“The Kingdom of God is relationships.”
Hi, my name is Jesse, and I’m addicted to Jesus. I’m not gonna hide in the closet about the fact that I’m all about revival. I love the signs and wonders, healing, prophecy, angelic visitations, Holy Ghost-new-wine intoxications, electrified-anointed worship, and deep revelation.
I’ve been enjoying the revival at Bethel Church now for 5 1/2 years. I’ve been living one of my dreams in doing itinerant revivalist ministry for almost 3 years through this amazing church, and I’m having a blast!
I absolutely love traveling to different places around the world to bring refreshing, igniting, empowerment, and activation to many people hungry to “do the stuff” that Jesus promised we should do. We have seen all the stuff listed above. I thirst for more!
But I have to say, in the midst of all the fun, it is very easy to wind up at some point down the road discovering that something is missing. That something I am referring to is community. Even the greatest and most godly generals of Christ’s army can be doing the mightiest exploits and bringing revival fires to cities, and still be a lonely soul inside.
Doing the acts of God is great. It is fun, exhilarating, and adventurous. Our doing the supernatural acts of God is very important to Him. Yet, it’s still not the most important thing.
Doing family with God… well, that is where it really counts.
I remember one time in Brentwood, TN, I was getting out of the car to go into Border’s Bookstore. The Holy Spirit spoke in that still, small voice. He said, “The Kingdom of God is relationships.”
Simple, yet profound. That statement nailed the entire purpose of God’s kingdom on the head with one descriptive word. Relationships.
God is the inventor of family, not institutions. It was the first thing He built into humanity in the Garden.
Jesus said that the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:37-40). No other commandment compares to these.
What is on God’s heart? Relationships.
1 Corinthians 13:2 says, “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
Doing these things outside of love, although loads of fun in the moment, is worth nothing to God. And how can you have love without it being in the context of relationship and community? What good would it be to perform the greatest acts of God but it not propel your relationship with someone else and both relationships with God?
Momentary bliss is shallow.
But I see it often. Pastors want revival so badly that they forget to shepherd their people. Lay people want it so badly that they leave their peers in the dust and forget how to be a friend. People want signs and wonders so badly that they invest all their resources into that one stock, ignorantly depleting the “love thy neighbor” account which their Father set up for them.
Even I often fill my schedule with ministry so full that it has been difficult to have a meal with friends.
Yes, we NEED revival!
But, if our revival is not in the context of community, is it really revival? If it doesn’t enhance our family lives at home, is it really revival? If it isn’t building covenant relationships around us, is it really revival?
True revival isn’t in meetings. It is in the home. It is in the coffee shop with a friend. It is at the restaurant as you develop a friendship with a server that you tip well. It is wherever you go.
We can go to so many church meetings that we miss what the kingdom is all about. If our relationships don’t go beyond “shake the hand of the person next to ya” during greeting time at church, we are missing out on the real juice of the kingdom.
We need each other. Not just in ministry meetings. Not just to create numbers for an exuberant worship service. We need each other so we can have our primal need met: relationship. God knew our greatest needs before He ever created us. He established family as a blessing to us.
“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching,” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
The Kingdom of God isn’t just in power, it is in relationship.
What ways are you finding to bring revival into the context of relationship?
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So good Jesse. So true and right. Today I choose to love the one in front of me, beside me, in the house with me. Help me Lord.
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The Kingdom of God IS relationships. I have been praying to God for my relationships to get better, especially my relationship with HIM. This pandemic has made me realize even more how important our relationships are with each other: family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, and etc. We cannot afford to take any relationship for granted anymore. I so appreciate this post, and once again it serves as confirmation for me. May God continually bless you and your ministry!!!