When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men… And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. Ephesians 4:8-13
Jesus ascended into Heaven and will “return in like fashion.” Meanwhile, He is providing the means for us (well, those of us who believe in what He’s doing), to continue the work He began. All the resources of Heaven are available to Jesus Christ to underwrite the projects He assigns to us. Our part is to do the work God calls us to do, trusting Him to furnish the knowledge, funding, skills and other provisions as they are needed for the job.
We who believe in the Cause and Providence of God must (gently but firmly) press forward to the completion of the projects God entrusts to our care. Sometimes we do not believe that God is willing or able to provide for what He calls us to do. We need to be converted at those points. Sometimes we probably believe in the tenets of the faith, but not the goal God has set for us in Christ; we might think God was and will be all powerful, but doubt His present authority and ability. Why else would we be discouraged from even discussing, much less planning to do His will? We have to pray, and not allow our unbelief to convert us away from faith and service.
Jesus owns all that is needed for us to be made complete in Love, to do the work that needs to be done, and to build whatever needs to be built.
Let us ascend with Jesus to the Heavenly places, and join Him in the work He and all the saints have been doing all along!
