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The Word of the Lord came unto me saying, "What is the value of God's gift
and anointing that He has placed within you? How much is it worth to you?
Do you know His gift that He has given you? Do you know the anointing that
He has placed within and upon you that goes with that gift, which is your
call?" My mind ran by unction of the Holy Ghost to Matthew Chapter 25, to
the parable of the talents. No matter whether we have ten, five, or one
talent, they are each awesome in the eyes of God. They are precious and
valuable to God. How we value the gift and the anointing reflects how we
value God in our lives.
I see in this parable that God is calling the
Body of Christ to a single-minded focus. Single-mindedness requires that
each one would know who they are in Christ, and know their gift, their
call, and their anointing. None is greater in value, and none is less, for
each one is essential. Think on this. What is a body? How can you value
your eyes more than your feet, or your ears more than your hands, or your
heart more than your spine? In this context, every single part is "most
valuable," is it not? We need each one, and we need each particular
person.
If we are spread thin, we will not be able to use these
talents to their full capacity. Talents can become buried, in part,
through the lack of other gifts in proximity preventing them from being
released completely! Consider the limitations of a hand without fingers
and thumb, or a leg without a hip-joint.
Hebrews 10:7 speaks of God's need for a body, as Jesus
explains how He took on a body so that God could accomplish His will on
the earth. God needs a whole body. Since Jesus' ascension, those who are
born into the kingdom of God are now His Body in the earth through whom
God's will is being accomplished. Every deposit, every impartation, and
every revelation is to further "The Cause: Jesus Christ and His Kingdom."
God's work will not get done by "someone else." The future of the
Church of America and the nation depends upon you and depends upon
me.
Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk
worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and
meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one
hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father
of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of
the gift of Christ.... And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of
the fullness of Christ:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro,
and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and
cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the
truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by
that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in
the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying
of itself in love.
"...Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called...!" Every
believer shares general duties assigned to all who are in Christ, but out
of that generality there is also a specific calling, a vocation, and a
specific place that God sets each one in the Body of Christ. As we pursue
the specific vocation, whether ministry of helps, intercessor, king,
priest etc., the Holy Spirit then unifies the "divers parts" into one
Body.
Consider, there is no such thing as being a
believer and not being an intercessor. The Bible declares it. All in the
Body of Christ have a general call and duty to intercession. Yet there are
some called to be separated to God as intercessors in greater measure,
their specific vocation which they are single-minded concerning is
intercession.
Some are called to be kings in the Body of Christ. Everyone in the general
Body of Christ is both a king and a priest unto the Most High God.
Exercising kingship simply means to rule and to reign, exercising your
authority over the domain God has entrusted to you.
We understand from the Word of God that each believer is to tithe and to
bring offerings to supply the Gospel, yet God has set some apart in a
specific vocation to be kings in greater measure * single-mindedly working
to make money to fund the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Also, every believer is called to be a priest*
unto God, yet here we see again that God sets apart some in the specific
vocation of priest ~ expressed in the office of a five-fold minister ~
single-mindedly focusing on being a priest in the Body of Christ beyond
the general call of all believers to be priests.
By the orchestration of Almighty God, as
Ephesians tells us, we are supernaturally fit together ~ knit ~ so that
His effectual working in us takes place producing the increase of the
whole. For example, the priest is given the vision for the provision. The
king receives the provision for the vision. God does not give the king the
vision for how to build the kingdom and build the church, but He gives to
the king the means to supply the vision. "Pro" means "first" such that if
the provision does not come first, the vision ~ no matter how great ~ will
not be accomplished.
When we stand before God, He will not only look to the
apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher for the accomplishment of
the vision, but He is going to look to the kings, the intercessors, the
ministry of helps, and on and on. He will say, "Did you use your gift?"
"Did you operate in your anointing and in your call for Me?"
More than ever I appreciate that when each one of
us knows who we are in Christ, and knows exactly what God has appointed us
for, we stay focused. When we are focused and single-minded concerning
that one thing, that one vocation, that one calling, that one gift, and
that one anointing, then as we all come together we become the whole Body
that God intends for us to be!
It is the time of the Holy Spirit. During the days of
Jesus' ministry in the earth, He told the Jews that the time was coming
when His people were not going to worship on "this mountain," or in "this
place," but they would worship Him "...in spirit and in truth." We are to
build the kingdom of God and not our own kingdoms. We are co-laborers with
Jesus Christ and with one another to build the Church of God that the
gates of hell cannot prevail against. It will be "...not by might, nor by
power..." but by the Holy Spirit Who gives revelation of the Lord Jesus
Christ for Who He really is. The people who walk in this revelation will
be triumphant!
This is the time that we must move into absolutely
knowing that when Jesus says, "Ask, and you shall receive," we are going
to receive when we ask according to the perfect will of God. Furthermore,
"Seek and you shall find." "Seek" in the Bible almost always refers to
seeking Almighty God as in Matthew 6:33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
Continue with, "Knock and it shall be opened unto you." "Knock" can be
related to openness expressed in an intimacy with the Father, with the
Son, and with the Holy Spirit.
As we ask, seek, and knock, we will not have ourselves,
our selfish motives and lusts in mind that pervert the use of the giftings
and the call, but we will have the Most High God in mind. We will stay
full of the anointing, the focus, the purpose, the motivating force of the
Holy One, and be single-minded concerning the call, the giftings and the
vocation that God has for our lives. "Ask, seek, and knock" are the three
components that bring us answers, that we might develop into the people
that the Lord Jesus Christ has chosen and ordained us to be.
For I know the thoughts that I
think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to
give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and
pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find
me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:11
*Every believer's priesthood ~ holy and royal ~ is spoken of in 1
Peter 2:5-9 and Hebrews 13:15-16 and elsewhere. Our holy priesthood
involves our worship of the Most High God and our fellowship with Him - no
one else can do that for us. We live to serve Him and we are holy as He is
holy. Our ministry to others (our royal priesthood) flows out of each one
of us from that place of intimacy with God, from first being a holy
priest. Therein we can see the danger that if we have not been a holy
priest, and are giving out of what and who we are apart from God, we are
then giving out of the soulish realm, which is temporal, and not eternal
which will never satisfy. If our lives are rooted in our personal, holy
priesthood to the Lord, it will fuel our royal priesthood on this earth,
and we will never get off track.
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