Trina and I just returned from a great time with an impressive body of believers in Central Texas. Though the primary reason for our visit was to strengthen some longstanding relationships for the future, the trip expanded to include ministry to their two existing house churches and some of the future leaders of a third weekly house meeting due to start in the near future. We want to thank The Lord and everyone who prays for our travels as we received more than the normal amount of positive feedback on the preaching and prophetic ministry in this particular setting.
One noteworthy highlight of the trip was the amount of encouragement Trina and I received from observing the growth in many of the people that make up this fellowship. You might better understand our observation if you know that for the last 25 years Trina and I have been consistently involved in a pastoral counseling ministry that involves both individuals and married couples. This isn’t our primary ministry and even though we have never advertised it, God has always brought us individuals and couples with a very wide range of issues that in most cases we have been able to help. Though we hadn’t seen many of these people in several years, it was abundantly clear to us that their marriages, across the board, had grown stronger. This view is a significant contrast to what we’ve observed in the general societies of England & the USA over the last couple of years. Because of the pressure on marriage as a mainstream institution, the hope presented by these precious saints reinforced to us how God intends to turn things around.
Returning to Gad for insight on how we win spiritual battles like struggling marriages
In our last blog we talked about the advantage Gad had because he understood the need to be mindful that he was always in a battle (CLICK HERE if you want to review this). After we understand this also applies to our lives today, there is another facet of Gad’s early experience that also applies to modern day Christianity. Joshua 1:12-15 NASB95 tells us,
To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, [13] “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God gives you rest and will give you this land.’ [14] Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them, [15] until the LORD gives your brothers rest, as He gives you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land, and possess that which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”
Before the series of battles resulting in the taking of the promised land, Gad was granted a nice inheritance on the east side of the Jordan River. While I am sure the temptation existed, their blessing was not to get in the way of them coming to the aid of the other tribes of Israel as they fought for their own inheritance. In the Oakland Ministries home churches, those with stronger marriages make it a point to encourage others that were either young or distressed in their marriage walk. Thank goodness those that have experienced healing aren’t letting God’s power and grace in this area end with their own experience! They live by an ethos that doesn’t allow them to rest until their brothers and sisters in Jesus get to taste their own blessing of a happy marriage.
Finding the grace for more prosperous marriages is only one example of many different areas where God will use a willing vessel to further His Kingdom in the lives of others. Look at a small survey of scriptures that describe what happens when SELF (CLICK HERE to review this) takes a back seat to LOVING OTHERS:
1) It deepens our relationship AND favor with The Lord
1 John 3:14-24 NASB95
We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. [15] Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. [16] We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. [17] But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? [18] Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. [19] We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him [20] in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. [21] Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; [22] and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight. [23] This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. [24] The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
2) It minimizes the personal impact of our own mistakes
1 Peter 4:8 NASB95
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
3) It shows the world the only one who can really help them
John 13:34-35 NASB95
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. [35] By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This list is only a small sample of the scripture that testifies to the major impact that results when we make the deliberate shift from being self centered to focusing on helping others. Our experience with these wonderful believers has reinforced our resolve in this area. This is our prayer for everyone in The Body of Christ.
