The Word of the Lord Came Unto Me, Saying...

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by Amanah

The way is narrow and few there be who find it. The Acts church was freshly under the leadership of those who actually walked with Jesus. The church councils that we have had since Constantine resulted in more and more apostasy until the church was practically wipe off the face of the earth until the reformation. Today an ecumenical church would mean a complete watering down of the gospel to the point of irrelevance, which is what has basically happened in the charismatic movement. The third wave now believes you can have the gifts of the spirit without receiving the Spirit.

I do not advocate ecumenicalism. I would never expect that to work. But among those who are filled with the Holy Spirit, there is the chance for them to be led into all truth. And even someone entrenched in the traditions of men, may find the way out if ever they look for the Light to lead them out.

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

Keep the faith Bro I know what your going through. I tried this as a personal message and it did not work. I recently discovered you and I have a mutual friend, a brother from Trinidad.

He is one I believe the Lord may use to begin the wonderful work of restoration. Whatever happens dont give up. Its darkest before the dawn. Peace and love.

How very interesting. I haven't had a chance to see him in some time. But when we've been able to get together, he always has a zeal for the Lord and a prophetic word of encouragement and direction for the Body.

Last I knew, he was going to be travelling overseas this summer, to help build the Kingdom of God.

Something he said to us several months ago in one of our meetings has stuck with me. The basic premise was that the road and life of an apostle is a lonely, difficult one. It is only natural therefore, that those whom God would appoint as emissaries of Christ needs must go through a gruelling training and process of preparation, so that when the time to be sent out arrives, the person so called is already fully equipped.

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by Amanah

Bro Aaron, I'm beginning to understand your point of view. I'm just not able to see how to bridge the gap.

Maybe I can be a little more candid and transparent about where I believe the Lord is going with all this.

In my city, there is a Oneness Apostolic assembly, affiliated with the UPCI. It's not a big city, and it's not a big assembly. I have family there. It's where I began my walk with the Lord. In fact, it's where all my family began their walk in the Lord (and when I say family, I mean me, both of my brothers with their families, my mom and step-dad, my dad, a cousin, and my grandma, now deceased).

But through a long story that I'm not going to get into, the situation is now as follows:

One brother, with his family, remain members there.

Another brother, and his family, along with my dad, are members of a different UPCI affiliated assembly 25 minutes down the road and across the border into IL.

My mom and stepdad, and me and my family, are a part of an independent Oneness Apostolic assembly. We meet in homes, ours, my mom's, and those of other members, some who live at least 35 to almost 40 minutes away.

On core doctrines, especially the Gospel and Acts 2:38, there is universal agreement between us all. There is also a lot of agreement on many other foundational beliefs.

But, because of what happened so many years ago--that long story I mentioned above--my family has been fractured, and we all do our own thing, leave each other alone, get together for birthdays and holidays, and go on with life like we all aren't apart of the same Kingdom serving the same King.

When we were all together, a part of the same assembly, we worked and served and worshipped and prayed and outreached, and you name it, together. The Lord blessed us to win souls everywhere we went. My, at the time, 11 year old niece won all of her friends and prayed them all through to the Holy Spirit while hanging out downstairs one night, just to give you an idea.

God was saving people by the family. Not just a stray person here or there, but entire clans were coming to the Lord through our service to Him. Healings and miracles abounded left and right, and the joy of the Lord was unmistakeable. The horrific past and life we all came out of being what it was, the redemption we all experienced shined all the more powerfully in our witness and evangelism.

Then what went down went down and as the old saying goes: Things have never been the same.

It's a wound that seemingly refuses to be healed.

But in all honestly, it's all a bunch of nonsense. There is no justification for any of this. All we're up against is the flesh and church politics as usual. Under the guise of not "building on another man's foundation", the ministry around here and in many other places, has become completely territorial.

It's especially ugly by me. Like I said, there's a long story here.

But I know it's not from God. None of it is. And I think He's going to deal with it, in love and mercy, with forgiveness, if we can all come under the same shadow of His wings and allow Him the room to work and move and make changes.

Where I come in is simply in being willing to take the first step and reach out and try for peace and reconciliation. I was the first in my family to be saved, and in many ways, acted as emissary or apostle to the rest of my family, as they came in.

I believe therefore, that the Lord wants me to be the first to extend the olive branch and try for healing and unity. Today was my daughter's birthday party, and everyone came to our house. I had a moment, while everyone else was in the kitchen, to sit alone in the living room. I looked in at everyone, hearing them chat, my nieces and nephew and my own kids and everyone just sharing and caring, and for the moment, being the loving, tender-hearted family we used to be.

And in that moment, I recognized the voice of the Lord, impressing me to see that the first step in bringing about His will as it pertains to the blog entry and this thread, as it concerns my life away from AFF, is to take what He has given me and work first in my own clan, before I ever try and take this message further afield into the Body at large.

So, I'm going to do it. I know the way forward. I know who to talk to and what to say, and if I can just get everyone around the table, like they all were today, and instead of talking superficially about things that don't really matter, and get them talking about Jesus and what He wants to do with us as a family, I think we will once again see the glory of the Lord shine upon us, so we can be about the Father's business and do His will together, just like we used to.

[Spiritwarrior]

I read your blog and enjoyed it very much.

Pray the way you are suppose to, worship the way you're suppose to, and sing in the way you're suppose to and the Spirit of the Lord will more through that.
that is what changes people. not us but God. you may be the only one who breaks through the fog and reaches God. But no one stays the same in his presence.

Remember also, God doesn't raise spoiled kids. we go through tough times to keep us humble and lean on him. We've all sinned and come short of his glory. so many times we forget where God brought us from. we forget how to reach out to the hurting and dying. it's like their sin is going to jump on us.
believe me you can live for God and be the one who can make a change.
keep his word hidden in your heart, his truth; live it and people will come to say that's the God I need in my life.

Seek me and I will be found of you, sayeth the Lord.

I don't live for the church, but for my God. He may take me to the poorest, dirtiest, meanest of people. But isn't that the ones who God is seeking now? not us, we have him. We should know how to get hold of him. we should take some time and just sit at his feet and worship him. Just because of who he is. not for something we need, but just to spend some time with him. We are the ones who will benefit from it. We get so caught up with the problems we face daily and forget we have all power in him. Did he not become poor so we could be rich in him?
Love and Prayers! God Bless

[votivesoul]

Originally Posted by Spiritwarrior

I read your blog and enjoyed it very much.

Pray the way you are suppose to, worship the way you're suppose to, and sing in the way you're suppose to and the Spirit of the Lord will more through that.
that is what changes people. not us but God. you may be the only one who breaks through the fog and reaches God. But no one stays the same in his presence.

Remember also, God doesn't raise spoiled kids. we go through tough times to keep us humble and lean on him. We've all sinned and come short of his glory. so many times we forget where God brought us from. we forget how to reach out to the hurting and dying. it's like their sin is going to jump on us.
believe me you can live for God and be the one who can make a change.
keep his word hidden in your heart, his truth; live it and people will come to say that's the God I need in my life.

Seek me and I will be found of you, sayeth the Lord.

I don't live for the church, but for my God. He may take me to the poorest, dirtiest, meanest of people. But isn't that the ones who God is seeking now? not us, we have him. We should know how to get hold of him. we should take some time and just sit at his feet and worship him. Just because of who he is. not for something we need, but just to spend some time with him. We are the ones who will benefit from it. We get so caught up with the problems we face daily and forget we have all power in him. Did he not become poor so we could be rich in him?
Love and Prayers! God Bless

Very good. Thank you, Spiritwarrior.

[Spiritwarrior]

I feel like I need to share a vision God gave me a couple of years ago. That Vision is still working in my life and I hope others. Here it is.

I see a traveler walking through the desert almost at the point of death. He or she was watching each step they made they were at the point of laying down and dying. (isn't that us at times). When they looked up and there before them was a valley with crystal clear water in a stream flowing, and the greenest of grass, and on the backside of the field was a tall fruit tree in front of a mountain. The traveler drank and filled his canteen with water and went to the tree to eat and rest under the shade. after sleeping and eating again he looked at the mountain and knew he had to climb, to go to the top. He stood up and seen a path which he took. the path zigzagged up the mountain. Once he got at the top of the mountain he looked out over and seen before him more deserts, more valley and more mountains. some bigger than the one he just climbed, and some smaller.

God takes me back to the vision and shows me more details from time to time. Like the path, there has been a lot of people before me going up the mountain, therefore going the the desert as well. Those same people has looked out over the top of the mountain and is facing the same mountains and valleys. showing me we're in the same trials, rest and victories. We aren't alone, and if we don't stay in valley like so many of us want to. after all we are getting fed, watered (his spirit). we don't want to leave the comforts, but if we don't we don't get the victory. Each mountain takes us closer to our destination. we grow and learn that he will take us through the desert, for you see there is a valley to strengthen us. I thank him for the vision to encourage me. He cares. He loves. and he pushes us to be better people.

I hope this helps others as well.

[mfblume]

This thread title reminds me of something we carried on about in bible school..


"Yea, I say unto thee, Nay," ...describing awkward attempts at speaking a word of the Lord