Spiritual Ministry – What Are You Resonating?

  The Word says:  “As a man thinks in his heart so is he.”  I want to add this:  A man resonates what is in his heart to those around him.  A person may not realize that his spirit resonates and the people may not be aware of the resonance consciously, but spiritually they perceive what is being resonated and will respond to it.  Spiritually we react to another’s spirit. I believe that we have all experienced an attraction to or a caution of an unknown person we have come in contact with.   This awareness comes from our spirit without any prior communication or physical connection with that particular person.  Jesus gives us another example of this awareness when He rebuked Peter, “Get thee behind me Satan!”  He was aware of the spirit of the adversary that was motivating Peter to speak.  When we minister to another we must understand that we will communicate spirit to spirit.  We may be loving and positive in motivation towards another, but the very fact that we see him as needing our help is what he perceives in his heart.  He may rationally respond to your ministry, but in his heart he knows that you’re viewing him as lacking.  Your perception of him motivates your actions but you are communicating judgment not encouragement.   An example would be of parents “seeing” their child as deficient in sports or a bit slower in learning than other children.  They are motivated to aid and enhance the development of the child’s abilities, but too often the message the child perceives is that he is deficient.  It is not wrong to help our child develop, but our motivation should not be his deficiencies.  Our perception must be the uniqueness that God has placed in every human being.  We need to accept them for who they are and support what they desire to be.   It is not for us to measure a person by standards that we have set for ourselves or that the world has declared as normal.  The world sets standards of normalcy because it cannot receive the Word of God, therefore lacks the wisdom to minister to the spirit of a man.  We set ourselves up as judges and our judgment is what is spiritually transmitted to others.  Our hearts may be pure in motivation but we are doing harm in ignorance.  Throughout history you will find that those who are held as visionaries today, men of great genius, were often persecuted in their day because they did not fit the normalcy standards of their time.  It is the uniqueness of every human being that bears witness to God as creator.  Those that set standards for others are blinded by their own sense of self worth.  Like the Pharisees of old we can become blinded to the extent that we cannot recognize the Lord or His leading through His Spirit.  ”Judge not lest you be judged.” is self fulfilling to those who are trying to conform the world around them to their perceptions of what should be.  In direct contrast the Word declares that “Love conquers all.”  This love “believes all things…”  The “all things” are those things which are good and possible through God in another’s life.

I realize that everyone falls short of his full potential, but they do not need our help to fall short.  One of the names of the Devil is “accuser”.

This spirit of accusation can work through us because we are spiritually unwise; ignorant.  Wisdom is the knowing the end result of our actions prior to us putting them into effect.  Our lack of wisdom combined with good intentions can easily be manipulated by the accuser to install negative feelings and beliefs in others.  Stop and think how much of our relations with others are based on their conforming to our standards, our desires and our needs.  Those that perform well by our standards are acceptable as equals and friends.  Those that do not conform receive less than our best.  The judgment of others places us in a position from which we have difficulty in hearing from God.  We become blinded by the very standards that we placed on others.

In our personal relationships we sow success or we sow distress.  If we will accept people for whom and what they are, without condemnation, without judgment, God is able to shed abroad His love for them through our heart.  We can be aware of their faults and short comings but we do not condemn them even as God shows us mercy and gives us grace despite our short comings.  We may be limited in our fellowship with them just as we were limited in our fellowship with God when we were pursuing sin, yet the door is always opened for God to minister love through us.  There is a vast difference between God ministering through us and us trying to minister for the Lord to please Him.  If God is not ministering through you, you have no ministry.  You are ministering through your own precepts of what the person needs and are ministering judgment with good intentions.  Jesus will tell those who ministered in their own power that He never knew them and cast them out.  History records crusades and inquisitions and persecutions not to mention indoctrination with false gospels by ministers that ministered according to their own understanding.  They were manipulated by Satan to damage the Body of Christ rather that to build it up.  Too many of us are being manipulated by Satan in our relationships with others.  There is only one way to avoid this pit fall.  Walk in Love.  If we will first acknowledge that we have set standards for others to conform to and remove those standards, then the fruit of the Spirit called love will take the place of judgment.  The love nature that is imparted to us at the “new birth” will fill the void in our relationships with others.  It will open new relationships with others that you never would have considered.  According to the measure that God is able to flow through us God is able to increase within us.  We can experience the love that God gives to others as it flows through us.  Setting aside standards and walking in love removes the veils from our eyes giving us clarity of vision.  We can see the world through God’s eyes and minister as He leads us.  Knowing this love increases our ability to let down barriers which have kept us from developing a more intimate relationship with the Lord.  It becomes an ever increasing cycle of going from glory to glory until we know His Glory; Christ In Us…the Hope of Glory.

Elizabeth Norland  03/03/13  www.theimageofchrist.com