Finding your place and releasing Gods grace.

One of the greatest needs today in the body of Christ is that of Christians who have not yet discerned the place of their calling.
Multitudes within the church are unaware of latent gifts within them or unsure of where their most fruitful place of service should be.
The idea of finding Gods perfect will for their lives and for their place of service is viewed by many as either practically unobtainable or unnecessary for the attitude is often held that we can muddle along and do our best and God will somehow direct us and always bring his will to pass in the end.
Is that scriptural however?
I would venture to say that it is not.
Kenneth Hagin once had an experience with the Lord where the Lord appeared to him in an open vision and spoke to him concerning his future calling.
During the course of this encounter the Lord revealed to him that 90 per cent of ministers do not enter even the first phase of the ministry that Jesus had planned for their lives.
They may be following good plans even thoroughly biblical plans, but not necessarily Gods plan for their lives and ministry.
Think about that figure, that means that 90 per cent of Jesus ministers on this earth do not find Gods perfect will for their lives,
They are not apprehending that for which Christ Jesus has apprehended them.
I know that this word is true firstly because I believe in the integrity of Kenneth Hagins ministry and what he said I trust implicitly.
But I also know that this is true because of my experiences as a minister in the body of Christ both in my own journey and my observation of others in the ministry.
The norm today in christian ministry even amongst those who would be considered evangelicals in doctrine and Spirit filled in pratice is not, generally speaking, one of people who know that they are walking in the perfect plan of God for their lives and are filled with joy no matter how adverse the circumstances that they face.
It is not one of an absolute conviction that they are walking in Gods perfect will for their lives and therefore have little or no regard for the opinions of other men as to whether they gain the approval of other men or not.
I believe that many today are at heart restless and frustrated because they do not feel themselves to be accomplishing much for God and there is a general air of confusion with which the enemy has blanketed much of the church so that although many people are not satisfied in themselves they simply do not know how to change.
Yet I believe that God has placed within the DNA of every born again child of God a heart cry to be fruitful and a longing to be fulfilled.
So why is it that so many today simply do not know what Gods place of anointed service for them is and how can we break free from that syndrome?
In this blog I would like to give a few pointers from the word of God and from my personal experience that I believe can sharpen our discernment to fine hone our sense of where Gods wants us to be and what it is He wants us to be doing.
In Ephesians 4 v 7 we read that "But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christs gift." and then in v 15 and 16 we are told that
"speaking the truth in love, (we) may grow up in all things into him who is the head-Christ-from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love."
This is really the Lords blueprint for the church that we may first grow up into him as the head by being properly nurtured and spiritually fed, and as we grow up in our relationship with Christ so we also grow out in our ability to minister to other saints.
This is not a vision restricted to christian full time ministry, it is a vision for all of Gods people finding and fulfilling their place.
Notice that verse 16 says that the body is only joined and knit together by that which every joint supplies. Every joint has a supply to bring.
And it goes on to conclude that the growth of the body comes only as every part does it share.
That means that you have a part to play and a supply to bring and a measure of grace to share that is unique.
No one else can take your exact place.
Logically that means also that if you or I fail to bring our supply or to share our measure of grace with those that God has called us to serve then there will be an obvious lack in that local body.
This beggars the question are we thriving or merely surviving in our place of service for Christ?
I believe that at this season we have entered into in the body of Christ it has never been more essential to find our God assigned place and be able to minister that portion of God manifold grace to those that we have been called to serve.

One of the most obvious and essential things that is required for us to be able to find our fruitful place and to bring our spiritual supply is to ensure that we are in the right local church.
It seems to me that this first and most essential fact is so often the one thing that is the reason as to why Christians are not fulfilling their fruitful place or being knitted together with others in the christian ministry.
The enemy knows that once we are in our right setting and begin to be joined and knitted together with others in our christian walk that then we will grow and the church will grow were we belong.
That is one reason why he fights us on this issue and tries by tactics of strife and intimidation and offence to get us out of our place in the local church were God has called us to serve.
We have to be wise to his tactics.
And yet many Christians allow other motives to colour their judgement when it comes to the church which they belong to.
We cannot allow a sense of loyalty or being comfortable or habit or desire to change a needy situation hoping to turn it around or any other number of considerations to cause us to lose out because in actuality we are out of our God assigned place.
When you or I stand before the Lord at the end of our earthly life we will have to give an account of whether we stewarded our gifts in the right environment and ministered them to the right people.
That is our responsibility.
We cannot say in that day "Lord the people would not have listened if I had said that", or "Lord the people just did not believe in that where I worshipped, so they would not have received my ministry"
Multitudes today are trying to serve God out of a misplaced sense of duty or loyalty in the wrong setting.
It is wrong if you cannot be yourself in terms of who God created you to be and if you cannot minister those gifts that God has deposited into your life.
I am not suggesting that freedom to do or say what we want is the barometer of being in the right setting for that is merely immature and selfish.
Rather I am speaking of being in the body of believers where you know that the Lord has called you, willing to work together with others in love submitted to the godly leadership and supportive of it willingly, but a place where you know that your core beliefs are reciprocated and your calling will be fulfilled.
I am amazed at how many Christians good Christians even born again and spirit filled Christians are languishing in churches where they will never fulfill their God given calling and yet they are reluctant to leave.

I myself was in this position for several years.
I can look back at situations where I loved many of the people and they loved me but I could not have ministered my source of supply into that local setting and I was not receiving any spiritual supply or nourishment from anyone else in that particular setting.Why?
Because it was not the right setting for me.
If you are out of your proper setting you will always feel frustrated and restless, and it is again a sad commentary of so much of contemporary christian ministry that many accept these things as the norm for their lives rather than as an indication that something is wrong.
And what is wrong is that they have not yet found their place,for when they do they will find real hope the hope of their calling rising up in the place of depression and frustration.
I spent several years being in an environment where I could not have spoken about some of those biblical truths that I saw in Gods word and where I could never have ministered as I believed that God was calling me to.
I thought that I could be a bridge builder to reach those of a more conservative non Spirit filled inclination however I discovered to my cost that they only attempted to change me!

There is however a more sober side of this whole area of being in the right place and it is that of the cost to us spiritually if we do not.
Paul in writing to the church at Corinth says "For this cause many of you are weak and sickly and a number have fallen asleep"
This scripture has a double application for it is speaking not only of the communion table and a failure to discern the literal body of Jesus sacrificed on the cross for us, but also has application about the need to rightly discern Jesus spiritual body.
And we discern Jesus spiritual body by learning to discern our part and our place in it, or as Ephesians 4 says by being fitly joined and knit together as each part does its share and brings it spiritual supply.
Can you see also how ludicrous it is to think that an acceptable model for church is to have people coming and listening to a sermon and going out and having no more involvement or part to play then that Sunday by Sunday.?
The seriousness of failing to discern our part and our place is that eventually it can open us up to judgement by getting us away from Gods supply of Grace and make us vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one.
It is in the perfect Will of God for our lives that we are impregnable to the enemies attacks succeeding.
If however we are not rightly discerning our place within Christs body than there will be a progression of this giving ground away to the enemy.
Firstly there is the fact that we become spiritually weak (many are weak among you)
We find that our spiritual strenght is not being renewed.
We are easily offended. We are more easily tempted.We are more easily discouraged and depressed. We begin to need other stimulants because we suffer from spiritual boredom.
Then if this is not readily discerned we can become sickly that is our health can begin to suffer.
Make no mistake God had provided for us to walk in a divine flow of health for Jesus has already paid the price having taken all of our sickness and bearing all of our diseases.
But if we are disobedient then it give legitimate ground for the enemy to attack and we need to quickly discern the place where we have missed God and close the gaps in order to receive our healing.
I know a minister who is very powerfully used by the Lord and through his ministry the Lord has wrought some wonderful healings.

Several years ago whilst still in his fifties he was diagnosed with cancer in his body.
He knew the things that I am speaking of and went before the Lord to enquire as to where he has missed it,and the Lord graciously showed him.
As he made a correction in his life and ministry the Lord spoke to him that he would be healed within 21 days.
True to what God had said to him after three weeks there was not a trace of the cancer in his body, and he has walked in good health for almost twelve years now.
Healing is for us but if we do not discern our part and take our place then we can hinder our ability to walk in that healing flow that God has provided.
Lastly the final stage of judgment is that many sleep which speaks in this context of premature death.
Again I am convinced that Gods word promises to us a long life "with long life will I satisfy them and show to them my salvation" but disobedience can open the door to the enemy usually in the area of sickness and disease that can result in death.

I am aware that not everyone will accept these things but I do believe that it is time for all of us in the body of Christ to wake up and grow up so that we begin to discern the Lords body as we ought and to take our place.
When we do this we will see that greater fruit in our lives, and we will find our joy being commensurately increased.
One way that the enemy lies to Gods people is by their doubting that they can ever know or ever fulfil Gods perfect will for their lives.But we can.
The Lord has not shrouded His plan and His purpose in mists of obscurity for us to stumble along through this life hoping to discover it at every turn.
He has given us His Holy Spirit and he has given us His word.
We need to ask ourselves some questions often so as to maintain a clarity of spirit and a clarity of purpose, such as "What makes me come alive?" What are those ministry gifts God has placed in the church that stir me up the most?" "What are those areas of ministry that my heart most resonates with and where I seem to be able to do what I do most naturally?"
All of these kinds of questions can serve to sharpen our discernment to where God has called and gifted us.
Who are the ministries that most help you feed you and strengthen you.
Stay connected to them, for they are those through whom you will receive your supply.
We cannot continue to sit in churches where there is a divorce from all of the above and the reality of what is practiced and preached in that church.We are just occupying space if that be the case.

I believe that the challenge to us is to ask ourselves the question "is my loyalty to men or to God.?"
When Peter and John were released from prison in Acts 4v 23 the bible says that "being let go they went to their own company"
That is surely a telling little phrase "their own company"
We must know those who are our own company who share our deepest values and with whom we can share the richest of fellowship for it is only with these that we can truly fulfill our calling.
God has called us to freedom not a freedom to please ourselves but a freedom to hear Gods voice to obey His will and to follow His plan.
It is a freedom to know Gods life (zoe) in all of its fullness and to bear fruit that is lasting and that will remain.
That may not be by the worlds standards or even by the human standards often promoted within the church, rather it is according to the richness and the fullness of our fellowship with Jesus and with those whom he has place alongside of us.
God has as I said not make it to complicated for us to know,but thank God he has given to us the bible, and he has given to us His precious Spirit.
He has given to us also the gift of a clear conscience, by which we can safeguard ourselves.
Paul could say "I am conscious of nothing against myself" and " I myself always strive to have a conscience without offence towards God and men"( Acts24 16)
We will know in our conscience and in our innermost being whether we are giving our all to do everything we can to be faithful to steward those things that God has entrusted to us.
And it is in that place of a good conscience that we can trust our Heavenly Father to lead us into the unfolding of every good and perfect plan that he has planned for our lives as we seek him with all of our hearts.

Guarding and preserving the life of God within.

Over the last ten months I have become increasingly aware of the necessity of defining what being spiritual really means rather than what peoples thoughts and ideas concerning being spiritual is.
People are sometimes accused of being overly emotional or flaky or unstable or superstitious or simply naive all under the supposed guise of being spiritual.
And these concerns are most often expressed by those who would consider themselves as stable consistent and biblically governed.
I am sure that anyone who has been a christian for any length of time at all will have seen first hand or heard of situations where all of the above descriptions of flaky or unstable Christians could be aptly applied
However I also am convinced that most of that which purports to be biblical and sound Christianity is no more spiritual than the former. For in reality both of these are what I would call soulish christianity, that is they are largely emanating from the mind or will or from the emotions.

On the one hand there is zeal aplenty and passion and a sincere desire to please God. Likewise in the other there is a thoughtful reasoned approach, no less a desire to glorify God, but the human intellect is king and anything that cannot be filtered through the natural understanding is rejected.(this is one reason that tongues is such a powerful gift to the church because we can pray in the spirit but our mind is unfruitful.
That is we can pray in the spirit realm and not be limited or governed by our natural understanding.)
In the latter instance the kind of Christianity described is primarily about cultivating the mind and living by the determination of the human will, thus christianity is reduced to a series of decisions and to learning the right kind of theology.
Does that sound like an over simplification?
I wish that that was true.
To be spiritual is to walk consistently in the spirit, and to walk in the spirit is by definition to be truly spiritual.
And to walk in the spirit is to let your spirit man have the ascendancy in your life above your natural reason and above your emotions.
The bible says the it is the spirit of a man that is the lamp of the Lord searching all his inner parts.
That is that it is in our spirit that the Lord searches us out and it is from there that he communicates with us.
When you and I were born again our spirits were reborn.Our souls were not reborn.And our bodies certainly were not.We may have felt a flurry of emotion as the love of God was released into our spirits but our soul was not instantly changed.
It is our spirit that was changed.
Our soul which consists of our mind and our will and our emotions now must be brought under authority to the word of God.
Our minds need to be renewed.
This would not be necessary if our souls were instantly changed at the new birth, because then it would be submitted to God to begin with.
But as you and I know all to well our minds and our emotions can constantly try to mislead us and to side in with our flesh if we do not learn to walk in the spirit and renew our thought life to agree with what the word of God says.
Christians who let their unregenerate thought patterns largely govern them or their human fleshly emotions dominate never grow out of spiritual babyhood.
And sadly the church is all to full of individuals who have never developed spiritually as they ought.
The truth is that when you and I were born again our spirit was made brand new.We became a new creature in Christ Jesus.
Old things passed away and all things became new.
In that moment of time that we made Jesus the Lord of our lives and believed that God raised him from the dead God connected us to Jesus and we became one spirit with the Lord.
The life of God in the greek it is called zoe was injected into our spirits and we became spiritually alive to God and to the things of God.
We passed from death that is spiritual death into spiritual life.
This is the definition of what it means to become a christian.
If that be so and it is so then it surely follows that the highest priority of our lives should be to safeguard and to cultivate the zoe life of Jesus Christ that is abiding and residing in our reborn human spirits.
Christianity is really the preservation of and increase of the life of God within.
There is a scripture in the book of proverbs that to me encapsulates the heart of christian discipleship and it is proverbs chapter 4 v20 27

"My son,attend to my words;incline your ear to my sayings.
Let them not depart from your eyes;keep them in the midst of your heart.
For they are life to those that find them,and health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence;for out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth ,and perverse lips put far from you.
Let your eyes look right ahead and let your eyelids look straight before you.
Ponder the path of your feet,and let all your ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left:remove your foot from evil."
This is such a rich passage of scripture that I could take up the entire blog delving into it, however notice how in verse 23 it says Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life

Jesus said in Johns gospel chapter 7 v 38 that "Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
It is in our heart that the issues of life are sourced;and it is out of our innermost being that those living waters flow.
The book of proverbs tells us that we must guard diligently our hearts for this very reason and it specifies two primary activities that will ensure that the flow of life in our hearts is guarded firstly the diligence with which we keep Gods word before our eyes and in our hearts, and secondly the diligence with which we guard everything that proceeds out of our mouths.
And both of these are vitally important.
1John 3 v 9 says the following "Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin;for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
When we became a christian a new life was imparted to us that gave to us a brand new nature,and that nature causes us to walk in love and to practice righteousness.
We are not nonchalant about sinning anymore,when we are living out of that new nature.
This new nature is described here in this passage in 1 john as 'the seed of God'
Some versions are more specific. They translate 1John 3v9 as the divine sperm dwelling in us.
Gods life was imparted into us as a seed, and that seed was the living word of the living God.
It therefore is perfectly logical that in being exhorted to protect and guard this divine life or nature of God that dwells within our hearts the first priority mentioned is diligence to keep the word of God in our hearts.
Notice that proverbs 4 21 says to keep (Gods word)in the midst of our hearts.
That is the challenge to us.
Many many Christians do not do this this because if they did what comes out of their mouths would be so different.
Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouths speaks.
When we have got the word of God from being in our minds only down into our spirits then we begin to be very diligent about that which comes out of our mouths.
Why? Because we want to safeguard that source of life flow from within.
Remember that Jesus said that his words to us "they are spirit and they are life(john 6 63)
The word of God is living and powerful and is the primary container of Gods life to us so the more we get that word into our hearts the greater the measure of Gods life is released in and through us.
Remember how in the parable of the sower Jesus identifies that all four of the different categories of those people who listen to the word of God heard it, but only one out of the four where determined to keep that word in their hearts so that it would bear fruit.
How do we get the word of God into our spirit? Simply by keeping it before our eyes and keeping it constantly in our mouths.
In other words by rediscovering the lost art of biblical meditation.
The Hebrew word for meditate includes elements in it that speak of muttering or repeating something over and again to yourself. It certainly includes a vocal element.
It may be quietly under our breath but we should incorporate some element of saying the word of God to ourselves in order to get into down into our spirits.
Even in the world of theatre an actor can memorize an entire play by rehearsing his lines over and again.
Once he is into the production run the lines are kept alive by the fact that he is saying them every night and sometimes twice a day.
Once the run come to an end he may retain a knowledge of some of the lines but the words will not freely flow as they once did.
In the same way if we desire to keep the word of God in the centre of our hearts than we must speak them out often and repeatedly.
I usually begin my morning devotionals by amongst other things speaking out loud certain verses of scripture to myself.
I do this to build myself up but also to keep the word active within my heart and I am almost always conscious of the invigorating effects to my heart of this kind of discipline.
Consider today how much time and energy and money is spent upon the development of the mind and of the body.
Truly our society is saturated with materials geared to preserving youthfulness and keeping trim, additionally think of the money spent on university degrees and higher education to train peoples minds in a particular academic discipline.
By contrast how much time is given to the training and to the development of the human spirit?
I have seen some students who are completely immoral and poor in social skills,yet are funded to study a given subject through higher education.
Yet as to the development of the whole person ie spirit soul and body they are sadly lacking.
They may be very knowledgeable in a given field but very ignorant in a basic grasp of general knowledge,and may possess no moral character at all.
If anything the trend is fast moving into a descent today amongst the students of higher education, and believe me I know in this matter what I am saying is the truth.
Partly this is because of the decline in our society of its moral foundations that is merely mirrored by the young adults of today but also it is stark to see how being well educated can affect nothing more than the mind of an individual, not touching their spirit, and not affecting their character at all.
How much more as Christians should we be developing our whole sense of person hood and I believe that there is a glaring imbalance in western Christianity between how much we have over developed our intellects at the expense of developing our hearts and becoming like John the baptist those who are strong in spirit.
But keeping the word of God ever before our eyes and in the midst of our hearts is only part of that which cultivates this life of God within, there is also the place of praying in the spirit which can charge us up and make us more conscious of spiritual things.
The gift of tongues is a precious and powerful gift to the church and one that we should earnestly desire to receive if we are a christian.
How sad that small wars have been fought over this area of biblical truth when all the time the Lord has provided us with this precious gift that can edify us and strengthen us in our spirits.
I am totally convinced that tongues is available and residual within the spirit of every born again child of God who has been subsequently filled with the Spirit of God.
I do not believe that this greater fullness or baptism of the Holy Spirit has been received by every christian, but it is available.
And to those who have received this gift the gift of tongues is present within their spirits if they will learn how to release it;that does not mean that every Spirit filled believer will automatically speak in new tongues but they can if they are taught how.
I simply cannot imagine trying to maintain my prayer life or to keep my spirit strengthened without exercising this precious gift within my life.
Within the scriptures tongues has many facets and different operations however one of those is to edify us.
The word for edify in the Greek is similar to our English word for charge, like one would charge up a battery.
This is precisely what praying in other tongues will do.
There is a scripture in Isa that prophesies the bestowing of this gift to the new testament church and which describes the fruit of it in a believers life.
Isa 28 v11 12 "For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, To whom he said,This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest," And,"This is the refreshing".
Many in the ministry today are becoming burned out and worn out and yet the Lord has provided us with this wonderful gift the can keep our hearts charged up and can cause us to rest in the refreshing presence of God that dwells within us.
Lastly the passage in proverbs 4 mentions the imperative of guarding that which comes out of our mouths in relation to guarding that river of Gods indwelling presence within us.
"Guard your heart diligently for out of it flow the issues of life"
Put away perversity from your lips and keep corrupt talk far from your mouth"
What does being diligent in this matter entail?
It means that we screen out any unbelief or doubt or scepticism or slander because we reconize that these things can actually dissipate the sense of Gods presence overflowing in our hearts
This is not legalism in reality rather it is freedom, freedom to select our words carefully and wisely the freedom to speak words that minister the grace of God to ourselves and to others.
All of these things can strengthen and nurture the life of God within our hearts and surely there is an imperative need in these days for more of the life that is within to come flowing without to a world that is largely heading for hell.
We who are in the west are not living as we should we are by and large not living as spiritual men and as spiritual women;that is putting the things of the spirit first and learning to walk in the spirit consistently.
But in these days God is shaking everything that can be shaken and a host and army of the people of God will arise,shaking off their soulish stupor they will be alive in the spirit and trained to be sensitive to the Spirit of God, and through them the Glory of the Lord shall be made manifest as never before.