Unity, Individuality, and Perseverance.

Here at the forefront I’m going to mention a few passages of scriptures the first being, 1 Corinthians twelve verses twelve through fourteen:

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.

For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

For the body is not one member, but many.

I’m going to take a few points from this passage that God has been dealing with me on in personal devotion. Firstly I think it very important to recognize the significance placed on unity here. If we as a team of believers are to make the impact on the world the way God wants us to we must be unified. The goal is namely that each and every soul be reached, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of spreading in tongues as the spirit gives the utterance. And if our goal is for every soul to be reached then we must be unified in order to fulfill that goal.

Another point I make is from verse fourteen,” For the body is not one member, but many.” This confirms that we must be unified, but also there should be a reassurance as to how important we are individually. Teamwork is when people with different skillsets work together through each others strengths to achieve the goal. The key here is without you we are not a team, we are not complete. What you are doing is important to the kingdom of God which is the team we are apart of. Never dismiss who you are, or what you are doing. This does not mean to take pride, and place ourselves above others, but we have to realize we have a part to play and fulfill to reach the entire world.

The apostle Paul also says in Ephesians four verses three through seven:

Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

We must also realize and acknowledge that while we must be unified to one another, we must be unified to Christ. Another definition of team work is: The willingness of a group of people to work together to achieve a common aim. Without God we don’t have a common aim, or goal. That goal is given by God, and will be fulfilled through him, therefore without him we will never reach those goals.

Each and every one reading this is needed, and without you we could not fulfill purpose set before us. Each of us are important to this plan, and if that is true we can not trivialize what God is doing through us now, and what God is going to do through us to reach the lost. We mustn’t quit, we can’t give up. No part is too small to play, keep pressing forward. Scripture says in 1st Corinthians fifteen verse fifty-eight:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

The goal sometimes seems so far away, but the difference between histories boldest accomplishments and its most staggering failures is often simply the diligent will to persevere. For example, he failed in business in 1831. He was defeated for the State Legislator in 1832. He tried another business in 1833, it failed. His fiancée died in 1835. He had a nervous brake down in 1836. In 1843 he ran for Congress and was defeated. He tried again in 1848 and was defeated again. He tried running for the Senate in 1855 and lost. The next year he ran for Vice-President and lost. In 1859 he ran for the Senate again and was defeated. In 1860 the who signed his name, A. Lincoln was elected the 16th President of the United States. If this great story can come from defeat to president then surly with the help of God we can go from failure to conquerer.