Have you ever considered that most people live out their entire lives according to what someone else believes and requires? It is largely because we find much comfort in things that are familiar. The belief that "you can't fight city hall" is a strong incentive not to "rock the boat." No wonder people are content to say, "Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is made up."

Many of us do not live by our faith alone because we either do not believe it possible, or simply do not know how. A living faith is dependant upon knowing what is real for you. Before living out what you know to be real, you must first identify what that is.

We have a form called Declaration of Status that poses five identifying questions. The questions are progressive and lead to how decisions are made that direct the course of your life. The purpose of the final question is to help you realize that life-changing decisions need NOT be made by some politician, policeman, attorney, or judge.

Question number four on your Declaration of Status is intended to bring your religious beliefs to a political conclusion. In reality, there is no difference between your religion and your politics. They are both an expression of your deeply held convictions.

Without duty and responsibility to others, as asked in question number three, you have no just cause for liberty. If we each demand our own rights, independent of one another, we stand alone. As a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecc. 4:12); "United we stand, divided we fall." The strength of the musketeers was in their slogan, "All for one, and one for all."

The second question is designed to promote Christian Patriotism among believers; to claim citizenship in God's eternal Kingdom. Unbelievers will express their alliance to things carnal, to temporary systems and governments of the world in place of Christ. What you do is a direct result of who you are, which is the point of the first question on the Declaration of Status form.

Your Declaration of Status is actually a Profession of Faith expressed in a political sense. It is an announcement of your understanding, at the time you wrote it, of how you are to be living your personal ministry. It must be in your own words from the top of your head to the bottom of your heart. If you are ever called to give an answer for your faith on the spot, the source, terminology, and conclusion will need to be consistent with what you have written here.

Once you have announced your religious/political position in this way, you have actually identified your personal ministry. Your formal Profession of Faith will flow as a testimony of who you are in the full authority and political jurisdiction of Jesus Christ.

A gathering of two or more believers, in agreement with your calling, forms a lawfully established unincorporated association of pure trust. Upon a grant of value, the trust must assign beneficial interest and appoint a trustee. This trust agreement, when reduced to writing, becomes written evidence of a Ministerial Trust under which you may manage your personal ministry for the church.

Personal Ministry: Remedies at Law © 2002 (Rev. 1/12/03)