Free PUSH: Persevere Until Success Happens Through Prayer by Cindy Trimm

and prophets, our true identities in Christ are being birthed. We are being called out. Interestingly, the English word
church
is derived from the Greek noun
ecclesia,
which literally means a “calling out” of citizens or a “called-out assembly.” An
ecclesia
is commonly defined as “a gathering of the called-out ones.” 36
    The Church is responsible for giving birth to citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Once someone accepts Christ and joins the local church, that church is then responsible for forming that new believer into heaven’s ambassador—taking them beyond church membership to kingdom citizenship to heavenly ambassadorship. In the nineteenth century, Prime Minister of England and literary figure Benjamin Disraeli was quoted to have said, “Man is a being born to believe. And if no church comes forward with its title deeds of truth to guide him, he will find altars and idols in his own heart and his own imagination.”
    The goal of the Church should be to create globally conscious citizens committed to changing the trajectory of their nations and the destiny of their world by the power of the Holy Spirit. Every member of the Body must grow up to take responsibility, ownership, and finally dominion over the ungodly kingdoms and strongholds holding sway around the globe. This is what God purposed to accomplish through Christ—that the Church would
“grow up in all things”
and be empowered to take back dominion and reign in the earth through Him.
    To make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
—E PHESIANS 3:9-11
    Church isn’t where you meet. Church isn’t a building. Church is what you do. Church is who you are. Church is the human outworking of the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s not go to Church, let’s be the Church.
—B RIDGET W ILLARD
    To the church of God…to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
—1 C ORINTHIANS 1:2-3

Chapter 10
THE EARTH
    Earth is crammed with heaven And every bush aflame with God But only those who see take off their shoes.
—E LIZABETH B ARRETT B ROWNING
    I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that wherever you go, the least plant may bring you the clear remembrance of the Creator…. One blade of grass or one speck of dust is enough to occupy your entire mind in beholding the art with which it has been made.
—S T . B ASIL THE G REAT (329–379)
    I n the beginning, God impregnated the earth when He caused His Spirit to hover over it. We know from Genesis 1:2 that the earth started out
“without form and void”
(ESV). In the same verse we read that the
“Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
The word used here for “hover” is the same word we read in Luke when the Spirit of God “hovered” over Mary, causing her to conceive:
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God”
(Luke 1:35 MSG). Isaiah prophesied of Jesus that
“the life-giving Spirit of God will hover over Him, the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding, The Spirit that gives direction and builds strength, the Spirit that instills knowledge and Fear-of-God”
(Isaiah 11:1-2 MSG). And in Isaiah 31:5 God declares,
“Yes, I’ll hover and deliver”
(MSG).
    From the outset, God, by the power of His Spirit, hovered over creation in order to bring forth life. Nothing was created that was not first imbued with God’s own life sired by His