Eaton Ford - Having fun

< 25th July 2006 | Index | 9th August 2006 >

Only brief notes were taken this week.

We talked about love, having fun, and the fact that believers don't need to be dull. There's no need to be heavy or boring, we can have a laugh together too.

< 25th July 2006 | Index | 9th August 2006 >

Eaton Ford - Shops and balloon

< 31st May 2006 | Index | 13th June 2006 >

We talked for a long time this evening, and the topics were wide ranging and apparently not particularly 'spiritual', yet it turned out in the end that the Holy Spirit had guided us to cover a particular area of life in some depth and we took away his insight on the topic.

We began by talking about shopping and supermarkets, and how the little shops in town have been closing in the face of competition from Tesco, Lidl, Waitrose, Rainbow etc. We realised that people's needs change over the years and they might use Tesco when they have a young family, but a smaller shop when they're older.

The idea of one little lie getting out of control also came up in conversation, and we considered how people sometimes construct a bigger untruth to hide the first, and then a third, and how this process can cascade out of control. It's human nature to hide what is unpleasant and ignore what is dangerous. This is reflected in today's dreadful news story about motorists driving round a child injured in a hit and run road accident. people don't want to get involved. But how do they explain themselves later? This event was almost like the Good Samaritan parable where they all passed by on the other side.

We thought about the story of the lion and the lamb in the new creation, lying down together. In all of these things the Spirit of Christ seemed to be telling us to look beyond the outside and be concerned with the inside. he wants us to recognise that there's a process going on, but it's what is inside or underlying the outward events that is important. There are actions but there are also motives, and the motives are more important.

John's fishtank is beautiful; it contains fish, corals, a shrimp, hermit crabs, a complete ecosystem. But it's small and needs pumps and filters and care to keep it healthy and stable. But natural systems are so much larger, for example coral reefs or forests. They keep themselves clean and balanced.

As the conversation moved towards seeing the application of these things in the spiritual realm, we understood that we need to do things like prayer and Bible reading as a result of knowing Father and wanting to know him better. Doing them as a chore or a ritual is no good and is certainly not what Father requires. Even good things like these are empty (Ecclesiastes) if the reason for doing them doesn't spring from Father. The motives for everything must be our love for him and for one another, that's where the life is. There is no life in anything or anyone else.

We saw our need to be open to the possibility (certainty?) that we are wrong about things, but also realised that we're very good at kidding ourselves!

Val asked Chris to share the waterfall picture that he'd sent to the Koinonia Life list. John pointed out that people standing nearby will get damp even if they're not directly in the falling water, particularly if they're there for a long time. This is a very good point, the water spreads out as a drifting mist and affects anyone in the vicinity.

Val interpreted a tongue. The Spirit said, 'Rest in me, you are safe, don't be afraid'. His words to us through Val were comforting and reassuring, but once again there was the sense that he does everything necessary and we just stay in the right place.

And right at the end of the evening Rachael shared a picture of a hot air balloon. This really summed up the thrust of the meeting. We were in the balloon and as we moved along through the air we were able to look down at the other people being busy on the ground. We just floated along peacefully with no effort. We are guided and moved by his Spirit; but we must be in the right place if this is to happen (for example, in the basket of the balloon).

< 31st May 2006 | Index | 13th June 2006 >

Eaton Ford - Honey and lavender

< 7th January 2005 | Index | 31st May 2006 >

The idea of honey came up right at the start of the meeting, and we thought how honey is mentioned in various places in the Bible. Samuel came to mind, where Samson finds honey in the lion's carcase, and also Revelation where the scroll tastes like honey but then turns sour in the stomach. There was also a verse from Proverbs which points out that honey is sweet, but too much can make us unwell.

Rachael had a picture of a field of lavender in the breeze, all the stems swaying and moving together. Together, all the little heads of lavender filled the air with a sweet fragrance, a fragrance rising up to Father in heaven. The wind is like the Holy Spirit, only when we all respond to the Spirit can we sway and move as one.

Chris was strongly impacted at the thought of the fragmented church here in St Neots, divided, separated into denominations and other groups that occasionally work together in some ways but have no real family life together. It's only as we love one another that we'll begin to care about one another, not just as individuals but more widely as groups of his people. The sweetness of love for our brothers and sisters is the only way forward. This harmonious love in his family is the fragrance he desires. Like the heads of lavender we will only move as one if we are moving with the Father's Spirit. It's the fruit of the Spirit that makes living as family possible - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

< 7th January 2005 | Index | 31st May 2006 >

Eaton Ford - Love and deadness

< 16th April 2004 | Index | 22nd September 2004 >

This evening was amazing, we felt we received such a revelation of Father's heart; but it was difficult to hold it clearly in our minds afterwards because the vision was so large and all-encompassing. Truth is sometimes like that, isn't it! Val wasn't able to be with us tonight, yet we felt she was included in everything we heard from the Spirit.

Right at the start while we were still chatting over coffee, Rachael explained that she'd had an image of two sieves in her mind for the past few weeks. First there was a sifter full of flour, and the fine flour was passing through, later she saw another, larger sieve with water pouring through and gold collected in it. She didn't understand what these images meant and had been puzzling over them.

And then, in the quietness as we listened, the Holy Spirit started to speak.

We received a word, 'My love is deeper than the deepest sea, wider than the universe - my love is everywhere. There's always a spark of light to hold onto'. And it occurred to us that we just don't value love enough. Love brought the universe into existence. Love welcomed back the prodigal son. Love let him go in the first place!

He spoke to us again, 'You are free! Free to run and jump in the sunshine. Don't be afraid; you are free.'

We were shown that we are being sifted, and the meaning of the two sieves suddenly became clear to us. When flour is sifted it is what passes through that is useful and the clogged lumps are thrown away. But when water passes through it is the gold that is retained and is valuable. Either way, the process separates what is pure and good from what is worthless, and that's what is happening in our lives. Either way, he is separating what will be thrown away from what is pure and holy.

Meanwhile we have a choice. We can cling to what is good and pure or we can cling to the impure and worthless in our lives, but we can't have both. And it seemed that we are to be washed in his glory and that because of the purity of his gold collected in us we may then reflect his glory - and someone else might notice the reflection and see him in us! But we must let go of the worthless stuff and cling to the pure during the sieving process.

Some people will tell us we should fear him, the Almighty who tears down strongholds, but we don't. He is our Father, when we see him we cry out, 'Abba, Daddy', he loves us and we're free! The only thing that can take away our freedom is fear; but perfect love (his love) casts out fear. Oh, thank you, Father!

The Holy Spirit gave us another word.'Father is walking in the garden and you are like the birds, hopping and flying in the branches. You give him pleasure just as the birds in your garden give you pleasure.' But if they weren't so afraid of us, how much more pleasure the birds would bring by feeding from our hands and hopping around our feet. He wants us to realise that if we are not afraid in his presence, if we are free, we bring him the greatest pleasure.

And then he said something extraordinary, unsettling, and deeply significant. 'Don't be afraid for I will build up my church and I will cast death out from it. The church is the last place where death will be found, but it will be cast out.'

Thinking about this strange, enigmatic word, we felt that death being cast out is really much the same thing as life being poured in. Just the other side of the coin, perhaps? And we remembered Ezekiel 37 again and the valley of dry bones. Ezekiel had to prophecy that the breath would enter into the dead, and of course it did - and they came alive - a vast army (Ez 37:9-10). As with Israel in Ezekiel's day, so it is for the church in our day. We have been such dried-up bones. In the church today he's opening our graves and bringing us up from them. Verse 14 reads, 'I'll plant my Spirit within you and you'll come alive, and I'll bring you to live in your own land. And then you'll understand that I, Yahweh, have spoken, and that I've done it.'

And indeed, death is still in the church even though as individuals we have been born again and become sons and joint heirs with Yahshua. In the church are so many dead ideas, dead traditions, dead teachings, dead ways of thinking! Are we being called to prophesy that the Spirit will enter into the church (that 'dead army') and stir her up into abundant life? I think perhaps we are!

When we are sifted by him, all this deadness is removed and only what is good and pure will be kept. And when all in the church have been fully sifted, death really will have been cast out from her!

So what he told us at the start of the meeting holds true! 'My love is deeper than the deepest sea, wider than the universe - my love is everywhere. There's always a spark of light to hold onto'. Praise him!

Afterwards, Rachael wrote...

I believe what we have is real and genuine and from Him, and that puts us in a vulnerable position and makes us a target for evil to interfere. When I think about His message properly then I am not afraid, because I remember that He is woven into our being. But maybe there was also a warning at our meeting, to be vigilent, to be aware, to maintain the ultimate goal in our minds of 'His will be done' not ours.

< 16th April 2004 | Index | 22nd September 2004 >

Eaton Ford - Look up and look out

< 15th July 2003 | Index | 11th March 2004 >

What an interesting meeting! We prayed, we praised, we read, we chatted, and we listened as the Holy Spirit spoke to us about our lives, his purpose, and how the two are interwoven.

Thinking about the world at large we realised that many people believe there's one controlling power behind the universe. This is true not only for Christians, but also for Islam, Judaism, and in a sense for Hinduism and others too. But this knowledge must produce love if it's to count for anything.

Father told us to, 'Look up, and look out'. Roger pointed out that we need to see Him before we start looking at the problems in the world. Then it occurred to me that we can only look in if we're outside; because we're privileged to be inside we can only possibly look out. So, first we must look up and see the Father, then we are to look out.

The Holy Spirit also told us, 'I'm in you and you're in me, I'll never forget or forsake you.' What a joy and a comfort that is! How wonderful that he keeps reminding us of this! But sometimes I feel, 'Why are you so slow to lead me on, Father?' And he says, 'I'm still waiting.'

Why is it so hard to hear what he says? It's because we must first strip off all the 'stuff' that gets in the way. We must remove everything that will keep us from him. When we do this we share his existence, and we share other's pain.

In this way he makes us his co-workers and we are able to work with him in our lives.

We have a choice in life, we can put on evil, horrid things, or we can put on good things as in 2 Peter 1:3-8. Peter writes that 'If you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

< 15th July 2003 | Index | 11th March 2004 >

Eaton Ford - Fallen and lifted up

< 23rd June 2003 | Index | 6th August 2003 >

Rachael brought some verses from Revelation (Rev 2:5). It was striking that the church at Ephesus was told, 'You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen.'


Somehow this seemed very relevant to the church today, we need to recover 'our first love', we need to see how far we have fallen. Only then will we have things properly in perspective. We belong in a high place, we belong with Him!

We were also aware of our need for fellowship with other people. We can't do anything alone, we want others around us, we need them to be there.

Father spoke through the Spirit, he said, 'Step onto my hand, I'll lift you up, there's no need for you to learn to climb or fly.' So we felt we can relax in him and let him do the work. He will lift us up and we will see him face to face. He told us to rest in him, to rest in his love, he said, 'I will do the doing'.

He also reminded us that our place is to encourage one another, not to criticise people, not to disagree with them, but to build one another up. We felt that when we meet with others it's often the differences that spring out and appear to become important. But this is a trap for the unwary, the differences are often less important than they seem and they're less important than the things we share - salvation, blessings from above, communication with Him and with one another.

If there was a theme to this meeting it was 'connectedness'. Once again he reinforced for us a sense that we are to be connected strongly to him but we are also to be connected to one another. This seems very important and something we should remember.

< 23rd June 2003 | Index | 6th August 2003 >