Being Doers of the Word

All growth in the application of knowledge takes place in steps

This is real life 

We do not start-out mature

We do not start-out professional at anything 

We are imperfect

We need each other 

We need to be perfected

One step at the time

Regarding the Church, I am extremely heartbroken by much of what I read on the internet these days, because it seems, that 90% of it falls into two very negative categories:

- First -

We concisely define our opinions and beliefs about current events within and without the Church; but the way we present those beliefs to the world, in preachy, non-action, non-get-involved ways, ends up editorializing the truth in word verses executing it in actions. 

- Second - 

In the expression of our beliefs, we often go much further than point one. 

Sometimes brutally...sometimes with soft & subtle spin...we bite & devour one another instead of "praying" that the people who make-up the Church as a whole might honestly be built-up in the love of Christ.

Should we judge that which contradicts whole-scripture context?  Of course we should, but we should do so in love.  Never are we called to demean, devalue, or condemn the way others methodologically express their relationship to Christ when it differs from our own.  Instead, we should "pray."

Repenting from the negative action of critique to the positive action of prayer is something we should take very seriously.  For in this present day, the way many of us criticize others, (particularly on the internet before the eyes of the entire world), is not God's will.  And if we do not cease such actions, we will be judged for them.  Selah 

Instead of criticism, our biblical calling of faith is to reconcile all things to Christ; even if that be darkness to light. (Mk 9:38-40, Ps 139:12)  As individuals; as local churches; or as any part of the Living Church; ALL of our individually expressed activity should be seeking to reconcile ALL things unto the pre-imminent Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

This can only be done by living our personal lives in open submission to Christ's unconditional Lordship; thereby bringing "everything" around us into exposure to that lifestyle of submission.  It begins and ends with an attitude of prayerful humility wherein the Spirit of Reconciliation within us (the Holy Spirit) is able to lead our lives.

The only way to truly be the light of the world is to live in and be guided by this Spirit of Reconciliation.  Jn 3:17

Exercise, not thought, produces increase

I am about to suggest some specific, do-able action steps of faith, designed to stretch your present picture of the Church and your own involvement in it.  In terms of relational advancement; I believe these steps to be "foundationally essential" to the greater wholeness of the Body of Christ.

The Bible clearly teaches us to express our faith in measurable actions.  Mt 25: 15-30, Is 58:1-12  The following steps are simple.  They are specifically-relational in nature.  They do not pertain to just some of us in the Church and not others.  Instead, they are steps which are 'do-able' by any one of us, regardless of our differences.

Effectively Reaching Out in Relational Love

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love  Gal 5:5-6

This "Faith which Worketh by Love," (when applied intentionally and on purpose in actions steps) will lead you straight into four distinct dimensions of deeper spiritual life: 

1.       Knowledge

It will lead you into a more intimate understanding of others who differ from you

2.     Intercessory Prayer

It will lead you to pray for others outside of your personal circle of church culture

3.     Inter-Action

It will increase your relational involvement with others of differing church cultures

4.     Oneness in Spirit

It will produce relational prayer with and for others of diverse expressions of Christ 

Within each of these dimensions exists a myriad of touch-points which we can plug-into by this "faith which works" by a "love that acts."  The four "practical & do-able" steps listed below are a sampling of how we can physically demonstrate our intra-Body love in measurable ways.

That these four things qualify as a part of God's heart & will, I find unquestionable.  He would love for us to DO them!  He would be thrilled to find us doing them!  Whether we choose to do them however is a matter of decision on our part - A choice of our personal will. 

For me; expressing love toward others in these ways is nothing less than the challenge of really picking up my cross to walk in the steps of Jesus' love for others...or not.  With that in mind, I hope you will do more than mentally agree with the value, potential, and spiritual power of these suggested steps of love.  My hope is that you will act upon them as Doers of the Word.  And that you will start "Today."

Step One

Study Others

Turn your computer on.  There is a lot you can learn very quickly on-line about anyone and anything you may wish to investigate.  That goes for the numerous different expressions of church life in your own nation and community.   Study them

Don't fall into the general study of philosophies and doctrines.  Find out what the real people in your expanded family; your neighborhood; and your work place believe.  Study the beliefs of others with the purpose of reaching-out to them in informed relationship.

Do not trust things you have already come to believe which make you feel that you cannot have relationship with certain other types of people.  It is easy to be against things.  Most times, what we say we are against is just an insecure excuse to abstain from our responsibility to reach-out-relationally as the light of the world.

In place of an Us-verses-Them mentality; study the beliefs of others with a mind of seeing and better understanding the people behind those beliefs.  With that knowledge and the love of God, seek increased intimacy with others different from yourself, by searching out a "cultural" means of initiating relationship.  Embrace Paul's example of becoming all things unto all men; which in short means, he "went out" to others on their ground, in their own cultural contexts; never demanded that they come to him.

Step Two

Chosen Pathways of Prayer

Most of our prayer pathways lead to an end destination called: "us."  (Our own lives; our own families; our own church - Something close to home and familiar.)  Choose to take a different path.  Move out away from yourself and your own life by consciously moving from the smaller frontiers of "you" to the larger frontiers of "us."  (The bigger picture of the Church)

Intercede for others in your neighborhood; your community; your nation; THE NATIONS!  Call upon God to work-out His perfect will in ALL of the Church that claims Christ as their divine Lord & Savior. 

Search the internet for information about persecution in other nations.  Pray for them as you would want them to pray for you if "YOU" were the one suffering such things. 

If your church has missionaries; pray for them; support them; write them and personally encourage them.  When you don't do these things, they feel alone at best and forgotten at worst.  Don't let that happen.  Personally reach-out.

Move from general to ever-more-specific.  Open a phone book to the section on churches and pray for individual churches and pastors.  Put you finger on their name in the phone book.  Pray for them.  Prayerfully read the web sites of local churches.  Think about the people in them.  Look at the faces.  Pray for them right then and there.

Ask neighbours and friends and co-workers where they go to church.  Ask for and write down the name of their church and the names of their pastors.  Ask what they would like you to pray for.  Write it down.  If they don't go to church, ask about anyone they know who does.  When they ask why you're asking; tell them that you have made a decision to pray more specifically for churches, leaders, and people in your community and in the world. 

Ask people if they would like for you to pray for any specific thing in their life.  Ask them if you can pray for them, then and there.  ASK THEM!  They will say yes more often than you think.  And when they do, put your hand on their shoulder and pray for them in love, as though you have known them all their life. 

When people say no, respect that.  If they attack you or the Church; noting failures, defects, and bitter disappointments concerning the Church...apologize for those things; take personal responsibility for those things; note them down and pray specifically about them, asking God to bring healing and wholeness and new life to His Church.

Step Three

Accept Invitations to Visit the Churches/Groups of Others

Regardless the venue, trust God to increase your understanding and conceive relationships with others by accepting invitations to churches that claim Jesus as Lord. 

Perhaps there is a lot you don't like in other churches.  Visit them anyway.  Count your feelings of discomfort as "a good" and not a bad thing.  Experience those churches personally as a way to better understand how to effectively pray for other people.  Touch those parts of the Church with your presence instead of your opinion; then pray about anything that you feel is not particularly biblical. 

Be "for" and "not against."  Jesus did not approach men's faults with a pointed finger; He picked up a cross.  He didn't back-away from them, but gave His life for them instead.  Choose to do the same.  Take up the responsibility to pray for others by gaining your own first-hand experiential knowledge, instead of second-hand hearsay.  Capturing such "cultural" understanding will better equip you for effective relationship outside of your own comfort-zone. 

Be an Explorer.  Discipline yourself to look beyond the things that you don't agree with to capture why particular people choose to worship in particular ways.  Edify what is good.  Pray about what is less.

Don't presume that you know other people and their churches. Step out to really know them.  Take the risk to literally experience them in action steps of love which will strengthen your character and mature the quality and effectiveness of your intercessory prayers for the Body of Christ as a whole.

Step Four

Bridging Cultural Expressions

In my opinion, the absolute most important step you can ever take with a Christian from a different expression than your own is to pray together with them.  We do very little of this, yet there is a wealth of things which most of us can easily agree to pray about together.  We just have to take the initiative; submitting ourselves one to another as the Bible says to do. (1 Pet 5:5) 

I have found it easiest to initially touch-base with people in prayer over two primary topics:  

Prayer for that Person's Nation

Prayer for that Persons own Family

(Few people will refuse to pray over these topics)

Taking the initiative in relational prayer does not mean taking the lead as most of us might understand it.  Taking the lead in love is giving yourself away, by the cross, into someone else's life.  Mk 9:31 & 35

I initiate prayer with others at every opportunity, but I do not try and lead such prayer.  Instead, I trust the Holy Spirit's leadership.  I submit myself to the other person in such a way that they feel comfortable praying - Which is to say, I pray with them in whatever way they themselves are generally accustomed to doing so. 

If they kneel; I kneel.  If they sit; I sit.  If they stand; I stand.

I listen to their prayer or conversation.  I observe.  I connect to their heart and try and connect with God's.

By the light of the Word, I look in my spirit at what I hear.  I align myself with that person's heart and God's Word; refusing to let my mind drift.  I focus; looking for the inner picture God wants to show me.  Sometimes, I even take notes. 

I focus my love on the person there with me...on those they are praying for...and on God's will and purposes in what I am experiencing.  I exist in that moment to be one mind & heart with that person's intercessions and those of Jesus Christ.  Heb 7:24-25

I patiently await my turn to pray.  Having listened to and absorbed the heart of their prayers (or conversation); I try to follow-up by re-touching those same prayer points again; praying scriptures over them.  And never have I prayed with another person in this way without it producing deeper relationship. 

Such prayer produces respect.  It ignites love; disarming "me-against-you" defences.  It destroys illusionary insecurities; replacing them with real-life experience and a revelation of the real person behind the outer label. 

Initiating relationships of prayer in this way is a step of faith.  It always feels uncomfortable and uncertain at the point of initiation.  However, opening yourself to other people, (by trusting the Holy Spirit in this way), will exponentially increase the power of your prayer-life.  It will open doors of relationship with other people.  And it will change everyone involved at a core spiritual level.

Going Out verses Staying In

It is indeed an act of faith for me to go to church each Sunday morning or Wednesday night.  It is indeed an act of faith for me to attend a Bible Study or participate in a Prayer Group in my church.  All of these actions on my part ARE healthy acts of faith which I should participate in consistently.  Yet relationally speaking; all of these things primarily focus in an "inward way" upon us...not in an "outward way" upon other people. 

...your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. 

But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness,

and all these things shall be ADDED unto you.

Mt 6:32-33

Seeking first the Kingdom of God is always about looking "outward' from our own lives.  These things that we seek in church for ourselves are all good, but they are not an end in themselves and they should not be the 'first' thing we do.  They are only "one half" of the equation - Things specifically designed to build us up within our church environments, so that we may then be what we are called to be outside of them. 

The end goal you see is "getting to the work outside."  Yet for the most part, the actions listed in the first paragraph are often considered the end goal in themselves, however; They are not the end goal.  They are internal things we do with people with whom we feel safe...within controlled, familiar environments that we feel safe in...done in ways which do not cost us nearly as much as extending beyond them into the Four Relational Dimensions which I have touched upon in this chapter...  They do not cost us the cross.

The love Jesus received in His Father's Presence, enabled Him to walk out of the gates of heaven; come to earth; and bear a purposeful cross.  The cross was His destiny and destination all along.  It is where His path led.

This too is where our path leads.  It must always begin within the inner courts of intimacy, yet it never ends there.  Instead, it is there we receive the love that will walk us to the cross...outside the gates of our safe normal worlds.  Heb 13:12-14   

Addition not Subtraction

Faith without works is dead. My goal in this article is to exhort and inspire you to effectively act in a living faith that works by love.   That is what I am doing.  Allow me however to go one step further and make crystal clear what I am NOT doing:

Ø      I am NOT asking you to abandon any given thing for another - I'm talking about adding unto 

Ø      I am NOT declaring one thing comparatively better than any other - I'm talking about adding unto

Ø      I am NOT talking "subtraction" or any kind of "replacement" math - I'm talking about adding unto

I am talking about you allowing God to add to the riches of what you already possess so that both you and the Church at large may be increased.  I want God to add relational riches to you.  And I want God to "add you relationally" to other people's lives.  It is all about addition; multiplication; and a rightly prioritized increase of relationship. 

So I challenge you to step beyond your present-tense experience to seize upon and add your love to a larger, "expanding" picture of the Church and her wholeness.  By all means, continue to seek Christ in your own church expression; but also dare to reach beyond what you are already doing by "also doing" the things I have suggested.  

This is my challenge to every person and part of the Body of Christ.  You CAN do these things I am proposing.  Whether you CAN however is not the question.  The question at heart is: Will you?

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(This article is an adapted excerpt from my book,  Necessary Wholeness.  If you would like to receive a free, downloadable copy of this e-book, request it at: Vertical_Life_Bolivia@Yahoo.com )