CALLED TO BE A SERVANT: BY MICHAEL BROD God has chosen us to function as the Body of Christ. "We have been made flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bones." Ephesians 5:30 There is an intimacy that we are asked to understand, an intimacy that we are encouraged to experience. For God said, we shall be one flesh. 1Corinthians 6:16 God has put all things under the feet of Jesus Christ, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all... Ephesians 1:22-23 Paul uses the word fullness to indicate "completeness." So the Church is said to be the fullness, the completeness of Christ. We complement Christ and the fullness of Jesus Christ; the express image of the Father is revealed in us. God has revealed Himself in the earth in a 2nd Adam, in the man Jesus Christ... Now He will reveal Himself still further, in a bride who will be the "glory of the man" even as the woman was the glory of God." 1Corinthians 11:7 With all humility, awe and sense of responsibility we can say that God formed us to give expression to Himself. God wants His people to have His mind, to think as He thinks, to work as He is working, to speak as He is speaking - therefore in Revelation 22:17 it says: "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come." One could ask: "Is it not enough that the Spirit says come?" Not really, for the world does not know His Spirit, and unless the Bride is speaking together with the Spirit, people are not going to hear or understand. We know that the world cannot hear or learn of Jesus Christ without a preacher. We look to the purpose of God - that the Spirit has a Bride in union with Himself, and together they speak. The transformation that God intends will be seen on earth as "the Spirit and the Bride say, Come". God desires to be 'glorified in His saints', in a Body that is thoroughly joined and knit together, that has come 'unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.' He is forming a Bride that is worthy of the Bridegroom. The Bride is going to be ready. She is going to be prepared. Therefore, because God is gathering a unique people, He has sent forth a word and a ministry to gather and prepare the kind of a people that He wants. We, among many, are such a people - servants of God who have heard what the Spirit is saying, and are declaring that living Word. We have become a voice that is revealing Jesus Christ. It is not something that we have imagined out of our own hearts. It is something that originated in the heart of God. It is His intention and His desire to bring it into being, and therefore He has declared it. We know, that nothing that God says can fail to come to pass, and He is preparing a transformed people, a Bride. "So shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." Isaiah 55:11That which God has spoken, He speaks again by His Spirit, in our hearts. As we speak of our calling as the Bride of Christ, we also consider our role as servants, because we are called to be servants that assist the Bride in her preparation. Jesus has called us friends as regards our relationship to Him, but we are servants as it pertains to ministry. It is the Holy Spirit that is preparing a Bride for Christ but I am emphasizing the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and He who lives in us can speak through us, and work through us. We are members of His body, the Bride that He is preparing, but we are also servants engaged in the process of preparation. "For the whole body is fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, which produces increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love." Ephesians 4:16 We are responsible to faithfully speak the word that will gather this Bride for Christ. As the song declares, "You are what is seen of Him of Him who is invisible, you crystallize the one who has no form, and you localize the one who is everywhere." Through His servants this Bride is prepared, and God brings into being the desire of His own heart. "Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but that He first reveals His secret unto his servants." Amos 3:7 God has always sought out a servant ministry that will faithfully minister the truth to His people. We can see that there is a Word going forth from the heart of God that will prepare and gather this Bride for His Son. We have understood that the Holy Spirit will be faithful to present this Bride to Christ. We have identified with His purpose. Our commitment to minister Truth according to the will of God is strengthened by the assurance that God is faithful to watch over His Word, and bring it to pass. Jesus said: John 5:30 "I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me." When we move in the realm of the will of God, we fulfill His intention. Throughout the Bible, the men and women of faith whose deeds are recorded, were simply people who heard His voice and acknowledged that God had a plan and a purpose. Their commitment to Him was such that having discovered what that plan was, moved according to His direction. Is this not true for us? By faith they looked into the unseen realm, heard what God said, knew what He wanted, and acted accordingly. Having heard from God, and knowing something of His plan, they learned how to pray according to His will. In drawing close to God, they learned how to walk in the way that would fulfill God's destiny for their lives. We are learning the mind of the Lord so that we can go forth at God's request, led of the Spirit, in paths that we do not completely know, because we have not come this way before. Because we are committed to do God's will, in God's way, in God's time, we believe that we are in the right place, at the right time, to see God's glory revealed in that which He has ordained. The Holy Spirit is the One who ministers into our lives all that Jesus obtained for us through His work of redemption. We seek to have the Holy Spirit working in our daily lives, and also when we come together in His Name. As Jesus promised, "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that He will take of mine and reveal it to you. John 16:13-15. *For more information on this topic simply E-mail Michael Brod at: michaelbrod@hotmail.com return Gems of Faith: