Apprehended

Throughout my ministry, there have been some things that we "do" in church that have always bothered me. It has to do with what we pray about in our "prayer meetings," and what we testify about in our "testimony services." Too often, both seem to dwell in the "shallow end of the pool."

Preacher and writer T. Austin-Sparks said that, "The Lord calls us to a distinctiveness of life and testimony. Is our life distinctive of the realm we say we belong to?" Is mine? Is yours? Do we look and live like Kingdom of God people, or like people from a kingdom that has no part in Him?

The Apostle Paul said that the desire of his heart was to lay hold of the life for which Christ first apprehended him for. Some translations say he sought to lay hold of the life that Christ laid hold of him for. To grasp, clutch, cling to. To hold and not let go. Supernatural life. Life that marked him as one who lived a life clearly not of this world. A life that was miraculous and beheld the miraculous. A life that believed for the impossible, beheld the impossible, and experienced the impossible. For Paul, nothing was allowed to keep him from that life. In his writings, he left a "testimony" that still blesses, guides, and shows the way to Christ to this day. All who are His by faith are created for and called to that life as well. We're to lay hold of its fullness. What has, what is, getting in the way of our doing so?

If an unbeliever we're to come into one of our usual prayer gatherings or praise sharing, what would they "see?" The world, too often rightly so, sees the church as being self-absorbed. We so often ask for prayers that make our life easier and more comfortable. Prayers that give us what we want in order that this would be so. Our times of praising Him center around His co-operating with our desires and doing just that. Where are the prayers that seek and believe for the breaking of sinful behavior in our lives, marriages and families? For the healing of past abuse and the deliverance from self-destructive behaviors and attitudes. Where are the testimonies for His miraculous response to these things? Miraculous healings. Dead marriages made whole. Prodigal, rebellious children brought back to their parents and to their God? When Christ walked and ministered in this world, those who heard Him were amazed and awe struck by what He did. He has not ceased to do these things, but I think, in too many ways, we have ceased to believe that He will. And we've ceased to believe He can do it through us.

May we, you and I, live for that which He apprehended us. May nothing be allowed in our lives that will keep us from such a life. May He hold us in His grip as we hold Him in ours.

Blessings,

Pastor O