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The faith that leads to rest...

7/26/2019

After years of harsh slavery in Egypt, the Israelites cried out to to the LORD to deliver them. They knew that God had promised their forefathers that one day He would cause them to inherit the Land, and it is from that place of hope that they cried out to God, and He heard them. He sent Moses to get them out of Egypt; they were finally on their way home.

Canaan was the land that the LORD had promised to Abraham's descendants. It was there that they would finally find peace and rest from the hands of their enemies but one thing was required - they had to believe God. During their wilderness wandering the people rebelled against the LORD. They murmured, complained and His anger flared towards them. He said:

Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. (Psalm 95:10-11)

All of that generation, except for Joshua and Caleb, died in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Joshua led the next generation into the Land of Promise but he was not be able to give them rest. Although they were standing in the promise, they did not have the faith that leads to rest; the faith that manifests in obedience. As such, they were exiled from the land.

The Promise of Rest

The Promised Land or Canaan was a picture of God's rest, not just for Israel but for all of mankind. God wanted to give Israel rest, not just from their physical labour and struggles of life, but also permanent rest in HIM that comes from the forgiveness of sin. That is God's heart for all of mankind but it requires faith in Yeshua Jesus. This faith is more that just saying "I believe in Jesus", because even demons believe and tremble (James 2:9). It is the type of faith that moves us action; namely obedience.

The Bible teaches us in the Prophetic Books that there is a time yet to come when all of Israel will find permanent rest in the Land of Canaan (now Israel) because God will forgive their sins, cleanse them and return them to their land. However, God's rest is available to everyone who desires it. The New Living Translation puts it this way:

God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.” Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. (Hebrews 4:6-7)

Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart - obey His voice and make every effort to enter into His rest!

Shalom!

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The Weight of Increase

7/19/2019

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How many times have you prayed like Jabez "Lord, oh that You would bless me and enlarge my territory"? How many times have you said "Lord, use me for Your glory"? I believe we can all remember a time when we've prayed along those lines. We desire to be used by God, and we want him to expand our borders, but we are hardly ever prepared for everything that comes along with that. Here is a part of my story...

My Story

When I just became a believer I was zealous for the things of God. I felt that I had wasted enough time searching for truth that now that I had found it, I was ready to go full speed ahead. I prayed that very serious prayer "Lord, whatever you want me to do I will do it" but I had no idea what I was asking for. The Lord was about to reveal His plan for my life and it did not look like anything that I had in mind. It began a few weeks after getting saved when God spoke to me out of Jeremiah I:5

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

As I read that passage that morning, the first thought that came to me was to run but in my heart I knew that I could not run from God. After I was able to compose myself, I called my co-worker who explained to me that God had a work for me to do. I thought that was the end of it but there was more.

One night a few weeks later, I was asleep and kept hearing the voice of the Lord saying "Ezekiel 2! Ezekiel 2! Ezekiel 2!" I woke up and read it:

"He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says.’ And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious people—they will know that a prophet has been among them."

The preparation was great and the road extremely lonely but God!

A few years later, the Lord launched me into ministry. He told me "do the work of an evangelist" and for the next five years, I was preaching the Gospel and operating in deliverance ministry. One day I asked the Lord, "have you called me as a prophet or an evangelist, because you are leading me into so many directions that I don't know what to make of it". During that time I was also working in media and the Lord had sent me to seminary. There were days when I felt like I was in the middle of utter confusion and I could not make sense of it. Then some time after that, came another shift.

Shift

One night I had a dream where I was sitting in a brand new office. It was huge and everything in it was over-sized. The desk, the chair, everything, and I felt like a grasshopper sitting around the desk. Thoughts were racing through my mind. I remember thinking this office looks like a man's office based on its size and also the furniture, so how can this be my office? What am I doing here? what will people say? then the dream ended.

I sought the Lord and He told me "I have called you as an Apostle." I wept! I was afraid of the weight of the responsibility and also about what people were going to say. For a long time I did nothing about what I had heard and I told no one except my daughter. I was hoping that it was all a mistake and it would all go away, but wasn't I the one who had told the Lord "whatever you want me to do, I will do..."? A lot of us miss this, but asking the Lord to increase us is another way of asking God to give us more, and with more comes greater responsibility.

On the evening of my consecration to the apostolic office, I opted to lay prostrate before the Lord as opposed to kneeling. After they poured oil upon my head and prayed, I remember trying to get up off the floor but I could not move. My hands, feet, my entire body felt like lead - there was an enormous weight upon me!

The Bible speaks of the weight of God's Glory (Kavod in Hebrew) and I believe I experienced that weight that night. However, the call of the apostolic office is also weighty. There were days when I felt that I was about to break under the weight and heaviness of the office but the Spirit of the Lord taught me that we grow into our calling. The initial call to the office of the prophet and the evangelist, my work in media, public relations and seminary were all part of the training and preparation process for where God was taking me, and there is still more that God is doing.

The Reality

The reality is that we all desire to be used by God, it is just that some of us would prefer for Him to use us how WE choose. Sometimes we are praying for physical and material increase but God wants to increase our level of responsibility in the Kingdom. If God were to enlarge your territory today, whether materially or spiritually, would you be prepared to handle everything that comes with it?

There are times when preparation feels like confusion, like you are going around in circles and the pain of transitioning is unbearable, but it's all a part of God's plan. These are the methods through which we grow and mature into the fullness of purpose. I don't know where you are at in your journey at this time, but I do know that all things are working for your good and for God's glory. Submit to the process and trust the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you. You are being prepared for the weight of the increase.

Shalom!

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Do not ignore the lesser gifts...

7/8/2019

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My daughter Prophet Kedeshia has strong organizational skills and an amazing eye for detail. From very early in her Christian journey, I identified that what she had was not just organizational and problem solving skills but that she had the spiritual gift of administration; I encouraged her to “fan it into flame”. Many years later as we work together in ministry, I am just in awe at how the Lord uses her in this way. Even on our last trip abroad, I was so impressed with the fact that even the minutest detail of the mission was covered; absolutely nothing was left undone. One morning over breakfast I shared with her how important it is for us as a ministry to teach people to not ignore the “lesser” gifts because they too were given to the Body of Christ for a reason. Now before you get thrown off by my use of the term "lesser" gifts, let me hasten to to say that I am not suggesting that some gifts are lesser in rank or significance, but before I explain further, let’s talk about why gifts were given in the first place.

What are Spiritual Gifts?

Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit for the common good of the Body of Christ and for service. These gifts are necessary because mere human ability is inadequate to do the work of the LORD. Spiritual gifts help the church to grow and to remain healthy. The gifts of the Holy Spirit can either be supernatural or natural abilities, however when our natural abilities are directed by the Spirit of God they move beyond mere human talent. The gifts can be summed up into three (3) categories, namely; manifestation, motivational and ministry gifts.

Manifestation Gifts

These are supernatural demonstrations of the power of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul mentioned them in His letter to the church in Corinth:

“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues,and to still another the interpretation of tongues.All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines” (1 Cor. 12:4-11)

Motivational Gifts

As the name suggests, these are gifts that motivate the Body and shape how the believers view life and relate to each other. These include prophecy, serving, teaching, exhorting/encouraging, giving, administration and mercy . When these gifts are encouraged and developed, they have an amazing impact on catapulting the Body of Messiah from one level to another.

For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully. (Romans 12:4-10)

Ministry Gifts/Offices

Ministry gifts or Offices are actual leadership functions that Yeshua (Jesus) himself gave to the Church. The Apostle Paul wrote:

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." (Eph. 4:11-13)

These offices exist to edify, build up and equip the Body of Christ for service and to bring us to unity and maturity IN Christ. These offices are not by human desire or man’s appointment. One must be called by God to function in an office.

Oftentimes, the lines are blurred because there are actually spiritual gifts that are similar to these functions, however, it does not mean that one is called to hold an office of leadership. Case in point; an individual can have the gift of prophecy but that does not mean that the individual is a Prophet. Anyone can prophesy, but not everyone who prophesy is a Prophet. It is the same thing with the gift of teaching; not everyone who teaches is called to the office of the Teacher.

Ministry gifts are to be confirmed by the laying on of hands or ordination. While many object to this practice in the the modern-day Church, it is actually biblical and follows the pattern laid out by the early Church. Yes, it is God who calls us to ministry offices but the leaders (and by extension the church) have a role to play. In the Book of Acts we see Paul and Barnabas both being commissioned as Apostles by the leaders in the church, albeit that it was the Holy Spirit who had set them apart for service (Acts 13:1-3). The Apostle Paul told Timothy, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the elders” (I Timothy 4:14). There is much that needs to be taught about the five fold ministry, but we will delve deeper into that at another time.

Are You Embracing Your Spiritual Gifts?

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. (1 Cor 12:27-31)

The Apostle Paul teaches us to “eagerly desire the greater gifts”(1 Cor. 12:31). However, I do not believe that the Apostle was suggesting that some gifts are of less importance. It could be that some gifts are considered “greater/higher” because they are of a supernatural nature, and the fact that they benefit the Body in corporate worship. However, there are Spirit led natural abilities (lesser gifts) and we need to encourage that those be nurtured and developed, knowing that they are unique, valuable, and necessary in the Body of Christ. Remember, "lesser" does not mean in rank or importance, just that they are of the natural realm while the greater gifts, according to the Apostle Paul are of the spiritual realm (at least that is my understanding).

There are some gifts that will probably never take you on a platform and you will probably never see your name in lights but they were given to the Body so that we can be strong and healthy, and for the advancement of His Kingdom. The Body of Christ needs those who will serve, give, organize, encourage, motivate, teach, sing, act, write, people who are technology driven - you get the picture! It is time for the builders of the wall to arise with their various talents and abilities! Revisit Nehemiah 3, everyone got involved in the rebuilding exercise; priests, elders, perfume makers,aristocrats, women - everyone!

Finally, let us always remember that with all of our spiritual gifts and calling, “Love is the more excellent way” (1 Cor. 13:1-13)

Shalom!

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The faith that leads to rest...

The Weight of Increase

Do not ignore the lesser gifts...

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