Glory to God!
Yesterday was awesome! God is blessing us with His presence as we meet with Him and worship Him. We are excited about the new songs He is releasing during the worship and the way He is ushering us deeper and deeper into His presence and glory. Hallelujah!
It was very special yesterday as two more people became covenant members of KLF. Covenant membership is about relationship - committing one's life (spirit, soul and body) to one another to fulfill the purposes of God in and through us as His people. It means:
- Establishing our unity in spirit
- Establishing God's call on one's life to be part of the local Body
- Establishing one's commitment to one another to live in true fellowship
- Expressing one's agreement with the values, beliefs and vision of the local Body
- Expressing one's shared passion for God's purposes in and through the local Body
- Exercising one's commitment to serve the local Body
As Kingdom Life is further established, the Lord is raising up leaders to equip the people for works of service and to become fully mature in Christ (Eph. 4:11-16). Therefore we appointed two leaders who have been called and anointed to lead God's people. We are excited about how God brings the different parts of His Body together so that we complement one another to express the manifold wisdom of God (Eph. 3:10).
The Lord is continuing to speak to us about suffering and yesterday He spoke to us about how we are to respond to circumstances and living in this world whilst not being of this world. He showed us that there are two ways in which we can relate to our environment - we either react or we respond.
- To react is to allow self and the flesh to rise up and be mastered by one's circumstances.
- To respond is to deal with circumstances according to the will of God.
"Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God." 1 Peter 4:1,2
As the believer chooses to respond to circumstances God's way, he will need to be prepared to bear the consequences of living for God, for the sake of others and for God's glory, i.e. to suffer.
The Lord also spoke to us about how we need to follow His example of obedience to the Father and bear the consequences just like Jesus did (1 Peter 2:21). In particular the Lord revealed the extent of His forgiveness to us that we are called to imitate by showing us that Jesus not only paid the penalty that we owe for our sin but that He also bore our sin in His body (1 Peter 2:24). That means that Jesus dealt with our sin and the consequence of our sin. Jesus took upon Himself our disobedience and what our disobedience deserves. That means that true forgiveness is not only cancelling the debt of sin but also the very sin itself. We are therefore called to forgive as Jesus has forgiven us. Therefore Peter writes,
"Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing." 1 Peter 3:9
As we live for God and are prepared to bear the consequences for the sake of others and for the glory of God, the glory of the Lord is upon us (John 17:22; 2 Cor. 3:17,18; 1 Peter 4:12-16; Is. 60:1-3). God is showing us that as we remain in Christ and respond His way, God's glory is revealed in our lives! Hallelujah!
We give God all the glory for the wonderful things He is showing us and encouraging us with. What an awesome God we serve!
Quote of the week:
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." Isaiah 60:1-3
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