Mark 1:23 states “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit…” that unclean spirit in the man recognized Christ! And today we think we should love everybody in the church and trust them to be walking our walk. Just a thought
Tag: awareness
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Giftings within the Body
Thought of my today: 2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give: not grudgingly (nothing will flow back to you), or of necessity (if I give, I will get back so much more cuz I need bills paid this week), for God loveth a cheerful giver. This scripture hit home. I am usually motivated by what the preacher says when it is offering time; fearing that God will be displeased if I don’t—this alone puts me in the negative. God is looking for willingness and gladness from what I offer up (not so much specific amounts) — then it is sweet savor to His nostrils. The purpose of giving is one way to show adoration to God, worshipping God from the heart. Wow! That is why I never see a return, or if I do it is not as the preacher claims I will get. Ramblings I know…..
Continuing with the Gifts given to the Body of Christ:
These are given by the Holy Spirit for the edification of the body. 5) Working of miracles– “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws…” such as raising someone from the dead, commanding rain to occur, or calming a storm. These we see in work with Christ walking the earth, but none today. I know I hear pastors mainly saying at services they have seen the dead raise to life, but I have never seen filming of such events. Yet this is a gift given to people in the body of Christ!
6)The gift of prophecy (message from God) given to one who does not walk in the “office” of a Prophet. Rember a Prophet is himself/herself a gift to the body. A prophecy itself is a message or directive from God to a person or a people. The dictionary states a prophecy is “a message that has been communicated to a person by a supernatural entity.
Problem: we don’t acknowledge these gifts; we don’t see them in operation. Some who possess the gift may be afraid to be wrong in the use of the gift along with what will people think of me.
Solution: ask the Holy Spirit what gift has been given to you and how to perfect it.
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Gifts to the Body
continuation:
To recap: there are spiritual gift for the body that are given thru/by the Holy Spirit. There are differences of gifts, but only one Holy Spirit who gives them all. Now we had established that the gifts are given to individuals within a grouping. The first two gifts mentioned were 1) word of wisdom 2) word of knowledge.
The next gift is 3) the gift of faith— faith is the substance (physical matter, a specific kind of material with particular properties) of things hoped for, the evidence (“the information or objects that can help to prove a statement or fact”) of things not (yet) seen. So clearly the person with the gift of faith sees and has proof within themselves that makes them confident of what they see/know. To them it is as real as the things we physically see, feel, hear or touch. Let us not confuse this gifting with the clairvoyant worldly individual who claims or exhibits an ability to perceive events in the future or beyond normal sensory contact. Gifts can be perverted; “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” (a subject for another day). It is important to recognize who is doing the administration of the gift, be it the Holy Spirit (gift of faith) or has it been hijacked by the demonic (clairvoyant)?
4) To another individual is given the gift of healing by the same Spirit. When we think of healing, we envision a cripple being able to walk again, blind eyes opened, and things of this nature. But healing is restoring someone to whole health, spirit, soul and body. The person with this gift is a benefit to the body because some people have to see that God’s people are endowed with such gifts to be able to believe. Some people only believe what they can see or touch. This then aids some to come into the faith.
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Where is the Church of Jesus Christ?
I’m in my sixties now, and constantly remanence over the church that I became born again in, the Church headed by Jesus Christ; the Church that held up the blood of Christ and the proclamation that Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.
I see young people in church dressing as women of the world, men too; everything tight and showing off what they have. I see them cussing and talking as the world as a way of life- acceptable to them in their Christian walk. Where are the elders of the church? Oh yes, they also are living that life. How did this happen, the world infiltrating the church?
The enemy is very calculating and strategic in his moves to take the church world down. I am reminded of Revelation 2:14 where it shows the doctrine of Balaam “who taught Balac to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication.”
The enemy is repeating what has worked for him, the stumbling block that is so evident to the unchurched while the church sits blind and falling headlong into it—–fornication in the church! Do we have any Pauls to call this out?
Looking at the church today we see the focus has changed drastically. We have people leading the church whose main focus is what people can attain in the name of Christ. The run is no longer to enter into the gates of heaven (eternal life), instead the draw is what worldly things you can attain as a Christian. Christians do not even claim to be separate (separated unto God), but instead we accommodate anyone coming into the church as they are, which is alright at the beginning of their journey in Christ. The problem is those people do not change; change is no longer taught, the waly is no longer taught. The most renowned or recognized “preachers” do not teach nor encourage leaving the desires of this world behind and focusing on the commission set by Christ. When we are sold out for the cause of Christ, He will not deny us what we need or what we want that is not harmful to us.( Matt 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.) You wont even have to chase material things, they will be chasing you.
The strait path to get to the gate is no longer emphasized nor distinguished from the wide path that leads to hell. The word of the Lord puts it this way “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13 and 14). This stumbling block has the church totally confused. The church wants so much to be accepted by the world that it has given up its “salt”.
Yes, above is the problem, what is the solution? We can begin by putting prayer back into the church. I don’t mean the little segments we call praying during the service. I mean real prayer where man/women of God lay before the alter in the sanctuary crying to hear what thus sayeth the Spirit of God. I mean laboring for hours or days or weeks so they can be drenched in the Spirit and have ears and eyes opened in the spiritual realm. Start here and teach the people to labor before the Lord, labor before the Lord.
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