Bebo

Jim Diffin <Jim_D_>

"Revolutionaries...dreaming once again..."

	Salvation is Here...	753 jours il y a
	I was going to write a blog last Thurday night, but I didn't. I had a lot of rubbish floating about my head and I thought I might get some clarity if I threw some words down on a page and tried to work through them. It didn't help. The blog that I wrote was never posted and in some ways I'm glad I didn't; I don't think I was ready to shout those particular issues all across the internet. I did, however, save some of that unwritten blog on my PC. Heres a little snippet of what I had written; When I got onto the street, I stood and looked up at the sky singing “as I bow down, be lifted up” ... I don’t know why I stayed, maybe I just hoped that God would reveal something to me in staying. Recently, people...have been making such a tremendous connection with God; having visions revealed to them in prayer or on the street. Maybe I just sought after that divine spark, I don’t know ... I don’t know what else to write. As you can maybe tell, it was really tough stuff I was wrestling with that Thursday night and to be truthfull, I'm not sure if I'm done wrestling with it. Tonight, however, something changed. I guess I got one of those little epiphanies that I write so fervently about. I was out prayer walking tonight. Theres nothing complicated about it, it is exactly what it sounds like; going for a walk with the sole intention of praying. You see 31st October is kind of relevant to me in that respect; that date in 2006 was the first time I'd ever gone for a prayer walk. I'd just come back from watching a fireworks display with the guys in my house, but I just couldn't settle myself sitting in the house. I had a real desire to go back out onto the streets. I did. So Eli told Samuel, "Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'" So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" Then Samuel said, "Speak, for your servant is listening." - 1 Samuel Ch 3 Much like Samuel, I was being called by God that night, but I didn't realise it until I was actually out on those streets. I guess hallowe'en is a big night in Belfast and from what I saw at the fireworks display, it was nice that everyone could come together and enjoy the sights and sounds. But when I headed out for the second time that night, I saw something darker; I saw a city broken. A lot of people were truely hurting that night. Thats when I realised why I was on those streets and that's when I turned to God and said "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." I started praying for the people; for the city. Tonight was no different. I wanted to be out there, in the midst of the darkness, trying to be that little light shinining for God; praying unceasingly for protection for the people, for safety on the streets, for the police, for the ambulance crews, for the bouncers; for the city. God directed my words and my steps and all glory to Him for anything that was achieved tonight. When I was out there, however, I was re-visited by a 'vision'. I use quotation marks because I never thought that it was a vision in the first place. About a year back, I was listening to a song by Switchfoot called 'Dare you to Move'; Welcome to the fallout Welcome to resistance The tension is here Between who you are and who you could be Between how it is and how it should be I dare you to move I dare you to move I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor I dare you to move I dare you to move Like today never happened Today never happened before Maybe redemption has stories to tell maybe forgiveness is right where you fell Where can you run to escape from yourself? Where you gonna go? Where you gonna go? Salvation is here While I was listening to this, I was visited with this 'vision' which, at the time, I thought was maybe just a product of my over-active imagination. I saw a ruined city, nothing but rubble, destroyed buildings and fires. In this ruined city were people; people with dirty faces, broken bones, wounds and sores and with a look of pure saddness about them. Beyond the city was sheer darkness; as if the people in this ruined city were surounded by a sea of night. From the rubble of the city, however, the people got up and started to move purposefully towards the darkness, like an army ready to attack. Then I saw the reason. The people emerging from the city were backed by an Army of Angels. In my kind of unfolding dream, when the verse struck up saying "maybe redemption has stories to tell" the people and the Army of Angels started to run, like a charge had been sounded against the darkness. At the point where the music stops in the verse and its just the lead singer pouring out 'salvation is here', its like time slows down, like the people and the Army of Angels are bracing themselves for when they break upon the darkness. Then time stops altogether. You see, when I was out on the Malone road at midnight tonight, I became very aware of where I was and what I was in the midst of. I was genuinely afraid. I started praying for my own safety, that God would look after me as I walked those streets. Then I realised that I had nothing to fear. In Hebrews we are told that God will Never lever us nor Forsake us. Then I got an answer to prayer. Three words popped into my head. Three words which got me truely excited. You see, a lot of people have the feeling that something truely awesome is happening in Belfast this year; that God is moving and moving Powerfully. That all those prayers which we send to God asking him to pour out his spirit on this city, calling down that healing rain from heaven; all those prayers are being answered in the most literal way. I felt like that tonight when God placed three words in my head. God spoke to me saying Army of Angels. I got the most awesome, spine-tingling feeling when I thought about those words and my mind started to hark back to my 'vision'. This time, however, I imagined that the Army of Angels was not surrounded by a city in a state of physical ruin, but a city which was emotionally and spiritually broken. As I walked between the queue of people outside the Botanic inn and the people ouside the Eglantine inn, I got the sense that that Army of Angels was also moving between those crowds, marching right up the middle of the Malone Road at Midnight on Hallowe'en. Maybe these thoughts are purely metaphorical, maybe they aren't but the truth is that I probably would not have written a blog about tonight if it wasn't for one final part of the jigsaw. Just before I started writing this blog, I sat down to do a google image search for "Army of Angels" hoping that some artist had maybe put a painting to my 'vision'. I was awe-struk for a moment, and then I just smiled. Army of Angels is also the name of the offical fan club for the band Angels and Airwaves, who's music has inspired SO many of my recent blog posts. I couldn't not write this blog. In my aunts house, as you walked though her front door there sat a little chair. On that chair was a plaque which bore the words "Bidden or Not Bidden, God Is Present." I think that those words could have been enscribed on Belfast tonight. I believe that God was moving in lives tonight; I hope and pray that someone, somewhere in this wonderful city realised those things which Switchfoot had been singing about when I imagined that broken city - that redemption has stories to tell, that forgiveness lies in the very places we falter so badly, that there is nowehere we can go to escape from ourselves other than in the arms of our awesome God... ...That Salvation is Here! "Before the mountains were created, before You made the Earth and the World, You Are God..." - Psalm 90
	posté par Jim Diffin

1 commentaire:

	Phil Alcorn a dit...	Il y a 749 jours
	well said. you dont know me, but i like your blog entry. I can see your heart for God in what you write, and it encourages me to press deeper into Him. thankyou.
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