It's Me Again God 2

108. In Jesus' Name

It's me again God,

How great it is to join with fellow believers and sing Your praises! Thank You for the blessing of being part of Your body and for the strength that I feel as we stand together in prayer, sing praises to you, hear Your Word preached and serve together in many ways.  Sometimes as I stand singing praises to You, I wonder what it will be like when we all get to heaven and we are praising You together with all Your people from around the world!

When I was a child I was intrigued by all the different denominations that I heard about in our community and as I grew older I wondered why it was that believers were so segregated. In High School I was thrilled to be part of a group of Christians that met during lunchtime to sing and read Your Word together. They were from all different denominations but we had one thing in common —a love for Jesus! I loved the unity there and it was then that I realised that the various different traditions and ways of doing church didn't matter at all! Different denominations just reflected the fact that You made us all so uniquely different and doing church would be a reflection of that!

When I started going to our new church almost two years ago, it wasn't difficult at all, even though it was a different denomination. I could see there were many differences about how the church was run, these were manmade organisational differences but the main thing was that the Word was preached faithfully and I could see Jesus' love in the way the Pastor preached and cared for his flock. I could see how much he loved You by the outpouring of practical love into the community. I could see You Jesus, everywhere I looked in the congregation and this has continued to be seen every week! Everything is done in Your Name and for Your glory!

I was very interested in these few verses I came to in Mark today. I feel that I have overlooked them in the past.  John was reporting on having seen someone driving out demons in Your Name and was clearly surprised because this person wasn't one of the twelve!

""Teacher," said John, "we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward."
‭‭Mark‬ ‭9:38-41‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This highlights the fact that I need to have the right attitude toward other believers all around the world, who are meeting in Your Name and serving in Your Name! There can be a tendency to think that my church is the only one that has got it all just right but You are saying to me to be careful not to be intolerant of other ways of worshipping and serving You.

Thank You that You have guided me to a church where I can serve You and love people in Your Name. I am thrilled to be part of Your body there but I am also excited to think that I am part of the wider church that will one day all meet together —how wonderful that will be! Until then, I rejoice in the miracles and the amazing movement that is Christianity. I pray that Your Name will be lifted up across this country of mine and throughout the world!

Until You come again,
Amen.