Changes

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth;
shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the 
wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Isaiah 43:19
 
Our church is experiencing many changes now…

The Lord seems to be getting ready to move us to a new level, and I'm not even sure what this will entail or what it will be. But I do know that God has been exposing sin in our congregation. The Holy Spirit has been strongly impressing upon our hearts the need to turn away from sin, to confess it, and to bring it to God's throne of grace for cleansing and forgiveness.
 
Unless these things are done and unless we stop trying to hide our sins from the Lord, I told the men, there cannot be the revival and the "move of the Spirit" that we've been yearning for. Instead, there will be confusion, disappointment, lukewarmness, and continued backsliding. The Lord will not use unclean vessels, I reminded them, but only those who have fully surrendered to His cleansing. And I definitely included myself in all this. For I need God's forgiveness, too.
 
Yes, change is indeed coming for us. For there is a stirring in the hearts of these men. And we are living in expectation and in faith that God is getting ready to do something special in this little church that's here behind prison walls.
 
D.B.