Your Clouds of Trouble are in reality giant Clouds of Promise. Clouds of insecurity and misunderstanding become clouds that rain fresh revelation of God our Defender and God our Father when we seed them with faith.

Isaiah 19:1 says, ‘See, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.’.

The more clouds that clog up your view, the more nervous your enemy gets – God can turn every Cloud of Menace into a Cloud of Magnificence! He rides on your clouds!

CLOUD SHIFTING

All your clouds need in 2012 is the Wind of Promise and Proclamation to shift them of higher ground. Psalm 104:3 says, ‘He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.’ Clouds weren’t designed to sit above your mind and emotions but to head to the Highlands of Faith to replenish the Rivers of Blessing over your life and world. To do that we need to develop an attitude of gratitude and an attitude of magnitude!

The Lords Prayer begins with gratitude – Matthew 6:9 starts, ‘Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name’. It centres on our adoption, our new identity as children of Heaven, and on the permanent, non changing nature of God. It then moves swiftly on to the attitude of magnitude – the big issues of ‘your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.’ (Matthew 6:10). Stir up the Winds of Proclamation!

Our God is changeless. Clouds come and go and the water cycle continues to cycle. Everything changes, but God. Deep inside all of us is a cry for permanence. That’s why many want a BFF – a ‘Best Friend Forever’ to be the strand of security that runs through our changing worlds. The only thing that never changes is ‘Our Father in Heaven’! James says that He ‘doesn’t change like shifting shadows.’ Spurgeon says that the ‘wheel of providence turns on the axle of eternal love.’ He’s the same today, yesterday and forever.

RELATIONSHIP SHIFTING

In the midst of change, let’s not get too clingy towards the people around us. Let’s not create little cliques or a cliquey church. The truth is that many of the relationships that helped us get from A to B will change as we go from B to C. Even now, you’re probably wondering what’s gone wrong in certain relationships of yours. The answer is often nothing at all. It wasn’t a relationship designed to be with you from A to C. Some rivers dry up. The reason… because another is about to flow. God takes away our old wineskins because He’s about to do a new thing. New wine requires new wineskins. Matthew 9:17 says, “Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

There’s new wineskins of relationship for 2012 that God wants you to explore. To give you a head start – everyone needs seven kinds of relationships in their lives –

1. A Jethro – a fatherly person who can tell you some very wise things you really need to know (Exodus 18)

2. A Barnabus – A big believer in your future (Acts 4)

3. A Timothy – someone you’re investing into (1 Timothy)

4. A Jonathan – An armour bearer – someone who watches your back in prayer and faith (1 Samuel 14)

5. A Lazarus – someone refreshing to kick back with (John 11)

6. A Lydia – someone who wants to know more about you, your faith and your God (Acts 16)

7. A Multitude of Counsellors – people who go beyond just pleasing you (Proverbs 15:22)

New wineskins don’t stop at relationships however. Often there’s new wineskins of provision and a whole new lifestyle that’s making a way for a new lease of life that’s about to flow.

RIVER CREATING

When it rains in the Highlands of Faith within our hearts, God creates four rivers that flow out from our innermost parts. Each of these rivers answers some very real issues within our lives -

Firstly – Rivers on High Ground

Isaiah 41: 18 says. ‘I will make rivers flow on barren heights.’
Have you got unreachable, unattainable areas in your life that need unlocking? There is a river!

Secondly – Rivers on Broken Ground

Isaiah 43:19 says, ‘See, I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.’
Are there areas of your life that are burnt out, damaged and discarded? There is a river!

Thirdly – Rivers on Ploughed Up Ground

Psalm 65:9-10 says ‘…The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges…’.
Have you areas you’ve spent time praying over, working on and wrestling with? There is a river!

Fourthly – Rivers on Lost Ground

Psalm 46:4 says, ‘There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.’
Are there areas of sadness and loss that you would love to be turned into both joy and gladness? This is a river!

He has promised life giving streams to flow through your world in 2012.

DIRT SHIFTING

Rivers need banks. Without banks, they become flash floods. Flash flooding is the way a lot of non-Christians experience life. They have unbelievable moments followed by life’s big hangovers. Many Christians are the same – blessings from Heaven that never move onto greater authority and influence.

After seven days in the desert looking for a river that never ran dry (that had actually run dry), God spoke to King Jehoshaphat, ‘make this valley full of ditches’ (2 Kings 3:16). God wanted the rain from the mountains of Eden to become rivers and streams in the desert. Jehoshaphat obeyed and God filled the ditches full of water that both refreshed the army he was leading and weakened the enemy he was attacking.

The Lords prayer begins proactively, then, turns pre-emptive as it seeks to create banks for an oncoming river.

We need to:

1.) Shift the Dirt of Self-reliance to create a Banks of Surrender. Matthew 6:11 says ‘give us today our daily bread.’ God leads us to a place of desperation where there is no longer a plan B. He’s out to shift some carnal dirt and make us reliant upon him.

2.) Shift the Dirt of Bitterness to create Banks of Forgiveness. Matthew 6:12 says, ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’ They say holding a grudge is like drinking poison and hoping that the other person dies. Without this bank the river will fail. Romans 13:21 says ‘don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’ To release someone from that apology that they owe you is to give grace to them and so become an overcomer. You set the stage for rivers to flow.

3.) Shift the Dirt of Rebellion to create Banks of Submission. Matthew 6:13 says, ‘and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ Disobedience and compromise are shifted by submission. This may be the very shift that creates your future influence.

DEVOTIONAL SHIFTS

In Ezekiel chapter 47, the Prophet Ezekiel had a vision of a river that flowed from the Temple (where God dwelt) to the Dead Sea. Everything it touched came to life. Some call it the anointing, others the supernatural power of God…. But for us it’s the river that Jesus prophesised would flow out from our innermost being to touch the world around us (John 7:38).

“Fruit tree’s of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river.

Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail”. (Ezekiel 47:12)

The journey began when ‘the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple.’ (Ezekiel 47:1)

In the midst of your Mountain of Faith is a solitary temple, inhabited by God alone. There’s no sound of children playing; there’s no green grass for a picnic and no familiar tunes in the background. It’s just you and God. Every so often God shakes everything that can be shaken and asks, ‘Do you still love me?’ If God took away your friends, your health, or your successes, will you still love Him? To answer ‘yes’ in the moment of crisis is to bring you back to the entrance of the temple where Jesus is enthroned once again as the Lord of your life – and everything begins from this place – even the river of God.

In the vision, an angel led Ezekiel into four entry points in the river he found himself ankle deep, knee deep, waist deep and then over his head. Each of these entry points hold a significant key to making the right Devotional Shifts in our lives.

Some commentators have described the vision as going deeper with God. I’m not sure if I agree! I’m not sure if I really want to be a ‘deep’ person who ‘experiences’ God. What I do want, however, is to be a person of ‘depth’ who ‘encompasses’ all God has for my life. I think that’s much better and a lot less deep! Here’s the four devotional shifts we need to make, each being an entry point to the river.

Devotional Shift One – Ankle Deep (Revelation Led Christianity)
Every now and then when your feeling ugly, knowing that you’ve failed miserably, let people down and feel completely useless, you need to come back to making a stand on the foundations of faith. You need to be up to your ankles standing on revelation truth.

It’s time to declare positional truths about the finished work of the cross – your victory, your forgiveness, your covenant, your strength and your covering. This could be your entry point into the River of His Power today.

Devotional Shift Two – Knee Deep (Application Led Christianity)
Knees are to do with walking. We need to not just hear the truth of God but apply it to our lives. Momentum is mass multiplied by velocity. For momentum to increase in our lives, we need to increase our ‘speed’! Our speed is the time it takes from hearing God’s word to putting that word into practice. It’s that time span that needs shortening. God often won’t speak the next thing to you until you have done the last thing.

Devotional Shift Three – Waist Deep (Reproduction Led Christianity)
At waist deep, the water covers our loin’s which is the place of reproduction. The immersion of our ‘creativity’ causes us to not just do as God says, but think as God thinks and see as God sees. It raises us from servants to sons and from parishioners to partners in the vision. It adds leadership and ownership to all we do. This may be the right entry point for you. It’s time to take initiative and own the vision that God has for His Church and His People! (This shift also includes a surrendering of our sexuality and our sex drive to the Will of Heaven. Don’t let these wild horses drive you to places you don’t want to go. Submit them to the river and let God help you move from inner struggle to inner success.)

Devotional Shift Four – Over Your Head (Immersion Led Christianity)
Every now and then, not just one thing breaks down, but everything does! The diary gets thrown out of the window and every plan collapses. It’s time to let the river take you in its flow to the place of promise. It’s time to let go and let God. It’s time for total trust that God know best and all things will work out for His glory.

All four Devotional Shifts are like the shifting of gears on a car. You need to alternate regularly between first and fourth to maximise speed and control.

Let this next twelve months be your best ever as you learn to turn clouds into rain, rain into rivers and rivers into fruitfulness and influence. Let momentum become your best friend as you make the right shifts at the right moments. Shift happens to the people who want to make the shift to the next big thing God has for their lives.

WATCH DAVE GILPIN PREACHING on SHIFT HAPPENS at Hope City Sheffield

Shift Happens – Four Shifts Needed For Your Future Success is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

Running from 7:30pm – 9:30pm in four venues across the UK – this is a FREE night to help kickstart your year by investing great teaching into your leadership teams and emerging leaders as you will hear from all three of our speakers.

Scott Wilson travels all over the world training leaders on the subject of leadership. He works with some of the worlds largest churches, but spends a huge amount of time with new churches, teaching, coaching and raising up effective leaders. He is passionate to help the church work more efficiently and has written several books including his most recent, The G Factor.

Winter Tour Dates and Venues:

TUESDAY 31ST JANUARY – SOUTH (East)
MID-SUSSEX CHRISTIAN CENTRE, 180 Leylands Road Burgess Hill, West Sussex RH15 8HS at 7:30pm – 9:30pm

WEDNESDAY 1ST FEBRUARY – SOUTH (West)
HOPE CITY CHURCH, The Megacentre, Bernard Road, Sheffield S2 5BQ at 7:30pm – 9:30pm

THURSDAY 2ND FEBRUARY – NORTH (West)
RIBBLE VALLEY CHURCH, Fourfields, Bamber Bridge, Preston PR5 6GS at 7:30pm – 9:30pm

FRIDAY 3RD FEBRUARY – NORTH (East)
XCEL CHURCH, Long Tens Way, Aycliffe Business Park, County Durham DL5 6AP at 7:30pm – 9:30pm

To let us know that you and your emerging leaders are coming  – visit the GREAT BRITISH CHURCHES website. Registration is free but we’d like to make sure we save your seats!

The Great British Churches Winter Tour is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

Every cloud carries the promises of God for our churches, ministries and personal lives. It’s time to shift the clouds. The storm contains the rain that brings the fruitfulness we’ve been believing for for years.

Recorded live at Hope City Sheffield.

Duration: 38 and a half minutes

Shift Happens – Cloud Shifting is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

Duration: 36 minutes

The Bench is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

Duration: 60 minutes

I’m Brilliant – How Are You? is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

This tribute was recorded in Sheffield (UK) by Dave Gilpin, Senior Pastor of Hope City Church.

Duration: 11 minutes

Steve Jobs – A Tribute is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

Dave Gilpin’s Prophetic Masterclass from hopecity on Vimeo.

Duration: 11minutes

The era of erratic prophesying by people who either ‘need’ to prophesy or don’t exhibit the qualities of real discipleship are over – well, they’re over in the Arena of the Sunday service. Our Sunday services have moved out of the intimacy of the bedroom, the intensity of the kitchen, the introspection of the lounge room and the indiscretion of the toilet. They’ve moved to the intersection of the living room. It’s near the front door of evangelism, near the teaching centre of the kitchen, near the small group setting of the lounge, near the place of repentance and near the place of greater love and intimacy. Because the Sunday services have moved due to our desire to invite the ‘unchurched’, the style of the services have been adjusted too. And for good reason.

What we do at Hope City Church is to have a prophetic time at the end of worship that is done by a chosen leader who operates with a prophetic edge. This seems to not only help keep the meeting tight but also, through their preparedness and good use of scripture and words, touches a greater percentage of the people than the ‘old fashioned’ way of spontaneous prophesying.

Because we work hard at the entire service being prophetic (including Church News), the whole meeting feels like you’re in a river. And that can only be a good thing.

Prophetic Masterclass is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

Watch the first part in this series called ‘Guide To Life’.

Duration: 38 minutes

Life Stages – The Wall Of Grace is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

This service was recorded at Hope City Sheffield’s 11:30am service.

Duration: 43 minutes

A Guide To Life is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

From the outset, Great British Churches is not about what you can do for it, but what it can do for you. Sure – it’s an uniting together of like minded and like hearted people to be a part of a 21st century movement, but its entire focus is to celebrate, strengthen and honour both the leadership and the churches of the Great British Isles and beyond.This is beyond a network and different from a denomination. It’s a celebration of leaders, ideas, operations, people and spirit. Our end game is to see churches strengthened, churches multiplied and church leaders arise for the greatest church era our Nation has ever seen.

I’m not itching to create another denominational constitution and I’m not scratching to fill in some unused blocks of time. I’m earnest in finding a route that can both use the many network resources already allocated across this Nation AND provide a place of real championing, real celebration and real honour of all the heroes of the faith who are currently forging a pathway of salvation in their assigned neck of the proverbial woods.

As with all of us, my heart is racing to see a whole new group of young leaders emerge who don’t just give it a go but are trained and equipped to give it a GREAT go, spilling the Church out into the Nation through multi sites, ministries and missions.

This is our season. This is our moment. This is ours for the taking.

For more from the Great British Churches team, information about events coming up, how to become a Friends of GBC and loads more log onto www.greatbritishchurches.co.uk

Great British Churches is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

1. Set Free from the Cliff Face

2. Resting in the Power of Grace

3. Shaped by the Torrents of Change

4. Chosen by the Hand of a Warrior

5. Placed in the Pouch of Promise

6. Loaded in the Sling of Destiny

7. Shot in the Certainty of Success

WHICH STAGE ARE YOU AT?

Duration: 7 minutes

I AM A STONE

I am a stone. A small and seemingly insignificant, unassuming stone. I lived in a stream at the side of a battlefield, but now I am in the sling of a shepherd, about to be released to slay the greatest giant in the land – Goliath.

I have not always lived in the stream. My life started on the side of a vertical, treacherous cliff – a cliff whose shadow had always influenced the battlefield, hindering the sunlight from drying out its swampy terrain. I had spent many years resisting, but alas, the day came when gravity took its toll and I tumbled rapidly down the sheer cliff walls. I braced myself for the moment I would hit rock bottom and subsequently smash into pieces. I was perplexed however, when I found myself intact, saved by a stream; a stream that, apparently, had always meandered below the cliff waiting to catch rocks such as me. I did not know this stream existed but I felt some comfort when I saw rocks that I used to know lying in the stream either side of me.

I was intrigued as I studied the appearance of these rocks I once knew. ‘How did they get so round?’ I asked myself. I had never seen a rounded rock before – what they call, ‘a stone’. If I was now a stone, then I was an ugly one. I had sharp, protruding edges and angular features which set me apart from most of the other stones. It made me wonder how and if I could ever become that round and that beautiful.

The stream was a calm place at first. The gentle ebb and flow of the water combined with the soothing sound of the stream as it passed over the bedrock gave me time to be thankful and to be at peace. The other stones told me stories of rocks that didn’t make it into the stream and I was filled with joy that I had made it. I still did not know how the other stones had become so smooth, but it filled me with hope and expectancy that one day the same might happen to me.

Savouring the serenity and tranquility of the water, I began to move downstream and I felt momentum begin to build. I could see the other stones bracing themselves confidently and I became excited for what was to come. As the pace of the stream picked up things became more turbulent. The tranquil water soon became a raging torrent, causing much terror amongst the many stones that looked like me. Some began to bump in to each other; others were bashed against the bedrock and the banks of the stream as the force of the water overtook us. I began to resent the stream. I felt tricked and fooled to think that the stream was simply a serene and peaceful place to be. The days of being part of the cliff face seemed ever so attractive compared to the calamity and apparent destruction that the surging water had caused.

Once the water had subsided, I looked around to see other stones that had once looked as ugly as me. To my amazement, each of them, although still angular, were completely smooth. I could not believe it. I had been made smooth too! I noted that it was both the power of the water and the force of resistance that had done it. Slowly, I learned not to resent the raging water when the rapids came because I was gradually becoming more beautiful just like the other stones.

I could see the battlefield from my stream. I took time to gaze upon the expensive, polished swords, forged out of iron ore, being used to fight the enemy. I wondered what it must be like for iron to be used in such a powerful way. I knew for sure a small, insignificant and unassuming stone like me would never be used to do something so great – or so I thought.

Suddenly I felt something – someone had taken hold of me. Someone had captured me. It was the shepherd boy. I did not know why I had been yanked out of the stream, yet there was something kind and gentle about him. I began to remember seeing him walk the length of the battlefield; how he used to look up at the cliffs and the mountains, gazing upon them thoughtfully and prayerfully. From the way the shepherd was looking at me, it seemed as though he knew everything about me. It also seemed as though he knew exactly what he was going to do with me. It was as if the shepherd was trained and skilled at handling smooth stones – because of that I was happy to go with him.

I was placed into the shepherd’s bag. I felt confident he wanted to use me and, although I was now in darkness and obscurity, I knew the shepherd had not forgotten about me. I knew he would bring me out when he was ready. Sure enough, I soon felt his hand clasping me as he lifted me out of his leathery bag and brought me into the open. I could see a huge giant towering over me. I looked around for a sharp iron sword, something powerful that could defeat the giant, but to my surprise I did not see one. I kept questioning ‘Why me?’ I was just a small stone from the stream now in the hands of a shepherd standing before a giant. He placed me in his sling with such a force I felt myself spinning across his body. It was now obvious why I was chosen – to fulfill destiny.

I could not believe anyone would even consider using such a small, insignificant and unassuming stone like me to slay a brute called Goliath. I was finally able to look into to the shepherd’s eyes as if to ask what would happen to me when he released me – would I really succeed in slaying the giant? All he said back was this short and simple sentence- ‘You can read it in the history books later.’

Stone Age – The Seven Stages of Destiny is a post from: www.davegilpin.com

God wants to make the Church as we know it from ‘Nu’ to ‘Wiki’ with every person empowered to contribute, strengthen and own the vision of seeing Gods Church grow out of all proportion!

This is our chance to create a Wiki Church. Let’s not miss our opportunity.

Duration: 40 minutes

WikiChurch – turning the church from spider to starfish is a post from: www.davegilpin.com