(The spirit of cooperation)
By Tony Taylor
Part 1
Presenting your heart in Hand
As the Holy Spirit abides in our hearts, the bibles declares that all things are new (2 Corinthians 5:17). This scripture also show us tells that old things must pass away, and in doing so room is made for the new things which include love. The Love of Jesus in His Spirit abides in our hearts and makes us able to reach out with love each other.
Sometimes we are too guarded for many reasons, and what we offer doesn’t include our hearts. If we are going to please God and have Him live abundantly through us, we have to mortify the deeds of the flesh so that we can operate in love toward each other. We can then unite and stop the forces of the enemy as they attempt to destroy our brethren. Christianity is about being a body, a family and a safe haven, with Jesus as our head.
The world is in need of the great and redeeming love of our LORD, and the church must be the place were they can find it and healing for their souls. CHARITY MUST BEGIN AT HOME.
"Heart in Hand" the beauty and power of genuine support and unity
Heart is hand is the real spirit of cooperation. Whenever we give genuine support to any person or group, we are giving our attitude of support, our belief that the purpose has merit and should be done, and we feel this way to the point that we want to be help. Our action from this point, are actions that flow from our attitude of support, we have taken our Heart in Hand, and we are willingly cooperating (working together).
Acts of the Apostles 27:30-31"Except these abide in the ship, ye can not be saved."
Paul spoke a frightening reality to the soldiers on this ship. He told them "You will die unless the sailors stay aboard (NLT). It was clear that everyone would have to cooperate for success. There are things that simple require unity and unity between Christians must be based on love, honesty and God's word. Let's look closer at the 3 kinds people in this boat
- Soldiers (who nothing about the sea and sailing)
- Sailors (who were the sea and sailing experts and should be able to tell when it’s to abandon ship)
- Prisoners (who despite what ever they may know, would normally have no voice (say so) in anything that would happen on the ship.
The people in the boat were different just as we in the body of Christ are unique. God uses our diversity, he doesn't want to be carbon copies, but His Spirit and love puts us in one accord and unity can be achieved and maintained.
Take note; Paul a prisoner told the soldiers that the sailors must not abandon ship. Paul convinced the soldiers, they cooperated with Paul and convinced the fear struck sailors. Their cooperation over came the effects of fear and in the end everything the angle told Paul, that the ship would be wrecked everyone would survive, was accomplished to the tee. But it took cooperation. Sometimes unity is achieved in a moment when facing a mutual need, as for the church we go beyond this, when we are joined in a work, we have love as the tie that binds us together and we offer our hearts in our hands. We are unstoppable!
The Recipe of COOPERATION
Co-operation sounds good but when you really look at it may be the scariest thing you could consider doing, but diffidently on of the smartest and most successful things you will ever do.
Co-operation seems like such a small word, and a simple concept, and maybe rightly so. Yet when closely examined it appears that cooperation involves a very detailed recipe. Some of the things in that recipe are:
- Agreement
- Compromise
- Sacrifice
- enthusiasm
- faith
- humility
- realism
- honesty
- effort
- time
The Heart of love is the source of our unity and cooperation, and when it is joined to a vision that is clearly displayed. Cooperation (unity) is the process for accomplishing that vision.
- You have vision/ goal/ need to be meet.
- Unity (Cooperation) is called upon
- The vision manifests/ the goal
is reached/ then need is meet/satisfied
Part 2
Obligation to Cooperation
Yes were often under obligation to be cooperative, to unite. Whenever we have relationship with people (place or thing), we begin to owe them our support, when the goal is a good one. The deeper the relationship goes the greater our debt of unity and support should be. Sometimes what tells us how people feel about us is their willingness or lack there of to give real support our goals.
Numbers 32:6-7 "Shall your brethern go to war, and shall ye sit there?"
The tribes of Rueben and Gad asked Moses for the Land this side of Jordan, rather than be given land on the other side with the other tribes of Israel. Moses clarified the request and I thank God he did, because it speaks clearly to this day of our obligation to those we have relationship with. "Do you mean you want to stay back here while your brothers go across and do all the fighting? (NLT)" The question is a fare one, in this case the Reubenites and Gadites were willing to go and fight with their brethren, They were not withdrawing their support. When it is clear that there is a huge battle ahead/ a great challenge to getting the job done, We must not chose to stay back, failing our obligation to give support. Now one needs fair weather friendships, we shouldn't be missing we we are needed most.
Moses ask part two of his question revealing a deeper concern, "Are you trying to discourage the rest of the people of Israel from going across to the land the LORD has given them?" Wow, talk about hard-hitting question. Moses pulled no punches because he cared about everyone involved and knew that it is human nature to begin to doubt and be discouraged when those who have been your fellow runners just turn away especially when your working toward something important and their support is clearly needed.
Yet…Thank God for JESUS. Proverbs 18:24 NLT "There are friends that destroy each other, but a real fiend sticks closer than a brother." Jesus is that friend. You can do all things through Christ, who makes you able. You must not give up the work, hold on and keep moving forward; the support of Jesus is more than all the support of all the men of the earth through out all time! You can not fail if you let Jesus guide your feet.
We means "?". We have to learn that sometimes we means "Jesus and me". The scripture makes it clear that God wants cooperation (unity) in the body of Christ as the way things get done. Mathew 18:19-20. Two of us united making a request, God himself will perform it, no wonder the enemy fights so hard against our unity and support!
Never forget that there are time when the two gathered together is you and Jesus; say to yourself "Jesus is here!". 1 John 4:4 "…greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world." Jesus can achieve the vision in you! Be encouraged and stay determined.