Bended Worship Ministry

“This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” [1 John 1:5-7]

“God is light!” This is the testimony of His word, “in Him there is no darkness at all.” It is in the light of this awesome truth that our Lord enjoined us-“You are the light of the world.” This is the truth of the fellowship that we have with our God through His Son Jesus Christ that to us there should be no darkness at all; that we become light for the world. And if we truly walk with Him, this is true.

But what does light do? Well, it shines, it is meant to shine…light is meant to give light around wherever you may find one. Light that is not shining is absurd; it is not light at all. Light is meant to give light where darkness is! But what do we see when the light shines, this particular light that is God’s light?

We should be clear about this matter:

We will see saved lives. Yes! The world will see saved lives! They will see Christians…believers. This is one most important truth in witnessing that must be taught and stressed, one that is seemingly lost these days; the world will see Christians, they will see believers. You may be an aroma of death or you may be an aroma of life [God make us both] it does not matter. What matters is that, they will see SAVED lives! I am not saying that the world will see perfect lives but…just…saved lives. The witness of a saved life even in the midst and the abounding of sin will be unmistakable [Rom.5:20b].

This is one reason that there seem to be a great lack of witness in the world. We say, “Look to Jesus”, but if they can’t see Jesus in us, then where can they look. We cannot detach “the saved lives” from the “Savior”, and it is because it is in seeing saved lives that the truth of a Savior is emphasized.

Yes! This is one great truth that when the light shines, the world will see saved lives.

We will see the Savior. Actually, this is where this all started. But God in His unsearchable wisdom and His grace has put the witness of Christ in all those that are being saved. When the world see saved lives, when they begin to see Christians…believers, then they will see Christ. This is the way God has put it.

We will see God’s salvation. This is what we desire and this where we are getting at. “For God so loved the world that He gave is one only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” When the light Shines, the world will see Christians…the Church [for what we are], they will see Christ [he is the very light by whom we shine], and then they will see the salvation of God. We must have focus on the issue. Christ came to save sinners. He came to save. He is the salvation of God for the world.

Let us not just be going around in circles. We seem to have contented ourselves at the periphery of things. But God’s witness is direct. Christ came to save! There must be those that are saved and being saved! There must be salvation in the world!

This is what it is when we see the light…even as it shines!

“Enoch lived 65 years, and begot Methuselah. After he begot Methuselah, Enoch walk with God 300 years…” [Genesis 5:21-24]

Life is about walking with God. The experience of life for the Christian is in knowing and seeing himself in a day to day walk with God. And this is His call to us; that we walk with Him…just simply walk with Him. One thing that God desires most is for Him to reveal himself to us [John 14:21-23, the keeping of commands there implying that faithful walk] and this is why He calls us to walk with Him, so that we will be close to Him and readily see Him, to see him in all that he do [John 5:19-20;15:15].

To receive revelations of Christ, this alone equips a believer. God wants that every Child of him comes to know Him and experience Him firsthand! And He calls to each and every one, as if the Lord is saying…engaged me!

Want to walk with God?

There are multitudes of spiritual matters but for this just two:

God just wants you to agree with Him.

When God speaks and tells you a thing, He is not just making some suggestions as if we are to weigh if it’s okay or not, He speaks the Truth. His words are truth; they are the absolutes of life [John 6:63; 17:17]. What’s there for us is to agree. This is why one must need first to be saved because flesh can never agree with God [Gen.6:3; 1Cor.2:14; Rom.8:5-7]. He speaks to the new man, the new creation. And when a child of God is living like that and he is led by the Holy Spirit, and he is mindful of himself as a new man, and a new creation, then he walks with God [He has the capacity always to agree with God. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” The word of God speaks. And I say God speaks Truth [He is the Truth], and He speaks life [He is Life] and he just desires for us to agree.

And then we receive! We see Him and He is before us. Isn’t it what it is when we follow Christ, when we walk with Him? He is before us, and we see Him clear, and he is with us. Praise God!

So now you walk with Him and you agree.

Now what?

God now gives you the Vision.

There may be many visions that we will speak of but to our God there is only one. Yes, we may see visions but this will always speak of that one Vision and that is Christ! Listen to this…”…The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” [Heb.1:1-3]. And to Philip the Lord Jesus said, “…Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father…” [John 14:8-11].

Christ is God’s vision for us. He is the revelation! We ask God for visions when God has already given us the Vision. And we just have to walk with Him.

It’s just like when God spoke to the disciples, “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them,   a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” [Matt.17:5]

It’s like the Lord saying:

Come walk me, agree with me and let me show my faithfulness to you. Come walk with me and experience me firsthand, my love for you. See me also merciful and kind. I will tell you of the hope I have given you and of my power that is at work in you.

Come walk with me, agree with me and receive what I have planned for you and see how I will fulfill everything and finish this good work I have begun in you.

Oh there’s no end to this!This is God’s desire…that we may just simply walk with Him.

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth….”[Gen.1:26-28]

The word here in the first chapter of Genesis is, “in the beginning”. And as in everything, when there’s a beginning there will be, as to be expected…the end. And every believer should expect! God desires us to expect for this is how faith works [Heb.11:1; 6]. But, what are we to expect?

Here in the very beginning God has declared his desire, he has begun a mighty work, and this is what we as Christians, believer of Christ should expect. But no! we shouldn’t just be expecting, but desiring too…pursuing [Phil.2:12]; we should be actively, consciously engaging our loving God on this matter that his heart desire most…”Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness….;”

The beginning, the end.

This is one outstanding nature of God’s word. When it is spoken, it is deemed done! It has in its power the very beginning and the end of things that God has purposed [Isa.55:11]. Why? He is God! And let us just worship! He said “I have spoken. Who can annul?” And he lives forever! He is the almighty who said, “Is there anything too hard for me.” And here stands the witness. He will either prove God’s word and persevere till the end or be found wanting because of unbelief [Heb.10:37-39]. But our hope and prayer is that we all stand confident in the day of Christ.

The image is Christ

Here is the issue. God’s work is not just about things, it’s is not just about gifts, and it’s not even just about the ministries [as we have come to see God’s work is], it is about Christ and the bringing of many sons to glory. And the image here is Christ! In the very beginning, when God said, “Let us make man in Our image…” it is Christ there that is in view. That’s why it is said there…”in the beginning.” It looks to its fulfillment and its end who’s none other but Christ [Rev.1:8].

And so here it is…God mightily at work:

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…” [Heb.1:1-3]

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who loved God, to those who are the according to His purpose. For whom he foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren…” [Rom.8:28-30]

“But we all, with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image [likeness NIV] from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” [2Cor.3:18]

The ministry:

“And He himself gave some to be apostles…pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ [The fullness of the image].”

Here Paul’s heart and cry:

“My dear children for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.” [Gal.4:19]

Our Hope:

“I now rejoice in my sufferings…To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you the hope of glory….” [Col.1:24-28]

Yes we have hope and we are confident. God will finish what he has begun [Phil.1:6]. And we will be as God’s has expressed…”Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is [1John 3:1-2].”

Let us have our eyes fix on Christ!