We are the church. The church runs through our veins and is nonexistent without us. We are one. Of one body. When she rejoices, we rejoice. When she mourns, we mourn. We are the church. And the church needs healing.
Build Your Kingdom by Rend Collective is the perfect little anthem for this. have a listen.
To see the
captive hearts released
The hurt, the sick, the poor at peace
We lay down our lives for Heaven's cause
We are Your church
We pray: revive this earth
The hurt, the sick, the poor at peace
We lay down our lives for Heaven's cause
We are Your church
We pray: revive this earth
For the church to heal, the body, each member,
each branch that has been grafted in and marked in the Book of Life, must be
healed. Physical healing, for some. For others, the mind. And still others the
spiritual. In order to move forward, we
must go back to the tears and anger and disappointments and cover them by the
blood of Jesus, with his healing through the power of the Spirit of God.
A collision of the mind, body and soul has to
occur and our clenched fists must find rest in the open hand position, as we
receive the grace we profess with our mouths. We must be made aware of the
festering wounds stirring inside our souls. The ones that bind us in anger and despair
and full of self hate. The ones we allow to steal our joy and block out the
sound of God singing over us. The ones that
the enemy uses to close our eyes and ears to God. The ones that make us
ineffective and keep us down in the pit.
The church
needs faith that it can be healed. Faith in a
God who sees and in a God who heals and in the power of the Holy Spirit. We
need to trust and rely on God to heal, not being so reliant on doctors or time
or the body to heal (yes, those are great things) but trusting in God as the
ultimate healer - who uses doctors and time and the body to heal us. It is
being the one who goes back to thank God after all has been said and done, reminiscent
of the leper who returns to give thanks.
Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt
you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:6-7
We must be a church knitted together in
humility, knowing it the humiliation will not last forever. We must be a church
that gets low and dirty, crawling among crowds of people just to touch the tip
of Jesus' clothes, believing it will heal. That fervent and desperate and full
of faith. We must leave our worry at his feet, believing his ways are truly
better than our own, because he cares for us.
We must have humility in knowing we are broken
and cannot save ourselves and are in need of a Savior in every aspect of our lives,
including the ones that have yet to surface and become known in our finite
minds. We must learn to be transparent with those around us and be prayerful for ourselves and
others.
Praying that as a tree in winter, whose glory
and splendor and beauty has fallen to the ground, and now stands bare and open
for all to see its branches and peeling bark and holes, the church would stand
bare. That each member would be transparent and open in order to accept the
healing that is offered through the blood of Jesus. Praying that as the tree is waiting its time in preparation for spring,
for its renewal and blooms, that the church would go through its process in revival
of faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit's miraculous works, as healing
pulses its veins.
Here's to the church and the healing of many.