Be Refreshed Today

Soon after I accepted a job at the Aglow Headquarters, I felt the Lord showed me that each Aglow Lighthouse is a gift to the community. I’ve repeated this often down through the years because I believe it to be true. What each Lighthouse brings to the community is priceless.

Each leader loves the Lord and is a carrier of His Presence. The Fruit of the Spirit is at work, causing each leader to walk in unconditional love, to spread joy and peace, to bring hope to those who are hopeless. As you prayer walk or pray as you drive, God’s Goodness and Kindness are released to unlock prison doors that no one sees, and captives are once again free to choose to walk into places where God’s love is shared, and the Gospel message is spoken.

As I see news reports of growing numbers of mosques and Islamic communities being approved to open their doors, I remember Psalm 27:13-14: “I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the Goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord.” The New Living Translation says it this way. “Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s Goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”

Patience is another Fruit and is often the hardest to live from because we want answers to come quickly and problems or issues to go immediately. However, often, it is a journey we are on, and we can be both brave and courageous as we walk through our communities knowing that God has placed us there with great purpose.

Do you remember Dutch Sheets talking about the word ‘wait’ at an Aglow conference a few years ago? If I remember correctly, he was in a time of prayer and fasting when the Lord spoke the word ‘wait’ to him five times. Because Dutch loves looking up the meaning of words in the original text, he gave us a great teaching on those words.

The first one simply means to wait patiently. I think that is the hardest one for us sometimes. To wait for an answer to prayer. To wait for God to reveal to us His plans for our community. What needs are present? Which ones is He asking us to undertake? How will we do it? Where will the funds come from? Who will help us? Wait patiently, and He will show you at the right time.

The second meaning is to not wait passively, but to trust in faith that God will respond with exactly what you need because He is your Provider and He always equips us to carry out the tasks He gives us.

The third meaning was to wait with a longing in your heart for God to reveal to the team the plans He has for your community. Your Lighthouse is a gift, a blessing, and you can be confident that He has the perfect plans to reach out and touch those in the community with great blessings – even miracles!

The fourth meaning has to do with being braided together in such a way that you are strengthened in the waiting. It reminds me of a triple-braided cord. Faith and strength that God will do all He has promised, and He will do it through those of you on the team and those who attend your meetings. Really, God has been building in your Lighthouse a place of safety for those who have been wounded in life to come in and find restoration, hope, and healing.

As I pray for you, I pray that you will be strong in the power of His might, that your youth like the eagle will be renewed, that God would draw new leaders and that they would answer the call, and mostly, that you will never grow weary in well-doing. I know God has His hand upon you, that He is sustaining you and that His plans for your Lighthouse have never diminished.

If your group is in a time of waiting on the Lord, be encouraged that you are in the right place. As you rest in His Presence together, take courage that this isn’t the end of the road; it is an entirely new beginning! His plans for you are that you will succeed in all He has for you to do. I believe in what you are doing! And so does He!