ecclesia
11-18-02, - 12:37 AM
At this time in the affairs of men, the Lord has a remnant of saints “in the wilderness or the cave of Adullam as I like to call it. (look it up at 2 Sam 22-23 etc). They have stepped back from what we evangelicals have understood as church, for reasons that are not clear even to themselves..
All we know is that we ( yes I too have been there) are hungering for more and more of the true anointing- Christ- and we are tired of the soulishness being exhibited in many of our pulpits. The teaching that “ gain is godliness” makes us sigh and groan inwardly.
Please know that the wilderness is a place of testing and proving; that you were led there by the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was led there, to be tried and tested before He was thrust forth into ministry. That in the wilderness you will find that the Rock is with you, that there is water from that Rock to refresh you and empower you, and you are learning to move with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night—that you are learning to respond to His leading and His leading alone. Your very life depends on it!
If you leave the wilderness, flock of God, before your preparation is complete, seeking answers to your isolation, you will find that much of what is offered up on the tables of religion, is a vain show of soulish and emotional spiritual activity to keep you busy, busy, busy—too busy to think, too busy to pray properly, too busy to hear from God for yourself.
You have been asking yourself-“Is it me, Lord?” “What is wrong with me Lord?” “Why does this parade of flesh and false anointing trouble me so, and leave me so empty?’
“Why can’t I get into it?”
Because self-effort won’t restore you. Jesus left the 99 sheep and went after the one that had strayed away, and brought it safely back, carrying it on His shoulders, and restored it to the fold. It had obviously been wounded and could not walk back and so He carried it. You must be willing to let Him do it, in His time.
All your instincts tell you ---you need to pray more, read more scriptures, fast and pray, go to more all night prayer meetings, pray for the sick more. give more… and even sacrificially too!
And yet your way of restoration is not in your activity( works), but it lies in the strength of the shoulders of your Shepherd to carry you. You need to enter into His rest, throw your weight fully on Him, and let Him carry you to where He wants you to be.
The religious world is full of crippling offenses----pride, self sufficiency, self aggrandisement, pride even in their giftings, their titles or their robes which tell everybody just who they are in their own eyes----and you, and I, have been wounded and we need restoration that only Jesus can bring!
We have been left bleeding at the side of the road as it were, and the very Levites who should be pouring in the oil and the wine, have left us for dead. They won’t touch us because they need to protect their “turf”.They believe we want their job, when all we want is to serve. We would rather be a “doorkeeper in the house of God” but such thinking is foreign to them.
But praise God, there is a Shepherd looking for His wounded sheep. I hear the sound of rejoicing over sheep that are being healed and restored.
If you are one of the “walking wounded’, get ready, I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand-there is an abundance of rain coming. When you have been tested in the wilderness, the One who is your Light and your Salvation comes to give you a fresh anointing. You will do exploits in His name for you have met Him in the cave and you are coming out in His power, and the knowledge that ALL power belongs to Him, that the less there is of you-the more there is of Him. There is no more pride left in you-the wilderness has purged it, and you have learned to lean on Him totally.
Could it be that the large exodus from the church is a result of a hunger that God Himself has placed within His people for the real things of God, coupled with a distaste for the things of men?
Could it be that the ones leaving the church are not the ones bringing division, but instead bringing a true God given unity, not based on denominational structure or building programmes, or the “vision” of the pastor?
In leaving organisations of men in search of organisms of God, what we are seeing is a true church-a REMNANT , being assembled on planet earth, encased in a God ordained structure called Jesus Christ? Linking up across the nations of the earth?
Does this mean that everyone should leave their existing church in search of a cell group, or home church functioning like the first century church—meeting from house to house, breaking bread etc. etc?
Absolutely not! There are many good churches who have surrendered to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, and not to the dictates of man—churches where leadership actually develops the five fold ministry gifts, sets them in order , submitting one to the other, serving one another in love, without fear of their “turf” being taken over, because they realise it’s His turf, not theirs.
Where people matter more than buildings, and the church spending reflects this.
Which brings us to the apostolic reformation-it’s meaning and application to the ecclesia of today, But that’s a discussion for another time.
All we know is that we ( yes I too have been there) are hungering for more and more of the true anointing- Christ- and we are tired of the soulishness being exhibited in many of our pulpits. The teaching that “ gain is godliness” makes us sigh and groan inwardly.
Please know that the wilderness is a place of testing and proving; that you were led there by the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was led there, to be tried and tested before He was thrust forth into ministry. That in the wilderness you will find that the Rock is with you, that there is water from that Rock to refresh you and empower you, and you are learning to move with the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night—that you are learning to respond to His leading and His leading alone. Your very life depends on it!
If you leave the wilderness, flock of God, before your preparation is complete, seeking answers to your isolation, you will find that much of what is offered up on the tables of religion, is a vain show of soulish and emotional spiritual activity to keep you busy, busy, busy—too busy to think, too busy to pray properly, too busy to hear from God for yourself.
You have been asking yourself-“Is it me, Lord?” “What is wrong with me Lord?” “Why does this parade of flesh and false anointing trouble me so, and leave me so empty?’
“Why can’t I get into it?”
Because self-effort won’t restore you. Jesus left the 99 sheep and went after the one that had strayed away, and brought it safely back, carrying it on His shoulders, and restored it to the fold. It had obviously been wounded and could not walk back and so He carried it. You must be willing to let Him do it, in His time.
All your instincts tell you ---you need to pray more, read more scriptures, fast and pray, go to more all night prayer meetings, pray for the sick more. give more… and even sacrificially too!
And yet your way of restoration is not in your activity( works), but it lies in the strength of the shoulders of your Shepherd to carry you. You need to enter into His rest, throw your weight fully on Him, and let Him carry you to where He wants you to be.
The religious world is full of crippling offenses----pride, self sufficiency, self aggrandisement, pride even in their giftings, their titles or their robes which tell everybody just who they are in their own eyes----and you, and I, have been wounded and we need restoration that only Jesus can bring!
We have been left bleeding at the side of the road as it were, and the very Levites who should be pouring in the oil and the wine, have left us for dead. They won’t touch us because they need to protect their “turf”.They believe we want their job, when all we want is to serve. We would rather be a “doorkeeper in the house of God” but such thinking is foreign to them.
But praise God, there is a Shepherd looking for His wounded sheep. I hear the sound of rejoicing over sheep that are being healed and restored.
If you are one of the “walking wounded’, get ready, I see a cloud the size of a man’s hand-there is an abundance of rain coming. When you have been tested in the wilderness, the One who is your Light and your Salvation comes to give you a fresh anointing. You will do exploits in His name for you have met Him in the cave and you are coming out in His power, and the knowledge that ALL power belongs to Him, that the less there is of you-the more there is of Him. There is no more pride left in you-the wilderness has purged it, and you have learned to lean on Him totally.
Could it be that the large exodus from the church is a result of a hunger that God Himself has placed within His people for the real things of God, coupled with a distaste for the things of men?
Could it be that the ones leaving the church are not the ones bringing division, but instead bringing a true God given unity, not based on denominational structure or building programmes, or the “vision” of the pastor?
In leaving organisations of men in search of organisms of God, what we are seeing is a true church-a REMNANT , being assembled on planet earth, encased in a God ordained structure called Jesus Christ? Linking up across the nations of the earth?
Does this mean that everyone should leave their existing church in search of a cell group, or home church functioning like the first century church—meeting from house to house, breaking bread etc. etc?
Absolutely not! There are many good churches who have surrendered to the dictates of the Holy Spirit, and not to the dictates of man—churches where leadership actually develops the five fold ministry gifts, sets them in order , submitting one to the other, serving one another in love, without fear of their “turf” being taken over, because they realise it’s His turf, not theirs.
Where people matter more than buildings, and the church spending reflects this.
Which brings us to the apostolic reformation-it’s meaning and application to the ecclesia of today, But that’s a discussion for another time.