I don't do anything for Jesus, I do everything in partnership with Jesus. I don’t work for Jesus, Jesus works through me…it’s humbling and amazing at the same time, but what is more powerful is when he works through us collectively as a group of followers of Jesus.
I love Ephesians 2:8-10 because it is the gospel and the outworking of the gospel all in one paragraph.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
So cool…we are being prepared and God is already setting up our lives for action. The question is, “Am I paying attention to the very situation He is placing me in?”
One of the things that God has been revealing to me again is the unityI have with other believers and how powerful that oneness is to break the power of darkness.
In unity as well, we are powerful when we minister to others
We had an opportunity to host a Kickstart ministry day at our home and it really stretched me. I love the boldness and the passion of the people that we met with that day. There is a real hunger to be agents of change and to be the healing presence of God on the streets and in homes with the people that they meet.
We had the opportunity to take some of the team to visit people at the Manor and really spent time encouraging them and praying for those who were open to it. As soon as we drove in the parking lot we met Barb who was emotionally distraught and right away we knew it was a divine appointment. She was so overwhelmed by her circumstances and right there she received prayer and discovered real peace. Shortly after Alice showed up and then Smitty was at the back of the Manor in the beer garden as we like to call it. It was an eventful afternoon as he managed to lock himself out of the room and he definitely needed to lie down. So, there I was with “sweet Dave” and another lady popping out the screen from his window so that I can squeeze myself into his room and get the door open…lol. I recognize that Roger, the owner, has cameras everywhere and there I was breaking in to a room, oh my goodness.
While we were there we also met a new lady who hadn’t moved in to long ago. She was 24 hours sober after just going 3 months without a drink and figuratively beating herself up. She was dealing with tremors and pain in her back and just felt compelled to drink again. We took the opportunity to pray for her and the tremors stopped and she could feel heat going through her body as she was being prayed for. She opened up to us about being separated from her son who doesn’t want anything to do with her and it was a powerful time to talk about faith and the love of Jesus with her.
I have often gone on my own to the Manor to do visits, but this day was incredibly special and I again was reminded that we are so much better and stronger together when we serve in community.
Once we arrived back at our house to debrief with the others who gathered, Jeff shared the gospel and right there in our pool there was powerful baptisms, people being filled with the Holy Spirit and deliverance happening as well. The whole experience stretched me and reminded me about the invisible battle that we do face against the enemy of our souls and the power in the name of Jesus!
Jesus is our peace, He is our bond of unity and in Him we move and live and have our being together!
We also had the opportunity to join Pastor Michael and Kingdom Life for an outdoor time of singing and prayer walk at Riverside Park. Man, it was SO good to be with them because we all know singing indoors at church isn’t happening anytime soon. I didn’t realize how much I have missed the power of singing together and worshipping God with other believers! People were singing and sharing from their hearts.
It was another reminder that our reconciliation is not just towards God but towards each other and it we think that the temple of the Holy Spirit is just us individually then we have completely missed the understanding of us corporately as the temple of the Holy Spirit!
So, I just want to end by sharing some thoughts about how important community from a really powerful message that Steven Furtick shared on living in a lonely place. He spoke of the desire of how we just want to be known.
He reflected on the state of a man who had leprosy in Mark 1:40 and had to cry out “unclean” when anyone went near him. How demoralizing it is when you are just known by your issue, how long you have been known this way...unclean
So, he knelt in front of Jesus, begging to be healed. 'If you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean,' he said. Leprosy is clearly visible from the spots on your skin.
Today, the spots are on our soul, and we are living with shame.
One of the realization that you have leprosy is you have lost the ability to feel. It’s the same way with the leprosy of the soul
Whatever we are going through, remember for the follower of Jesus, He is our great high priest who is able to feel everything that we are going through.
In Mark 1:42 immediately the leprosy fell off...immediately our shame is able to fall off.
Whatever is keeping me at a distance LORD, break it. Leviticus 13:46
Jesus told the man to not tell anyone! He didn't want people just coming to him for a miracle...but the man did just that, he told everyone.
Jesus did it anyway! He knew he would tell everyone. When you know you’ve been healed, you just have to share it…it’s contagious!
