As Christmas passes and we survey the new year, in our reflections as Christians looking ahead, we often ask, “What do I want to do in the church this year?” Buckminster Fuller, the creator of the geodesic dome for Expo 67 and a solid Christian, suggested that a better question would be, “What does God want done?” In posing that question we move from the finite into the infinite. It causes us to sit with it, marinate with it, meditate on it, before hazarding an answer.
The question is for each of us as individuals but also for the body as a whole. Often we have proposed an agenda with the very best of intentions and asked God to bless it. Maybe we should start with "God, what do You want done?" Are we prepared to be surprised, challenged, probably overwhelmed by the answer we may get? I remember John Arnott deliberately asking a question at a meeting of pastors, knowing the answer he would get from one of our number whom God had touched in a special way. The question was, “How big is He?” This pastor would immediately shoot to his feet, throw his arms wide and shout at his loudest, “BIG GOD!” Immediately our perspective was challenged and our vision reignited.
Will the coming year be a BIG GOD year for us as individuals and as a body? Are we prepared to be stretched? Are we ready for the suddenly of Malachi 3? Do we really expect that He will come to His temple? What would happen to my carefully laid plans if He did? Our collective plans?
When the Holy Spirit landed in 1987, I was shocked, appalled, challenged, confused and thirsted for more. We all became addicted in the best sense for more and the motto became 'More Lord.' John Wimber had said that when the Lord comes He will offend our mind to reveal our heart. Rolland Baker told me in Mozambique that the secret is to “get in His presence and stay there.”
May we never hear from the Lord what He had to say to Elijah: ”What are you doing here, Elijah?” May we, in His presence, individually and collectively, be responding to the question and answering with confidence, "This is what God wants done.”
