A Hunger to Share!
What else, but a desperate hunger for God would bring six hundred Nordic leaders, a hundred and twenty volunteers together plus lots of evening visitors for a conference in Stockholm during one of the busiest times of the year for the church? Yes, Bill Johnson and Mark Aldridge were the key speakers and they were excellent. Also the worship was fantastic both spiritually and musically. The standard would match any place in the world. I wish that YOU ALL could have been there and heard it!
And yes, scores of people, at least 70 said they had been physically healed during the conference, which is an unusually high average of those who seek ministry in this part of the world. And not to forget – Stockholm is a marvellous city in spring and summer!!
But the essence of the conference was that we need something more. Something that is becoming more and more characteristic for believers in our time: a willingness to confess and express our insatiable hunger to live, serve and just be in the presence of God and to constantly live in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. We have tried everything else – things we need and must be careful to stay true to – like leadership, excellence in our presentations, relevance and building friendship with people. We must never give those up. We probably need more of them. But we all know that that is certainly not enough. We need something more!
A huge challenge for us Westerners is that living life filled with the Spirit is at the same time something that is intangible and tangible. It is intangible because there is no action formula that we can learn in order to just make it happen. Jesus actually told his disciples to wait in Jerusalem, and to pray until God would pour out the Spirit over them. That is so frustrating especially to the Western mind. We can’t make it happen.
But then we are also told in Ephesians 5:19 to be filled with the Spirit. And if I translate the rest very literally: 19 ”…by speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Then again, in Acts 4:8 we read that Peter is filled with the Spirit as he just obeys and does what the Lord has told him to do.
The point is that we are totally dependent on the Lord to be filled with the Spirit, and the formula is not just to pray, worship or act by faith. What we can detect as we read all three accounts, is a desperate hunger for the presence of God to be manifest in our lives, which translates into a willingness to do whatever it takes for that to happen. That is why it is intangible and does not fit into the picture of a leader who always looks effective and acts like a clerical CEO. But when it happens it is so tangible that it reveals the reality and power of the Kingdom of God. God’s people hear his voice. There are signs and wonders and new people are turning to Jesus.
I like Mark Aldridge’s story of his first curate, when he had so few assignments that he used most mornings to worship the Lord on his own – the church grew and both people and the spiritual world understood that the Lord was at work.
In the Nordic Leader’s Conference Bill Johnson shared about his own desperate search for this and how he told the Lord that he wanted to live and minister in His presence whatever it would take. God came with the turning point for him early one morning. In one sense it did cost a lot, but the tangible consequences of seeing God at work far compensated the temporary losses of traditional prestige. Losing prestige, members and finances meant nothing in comparison to living in the presence of God – and you know the rest of the story.
That is our message: The Kingdom of God means the presence of the King and His ruling power to free, heal and restore. We yearn for this, and at the same time give our lives to share it. And that is what we must encourage each other to continue to do until the King returns in His glory!
Kjell Axel Johanson
Chairman of New Wine Sweden