"Covering"
Lorraine St. John
June 16, 2003
A friend wrote to me....
"Lorraine...I can't tell you how I have been tormented by the thought that I need to join a local church, so I can be under a protective "covering" I have felt scared because I have not been a "member of any one church."
Friend....
Your covering is the Blood of Jesus...not man...not a church..not a
denomination...His Blood and His Name are your protection...church
membership is man's idea not God's...God's idea was "the fellowship of the saints"...that's the "gathering of yourselves together" that God says we are not to forsake...and the fellowhsip of the saints is people of like faith who get together and talk about the Lord..and share their hearts and lives, and minister to one another...it's what you and I do on the computer...it's what Colleen and Mona and Patty and I do when we get together...it's NOT organised religion...and please understand
I am not saying you shouldn't go to church services...
I do..I love my little church and pastor...but he never claims to be my covering...and I don't have to feel guilty if I choose to go somewhere else one Sunday..or to not go at all..that's bondage...and we were set free from legalism when grace took it's place on the Cross...
I have not had a church membership for 8 years...and I never will again..but I will attend church services at my beloved little church and all over the country...because I love the corporate worship and the preaching of the Word...when it's done in an atmosphere free from the constraints of the law...under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and in a setting of freedom such as in my home church. It was for freedom that Christ set you free...stand in the liberty of that.. fellowship with God and with the saints...and let go of the guilt...guilt is a specialty of the enemy...he bombards us with shoulds".."musts" ..."oughts" (that's the law)...and keeps us from the joy of serving and loving God by keeping us condemned and fearful of facing God...there is NO condemnation (false guilt) when we are in Christ...there is conviction...but that's a healing grace..meant to bring true repentance. ...to show us the issues of our hearts...and to set us free from them..HE wounds that He might heal... the enemy wounds that he might wound..and render us helpless and useless in the Kingdom of God..and bound up in our sin and guilt..when the Blood of Jesus cleanses us from ALL
unrighteousness...
it's His BLOOD that makes us clean..not our cleanness...
Enjoy your new found freedom...fellowship with the saints...go to church..or not...and live under the covering of the Cross.
Lorraine St.John
Porch & Altar Ministries
London, Ontario Canada....
"Let the priests..the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; and let them say , have mercy and spare Your people, oh Lord"" Joel 2:17
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