We seem to be missing another ancient path of understanding of the Church. I hope this short blog will begin to bring forth some truth we really need to embrace. I will be taking this blog and expanding upon it for my new book, Restoring Ancient Paths.

We all desire to be like the Church in Acts. We have studied, preached it and tried to make it happen. Yet we seem to fall short every time. We rely on the Holy Spirit and the gifts and have them operational but don’t seem to impact or shift culture. We are having affects but not influences. We are maintaining but not advancing. When we advance is when we see the outpourings, revivals and the great harvest of souls we all desire. Advancing has to have more than moving in gifts. It even has to have more than great faith. It requires a new perspective of how we see God and how we see ourselves in the plan of God.

The early Church had such a perspective. They possessed a willingness to pay any price and go anywhere required in order for the Kingdom to advance. This mindset came down to one thing, sovereignty. They first had a great understanding of how sovereign God is that certain events in time could not be escaped. Not only did God’s sovereignty have spiritual laws that held things in place, but it also had set actions God had predetermined would come into existence. Of course, the birth of Christ after 400 silent years was a sovereign move of God. What they saw and what we see of this moment of time is a totally different viewpoint of this sovereignty.

We see the birth of Christ as sovereign concerning sin, redemption, mercy, grace, God’s love, forgiveness and a new and living way of salvation. They saw that but did not stop there. They also saw it as a set time that had opened, a window of opportunity that they had been invited to go through. They knew a messiah was coming and when He came, they saw they were in a sovereign moment upon the earth. That the birth and resurrection had not ended a season but opened a season. They saw sovereignty not just governing the universe but also managing time- both chronos and kairos. They also saw that it carried assignments and a sovereign or set group of people.

Here is the point. They did not see the sovereignty of God as an event or spiritual law but a co-partnering of God with them. They saw themselves in a sovereign moment and because of that, they were actually a sovereign people: birthed, placed and positioned, like Esther for such a time as this. We love to speak that verse but have little to no concept of the sovereignty behind it. It was God’s plan unfolding through a people. If this is the case, then those people were also mantled with a sovereign grace that holds greater purpose than the daily grind of being a Christian or as a leader leading a group of people. It holds authority to advance. It holds a sense of destiny coming to be fulfilled. It holds a challenge but along with that, a greater understanding of God’s paths and ways. You see, the early Church discovered a sovereign moment, a sovereign grace and a sovereign strategy to fulfill God’s desire upon the earth. They saw themselves as sovereign!

How does this apply to today? Just like in the early Church, they knew one was coming and we too, know a move of God is coming. They had a time of preparation and we are in that season now touching into some things but not yet the fullness of those things. The timing had come to fullness for the early Church and it is about there for us as well. So if we know that what is coming is going to be more than a visitation of God but a dwelling of His Presence, more than ‘feel good’ meetings but life impacting and shifting, then we are saying something sovereign is coming! If that is true, it will require a sovereign people! YOU are that sovereign person put upon the earth for the moment that is upon us now and coming into fullness now.

As I have begun to get the revelation of this, it is giving me a wider and deeper perspective of who I am to God and the importance my life carries. Many of us are like the earlier apostles, pioneering and forerunning. Yes, the move of God is here, the awakening has started, but it is not yet in fullness. It’s much like the apostles sitting at Jesus’ feet, for the most part that’s what we are doing, still getting our teaching and instructions. But then time shifted and they stepped into what the fullness of sovereignty brought: the outpouring and advance of the Kingdom to the world. This revelation truly settles it for me that what I do does carry a truly far reaching weight of glory. It is preparing for something that though we are waiting for it, it is surely coming. It has enabled me to see from a higher perspective. See yourself as a sovereign person and reach into the grace that comes and walk in that fresh grace.

This is just an overview. In my book, I will be showing this in-depth as an ancient path we must restore.