Pressing In And Moving On

There is a difference between the message and the messenger. Although this difference is sometimes like splitting hairs I believe it does exist. I don’t want to talk semantics and debating between this and that but I want to look at something that has been difficult for me to separate between at times. I have found myself for much of my Christianity wondering what my message would be, what would be the emphasis of my ministry the ministry of both Jennifer and I? In the day of mega Churches and the promotion of ministries and leaders within the Church world at such a rapid rate I found myself wondering where I would fit in. What would be the thing that I would have to say that would be different from the others?

I believe that this thinking has originated from a worldly thought process that I have not completely found within the Bible. When I say completely what I mean is that there is an element that you and I are responsible for the mandate that God places on our lives and our ministries. You might call the difference between ownership and stewardship splitting hairs but I feel that the difference between the two is the difference of how we live our lives. More than just wording it’s actually how we come across and how we fit into the larger Body Of Christ. When we say ownership it can often mean the same thing as stewardship but many of us struggle between the two.

What we must understand is that the message you and I carry to our world never originated in us, and is about Him more than it is about us. Herein lays the struggle. The message belongs to God, meaning we don’t find our place within body but rather God gives us a message and then places us within the Body. Yes, the message must become ours but only with the backdrop that it’s really Gods. Just like the Proverb says “We prepare for the day of battle but victory belongs to the Lord” (Prov. 21:31). Yes we get ready, yes we cloth ourselves with righteousness, yes we study and promote that which God has placed in us but truth be told God is the One who brings about the victory. Not us. We are unable to do that which is needed to be done and for this reason we confess our weakness before a strong God reminding Him that its His message, His battle and His victory.

The life of Moses clearly paints this idea of the message and the messenger. Let’s remember how Moses got his introduction in the Kingdom hall of fame and the title of a deliverer. He was taking a survey of the Church of his day, found a few things wrong, developed a comprehensive plan to fix it, called some leaders and held a summit, inspired the masses and wrote a book. Although this is clearly fictional it could look like much of what we have today in the Body of Christ. On the contrary Moses was a broken man dwelling in Midian because of the murder of an Egyptian man that was abusing one of His brethren. God visited Moses in his place of brokenness and told him “ I am going to use you as a deliverer of My people”. It was through this process that we have the Ten Commandments. In his second journey through the wilderness found in Exodus chapter 24 and verse 12 it says this;

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them.”

God says here to Moses I have something in my heart that is Mine, but I’m asking you to be a steward over it and teach them to the Children of Israel. God says I have written it that you may teach it. Receiving something from Someone and teaching it are different. This is the difference of ownership and stewardship. I believe it is the highest place of honor that God would give something to someone and ask him to declare it to others. In this place of receiving we must understand that we are stewards of what He has given to us. We press into His heart to hear what He has to say, and as He places His message on our hearts we become stewards of this message. We cultivate, guard, share and promote the message of God. What a joy that God writes and we teach. Trust that He has something that’s been written for you thus meaning that you will in turn teach it to others.