Ministry Partner Report: Jonita Johnston

One of the burdens on my heart is to KNOW the Lord in a deeper way, as Paul said when he wrote the letter to the Philippians; “that I may KNOW Him and the POWER of His resurrection.” That we as His people will seek His face, that we would seek to know Him intimately. Like Mary, we would sit down at His feet while everyone around us are busy DOING: “And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41 – 42 NKJV). Mary had to make a choice, so do we, she chose the GOOD PART, in this year 2020, may we also choose the good part.

Many of us spend the first Month of the year in prayer and fasting, to hear from the Lord what He would say for the year ahead of us. I myself do the same, last year, 2019, the words “Restore, Renew and Rebuild” came to me. I believe this is what the Lord has been doing in many of our lives this past year.

This year, as we have been seeking the Lord, the focus has become “The KINGDOM of God”. His Kingdom Come, His will be done, in our lives, in our Families, in our Friends, in our communities. And this has become my prayers for this year. That the eyes of our spiritual UNDERSTANDING must be opened to HIS KINGDOM PURPOSES. I believe God want to bring REFORMATION and TRANSFORMATION.

REFORMATION comes with a CHANGE to existing circumstances and TRANSFORMATION is defined as a thorough or dramatic change in form or appearance, it can be the induced or spontaneous change of one element into another.

The body of Christ is in desperate need of both a reformation and a transformation, and one of the most important tools for this to happen is when we as the people of God is brought to our knees.

After Peter had so blatantly denied Jesus he went out and wept bitterly. Can you imagine the pain he must have felt? Not even knowing if Jesus had forgiven him. Would he feel rejected? Hopeless? Wanting to give up? Maybe he did? It seemed like he just gave up and went back to fishing again.

But, after He had risen, Jesus came and looked Peter up, Peter LOVED the Lord, it was obvious in the excitement he showed when Jesus showed up on the beach when he and the other disciples came back from their fishing trip.  When he was confronted with the Lord’s questions whether he loved him or not, I could only imagine what would have spun through his mind and emotions. But Jesus did not come to point out Peter’s mistakes, He wanted to hear that Peter still loved Him. He came to RESTORE Peter back to a relationship with Himself again (John 21:15-19).

Jesus RESTORED His relationship with Peter in a very powerful way. He gave him 4 commands:

1. FEED my LAMBS

2. TEND my SHEEP

3. FEED my SHEEP

4. FOLLOW ME!
   
   

We all know the definition of feeding someone, making sure they have a continued supply of nurturing. The definition to TEND is to;

• Pay attention to, apply oneself to the care of, to watch over

• To act as an attendant, to serve, a caretaker or overseer

• To LISTEN to, to CULTIVATE, foster

• To stand by in readiness to prevent mischance

• To attend as a servant
  
  

I believe that when we are restored back to that close, intimate relationship with our Lord again, He would want us to do exactly what He asked Peter to do: “Feeding, Tending and Following”.

I encourage you, as I would myself, let us APPLY ourselves to KINGDOM work. Pay attention to the people God has put in our path, serve them, listen to them, cultivate them and foster them. Have a great and blessed 2020!

Jonita Johnston