Scripture Reference: Romans 4:12 (NKJV & MSG); Romans 4:20-24 (NKJV & MSG); Luke 1:26-38 (NKJV)
There is no better place on earth to be than where God’s will has intended you to be, with the people you’re assigned to and assigned with.
It doesn’t matter what the signs of the times and age are, God’s grace is there for His church. We endeavour to be the church that is a God-trend-setting church. The foundation of everything we do is about relationships and connecting with the foundation of God’s Word that glues us together.
God’s relationship with us is intentional. He intends to give you all of Himself regardless of how well you perform. He made it His intention to close the gap by sending Jesus. God doesn’t make any demands on us other than to trust, believe and receive from Him. He gives us all the power to live in grace, free from demands.
Any relationship that has demands in it has a flawed foundation. Performance is a measure that can shift and change. To have an intentional relationship, you have to intentionally do things (not based on demand or performance). The alternative would be to just allow things to happen. You have to make intentional time otherwise circumstances will always be the thing that you respond to, then relationships can just drift.
The first thing you have to do is to be intentional about your relationship with God. If not, other relationships around you will become fluid and compromised. Pastor John never expects anybody to leave the church, ministry, his life, and his calling. For every person leaving Ps John’s life something else was more important. It is the same for a marriage relationship. If something else comes in that is more important, you get distracted, and the intent starts to waver (depending on how much credit is given to other important stuff).
Brother Jerry is as strongly covenantal as we are. We have the same recognition of the value of relationships. An intentional relationship doesn’t require perfection, it requires the love of God being the foundation, and your intention to be and remain steadfast. Having an intentional relationship requires having all done to stand, stand. But two cannot walk together unless they agree.
The devil’s number one priority is for you to disagree with the Bible and undermine your intentional relationship with God. He tries to undermine the integrity of God’s Word through circumstances, and for you to not trust God but yourself. The most fluent situation on earth is to be intentional about serving self and finding a way of satisfying self.
Romans 4:12 (NKJV, MSG) – Abraham believed God through faith, not because of a demand. God intended to mark us in our hearts. Faith is only something that you can intentionally live, and then intentionally have a relationship with Jesus.
Romans 4:20-24 (NKJV, MSG) – Abraham was sure that God would make good on what He said. Right there, is where most of our faith is undermined. The devil’s number one strategy is to make you go from sureness to unsure. When conditions seem hopeless is when you are less sure, but it is the time when you must have the most trust and be the most intentional.
Say, I am so sure that God would make good on what He said that it doesn’t matter to me whether I see the end of my faith or not; I am going to live by it. I am intentional about staying the distance in faith. I will stand in faith, no matter how long it takes. I am intentional about my relationship with God.
One day at a time is what it takes to make a good marriage. You cannot let a day go by when something else is more important than your marriage.
Say, I live life intentionally in my relationships.
One of the greatest deceptions that have come into the body of Christ is that people follow other people. People move away from the divine connections and the divine assignment that God has called each pastor to do. If you are not fulfilling what God called you to do, and you are not with the people God has assigned you to be with – you are missing the mark. Doesn’t matter how justifiable your actions might be, you have allowed something else to be more intentional than the relationship that God has put you with.
Say, I am intentional about sticking with the one who brung me. I stick with the message that God saved me with and gave me to live by.
We got to close the gap all the time. If you want to have an intentional relationship it is up to you to get close and close the gap, not to wait on others. Don’t let pride and ego allow offense (they don’t recognise me, they’re not making an effort, they’re not making the time for me) to result in “let them do their thing, and I’ll do my thing”. Pastor John is intentional about his relationship with Brother Jerry, he is intentional about God and intentional about the Holy Spirit working inside him. He has an intentional relationship with you. Discipleship is to: touch, teach, train, and transfer. God doesn’t break the link, if we break the link in the chain, God’s got to wait. Like Pastor John, we all have to pay attention to the Holy Spirit, and we all have to make some corrections and adjustments in our lives.
It is never too late to become more intentional with the relationships that are around you. The first thing to do is to change your words. Start speaking life (valuable and precious; respect, honour, and regard) and refuse to speak words of death. One day at a time. Change the way you speak to each other and start talking about the person in your life the way God sees that person and not what suits you. Don’t speak what you feel; speak what He says.
A relationship based on manipulation, demands, and control is intentional for the self. You will then have what you intend to have at the moment, but somewhere down the line, it will destroy the relationship. Such a relationship has a foundation of sand and will collapse and need grace intervention. Most of the time, grace interventions are too late because what got you there is so entrenched in you, that you are unwilling to let the grace of God come and fix it. This happens amongst people in the church all the time; in marriage, in friendships, and in business relationships. When I am not intentional with my relationship with God and I should be, I will not be intentional with those that are around me as I should be. Then I am always pressing for this thing that I’m hoping for, but I never get to. I’m hoping to get to the relationship with God that I always wanted, but I never give Him control in my life.
Luke 1:26-38 (NKJV)
God has announced His intentions in His relationship with us: to go to the maximum and the highest level attainable.
Say, Even though I don’t see how this is possible, I say: behold I am a vessel of Your words. To that which people have proclaimed impossible, I say: Nothing is impossible with God. What works for Pastor John works for me. I speak the maximum; I place a demand on the maximum. I am pushing. I am walking out my faith. I am going to go as hard and as far as it can go this year.
We are making a demand on our Heavenly Father and the words of prophecy that have come to us. The Lord wants to unlock this year the maximum, the highest level that we can go to in relationships; all of us in body unity together, in connecting together, establishing covenant relationship, and in marriages and in the things that God has got destined for us; and for gifts and callings to be released and to be manifested; for the work of God to begin to flow and gifts to begin to be released and things to begin to bubble up and come to their maturity and come to the highest level. We got to push this through, we got to push in every area in every way. God is intentional about things.
Say, Lord Jesus, today, I am intentional about my walk with You. And I trust You, that where I am weak, You will make me strong. And I have to trust You, that whenever my intentional fails that You will be there to help me and guide me and strengthen me. I trust You, as the Lord and Saviour of my life. I trust You, with all of my future, with all of my assignment, with all that You have for me in Jesus’ name.
Brother Jerry has been intentional about fulfilling the call of God on his life for 53 years. The enemy had tried to separate Brother Jerry and me, but because I was intentional about making my way back, it didn’t matter what had happened between us. I wanted the quality of relationship that God had always intended. There are those that might be listening digitally. If God speaks to your heart, people that have left the church for years and came back intentionally about their repentance will tell you that there is a great love in my heart to receive them completely without condition.
We got to be more intentional about having a higher assignment and about having more of what God wants for us.
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TOUCH | TEACH | TRAIN | TRANSFER
