Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)

I recently did a conference down in Woodstock, Ontario with a ministry called Grace Ministries. There were people from all over the southern Ontario region in attendance in those meetings–a very diverse group of people. Some of them were Third Wavers and some of them were from more traditional backgrounds, but each in the end received from the Holy Spirit.

The Lord said to me recently, “Darren, do you know that my church has never been perfect?”

I have heard many people say it through the years, and never thought much of it, but when I heard the Spirit of the Lord say this to me it struck in the middle of my being. Because while such a statement can be made, and we can have understanding of it at some level, many of us do not truly believe that this is a true statement.  We sometimes look through the lens of time and see the past from an ideal state.

If we did believe it was a true statement, wouldn’t it affect the way we acted?

How many of us judge other churches or ministries because they seem different than our own, and yet God is there in the midst of them.  If we understood that the church was not perfect perhaps we would have more compassion with one another.

I remember looking with my spiritual eyes after this statement was uttered through the history of the church, and indeed I did not see one form of Christianity in that vision that was perfect in the eyes of God. But Christ is coming for a bride without spot or wrinkle (Ephesians 5:27).

So there must be something that is going to happen in the church before the coming of Christ into the earth. My imagination cannot even begin to picture what such a movement of the Spirit will be like.

As I was ministering the other night such a diverse crowd of people was before me–Presbyterians, United Church, Catholics, Baptists, Salvation Army and Pentecostals–the one thing that I could see linking them all was a hunger for the presence of Jesus Christ and a desire to be righteous and holy in His sight.

Yes, there are many parts to the body but it is the same Spirit that courses through that body. He is able to bring us together in such a way that we don’t even see our differences. This one wears a three-piece suit, this one goes business casual, this one smells good and this one, well, bad, and yet we are all in unity because the Spirit is with us.

I have seen places filled with the glory of God, and each time there is one thing that amazes me and that is how people will stay until late in the night talking and loving each other. Meetings that start at 6:00 p.m or 7:00 p.m are still going into the midnight hours.  People still together laughing and enjoying each other’s company, all by the Spirit of God.

It is God’s Spirit who helps us to love each other. It is His Holy Spirit who keeps us together fellowshipping and enjoying one another. We don’t even see each other’s differences any longer. They are just another soul that looks and feels like family because, well, they are your family in God.

On Day 9 of the 12:12:12 Fast, would you pray that the entire Body of Christ realizes and values how the Holy Spirit holds its many different parts together as one?