Christian Living

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Fitly Joined Together
By Patricia Backora, author of the book
Tough Love in Christ's Millennium
Which you can order online from: http://www.publishamerica.com

As I was meditating today the Lord brought to mind the word "mortise". I have never had occasion to use this word before, but my husband had sometimes mentioned it years ago when he did a bit of carpentry. I did know that the term "mortise" had something to do with the joining together of two wooden structures in building. I looked the word up in the dictionary and it means: "Hole in one part of a framework shaped to receive the end of another part". You can be sure that when the Lord Jesus did carpentry work, He had better sense than to piece a clothes chest together by hammering large pegs into tiny holes. After all the hard work He'd done to prepare the components of the chest, He would have ended up with a ruined acacia panel and wasted work time.

On the humorous side, I recall a story my mother told me about when she was dating my dad. Women are always a bit size-conscious, but in her case, it had to do with her shoe size. She wore a 91/2 shoe, and wished her feet were smaller. My dad asked her one day: "What size shoe do you wear?"

She felt like he'd put her on the spot. Rather than run the risk of being teased, Mom said: "size seven". That evening she had a date to go with my dad to a ball game. So what did he present her with but a brand new pair of shoes? Size seven. Rather than admit she'd fibbed about it, she crammed her feet into those torture racks and suffered throughout the evening. She was so eager to impress another human being she forced her feet into shoes which weren't made for her feet.

Joining a church" is a misconception. It is the Holy Spirit Who fits us into our particular place in the Body of Christ. We can attend various groups and conferences for edifcation and spiritual refreshment. We can even faithfully show up at one particular house of worship for years, and still not quite fit in there. If you wholeheartedly believe in the Baptism of the Spirit accompanied by speaking in tongues and gifts of the Spirit, but the place you're attending doesn't allow those things, then you will feel just as cramped as my mother's feet did in those size seven shoes. It is up to us to hearken to His voice, but only the Lord Jesus can truly set us where He wants us in His Body the church.

Ephesians 19:22 speaks of our being builded together to be a habitation of God:

VERSE 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God;

VERSE 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Cornerstone;

VERSE 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth into an holy temple in the Lord:

VERSE 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Notice, especially verse 21: "fitly framed together". Jesus understands the concept of mortises. Not only would Jesus join you to a local church body as He wills, but it would mean you are filling a vacancy in that assembly, a "socket" that Jesus has prepared to plug you into. The eye is a very important part of the human body, but where would your eye be without the hole God prepared for it, the eye socket?

Wherever we go, the Lord prepares the way for us. In John 14:2-3 Jesus says: In My Father's House are many mansions: If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

What has Jesus been doing since He ascended to heaven? Preparing our heavenly mansions for us to dwell in. When we get to heaven, we won't just settle down in the first nice place we see. We will go to the place appointed for us to be in. Not just anybody will be given the title deed to the mansion prepared for you. It will have your name on it. It will reflect your particular taste and be tailored to your needs and your interests. Jesus will have built and furnished it just for you!

Jesus is consistent in the way He does things. If He wants us to be somewhere, even on earth, He will have prepared that place to receive us as part of His plan for our lives. Every good shepherd prepares the pasture for his flock before setting his sheep there. If you feel deep in your heart that you are truly part of a local congregation flowing in the life and love of Christ, it is because Jesus has joined you to that place as the Master Builder of the Church. But if you aren't appointed to be in some particular place, you might feel uneasy about it, in which case you ought to pray to discern more clearly the Lord's will. If you are a Spirit-filled round peg in a square hole, God might direct you to another assembly where the Gifts of the Spirit are encouraged. It might be that you need a more spiritual church, period. There are churches where all the pastor seems to preach about is the need for more finances for his favorite building programs. That is not building God's spiritual building, that is building a brick-and-mortar monument to human ego. If you find yourself in a cold church where cold sermons are preached by a cold pastor, God might want to set you in a church where the pastor exhorts the saints to greater fervency in their love toward the Lord and toward one another.

Ephesians 4:15-16 says: But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 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 truly where God wants you to be, you will be able to be a blessing in the Lord there, and others will be prepared to receive what you have to share, as you move in the anointing of the Spirit. Through giving and receiving the Life flow of the Spirit of Christ, the Body of Christ is built up. This can be likened to the way a human body is nourished through nutrients in its own blood stream. The blood nourishes your chest, then it moves on to nourish your legs, then your feet. But were the blood in your body to stop in one place instead of moving on, it could prove fatal. Where there is life, there is a constant flow of nourishment to maintain that life. Don't settle for a dead church where you aren't getting fed.

I Corinthians 12:18 says: But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him. It is God Who "fitly" joins us together in Christ. We might be able to join a club, but God sets us into the church as functioning members. We can plunk ourselves down in a pew in a religious meeting which doesn't preach or practice the Word of God, but it doesn't mean God has set us in that pew.

Generally, even saints within the same congregation might have minor differences in personal theology, but each church has its own particular vision for what it wants to see accomplished. Even churches which share fundamental beliefs like the Atonement of Christ might disagree on their dreams. In one congregation the emphasis might be on foreign missions. In another, it might be on seeing local sick people healed or waging spiritual warfare against satan. Some churches are great centers for youth outreach. Another church might not believe that tongues are for today, and so its vision would be different from that of the Charismatic churches. Still another church might lay the emphasis on prosperity. Such a church would have a different vision from a saint whose eyes were entirely on the prize to be won in heaven.

Amos 3:3 says: Can two walk together, except they be agreed? If God has given you a particular vision for church life and you are in a wilderness experience, ask Him to plant you in a place where that same vision He has given you is shared by others.

I do not subscribe to the Personal Messenger service. To contact me, e-mail me at:

[email protected] http://www.kingdomageministry.com

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