A Vision Where I Live

One thing presses upon my heart, a pressure, a sadness. And that concerns the church in this age, in this place. There are at least ten church buildings within one mile of where I live. Each with its own sign, each with its own edifice. And inside are beloved ones who believe in the Lord. Each group has something to give, community services, study groups, worship services.

But I rise up in the Spirit, and I see all these lights, separated, hidden from each other, covered over by doctrine and practice from displaying the fullness of Christ. There are no walls that separate the Body of Christ, no such thing exists in the Spirit. The spiritual reality has as its foundation Jesus Christ, and Him only. Men have built on to this foundation concepts of wood, hay, and stubble.

No denomination exists in the New Kingdom. Even the 'non-denominational' denominations have no basis in the New Kingdom reality. I hear it all the time, "Come to our church." But I am a part of your church! I already come to the church! I can not join your organization, your denomination, as this is simply a artifice of mans creation. I can not join that which I am already a part of in reality.

So what does Paul mean when he says "... each man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is." Do you think he means at the end of all things? No, our personal faith is tested whenever we grow, to strengthen and build us personally. Is it any different with the practical manifest Body of Christ? No, but we are so insulated to the spiritual reality, we fail to perceive the testing of God.

Also, there is His timeline. We are constrained personally to this brief existence. He is not. His judgment is perfect, and may play out over days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, mellinia, or longer. Do not even entertain the notion that you perceive His full wisdom. We know in part, and that is a very small part. But He is faithfull to reveal what is pertinent to us, in a timely manner, for our benefit and edification.

So in that, He has opened my eyes to the walls that separate us. The context is simple. What do yo call a 'new church' starting up near you? I attend one of those, I love the saints there, and sense God wanting to flow in life in them. But there are plenty of believers who live in my area. The church is already here, so it is just a new meeting. And what should be the focus of growth for a new meeting in some area? Is it a competition for resources based on what meeting has the most life? Or best worship band? Or provides the best Sunday school?

Certainly we should evangelize, there is a huge need in my area, but the other groups do the same thing. Do we evangelize to grow our meeting? Or to lead the empty to the church? And what do you teach? That the practices and doctrines of your branch are superior? Or that you just 'believe' in this way? But to what result? Is that belief a protective barrier to some fear, or some threat? Most do not do this overtly. It is simply a result of our natural desire to be a part of something special. Nothing wrong with that, especially as it becomes transformed by the Spirit, and you realize you are a part of something very special, but it has little to do with particular doctrines or practice.

Do you see what will happen? Denominations have not withstood the fire. Fractured, broken into pieces, by the opinions of man. Destined for the eternal bonfire. They are the work of man. Doctrines of end times, practices of symbolic requirement, all burned up in time. Perhaps not your lifespan, but gone none the less.

Look dear saint, to what has pushed through the ages! Has the 'universal church' decreased in number? One believer, in one locality, can bear much fruit! And it has happened through the ages! The life in you, the same Spirit, guided the early church. Guided those faithful searchers through the 'dark ages', through wars and famines. And it flourishes now, in our day across the globe!

Do you think it will be any different in your locality? Will the building on the corner survive a hundred years? Two hundred? It will fall, and the image it projects now, whether of stained glass tower or collegial campus, will be gone. But the life inside of the meeting, the life imprinting itself now on the hearts of those gathered, will bear fruit. It will go forward to Glory after Glory.

Does it really glorify God when the building fund meets its goal? Is there eternal benefit in the new sound system? By all means He provides, and is Glorified in our faith, and meeting that faith. But realize dear ones, what is close to His heart! It is the unity of faith, and the display of power that builds the Body of Christ. It is a spiritual construction, and central to God's heart. The tool, the organism He inhabits to truly rule this realm is His body. If we do not practice the body, we are not reaching our potential.

In this we can safely judge what works we put our efforts toward. Work for the breaking down of the walls that divide the church in your locality. Go to a service at another building. Go with love, and then go to another. Meet at a prayer group you have never gone to, go with love and visit. If your react negatively to the doctrines and practices of another meeting, look to your own heart. The Lord loves these ones! After you do this, tell your friends to do the same! You need not switch meetings, or abandon those you are close to, just search and pray for this vision. Test your vision by loving all the believers in your area! And by that, to love them you must meet them!

If we see the body, actually sense the unity of faith in the body where we live, God will have a outlet of strength. He wants to build, and it will happen. One plants, one waters, but He causes growth. If the ground where you live is strewn with boulders and weeds, or littered with wood, hay and stubble, it simply need to be cleared. Look around, God will clear the land in His time, removing the boulders and weeds. Burning up the constructions of man. If you see it, pray it. Walk in that vision of the unified Body of Christ, that supreme display of God's love toward those who walk in darkness.

I speak of spiritual things, and they are irritations to the natural mind. Even the mind encased in doctrine will reject the word. Woe to you who are trapped in such lifeless shells! You claim the light, yet do not taste the life. Fall on your faces and cry! God is ready to break that shell, and gently lead you to living water. He speaks now in this day of a strong wind, a movement of the Spirit which will fan the flames! That which is constructed of pure gold, pure silver, facetted gems, can not be burnt.

Lord open the eyes of all who read this, let the log drop from in front of us! The wood, the log, the construction of man which prevents us from seeing the body where we live. Prevents us from loving the all the saints in our localities. Release Your anointing word to expose the folly. Show the futility of these doctrines and practices! Bring us back Lord! Back to the path of Your design, even that specific path for the communities where we live. Do a work here, worthy of Eternal Glory! Praise you forever!