Terry Clifton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
michael douglas wrote:Michael D: I lend my voice here to Judy's and Terry's. As I have repeated often recently, God has made faith the Law by which He intervenes on man's behalf. That's why we are justified by faith. God can do anything He chooses, but our faith/response to Him regulates His response to us. Jesus did said, if we can believe all things shall be possible to us.Don't these things excite anyone like they do me? I long to see the supreme power of God in demonstration, and let the world see who the true God is. If we only can appreciate how God longs for us to understand this. I am trying to get a greater grasp on this, myself. The apostle Paul actually prayed for the Ephesians as recorded in CH 1, that the eyes of their understanding may be enlightened, that they may know the hope of God's calling... the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power...That power is towards us, in every area. I long to be excellent in walking that way in my life. Jesus said, herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit. God set things up this way that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. But it is all for us and by us. Does any one shout a resounding amen to that. This thing stirs me so much writing here that I feel like promoting a TT caucus of the willing for the sake of pursuing the extreme manifestation of God's power in our lives, circumstances, nations and globe!!! And I dare pray... May God make that happen many times over accross this globe. May His true children wake up to their heritage, and enter into the fullness of His kingdom, for this is His Kingdom...
Good evening Michael. To answer your question on a personal note, not speaking for the group, but for myself, I can say that these things do not excite me like they do you. I kinda wish they did. I haven't been real excited about anything in a long time. If it were proper for a Christian to envy, I would envy you for your ability to get excited about these things. The fact is however, that God did not make me like you, or you like me. First Corinthians, chapter twelve pretty much spells this out. You get all excited by what God says here, while I simply accept it as truth. That should not be too surprising. The body of Christ can not be all big toes or left ears, or any other single part. You need a whole bunch of different parts doing different things to have a complete body. The ear cannot do the job of the kidney and you cannot drink coffee through your navel. The Lord made
us different so that we could do what He has designed us to do. That does not make one of us more saved or more spiritual than the other, just different.
Blessings,
Terry
Michael D: Thanx for the blessings, Terry. Same to you and yours.
You do make a veryimportant point about giftings and motivations of the Spirit in a very diverse body. I take that point, most definitely.
I do see another side to it though, which is what I am seeking to stir up in folks. Paul prayed that we would all come to know the exceeding greatness of His power towards us who believe, according to His mighty power. Of course he also saw that God can do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that is at work in us. I do believe that the Body of Christ has not yet caught a hold of that revelation much like the Ephesians for whom Paul was praying, had not. I do believe that as the end draws nearer God will effect this realization in His people ever increasingly and they will taste of, and manifest, greater and greater dimensions of this kingdom reality.
Now I am aware that there are many other aspects to the reality of God's Kingdom, but I believe that His power for all believers is an integral part of it. I keep remembering Paul's words where he stressed that the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
Permit me to quote II Peter 1:3-4 ... According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Now, I do believe there must be balance in all things, but the emphasis of God's power in the kingdom is an underlying reality. Paul said he preached the Gospel to the Corinthians in such a way that their faith will not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
I emphasize these things because I believe that the Church has de-emphasized them too much, and in too many instances the Church appears weak to the world. All sorts of forces invade our domains and we seem at a loss re the spiritual power and authority to prevail upon them.
Just last night I saw a British pastor of Nigerian descent. He was relating some amazing details of muslim conversions in their vast Muslim population. HE said that on Al Jazeera's web site they are reporting that 36,000 Muslims are being converted to the Lord every day. So much so, he reported that Muslims are now having their services on Sundays (Friday is the official day for them) so that their children won't go to Christian services. When asked by the Host of the program, why was all of this happening, one of the things he said was that there were many miracles taking place in the Christian ministries. They are seeing the power of a personal God in manifestation. He said that they have prayer meetings of 100,000 people. they've had up to 500,000 ans 1,000,000.
I long to see the body of Christ get into that frame of mind and turn the place upside down like in the early Church.
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