Working Together With One Mind and Purpose

" complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,"  Philippians 2:2-5 

God created us for companionship, needless to say, we were not meant to be alone, doing things by ourselves.  We are designed to need our creator and each other to fulfill God's divine purpose and our purpose here on earth and that holds true in any relationship we find ourselves in e.g marriage, families. Hence we see that in the book of beginnings, Genesis where it shows the first marriage, and even before that the first "collaboration or teamwork" that was recorded was in Genesis 1:1-3 where we find the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit working together to bring about the world we live in today.   God knew that in order for His work on earth to be done, He was going to require human resources to bring it to pass.  In heaven, in the spiritual realms, there are multitudes of beings working together with a common agenda or goal be it in God's kingdom or in satan's kingdom to get things done and everything is extremely organized.   So it is on earth, as we have teams in heaven, so there is here on earth, be it in the secular world or Christian world.   In any organization, working together effectively is the key to the success of that organization.  In the secular world, organizations rely heavily on teamwork to get things done and so if working together effectively for a common goal is important in the spiritual realm and here on earth in the secular world, how much more in the body of Christ, the Church of God.  

Apostle Paul in his ministry always encouraged the body of Christ to work together in unity because he knew the importance of standing together in one accord.  He emphasized this at every opportunity he had; for example in Ephesians 4:3, he admonished the brethren to make every effort to keep themselves united in the Spirit, binding themselves together with peace and in vs 12, he refers to the Church, the body of Christ to work together, building one another up in Christ with the gifts, skills, and talents that have been given to us from the Lord.   The Lord Jesus himself believed strongly in the power of teamwork in His ministry on earth; for he chose 12 disciples to work along with him to do the work of the Father and he knew when his time on earth was up, these ones will continue to spread the message of salvation throughout the earth and today we see the results of those team of believers ( the apostles and disciples) in the world today. Matthew 4:18-21, Mark 6:7-12, Luke 10:1-20

In the body of Christ, working together as a team means putting God at the head of our lives and ministry. He must be acknowledged as the established leader in the body of Christ and our own personal lives (e.g in our marriages, businesses, etc).  In our text today, Paul admonishes the brethren to have the attitude of Christ for, without it, we cannot be effective as a team to build and propagate the work of the kingdom.  In vs 2, he lists the christ-like attitudes we must have in order to effectively work together and they are 1). agreeing wholeheartedly with one another 2). genuinely loving each other 3). working together with one mind and purpose 4). Being selfless and not conceited, trying to impress others.  5). we should be humble, thinking of ourselves less than others 6).  take interest in the affairs of others and not be all consumed with our own lives and interests. 

With the above-listed attitudes or qualities, we cannot go wrong in achieving team success in our ministries, the body of Christ, and our individual lives. Even the book of Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12 emphasizes the importance of working together for it states in vs 9 that "Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. "If one person falls, the other can reach out and help".

Beloved, even satan knows that Christians who work together in harmony, with one mind and purpose is a big threat to his kingdom and so he does everything in his power to bring strife and discord within the body of Christ.  For example, corporate prayer, standing together in faith with one mind and purpose breaks stronghold and disrupts the works of the enemy Matthew 17:19, 21. 

Beloved, I will conclude with the words of another great Apostle in scripture, in the book of  1 Peter 3:8-9,  the Apostle Peter encourages all God's children, all Christians to be of one mind, sympathizing with another and loving each other.  These are the exact encouraging words Apostle Paul also stated before in the book of Philippians.  These men of God knew how important it was to work together in unity because they have seen the positive effect of it in their lives and ministry.  Peter goes further to admonish us to be tenderhearted and keep a humble attitude, never retaliating when we are insulted by others, especially our fellow brothers and sisters but instead reward them with good and the Lord will bless us for it.   With these words I encourage us today to strive to be a team player in the household of faith, working together in one accord to achieve God's purpose for the Church and I assure you when we do this, we will surely be rewarded for our contributions to the work of the kingdom and our christ like attitudes and lifestyle. 



SHALOM!

The Full Armor of God

"A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:10-12

Beloved, we are living in perilous times as scripture has indicated.. The times are evil and we can see it all around us everyday, just turn on the radio or television.

 Our communities are mourning all over this country and around the world, so much hatred for our fellow man. See Matthew 24:12. The enemy is attacking our homes, marriages, our youths (the future generation), our very existence etc. Church, what are we doing about it? Are we sitting back folding our arms and just saying it is well or are we rising up and fighting back with the weapons God has given us. The apostle reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:4 that “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” and knowing this , we should then recognize that we are dealing with powerful unseen forces and we cannot fight them with physical weapons. 

Friends, It is time for us, the body of Christ to rise up and take our positions taking back what is ours. There is one force behind everything that is going on in our world today and he has been around since the beginning of time and despises mankind especially the children of God (the brethen). He is the prince/god of this world and is causing calamities and woes in the lives of men and women, but it does not mean we or our loved ones should continue to be his victims. 

Let us put on the full armor God and also utilize the power of intercession prayer, to do battle against the enemy of our soul. We are facing greater spiritual battles today than ever before. There has been a release of demonic activity on earth over the last 2-3 years that is unseen in world history. and I tell you the truth it is not going to end anytime soon, for the world is going to see an even greater release of demonic activity on all unimaginable levels. The enemy knows that his time is very short and this is an intense battle for the souls of men.

Father I thank you today because I know that He that is in us is greater than he who is in the world. The battle is yours but the victory is ours . Halleluyah! II Chronicles 20:15.

According To Your Faith, He Leads.....

" And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:

But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt."  Exodus 13:17-18 KJV

The revelation I received from these two verses is that God deals with us according  to our faith.  It states in the above scripture that God did not guide the Israelites along the main road that runs through Philistine territory which happens to be the shortest route to the Promised land.   He knew the heart and character of His people and was absolutely sure that if they took this route, the Israelites will encounter trouble with the Philistines and it will cause them to be fearful and turn back to the land of their sufferings, Egypt.    And so what did God do?  He instead led them through the longest route i.e through the wilderness  through the Red Sea.   I believe in addition to their constant lamenting and disobedience to God during their journey to the promised land, what should taken a much shorter time to reach the promised land after they left Eqypt, it took them much longer.  Scripture states in Joshua 5:6 that the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years until all the men who were old enough to fight in battle when they left Egypt had died.   

Beloved, a lot of times, we hinder our own progress due to our unbelief and lack of trust in the Sovereign God.  We unknowingly downgrade or trivialize the great power of our God through actions such as doubt, fear, worry, anxiety, complaints etc. and as a result, God deals with us according to our level of faith and belief in Him.   He loves us so much that in order for us not to give up or look back to our past (Eqypt),  He gives us another way out, which is not His ideal choice for us.   It is good to know that the Lord does not give up on us and there is an alternate way, this scripture text has revealed to me that God always has an alternate way in the event, the first plan or best plan does not work.    God wants us to have the best of things, after all His word states in James 1:17 that "Every good and perfect gift comes from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.   But in order to have this good and perfect gift, we must put our total trust in Him and walk in obedience.  Our faith in God has to be unwavering where we know that no matter what comes our way, we can not be moved because God is in complete control, He is right there with us and we can rest in Him.    We need to not just confess with our mouth that our God is able and can move mountains for our sake, but we must believe it with all our heart that He can.

Beloved, do not fear, have faith in the Lord today, allow Him to lead you through the best path today so that you can enjoy everything that He has prepared for you. 

SHALOM!