Church as the body of Christ. Bible verse and prayer, July 19. Praise the Lord, everybody. Recently, a trend has been emerging within the Body of Christ/church. What has been noticed is that Church attendance is dwindling, and the love for one another and the power of the Holy Spirit are almost non-existent. The Lord appears to have begun to reveal this to the Church.
Bible Verse for Today
“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)
There is a reason the Christian church is not growing as fast as Islam or other religions worldwide, and it’s not because there are not enough televangelists, Christian radio stations, missionaries, or tent revivals. In some American cities, there are often two or three churches on a single block.
Still, the Christian church is not growing as fast as other religions, especially in the US. Something is missing from the Body of Christ; it has forgotten some of the things that gave the church power and spurred the Lord to bless the church and prosper it.
The above scripture from Acts talks about the church being in one accord. The Bible verse about the church as the body of Christ speaks about unity. The power of being in one accord was demonstrated on the day of Pentecost.
Jesus told his disciples they would receive power from on high, and when they were gathered together in one accord, they received that power and shook up the world.
The Christian Church is no longer shaking up the world because there is no power in the church anymore; it is no longer in one accord. It is separated by doctrine, race, and religious rituals. When was the last time neighborhood churches truly fellowshipped together?
Devotional for every day: Daily Devotional
Instead, it looks for excuses to put one another down and why it cannot be yoked together with “THEM.” It can’t even come together in one accord in our local church.
We pull up in our fancy cars and step over the locals as we enter the house of prayer. Once inside, we question God’s authority, the authority He has put in place to run the church and bring forth His vision for it. There are disobedience, backbiting, gossip, and sowing seeds of discord. And God’s work gets lost in the mix.
Church as the Body of Christ – Prayer for Today
Father, forgive us for being a part of the power outage in the Body of Christ. Help us spread Christ’s love every day and not look for the differences between our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Teach us to focus on what binds us together, the Blood of Jesus. Amen.
Also read: Prayer for July 18
