MIKE CASSIDY, HOW? PARTNERSHIP! We are in very pressing time. thus will love to share with you a pressing message in my heart. First of all I told them last night at church,....How much value God has placed on each one of us. When God brings a miracle to our lives is usually with Him sending a person into our lives. There are people you have lost in your lifetime that were supposed to be your life jacket to help you swim out of trouble. Probably God has engineered some into your path to bring you to Kings and Honour, but some how those relationships went sour and you lost it, today there is a reconnection, cause of the great value of partnership. The concept of partnership has been so much our way of life that it has become the way we think as we bring up our children, run our households and carry out our own personal assignments in ministry. And that is exactly the way God has planned partnership in life to be. What God has done in our ministry within these four years,since we came into full time City Church has been Phenomenon. Undoubtedly, the huge part of our Success is tied to our Partners,friends and family connections in Christ. Partnership is His idea and He is our source for effective completion of every assignment, large or small—on the world scene, in our homes and in daily living. Sadly, the Church has lost the real meaning of partnership. The world understands that to become a partner in a firm is a sign of success, a pinnacle to be reached. However, too often, if that word is used in a church setting the first thing that comes to mind is, The preacher needs my money. God’s plan of partnership is the most powerful concept there is. It is the very thing that sent Jesus to the cross and it is twofold in its working. Of course we are to partner together. We are called to be joined together, to bring our supply. We are to be like God and not consider, What can my partner do for me? but, What can I do for my partner? But before we can fully function together as partners, we must understand the most important aspect of partnership: God wants to be our partner! From Genesis to Revelation the Bible paints a clear picture of God’s partnership with His people. In the Old Testament, whether with individuals or nations, He was always right in the middle of everything He called them to do—directing their steps, supplying their needs, protecting their lives, defeating their enemies. In every imaginable way He was the partner who brought victory in every situation. And when we look in the New Testament, we see Jesus partnering with His disciples. He showed them firsthand how God, as a man, should function in the earth. He showed them the plan of God to be Savior, Deliverer, Healer and Provider—to be everything to mankind. He demonstrated how the power of the Holy Ghost partners with God’s people to bring His plan to pass in the earth Jesus’ whole life was about fulfilling the plan of God, but He didn’t do it alone. He had partners. And from the beginning He exemplified how godly partnership works. Jesus called the disciples to be His partners, but before they ever stepped into ministry with Him, He provided a record-breaking day for their businesses. He supplied enough to keep their families set up for a while net-breaking, boat-sinking loads of fish. Before they ever took a step with Jesus, before He said, “Follow Me,” He proved He would take care of their needs. As they followed Him, He continued to provide for them. Remember the boat in the storm at sea? Jesus was there for His partners! They were terrified, thinking He had left them on their own. And when they saw Him walking on the water, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” Jesus spoke to them at once as though to say, “I’m your partner. I’m right here. Don’t be afraid. It’s OK. I’ll take care of it.” He says the same thing to us today. We are His partners, and He says, “I’m here. Everything’s going to be all right.” Jesus’ partners were by His side day in and day out, observing the call of God and growing in their understanding of their part of His ministry. Jesus partnered with His disciples in the preaching of the good news, delivering the captives, healing the sick and working miracles of all kinds. He let people know that God loved, accepted and forgave them. He fulfilled Isaiah 61:1 just as He had proclaimed in the synagogue in Luke 4:18-19: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Jesus showed them what the Anointing of the Spirit on a man could produce in the lives of others. He set in their hearts the vision that they would and could do the same things He did, and even greater things (John 14:12). And He proved that He would always go with them—supplying their needs and providing the power to do it all. Jesus depended totally on His partnership with His Father and the Holy Spirit. That was the relationship He demonstrated to His disciples, and it is the relationship He has given us. To show that partnership with man further, He called the Apostle Paul to be an example to us—a man other than the Son of God who would walk, live and minister as a man anointed. Just like Jesus and just like you! Paul partnered with the Spirit of Christ Jesus to preach the good news and equip the Church. And in every situation where he encountered trouble, God miraculously delivered him. Jesus even went so far as to let Paul know the challenges he would face before he ever stepped into ministry (Acts 9:16). What a partner! God met Paul’s needs and encouraged him by the Spirit and in the face of every trouble Paul responded by saying, “I’m content. My needs are all met” (see Philippians 4:11). Paul’s life is a clear picture of God’s partnership with His people. He tested and documented for us that God’s Word works (Psalm119:140,NLT). I have come to realize that though we see ourselves as His partners, God sees Himself as our partner. It’s important that we continue to serve Him and to daily ask, “What can I do for You, Lord?” But it is crucial that in everything we do we see Him as our partner. When we consider how God works with His people, He has always been the One coming alongside, helping, bringing the aid we need. He is the blessing Provider. What He asks of us is our cooperation. Think of all the people Jesus encountered during His days on the earth. He wasn’t trying to get something from people. His entire mission while on earth was to give—to do things for them and to love them. It’s the same today! God needs partners in the earth today, just as He did when Jesus walked the earth. Jesus took on partners right where they were, calling them out of their everyday lives. God needs you and me as His partners. He has much to accomplish in this earth before Jesus comes, and we are privileged to be the ones to come alongside Him, to follow and do the mighty works He has planned. This is where our partnership together comes in. Not just you partnering with me, and me with you, but all of us partnering with Him in His mission—all of us filled with Him, acting like Him, empowered by Him. I can’t just be looking to see what you can do for me, but I must focus on what I can do for you. Why? Because I’m His partner first. We are living in the most wondrous days earth has ever known. God will show us what He wants us to do, and with Him as our partner we will do all He desires us to do, and the world will sit up and take notice. They will say, “I want in on that! What do I have to do to have God as my partner?” And we will be privileged to answer, “Just say yes to Jesus, and God will partner with you!” I personally challenge you to deepen your thinking on this. I know you want to do your part in getting the gospel to the world. Share this with brethern both in Church and others this weekend. Go forth! JESUS IS LORD. INTIMATE ONE DAILY DEVOTIONAL, 18TH OCTOBER,2013.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 06:20:59 +0000
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