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Posts Tagged ‘Body of Christ’

Walking in the Body of Christ

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , , on August 1, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Romans 12:1-9

We have been on the road for God from when we were in our twenties and we have spent a full life for God. We have made our share of mistakes—a lot of mistakes. It is so easy to make mistakes in the human realm. It is so easy to get someone upset when you had no intention to do so. We had to be on our P’s and Q’s in order not to upset people. They did not understand some of the ways we had and we were amazed at some of the ways they had.

I know that anyone who does not function in the Body of Christ ministry is going to make some severe mistakes and his mistakes are not going to be corrected. They are going to grow and grow. And as they grow, the mistakes will grow with them. A man will be walking with a big baggage of mistakes on him and he will be as big as the mistakes; and he will never get over them. Sometimes, God has to call His servants home because they have no more hope, for they will not get away from their errors.

Now remember, it is human to err and it is divine to forgive. Though it is human to err, you do not have to err, but if you make an error, there are several ways of getting the error fixed. I am determined not to walk with an error. So I began to tell the Body of Christ to pick up my errors. Anywhere you see an error, pick it up. Whenever you do not correct me, I feel that I am all right. I have been getting a few corrections these days and I want to correct every one of them. I do not want to be wrong. I want to be perfect. Did you know that? I want to be perfect, but, brethren, our only hope of walking this walk with God is to walk in the Body of Christ.

For forty-odd years I have been preaching this gospel and I have seen many men fall. Mighty men! I mean, men whose shoes I could not walk in because of the power of God that they walk in. And they fell. It bothered me so I asked, “My God, why should so and so fall if he has such a high walk? He is walking in such power of faith—why should he fall?”

I found out a secret. It is very simple: if you walk alone you are a dead man. There are none of us who can survive by going alone. If you have a revelation and you say, “This is my revelation and no man is going to take it away from me, I am going with my revelation,” then you are a loser! You are a loser before you even begin to fight, because the devil knows that and he is going to put a little kink in your revelation. It is a good revelation, a beautiful revelation, but there is a little kink in it. And that little kink will grow and grow like a seed in the concrete and will bust the whole thing open!

There is another thing I learned. A man who is deceived does not know that he is deceived. If he knew, then he would not be deceived! To be deceived means that you do not know. “Deceived” means that you think you are right when you are wrong. You think you are strong when you are weak. You think you are able when you are not able. So, let us humble ourselves before God and walk softly. When you get a word from God and you think it is a big word, walk very softly, because there is always a word against your word. Let me repeat that. For every word of God that you get, there is a word against that word. If you do not handle it right, you will be defeated with the word of God in your hand.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, January 1997, pg. 1-2)

Thought for today: Let us walk very softly in the Body of Christ so that in case we fall into error, the Body will correct us and we will stand.

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Christ in the Soul

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 24, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 12:20-26

When we accepted Jesus Christ, we received life. The Blood of Jesus Christ is the life of God. This is what we received in our souls which were dead in trespasses and sins. This life had to help us die to the alien life of sin which had occupied the soul. Then, we had the self-life, which also had to die. So we see that when we accepted Christ as our Savior, it was a matter of submitting to death in order to receive life. When that process is completed, then we begin to enter into Christ. Paul, speaking to the Corinthian Christians in I Corinthians 12:13, declares, “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.”

We are not baptized into the body of Christ until the body of sin and self is given a death-blow. If sin is still reigning in our members, then it was not fully dealt with. The grain of corn cannot bring forth a new life until it has given up its own life. We must die to live and that life does not begin until the death is complete. This is all done by faith.

The divine order of the entering into Christ is shown in the tabernacle of Moses by the three veils. The first veil is called the Gate, the second is called the Door, and the third is called the Veil. The door is Christ, and the entering in is preceded by the washing at the Laver, which is death to self and a complete surrender to Christ. Self cannot be on the throne and, at the same time, Christ be crowned as King. One King must depose the other. Even more than being deposed, ONE KING MUST SLAY THE OTHER so that there is no further possibility of a coup to regain the throne.

THE ENTERING IN OF CHRIST INTO THE SOUL of man is a conscious act of man’s will, which is preceded by the three BAPTISMS of death.

There must be a death before there can be a resurrection. The three baptisms are:

  1. Baptism in water, the baptizer being human
  2. Baptism in the Holy Ghost, the baptizer being Jesus Christ
  3. Baptism into Christ, the baptizer being the Holy Ghost

Christ enters into us, then we begin to enter into Christ. Just as the Holy Ghost enters into us, then we begin to live in the Spirit.

When Christ enters the soul as King, He begins His rule on earth within the individual. HE MUST REIGN TILL ALL ENEMIES ARE PUT UNDER HIS FEET, even death. We see, therefore, that He brings life and immortality to light by the gospel (II Timothy 1:10). The beast nature of man is being changed to the nature of the Christ.

We can see then that we can have Holy Spirit occupying our spirits, but not our souls as the five foolish virgins had in Matthew 25. This stands to reason why, although we receive the Holy Spirit, we still have the power to reject His counsel and have our own way. It also is the reason why we still fall into sin though having the Holy Spirit of God within us. The process of the Kingdom of God gently seeps into every area of our lives with our own free will consent, just as the leaven that leavens the whole three lumps of the woman’s meal in Matthew 13:33.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 148-149)

Thought for today: Let us give way in our souls to the Holy Spirit so that He may fill our vessel and conquer every sin in our lives.

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Rise up and Do

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , on July 5, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Psalm 40:7-8

As the days go by, we find God changing the word that comes forth. This is one of the reasons we cannot preach “canned” sermons, because the “can” would be producing the same thing that it produced last year. But we find the word changing and the clarity of it is increasing. Even the same old word is coming more alive. I believe you are finding the same thing: that there is liveliness about the word of God that is coming forth in the body of Christ.

The body of Christ must be alive. The body must minister. God does not have a class of people called ministers. Did you know that? He does not have a class of people called ministers. God has set in the body apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. But where is the ministry? The ministry is in the body. This means there is no one who can come and say, “God sent me to minister to you,” unless he is a functioning part of the body. We are only different parts of the body of Christ. The finger is as alive as the toe, but the finger cannot do what the toe does; neither can the toe do what the finger does; but it is just as much alive.

God is directing us to an even more detailed understanding of what the body of Christ really is. He wants us to begin to walk in the body and live in the body. That is, if you cannot live as a body member, you are not of the body. We have too many dead members. Or, let’s put it a little better: members that will not exercise their rights to move and to live and to do what God wants us to do. In other words, God is feeding us more energy now; more life is coming forth now into the body than there was before, because this is the time when we are going to have to rise up and do.

(Excerpt from “Led of the Spirit”, Foundational Teachings #F077)

Thought for today: This is the time when we are going to have to rise up and do what God wants us to do.

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In His Name – Part 1

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , on June 26, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:31-32

In these days, there is so much strife and division among people that there has been the need to cry out, “Lord, how can these things be?”

The natural, physical body functions beautifully and perfectly, without any single part being against the other. This physical body is a type of the Spiritual Body, therefore, there must be a perfect function of the Body of Christ.

God divides and separates through the working of the Spirit – good from evil, light from darkness, righteousness from unrighteousness – so that His people can be free from all the works of the enemy, and be separated unto Him in Holiness and Righteousness – PRAISE GOD.

God, the giver of understanding, has been unveiling the mystery.

Deliverance from every situation is in HIS NAME – not name as label on someone or something, but HIS NAME which is HIS NATURE. That nature is love, peace, submission, etc. Whatsoever we ask in His Name.

So many times, believers come together and leave undelivered and unblessed – frustrated and discouraged, not having received from the Lord that which has been promised. The reason is that something is wrong with the gathering or the gathered; it was not in HIS NATURE. There may be unforgiveness, hatred, bitterness, malice, strife, guile, cunning craftiness, and such things that are contrary to the NATURE of Christ. It is like having flies in the ointment. Clean hands and a pure heart is that acceptable offering before God. Remember, God looks at the inner being. He sees light or darkness. Forgiveness and cleansing through the atonement sanctifies the vessel, making way for the greatest blessings.

God cannot bless while the contrary nature is encouraged in the soul. All the sacrifices and necessary preparations were made in the Outer Court so the services of the tabernacle would not be hindered in any way, hence the needs of the people were met. When Israel made the perfect sacrifice, God was pleased and they were blessed to the fullest. Their enemies could not stand before them; they had complete victory in all areas. When they transgressed, they fell prey to their enemies, even to the bondage of slavery.

The fruits of the flesh (anger, wrath, malice, strife, envy, bitterness, etc.) are all works of the evil one, works of darkness – where Satan presides as lord. When we therefore entertain these, we fall into the realm of darkness where Satan has power over us. We only have power in Christ; we have no power in darkness.

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with ALL malice: And be ye Kind one to another, TENDERHEARTED, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath FORGIVEN YOU.” Ephesians 4:31-32.

There should be no place given to the devil, or he will take advantage of every opportunity to rob and destroy.

PRAISE GOD. WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS, because God made available to us, His People, every necessary piece of armament to insure us the victory.

His active presence can be experienced in the fullness of His revealed character. His NAME is linked with His righteousness, faithfulness, holiness, goodness, mercy, love, truth, etc. – that is His NAME. Since the assembling of believers forms the basis for spiritual unity with Christ, for participation of His bounties and viewing of His Sovereignty, believers must, through the divine power, rise from the lower realm (which is the opposite and contrary nature) to partake of that DIVINE NATURE.

God will not share His Glory. There must be a rejecting of one nature in order to receive the other nature. Self takes the place of Christ in the soul – the more self is rejected and cast out, the more of Christ we can have.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, pages 57-59)

Thought for today: Deliverance from every situation is in HIS NAME – not name as label on someone or something, but HIS NAME which is HIS NATURE.

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God – a Workman in Our Midst

Posted in The Blood of Jesus, tagged , , , on May 9, 2017| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 6:19

It is an ordinance of God that God moves with an individual, and then from that individual He moves with a people, and from that people He moves into the world. This is God’s plan. He moves through you as an individual, then from the individual He moves to the people, and from the people He moves to the world. Now, if you as the individual have a blockage, the Holy Spirit can move with you only so far, but then when He is blocked, He turns and moves with somebody else. But He wants to be able to move freely through the whole people.

Now, as our minds are turned and tuned towards God, it creates an anointing. Did you know that? It is like me trying to lift some heavy thing, but I can’t lift it. So I say, “Come and help me.” Yet, we still cannot lift it. But then, three or four people come, and we lift it. Amen. So, the weight of the anointing is coming through you. Then it builds up, and it builds up, and every time it gets into you, it fixes something that sometimes for years had been locked inside of you. God comes in and fixes it.

So God is a workman in our midst and He gives us a beautiful example: the body. Those of you who are medical people and have studied the body realize what a magnificent operation it is that the blood will flow through and get into every part of the body. One time, my toes began to feel a cramp, and I said, “Why are my toes cramped?” You see, something was wrong with the circulation. So I went to a therapist and he dug down into my calf. It got very painful. I said to him, “Why are you doing that?” He replied, “Well, you see, the arteries run through the muscles and if the muscle tightens up like this, it squeezes the arteries and the blood won’t get down to your toes.” Amen.

Oh, God, I wish we had wisdom to really look at God’s business. That’s your Bible! Your body is the Word of God. The Word of God is written in the Temple of God, and your bodies are the Temple of the Living God. You can preach a message from your body, just by looking at what occurs in the body. Then you know exactly what God is doing in the Body of Christ. This is the reason why He called the congregation of saints the Body of Christ. Amen.

There is a healing that is going through the Body, but this healing has been hindered by stoppages. Stoppages. The heart valve, the valve to the heart is leaking and the blood is draining down into other parts of the body making them sick and weak. You have so many arteries going to the heart and they are blocked. I remember once, the doctor said to my brother, “I don’t know how you can be standing here before me! You should be dead! Ninety percent of your arteries are blocked. You are living only through a ten percent opening.” Somebody said, “Oh, we know what to do. We can give you a substance, a mixture, a cocktail, they call it chelation.” So they give you a cocktail that will go in and get into those arteries and break up the blockage.

But God has better than the chelation. God has a healing power that has been going through the Church for two thousand years now to heal the blockages. But the Church has been resisting and resisting and resisting. Yet, God has a time. Hallelujah. He has a time! Get into your Bible sometimes and look into all the things that happened on the seventh day. All these healings! You see, there is a secret there and the secret is that God has a time when He is going to finish the job in us, in the Church. Because He says He is coming for a Church without spot, without blemish, or without wrinkle. If He is coming for a Church without spot, blemish, and wrinkle, and if His coming is near, the nearer we get to the coming, the less spots we are going to have, because He is going to wipe the spots out. He is going to knock them out. He is going to blow them out! Whatever it takes, He is going to do it! Hallelujah! I don’t think some of us will survive! But then, that will be also God. Because, you know, if we get so entangled with the spots, and the blemishes that you cannot differentiate the spot and the blemish from the person, then, somehow, the person has to go. God will just let that person pass because HE IS CLEANSING THE CHURCH!

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, May 25, 2003)

Thought for today: God has a healing power that has been going through the Church for two thousand years now to heal the blockages in His Body.

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