Sanctified to Love

Glory to God!

Yesterday's meeting was amazing. The presence of the Father was tangible as He ministered His love and healing to us. The Lord spoke to us about how we need spiritual revelation to "understand what God has freely given us" (1 Cor. 2:9-12). This is what He showed us:

We have received

God has given every believer fullness in Christ. Col. 2:9,10; 1 John 4:15
In Christ every believer has received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. Eph.1:3
In Christ every believer is sanctified - made holy and righteous. 1 Cor. 1:30; Eph. 1:4; 5:25-27

To become or to be?

Many believers think that God saved them to become like Jesus and that their Christian lives are about God refining them to become increasingly Christ-like. Suffering, sickness and challenges in life are all attributed to God's sanctifying process and understood as God's disciplining work to improve His children. Ultimately God is held responsible for making the believer more Christ-like and is also blamed for the believer's lack of Christ-likeness!

The truth is that God has given every believer His fullness - His divine presence and power so that the believer can walk like Jesus did and be like Him as He is (Eph. 4:24; 2 Peter 1:3; 1 John 1:6; 4:17). It is the believer's responsibility to be obedient and to put on Christ because s/he has received Him (Eph. 5:1; 8,9; Col. 3:10-14). The believer doesn't become loving - s/he is commanded to love because God, who is love, dwells in him/her! We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

The nature of God in the believer is revealed by faith and obedience.

Similarly the fruit of the Spirit is produced by faith and obedience as the believer follows the desires of the Spirit and keeps in step with Him (Gal. 5:16-25). Faith works through love as the believer realises the One who dwells within and chooses to love as He loves.

The believer is sanctified to love!

We praise God for His revelation to us and for showing us what He has freely given us.

"Therefore as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may still have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14

Growing in the prophetic

Glory to God!

A couple of weeks ago the Lord spoke to us about being the prophetic people He has called us to be. The Church is to be the revelation of the Lord on earth as He is in heaven. Consequently we must learn to walk in our identity as His prophetic people: a people who hear God's voice, know God's heart and communicate God to the world. As part of equipping the Church in the prophetic, Alexander Blair and Sophie Rowe led a prophetic training day on Saturday for the adults and the children. It was a great time together as we learned to hear God and encourage, strengthen and comfort one another (1 Cor. 14:3). It was exciting to see many discover how simple it is to hear God and to be used of Him to build others up.

Yesterday, at our Sunday meeting, we gave the Holy Spirit room to speak to us and for us to minister to one another. As someone said as they walked into the meeting, "I could sense the spirit of encouragement as I walked into the room."

The Lord then spoke to us about being satisfied in His love. He showed us that unless we learn to be completely satisfied in His love, we will struggle to love others unconditionally. As God's dearly loved people we must learn to be filled with God and learn to depend on Him rather than on the created to be satisfied (see 1 John 2:15,16). Whatever we depend on to be satisfied is our god. Those who learn to experience the fullness of God's love for them are able to love in order to give (unconditional love), rather than love in order to receive (conditional love). We can only love like this if we are filled with the Father's love (see Eph. 5:1,2; 1 John 4:19). The psalmists describe their dependence on God to be satisfied in Psalm 17:15; 63 and 90:14. As sons of God we are not only called sons but have received the spirit of God's Son so that we can experience the Father's love and live as sons of God satisfied in God's love (see Gal. 4:6). We then entered a time of intimacy with the Father and were filled with His unfailing love once again. 

"Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, 

I will see you face to face and be satisfied." Psalm 17:15

Living as new creations in Christ

 (photo by Hannah Schulze)

Glory to God!

Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about our new identity in Christ and what it means to live by faith in what God says about us as believers. The apostle Paul lived by faith in his new identity in Christ. He demonstrated his faith by the way he lived his life. Who he believed he was in Christ influenced how he lived his life. The apostle Paul's life demonstrates a life that reached up, reached in and reached out.Similarly the disciple of Christ who believes in his new identity in Christ will reach up, reach in and reach out.

Reach up.

By faith in his new identity in Christ, Paul no longer lived for himself but as a son of God for Christ (see Gal. 2:19,20; Phil. 3:7-10). He reached up by living to know Christ and living for Him. Those who truly believe and are "fully persuaded" (see Rom. 4:17-23) that they are sons of God will demonstrate their faith by how they reach up in their daily lives. Faith works through love as the believer reaches up because of his love for God's presence and because of his faith in his new identity in Christ as a child of God.

Reach in.

By faith in his new identity in Christ, Paul lived as a member of Christ's Body and lived for the Church (see Rom. 12:4,5; Col. 1:24-29).He reached in by living for the people of God and using his gifts and resources to build up the members of Christ's Body. Likewise, if the believer has faith in his new identity in Christ as a member of His Body, he will demonstrate that faith by living to serve and love the Church. God calls every believer to recognise his new identity in Christ as a member of Christ's Body and to live a life of love for God's people.

Reach out.

By faith in his new identity in Christ, Paul lived as a minister of reconciliation, an ambassador of God's Kingdom (see 2 Cor. 5:17-20). As a new creation in Christ, Paul lived to reach out to the lost to reconcile people to the Father. Likewise, if the believer has faith in his new identity in Christ as an ambassador of His Kingdom, he will demonstrate that faith by living to reach out to the lost with God's love. Faith works through love as we live as ambassadors of God's Kingdom and love God's salvation purposes.

We praise God for showing us what it means to live by faith in our new identity in Christ!

Upcoming events

16.02: Prophetic Training with Alexander Blair

22,23.03: Signs, wonders and the Kingdom of God conference with Dr Richard Maybery 

Quote of the week:

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." 2 Cor. 5:17

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The power of the tongue

 Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Glory to God!

As part 2 of God's Word to us concerning "Will you run to win in 2013", Alexander Blair spoke to us about "What will you say in 2013" a couple of Sundays ago. Addressing the way we use our tongue, the Lord showed us the power of words to bring life or to bring destruction (Prov. 18:20,21; Mark 11:23; Rom. 10:8-10; James 3:2). We also learned that the tongue has the power:

• to reveal one's level of maturity. James 3:2
• to control one's life. James 3:3-5 
• to build or destroy. James 3:5
• to defile. James 3:6; Matt. 15:11,18
• to run out of control. James 3:7,8
• to contradict itself. James 3:9-12; 1:6-8
• to reveal genuine religion. James 1:26

Having learned about the power of the tongue, the Lord then showed us how to properly use our tongue by:

• making a commitment to speak life wherever we go. Eph. 4:29,31
• dominating our territory with aggressive faith. Mark 11:23
• influencing the conversation of those around us.
• releasing God's blessing into the world.

"It is written: 'I believed therefore I have spoken.' 

With that same spirit of faith we also 

believe and therefore speak." 2 Cor. 4:13