Corporately Praying the Word
The greatest need we have as Christians has always been, and always will be, that each member of the Body of Christ have an adequate apprehension of what we believers have come into and unto when we came to Christ. Over 1,900 years ago, Paul wrote in his inspired letters to the Ephesians and the Colossians that the Mystery, which was hidden in God from past ages and generations, was now revealed. In these letters, God revealed in fullness that which had been planned in the Eternal Counsels of the Godhead before all time and ages began: He revealed the fullness of His Great Mystery, which is THE CHRIST AND HIS UNSEARCHABLE RICHES. Nevertheless, it is a prevailing fact that in the past history of God's people, right up to the present time, vast numbers of Christians have little or no comprehension of the Full Purpose of God in Christ.
Throughout the centuries, many things have contributed to the unenlightened state which persists in Christianity. We all know that structured religion has limited the spiritual growth of many and has kept the majority of Christianity in an unenlightened state. Also, in the pursuit of a greater revelation of Christ, others have left organized Christendom, but even some of these have contributed to this limitation by believing that they, exclusively, have the full truth.
The Church has suffered great loss on both counts because, on the one hand, the Church has remained unenlightened as to the fullness of Christ, while, on the other hand, it became "exclusive" and kept the enlightenment needed for all unto itself - on this account, the majority of Christianity has little impact upon the forces of darkness. Beloved, the only qualification that God has laid down in order for us to be a part of this great mystery (in which Christ is to be all, through all, in all) is that we be born again, "born from above," i.e. be saved by His grace. The mystery of Christ is now revealed, because God hath -
"Made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself; that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in The Christ ... the mystery is now made manifest to His saints, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of (the) glory ..." (Ephesians 1:9, 10; Colossians 1:26, 27).
We must always remember in our search into "The Unsearchable Riches of Christ" that no one individual or group or many groups can contain, or be, or express, the Fullness of Christ by themselves. The Church His Body is "Inclusive" of all those who have been saved by His grace, whether it be those in the past, the present, or the future; and each measure of Christ that dwells in each member is being incorporated into all that is called the Church His Body. Therefore, no matter how much revelation of Christ we have, we can never contain all the fullness that is Chris, either individually or in our corporate groups or even in all the Church which dwells on earth at the present time, because "The Church, which is His Body, is the Fullness of Him" (Ephesians 1:22, 23), and this Church, which is His Body, includes all those who have been, and will be, redeemed by His Blood and saved by His Grace.
~ T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 25)
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