Receiving People and Increasing in Revelation

What does receiving people and getting increased revelation have to do with each other?  I am glad you asked, the Lord recently showed me something I had only heard about.  In Matthew 10:41 it says, ""He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward."  I heard a message about receiving people for who they are "in Christ" and receiving the grace that is on their life.  So here was my lesson, my uncle (a business and community leader) came to visit.  Our visit was pleasant but he had more than just family time in mind, coming all the way from Georgia.  Then we had two conversations where he spoke into our lives in two important areas for us: our family and ministry.  Because my uncle is a leader and is decisive his authority can be wrongly received.  My uncle is a gracious man who has a lot of godly wisdom and he has considered me like a son ever since my father (his brother) committed suicide.  As I had listened to the message on honoring the Spirit of the Lord on people's lives, I recognized that my uncle is a builder or in Biblical terms apostolic.  This comes from Ephesians 4:11-12 which says, "And He [Christ] gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;"  I am not saying my uncle is an apostle but simply that I recognize through the Spirit of God and the Word that he has an apostolic bent.  All this to say that in order to position my heart to receive grace that is on his life, the Lord led me to see that he is a builder (apostolic) in order to receive this grace.  People who are apostolic seek to see life aligned according to Heaven's priorities.  So after my uncle challenged us in the area of family instead of receiving it wrongly, we decided to take a step up in the authority God's given us "in Christ".  Thus we were built up, putting into action what God had revealed earlier instead of making fleshly excuses for our lack of growth.  I walked away from that conversation and the one regarding the ministry and our support situation, challenged but empowered with a new sense of growth for the immediate future.  I had other people in my life who felt insecure, anxious, and even threatened by the level of authority that my uncle carries because of who he is.  I have to admit that at first I wrongly took the challenge and had some self-condemnation for what I had failed to do but then the Lord reminded me of the prayers that I had prayed seeking to have Him move me out of a particular stuck place in my life.  People who are given an apostolic gifting will exhort people in the Body of Christ to walk in the authority, identity, and power they have been given.  In Matthew 13:57 the people of Jesus home town began to receive grace from Him, until they saw Him as they knew Him as a child (Jesus of Nazareth) then they took offense and did not receive grace or any miracles.  In 2 Corinthians 5:16 & 17 it says, "Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. "  In these verses the Holy Spirit through Paul is exhorting us to see people differently than when we were not born again, to see others for the new creature they are which means that I can also receive the grace of God through them.  May the Holy Spirit give you different lenses to see people, especially believers.

For His Kingdom,
Bret