RE-DISCOVERING THE GOD OF THE PATRIARCHS

When I look at the state of the church and the body of Christ today globally I see a lot of talk about Ministries, Churches, revival, Harvest, Work, Service to God and Humanity, priesthood, shepherding, Miracles, five-fold ministries where there’s a lot of talk of the offices of Apostolic, Prophetic, Pastoral, Teaching and Evangelism. This leads me to ask one very fundamental question; Has the Church lost the most Primal and fundamental desire of God for Man? That of having a RELATIONSHIP with God? And here I add a Personal Relationship with God? When you look at the standards by which believers measure & weigh each other’s rightness with God it makes you want to cry. This is because the standards are all based on works and the outward appearance but not on the intimacy between God and the said believer. This makes us become judges of other people’s Faith, their way of doing ministry and how they engage with other believers in the walk of Faith. “Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.” Jeremiah 6:16 Let me now bring your attention to the patriarchs; what was so exceptional about them was not whether they were Mighty prophets, or what kind of works they did for God or before God, or what kind of anointing they had and also not how gifted they were. What was exceptional about them was their Personal Relationship and Walk with God. Consider this; We see scripture recording that Enoch walked with God for 300 Years & he was no more; Genesis 5:22-24. We also see God asking Abraham to ‘walk before Him and be perfect’; Genesis 17:1. And we need no one to tell us what kind of Relationship Abraham had with God, or even Isaac or Jacob. We see the trend of Personal walks with God among many of God’s people across scripture and what impact this had not only on their lives but on those around them. Just to give examples; Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Hannah the mother of Samuel, Esther, David among many others. Now I ask another question; what is our view of the Faith of believers in Christ and Christianity as a whole? How is our Personal Relationships with God? How does this impact our lives? How does it impact the lives of others? What benefit is it to the Body of Christ? Before we think of our Ministries, Churches, Offices, gifts, assignments and works as ministers of God or believers; let’s think of the above questions. Time for the Church to Rediscover The God of The Patriarchs, Rediscover how to develop intimacy with God, Rediscover how to use this intimacy and relationship to affect The Body of Christ. Shalom