Partake, then Give…
Heb 3:1 ¶ Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
Notice here, that the apostle Paul, in speaking this passage of Scripture, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is speaking to those Christians who are walking by faith in the earth.
How do I know this?
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Well, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, so, when someone actually hears, believes, confesses, and acts upon the Word, God does, what God always does, and honors that Word with signs following, and they find themselves smack dab in the middle of this verse as a ‘partaker of the heavenly calling’.
Seeing the manifest glory of God, here, in the earth.
Some time ago, I heard pastor Paul Daugherty preach. He opened with this passage:
1 Peter 2:9 (MSG)
9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.
What he said that really touched me, immediately, was this: ‘We need to reach out to people around us, and we all have reasons, why we do not. Perhaps it is pain. We feel like we have nothing to give, because we are going through something painful, and so we do nothing to help others’
Made me think about this native meme:
He said a whole lot more than that, but it hit home, immediately. You see, during small group prayer, we turn and pray with the people next to us, and when I asked the couple next to us what I might pray for them in, they both said: ‘Our marriage!’. I did the ‘cop-out thing at first, and gave them the cell number of one of the care pastors, thinking to myself: ‘Man, I can’t get involved with these people, because, I’m about to go upstairs to pick up not only the kids, but a grocery order from one of the pastors. My vehicle is off the road, and we are in the financial trial of our lives!’
Yet, as the service went on, I realized, the kingdom of God is not about me, in fact, the number one rule of the kingdom, is that, there is a King.
I felt Him begin to deal me to reach out to this couple, when my heart felt like hamburger. I dug into my pocket and found the slip we get to pick up our children, and scribbled my cell number on the back of it. I told the guy: ‘Buddy, I’m going through some really challenging things right now, having closed my construction company, to start this ministry, and we are really struggling right now, but if you call me, I would like to pray for your marriage…’
Turns out, he works for a company that I used to do business with, and I know the owner, and his boss, and in an instant, I could sense his pain, and I knew his world, his pressure, and I know I can help him…
Love has skin on. Yours and mine. Love is a verb, and action word, and we cannot wait until we have it all together to reach out in love and faith to bless someone else….
How about it friend, what are you actively believing God for today? Maybe your life is doing alright right now, but there is a whole world full of hurting people that desperately need, what only you can give…
Who are you going to reach out this week?
Let’s pray:
‘Father, I know that you have supplied all of my needs according to Your riches in glory, by Christ Jesus! Father, You surround us with favor as with a shield, and grant us strength, direction, wisdom, health, and great grace to serve You, just because You love us, and You can! Thank You Father! I praise and exalt you for this, now, in your name Lord Jesus. Now Father, show me who to love, who You would have me to reach out to today, and give me the courage to do something about it, Amen!’
