Gaining Perspective

I want to encourage everyone with a bit of perspective for what the Lord is doing in the Open Heaven Community.

1) We are still well on the journey we began with the Lord almost one year ago! Sometimes we can look at a particular season of life out of context and miss how it fits into the overall journey.

2) As a community, we are in a wonderful season of learning to cultivate the most important thing for the Christian life - HIS PRESENCE. The blood is that doorway through which we enter, cleansed from all unrighteousness, to enter the most sacred place, the holy of holies - the very presence of GOD! That's where the body comes in! Where the blood cleanses, the body of Christ fills us with His presence! Truth is, we can get so busy trying to do things for God that we forget that the only DOING worth doing is that which is birthed while in HIS PRESENCE! That's why we can experience so many "false starts." We get excited about something we hear from God, then rush out and try to make it happen! That's like seeing the "positive" mark on the pregnancy stick and immediately starting to try and push the baby out!  "The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade (Mark 4:30-32)."

3) As Jesus says, we're learning the secret to the abundant life - ABIDING IN HIM! We cannot DO until we learn to BE. Kingdom DOING flows out of Kingdom BEING. A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. We must learn to rest in His presence until we are overflowing with the manifest fruit of His love, peace and joy! This should be a wonderful word of freedom to everyone of us - YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING UNTIL IT OVERFLOWS FROM YOU. YOU SIMPLY REST IN HIM. This ensures that whatever flows from you was birthed by Holy Spirit and therefore is His business. This is a STRESS/WORRY FREE way of living. It is called kingdom life. He is the king and we are simply stewards of that which He plants, nurtures and births in and through us! And in case you're interested, here's the secret to stewardship - FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE.

4) The normal Christian life is LIGHT and EASY. It's all His business. He does it all. We surrender and He does it in and through us. He cleanses us. He fills us. He empowers us. He guides us. He accomplishes through us by His power. It's all from Him, through Him and to Him (Rom.11:36). That's EASY!

5) I know what you are thinking - "Then what part do I have in all this!" Simple - REMAIN IN HIS PRESENCE. This is our endeavor when we gather through the week, to practice being in His presence. We are no experts, but we are the committed faithful.

6) Sometimes we begin to wonder whether we're accomplishing anything, whether we're making a difference with all this ABIDING business. Like a farmer, He plants the seed, waters, waits, waters, waits, first sprouts, waters, waits, growth, waters, waits, more growth, waters, waits, until the harvest is ready. Will you continue in this journey until the rich fruit of Christ is formed within you for all the world to taste and see He is good?