Unity

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There is something amazing happening in my area. Southwest Michigan is going to be a model of John 17:23:


John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.


I believe this is a prophetic word for my city. Prophecy is NOT Christian fortune-telling. Prophecy is an invitation by God. Because God is so committed to love, He is committed to free will. Free will requires a choice. Prophecy presents a choice: enter in or ignore!


If John 17:23 is going to be a reality in my life, then I have to be willing to join with the whole Body of people committed to a John 17:23 reality. If I am going to join with other parts of the Body, I am going to need grace in great measure, and I am going to need to give grave in great measure. 1 Corinthians 13 is like a warehouse of grace:


I Corinthians 13:1-2 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.


I could know secret knowledge direct from the Father's throne, but if love doesn't lead the way for that knowledge to come out of me, the knowledge is worthless.


I love the picture Paul gave of the church operating in the fullness of power...operating in the Holy Spirit:


I Corinthians 12:12-19 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. And if they were all one member, where would the body be?


I picture Jesus' Body all over the area in pieces. Hands, feet, eyes, mouths....separated by forces that came before us...forces we don't even remember...but still miraculously alive! Toes severed from feet. Feet from legs, legs from torsos...


The foot worships with hymns and the torso with loud distorted guitars. One prays silently while the other shouts. One contends for holiness and the other manifestations of power.


The evil force that divided the Body always divided by accusation: "did God really say that was ok?" As we enter into the new invitation, that same old liar will still accuse: "THEY don't know anything about being the Body. Did God really say THAT was ok?"


I want to be on my game. I don't want to be like Eve, caught off guard and helping the enemy lie to me. No! I want to be like my King, Jesus! "It is written!!" That is what Jesus said that silenced the snake.


If I will hold to Biblical truth, and observe the QUALITY of the faith of the different parts of the Body, rather than criticize the STYLE, all the while searching out what is WRITTEN rather than what I FEEL, then no power of Hell will stop what is promised for Kalamazoo!

Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

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