God created man in His image, and for four basic purposes:

1. to have fellowship with,
2. to cultivate the garden,
3. to be fruitful and multiply, and
4. to rule over the earth and all that is in it.

This week we continue the study of the purpose of equipping ministries listed in Ephesians 4:11 with what must be considered one of the most amazing verses in the Scriptures, Ephesians 4:13. It states that these ministries are given: “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.”

I was asked to spend an hour with one of the Presidential candidates in the last election. I agreed with this candidate on most matters, especially social issues, and I was very glad in some ways that these were the main reasons why he was running for President. I would have loved to have seen him win, but I had been shown that the main issue in the election was going to be the economy, not the social issues that were so important to him. I spent the entire hour trying to convince him of this.

One word that I started getting on the day of this tragedy was "heroes." It was not until this morning that I began to understand it. A hero is someone who takes decisive action in a crisis. This is what the Lord wants His people to do in this crisis, and every crisis.

I have heard many comment that we are in the first stages of the great tribulation, that the anti-Christ is coming, and since it is prophesied, there is nothing that we can do about it. This is a tragic deception. Let's read what the Lord said about this very thing in Daniel 11:31-32:

          The angel that released the apostles from prison said to them, “Go stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this Life” (Acts 5:20). To know “the whole message of this life” and to be obedient to it will be the basic devotion of a disciple.

Last week we began addressing our responsibility to test the fruitfulness of ministries and missions in which we are investing the Lord's resources. In large operations such as charities, which are devoted to distributing material goods, this is much easier to measure than when we examine evangelistic and missionary outreaches.

     In Psalm 97, we have one of the most illuminating prophecies of what we are now seeing unfolding in the earth:

            The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; yet the many islands be glad.

        Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

     Please keep in mind that I am sharing my experiences and perspectives of the prophetic, but other prophetic people may experience these differently. Just as the Lord made us all unique as people, and our experiences in life are all unique, our experiences in Him are all unique, too. Every prophet in Scripture was different and seemed to receive revelation in different ways. There are common factors and characteristics, but we must also be open for the Lord to do the unique.

     One of the most destructive practices that permeated the church during the “falling away” in the Middle Ages was the substitution of rituals for reality. For example, instead of communion being done in “remembrance of the Lord” and as a commitment to partake of Him, His life, and His body—known in the first century church as koinonia—a ritual took its place. Instead of having communion with Him and His people, they just took communion in a ritual and felt they had fulfilled their obligation.