Together
Hello, Fellow Sojourners x
For those of you still reading along with the Bible in 6 months... how awesome is it to be through the Gospels now? I loved being back in the Gospels. In to the letters now...just a couple weeks left!!
It is so worth it; Even if I never received any revelation or grew in knowledge during the Gen-Rev reading when I simply give myself just obediently to the process and go along the roller-coaster motion of at times having to hold on and make it through the difficult passages or hard slog books and then other times feeling like I can't get enough and could almost eat the book, but all the while just having a heart posture that is seeking and expecting the Lords Grace for the process! Then the bonus is when Holy Spirit breaths revelation, opens my eyes to something, does heart and life surgery and just sharing His NOW Words to us in our season too... He just shows up in such lovely ways!
I have enjoyed doing this with friends and getting to bounce thoughts and revelations, share struggles and emotions, hear insights and be spurred on together, it's just wonderful!
Which leads me nicely in to this post about walking our walk TOGETHER.
I've had this post half written in my drafts for so long... I really need to carve out set writing times as life is just so busy in this season but my heart is bursting with so much I want to get written down.
In my last post 'Set Apart' I mentioned the importance of others in our own journeys with The Lord.
It sounds almost contradictory that only we can walk in our own salvation yet, we are not meant to walk this alone! We can be encouraged, we can even be carried awhile or led but as that old saying goes " you can a lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!". The responsibility for responding to The Lord sits just with us.
We will cross the finish line individually yet we will get to it together.
How do we do that and why is 'together' so important?
This is something The Lord has been showing me and unraveling slowly for me since 2011.
I was in the middle of a major break in my life that year and I was in my bed for almost the whole year!! During that time I began to learn a lot about the people who really were in this with me(very few) and the ones that still wanted me on their terms and not willing to get in to the mess to encourage the right outcome(again: we cant DO it for someone but we need to do it WITH someone!).
During that time God raised up 4 'Gracious Lifelines' as I nicknamed them who actually walked with me and I with them despite the limitations that were very real in that year especially.
Those girls who I will talk more about another time, carried me to The Lord, spoke life to me when I was in most need, cheered me on when I took a hard step, spoke tough words to me when they knew I was retreating, prayed for me, spoke the Word to me, met me where I was at, heard my heart, let me pray for them, let me encourage them and so on. The Lord was with me, The Lord was with them, The Lord was WITH US.
The challenge was that to raise money he would do a sponsored cycle across a portion of The U.K cycling and pulling a rickshaw. He had to complete this himself. So, when during one of the earlier days in the week he was exhausted, he was behind in his miles and timings and he reached a very hilly part of the journey he struggled big time! Traffic was building up behind him and he was slowing down, he said he felt like he was peddling but felt he was not really getting anyway and he was slumped over the bars dejected. To quit would be to forfeit... no one else could get his rickshaw to its finish line but him... then the moment which stuck with us happened... we watched people get out of cars and run along side him - they shouted encouragements at him "Come on, you can do it, you're nearly there, you're strong" people ahead of him calling him on - crowds waiting! And he made it.
They couldn't lift his legs through the task for him but they lifted his spirits!
For those of you still reading along with the Bible in 6 months... how awesome is it to be through the Gospels now? I loved being back in the Gospels. In to the letters now...just a couple weeks left!!
It is so worth it; Even if I never received any revelation or grew in knowledge during the Gen-Rev reading when I simply give myself just obediently to the process and go along the roller-coaster motion of at times having to hold on and make it through the difficult passages or hard slog books and then other times feeling like I can't get enough and could almost eat the book, but all the while just having a heart posture that is seeking and expecting the Lords Grace for the process! Then the bonus is when Holy Spirit breaths revelation, opens my eyes to something, does heart and life surgery and just sharing His NOW Words to us in our season too... He just shows up in such lovely ways!
I have enjoyed doing this with friends and getting to bounce thoughts and revelations, share struggles and emotions, hear insights and be spurred on together, it's just wonderful!
Which leads me nicely in to this post about walking our walk TOGETHER.
I've had this post half written in my drafts for so long... I really need to carve out set writing times as life is just so busy in this season but my heart is bursting with so much I want to get written down.
In my last post 'Set Apart' I mentioned the importance of others in our own journeys with The Lord.
It sounds almost contradictory that only we can walk in our own salvation yet, we are not meant to walk this alone! We can be encouraged, we can even be carried awhile or led but as that old saying goes " you can a lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink!". The responsibility for responding to The Lord sits just with us.
We will cross the finish line individually yet we will get to it together.
How do we do that and why is 'together' so important?
This is something The Lord has been showing me and unraveling slowly for me since 2011.
I was in the middle of a major break in my life that year and I was in my bed for almost the whole year!! During that time I began to learn a lot about the people who really were in this with me(very few) and the ones that still wanted me on their terms and not willing to get in to the mess to encourage the right outcome(again: we cant DO it for someone but we need to do it WITH someone!).
During that time God raised up 4 'Gracious Lifelines' as I nicknamed them who actually walked with me and I with them despite the limitations that were very real in that year especially.
Psalm 122:1(CJB) I was glad when they said to me,“The house of Adonai! Let’s go!”
(The cross-references for this scripture also encourage me; they go 'together', they say 'let's go')
Those girls who I will talk more about another time, carried me to The Lord, spoke life to me when I was in most need, cheered me on when I took a hard step, spoke tough words to me when they knew I was retreating, prayed for me, spoke the Word to me, met me where I was at, heard my heart, let me pray for them, let me encourage them and so on. The Lord was with me, The Lord was with them, The Lord was WITH US.
During that year The Lord showed me the perfect visual of this support in action. When I watched it unfold live on the television at the time I cried my eyes out!! Mr Sojourner was with me and both of us got that we were having a moment with Holy Spirit; we both just knew He was showing us a picture and we have recalled it and referred to it many times in the 8 years since...
The BBC channel have a weekday evening program called The ONE Show. In 2011(the year I was in bed) the presenter Matt did their first Rickshaw Challenge for Children in Need. They have done it every year since but though they have included many children in the years following who have benefited from services supported by the Children in Need charity and made up teams to complete the Rickshaw Challenge, in 2011 Matt did it alone.
The challenge was that to raise money he would do a sponsored cycle across a portion of The U.K cycling and pulling a rickshaw. He had to complete this himself. So, when during one of the earlier days in the week he was exhausted, he was behind in his miles and timings and he reached a very hilly part of the journey he struggled big time! Traffic was building up behind him and he was slowing down, he said he felt like he was peddling but felt he was not really getting anyway and he was slumped over the bars dejected. To quit would be to forfeit... no one else could get his rickshaw to its finish line but him... then the moment which stuck with us happened... we watched people get out of cars and run along side him - they shouted encouragements at him "Come on, you can do it, you're nearly there, you're strong" people ahead of him calling him on - crowds waiting! And he made it.
They couldn't lift his legs through the task for him but they lifted his spirits!
He had to do it himself but he couldn't have done it alone!
During that year this was another big revelation for me in the area of togetherness and I had never seen this before..
In John 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. When I was reading through the Bible that year this passage hit me hard where I was at and in this lesson the Lord was opening to me about one another.
43
Having said this, he shouted, "El`azar! Come out!"
44
The man who had been dead came out, his
hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen and his face covered with a
cloth. Yeshua said to them, "Unwrap him, and let him go!"
What struck me at the time and stays with me even today is that Jesus in His power raised Lazarus back to life - and then partnered with His disciples in the restoration that followed... I was reading the NIV at the time and this is that phrase as I first 'saw' the revelation in it...
Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”
I was so excited! Yes! Jesus brought him to life; that exchange was just between Lazarus and His Lord and Saviour but he was still wearing his 'grave clothes' and looked and maybe even smelled like a dead man! That's where the hands and feet of Jesus, Lazarus' friends, unwrapped Him! What a beautiful image of the parts of the body at work together for each other under the headship and authority of Jesus bringing Glory to His Name.
Since that year of 2011 when this beautiful lesson really began being unfolded for me I have intentionally walked deeper and at heart levels of accountability with friends; I have made sure I have had at least one mentor and spiritual mother in my life - I am actually blessed to have a few!
We as a family are currently out of attending a Modern Church Expression and are on a specific journey with The Lord which I will open up more and more on here over time(but I will say this: we obediently followed a call out by the Spirit and we did not leave in an offense situation or burn bridges etc.).
You may, therefore, find this post ironic... but though it is therefore presumed that we are isolated and not in community that presumption is very wrong, we are still in fact in the 'fellowship of the believer' and we 'assemble' with others in the body all through the week. We are involved in close, accountable relationships and are very active with the Lord, in The Word and really doing life with others.
We are very aware that you can be part of an established church but yet not walking in accountability or biblical relationships with others but once you're ticking the church attendance box you can be tricked in to thinking everything is okay - you may be serving on teams - you may be attending extra groups or meetings - but still be disconnected from others at a heart level or even disconnected from God!
I am not saying that everyone in a church is like that, obviously!!, lol, I am saying that attendance does not mean automatically you're walking as a body... either way and no matter what your faith expression is; we have to be very intentional in walking in accountability and cultivating vulnerable, trusting, relationships with each other build on Jesus and in the unity given by The Spirit.
Its hard - I know - I am learning as I go! and when the honeymoon period is over and the real hard work of love kicks in we have to grow and it can be awkward and painful but it drives us to Christ... it drives us to Jesus for our own hearts before we meet with our friends in this way and it drives us to Jesus together because we all see our weakness... but the beauty comes when we push through this pain barrier!! Just like in a marriage - at some point it doesn't look pretty or feel easy but we are committed!
Have a read of these passages in Ephesians 3 and 4 (cjb) (Emphasis mine*)
It's where as we are knitted together in love and in union with the messiah we show the angelic rulers a side of God - His redemption plan for the fallen human creation! and it's a way His Glory can be made visible. The angels see how he is bringing restoration from the fall through the cross when we walk in all that was purchased by the cross which must bring another facet of their worship, and the fallen angels see the power of God and the cross at work in us and it reminds them they're defeated!
And as Jesus says when we are one the world will see and may believe!
How awesome is that?
John 17:21 that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are united with me and I with you, I pray that they may be united with us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.
I am in a living lesson with this one... More on this subject again...
God Bless,
Lisa
We as a family are currently out of attending a Modern Church Expression and are on a specific journey with The Lord which I will open up more and more on here over time(but I will say this: we obediently followed a call out by the Spirit and we did not leave in an offense situation or burn bridges etc.).
You may, therefore, find this post ironic... but though it is therefore presumed that we are isolated and not in community that presumption is very wrong, we are still in fact in the 'fellowship of the believer' and we 'assemble' with others in the body all through the week. We are involved in close, accountable relationships and are very active with the Lord, in The Word and really doing life with others.
We are very aware that you can be part of an established church but yet not walking in accountability or biblical relationships with others but once you're ticking the church attendance box you can be tricked in to thinking everything is okay - you may be serving on teams - you may be attending extra groups or meetings - but still be disconnected from others at a heart level or even disconnected from God!
I am not saying that everyone in a church is like that, obviously!!, lol, I am saying that attendance does not mean automatically you're walking as a body... either way and no matter what your faith expression is; we have to be very intentional in walking in accountability and cultivating vulnerable, trusting, relationships with each other build on Jesus and in the unity given by The Spirit.
Its hard - I know - I am learning as I go! and when the honeymoon period is over and the real hard work of love kicks in we have to grow and it can be awkward and painful but it drives us to Christ... it drives us to Jesus for our own hearts before we meet with our friends in this way and it drives us to Jesus together because we all see our weakness... but the beauty comes when we push through this pain barrier!! Just like in a marriage - at some point it doesn't look pretty or feel easy but we are committed!
Have a read of these passages in Ephesians 3 and 4 (cjb) (Emphasis mine*)
3: 8
To me, the least important of all God's
holy people, was given this privilege of announcing to the Gentiles the
Good News of the Messiah's unfathomable riches,
9
and of letting everyone see how this
secret plan is going to work out. This plan, kept hidden for ages by
God, the Creator of everything,
10
is for the rulers and authorities in
heaven to learn, through the existence of the Messianic Community, how
many-sided God's wisdom is.
11
This accords with God's age-old purpose, accomplished in the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.
12
In union with him, through his
faithfulness, we have boldness and confidence when we approach God.
13
So I ask you not to be discouraged by
the troubles I endure on your behalf - it is all for your glory.
14
For this reason, I fall on my knees before the Father,
15
from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its character.
16
I pray that from the treasures of his
glory he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit,
17
so that the Messiah may live in your
hearts through your trusting. Also I pray that you will be rooted and
founded in love,
18
so that you, with all God's people, will
be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height and depth of the
Messiah's love,
19
yes, to know it, even though it is
beyond all knowing, so that you will be filled with all the fullness of
God.
20
Now to him who by his power working in
us is able to do far beyond anything we can ask or imagine,
21
to him be glory in the Messianic
Community and in the Messiah Yeshua from generation to generation
forever. Amen.
4:1
Therefore I, the prisoner united with
the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have
been called.
Together is important. Together is in fact necessary! Togetherness gets the religion out of us... it's where we confess our sins, share our failings, encourage and exhort, pray, carry, run alongside, call out to each other "You can do it, come on!".
2
Always be humble, gentle and patient, bearing with one another in love,
3
and making every effort to preserve the
unity the Spirit gives through the binding power of shalom.
4
There is one body and one Spirit, just as when you were called you were called to one hope.
5
And there is one Lord, one trust, one immersion,
6
and one God, the Father of all, who rules over all, works through all and is in all.
It's where as we are knitted together in love and in union with the messiah we show the angelic rulers a side of God - His redemption plan for the fallen human creation! and it's a way His Glory can be made visible. The angels see how he is bringing restoration from the fall through the cross when we walk in all that was purchased by the cross which must bring another facet of their worship, and the fallen angels see the power of God and the cross at work in us and it reminds them they're defeated!
And as Jesus says when we are one the world will see and may believe!
How awesome is that?
John 17:21 that they may all be one. Just as you, Father, are united with me and I with you, I pray that they may be united with us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.
I am in a living lesson with this one... More on this subject again...
God Bless,
Lisa
Comments
Post a Comment