Friends,
As you know we are always on the move, dreaming and developing. We are excited to share with you that we have two individuals who have joined our team in the last couple of months. First, Shannon McLaird, as an associate for Ministry Appointments. She is a sweet friend and has been involved in inner healing for over 20 years. She currently serves a pastor at Grace Center in Franklin, TN. We also have added a new administrator, Lindsay Wenth. Lindsay and her family are precious to us, and we are honored that she is willing to use her incredible administrative gifts to see people set free.
Thank you for keeping us in your prayers as we continue to do the things we believe the Lord has laid out for us to do!
Ministry Appointments
We are now accepting Ministry Appointments for July! Please fill out this form to start the process of scheduling a Personal Ministry Appointment. We look forward to meeting with you!
Blessings,
Jim and Pat Banks
The Heavenly Progression
By Jim Banks
I woke up a few days ago with an interesting thought that caused me to spend some time in the Word. I started reading to see if there was a progression of our spiritual lives from being simply a creation of God into one that is fully living in the Kingdom of God.
Our journey starts off as a creation of God. We are full of possibilities, but without any sort of relationship with God our creator. We become trained by the system of the world through every institution we are a part of. Our families, schools, churches, para-church organizations and the companies we have worked for all have trained us. Lest we think that this is a benign status, the system of the world is the teaching and program of the devil himself. Therefore, we are defacto disciples of the devil. I think the following verse puts it a bit more definitively.
1 John 3:10 “By this it may be seen who are the children of God, and who are the childrenof the devil: whoever does not do right is not ofGod, nor he who does not love his brother.”
Due to the stark contrast presented in this verse it’s easy to say, ‘Well, I’m doing right, therefore I must be a child of God.’ That’s not the way it works. That which signals a transition from a child of the devil to a child of God hinges on a personal decision. The internal transformation enabled by that decision becomes reflected in what one does and what one says. Essentially, a fundamental change in the heart and giving God permission to run the show. Until then, we’re still children of the devil trying to do the best we can with what we’ve got.
At some point, we get an introduction to God and accept the offer of the sacrifice that Jesus made. If you had a traditional mainline denominational experience following salvation and baptism, there was very little emphasis on anything beyond that. It was rather like, “Do good and don’t mess up!” Making a decision to receive Christ into our lives didn’t mean that either you or I instantly became a disciple. It simply meant that our sins were forgiven and positionally our citizenship changed from one kingdom to another. (John 1:12, Galatians 4:4-7)
Even though being “saved” qualified us to be ‘redeemed,” it also technically made us a son or daughter of God and therefore an heir or recipient of all the promises contained in the Bible. Like so many children of the devil, I was schooled in the family ways. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that another way to live life was an option. Everyone I knew wasn’t living life any differently than anyone else, saved or unsaved. At the age of 32, after a whole series of significant life failures, I surrendered my life once again. I was unaware that this was the way disciples were supposed to live. Later, as I grew as a disciple, I came to understand that a second work of God in my life was necessary. Once I got baptized in the Spirit, things changed dramatically for me. I moved from simply one who was saved to one who wanted to become a true disciple, a true follower of Christ.
This where the distinction of phases or levels becomes mushy. I can be saved, but not be a disciple. A disciple is one who is working hard to learn the ways of his teacher. My early Christian experience didn’t differentiate between the two, so the presumption was that it was technically a two-for-one sale. If you bought into one, you automatically became the second. Not so. I believe that we can identify three levels: Child of the devil, child of God, and becoming a disciple.
To be continued…follow our social media for expanded thoughts, scriptures and reminders!
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