Maranatha!

It is so easy in our doing to lose sight of our motivation—our calling—our vocation. Throughout the world, God has created men and women with a myriad of differing gifts and talents, and not all are meant to perform the same function; on the contrary, our diversity is what makes us beautiful and serviceable as the Body of Christ: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (I Corinthians 12:12-13). God’s heart is not for division—neither is it for all to be the exact same. If you look up into the sky on a brilliant, cloudy day, it isn’t simply the clouds that take your breath away, but the host of shades, shadows, textures, and colors. What makes a family so special is the common likeness intermingled with the individual personalities and characteristics. Our Creator God made no two snowflakes the same; no two people the same and no culture the same. So often, we give way to the secret villain of arrogance that creeps in so cunningly. In our desire to fashion our lives after Christ, we begin to think that our measure of revelation must be the fullness, and we find no room in our theology for different expressions. Yet this is not the heart of our Messiah. We have a picture of God’s heart because we know whom He will draw to Himself: Revelation 7:9-10 tells us, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” To help hasten the soon coming of our Lord, we must seek unity with our brothers and sisters; for Jesus is coming back to one Church, for one Bride. We must also allow diversity amongst our family in the Lord, for God is worthy of a complete, beautiful, and radiant Bride; and He is worthy to have every feature of His Creation to be turned back to His praise. Let us not rob God of the glory due His name by attempting to mold His Bride into our own image. Let us rather seek to see every nation, tongue, and tribe be transformed into His likeness and bring to the Body of Christ the beauty and gifts that God has placed within them. “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them in the body just as He pleased” (I Cor. 12:17-18). Let us love one another, “For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” (I Cor. 3:3). It is so important that we come together as the Bride of Christ, and with all of our differing gifts and callings, lend our voices in unison to agree with the Spirit and cry out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” This is our motivation—our calling—our vocation: to devote our lives to preparing the way for the Lord’s return.
We were so blessed this past week to serve and participate in the gathering of the Maranatha family. Many years ago, God placed a vision in the heart of Father Peter Hocken to see the Bride of Christ come together as one family to raise one voice with the cry, “Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus!” Father Peter is a Catholic priest who walks in the anointing of the Holy Spirit and desires to see reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles, between Catholics and Protestants, and between all the Body of Christ. My face was filled with tears our first night as I worshipped alongside Catholics, Lutherans, Free Church members, Moravian Brethren, and others. Not only were there different denominations represented, but also different nationalities and cultures—Polish, Hungarian, German, British, Czech, Latvian, Slovakian, Austrian, Israeli, American. This is only those nationalities that were able to come, but the Maranatha family includes members from all over the world. Once a year, they come together for a time of mutual blessing and refreshing. And it was so beautiful to discover that they truly are a family and are bound together in love. As a team, we felt greatly privileged to serve them during this time. We assisted with all of the cooking and dishes for their meals and we participated in times of worship and teaching. We also feel that their choice to come to Herrnhut this year was timely and significant. As we prepare for our “Streams in the Desert” conference in a few weeks, we are reminded of the different streams that God is bringing together. We want to call the Body of Christ in Germany to come together in such a way. Not only was Herrnhut a place of worship and prayer, but it began as a place of refuge for people fleeing persecution arising from religious division. Dissension arose, however, and there was much fighting within this new community until, in a prayer meeting one night, the Holy Spirit came and poured out love in the people’s hearts for each other. There grew such a unity and bond of love within the community and it became a mission’s sending center, some even selling themselves into slavery to take the Gospel to the uttermost ends of the earth and fulfill the Great Commission. We believe that the next great wave of revival will be ushered in through the humbled and hungry hearts of believers in Jesus who are surrendered to a life of love. Join with us as we cry out for the return of Yeshua to this earth—Maranatha!

Hannah for the GBI Germany team



Click on this link to see more photos of our time with the Maranatha family:
http://s286.photobucket.com/albums/ll108/hannahbriscoe/Maranatha/?albumview=slideshow