Lately God has been blowing me up on this whole “body of Christ” thing. Here’s my last sentence from a blog I wrote a few days back:
“by finally seeing the body of Christ was what was missing from my life – I realized, Christ himself had been missing from my life all these years.”
That’s a bold statement.
And here are some more God’s been laying on my heart.
I’d be willing to say that if we haven’t experienced life in a body of believers then there is NO way we can be filled with all the fullness of God. Here’s the reason, one HUGE way God shows His love to us is thru His followers – His body. Right? I think we can all agree that somewhere down the line someone has been an answer to one of our prayers. So, if we are missing His body, then we’re definitely missing a huge chunk of God’s love for us. How can we ever experience Christ without His body? Now, I ain’t saying church in the traditional sense is the only answer – heck, far from it. And this ain’t some “hate on the American Church” blog either. All I am saying is this, we as believers have to be connected to some sort of real, alive, breathing, tangible body of Christ. Whether that be a church or just some close-knit community of believers. I’m not saying it has to be the world race. But, for me, personally – it had to be! You see, for years I tried to do this Christian thing on my own. Which I’m here to tell you – NEVER WORKS!
If we want to walk in the the fullness of Christ, the victory and authority He freely gives us – we must first walk in His love. Check out Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians:
“I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have the power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be FILLED TO THE MEASURE OF ALL THE FULLNESS OF GOD.” – Eph. 3:17-19
Now here’s the deal, I know God loves me and sent His only Son to die for me. BUT I did not begin to understand His love, or to be “rooted and established” in His love until I got myself rooted and establish in His body. And I’m seeing now, the more I get rooted in His body and in His love – the more I walk in the fullness of God. And let me tell you folks, when you start doing that, God can accomplish anything thru us.
And here’s the best part, I’m watching 26 other people wake up to the fact they have power and authority in Christ. In just seven weeks we have gone from 27 individuals, including myself, to one.
Now, I can’t wait to see what this body will accomplish over the next nine months. I know this though, it’ll be more than I can ask for or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)
