Life Archives - Colin Dye

25 Years Milestones: Part 2

Colin Dye — Fri, 12 Feb 2016 15:15:38 +0000

There have been many key moments in KT’s history, both recent and in the distant past. 25 years ago I found myself in charge of one of Britain’s finest and largest churches, Kensington Temple. Wynne Lewis, my predecessor, was a human hurricane. Since his arrival in 1980 he had torn through KT bringing radical change, fresh vision and an extensive building programme.
The elders were nurturing a plan to make the KT building more functional and favoured a three-level configuration. This meant the main church was to be limited to the ground floor area, and the balcony and the basement were to be developed for social outreach purposes. While the proposals for social ministry were welcomed, the architect’s plans would have reduced the congregational seating capacity to a few hundred – adequate at the time, but totally inadequate for the explosive growth that was about to happen.
I was on the church leadership team as a minister in training when Wynne took us away to the Elim Bible College (then in Capel, Surrey) for a day of prayer and seeking God for his mind on the building development. At the next leaders meeting the decision was made. The balcony would remain and the basement would be expanded. Wynne Lewis was delighted. He was 100 percent growth orientated and knew that the church would soon be full.
Shortly after that, I was sent to lead a church in Bournemouth. It was a time of “exile” for me and Amanda. But, after four years, Wynne invited us back to assist him in the now rapidly expanding church. The renovations were complete. The basement area had been excavated and developed, its ceiling elevated to create more headroom, and a new floor had been laid on the ground level. The main building now seated 850 people, with extensive facilities for youth and Bible Study activities in the basement, a bookshop and about a dozen other small rooms and offices. Every square inch had been developed to capacity.
The church was also now full. I remember Easter 1985. Amanda and I had just returned to London with Elizabeth, the two-year old addition to our family. We were expecting our second child. The transformation in the KT building and family was amazing. Now, multiracial, with scores of new nationalities, KT boasted a black majority congregation with all the flavours, sights and smells of Africa and the Caribbean. Each national group hosted the church for lunch after the 11am service. Over the weeks we enjoyed a gastronomic gallop around the world of international cuisine. As the sermon reached its conclusion each Sunday, the savours would waft up from below. Then hundreds would descend to the lower hall for food. Many who knew nothing beyond standard English fare were soon tasting foufou and moi moi from West Africa, curried eggs from Ethiopia and halo-halo from the Philippines. We learned that spice is nice. Then as now, chicken and jollof rice was everybody’s favourite. Wynne’s leadership was outstanding.
The rapid growth in attendances meant that we soon had to start multiple services, first the 9am, then the 2.30pm were added to the 11am and 6.30pm services. As each successive service was filled it became apparent that we had to expand outside the building. In the mid-eighties the church planting programme was born. Amanda and I made our way each Sunday evening to Barnet where a nurses’ Christian fellowship had just become a “church”. It was the first official satellite church of KT. Others soon followed as we adopted the goal of becoming 2,000 churches by the year 2000. By the end of the decade we were over 600 groups of churches, ministries and fellowships. This was short of our goal but nevertheless a significant achievement. It was real move of God bringing growth, salvation and healing to thousands.
It was into this flow of the Holy Spirit that I was plunged as senior leader in 1991. Wynne Lewis took on the national position of General Superintendent of the Elim Pentecostal Churches. We had always been proud of our Elim identity. George Jeffreys was both the founder of Elim in the UK and the founder of KT, his headquarters church in London. We particularly identified with these early days of Elim. Now with Wynne at the helm of the Movement, what would happen to KT?
My return to London from Bournemouth to join Wynne was the result of a particular call from the Holy Spirit. It is difficult to describe, but there was definite spiritual connection between us. He was my spiritual father, my mentor and I felt as if I was a Joshua to a Moses, an Elisha to an Elijah. I never dreamed that as those leader-servant relationships led to succession, so one day I would succeed Wynne as Senior Minister of KT. Stepping into the position vacated by my mentor, it was time for me to put all my training and the things I had learned into practice.
Since 1985, I had followed Wynne closely, serving him at all times and listening intently to what he had to say about church life, growth and leadership. He was in many ways a tough leader, but there never was a dull moment. His methods were cutting edge and unorthodox. He was fearless and never backed down. He was “Wynne” by name and “win” by nature! God used him powerfully, not only to bring revival to KT but also to shape and form my spiritual life. In many ways my time in Bournemouth had been a spiritually dry season. Early stirrings of the Holy Spirit in my life had been replaced by doubts about spiritual gifts and their relevance for today. Pentecostalism was not the most vibrant from of spirituality in those days. Coldness, formalism and fondness for the past had taken over many Pentecostal churches.
My return to London coincided with the visits to KT by such ministries as Benson Idahosa from Nigeria, a man who had raised the dead. Several prophetic ministries, such as that of Charles and Paula Slagle who specialised in giving words of knowledge and personal prophecies. Also, it was the era of John Wimber’s visits to London, who had founded the Vineyard movement. Wimber was known for his laid-back neo charismatic style and was warmly received by Anglican evangelicals and Roman Catholics. God used all these people to bring me into a new awareness of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power.
With great encouragement from Wynne and under his watchful eye, I began to experience and develop fresh expressions of the Holy Spirit in my life. The words of knowledge and discerning of spirits became both real to me and frequently experienced. Wynne would often hand me the microphone in the services and ask me to prophecy to the people. God gave us some remarkable experiences as KT exploded in manifestations of the Spirit. Following these breakthroughs all who came to KT were soon released into the same manifestations of the Spirit’s power.
Another dimension was shortly to be added. It came through an unusual and painful experience in our family. Laura our second daughter, born in 1985 suffered severe brain damage in hospital soon after her birth. She required 24/7 care throughout the 16 years of her life. Amanda, Elizabeth and I were devastated and yet God used that experience to birth a supernatural healing ministry. We sought God night and day for Laura’s healing, which never came in this life. However, this focus on God’s love for people and his delight in healing those afflicted with pain, injury and sickness gave us great faith in the healing power of Jesus.
God began to move in KT and in our ministry overseas. In 1987 we saw remarkable miracles in Kenya which according to the local people had not been seen for decades in those regions. The era of KT short term missions was born. From that time on we began to send thousands of people to experience the power of God in Africa, Asia, South America and India. It is still our dream that every single person who is associated with KT might join us on these lifechanging ministry journeys abroad.
Wynne Lewis also encouraged me to start a KT Bible college which I did in 1987. The IBIOL became a major training centre for Africans and South Americans who came to London to study and to plant churches. Training was at the heart of everything that we did at KT. We focussed on passion for souls, world mission, discipleship and the supernatural gifts of the Spirit. Thousands have been equipped over the years to serve God in Britain and abroad in church life and in the wider society.
Above all, what I learned under Wynne, was the value of servanthood. Much was expected of me as I deputised for him as his assistant in KT and further afield. I would have been content to continue under his leadership forever. Even in recent years, shortly before his death in March 2009 we were talking about continuing working together and sharing in the ministry.
His style of leadership was forceful but benevolent. His character was impetuous but wise. He was pugnacious at times but always compassionate. Above all Wynne heard from God. Too impatient for long times of prayer, he looked for the action needed to make things happen. This would have been dangerous if it were not for his keen ear for the Holy Spirit’s direction in his life and in the church. Two features of Wynne’s ministry remain not just as a memory, but as on-going values in the life and work of KT. These are nonconformity and taking the limits off God. Doing what people are not doing and setting the pace for others is one of the ways God has always used KT both within Elim and generally in London. If they say, “It has never been done that way before” or “It cannot be done” – we ignore them and go ahead and do it anyway. Sometimes we fail, but many times we succeed.
I was present at Wynne’s last meeting with Elim France at Nevers, near Paris. He preached on Psalm 78 – “taking the limits off God”. He said “there is no limit to what God can do through your life – if only you break out of the limits you place on yourself.” This approach to life and living is still the driving force of KT membership and ministry.

The post 25 Years Milestones: Part 2 appeared first on Colin Dye.

Church without walls

Colin Dye — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 14:37:25 +0000

For most people, all they ever see are the external walls of the church. The average person in London may pass by a dozen churches each day but few will enter to find out more about God. Could it be that our church walls are one of the greatest hindrances to the gospel today? Even the dictionary states as its first definition of the word, ?church?, that it is ?a place of public Christian worship.? Sure, we do worship God in our buildings but, according to the Bible, ?church? is all about people, not about buildings. That is why our walls have to come down.
The only way we can show people Christ is to come out of the four walls of our church and quit hiding from the world. After a busy and pressured week most Christians just want to shut the world out and spend time with God in the privacy of the Sunday service. Of course, we need to do that, but it?s only a tiny part of what we are about. Why not open up the walls of the church by inviting and bringing people who don?t know Christ to join you as you worship God? It may take some time for people to be interested in the God you serve, but if you keep demonstrating the difference he makes in your life, their curiosity will be aroused and they will want to come and see for themselves.
Our church walls must cease to be walls of division. We emphasise this division when we equate Christianity with mere church-going. The message we send out is subtle but sure ? ?we are Christians; you are not? or, ?we are good people; you are not?. When church going becomes a virtue in and of itself we repel those outside because we have already judged them. A church without walls is an expanding community. We enlarge our hearts to embrace those who do not yet share our faith. The surprising thing is that when we do, people are interested. The world is waiting to know who we are and what we have to offer them.

The post Church without walls appeared first on Colin Dye.

Walking in wisdom

Colin Dye — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 14:45:22 +0000

“I ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory ? to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him ? endless energy, boundless strength!” (Ephesians 1:17-19, The Message)
True wisdom is not merely intellectual or related to a person’s age or experience of life. You can be old and foolish. You can be young and wise. Wisdom is not the same as mere knowledge. It is possible to have much knowledge and yet remain immature as a person. A primary school pupil can be wiser than the sages of this age. You may be a professor of theology but that does not prove you have an ounce of godly wisdom. You can know all about the Bible, but it takes wisdom to live by it. Wisdom is about your character, the depth of your knowledge of God and his ways.
Joshua was filled with “the spirit of wisdom” after Moses laid his hands on him and passed on his authority. No-one knew Moses better than Joshua. He had followed closely everything that Moses did from the beginning of Israel’s exodus from Egypt until they came to the borders of Canaan. He was next to Moses, his master, at all times. He was nearly always at Moses’ side when God manifested himself. He lingered in the Tent of Meeting after Moses had left the presence of God. But even this knowledge was not enough. He needed wisdom from God in order to know how to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land after Moses died. King Solomon asked God for one thing: a wise and understanding heart to lead the nation of Israel. God was pleased and gave him not only the wisdom he asked for but everything he didn’t ask for as well: wealth, riches and victory over his enemies.

Wisdom is about your character, the depth of your knowledge of God and his ways.
Paul prayed for the Ephesian believers that they might receive a “spirit of wisdom and revelation” in order to know Christ better – a wisdom which would bring Christ into the depth of their heart and understanding.
Wisdom is a moral and spiritual quality. The Bible declares “the fool has said in his heart ‘there is no God.'” Intellectually brilliant Atheists who pit their intelligence against belief in the existence of God remain foolish in their heart. Atheists believe that reason is sufficient to arrive at all truth and they miss the whole point of their life. It is tragic, but true. Atheism is not just about matters of philosophy. It has to do with the heart and how you choose to live your life.
Many people who say they believe in God also remain foolish, despite their “faith”, because they still think that life is all about the pleasures and satisfaction that can be derived from this life. They are “atheists” in the way they live. This also is foolishness. The Bible speaks against those who love pleasure rather than God, remaining ignorant of the fact that only God can provide true and lasting pleasure.
Many people refuse to believe in God because there is so much suffering in this world. Unexplained suffering, of course, does exist. But that does not mean that God does not exist. We know that our all loving all powerful God has already acted to lift the curse of suffering on the world. Jesus’ death and resurrection is proof of that. And God will remove it fully and finally in the New Heavens and the New Earth. A day is coming when all injustice will be reversed. In God’s final judgement on the world he will put justice to work, vindicating himself both in those who trust in his righteousness and in those who reject it. God’s judgment will finally remove all sin and suffering from those who abide in his justice. But those who refuse to bow to it will experience its righteous consequences forever.
Wisdom is a moral and spiritual quality.
The Bible speaks of those who are always learning (facts) but never come to a knowledge of the truth (wisdom). Wisdom is walking in the ways of God. It is trusting him in good times and in difficult times. Wisdom is putting God first in your life, no matter what. This is not the religious way of trying to attain to the blessings of God by behaving in certain ways you believe will guarantee them. It’s about pursuing God and discovering that what your soul is thirty for is found only in him. Nothing else satisfies.
This world in its fallen, broken condition is not that perfect world which once existed, providing perfect comfort and satisfaction. That world was damaged by sin and now we live in a world which is home to much suffering and pain. But God came into this world in the person of Christ to show us the way of wisdom. In Christ we experience the wisdom of God which is nevertheless foolishness to those who are perishing. As we follow the ways of God’s wisdom we begin to experience the fruits of wisdom. We discover that life with God works. It really works.
Several times in the Bible God invites us to test him. The context is always the same. It is all about trying, testing and proving that God is sufficient. He is sufficient when we are blessed and sufficient when we are suffering.
In fact suffering, when it cannot be avoided, is to be accepted as God’s strange and wonderful gift. Suffering leads us to depend on the unseen values of the wisdom of God. We have the stupendous joy of proving that God is enough. His invitation is to taste and to see that he is good – all the time.
Goodness outside of him is not goodness at all. He invites us to walk in his ways and prove that his way is “good, acceptable and perfect”. This has nothing to do with the circumstances of life. It has everything to do with God himself and the pleasures that exist only in him.
Wisdom is walking in the ways of God, putting him first in your life whatever your circumstances.
God says, “When you open your wallet to spend it on empty pleasures, you rob me.” Why do we try to buy the satisfaction that only God can give? It is foolish. Sheer waste. It makes sense to trust God for what he only can give. That’s wisdom. When you enter the kingdom and begin to invest in heavenly treasure you find the satisfaction that money cannot buy and thieves can never remove. That’s wisdom.
Christ is the summit and zenith of all wisdom – all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are found in him.
He only can give us the glorious and extravagant riches of the kingdom. Only Christ is the fount of all wisdom, all joy and all satisfaction. That’s why he instructs us in the ways of wisdom.
In the parable, Jesus commends the wise man who built his life on the rock. He was wise indeed. Everything else collapsed but this man’s house endured. In the same way we wisely build our lives on Christ – his person, his work and his ways. We will not be disappointed. His kingdom will last forever and so will everything that is built on him.
God invites us to walk in his ways and prove that his way is “good, acceptable and perfect”.
In the Message Bible, Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian believers has him looking to the Father to grant Christians the intelligence and discernment which come from intimate and personal knowledge of Christ. That’s true wisdom and it’s found in Christ. Every believer from that day to this, who has built his or her life on that prayer, has discovered the same truth. They have proved it for themselves: wisdom comes from above. Earthly things are passing away. Only God’s kingdom and the things that belong to it will remain.
Wisdom dictates that we should be wise in our investment. We have only one life to live and to live it well means to give it all to Christ and to live for his kingdom. This has nothing to do with a religious way of life or a religious way of looking at life. It has to do with the wisdom of facing the reality of life – life in Christ. It is immense, glorious and extravagant. Those who trust in him receive endless energy and boundless strength. No wonder the Bible encourages us to seek wisdom. It’s priceless.

The post Walking in wisdom appeared first on Colin Dye.

He came down to earth from heaven

Colin Dye — Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:18:20 +0000

Tucked away in a tiny verse in the book of Ephesians we find an amazing truth. Almost as an aside, the apostle Paul gives us a glimpse of the amazing love exhibited in God’s great rescue mission for humanity.

“He ascended… but… he also first descended to the lower parts of the earth” (Ephesians 4:9).

One of the best known Christmas songs includes the line, “He came down to earth from heaven – who is Christ the Lord of All.” It might easily have been based on the same statement we have from Paul. Imagine. The Christ who is now exalted in all his fully-deserving glory and honour is the same one who first came down to the lower parts of the earth.

We truly serve a down-to-earth God. One who knows, first hand, our earthly life with all its joys and sorrows, with all its treachery and misunderstanding. God built up to this point in history until finally he, in the person of his Son, became a part of it. God entered his creation in a genuinely human and physical body. He entered history in order change history. From the birth of Christ, to his public ministry, to his rejection by death on the cross, to his subsequent resurrection and, ultimately, to his taking his rightful place back in heaven – all this was to create the hinge upon which human destiny turns.

Nothing would ever be the same again, once he descended. Everything would be different. The coming of Christ is now an eternal reference point, bookmarking the most decisive chapter in God’s story. Before, there was darkness; now the light shines. Before, where there was sadness; now there is rejoicing. Before, where there is selfishness and God-indifference; now there is love and passion for the Creator. Before, where there was sin; now there is forgiveness, there is redemption.

Of course, it took the whole life and death of Jesus on this planet to bring that about, and it will take the rest of the course of human history to see it fully outworked. Nevertheless, it all began when God stepped down from heaven to earth, as we recall in the Christmas story.

Celebrate this Christmas as the start of something new. Something new in you, your family and your community. But also remember, it’s only the beginning. God hasn’t finished with us yet! The story is still being told, in my life and in yours. One day, the whole universe will blaze in the fully flood-lit unveiling of who God is. We will see with our own eyes everything God purposed that first Christmas day, when he sent heaven down to earth.

The post He came down to earth from heaven appeared first on Colin Dye.

The release of the Spirit

Colin Dye — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 11:40:40 +0000

“The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of living water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)

Being filled with the Spirit is more than experiencing his touch upon your life. It is far more profound than that. As temples of the living God, we are already indwelt by his divine presence. Imagine, the God of the universe dwells in you! Once you know that and learn the secret of drawing on in his presence within, you can begin to experience the release of the Spirit of God in your life.

There are springs of living water within your soul and these waters have a tendency to bubble up to the surface. It is the gift of God to us. We never do anything to deserve his presence or to experience his life-giving streams. They are supernaturally and wonderfully available to any believer.

But can this flow be blocked? I?m sure that it can. How does that happen? And what is the key to the release of the Spirit in your life? Some would point to our patterns of behaviour. Surely if we do not walk in obedience, then the Spirit?s flow is stemmed. But the problem is that we need the Spirit of God in order to do anything good. Righteousness is not the natural state of the human heart ? apart from the grace of God. We need the Spirit?s power to walk in the ways of the Lord. We simply cannot do it alone.

Others would say that we need a change of heart, we need to repent before God will work in our lives. Walking in repentance and faith is an absolute must for any believer but, once again, we need the Holy Spirit. Without him, we cannot turn from our sin, without him we cannot truly trust God for anything. The natural state of our hearts is self-reliance, not God-reliance. Still others say that we must do more ? pray more, give more, read the Bible more, fast more, and so on. Only then will God bless us with his Spirit.

All these things have their place, of course, but they are not the key to the release of God?s Spirit in your life. The crucial thing to remember if you want to experience more of God is this: The deeper you go with God the more the Spirit is released into your life.

The more you try to get close to God in your own strength, the more defeated and desperate you will become. But the more you abandon yourself to the energy and the flow of the Holy Spirit already present and at work in you, the more of his life-giving presence and power you will experience. That is one of the most significant principles of the spiritual life.

The post The release of the Spirit appeared first on Colin Dye.

Talking to people about God

Colin Dye — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 11:10:44 +0000

You may not feel particularly attracted by the thought of an octopus. Perhaps your only interest in one is when you eat Calamari, made from one the octopus’ closest cousins, or if you are especially wild about some Chinese specialty dishes. But can a female octopus teach us something about having an on-going conversation with a seeker about God and stay the course to see that person come through for Christ?
Scientists recently discovered the determination of one octopus to hatch her eggs. It took a staggering four years and five months, the longest egg brooding session in known marine biology. Unusually long, this brooding session was thought to be necessary due to the cold water temperature at these depths just off the coast of California.
In the same way, we also might need to spend extra time and extraordinary patience if we want to see people drawn to Christ and born into the waters of the ever more chilling spiritual environment of our culture. What lesson can “Octopussy” (the name given to this particularly dedicated mother) teach as we seek to help win people to Jesus?
It is likely that she ate little or nothing at all for the entire period of brooding and literally gave her life into order to see her young come into the underwater world. She fed the eggs with the nutrients from passing shrimps, frequently ignoring her own needs. She constantly caused ocean water to flow over the eggs keeping them oxygenated, all the while keeping them warm with her own body temperature.
This natural instinct to breed, reproduce and multiply is in all of us, but are we also aware that God has placed within us both a command and a deep desire to see Christ reproduced first in us and then through us – to see the earth filled with “little Christs”, disciples of Jesus Christ? I have been recently pondering the question, “What does it take to have a truly spiritual conversation with another person – anyone, believer or otherwise?”

Building spiritual friendship

I am so glad that in our cell strategy we place Spiritual Friendship Groups at the centre. Everybody needs at least one other person, a spiritual companion, someone with whom we can share our deepest thoughts, longings, joys and pains. Genuine, Christ-centred relationships are vital for deep and meaningful interaction as we all journey through the difficult territory of life on our way to the eternal joys of heaven. In my booklet The Friendship Factor, I outline three principles that govern and guide these key relationships within our cell groups which we call the Groups of 3. The first is this – we receive one another with the same joy and acceptance as Christ has received us. This means we love and accept one another in the Spirit of Grace.
The second is that we recognise Christ in one another as the deepest treasure within every born again believer. Beneath the interior struggles, the mess and the disappointments of life lies a treasure and that is the joy of Christ living in us and the potential for his passion to become the ruling passion of our heart.
Real communication is always heart-to-heart, genuine, with no pretence.
The third is we restore one another seeking to see the glorious nature of Christ formed in ourselves and in each other.
We can come to the place where all these three principles govern our conversations in truly-connected fellowship. They must govern if we are going to engage in spiritual conversations with our brothers and sisters in Christ and see the encouraging and motivating power of truly Christian love. But how does this love work when talking to those who do not yet have Christ living within? How can we engage in a spiritual conversation with those who do not know the joy of coming home to God, who may not even be interested in or know about that possibility?
Having a truly spiritual conversation about God with a person (believer or not) is one of the most stimulating and encouraging of all conversations. Passions are shared. Joy is imparted. Personally, I would not like to try and decide what thrills me most – talking with Spirit-indwelt believers or those who (though they may not be aware of it) in whom the Spirit is working, drawing them back through Christ into their true purpose in life and eternity – knowing God.
I find that the same principles can help us when talking about God to those who have not yet come home to him as well as those who already believe but (like us all) need to draw closer to him. Obviously, there are some differences in how we go about it. But in both types of conversations the same issues are often present.
We struggle with the same internal battles whenever we are talking about God. With Christians we might feel we have to impress, show them how spiritual we are, that we have it all together. Among non-Christians we must feel the added pressure of always having the right answer, giving the right impression and proving that we are right and they are wrong.
Motivated by such fleshly concerns, rarely do conversations with the lost go anywhere. You have heard the old adage, “You can win an argument, and lose a soul.” It is right to want to persuade people, make Jesus look good and lead people in the prayer of salvation. In the final analysis, we cannot convince anyone. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. It goes without saying that the greatest qualities of a soul winner is prayerful dependence and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
The same three principles mentioned before (slightly modified for obvious reasons) are useful as we share our faith with others.

Engaging with Love

First we must approach every evangelistic conversation with love. This means we must genuinely accept and receive our friends as they are. God invites us all to come to him just as we are. Of course, he loves us too much to leave us as we are, but the absence of religious superiority or negative judgmentalism is one of the first things that our unbelieving friends should notice about us. It should (and often does) blow them away. They have such a negative impression of Christians who from past experience have been nothing less than holier-than-thou and perhaps even carping, critical and loveless, only interested in showing others how wrong they are.
Jesus associated with, ate with, mixed with and loved the lost. We should too.Even if it meant I was misunderstood and even condemned as being worldly having been seen coming out of a “worldly establishment”. Provided of course, I like Jesus, did not participate in sin. I would not fail to show love to my friends who are very far from God and so mixed up with the things of this world We often stay cosy in our churches and cell groups, barely having any contact with the lost and hurting people of this world, just because they are never seen in a church building. Sometimes we simply want to stay comfortable in our confined “church-ianity” so that we can avoid being contaminated by the world.
Jesus loved the lost. He came to seek and to save them. We must follow him and be with them.
The second principle is to recognise and discern the way the Spirit is working. The Bible says that God has put eternity in the hearts of men. People have a deep, deadened and distant memory of having been made for fellowship with God. They are lost without Christ, conscience and consuming passion for Christ. Their ruling passions are always deeply ungodly – sensual passions, moral passions or, the most despicable of all, the God-hating passion and dogged determination to make life work without God. They search for the good life, the better life, but forget God. Either they shake their fist in the face of God telling him that he doesn’t exist or that he is just plain useless when it comes to the things that really matter. At best (or is that the worst?) they try to use God to satisfy their desires in this life, or in the one to come. This is what religion is all about.

Developing patience

I recently spoke to a young man whom I had known for some years. He came from a Muslim background but had become quite secular in this thinking as a young adult. He told me he had begun practising Islam once more. I was deeply disappointed, as I had been witnessing to him about Christ for years! More to the point, I felt rejected and even threatened by his decision. But as I talked further I discovered that the stirrings in his soul to get to know God were from the Holy Spirit. He was searching and had discovered a new desire to get to know God. That discernment of how God was a work in this young man’s heart released me in my witness. Later, I sent him a text that read something like this, “Don’t let your pure desire to get to know God be spoiled by religion – whatever religion. But keep genuinely seeking him and you will find him”.
This was far better than jumping on him and beating him down with my superior knowledge of Islam, of its false claims and false teachings. I keep on praying that the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation will draw my friend to Christ.

What is the Spirit doing in your non-Christian friends?

Is he showing them the shallowness of life without God, are they slipping on the slopes of self-fulfilment, self-attainment and self-hope, or are they sadly still so unaware that anything else is available. When you answer these questions you will know better how to pray, how to speak and how to brood over these fragile eggs even if you break all records of the longest period of a soul ever coming to Christ. The third principle of speaking to the lost is to reveal Christ and show him to your friend by whatever good means is available as the Holy Spirit leads you. The pressure is really off us if we depend on the Spirit. We cannot do the work in the person’s heart anyway. There are excellent ways you can prepare to preach the gospel message effectively and answer difficult questions people have about the Christian faith. I encourage you to prepare yourself in every way you can, but in the end, it is always down to being sensitive to the Spirit as you show and tell others about Christ.

The purpose of the Gospel

We must also be very clear on what the gospel is and what we have that can help others find Jesus. The gospel is of course centrally about the fact that we have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. Christ died for us, the just for the unjust, to bring is back to God. But we need to be clearer about the purpose of the gospel. If, in the past, we were falling short of the glory of God, surely the real purpose of the gospel in not just that we should be saved and go to heaven, but so that we might learn what it means to live for God’s glory. Not just to do it, but also to have the amazing privilege of experiencing what it means to live for him. Our testimony is all about making God look good. Often we think it is about listing all our blessings – including our peace and joy – and then telling others they could have it too if they gave their lives to Christ. While all that is true, it can be told and heard in an extremely shallow and unconvincing way.

Our hope is knowing God fully and enjoying him forever

Don’t bad things happen to good people? Or, even worse than that, don’t good things happen to bad people? How you handle your suffering, your pain and the deep disappointments of life will demonstrate both Christ and the reality of the gospel far more than simply having to pretend that all is always going well. After all, the levels of satisfaction and fullness we grasp after belong, in the main, to the life to come. As the old hymn puts it, “Now the cross and conflict; then the perfect day.”
I have found that people can make money and be prosperous without Christ and they can enjoy high levels of health and worldly satisfaction without God. Stories abound both in secular and non-Christian religious communities of children off drugs, young people flourishing in sport and professional achievement and people living the kind of lives that they use as “Exhibit A” in the defence of their beliefs. What do we have that no person not reconciled with God and passionate for Christ could never have – unless and until they yield to the kingdom of God in Christ? We have a secret place, a place of sweetness and inexpressible joy that nothing – neither good nor bad, neither pleasurable nor painful, no matter how intense, can never destroy. That secret place is the joy of deeply knowing God and this, as Jesus said, IS eternal life.
Thinking and talking like this when sharing our faith takes the pressure off us having always to hide our true feelings, our disappointments or our pains. We hurt, we bleed, we weep – just as others do. But with one super-extraordinary difference. We enjoy the good, we endure the pain, and all the while, our relationship with God and the true purpose of our lives comes ever closer. That purpose is not the better life we long for here, but the best of all life – our hope of knowing God fully and enjoying him forever. Don’t give up brooding over your eggs, many of them will hatch!

The post Talking to people about God appeared first on Colin Dye.

A place of deep rest, inexpressible joy and pure worship

Colin Dye — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 12:32:29 +0000

Have you ever felt a longing inside you so deep, so profound, that sometimes you barely notice its existence? And yet you know it is there. It is like an aching void within that you long to fill but don’t always know how. You believe that you have been made for fellowship with God and that fellowship is profoundly satisfying in the way that people, places and things could never be. There is a secret place in every one of us, a God-shaped hole that only God can fill.

The secret place is the deepest part of your personality that is made for fellowship with God. It is best pictured by the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament Temple. It was the private, sacred room which housed the Ark of the Covenant and where God’s presence manifested in visible, palpable glory. For New Testament believers, the secret place is deep within our spirit where God lives and manifests himself by his Holy Spirit. It is a place of deep rest, inexpressible joy and pure worship – it is unblocked communion with the Living God.

The story of our secret place is the story of two bridges. The first bridge is the bridge between our outward life and our inner world. Our lives are often so centred on external necessities, on the blessings we long for and the suffering we try so hard to avoid. God is calling us away from the outer courts of daily concerns and lifelong ambitions. His Spirit is beckoning us to cross the chasm and draw near to him in the secret place, to a place where nothing else matters but him. The bridge is Christ himself who has made the way open for us to enjoy unimaginable delights in the Father’s presence.

The second bridge is also where Christ leads us. This time from the secret place by a new route back to the outside world. Before we were centred on ourselves – our peace, our blessing and our sense of entitlement to a happy, trouble-free life. This time we bring the fragrance of Christ with us, the fragrance which speaks more of his glory than our comfort. Those who travel by that bridge carry something valuable with them. Something that can bless both fellow-believers and those who are yet without Christ.

The world is waiting for the kind of testimony that only true communion with God can bring. This testimony is not centred on our proven success and our ability to impress. Rather, it comes from the sweetness of a life that exists always to make God look good. It is most powerful when we show in good times and (more particularly) in bad times that we demand nothing from God but depend on him and him alone for all things.

The post A place of deep rest, inexpressible joy and pure worship appeared first on Colin Dye.

The power of your testimony

Colin Dye — Mon, 11 Aug 2014 09:48:33 +0000

God has given to you the ministry of reconciliation! You are an ambassador for Jesus, and he has given you the task of introducing him to people through your testimony.

In Acts 1:8 Jesus says, ?But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.?

Jesus is speaking to a specific group of people – the early apostles – who were eyewitnesses of his miracles and resurrection. He promises that the Holy Spirit will anoint what they have seen and experienced – their testimony. But Jesus is not only talking to the early disciples; he?s also talking to us.

The desperate need for reconciliation

Today?s world is in a desperate need for reconciliation and righteousness. The need for righteousness has reached the point that even the police in our nation are despairing for it.

In the Evening Standard of 16th July 2014 Phil Gormley, the deputy director of the National Crime Agency, commented on recent 660 arrests of child abusers in Britain, many of them in prominent positions in society. He said:

?We?re going to need to understand as a society how we will confront this issue. We are not going to arrest our way out of this. The numbers involved are huge.? He added, ?I think we are all pretty appalled by what this says about human nature.?

But true righteousness is impossible without God; hence our nation is in a desperate need for reconciliation with him.

Reconciliation means that the relationship that has broken down between God and human beings is restored. But God has never broken that relationship. He has always loved us and he will always love us. God has always loved us and he will always love us.

But like the police who despair over the impact of our fallen nature in society, God also sees the consequences of sin. That?s why sin is always an offence to God, and he has to deal with it. But unlike the police that have to focus on solving only major crimes due to lack of resources and will never even know about most of the crimes committed, the all-seeing God can never overlook any sin.

?The depravity of our society? demonstrates clearly how the natural man left to his own devices is unable to produce righteousness. That is why the blood of Jesus was needed to satisfy God?s justice and open our way to God. And the blood also dealt with our rebellious nature and released an anointing of conviction so that Godhaters would become God-lovers!

The apostle Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, ?Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people?s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ?s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ?s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.?

Power of the apostolic testimony

?Our world desperately needs the power of our testimony. And our testimony is built on that of the early apostles.

The testimony of the early apostles has a special authority that comes directly from God. Scholars still debate over details of the early church history, but the apostolic word recorded in the New Testament is certain and reliable. The early apostles had the authority to represent Jesus to the point that what they were saying was as if Jesus had said it. But that was because they were only saying what Jesus said through them!

In 1 Corinthians 3:10 the apostle Paul writes, ?According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it.?

The early apostles? testimony was an eyewitness testimony and it should be sufficient to us when it comes to doctrine. We don?t need to invent new doctrines; only to bear witness to the doctrines that are already in the Bible. The apostolic testimony is the foundation for all churches for all time. It is the foundation we can safely build on.

The power of your testimony

?But when it comes to you being Jesus? ambassador, your testimony can be as powerful as the testimony of the apostles.

You are a new creation and your testimony has supernatural power. In John chapter 9 a man born blind is healed by Jesus. Afterwards, the Pharisees interrogate him. In verse 25 the man responds, ?One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.? That testimony cut through all the contradictions and religious arguments of the Pharisees. And your testimony can have the same power.

Most people come to Jesus because of the testimony of someone they know. When you tell the story of how Jesus found you, you speak with the same authority as an apostle. It is the authority of the Holy Spirit. You are the proof that gospel is true!

How I found Jesus

?Most people come to Jesus because of the testimony of someone they know. What brought me to Jesus was the testimony of my brother.

I was 18 and I had come to the UK from Australia. We had been separated for a while but now, when my brother came to London to see me, I knew instantly that something had changed in him. There was a new smile and new-found peace.

My brother?s testimony led me to Jesus. He was the final link in the chain of witness.

When I was around ten years old, my mother would take us to church every Sunday. It was the old-fashioned dressup- in-your-Sunday-best occasion in a high Anglican church with all the ?smells and bells?.

My mother wanted me to get involved in some church activity but the only thing for the youth was the boys? choir.

Very quickly they discovered that I couldn?t sing! They asked me if there was anything else I could do instead and I said that I was learning ballet. You wouldn?t want to be a 10-yearold boy learning ballet in Western Australia 50 years ago, as it was not considered cool. Still, the Archdeacon gave me a project of choreographing a dance for a hymn so that they wouldn?t need to hear me sing.

I choreographed the hymn Hushed Was the Evening Hymn written by James D. Burns and composed by Samuel and Arthur S. Sullivan. Not many will be familiar with the hymn so here are the lyrics:

Hushed was the evening hymn

?The temple courts were dark; The lamp was burning dim Before the sacred ark; When suddenly a voice divine Rang through the silence of the shrine. The old man, meek and mild, The priest of Israel, slept; His watch the temple child, The little Levite, kept; And what from Eli?s sense was sealed The Lord to Hannah?s son revealed. O give me Samuel?s ear, The open ear, O Lord, Alive and quick to hear Each whisper of Thy Word, Like him to answer at Thy call, And to obey Thee first of all. O give me Samuel?s heart, A lowly heart, that waits Where in Thy house Thou art, Or watches at Thy gates; By day and night, a heart that still Moves at the breathing of Thy will. O give me Samuel?s mind, A sweet unmurm?ring faith, Obedient and resigned To Thee in life and death, That I may read with childlike eyes Truths that are hidden from the wise.

The Archdeacon who asked me to choreograph the dance for the hymn was another link in the chain of witness. In fact, looking back at the words of this hymn, I can?t help noticing how relevant they are even to my walk with God today.

One time, when our High School Religious Education teacher didn?t show up, we were delighted, as we thought we would have some free time. But then the door opened and in came the substitute, Mr. Dobson, the maths teacher.

He walked to the blackboard and began to draw, furiously. Clouds of chalk filled the air! He drew lakes and clouds, a beautiful landscape. Mr Dodson said that all of this couldn?t have come from nothingness but God had created all of it. Then he shared a testimony of how he met God. My maths teacher was the next link in the chain of witness. His words were to me words of reconciliation, drawing me to the Father.

Then I came to London to become a star! It was the summer of 1970. I went to the Isle of Wight to a pop festival. We pitched our tent and went to listen to Jimi Hendrix in one of his final concerts.

Between the performances, a man took the microphone and said he had been given permission to preach. I could see demons begin to manifest around me ? although it was only later that I understood they had been demons. Then the man talked about how God loves us.

He was yet another word of reconciliation, a link in the chain of witness.

The concert took place just eighteen months before my brother came to see me from Africa and led me to reconciliation with God. But although he led me to Christ, God had already prepared the ground of my heart through other witnesses.

Be in the chain of witness

We can all be links in the chain of witness. God has given us words of reconciliation.

Don?t lose hope just because someone doesn?t give their lives to Jesus straight after you tell them for the first time about him. This happens occasionally, but only when you happen to be the last link in the chain of witness!

Just be there at the right time to forge the link. You need to know how to ?close the deal? ? but you can rarely do that straight away.

This nation desperately needs ambassadors for Jesus, ready, willing and able to reconcile people to God. Don?t become so preoccupied with your needs so that you forget to be an ambassador! Decide to speak the words of reconciliation and you will soon be surprised about the power of your words.

The post The power of your testimony appeared first on Colin Dye.

Watch and pray

Colin Dye — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:19:16 +0000

Today the Holy Spirit is sweeping across the nations of the world as never before in history. More than 110,000 people are added to the Church of Jesus Christ daily. The outpouring is reaching near revival proportions on practically every continent on earth. And this is only the beginning!

We are standing at the edge of the greatest wave of spiritual blessing that has ever been experienced on the earth. The winds are beginning to blow and the flood tide is about to be released. That is why God is awakening his people to the urgent need of the hour – worldwide prayer and intercession. Only when we pray, will the Lord speak to us. Only when we intercede on behalf of our cities and nations will we see God move in power. Everywhere I go in the world I hear the same call of the Holy Spirit, ?Watch and pray!?, and the nations are responding. Ministering in Africa, Asia and South America I have personally witnessed the spirit of prayer that is being poured out from the throne of God.

The same is becoming true of the European Church as we are learning to pray with diligence and fervency. As God?s day for the nations dawns the burning question on my heart is will he find us awake and ready or fast asleep and prayerless?

Satan is trying to lay a comfortable blanket over our churches, seeking to induce a spirit of slumber and complacency, because he knows how much danger his kingdom is in when God?s people become militant in prayer. We must not allow the enemy put us to sleep or we will miss what God is doing.

This is the hour of the Watchmen! Alert to his plans and purposes, they will actively bring about the will of God in the earth preparing the way for what he is about to do. Even if we have failed in the past he wants us to watch and pray now. He is raising us up as a mighty army, enabling and equipping us to be faithful in prayer and intercession.

Could you not watch with me one hour?

We read in Matthew 26:36-46 how Jesus asked Peter, James and John to watch with him while he prayed in Gethsemane. I don?t believe we will ever fully understand what was going on in Jesus? heart and mind at that time. Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God incarnate, is in need. He is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (verse 38). We stress the divinity of Jesus Christ and rightly so, but we must never forget that he was and is also fully man. Under the shadow of the cross, Jesus feels the awesome weight of responsibility and the full spiritual implications of Calvary. Calling his closest associates together, he asks them to watch with him in this his darkest hour. But those whom he loved, nurtured and painstakingly instructed for three and a half years repeatedly let him down.

The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

In a certain way that encourages me because if those early apostles had difficulty watching and praying, it explains why I have the same problem. The single greatest difficulty I have in my Christian life is watching and praying on a daily basis. After 40 years I still struggle! It is so easy to be enthusiastic, especially when we are all together in large meetings, but when the alarm clock goes off at 3am for my hour of watch my flesh is very weak! The words of Jesus ring in my ears, ?Could you not watch with me for one hour??

There is always a conflict between the flesh and the Spirit when it comes to watching and praying. It doesn?t come naturally. We need to break through a spirit of prayerlessness into a new level of discipline and urgency by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A new quality in prayer

Everywhere I go in the world, I find the Holy Spirit is bringing a new quality in prayer. People are watching and praying and not just praying the same repetitive prayers again and again. There is a sense of urgency. We are learning to be wakeful and alert in the Spirit, listening to God as well as talking to him. It is only then that we see him bring about the changes he has ordained. Prayers prayed by real God-appointed Watchmen are accurate and powerful. The principle that prayer brings God?s changes is at the centre of Christianity. If we really believed this, we would do it more. It is time that we took up again the chief instruments and weapons that God has given us to bring about his changes in the earth. In a society that is basically founded upon unbelief, we need a praying people who believe that God supernaturally hears and answers prayer. We must become through prayer the real mover and shapers in our world. Jesus is calling you today, ?Watch and pray!?

Jesus our Heavenly Intercessor

The hour of Jesus? trial is finished. He is no longer in the garden of Gethsemane. Crucified, resurrected and exalted, he now lives – forever seated at the Father?s right hand. But what is he doing? Interceding! Right now Jesus Christ is interceding for you.

Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

Jesus? ministry of intercession by far exceeds anything else that he has yet done. Thirty years in obscurity, three and a half years in public ministry, and almost two thousand years of intercession – that?s the ministry of Jesus Christ! And he calls you to join him! To help you he has sent another Intercessor to live within you – the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit helps you make intercession according to the Father?s will, so that you can pray God?s will into the earth.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with Gods will. (Romans 8:26-27)

The Holy Spirit will help you pray the will of God into reality on the earth. That?s the meaning behind the Lord?s Prayer: ?Our Father in heaven, may Your holy name be honoured, may Your kingdom come, may Your will be done on earth as it?s done in heaven.? Jesus? hour of trial is over, but I sense that there is just as much urgency in his voice as he asks us to watch and pray with him today in this decisive hour in history. Will you stand up and watch with him, or will you fail him as his disciples did in Gethsemane?

The post Watch and pray appeared first on Colin Dye.

God's will is to bless

Colin Dye — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 11:54:21 +0000

God?s will is for blessing. He carries goodness within himself and he loves to pour it out upon others. God wants to bless you so that you can also, like him, be a blessing to those around you.

God called Abram, with this promise, ?I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.? (Genesis 12:2)

As you open up to the blessing of God in your life, you will be filled to overflowing! God?s goodness upon you will become so obvious to others that they will want to enjoy God as well.

Too often people see through the eyes of religion and not through faith. Religion sees God as harsh, unyielding and as one who imposes heavy burdens upon people. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is religion that binds heavy burdens upon people?s backs. God is not like that. He stands for joy and blessing.

In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11

This is a far cry from the religious view of God! The Bible declares that in Christ we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. This shows where the blessings are found and how they come to us.

It is true that when we were sinners we stood under the judgement of God. But, on the cross, Jesus Christ secured all God?s blessings for us, removing God?s wrath forever!

O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; you maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance. Psalm 16:5-6

Now, in Christ Jesus you are blessed! There is nothing that Jesus has accomplished that is not available to you, if you believe.

The blessings of God are found in Jesus Christ, but they flow into our lives by the Holy Spirit. The blessings are spiritual. That is, they are activated in us by the Holy Spirit.

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26

Some people say that in the Old Testament, God blessed his people with physical blessings. He gave them promises of healing and prosperity. But, now in New Testament times, God only offers ?spiritual? blessings.

But has God forgotten that we have physical needs? Certainly not! Jesus said, ?Your heavenly Father knows that you need such things.? That is why He has made every blessing available in Christ, through the Spirit.

The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

The blessing of Abraham is yours!

When Jesus died he carried the curse of the law according to what was written, ?Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree? (Galatians 3:13).

But the curse he carried was not his own. It was ours. The Jews were under the curse of the law ? and Jesus carried it on the cross. He also took away the curse that was on the Gentiles so that whoever believes could receive the blessing of Abraham.

This blessing begins with justification ? being declared righteous by faith. And it leads to the blessing of the Holy Spirit and everything that he imparts into our lives.

Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Psalm 103:1-2

The Bible is full of promises for blessing and God wants you experience every one of them! Believe God for exactly that blessing you need from him today!

Blessing declaration

I will bless the Lord, the God who is my hope and my salvation. He is the God of blessing and honour and praise.

I declare that I am blessed with every blessing in Jesus Christ. He withholds no good thing from me.

He has called me to inherit his goodness and his mercy is always upon me.

I have been set free from the curse of the law and the blessing of Abraham is mine. Jesus was made a curse so that I might receive the blessing of his Spirit.

I set the course of my life toward the blessing of God.

I apply the blood of Jesus to every curse made against me and cancel every negative word spoken about me.

The devil cannot curse those whom God has blessed. The peace of God is within me and the joy of the Lord is upon me. I am seated with Christ in the heavenly realms and I daily receive his benefits.

My life is a blessing to others. I give to them what God has given to me. I bless those who persecute me and despitefully use me. I am the Lord?s chosen possession. Sorrow and mourning are gone and God is my strength and my portion forever.

The post God's will is to bless appeared first on Colin Dye.