NOT Just for the Lucky and the Strong

6/24/2002

From a sister here today: "A song that was on my mind this morning: (it was written to the tune of “The Rose”)"

Some say church………it is a building, a place you go to meet.

Some say church……….it is a concept we’ll never see complete.

Some say church…..it is a business of men who love to lead.

We say church…..it is a Family, and Christ its only seed.

It’s the heart ruled by tradition that never breaks the chain.

It’s the slave in love with bondage that never leaves his pain.

It’s the one who won’t be sharpened who can’t conform to Him,

and the self afraid of dying that never really lives.

When the search has been so lonely,

and you’ve waited for so long.

And you think God’s Kingdom’s only

for the lucky and the strong.

Just remember, in the winter,

deep within the frozen earth

lies the seed that with His Son’s Love

in the spring becomes the church.

This song was on my mind because of the line “you think God’s Kingdom’s only for the lucky and the strong”. And i was thinking about some things God’s expressed to us:

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

“Peace to all of you who are in Christ.”

“He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him.”

He did not promise Life to the full for those who are strong or wise enough to get it or peace and love for those who are lucky enough to have been in the right place at the right time to have come into it. He has set everything in place so that His people can be united with Him and each other, living Life in Peace and Love and Hope and Freedom from the tyranny of sin and all its effects on relationships. And this is not limited by my strength, my weaknesses, my failures, my gifting, my intelligence, my education, or my circumstances. i cannot Build His church just because i want to or even because i think i am called to or feel devoted enough to see it through. That is a matter of the right Gifts for the Blueprint reading and Foundation laying. Of course we’ve seen that in more than a hundred cities and countries. It can be little more than a chaotic and unstable “fellowship” (instead of a Church “the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against”) without relationship with Foundation Laying Gifts, whether local or from afar. Some nice people in every “fellowship,” but often suffering, and generally unsustainable for more than a few years before the pirates and the leaven take over. I know we can’t control whether Father gives the necessary Gifts into our relationships, though we can pursue them, and humble ourselves to receive them, “that we might receive their reward.” We CAN “Pray to the Lord of the harvest!” And though I can’t totally control my situation all of the time, i can respond to HIM and believe HIM and ask HIM to Build His church, because His promises are not limited by what i have or don’t have. His promises for Life and Peace and Hope are for all who will Believe………..