In
my last post, I wrote about the domino-effect of faulty desires, goals, and
feelings leading to a healthy humbling experience that returned me to joy with
God and his people. Today there were more dominoes, but in a far more positive
way.
On
Monday, I was presented with an invitation to share in a ministry opportunity
that I had never considered. The thought hadn’t even entered my mind. By the
end of the day, I found myself beginning to feel excited about the possibility.
It was encouraging.
Since
then, my morning time with God has been a mixture of prayer about everything
going on in my life, journaling new lessons about the sealing of the 144,000,
and writing down ideas that are flooding into my mind about how to join God in ministry.
I have had some good talks with God about how these things work where prayer,
spending time in the word, and gathering together the ideas that seem to arise
from this relationship, all work together for a genuine walk with God.
As
I was wrestling with my thoughts and feelings about whether ideas for ministry
that arise during my morning time with God are just as important as learning
doctrinal truths about God, I suddenly remembered what God taught me Monday
morning, just a few hours prior to discovering this invitation to ministry. It felt
like he was tying these things together in a very special way, assuring me that
all aspects of walking with him were part of his work.
What
God taught me Monday morning was another facet of what it means for him to seal
the 144,000.[1]
While I had been considering it from the standpoint of the security that is
ours in Jesus Christ through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, I
realized that it also had to include the mandate that has been given to the
church.
Jesus
said that, through the finished work of redemption, including the powerful work
of God that raised him from the dead, he had received all authority in heaven
and on earth. Because of this authority, Jesus told his church to “Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”[2]
As
this relates to the sealing of God’s children, the seal that proves that the
church is the genuine body of Christ is the same seal that authorizes us to go
and make disciples of all nations. There will be times when the Church will be
bombarded with every other message the red dragon has taught the world, and we
will wonder how we can ever proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to societies
that are deeply in love with sin, or to people-groups that love false and
idolatrous ideas about God.
The
sealing of the 144,000 tells the church that we are the ones authorized by God
to go into the world and make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the
genuine body of Christ, and so we are to go as members of his body and make
Jesus known in the world. We are the genuine branches of the genuine vine, our
Lord Jesus Christ, and we are to branch out into the world with the life of his
Spirit directing our steps, leading our way, and fulfilling the purposes of the
Father.
What
blew me away this morning, was the discovery of another example of God speaking
before he acts. We see this pattern all through the Scriptures, and it should
be no surprise when we see it continue today.[3]
God teaches us things from his word prior to handing us assignments that
require us to know those things.
As
soon as I noticed this connection between my Monday morning lesson, and the
Monday afternoon invitation, I found myself rejoicing in God and his work in me
this morning (a few days later), and in anticipation of the work he is going to
do when this opportunity for ministry rolls around. All my ideas to contribute
to the upcoming ministry are intricately connected to lessons about the sealing
of the 144,000. This imagery of the sealing of the 144,000 will build my
courage and confidence in what I am to share about our Lord Jesus Christ.
One
of my favorite joy-verses is when Jesus spoke these words to his disciples just
prior to his crucifixion, one of the most grievous experiences these disciples
would go through. He said, “These things
I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”[4]
Jesus
still speaks to us through his word so that his own joy will be inside of us,
and that this will cause our own joy to fill up to the full. While God’s word
is clear on these things, here is one more testimony of how it works in real
life for normal people like us.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
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