complete the joy

The soft voices echoed through my head like a monastary of prayerful monks. The voices alive. The hands warm. The spirit loving and moving. I now know from experience what it means to have one's joy completed by those to whom he ministers.

The prayers from the youth of EV Free and my co-interns from the summer as they laid hands upon me and lifted me heavenward was enough to make me realize that is the place for me. The young hearts so full of love and energy. That is where I am called for the time being. The power of prayer continues to amaze me (so does my lack of consistency and faith when it comes to it).

Reading through Acts has taught me so much about what it means to live in the Spirit daily. How to pray, eat, share, talk, live with others in an overarching Christian community. Paul and Barnabas spent almost everyday preaching and teaching. how wonderful for them to share the Gospel with so many people. It wasn't reserved for or restricted by a service on a particular day of the week. Their lives were filled with such overflowing joy in the character and work of Christ that they had to be about it. They were incomplete without spreading the message of Christ daily.

This past Sunday reminded me of the fullness of joy when the body of believers seeks to be the aroma of Christ together. However, my joy will be made truly complete when your joy is made complete by living in the same tenderness and compassion and fellowship and comfort from the love of Christ. Because when you do - you will love your world with a love so strong that they can not escape from the grasp of Christ in their lives.

What happens if all Christians will gather around one common ideal (like there was a like-mindedness around the interns Sunday)? The unity of Spirit will not only complete joy within the group but empower those within it to go out and shape their world.

Dr Lloyd-Jones says, "According to the Apostle, the only way in which men and women can get rid of a spirit of faction and vainglory is by being linked together in a common object, or interest, a common allegiance...The New Testament says that before you can get that real unity and concord, that peace and amity among men, there must be a common allegiance, and it must be a common allegiance to God and to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."