Philippians 2:1-2
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Paul brought up several important principles of church life for Christians - Encourage one another in Christ, comfort one another in love, share in the Holy Spirit and have tenderness and compassion in our hearts. Why do we need to share in the Holy Spirit? Because Holy Spirit is what binds up together. We accept the Lord and enter into the Kingdom of God individually, and each of our lives is accepted into Christ. Holy Spirit, however, serves like the glue that tie us together. Even though we are all different, but because of the Holy Spirit we are one in Christ. Sharing in the Holy Spirit enables u to break down the walls of culture, language and personal background. It gives us the same thoughts and mind. Over the years I've gone to many churches to minister and talked to many brothers and sisters, and it amazes me to find that even though many of us have never seen or spoken to each other, we all see the same picture and have the same burden in the spirit. It's like we were all taught by the same teacher! We indeed have the same teacher, which is the Holy Spirit that brings up into the truth.
Finally, we must have tenderness and compassion in our hearts. Compassion is not just sympathy, but the mercy of the Lord. In the four Gospels, we've repeated seen how Jesus saw many people and had mercy on them. When Jesus was walking and He heard a blind man crying out to Son of David for help, the Lord stopped and healed the blind. Today, we see so many people in need walking by before us, but we're too used to our busy life and it's hard for us to stop. We allow the prompting of the Spirit in our hearts to disappear and soon we don't even have any prompting when we see a need, as if the mercy in our heart has been stifled. In our church life, we must learn to stop and follow the prompting for mercy form inside. Once as start practicing it, we will find that the river of Holy Spirit will flow through the entire body of the church; we will be "like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind."
Pray with Pastor Tong
Lord, I thank you because your mercy has first touched me so that I may become a child of Father God. May you fill me with your mercy so that I won't be bound by my selfish desires, but let the river of Holy Spirit flow through me. I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!
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