Everyone did their part
So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily. Acts 16:5
This is truly a demonstration of the body of Christ working together as was intended from the beginning. Everyone doing their part within the body and producing the results that Jesus died for His people to have.
I am referring to what the apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthian people. In 1 Corinthians 12:12 he said: 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. God supernaturally connected His people by appointing Jesus as the head and through the Spirit of God He (Jesus) would remain in the world in His body of believers.
This is so beyond us and I struggle daily to remind myself that I am not my own, I am part of a body that occupies the entire planet. In the reading today, we can see how that body is supposed to be growing in the world each day. The church, at its inception, began spreading like wildfire because each person was doing their part. They didn’t depend on the apostles to let the world know, they all were talking about the love and God and the salvation He had provided for all, everywhere they went all day long. It was the good news then and it still is today.
So what is our part that we are to be doing in the body of believers today? Are we all to be packing up our homes and traveling around the world to get the message out? Is every one of us to become ordained ministers and start a church to lead people in our area to weekend services? Paul told the Corinthians that each person had a part, but he didn’t tell them what their part was. What he did say was that God set each member in the body as He pleased. (See 1 Cor. 12:18) Paul also said that there should be no schism or division within the church but that we should care for one another always.
Lastly, 1 Corinthians 12 says that we should earnestly desire the best gift for the times that we need them and only the Holy Spirit knows what those gifts are.
Today I want to encourage you to operate in your gift and ability within the body. The only way to truly know what your part is will be by hearing and following the direction of the Holy Spirit in your heart. You are truly on the honor system. No person can tell you what you have been called to do, but you do need to submit to the authority that His Spirit has placed you under. We also know that our main job is to care for one another and share the good news of salvation with those around us each day. Even though we may never preach the gospel around the world, we should always be praying for and supporting those who do. Only then will we see the results that the first church did and be fully operating as Jesus in bodily form in this earth.
Today’s scripture reading: Acts 16:1-5
1 Then he came to Derbe and Lystra. And behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a certain Jewish woman who believed, but his father was Greek.
2 He was well spoken of by the brethren who were at Lystra and Iconium.
3 Paul wanted to have him go on with him. And he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in that region, for they all knew that his father was Greek.
4 And as they went through the cities, they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem.
5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
The Daily Dose 