Unity in the Body

As many of you know who have been following my blog, I have been going through a pretty tough season of growing in my knowledge and understanding of the Lord and His plans for my life. I have to admit openly that this time has revealed many different areas of sin in my life, and I have battled discouragement and even loss of faith at times, but God is in control of my life, and I believe He is going to bring me through this spiritual darkness. He is faithful when we are faithless.

I am learning a great truth about how each different part of the body of Christ is important, and how much God desires unity in all parts of the body. He is calling us to join together and be united under His Banner. We need to become a unified army following His will, and edifying one another instead of tearing each other down. It can be hard because the pentecostals are very much into the Presence of the Lord, and His power, and the manifestation of the spiritual gifts in spirit-filled services. The more traditional and reserved denominations may look down upon the way we experience God, and follow His written will from the Bible, but everything we do is scriptural. In the same way, I have attended services from these other denominations where I feel completely limited in my expressions of worshipping God and hindered by the structure of the service. I believe God made a place for all of us within the body. He has created me to fit into the body with the gifts, and the heart He has given me. He has created some of my brothers and sisters differently with different gifts and callings on their lives. Does this mean that I will not worship OUR Lord together? Absolutely not. We must learn to be all things to all men.

1 Corinthians 9:19-23 (NKJV):

"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak, I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you."

The Lord has really been illuminating scriptures regarding unity of the body, and how we are to act as Christians to shine the Light of Christ into the world. I was watching a television show today called "Trading Spouses" where a Christian woman and a New Age woman switched households. I get frustrated usually with some of the shows on TV, but this one caught my attention. I wanted to see how the Christian woman would act when put into a brood of sinners who had not repented from their occultic practices and New Age ideas, including mediums, psychics, tarot cards (divination), etc. I am sure it was a very difficult situation for this Christian woman. The show represents both sides of the story, as the New Age woman had to deal with the critical nature of the Christian women friends of the Christian spouse. The Christian spouse was tested to see how she would respond to being with a group of people who did not know Christ as their Lord and Savior. It showed the Christian woman having a meltdown when being confronted with a pyschic, and storming out the room. It showed Christian women treating the New Age woman as if she was straight from hell. I know the scriptures concerning the righteous sitting in the counsel of the wicked, and I agree with these women holding their ground in defending the Christian faith. But, I was quite disappointed with my Christian sisters who utterly rejected the woman who was clearly outnumbered, and did not receive her with love and compassion. If anything, they pushed her further away from Christianity by not conveying the love of Christ. Granted, I did not probably see everything because the show is edited....but there was a clear message. In the same way, the Christian spouse reacted very strongly (and in fear) of those who did not know Christ. She rejected them, not only just their sinful ways. We must remember that we were once counted with the wicked, and we are Redeemed by the blood of Christ, that is not of ourselves, lest we should boast. We need to stop rejecting the opportunities we have to shine the love of Christ (His Light) into the lives of those who do not know Him. They are simply blinded by their sin. We are no better than they are, except that God had mercy upon us and we received Him. We have not earned our position or salvation. Stop treating sinners as if they are somehow lower in status than you. Invite them to meet Christ!

I am not trying to pick on these women, they are my sisters in Christ, and I know that we all have our weaknesses, but it made a clear point about problems facing the body of Christ, and our effectiveness in witnessing God's salvation to a lost and dying world. Our own infighting and divisions are clearly not attractive to the world around us. When they see discord and chaos within our body, it looks a lot like the world we live in. We need to be living by the Word of God, which will shine Light into the world, and we need to be unified to do that! We are misrepresenting the gospel message of salvation and peace through Jesus Christ, and we are more worried about what the other denominations are doing than what we are doing to fulfill the great commission, and follow the two greatest commandments! I admit that I am part of the problem, and I am not presuming to be any better than any other person. We all need to learn and practice humility, and let Christ be glorified in our lives! Only then will we see the greatest harvest this world has ever known! Christ is bringing unity to the body this very day, and He is calling us to grow past our minor differences, and focus on the fact that we are all in love with and following Him! I encourage you today to look around you, see the people of the Christian faith who follow Christ differently than you do, and accept them in unity. I know I am going to make more effort to look into the lives and hearts of my brothers and sisters that seem to be unlike myself, and realize that the Spirit of Christ inside of us all (The Holy Spirit) unifies us once and for all. He is coming soon for His bride, and I want to be ready, but I want ALL OF US to be ready together so that He may receive a holy and blameless bride to Himself!

I know we are not yet perfected in His image, but we are being made like Him from glory to glory. However, this is what we can do:

Mark 12:28-31 (NKJV):

"Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, 'Which is the first commandment of all?' Jesus answered him, 'The first of all commandments is: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these."

Ephesians 4:1-3 (NKJV):

"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

These are the things we can do to love God, love one another, and be patient, gentle, longsuffering and unified in the Spirit, in peace! Unfortunately, I believe we have a long way to go as a body before this is a reality as a whole among Christians. I challenge you this week to follow these commandments and accept a brother/sister in Christ who seems to follow and worship God differently than you do. Let love and peace prevail in the body of Christ, and Christ will be glorified through us!

Lord,

Today, I thank you for your patience, gentleness and longsuffering with your often ailing bride. I come to you confessing that I have been party to division and I am sorry for causing strife in your Body. Please forgive my great sin. I thank you that you are currently working worldwide to unify Christians; those who believe in your holy name! Please continue to guide us as a body and help us to love You more, and love each other as ourselves. Help us to know what true and lasting peace can be found in You, and to constantly strive to keep unity in the body. I pray today that you would cast out any divisions, discord, strife or dissensions within the body of Christ, and let your Holy Spirit teach us your Word, that it may be written on our hearts and we will not sin against you. Teach us your perfect will, and guide us in how to carry it out. We need Your mercy, God! Thank You for Your promise to return and gather those of us who believe unto Yourself, and be a holy nation nation of priests. Please prepare us to serve and worship you for all eternity in a way that is pleasing to You, God! I pray today for your wisdom throughout the body, and that you would raise up, anoint, and guide leaders who can teach us Your ways of righteousness. I know that your Word says we do not need a teacher because we have Your Holy Spirit...and I thank You for sending Him to us! Please watch over and guide this coming election process, and bring Your selected candidate into power. The Word says that You choose and put into power the kings of the earth. I pray that you would give us a righteous king who will return the country of America to biblical virtues, and turn the hearts of these people back to you, Lord. Please continue to bring our country to national repentance, and turn away your anger and wrath from us. Many of us in the body recognize that You are planning to judge America for her great sin, and I pray that you would be patient and longsuffering and give us time to unite as a body and cry out for repentance among our people! May Your Holy Spirit sweep across our nation and humble all, that they would fall to their knees and recognize that You are the one true God and every knee will bow before You on the great and dreadful Day of the Lord. Thank you for staying your wrath until more come to repentance and salvation in your Son, Jesus Christ! I pray that you would quicken the hearts of Your people to pray, and continue to do Your will! I pray in Jesus name, giving You all honor and glory!


Fellow members of the body of Christ, I ask that you unite under the Banner of Christ and vote righteously in the upcoming election. This is a turning point in our country, so let's pray that heart and values of our country would be turned back to God's will! If you fast and pray, consider fasting and praying over this election 2008. God bless you richly in the name of Jesus for your faithfulness!

Seeking to do His will,

Sarah