The Ascension

As shared in the earlier post, we know the ekklesia to be the Greek word that describes a living, organic expression of the church body.  Once we experience the ekklesia, we learn how to activate the same works of Christ to see them reproduced in many expressions within other communities in the marketplace.   Ministry gifts function very differently within an ekklesia where relationship serves to form one body.   Even as Christ gave Five Gifts to men, no one gift in it’s lone expression has the capacity to create a dwelling place for God among the people.  Even in knowing this, those who have led any ministry that subscribes a great part of it’s being to that of team building, knows that it is very difficult to begin a work in the fullness of this expression.   Any work that we start is always “a work in progress” where we must recognize where we are in the process of progress.

In such an agreement, a relational Kingdom will manifest  itself.  Once the carriers of the ministry (the body) becomes built up to hold the glory, the glory that is to be poured out will build the community that surrounds the body.   Among those who are called to co-labor with others in Christ for such purposes, we soon learn that the signs and wonders which are to follow, are greatly needed.   This is especially so once we begin operating beyond what has been familiar to us in the past.  

The formation of the ekklesia returns us to the knowledge of the Garden where the first man, Adam was formed.   Within the ekklesia, or the Garden, the individual gift or gifts that we have been activated in now function for the purpose of cross-pollination and team building.  What is leavened by the Kingdom becomes multiplied from within until our members mutually share the common ground of faith.  This agreement of mutual faith is needed for Christ to demonstrate a new work within a body.  The ascension ministries of Christ are only known through a functioning ekklesia.  The saints, who are now hidden in Christ, are revealed and released in relationship to a functioning ekklesia, much like what the Priesthood presently functions in.   

In a community where the focus of ministry is more on building Elder’s and leadership teams, we commonly see our members relating through ministry that is better identified as “Times and Seasons”.  Although a measure of God’s presence will be manifest within this ekklesia, the greater demonstration of ministry will be seen in the personal ministries of our members.  

From being called, to being called out, in Mark 16:20 we witness what follows those who “went forth”.  

Mark 16:20
King James Version (KJV)
20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

From the passage that speaks of Jesus ascending, the Amplified version translates this passage to read:, 

19 So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and He sat down at the right hand of God
20 And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord kept working with them and confirming the message by the attesting signs and miracles that closely accompanied [it]. Amen (so be it).

Synergy - From Water to Wine

We assemble ourselves for the purpose of giving God a dwelling place in the earth among His people.  (Emmanuel, God with us)  In doing so, God honors us first with a manifestation of His presence.  Where God manifests His presence to us, a demonstration of ministry will soon follow in like order.  

From generation to generation, God’s written word continues to minister to us today in relevant ways.  Once we understand how to assemble ourselves to empower people to carry the presence of God, God Himself will finish the work that He began. 

Synergy best describes the experience where ministry changes from water to wine.  Suddenly, a substance of the Christ life becomes present that wasn’t with us before.  

In Mark 16:20, “the Lord working with them” is translated from the Greek word, synergeo, which means:  1) to work together, help in work, be partner in labour
2) to put forth power together with and thereby to assist

The word, “synergy” (cooperation) comes from the Greek word, synergia and implies, “joint work”.   Synergia comes from synergein, which means “work together; help another in work”.  

While Webster’s dictionary gives us an accurate meaning, the same word spoken or manifest in relationship with God’s written Word becomes demonstrated in Holy Ghost power.   The Holy Spirit brings all of our members on “the same page” in experiential ways.   

From this agreement, all ministry begins to relate to a body whose members mutually participate with others regarding a specific work. This work is to be revealed, but the work itself will usually build one or more areas of community that relates to it’s purpose.     

Koinonea Fellowship

Acts 2:42 speaks of (Koinonea) fellowship where “they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”  Here, fellowship implies joint participation, especially in relationship to community.   

From Koinonea fellowship in the Holy Spirit, to a demonstration of ministry in Christ through synergy, our members are suddenly ONE.   Where each member participates through the gifts within them, we suddenly have unity through diversity.  In so being, we are an expression and a demonstration of Christ in the earth, even as we go from glory to glory!


Love and peace,

Cindy Allen

Revealing the Ekklesia

By definition, the Greek word for Church is ekklēsia.  Ekklēsia means, Christians or citizens who are called out from their homes.  It also identifies a company of Christians, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites.  

There is the church in it's natural body in this earth, and there is the ekklēsia revealed through a spiritual body who reigns with Christ in heavenly places.  As a new Christian, after serving within a church body for a few years, I will never forget the night that the Lord called me.   On this night, I had laid down to go to sleep.  I was just about to dose off when, suddenly, I heard the audible voice of the Lord in my ear.  He simply spoke my name, "Cindy".  When we think of someone calling us, we immediately think of how someone raises their voice to loudly call the name of another, but this is not how God demonstrated "the call" to me.  Even as the Lord quietly and gently called me, I stirred up quite a commotion in my response to Him.  In the presence of God, we have NO control over our spiritual reflexes.  We respond!

'I'M COMING", I yelled.  In a moment, I bolted out of the bed like a rocket.  I took off running and didn't stop until I was in the living room of our home looking into my husband's face.   In that awkward moment, having disrupted our children's sleep, all I could say was, "OK, .........let's all go back to bed now."  I stayed up for the remainder of the night seeking God for His purposes in what had just taken place.  The next morning, my husband smiled at me and said, "What did the Lord want with you last night?"  He knew!  The ekklesia, the body, knows itself!  The Body knows itself even outside of what "houses" or governs other forms of relationship.  Marriage before man is not the same as Holy Matrimony before God.  One is sanctified and one is not. One is heavenly and one is earthly. Covenant is revealed through the divine.  All that God responds to bears witness of faith through covenant; through Christ, God reveals His original intentions for all relationship.

The Greek word, ekklēsia is derived from the Greek word, kaleo, which means, "to call; to give a name to".  

Matthew 1:21

21 She will bear a Son; and you shall call {kaleo} His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”   

Matthew 1:23

23 Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call {kaleo} His name Emmanuel,” which translated means, God with us.”    

In Matt 2:15, kaleo is used in the context of "calling out" in regards to being summoned.

Matthew 2:15

¹⁵ He remained there until the death of Herod.This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

Here, Egypt implies the earthly form of the natural man.  In this context, kaleo means "to cause to pass from one state to another state".  

After being called out of darkness, in 1 Peter 2:9, kaleo takes on the form of an invitation.

1 Peter 2:9

⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

From the formation of the ekklesia, where Jesus performed His first miracle in John 2:2, "kaleo" becomes an invitation to a feast.  In the context of John 2:2, the Greek definition for the word "invited" is also kaleo.

John 2:2

² and both Jesus and His disciples were invited (kaleo) to the wedding.  

From the power of the Spirit to the demonstration of ministry, Christ reveals His substance in all who seek to embody his greater works.

My first experience with the ekklesia was with my husband.  The next experience was with a female Pastor I met through the internet and had never laid eyes on.  Even so, when we came together, the wine flowed and the substance of Christ was known in our midst. My experience with the ekklesia dramatically changed once I learned to cultivate ministry through community.  Even in this, when God calls us, as deep calling to deep, we must be prepared to step into the waters that will stop the flow of the natural man.  This is especially so when ministry is being demonstrated for the purpose of building greater community.

In Genesis 2:20, the first man, Adam, gave names to all the cattle, the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field.  We know the purposes that Adam was naming all that was in creation.  To call forth what was in the earth!  Somewhere along the line, Adam tripped up on the order of creation that he was to be submitted to.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.  There are times to rule as Kings and there are times to be submitted as Priests before God.  It's wisdom to discern the times and know the difference! This is especially so when the Adam nature is governing the behavior of a people in specific matters.  In Joshua 3:16, the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those were flowing down toward the sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off.  So the people crossed opposite Jericho.    

As we go from glory to glory and from faith to faith, this Priesthood will often be "called" to wade into waters that are to be stopped - all the way to the city of Adam.  Even where the Adam nature is being revealed in a people, the last Adam, who is Christ, is faithful to restore us through His quickening spirit in a blink of an eye.  

Finally, as in Romans 9:7, kaleo means to bear a name or title.  

Romans 9:7

⁷ nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named. {kaleo}”

Revelation 4:1 takes on new meaning once we understand what it is to "be called" and to "call forth" creation in it's original form, and in the original purposes that God created through.   

Revelation 4:1

Scene in Heaven

4 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”

Jesus calls us up from where He reigns in heaven.  "Come up" means to ascend; to go up.  To rise, mount, be borne up, to spring up.  We must be continually mindful of our position in Christ as well as our purpose in Christ so that we do not drift away from the Truth.

Grace and peace,

Cindy Allen

  

   

Discerning the Times of Ministry Progression, corrected

For those who subscribe, I made several corrections after I published this post.  The corrected version can be read at the following link.  

Discerning the Times of Ministry Progression

http://eagleslandingnetwork.blogspot.com/2013/01/discerning-times-of-ministry-progression.html

Blessings,

Cindy

Discerning the Times of Ministry Progression

Those who have known me for several years have heard of the visitation that I received years ago of what I referred to as "the Blue Angel".  The vision that God imparted to me years ago began through keeping a journal of prophetic dreams, visions, and words that I was given.   As I penned much of what God gave me regarding heavenly visions and revelations, I also began to learn to discern when the Holy Spirit was moving to orchestrate these times in my natural life.  Blue is the color of prophetic revelation.  From all that I could see and perceive, the "Blue Angel" was a messenger from heaven who brought greater revelation of God and His Kingdom.   During this time, I never saw an angel with my eyes or through vision.  I only discerned him within a prophetic atmosphere.  An atmosphere that I labored to keep filled with light and life.  Those who are committed to becoming sharpened in the gifts understand that ministry revealed through dimensions greatly exceed the gifting within a single person in how the gifts function.  

In the early years, I began receiving visions of a move of God taking place in the church.  From prophetic dreams and visions, to learning to cultivate the ministry I was shown through small spirit-led teams and fellowships, to now, the form of the ministry continues to change.  Since much of what I wrote within my journal was never shared with anyone, the first "signs of the times" were revealed to me when those I was relating with began to speak, or announce things that were previously hidden or unknown.  

A few years after my "Blue Angel" experience (which I never spoke openly of), a couple who I closely related with one day announced that they had seen the "Blue Angel".  They experienced far more than just discernment of an atmosphere.  They actually saw a large, full bodied angel with a gold breast plate, carrying a large sword.  And yes, he was blue.  In our awakening to spiritual things, it occurred to me that maybe the angel wasn't really blue; maybe it was the color of the atmosphere that he was appearing through.  Ministry multiplies from one generation to another.  When it does, the function and operation changes.  Maybe the angel appeared to them within an atmosphere of revelation.  Even as they were receiving new and fresh revelation, in blessing them, my own revelation began to multiply. When it did, I began to clearly see the function of three-dimensional prophetic ministry.  

Three Dimensional Prophetic Ministry

1. The fruit, which is prophesy.  (Hearing God)
2. A prophetic atmosphere that initiates SEEING prophetic dimensions.  This comes from a sanctified lifestyle.
3. A prophetic foundation that brings multiplication to every new season of harvest. The fruit will always bear witness of the root.  

Ministry activation into specific spheres and dimensions bring manifestations of the Spirit.  Manifestations of the spirit become seed that we appropriate to lifestyle and marketplace venues.  New venues produce new demonstrations of ministry where God's glory will eventually be what becomes manifest.    

In this magnitude of ministry, the Holy Spirit must be the greatest one who is manifest at all times.   Naturally, from my original place of limited discernment, I was very interested in learning about all that my friends were seeing and experiencing.  We should be very watchful of the times that ministry is transferred from one generation to another, as well as from one dimension to another.  Multiplication, which is the blessing upon seed,  will always demonstrate greater works from one season to another.  These are the times to equip and disciple, release and bless!  

Not long after this amazing vision of the "Blue Angel", my friend had a dream where he saw the three of us: him, his wife and myself, all standing back to back.  This time, instead of the angel, each of us were holding a large sword.  In his dream, neither of us could see the other two. Together, we formed a triangle and from that triangle, we each saw the Father (His Kingdom) together.  As we had our backs to each other, we each were moving our swords and moving with the spirit with every move being completely synchronized together.   

From there, the ministry once again began to take on a new curve to again be reshaped.  Through somewhat of a metaphor, my next revelation of the "Blue Angel" came from earth, rather than heaven.  What a switch!  Now, God was suddenly pointing us to something on earth that was "like" the Kingdom of God in how he wanted to demonstrate ministry.  Many of us know about the Navy's Blue Angels.  http://www.blueangels.navy.mil/  The season that followed served to bring apostolic team ministry, and the works of this ministry to light.  Every season of revelation will be followed by a season of discipling the works that follow revelation.  So much so, that I tend to file away the great heavenly visitations and the manifestations that they bring.  I don't open those files again until God prompts me to through a new season.  

About a month ago, God began nudging me back into the direction of the Blue Angels.  Only this time, His nudging was very specific to the teamwork he had revealed earlier.  Sure enough, a couple of weeks after God began to speak to me about this, the signs begin to appear around me again.  A couple of weeks ago, a man that I work with brought a magazine to work.  When I noticed the magazine, he picked it up and brought it to me.  "Let me show you pictures of my son.  He's in the Marines and was a Pilot for the Blue Angels a few years ago".   As a proud father, he eagerly showed me the accomplishments of his son.  I also received quite a download of facts in how these Pilots are trained.  When flying in formation, there are times that their wings are only eighteen inches apart.  Each Pilot must skillfully know how to fly his own aircraft in close proximity with other Pilots like himself.  

This is the magnitude of ministry that God is calling Team Leadership to.  There can be no lone "runners".  All must learn to soar!  There is counsel that we receive in relationship to our cities, regions and nations that we only receive when we are in formation.  Even as we admire the Navy's Blue Angels, their formation witnesses of how the Geese fly together.  "It is a known fact that, by flying in the "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.  Much like the geese, people who share a common direction and sense of community get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another."  (Quote from www.qaspire.com)

Whether in the marketplace, or whether in local church ministry, we find this to also be true within the community that team leadership builds together.  Not only this, but being sharpened in the gifts within peer level relationships serve to sharpen our discernment of greater dimensions of faith and ministry.  

Whatever our vision is, we should be yielded to those who God chooses to use to speak into the vision.  Ministry with works will always require the participation of others.  When the baton is being passed, the glory of the Lord is released.  Where the glory is released to others, the form of the ministry will change.  Even so, we are always expanded in the increase as we go from faith to faith and from glory to glory.

The Navy's Blue Angels still offers a great example of how ministry simulates the community needed to take ministry as we know it to the next level.  Enjoy the link below!  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I93bxg7d6bg

Kingdom blessings,

Cindy Allen

Developing Community that will Demonstrate the Power of the Holy Spirit

When God begins moving to unveil the deepest mysteries of the Kingdom, we more easily understand truths from great heights of heaven where they relate to the foundations that our communities are built upon.  The more that we delve into the discovery of these hidden, spiritual truths, the more we find that they parallel what is already present in our natural lives.  

The eyes of our heart become opened to see the things of the spirit through the ministries of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.   Where the gifts are reproduced by the spirit from one generation to the next, we see each expression of Christ more fully.    
We likewise discover how the same gifts generate the Kingdom of God as a source of power.   Christ is seen in both forms of ministry!  One form reveals individual gifts within people, while the next form reveals the community needed to generate the power of the Kingdom through.    While the gifts of Christ demonstrate fruit in how they minister to a body, the same gifts become a generator that serves to convert one form of power into another form of power.   

A study of the word, “power” in the Bible turns up some interesting facts.  In light of these truths, in relationship to how the Holy Spirit leads to demonstrate the word of God in power, the first sign of Holy Ghost power in our midst is that of illumination.

Luke 17:24
(HCSB)  24 For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in His day.  

Luke 11:36  (HCSB)  

36 If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays.”

Where the Holy Spirit is moving to develop a community of Believers to walk in demonstration of the Word, our vision begins being formed to see color beyond what is first illuminated through light and dark.  Teams, or fellowships, are developed "to occupy" each part of faith from one glory to the next.  Where we are building for these purposes, we see the first demonstration of the Spirit manifest in how the Holy Spirit begins to illuminate members and/or gifts.  The gifts (one horizon) serves to bring demonstration where there is illumination of the Spirit (another horizon).  

Defining Power 

A more extensive study of the word, "power" turns up several different meanings, all which serve to establish us in the Kingdom for different purposes.  FROM that which brings illumination, we begin team building in respect to the purposes that the Holy Spirit begins moving to accomplish.  After ILLUMINATION, the next demonstration of the Spirit that we normally witness is that of KRATOS Power. 

Dominion is more fully developed in community through Kratos Power.  Kratos is defined as follows:

KRATOS Power

1) force, strength
2) power, might: mighty with great power
a) a mighty deed, a work of power

3) dominion

Revelation 1:

⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—the glory and dominion (Kratos) are His forever and ever. Amen. 

(HCSB)

Acts 19:  

²⁰ So the word of the Lord was growing mightily (Kratos) and prevailing. 

(NASB)

From glory to glory, the next "power" that we begin seeing demonstrated through community is that of DYNAMIS, or Dunamis 

power.   

This glory begins resting on greater community to demonstrate the Lord of Hosts. 

Dynamis power - 

1) strength power, ability

a) inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth

b) power for performing miracles

c) moral power and excellence of soul

d) the power and influence which belong to riches and wealth

e) power and resources arising from numbers

f) power consisting in or resting upon armies, forces, hosts

Those who are being activated into this level of God's glory, or power, will make choices in excellence of soul (wholeness).  In doing so, we exert the life of the soul that is resident within the expression of community that we're building; whether it be that of family, church, marketplace spheres, etc.  

Here, what began as manifestations of the Spirit begins to produce miracles within specific spheres of community.  Christ embodies the miraculous.  While healing is often involved, the miraculous often becomes the demonstration of ministry in respect to community.  The context of scripture that we see Jesus addressing miracles through is seen in the following text. 

Matt 6:13 - And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For Yours is the kingdom and the power (dunamis) and the glory forever.  

Matt 11:21 -  Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!  For if the miracles (dunamis) had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  

Matthew 13:54

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Rejection at Nazareth

⁵⁴ He went to His hometown and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “How did this wisdom and these miracles (dunamis) come to Him?  

Exousia power - 1849

Excousia power brings liberty, as well as a governing authority within specific jurisdictions.  Where exousia power is demonstrated, we often see change come to the structure of specific communities in what governs and builds them.  The sign of regal authority (a crown) is seen in exousia.  

In all of these, we see the presence and function of Prophet, Priest and King.  

The context of scripture that speaks of exousia power is as follows:  

John 1:12

¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power (excousia)  to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Luke 4:32

³² and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority (excousia).

Matthew 8:9

⁹ For I also am a man under authority (excousia), with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

From where you are presently, can you determine the area of ministry that God is cultivating in your life?  What about the areas of authority that you're being prepared in?  We seldom discern God's greater purposes apart from the community needed to cultivate these areas of ministry.  Without those who are sent to co-labor with us, we seldom enjoy the greater grace that releases us from glory to glory.   Beginning with rest, be blessed in knowing that all of these things are added to those who seek first the Kingdom of God.

Peace and blessings,

Cindy Allen  

Rediscovering Christ, From Glory to Glory

Many of us have been taught that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879.  Since the writing of our earlier history books, we've learned that there were probably more scientists involved in the greater work that surrounded the invention of the light bulb.  First of all, a light bulb requires a power source to supply the electricity needed to run the light bulb.  Once Scientists discovered that static electricity could be transformed into an electrical current, we were well on our way to progress.  

Much like electricity, ministry is the conductor of power that is intended to supply the needs of our communities.  However, with so much diversity in the body of Christ, we often find it necessary to redefine the value systems that we desire to express.  Take the word, conductor.  This is not a word that we frequently hear being used in the body of Christ, if at all.  Yet, what defines the word, conductor, also defines several functions of ministry that we see in operation within the Church today.  

Conductor:  

1. a person who conducts; a leader, guide, director, or manager.
2. an employee on a bus, train, or other public conveyance, who is in charge of the conveyance and its passengers, collects fares or tickets, etc.
3. a person who directs an orchestra or chorus, communicating to the performers by motions of a baton or the hands, his or her interpretation of the music.
4. a substance, body, or device that readily conducts heat, electricity, sound, etc.: Copper is a good conductor of electricity.

From the order that ministry becomes activated through, to the order that brings greater demonstration of the smaller part, we see the same arrangement from beginning to end.  Even Webster’s Dictionary follows a pattern, or a spiritual DNA that we see present in how the foundation ministries build.  

Regarding the definition of conductor, as listed above, we can use the same pattern of progression to show how ministry evolves in the saints.  The usage changes, but the pattern remains.  We find that as we progress from one administration to the next, the function of ministry may vary, but the spiritual patterns of the Kingdom remain.  This enables us to identify the Times and Seasons that the Holy Spirit ministers to a body through.  Replacing the definitions of "conductor" to be more conducive to ministry, the definitions help us to identify more with the works of Christ through the fruit that becomes present.  In doing so, the definition of Conductor would read like this:

Conductor:

1.  A person who conducts:   a leader, guide, director, or manager.
  
2.  One who employs;    to make use of an instrument (such as employing a hammer to drive a nail):  Where diversity is embraced, prophetic community is often the first fellowship that we see forming.  Corporate ministry becomes “employed”, or manifest where people carry the ministry within themselves.  In community, all must occupy the same ground together.  In order to accomplish this, all must labor together to mutually carry the ministries of Christ as a Priesthood.  When this is so, all “see the Father” in order to ACT on revelational truths as one corporate, unified body.  The Holy Spirit frequently uses such ministry to reveal unity in our members, as opposed to uniformity.  

The Holy Spirit moves in Believers through prophetic dreams and visions that are mutually shared within a community.  Such community becomes the vehicle that corporate ministry is likened to in respect to dreams of vehicles such as buses, trains and planes.  However corporate the dreams and visions within a fellowship, each individual appropriates revelation in relationship with their own gifting and purpose.    

When God is preparing his people to be mobilized, He gives us an understanding of the Kingdom that is mutually shared with a body of people.  The Koinonea fellowship that follows produces the mutual ground that all must occupy together.  Spirit-led ministry is always progressive, and the Holy Spirit will manifest ministry beyond the abilities of man.  

The prophetic dimension prepares a people to walk together with vision in order to discern prophetic times.  Vision also equips us to discern Christ in his body where we respect a greater Priesthood, a greater order, or greater administrations of ministry.  Building apostolic community is accomplished where people are established in the Kingdom from faith to faith and from glory to glory in respect to their own spheres of influence and individual purpose.  

3.   The Orchestra.  While basic ministry equipping prepares us through gifts, the same gifts used in right fellowship produces a spiritual sound that exceeds one individual part or gift.  Ministry that has been expanded or multiplied through community reveals the fellowship that empowers all to “hear the music“, or the sound of heaven.  It‘s much easier to learn to play an instrument where you can hear the song.   It’s also easier to discern the body where we hear all the instruments playing together.  

4.  Christ, the substance.  Even as copper is a good conductor of electricity, Christ manifest in his body also conducts heat (glory), power, and the sound needed to  progress a body forward.   

It seems that when the Holy Spirit is moving to prepare God’s people to launch out into the deep, the revelation of the Kingdom will often parallel something that is already present in the earth.  Jesus often taught the Kingdom by identifying with unilateral communities.   Even as he created metaphors through principals that each community mutually shared in, he likewise became the other side of the coin that served to bring the quickening spirit of the Second Adam, who is Christ.  In our rising in Christ‘s ascension, before God demonstrates his own strength, power and glory, we often see our own Adam nature.  Humility goes before honor.  In whatever level of lifestyle and community is being revealed, God is faithful to restore us to his original purposes.     

From Foundation Builders to Engineers of Mobility 

As with building any community, we must be careful of what we build on our foundations.  Any community that grows together will experience stress points that identify specific areas of growth.  Where one administration of ministry easily carries a grace for ministry for a season, the signs of the times will tell us when change is on the horizon.   Once the current we have enjoyed for a season suddenly becomes static again, it’s time to revisit Presbytery.   

The Presbytery that is formed through Elder’s teams are not connected to any one person’s ministry.  Presbytery provides a venue for ministry that will reproduce after Christ in respect to the community that ministry is to serve.   In the fullness of times, where new growth and new fruit begins appearing, Presbytery provides the substance and presence of Christ to empower us to once again become Conductors of God’s power and glory for the purpose of producing greater ministry.  

Thank you, Father for the strategy needed to bring all revelation to pass in this coming New Year….from glory to glory and from faith to faith.    

Peace and blessings,

Cindy Allen