I am still in PJ’s, sitting at the PC munching on a piece of Zopf with ovomaltine spread which are awesome Swiss creations along with the world renowned pocket knife….amid tears streaming down my face. The reason for the tears are not straight forward. I was in the middle of changing my daughter’s bedding when Holy Spirit invited me to write. He knew that the tears would be allayed as my typing fingers wrestled with complexities within.

As I was engaged with the tasks at hand my mind went off in different directions. It went to severed or changed relationships. It went to home church last night in honour of Ascension. It went to conversations had, Bible passages remembered and teachings listened to. It went to areas of the Bible that is not yet that clear to me. In recent times the severing or changing of relationships has been due to my walk with Jesus.

Now I can giggle about my naivete…though sadly….I thought that everyone who calls themselves Christians are actually hungry to grow in the things of God…only to find a host of reasons why this is not always the case.

I listened to a Pastor one day mentioning how various denominations are not really denominations but actually different revelations of the heart of God. I am paraphrasing but this resonates with me, bearing witness with my spirit. He mentioned the Catholics understanding the passion of the Cross, the Wesley movement understanding holiness, the Pentecostals understanding the importance of speaking in tongues, the Word of faith movement understanding the power of speaking God’s Word in faith and more recently, divine healing and deliverance being revealed to the church. This list is not exhaustive but it certainly gets me thinking….

Before Jesus ascended into Heaven he prayed for His followers here on earth. He prayed that we would be ONE. Of all the things that Jesus could have prayed, He knew that unity was key to the power of the Church. (John 17)

In Ephesians 4 Paul beautifully sums this up: As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. This is why it says: When He ascended on high, He took many captives and gave gifts to His people.

What does He ascended mean except that He also descended to the lower, earthly regions? He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers, to equip His people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ… Hallelujah!!!!!!!

AAAAHHHH!!!! Ascension…now I see where you are leading me Holy Spirit. Could it be that we need to learn from each other? That we need to unite so that we can grasp the wonder of the gifts Jesus gave us when He ascended? Could it be that when Paul tells us to be humble, that part of that is to stop the in-fighting in the Church and invite God’s Spirit to lead us in maturing so that we can attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ which includes the above revelations and others?

Division is a hallmark of the enemy. In Mark 3:25 Jesus states that if a house be divided against itself, that it cannot stand. Let us be wise to the schemes of the enemy, so that he does not outwit us. (2 Corinthians 2:11)

Lord I thank you that you have given us all we need for the gates of hell not to prevail against the Church. Show us how to unite in humility and be the Church you have called us to be….and all God’s people say: AMEN!

Till next time 🙂