The church is the body of Christ, WE are the church – not a building, not a place but the people. I have written about this in a post entitled, “Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple, Open the Door – Here’s all the People” (click on pink link listed below):
Here’s the Church, Here’s the Steeple, Open the Door, Here’s All the People
What will Jesus find when He returns? The body of Christ’s believers are meant to be one! All the members working for the good of God’s purpose, in accordance to His Word to help each other! I truly believe if we who are God’s Called Remnant, living in these last days would apply ALL the gifts God has bestowed upon us (as His body) there would be NO need to go outside the body of Christ for ANYTHING. I think this is one reason why the book of Revelations addresses the churches… As part of the body, what are YOU doing? How are YOU living? Are you praying and asking God how you can honor Him with the calling He has placed upon YOUR life? How you can apply the gifts that God has given YOU to glorify His name?
The world desperately NEEDS Christians who are willing to be the hands and feet of Christ! Are you asking God to use you to make a difference in the life of someone else? Are you aware of divine appointments that God is allowing you to experience in areas where He wants YOU to allow the light of Christ to shine through to you to someone else so that they can see God’s love in a personal way? It’s easy to get caught up in self – but the Bible talks about us “dying TO self.” Take a look at Philippians 2:1-30:
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
If you stub your toe, the pain radiates throughout your entire body, from the foot all the way up to the head – such should be the case with the body of Christ when one member is in need or in pain. Believe me, the focus changes when the pain is not the pain of “someone else” but of you! We often think of missionary work to be some place far away, and while that can be the case, sometimes the missionary work – the mission being the love of Christ – can be RIGHT there in your own backyard! On your job! In your neighborhood! WITHIN your church! I believe that Holy Spirit is in the process of waking up the body of Christ, which has fallen asleep! We need to RISE up and LISTEN to what Holy Spirit is saying to you! Because sometime soon it might become personal, and YOU may be the person in need. Matthew 10:42 says:
“And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.”
We need to start praying:
“Father God, thank you for removing the spiritual blinders from my eyes. Thank You for Your grace, Your mercy, Your forgiveness, Your love… Thank You for dying on the cross for forgiveness of my sins. Thank You for coming into my life and being Lord over my life, my Savior, the lifter of my head… Please forgive me for the times when I have become self-involved and not seen the hurting or the need of those right here with me or even far away in the body of Christ! If it hasn’t concerned me, I haven’t felt affected and have turned a blind eye or ear to the cry of those hurting around me. Forgive me Father and thank You for not being that way with me. Please remove my heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. Help me to love others as YOU have loved me. Help me to hear You better, see You clearer, have a heart to receive ALL that Your Spirit would have me to do. Help me to recognize divine appointments and to be in whatever way I can, Your hands and feet to those around me. And Lord, I pray that others would do the same for ME. That You would remind us that we are to follow YOUR example, to walk in Your love so others will see You IN us. Be glorified, Father, I humbly submit myself to You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”
We act like tomorrow is owed to us – like God “owes us” tomorrow, here is a newsflash – He doesn’t. We take TODAY for granted. LIFE CHANGES! Ask someone who was just diagnosed with an illness or disease – do you think they expected it? Do you think they planned for it? We live in a sinful world, at any time it could be one of us in need and we would look expectantly around us for help. For those of us who have made Jesus Christ Lord of our lives it has become personal. Situations change, people change, but God STAYS the same. He is consistent, He is an ever present help in times of trouble, but we have to trust in Him. We can’t trust in ourselves, we can’t trust in our circumstances – they change, but God, He stays the same. So, WHY are we so surprised when something happens to us or to someone we love and WE find that WE are the ones standing in need? I personally can attest to you that in putting God FIRST, the promises God gives us (when we do so) are true. Philippians 4:19 says:
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ.”
and in Psalms 81:10:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”
And in Psalm 84:11:
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.”
Let me encourage you who are going through with these promises (which are but a few than the many in God’s Word):
Take a look at Matthew 6:25-34:
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Even Paul said in Philippians 4:12-20:
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
Jesus left the glories of Heaven to come to earth to make SURE we knew how “personally” God wanted to enter into a one on one relationship with each one of us. He was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sin-less life and because He LOVES you died on the cross for forgiveness of your (and mine) sins. He rose from the dead and EVEN now, is seated at the right hand of the Father INTERCEDING on YOUR (and mine) behalf! He died for YOU. What are YOU doing for HIM? God doesn’t owe us ANYTHING but He has given us EVERYTHING, what are you doing to show your love, commitment and gratitude? You can’t earn Heaven, but surely we can determine within our hearts and minds that the lives we’ve chosen to give to our Lord and Savior are put to GOOD use for His purpose so we can live purpose driven lives for the One who gave His life for us. Seek the Lord and ask Him how it is you can honor Him today. Believe me when I say there is NO greater privilege, joy or reward than seeing someone see Christ in you. When you become someone God uses to bless someone else – THAT is TRULY a God moment. When God works through you and in you to be part of someone’s testimony to what God can do (or has done) THAT my dear reader – is a humbling experience and one where you feel what the Bible calls “the peace that passes ALL understanding” because it simply is found IN Him. We are the church, we are the body of Christ – let’s live, move and have our being in Him, through Him and for Him, so that they will SEE Christ in us and know our Savior lives!
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