“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Loss is an emotion that requires time to process.
The rawness of lamenting and grief are necessary to enable a transition to receiving the gift of celebrating and joyful remembrance and the ability to move on.
Jesus manifests Himself in that time as compassion to be received personally and shared corporately.
Whatever our role or part it requires us to be kind, patient and understanding to ourselves and one another. To acknowledging that in birthing a new we are letting go of a death.
We are wrestling with this in how we perceive what it means to be church right now. How to let go and how to grasp hold of.
God is at work in His timing. Letting us come to terms with and processing our grief before allowing us to know what the future holds.
Facilitating us to lay down what has been our comfort and put our trust in Him afresh.
“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away?”
There is a need for pain and brokenness.
God is consistently good and is able to press closer in our discomfort than comfort. Able to correct, discipline and draw out how yielded and surrendered we are.
God’s goodness is secure but often uncomfortable. He is ok with us feeling uncomfortable. We learn to know Him as sovereign and change as He says:“Am I not God? “
There is a transformation as we redirect our attention fully on Him and acknowledge that the logic and wisdom of man will not hold us.
There is a sense of horror when we hear Jesus predicting division in families when His kingdom is about unity and yet that is the prophesy of the era we are being birthed into. That of the division within the family and body between the remnant and convicted versus the nominal and compromised.
The era where the Holy Spirit will wash over the remnant with His presence but leaving some in an emotional wilderness.
A polluted, diluted bride will not walk down the aisle.
Only a pure and spotless one who have known His intimacy. Yet God’s covenant is to rescue the bride that is so far away from Him. To clothe her and remove the shame of nakedness.
“that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”
Our lives have died with Christ at the cross and we are clothed in His righteousness and purity fit to be the bride.
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Abiding in Him as love we are deconstructed and re constructed in perfection.
It is not as individuals but corporately as the body that we will become this phenomena. This revelation within the arc of history.
The time is now for monumental change as the church enters its final reformation and correct aligning. A place of belonging where all can be worked out.
The sovereignty of Jesus who is in the control of building His church. It is not us as man but Him when we have His mindset only.
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
It is Jesus and we partnering with Him becoming the bride. He will shape form and grow her.
Therefore when we experience loss, pain and discomfort there is solace and comfort to know it is evidence of Him building His church in a heaven made structure.
The illustration shows the lion representative of Jesus on the rock, His church prevailing as He builds it. Light emanating to push back the darkness.
Six Scriptures that come to mind:
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”Matthew 16:18 ESV
“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away?”Jeremiah 23:23 ESV
“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.””Luke 12:51-53 ESV
“He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”Luke 12:54-56 ESV
“that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.””Ezekiel 16:63 ESV
“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”Colossians 3:3 ESV
The song Sure Thing. Hillsong
https://youtu.be/_lPSDYP0Adc
Lessisgreater 