Partnering With Christ, Pt. 1

2 Peter 1:3-11 (TPT) says, “3 Everything we could ever need for life and complete devotion to God has already been deposited in us by his divine power. For all this was lavished upon us through the rich experience of knowing him who has called us by name and invited us to come to him through a glorious manifestation of his goodness.As a result of this, he has given you magnificent promises that are beyond all price, so that through the power of these tremendous promises you can experience partnership with the divine nature, by which you have escaped the corrupt desires that are of the world. 5 So devote yourselves to lavishly supplementing your faith with goodness, and to goodness add understanding, 6 and to understanding add the strength of self-control, and to self-control add patient endurance, and to patient endurance add godliness, 7 and to godliness add mercy toward your brothers and sisters, and to mercy toward others add unending love. 8 Since these virtues are already planted deep within, and you possess them in abundant supply, they will keep you from being inactive or fruitless in your pursuit of knowing Jesus Christ more intimately. 9 But if anyone lacks these things, he is blind, constantly closing his eyes to the mysteries of our faith, and forgetting his innocence—for his past sins have been washed away. 10 For this reason, beloved ones, be eager to confirm and validate that God has invited you to salvation and claimed you as his own. If you do these things, you will never stumble. 11 As a result, the kingdom’s gates will open wide to you as God choreographs your triumphant entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.”

  • Christ came in the flesh to partner with our humanity so that we will die to the flesh and partner with His spirit nature!
  • Everything we could ever need in life and devotion to Christ is already in us. You do not need new methods to know how to get to God because the passion is already in you. You were created with an instinct to worship, but too many go after the wrong idols in their life! 
  • God has invited us to a seat at the table through the glorious manifestation of His goodness. 
  • Partnership with Christ is the result of devotion to God through the manifestation of His goodness, which requires stepping outside of your situation and seeing His goodness out of every circumstance. Partnering with Christ means escaping the corrupt desires that are of the world! 
  • Faith, goodness, understanding, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, mercy toward brothers and sisters, unending love and seeking to grow in these areas will make you fruitful in your pursuit of knowing Christ! It will allow you to accept the call to salvation, be claimed as a child of God, never stumble and enter the kingdom of God!

Matthew 9:35-38 says, “35And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. 37Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 38Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest.”

  • When we partner with Christ, we do not put all of the responsibility of laboring on Christ, but we activate our prayers through obedience! We do not just pray or come to God with our wish list and He does the rest. Yes, He gets the glory, but your availability and work matters because He desires to partner with you to culturize our community with the kingdom of God! We become the answer to that prayer and are willing to work in the same field toward the same goal:  souls! 
  • The potential of the harvest is the multitude of sheep in the land, but the potential can be lost due to there being very few or no shepherds. Sheep scatter when shepherds disappear. That is why you are important and needed for God! We have hirelings, but few shepherds. Partnering with Christ is about becoming the shepherd of the field! 

John 4:35 says, “5Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”

  • He said this in the month of December. Naturally, the next harvest to come was in the month of April with the barley harvest at the time of Passover. However, in the wintery month of December, it was time for a harvest! Do not be discouraged in the season that you are in, believing that you will never come out of it. Seasons end and begin, but you have to sow in one season in order to reap in the other. It may look like an impossible situation as grief and heartbreak continue to pile upon you spiritually, but just know that the next season is just right around the corner. All of the effort you are putting in now is preparation for the next role that you step into. A season of preparation is always prior to a release of purpose. If not, then it will only fall! You are not just working for the now, but you are working for the future. It may seem like winter is rough, but spring is coming soon! Harvest time is here. It is now! 

John 15:4 (TPT) says, “So you must remain in life-union with me, for I remain in life-union with you. For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to mine.”

  • Partnering with Christ is the only way to be fruitful in life!
  • Is your life in union with Christ’s life?

Romans 8:14-19 says, “14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. 18For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” 

  • You cannot partner with Christ’s inheritance if you are not willing to partner with Christ’s sacrifice, or, better yet, investment!
  • Do not be miserable, depressed or frustrated with the times you are in now because they shape and prepare you for the glory of God that is to be revealed in you! Suffering precedes the manifestation of become a child of God because the enemy is jealous and the world cannot stand the fact, but you are a child of God, and all of the victory belongs to you!