Joined

If we want to finish our race and finish strong, we need to locate ourselves in the Church. That’s where we finished off last week.

Revelations makes it clear that in the last days God will be speaking to the church. We know that Jesus was in the habit of going to the synagogue when He was here on Earth, Luke 4:16. He loves the church. That is His bride. God loved the world, and He gave us Jesus to die for our sins (John 3:16). Jesus loves every single person. But when He comes back, He is coming back for His bride (the Church) see 2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:27 and Revelation 19:7. That is the global Church, not just my church or your church.

To finish strong, we need to know who we are and what we were put in this Earth to do. In order to do that, we have to locate ourselves in the Church where we can be equipped to do what we need to do, Ephesians 4:12, Proverbs 2:7-9. God reveals our purpose through the church. I have learnt so much about myself since I made a decision to put God first in my life. Meaning I prioritize the things that matter to God, like being at church on Sundays. I don’t wing it. It doesn’t depend on the weather or my feelings or what not. I plan my life around being where God wants me to be and on Sunday mornings, that is at church.

If you are struggling to hear from God, my question to you is, “Are you plugged in to a local church?” By plugged in, I don’t mean you occasionally visit. If we want to live our lives well and finish strong and hear “Well done good and faithful servant” the moment we step into eternity, we have to be intentional about how we live our lives on Earth. We have to be intentional about prioritizing God and the things that matter to God.

Yes, God values our personal relationship with Him and quite frankly if you go to church but have no personal relationship with God, then you are wasting your time. When we give an account for our lives, that day when we are face to face with Jesus, it will not be an account of what programs we had at our church or how many people attended service on Sunday. It will be “What did you do for Me?” You can’t serve a God you do not know. He needs to be your personal Lord and Saviour.

Likewise, we can’t just rely on our personal relationship with God and avoid being part of the Church. Matthew 7:21-23 TPT says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into heaven’s kingdom. It is only those who persist in doing the will of my heavenly Father. On the day of judgment many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, don’t you remember us? Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we cast out demons and do many miracles in your name?’ But I will have to say to them, ‘Go away from me, you lawless rebels! I’ve never been joined to you!’”

Jesus says at the end of the verse, “I’ve never been joined to you”. Meaning these people have not been part of His body. What is His body? The Church. You can do you and do you own thing outside of the Church but when that day comes where we stand before God, it matters whether or not you did God’s will or did your thing. Whether you were joined to Christ or were out there seeing for yourself.

You have to remember that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance (Romans 11:29) meaning, they are yours, He has given them to you. You don’t have to be perfect for God to use you, otherwise the pulpits would be empty and we wouldn’t have all the awesome music we listen to or blogs that we read because none of us are perfect but God uses us.

We are not to mistake people operating in their gift as them having the blue tick from God. Not everyone is verified, lol. What matters is not how people see us. How many followers we have, how many people we impress. What matters is whether we are doing the will of God and instead of hearing “Go away from me you lawless rebels!” We hear, “Well done good and faithful servant.”

It is God’s will for us all to be a part of His body, the Church. He wants us all to be part of His bride. That is how we build God’s Kingdom. That is how His will is done on Earth as it is in Heaven, when we are submitted to His Lordship and we prioritize the things that matter to Him and we locate ourselves where He wants us to be, in the Church.

Love and blessings,

Melissa Tsingano