It is interesting to me the changes
that occur when life gets absolutely disrupted. It is true what you
focus upon you empower. In this season when I have focused upon all
the things I can't do, well.. let's just say those are the days when
I really shouldn't have any visitors. But there has been this
interesting spiritual reality that has swarmed when I focus upon Him
and His ways.
This one day when I was overwhelmed by
all I can't do right now, and my emotions were beyond me and I felt
left out of life and forgotten; the Lord spoke, “empower The Body.”
I thought to myself, “How?” I couldn't fathom how in this state
I could do any such thing. Except then it began. This morning it
has only grown stronger.
I began to see pictures of people,
churches, states within our country, other countries and people I
knew. “Pray!”
I realized that while laying in bed, I
was still part of The Body, still part of His Kingdom. I began to
pray that He would empower His people to walk as they were called to
walk, to hope as they were called to hope, to wait as they were
called to wait. No longer did I see myself stuck in my room, trying
to stop seeing everything in threes, and hoping that the world would
stop spinning. Now I saw myself partnering with the heart of my
Father, blessing the Body of His Son. And I wasn't being left behind
or left out, I wasn't forgotten nor ignored. I wasn't missing out on
anything.
Last night was really difficult. Much
laid upon my heart. Despair was easy to touch and my emotions were
all over the place. What I couldn't know last night was how
thoroughly the Lord was setting all things up for me to receive
truth.
I don't want a casual relationship with
Christianity. To me it isn't about picking and choosing and
convenience. I want wholly in. I want to be so thoroughly changed on
the inside that in all the secret places of my soul I reverberate
Him, and His thoughts and His opinions. I want my affections, my
appetites, my passions, and all that I am to be a reflection of Him.
I don't want to believe in His goodness iust when it is convenient.
I want to thoroughly believe in His goodness when it isn't, when it
is the hardest thing to do; when all would scream in my face that I
am fool for still believing, and yet in those moments I want to be
able to arise and be more full of grace and faith and love then I was
ever before.
This morning through the words of a
friend in an email, I was struck by a Kingdom reality that shook off
the dross of fear and sorrow and reminded me of that interior plea.
“Sheep to the slaughter,” those were some of the words in what
was a heart felt and beautiful email full of truth and compassion.
This morning I was flooded with grace.
In those moments I saw how the power of His grace lifts us beyond our
circumstances. In those moments I was reminded of the truth that The
Body of Christ is ONE entity; many parts but ONE Body. In our
society as individualistic as it is, it is utterly foreign to think
upon our life, in pure military terms. To think of us as a whole, as
a unit.. to think of ourselves as stronger because there is a unit
surrounding us, to pray for the reality that we would awaken to that
fact and learn to not leave anyone “man/woman” behind!
To be able to see when one part of the
Body is flourishing we don't have to step into jealousy or envy
because it means that the Kingdom of God is flourishing, the purposes
of Heaven are advancing, the ways of the heart beat of Jesus are
being spread.
Love triumphs. When we see as He sees, we can proclaim as Paul did that even though there are those that would preach for
self ambition, the gospel is
advancing. That is what matters. It is the name of Christ, not of any one person, nor any one denomination.. It is the heart beat of our Father exploding as Christ's name is lifted up.
It is empowering to touch the
understanding of the strength and beauty and victory of the Body; it
will be through this unit that the Bride of Christ is fashioned and
formed. When we regard ourselves as part of this Body, then to speak
out against it, to bring harm to it... we bring harm and speak out
against ourselves.
Yes, these thoughts are so contrary to
this world and so contrary to our modern day society. But the
concept even if I thoroughly botched communication of it, is powerful
and beautiful and empowering to all of those that feel insignificant
and small. To understand that there is no place for the words,
“insignificant” and “small” within the Body of Christ is
revolutionary. To all of us who are a part, of this magnificent,
vibrant entity known as the Body of Christ, would that we would be empowered to
learn that Christ is who is at the head, and His heart would always,
ALWAYS be that no man is ever left behind.
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