual blindness. Speaking for myself, I desire the courage to agree with David’s heart found laced throughout his psalms and cry: “How I long for Your judgments, o Lord!” The famous king of Israel understood that God would use the least severe means necessary to awaken his heart to the deepest level of love. The love of God and the judgment of God are not opposed to one another, though they feel paradoxical in nature we must understand the glory of God is the ability for complex attributes to exist in one Being in perfect harmony.

And thus we submit to His jealousy, as McMillan wrote, like a tree beneath the hurricane of His mercy.

With recent days placing our nation in an hour unique to her history, I hope to communicate over the following weeks and perhaps months some of the essential issues we must work through, that we might respond rightly to what is a defining moment for the New Zealand Church. As our land attempts to regain her footing following the February earthquake in Christchurch, the unfolding events have left a permanent mark on my heart and an indelible mark on our small nation. It has truly been a national disaster in every sense of the word—it is not just one city’s burden, but has rightfully become the burden of a country. What has happened in that beautiful city is forcing us to confront, on a corporate level, how to navigate through waters commonly misunderstood and poorly communicated: the appropriate response to a national crisis.

Tears have stolen our eyes many times as images and stories from a destroyed city have confronted us with grief; we have also proudly wept as we’ve observed self-sacrificial love emerge from the people of Christchurch and the greater family of Aotearoa. We have fallen in love with the church of Jesus in the city as she has displayed His heart to a broken community—the response has been heroic and Godly. Many of those on the front lines are friends who are objects of our greatest love and respect, our hearts swelling with admiration towards their response. On a personal level, I have found myself thanking God for allowing me to be associated with such noble men and women.

Yet in the midst of all this, my heart has also been unsettled. To say it clearly, my distress has no origin in the response to the crisis. The trouble I have been feeling is rooted in the statements concerning God’s role in the crisis. Many ideas and opinions have been publicly offered to bring clarity to confusion, two of which I’d like to address.

One of the city’s historical landmarks and oldest congregations, the ChristChurch Cathedral, suffered such incalculable damage, it was one of six sites of greatest concern in the search-and-rescue efforts following the quake. A few days after the event, the Rev. Peter Beck, Dean of the Cathedral, made a statement that has resonated deeply with many: “[The earthquake] was not an ‘Act of God.’ This is the earth doing what it does. The act of God is how we love each other, how we reach out to one another.” While I wholeheartedly agree with the fingerprints of God being left throughout the city by men and women who have loved like Jesus, I do have much hesitancy in removing the sovereign activity of God out of the equation.

The other deeply grieving message has been a flippant declaration that this was indeed a judgment of God. I have witnessed self-proclaimed prophets indicate, with a sense of smug self-justification, that this is what happens to cities who don’t listen to their words. God is portrayed to them as an angry, belligerent Being devoid of mercy and love.

My posture in writing this is not to actually comment specifically on the Christchurch earthquake, but rather the challenge therein for us to consider our response to a face of God most of us have not wanted to acknowledge or consider. I believe these events have unveiled a potential flaw in the theology of the New Zealand Church; it has become popular to believe that God has nothing to do with the earthquake in Christchurch. Personally, I don’t feel like I have enough clarity to make such a statement. But what I do know is that the God of the Bible has used natural disasters to awaken a nation to His love. These events have revealed that we don’t have an image of God that allows for discipline and judgment.

This is not to suggest that that now is the time to be proclaiming from the rooftops that we are under the judgment of God.  People must be given time to mourn, to recover and to rebuild. What is of utmost importance in coming weeks, months and years is how we respond to God. His jealousy over this land is immense; His gaze is upon us—our response cannot be underestimated.

Though this is not a popular message, it is one that I deeply convicted about. A statement that I recently read by R.C Sproul sums up some of my own pain and wrestling:

“You are required to believe, to preach, and to teach what the Bible says is true,
not want you want the Bible to say is true.”

If ever these words are pertinent; it is now.

As we head into our sixth year as a ministry at the Tauranga House of Prayer, this week kicks off the beginning of our 10th THOP Awaken Internship.  The internship is the primary onramp into the House of Prayer.  It’s an intensive three month introduction into the foundational values and vision of all that we are about.  If there’s one thing that I know after 5 years of observing and leading the Internship program, it’s that the Lord is drawing young adults (and old) into the place of prayer in a unique and unusual way.  There is no better word to describe it than unprecedented. The consistent reaction of interns is “this is everything I’ve been searching for and feeling but haven’t been able to put into words.”  So what is the internship all about?

It’s about wholehearted devotion.  It’s about the pursuit depth in God.  It’s about radical consecration.  The sad fact is that the state of young adults in western Christianity is growing increasingly dim.  They are all but abandoning the church (and God).  And anyone who’s watching what’s happening sees the darkening dilemma.  There’s a war raging over the 18-25 year olds.  But instead of forming caricatures about why things are failing and playing the blame game, the Lord is once again shedding light upon the solution.  Once again, companies of young people are congregating around the beauty of Jesus, the substance of His Word and the incomparable worth of fellowship with Him.  The notion that He is tiresome and incapable of fulfilling the desires of the human soul is being exposed as fraud.  And as the dawn of His glory shines ever brighter, young adults are awaking from their slumber.

Young people are experiencing this reality, internship after internship.  THOP interns are served a steady diet focussing on 3 primary areas; intimacy with God, intercession and the urgency of the hour we live in.  We cover a variety of massively important subjects; such as: God’s ultimate purpose in creating us, how to pursue Christ-likeness, and what it practically looks like to walk out the first commandment.  We discuss the realities surrounding Christ’s return, God’s plan for Israel and the church, and how His people should respond in an hour of global crisis.  There are also many other issues of pressing relevance taken up.  But at the same time there is an intentional focus on being very practical.  This season of consecration is so helpful for those of all ages in the pursuit of spiritual maturity, godly living, and one’s personal relationship with the Lord.  And one of the main things that I love about the internship, and a huge reason why such powerful transformation is found through it, is that it provides a daily context for young adults to encounter and commune with Jesus in order to experience for themselves that He alone satisfies.

The words of Isaiah the prophet perfectly capture the offer of the Lord to our generation – why are you spending yourself on that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food (my paraphrase of Isa. 55:2).  I can’t think of anything which better communicates the heartbeat of the THOP Internship.

There has been a ground swell of night & day prayer all through out history – from the days of Moses to the birthing of the early church to the recent decades of our own generation. Night & day prayer has been an integral part in the release of God’s redemptive plan through out history. And as this same reality takes shape here in Tauranga, here’s 3 Biblical facets of our foundation at the Tauranga House of Prayer that sustain & undergird everything we do:

1)   Jesus’ Worth & the Glory of God – Jesus is worthy & eternally deserving of praise and adoration day & night simply because He’s worth it, He’s glorious enough to sustain it & it’s right that we give it. Around the throne of God in heaven we find a song of worship declaring the everlasting worth & greatness of God & His Son that never ceases both “day (or) night.” (Rev 4:8,11; 5:9-10, 12, 13). And in light of Jesus’ prayer that it would be “on earth as in heaven’ (Mt 6:10), a place is being established here in Tauranga, “at the ends of the earth” where songs would rise day & night declaring “glory to the righteous one” (Is 24:15-16).

2)   Revival & Awakening – Jesus has a desire to corporately & individually awaken His church & the cities of the earth to the revelation of His grace & glory (Acts 2:17-21; Is 4:2). Thus, after the Biblical mandate of Joel 2 (see also Acts 1 & 2), THOP is a context where the corporate church in our region can come together to contend in prayer, fasting & worship for a historic out pouring of the Holy Spirit that would awaken the church & bless our region. Jude 3 exhorts us to contend for the faith earnestly. We are a “house of prayer for all nations” that contends for this fullness (Is 56:7; Eph 3:16-21).

3)   Messengers & Leaders – The House of Prayer is an environment where people can come to be trained in the word of God in a context of prayer, fasting & worship that equips them to be effective leaders & communicators of the gospel & what God is doing in this hour. As pressure & troubles begin to mount on the global stage, the LORD is giving the South Pacific a “green house” where effective leaders & messengers can be trained, equipped & released. Daniel spoke of those “who would know their God & who do great exploits.” (Dan 11:32) In this vein, just before the first coming of Jesus, the LORD raised up John the Baptist to prepare his generation for the Lord’s arrival in his small local context of Israel (Luke 1:16-17). In like kind, just before the 2^nd coming the Lord will raise up multitudes of young & old like John, who will prepare the way of the LORD’s return across the entire globe (Is 40:1-5; 62:6-12; Mt 17:11-13). THOP is a beach head for this to happen & it’s our passion & vision to train, equip & send people into all that God has for them.

REMEMBERING

Five years ago this month I drove to Aaron and Kristi Walsh’s new rental home in a suburb of Tauranga New Zealand to meet them for the first time. They had flown in the day before from Kansas City where they had labored for 7 years pioneering the International House of Prayer; a ministry centered around 24/7 worship and prayer led by teams of full time singers and musicians. In response to a definitive call from the Lord to establish a missions base in the same spirit here in the South Pacific, they sold their home, packed up what they wanted to keep into a container to be shipped across the ocean and courageously permanently relocated.

Prior to meeting the Walsh’s that January I (a native Floridian and transient missionary) had moved to Tauranga in October with a long term commitment in response to the same definitive call of the Lord to pioneer a missions base marked by an expression of incessant worship and prayer. Upon my arrival that October we began nightly 7pm prayer meetings and grew a fledgling community.

Those meetings continued until the end of January when I first met Aaron and Kristi. In the midday heat of a gorgeous New Zealand summer day I drove to their empty rental home where they were sitting around a plastic table on green lawn chairs (as their shipping container was still floating somewhere in the Pacific). Within the first 60 seconds of seeing their faces, talking with them and sensing the nearness of the Lord I knew that we’d walked right into a trap: the city of Tauranga was the cage and the incredible worth of Jesus was the bait. We shared dreams, visions and prophetic words that we had received and discussed the plans for that year. As we expressed our burdens for the city and for the work that the Lord had placed before us it was abundantly evident that sovereignly ordained purposes were intersecting in our midst.

A few days later we packed into David Cole’s living room (a THOP founding father, community pillar and apostolic ambassador) with all who felt the burden of day and night prayer resting on them. I looked around that living room in shock as testimonies came forth from individuals and entire families who had been sovereignly called and gathered to this city. (On a glorious side note, it was that afternoon that I met a beautiful young woman named Anna Kennedy who would later that year become Anna Lifsey; my wife).

The following week we began the first Internship and launched a work in the grace of God that to this day now pulses with life and is indelibly marked by the fingerprints of the Sovereign of History.

I’ll never forget those weeks. They were some of the most impacting, exhilarating and sober days of my life.

LOOKING AHEAD

At the five-year-mark we here at the missions base in Tauranga have tender hearts. For us it’s a season of reflection, thanksgiving and contemplation. And it’s a season of dreaming about the future. The first five years of pioneering are closing and the next five years of building are under way.

We look back with gratitude; gratitude that Jesus can lead such poor followers so well and be so joyously pleased to call us His “own.” And we look forward with conviction; conviction that Jesus is worth day and night, unrelenting, unceasing worship and adoration; conviction that the western church is in a deep spiritual crisis; conviction that reformation and revival are absolutely necessary; conviction that prayer, fasting and corporate humility is our way forward; conviction that on the horizon are tumultuous, turbulent times unlike anything history has ever known (Mt. 24:21-22).

As the global economy dangles by a proverbial thread of broken human ingenuity, as tensions mount in the Middle East, as confusion pours forth from pulpits, pundits and politicians and as we in the church wrestle with the future implications of the plummeting statistics of church engagement among young adults in the West (to name but a few of the fault lines threatening the future stability of our civilization) it’s imperative that we discern the historically specific word of the Lord for this unique “kairos” hour.

Here in Tauranga New Zealand we’re bracing for the most glorious and the most terrifying season of human history (whether it’s 5 years or 50 years out) as we call young adults (though not only young adults) to Biblical wholeheartedness. We believe that loving the ‘whole Jesus’ with a whole heart is the standard and that anything less is intolerable. And we’re contending for the raising up of leaders who can receive and relay words of life in a season of profound confusion and crisis. The Scriptures are emphatic that the close of this age will be preceded by great shaking (negative) and great glory (positive) as both dimensions stress and strain the saints as well as the nations. These unprecedented dynamics require that we understand and plan for the future accordingly.

As the calm before the storm comes to an end in the presumably near future, we’re calling for a company of young adults from New Zealand, Australia, the islands of the South Pacific  and South East Asia to give themselves unreservedly to the heavenly call of extravagant devotion to Jesus at the ends of the earth at the end of the age.

The great need of the hour is young adults who have deep roots in the knowledge of God with discernment of His leadership in these awesome days. While we in Tauranga have by no means “arrived,” we’re confident that we know the way. It’s narrow. But it will all be worth it in the end.

At the five year mark I want to personally thank all who have labored with us, encouraged us and stood by us as we began, survived and (to some degree) completed the initial pioneering phase of the Tauranga House of Prayer Missions Base. And I want to issue a call: Consider joining us in 2011 for a season or “until a resting place” for the Lord is established (Psalm 132).

Dalton Lifsey
5 January 2011

Great leaders have an uncompromising, narrow, overshadowing passion that drives everything they do and are about.  David was that kind of leader and was dominated by one singular vision.

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

David truly desired just one thing.  Psalm 27:4 wasn’t poetic language to him.  Nor hollow lifeless words.  The superior pleasure found in fellowship with God is tangible and real and was the longing that dominated the entirety of his life.   He knew that the beauty of God alone is what satisfies the human soul to the uttermost (Ps. 37:4).  And his unflinching resolve to pursue depth in this reality set his people aflame and ultimately reformed an entire society around this singular devotion.  Literally, tens of thousands of his followers were released and funded to give themselves full time to the occupation and ministry of adoration of the beautiful God (1 Chronicles 23-25).

The reason why David’s vision succeeded in leading and impacting generations for the glory of God was that David lived it out himself.  Most Christians today accept David’s “one thing” heart cry as good and valid and yet few people actually buy in and live a “one thing” lifestyle.  Like the culture around us, our lives are given to a multitude of things.  The one thing reality eludes us.

And yet David walked in it and spent himself on pleasure in God’s beauty, with abandonment and without compromise.  That’s what made him “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam.13:14; Acts 13:22).  It was his obsession in adolescence.  It was his steady passion through trial and opposition.  It was his devotion in adulthood.  And at the end of his life it inherited his wealth, resources and time to pass his vision on to future generations (1 Chronicles 23-25).  It consumed him constantly and unswervingly. And that is why it consumed those he led.

David was great because his passion was the one thing that matters.  David was a great leader because his vision for his followers was his vision for himself.

http://ywam.org.nz/dts/justice-dts/

Audio:

The Spirit of Elijah

Notes:

The power-bases of the nations are not located in capital cities or national parliaments. It rests in the hands of the praying church. This is one of the foundational reasons why God is establishing an unprecedented prayer movement in our generation. The life and message of Daniel is therefore radically relevant right now.

The book that bears his name paints a vivid picture of the interplay between prayer and the dispensing of God’s power to govern history and alter the destiny of nations. There are four things about Daniel that make his lifestyle vital for us to follow as we eagerly seek the in-breaking of justice, righteousness and salvation in the nations. They are (1) His grand vision of God, (2) his identity before the Lord, (3) his spiritual insight and (4) his heart posture. These four things formed a man whose prayers caused angels to move, demons to tremble, ungodly governments to topple and wicked legislation to bow down.

1. Daniel knew a great God. He had a glorious vision of the sovereign God who is not only involved in the course of world history but reigns over it; subduing nations and exalting others in their place (Dan. 2:21). Daniel knew many powerful rulers. But His God had authority to direct the very hearts of kings (Dan. 4 cf. Pro. 21:1), including presidents, prime ministers and legislators; and sustain them in their course or tear them down in a breath (Dan. 5:23). God’s irrepressible power to act was the rock solid reality that empowered Daniel in prayer. If we would pray great prayers that carry great weight and alter real circumstances – personal or national (e.g. the overturning of legislation permitting baby slaughter in the womb) – we must know and have confidence in a great God (Eph. 3:20).

2. Not only did he have deep understanding of the Lord, he also knew his own identity in the eyes of heaven. Daniel persisted in prayer because he was confident in love. His assurance that mountains would be moved when he spoke weak words (Dan. 9:23; 10:12) rested in his assurance that he was beloved and highly esteemed (Dan. 9:23; 10:11, 19). We will have the same courage and longevity in prayer only when we comprehend the immeasurable pleasure in God’s heart towards us (Eph. 3).

3. Also, Daniel possessed acute insight about the context he lived in. He knew the times and the seasons that had been decreed by heaven and he was able to pray with insight into God’s purposes (Dan. 9:2). Our context, at the end of the age, urgently demands insight for our generation. The Lord is calling His people to partner with Him in prayer; to agree with His ways and bring to pass His purposes on the earth (2 Pet. 3:12; Rev. 8:3). Like Daniel in his day, our prayers will alter circumstances to the degree that we possess the knowledge of God’s will from His word and are filled with His desires (Dan. 9:2, Jer. 25 cf. John 15:7, Ps. 37:4).

4. Lastly, Daniel lived with a life posture of sobriety and humility before the Lord. Daniel’s dependence and sobriety – fasting, mourning, and steadily seeking the Lord (Dan. 1:8, 6:10, 10:2-3 etc.) – was his lifestyle for 70 plus years. He was persistent. He had a history in prayer. I wonder if many in our day have swallowed a sub-biblical (mis)perception of God’s sovereignty that has led to less constancy and urgency in prayer instead of more. This was not so with Daniel (Dan. 6:10; 9:2-3). And it must not be so with our generation. To those given wholly to God He has delegated true power and authority to affect the course of history under His sovereign leadership (James 5:16-18). Praying for Daniel’s in our time who will give God no rest until righteousness prevails, injustice is abolished, and the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

God’s love MOTIVATES our love for Him (1 John 4:19; Romans 5:5; John 14:15)

God’s love ACCOMPANIES our love for Him (John 17:26; Ephesians 3:17-19; Philippians 1:9)

God’s love FOLLOWS our love for Him (John 15:10)

The revelation of this first love, motivating love, accompanying love and following love then in turn CREATES more love until Jesus’ prayer is answered:

“That they [the saints] may love Me with the same [quality, strength, fervor and intensity of] love with which You [Father] have loved Me [Your Son].” (John 17:26; with my additions)

“Always remember: You are the Beloved – He is the Lover.” – St. John of the Cross