Organization To Organism Plus Comments
Clay Sikes
The Army of God is now beginning to make strategy for VICTORY; the primary focus of this strategy involves unifying the Body and joining the parts that are ‘CALLED’ to be JOINED. We must work to properly discern and join the Body properly...This is not a joining for the sake of joining, but rather a fitting of the parts that are CALLED to be joined. As with all gathering Armies, there is an awareness of the basic strategy used by the Commander to join, train, and plan for victory. What I submit here is an understanding of the strategy God is using to gather ‘His’ for His purpose. Man, in unity with other men, in true God-appointed purpose will initiate the greatest change this earth has ever seen.
Only those who have lost their religion will recognize that God is doing something radically different in the earth today. God’s true Church is made up of living stones (people), not bricks, mortar, stain-glass, and steeples. If you are bound to the thought that Church is a building and that the next great move of God will come from these institutions you are possibly in for a great surprise. The next great move is already moving and it is coming through individuals, families, community leaders, businesses and businessmen, entertainers, athletes, movie makers and many other non-traditional and unfamiliar forms. Begin to open your spiritual eye to see who and what God is truly connecting you to.
As others, I am connecting to God’s order in various areas of life. What I have observed in the arrival of this ‘new order’ is an undeniable pattern in the transition process - the ‘old order’ DISRUPTED by the arrival of the ‘new order.’ My traditions and ways in combination with my preconceived notions are being totally disrupted at 58 years of life. As we have often taught, “Anything growing will change; be open, be flexible, be willing to change.” Change is as indigenous to growth as water is to rain - growth is a result of change. All God-called growth will always be precipitated by change. When we accept the premise that “anything growing will change,” we are prepared to recognize that often disruptions in our lives are nothing more than God-appointed, God-anointed changes launched into our lives to initiate purpose and growth.
Our legacy is our destiny fulfilled, and I am comfortable saying that those engaging destiny are those who have not (and will not) fight change, but rather allow it to guide them like a mountain stream guides a rubber raft down its banks to the new place of purpose. True change can only operate where there is true rest. Fear of the unknown often causes resistance to God-appointed change - its basic characteristic being restlessness. True rest denotes trust and trust is the key ingredient for those seeking God’s purpose and their destiny. To roll with the punches of change is to embrace truth, destiny, and purpose. To resist it is to die to the possibility of a vibrant spiritual life, and ultimately attaining life’s true purpose and the abundant life for which Christ’s sacrifice was made.
Those with a revelation of the time in which we now live will never be satisfied with simply being saved and filled, but eagerly desire being led. Even those desiring leadership from the Holy Spirit are faced with ordered inevitable courageous steps. Whether these steps are taken will further separate the “many” from the “few.” This level of walking with God is not for the faint of heart.
A true spiritual destiny upon earth is evidenced by many ‘new beginnings,’ to which we never must “despise” because they will all start small - a Kingdom dynamic. It is vastly important to recognize here that ‘new beginnings’ often start as eruptions in the old order. New wine can only be poured into new wineskins; therefore the old order must be replaced before the new wine can be poured.
What exactly is the ‘old order?’ The ‘old order’ more often than not is our present comfort zone, our present methodology, our present crowd. Once, while in the middle of a God-appointed eruption, I cried out to God, “What is the ‘new order’ you are taking me to?” He answered, “New faces and new places.” Abraham, a man of unquestionable destiny, had this revelation when he left his father’s house.
New purpose will always require “new beginnings” and each new beginning will always require change, and while all change may not be “new faces and new places,” all growth will necessitate change in some area of our lives. To resist this change is to resist God, which man does in two distinct spheres - ignorantly and stubbornly: “My people perish from a lack of knowledge;” “Stubbornness is as the sin of witchcraft.”
We are all familiar with the term “Let go and let God.” As cliché as it is, and as mundanely as it is often used, its revelatory truth explodes in ‘surrender’ messages like the one being taught here.
With a general foundation now laid, let us travel into deeper truth which deals with the specific strategy. What is God doing in the earth with His true ecclesia? He is birthing newness with and through His joining Body. What I see happening is a metamorphosis - a painfully changing organization (Church) in which the equity of God is birthing change which will produce enormous and spontaneous growth, due to the late hour. For this changing growing Body to evolve into what it is designed to be, bones (relationships) must be broken, muscle and sinew (new relationships, new expertise, new loyalties) must grow - ANYTHING GROWING MUST CHANGE!
As stated, growth requires change; extraordinary growth requires extraordinary (often painful) change. This phenomenon is true in both worldly and kingdom oriented organizations; however, there is one major difference in the evolving nature of the two - THE EQUITY OF GOD, which is best described as the totality of deposit God has made in man. In a God-appointed group, like Joseph, those with great equity will rise from the dungeon to the palace, but not of their own doing. God-built means God-tested, God-fearing, and God-hearing (His sheep hear His voice).
When those with God-appointed authority begin to walk in that authority, then and only then will the power of God be released to address situation and circumstance alike into the order of God to fulfill the purpose of God. Authority requires two distinct elements - 1) knowledge that it exist and 2) the courage (faith) to act on it. Without it, God-appointed organizational united purpose will not happen!
God’s organizational authority is not vertical (top down) as much as it is horizontal (side-by-side) in which each person recognizes and operates in their sphere of anointing, knowledge, expertise, and power. This does not mean, as is commonly taught, that there is no head. Apostolic authority is a true sign of God’s involvement and purpose; however, it should be noted that true apostles inspire more than direct, encourage more than order, and point out more than berate. They are foundation builders who are true spiritual fathers who first learned to be sons. A true Apostle is not recognized because of position; he is recognized by the witness of the Spirit within. Make no mistake about it; if the leader, no matter his position or place of natural order in your life, does not produce the spiritual witness within, you must question the level of spiritual authority you allow.
A God-appointed organization (Body) can only be as creative as the spiritual perception within that Body. The people must perceive God’s order and direction in their own lives. They must perceive God’s order and direction in the lives of others, and they must perceive God’s order and direction for the organization (Body). They recognize that the sum of the parts are much greater as they makeup the whole. They have a revelation of the phrase “No man is an island.” They have experienced the pain of isolation and know that unity and community are true terms for family, and family is essential evidence of kingdom life. They have come to recognize that a sense of belonging is essential to human life; not belonging for the sake of belonging, but belonging to the God-appointed Body to which they are ‘called.’
As God’s cleansed and purged vessels unite under the appointment of God, great revelation will come, and within that revelation will come impartation - the power to fulfill God’s purpose upon the earth. It is vastly important to recognize this strong point from heaven - Individual destinies will not be fulfilled without corporate anointing, and corporate anointing cannot take place but by anointed corporate gathering. Said differently, God-appointed gatherings produce God-appointed corporate anointing which enables us to fulfill our individual destinies. Two people can constitute a gathering.
Something radical is taking place in the earth today - God is gathering His people into living breathing organisms apart from the organizations of man. We were scattered that we might be gathered; we were divided that we now be united; we were defeated that we now emerge victorious. The Army of God is gathering that they now may make plans for victory.
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Comments: Organization To Organism
Lisa Brewer
Clay Sikes
Dec 16, 2006
Dear List Members,
Lisa's insight here recognizes the grand difference in a simple relationship and a God-appointed union, where true relational life begins. The very idea that we can transform our organizational life into a living organism by simply hearing and obeying God is astounding. As the Body continues to awaken to this phenomenon, true elements of power (for God's glory) will become increasingly more evident. This subject could spark a lively discussion.
In Him,
Clay
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Clay,
The Holy Spirit has been ministering to me for the last 3 months or so, a lot of these very issues you have mentioned here.
One area is in the revelation of "He is in me for my sake but upon me (anointing) for theirs". There is True Power, Explosive Power, when we understand this. If I keep the mindset and expectation, that God's mighty Spirit is upon me everywhere I go, then I should expect God's presence to touch not only my life, the lives of every single person I come in contact with. Satan will try to deceive us subtly to keep us from the very people we are called to be joined to, so this power is not released. Whether we are in a grocery store, at the office, or in a bar, there are people everywhere we go that we are called to. If it's for no other reason than to stand there by them and let the anointing (God's light) on us, illuminate the darkness they are standing in and it works the other way around when we are standing in darkness unaware. "The Holy Spirit is in me for my sake, but upon me for theirs" this is so powerful and this BRINGS CHANGE everywhere we go. His anointing is God covering us with His Power-Filled presence and we should expect to see supernatural things take place wherever we go. His anointing is His provision through and upon us to bring the world into an encounter with HIM.
When we discern (seek and hear what the Spirit is saying) we have (not will have) Faith in what the Spirit said and it should not be just an abiding faith, it is active (current and ongoing), aggressive by nature (we don't let up), has focus, purpose and faith grabs a hold of the reality of the supernatural kingdom of God. The Faithful forcefully and violently brings Faith (what we heard God say) into collision with this worldly kingdom. This very principal is applied to our relationships as well.
Disruption means to interrupt or impede the usual course or harmony – "Favor from God's perspective is not always so pleasant from ours" but if we will be stop and ask God "Father help me to see this "disruption" the way you know it and the way you see it". God means every disruption for our good and for His Glory. This includes our own "mistakes". Whether it's through our "bad" attitude toward someone or something, or someone's "bad" attitude toward us or a disruption in our plans, etc. God knew it before it ever happened and already has a plan in place to use it for our good and our growth as well as for the other people involved. To have this understanding, we can rest in His presence.
We could also substitute the word change for a "mess". We need to be sensitive and realize that messes we make or messes we get dragged into are necessary for increase, both for us as well as others involved. IF we discern them properly, and understand that God is doing something, allow patience to have it's perfect work, allow God to move and put the mess back in HIS proper order, then we are moving on to the next level of relationship and responsibility with Him. We need to remember that Greatness in God is usually on the other side of injustice, offense and CHANGE.
In most businesses when something isn't working anymore, you have to re-group and re-organize based on priorities of the business for that season. If something is out of order for that season, then there is no prosperity and the living organism dies. Once there is re-organization and proper order according to the expectations of the season, then there is a fully functioning, prosperous "organism".
An Organism is a system regarded as analogous (correspondence in some respects between otherwise dissimilar things, and a structural derivative of a parent compound) to a living body. We should expect connections to those who are not like us, and we should expect the supernatural nature of our "Abba Father" to rest upon us and in our lives and every where we go. We only need seek, hear, trust, rest, and obey.
In Him,
Lisa Brewer
Comments: From Organization To Organism
Ken Burgess
Dec 23, 2006
Clay,
I have just read Organization to Organism again for the fourth or fifth time, as well as Lisa’s' marvelous reply. It is so exciting to be involved in the day to day operation of Father Yahwehs' living breathing, functioning kingdom. As you, Lisa and countless others we too, (my wife and I) are experiencing this supernatural joining you have been speaking about since I first started receiving your messages. Although you and I have not met personally buy only communicated by phone and e-mail, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we are as joined in the spirit as if we had been knowing each other for many years. This has also been the case with Mike Fuselier and his family.
God is joining us for His purposes in order to INITIATE change, CREATE havoc in the kingdom of darkness, and ILLUMINATE our world wherever, whenever and however He directs us. David wrote in Psalm 36: 9 "For with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light." I have pondered this verse for years and wondered just what it means for us to see light in His light. Consider this if you will, "in your LIGHT we see light." President George W Bush’s' dad President George H. W. Bush may have been more prophetic that we all realized when he coined the phrase, "a thousand points of light." Our Father Yahweh is LIGHT and I believe we are the light seen in His light, but instead of, "a thousand points of light." there are innumerable "points of light." We can now see more clearly why darkness flees from the light.
Three times in recent weeks my wife and I have experienced this phenomenon. Two brothers in Christ have come to our home at separate times for us to minister to them because they were being tormented by a spirit of depression, i.e. darkness. Both of them told us that as soon as they came into the house and sat down they felt a calming peace and a release from the depression, kind of like sitting under a light. More recently we had our neighborhood Christmas party and a couple, who coincidentally are not saved yet, brought some friends to the party who were visiting them for the holidays. This couple lives in Houston and a year ago thanksgiving they lost a daughter, and have been having a terrible time dealing with that especially since we are in the holiday season. Last week my friend told me that the couple from Houston told her that they did not know why but the whole time they were in our home she felt so much peace and was able to relax and enjoy herself for the first time since the death of their daughter. "in your LIGHT we see light."
It is not who we are but, "Christ in us the hope of glory." We are all part of His body and members in particular. Divinely connected, (joined as it were), so that He can touch this hurting, sin sick world through us.
I love you my brother and look forward to meeting you face to face in the hopefully near future. Ken
More Comments: Organization To Organism
Various
Dec 23, 2006
HI Clay,
I have written to about just this subject on 2 previous occasions. I guess I am not as eloquent as my friend Ron or Lisa, but I have working in an "Organism" for several years. I believe God is drastically changing things. Actually, I helped my finance (now husband) put his thoughts into a book which was called "The Organic Church". We have changed it some and it is now called "Organic House Churches and Healing Communities" which addresses this issue at length.
Jeanne Smith
Madison, FL
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Merry Christmas Clay, and to all in the Lighthouse.
In line with the Organization to Organism theme, a few scriptures come to mind:
1 Co 3:16 "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
2 Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Therefore, because the living God is within us, so his Light manifests out into the world. However, just as surely as we cannot handle the entire magnificence of his glory in us, because He has at His command the will to create worlds, we are small mere personages of clay, that house a portion of Him. Can a single star contain the God of Creation?
Yet, like stars in the night, a thousand points of light - represent the world seeing in the darkness, the thousands of representatives of the living light of God, in us.
Have a blessed, and Spirit-Filled Christmas!
Eric Elford