Perfected into One

John 

17:21  That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.

17:22  And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one;

17:23  I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one, that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me.

Whenever a matured and an elderly brother came to fellowship with us, he would invite some of us into his hotel room where we would pray and fellowship for hours altogether. Yesterday was another such time together again. I felt very blessed and thanked the Lord that there is such a brother from whom we can learn a lot. In fact, every time he came, I would receive new light, and further help me in my personal life as well as in my service life.

Our appointment was at 10 AM. We started praying together from 10:18 AM till 11:52 AM to be exact. As we prayed, the direction the Lord led us was on the matter of oneness. All our burden and prayer was mostly focussed on the Lord's prayer in John 17:21-23, a prayer for the oneness. Though I had been to many prayer meetings of the church and I had prayed with many brothers and sisters a countless number of times, this was one prayer with much light and a clear and strong burden for the oneness as the testimony of Jesus. The prayer prayed among the brothers, nine of us, was as if one was playing a basketball game, passing around the ball and hitting the ball into the basket as many times as we could, was truly amazing. Through that prayer, many hits were made into the basket; the spirit was so strong, the burden so deep, and we all could exercise our spirit in one accord.

As we pray-read the verses, "perfected into one," I truly felt deep within that the Lord has indeed been blending us and perfecting us into one. This is no doctrine, no mere teaching, but a reality. The call of the deep within my being unto the deep testifies to me that we have indeed been on the process of being perfected into one. What a blessing! What a grace!

The fellowship that followed suit, then over to lunch, and the afternoon session, all of them were richly anointed of the Lord. Some crystals of truths that came out and were further developed were truly worth. 

Properly Aggressive for the Lord

Paul and his fellow coworkers being forbidden by the Holy Spirit as they headed for a certain destination implies the aggressiveness of Paul in carrying out the heavenly ministry of Christ. He indeed was one with the Spirit, that what he determined in his heart for the Lord's work was honored by the Lord. He was forbidden only if the Holy Spirit did not agree to it. Otherwise, all his ministry journeys were initiated by him and the Spirit anointed him wherever he went. Here is the lesson for proper aggressiveness in serving the Lord. I must deliberate before God and take action in His move by being one spirit with the Lord. I cannot be and must not be passive in serving the Lord. On the contrary, I must be properly aggressive. This is in accordance with the word of God experienced by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:40b "according to my opinion; but I think that I also have the Spirit of God."

Constituted as Gifts

Ephesians 4:1-16 begins with "walk worthily of the calling with which you were called." To such a walk, there is an urgent need for proper humanity which is the gaining of the experiences of Christ in His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This is the constituting of the gifts of Christ to the Body. Such a constitution restricts the gifted ones yet perfects them to be the gifted members. The purpose of such gifts is to perfect the saints unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ. This is, until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." (v13) Day by day, I must experience the experiences of Christ to be constituted as the gifted members of the Body of Christ to perfect the saints and build up the Body.

One on One Shepherding

One on one shepherding is yet another crystal brought forth through the fellowship. I have been shepherding the new ones for years in my church life. This is good but it is uni-directional; it flows from me to the new ones. The other aspect of shepherding is a one-to-one shepherding on one-on-one. Not only that I shepherd the ones under my shepherding car, but I must also be shepherded by a shepherd. I and another saint must shepherd one another. If all the saints, besides, shepherding the new ones, shepherds one another, how built up and glorious the church will be! This is also known as general shepherding. This needed, in fact, very much needed for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Praise the Lord for such a blessed and perfecting time of fellowship! Through such perfecting fellowship, the Lord is indeed perfecting us all into one.