A few days ago, I was asking the Lord for a Word and I heard Him say,
"Ephesians 2:22"
I did not know what this verse said--I didn't have it memorized. So, I looked into that.
"And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."
Awesome! That is the biblical Church--the biblical body of Christ. He has been speaking to me about the importance of community--whether mentoring, discipling or encouraging--and fellowship within the Church for just a little while now. We all need to be rooted in Christ and in His love, and then support each other out of that fellowship with Him.
Each part of the body can do something--something to help and build up the bride that Jesus will return for. Each one has a gift. Each one (should) have a hymn or spiritual song or word of encouragement that they can share with the others (Ephesians 5:19). And each one will have these things, if they are filled with the Spirit. There are many gifts, and they all point towards the wonderful calling that God has placed on us.
So, we come together and become a place where God lives. We cannot water down those words. Within the confines of the Church body we are in, we each contribute ourselves so that we can witness that God is living and dwelling among us. By His Spirit, He comes down and dwells among us. It is a wonderful thing if we can really act on that knowledge--to add to our faith the accompanying works (James 2). If God is living in a dwelling that we built up, shouldn't that increase our boldness? Shouldn't that increase our faith. It's time to accept that God has given us favor.
Confirmed: I was on a Christian website a little later that same day. And I came across an article that was talking about the 22 gifts of the Spirit. Hey, 22 gifts used for equipping and building up the body as described in Ephesians 22!
Note: It is fitting that Galatians 5:22 is the verse that addresses what the fruit of the Spirit is:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against such things there is no law"
"Ephesians 2:22"
I did not know what this verse said--I didn't have it memorized. So, I looked into that.
"And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."
Awesome! That is the biblical Church--the biblical body of Christ. He has been speaking to me about the importance of community--whether mentoring, discipling or encouraging--and fellowship within the Church for just a little while now. We all need to be rooted in Christ and in His love, and then support each other out of that fellowship with Him.
Each part of the body can do something--something to help and build up the bride that Jesus will return for. Each one has a gift. Each one (should) have a hymn or spiritual song or word of encouragement that they can share with the others (Ephesians 5:19). And each one will have these things, if they are filled with the Spirit. There are many gifts, and they all point towards the wonderful calling that God has placed on us.
So, we come together and become a place where God lives. We cannot water down those words. Within the confines of the Church body we are in, we each contribute ourselves so that we can witness that God is living and dwelling among us. By His Spirit, He comes down and dwells among us. It is a wonderful thing if we can really act on that knowledge--to add to our faith the accompanying works (James 2). If God is living in a dwelling that we built up, shouldn't that increase our boldness? Shouldn't that increase our faith. It's time to accept that God has given us favor.
Confirmed: I was on a Christian website a little later that same day. And I came across an article that was talking about the 22 gifts of the Spirit. Hey, 22 gifts used for equipping and building up the body as described in Ephesians 22!
Note: It is fitting that Galatians 5:22 is the verse that addresses what the fruit of the Spirit is:
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control; against such things there is no law"
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