And that he died for all, that they who live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them, and rose again. Therefore from now on know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet from now on know we him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:15-17 KJ2000)
For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26-28 RSVA)
If all the forces of hell are arrayed against any one thing that has to do with the Kingdom of Heaven and the Gospel of Christ, it is to keep the saints of God divided. Everywhere, even in the churches the lines of division are clearly to be seen–male against female, clergy against laity, teens against adults, blacks against whites, conservatives against liberals, Fundamentalists against Pentecostals, organized religion against house churches. On and on the list goes.
For about four years the Spirit has been teaching me the depths of what Jesus spoke just before He went to the cross. You could say it was His last will and testament, so we should give close attention to it. He prayed,
[I pray] that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:21-26 ESV)
Unity, love, perfection, glory and witness are all interwoven together in His prayer. These are part of a whole for the people of God to live and walk in. They cannot be divided and were in the plan of God for His creation from the foundation of the world.
Jesus describes His unity with the Father as God in Him and He in God. When I get up in the morning, I pour myself a cup of coffee and add a flavored creamer. With the help of a spoon, they are soon one, and as such, the creamer may not be extracted from the coffee and put back in its jug and the coffee can’t be poured back into the pot. The creamer is in the coffee and the coffee is in the creamer. They have become a whole new creation with an identity of its own that is the best of both parts. This is what it means for us to be one even as the Father is one with the Son and He with the Father. Only as we are one with the Father and the Son can we become truly one with each other. This was the witness that the church had as we read the opening chapters of the Book of Acts. They were all of one heart and one mind, no one said what he had was his own, and no one was lacking because they all cared for one another. Soon the world was saying, “Behold how they love one another!”
Paul wrote about this very same unity using the example of a godly marriage between a man and a wife to demonstrate a deeper truth.
For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church; (Ephesians 5:29-32 RSVA)
Here we see tender care, love and unity between a man and a woman as they become one in marriage. Although this is something many take for granted, Paul goes on to tell us that this a profound mystery because it portrays Christ and the Church. “I in thee and thou in me that they may be one in us even as we are one.” Dear saints of God, there is a unity that can be ours in Christ and the Father. In this unity we are enfolded into one another and truly become one in the Father and the Son, just as they are enfolded into one another. “Herein God commands a blessing” (see Psalm 133).
This unity of Jesus and His Father was so profound that He could say to Philip, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” So as Jesus prayed for our unity as His body and bride (the true ekklesia of God), He prayed that she would be just as He is in this world, “That the world might know that you have sent me.” If you have seen that beautifully perfected bride that dwells in unity as members of His body, you have seen Jesus. To this fact John wrote:
Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1-2 RSVA)
We become what we behold. John wrote that it would happen when Christ appears! He appears because we are like Him in the unity He has with the Father. He becomes evident because we are in the unity, love, perfection and glory of God as a witness of Christ to the world. We have to let Him crucify anything in us that stands in the way of this divine gift of unity in His love. The scripture makes it clear that He will not physically return until He has a perfect bride to return for! “Behold the bride has made herself ready.” “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come!” She is one in the Spirit of Christ.
Dear saints, I have been in many Christian groups and churches and any time that even two people started to come together in the unity of the Spirit, all the forces of hell have risen up against them to divide and conquer. Jesus warned us that Satan was a liar and a murder from the beginning, and all too often we as Christians are ignorant of his ways. We let him make us instruments of his will and become part of the problem, adding to that division. We quickly finding fault with one another and speak against one another. If this happens when only two Christians start to come into agreement in the unity of God’s love, is it any wonder that today’s 41,000 different Christian denominations and sects are so divided when the New Testament says that there is only one church and one body? We can come together in some kind of ecumenical conclave and round-off the corners of our doctrines to make them compatible with the other groups, but unless we are joined in the life and love of Christ with HIM as our Head, it profits nothing.
In reality we cannot do much about the divisive mess the churches have become. The visible church took the wrong fork in the road many years ago and was already dividing along the lines of ethnicity, doctrinal differences, and a party spirit by the end of the first century.
But if just two of us would pray and humble ourselves and ask that our Father would make us one no matter what the personal cost–if being one with the Father and the Son was more important to us than being “right” or being “over” the other person. If serving one another in the self-denying agape love of God becomes most significant, He will command a blessing to spring out of that love and unity and His great grace will go out from us unto a dying world.
One person cannot do this alone. It takes two, always a minimum of two who become one. First we have the Father and the Son becoming one as our example. Jesus sent out the disciples in twos. The idea of “one man band” ministries ended with the Old Covenant, yet what do we have today? Ministries that come from and focus on a single individual. This is travesty and a terrible sin against the heart of Christ! He told us that if two or more would agree as touching any one thing, it would be granted to us. This cannot happen by the flesh when one person is imposing his will on everyone else under him. When God made Adam, He said that it was not good that man should be alone; He made Eve so they could become one flesh. This has always been God’s requirement. The unifying of two people in one heart, one mind and one spirit is where the world sees who Christ really is, “I in thee and thou in me.” May we pray for and allow Him to put us with that other saint He has for us to grow with in Christ and knit us together in His love that the world might know that He has sent us in His Son. This is God’s synergism.
And you shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. And I will have regard for you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and will confirm my covenant with you. (Leviticus 26:7-9 RSVA)
If this was true of the Old Covenant how much more is it true of the New and Lasting Covenant with Christ as our Head? I would like to end with this quote from T. Austin Sparks,
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore, as you go, disciple people in all nations. (Matthew 28:18,19 ISV)
But who is to go? It is the Church, and His irreducible nucleus of the Church is two. It is a corporate thing, the bringing of the significance of the Body into view. When there is a functioning in the Spirit, it is nothing less than Christ risen, ascended and exalted, going on with His work through His Body, with all those limitations dismissed. That is tremendous! It is either true, or it is not true. If it is true, it is an immense thing. If it is not, well, what fools we are! But here it is, and, oh! that the Church might learn more of what it means to be in living union with a risen Christ! That there should be a company, two or three or more, though limited physically here on this earth by time and space, yet really functioning in the Holy Spirit, so that the universal Christ – all that it means that He is there at God’s right hand – is having some expression! I would to God that this could come home to you by the Spirit and that you could grasp it, for what differences it would make! We have a long way to go yet before this is appreciated adequately. But it is true.
When you touch these things, human language is a vain instrument for expression. “The exceeding greatness of His power” – the superlatives in this realm! Oh, for this enlargement by a new apprehension of the greatness of Christ in His Person, in His death, in His resurrection! Well, then, the supreme thing the New Testament shows is that the Church on its true, spiritual basis corresponds to Christ risen. Not “the Church” that we know here on earth, for it does not. But God’s thought about the Church is not an impossible and merely idealistic one. It is a practical thing. Two saints, simple, humble and unimportant in this world, but really meeting together in the Spirit, can be a functioning instrument of Him to whom has been committed all authority in heaven and on earth. With them all these old limitations can be dismissed and they can at one moment touch all the ends of the earth. Do you believe that? That is really the meaning of our glorying in Christ risen. It has to be something more than emotion, and more than glorious doctrine; yes, more than a truth to which we give some assent…. If it is true that we are one with a risen, enthroned Lord, it ought to have tremendous repercussions. May it be so! ~ http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002021.html
A Wilderness Voice 
Michael, joining you in love, in unity, and in prayer. ❤
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Thank you, Susan, for all three.
Father, join all your children together in such unity and love for one another. Amen.
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The Holy Spirit forms Christ in us so the two can be one and do the works Jesus did on earth and even greater things! To God be the glory!!!
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“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” We are never alone in Christ, his Spirit in us. He is our spouse and we cannot go anywhere his in not! He filled all of heaven, earth and under the earth with his Body and we are his body on earth and when we minister to others it is not “I” who ministers but Christ who lives in me who ministers through me. I can do nothing of my own authority, but knowing I am a branch on His Vine, never separate, we are a grape cluster, never a lone grape! Before Jesus was glorified, he sent them out two by two; now when he sends you, you never walk alone or minister alone, for he is always with us, even to the end of the age. “I will not leave you desolate” (RSV) or other translations say “I will not leave you an orphan, I will come to you” “If you love me and keep my commandments we will come and make our home in you” We are never alone, for the trinity lives within us; and we find kindred spirits everywhere we go. We recognize Christ in their eyes immediately and there is a bond that cannot be shaken by time, space or death. To God be the glory!!
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Yvonne. Yes, God is a Father to the orphan and a Husband to the widow. I thank God that He puts the fatherless in families that can also be touched with our infirmities just as Christ is — the body of Christ who truly are made ONE in His love.
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What if perhaps one is alone in the flesh? Is it possible to be in union with another between the distances? I know of no one around me to go two by two who are of one mind. Only through the few online? Just want to be clear on that. Thank you.
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Stacey, Yes! it is possible. Pray that our Father shows you who it is and that they also are shown the same, but most of all pray that He prepares your heart to be able to engage in such a relationship, for it requires a lot of stripping away of that old Adam in us to make way for all that is new IN Christ for us. One thing I have found out is that just as love demanded that Jesus lay down His life and die, so it is with us or it will not work.
God bless you, dear sister!
Michael
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I think that answers my question as well.
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Amen. For some reason I feel like it is my granddaughter. Or perhaps someone else. I do not know.
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My Brother, thank you for the blog.
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Pat, so good to hear from you. I am glad you liked the article. You and Bernie give each other a hug for us, okay? ❤
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I have heard something like this before from Jim Cymbala. I think the words he used was there are no lone rangers in the body of Christ. This has always been a discouragement for me as I am alone in my faith even though this town is full of “Christians”. I remember praying on this when Jim Cybala mentioned it and was eventually lead to my next door Neighbor. I don’t know if that was actually the answer to my prayer or not but he was ready at the door when I showed up at his house. I don’t see him that much.
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Fred, it is amazing how distant we in the western world are, even from our neighbors on the other side of a common wall. It gives meaning to the verse, “And because of offenses the love of many will wax cold,” But we also have a great promise that “when the enemy comes in like a flood, God will raise up a standard.” Jesus Christ in you and me IS that Standard. It is by God’s love as He conforms us into the image of His Son that we are made ready to be joined together with the members of His body that He has also been working on and changing.
Love you, my brother!
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My neighbor is a retired pastor of a branch of Methodist called Nazarene. Now I do feel connected a lot with a Christian lady called Norma and we talk on the phone from time to time. She has helped me with my faith a lot.
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Fred, my wife was raised Free Methodist (not all that free) and that religion is very similar to the Nazarenes. We were in that denomination together for two year and my hunger to grow in Christ forced me to move on. The problem with those two denominations is like the man who owned a nice car, but never put gas in it. The Holy Spirit of God is gas!
“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Sama’ria and to the end of the earth.”
(Acts 1:8 RSVA)
Love you, my brother!
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Ya I was raised Methodist and when I go to gather something is missing, I would say the person missing is The Holy Spirit himself. I do feel love there though. It is not like the love I feel from your blog or Susanne’s blog.
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Well, Fred, I do hope you feel the love we have for you, my brother.
God bless you as you continue to seek the fullness of Christ in your life. No one loves you more than He.
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This blesses me, Michael. When Karen and I moved from IL to WA a year ago, we asked the Lord to bless her with at least 2 friends. The move was more difficult for Karen than for me because her family is in IL. When we arrived, the Lord led us to visit a small country church for several months and the first Sunday there, a woman sat next to me whom I introduced to Karen and they’ve become the best of friends. From the start it was like “get out of the way, Jack” 😉 😀 They meet weekly for tea and an afternoon of building one another up, sharing, and prayer. My wife always comes home from their time together with the glow of the Holy Spirit and filled with joy.
I’ve prayed for such a local friend, but thus far, none. Perhaps that is by design in that I’m spending considerable time taking care of my elderly father and repairing the house that’s been neglected these last 20 years while he cared for mom.
Paul had his share of relational problems, splits over differences of belief – and then the Lord gave Timothy to Paul, whom he regarded like a son. Would that we could meet and fellowship with the Timothy that God has for us … to spend our remaining years with a son and to pass on the faith … Hmmm … also thinking of Jesus from the cross – saying “woman behold your son – behold your mother” …
Jack
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Jack, my friend, it is so good to hear that Karen has found a friend in Christ and that their fellowship continues to build her up. When we moved away from Seattle in 1989 at my insistence (the city life was killing me!), my wife left behind her best friend. After that she took a set in her thinking, “Why make friends in this new place? Michael will just uproot me and move again anyway.” Well, it was a hard go for her while God was completing my wilderness training through the 90’s as we often lived on remote rural property during the next 12 years. God finally told me that my wilderness days were over and we moved to town from “Wilderness Drive” to “Day Road.” Does God have a sense of humor or what?
Anyway, sense we have lived on Day Rd, she has found a friend that is handicapped and only lives about five blocks from us and has been blessed by her as she is a blessing to Trish as well. Brother, I am praying that in His timing He puts you with a brother, your Timothy, that you can grow with as you are bonded together IN Christ.
I love you a bunch, Jack! ❤
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“I am praying that in His timing He puts you with a brother, your Timothy, that you can grow with as you are bonded together IN Christ.”
That’s a word. Thanks, Michael.
I am indeed waiting to meet my Timothy. Did you know the musical the Lord ordained me to write over these last 45 years, is known by 3 different names, one of which is “Timothy”?
If ever it gets produced, Timothy is a major character and plays opposite of Grandpa (the elderly me), who recounts his life-long walk with the Lord. It’s amazing how writing it brought out my yearning for a Timothy – even coming to love him, though for now Timothy lives only in my script.
But for now, the musical, like so many other things in my life, is like the seed that has fallen to the ground, and died. My only hope that it will ever be produced, since it flies in the face of man’s church, lies in the resurrection power of God. For now, I am content that the Lord brought to completion that which He spoke over me way back in 1970 – to “write a musical according to revelations” that He would give me over the course of a lifetime.
Thanks brother for the word and encouragement.
With much love, Jack
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Do you respond to personal emails? elizabeth
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As much as I have the grace to do so, Elizabeth.
God bless!
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Excellent exposition on divine unity as it should be, Michael! ⭐
What I love is how you compared true unity with blending your morning coffee with creamer! 🙂 I am sure that such a pictorial example taken from your own experience will certainly be remembered by many.
I do like your remark about intellectual “oneness”, that is, ecumenical efforts in order to make believers appear as if they were one. Neglecting various, often contradicting opinions for a greater goal won’t take the differences away, I presume. It is the same with trying to reconcile all monotheistic religions, or even ALL religions, so that people can more easily be misguided by Satan who is the author of all these great ambitions.
In order to put it more individually, I would say if we like someone and hope we will become one with them although it does NOT work (even if we have prayed for unity), we need to wait on God to bestow His oneness through His Spirit on us instead of trying to make it work on our own, whether by becoming more like the other person(s) or by trying to change them into our own idea of how oneness should look like. There is some danger in it, I believe… Also, I wrote a blog post about a similar issue of which I dare to share a long excerpt on here with you all.
Fellowshipping in the sense of meeting together ought to have, first of all, a spiritual component. In fact, it is possible that you meet other believers and you try desperately to fellowship with them, but suddenly you realize that something must be wrong. You were looking for a closer and deeper connection through fellowshipping with them; however, it did not work. Whether you made your experience in a church building, in a house church meeting, or elsewhere is not important. Yet it is essential to know that true spiritual fellowship is never a man-made relationship. Indeed, it is a gift from heaven. The psalmist says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Ps 127:1 ESV) And since we live in New Covenantal times, we may know that the house of the Lord, i.e. the Church, cannot be seen with our physical eyes in the first place.
“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Pt 2:4-5 ESV)
Can we see the living stone without our hearts having been enlightened by God’s Spirit before? Can we…? Most probably not. Also, we read that we, like Christ, are to be living stones that together constitute a spiritual house. From my own experience I can tell that as soon as I meet someone with who God wants me to fellowship, my internal eyes see him/her as I see God and Christ and I feel the same supernatural love God initially gave me to love HIM back. Then I know that such a relationship will turn out to be eternal because God ordained it to be so. The apostle Paul said,
“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Cor 1:9 ESV)
Apart from being one with God through Christ’s Spirit before, we cannot have such a spiritual fellowship with one another, however much we might yearn for it. If you still feel lonesome as for true fellowship, please, wait on the Lord. He will provide in His perfect time and then your loneliness will be over. Promise!
“…that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.” (1 Jn 1:3 ESV)
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Thank you, dear Susanne. This was excellent! Just as the Spirit places gifts in each member of the body AS HE WILLS, so does God join each of us with members in that body of Christ on earth AS HE WILLS. We cannot pick and choose who we will have a spiritual connection with. We can’t just go “church shopping.” It is a divine appointment. In fact as with the natural body, we will most likely only have a spiritually close connection with one or two people at a time. My upper arm connects with my shoulder and my lower arm, not my neck or my wrist. When members of the body are not connected where they belong, they are weak and dysfunctional. We have seen deformed people with a hand and short piece of arm coming out of their shoulder and it is not a pretty sight. Yet, the bride that Jesus is coming back for will be perfect and just the way that Father means her to be by HIS design. When we are properly connected to our Head and one another, the body gets its supply of spiritual nourishment. Paul taught this very thing saying,
We see here that without love for one another coming through our connections, God’s love, there is no growth. That flow of love through us from Christ is where our supply comes from. You might say that love is the mortar that holds these living stones together, each stone to the one that God has shaped to fit with its neighbor. We have all gone through a life time of shaping, getting our corners knocked off so we fit. In the world of masonry, if the mortar joint is too thick, that joint has no strength in it. so they have to first pick the right stone to fit in that spot and then knock off pieces of it to make it a compete fit. It takes the proper balance of both love and trails and testing if we are going to be rightly joined to the saint that God has for us to be with.
Susanne, since we met on here two years ago, oh the trials and testing we have gone through! “Iron sharpens iron…” We were not a complete fit to start with. We both had many things that God wanted to address in our lives (and we KNOW that He is not done yet). In the beginning a lot of what we did and spoke to one another was abrasive at best, but through it all I learned that speaking the truth was not enough, but speaking the truth in love, God’s way and HIS timing, had to be how it was done or it was destructive. BUT His love for us and through us has kept us together in a relationship that has been God’s doing for HIS purposes in the Body of Christ and I thank Him for it and I thank you for putting up with me. ⭐
God bless you always, dear sister, You have been a God sent blessing to me. ❤
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Indeed, it has been a time with countless trials, triggers, and testing since God put you and me together, Michael. But I hope we can both forget what lies behind and to keep running – or only crawling at times 😉 – that race that still lies before us.
Without His love, actually, nothing makes sense. Who of us is interested in the truth if it is presented in a cold and left-brained way only? I guess no one if we are honest.
You have been a great blessing and continued inspiration to me, my dear brother, and therefore I am so courageous to refer to another blog article I just published, since I wrote, inter alia, about the dangers of choosing the wrong people to fellowship with. If someone is interested, here is the link.
God bless you and keep you always, Michael ❤
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Susanne, thanks so much for your reply. We can speak all mysteries and with all knowledge to one another, but without love it is NOTHING in the kingdom of God and in our heaven born relationships. Yes, dear heart, we are also learning to forget what is past and to press forward to what God has put ahead of us in this growing process. We might take two steps back once in a while, but He makes sure that we take 3+ forward after that. 🙂
I am looking forward to reading your new blog post… But first I have more snow to shovel! :-p We have over a foot of it that fell last night and the roof keeps sloughing it off in front of our overhead garage door and entry stairs! Arg! BTW, you can put a link to anything you see fit on here, dear friend.
Michael 🐻
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You’re very welcome, dear Michael. Thank you so much for allowing me to put any link on AWV, too. BTW, that made me grin since it reminded me of your response to my first comment on here two years ago. You were so gracious back then to tell me that I could post everything the Lord told me to do (cf. https://awildernessvoice.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/what-is-salvation/#comment-921) and then you were “drowning” in the amount of comments I had posted on several blog articles. XD
I am sorry to hear that you and Dot are drowning in snow masses today, instead. Alas, no snow here in Germany as yet; rather spring weather and birds chirping.
Susanne 🐱
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Yes, Susanne, I was just reading your first posting on here and in five more days it will be two years. 🙂 But I was not drowning in your postings back then, but rather drinking it all in!
As for the weather, spring and birds chirping right now sounds really good! I keep expecting the polar bears to show up when I look out the window! 🐻 🐻 🐻 I would so love to see Bavaria in the spring when all the flowers are out and all those wild birds are back. Keeping warm with thoughts of it!
Michael
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Polar bears in Idaho… hahaha…. I love your sense of humor, Michael! 😀
It is like springtime, indeed, but not thaaat green at the moment, though. Hope to see you and Dot here in Bavaria in the days to come – God willing. Or Paul and me in Idaho, you never know… 😉
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Either way it would wonderful!
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Yuppers, brotha! 🙂
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Yup, my sista from a different motha! 🙂
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Hahahahaha!!! You are so funny, Mikie! XD
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What a wonderful message, Michael! Wishing you and Dot a very Merry Christmas!! At least you’ll have a white one. 🙂
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Yes, Anna, a white Christmas indeed. We have enough snow on the ground now to keep it white even if a heat wave hits between now and then, but more snow is forecast on the way!I am glad you liked what I wrote. Unity in the love of Christ is such a rare thing, but I pray you find someone there where you are that you can connect with this way. Merry Christmas to you, too, my dear friend.
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Good morning, Michael!
This morning the Lord led me to consider Matthew 18:20 more deeply, in consonance with what you wrote above. 😉
“For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” (ESV)
Typically, I use the ESV for casual reading (it had the largest typeface of any printed Bible at the store which these old eyes appreciate!). When the Lord prompts me to study a scripture more deeply, I use eSword for Windows (free) which has some 32 translations installed and 2 Strong’s annotated Bibles that let me look up the original Greek.
The most interesting translation of Matthew 18:20, appears to be the Apostolic Bible Polyglot (ABP+) greek annotated which reads:
For where G3739 G1063 there are G1510.2.6 two G1417 or G2228 three G5140 being gathered together G4863 in G1519 G3588 my G1699 name, G3686 there G1563 I am G1510.2.1 in G1722 the midst G3319 of them. G1473
The word being jumped off the page at me, because it rightly conveys that the gathering together, more specifically the “assembling” together, is not some random thing that we originate at the time and place of our choosing, rather it is a guided and ordained thing by the One who does the assembling.
Jesus said to Peter “I WILL ASSEMBLE MY CHURCH” which Peter understood to mean that JESUS was assembling US, as LIVING STONES, into a SPIRITUAL TEMPLE and HOLY PRIESTHOOD when we submit ourselves to Jesus (1 Peter 2:4-9).
And so it begs a question; when we try to assemble ourselves, are we not usurping or perhaps even working against the Lord who assembles us?
There is a whole lot more to consider in the phrases “in MY NAME” (Greek: onoma, which means character and authority), and “in the MIDST” (Greek: misos, which means middle and between) as well. I suspect relatively few gatherings are the result of Jesus bringing together 2-3 believers, in His character and His authority where He is in the midst of them. Most I suspect, originate in the will and authority of men who try to compel the Lord’s presence through gathering. Such would seem to explain why so many such gatherings are without the anointing of the Spirit and power.
The other consideration I had this morning, was concerning the single word “brother”. As believers, we often toss the word around rather casually, calling one another brother, but how often do we consider soberly that WE CAN NOT take for ourselves a BROTHER; only our FATHER and MOTHER can make us a brother. In other words, the one(s) who created me, must create for me a brother or sister. Certainly I can cultivate friendships, I can make a son or a daughter with my wife, but I can not make a brother or sister, except for my other children.
Thanks for your posting, brother (grin). It’s been a real blessing to me! 😉 😀
Jack
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Wow, Jack, this is good stuff. The original Greek puts all the gathering of the saints, not up to them and their discretion, but up to the desecration of Christ as HE assembles His ecclesia. In other words, “Unless God builds the house, they who build it labor in vain.” Or likewise as Jesus said, “Every plant that my Father has not planted will be rooted up.” All we can do is wait on Him for Him to assemble us as HE wills. We have seen the disasters that have come from people trying to form His body without Him and I, for one, am through with it.
Yes, and this phrase that people parrot and tack on to the end of their prayers, “in the name of Jesus, Amen,” as if it is a magic incantation… To do anything IN His Name is to actually be IN Christ, His personage, and being there we are in total unity with Him and can only do what He shows us to do and gives us to say. All things must come OUT FROM Him or they are false and rejected by the Father who said, “This is my beloved Son, Hear ye HIM!” Jesus said, “Apart from me you can do nothing,” and from what I have seen of the churches, there is a whole lot of NOTHING out there to be seen with spiritual eyes. We are in that day when every mans work is being proven by fire and there is a lot of wood, hay and stubble that was built on the Foundation of Christ that is going up in smoke. Thank God that the gold, silver and precious stones that are His will remain, even when proven by His fire.
I love you too, my brother (by HIS design),
Michael
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