It has been my practice to feel after the ways of the Spirit, no matter what situation I am in. Therefore, in every meeting. I am always sensing in people's words, in decisions being made, or discussions taking place, ‘What is the Spirit saying? How is He directing? What is Heaven's desire?’
Soul power can come from our head as we are sorting out things and ideas are coming forth. Yet, even in the midst of that, I am feeling after the Spirit. ‘What is God? What is just a nice idea?’ My hope is that every Aglow leader is doing the same in their sphere of influence. Look for His Presence in everything. – Jane Hansen Hoyt
Sue from Canberra City Australia Aglow shares her thoughts on these changes in Aglow and has an encouragement to share with us all:
Sue writes, “When planning for the Aglow Gathering in Canberra, I asked a beautiful young man to come with his guitar and lead us into a time of worship - however he was unable to come as he had to go to Brisbane to arrange and attend his father’s funeral.
And so it was agreed that we would have a PowerPoint with recorded music.
As I sat with my computer and asked Holy Spirit to help me choose the songs I found it just ‘didn’t work’. Nothing felt right! Then I sensed Holy Spirit say, “worship me in your heart”. And as I worshipped in my heart I had a strong sense that, regarding worship for the gathering, I was not to touch it!
I shared this with Kerry-Ellen (Aglow Australia National President) and she said it was OK to have no music.
Well, the day arrived and afternoon tea was ready and people came.
We began.
It was a great time of sharing, with a number of people contributing to the conversation. A very different gathering with prayer and the word without music, but with worship in our hearts.
The next day as I sat and thought about the gathering - the words “stripped down” came to me. That is what our gathering had been – stripped down to the basics and it had been a beautiful time of sharing the Word, prayer and fellowship.
The thought came to me that when we restore a piece of good furniture we strip the layers of old lacquer from the wood, layer by layer until the bare wood is revealed. We sand it and then polish it and it is even more beautiful than it was before the stripping. Another example is when the gum trees shed their bark at certain seasons and the trunk beneath the bark is exposed to be quite beautiful with glorious, rich colours revealed. When the stripping is done something beautiful is revealed.
And this is what I believe God is doing in Aglow in this season. He is stripping all the old layers off and revealing the beautiful end time harvest ministry that He created Aglow to be."