God's Mighty River

God's Mighty River
Saturday, May 19, 2012 by Charlotte S. Snead

I have a mental image of a huge, mighty river, greater even than our West Virginiathe rivers at flood stage. As this river rushes, swelling tributaries flow into it, creating an even greater, more powerful rushing river, until it sweeps aside all debris in its path. What I imagine is that this river is God’s River of Life, and the tributaries that flow into it are all the different streams of His Church: independent believers, different denominations, all Who Truly Believe, who call on the Name of Jesus, and stand under His shed Blood.

Perhaps that mental image is not in the Bible per se, although you can glimpse it in Ezekiel’s rising river, but the call to be One can be found many places. Let us start with Jesus’ own high priestly prayer, found in John 17. (Read John 17:11 & 21-23)

John 17:11: Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through your name those whom You have given me, that they may be one as We are.

And the glory which You gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

In this, Jesus’ last prayer with his disciples before the Cross, He is praying for unity among His people, the ones His Father has given Him. (That includes you and me!) He prays that we will be one so that we may be made perfect and so that the world will believe that God sent Him to earth. It is a little-known or appreciated truth that living among God’s people, the church, wears off the rough edges of our flesh. Have you ever found a smooth stone, worn smooth by tumbling in the river being knocked about by the other stones? So our rough edges are worn down by living and working alongside of one another. Getting along with one beloved Christian man—my husband—is hard enough! How often do you have to “crucify the flesh” to get along with a spouse? Or a mother or grandmother with whom you live? Even if they are Christians. You see, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of darkness, loves to whisper those thoughts into our ear even as he whispered to Eve: “did God really say?” because he knows if he can divide, he can conquer. If he can turn us against one another, he laughs all the way to his evil domain. Now I know satan cannot be everywhere, but he has countless little minions to do his infernal bidding, and we must not allow ourselves to be ensnared by those foul spirits of hell. No, we must chose—and, brethren, it is always a choice—to refuse those lies, to cast them down, to take them captive.

I have worked with several ministries—pro-life ministries, MOPS, and a ministry in El Salvador called Enlace which helps churches of different denominations and even governmental agencies move beyond the four walls of their buildings into a critical joining together to develop community projects. Working together to protect Life can bring to the table people outside our four walls here who also know God, and we who call ourselves Christians must get along well so that the world may know we are Christians by the love we have one for another, as the Apostle John says in his epistle. The pregnancy ministries are works of God, important to protect life and to relieve suffering in our communities, but even more important is the salvation of one man or woman who comes to the table. Our goals are to guide women away from abortion, to support them in the choice to give life, and to share Christ with those who do not know Him.

Which brings us to the second powerful aspect of unity: Jesus said in John 17 that the world would know that God sent Him to earth when we become one. Do you know why I love to work with these inter-denominational ministries? I am so blessed to be among God’s people! Maybe I am not a follower of every jot and tittle of your doctrine, but I am One with you under the Precious Blood of our Savior. I find great power in that. I stand before you tonight knowing full well that you have much more to teach me than I can ever teach you. You are precious saints of the Most High God, with humility, an amazing work ethic, joy in the Lord, self-sacrificing goodness—how can I teach you? Whether I go to El Salvador or Ecuador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua or the United States, I find missing pieces of the Body of Christ, each of us swimming in our little streams. I come and you say: welcome to my church. And I am home, in God’s House, and we are one family in Christ Jesus. The lost people around us say: look how they love one another, and the world will know we are Christians by our love. Do you know the world-wide revival is awaiting the Church learning to love, honor and prefer one another? Jesus Himself prayed for that. And I believe this Sleeping Giant is arising across our globe.

The Beloved Apostle, John, in his first epistle commands love among God’s people; we would do well to read it often. If we do not love the brethren, John says we are not of God. When the Church—not just in this place, but all who adore Jesus—when we come together in agape love—God’s own love, other-worldly love, love from the Father—the world will see God. So, let us get about the business of loving one another.

Can you see how God is causing all His little streams to flow together into a mighty river? And when that river comes together, no demon can stop its flow, no man can exalt himself against its power, for the knowledge of the Lord shall fill all the earth when the Spirit of the Lord falls and His glory fills the temple.

Paul asks: Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and the Spirit of the God dwelleth in you? I Corinthians 3:16. People we—the Church, you and me—are the habitation of the living God! I Corinthians 3:16: In II Chronicles 7, when the glory of the Lord filled Solomon’s earthly temple, built with human hands, the priests could not even minister. How much more shall His glory fill His Heavenly Temple, built without human hands when we are fitted together?

Remember I Peter 2:5? The apostle calls us lively stones, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. So when we endure trials or hardships, persecution or rejection, know that we are back in the quarry, where the stones are made and shaped. God Himself is chiseling His stones, His lively stones, so He can set each one of them beside this stone, and that stone, perfect matches, and, fitted together, we can be a suitable habitation for our soon-coming King. Say to your neighbor: “I want to be fitted into God’s house right beside you.”

Let us do the works of God, wherever we are called—to pregnancy ministry, to teaching school, to ministering to the sick or elderly, to politics. We must be about building the New Temple of God, so the Spirit and the Bride may say: “Even so, Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”

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Jesus only rebuked his disciples for lack of faith—oh, and not allowing the children to come to Him—saving his rebukes for religious leaders who were hypocrites. After feeding five thousand and then four thousand, how could his disciples fret over no bread on their sail across the lake? The Master could feed thirteen men if he had fed thousands! Yet I faltered over less than that last week.

My blog masters called me last Monday, asking if I knew my website was down. No. We worked all morning to discover why, knocking on closed doors. Word Press had closed my site, handing it off to another company. Me of little faith wept. I am launching a new book. A Place to Live came out last month and I’m in the midst of marketing it. All my marketing has the old website name on it. Didn’t God know this?

Of course He did, and by the end of the day my wonderful blog masters at Celebrity Web Design had a new one set up, one that I own: charlottesnead.com

How cool is that? Just my name. I didn’t even know I could do that. God can do exceeding abundantly. So I downloaded all my subscribers and notified them of the name change. Since that time, I have doubled them! Thank you, God. Like the father I cry out: I believe, Lord, help Thou mine unbelief. Forgive me.

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