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It's Obvious Something was Missing
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Overwhelmed and Stretched
With the last season coming to an end it’s obvious something was missing! For most, the gospel walk has not been an easy walk! Overwhelmed and stretched on so many levels, we constantly juggled every aspect of our lives mentally, physically, spiritually and financially. Where we've landed, and how we've landed, was a far cry from what we were expecting. Many have slowly drifted away from the extremes of God's love personally, and from the extremes of God's Kingdom corporately. Our personal walk with God should automatically lead us into a corporate dynamic where we are co-habitating with the Kingdom on a full time basis, — or close to it. Becoming that tight knit group where no one is left behind.
But somehow, somewhere, we dropped the ball because at the end we never dialed in on how to walk in true ‘unity’ as God originally intended, nor were we able to walk with a ‘genuine love’ as outlined in the New Testament. Love and the resting place that Jesus talked about both became elusive. We talk about the cross, the love of God, and going the distance, but many never entered into their destinies. They either fell through the cracks as the great commission plowed forward leaving the great commandment to love one another at the back of the bus, — or they followed their leaders as they too climbed up the commission ladder as exemplified . . . only to find out that there was no room for them.
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Picking Up the Pieces
That safe place that we've been all looking for (as part of the initial design) was never really there as they were picking up the pieces of their lives from the very sanctuary where they gathered. Our misinterpretation and misrepresentation of this New Testament love was the trigger that created the scattering. What started out real good somehow got twisted as it sent many into a feel-good delusion that distorted us in so many ways. We square danced with a counterfeit that was NOT going to open the floodgates of a Kingdom that was designed to help us move forward.
Now sitting here in transition, and going through the checklist of the last season, it’s obvious that we missed something, and we need to learn from it. It’s obvious we ended up with something that looks a whole lot different than what we original planned. Its obvious there is a huge disconnect between the Kingdom of heaven and the ground that we are presently walking on. Its obvious when looking at the spiritual body count, — that we’ve saddled up with something that really didn’t give us the results that we were looking for as family, friends, and finances took some serious hits from a spiritual war gone bad. It’s obvious that we have a prophetic voice out there that was totally out of sync when it comes to putting boots to the ground. And from the top heavy administration, it’s obvious we forgot how to function as a team where leaving someone behind is not an option!
But now that we have been made aware at such a costly price, it’s time to bring it into an alignment that will give us those needed Kingdom results. We are in transition and part of that transition is to land in a highly functional environment, an Ekklesia environment to be exact! Either where we are needs to come in alignment! Or wherever we land needs to have a revelation of that alignment. In the free-fall transition that most have found themselves in, they now need to land somewhere.
According to the Lord, it was always meant to be that personal relationship first as the love of God surrounds us, fills us and defines us. The good work of God needs to start on the inside level first. Being born again, we are then called to integrate and be that functioning team as we all contribute by playing the parts that God has for us, — callings, giftings, ministries and anointings.
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Jesus is the Model
As Holy Spirit is called to continually testify of Jesus, he is reminding us daily that Jesus is, and always will be that model. There is no other model! With the treasures that God has given us, we now need to land into that model that has the character of Jesus all over it, with a unity that commands the blessings from God. Those that were part of the latest exodus, — well their sense of reasoning has shown them that something has radically changed. Accountability was missing and what started out very good, somehow ended up being a rewrite of Galatians when it should have been a continuation of the 2nd Chapter of Acts. The valley is full of broken hearts, broken homes and broken dreams.
I am pretty sure, for most of us, that what we are doing today is not exactly what our Father had planned when sending his Son. And now, once again, we hear of prophetic words on how this new season is going to be off the charts, and that is good! But according to the Kingdom of heaven, those prophetic words (those authentic prophetic words) are searching for that functional model that can move the Kingdom of heaven as originally designed here on earth. It will be a demonstration of Kingdom power that will go beyond what we can think or imagine. That is why the Lord calls this group ‘a remnant’, because only a few will actually figure it out, — like in the days of Noah. The rest will just polish up what they have.
We really need to learn from our mistakes. And for those that still walking in some level of denial, please take note: — up to 80% of North American congregants left the building. 90% of the large church that I once attended made the exodus, — and to this day most are still scattered. We need to wake up! Holy Spirit’s desire is that we leave the dysfunction behind, and for us to regroup and walk in the very model that was originally designed by Jesus and his apostles back in the day. It is this model that Holy Spirit is wanting to breath upon today. It is this model that will take us to where we truly need to be going. It is this model that will allow us to walk in the greater works as described by Jesus. It is this model that will change our neighborhoods once again.
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Our Need to get Back on Track
So how do we get back on track and where do we start? Well how about we start from where it all began. We thought we were walking in love, we thought we were reflecting God's voice; we thought we were demonstrating a New Testament model of church, but somehow it jumped track. Our gospel, for most of us, has become a powerless gospel where we have been entertained and not utilized. To many, our present day transition may have a similar feeling to what the disciples may of felt during the three days prior when Jesus walked out of the grave. They felt defeated thinking it was the end when in reality it was the beginning. And so it is for us today. We need to step into all that he has for us. It’s a whole new ball game, and if I’m correct, — we’re down to the two-minute mark!
John the Baptist talked about the Kingdom of heaven, Jesus talked about the great commandment. Somehow we need to revisit those original conversations, re-establish what it is that they were releasing, and re-evaluate what it is that we are doing. It’s not that everything that we did in the past was wrong! But with the new season at hand, we just need to be doing it better corporately! We are now entering the greatest season ever and we need to allow ourselves to come into that Ekklesia alignment. In this new season we need to avoid the Alamo where we are shooting off our spiritual guns left, right, and center, as we try and stake the ground with our Ishmael rods.
Our God is a strategist and this new season is going to be full of strategy as prophetic revelation, prophecy and prophetic ministry are all going to play a key part of moving everything forward in these last days. It’s going to be a time of strategy. Our God is a strategist and he always comes with a strategy! And part of that strategy for us in these last days is that we work as a team. Make no mistake about it, God is looking for a place to land and that landing has a lot to do with walking out the strategies of the Fathers business. We need the Holy Spirit playbook for the season at hand to truly take care of His business and a key part of that business is moving as one! It’s going to be a Holy Spirit organized movement, filled with the character of Jesus, designed to raise a functioning Bride where we all get to play our part as we all start to click together. It was always about the body of Christ, the Bride of Jesus, working together, fully functioning, fully empowered, fully engaged, moving corporately in her freedom.
Somehow we have fallen for a belief system that didn’t include a working functioning Ekklesia model where the bride is moving as one. Even today, in the midst of transition, the adversary was quick to throw out a counterfeit where he is using parts of the Bride to fabricate a deceptive Ekklesia, creating a false narrative portrayed as the official Ekklesia narrative. It sounds like the real deal but transition never really happens. It is another power structure deception to slowly steer us back into a polished up top down model that eliminates teamwork. What’s odd about the last season was that some who claimed to be walking in the Holy Spirit added to the dysfunction that caused the whole thing to go off coarse. That is why in this new season, our Holy Spirit walk, needs to line up with the true character of Jesus so that we don’t end up going down that same garden path again!
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Ekklesia, — A Way of Life
Ekklesia was always meant to be a way of life. It was a community, a gathering of people who were on the move. Expanding the borders of a Kingdom that landed with amazing revelation of how it was always meant to be. Holy Spirit wants us to walk in that today! He is looking for a gathering that has the freedom to move when he moves. When it comes to this new season, Ekklesia is all about our need to think outside the box that was never meant to be. To get away from that corner store mentality that comes with all its drama, entertainment and entitlements. The Ekklesia of today needs to recapture all that has sifted through our hands during the last season. We need to recapture what it is that we have lost and step into something that is more inline with what Jesus intended us to be. To walk in the model that he exemplified. His model changed the world and we need to be jumping all over that model today.
A small gathering is the ideal environment to cultivate the Ekklesia model as originally intended. It needs to be that safe place as it strengthens and encourages us into that needed alignment. It is in that environment that Holy Spirit can release that upper-room experience for us all as we commit to being in one accord, honoring one another, serving one another and releasing one another, — walking with a genuine love towards one another. With that comes the angelic who are wanting to partner up with those who are committed to unity. Followed by those divine appointments and visitations, as the dynamics of the Kingdom of Heaven start to unfold before us with signs wonders and miracles. The Kingdom of Heaven plans to partner up with that lost model once again. Jesus empowered that model. Holy spirit ignited it and today he plans to do the same. But we need to embrace that alignment that is required for the Kingdom of Heaven to function on the levels it so desires, — to truly love one another and not exploit the Kingdom, our callings, and our giftings.
As this gathering carves out the Ekklesia model similar to the one that Jesus exemplified, it too will have the ability to creatively change that part of the world that we find ourselves in. Small gatherings, or home groups, have a way of getting everyone involved. What we have done in the past is not going to cut it when you think of where the Lord is taking us. Neither will a small group functioning in a top down system get the needed results that Holy Spirit is looking for when it comes to releasing that upper room experience. We need to move as to the original design, with its original intent. To move where ' Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done ', is able to manifest powerfully on all the levels needed as the gathering as a whole moves forward. It is this model that heaven is wanting to breath upon! It is this model that Holy Spirit is searching for!
Like I've said before, the power of the gospel that we represent is second to none! If we align ourselves, you will see firsthand how powerful it can really can be. But we need to align ourselves to the very model that Jesus and the apostles exemplified.
We need to make straight our paths!
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EkklesiaRising.com / JesusMinistries.ca