The Lord is rearranging our priorities in regards to where we get our nurture and care. Being recruited by the Lord to serve in whatever capacity great or small was not meant to bring healing or resolve to our personal issues. It’s a misuse and application of the callings and anointings in our lives. He said that healing comes from us being intimate and honest with Him and letting Him in deeper into all that stuff inside. All the accolades, the applause, the admiration and respect that can come from being used by Him can become a kind of medicine for our damaged, hurt souls. This damage can come from rejection, an orphan spirit, being humiliated and dishonored, being abused and judged. A way to compensate for these things is to rely upon the very public we serve to assuage and ameliorate our suffering. He says that it’s His job to do this in His intimate relationship with us. None of the our power anointings, our spiritual abilities and our holy passions are as important to Him as His connection to us and our connection to Him in the deepest transparency and honesty. Everything else pales in comparison to this covenant.
The 1st commandment, not to have any other god’s before Him is about this. Relationship first. We can lose all abilities, anointings, powers, and assignments, but what remains will always be the holy bond we have with Him that never ends. He is in love with us and knows us. Any calling or ability is merely a tool that He supplies for us to get a job done – spreading the good news. He is not in love with the tools, but with us. We are the object of His glorious love. The more we become enthralled with Him, heart to heart, the less important all else is. His love is perfect and, in a way, we do away with in our hearts, clinging to power and anointing as we become more and more reliant on the perfect, tender care He abundantly supplies. The only person that can fill any void inside our hearts is Him. We respond to clinging to Him and reprioritizing our affections. This happens through fearless openness with Him and thereby discovering His great compassion for us.
He’s calling us to serve blessings or deliver the good news extracting nothing from the hearer or recipient. We’re called to be other centered. We deliver expecting nothing in return nor requiring any accolade, thanksgiving, payment, nothing. We let it go that His words and will be done. Not only is He having us reprioritize our relationship with Him, but He is also changing our motives. Nothing will do except Him for our health and wholeness. As the Good Shepherd He is guiding us to hear and follow only His voice. May our hearts be healed in relationship with Him of all our pains and may we be servants that respond to His calling with clean motives. May no man serve us for what we supply on His behalf.
His callings were not meant to be validations. Validation comes from intimate interaction with Him over all things in the heart. This is where we get significance, validation, comfort, honor, accolades, healing, compassion, understanding, care and joy. Those things were not meant to be acquired through our assignments for furthering the kingdom. If we look to our callings and assignments for those things, there’s no end to the constant hunger for those things. There is no end to a compromised message or ministry. There’s no satisfaction or fulfillment and in the end they abandon us and we are left hollow and starving. When the assignments, callings, credibility, admiration are withheld and we feel anxious, hurt, pain or humiliation, this is an indicator that something is amiss. Our priorities and motives need an honest personal assessment. I believe this is what the Holy Spirit is dealing with now. In the end we can’t barter what we did for Him for His acceptance. Grace has already been supplied freely and we have everything we need in His deepest love for us.
He wants us to walk in being known by Him. There’s no want in His love. There’s no fear of punishment or emptiness in it. His love is all. The things that we feel condemn us before Him don’t, but even more so invite greater love and tenderness from Him. We are uncondemned forever.
In light of this exhortation from Him, I believe this is all part of Him getting us ready for powerful assignments, anointings, gifts of the Spirit and astounding works of power so therefore there’s nothing wrong with asking for these. This is the ship we are sailing on and He is saying to keep our hand on the rudder and don’t abandon the ship through impatience. He’s preparing us by getting us used to always being dazzled by the depth of our relationship with Him. His works can then flow through us unencumbered by any emotional need we might have because He will be the center of our care and warm kindness. Our messages will be pure and objective not being influenced by fear of man and we won’t be fishing for compliments by what we do. As I have alluded to in previous messages, all this takes time and being proactive, and always saying yes to letting Him go deeper into all areas of our lives.
Hebrews 4:16 – Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Colossians 3:23-24 – Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.