Partnership with Jesus
“You will bring God glory when you accept and welcome one another as partners, just as the Anointed One has fully accepted you and received you as his partner.”
Romans 15:7-9 The Passion Translation (TPT)
Note: New day, new year, in a new decade. That is something to get excited about.
For the past several years, I determined that I really wanted the mark of a new year to mean something. I wanted to start my year with a purpose and with drive. Typically, that meant fasting corporately with my Jesus community and seeking out His will for the year, which is great. Yet, by the time March hit, I would forget about the things I believed Jesus spoke to me, and often I wouldn’t follow through.
2019 was different.
The Lord, had been teaching me about what it meant to partner with Him. I was first introduced to this phrase through the book Stronger than the Struggle by Havilah Cunnington. (I recommend this book to all my friends.) Through this book, I was beginning to see that throughout scripture Jesus has a plan for me and His plan doesn’t include bossing me around. Jesus has a bigger and better plan for His children than that. Jesus has called me His co-heir, co-laborer and partner. This blew my mind. That God-Jesus Christ- considered me His partner. Learning all of this helped me understand we (me and Jesus) are in this together. It taught me that Jesus was extending an invitation to participate alongside of Him in this majestic plan for the world. I am not a puppet, I am not a pawn piece, I am His daughter and that affords me heavenly and royal privileges.
Stop.
Think about it for a second.
Re-read it, if necessary.
A partnership is defined as a formal arrangement by two or more parties to manage and operate a business and share its profits.
Jesus was inviting me to do this with Him, in His Kingdom. To manage, to operate and share in the profits of His Kingdom. That thought right there is enough to make me want to ball my eyes out.
Why? Because it’s me.
It is me He wants to do this with. (Whoo…)
My mindset of who Jesus is and His place in my life began to shift. I began to see my walk with Him as our adventure. I began to ask Him what He wanted to do, knowing that as His daughter He had the best in mind for us. I would start off each of my days by praying, “Okay Jesus, what are we doing today?” And wait for it...He would speak to me. Whether through His word, a time of worship, a vision, a dream, He would speak and I would allow Him to lead me. I started seeing results. I started seeing Jesus work in my life, heal big things in me, improve my relationships, provide for my family and bring breakthrough to my community.
So when the new year came (2019), I decided I’d not only give Him my day to day, but I’d give Him my year. I asked Him to show me what He had planned for us in the new year and how I could partner with Him. I asked these questions, in this order:
Jesus, how can I partner with You this year?
Would You give me strategy to accomplish what You have for me?
Just like before, He spoke to me. Jesus spoke a bunch of things to me. I was excited for a lot of it, but one thing in particular was very hard for me to hear. Jesus told me that He wanted me to pursue inner healing as a result of my traumatic birthing experience with my first son. Jesus promised me that I would be emotionally healed and that I would become pregnant again in 2019 with my second son, but would not give birth until 2020. Jesus told me He wanted to do this because Ezra (my son) needed His partner in ministry.
I cried a lot. I cried tears of joy, but most of them were tears of fear. I did not want to relive the trauma of my birthing experience. I did not want to risk my life again. I did not want to suffer again. But Jesus, ever so gently and lovingly began to work in my heart. Jesus reminded me of His character and nature. Jesus reminded me that if He has called me into this process He would provide His presence and His provision. Jesus reminded me that if He was calling me into this, it was going to end well. It was going to be good because that is who He is. Jesus is always good.
I wrote all of these big ideas on a vision board and posted it near my headboard. I needed to see it everyday. I wanted to remind myself everyday of what I choose to partner with Jesus for in 2019. I wanted to remind myself of what He and I were working towards and that in the end it would be worth it.
I slowly surrendered and partnered with Him. He was faithful and healed me of a lot of trauma. By the end of June, I was pregnant with a due date of March 2020.
Why am I sharing all this?
Seeking Jesus for direction, and partnering with Him in the new year set me up for success. It was the first year where I followed through with any type of resolution or goal. I am convinced it is because I let Jesus invite me into what He wanted to do and I partnered with it. I made His goals, my goals and His dreams, my dreams.
The beautiful part is that He knows me best. When I look back at 2019, I realized that pursuing inner healing was exactly what I needed, even though I didn’t want to pursue it. I was stuck in fear and bondage and had I not partnered with Him I would have missed out. I would have missed out on experiencing freedom and His best, which is always better than my idea of what’s best.
This opportunity awaits you in 2020. Jesus is extending an invitation. He is offering you the opportunity to take your place as a son or daughter of the Most High God and to step into your royal privileges. He is inviting you to manage, operate and gain the profits of partnering in His kingdom.
Getting started is easy:
Get in the secret place (aka alone with Jesus).
Come expectant and believing He will speak to you.
Ask Him what He is calling you to do and how you can partner with Him.
Write it down and reflect on it weekly.
Do what Jesus is leading you to do.
I pray you get excited about this opportunity. I encourage you to bring in your community for accountability and support. I believe you’ll see things happened. I pray you enjoy the process.
We’d love to hear from you. Tell us what is He calling you to pursue in 2020. We would love to partner with you, as you partner with Jesus.
Until Next Time,
We Are Ecclesia
