Uptown Update
Uptown is the name of a building in Munich, Germany. A few years ago Helen & I were living in Munich and God very strategically and repeatedly pointed out this building to us. The full story is here.
This Blog is about hearing God’s voice and then what we do with those words, it is also about the Greek spirit and how this tends to make our thoughts centre on us (MAN) and what we do rather than God and what He does (Hebrew thinking).
Just a few nights ago God gave me a download about how I can assume way too much of the need for me in God’s plans. In the opening of the Uptown story I say how God said to me “I want the top 5 floors of that building for My worship house.” Where I believe I went wrong was that I also inferred that I had to achieve this for God, or that this would involve me in a major way. (Greek spirit, me at the centre)When this additional thought came to me I was gripped by fear. Why because this extra thought wasn’t from God and it was meant to grip me with fear, and successfully did get my eyes and thoughts off of God and His greatness and onto me and my smallness. As I look back I also realise that I expected to be playing a big part and central (there it is again Greek Spirit, glorious me at the centre). What had God said? “I want the top 5 floors of that building for My worship house.” He was just letting me in on His plans, He wasn’t stating His desires and then expecting me to fulfil them for Him, that is sooo backwards in Gods economy. He is God and I am so very not! As it turns out we did get to go up to the top two floors and we played worship music up there and we made some spirit led declarations. We also followed a prompt to prayer walk around the building again making declarations. This is what God prompted and allowed, what didn’t happen was the stuff that I added that included me and what I was going to do.
In the last year God has been talking to me about Tabernacle amongst other things being like Angelic staging or rallying points. That God is using these set apart places for supernatural purposes. So what we dedicate and set apart in the physical, God is then using in the supernatural/spiritual, helping and participating in the releases that He wants to bring to cities and Nations.
This throws a whole other light on Uptown for me. The top 5 floors of this building, the premium/best floors stayed empty for years after the building was completed. So did God achieve exactly what He said He would? “I want the top 5 floors of that building for My worship house.” Was our part simply in preparation by coming into agreement and in the declarations and prayer walks?
Then of course God did exactly what He said He would, as the other floors of the building were rented out the premium top floors remained empty, or at least empty of other businesses.
The apartment that we stayed in for our last season in Munich was provided for us ‘rent free’ the full story is here. This was a gift from a very special family who said that they believed in what God had called us to and wanted to offer this apartment as a first fruits offering unto the Lord. Initially this apartment wasn’t available as planned, Helen & I then returned to Australia for the birth of our son. Later when the apartment did become available it sat empty, set apart and waiting. A few months later we returned to Munich and lived in this lovely light filled apartment. Previous to this revelation I would have said that we arrived and set up a Tabernacle there, but I can clearly see now that God had already established His Tabernacle in that set apart place (The cost was incurred the space was set apart, Holy, with or without us in it.) and was well underway achieving what He wanted to with no need at all for Helen & I to do anything at all. God loves our hearts and our efforts but He is God, not us as Thessalonians reminds us 1Thessalonians 5:24 God, who calls you, is faithful; he will do this.”
As I reflect on this I am sitting in the new Tabernacle room of our home in Denver. This home on a hill above Denver has sat empty for a year before we moved in here. Has God done the same thing here, that this time He set this place apart designating its purpose, using this place for His supernatural and spiritual purposes long before we arrived in this country? Greek thinking tends to focus on us and our efforts but I am coming to see that the things of the spirit are not determined by the things of this world, it is the other way around.
So my update on Uptown is that I believe God did exactly what He wanted to with that building, I believe I added thoughts that people would be involved and praying and praising up there. I think it is OK to dream like this with and for God, but it isn’t OK to think He has failed if our dreams are not fulfilled.
The picture at the top of this Blog is the image of the building from above from ‘google earth’. You can see the cloud of His presence over the building. After God said to us that it was finished, that He had done what He wanted to in Munich and that it was time for us to leave, I looked again and the google earth image no longer showed the cloud. The top floors are now rented out to a business.
Oh to be ‘IN’ on His plans and to be able to try to be useful rather than to have our efforts in fact mucking things up, God help us get over ourselves and look to You and what You are doing I pray.
Thank you that You are God and that You love us and that You are doing mighty things on the Earth.
