The breakthrough that comes when Church looks like FAMILY
By Bryan Mangerchine
The last 6 months or so I have been on a journey of letting go of a rebellious heart that I took-on growing up as a teenager.
It was very natural thing for me to do because of the circumstances. It was totally natural, but it was just my way of comforting myself, rather than to deal with what was going on around me. So that kind of attached itself to my identity. And then I took on this character of being a rebellious person. And I was kind of proud of it.
I would always win the game of who could take it the farthest. God has shown me that He didn't put that rebelliousness in me. I did.
So the journey that I'm on is letting go of who I thought I was, and receiving who God tells me I am.
He tells me I'm a good son, an obedient son, who loves to obey his Father … because my Father is so good. I would not have been on this journey without others around me - my wife and this church family. If I didn't have those people in my life, I would not be the person that I am. Those of you who knew me as a kid, God's grace has flowed into my life and he’s transformed me. I’m a different person than I used to be.
I attribute that mostly to this body - the relationships that I've had here - because this became my home 15 years ago. The relationships that have been established and developed in my life have born fruit in my life.
What we do on Sunday mornings is the gathering of a family. If we go to church on Sundays, and that is the depth of our relationship with the body of Christ, we are selling ourselves short. We need to be eating each other’s fruit!
I can say that most of the breakthrough that comes in my life is not through listening to Peter's messages, as great as they are.
The rubber hits the road over dinner at one of our houses, doing something fun together, or celebrating together.
It hits the road going and doing things together as a family, where we're actually seeing each other's lives and we're able to see “oh, that, I didn't know that was there.” Or “I have a word for you” or “ listen to what God’s doing in me”.
Then over the course of years, those things get talked about, discussed, we get set free from the bondage that we've put ourselves under by the lies that we believed about ourselves.
We all have blind spots, and we need each other. We need each other to release love to one another, to receive the love of the Father, so we can be set free from those blind spots.
Humility is a really smart thing to do. It's actually the only smart way to be. It's actually the logical thing to do. It's not emotional to be humble. It is to walk into truth and to correct yourself with that truth, rather than rebel against it.
It's been prophesied that we are going to experience tremendous growth in this season and we receive that. The limiting factor, the little limiting reagent for our growth is our individual humility.
It's been prophesied that we are going to experience tremendous growth in this season and we receive that. The limiting factor, the little limiting reagent for our growth is our individual humility.
How much we are willing to seek out input from others?
We’re going to get feedback, going to get hard things to hear sometimes, and if we don't work that out and see it come to bare fruit in our lives, then something happened there that didn't allow it. That’s probably something in our heart that blocked the fruit we intended to see.
Some of us grew up, learning how to analyze our lives and learning to look for the fruit of our lives. What would be the wrong thing to do with that information would be to judge ourselves.
We must observe the fruit, the output that we’re seeing, and then you take that to the Father, and you ask Him to correct it for you. “What am I believing incorrectly, Father?” Sometimes we don't see the fruit in our lives, because we're so deceived. We deceive ourselves in our hearts, and that's where the body comes in.
We must observe the fruit, the output that we’re seeing, and then you take that to the Father, and you ask Him to correct it for you. “What am I believing incorrectly, Father?” Sometimes we don't see the fruit in our lives, because we're so deceived. We deceive ourselves in our hearts, and that's where the body comes in.
Fortunately, when we seek the family relationships, there can be brothers and sisters in our lives that want to see us meet our potential.
One point is key to remember what Jesus taught us about calling out others. He said to be focused on the log in our own eyes rather than the spec in the other.
Don’t receive what I’m saying as permission to criticize or correct, that’s not what family does. Family supports one another. Family accepts each other just as we are! Family celebrates one another.
I encourage each of us to be sons/daughters by seeking out wisdom from spiritual mothers and fathers in areas of our lives where we see people that have fruit that we don’t have yet.
Don’t receive what I’m saying as permission to criticize or correct, that’s not what family does. Family supports one another. Family accepts each other just as we are! Family celebrates one another.
I encourage each of us to be sons/daughters by seeking out wisdom from spiritual mothers and fathers in areas of our lives where we see people that have fruit that we don’t have yet.
I encourage you to especially seek out those folks who’ve overcome something that we might be struggling with.
That’s where the breakthrough lies - in seeking out their help and having the humility to do what they say.
Don’t give up until you get that fruit!
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