Week 37, 2012
Three major thrusts are now taking place in the body of Christ. The first is unity, and this is making unprecedented possibilities unfold for the church. Those with faith seize possibilities. Those who live by fear instead of faith get left behind. On His last night on earth, Jesus prayed earnestly for the unity of His people. We can be sure that the prayer of the Son of God will be answered. The body of Christ will come into unity.
Benjamin Franklin exhorted the original colonies before the Revolutionary War in America to “join or die.” This is now true for the church. Those with the faith and confidence in their own calling and relationship to the Lord are building bridges with other parts of the body of Christ. Those who are too insecure to do this are fading away. We are in another “join or die” situation, but the positive of this implies, “join and live!” The blessings of unity are truly limitless even to the degree that whatever we ask of the Lord, it will be granted.
We are in the Daniel 2 scenario where the statue that represents the kingdoms of this world is collapsing, but the little stone that represents the kingdom is growing into a mountain, or government, and it will keep growing until it fills the whole earth. Basic to every government or empire is the economy. You can have an economy without a government, but you cannot have a government without an economy. One of the primary ways that the kingdoms of this world are shaking and starting to crumble is their economy. With the coming of the kingdom, we can expect a kingdom economy to emerge that cannot be shaken. As we see in Isaiah 9:7, there is no end to the increase of His government, and the same is true of His economy. The economy of the kingdom has a stock market that cannot go down but will always go up!
The economy of the kingdom is actually the devotion of a large percentage of Scripture because the economy represents very basic human transactions. Some of the most basic principles that drive the present earthly economies are power, fear, and greed. Mixed with these basic drives are principles of the kingdom, and this is one reason why we see the feet of the statute in Daniel 2 being a mixture of iron and clay. For this reason, even with some of the most greedy you will find some compassion and devotion to charity. Likewise, even with some of the most devout, you will sometimes find greed and other evils. Because of the mixture, the feet on the statue may last the longest, but it too will ultimately crumble.
The most basic kingdom economic principle in Scripture is summed up in I Corinthians 13 —love. The basic economic principle of the kingdom is to love God above all things and demonstrate this love for Him by loving His people. The kingdom economy that we will start to see emerge will not have the destructive elements of greed, self-seeking, and the lust for power and control. Those who learn to manage the earthly resources they are entrusted with will always “seek first the kingdom.” Then they will be entrusted with the resources of the kingdom.
When we begin to tap into the resources of heaven, there will always be an overflow. We see this when the Lord released resources by blessing the little boy’s lunch and feeding five thousand people with it and still having baskets leftover.
The Lord will bless many things that He will not inhabit. It is time to increase our vision beyond His blessings to His presence—becoming His dwelling place. The first mention in Scripture that God even had a house was when Jacob laid down to sleep and saw a ladder reaching into heaven with the messengers of God ascending and descending upon it (see Genesis 28:12). This is the first and most basic revelation of what the house of God is supposed to be—the place of access to heaven where God’s messengers are constantly entering the heavenly realm, but then descending and bringing back to the earth the evidence of heaven’s reality. The authority of the kingdom of heaven has power over any earthly condition, including disease and poverty.
Those who understand the heavenly vision of what His house is called to be will, like Abraham, leave everything to wander in places where they do not even know where they’re going, but do know what they’re looking for—the city that God is building. The impact of this vision on their lives was remarkable. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were all fabulously wealthy in the things of this world, even to the degree that they provoked kings to jealousy at times. Even though they had the means to build the most beautiful palaces, they were content to live in tents. Why? They were consumed with a heavenly vision so great that it made any earthly dwelling boring in comparison.
Have you had this vision? There is only one basic requirement to havie it—desiring Him to have a house that is greater than your desire for your own house. This is the result of loving Him above all things.
No comments:
Post a Comment