Co-Worker: Understand Your Role

To be Christian is to be in partnership with God – working in tandem with Him and one another. We are to have daily interaction with Him for this partnership to work.

As co-workers, we are tasked with revealing the reality of God to those around us.

Some Christians do not quite get it, they do not understand their role. They have a one-dimensional perspective, believing that God is too far removed for any intimacy between them and God. That is an unfortunate misunderstanding of the part they play in God’s restorative plan.

“For we are God’s coworkers, working together;” – 1 Corinthians 3:9 (NRSV)

Apostle Paul said that we are co-workers with God; without Him our work here is not complete, yet without us His work here cannot be completed. We are the ones who carry out God’s plans on earth. God sees you and me as invaluable contributors to what He is doing.

When you said “yes” to rebirth, you became a participant in the work, not a mere bystander, not a junior in the firm but a partner in the Corporation.

You must understand that your role is important, your input is of value and God is interested in your voice, your ideas and your desires.

This physical world needs to be repaired, working together is the way to fix it. Everything you learn along your spiritual journey is not to be kept hidden in you, you are meant to turn it outward. Share your experiences of God with others – testify, so that the manifestation of God is released.

Our role is to partner with God as His co-workers in bringing heaven to earth. It is a shared responsibility, working together to actualize God’s purpose, God’s vision, God’s plan.

Beloved, please understand that you were not created by chance. You are here for a purpose and to perform an active role in the fulfilment of that purpose. God needs you, your existence matters, your assistance matters, your role in this life is important.  

Amen.

 

Shelley Johnson “Co-Workers: Understand Your Role” © February 6, 2025

 

“Examine Yourselves!”

Apostle Paul had established the church at Corinth, but the religious leaders, with their criticism of him, and teachings that were different to his, caused much conflict and confusion within the membership.

After this conflict was somewhat resolved, Paul was now on a mission to affirm his authority as an apostle, cement the legitimacy of his ministry and inculcate a better understanding of Christianity in the church’s membership which, predominantly Gentile, was diverse in both opinion and culture. However, his intention to visit Corinth was put on hold. As he put it,

“Do I make my plans according to ordinary human standards,” (verse 17)

Paul was not acting of his own accord. Paul wrote to them instead.

Confident in God’s ability to rescue the church, he set about re-introducing Christ to a church that had forgotten Who is most important.

Paul invites the church to a new identity in Christ, to envision themselves as reborn – a new creation (see 2 Corinthians 5:17) – and to a renewed understanding of God. Paul’s mission, to teach them how to live intentionally in Him.

Examining ourselves in the light of the Corinthians, we need to question…

Have we become like the congregation in Corinth? 

Are we a church rife in conflict and confusion? 

Are we a church that has forgotten Who matters? 

Corporately and individually, are we as members, making plans according to human standards without the benefit of Spirit’s guidance?

Isn’t it time for us to see ourselves afresh in Christ? Embracing a new Christ centred identity, living intentionally in Him, with a renewed understanding of His work and our purpose facilitated by His Holy Spirit? 

As Paul advises, each one of us must first,  

“Test and evaluate yourselves to see whether you are in the faith and living your lives as [committed] believers. Examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves [by an ongoing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test and are rejected as counterfeit?” – 2 Corinthians 13:5 (AMP)

 

Shelley Johnson “Examine Yourselves!” © February 5, 2025

 

 

 

 

Why Eve?

Shall we chew on another snack for thought?

Why Eve? One word, INFLUENCE. It is a woman’s secret power, a tremendous gift from God – that’s how He made her.

Eve’s influence over Adam is made apparent in that when she gave him the fruit, he ate it without objection; Adam said nothing, he did not speak up.

Added to influence, Eve had an ingrained penchant for knowledge, since she did not truly hesitate at the serpent’s proposal. She was willing to partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She was therefore the logical choice. She gave ear to, then acted upon the serpent’s delicious enticement.

Approaching Adam was pointless because there was a spiritual order of position that the serpent could not violate. God has always set boundaries, cosmically ordered boundaries which cannot be crossed.

For instance, God placed a boundary concerning Job,

the Lord said to Satan, “everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself.” – Job 1:12 (GNT)

Eve, and all women after her, have within them that power of influence, its primary purpose is in being a helpmeet to the man. The Holy Spirit is The Helper, but woman is helper, so created to be a necessary support to the man, not a slave for or subordinate to him. When he embraces her role, she becomes an invaluable partner.

Silently, woman wields that power so tactfully that man is hit without seeing when the shot was fired.

God spoke the promise to Abraham, yet Sarah was able to use the power of her influence, the outcome, Isaac, Abraham’s son with Hagar, Sarah’s handmaiden.

From birth Samson was aware of where his power lay but Delilah, using her influence got him to reveal his secret.

Esther’s influence over King Xerxes saved her people from his decree of death and Ruth’s led Boaz to marry her and become her kinsman redeemer.

Please don’t get me wrong, the man is not without power, but it is completely different and for a different purpose. His power lies in being the head. He may be the head, but the woman is in no way the tail.

Adam did not exercise his headship, instead he succumbed to Eve’s influence. This still happens today; the man succumbs to the woman’s influence. Sometimes it’s for good, beneficial, and at other times for evil or wrongdoing.

Adam joined with Eve in defiance of God’s warning; his disobedience altered their situation. His relationship with God was fractured and separation was inevitable.

The “trap” worked, the price for adulthood was paid and the plan was set in motion.

 

Shelley Johnson “Why Eve?” © February 4, 2025

 

Something to Whet your Appetite

Even though what follows may cause some controversy, I am hoping that it will whet your appetite and cause you to delve deeper for yourself. Let’s call it a snack for thought.

We are all familiar with this whole debacle concerning Adam and Eve. In Genesis 1:26, Elohim said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness”

Then, in Genesis 2:7, God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, and breathed life into him. In the meantime, God caused streams to come up from the earth, made full-grown trees that were good for food and beautiful to look at grow out of the ground. After which, God placed Adam in the garden. In other words, everything was already in place in Eden before God placed Adam there. 

Adam was fixed, spending his time puttering about, and naming all the animals and creatures God had created.

God, realizing that that wasn’t satisfying enough for Adam, made Eve. I hope you’re getting what I am trying to show you.

Adam was like an entitled child whose parents are very wealthy, gives the child everything they could possibly need, so said child is spoilt and wants for nothing. I want to believe that Eve, when she was birthed, followed suit. So, the parent now has two spoiled brats.

As you know, in that lovely garden were two particular trees, the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These two immature humans, having grown accustomed to each other, the animals and creatures, plants and trees, rivers and streams in Eden, are by now, looking for something different to pique their interest.

The serpent, “more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made”, perhaps observing that the brats were bored, comes up to Eve to put a thought in her head. Remember, she is immature, he is crafty – that’s how God made him. Bypassing the normal courtesies, he starts his conversation by talking about the forbidden tree – according to Eve, it wasn't only the fruit they were not to eat but were never to touch the tree.

Eve tells the serpent,

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” – Genesis 3:2 (NRSV)

As a child, when your father or mother told you not to touch something, what did you do the first chance you got? Touch the something? Because, after they were so deliberate in pointing it out, you became curious about the something.

And well you know the rest of the story, but here comes the snack for thought, the potential controversial suggestion that could cause me to be struck off the church membership roll.

We can all agree that God is omniscient. So, God must have known that Adam and Eve were going to "eat of the fruit of" that tree. Let us look at a few “What ifs”…

What if Elohim set them up for the fall? What if it was already planned? Before you shut off your laptop and say a prayer for me, continue reading. Remember it’s a snack to whet your appetite.

What if we have been looking at this whole expulsion story wrong? What if Adam and Eve had remained in the Garden immature, having everything done for them, all their needs met, not knowing how to make a decision, with no options, just annoyingly infantile, where would humanity be today? God Himself might have had enough of them?

Maybe after some time had passed, He said, “Let us make adults out of these humans. They’re way too spoilt and juvenile. It’s time for them to grow up, think for themselves, they’ve got to move out, work, and take care of their own children.”

Could this be a possibility? Was this an avenue towards maturity? Was it a way for humans to evolve from a robotic state to free-choice, free-thinking, interestingly chaotic beings?

Was it a necessary separation from God in order that the generations to come would have this yearning to return to Him?

The "trap" was set. Seems like Eve was the more logical choice of the two to enact this plan, but why?

Let’s chew on this for today.

Shelley Johnson “Something to Whet your Appetite” © February 3, 2025

You are Philip

We, including those who go to church all 52 Sundays of the year, still don’t have a deep revelation of who Jesus is. We are Philip. You are Philip.

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” – John 14:9 (NRSV)

There’s not a Sunday that you are not in church. You are a devoted steward. You never miss Bible Study. You sing in the choir. A keen member of this group and that committee. You’re even on the tea party organizing committee. Talk about a dedicated congregant, put up your hand because it is you, yet you still don’t have a clue.

So caught up in the doing, you completely miss the knowing. And, because you do not know Him, you cannot trust Him. So you worry about everything. And, because you do not know Him, you cannot see His hand at work, especially in the menial. And, because you do not know Him, you criticize and complain endlessly. And, because you do not know Him, you do not see Him, even though He has been among you all this time.

You stared Him straight in the face, but you did not recognize Him.

You did not recognize Him in the man who stopped to help you when your car broke down.

You did not recognize Him in the woman behind you in line at the supermarket, who gave you a dollar when your bill came up to 50 cents more than you had.

You did not recognize Him when only 27 boxes of food remained but there were 28 people to feed, and suddenly someone comes up saying, “Oh sorry but I miscalculated, here, I have an extra box.”

You did not recognize Him in the contractor, who, working on a building next to your financially strapped church rebuilds the entire soon-to-collapse-if not repaired now adjoining wall at absolutely no cost whatsoever to the church.

You did not recognize Him in the young gas station attendant who asked, “Are you okay? I can see that you’re not having a good day but don’t worry it will all work out. You should go home and rest.”

You are Philip.

You believe that God only shows up in the big things, not recognizing that God can show up anywhere, anytime and however He pleases. You have fashioned Him in your own image, boxed Him in, given Him limitations and decided what He should look like. So, if He doesn’t come in what you have created, then it could not be Him.

Philip was with Jesus at the time of Jesus, so in a way we could kind of excuse him, but we have been given the “better” part as we have the opportunity to read all about Him, to study Him as the Word and to form a wonderful relationship with Him through the working of His own powerful Spirit in us, the ultimate Teacher.

You are missing out because you’re so fixated on the doing. The doing is not a bad thing but when it’s all you concentrate on then you are blind to the knowing. I am sure that you don’t want to be calling out, “Lord, Lord!” for Jesus to turn around, take a good peer at you and say, “Hmm, I don’t know you”

“On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’” – Matthew 7:22-23 (NRSV)

We all need to check ourselves. Do we know Him? Can we recognize Him? What is hindering us from getting to know Jesus? Are all the “many mighty works” we’re doing the hindrance? Are we really doing the will of the Father or of the church or our own will?

Verse 21 says,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

 

 

Shelley Johnson “You are Philip” © February 2, 2025

 

 

 

“Do not be afraid”

 Too often we use the excuse of fear to justify our unbelief. Remember what Jesus told Jairus when he got word that his daughter had died, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” (Mark 5:36 NRSV)

Even before Jesus told Jairus to only believe, he addressed his obvious fear.

The command to not fear is repeated several times in the bible because fear is a weapon that attacks our faith, and the resultant effect is unbelief. Fear is a breeding ground for unbelief, and is an invitation to the devil, who preys upon people’s fears by spewing intimidating suggestions.

Do not come into agreement with fear, instead surrender that fear to God through prayer and studying His Word. Remember, His Word is faith-infused, and He watches over His Word to perform it. (see Jeremiah 1:12)

Declare His Word over the situations and circumstances in your life, for faith is our foundation in God and when we allow fear to dominate, cracks begin to appear and our foundation is weakened; our relationship with God is weakened.

 Faith grabs hold of the invisible and makes it a reality. Remember, faith is the bridge upon which the spiritual crosses over into the physical, and when we use our faith, we activate all the power of heaven to enable that movement.

Beloved, what God has planned for you and for me, is beyond our imagination. Do not be afraid to pursue it, believe for it and step into it.

Painting by Lennox Robinson

Amen.

Shelley Johnson “Do not be afraid” © February 1, 2025

Only Believe

I would like you to open your bible to Matthew chapter 17, verse 21. If you don’t own a bible, or can’t put your hands on one right now, there’s Google.

Do you notice anything? In most bibles, verse 21 does not exist; it goes from 20 to 22. In the bibles that do have verse 21, “fasting” is the last word. However, there are some translations where Jesus continues with, “Only believe”.

Jesus was talking to the disciples, and He also tells Jairus, the leader of the synagogue in Capernaum, to only believe.  

What is the outcome of only believing? In Matthew 17:20, Jesus tells His disciples, “if you have faith…Nothing will be impossible for you.” – this is the outcome when you add belief to faith. If it was an equation it may look like, (Faith+Believe)-Doubt=Only Believe. (I chuckle)

It is by faith that you will bring things out of the spiritual realm into the physical realm. Faith is the bridge. You will see a difference in how you receive from God, when you truly grasp this.

Mark 11:24 (NIV),

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

So far so good. But going back a bit to verse 23, we read,

“Truly I tell you, if anyone…does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”

You must have faith, only believe and don’t doubt in your heart. You may recall that heart means, with everything that is you. You have work to do.

“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” – John 15:7 (NIV)

God has already provided everything that you need; He has done His part, now you have to do yours.

Remain in Christ and allow His words to remain in you.

You have been given the measure of faith. Don’t be like the disciples who asked Jesus to increase their faith. You already have faith, put it to work, use it. Not using it, is like having an employee who sits around doing nothing all day. What’s the sense in that? 

Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing the Word. So, read the Bible aloud. Pray and ask God to guide you to someone whose preaching is spiritually and scripturally sound and listen to him or her. Get the Word into your ears and into your heart. God’s faith-filled Word bolsters your faith.

No matter what you feel, hear (from others) or see, do not doubt. It’s challenging but you’ve got to try. Call on the Holy Spirit to help you. People have a habit of saying things that tear you down, causing you to second guess and feel disheartened. You know what God said to you and about you; you know what He promised you. Do not listen to those whose mouths are containers of pessimism.

You must persevere in prayer. Pray and keep on praying with thanksgiving. Always thank God for all He has done, is doing and will do. Being truly thankful glorifies God, your focus becomes fixed on Him and He is magnified. As you express your gratitude, your connection to God is strengthened, you become more sensitive to the movement of His Spirit within you and less anxious about your life.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” – Philippians 4:6 (NIV)

Only believe. Yes, only believe because it is possible for belief and disbelief to co-exist.

“Everything is possible for one who believes. Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” – Mark 9:23-24 (NIV)

Like this man, petition God to help you overcome your unbelief. Do not entertain unbelief. Fight against it by reminding yourself of the measure of faith that is more than enough. Believe God’s Word more than what people say and more than the lies you may be telling yourself. To only believe seems a tall order but you have to train yourself to do it. Doubt has a way of surreptitiously slipping in and counteracting your faith, so you need to be on your guard. Prove4rbs 4:23 is clear, “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.” (GNT). When you only believe, you appropriate everything that God has provided for you through Christ’s sacrifice.

Only believe and manifest the miraculous in your life.

 

 

Shelley Johnson “Only Believe” © February 1, 2025