Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:11-16
Let us look at Ephesians 4:12 today. It says, For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. This means that the ministry that God sends to you will make you work for God. In other words, what you are receiving from God is supposed to help you to begin to minister to others. But you are not perfect. It says, Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13). Now, what this is saying is that we are not all perfect; we all don’t believe the same thing – 1, 2, 3, and going down, but that when we keep fellowshipping together, we will all come to the truth.
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. If you are walking in the Body of Christ, you will begin to grow in love. One sign that tells you that you are really in the Body of Christ is if you are growing in love.
God is saying that the only place you should be at this time is in the Body of Christ. The long bar holding the boards in the Tabernacle of Moses does not represent a person. It represents an apostolic ministry. Do you understand? In other words, God has appointed certain people to teach His people and they are called apostles – those who are trained by God and sent. Another bar represents the prophet ministry. We have the prophet ministry in certain people that have developed in this ministry, but the ministry of the prophet is in you. That is why you have dreams and visions, and you must not interpret your own dreams or visions. But God is placing dreams and visions in the whole Body, so that the Body might be led by the Spirit of God. Now, if you understand that, I will go to the other bars.
There is the evangelist. It is a spirit that is not only in certain individuals, but it is in all of you. There is a desire in you to tell somebody else; there is something in you that is saying, “I must tell somebody else.” That is the spirit of the evangelist. But suppose that spirit was in you and you were a Roman Catholic? You would be misleading people. Do you understand what I am saying? In other words, when I talk about the Catholic system, I am not just talking about the Roman Catholic Church. All the daughters of Rome have been doing worse than Rome. What God is saying to us today is, “Come out from among them” (2 Corinthians 6:17). Some of us have come out of the churches, but we have the churches in us. Some of the evangelists on the television are preaching that the only place to go is back to Rome. Any spirit or any person that is leading people back to Rome is not of God, it is a spirit of the devil. The Bible tells me, “Come out from among them,” and it says, “Flee from Babylon” (Isaiah 48:20). I tell you something, if at this time you don’t flee from that spirit of denominationalism, the plague of division is going to take you. God says that if you don’t flee, you will suffer the consequences that they are going to suffer.
(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 17, 2006, pg. 6-7)
Thought for today: The ministry that God sends to you will make you work for God. In other words, what you are receiving from God is supposed to help you to begin to minister to others.
Sonlight Devotional 
Leave a Reply