"The MEET is in the Street"

An old Vineyard adage about Power Evangelism was "The MEAT is in the Street".  I don't know who came up with it, nor how widely it was believed or practiced,  but my experience for many years was/is that it is true.  God often does more OUTSIDE of the four walls of the Church than what happens inside.  I have been praying for the sick 'on the streets' intentionally for the past 20 years.  And I have seen again and again that the MEAT of the Kingdom, so to speak, has been truly amongst the lost in every conceivable context and location, all around the world.  

The Lord has interesting ways that He speaks to His kids. He will use the familiar in our lives to speak and lead us.  And that is exactly what He did in my life with regards to how the Church would be able to meet in light of global restrictions being put upon it.

Full disclosure; I live in a part of the world where, in some of the countries, believers are not allowed to gather in Church buildings.  So they gather wherever and whenever they can.  So in some ways, I had a "wineskin" already to prepare me for what the Lord would say.

And that is when He took the familiar expression, "the meat is in the street" and morphed it into "the MEET, is in the street".  At a time when the Church wasn't meeting, the Lord was saying, take your meetings to the street.  Meet OUTSIDE, wherever you happen to be.  So sometimes that 'meeting' took place at a trailhead where a small group of us would meet to walk together.  That was especially relevant when they were not allowing people to be stopped and gathering with others.  

At other times, those 'meetings' took place in restaurants...and then only in restaurants where people could be sitting outside.

Bigger gatherings were also happening - on the beaches, in parks, etc.  Many saw what believers were doing in California in massive gatherings with worship, preaching, and baptisms.  Having been a part of those outreaches, I can attest to the incredible things God was doing.

All in all, God was MAKING A WAY.  It is no wonder that the song, "Way Maker" became a global worship hit last year in 2019.  God was preparing His Church to believe that He would make a way when there was no way. He would open doors when others were shut.  Authorities would say, "NO", and God responded with a huge "YES"!  

What we have seen time and time again since COVID-19 hit, is that God has always made a way for us to gather with other believers and to reach out to the lost.  Many times those meetings were IN THE STREET.  Sometimes it was with one or two...other times it was with a 1000 others.  

So let the Lord speak to you...let Him show you how He will make a way in your life to obey Him and to be thriving in an hour when many are struggling. He just may use a quote you know, a line in a song, etc.