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The Latest Buzzword Are willing to pay the price for the move of God?
The American church has this amazing tendency to latch onto the latest "buzzword" and ride the excitement of it like a caffeine high, yet never get the nutrition it was intended to impart. One of the latest "buzzwords" concerns the "apostolic" move within the church. Factions within the body of Christ dismiss the apostolic as for a former time, yet the Word of God makes no such delineation. It is certainly apparent that the world still needs the planting of churches, the raising up of leadership, and the evangelization of the non-believer; activities that fall under the purview of the apostolic office. The same apostolic office that some teach has passed away. The church is only minimally established as a spiritual force in the earth in many places, though a form of it may be well established on the social landscape of our country. When the Holy Spirit begins a restoration of a truth that had been shelved by the church, it often seems to begin with a very small ripple that builds and builds until it is no longer a concept that can be ignored. Such has been the restoration of the apostolic office to the church. The American church has been built around the pastoral office to the exclusion of the other ascension gifts presented to the universal body of Christ by Jesus himself. The apostle, prophet, evangelist and teacher have been given little place in the grand scheme of things. However, in our microwave society we want things to patience and we want it right now! We don't tolerate waiting for things well. If it takes more than a day or two, we give up on it and go looking for the next thing. Such an attitude makes for lousy farming. In our impatience we also skip over the meat of the teaching that always accompanies such revelation. As a result, we miss nutrition such teaching is designed to provide. Much like the taking a hike up the mountain with no prior preparation we are ill-prepared for the elements of change that we encounter. We don't dress properly for the season we are in and we don't carry the proper provisions. As the day wears on our strength wanes until we give up on the journey. Such is the walk of the church concerning many of the moves of God. All those God desired to be a part of the move don't make the grade. They drop out before the race is over, exhausted and undernourished because they only wanted the icing of the new revelation, not the cake inside. We like the high the excitement a new revelation provides, but not the long-haul approach such a revelation requires. Well digging is laborious business. We must first break through the top layers of soil and rock to get the well started, then we begin to dig downward shovelful after shovelful. Swing of the pickaxe after swing of the pickaxe. Bucket by bucket the soil and debris is removed. First one foot deep, then two, then three feet. Hour by hour we dig until the job is completed. Some wells strike water after only a few feet, others only after many, many feet of digging. Our modern concept of well-digging involves a large specialized piece of equipment that pulls up and begins to drill, but in olden times, the process was much more laborious. It involved manual labor, the swinging of a pickaxe and the use of a shovel and buckets. The lower the elevation, the easier and cheaper it was to dig a well. However, the higher the elevation and the deeper the well, the more costly the well. The higher elevation's the more rocky the soil. The more resistance to the digging of the well. What is the well of the apostolic worth to the church? What are we willing to pay to see this well dug in the soil of the church? Are we willing to dig as long as it takes, or do we want to take the "shortcuts" of religion? We must decide. Some elements of the church have already made the decision to stop digging this well. It was taking too long for them. We must recognize that revelation always builds upon the previous revelation. What God has restored to the church today could not have been possible without prior restorations to the church. Future restoration depends upon our digging the wells of apostolic restoration in the church. What is the next revelation? I don't know, but then again, we are not at the corner where we need to see around the bend to that revelation. This well has yet to be fully dug. The future needs us to do our part today. Don't quit yet. We are almost ready to hit water.
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