7/18/13 m.b.b.
Here's a term for you.....
The priesthood of the believers.
That one will bring up all kind of mental images won't it?
Clerics in robes....rituals and traditions.
It just makes all the religious hairs on our body stand up and scream, "Run Away!"
But before you do, consider one thing.
Everyone gets to play.
Huh?
Everyone gets to play.
Play what?
In the Kingdom of God.
You are a priest....I am a priest.....Now..you can run away! No, wait. Let's take a look at this thing.
If you have been saved....been born again....had your ticket punched or whatever term you use to refer to relationship with Jesus....then you get to play in His kingdom. God has granted/given to each of us a measure of authority and power to carry out the things that Jesus started.
What do I mean when I say that everyone"gets to play?"
We have been called to participate in the works that Jesus did.
"You mean like pray for the sick?"
Actually no...I mean heal the sick. Jesus didn't just pray for them, He healed them.
Now you can run away. Not!
I know what you're thinking. "Me? Me? You don't mean Me, do you? I can't do that...pray and see people healed?" Your right you can't. But God can and will.
We are merely cooperating with God in the work He is carrying out here on earth.
This is pretty heady stuff for someone coming out of addiction and taking their first baby steps in recovery. But that is the plan, always has been, always will be. Join in the work of Jesus. I mean, come on! Why would you want to be saved and spend the rest of your life sitting in a chair or pew at church, taking up space, not doing anything. Why not venture out into uncharted territory where you've never gone before (Sounds like Star Trek, doesn't it?). Actually learning how to hear God...how to pray for folks...how to serve...how to be a part of the body of Christ.
This is what Vineyard Recovery is all about.
Let's get real here. We are all messed up to some degree. We all have our baggage of wrong attitudes, behaviors, and sins that we need to turn loose of. In this on going process of allowing God to work in us, we have been given this incredible opportunity to tell our story to others who are probably struggling like we are. The only difference is that they may not "know" this Jesus we talk about. They may be familiar with who Jesus is, but that isn't the same as knowing Him. Here, from this place, we get to pray for them. Maybe they need to know that God simply loves them, that their understanding of God is that He is an angry old coot up in heaven with a hand full of lightning bolts just waiting to whack them. We know that isn't true, so we can be His voice, speaking the truth of God's love. We can demonstrate the love of God by asking the Holy Spirit to come and show us / tell us what we are to pray over this individual.
For every reason you have as to why you can't do this...
I have one good one that says you can.
God told you to!
Didn't your read the fine print when you were saved?
Right there in paragraph 4, section D, line 68...it says.."Everyone Gets To Play!"
That is why I'm excited about Vineyard Recovery. We're all learning how to play. How to live and work and share in this thing we call the body of Christ (church). We're learning how to worship and what worship really is. We are starting to see that this Bible we've carried around for a while might actually be a practical book that would help me make it through my day.
And horror or horror's...God is still speaking and He wants to speak to me!!!
How cool is that?
God on you...
mb
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