Receiving!!!

As I talked about becoming a Sower, the Lord has led me to an important that God provides seed to the Sower. Seed, which is revealed from Him comes in the most unique ways. In my rawness of realizing my total need for the Lord and beginning to accept living as a broken vessel I glimpse the beauty of receiving. True strength comes in weakness boldly revealed to a loving God who embraces us and strengthens us. But because we have been surrounded by rejection (a culture of rejection) our hearts often close up to being vulnerable, raw, and in deep need. It is this deep need that reveals our true beauty, to vessels to contain the living God. I am going to meet with our pastor to talk about how to prepare the congregation to receive the ministry of the Spirit from the prayer teams but also from one another. In the midst of this I am painfully aware of my own need for love, acceptance, and belonging. Here is one who was raised in rejection teaching about receiving. God you do have a sense of humor. I believe according to Ephesians 3:14-21 there is a dimension of the love of Christ that we will not see manifest unless it is together with all the saints. This is why we go to church meetings looking for the allusive "community" (a place to be real), often we are disappointed to find that the meeting is more about someone's agenda than about a group of people looking to encounter the Living God. I am convinced that true "community" does exist and that it happens by the moving and leading of the Spirit and a group of people who are available to receive. Everything that Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden was by receiving, until the fig leaves nothing had been made by human hands. God freely gave to His beloved children whatever they had need for and even recognized Adam's imcompleteness without Eve. Adam received the animals and named them, he received the air he breathed, the plants and animals for food, and finally in the crowning of Creation he received Eve. Adam did not receive Eve conditionally for a trial but proclaimed her as "bone of my bone". After the Fall and eating the tree of the knowledge of good and evil we seem to judge people and things by their ability to meet our needs. The eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil began rejection, whereby we reject certain people or things. If you go into any gathering of human beings you will quickly find out the rules and guidelines for acceptance into their group. Since we have such a need to belong we will conform ourselves to this image, only to find out the allusive sense of belonging and acceptance goes with our new image. Deep down we long to be received in our raw, vulnerable, and broken vessels. So the pathway to our heart (our will) closes up at times and then gets to open some in "safe" places. I dream of a place like Paul prays for in Ephesians 3:14-21 where we can be continually open to the love of Christ together with all the saints. This is the true definition of family. No program or human effort can create such "community" only the move of God Himself through the Holy Spirit. I am beginning to see that receiving and thus genuine giving are an important aspect to the Kingdom of God. This is why the Kingdom when it comes to finances is giving and receiving versus the world system which is buying and selling. In our Western culture too many of our interactions with other human beings (created in the image of God) are based on buying and selling. Jesus told the disciples that "...freely you have received, now freely give..." (Matthew 10:8). I am learning how to receive, so that out of that will come freely giving. Will you join me on learning how to receive?

In His Grace,
Bret