Monday, October 17, 2011

Learn to Be STILL

Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”



I am a person who likes to be busy.  There’s something about doing lots of “stuff” that makes us feel useful and valuable.  Yet, I hear God telling His people, “Learn to be STILL.”

Many of us were taught, through word or observation, that ministry is about busyness.  We were taught to find something to do and do it.  We were instructed to be “useful.”  Nevertheless, in this season, God is saying that His people are doing too much.  As my Apostle often says, we are moving with the arm of the flesh rather than by the Spirit of the living God!

Quite simply, if God didn’t say it, think twice before doing it.  We are building so many works, claiming they are for the Kingdom of God, yet God has not signed the building permit.  He has not ordained nor justified the work.  It is, therefore, in vain.

Even in my own ministry, God is teaching me the more to sit in His presence.  What some may view as a waste of time is actually an investment.  It’s during those time of stillness and meditation that God reveals His secrets and unleashes His power.  Sometimes, it’s okay to have nothing to do and nothing to say.  It’s okay to sit and just listen… Let God move, and let Him get the glory!

Just last week, I was praying about many of the online ministry tools that I have used over the years.  They are useful, yes, but God has had me in a place of calmness.  I no longer feel the PUSH to publish a newsletter every month or post words of encouragement and prophecy every week.  What some have seen as disorder is actually the fruit of God leading me the more.  As I mature in the things of God, He’s not releasing me to speak to the Body of Christ just because it’s the first of the month anymore.  He’s freeing me from the schedule and expectations of men.

Many have emailed or called making sure that I’m okay and “still in the game.”  The truth of the matter is that I’m better than ever.  God is perfecting me in certain areas so that I can become a master in my own arena rather than operating in the spirit as a “jack of all trades, and a master of none.”  He is doing the same (or trying) with many…

In this season, God is specializing His people.  Don’t be afraid to BE STILL in His presence.  He really is taking us someplace higher!  That means that a lot of things are being sloughed off in the spirit.

The Lord showed me an embryo.  When a baby first begins to grow, he or she is mass of cells that continue to multiply.  But, as that fetus matures, the cells begin to specialize.  The move to different regions of the embryo.  Some develop into the heart while others become a liver.  Soon enough, the fetus begins to form a face.  The baby grows until birth and suddenly has an identity.

This is what God is doing in the Body of Christ.  He is maturing us as a Body.  Therefore, every piece must specialize in its function and STAY THERE.  When the lungs are breathing, the heart can’t leave the job of beating to go and try to breath.  When a finger is severed, the tongue can’t just stop speaking to go and help pick up a piece of paper off the floor.

Teachers, stop trying to prophesy and let God perfect you as a teacher.  Intercessors, pray and stop trying to build conferences.  God wants to perfect you in prayer.  Apostles, stop trying to teach Sunday school class.  Let the teachers do that and you pray about the order of ministry.  Let God perfect you in wisdom and power.  This is a season of SPECIALIZING. 

“Be still,” says the LORD.  In our efforts to move and “do ministry” all over the place, we are causing great damage to the Body of Christ.  Would you go to a cardiologist to have your teeth worked on?  Would you visit a psychiatrist to have foot surgery?  Selah.

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