Archives for December 2016

Christians are seeking the freedom that is promised in scripture but even as it extends its olive branch it remains elusive to most. If the believing priesthood (where all, not just a few, are considered worthy) is real then the obvious next question is – how? How would it function? I think it is best if it is illustrated in anecdotal form.

A woman in our group told the story of her experience with the Lord one night. She felt Him so strongly that it caused her to awake from her sleep. The pressing message from the Lord was that she become involved with a young girl that needed refuge from a tumultuous home situation. She recounted the experience to the group and even though this was not a topic anyone expected to talk about that Sunday every member (functioning as a priest as described in the New Testament) responded with a willingness to help (either logistically or through encouragement or financial) her family deal with the extraordinary responsibility. This is Jesus leading His church. The Holy Spirit spoke and Christians listened and responded.

Within this interaction one finds the freedom that is promised (1Corinthians 12) in that every member has the freedom to express themselves as the Holy Spirit intended. In this way a fresh revelation of Christ is manifested within the body revealing His will to lead His church.

Life is full of difficulties and as Christians we are encouraged to release our problems over to The Father. I’ve done this and feel completely liberated from the stress I was inundated with.

But I’ve also seen another thing happen to me; I begin to grind, think, contemplate over the very same issue I just released to The Father. What I’ve done is effectively taken back the issue from The Father to make it mine all over again. The Holy Spirit allows this to take place because of the never ending love that God has for us. He will not violate our free will, even if we act in a way that is demonstrating our faithlessness. 1Peter 5:8-9 is directly coupled with verse 7 in that we must be alert to how our enemy attempts to disrupt and control our lives. Once we release our problems be alert and restrain our minds to never again taking back what we have once released.