Our online gathering on Sunday 1st December was focussed around two themes, which emerged in our listening to the Lord. We commend the following notes for your prayerful reflection.
The Lord is restoring the heart(s) of His Body
- At our recent Maranatha weeked in Ilkley, which was on the subject of healing, the Lord placed the heart at centre of our attention. The way in which the human heart is structured for its function helped us to understand some of the ways in which the Lord is calling us to be agents of healing for the heart of the Body of Christ. Each cell has the intrinsic capacity to contract on its own, but it functions as part of the heart muscle by being in close proximity with other heart cells, so that their individual contractions are synchronised and the whole muscle pumps rhythmically. This ‘oneness’ of the cells of the heart is what circulates life to the whole body. In the measure that we are one, we contribute to the circulation of life to the Body of Christ, to the nation and beyond.
- Our affirmation of oneness with others in the Body of Christ goes beyond our natural connection with others whom we consider to be of like heart and mind. “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ.” (1Cor 12.12). The living Body of Christ is made up of those who are alive in Him. There is power in our conscious affirmation of oneness with the whole Body, including those of past generations.
- The Lord is calling us to pursue a deeper oneness with Him and with others in the Body of Christ. It requires our alignment with the Head, Jesus, through which we become aligned more closely with one another. This is all for the purpose of life flowing in the whole Body. Conversely, we should recognise the impact of the lack of oneness and alignment of individual cells.
- Deeper oneness is the fruit of deeper reconciliation within the ‘cells’ of the heart of the Body. This requires a deeper level of repentance and forgiveness. A picture was shared of a heart with many ‘openings’, perhaps representing wounds. In the image, Jesus came into the heart as His heart encompassed the whole. Light radiated through the ‘openings’ and blood was continually poured through. We were reminded that the heart of Jesus was pierced on the cross, providing the way of deeper reconciliation and forgiveness.
- The heart is connected to the lungs which provide the oxygen needed by the cells of the body, through the breath. God’s Spirit is as breath for the Body of Christ. Through Him, the cells of the Body are bonded as one as each subits to the Lordship of Jesus, the Head. “no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit” (1Cor 12.3). We can breathe life into the world and into the heavenly realms.
- “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” (Ezek 37.9). We need to learn how to speak and breathe ‘in the Spirit’ as one. We are called to live the Word of God as Christ’s Body on earth through the power of His Spirit. His Word and breath shapes the life He wants us to live in the measure that we are submitted to them.
Each one has a responsibility to pursue holiness for the sake of the Body
- Jesus demonstrated the way in which we are to guard our ‘spiritual space’ – the way in which we are to live in the world but not be of it. This ‘space’ is governed by our communion with God the Father and Holy Spirit. Only those of faith were allowed to breach Jesus’ ‘space’ eg. the woman with bleeding pushed through His ‘space’ as she reached out for healing. She touched Him in the Spirit, accessing His power to heal.
- A complementary metaphor is that we are responsible for maintaining our ‘house’. We are invited to live in the Father’s House, as a member of His family, where we live in the “obedience that comes from faith” (Rom 1.5). We should be careful to keep our door shut to the world, the flesh and the devil, all of which would try to invade and occupy our ‘house’ or our ‘spiritual space’.
- Compromise in our life of holiness – being set apart from the world – compromises the unity and the purity of the body of Christ. We are given power to rule over sin (Gen 4.7). Our lives are precious, our ‘spiritual space’ is holy ground, which we should guard. In the measure that we take only the yoke of Jesus upon ourselves (Mt 11.29), we will be guarded. It is a call to prayer within an active relationship with God.
Towards the end of the gathering we listened together to the ‘Clarion Call’ – available here.
One member shared that, in listening to the call a number of times, he had been led to the book of Joel. The whole prophecy is relevant but we noted especially Joel 2.15-16: “
Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly;”Our Community Gathering in January, in Davyhulme, Manchester, will be a ‘sacred assembly’. Maranatha members have been sent the link to the booking form.
