Some Thoughts on Priests (Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness, Day 12)
This blog has been temporarily overtaken by my Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness Challenge. You can find out more by checking out the Introduction.
Most of my house church friends make a big deal about how God has abolished the priesthood. To them it’s a big deal that no man stands between us and God anymore. For me, though, the more radical truth is that instead of a select group of people ministering before God, we all get to act as priests. Peter tells us that Christ has made us “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light,” (1 Peter 2:9, ESV). That means we all get to do exactly what this thirty day challenge has been about. We get to stand before Him, hear His voice, and obey it.
None of this means that we are peoples’ only link to God. They can touch Him themselves just like we can. The point isn’t that someone can’t have a relationship with God, but that we all get to help someone else touch Jesus when He is difficult for them to find. Priests minister to God for God alone. But they also bring before God the needs of people. A priest is not a priest if he doesn’t do both.
All of this is to say that today I saw the value of what I’ve been doing on this challenge (standing and listening) as I gathered with my spiritual family. There were several times as we were together where I saw Jesus moving and I was able to partner with Him on behalf of the needs of the people around me. A headache one time, a serious concern another, a word of prophecy later that day. None of these are actually that different than what I normally do, except that this time they were things I saw Jesus wanting to address and addressed them because I saw Him moving. And while I don’t have any confirmed testimonies that point to exceptional power accompanying my ministry, I (and others not involved) can tell that there is some new level of authority accompanying what I normally do.
You want to know the funny thing? I’m still not sure what Jesus wants to do with the situations I would normally be freaked out about. All the while He keeps showing me things He wants me to do, He has shown me zilch on the things that I “need” revelation on. So I’m being patient and waiting and not doing much on those fronts, assuming, until He tells me differently He doesn’t want me doing much. We’ll see if that works out in the long run. Until then, I’m going to continue to practice being a priest.
Have you noticed changes in your ministry since you started the challenge? And, what have you been doing when Jesus hasn’t given you revelation on something pressing? Let me know in the comment section.
Join us on the “Thirty Days to Greater Fruitfulness” experiment. For the rest of September we are spending 30 minutes in silent prayer listening to Jesus and then acting on what He asks us to do. Then we blog about the changes that are occurring in our lives through the marriage of listening and obedience. It’s not too late. If you’re just checking out that experiment feel free to jump in. And if you want more information, you can check it out here.
Photo Credit: September WallPaper Calendar by DewDreams
I’m Being Heard (Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness, Day 11)
This blog has been temporarily overtaken by my Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness Challenge. You can find out more by checking out the Introduction.
Probably one of the most unusual aspects of this journey has been that the more I’ve been silent and waited on the Lord to speak the more I feel like I’m being heard when I pray. This is particularly strange because the amount of time I have actually had to pray things back to the Lord has been incredibly small. But tonight as I was praying I was struck by the fact that Jesus is listening to me in a way that is different than before. Almost as if what I’m saying now carries more weight and authority. Than when I started this challenge eleven days ago.
Why is this the result of listening and obeying? So much of the time we only ask for things that we desire and we care very little for the things of Heaven. But Jesus invites into a relationship with Him where we hear what is on His heart and we join Him in intercession for those things. And these are the things I’ve been praying for as I’ve begun to listen more closely. So, I feel like I’m being heard at a new level. And I’m enjoying it.
Have you noticed a change in how you pray since you’ve started the challenge? Tell us about in the comments section.
Join us on the “Thirty Days to Greater Fruitfulness” experiment. For the rest of September we are spending 30 minutes in silent prayer listening to Jesus and then acting on what He asks us to do. Then we blog about the changes that are occurring in our lives through the marriage of listening and obedience. It’s not too late. If you’re just checking out that experiment feel free to jump in. And if you want more information, you can check it out here.
Photo Credit: September WallPaper Calendar by DewDreams
Humility (Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness, Day 10)
This blog has been temporarily overtaken by my Thirty Days To Greater Fruitfulness Challenge. You can find out more by checking out the Introduction.
Today was one of those days that takes everything out of you. Nothing went according to plan, everything was rush, rush, rush, and by the time the end of the day rolled around I still hadn’t spent my 30 minutes listening to what the Lord had to say. On top of all of that, by 10:00 A.M. this morning of one the issues I mentioned in an earlier post became significantly more difficult than it already was. So I spent the entire day stewing on the issue with no resolution. I was emotionally drained and physically spent.
You can imagine, then, that by the time 11:25 P.M. rolled around and I went to sit down and listen, that I wasn’t expecting much. At best–tired, quiet prayer; at worst–falling asleep and waking up half-way through the night, only to feel guilty as I drug myself to bed. But what actually happened was really surprising.
I sat down in the sun room off the front of my house and I just laid my whole entire day in front of Jesus. I especially laid the whole situation that had been causing me grief all day and totally admitted that I had no idea how to fix the situation. As I sat there and listened I knew that I was entering into a holy moment that was somehow intended for this 3o Day experiment. For the first time in a long time I was able to see that I had absolutely no idea how to deal with the situation in front of me and that I was absolutely helpless to fix it myself. I also began to see how so many of my ideas that I typically would use to fix this sort of thing are just that: my ideas, nothing more, nothing less.
I can’t explain it to you in words, but a holy freedom and clear, crisp humility gripped my soul for the first time in a long time. I had become dependent on God, probably for the first time in a while. And as I had, I began to sense the pleasure of the Lord. Shortly thereafter there was a flood of revelation that poured into me from the Holy Spirit. He gave me intercession for our house church. He gave me revelation about the condition of a friend’s heart that helped me pray for my friend. He gave me a prophetic word for another friend and directions on how to deliver it. It was the most satisfying time of prayer that I’ve had since I started.
But all of this came when I became totally convinced that I could not solve anything on my own. In a lot of ways, the whole encounter felt like the Lord was very kindly breaking my hip (Genesis 32:25-35). My encouragement to you, if you’re joining me, is to find this place of humility before the Lord. Become convinced that you can no longer produce anything on your own. In a lot of ways, if this is the only fruit that comes from this 30 Days, it will have been more than worth it.
Has the Lord shown you the value of humility through this experiment? How did He bring you there? Leave a comment in the comment section and let us know.
Join us on the “Thirty Days to Greater Fruitfulness” experiment. For the rest of September we are spending 30 minutes in silent prayer listening to Jesus and then acting on what He asks us to do. Then we blog about the changes that are occurring in our lives through the marriage of listening and obedience. It’s not too late. If you’re just checking out that experiment feel free to jump in. And if you want more information, you can check it out here.
Photo Credit: September WallPaper Calendar by DewDreams
Cluster Map
Pursuing Glory 