A VOICE
ARE YOU FEELING FEARFUL?Karen Hardin
Dear City Intercessor,Have you been feeling fearful? This week I felt impressed to pray for YOU. For the army of intercessors and God’s people along with our leaders who continue to stand fast.I felt it was urgent to remind you of who you are.
As you read this, remember who you are and WHOSE you are. Fear may come knocking on your door, but don’t open it. Sometimes we are the ones that let fear in.I recently had someone try to break in to the camper where I was staying. I woke up just before they tried the door. It was certainly a moment where fear tried to enter. I had to choose not to open that door literally or figuratively. (To read the entire story click here.) It was a moment that I believe speaks to what we are all facing and what we must do as fear tries to rule the day.In order to take back our cities and our nation, we are to pray with authority. For some this is a refresher course of what you already know, for others, this is instruction on how to move forward.We pray with authority by praying the Word of God. It has authority and so as we pray it our prayers have authority. But we also walk in authority because we know WHOSE we are. We are not like the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:11-20). Although they recognized the power of prayer and the power resident in those who walked with God, they didn’t possess it. However, we walk with Him and His power flows through us. We need not fear.This is important because the Enemy has tried to make many fearful. He has tried to say, “just don’t get involved and they won’t come after you.” That is a lie. The battle is already on each of our doorsteps. We cannot ignore it. Irish statesman, Edmund Burke said it best, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing.”Satan has tried to make us back down, cower and do nothing. He wants us to believe he is all-powerful, all-knowing, and far-reaching. He is not. For some he has boldly knocked on the door of your home, causing you to fear in areas where you used to feel safe. As the globalists continue to work to create famine, electrical blackouts and chaos, we must recognize that first, they are projecting what they are about to do which means we need to prepare. Two, they are not in control, God is. If we live in Him and need to remember He is well able to provide.Remember who you are. Remember WHOSE you are. Remember GOD is the one who is all-powerful.Remember the power He has given us as we stand our ground. Stand fast and tell fear to go. In the New Testament, Timothy was often fearful, but look how God used him despite his human failings. This isn’t about us. It’s about His power working IN us.For the Lord says to you, “‘Do not be afraid of them for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord. Speak my Word, for I watch over it to perform it. That is my job. Yours is to declare it.”I want to encourage you today intercessory to take courage to see beyond the natural as we pray into His plan and reformation that is also knocking on our door. THAT is a door we need to open.
*********************************************************
Father,I have set the Lord continually before me, because He is at my right hand I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and I will rejoice. My flesh will also dwell securely.Thank you, Lord that You deliver us from our enemies and from those who rise up against us. You rescue us from violent men. As they project their intent to unleash violence on our nation in protest of the reversal of Roe v Wade, we see that it is just demonic rage intent on intimidating.WE WILL NOT BE MOVED. We agree with Your Word that the violence of the wicked will drag them away because they refuse to act with justice. Therefore we give You thanks among the nations and we sing praises to Your Name.Those who deny Your Name do not know how to do what is right. They hoard up violence and devastation in the strongholds they have built. Yet their destruction will come upon them by their own hands. Their ways and their deeds have brought these things upon them. But You will save the afflicted, those they have targeted, but those with haughty eyes you will bring low.For by our God we can run through a troop and by our God we can leap over a wall. For Your way is blameless and Your Word is tried and true.We declare and put our hearts in remembrance that You have delivered us from our strong enemy and from those who hated us for although they were too mighty for us, they are not for You. You are a shield to all who take refuge in You. For who is God but the Lord? And who is a rock except our God?Deliver us Lord and deliver those who have stood steadfastly, boldly and courageously for You in our government, in our Supreme Court, in our cities and states, in our schools and communities. We ask that you raise up leaders, filled with Your wisdom and understanding of the times so we can turn this nation back onto the course for which it was originally designed.You are our refuge and strength. Our very present help in time of trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea. Though its waters roar and foam and though the mountains quake. We will not fear.We cease our striving and remember that You are God and You will be exalted among the nations.Thank you Lord for reminding us of who we are and WHOSE we are. We put our trust in You and declare that we walk in Your peace, safety and refuge. We say to fear. YOU MUST GO! You have noright in our heart, mind or home. You cannot trespass on God’s property.Thank you Father that You have brought us forth into a broad, spacious and safe place. You have rescued us because You delighted in us and have rewarded us according to our righteousness. We bless Your Holy name and stand fast in You.Jeremiah 1:8 & 12, Ps 16:8-9, Prov 21: 7, Jeremiah 4: 18, Ps 18:48, Amos 3:10, Ps 18:17 & 27-31, Ps 18:19-20, Ps 46: 1-3 & 10Standing together,Karen Hardin
#KarenHardin, #CityByCity.org
DIVINE LIFE IS FROM GOD AND FOR GODBy T. Austin Sparks
This divine life which is in the child of God by new birth is God's life and God's life alone, and it cannot be related to anything else. It will not work with anything else. It only works in relation to God; God's thought, God's mind, God's will, and if that life is going to carry us right through to God's full end, then it has to be wholly unto God, and there all other relationships have to be set back. It must not be brought into other relationships. You see, this life is not just an abstract thing. It is in Christ Jesus and it is in the hands of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, we cannot separate these; we cannot separate the life from the Person, from the Divine Person. Christ is the life, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of life. So when we are dealing with the life, we are dealing with the Holy Spirit and we are dealing with Christ Jesus, and that means that this life, which is the very essence of God, has its own characteristics, its own forms, its own meanings, its own standards, its own objects. It has its own mentality, its own reasons, its own ways. It is something which has a way of its own, and a meaning of its own, and a mind of its own, and there is not another like it. It takes its course. All other ways, all other mentalities are other indeed, altogether other, and there is no correspondence between them. When God says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways"; that there is the difference as of the space between heaven and earth between your ways and thoughts and Mine, it is only another way of saying, My life is something altogether different from yours in its mentality, its judgment, its reasonings, its characteristics, its nature; different in everything, altogether other.
Well, what is the effect of that? It means that it cannot coexist or have fellowship with anything that is of nature. It cannot have any companionship with this other life of ours, with this nature of ours. The natural life cannot be a friend of the Divine life and the Divine life cannot be a friend of the natural life. They are in two different worlds. The natural life, the soul-life of man has Satanic elements related to it, and the Divine life has Divine elements related to it, and these are two different kingdoms altogether. Now, this is a fixed principle, that this Divine life demands its own direction and its own relationships. This Divine life demands what is of God wholly, and I see in "thy country, thy kindred, thy father's house" those things which suggest natural relationships and influences, and God cannot allow that in the presence of His life in us. Paul said, "When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me... immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood" (Gal. 1:16). That would have been human influence, natural influence, in relation to the things of God, and that is the principle here. So far as nature is concerned, this life with God has to be completely independent.
What do we expect when we go on with God, when we come right out for God? What have we in view? Well, the answer to that question will decide whether, in relation to God, we have ambitions for something on the earth. Do you get the point? You see, it is so possible to swing over your natural ambitions to spiritual aims. It is the same thing still at work and the only difference is the direction or sphere. You can be as ambitious in the work of God as you can be in the world, and it is the same natural ambition. It is the ambitiousness of nature. You desire - what do you desire? To see something, to have something, to be in something? Ambition for success: yes, once it was in the world, now the same ambition transferred to other things. If that were true in Abraham's case, what a test! It was a test of ambition. He got nothing, no not so much as a foothold in the land. He had to move to and fro, dwelling in tents. There was no immediate, seen response to his faith so far as that land was concerned. Under that test, he broke down; he went down into Egypt. What did his going down into Egypt imply? Some expectations! He had expected something different at the hands of God. He had to be taught that this life is a life of faith, and the more deeply inwrought that life is, the less shall we see to gratify nature, even in the things of God.
You see, it is very often to the children, the kindergarten, the elementary stages of faith, where there is not the capacity to take very much strain, that God has to give quick results and manifest signs. The marks of maturity are usually the withdrawing of outward manifestations and signs, the demand to walk with God alone for God's own sake. It is a mark of graduation in the school of God that He can withdraw outward things. It shows that we have passed the test, as to whether we are ambitious in this life.
God promised Abraham a son, and, having made the promise, went away and left the matter there for years; the delayed fulfilment of promises serving to drive faith in God deeper down and to prepare the way for something so transcendently more of God in Abraham's life. The longer the delay, the more the realization of a hope must be of God, and the less and less possible is it of man. That is the thought. God does work in that way, whether we like it or not. Whether we cherish the thought or not, it is true. When God is really working according to the law of life, we have to be brought into this realm of faith where even the promises of God seem to be suspended and have no immediate fulfilment. God is going to be true. God will be no man's debtor. There will never be any balance against God in the end. We may settle that. God will come up to all that can be rightly and truly expected of Him, and there will be at last, even if it be at long last, an overwhelming justification of God and attestation of His faithfulness. We are all permitted to take an attitude such as this: Lord, when I stand before You at long last, You have to be clear of any ground I could lay to Your account of having failed my trust. It is essential to God that He should be in that position. His very nature and character requires that, in that day, those who have trusted in Him shall be able to say, Lord, You have not failed in one thing, but You have done even more than I had a right to expect, even a right in Christ to expect. God will come up to that mark, but, in order to deepen the life, to strengthen the life, to produce Godlikeness, to destroy the power of death and the work of Satan, and to reverse the mischief of Adam, God has to extend us in the matter of faith even over His promises. He does it. It is a mark of growth, of maturity. Such then is the Divine ministry of delay.
Then, further, we have the Divine ministry of contradiction. The son was given at last: but what then - "Take now thy son... and offer him..." A contradiction; God giving and taking, promising fulfilment and then seeming to wipe it all out with a stroke. Well, what does it mean? What lies behind this? I think, beloved, that the heart of things here is that God is always wooing to Himself, that the heart may be for Him and not for things. Even if the promises in their fulfilment are delayed, God is seeking to draw the heart to the place where it is Himself, rather than what He does for us, that is its quest. If there is that ministry of contradiction, its purpose is to woo us from things to Himself.
Excerpts from
A SOLITARY WAY
Author Unknown
There is as mystery in human hearts;
And though we be encircled by a host
Of those who love us well, and are beloved,
To every one of us, from time to time,
There comes a sense of utter loneliness:
Our dearest friend is stranger to our joy,
And cannot realize our bitterness.
“There is not one who really understands,
Not one to enter into all I feel”
Such is the cry of each of us in turn;
We wander in “a solitary way.”
No matter what or where our lot may be;
Each heart, mysterious even to itself,
Must live its inner life in solitude.
And would you know the reason why this is?
It is because the Lord desires our love:
In every heart He wishes to be first.
He therefore keeps the secret key Himself,
To open all its chambers and to bless
With perfect sympathy and holy peace,
Each solitary soul that comes to Him.
So when we feel this loneliness, it is
The voice of Jesus saying, “Come to Me”;
And every time we are “not understood,”
It is a call to us to come again;
For Christ alone can satisfy the soul,
And those who walk with Him from day to day,
Can never have “a solitary way.”
And when beneath some heavy cross you faint,
And say, “I cannot bear this load alone,”
You say the truth. Christ made it purposely
So heavy that you must return to Him.
The bitter grief, which “no one understands,”
Conveys a secret message from the King,
Entreating you to come to Him again.
“The Man of Sorrows” understands it well;
In all points tempted, He can feel with you.
You cannot come too often, or too near –
The Son of God is infinite in grace,
His presence satisfies the longing soul,
And those who walk with Him from day to day,
Can never have “a solitary way.”
BEGOTTEN SONSBy John Gavazzoni
It is God's eternal purpose to bring us into union with Himself and according to the essential principle of the new covenant, He unilaterally, accomplished that in Himself by becoming a man in Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord and Savior. That union, accomplished in Christ, accrues to us since we are "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ" (Rom. 8:17). Nothing more sums up the marvel and extent of His grace toward us than that statement. All that He is and has we share in Him by grace. As to your question about whose Spirit went into Mary to bring about the human birth of Christ, let me point out the importance of the truth of the "Seed" in Pauline teaching. Paul was given great insight into this mystery and much of his Spirit-inspired thought revolves around Christ as the Seed (Sperm) of God. When He wrote about the Abrahamic Covenant preceding and preempting the Mosaic Covenant He says, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ" (Gal. 3:16). Paul understands that God is Father and as such He is reproductive by nature and He essentially only has one Seed, His eternal Son, who is the source of our sonship. It is by that Seed that He begets us as sons. Now, of course, the begetting of the eternal Son necessitates a Female Egg for the Seed (Sperm) of the Father to impregnate and that gets us into the Mother dimension of the being of God that paganism and Romanism have terribly distorted.
Of the many names that God uses to describe Himself in covenant relationship with His people, one name emphasizes what I have called His gender completeness. It is probably best translated as "El Shaddai," the Mighty, or Many-Breasted One and conveys the idea of the nurture and provision that a child gets at the breast of its mother. When God "makes love" and I say that with the utmost sense of awe, the Holy Spirit is the communion whereby the impregnation occurs and I am not saying that the Holy Spirit is merely a reproductive force. Since God is Pure Being; Pure Relational Being, that which flows within the God-Family is Pure Being, not just someTHING. He/She, the Spirit, is God in conjugal communion within Him/Her Self. This is the meaning behind the scripture that speaks of "The Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth is named" (Eph. 3:15). God names (natures) every family by that which He is, Family. Trinitarian teaching, though far superior to pagan ideas of God, tends to portray God as three separate persons though they valiantly try to avoid that. Whereas in scripture we find God portrayed as the Family-Being, who Karl Barth called our "Primal Origin" and Paul Tillich called the "Ground of Being." He is not a being among beings, He is Being itself and the source of all being. Our Lord Jesus was eternally conceived and birthed by the love and loving intercourse within God Him/Her Self and that same Seed is the source of our being sons of God. Our origin and destiny have to do with loving communion. To repeat myself, we have trouble conceiving of the Son's eternality because we think in terms of time, as if there had to be a point in time when Christ was birthed. He was birthed in that day which is the Day of the Lord and that Day always is and continually breaks into the space-time continuum. In the fulness of time that Day penetrated the veil between time and eternity and Christ was born of a woman but that was not the point of His coming into existence. That was the point at which the eternal reality was manifest in the flesh in a material world. Christ is the eternal Son of the One who is Existence Himself.
Because we were chosen in him from before the foundation of the world, we are also "eternal sons of our Father" (Eph. 1:4).
By Ray Knight
By contrast to the other parable of this pair - the parable of the Lost Sheep, this parable is not concerning repentance unto initial salvation. We all know salvation is a free gift and cannot be worked for or bought. God does it all. In the preceding parable, the Shepherd goes after the lost sheep to bring him into the fold with the other ‘just’ ones. In this parable it is a ‘she’, in fact a married woman, and she loses something that she had already received. This then applies to us in a different way.
BACKGROUND
In Jesus’ time, marriages were very formal and included many special vows. During the intricate ceremony, as the young couple would be facing each other, the bridegroom would drop into the cupped hands of his young bride, TEN SILVER COINS. Each wife-to-be had been taught whoever places the ten pieces of silver in your hands, is he who will love you. She believes that God will kindle love in their hearts for one another even though the marriage was arranged.
These silver pieces, according to the Greek word DRACHMA, were coins that carried the image of the King on one side and the year that they were minted on the other. As the bride receives these coins, she understands that she is fully purchased. Ye have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s. (I Corinthians 6:20).
These coins each have a hook attached and they are either worn in the hair or on a garland that would go around her head. She will esteem them of great value and guard them with her life, because any carelessness on her part would be regarded by her husband as a lack of affection and respect for him. He might even think that she had sold one coin in order to purchase another lover!
If a wife (‘woman’ in the Greek is GUNE = wife) loses any of these coins, it breaks the marriage covenant. She could be cast out of her husband’s house and would either have to go home to mother in disgrace or become a woman of the streets.
We have entered into an arranged marriage union with our heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, and HE has given us a ten-fold expression of Himself. Jane Leade back in 1679 had a mighty visitation from the Lord wherein He instructed her with the TEN commandments.
Wisdom came in such a way that she saw how the ten commandments were, by the Spirit, instructions of what was involved in coming into the Image of God. For example: THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. Thou shalt not allow a single thought to enter your mind that would in any way take away an expression of My life and dealings within them . There is truly a tenfold gift or provision from the Lord that seals our close relationship with Him. Today these ten coins represent ten promises to us as Christ fulfilled the law and released us from the bondage of having to line up with them . .. so to us they are the same words but become promises!
A PARABLE = a natural-realm happening that, will show us what the desire of Father God’s heart is towards us. The ‘hungry’ are usually teachable and sensitive!
SHE RECEIVED A REVELATION AND CONVICTION THAT SOMETHING WAS MISSING
This wife received a prompting from the Holy Spirit that something very important was missing from her life. She didn’t push that thought aside; had she done so, the outcome would have been disastrous. One of her silver coins was missing. In her preparation for a special occasion she saw that a coin was gone. Because of its value and significance, she could not brush it off with a glib, ‘Well it’s ONLY 10%!’ ...this was a serious matter. If only the WIFE OF CHRIST would realize that her headband is incomplete! How long had she been without this coin - she did not know, only it was long enough for her house (her heart & mind) to become cluttered, dirty and most certainly dusty. Wherever this coin was, it was covered up. The repercussions of this discovery hit her if she didn’t do something about it right now! It was enough to break the oneness and closeness of her relationship with her beloved. The thought of what might happen if she did not find it, ‘stabbed’ her in the pit of her stomach. It was hers and she lost it! Nobody was to blame but herself. She lost it in HER house too; she knew that, for her search started right there...in her house...in her thinking and inner being. She had to repent … change her thinking and attitude.
Psalm 139:23,24 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. She had to search for what was missing ON HER OWN. Yes. . . and, praise God, she found it; it was still in her house!
THIS WIFE HAD TO BECOME TEACHABLEI must do this search diligently (which means carefully). This was a personal dealing from the Lord I will need a lamp. Psalm 119:105 came to her, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet (walk). The moment that she took hold of the lamp, it showed that she was TEACHABLE and PLIABLE. It showed too, that she was determined to examine carefully every dark corner of her wrong conclusions in her house (= mind, thinking, convictions, lack of understanding and even her ‘foundations’ that she had taken for granted as being correct). She was absolutely convinced that she must have ALL the expressions of the King’s Image and likeness to surround her thinking. She encouraged herself while searching with the declaration, they are mine, HE gave them to me. The full expression of her salvation (silver) required all ten parts.
The Lord answered her cry for help. She found what she was looking for. The silver coin showed itself once she had swept away the dust of her traditional thinking, carnal eschatology, religious ways of always quoting the ‘letter-word’ scriptures and her constant desire to move in the natural realm . Her salvation was again complete in her house. She regained the vision that she was to experience the fullness of salvation without any space travel!.
Ye are saved (Eph.2:8)... Ye are BEING saved (I Cor.1:18...present continuous tense) he that endureth to the end shall be saved (Matt.10:22).
FROM WHAT DID SHE REPENT?She did not go through the repentance as of one coming to the Lord, but rather she repented of her carelessness with what her husband had given her. She had forgotten the intrinsic value of that gift of His life that she had received and had failed to guard sufficiently. She repented of her laziness, lethargy and passivity, of just not bothering to remain alert to who she was and what she was called to come into. She repented of her ignorance of her husband’s expectations of her. She had thought that it automatically happened without her having to do anything.
Her friends and neighbours knew what she had lost and knew the importance of the missing 10% of that which carried the King’s image. They probably longed to help her find what was missing in her life, but had the wisdom to remain on the outside of her house. But when the silver-coined headband was once again complete, they knew just how to rejoice with their friend and neighbour! Praise God for such brothers and sisters! Our thinking must be surrounded with the thinking of redemption (silver), otherwise we will lose what is so very precious.
Thus, in Father-God’s realm of Spirit, there was rejoicing over one HARMARTOLOS, which means in the Greek, sinner. Had she not change her thinking, she would have missed the mark and not shared in the prize (which is the Greek meaning of the word REPENTANCE) of the high calling of Christ.
Let us be sensitive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within to any silver coins in our development that are lost and covered over with dust. (Dust , don’t forget, is the flesh in our thinking and walk). Never allow anything to mar your relationship with your heavenly Bridegroom, because He purposes that you come into the full image of the King, even Himself!
Luke 15:8-10 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calls her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.
HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD OR AN ECHOBy Kenneth B Greatorex
Revelation 2:29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.There are many sounds, many voices sounding forth in the world today. Now, we have ways that were undreamed of when I was a child to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Many raise their voices to trumpet the latest "in Word." One day it is Sonship, another day, it is Faith, or Restoration, or Christ in you, or Kingdom, or the Salvation/Reconciliation of All, or some other facets of truth. Each is a valuable message IF it is what the Spirit of God is desiring to say through that particular ministry, at that point in time, and location.When the Spirit of God causes an emphasis of a certain aspect of truth to come forth, it comes forth as a trumpet, and with clarity, and it accomplishes that which God intended. However, no sooner has the Spirit spoken a word - a fresh revelation, and the rush is on by some to run with it, even though they have little understanding of what they are saying. To such, it sounds good, as "so and so" is teaching it, so it must be what should be preached. Why, it might even increase MY ministry.We need to examine just what exactly is a "voice," and what is an "echo." The word voice means, "the faculty or the power of utterance of language." The word "echo" means, "the repetition of sound, a repetition or imitation of another." That LOGOS which the Spirit speaks is a life-giving word. The echo of it may be a blessing, but that is all.John the Baptist was a "voice" of one crying in the wilderness; "Prepare, ye the way of, the Lord." He had a clear and precise message which he trumpeted aloud under the anointing of the Spirit. John the Revelator heard "a loud voice, as of a trumpet, saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last," and the voice went on to say, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."Is what you preach and teach fresh revelation from the Throne? It is what God has made real to and in you, or is it an echo of what you have heard, or read, another give? It isn't implied that what we have hear from various sources is not of God. We all hear much truth proclaimed, and have had opportunity to read the excellent writings of others. It is not suggested that you stop doing this. Rather, what is being said is, "Has that particular word worked in you? Has it been sweet in your mouth, and bitter in your belly, as you digest it until it becomes a part of you?" If it has not gone through the planting and death process before you attempt to speak it forth, then you are merely another of the many "echos" in the earth today. Some of the truths that changed my understanding and ministry were planted in my spirit many years before they came to fruition, and I don't claim to have arrived.If ever there was a time when we needed to hear a "pure" word, it is in this hour! Our spirits must be clear to discern the between pure word and that which is mixed with impurities. Even as the water from the throne of God in Revelation 22:1 was living water, "clear as crystal," so must that be which flows from the throne within our hearts. And, we need to remember that which God has given to us doesn't make us something special, or more elite than another. So, therefore we walk humbly before our God and one another.
TRUE COMMUNION By Charles Weller
(1 Corinthians 10:16) The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
The bread we break and partake of IS communion with Christ. The bread we break and partake of IS communion with the rest of the body of Christ We have fellowship with one another as we walk in the Light as He is in the Light. Our fellowship of light and life is Christ. Our fellowship is in the breaking, the sowing, the giving of the bread, which we are. Cast upon the waters (Rev.17:15) are we. Cast upon the sea, the masses of humanity that we might give them liberty.
What is the "communion of the body of Christ"? Fellowship is not the same as communion. When the brethren, who are the body of Christ, come together to a church service or just to have fellowship, this is not communion. Communion occurs when the saints gather and share the living ascended Lord, and by that we mean how He has been working and manifesting in them.
The word "communion" means to share something in common intimately. A normal religious church service is a personal affair. The saint is in the service and worships individually with others. It is a personal blessing. The preacher preaches and the saint is blessed personally. The service ends. Communion is not that church service. Communion creates, builds, establishes and enhances the manifestation of Christ through intimate involvement with each other.
The communion of the body of Christ in the standard communion service, is the sharing together of the people's experience in the literal eating of bread, which is a symbol of the body of Christ. The real truth of that symbolic and lifeless communion service is the spiritual counterpart. That counterpart begins with each person partaking of the Christ in each other (eating the bread). For we are His body. The walls saints build about themselves to protect themselves from pain, relationships etc. are torn. down when true communion occurs.
True communion is the manifestation of love with unconditional acceptance of another member of the body of Christ without regard to one's own personal protection. True communion is vulnerability. The natural body is open to infection as an example, let's say a cold. It wears the whole body down. The defense system (immune system) deals with the invader, but the body continues to function. Such is the body of Christ. It continues to love, hung on a cross, pierced by thorns, speared by a javelin die body continues to offer itself up as a pleasing sacrifice acceptable to God.
The "communion of the body of Christ" is the interaction of the saints in each others' lives. The normal denominational church is an insulated affair being personal in nature but very few people are open about their lives to others. If it is a smaller church where there is a personal knowing of each other, there is a tendency to know each other after the adamic nature. Either of these is not "communion of the body of Christ". Real communion shows acceptance of others as they are with the intent to openly reveal how the trials of life arc causing the members to manifest more of Christ. It is Christ in you sharing with the Christ in me so that both of us may enlarge the revelation of Him in us. Most churches do not have that going on. Lets start it!
chrales Excerpts from DISCERNING THE LORD'S BODY
Tim Kurtz
I do a lot of talking about the ‘church as we know it’. If you follow my blogs, books, live teaching and other media, you hear me say that the ‘church’ will not be the same in a few years. It is in transition. But the question must be answered, ‘Where is it transitioning to?
I also speak often about the Greek word ekklesia. Sometimes I share it as though people thoroughly understand what I am talking about. In my excitement to show that Jesus never said He would build a church, I failed to clearly articulate His intentions. Within the framework of His intent is the revelation of where the coming transition is taking us.
It all began with the simple declaration, “upon this rock I will build my ekklesia”. Jesus had other word choices besides ekklesia. He could have said He would build His heiron, which is the Greek word translated as temple. Everybody in Jesus day would have identified with the temple. He could have also declared that He would build His synagogue. Both words would have been acceptable to the religious minds of that day. The temple and the synagogue were centers of Judaic religious activity.
Jesus used a word that had no religious connotations...
Jesus used a word that had no religious connotations – ekklesia. It was known in that day as an arm of the Roman government. He did not say He would build a church. Understanding this gives us a glimpse of where the church is transitioning.
The ekklesia was given specific authority by the government it represented. The Roman ekklesia could legislate, confer or deny citizenship, set policies and elect officials. Likewise, when Jesus declared He would build His version of the ekklesia, a similar authority would accompany it. Rather than representing the Roman government, His ekklesia would represent the Kingdom of Heaven. The authority it had would be a clear threat to the kingdom of darkness (Matthew 16:18-19).
The devil’s tactic to disrupt the Lord’s intent was to change the identity of the ekklesia. When the instructions were given to insert the English word church for ekklesia, the Body of Christ shifted from having an impact in the world, to an audience in a building. The Body of Christ took on a completely different identity. It was never intended to be a church.
...the Holy Spirit is bringing emphasis to the ekklesia the Lord originally proclaimed
Maybe this will give you a glimpse of what the coming transition is intended to produce. Over the past 400 plus years, the Lord has restored many things that had been stripped from His ekklesia. Critical doctrines and the ministry gifts were restored in preparation for this time. Unfortunately, they were restored and encased in a system totally foreign to their original purposes. Today, the Holy Spirit is bringing emphasis to the ekklesia the Lord originally proclaimed. Ekklesia is being restored. Its restoration will bring back the kingdom authority it originally had.
This is the first part of the coming transition. Church will be restored to ekklesia, and there is much more to come. Once we realize our identity, we can move into doing what is expected of it. Binding, loosing and establishing the footprint of the kingdom in the earth will once again become the norm. The gates of hades will not stand a chance against what Jesus said He would build.
If you are like me, you are looking forward to this powerful transition. Jesus is still building His ekklesia, with believers like you. Get ready, there is more to come.
"My hands were filled with many things
That I did precious hold,
As any treasure of a king's—
Silver, or gems, or gold.
The Master came and touched my hands,
(The scars were in His own)
And at His feet my treasures sweet
Fell shattered, one by one.
'I must have empty hands,' said He,
'Wherewith to work My works through thee.'
"My hands were stained with marks of toil,
Defiled with dust of earth;
And I my work did ofttimes soil,
And render little worth.
The Master came and touched my hands,
(And crimson were His own)
But when, amazed, on mine I gazed,
Lo! every stain was gone.
'I must have cleansed hands,' said He,
'Wherewith to work My works through thee.'
"My hands were growing feverish
And cumbered with much care!
Trembling with haste and eagerness,
Nor folded oft in prayer.
The Master came and touched my hands,
(With healing in His own)
And calm and still to do His will
They grew—the fever gone.
'I must have quiet hands,' said He,
'Wherewith to work My works for Me.'
"My hands were strong in fancied strength,
But not in power divine,
And bold to take up tasks at length,
That were not His but mine.
The Master came and touched my hands,
(And might was in His own!)
But mine since then have powerless been,
Save His are laid thereon.
'And it is only thus,' said He,
'That I can work My works through thee.'"
************************************************************************************************
This poem was included in the book QUIET TALKS ON POWER, written by S.D.Gordon and published in 1903 and is available on Project Gutenberg. The poem had no title and the author was anonymous.
The book of Hebrews uses the word better 11 numerous times in comparing the old covenant of Israel with the new covenant in Christ. In our time Father is stirring people all over the globe with the revelation and understanding that the church age (old) is superseded by something better, the Kingdom of God (new). This message is being articulated by different saints around the globe who are increasingly sounding as one voice of many waters.
One of the clearest sounding voices is being sounded by some brothers from London, UK on their YouTube channel UNLOCK THE KINGDOM WITHIN YOU.
#Unlockthekingdomwithinyou, #FrederickTobun, #KevinChambliss
Last Thursday I participated in a "Zoom" call that featured Terrell Murphy of Charlotte, NC. Terrell shared a timely and relevant message for the Ekklesia to hear.
May you be blessed with a fuller revelation of Christ & a greater sense of His presence and purpose.
REFORMING THE REFORMERS Solutionists Capturing the Mind of God
Terrell Murphy
#
The past couple of years I've been part of a weekly Zoom call with a group of saints; largely from the USA. In his 2nd letter to the saints in Corinth Paul exhorted them as follows Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a [purely] human point of view [in terms of natural standards of value]. 2Cor 5:16
Although I've yet to meet the majority of the saints who are on the Zoom calls in the flesh, I regard them in the Spirit of Christ. One of those precious saints is Michael Wells from Valdosta, Georgia. Michael is a gifted and anointed servant of the Lord whose is able to teach.
Follow this link to listen to Michael's message BABEL OR BETHEL.