The Body Needs To Flow

February 20, 2021

from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

~Ephesians 4:16~

Each one of us who follow the Lord Jesus, who make a vow to believe and walk beside Him, are given spiritual gifts and a calling on our life. This is why we see people being harrassed by the devil as he tells them "they just dont matter," or "their life has no purpose." This couldn't be farther from the truth! Every single human in this world was created for a purpose in God's kingdom. The only problem is not everyone accepts their purpose or is broken away from it at some point. "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10)

We were created by the Father's hands to know Him, worship Him and walk in our calling with Him. The things that we are capable of with Jesus by our side surpasses everything we could imagine. The first step to understanding a calling is to first abide in Him. Get to know God intimately. Spend time with Him, singing songs of praise, praying privately behind closed doors, asking others to pray for us, asking the Holy Spirit for understanding and be willing to submit all things to Him. We cannot serve two masters. "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24)

Serving God whole heartedly may mean ridding yourself of people, objects and your own personal desires. Now I am not saying God doesnt want you to have desires and is not willing to fulfill them. There just may be things He perfers us not to do at all or have at all. There are many forms of idols (things we put above God) that we need to set aside for Jesus; this includes our own children. "Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” (Genesis 22:2)

Now obviously God doesnt want to test us in this same way He did to Abraham. However, this gives us a good picture of how serious we are to take our love for Him. How we are to be willing to give up anything He needs of us to be holy. If we are willing to give over anything He asks to fully serve Him whatever our calling may be, we must do so. When we begin to gain closer access to God and form a special relationship with Him as Abraham carried; we will hear Him as clear as Abraham did, we will follow Him without question or concern what others may think or say and we will understand how He needs us to work with others to edify the Body of Christ. "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me." (John 10:27)

Following Jesus is not always going to be easy and comfortable, in fact we are told to take up our crosses and do so. In order to function in our calling, as our piece to His Body, we must be willing to submit completely and do what so ever He wants of us, not what we want of ourselves. We may have something to do that we didnt expect to do. This is submission to God when we put aside our concerns and take up that cross. Jesus didn't want to truely die on the cross, yet He still did it. He submitted and gave His Body for us to be knit together to it. If we are a leg and trying to function as an arm, we may just fall down. We must be able to play our own part and submit to eachother the skills we each bring to the table. If we cannot the body is no longer functioning the way it was made to. It must function purely in love. We can have gifts from God yet we choose how we use them. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing." (I Corinthians 13:1‭-‬3)

If we are lacking unity and love we have nothing to give to the Body of Christ.

Things must flow together in the Church. The start of understanding what we need to do if we do not have clear understanding is searching that deep intimate relationship with God so we can hear what the Holy Spirit is guiding us into doing. The more time with Him, the better our understanding gets. "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalms 91:1)

We are citizens of heaven, we are here to do the works of heaven. We must get to know heaven more. This means we are to commune with God and speak directly to His Holy Spirit on a regular basis very deeply as we just cannot do any of it on our own. We can try but again we may fall. We must take our parts as the arms, the hands, the legs, the eyes, the mouth. Whatever it may be He is calling us to be, that is what we should submit to. We cannot annoint ourselves, it must fall on us and we must receive it. God makes the choices, we follow. Just as muscle memory will deteriorate as we stop using it properly, so shall we be if we refuse to submit our entire beings to His Body. We must work our part with reverence to the Lord. "Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not!"

(I Corinthians 6:15)

When we can look at ourselves as not our own or our family as not ours but just beside us to raise for Him, we can become faithful as Abraham was as we believe God will take care of them for us. We must first submit them all and let go of all sense of control on our parts.

"For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)

Let us flow with the Body of Christ in unity so as to make each part work properly and in alignment with the Spirit's leading, if we cannot flow the way God is taking us we may be waiting a lot longer then we thought until we can submit. For the purpose in these things is edification in Him. We can't edify Him if we can't function as a whole.

Prayer:

Gracious God, thank you that I do have purpose in this world. You gave me life so that I could make a difference to Your children around me. I receive whatever calling You place on my life Father, I declare that I will rid myself of any attachment to my flesh that may hinder me from working according to Your will. Show me what things I need to detach from, which areas I need to submit still and how I can grow in the Body of Christ for edification. I pray more can come to the knowledge of the importance of constant communion with You; that each day we are all coming to the throne boldly in prayer, getting to know You personally so we can grow and accept the annointing. Holy Spirit I welcome more of Your filling in me and I pray to be used to glorify the Son. Let His Name be praised throughout all of the nations and let His glory fall! I am honored to be Yours and I rebuke any strongholds today that may try and distract me from what You want me to do. It is in Your Name I receive this prayer and rejoice in it, Jesus Christ. Amen.