OUR HEART: LOVE GOD, LOVE
PEOPLE, LOVE IN ACTION!
Our heart as a family of
believers is to love God wholeheartedly, to love people passionately and to love
in action practically, so that we become a channel of blessing to see lives and
communities transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In
January 2010 I had a dream which I believe was from the LORD and which speaks
into the direction of Darebin Centre.
In
this dream I saw two visions. The first vision was of a hand stretched out over
the land as in prayer. The land was dry and the land was stained with blood.
This then transitioned into the 2nd vision as the hand was stretched
over the land, water began to gradually wash over the land- cleansing the blood.
The water then began to increase in depth and flow, and began to be channeled.
As I
awoke, the Holy Spirit reminded me of two verses.
The
first verse 2 Chronicles 7:14. This passage talks about the importance of
humbling ourselves as God’s people to pray and to seek Him and to repent of our
sins. As we do this it promises that God will hear our prayers and will forgive
our sins and will heal our land.
The
second verse Ezekiel 47:1-12. This passage talks about a river flowing from the
temple of God
Initially
I wasn’t sure what to make of this dream and had put it to the back of my mind;
it wasn’t until the 2nd half of 2010 where I was challenged
repeatedly after my bible school classes to seek God for Darebin centre’s
direction. After each of the first three classes, the Holy Spirit spoke to me
strongly to seek him. As I began to seriously seek Him, God reminded me of the
dream and also revealed to me the keys we are to follow to see the dream come
to pass for Darebin Centre.
We desire to see the power of
the Holy Spirit to fill our lives through Holiness.
The
first key is holiness. This was
wonderfully confirmed by our Senior Pastor when he revealed the Hope Melbourne
theme of Holiness for 2011.
God
reminded me that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the very
first thing that we need to cultivate in our lives is holiness. We are called
to be holy just as He is holy. This is what it means to love God
wholeheartedly. Holiness is required so that the rivers of living water which
is symbolic of the Holy Spirit himself can fill us and flow through us as a
channel of powerful blessing to touch and transform our communities for Christ.
This process of transformation begins with us, through cultivating a life of
holiness, setting ourselves apart for God’s purpose. I believe one of the keys
to cultivating a life of holiness is to progressively go deeper in the word of
God through reading and meditation of the scriptures (Ephesians 5:25-27).That
is why each year we aim to read through the whole bible at least once, and to
be consistent in our daily devotions.
We desire to see
the power of the Holy Spirit to be released through Humility
The
second key is humility: this is
about dependence on God. This is about humbling ourselves as God’s people, as
His spiritual representatives to pray and to seek him, and to repent of our
sins and not only that but to intercede and identify with our land including
the sins in our community past and present. This is what it means to love
people passionately. We need to discern the causes of the spiritual dryness,
past injustices-the blood that stains the land. As we humble ourselves and
pray, God will hear our prayers, and God will forgive and the healing power of
the Holy Spirit will be released to wash over, to cleanse and soften the
spiritual ground in our community.
We desire to see
the power of the Holy Spirit to be channeled through us to bring Healing and
Harvest.
Cultivating
an increasing depth of holiness and humility will cause us to be increasingly
filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and for us to be increasingly bearing
the fruit of the Holy Spirit- the harvest
of righteousness. This will enable us to minister according to our various
gifting in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit- the water of life to bring healing to many precious lives and a
great harvest of souls into God’s
kingdom.
We
desire to see all kinds of people in our community irrespective of their
cultural and socio-economic background experiencing physical, emotional and most
importantly spiritual healing as they are touched by the Holy Spirit as He
flows and ministers through his people. This is what it means to love in action
practically.
As
a Church it is our desire to abide and flow with the Holy Spirit to see a great
number of growing and fruitful Christ centered disciples from all walks of
life, who would in turn give spiritual life to those who are spiritually
hungry.
As
a Church it is our heart felt desire to be a channel of blessing to transform
lives and our society through the power of the Holy Spirit.
