1 Corinthians 12:12-13 shows us that we all have our own task and assignment within the church, which in turn works together as one body:
“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 was able to experience exactly how that works in Brazil during the mission trip I took last year.
We had already been in Brazil for a number of days and had already been able to do and experience beautiful things for God. One day we visited a wonderful organization set up by a Dutch pastor and his American wife.
Years ago, at the Lord’s behest, they started setting up an orphanage for teenage mothers, but they soon added teenage boys and teenage girls, an addiction clinic for men and also a church was built on the project. A beautiful project in a beautiful and relaxing location.
While we were there, the group was split up. Some of us visited the boys, another group went to the teenage mothers and teenage girls, and the last group visited the addiction clinic for men. I personally went to the young mothers and teenage girls.
It was a beautiful afternoon, and we were able to share the love of Jesus and testify about Him.
In the evening a church service was held in the church on the project and everyone was of course welcome. Some of the teenagers went, but there was also a large proportion who did not knew Jesus yet and did not want to go to the church service. The girls who did go were looking forward to it. The most beautiful clothes were brought out, they took a shower and dressed up for their King!
Without a fight, there is no victory
The evening arrived, and we took a seat in the front row of the church with the entire group from the mission trip. Two women from our mission group had prepared a beautiful song, which they sang in Portuguese. Beautiful! A man from our group, and I had each prepared a sermon that we could recite.
I had experienced so much struggle before I left on this mission. For months before the trip, the enemy continuously tried to prevent and discourage me to go, even on the day of departure.
He had tried to undermine me in all kinds of ways, but in the end, I arrived on that cold January 19th, 2023, at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands for my trip to Brazil.
I was spiritualy, physically and emotionally completely exhausted from all the months of non stop attacks, but that did not stop me.
Without a fight, there is no victory, right? Praise the Lord!!
All those months of struggle had not been in vain, because I had used it in my sermon that evening in that little church.
All the Glory to King Jesus
I was allowed to come forward and share what God had put on my heart about this, and it was translated into Portuguese. The church was packed. It was my first time speaking in front of such a large group of people, but in the power of the Lord, it went smoothly.
Beforehand, I said to God, “Lord, if there is just one person I can reach with my testimony, that will be fantastic!”
After me, the other man from the group delivered a powerful message with a core: the mission of Jesus and the importance of being baptized! For a moment, the enemy put a thought in my mind, that my message was insignificant compared to his beautiful and powerful message. But I quickly shook it off.
It was a blessed evening. At the end of the service, the question arose: were there people in the room who did not know Jesus yet, but wanted to get to know Him?
A number of people stood up, including this one man. People gave their lives to Jesus there, and it was beautiful. After the service, there was an opportunity to baptize in the pool next to the church. I walked outside and stood by the pool.
The man who had just given his life to Jesus ran towards me, shouting “My angel, my angel” while waving at the interpreter for her to come over because he urgently wanted to tell me something. He was so grateful for what I had shared in my sermon, which was mainly about the amount of struggle we can experience if we want to take a step for God, but that we should not let the enemy steal and destroy what God wants us to have, because he has already been defeated! “Say NO to the devil” was the core of my message.
What had completely passed me by was the fact that we, as a group, had worked together perfectly as one body that day, just as God wants!
The man turned out to be a patient in the men’s addiction clinic on the project. That afternoon, he had listened to all the stories told in the clinic by the people from our mission group, but he was very skeptical. He thought it was all a strange story, all those stories about God, and he wondered if there was a God at all. So I heard afterward.
Yet, there the little seed was sown in his heart.
It made him come to the service, and that evening in the church he heard my sermon. This was so recognizable to him, and the enemy was unmasked! He decided on the spot to give his life to Jesus!! After that decision, he heard the sermon from the other man in our group and decided to be baptized immediately!! And there I found him, next to that pool, ready to bury his old life and rise to a new life with Christ as his Savior and Redeemer at his side!
Wow, what an evening! He was so grateful; he cried and hugged me, but here I had to slow him down and explain to him that all honor and glory goes to King Jesus. He was the One who had saved him. I’m just a conduit. We cried and then he proudly walked to the bath.
The men from our group baptized him in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He was buried with Christ, and rose with Christ, and was given a new identity by His Heavenly Father that night!
Immediately after his baptism, another person from the group had a Word from God for him, and so the man was blessed with the whole “package” in one fell swoop😊.
Ready to start its new life.
Your place is valuable
This is exactly how the body works together, and God has set it up so beautifully!
When we all function in our own place in the body designated by God and do not look at what the other person can and does, but are grateful for the place that God gives you, then you see how beautifully we can work together in His Kingdom and how people’s lives can change.
Never feel too small! Don’t think that someone else is doing better, doing more for God or has a more powerful message. Because ultimately all parts of the body must cooperate to be expressed.
What a mighty beautiful God we serve, with Him at the head of the body and we as limbs, as His hands and feet, we may propagate His Kingdom here on earth!
Be grateful for the place where God has placed you, you are needed to make it all work and your place is valuable!
