Our Continuing Journey, Part 2
Merry Christmas and a Hope Filled New Year!
New Beginnings On A Continuing Journey!
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Ray & Laurel Farris |
As we are about to enter into another new year, Laurel and I are again transitioning into another phase of life and ministry! Sometimes it feels like we are constantly on the move, but that is part of what it means to be sojourners on journey with God!
Although both Laurel and I are on this journey together, today I write primarily of what God has been speaking to me! More from Laurel in the future! When God reveals something which touches on your destiny in His Kingdom, there is a mixture of feelings: Joy at the prospect of entering into God’s purposes, but also wonder which asks, “Who in the world am I to do this?” That summarizes how I am feeling! Both Joy & Wonder!
The call of God carries with it the knowledge that “this is impossible without God!” And so it is with the direction God is calling me (Ray). It is so impossible without God that I have been hesitant to speak it out, yet God nudges me to do so in faith! I believe God wants to use me to disciple others in the outpouring of the gifts which come from Holy Spirit; both in the body of Christ and outside: for those in the body, discipling in being vessels whom the Spirit can use at any time as He chooses in giving His gifts. To unbelievers, manifesting the gifts for God’s intended purposes - to reveal the goodness and power of God to all, and to confirm that the Good News really is good news!
“And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs”(Mark 16:20).
Do I feel qualified? Absolutely not except that God has filled me with passion and joy having tasted the goodness and greatness of God in this! I am qualified in that I am willing to be used, and willing to be discipled in God’s ways! When we serve in the Kingdom of God we are always fully dependent on God! It is impossible to move in the power of God without His presence and permission! Yet this call to be available to move in the gifts of the Spirit is not exclusive to a select few; rather it is inclusive for all believers!
Coming out of a conservative background, I have always believed that we should be exercising the gifts, but never had a model to look to that said “this is the way…this is possible through the indwelling Spirit in all of us who believe in Jesus!” It has been said that one of the reasons we have seen so little of the gifts being manifest is because, when we have tried to do so and failed, we explained our “failure” by creating doctrines which denied the validity of gifts for our era, or attributed them to “something done overseas but not here.” This may have been done consciously or unconsciously, with much of the reason being our secularized worldview in western society.
Yet have the Scriptures changed? Absolutely not! The revelation God has given us of Himself and His Kingdom through the Word of God does not change, nor does it become irrelevant through the passage of time! Although I could go into much greater depth of why the gifts are still relevant today, let me lay a bit of scriptural background that may help faith to rise up in our spirits to be discipled in the use of the gifts. In Phil. 2:6-7a the Apostle Paul writes of Jesus:
“Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges…”
In this we see that Jesus, though fully God and man, chose to live dependent upon God in the same way we do. He did this so that He would model for us the reality of a way of life God purposes for all of us to walk in! What Jesus did, we also can do and, in truth, are created to do! Consider this scripture:
“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done,
and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” (John 14:12).
So, some may be asking, how is it possible for us to do the same things, or even greater things, than Jesus? The answer lies in how Jesus lived while on earth.
Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.” (John 5:19).
He also says, in John 8:28, “I do nothing on my own but say only what the Father taught me.” This is the key to life in the Spirit; doing only what we see the Father doing, and saying only what we hear the Father saying, through the leading of the Holy Spirit! Implicit in this is learning how to hear and see what the Father is doing! That is, in large part, the work of discipling others in life in the Spirit!
Are spiritual gifts real for today? I have personal testimony that God still does want to give these wondrous gifts to people today. I have had the incredible joy of being a vessel God has used to speak prophetically (words from Spirit to others), of Holy Spirit healing through my willingness to be used, and more.
I have shared my heart, and earnestly desire the prayers of the saints as I move in this direction! Like everyone who seeks to disciple others, we begin where we are and trust God to increase our ability and impart greater authority as He sees we are faithful to obey. We seek to walk in the reality that “nothing is impossible with God!” I testify to a joy which knows no bounds when we enter into the “greater things” of God! Our desire is that our lives give witness to the abundant life Jesus promised and purposes for us! There is a world who need both the witness of word and deed, spirit and life, promise and power so they may truly know that our God is both good and powerful enough for anything life brings our way!
As always, Blessed to be a blessing,
Ray & Laurel Farris
