Bobbie

A GLOBAL PRAYER MOVEMENT

(Gifts, nations, prayer, paper-birds, waterfalls & melting snow)

When I felt compelled to create the 2012 'Colour GIFT', my hope was that it would be more than a pretty book that sat on a shelf or coffee table. My hope was that it would visually position the daughters of planet earth before our caring eyes. In the same way that they are not hidden from His loving eyes, I felt they needed to be tangibly positioned before ours. And so with a handful of friends we went about researching the regions of the earth, the nations within and the challenges the women of these nations face.

I have discovered that prayer is not a lame response to the problems of the earth. It is THE most powerful response. Prayer makes a way for God's goodness and answers to prevail. Prayer pushes back the darkness and makes a way for Light to prevail. Prayer takes authority in the spiritual realm, allowing natural authorities to make inroads. It has been said that "all it takes for evil to prevail, is for good men to do Nothing". I believe the same can be said of prayer - all it takes for evil to prevail is for good men and women to never pray!

So I know it's rude to eavesdrop, right... but it's also hard to NOT hear a conversation when the people at the table behind are talking rather loudly.

So here I pen this quick blog in LA. Brian is beside me, breakfast consumed and quietly immersed in his own world of emails, questions and Instagram - forever scrolling for glimpses of grandbabies and the people we love and miss. A pod of dolphins are within view, not far offshore. Maybe twenty or so playing in the cool Californian waters, while a handful of hopeful surfers sit waiting for waves that aren't exactly happening.

“Silent Night, Holy Night, All was calm, All was bright.”

Everyone knows the words to this famous Christmas carol.  During the holiday season you could hear this beautiful hymn sung over and over again in shopping malls, church services, park concerts – there is something so comforting, so beautifully seasonal about familiar Christmas songs.

Yet the words of this one carol have played repeatedly on my mind this particular year.  SILENT night. HOLY night. All was CALM.  It paints a picture, doesn’t it? A simple birth, in the most common of environments, under a starry sky….PEACEFUL.  And I don’t know about you, but when I think of this holiday season for me and my family I would probably use words more like ‘busy’, ‘hectic’, ‘tiring’… to describe the schedule we keep during the month of December.

The above image is of a fun red journal that has the numbers 365 etched on the cover. Inside are 365 blank pages, except for the individual number of each day in the corner. A few of us in Sydney carry these around with well-loved bibles.

I'm not so clever as to write profound thoughts or revelations EVERYDAY, but the art of penning the things that are important or "of revelation" is a good discipline. Life is fast, our minds have much to absorb, so to commit to paper the "defining stuff" is possibly more critical than we realize.

As I opened this journal today it occurred to me anew that to us each day is a blank page, but to GOD it is already written and recorded in heaven. Not one day is unseen, no circumstance a surprise. He knows the beginning from the end. He knows the design of our lives and the potential of our existence. He knows what He has purposed for each day, and His mercies and grace (should the day be grand or challenging) "await and abound" toward us.

How profound and how sobering that we (in this generation and time in history) get to "finish what so many before us began".

It was noonday. They were tired from the journey and they were hungry. His friends leave him resting beside a well as they go in search of food. In the heat of a Middle Eastern day, the Son of God opens a conversation with a woman - a woman he culturally isn't supposed to speak to. What unfolds is beautiful and impacting for her personally, for the people she shares life with, and for us.

When his disciples return he continues to teach them and says of the harvest, "... one person plants, and another harvests. I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work on. Others did the work, and you get to finish up their work".

LET'S TALK CHURCH EVENTS - for pastors and leaders

We have a number of foundational statements (or philosophies) that frame the culture of our church. They are all based in the Word of God and have proven to be true of who we are as a community of believers.

One of them is, "Hillsong Church is not built on the gifts and talents of a few, but on the sacrifice of many". When we say sacrifice, we are using this word in its purest sense. When you love someone or something, the sacrifices made come from a place of devotion, commitment and joy. In Hebrews 12 it says of Jesus that "... for the joy set before him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God".

Well our church is definitely thronging with people who exemplify the above statement and it is full of truly "gifted and talented" people, who use what is in their hand for the betterment of others and the extension of God's glorious kingdom.

For a lot of people in today’s world, the question is probably not "can it get any better?", but more so "can it get any worse?"

The answer to both is yes.

Whatever assails us in the negative can certainly get worse, because everything in this natural life is tending towards decay. I once heard my husband teach, "anything left to itself tends towards decay or deterioration" - a team needs leadership, a vision needs stirring, a house needs repair, teeth need brushing and a sweaty body needs a bath.

However the God I know and love, the God I see evidenced in the Bible and in the lives of so many I observe, is a GOD OF LIFE.

He came to give life and life in abundance ... and the kind of life He offers begets life, inspires life and promises life. So the answer to the question "can it get any better than this?" is also YES!

Have you ever become aware of the plight of others or read about innocent hearts being subjected to insane cruelty and felt completely helpless to make a difference? I'm sure like myself you have felt like this on many times.

I recently read of a 90 year old woman being viciously attacked in her home. The article showed her unconscious in hospital. A swollen, bruised face and a finger mercilessly severed in the attack. Outrageous on every level.

So it's been a couple of weeks now since Colour ended! For many of you it was a "three day experience” that happened last month or so. Hopefully it was a wonderful experience, hopefully something magnificent and eternal happened in your lovely heart, hopefully you were strengthened and inspired for the season ahead, hopefully your world will never be the same because of what was either watered or ignited.

Hey wonderful people,

We just had a Hillsong Conference planning meeting ... And I gotta say we are getting excited for these ONE DAY events around our nation. I know I don't need to explain what these are, but for the record, our heart is to come visit your city (if it happens to be Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide or Melbourne) and celebrate with you (and the greater church there) what God has done in all our lives this past QUARTER CENTURY! (Then of course, the Hillsong Conference in SYDNEY will be off the charts as we gather under brilliant speakers and a banner of unity that has witnessed the Church in Australia mature to a place of increased influence).