Reflecting (Part One)

I suppose it’s the time of year – or the long flight I had from Winnipeg to Moncton last week – but I’ve been reflecting on the events of the last twelve months. For me, and for Northside Church, 2005 was a banner year. We’ve had other significant seasons along our 27 year journey, but this past one will continue to stand out in my memory. Over the next few posts, I’ll share some of the things that affected us.

Last year I completed the three books and Bible study in The Red Thread series; The Secret of Happiness; and the Beta manual (a follow-up course after Alpha). Little did I know what a blessing, in particular, one of these books would be.

I don’t believe even I truly understood, at the time I was writing The Secret to Happiness while on vacation in Mexico last April, what an influence the principles of this text would have on my life and to our church.

After giving the book to everyone in our church, I’ve watched in awe how God has responded. We’ve given significantly more, we’ve continued to prosper, and we’ve grown spiritually and numerically as a result of simply taking God at His Word. Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return” (Luke 6:38) and it’s true!

I should not have been surprised.

As I told the viewers on It’s a New Day, happiness can be defined as being full and overflowing. That’s what Jesus was talking about: “our cups will be running over” (He was referring to giving out as fast as we are receiving.)

King David said the same thing while being in a very precarious and dangerous place in the valley of the shadow of death. He wrote, “my cup is full and running over.”

I love the blessing that old Jacob gave to his son Joseph in Genesis 49:22 when he said, “You will be a fruitful bough.” That’s a full cup; fulfillment; fruitfulness; success – a wonderful provision itself. Nevertheless, it’s not the ultimate purpose of an apple tree to produce apples, but rather it’s to feed and nourish many people.

Jacob also prophesied that Joseph would be “nurtured by a spring of water.” Without his being connected to his source of refreshment and nurture, he could never be fruitful. It’s our relationship to Jesus, the water of life, that provides fulfillment and success.

It was the third promise that really gave Joseph the happiness (blessing) that God wanted him to have – “his branches would run over the wall!” That was the overflow – running over. Not only would he give of his success with these within his circle of influence, but the blessing of his overflow would run over the wall. He had blessed more people than he would ever know.

And that’s just some of what’s happening with us at Northside. The overflow increases, the fruitfulness continues only as we stay nurtured in an intimate relationship with Jesus. I pray you are experiencing the same blessing.

Stay tuned for Part Two.

Barry