|
Making Room: A Revelation of the Church
Victoria and Cassandra Boyson
It is Friday, January 7th, and I just took down my Christmas tree. As I was taking it down, the Lord kept talking to me about His body --
the Church; that's us! He kept pouring information into me while I tore it apart -- the tree of course, not the Church.
We Need Each Other
He said that we need to trust each other more and learn to work
together, correct each other in love and not make idols out of each other. And pastors and church leaders need to rely more on the intercessors and prophets; they need to spend more time raising them up and encouraging them. He
said, "They've got to learn to work together and enhance one another, because they will need each other in the days ahead."
He continued, "My prophets and intercessors need to stop being so afraid of those
in authority over them. They are sent to serve the Church and they need to get to know the leaders, and to love and appreciate them. They need to become the pastor's support team, not his critics! They need to encourage him, as
they are encouraged by him. Yes, they need to warn him of dangers, but only after they have established a trustworthy relationship built on mutual respect and love. They need to allow themselves to be corrected when it is needed, but the correction must be brought in love and in appreciation for that person."
The church leaders need to appreciate their intercessors more, because the intercessors are the backbone of the church. They need to be thanked and often, because its often a very thankless position. They can often feel
like they have no place in the body and they need a place to belong. The enemy attacks the intercessors hard because he knows their position is vital. They are usually very sensitive and need your protection, sensitivity and
respect.
In the days ahead, we must learn to value our prayer support even more than our financial support; that is how vital their intercession will become to us. We need their prayers to accomplish what God asked us
to do. We simply cannot do it without them.
Oh, That Christmas Tree!
As God was cramming all this into my head, I was agreeing with Him while I crammed the branches of my tree into its box.
I looked at
the jumbled mess of my tree and I said, "Lord, how am I gonna get all of these branches into the box?"
"You'll have to smoosh them," He answered.
Then it hit me...
My beautiful tree,
that I got at Wal-Mart (an American department store) for the bargain price of $19.94 several years ago, was representative of the Church.
Every Christmas my family and I take out the box and assemble our tree. We take
this jobbled mess out of its box and follow the instructions, bigger branches on the bottom, smaller above them, and finally the tree top. When its blended all together it is quite like a real tree (well almost, there's nothing
like a real tree).
We pull out our ornaments that have been in our family for years. Everyone has a favorite: the ceramic nativity with mother and child, the paper framed picture of my husband as a small child and the
crocheted Christmas wreath my Grandma made when I was a young girl.
However, our tree only gets decorated once a year to celebrate Christ's birth.
For the other eleven months out of the year it is crammed into a much too small box. The branches that were once positioned perfectly, are now twisted and smooshed to make room for each other.
Making Room
I
laugh when I think of what we (the Church) would sound like as the tree in my box. "Hey, you big ox, get off me!" "Pardon me, you little branch, I'm the all important tree top; make way for me!" What about
the little branches that get stuck at the bottom? Don't you think they'd feel sorry for themselves in their humble position?
By the time I'm finished cramming it all into the box, none of the branches get any special
attention apart from the rest of the tree. To get them all in, they have to get smooshed and make way for each other.
Now do you see where I'm going...?
We need to make way for one another. None of us are
more important than the other; we are all important in God's plan for His Church. We've got to learn to esteem each other as more important than ourselves and make room for each other. We are stuck with each other; we need each
other; our Father has made sure of that. If we don't make room for others, we are gonna get smooshed! If we try to "preserve" ourselves, we will wind up in a "jam."
He doesn't want us to be selfish
and self-centered, only caring about ourselves, but caring about the other "branches" as well. He wants us to prefer one another. His greatest commanded to us isn't to have a big ministry, or lots of money, but
He told us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27).
The golden rule is to do unto others as you'd have them do unto you...isn't it? If we all live by this rule, there will be no more selfishness in the Church.
Acts' Annoyance
My almost 15 year old daughter,
Cassandra, has been studying the book of Acts and has become quite annoyed by the fact that the Church today looks nothing like what it did then. "Why aren't we sharing our stuff with each other, like they did? This is
just awful," I heard her rant and rave. She then quoted Acts 4:32-35 (nlt) to me at the peak of her annoyance, "All the believers were of one heart and mind, and they felt that what they owned was not their own;
they shared everything they had. The Apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's great favor was upon them all. There was no poverty among them because people who owned land or houses sold
them and brought the money to the Apostles to give to the others in need." This is the same child who took back some of her Christmas presents to send the money to the tsunami victims.
Difficult Days Ahead
Life is difficult and it's going to get more difficult in the days ahead. We must learn to work together. We all must have the same goal: to advance the kingdom of God. If one of us succeed, we all succeed; their success belongs to the whole body. When we build up a brother or sister, we build up ourselves, for we are all one in Christ. We are certainly not in competition with each other. And if we were in a competition, according to scripture those who serve the most "win."
In Revelation 12:11 it says, "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death." This is bible
prophecy. It was not talking about the early church, but about us. This is predicting how we will act and how we will treat each other. We will not be selfish. We will not care so much about what happens to us, but we will give
ourselves, and even our lives for other's sake. While the rest of the world is becoming lovers of themselves, we will shine as we love others, not ourselves.
Envy, pride and selfishness have no place in the body of
Christ, or in our churches. In these last days we need each other. We need to support and exhort each other, encourage each other, and most of all, love each other. Love casts out fear and makes room for a brother or...a
branch.
Let's not fear our brother taking our place, let's give it to him!
Dear Father,
We repent of selfishness, envy and pride. Please forgive us and change our hearts and minds to
accommodate one another. Pull out all that is in us that would hinder us from esteeming each other. Put an axe to the roots of pride and selfishness in Your children, and make us one in You Lord. In Jesus' name.
On a personal note:
I want to thank the spiritual fathers and mothers who are raising up the younger ministries and opening doors for them. May they be a blessing to you in return!
Love and blessings,
Victoria
|
|
