NEWSLETTER 4 - SUMMER 2005
VERSE OF THE MONTH:
Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him". John 14:23 (NIV)
IN THIS EDITION:
The Central Place
One Year On
Audio and Visual Resources
Going Deeper
Events
And Finally…
THE CENTRAL PLACE
Have you ever asked yourself where the most important place to be is? How do you feel when you experience Father’s presence? What enables you to hold onto it or what rocks you so you lose the closeness and intimacy with Father?
Each one of us can experience the joy of knowing that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have made their home with us. When we know that, when we experience it, we will know that the Father’s love is not dependent on our actions or performance but is simply based on who we are. Nothing we do can alter the fact the He loves us. Nowhere we can go will take us outside of His love. His love is a completely free gift of grace given to us through Jesus.
Recently, through various circumstances, I found myself drifting from that central place. Partly through circumstances and partly as a result of my own responses I found myself feeling that sense of a lack of peace. I needed to turn and come back into the centre of His love. I had to know again the gift of grace that enables me to say “Abba, Father”. I had to know that what mattered was what He thought of me not what others thought; that what I was doing was what He wanted me to do.
Now, we all wander from this place and I don’t want you to feel guilty. That is a trick of the enemy – he wants us feel that we have failed, that we have not done enough, that we are not worthy. He wants to keep us outside of Father’s presence so that we are prevented from finding our true identity and freedom as sons and daughters of our Father.
How do we find this place again?
For some a walk in the countryside will do it, for others a walk along the cliffs or the beach, for some being in a quiet place on their own, for others they need to be with friends to talk and pray together. Actually these places on their own don’t bring us back into the centre of His love; they may help, but our hearts have to recognise our need and be open again to be filled with His love.
As Jesus knew His Father’s approval (Mat 3:17 and Mat 5:17) so we, too, need the reassurance that He is with us, that He loves us, that He is for us. We need to hear Him saying again that we are His son or daughter. We need to know that He has made His home with us. Jesus promises that both He and Father will come and dwell with us – that we will become their home.
If you know you have drifted from that central place can I encourage you to recognise your need once again, turn and allow Him to fill you with His love? As you do you will know that you have come home again and that Father has made His home with you. Don’t let the enemy rob you of your inheritance – come home today. Let the waves of His love fill you once again.
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ONE YEAR ON
Father’s Day 2004 was when we started the website. Since then between 7,500 and 10,000 people from over thirty countries have visited the site. Resources have been downloaded by people all over the world. We have had some encouraging emails from people who have found them helpful. People have found details of conferences and meetings and have been able to find websites of other related ministries.
There is a hunger in people’s hearts to find Father and to discover that He really loves them and accepts them as they are. There is a hunger to find the heart of the perfect Father who wants to be a Father to them.
This is a message for all generations and cultures – for all people of the earth. Our mandate is to be a signpost to the heart of this Father.
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AUDIO AND VISUAL RESOURCES
This section is constantly being updated. There are now five messages available for you to listen to online or to download to your computer. In the next few weeks there will be a short video presentation entitled “I will be a Father to YOU!”. Bookmark the site and visit again to view this online.
At present the messages on the website are:
I will be a Father to YOU
Walking with Father
“Like a child”
Our Father’s desire for relationship
Sonship leads us into freedom
Follow the link to listen to these for yourself: www.afathertoyou.com/media
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GOING DEEPER
This is a series of notes for you to download which you can work through at your leisure – either on your own or with a group. www.afathertoyou.com/goingdeeper.
EVENTS
Please visit our events page for details of events coming up over the next few weeks. This will be updated over the summer for events during the Autumn. Keep this page under review to be aware of what may be happening in your area. www.afathertoyou.com/signposts/events.html.
AND FINALLY…..
The Father’s love is contagious. Here is a story from Uganda:
A friend of ours visited Uganda in March and left some Father’s Love Letter with a friend that she stayed with. Since then this friend has been blown away by the Father’s Love and can’t stop telling everybody about it. She went to a hospital and took devotions – for two hours she prayed for people to receive Father’s love – it went so well that they invited her back for the next day as well! The other day she went to a prayer meeting where there were a number of significant people but the main speaker did not turn up. SO …. she stepped in and produced the Father’s Love Letter and used that to pray off! One of the main university lecturers wants to print 3000 of them to hand out to the new intake of students at the main university in Kampala.
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May you enjoy the Father’s presence and know He has made His home with you.
In His love.
Mark Gyde
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