Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
have come to a point where I’m just about able to pray for my
accusers! Personal criticism has drawn me closer to God,
helped me get rid of prides and caused me to need the brethren.
All of us in prophetic leadership must expect strong criticism.
Some of it will be worth listening to. Some of it will
spring out of jealousy. Much of it will come from those carrying
particular doctrinal standpoints. In my case, much of it
has been originated by Christians. I find that sad. All in all, of
course, one must see it as belonging to the realm of spiritual
warfare.
Roger: You’ve put a lot of effort into bridge-building in recent
years, Noel. Has it achieved all you hoped it would?
Noel: Generally yes, though it appears some still find us
difficult! Like many others we responded to God’s call to affirm
our brethren and to stand together. It hasn’t been a matter
of sacrificing God-given distinctives, but of dismantling
the barriers of mistrust and suspicion.
Roger: How do you see your links with other evangelicals
and charismatics developing?
Noel: We realise that if we are going to make maximum
impact with the gospel then we all have to learn to recognise
other churches and networks and not to compete; to give them
space, refuse to duplicate and so on. The world has to see
that we do love and trust each other. I’m happy about bringing
into being more leadership links in those ways.
But distinctives need to be safeguarded. For example,
there’s a tendency for people to support a gospel that’s far
from full, with no proclamation of water baptism, let alone of
Holy Spirit baptism, discipleship or the use of spiritual gifts.
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