Building up believers and the New Testament church

His Ultimate Goal

The Plan Of God

 "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." (I Corinthians 12:13)

The plan of God is the way God has designed to bring each one to His end purpose. The working out of God's plan begins with man being brought into a right relationship with God and thus with others who are a part of God's family. A right relationship then brings us into fellowship with God and those who are God's children. In God's plan, relationship and fellowship go together. We cannot know fellowship with God if we do not have the right relationship with Him. A right relationship means that we have been made alive unto God by the Spirit which He has given to those who ask Him. The preparation for receiving the Spirit is the believer's acceptance of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and repentance--turning away from the old direction and unto God. This opens the way for the promise of the Spirit to be received by faith.

God brings us into His working in the body by the Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:13) "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." In God's plan we are one in Spirit and God's design is that we "all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ...speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Ephesians 4:13,15).

There is only one plan that God has for us and towards this purpose He has given ministry and grace to function, to bring us to the fullness of His purpose. This working is done in love and by the working of the Spirit that is building us together a habitation for Himself (Ephesians 2:22).  If we are going to function and come into God's design, we must commit ourselves to God and to what He is doing. Committing to God means I'm committed to His plan, and what God is doing is working Himself in us--in His body, the church.

Our commitment is not something we do separate from Christ, but because we are in union with Him. We must always remember that we can do nothing separate from Christ. Christ is our life. We are not living our lives for God; we are living His life. This is the secret if we are going to move in faith. We cannot consider ourselves separate from Christ. We are dead separate from Christ. It is never what we are but what He is in us. This can only be worked out by the Spirit and in the power of God. Always remember, we are nothing separate from Christ. This is God's plan to bring us all to that final place where God is all and in all.

God is working all things in Christ. This means we are in union with Christ. Whatever we are doing is because God is doing it; whatever we are speaking, it is because God is speaking. We have been partakers of the Tree of Life and we live from and because of Christ. He said He was the Bread of Life. God's design is Christ. This is God's working, not man's. Separate from God, man cannot be a part of what God is doing. Fellowship with God means walking in the light as He is in the Light.

For us to grow and mature in life, the Lord is going to discipline and train us by our obedience to the Spirit within. This is life in its outworking--a daily growing in grace. This is all being done in the life of God, love. We must have eyes to see and ears to hear--being alive unto God who dwells within by the Spirit. All of our life is God, not what we can do or what we think. This is only who God is and what God can do in union with man. It is a great mystery which has been revealed to us by the Spirit in the fullness of time when Christ came and made the way Himself.

God has designed a purpose for the family in His plan, and it is set forth in the Scriptures. All the members have their proper places, as God has designed from the very beginning. This is God's plan, and we as members cannot work out God's plan according to what we think or what seems right to us. The Lord knows best and His plan is perfect in its design and its outworking. God has not changed His plan down through the ages. It is the same and it is perfect. We must move in the Spirit; there is no other way.

There is no place for any expression of self in what God is doing. We all must come to this knowledge as God reveals Himself to us and as we submit our wills to God's will. We are here for God, not for ourselves. This is what Calvary is all about, dealing with our sins and with sin itself. This means I am not here for myself but for God. Because He is God, He is able to do what I cannot do by myself or for myself. Redemption is all of God and what He can do for fallen man. It is all a part of God's great plan which is worked by His power and because of who He is.

God has created the church, the body of Christ for a purpose. It was created for God's working and as a place where we can know Him together and function together in this union that He has brought us into. All ministry is given by God and worked by God in the Spirit. There is no work done in the body of Christ separate from the Spirit of God--from the giving of ministry to the receiving of ministry and the direction that the Lord gives to the Body. All working in the body is for God's purpose, not to satisfy man's wants.

God does not force us to move in His plan. He shows us His plan, then gives us Himself so that we can be a part of His plan. We cannot function in the body of Christ, in our families or with others, separate from fellowship with God and moving in the Spirit. Again, we cannot forget that we can do nothing separate from Christ. This is why we see the mess around us today--because man is moving to try to do something for himself or for God. We can do nothing for God. It is what God can do for us and in us.