
------ Pastor Inez Lucas - "Mama Fire" ------>
Last night before the evening service, a friend of mine from Florida, who's also staying with us at Mama Fire's house, asked me a question.
"So have you ever been to a pentecostal church?
I'm just wondering what to expect."
(1 Corinthians 12:12-27)
Over the years I've heard many sermons on this portion of scripture. It's gives great understanding into how the local church, as a whole, is made up of many people. Each individual has an important gift to contribute to the local body.
No matter how big or small an individual's spiritual gift may be perceived by
others, it has value and is critical for the church's optimal effectiveness.

Thereby, every person must not only exercise their gift, but they must do it in unity, one with another. That's a nice way of saying that we need to appreciate what each person brings to the table and encourage 100% participation.
Personally, I've always perceived this to be true when it comes to Christ's "global church" as well. There are many Christian denominations and each one contributes it's unique and valuable gifts to the Body of Christ.


But if we put all these Christian denominations together, and if they were to operate in unity, with one another, surely God would see them as one global church, His Church, the true Body of Christ, and smile at the team effort put forth to fulfill the complete will of God. I'm not saying we're there yet, but I do believe that's God's intended plan.
In the same way, everyone of those denominations celebrates Christ a little differently. Some wave flags. Some wave their hands. Some dance and twirl ribbons. Some stay quiet and still.

Some denominations focus their attention on bringing in the next generation.
Many others prefer to celebrate Christ in much quieter, more liturgical settings. Less movement and more inner contemplation. Some have one service a week, some have several. Some meet on Sundays. Others meet on Saturdays. Some are open 24/7. Others are open only in the mornings or the evenings.
There's a vast spectrum of personalities, traditions, methods, atmospheres, and structures - or lack of structure. The point is... there's something for everyone.
I don't believe that anyone will
stand at the gates of Heaven and tell God,
"Sorry, I couldn't find a church I liked."
If they do, He'll have every right to tell them
they didn't look hard enough.

Don't think for a moment,
the devil won't try to get you
to take your eyes off Christ
and get an attitude towards people.
We can get a little big for our britches at times and think that things need to be the way we'd like them to be. That's one of the devil's most popular tricks of the trade. But I know that God loves a true worshipper. He doesn't get as wrapped up as we do in the perfect presentation of things. He looks at the heart. So I shooed the enemy away and said to myself, "Who cares? Let her wonderfully celebrate the Lord with that flag. More power to her! She's not bothering me."
The enemy was undoubtedly poking at my flesh. But as I looked at her, I could see that she was totally in the spirit, joyfully worshipping the King of Kings with all her heart, mind, soul and strength. It was undeniable! It was beautiful! I had to smile. Not to mention the fact that she never, ever, does anything like this. It's gotta be a "God thing!"
So this morning, we all returned to the church again for service. I shared with my friend something very interesting that I learned at breakfast. Just a few weeks ago, Nancy was unable to lift her arms up high enough to even comb her hair. God has touched her so powerfully, that a supernatural energy and healing has filled her. Suddenly, amongst other things, she's able to hold, well above her head, a big heavy flag and wave it unto the glory of God in thanksgiving for all He's done for her. What faith! She is plowing forward, proclaiming Victory in Jesus! Glory to God!
The church was so filled with God's presence this morning. As I told my friend this story, we both began to weep. God was tugging on our hearts and doing a deep work. We agreed that this little piece of information changed everything. My perspective was not even closely aligned with God's perspective. We confessed together, before God, in the front row of that little pentecostal church, that we were wrong. We "got it!" Another lesson learned. We turned not only from our wrongful perspectives this morning, but towards God, moving closer into His presence. We are hungry to see things as He does that we might respond in a way that's consistently pleasing to Him.

Going deeper,
Gail
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