A Feast

I have been transformed.

The Lord has pulled me and stretched me in so many ways since we have been here in Rukungiri, Uganda. My eyes have been opened to what it means to be Spirit-minded and "living" in the Kingdom of God. Kenya and Uganda are completely different experiences. Where we lacked shelter in Kenya, our team has a house in Uganda. Where we lacked food, we have abundance here. Where we lacked comfort there, we have complete rest here. Where we had consistency, we have an outpour of options here. The Lord has provided tenfold, but with His provision comes even more need for dependency and trust in Him.

Our team has continued to move in and hear from the Spirit immeasurably, though we have all experienced growth in a variety of ways. We are all being transformed. Some of us are being transformed in our thought patterns, some of us through surrender, some through freedom, and others through a shift in lifestyle. Each way, God has completely rerouted our way of interpreting the circumstances before us and the circumstances we will face coming home.

Just last night I got an image for one of our team leaders of an elegant white porcelain vase being completely shattered and an authentic Africa jar of clay emerging. The new jar was handcrafted by the Lord. It was smeared and painted with His blood and was the purest representation of a true work of the Lord. It represented how unique, authentic, and carefully molded each one of us on this team are. How we are molded by Him with a specific purpose. No matter how hard we try to define ourselves and project an exact image of ourselves into the world, it is ultimately the Lord who shapes us and calls us His own and creates us in His image with His fingerprint.

How beautiful. How Jesus of Him. 🙂

I have been reading a book called "The Culture of Honor" by Danny Silk. In this book Silk addresses how we as disciples of Christ have a choice between living and walking in freedom or living and walking in fear. He explains what the mindset of living in the Spirit looks like. It is not based off of anything in this world or of people but it is completely through a lifestyle in the Kingdom of God. We should walk in confidence in our role in His Kingdom and learn to honor one another's roles. Without that honor we live in fear of each other's sins and out of punishment from earthly set rules. When we live through the Kingdom we live through love, and as Christ said, "Perfect love casts out all fear."

That is how I want to live. That is how I long to see a body of Christ function.

It has been incredible seeing my team take this approach through ministry here and learn to honor each other whole heartedly and selflessly. We have touched so many lives through our unity and respect for each other's strengths and weaknesses. We understand so much better how to love each other and the people of Uganda through our unique freedom. We have grown to be defined by Christ, and it is powerful.

Our team has been like an onion throughout this past month. The first stages of our trip were easy to peel, like the first few layers. We all got along well and asked each other pretty much the same questions in order reach some level of trust and honesty. We shared testimonies, encouraged each other, and started to get a handle on how we all function. It was fun. Now we are transitioning through the middle layers where it's not so easy. Things are starting to smell a little weird and some tears are flowing. We are really starting to see each other. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We're calling out the strengths but we are also pointing out the spinach in each other's teeth. But all through love. A deeper love that we didn't know at the beginning. We are all wanting to get to the core though. We know we must go through some layers to experience real unity and relationship. It has been a journey but we are finally getting to the core of the body of Christ. It is beautiful.

In closing, I would like to share what the Lord told me this week during a night of worship that our team had together. I asked the Lord what His Kingdom looked like and this is what He said:

"Imagine my Kingdom like the longest and widest table before you with every food imaginable laid across. A feast. I sit at the head of the table and represent the bread of life. Simply because I completely satisfy and fulfill every need. Just like you wouldn't give a starving infant chips, you would give them bread because it fills and sustains. My water is divine. It quenches every thirst and quenches completely. You never go thirsty again but yet you crave more and more. You were made to crave my feast, my Kingdom. You were made to be filled and sustained by me and me alone. And just as each person has a specific taste and appetite for specific foods, they have a specific role and identity to be filled through my Kingdom. Someone who loves chocolate or cheese will be fully satisfied by eating them and someone who despises tomatoes probably would not be wise to eat them. What your desire is to serve the Lord is probably what He is calling you towards. Recognizing and walking in your specific identity and role in the Kingdom of God also wipes out comparison. You can't look at a fruit and a vegetable and say one is not food or one is better than the other. They serve the same purpose, they feed and bring nourishment. The Lord does not have favorite foods or tastes, He understands that all food is necessary to his Kingdom and all compliment each other. He delights in every flavor, function, and aroma that make up the feast. Because in the end, it's all about who it's for and who it feeds. It's all about His Kingdom and the one and only king."

John 6:51