It is the grace of God which knits our hearts
and lives into covenantal and relational reality. The same grace that
brings us together in network relationships holds us together in those
relationships. We must be careful to remember that our ministries come
through Holy Spirit. We are then woven together into spiritual,
practical and functional relationships by His hand. His purposes must
be fulfilled at any and all costs.
One of His basic purposes can be found in
Luke 1:17, "And it is he who will go as a forerunner before
Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the
fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of
the righteous; so as to make ready a people prepared for the
Lord."
“To make ready a people prepared for the
Lord”. The Wuest translation from the literal Greek reads “To
make ready for the Lord a people which has been placed in the right
spiritual state”. We know that Jesus gave the five ministry
gifts to carry on the maturing, equipping, unifying and the forming of
the character of Christ in the people. If the devil can break the
networking that God is doing among the ministries, then he can keep
the Church in a divided, immature state.
I still remember vividly all that Holy Spirit
accomplished with us during the April gathering and as I have stated
before, I do not want to lose what we gained. In fact, my desire is
that our relationships grow into relationships that would reflect a
glorious Church and be examples for others to see and follow.
Matthew 19:6b says,"...What therefore
God has joined together, let no man separate." The Greek word
for “man” here is “anthropos” and carries the meaning “human
being, whether male or female”. We see here that not only the
devil can break up relationships, but they can also be broken up by
man. Any “anthropos” who interferes with relationships that God
has joined together will be dealt with severely by the Lord.
In John 17:11, Jesus prayed, "And I
am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and
I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which
Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.” All
Spiritual action comes out of relationship. As Jesus was absolutely
linked with His Father, so are we linked with Him and with one
another. If we know that we are called to the ministry, then we give
ourselves to the ministry. If we know that we have been called into
relationship with others, then we should give ourselves to developing
those relationships. If we have problems, we work them out and invite
the Lord into developing the solution. Marriage is a covenant of God
and those who are married and have been for some time know that
maintaining a great marriage requires a lot of work on both parts.
Again, the solution involves getting rid of any self-centeredness by
simply dying to self! God has provided a way for us to come into a
lasting relationship not only with Him, but with each other. It is
called “covenant”.
A covenant itself is actually a set of words
that are spoken to define the nature of that relationship and set
forth the principles of commitment to it. A covenant can be seen as an
oath that seals the relationship between two people! Its purpose is to
ensure faithfulness and commitment to the very relationships that are
so precious in God’s sight.
THOSE WHO UNDERSTAND COVENANT WILL SEE
THEMSELVES AS PART OF A TEAM.
The true anointing will come to the Church
when we realize that it will be a corporate anointing. What a relief!
We have all these God-given giftings and anointings all around us and
we do not have to do everything ourselves. Pastors now have four other
ministry gifts to place demands on, evangelists now have four other
ministry gifts to help them get the job accomplished, etc., etc.
There is a far greater power when we work
together than there is in the sum of the separate parts added up by
themselves. The only way that we will ever be able to function
together as a team and not get easily offended, envious or hindered is
to understand and practice making covenant with each other.
I would like to quote out of the May
apostolic letter: Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and how pleasant
it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” The word
translated as “dwell” literally means to settle down. It is a rare
finding when we find brothers and sisters who will settle down long
enough to make covenant to walk together in unity and receive the
commanded blessing of God.
Then we find that it is not enough just to
make covenants, we then are charged to keep them. Romans 1:28-31 says,
“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer,
God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are
not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed,
evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of
evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy,
unloving, unmerciful...”
“Untrustworthy” in the Greek means “covenant
breaker”, and in this context speaks of a sinful character
trait. Just think how much more God will be able to use His Church
when we begin understanding and applying covenant principles!
I will close this letter by quoting myself
again from previous letters. “We must work hard at guarding and
keeping the relationships that the Lord has joined together. If we
experience problems in our relationships, then we must apply Matthew 5
and Matthew 18 principles. God hates divorce!”
THE PURPOSE? . . . TO EXPERIENCE A TRUE
CORPORATE ANOINTING AND UNITY OF THE SPIRIT!
It’s a family thing,
Apostle Richard Wright
