WHAT ARE YOUR MINISTRY CREDENTIALS?
WHAT ARE YOUR MINISTRY CREDENTIALS?
2 Cor 6: 3-10
2 Cor 6: 3-10
Jesus said it and I'm saying it.....the
only thing I’m interested in promoting is our Father's Kingdom.
"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." John 5: 19
Jesus was not the least bit interested in promoting his own or anyone else's agenda. I am very concerned with the amount of man praise and man worship we see in most churches and television ministries today. It is disconcerting what it has produced in many of God's people. What about Jesus? What about the Father? What about the Holy Spirit and what He says and what He wants to do and what God is spear heading? Spiritual Leaders are supposed to be servants of God to all men and facilitators of the Father's will on the earth. They are not gods; they are supposed to be His guides!
My heart's desire like all blood bought disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to partner with those who have a Kingdom's mindset and the Father's Heart. I'm done with playing church as usual. God's people are not mere chips on a checkerboard moving forward one space then getting captured again by religion and pushed back in the game by three. God has a definite strategy for each and every one of us. Together as Kingdom minded people we accomplish His will! In a multitude of counsel there is safety. Yet most churches are run with an authoritarian CEO who believes that he or she has everything the church needs to do the Father's business. Let's get real! We only know in part and prophesy in part! What about plurality of eldership? What about making disciples-REALLY making them in order to BECOME fishers of men? What about re-building the waste places of the broken family structure that has invaded God's house which is the foundation of society? This takes a dynamic team of disciples not a dictatorship!
Like minded people the likes of the Apostle Paul, Silas, Barnabus, Aquila, Lydia, Priscilla, Agabus and others teamed together to build God's Kingdom on the earth! There is no time to waste.I don't know how much time we have left on this earth to do the work of the Father's Kingdom; preach the Gospel, heal the sick and raise the dead-perhaps 10, 15 or 20 years? In any event, I'm giving it all I've got for Father "Abba" God. How about you? What a waste to only spend this earthly life worrying about what to wear, how to get ahead, how to do this, how to do that only for ourselves without an eternal mindset! What about sowing now for eternal rewards? How disappointing it will be for so many to end up having no Heavenly Treasures stored up for a reward on the day of Judgment because they only sowed to their flesh and for temporal or man made ideals!
Paul had a long list of ministry credentials that qualified him for the Lord's work. I believe with each of those credentials, Paul will receive a Heavenly reward. I began to think about my own ministry credentials. Comparing mine with Paul's, I find just a few small similarities. Perhaps you will too....My ministry credentials are as follows: surviving emotional abuse, multiple learning disabilities and failures as a child through young adulthood, near death experiences twice, surviving a dysfunctional family and the death of an adopted infant brother who brought a brief season of love and peace in our fractured home until his untimely death after which our hurting little family crumbled again. Later on, I was gloriously saved, filled and delivered by the precious blood of Jesus Christ at the age of 22, only later to suffer the loss of 6 immediate family members in a little more than a decade, we lost our only son five years ago in a car accident at the age of 30, I was put in chains and sent to a mental hospital twice only to be delivered by the compassion of our Heavenly Father, escaped curses emplaced by family members of the wiccan cult, overcame depression, suicidal thoughts, addiction to alcohol and tranquilizers, believed and saw God heal our broken marriage, endured the loss of a hundred thousand dollars plus during the real estate crash, survived near spiritual death by religion, endured the pain of being defrauded of our son's rightful life insurance policy, suffered spiritual abuse and malpractice by those who call themselves doctors of the law and even more! However, after it all, I can say, the grace of God kept me and the grace of God empowered me to become the person I am today. That is true grace folks! Not a license to live a morally and spiritually loose life but it is overcoming power to endure afflictions and the temptation to defect on God when you're going through hell on earth! Your testimony then becomes your ministry credentials!
So there you have some of my life's list of ministry credentials....how about you? These credentials empower us to have compassion and the Father's Heart towards others. It is in the press that the precious gets squeezed out or we get crushed in the fray! That is why my heart beats so passionately for our Father and for the gospel truth! I'm not at all concerned about man's approval. I have HIS. I believe in church government and order but at the end of the day we each have to answer to God for our life choices and what we do with the talent(s) He gives us. I recently tore up my ordination credential papers because the Lord told me they were my "golden calf". My identity is not in a network but in a person--Jesus Christ! Jesus has been the one who has walked with me through every valley, every shadow of death, every peril, every trauma and every heartache. It's the same for you whether you realize it or not. You have your Heavenly Father's stamp of approval. That's all that matters saints! What your Father says about you is what promotes you. Man can't promote or demote you. YOUR identity is who you belong to. Not in what man says you are but WHOSE you are! It is your responsibility and mine to partner with like minded people the Father sends us to or sends our way!
Saints, you must understand that there is a huge difference between 'churchianity' and the Kingdom of God. The church is merely "called out ones" that assemble together somewhere for the same purpose! It's time we understand and exercise the difference! The Day of Pentecost has come and gone with the same power available to us today as it was then. The Holy Spirit has been poured out. The church is not to hold people back or fence them in, it is to train and release them to do the work of the Father! Whosoever will can ask the Father for the Holy Spirit and can drink and receive a fresh outpouring to go and to do in Jesus' name! Religion keeps you bound in chains and puts you to sleep. It's time to awaken out of spiritual slumber, put on Kingdom Armor and do what we see the Father do and speak what the Father speaks!
"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." John 5: 19
"If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"" Luke 11: 13
"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." John 5: 19
Jesus was not the least bit interested in promoting his own or anyone else's agenda. I am very concerned with the amount of man praise and man worship we see in most churches and television ministries today. It is disconcerting what it has produced in many of God's people. What about Jesus? What about the Father? What about the Holy Spirit and what He says and what He wants to do and what God is spear heading? Spiritual Leaders are supposed to be servants of God to all men and facilitators of the Father's will on the earth. They are not gods; they are supposed to be His guides!
My heart's desire like all blood bought disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, is to partner with those who have a Kingdom's mindset and the Father's Heart. I'm done with playing church as usual. God's people are not mere chips on a checkerboard moving forward one space then getting captured again by religion and pushed back in the game by three. God has a definite strategy for each and every one of us. Together as Kingdom minded people we accomplish His will! In a multitude of counsel there is safety. Yet most churches are run with an authoritarian CEO who believes that he or she has everything the church needs to do the Father's business. Let's get real! We only know in part and prophesy in part! What about plurality of eldership? What about making disciples-REALLY making them in order to BECOME fishers of men? What about re-building the waste places of the broken family structure that has invaded God's house which is the foundation of society? This takes a dynamic team of disciples not a dictatorship!
Like minded people the likes of the Apostle Paul, Silas, Barnabus, Aquila, Lydia, Priscilla, Agabus and others teamed together to build God's Kingdom on the earth! There is no time to waste.I don't know how much time we have left on this earth to do the work of the Father's Kingdom; preach the Gospel, heal the sick and raise the dead-perhaps 10, 15 or 20 years? In any event, I'm giving it all I've got for Father "Abba" God. How about you? What a waste to only spend this earthly life worrying about what to wear, how to get ahead, how to do this, how to do that only for ourselves without an eternal mindset! What about sowing now for eternal rewards? How disappointing it will be for so many to end up having no Heavenly Treasures stored up for a reward on the day of Judgment because they only sowed to their flesh and for temporal or man made ideals!
Paul had a long list of ministry credentials that qualified him for the Lord's work. I believe with each of those credentials, Paul will receive a Heavenly reward. I began to think about my own ministry credentials. Comparing mine with Paul's, I find just a few small similarities. Perhaps you will too....My ministry credentials are as follows: surviving emotional abuse, multiple learning disabilities and failures as a child through young adulthood, near death experiences twice, surviving a dysfunctional family and the death of an adopted infant brother who brought a brief season of love and peace in our fractured home until his untimely death after which our hurting little family crumbled again. Later on, I was gloriously saved, filled and delivered by the precious blood of Jesus Christ at the age of 22, only later to suffer the loss of 6 immediate family members in a little more than a decade, we lost our only son five years ago in a car accident at the age of 30, I was put in chains and sent to a mental hospital twice only to be delivered by the compassion of our Heavenly Father, escaped curses emplaced by family members of the wiccan cult, overcame depression, suicidal thoughts, addiction to alcohol and tranquilizers, believed and saw God heal our broken marriage, endured the loss of a hundred thousand dollars plus during the real estate crash, survived near spiritual death by religion, endured the pain of being defrauded of our son's rightful life insurance policy, suffered spiritual abuse and malpractice by those who call themselves doctors of the law and even more! However, after it all, I can say, the grace of God kept me and the grace of God empowered me to become the person I am today. That is true grace folks! Not a license to live a morally and spiritually loose life but it is overcoming power to endure afflictions and the temptation to defect on God when you're going through hell on earth! Your testimony then becomes your ministry credentials!
So there you have some of my life's list of ministry credentials....how about you? These credentials empower us to have compassion and the Father's Heart towards others. It is in the press that the precious gets squeezed out or we get crushed in the fray! That is why my heart beats so passionately for our Father and for the gospel truth! I'm not at all concerned about man's approval. I have HIS. I believe in church government and order but at the end of the day we each have to answer to God for our life choices and what we do with the talent(s) He gives us. I recently tore up my ordination credential papers because the Lord told me they were my "golden calf". My identity is not in a network but in a person--Jesus Christ! Jesus has been the one who has walked with me through every valley, every shadow of death, every peril, every trauma and every heartache. It's the same for you whether you realize it or not. You have your Heavenly Father's stamp of approval. That's all that matters saints! What your Father says about you is what promotes you. Man can't promote or demote you. YOUR identity is who you belong to. Not in what man says you are but WHOSE you are! It is your responsibility and mine to partner with like minded people the Father sends us to or sends our way!
Saints, you must understand that there is a huge difference between 'churchianity' and the Kingdom of God. The church is merely "called out ones" that assemble together somewhere for the same purpose! It's time we understand and exercise the difference! The Day of Pentecost has come and gone with the same power available to us today as it was then. The Holy Spirit has been poured out. The church is not to hold people back or fence them in, it is to train and release them to do the work of the Father! Whosoever will can ask the Father for the Holy Spirit and can drink and receive a fresh outpouring to go and to do in Jesus' name! Religion keeps you bound in chains and puts you to sleep. It's time to awaken out of spiritual slumber, put on Kingdom Armor and do what we see the Father do and speak what the Father speaks!
"Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does." John 5: 19
"If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"" Luke 11: 13
Servant Leader,
Mary Ann Wray
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