CROWNS AND REWARDS PART THREE

Just want to backup and finish part two. If you have not read it please go back and read part one and part two.

Revelation 3:11 Behold I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

I discussed this in part two, but wanted to reiterate that the possibility of anyone taking our crown or reward is not about our salvation, the word tells us no one can take us out Jesus' hand. Go back to John 10:28 "And I give them eternal life, and they shall not perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."

Yet in this world we live in we must walk in the new creation we have been given, because our old man, our flesh/carnality, rises up. When we continually allow our emotions to control our thoughts, our words and our actions, when we do the work of the Lord but with the wrong motive, not for the love of Jesus but for the recognition of our own abilities, we may find ourselves forfeiting our crown and reward. I believe that the spirit of offense is growing stronger within the body of Christ.

My burden for prayer has been for some years for Christ's Church, not only my church I attend but for His body everywhere. God had already told me, in December, I would be spending more time in His presence, in His word and in prayer for His church. Yet I allowed my sadness over my situation, to cause me not to be in total obedience to what God spoke to me. Last week in my desperation of not hearing God and feeling like God was not listening. (Awww emotions again). I cried out "God how do I pray?" I went to bed and in my deep sleep I began to dream now I believe God still gives His people dreams and visions. Not every dream is from God, some are from some movie we watched and Satan can attack us within our dreams. With me when God gives me a dream it stays and in the morning He will give me an understanding of the dream. So here it is:

I was an observer in this dream, not interacting not being noticed by anyone. Though it was very graphic, it was not blood and gore, yet it was terrifying, to the point I was calling out in my dream, God get me out of here! But I remained, what I saw was a group of people sitting at a long table devouring the body parts of others, arms, legs, feet etc. Now they weren't killing them they were maiming them, rendering them useless. I had watched a man with a young girl trying to get her to safety, I knew he wasn't her father, but he had become her protector, but she wandered off and he kept searching for her, but she kept moving farther out of his reach. Then I heard this old woman, who apparently liked to eat fresh eyeballs, scream I need some young eyes to feast on! I saw the young girl be grabbed up placed in a chair, I saw the man getting closer to her but not in time, they took out her eyes and sewed up her eyelids. By now I am screaming "God get me out of here"! Immediately I heard "eye has not seen nor ear heard what I have prepared!" I sit straight up in bed, wide awake, I wasn't even sure it was a verse, so I googled exactly what I heard and sure enough there it was in 1 Corinthians 2:9 and Isaiah 64:4, now these two scriptures were a personal word from God to me, concerning how I had been feeling. But now the dream was about His church, as found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-32. God was showing me that our enemy was devouring His gifts He had given His children, gifts that were suppose to be used within His body, he wasn't killing them but maiming them, hurting them, causing pain in their lives, making them useless in His purpose for them. I believe the greatest tool of the enemy is "Offense" against God's people, words that hurt, and causes pain so much that they leave the very church God set them in. A church that needed the gifts and talents that person provided. When we allow offense to govern our lives, to leave the very place God has placed us,(1 Corinthians 12:18) then we have not overcome but ran away from and are forfeiting our crown, because we allowed our flesh to rise up. And instead of offering forgiveness, we allow it to fester and turn to bitterness. In this God gave me a very specific way to pray for His church.

The Crown Of Life can be called the Crown Of Victory or also the Overcomers Crown. Given as an athlete who has finished his race. Galatians 6:9 And let us not become weary while doing good, for in due season we shall rap if we do not lose heart. (do not become discouraged)

Now let's move forward to another crown, the Crown of Rejoicing, or could be called the Crown of Joy:

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 For what is our Hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.

Do we really celebrate the salvation of another, do we rejoice in their salvation, the word says that even the angels in heaven rejoice in a sinners salvation. Imagine that created beings who truly do not understand salvation when one is saved, rejoice and yet often times the body of Christ sits and ponders "hope it is real"! Already thinking critical thoughts, placing a curse upon God's newest creation. May God help us to rejoice. May God help to lead another to Him. May reflect Jesus in all we say and do.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 Rejoice always.

Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice!

Yet, how often to we allow someone's words or actions steal our joy? Sorrows in life, death of a loved one, death of a marriage, children running into the world, loss of jobs, health declining, bills mounting, growing old, loneliness. We all experience these times in one area or another. Ecclesiastes chapter 3 tells us that in this life there is a time for everything, both good and bad.

Ecclesiastes 3:4  A time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

The Word became flesh that He, Jesus, might understand what we go through in these times in our life. He understands our sorrow, our pain and yes our anger. Yet He has given us His joy, His hope, that through it all a new day is coming, and this too will pass. I want to give you a few scriptures to encourage us and then I want to even consider in what way can someone or some happening steal our joy.

Psalm 30:5b Weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning.

According to the Jewish time count, night is from 6pm to 6am. The women grieved in much sorrow over the crucifixion of Jesus, but at 6am they traveled to the tomb and behold their sorrow changed to joy. So let's hang on joy is going to come.

Isaiah 61:3 to console to those who mourn in Zion, to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called the trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD that He might be glorified.

Have you ever had a spirit of heaviness, cover you? This heaviness of sorrow of sadness, of grief that no words of anyone could console you or comfort you? I have! It is during these times when Satan will blanket our minds to blind us to the joy of the Lord that is in us and for us, and at times that joy  may appear to be gone. What man cannot say that comforts us,  God has provided through His Holy Spirit to wrap us in His comfort. When in our sorrow, for whatever it may be, we can begin to thank God, to praise Him, to seek Him, then when we do this we will see the spirit of heaviness lift from our soul. Read Psalm 103. I have never forgotten what my pastor taught on this, "sometimes you just have to reach down in the depths of our soul and begin to praise Him, remember all He has done for you". Now this is realigning our focus off of our situation and back on to Jesus, our Hope and our Joy.I have made it a practice in my life that when I feel that spirit of heaviness coming on me to go back and read Psalm 103 and begin to do as the psalmist has said. I want to add this; we are allowed to grieve, God understands our grief, He understands our sorrow, but we can not allow this time of sorrow for whatever is happening to consume us. I will share in a little further down how it consumed me and as a result I found myself  running from God for 12 years.

Now we all can stand up and say Amen to this verse James 1:2 "My brethren count it all joy when you fall into various trials." Testings are never meant to harm us, but to refine us, to help us to grow, that the fruit of our lives will bring God the glory. That the unbeliever watching will see there is something different about us; when we handle problems, sorrow, pain, suffering not as the world does but as believers in Christ who have this hope. We walk with Jesus who is our Joy and in knowing He is always working on our behalf, never abandoning us, knowing all things work together for our good for those who are called according to His purpose. REALLY! All things, you mean death, divorce, lost relationships, lost jobs, old age, etc! It is as we walk through these life happenings that we find ourselves drawing nearer to God, our faith growing, our hope steadfast, our strength developing, our testimony being established, our joy remaining we find all things work together for our good. We may not see it in the present but we will look back and know God kept us. I remember a few years back I had prayed "God what ever it takes draw me closer to You." Unless you are serious don't pray it, because storms started coming that I began to feel like one more wave and I would surely drown. Then on a Sunday morning I heard God's small still voice "You are the closest to Me when you are in the middle of a storm". It is in that storm God is giving me His grace to make it through. It is in the middle of a storm that God is drawing me closer to Him, it is in the middle of the storm that my faith is growing. So hold on the sun will shine again.

Think back how many times has Jesus brought you through? Your testimony was and is continuing to be built, it is in the word of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb that we overcome, found in Revelation 12:11. Your testimony is unique for you, we may all have similar testimonies, yet each of ours are meant to help someone who needs to know they can get through this. Our testimony goes beyond the salvation it extends to how God brings you through life each day. Handling what life brings us in faith, knowing we overcome. That our joy might be full!

John 15:11 These thing I have spoken to you that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.

Jesus has placed within us His eternal joy. It is a fruit of His Spirit. I have often heard people say "I am not happy". I must confess I am not always a happy person! My life can be hard at times and situations don't make me happy but just as happiness is temporary, so is unhappiness. it is found in moments that we experience in life; I am thankful God gave us emotions otherwise we would be like a robot going through life, yet our emotions of happiness, unhappiness, anger, etc can not rule our thoughts, words and actions. The joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:9), in our of time of trouble, His joy is eternal. Never allow a temporary feeling steal our eternal joy.

With so many scriptures pertaining to joy and rejoicing time does not allow me to write them all. So I suggest if you are struggling with joy do a word search and fill up yourself with His words pertaining to joy. That is renewing our mind.

But this I want to share, because many of us from time to time have allowed the enemy to come in and steal our joy. When the pain in us is so severe that a cloud of such heaviness is over our minds, when we see no light at the end of the tunnel, the enemy is stealing our joy, he is oppressing our minds, putting a basket over the light of Christ within us, a shroud of death to steal our hope, kill our joy, destroy our faith and as we continue falling into this black hole, abyss, a spirit of depression comes over us, our ability to think becomes darkened and a spirit of suicide can attach itself to us. How do I know? Because when my marriage ended, and I chose to follow the world in sin instead continuing to follow my God. You see I was angry with God, because I believed in Him, I was saved and seeking Him and when my marriage ended, and I fell into sin (willing), I blamed God, but I was confused about how I was to submit to God, resist the devil and he would flee from me. I left out the resisting part and believed God would just magically keep me from temptation, yes I was that ignorant. In such a dark place I attempted suicide, but God kept me and He wouldn't let me go. When we remain in a depth of sorrow, that we cannot get back our joy then the enemy has won. I asked God once "why did You not let me die?" He answered "I have something better for you!" Thirty years have past and at times I hear the enemy say "just give up, just lay down and die!" And in a moment, or a day and for a few days I fall into the trap, but God is faithful I remember Him and His faithfulness, and I get up, my God has something better for me. And my joy rises up in victory.

Proverbs 17:22 A merry heart does good like a medicine, But a broken spirit dries the bones.

 The best medicine in the world for a broken spirit is joy, laughter, remember God has a good plan for your life, trust Him, trust Him, He sees your tears, He hears your prayers, He holds you in His hand, don't let the enemy steal your Crown Of Rejoicing.

Psalm 51:8 Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice.

Even in our brokenness pray to hear His joy, remember His gladness. For He lives in us and His grace and mercy are with us. Remember joy of your salvation, do you remember what that day was like, weeping in repentance, rejoicing by faith, knowing Jesus and knowing He knows you. Do you remember how excited you were, how you couldn't wait to tell others about your salvation, to share Jesus with them, how excited you would get to spend time in His word, in prayer, getting up early excited about going to church, every time the door was open you couldn't wait to get there? Are you still just excited today as you were 20, 30, 40 years ago, if not what happened? Did someone say something to offend you or didn't do something like you expected them to? I confess I get offended! The enemy knows how to push my buttons and he knows exactly whose mouth he can use to bring offense, so what do we do when offense comes? I have learned that most of the time they don't realize they have said or done anything to offend me or you. But the enemy will shout in my ears "They do not care about you"! And after I cry for a bit, have a pity party for a little bit (longer than I should) I rebuke the enemy and declare the truth, what truth do I declare? They do love me and I love them! I would like to say that it never rises again but that would be a lie, it does so I continue to tear down that stronghold and rebuke my thoughts and repeat again "they do love me and I love them", and I do it over and over again for as long as I need to. But what about that righteous indignation that comes up over something someone says, well we get over it, and sometimes we think we have gotten over it and then out of  the clear blue there a faded memory rises up, so once more we take that thought captive and we remove it from our thinking. Now to be completely honest I know what to do and I do it but I sure haven't mastered it yet. But I don't stop rebuking, and speaking the truth over my mind and myself.

Psalm 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous spirit.

Psalm 51 is David's Psalm of repentance. When I returned to the Lord after my years in the wilderness, this Psalm became my prayer. Perhaps we all need to take time to examine our hearts and see if this prayer should be each of ours. Is it time to walk in the victory that has already been given us?

CROWNS AND REWARDS PART TWO

Welcome back to our Crowns and Rewards study. I hope you enjoyed part one, if you didn't have an opportunity to read it I ask that you go back and read it because it was background for these short future posts.

Defining a crown: a crown could have been a turban, an olive leaf crown woven from a wild olive tree or it they were rich it would be of gold, or a crown made from medalic filled with jewels. This crown was given to set that person apart for a particular task or calling. A priest wore a turban, a king wore a crown with jewels, the winner of an athletic event wore a olive branch crown, better known as a victor's crown.

We have been set apart and each of us has been given a task or assignment that God has called us to fulfill. There are 5 specific crowns mentioned in the scriptures, that belong to the children of God, that would be us, Christians. These crowns in the spiritual represent the authority we have been given by Jesus. But the scripture that started me on this study is found in:

Revelation 3:11 "Behold I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown."

This letter was written to the church of Philadelphia, the faithful church. Who Jesus found no fault with. So I asked myself "how can someone take our crown and can we lose our crowns?" Remember this has nothing to do with our salvation. Let's look at losing our crown and are there crowns we should not wear?

Isaiah 28:1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower...
 

Isaiah 28:3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, will be trampled underfoot

Of course God is talking to Israel in these verses, because they were continually turning from Him. These verses say they were to be a glorious people reflecting His glory to the nations but their glory was fading away and like a drunkard  headed to destruction.

There is that ugly word PRIDE; pride in our accomplishments, pride that lifts us above others. What about Spiritual Pride; to think we know more and are more spiritual than someone else, to take pride in our denomination, to take pride in our wonderful programs, talented choir or praise team, pride in our pastors, pride in the size of our church. Do you think it pleases God that we would lift up ourselves before others? God does not see denominations, the early church did not have denominations or great programs, yet God added to them daily those who were being saved, when a body of believers come together and worship God from a pure heart, when Jesus is being lifted up in all that is being done, then God the Father is being glorified. It isn't the size of the church it is the love for the brethren that God rejoices in, Jesus said "If you love one another, then they all will know you are my disciples". And the writer of Psalms penned these words "It pleases God when the brethren dwell in unity." Yet pride will bring on destruction and again it says "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble". Now the crown of pride is one we do not want to wear. May God help each of us to examine our hearts and see if there is any pride found.

Now look at Isaiah 28:5 In that day the LORD of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people.

One of crowns we receive is The Crown Of Glory. Look with me at:

1 Peter 5:4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away

This glory refers to the very nature of God and His actions. Everything we have attempted to glorify aside from God our Father will fade away; pride brings glory to self and things we take pride in. Notice also that God's glory does not fade away but man's glory continually fades away.

Another crown we receive is "The Crown Of Life" or I would say the overcomer's crown. In Revelation 2:10 Jesus is again writing to a church He found no fault in, the church of Symrna, known as there persecuted church.

Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation 10 days. Be faithful until death , and I will give you the crown of life.

I could so sit right here and unpack this verse but not today. Read it very carefully and let the Holy Spirit speak it to you. But let me just say that in this life we will have suffering because this world is evil and life can at times be unfair, but through it all we have this promise, endure and be faithful until we are called home.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us.

Philippians 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowshipof His sufferings, being conformed to His death

Be encouraged the sufferings of this life are only temporary.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Do you love Jesus? Really love Him, fanatically love Him? Willing to put Him first in your life, before your parents, spouse, children, friends, work, entertainment? Jesus said if you love Me you will keep my commandments! 

The verse in Revelation 3:11 does not tell what crown that could be taken from them, some I read said either the crown of life or the crown of rejoicing. But perhaps verse 12 will show us.

Revelation 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

I believe the crown someone can take mentioned in verse 11 is the crown of life. Let's look at the meaning of the word "overcome" and see what we are to overcome in this life.

Overcome: to be able, be capable, succeed, have victory, be bold, have understanding, to prevail.

In Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit within us we have in us all we need to overcome, as Christ overcame all things so can we.

1 John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world---our faith.

Many more scriptures could be written pertaining to this, but the very thing that empowers us in these times we need to prevail and have victory is our faith. The very thing the enemy attempts to destroy, and he will use the mouths and actions of others in his attempt to stop us. Think of times in your own life when you had to overcome, how did you handle it?

To word search overcome, search for scriptures that use that word, and words that are synonymous with overcome, like endure, conqueror and others. This would be a great personal study.

What are the forces we must overcome?

1. Our flesh: Psalm 89:39 "You have renounced the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground".  Because they had abandoned the covenant, they had removed themselves from His blessings and has cast down crown (their God given authority) to the ground (flesh). Also look at Jeremiah 17:9 and 2 Corinthians 10:12.

2. This present evil world: Galatians 1:4"who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father". Also read 1 John 2:15-17

3. Satan; James 4:7 "therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." Before we can resist we have to submit to God, then we resist by overcoming the temptations our enemy throws at us 

I believe that the biggest threat that the enemy brings to the body of Christ, IS OFFENSE. We can become so easily offended by the words and actions of others. Could it be because they do not meet the expectation we have expected for them. How easily someone can become offended because a pastor did not say hi, or did not come to visit like you expected them too. Or a good friend said words that hurt your feelings and a lot more ways. Quickly offense can sweep through the local church and immediately unity is broken, strife becomes division and a house divided against itself can not stand. People leave a church more because of offense than any other reason. Relationships and friendships are broken over someone that did not live up to our expectations.

I have already written too much for one session,  but I want to share something God showed me about His church in a recent dream. So next time I will pick up right here.


Dig into God's word this week, it is our personal study that will cause us to grow in Christ. Be blessed.

CROWNS AND REWARDS PART ONE

I am knitted together to look beyond the physical realm and look into the spiritual realm. Man is a spirit man as well as a physical man and what can be seen in the physical can be found in the spiritual

Looking at our crowns I was intrigued to begin to study of the 5 crowns spoken of in the New Testament,  some theologians say they are our rewards and crowns to be given at Bema Seat of Christ. This is not to take away(because I agree) but just to dive deeper into it. But before we look at the 5 crowns themselves let's look at our position as a child of God.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen generation,  a royal priesthood, a holy nation. His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Revelation 1:6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory

Let's consider what does priests and kings mean to us, the bride of Christ. Answer this question: when did we become priests and kings? Let's look at the meaning of these two words.

We know that the husband is the priest of his household. We know that in the days of Moses and Aaron, God established the order of the priesthood, including the high priest. We also know that  according to God's word:

 Hebrews 2:17 Therefore in all things He had to made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

The function of the High Priest was to intercede on behalf of the people of God, they tended to the temple daily, they kept the altar fire burning, they lead God's people in worship, Jesus is our High Priest, He was the Lamb of God sacrificed for us, He intercedes for His children. So how are we priests today? Anyone who is born again into the kingdom of God, is a priest. Think about it we are told in 1Corinthians 3:16 that we are the temple of God, and we are given a warning not to harm God's temple. I was reading a little earlier in Francis Chan's book "Letter's To The Church" and he shed a light on this. Many think of killing or physically harming themselves through addictions or physically harming another Christian; yet, the greatest harm we do is through our mouths in gossip and slander, tearing down another's character bringing division and strife within the local body of Christ, now that is something we need to get ahold of, we are the temple of the One True Living God.  Any time we begin to intercede in prayer for someone we are functioning in the office of the priesthood. We are to lead our family and ourselves in worship by letting our children and grandchildren see how we praise and worship our Lord and Savior everyday, both good days and bad days. It is our responsibility to keep our fire (our zeal for God) stoked, this is done by staying in His word, in prayer and in fellowship with other believers. We are to daily operate in the office of the priesthood.  The moment we first believed God spoke 1 Peter 2:9 over us.

Kings, when you think about a king, what comes to your mind? Wealth, wisdom, power, authority, dominion! For now let's look at the power, authority and dominion that is given to a king. Why would Jesus call us kings? When Jesus was writing to the seven churches, which I believe represent churches of our day and since we are the children of God we are His church it speaks to each of us individually as well as corporately, listen to the first thing that John writes:

Revelation 1:6 and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen

At the cross Jesus took back the power and authority from Satan that had been given to him by Adam when sin was born in the garden of Eden. In Genesis at man's creation God gave man dominion over all of creation (Genesis 1:26) and with the fall, man yielded his dominion to Satan who is the prince of darkness and ruler of this world. But Jesus said we may be in this world but we are not of this world. The prince of darkness has no power or authority over us, we are not subject to the world's value system. 

The word teaches us that one day we will rule and reign with Christ, ( Luke 22:28-30) that we will even judge angels ( 1 Corinthians 6:2-3). It also teaches us that during the great tribulation Jesus will take back the deed to earth and what was His at the time of creation will once more be His and Satan and his demons will be cast into the lake of fire. We know that Jesus is the King and when He returns He comes back as King of kings and Lord of lords. So you think "Linda, did you get sidetracked? " No just background to lead into "how are we kings, today?"

Every born again Christian has a divine assignment we are to operate in with all the power and authority Jesus has given to us. In fact you might say we have been assigned places where we have dominion over, places we rule over the powers of darkness that attempt to come against us, our families, our community,  our church, our work place. For pastors, evangelists, prophets, teachers and apostles these are called into the ministry with an anointing to fulfill their purpose. Not every pastor has been sent to shepherd large flocks, some are called to shepherd small flocks,  not everyone is called to go to a foreign country to share the gospel and  build churches, some are called to a community, a town, a city or even a village, in areas near them. This is the area of dominion that God has placed in their hands. We will look at some scriptures in just a moment to paint a picture of what I am saying. But what about you and me? We all have talents we were born with, talents that we can grow and learn how to increase our talents. At our salvation we were given spiritual gifts to be used with our talents to further the kingdom of God. We have all been called to be witnesses of Jesus the Christ everywhere we are, we are called to be ambassadors for Christ on good days and bad days, we are designed to be worshipers, to pray and to praise. We serve a God that does not force Himself on us, so each day we make a decision "Am I going to use my authority to rule my life today, or am I going to surrender my God given authority to my Lord and Savior that I may do His will and not mine?" God has anointed us to walk in ministry, the ministry He has placed us in. Our assignment may be as simple as training our children in the way they should go, others may have an assignment to pray for those in your work place, or establish a relationship with a neighbor that you might one day lead that person to Jesus. Though we gather inside walls to worship our Lord, those walls and the name on the building is not the church, you and I are His church, His body, His bride. Our gifts and talents and callings are to be used within the corporate church for the edification of the body and outside within our community to ministry and share the good news; Jesus came, He lives, He forgives and He is our hope. 

Do you realize that God has planted you in the body of believers you are at? How often do we even think about God actually planted me in this church, to use my gifts and talents to edify His church. We all have diversity of gifts, talents and assignments to be used where we are planted. How often have people up and ran from a church they were planted because of offenses?  Offense is the devil's tool to divide a church body, he accomplishes this when a person leaves because of offense, they have disrupted the body and maimed the body of Christ. Because they were needed to fulfill what God has planned.

1 Corinthians 12:18-20 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they are all one member where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members yet one body.

This is speaking of our diversity of gifts within the body. Do grasp the magnitude of the depth of this?  We are part of Christ body, we are the feet, hands, eyes, ears and mouth that our Creator desires to use within a particular body of believers and outside the walls of a building to have a kingdom purpose and kingdom connection for His glory.

Now let's look at some scriptures pertaining to God given assignments. It is in these assignments that the power of God will change the atmosphere around us.

Jesus, Himself, said He did not do anything that His Father had not told Him to do. "John 4:4 But He needed to go through Samaria". Jesus had a divine assignment or some would say a divine appointment with a lady at the well.

Acts 18:9-11 Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city". And he continued there a year and six months teaching the word of God among them.

Acts 16:6, 9, 10 Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. Verse 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night, A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying, "Come over to Macedonia, and help us". Verse 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Acts 23:11 But the following night the Lord stood by him (Paul) and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you also must bear witness at Rome

I could go on and on with scripture examples, but do you get it? Every Christian has a divine assignment in God's kingdom. Think back, and remember those divine appointments those assignments that God gave to you, and as you walked in it His anointing was with you as you ministered. Maybe it was teaching a Sunday School class, ministering in a ladies group or a man's group, hosting a connection group in your home, praying for someone, going into the nursing homes and assisted livings just to bring the gospel to them, or ministering in homeless shelters, or to the outcast and forgotten or visiting the sick to bring them encouragement and so much more that time would keep from continuing but you get the idea. In these assignments they are the places of our dominion, places of our God given authority. In the spiritual we could say "we are operating in our kingly anointing".

God has positioned us in heavenly places, He has opened doors for us to minister to others as He has called us to do. Salvation is not of our works, yet we are to be about good works.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand we should walk in them.

Sometimes God merely has us to do a "good work" fulfill a need that isn't about using our spiritual gifts but merely being available to help. Like fixing a meal for someone, that is not  using a spiritual gift per say, but it is a good work that God has prepared for you to do. I believe that even in these little things God has given them as our assignment. As we follow God in where He takes us to use us, we are gathering rewards/crowns to be given to us on the day we hear "Well done good and faithful servant". I want to say right now that our rewards/crowns have nothing to do with our salvation, our salvation is within the covenant promise. 

So I ask "What are these rewards/crowns and can we lose them?" Remember I am not talking about salvation.

There will probably be several posts relating to this subject, this is only a little background. And I am sure it barely scratches the surface of our understanding. 

In a couple of days I will post part 2, looking at what are the 5 crowns and is there a difference between a crown and a reward?