Jesus Life 87 - Jesus Army

This bloke has
gone somewhere,
he’s got
somewhere, he’s
found something in
God and I want it
to do a lot of listening and, says Wilf, “you have
to have a secure relationship with God and the
church or you just trot out pat answers to people’s
issues. You have to have a robust soul as well, to
avoid responding negatively when people take
out their hurts on you. You have to care for people
genuinely as people – not as a well-meaning
social worker.”
And this pastor is also a poet: childhood is a
theme of his poetry at the moment. “Recovering
the good things of childhood as an adult; wonder;
not taking things too seriously; having the ability
to trust and to laugh at yourself. These attributes
of childhood should be carried with us into adulthood,
but often are not. As an adult you can fit
into a mould, and get blinkered to new things.”
The Jesus Fellowship’s current focus on “fresh
faith and new anointing” excites Wilf because it’s
about God expanding our vision and horizons.
“Traditionally, groups get blinkered,” says
Wilf, “I want us to have God’s new ideas and not
see the vision draining away. God has to break
through our barriers, so our dependence is on
Him and not on our ‘way of doing things’.
“Oh, and we’ve all got to read John of Ruysbroeck!”
he adds – with a twinkle in his eye. JL
www.jesus.org.uk
POEM BY WILF
‘The child is father to the man.’
No wonder then
That hardly anyone grows up properly:
Being wrenched from childhood
Before it has matured
Into that peculiar wisdom
That only grown up children have.
Somewhere between childhood
And what comes next, we are made
To jump over a chasm so wide
We can carry little with us,
So we are unprepared for the next stage
Of our journey.
It is called – adulthood – so they say.
We are called – adults – so they say.
Trouble is we’re not
And for most of us
Life is a limp and stumble
From one false security to another.
If you can, if you dare,
Go back,
Retrieve what you left behind
You might just become a father of men
And not just another insecure teacher
Of stumblers and pretenders.
Jesus Life
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