Planted by Water

God has been speaking to us as a church here in Huddersfield about a key to experiencing his Presence - namely, maintaining our passion for him! God does not turn up for the casual and the complacent. He is looking for a people who are continually on fire for him. People who are passionate in their love for him, in worshipping, in praying, in serving him, in pursuing his purposes, in reaching the lost and in practicalisng that passion in the way we live. God is pleased with burnt (and burning) offerings!

At our prayer meeting someone reminded us that there was a sign that kept reappearing on our TV screens at the moment if we are watching the Winter Olympics - it says PASSION LIVES HERE. That’s what we need to be able to say about the house of God, the church. Every time people come among us, whatever else they may say about us, we want them to say that we are passionate about what we believe in and live for. We decided to make a banner and place it above the doors of the hall we use for our worship on Sunday mornings - and to make sure that we lived up to the claim (We did take a photo of it but sadly can’t get it to upload, hence the fire picture instead). Someone else pointed out to me subsequently that the sign is actually over the winners’ podium. Not only if we want to experience God’s Presence but if we want to be winners in our life with him, we need to be able place over ourselves the sign: passion lives here!