"...according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling...according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus." II Timothy 1:8-9 (emphasis mine)
"Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who rely on what Jesus is saying. Worship God because what Jesus is saying, is the spirit of prophecy."" Revelation 19:10 (emphasis mine)
The Church is comprised of God's Kingdom people on the earth. As His kingdom people, we are to communicate with and receive communication from God concerning His Kingdom activities taking place here on the earth. The question is; "As His Kingdom people on earth, how do we, on earth, interact with a God whose geographic location is in heaven? How are we supposed to know and respond to what He wants us to do at any given time?" How do we with physical bodies and senses communicate with someone who is spirit and not readily accessible to our physical bodies and senses? Yes, we have the Bible which is the written word of God but the Bible is black ink on white paper and doesn't give us "up to the minute" instructions as to what God may want us to do at any given time or in any given place.
God is always active and involved in His Kingdom, and the activities of His Kingdom, throughout the universe. He is not sitting idly by, disinterested and disengaged from His Kingdom rule, plans and activities. As Jesus tells us regarding His own earthly ministry, "But He answered them, "My Father is working until now and I Myself am working,"". As we will discover, God and His Kingdom are very active on earth and in the lives of people, especially in the lives of His Kingdom people. Yet, He is not involved in a face-to-face manner as He was with Adam in the Garden. He is involved prophetically in the activities of earth through the work of the Holy Spirit and the agency of His Kingdom people, the Church.
For most of us, as followers of Jesus, we tend to equate anything prophetic with something a prophet does, especially as it relates to the prophets in the Old Testament. Upon reading the New Testament, we see that God continued His prophetic work in similar ways through individuals like Jesus, Paul, Peter, John and others.
The Apostle Paul, in his New Testament writings, tells us that all new covenant believers (covenant and testament mean the same thing) are endowed with grace gifts (impartations and manifestations of His grace) by the Holy Spirit for the sole purpose of communicating with God and engaging in the activities of the Kingdom of God with those around us. These gifts are prophetic because they are spiritual in nature but they actively function within this natural world in order to accomplish what God wants to do or say. These spiritual manifestations and operations help to bridge the gap between the spiritual and the natural, between God and humanity, and are necessary to our being involved with the present day activities of the Kingdom of God in this world.
As followers of Jesus today, we still live under the authority and power of the New Covenant scriptures as they are written in the Bible. We don't live under a new New Covenant or an alternative New Covenant or an updated New Covenant. Therefore, all of the New Covenant instructions, resources, promises, gifts, ministries, manifestations, and endowments that appear in the Bible are still valid, available and necessary for us today. Nothing has been taken away from us and they still mean the same for us today as they did back in the first century and throughout church history. Likewise, the onset of our "advanced" culture, technology, medicine, knowledge, tools, and resources doesn't mean that we don't need all of the New Covenant instructions, resources, promises, gifts, ministries, manifestations, and endowments that God has given us and that appear in the Bible. We need all that Jesus gave us, as His followers; Jesus gave them to us for a reason.
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Studies In The Kingdom Of God
SpiritualThis is actually 2 books in 1. The first book is "Our Father...Yours Is The Kingdom". The second book is "Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done". It is a book I have written that talks about the kingdom of God - what it is, why it is here on this...
