Colossians 3:12-17 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity(Love), which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.
Greetings sister Mirjam,
what a wonderful day when you first believed, hold onto that day, keep it fresh in your mind, let it always refresh your heart.
Look unto the Lord, not people.
One thing people do is look away from Him and at each other, then ultimately at themselves.
We never found Christ that way.
We are called into fellowship IN Him, and if He is not the centre of our life and worship, then we are not able to fellowship IN Him. We come together IN Him, and the Life He gives us can only be had while we are IN Him. We meet together IN Him, while we seek Him, and look unto Him and find ourselves hid IN Him.
The tabernacle was the centre of the people, a place of identity where they knew where they were.... and it is today the same, the dwelling place of the Lord, our hearts. One meaning for the word used for Tabernacle is the place where the shepherd keeps his sheep in safety..... for us, our Shepherd is Jesus Christ the Lord, and IN Him alone can we take refuge and have safety, and know where we are.
The Church is the Body of Christ, Christ is the Annointed One, the Head of the Body, which being One with Him is anointed in Him as part of Him. It is not a place where people gather together, and it is not even all the people who gather together in congregations.
In the Old Testament we read of the Tribe of Israel. We can see as we read, that they had to be together under the Lord. They fought together, worshipped together, were attacked together, and were victorious together, and always were One Body. We read on and see that they divided and then had their problems.
What we see now is the same sort of thing. Division, all based on man and flesh, because those who love the Lord with a pure heart are One together in Him, wherever they may be and there is no place in their hearts and minds for anything but Jesus.
1Corinthians 1:9-10 God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
There are and will be seperations and claims to the Lord, and wherever you find people meeting together, you find all manner of differences..... yet, dear sister, the New Testament tells us that we can and ought deal with differences with love and forgiveness, and patience. No one congregation, named after itself is the Body. We are named after Jesus Christ, Christians, Whose Life we have in us, so do not be surprised if a congregation appears to let you down or not meet up to what you think is right.
If you stay where you are, you will still be loved by the Lord, and if you move to another group, He will still love you. The thing to consider is, are they holding fast to the Gospel and to the Hope of His calling? Do they put aside diffrences in order to worship in Spirit and Truth? Is Love the key binding thing between the group, God's Love in Jesus Christ the Lord, or are their ideas more important?
A lot of people go to meet in congregations for social activity, and while fellowship fulfils this, the intent of the heart must be to worship the Lord, with the social togetherness as a result in being One In Him.
I have found over and again that the good pleasures of fellowship are a result of first loving the Lord, and Him bringing me into fellowship with others who are doing the same, loving Him. He gives us each other, and commands us to love one another. By this, men will know you are His disciples.
Notice that is not about what you call your congregation? It is not about what day you meet or about what you do when you meet, but about Love, and this Love we find ONLY in Jesus, and He went to some length to show us what His Love really is.
May you always know His Love for you Mirjam, and may your days loving Him be always more beautiful than the days before, ever increasing with Faith, Joy and Hope.
Bless you ....><>
Br. Bear
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in Love,
May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
And to know the Love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21
