Monday, January 1, 2018

Embracing the Apostolic Process of Reconciliation

The Apostle Paul taught us through 
The Apostle Paul taught us through his second letter to the Corinthian congregation that God “has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation (II Corinthians 5:18).”  What is this ministry that God has given to each of us individually and to the Body of Christ collectively as a people?  And if this is THE ministry that He has entrusted to us, how can we be sure that we successfully fulfill this tremendous mandate and responsibility?  
Of all the messages Holy Spirit has ministered to me over the years, it is His impartation concerning these questions that has tied them all together.  Through Holy Spirit’s ministry to me, He has called the HOW of the ministry of reconciliation the “Apostolic Process”, and equated this process with the mandate of true Biblically based Kingdom education.  I truly believe that it is God’s purpose to scribally excavate the depths of the revelatory treasure of this apostolic process of reconciliation through us, not only in word, but also in deed.  I can truly say that my heart has been seared with the urgency of this message to such a degree that I am overwhelmed by it.
In fact, there was an unforgettable defining moment in my life when the necessity of embracing and surrendering to this God ordained apostolic process became crystal clear to me.  I have shared it before, and I will share it again for clarity sake.  While on a ministry assignment interceding for a loved one’s salvation, Holy Spirit abruptly grabbed my attention with these words:  “You know your being here is more about you than her?”  Instantly, He had my undivided attention.  After all, how could this be?  I had already received the precious gift of being reconciled to God through Christ’s death and resurrection, and as far as I knew this individual had not.  Perceiving my shock and confusion, Holy Spirit proceeded to speak saying, “Christine, if you will allow me to complete My assignment in you, then you will complete your assignment.” 
For many years, Holy Spirit has been progressively revealing Holy Spirit’s assignment in us as the apostolic process of reconciliation.  He has also been ministering to me the necessity of our role and responsibility in embracing and surrendering to His work through that process in order to become all that God created, called and ordained us to be in Christ.  In other words, the apostolic process is the SECRET of fulfilling our God breathed purpose and assignment on Earth as it is in Heaven.  It is the SECRET to actually walking in our true identity as Christ modeled for us during His Earthly life and ministry.  Recently, Holy Spirit has been ministering to me regarding how, SO FEW people EVER truly walk in the fulness of their identity and fulfill their God given life assignment.  Truly, this failure of so many to apprehend the fulness of their identity and fulfill their God given assignment is a tragedy that grieves the heart of God beyond measure.
 The Apostle Paul described God’s reconciling work in our lives as a process that is so transformational that we actually BECOME a “New Creation”.  Furthermore, he explains that “old things have passed away” and “all things have become new.”  Now, this is absolutely amazing if you think about it.  IN CHRIST, we are REcreated!  We actually DIED (passed away) with Him on the cross.  Our old unregenerated self CEASED to exist on the cross with Jesus, just as HIS former Earthly state also ceased to exist and was buried in a tomb.  Likewise, we were RAISED as a NEW CREATION with Christ, just as HE RAISED in a new form and state of being that was manifested through His ability to suddenly appear and walk through walls. 
I was awakened to the reality of this truth several months back when Holy Spirit spoke the Scripture, “Isaiah 48:7”  to me.  When I looked up this Scripure the words, “THEY ARE CREATED NOW and not from the beginning” jumped out at me, and I began to understand that Holy Spirit was revealing that He wasn’t “just doing a new thing”, but that He was actually doing a RECREATIVE work pertaining to the things that I had laid before Him through intercession.  Just as He spoke through the prophet Isaiah so many years ago, “And before this day you have not heard them…”, He was RECREATING according to His PRESENT / NOW will, NOT JUST fulfilling a previously spoken prophetic word.  You see, sometimes we hold onto prophetic words and labor in prayer seeking their fulfillment, and this is not necessarily wrong, but IN THIS CASE God was revealing that THIS NOW WORK was a NEW CREATION, not a mere fulfillment of a previously released prophesy.
Get this!  According to Apostle Paul’s teaching in his letter to the Corinthian congregation, a NEW CREATION is established EVERY TIME a soul is RECONCILED to God through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.  HOW DARE we take SO GREAT a salvation and work of reconciliation for granted!  But get this!  We are called to COLABOR with God in this SAME ministry of reconciliation, and our unique God ordained assignment can only be fulfilled through the Holy Spirit’s apostolic process in and through our lives.  Therefore, it is time for us to truly embrace and apprehend the magnitude of this process in order to walk in the fulness of our God breathed identity on Earth as it is in Heaven. 
So, I continued to seek God’s face and to excavate God’s Word regarding this revelation of the apostolic process of true Biblical Kingdom Education.  Through prayer, I sought to apply the basic law of Biblical Hermeneutics that builds upon the foundation of the first mention of a term or truth within Scripture.  In other words, I began to seek to find the FIRST MENTION of Kingdom education in the Scripture.  Of course, the principal of Kingdom education can be present without the actual term being used in the Biblical text.  So, I began to search for words such as teach, learn, know etc.  But let me tell you something!  Holy Spirit just straight up INTERUPTED my entire logical Biblical Hermeneutic process and BLEW ME AWAY with revelation that I was not expecting in the least.
What He ministered to me happens to relate to the Apostle Paul’s description of us being a NEW CREATION in Christ, AND Isaiah’s prophesy “THEY ARE CREATED NOW and not from the beginning.”  Because Holy Spirit took me to the VERY beginning of Scripture in Genesis 1, showing me that the very first words of Scripture are the FIRST MENTION of Kingdom Education, pertaining to the very apostolic process that He has been speaking to me about for years. 
Let us take a look and examine the relevance of this Scripture.  For in the Biblical account of Creation in the book of Genesis parallels and foreshadows God’s REcreative work of reconciliation in and through our lives.  See, we are ALREADY a NEW CREATION, yet the APOSTOLIC PROCESS is necessary for this reality to be manifested on Earth as it is in Heaven.  And the Creation account in Genesis prophetically reveals this apostolic Kingdom education process in an amazing way, as demonstrated in the chart below.
                                             
In the beginning
Divine Appointment
God created
Divine Creation
the heavens and the earth
Divine Connection
The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep
Divine Set Up in the Midst of                 Apparent Confusion
And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters
Divine Covenant
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light
Divine Community
What Holy Spirit revealed to me was that prophetically speaking, He is working in the apostolic NOW to complete a REcreative work in the lives of His people, and this REcreative work follows the pattern revealed in the Biblical Creation account.  The apostolic NOW is a divine appointed time through which God declared a NEW BEGINNING in our lives.  This NEW BEGINNING is NOT based on any previous or past occurrence or even word spoken or revealed as the prophet Isaiah indicated by saying, “THEY ARE CREATED NOW and not from the beginning.”  At this appointed time, God divinely RECREATES or REFASHIONS us according to His original intent or perfect will eternally present in His heart and mind before time began.  According to the Creation pattern God created the heavens AND the earth, signifying that He never intended there to be separation between them.  Likewise, God establishes divine connection within the lives on His newly created people that causes the continual and original CONNECTION between Heaven and Earth to manifest on Earth as it is in Heaven.  This DIVINE CONNECTION is established and manifested through the divine apostolic alignment of souls according to the original purpose and intent of God. 
Now up to this point, everything in the Creation account seems perfect, God like and pristine, until we reach the following words:  “The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.”   Wait a minute!  This is God’s miraculous and beautiful creation!  Where does this apparent confusion of an UNformed Earth, emptiness and darkness fit into this?  Holy Spirit ministered to me that this represents a PROPHETIC PATTERN that FORESHADOWED the confusion that would manifest through the entrance of sin within the Earth.  God FOREKNEW what would take place, and revealed it in His Word.  Similarly, each soul that enters the Earth realm experiences apparent confusion of identity through their existence in an UNFORMED or DISFORMED state.  Yet, according to the Creation pattern, this apparent confusion is no more than a DIVINE SET UP, because God had a SOLUTION to this problem.  This SOLUTION is called the apostolic process of reconciliation through Kingdom Education.  In the midst of  apparent confusion, God established His DIVINE COVENANT with Earth and all the inhabitants of Earth when “the Spirit of God was hover(ed) over the face of the waters”.  Likewise, the “waters” represents the nations of humanity!  According to the Creation pattern, God has established DIVINE COVENANT with the people of the Earth.  His Spirit is HOVERING over the nations even now, because He has COVENANTED with them according to His purpose of RECREATING a people from every nation and tribe through the ministry of reconciliation.  Finally, the Creation pattern reveals God’s purpose to establish DIVINE COMMUNITY through His spoken Word, “Let there be light.”  For we know that GOD IS LIGHT!  Therefore, not only did God establish His COVENANT with the nations, but the original intent and purpose of His heart was always to COMMUNE with us through the beauty of DIVINE COMMUNITY, just as the Godhead (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) COMMUNE in UNITY as ONE.  Thus, Jesus’ prayer in John 17 asking that His disciples be ONE even and He was ONE with His Father.  Therefore, the Creation pattern REVEALS the foreshadowing of the RECREATION pattern that is being manifested even now through the apostolic process of reconciliation in and through our lives.  Holy Spirit has revealed to me that THIS same PROCESS is the ESSENCE of true Biblically based Kingdom Education.  And it is the will of God that we embrace this process of reconciliation, because we will only walk in our true identity and fulfill our God breathed assignment on Earth as it is in Heaven to the measure that we allow the Holy Spirit to complete His assignment in us.
© 2018 Christine Lombard, All rights Reserved; Use only with permission




      









  

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