To My fellow Brothers and Sisters in Christ, at Point of Grace Church, in Pflugerville. Deep in the Heart of Texas! :) Dear God, I praise and glorify you. Please show me through your Holy words what it is you want us to know about you and about how you want to use us for your great purpose. I thank you Lord for this opportunity. May all who read these words today receive the special message you have for them. I ask all this through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen
1 Corinthians 12: 12-20 NIV 12 Just as the body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body- whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free- and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not and eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wants them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The first thing that jumps out at me is that
“We are all baptized by one Spirit to form one body”
I was baptized in the Holy Spirit when I was first saved, and He changed my whole life. From that point on I’ve tried to live my life for God, although I’ve gotten sidetracked many times, my Spirit is one with Jesus’ Holy Spirit and no matter how far I wander away, the Lord, always brings me back to him.
One of wonderful things about having the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, living inside of me is, when I meet others who have been touched by the Spirit of God, I can see the light in their eyes and the joy in them overflows. We feel the oneness through Christ with each other, a kinship, even though we are meeting each other for the first time. We can share our love for the Lord and our relationship with each other is based on his love for us, and He helps us to love and trust each other.
There are three parts to this message that I see. Part one is that we are all one, united in Christ through the Holy Spirit. Part two is that we all belong to the body and have a specific place that God has designed us to be in our church, and our church within our community and the world. Part three is that we all must work together and support one another, because no part is big enough or strong enough or designed to do it all. In verses 15-20 addresses the third part of the message - Just as the eyes see the beautiful flowers in the vase, and need the hand and fingers to work together to draw a picture of them. And just as the upper body needs the legs and feet to stand and walk around, we depend on each other by the power of the one Spirit to function as God wants us to. Each part was specially designed by God and placed on or in the body exactly where it is suppose to be.
We each need to seek God for where we fit in, and for what he designed each of us to do. As we each tune into and begin hearing God’s voice for ourselves, he will tell us exactly where our place is and what our unique purpose is.
So where do you fit into the Body of Christ? What is God asking you to do?
Maybe you’ve already figured it out, or maybe God’s calling you do something new and different from what you are used to and is pulling you out of your comfort zone. Whatever it is, God is right there with you, and we as part of the same body through the same one Spirit will be supporting you with the love of God that we ourselves received. Let your amazing adventure continue!
Please feel free to share whatever God is speaking to you about .
God’s blessings and peace to all.
Patrice