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The Spirit and the Bride say Come
By Michael Brown
Preface I pray for you right now that the eyes of your understanding would be enlightened and that you would know the hope of your calling. You are valuable and you are precious in the eyes of God and it is absolutely imperative that you know how important you are in the Body of Christ. Without every member stepping into their destiny we all will be lacking in what we can be and the measure of the Glory of God that can be released in the earth. Jesus said my words are Spirit and Life, I pray that the words you are about to read will not just bring understanding but they will release Life, the Life of Christ that is in you, wanting to get out to release the kingdom of God throughout the earth.
The Spirit and the Bride say come
Chapter one Introduction
What is the future for the Church? Where are we headed? What is our Father’s plan for us? One day as I lay contemplating these questions the Lord said to me if you want to know the future go to the end and look backward. Wow that was really deep. So I did. I went to the end and looked backward and what did I see… the future of the Church. The culmination of time as we know it, the very thing that Papa has been seeking for His Son since the foundation of the world, a bride. The Spirit and the Bride say Come.
Rev 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. This is the last thing written before the final salutation of the eternal word of God. Think about that. The Spirit and the Bride say come. Then he says let him who hears say “Come!” This sounds familiar to the earlier warning given to the seven churches. Where He said “he who has an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Are we willing to hear the Holy Spirit or are we listening to someone else. There are many voices in this world with many different messages. Which one are we listening to? Many people think that Jesus will return when that ultimate climax of time comes. They are not looking at the word to see their part in that event. We who are the church, the body of Christ do not realize the great opportunity that God has given us. Let’s look at one example of this in scripture. Daniel was a captive in Babylon, doing what he did every day. Seeking God through prayer and reading the scripture.
Dan 9:2 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.(NKJ)
Daniel realized as he was reading the books of the prophets that there was an opportunity before him, the deliverance of Gods people from captivity. What did he do? Worry and whine about the time he lived in and how terrible it was that all God’s people were in captivity and how they would never fulfill God’s destiny for them? Well, let’s see.
Dan 9:3-4 3 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments,
Dan 9:19-22 19"O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name." 20 Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God, 21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 22 And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, "O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. (NKJ)
Daniel began to speak out who God was. He began to release into the situation the will of God. He knew that the people had paid the penalty for their sin, seventy years of captivity. Now he set himself to seek the God of freedom who would keep His word and release His people to fulfill His will in the earth. He repented not just for himself but for all the people that the mercy of God would be released. His answer was already on its way; Gabriel the arch angel had already been sent. He had come to give him skill to understand, skill to understand how to release the will of God in his day and see the Fathers plan for his generation. He also received the single greatest revelation of any Old Testament prophet about the future of the Children of Israel. He saw the coming of their Messiah; he saw the downfall of every great nation and the future of the known world. Wow what a revelation, that all started because he sought to release the will of God that he read in the book of the prophet Jeremiah. What do you see in the living word? What is your future? Are you stuck in the mire of the world? Are you serving a God who cannot do the impossible? Come with me now on this short journey and let’s see and hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Chapter 2 The Fathers Vision
Hopefully I don’t need to remind you that Jesus only did one thing in His short time on the earth: John 5:19-20 "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. NKJV
John 5:30 I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. NKJV
He only did what He saw the Father do; He only said what He heard the Father say. In this time that we live there are many great visions and great churches. There are many great Men and Women of God. There are many great pursuits and great causes that we can live for. All of these things are very noble and very worthy things. The world has such great needs. However we have to Stop and ask ourselves, what is Father doing? Ministry of any kind can be a great blessing to many. We all know that God loves everyone and His desire is to show that Great love to everyone we come in contact with. Herein lies the conflict. Do we go out and just do the things that we know are good? Do we join in with those who are doing the things that we have a passion for? Do we go to the church where we seem to fit, and just go along with the program? Or is there more? Is there something we are missing? We are living in a time when all of the end time scenarios are around us. All of the things seem to be in place in the world that Jesus told us would be here when the end came. Or are they? Is there something we are missing, something we do not see, and something we are not hearing? God is restoring the church to an apostolic foundation. That’s a term we seem to be hearing a lot lately, but what does it mean? Let me make it real simple, it means getting back to the Fathers Vision. Getting back to His purposes and getting back to His pursuit, and getting back to doing Only the Things That HE is doing.
Eph 1:3-4 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, (NKJ)
Eph 1:11 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, (NKJ)
It is an amazing thing to realize we were chosen by God before the foundation of the world, before time began. We were Chosen to be a part of the workings of our Father, on purpose to be a part of His Divine will. Just as He chose the nation of Israel to show His power and glory through so all the world would know that He alone was God. He has chosen us. We as well as Israel have are own distinct purpose in the Fathers plan. So what is Papa doing? What is He up to today? What is His vision for us? It is not difficult to know what His desires are when we are submitted to Him. The word gives us a clue in the final celebration recorded in scripture:
Rev 19:6-8 6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear." (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) NIV
Papa is preparing a Bride for His Son. In the Jewish culture the Father was responsible for finding a suitable bride for his son. He was the one responsible for the decision. The family line was in his hands. He chose the bride. We see this with Abraham who gave distinct instructions of how a bride would be found for his son Isaac. It was a search based on the heart of the woman he was seeking.
Gen 24:1-4 1 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things. 2 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, "Please, put your hand under my thigh, 3 "and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; 4 "but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac."(NKJ)
So he did as Abraham asked. He went and when he got there this is what he prayed:
Gen 24:12-14 12 Then he said, "O LORD God of my master Abraham, please give me success this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. 13 "Behold, I stand here by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 "Now let it be that the young woman to whom I say, 'Please let down your pitcher that I may drink,' and she says, 'Drink, and I will also give your camels a drink'-- let her be the one You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. And by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master."(NKJ)
The rest of the story is evident. God brought the woman who was to be Isaac’s wife. He provided the bride who would keep the linage going that ultimately would bring forth the Son of the most high. Notice in verse 7 of Revelation 19 above that the Bride had made herself ready. It doesn’t say that God made her ready. The Fathers vision is for us to awake to who He has chosen us to be. You see when God chooses someone it is an invitation. An invitation to submit to His will, which is His plan for our life. That does not mean we have nothing to do with the outcome. Just as Jesus always had a choice, when He saw the Father doing something He had to choose whether or not He would do it.
John 8:28-29 28 Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."(NKJ)
Before we can get back to the Fathers vision and become the Bride we must make a choice. Not one of life and death, not one of salvation, but one of fulfilling the Destiny that the Father has set before us. Will we submit to that call, will we be the generation that releases the full measure of Christ in the earth? Many times we confuse Gods will with the nature of God. God is good all the time. He is a redeemer, He is a Healer, He is the Savior of the world. But that is not His Vision. Those things are all by-products of the kingdom. Everywhere the kingdom is there is healing, there is redemption, and there is salvation. Paul said it this way, “where the Spirit of the Lord is there is Freedom.” Vision is where you are going, not where you already are. Papa’s vision is to prepare the bride who will reign with His Son for all eternity. That is His business. Remember Jesus’ words to his disciples just before He ascended in the cloud:
Acts 1:7 7 And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. (NKJ)
Then He told them that they would receive power and be witnesses which happened on the day of Pentecost when the Church was born. Then they continued on until the entire known world at that time heard the gospel. What season is the Father waiting for? He is waiting for the wedding season. Let’s pursue His vision. His vision is one of Being, not doing. We have to become what He has called us to BE. Then the things He wants to Do will be Done. Our lives are to be an outpouring of the kingdom wherever we are.
Chapter 3 Perspectives-What do you See?
The perception you have of the Father has everything to do with the way you live, the way you pray, and the way you think. You can look at the history of the church and see many interesting things. We know that the church started with a great outpouring of power. The Holy Spirit Himself was poured out on all flesh. Remember Peter’s words on the day of Pentecost:
Acts 2:17 17 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams.(NKJ)
Even though He was poured out on all flesh, everyone did not receive Him. Everyone did not enter in to what the Father was doing. Jesus said the Holy Spirit was a gift; a gift has to be received before it can change your life. There are many ways that we can perceive God. The way we see Him will literally set all the parameters for our lives. What will be our possibilities, our limitations, our vision, and our purpose in life. Let’s look at three perspectives.
The God of Judgment How do you see God? There are many things that are true about God. For example we see in Scripture that God’s judgments were poured out on many nations that would not turn to Him.
Gen 6:13 13 And God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence through them; and behold, I will destroy them with the earth.(NKJ)
Exod 12:12 12 'For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. (NKJ)
You see God is Holy and Just and His Holiness and Justice Demand judgment upon unrighteousness. He is the only one who can execute a Just Judgment because He is the only one who is completely just. He never makes a decision based on anything other than the absolute truth. He not only knows what we have done, but He also knows everything we will do based on our present course.
Heb 12:29 29 For our God is a consuming fire. (NKJ)
He is a consuming fire. He is a God of judgment. All of these things are true. If we approach God in this light and our relationship with Him is based on this. Then we will have a very timid existence. We will pray very proper and holy prayers. We will see ourselves as sinners who are not worthy of anything from God. When someone tells us that God loves us, we really do not know what that means other than that He sent His son to take our eternal punishment and will let us squeak into Heaven based on that. Our life will be lived in fear, which we will think is the way we are supposed to approach God. Since He is Holy and a God of Judgment, however we will never enter into all of the things that Jesus purchased for us on Calvary. We will not even know that God has a destiny for us, let alone enter into it. We must see beyond What God is to Who He is. We have a new covenant; we have been called into the family. That is where our relationship starts, with a new birth, born of the Spirit, adopted into the family, transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, Baptized into the body of Christ. We have a new identity. God has thrown our sin as far as the east is from the west. Let’s quite being religious and start living like we know who we are.
God our Father
In the Old Testament the nation of Israel was chosen by God to show His power and His glory to the whole earth. They were called His people.
Exod 19:6 6 'And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."(NKJ)
2 Sam 7:23 23 "And who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a name-- and to do for Yourself great and awesome deeds for Your land-- before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, the nations, and their gods?(NKJ)
They were never called His children or the family of God. However in the New Covenant everything changed. When Jesus came He started talking about being sons. Not sons of Abraham, which was a term the Pharisees were very familiar with, but of being the sons of God, which they considered blaspheme.
Matt 5:9 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.(NKJ)
This is the first place in the New Testament where Jesus mentions being a son of God. This new concept did not fit into their religion. The God that the Pharisees and Priests saw was the God of Judgment. This God that Jesus was declaring was a Father.
John 1:12-13 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.(NKJ)
We now see the open door to become a part of the Family of God, not the nation or people of God but His sons and daughters. In order to be a part of a family you need to be born into that family. The same way we were born into our earthly family a new birth is needed to become a part of God’s family.
John 3:3 3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."(NKJ)
John 3:6-7 6 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 "Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'(NKJ)
We do differ from Jesus in one way; we are adopted into the family. We have His Spirit and we have everything He said we would have. It is important to remember that Jesus was the ONLY begotten Son of God. God did not have any other sons or daughters when He gave Jesus to die for us. That does not mean Jesus is inferior to the Father in any way other than the way He chose to be. When He became a man, He chose to submit to the Father in every way. He was begotten on the day that He was miraculously conceived in Mary’s womb.
Rom 8:15-16 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (NKJ)
2 Cor 6:18 18 "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (NKJ)
Gal 4:4-7 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.(NKJ)
What an amazing thing God has done through the love that He showed through His Son. Do you see yourself as a child of God? Do you see yourself as His son or daughter? Everyone wants to claim that they are a child of God because they are a human being. However that is not the case. They may be a child of Adam, but not a child of God. There is only one way into His family and that is through Jesus.
You have many different rights as a child than you do as a member of a nation. You have access to the Father that someone else would not have. I love the story of a civil war soldier who had news that he had to get to President Lincoln. When he arrived at the white house he made every attempt to get in to see him. However every time he failed and was told he had to have an appointment to see the president. Heartbroken he went to a nearby park and sat with his head on his hands. A young man saw him and noticed his distress. He asked the man what is the matter? The soldier replied that he had a message for the president from the front lines but could not get in to see him. The young calmly told him, I can get you in. He took the soldier by the hand and led him in through the back door of the Whitehouse. He strolled right down to the president’s office and went in. When he got there even though Mr. Lincoln was busy he looked up and said “What do you need son?” At which he replied this soldier needs to speak with you.
Being a son or daughter has its privilege, as this story shows. We have a totally different perspective as a child. Even when someone has a job that requires them to be very stern or harsh at times, or someone who makes decisions that affect the world, we know them in a different light. We do not approach someone based on their title unless we have business to do with them. Yet many approach God this way. They do not approach Him as their Father; they come to Him as the Most Holy, Omnipotent, and all seeing one who rules the universe. They come to him like they would someone who has the most important job around. God most certainly is all of those things. However He does not want us to approach Him based on His character; he wants us to come to Him as Father. That is WHO HE IS, A loving Father who cherishes His children. We do not do that with our earthly fathers, why then would we do that with our Heavenly Father. Live in the freedom that your Father has given you. That does not mean that God does not want us to live holy lives. Holiness is first and foremost a separation unto God. It is something that is dedicated and consecrated to Him. That comes from one thing, spending time with Him, living in His presence. You become like what you spend your time with. You reflect whatever you have absorbed. If it is the substance of heaven then that is what you will radiate. If it is radio active rocks or material then you will give off radiation and become lethal to those you come in contact with. If it is your Father in heaven then you will radiate holiness and life and the kingdom. It will be your natural release not some worked up false religious state of being.
Do you see God as your Daddy? Have you received Papa’s love? Do you enter boldly into the throne room because you have a right to be there, because your Father is there and you are always welcome in His presence?
There is only one thing separating you from the Fathers love and that is your will. We see very clearly from the story of the prodigal son that Jesus told to the Pharisees and Scribes. They were murmuring about Jesus because He was receiving sinners and eating with them. So Jesus told a story to them of two sons, one took his inheritance and squandered it on riotous living. The other stayed at home and never entered into his inheritance. He simple did what he thought his father wanted him to do. They were both wrong in there attitudes and view of the father. One wanted the inheritance without any relationship; the other just wanted to appear faithful and obedient but never had the courage to take advantage of his fathers’ resources. The father addressed both of them differently than they expected. The younger son received full restoration when he repented from his heart of the wrong that he had done. The older brothers’ heart never turned and he did not see why his father was rejoicing over someone who had been lost being found. He simply wanted the father to give out the just reward that his own brother should have received. His heart was looking only at the justice that was not shown and missed the mercy of his own fathers love.
Even as a son, with God as our Father we still have a tendency to think we have to live up to a standard. When we fail we live in condemnation and stop receiving the Fathers love. We do not approach God the way we should and we stunt our own growth spiritually. Oh we know that our Father will take us back when we repent and He does, but we are stuck on this spiritual merry-go-round and can’t get off. We know we should be about our Fathers business but we just feel impotent and lack the joy to do it. Our prayers are sincere and sound like the rest of the family full of respect and gratitude to the Father. We are making progress and know that Papa loves us but still lack the intimacy that releases a true passion for the kingdom.
God the Bridegroom
The third perspective we will look at is that of being the Bridegroom. Wow, have you ever been in love with someone? With all those junior high emotions and goofy ideas that go through our brain about ways to show that love. Oh, but it feels so good. We think we are living on a cloud somewhere with angels playing there harps and singing sweet love songs.
Yes something definitely changes when we fall in love with someone, our whole definition of life. The things that are important to us and the things we spend our time doing, and of course the one we want to tell everyone about. Wait a minute now, I am talking about Jesus. He is the lover of our souls; He is the Bridegroom who is coming.
Eph 5:25-33 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- 30 for we are members of his body. 31 "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32 This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. NIV
These verses are about Jesus and the Church. They are about His pursuit of a holy bride. They tell us that He left His Father and mother to be united with us. We are the members of His body, how, by becoming one flesh with Him through the marriage covenant. We are His Bride. Think about that for a few moments. How would you relate to your Bride? What kind of relationship would you have? How would your perspective change? Wait a minute; we aren’t married to Him yet, are we? We haven’t had a wedding. I know all of that is true. However we have to learn to see things the way God does. God lives outside of time and space. Those are not things that hold Him. He sees the beginning and the end, all at the same time. Let’s look at a few examples:
Rev 13:8 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.(NKJ)
Eph 1:4 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,(NKJ)
Heb 4:3 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest," although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.(NKJ)
God saw all of these things as being completed even though none of them had physically happened. There is an element in the spirit that allows this to happen. It is called faith. You see we need to learn to start walking in the reality of what God has said is real. That is the potential He has given us. That is what He has called us into. We must stop trying to understand spiritual things with an earthly mind. The word many times tells us to renew our minds to the spiritual truths that God has declared. It is the washing with water by the word that cleanses us. It literally washes away carnal thinking and releases the mind of the Spirit within us. It gives us that ability to walk in an unseen reality. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians:
2 Cor 4:17-18 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.(NKJ)
The word is full of examples of eternal realities that we are called to live in now. Papa has given us the ability to see into the eternal realm. He is calling us to walk according to His eternal plan and release His Bride in the earth so that He can come and bring her home to His house. How would our lives change if we realized we are His Bride? What would that mean to you, that you are being pursued by the God who created all things? You are His prize possession. You are the one that He created all things for. You are the one that He wants to show His love to. You are the one He wants to gently wash and make holy, purify and glorify. You are the love of His life. The one He wants to be intimate with. How would we approach Him if we believed that? What kind of prayer life would we have? What sin would be able to hold us when we embrace that truth? We might even begin to really love the things that He loves.
You see these three perspectives are where the majority of Christians live, most in the first two. We stay on this spiritual treadmill that keeps taking us around and around. The first two do not provide a way off. They are based on our performance. With God as the Judge we will always be sinners. We will not embrace the realities of that Kingdom that will set us free. We will live in the “do your best while knowing you will never arrive at your destination, repent and then get back in the cycle again.” The second is better but still has an unseen standard that we never seem to live up to. So failure again is the underlying result of our best efforts. Yes we believe that what Jesus did was for us, but we never seem to muster up enough faith to advance the Kingdom. We just are not sure that the resources of our Father are for us.
The third is the only perspective that allows us to become the Church that fulfills the will of the Father. Letting us live in the reality of the great love that God has for us. We are the Chosen, We are the called according to His purposes, We are the Bride that He is pursuing! When we see ourselves the way He sees us, we unlock the spiritual potential that Papa has given to us. We break the barriers of doubt and fear and move into the place of eternal destiny.
2 Tim 1:8-9 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, 9 who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,(NKJ)
Chapter 4 Faith, Hope and Love
How do we move into the place we are destined to stand? How do we become what Papa has invited us to be? How do we let His purposes and pursuit over take us? How? There is one way, by allowing the Holy Spirit to release in us the Kingdom of God.
Let’s look at the Apostle Paul’s teaching on the ways of the Spirit in 1st Corinthians.
1Cor 12:1 1NOW ABOUT the spiritual gifts (the special endowments of supernatural energy), brethren, I do not want you to be misinformed. The word gift is in italics in this verse and that means that it was added by the translators to help us understand what was being said. This verse really needs to be examined in the light of the full context of the passage. The word used for spiritual is: Pneumatikos, which always connotes the ideas of invisibility and of power. It does not occur in the Sept. nor in the Gospels; it is in fact an after-Pentecost word. The fuller meaning of this word is “the things pertaining to and of the operation of the Spirit.” It tells us how the Holy Spirit works in our lives.
Paul finishes this chapter with these words: 31But earnestly desire and zealously cultivate the greatest and best gifts and graces (the higher gifts and the choicest graces). And yet I will show you a still more excellent way [one that is better by far and the highest of them all--love]. He encourages us to use and practice with the gifts God has given us. With the motive being to show the Father’s love.
After Paul’s dissertation of the Spirit and how He moves through us and his instruction of how the body is fashioned and functions, he then proceeds on with one of the most acclaimed passages of scripture ever written. Often referred to as the Love chapter; used at many weddings and revered as the greatest description of love in the Bible. He ends this chapter with the following passage: 1Cor 13:13 13And so faith, hope, love abide [faith--conviction and belief respecting man's relation to God and divine things; hope--joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation; love--true affection for God and man, growing out of God's love for and in us], these three; but the greatest of these is love.(Amp) 1 Cor 13:13 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.(NKJ)
The Greek word used here for abide is meno which means a Place, or dwelling, also to remain or continue. There is a place of Faith, Hope and Love.
Faith, Hope and Love: the underlying forces of the Kingdom, the way Papa choose to reveal Himself, in us and then through us. These three that are interdependent upon each other and without the other two, one of them by itself will not reveal the kingdom. Without all three of these working together we will fail.
There have been many who claim to have great faith, but without love it is worthless. There are many who say they have great hope for the future and that someday everything will work out. But without Faith they never see the fulfillment of there Hope. There are even those who display great Love and lay their lives down for many but without faith and hope there Love is limited to natural means and never able to reach its ultimate potential.
Let’s look at each of these separately and then see how they work together to release the Kingdom.
Love Love is the only true foundation for everything we do. Love is the reason that God sent His son to die for us. God IS Love. Because love is the only one of these that is actually a characteristic of who God is it has to be the starting point for understanding the other two. We must embrace first the Love that God has for us. If we do not know how much Papa loves us, we will miss the whole point of loving others. We will not have the right motivation for anything we do in the kingdom. We will either be trying to show God that we are worthy of His love based on what we do. Or trying to show others how much we love them based on what we do. Remember this is a place of ABIDING. Just as in John 15 Jesus told us to ABIDE in Him:
John 15:4-5 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.(NKJ)
Paul tells us in this next passage that our potential for displaying the fullness of God is based on our revelation of the love of Christ. To the degree that we grasp His love will be the degree to which we are filled. If we do not want to know and move in Christ’s love then we will not be filled with the power of God.
Eph 3:14-21 14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.(NKJ)
Notice here in verse 19 that Paul said this love passes knowledge. It is not enough to just know about this love we must experience it and let it be the very foundation for everything in our lives.
The apostle John knew the Love of God. He referred to himself as the one who Jesus loved.
I Jn 4:12 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. (NKJ)
I Jn 4:16 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. (NKJ)
I Jn 4:18-19 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us. (NKJ)
Do you know and believe the Love that God has for you?
There is nothing you can ever do that will change the love that Papa has for you. You are His hearts desire; you are the one He longs for. Why don’t you just stop right now and take a moment and tell Him that you believe the Love He has for you. Tell Him that you receive His love and let it wash over you. His Love is not based on anything you do or have done or will ever do. His Love is based on what He has done for you!
When we know how much we are loved then we know that God will not withhold anything from us. That is where hope begins.
Hope Hope is NOT wishing. Hope is the ability to see the reality of something in the Spirit. Hope and vision go hand in hand. No Hope, no vision.
Matt 12:21 21 In his name the nations will put their hope."
Rom 4:17-18 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." NKJV
Hope always starts with the promise of God. God said that Abraham WOULD be the father of many nations. What has God said about you, what does His word hold for your future. The Word is the seed that produces Hope that becomes Faith that when saturated in the Love of God releases the kingdom of God in the earth.
Rom 5:1-5
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
The Greek word for Hope is elpis (el-pece'); from a primary elpo (to anticipate, usually with pleasure); expectation (abstractly or concretely) or confidence. So in English this means to anticipate with pleasure a confident expectation. This means that you have full confidence that what has been promised will be delivered with pleasure.
Rom 15:13
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. NKJ
Let me tell you something friend if anyone on the planet should be joyful, it is us. If you lack joy in your life it is directly related to the level of hope you have. Without hope there is no joy. Remember we are dealing with an invisible realm. If we do not have a confident expectation that what our Father has promised will be delivered we will never see it. Hope springs from love. Love gets great delight in giving and showering itself upon the one it is for. Let the Holy Spirit cause you to abound in hope. He will assure you of the promises of God; He will impart to you a confidence and an expectancy of Papa’s goodness.
Heb 3:6 6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. (NKJ)
Heb 10:23-24 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, (NKJ)
The first thing we should be telling one another is that the goodness of God will surely overtake us and bring us into our kingdom destiny. It is like riding the rapids of a powerful river. If you fight it you will wear yourself out and be in for a miserable ride. But if you just let go and trust the river, you will be in for the ride of your life, with exhilarating joy and excitement like a child.
Eph 1:15-21
Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. NKJ
Did you notice that in order to see the hope of your calling, your eyes have to be enlightened? Why, because you are looking into the Spirit. You are not of this earth any longer and your future and your destiny are not held here. They are written in the Lambs book of Life. God is now the Author and the finisher of your Life. Hope is the lens that allows you to see not only the reality of the kingdom but the future that is being revealed. Your hope is directly related to your ability to move forward in your spiritual growth and it is the river that carries every blessing and provision that God has given us.
Col 1:3-6 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints- 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. (NIV)
If you do not embrace the hope that God wants to impart in you, then your faith and love will not have the combustion that they need to release the kingdom. Hope is the fuse that allows your faith and love to explode into a world that needs desperately to receive the love of God.
1 Thess 1:2-3 3 We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. (NIV)
Without hope we are an easy prey for the enemy. Every time we do not receive what we think we should receive when we think we should receive it we have an opportunity to believe a lie. That lie is that God does not love us or that He is not faithful to His promises. There is nothing further from the truth. That is why we start with a revelation of Papa’s love and then let our hope be birthed out of that. When we truly live in a receptive posture to our Fathers love, hope and joy will overflow from us. We will have an unshakable confidence in the promises of God and we will have the endurance to see the kingdom manifested in our lives. You see if we never experience any trials then we really don’t know what kind person we are. Endurance is hope in action. It is what makes us different from those outside of the kingdom. We simply see things from a different perspective. Why, because of the Hope we have from above. Hope is one of the main things that will draw the world to the church. As the situations in the world continue to decline we will shine more and more, in part because we will be the only ones who know the future that is based on the hope we carry.
Titus 1:1-2 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness- 2 a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, (NIV)
Heb 6:18-19 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. (NIV) Let the hope of God be an anchor for your soul. Right now ask God to forgive you for not having confidence in Him. Let His love wash over you and fill you with Hope, knowing that it is His Good Pleasure to give you the kingdom. Ask Him to fill you with kingdom Hope. Remember these three are tied together, love, hope and faith. Let your hope be based on the love that Papa has for you and it will never stop working in your life. He will continue to fill you with the confident pleasurable expectation that His love and kingdom will pour over you and through you every place you go.
Faith Heb 11:1-2 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. NKJ
The first thing we see about Faith is that Hope is the blueprint for faith. If you do not have hope for something, you will never have faith for it either. Before faith shows up you must have hope to invite it.
SUBSTANCE 4. hupostasis NT:5287, for which see CONFIDENCE, A No. 2, is translated substance" (a) in Heb 1:3, of Christ as "the very image" of God's "substance"; here the word has the meaning of the real nature of that to which reference is made in contrast to the outward manifestation (see the preceding clause); it speaks of the divine essence of God existent and expressed in the revelation of His Son. The KJV, "person" is an anachronism; the word was not so rendered till the 4 th cent. Most of the earlier Eng. versions have "substance"; (b) in Heb 11:1 it has the meaning of "confidence, assurance" (RV), marg., "the giving substance to," KJV, "substance," something that could not equally be expressed by elpis, "hope."(From Vines Expository dictionary of New Testament Words)
Heb 11:6 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (NKJ)
Think of Faith in this light, it is a spiritual substance that without you cannot receive anything from the spirit realm. Just like an antenna enables you to receive radio signals into your stereo or car radio. The signals are always there you just cannot receive them without the right equipment. Without faith you can not receive anything from God and therefore you can not please Him. Why, because Love always wants to give. It is God’s desire to give you the substance of Heaven. Why do you not please Him, because He cannot give anything to you without faith! We must have faith to please God. We must also believe that He is? What is He? He IS Love. That’s who He is, And He IS a Rewarder, Hope, that confident expectation of God showing His goodness to those who seek Him diligently. Let’s look at the origin of faith in our spiritual lives. Rom 12:3 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.(NKJ)
When was that measure dealt to us?
Eph 2:8-9 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. (NKJ)
What was not of yourselves: The very faith that saved you? It was a gift from God. The faith you needed to be saved, to believe that God loved you enough to send His own son to die for you. Look at it this way: Grace is the house God has provided for you, but it only has one door, Faith. Without the door there is no way in. You didn’t earn it by keeping the law. God gave it to you out of His own goodness and love, grace. Let’s look at the father of faiths story to gain a little more insight into faith and why it is so important.
Rom 4:16-25 16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in the presence of Him whom he believed-- God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, "So shall your descendants be." 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore "it was accounted to him for righteousness." 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification. (NKJ)
Wow, that passage is packed with amazing things. I can’t help but shout and glorify God for His greatness and the magnitude of His love for us. We could pull the Goodness of God out of this passage for months. Let’s just look at a couple of the main realities this shows us.
Let’s begin to look at a few verses in the light of what we have been looking at and see if we can bring them into the realm of possibility in our lives. Jesus set the bar for us at the top when he said that what He did, we would also do.
John 14:12-14 12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (NIV)
Everything Jesus did started with the compassion of the Father. He already told us that He only did what He saw the Father doing. So He literally saw the Father Loving people. He embraced the Love that God had for the ones He touched. He was so filled with the Fathers Love that it moved Him to action. That is what compassion is. It is Love in action. We know that Jesus was filled with Hope as well because He always expected what He saw the Father doing to happen. His Faith had no blemishes. He was fully convinced of the Goodness of God and of the Fathers will. Even to the point of cursing a fig tree and causing it to dry up from the roots and die.
Are we fully convinced that what Jesus said He would do, He will do? There is one more thing we need to understand about faith. That is, it grows.
Paul told us in Romans chapter 10 that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. The word of God is the only thing that can produce faith. The word is the seed. Read Mark chapter 4 and you see Jesus’ parable of the sewer. The sewer sews the Word. A farmer doesn’t plant a seed one day and then go out the next day to harvest. He would be very disappointed and very hungry if he did things that way. No, he plants the seed and then lets the crops grow. When they are fully matured he harvests them. The kingdom is the same way. If we plant the seed of the word, it will produce the kingdom. Faith hope and love are the way that the kingdom is manifest not the way it is produced. The main ingredient in the parable of the sewer and the one that made all the difference in the harvest is the soil, the heart of the one receiving the word. We need to also remember that Love and Faith are part of the fruit of the Spirit.
Gal 5:22-25 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. 24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. (KJV)
Fruit means that it is a natural byproduct of the tree. A fruit tree always bears fruit if it is watered and nurtured. The tree doesn’t have to do anything out of the ordinary to bear fruit it simply comes in its season. Somehow when it comes to faith many people think that they have to be some sort of superhero to have great faith. That is not true if you are born of the Spirit it is being produced in your life. The question is, are you resting in God’s love and do you have a confident expectation (hope) that Papa will show his goodness to you. Notice that hope is not part of the fruit. Hope is your choice; you choose the boundaries that your faith lives in. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. No hope, no faith for that. Hope truly convinced of the Fathers love will be limitless.
Matt 17:19-20 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast him out?" 20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.(NKJ)
Mark 9:23-24 23 Jesus said to him, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!"(NKJ)
The final thing I want to say about faith is that belief and faith are different in one simple way. Believing is our responsibility and it is our response to the revelation of the love of God that we live in. Belief is the active ingredient that changes hope to the substance of the kingdom, faith. Hope will not produce faith without the catalyst of belief. It is the glass door that we must go through to enter into our inheritance. Unbelief is telling God that you don’t trust Him to deliver the goods. Trust is directly linked to your revelation of Papa’s love for you. When you begin to walk in the Love of God your Hope will soar to heights you never knew existed and belief which is the mold that faith fills will never stop growing. Belief comes from the soul, your mind, will and emotions. That is why we must renew our minds to Gods way of thinking to release the transforming power of the kingdom.
Why is there such a difference in the way people respond to the promises of God? Because they do not believe for many different reasons and they do not have hope in the God of the promise. Rise up Body of Christ and let the love of God release a new hope in you so that the faith that will change the world will be released.
Acts 3:16 16 "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. (NKJ)
Chapter 5 Unity and Release
John 17:20-23 20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (NKJ)
This prayer that Jesus prayed for us is the most profound prayer ever prayed. It takes in the entirety of the Fathers’ heart not only for us but for the world. Most believers when they read this passage there eyes kind of go fuzzy and there brain goes tilt. For good reason, I have never heard anyone actually preach what Jesus was saying in this prayer. The reason is that to most traditional religious people it sounds like absolute blasphemy. Sounds like what Jesus was accused of by the religious leaders of His day.
Unity is something that very few people actually have any hope for. With good reason, there are literally thousands of denominations and hundreds of thousands of different churches in the world. Most of them are preaching different things not only about God, but about His will and how he relates to us. How can we ever come into unity? How can the church ever look like Jesus and the Father looked in the relationship and unity that they had? Most will reach a point of frustration just thinking about this and say something like, well this one will only happen when the rapture takes place. Or they will say this is only for our denomination or group. All of these ideas are wrong. That is not what Jesus said. He said that the world may believe that He was sent. This means this will happen before He returns and this will be a key to the world seeing the Gospel. Notice I didn’t say hearing the Gospel. We all know that anywhere in the world you can turn on a radio or the TV and hear the Gospel. That is not how we come into unity, by all supporting a broadcasting station or radio program. I am not saying that is not something we should prayerfully do. We definitely should give to all kinds of outreaches. We just need to stay focused on Papas plan. He knows exactly how we will come into a unity that will release the Gospel to every creature and tribe on the planet. This will not happen by us buying into bogus ideas about it. We must seek the truth and determine that we want to come into this place of unity. Because it will feel good, or be easy? No, because it is the Fathers plan.
Show me one prayer that Jesus prayed that did not come to pass. Then I will let you explain that this will never happen. You won’t find one so we might as well embrace the journey and be on our way. I have an awesome teacher that will teach us what we need to know:
John 16:12-14 12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 "However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14 "He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (NKJ)
Lord I pray right now that we are ready to hear what you want to say to us. Thank you for sending us the Spirit of truth, who is here to guide us into this truth and tell us what you are saying to us about the things to come. Let your glory be released through us, your body in the earth.
What has the Spirit of truth been saying to you lately? I am so glad that the Holy Spirit is my teacher. Because He is always teaching me the things that I need to fulfill the will of God in my life. He is always leading us forward into the times and seasons of the Father. Yes the Holy Spirit does use people to teach us but only He can give the life that is in the word. The word of God is different than any other word in existence. The reason is because it contains the words of life. Remember Peter’s response to Jesus when the multitudes were leaving after Jesus taught about His body and His blood. Jesus asked if they were going to leave Him also. Jesus was giving them one of the final tests of His ministry. He was telling them something that they had no way of understanding in the natural realm. In fact it went against the teachings of the law with regard to eating flesh and drinking blood. All those that grasped at an earthly view of this teaching quickly gave up and left.
John 6:54-55,60-61,63,66-69 54 "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 "For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. 60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?" 61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you? 63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. 66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. 67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?" 68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 "Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (NKJ)
Jesus did not care that He taught them something that they had no earthly reference to understand. He wanted to make it plain that this was a spiritual truth that had to be received into there hearts. It is very important that we the body of Christ, begin to realize that God is calling us into uncharted waters as it were. And if we are going to be the generation that ushers in the return of Christ then we are going to have to trust the Holy Spirit to teach us things that will not make sense to our earthly self and they will not go along with all the nice teachings that the church and religious leaders will agree with.
The Holy Spirit gives life to us through the word of God. Remember we are to live by every word Jesus said; the rhema word, the living word, which will produce the kingdom. We eat the word and it produces the life in and through us that Papa intended it to. The word of God will not return void, it will accomplish the thing that it was sent out to do. There is way too much on that subject for me to cover here. Peter also based his response on what he did know. We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He knew that, Peter was the one that God gave the revelation to when Jesus asked them the question, who do men say I am.
The wisdom that God wants to give us is from above. He wants to reveal the things that we need to know in this day. He will give us everything we need to see His will accomplished on the earth.
How does Unity happen? Is it by everyone coming together to a big event and having someone tell them what they need to agree on? Is it by all of the spiritual leaders coming together to hash out there differences? No. There is one way that we come into unity and that is by everyone listening to the same head. The body only has one head. There is a reason for this. If everyone listens to Jesus then we will come into unity. When we draw close to the same thing, even though we have differences we will come into unity. If we are submitted to the same person, who loves us unconditionally then we will come into unity. Sometimes we have to understand what something is by what it is not. Unity is not everyone going to the same denomination. It is not everyone looking the same, or acting the same, or listening to the same music. No, God has called each one of us in our uniqueness. The Spirit placed us in the body where He chose. That is makes the body of Christ so amazing.
We all have our own flavor of Christ. Think about it this way if you have food coloring and you have a thousand different colors that you add one dominate color to. Each one will be different even though the same color was added to them all. Each one combines to show a fuller picture of the dominate color. That is the way the body of Christ is. He did not call us to uniformity so we would all look the same. No, He called us to be conformed to His image, but His image will look different in each one of us. It is when we are all combined that you see the bigger picture of Him. Let’s look at Paul’s admonishment to us in Ephesians 4.
Eph 4:3-7 Amp. 3Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace. 4[There is] one body and one Spirit--just as there is also one hope [that belongs] to the calling you received-- 5[There is] one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of [us] all, Who is above all [Sovereign over all], pervading all and [living] in [us] all. 7Yet grace (God's unmerited favor) was given to each of us individually [not indiscriminately, but in different ways] in proportion to the measure of Christ's [rich and bounteous] gift. 8Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on men. We have all received grace to stand in the place in the body that we are called too. We do not have grace to stand somewhere else. You see you are a gift to the body, each one of us are these heavenly gifts or treasures that Papa placed in the body in the exact place that He determined before the foundation of the world. In the place that pleased Him. This grace is not something that just happens. It is something we have to enter into and be determined to find. When you put a puzzle together there is only one place that each piece fits in order to reflect the image it was designed to show. The amazing thing about this process is it happens through surrender, not striving. Because it was what you were created for it is the one thing that will give you more joy in your life than any other thing. That is also why you need to know how important you are to the body of Christ. Without you we are not complete. You are valuable and a necessary part. There are also things that only you can do. There are lives to touch that only you can touch. Because of your uniqueness and the gift of Christ that has been given to you. Your part is not like a job in a factory or assembly line. No God can always get someone else to do a job that is not getting done. Your place in the body is someone; it is the one who God created you to be. With your own unique way of shining out the glory of God and giving away the Love that He put in you. In a family whether it is big or small, as long as it is a loving family, you can’t imagine living without one member of the family. It has nothing to do with what they do, it is because of whom they are and the things that make them different. If Christ is in you, you are a part of the family of God. And no one in the family wants to live without you. Let’s look at some more of this foundational passage: 11And His gifts were [varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us] some to be apostles (special messengers), some prophets (inspired preachers and expounders), some evangelists (preachers of the Gospel, traveling missionaries), some pastors (shepherds of His flock) and teachers. 12His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church), 13[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. 14So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of [unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead. 15Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). 16For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. Let’s break this down piece by piece so we can really chew this up and digest it completely. First in verse 8 above you can see I made the word therefore bold. This is one of those words in the Bible that can really help us understand a process if we know what it is there for. It always ties two things together and it tells us that the author is about to explain what they just said. Another way to say it would be “Since that is the goal, this is necessary” or “this is the way it will happen.” If your mindset is that your participation in the body is optional then you have missed one of the biggest reasons you were saved and part of the reason you were called. You have also missed the whole schooling process that will bring about your maturity. Let me say it this way, you are a big baby. I love you. The way that we reach the unity and oneness that we were designed to have is through the impartation of the 5-fold anointing, given through the 5 different dominant ministry gifts. Each of these gifts imparts different perspectives and anointing that we need to live out our destiny. If you will you can view them as the daily balanced nutritional chart. Each food group is important to have a fully balanced and healthy body. Yes, you can skip different groups and seem to be ok. However in the long run it will catch up with you and you will pay the price for your negligence. In the body of Christ this carries a much higher price because we are dealing with Eternal results. We can’t go back and change the past. We can have a change of heart and start today to eat the right things. If you only listen to one man or woman and think that they will give you all you need to be a mature believer you need to reconsider your diet and take a deep Holy Spirit evaluation of your spiritual maturity and health. Growing in the body is not based on how much knowledge you have. It is based on the life of the kingdom that you are walking in. Revelation is very different from education. Education can be taught and learned. Revelation which is the Holy Spirit revealing the reality and truths of the kingdom, comes through intimacy and dependency of Papa. It many times has to be caught and not taught. God gives us a very simple way to see if we are growing up. 1 Cor 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (NKJ) Look at the definition of this word childish in the Greek: CHILD, CHILDREN, CHILDBEARING, CHILDISH, CHILDLESS 7. nepios ^3516^, lit., "not-speaking" (from ne, a negative, and epos, a word) is rendered "childish" in <1 Cor. 13:11> see BABE.(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words)(Copyright (C) 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers) The literal implication here is to speak negatively. What comes out of your mouth? Do you speak negatively about your destiny? Do you speak against the Father’s will for the body? Do you know that babies usually only repeat what they have heard. They also speak negative about anything they do not understand. 1 Cor 3:1-3 1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? (NKJ) If you choose to live a carnal life you will not be able to hear spiritual realities and you will miss living in your destiny. It is time to put away childish things and begin to grow. We are entering into a time when the growth process in the body of Christ is being accelerated as never before. If we will learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and grab onto the things that He is giving us, we will begin to grow faster than we ever have in our entire walk with Jesus. Heb 5:13-14 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (NKJ) Imagine if a baby only drank milk its whole life. What would that look like? It’s time for us to start eating the meat of the word and exercising our spiritual bodies so we can become the mature body that Jesus is waiting for. The 5-fold ministries are the only ones who can equip us to fulfill our destiny. The reason is because our destinies are intertwined. We are one body. Even though the earthly side of our destiny will be different in many ways they all lead to the same destination. We are His body and members in particular. Ultimately called to be His Bride and reign with Him throughout eternity. Once we have begun to receive the apostolic and prophetic foundation then we can build a kingdom based lifestyle that will look like Jesus. We will do the work of an evangelist and have the love and care for the lost that Jesus had. We will help lead those who God brings to us that need a gentle nudge to go the right way. We will take the manna from Heaven that we have received and give it away so others can partake of the same glory. Teaching so more of Jesus can be seen in us than before. The foundation gives us the ability and confirmation that we can see Papa’s will done on earth just as it is in Heaven. If you do not believe that we can do what the word of God tells us we can do, then you do not have the right foundation in your life. You must open your eyes and ears to see and hear the realities of the kingdom so you can begin to truly grow up in Him. Stop riding the wave of every doctrine that comes along and get back to the foundation Jesus wants to lay in your life. All of the parts of the body are equally important. They all have the same value. It takes every part doing its job to come to the place of the fullness of Christ. You can’t have two containers that are the same exact size and fill one with rocks and water and think that you can pour out of that one into the other and have it full. No, the rocks represent parts in the body that are not functioning in there place. With the rocks there you can not have the fullness of the other container. You must have all the rocks gone and then be filled with water to have the same measure. That is what Papa and Jesus want. They want us to walk in the same measure of anointing, the same measure of revelation, the same measure of Love, the same measure of intimacy, the same measure of everything that Jesus walked in. Ministry is not about men being exalted it is about the body being equipped and released to do the work of the ministry. Ministry in case you were wondering is simply doing the things that Jesus showed us to do, with one of the main elements being moved with the compassion of God. What does the Love of God move you to do? That is what we are to do to one another so that we can all be released into the grace that causes us to function in the place that Papa put us in the body. You can not have a healthy body if your whole body is not receiving and giving life. If all you ever do is eat and never exercise or have movement you will not be healthy, you will simply be fat. You have one hope of your calling and that hope is for you to embrace Fathers desire to use you to build the kingdom. It is for you to say yes I will do what I see the Father doing in my life. Until you embrace your destiny in God you will struggle with sin and all of the cares of this world. Let me give you a very practical way to start to do this. Pray and ask the Lord to put one person on your heart this week that you know, or that you fellowship with. Ask Him to show you something that you can do for them, or say to them that will encourage them and build them up. See what it does for them and then imagine everyone in the body doing that every week, touching a different person and releasing more of the kingdom in there life. Do this at your place of work and see what happens. It is not hard to change the world; you just have to start with one person. If everyone in the body ministered to the body and had the same love and care for one another, not preferring some over another, we would move into the unity that we already have in the spirit. Speaking the truth in Love doesn’t mean pointing out all of your brothers and sisters faults in a kind way. What Papa says is the truth, try saying that to those around you. Love covers a multitude of sin. It doesn’t matter what sin someone is caught up in. When we start to release the destiny of God over their life and speak the truth to them because we truly love them, watch out because the glory of God will come in a way we have never experienced, and the things that we did not think were possible will happen in a very short time. We will see a new grace released in their life and the things they once struggled with will no longer hold them. The climax of this whole passage is in these two verses: 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head-- Christ-- 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Notice the knitting factor is you and me supplying what God has given us. Remember we are all a gift to the body. We must do our share in order for the body to grow and be edified in love. It is not some great wisdom or understanding that comes from an awesome message we heard from some great man or woman of God that does this. It is the living out the kingdom life that we have all received. Realizing we are the ones that Jesus wants to use today to release His Kingdom on the earth. Jesus prayed so that we could: "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.
Realize today that our unity with one another is to be the same way that Jesus and the Father were one. If I give all of myself to Jesus and He gives all of Himself to me, He is in me and I am in Him, then we are one, heis in the Greek; perfectly united. Now suppose you do the same thing, now you are not only united with God, but you are united with me, because we are both in the same place in Christ. Now let’s see how that affects the world in the next chapter. Chapter 6 The Ends of the EarthMatt 24:3-5, 14 3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you.5 "For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. (NKJ) 14 "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (NKJ) According to the Bible there are two things that will happen before Jesus returns. Amidst all the wars and turmoil that will be going on in the world the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the entire world. The gospel of the kingdom; what is this gospel? Let’s see what Paul said: 1 Cor 2:4-5 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (NKJ) Cor 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. (NKJ) 2 Cor 11:4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted-- you may well put up with it! (NKJ) When Jesus personally sent out His followers He gave them this message and told them that it was to be accompanied by power: Matt 10:7-8 7 "And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. (NKJ) Mark 16:15-18 15 And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.17 "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;18 "they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (NKJ) The gospel is to always be seen and not just heard. A message without demonstration was not what God intended. He will always confirm the word with signs following. This is the gospel that the world is waiting for. This is the gospel that will be preached as a witness in all the world before the end will come. If all the world needed to do was hear the message, then all they need to do is turn on the radio or TV. That is not the gospel of the kingdom. I am not saying that God does not touch lives through those venues, what I am saying is that is not what Papa is waiting for. A kingdom has to always be presented by someone. Paul called them ambassadors in 2 Cor 5:20. He said that the word of reconciliation was committed to us to take to the world. If you understand the eastern mind set then you will understand why they have to see the kingdom demonstrated in order to hear it. In the western world we think that we know something based on knowledge. If we read about it, or study it we think we know about it and can make a judgment based on our knowledge. However that is not true when it comes to the kingdom message. An encounter with God will always change what someone thinks they know about God. I like to think of something like skydiving. You can read all you want about it, even watch a movie about it but until you go up 2-3000 feet in a plane and jump out soaring at 100+ miles an hour toward the earth you do not know anything about skydiving. Experiencing anything will always change your knowledge based view of something or someone. God does not want everyone to hear about Him, He wants everyone to experience His love and power in an encounter with Him. That is the witness every living being on the planet deserves before they make up their mind about God. Gods plan has always been for the whole world. Since the beginning of time Father has had a place in His heart for us. Not just that we would hear about some great God of the bible, but that we would have the opportunity to know Him. Ps 22:27-28 27 All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before You.28 For the kingdom is the LORD'S, and He rules over the nations. (NKJ) Ps 98:2-3 2 The LORD has made known His salvation; his righteousness He has revealed in the sight of the nations.3 He has remembered His mercy and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. (NKJ) Isa 45:22 "Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. (NKJ) Isa 49:6 Indeed He says, 'It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.'" (NKJ) The nation of Israel was chosen in the Old Testament to be a light to the world that they would know the goodness of God so they would turn to Him for salvation. In the New Testament Jesus tells us that we are the light of the world. He also told us on the day of Pentecost that we would be His witnesses in all the earth. We are the ones chosen to carry the Gospel of the kingdom to all people everywhere, and He will not return until we have finished our task of accomplishing this. Papa loves all people, He loves everyone the same and His love demands that everyone has the right to choose, whether they choose to become a part of His family or to reject Him. He will not tell Jesus to come and get His Bride until she is spotless. Jesus died for every person on this planet and He loves them deeply. You might say how will this be possible? You have to think outside of the box to even be able to begin to see the possibilities that are coming to us. First we have to realize that reaching the world is the easy part of what is ahead. God’s glory will fill the earth through us. The condition of the world has always depended on God’s people doing what He tells us to do. 2 Chr 7:14 "if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (NKJ) The state of the Nation and the known world depended on Israel living in the right relationship with God. All nations were to be blessed because of Abraham and his descendants. The same thing is true in the New Testament. The world will be affected by how we live in relation to God and how we live in relation to each other in the body of Christ. Jesus prayed in John 17 that the world would be able to believe that He was sent by His father when they see our oneness. If we as His body are not living in unity then the world has no reason to believe that Jesus was nothing more that a good man, or a prophet. Not that He was who He said He was, the Son of God, sent by God to take away the sins of the world. A kingdom divided against itself will not stand. You see we are a kingdom! Not just a religious group or some nice organization. We are called to reign in life through Christ. We are called to release the glory of God throughout the earth, every where we go, we are to take the kingdom. Jesus also prayed that we would be made perfect in one that the world may know again that He was sent by the Father and that they would know that the Father loves them, catch this, the same way He loves Jesus. Do not ever doubt for a moment that God does not love every person you come in contact with. Not only does He love them, but He loves them the same way He loves Jesus. Now get rid of your carnal thinking and let’s see how Jesus said this would be possible. He squeezes something in between both of the statements I listed above and it is the key to how it will happen. John 17:22 "And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: (NKJ) Did you hear what Jesus said? Stop and think about that, He gave us His glory. Jesus and the Father share the same glory. When the Son is glorified, the Father is glorified, when the Father is glorified, the Son is glorified. Jesus said if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father, He said no man comes to the Father except through me. He also said, it is the Father who does the works through me. I can do nothing of myself but only what I see the Father doing. What was this glory that the Father gave Jesus and Jesus gave us? GLORY, GLORIOUS 1. doxa ^1391^, "glory" (from dokeo, "to seem"), primarily signifies an opinion, estimate, and hence, the honor resulting from a good opinion. It is used (I) (a) of the nature and acts of God in self-manifestation, i. e., what He essentially is and does, as exhibited in whatever way he reveals Himself in these respects, and particularly in the person of Christ, in whom essentially His "glory" has ever shone forth and ever will do, <John 17:5,24; Heb. 1:3>; it was exhibited in the character and acts of Christ in the days of His flesh, <John 1:14; John 2:11>; at Cana both His grace and His power were manifested, and these constituted His "glory", so also in the resurrection of Lazarus <11:4,40>; the "glory" of God was exhibited in the resurrection of Christ, <Rom. 6:4>, and in His ascension and exaltation, <1 Pet. 1:21>, likewise on the Mount of Transfiguration, <2 Pet. 1:17>. In <Rom. 1:23> His "everlasting power and Divinity" are spoken of as His "glory," i. e., His attributes and power as revealed through creation; in <Rom. 3:23> the word denotes the manifested perfection of His character,(from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words)(Copyright (C) 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers) Now that is a mouthful. This is just the beginning as you can see from the definition of the Greek word above. The glory of God is His presence being manifest wherever we are, especially when we come together. There is a spiritual principal that we need to understand. In the kingdom unity means power, unity means more of God’s glory being present and more impact wherever we are. Jesus said when two or three come together in His name that is where He is in the midst of them. That is His glory, His presence. Now stop and think about what Jesus prayed that they all may be one. What would happen if we all began to truly come together in that unity, how much of God’s glory would be released in our cities, our states, the nation and the world? Remember it is the glory that He gave us that makes this possible. Each one of us have received glory, Christ in us the hope of glory. We have all been made partakers of the divine nature. This unity will happen when we stop exalted someone’s function or gift and start exalting Jesus. You see Jesus said what ever you do to the least of these my brethren you have done unto me. Paul told us in 1Cor 12; 1 Cor 12:18-27 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be? 20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.23 And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24 but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. (NKJ) God put us in the exact place He wanted us in the body. We are all brothers and sisters in the body. There is only one Father. Who is the most important person in your family? Who do you love the most? Do you think that the one with the most education is the greatest in the family, they are the most important because of a title they have? No, you do not think that way in a family. We need to realize that our culture is trying to dictate the way the church functions. We get all this partiality from the world. It is not in the body of Christ. Even though there is an order, it has nothing to do with importance or preference or honor. If we are not looking for Jesus in the least likely people in the Body, then we are missing a whole lot of Him. I look at it this way; Jesus has hid Himself in every believer. He is fully invested in every part of the body. If we want to have the fullness of Him we have to have the fullness of the body. Every part needs to participate and have the opportunity to release what Jesus has deposited in them. Ephesians four says that we will be joined and knit together by what every joint supplies. What does a joint do in your body?* The joint is where each limb attaches to the body. You can have an amazing arm or leg or foot, full of health and power. Yet it is useless without a joint attaching it to the body. Why is the body lacking in so many areas? It is not because Papa did not supply what we need. It is not because He missed something or someone. No it is because we do not have the joints in the body functioning. In the context the joints are the 5 fold ministry gifts. These ministries are not to take large groups of people or churches and move them away from the body. No quite the contrary they are to release the members they influence into the body with the anointing that they carry so the whole body benefits from there gifting or function. That is the only way the whole body can be released into the fullness of Christ. That is what will make every part effective and release it to do its share and cause the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. (NKJ)
Joints enable your body to move. Without joints in the body you go nowhere! Joints are the place where two bones meet. All of your bones, except for one (the hyoid bone in your neck), form a joint with another bone. Joints hold your bones together and allow your rigid skeleton to move. Fixed joints: Some of your joints, like those in your skull, are fixed and don't allow any movement. The bones in your skull are held together with fibrous connective tissue. Slightly movable joints: Other joints, such as those between the vertebrae in your spine, which are connected to each other by pads of cartilage, can only move a small amount. Synovial joints Most of your joints are 'synovial joints'. They are movable joints containing a lubricating liquid called synovial fluid. Synovial joints are predominant in your limbs where mobility is important. Ligaments help provide their stability and muscles contract to produce movement. The most common synovial joints are listed below: Ball and socket joints, like your hip and shoulder joints, are the most mobile type of joint in the human body. They allow you to swing your arms and legs in many different directions. Ellipsoidal joints, such as the joint at the base of your index finger, allow bending and extending, rocking from side to side, but rotation is limited. Gliding joints occur between the surfaces of two flat bones that are held together by ligaments. Some of the bones in your wrists and ankles move by gliding against each other. Hinge joints, like in your knee and elbow, enable movement similar to the opening and closing of a hinged door. The pivot joint in your neck allows you to turn your head from side to side. The only saddle joints in your body are in your thumbs. The bones in a saddle joint can rock back and forth and from side to side, but they have limited rotation. When we experience the glory of the Lord we are changed, transformed into His image and made more like Him. As the body begins to function in the way God designed it to function. Truly loving every member and treating every member with the same honor. We will move into a fuller anointing and release of the presence of God in our midst. As we see more of Jesus released the main thing we will see is more of God’s love being released which will release God’s power and anointing in a new way. We will let the love of the Father flow through us the same way Jesus did when he lived on the earth. We will begin to love the things that He loves and begin to do the things that He did. Things that we used to think we would never do we will begin to do them out of a new heart of compassion. We will love the unlovely with a sincere love that will compel us to action. We will reach out to those who we never cared for before. We will embrace the love that Papa has for every person on this planet and do something that has never been done. Take this gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the earth in demonstration and power and see every person that will get saved come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Is it the game we’ve created it to be? Or is it as simple as you loving me. Is it the game we have to do, or is it as simple as me loving you? We are blessed by the Father with a divine deposit inside, waiting for someone to stir up the tide. A heavenly glory will wash ashore with the Love of the Father as the only floor. Walking on water with the wind as your guide fly like an eagle and glide, glide, glide. The waters will rise and rise until all nations have tasted to see of the kingdom hidden in you and me. Loving the ones for which Jesus died taking His mercy and power and love. Freely to give as you did receive allowing the nations to believe. Healing the sick and raising the dead, looking like Jesus just as He said. Showing the Father wherever we go, walking in true unity so the whole world will know. John 17:23 "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. (NKJ) Chapter 7 The Spirit and the BrideRev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.(NKJ) Even as Jesus’ last words from the cross were “It is finished”. All things that the Father had sent Him to do were completed. The last thing that we will say is Come Lord Jesus, when we have done everything that the Father has for us to do. We will not say this from a point of defeat; we will say this with a resounding Alleluia coming from all the inhabitants of heaven. As this great cloud of witnesses sees that the bride has made herself ready and completed Papa’s plan for the earth. God will not release His judgment until every soul has heard the gospel. We know absolutely that God is not willing that any should perish. Rev 19:6-8 6 And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready."8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (NKJ) PREPARE, PREPARED, READY 1. hetoimazo ^2090^, "to prepare, make ready," is used (I) absolutely, (a) of those things which are ordained (1) by God, such as future positions of authority, <Matt. 20:23>; the coming Kingdom, <25:34>; salvation personified in Christ, <Luke 2:31>; future blessings, <1 Cor. 2:9>; a city, <Heb. 11:16>; (2) by Christ: a place in Heaven for His followers, <John 14:2,3>; (b) of human "preparation" for the Lord, e. g., <Matt. 3:3; 26:17,19; Luke 1:17> ("make ready"), <76; 3:4>, KJV (RV, "make ye ready"); <9:52> ("to make ready"); <23:56; Rev. 19:7; 21:2>; in <2 Tim. 2:21>, of "preparation" of oneself for "every good work"; (c) of human "preparations" for human objects, e. g., <Luke 12:20>, RV, "thou hast prepared" (KJV), "provided"); <Acts 23:23; Philem. 22>. (from Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words) (Copyright (C) 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers) How will we make ourselves ready? That is the million dollar question. Let me give you a few things to consider. Love is the only thing that the scripture tells us will make us perfect. The word most often translated as perfect in the bible means complete. It speaks of fullness and completion as in building something and finally putting on the last block. How do we prepare ourselves for anything in the kingdom? It always has to do with our heart, the releasing of the kingdom within us. There are some major realities that we do not embrace as a whole. One of the biggest things that we still do not get is that Christ is in us. We constantly pray for God to come or to be with us or to do things that He has already done. He has given Himself completely to us. When we believe this one thing then we will begin to realize it is not a matter of the kingdom coming. It is a matter of releasing the kingdom from within us. He has equipped us for every good work. The Holy Spirits main desire for us is that we start to act like Christ’s body. We ask the Lord to touch someone for example when He is in us. We need to touch them. We need to love them enough to do what Jesus did. Did you notice in the passage above that His wife made herself ready? What does a bride normally need to do to make herself ready? If you have ever been to a wedding you will know that her main concern is getting dressed and fixing her hair and making sure she is the most beautiful woman there. What will Jesus’ bride be clothed with? …to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. The word for righteous here means the concrete expression of righteousness. In other words it is what we do because of who we are. When we begin to act like who Papa has made us to be we will be doing the righteous acts that are spoken of in this verse. The body must be released to become the bride. As we have mentioned in other chapters the only way the body will become the fullness of Jesus on the earth is when every part does its share, what it was designed to be and do. The bible uses two distinct types when it speaks about the church the body of Christ. One is obviously a physical body, like the one you see in the mirror. The other type is that of a building, more specifically a temple. Like the one that Solomon constructed in the Old Testament that God literally inhabited. Both of these types are important for us to understand. They will help us see both the importance of every member and the purpose of that type. The Lord gave me another expression of this. We are His stew. You can put meat and potatoes in a pot with water and boil them. They will give you some nutrition and probably keep you alive; however it is not until you begin to add all the other ingredients that it really becomes something special. You add other vegetables and spices and flavors and family secrets and all of sudden it becomes an aroma and savory delight to all who taste it. Each ingredient by itself is not that tasty, but when they are combined they become a heavenly flavor. That is what the body is, God’s stew, put together with just the right aroma and taste that everyone who is hungry must have. The will of God has everything to do with how submitted we are to Papa and very little to do with what we do. He wants all of us, any area that we do not commit and submit to Him, we will fall short in. It is when we come to the place of total trust based on His love for us that we are in His perfect will. From there He can do anything He wants to through us. Then we are in a place of limitless possibilities. Don’t ever think that you are so far out of God’s will that you will not fulfill His destiny for your life. That is not true! God will never give up on us. He is only one step away from us and always wants to reveal more of His love to us. 1 Cor 12:12-18 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. (NKJ) It is your destiny to step into the place in the body where Papa has placed you. It is there that all of your dreams and the things that truly make you tick will happen. You will find your greatest joy in life and your most rewarding adventure in that place. It will be a place of perfect peace and joy like you have never known. That is why we must make every effort to respect and love and encourage everyone in the body to be released into there calling. Eph 4:4 there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; (NKJ) that is why Paul says both in one sentence here in Ephesians. You see the Bride will be perfected through love, a love for one another that will prefer one another and desire to see all of Jesus released through every member of the body. This will release a greater glory than we have ever experienced which will release the glory of God through out the whole earth and make it possible to literally have a nation come to Christ in a day. 1 Cor 12:21-27 And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. (NKJ) It is always interesting to see what parts of the scripture a believer likes to talk about, or a minister likes to preach on. You find out fairly soon if they are really willing to pay the price to listen to the Holy Spirit and receive the heartbeat of the Father or if they just want to kind of go with the flow. Jesus wants us to produce life with our words not just take up space and think we are really smart. You know life is a very interesting thing. Every person on the planet that is breathing is alive but not all of them have life. Did you ever stop and think about it that way. Life only comes when we enter into a relationship with the author and giver of life. He wants us to come to the place where we are willing to truly be His hands and feet (and all points in between) on the earth. His desire is to give Life to everyone. The only way that will happen is when we release the whole body. If all we want to do is acknowledge those members of the body that seem to be more important then we will never come to the fullness of Christ and we will not be able to fulfill our call. The reason is that the glory of God will not be released to the degree necessary until every member is honored and released. Then the glory they carry will be released into the greater glory of the body. You know it is the glory of God that is His presence and when Jesus said that if two or three are gathered in my Name then I will be in the midst of them. This is a mystery that we must embrace and live in the context of. Not because we fully understand it. If we need to understand with our minds everything that Papa wants us to do then we are not walking by faith and we are living within the confines of our own abilities, and that is not how the kingdom of God is manifest on the earth. Everything that Jesus did was on dependence of the Father. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. We must learn to depend on Him, the Holy Spirit of God. He will always lead us and teach us the will of God. He will manifest the kingdom through us that is the only thing He knows to do. Knowledge will fill our minds but by itself will never produce the kingdom. When the Spirit of God teaches us something it is spirit and life, which makes us into someone. Life reproduces the one it originated with. It causes us to become someone and therefore act like someone. If we have to rely on our knowledge to display the kingdom we will be in big trouble. However if we are who Papa created us to be, we will by nature do the things He created us to do. Col 1:26-27 the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (NKJ) Eph 5:24-32 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (NKJ) Paul was talking about Christ and the Church. It is when we take on His likeness and His passions and His desires that we become the Bride He is returning for. What are we agreeing with? What are we speaking and releasing into our lives. Is it agreement with the word that Jesus is and spoke that will release Spirit Life that has the power within it to accomplish the very thing it declares? Or are we living separated unto ourselves in fear with no hope that God will keep His promises to us and fulfill all things Remember there is only one thing that makes us perfect found in the scripture and that is Love. Heb 7:19 for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. (NKJ) I Jn 4:20-21 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. (NKJ) I Jn 4:16-17 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. (NKJ) If your desire is to be a part of the Bride then these things are not optional. You must do them to participate. Papa makes it very clear for us to fulfill our corporate destiny we must follow His plan. We must listen and obey the Holy Spirit as He leads us into the final chapter for the gentiles on the earth. Are you willing? Are you ready to see the most amazing events that have ever taken place on the earth begin? Let’s go! Amen and amen! I will end with this warning that the Lord gave me found in Matthew 25. Matt 25:1-12 1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom." Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish." Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them” but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.” And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' "But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut." Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' "But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' (NKJ) I do not know you? Are you madly, passionately, totally, insanely, exuberantly, combust ably, wildly, completely, insatiably, unconditionally with every ounce of your being in Love with Jesus? I hope so. Beloved it is time to fall in love with the part of Him that He has put in every believer so we can become the Bride that He will return for. The Bride that will so shake the Father’s heart that He will turn to all of the Holy angels and say, “ the Bride has made herself ready, go and get her, for the time has finally come for the marriage of the Lamb”, a celebration that will last for eternity. Contact info: mike@solidrockboise.com copyright 2009 Michael Brown |
