“Standing on the Shoulders of Giants.”

I first heard and saw this expression engraved around the edge of a British £2 coin.

According to Wikipedia,

“The best-known use of this phrase was by its author Sir Isaac Newton”. He said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Personally, If I see at all, let alone further, it is because the ‘giants’ who went before me have hoist me up on their shoulders.

I have heard another expression that is very different yet nevertheless sums up the same sentiments.

“Prophetically, we are on a trampoline. The higher we bounce or jump, the further we can see.”

So why did The LORD bring this phrase to mind and to what purpose?

Many, myself included, have been giving Words about an outpouring of The Holy Spirit to the Churches.

Many have been telling of fresh anointing. Many have been saying that there is coming a movement among the young people such as has never before been seen in The United Kingdom.

Yet, despite all my, and others, encouraging words, I have also been saying that The United Kingdom is not quite ready for Revival — despite being apparently ripe at this time.

We are never going to be ready, but there are a number of reasons for my reticence in this.

There are three words that sum it all up — stubbornness, rebellion and smugness.

Stubbornness is a trait that wilful children display in profusion.

• Yet The United Kingdom Church’s stubbornness is better summed up by an American expression — the Church is “plain ornery”.

Ornery is deliberately doing the opposite of what is expected. The Church is, for the greater part, still displaying the ornery side of their character in profusion.

• The American Heritage Dictionary describes ‘ornery’ as “Mean-spirited, disagreeable, and contrary in disposition; cantankerous”, and that says it all.

Rebellion occurs when the Church sees what is happening elsewhere, understands what The Word of God says, yet still refuses to change one iota of its attitude.

Smugness is rampant in many United Kingdom Churches.

• We are ‘all right’, we are successfully doing that which we have always done.
• We have no wish, nor do we see any reason, to change.
• We certainly do not want anything ‘new’ in our midst – thank you very much!

So, if the Church corporate and in general is not going to move, who will do so and in such a manner as to be the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object?

In short, “We, the people” — must do the moving!

Have you ever considered why bigger Churches rise up?

It is most likely to be the place where The Power of God is being seen and the movement of The Holy Spirit is being demonstrated. So it will be in these last days.

People will go where The Power of God is present!

It was John Wesley who was reputed to have said,

“The Holy Spirit sets fire to my soul and people come for miles around to watch me burn!”

We must make our prophetic voices heard.

We must do as the Spirit leads us –– regardless of consequences.

If, after all our warnings, any Church fails to take notice, then The LORD will by-pass that Church when Revival comes — but we will have done our job.

Shades of Ezekiel 33:1-11 when Ezekiel was told to warn men of their sins, or the results would be his responsibility for not warning.

If he did warn them, however, then the responsibility was theirs for ignoring The LORD’s warning.

So it is with Revival — we warn — responsibility fulfilled.

We don’t warn — responsibility ours!

That’s the responsibility of being a prophet.

God speaks; we pass it on or warn; the receiver listens or not — his or her decision and responsibility.

The Word says that we should all prophesy…. Maybe we should all pray for that gift to be manifest in all of us?

As prophets, when we stand on the shoulders of giants, we can see much further than the end of our noses, as my granny used to say.

Likewise, when we start using a trampoline.

So whichever your preference – go for it. “Just do it!”

The Watchman and His Message
“Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, if the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.
Therefore you, O son of man, say to the house of Israel: ‘Thus you say, “If our transgressions and our sins lie upon us, and we pine away in them, how can we then live?” ’ Say to them: ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’” Ezekiel 33:1-11

 

~ Chris G. Bennett

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Chris Bennett came to salvation in 1962 but didn’t begin ministry until 2007 — a late-comer! Now mandated by The LORD to prophesy and open old wells of revival in the U.K., but especially in Wales. He has also operated Healing Rooms, and worked with deliverance teams, all with his wife, Linda. Happily now doing whatever The LORD asks of them! Founder, with wife Linda, of their ministry The Upper Room Encounter.

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