The past 12 days have been a blur…a stressful, surreal blur. OK, those aren’t my words, but a line from the movie “Mean Girls,” but it’s exactly how I feel. It seems like we’ve all been in Panajachel for at least a month, but it’s only been a week. On the other hand, it seems like we just got here, and there’s still so much to be accomplished.
So far on the race, I’ve been challenged in ways I didn’t even realize I needed to be challenge. I’ve realized that I still have so much to learn about walking with God, walking with the knowledge and authority of Jesus and discerning spiritual gifts. It’s not like I felt like I had everything figured out before this month of ministry. I just felt like I knew what I was doing more than I actually do. We have been having a Bible study at night with Pastor Ben and I’ve already had so many thought provoking subjects and revelations.
The fact that God’s word says we’ve been given “fully authority” and “have already received the fullness of God” is something I’ve always read, learned but never actually realized as a believer. If Jesus is inside us, the Holy Spirit dwells within us, and we are sons and daughters of the Kingdom, then we don’t just have a few blessings and gifts…we have ALL OF THEM. So when we pray for anointing, blessings, gifts, etc. God is in heaven saying “ANGIE, YOU ALREADY HAVE MY ANOINTING, BLESSINGS, AND GIFTS!!” He’s our Dad, and as His kids He wants us to have it all.
I realize now that I don’t need to pray for anointing or authority in Jesus, I already have that. God has already given me those blessings and that inheritance. Furthermore, when I pray, I now know that I don’t have to say “in the name of Jesus” to make the prayer powerful, since I am, in fact, coming in the name of Jesus. As Allison said at Launch in Antigua, “there is a big difference between principle and presence…” and what I need is to realize the presence is the only way to get anywhere for the Kingdom. My new prayer for this season in my life is that I may discern and grow in the wisdom that I truly already HAVE the fullness of God and I pray I will have the strength and perserverance to USE IT. I pray that God continues to reveal His glory to me on this race, and I know that prayer will be answered…
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“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge�”that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
~Ephesians 3:16-19
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have. I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body, because I know that I will soon put it aside, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things. We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
~2 Peter 1:3-21
