February 3, 2012 by John Beck 0 comments

Posted in: Walk the Walk

Days turn to weeks, weeks turn to months and months turn to years. If we are not intentional in our ‘partnership’ with the Lord we will look back on a life that is void of the fruitfulness God intended for us. Consider Mark 16:19-20;

 “So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs.”

This ‘partnership’ began when Jesus ascended into heaven and continues today. The Apostles provided ongoing encouragement and instruction to the followers of Jesus in this partnership that becomes the focal point of our Christian life.

We recently looked at the life of Ananias (Acts 9) who was sent by the Lord to minister to Saul of Tarsus, a person who was on a mission to kill and imprison Christians, yet Ananias was asked to go to this man. Ananias even asked the Lord if He was sure He had the right guy, reminding Him of who this person was (that is awesome, and so real-life).

Ananias was a ‘partner’ and he heard what the Lord said (My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:27) and then Ananias did what the Lord said. That is the partnership. The result of the encounter was in God’s hand, Ananias did not know what the result of his actions would be, he simply trusted the Lord and did what he was ‘asked’ to do. That is the partnership; hear what the Lord says to do, and do it.

It sounds simple and it really is, the problem is in the’ busyness’ of our day, it can be difficult for us to hear and hard for us to act. If we take time each day to cultivate our relationship with Jesus by spending time feeding our soul on the Bible and speaking to the Lord in prayer, we are more prepared to hear and act; we are prepared to be partners.

The impact of our faithfulness to partner with the Lord to ‘hear what He says to do and then do what He says, has a ‘Ripple Effect’ in the lives of others that only heaven knows, but one day will be seen. Commit yourself in a fresh way to partner with the Lord like never before, people are counting on you, the Lord is counting on you. Check out this great video we played in church last week and I hope to see you on Sunday at our service.