Thursday – August 18, 2016
Praise the Lord from whom all blessing pour. God is well beyond good, line up with Him and nothing but good will touch you, which is not to say that stealing, killing, and destroying might not present what would be for the natural person a frightening facade but with our focus on Him it will not touch us. Last Thursday I spoke briefly about the fivefold ministry. Many do not believe that there are individuals appointed of God operating in the gifts of the fivefold ministry. We will talk about this more as we progress through this Book of Ephesians but it seems the Spirit wants me to talk about it now.
Ephesians 4:8-12 (KJV)
8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
9 … 10 … 11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
The Lord at His ascension gave gifts to men and among them was the gifts of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher. The purpose of these specially gifted persons is to perfect or help the saints progress into a mature state where they are truly His representative, a revelation of Him, and an expression of Him as we submit (worship Him) to Him in spirit and Truth. Let’s meditate the following passage regarding the Spiritual gifts from God to the Church.
1 Corinthians 12:27-31 (KJV)
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? 30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? 31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
The preceding passage leaves out the gifts of Pastor and Evangelist which are preeminent in the Church today. These persons for the most part have usurped the God given authority of the Apostle, Prophet, and Teacher. The 1 Corinthians 12:27-31 passage indicates that the best gifts are the first ones mentioned ie Apostle, Prophet, and Teacher. These are the very gifts the organized Church now seeks to control or push out altogether. It is a matter of wanting control, manipulation if you will, and from where do you suppose that springs? In the text above be aware that the body of Christ and the Church are synonymous terms. We the people of God are the body of Anointing in the earth and in the world. The Church are the called out ones who implement the plan of God. Before I move back to our study, let me point out that in order for any group of believers to be whole all of these gifts must be operational in the congregation.
Ephesians 1:2-3 (KJV)
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
Now we find the Apostle Paul blessing God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thought the Lord blessed or empowered us but now we find a man blessing or empowering God. In fact we see the acknowledgment of God blessing us in the latter part of the verse. How can it be that we bless God? The primary or base meaning of the word ‘bless” is to kneel. This was rather puzzling to me at first because most of us recognize a blessing as the impartation of good into our lives by another. When a person kneels before another it puts the kneeling person completely in the control of the standing person. If that person is good (God), then good things can happen, if that person is bad (Devil), then bad things can and probably will happen. I am sure you can see that if we are kneeling before God yielding ourselves and all we have then good things are going to happen. On the other hand if we are kneeling before the devil yielding ourselves and all we have to him then stealing, killing, and destroying will ensue. With increasing submission the Father is able to release His empowerment into our lives to further the Kingdom of God. In the process our personal lives will be enhanced with regard to finances, health, and so on. Our submission not only allows Him to empower us but it empowers Him legally to empower us. In our submission to God and the Lord Jesus both we and They are empowered to further the Kingdom of God.
By Dr. David Wood, Author, Bible Teacher, and Prophetic Voice
