When I began pastoring in the late 1970’s, we created small groups which met weekly for sharing, Bible study, prayer for personal needs, and fellowship. Everyone completed the assigned study during the week, and came to the meetings prepared to share what God had revealed to them during their meditation upon Scripture. We worked our way “Through the Bible” with a 2-year program. Years later, people have commented that this was the place they received their grounding in Scripture.
Four styles of small groups?
It appears to me that a small group is likely to follow one of the following styles: 1) a lecture, which is often boring unless the teacher is an anointed communicator; 2) a sharing of ignorance where questions are presented and people pop off answers from their own thinking without first prayerfully reflecting and getting the mind of the Lord; or 3) a sharing of revelation, where people have spent time during the week with the Lord and He has revealed things to their hearts which they share in the group meeting.
(A fourth type of group I have seen is "accountability" groups where you come together and confess your sins and failings so as to become clean and overcome. Personally, I find that when I focus on my sins they just become larger, because whatever I focus on grows within me and whatever grows within me, I become. So rather than focusing on my sinfulness, I focus on Jesus who is my righteousness, my wisdom, my power and my glory. Now instead of being depressed, I am uplifted.)
I say YES to groups designed to share revelation together and act on it
I want to hear what God has ministered to each individual during the previous week of their lives. I don’t really want to hear about their encounter that happened 20 years ago (although that, too, is good), but I want to know they are having a vibrant relationship with God today and what He spoke to them this last week. Paul was clear in 1 Corinthians 14:26.
How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
This is body ministry. It is a sharing of revelation. It is each person manifesting the Spirit in some way. It is Spirit life. It is God alive in the midst of His Church and in the midst of our small group. I have participated in small groups in which, when a prayer need was presented, we all tuned to our hearts, listening to what the Holy Spirit was saying and then praying and ministering His wisdom and healing power to the indivudual. Together we released words of wisdom, words of knowledge, prophecy, tongues, healing and miracles. Healing always occurred on some level, either to those who were praying or the one being prayed for. This is what I choose for my small group. We experience the living God, alive in our lives and alive in our midst, and we build one another up in the Holy Spirit by sharing His revelation.
“Evil company corrupts good habits” (1 Cor. 15:33 NKJV), but when we "walk with the wise, we become wise" (Prov. 13:20). Good Spirit-anointed company builds a lifestyle of living by the Spirit, and I seek a Spirit-life group that will encourage me weekly to walk by the Spirit (Gal. 5:25). Are you hungry for such a group? If so, we can help you become engaged in one.
My heart hungers for the Church to be fully alive and sharing with one another what Jesus IS doing in their lives. Forty years ago I read the book In His Steps by Charles Sheldon in which he suggested asking the question, “What would Jesus do?” I thought that was cool until I realized that Jesus is STILL speaking today (“My sheep hear My voice - Jn. 10:27). Then I decided the true question is, “What IS Jesus doing?” This replaces a non-speaking God with a speaking God. The world is hungry for a living encounter with God. As Bill Johnson says, the Church owes the world a living encounter with the living God.
Testimonies from people in Spirit-Life Circles
- A woman was healed of epilepsy when the Circle prayed for her. She received a journal with 7 confirmation statements: "You are healed, right now." "It's done." "It is finished."
- We practice dream interpretation all the time which leads to incredible revelation.
- One woman was able to forgive her abusive father and now remembers her childhood without pain.
- Another woman obeyed the voice of God and shared a prophetic message with a stranger due to increased confidence because we practice this in the Circle. The stranger was incredibly blessed by receiving this message.
- A man was listening to our Circle conversation in a coffee shop and we included him for that day and taught him how to journal. He came back a week later and shared that the Lord showed up personally for him for the first time. He learned that God loved him and God stopped him from killing himself.
What God spoke to me about this
Mark, I too am hungry to see My Church releasing My life to the world around them. I am not a theology. I am a living being Who desires to live My life out through each of them. This reality has been stolen from many of My children as they no longer believe I speak today. I do speak today. I am alive today. I am alive in the midst of My Church. Let My Church come alive with My life. Let words of wisdom and words of knowledge and prophecy and discerning of spirits and speaking in tongues and casting out demons and healing the sick be that which they experience and that which they share. That has always been My intention. Not to study Me, but to encounter Me, My anointing, My wisdom and My strength. That is My Church in action. That is what you are to call My Church unto… a moment-by-moment living encounter with their living Lord. That is MY Church. So let it be spoken. So let it be done.
Yes, Lord.
Resources
Related Resources:
How to Hear God's Voice!Related Blogs:
Experience Salvation With ALL Its Benefits Honoring the Holy Spirit How to Hear God’s Voice Revelation-Based Learning Revelation-Based Websites Saturate the World with Communion with God
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