March 24, 2021: God's Kingdom is Built by the Holy Spirit Working Through Us. Are We Doing Our Part?

In reading today's "Our Daily Bread", we are reminded on how God builds His church. It is done by those who have accepted Jesus into their hearts and upon receiving Him, God gives us His Holy Spirit to live in us.

It is through the Holy Spirit's work through us, that God can direct and lead us to the people who maybe seeking Him, or the Lord is needing us to deliver a message to a certain individual. But the most important part of this working relationship we have with our Lord is that it is God's work that we are doing, not ours. Read the following in 1Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 3: 6-8

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor.

The Apostle Paul states that God used him to plant the seed of God's message of grace among the Corinthian Church and Apollos followed up with Paul's message by watering the message, in other words, clarifying the Apostle Paul's message to the Corinthians. Both had a hand in the delivering of the message, but it was the Holy Spirit that "causes the growth", not us.

It is when we begin to think that it is us who is responsible for the growth in a person's life, that we become frustrated and upset when we do not see fruit in their life. It is not up to us; it is up to God and the Holy Spirit in their life. We are only the messengers of God's grace, and we will be rewarded according to what we do for God.

So, our lives as Christians comes down to how we make ourselves available to be used by God. Are we constantly struggling with God in our lives, or are we being "absolutely surrendered" to Him, and ready to be used by the power of the Holy Spirit in us? Let us not forget what it says in the Book of Ephesians:

Ephesians 2: 10 (NKJV)

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

PERSONNAL COMMENT:

Let us not forget that we are doing God's work so that He receives the glory, not us. We will be rewarded upon our arrival in heaven.