Brotherhood 2013 Pt One - Breaking Boundaries and Smashing Strongholds

Wow!

That is all I can say having finally got back to my place after a whole day spent in the company of some truly inspirational people at Audacious Church in Manchester as part of their annual Brotherhood conference!

I've posted my prior thoughts of this particular church before, but this time I wanted to take a few moments to unpack what occurred for me in a massive, massive weekend of breakthrough culminating in the desecration of ground I once trod as a man of God.

Now, words like that can conjure up a whole manner of imagery for people whatever their background or upbringing... that's not the point as this is my time to rise!

 The morning session was taken by the fantastic Pastor Neil Smith of Planetshakers who unpacked some fantastic teachings looking at how we, as Christians, often face most of our attacks on the spiritual plane on just that, the "plain" (or in the flat of the valley to put it another way). It is during these times that we can most feel isolated because there are hills all around (hills being circumstances that seem insurmountable at this point in time, be it lack of a job, not enough money to pay the bills, whatever...) and there seems to be nowhere we can turn without feeling beset on all sides by difficulties.

I've posted my own thoughts on what the power of a mindset can do to you during those difficult times and on this occasion, my own teachings and those of Ps. Smith were in alignment (unsurprisingly, right?).

He then went on to look at the power of the "40" in scripture (given that Jesus was tested for 40 days in the wilderness, the Israelites were forced to wander around the Promised Land for 40 years. What he did then was to suggest that maybe we are approaching a "40th day" moment where you are on the verge of that breakthrough in your own personal circumstances if you'll just stick it out for a little bit longer.

For me, it has to be the current difficulty I'm facing with regards to a certain lady friend of mine (who shall remain nameless for the time being) whom I met a couple of months back from the internet (yes folks, even this bro' has tried his hand at internet dating!) and the silence of not hearing from her for some time now.

This is not something I enjoyed, naturally and I recently went through a period of intense frustration at not hearing from her for over a month now, thinking 'great, this was another one kicked me to the kerb before anything could even begin'.

I was granted access to a picture of my future (no, this is not hocus-pocus I assure you because every picture I've been given has come to pass so, unlike Gandalf's words 'you shall pass!')... now, I cannot see for one how it can happen given my current circumstances, but given that it is God that gave it to me, that is all I need to know!

My mantra for sometime now has been 'that which He says, is that which He will do!'... or in other words, if God specifically tells me something will happen then He will enable it to occur and my life, as I'm sure the lives of others testifies to this!

So with that being said, hearing this song today for the first time at Audacious really had me believing all over again that the dream is not dead of a chance to meet up with the one I'm looking for and hopefully grow closer to her as something more than a friend in due course... we shall see, eh?

I began to prophecy into this seemingly stale situation that there was not nothing left to fight for in our "relationship" (I use this word loosely because i do not consider it to be appropriate until we cross that threshold, having met and agree that we are in one!) and I wanted a refreshed focus so that I knew what I was fighting for, so I can go to the ends of the earth to get it!

Thus concludes the first part of my review, coming up tomorrow the story of a talking donkey and what women really want (yes, I know some would scoff at such a statement, but I have insight now, as do others who were present yesterday!).

Peace out, bro's!


The Lanky Penguin