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· Unless we can get to
point where we can be honest about where we are spiritually...
· Unless we can get to point where we can really touch Lord regularly in prayer and in Word...
· Unless we get to point where each and everyone of us can have fresh daily experiences with Lord, fresh revelation of our own, rather than someone else's,
our meetings are bound to be pitiful because they reflect our poor walk with Lord.
This is foreign to average Christian, because we are used to being passively entertained. Just thought of having to share with others is scary to some. I know through years of experience what works and what doesn't. The only way a person will move from knowledge to reality is through constant loving support of a group of brothers and sisters he/she trusts and knows are there to help rather than condemn. This kind of dynamic can only be achieved in body life meetings. Saints need an opportunity to participate meaningfully in each meeting. It’s little things - things you are thankful for, how much Lord means to you, how He pulled off a little miracle at work, how He let you share Him with someone. Once all members of body get released, people finally get idea.
There is no such thing as a bad meeting or blaming someone else. The meeting depends on me. If meeting is dead, it's because I had no life to bring to it. What did I contribute? If someone was obviously down and out, how did I help? What can I say? How can I pray for them this week? The best part about an open fellowship is there is no one to blame but me. That's why they work - and don't work.
In a very real sense, there is no "right" or "wrong" way to meet. God doesn't care about methods. He gives us very little instruction on what to do and how to do it. The question is, is meeting under guidance of Holy Spirit? Are there mature leaders who can sense flow of Spirit and move with it? Now I am not talking in sense of something "extra-Biblical", voices, miracles, signs and wonders. I am talking about ability of a small group of people to let Spirit of God lead them in prayer, worship, song and testimonies. One will find that there is often an unspoken or unrecognized theme that Spirit will lead in a meeting and that everything will relate to it - without planning and without an agenda. For example, Lord may impress us this week with his mercy so songs, testimonies, scripture and prayer will all relate to that theme.
Think of Holy Spirit as conductor of an orchestra and each one of us is an instrument that He plays. He has worked in our lives during week, ministered to us through His word and through experience, and now we bring that to meeting and offer it up to Lord as a "sweet smelling sacrifice unto Lord." The meeting reflects fresh moving and working of Lord in each of our lives.
The Place of Leadership
Leadership is there to sense moving of Lord - not to carry out their planned order of business, not to follow an outline or course of study, or even verses that were picked previous week. Leadership should be there to sense move of Lord "real time" as they say in computer jargon. Our relationship with Lord should be living and powerful, not programmed and planned.
If there is one main reason a small meeting won't work, it is
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