By Augustus Henry (PhD.) From New Creation Outreach Ministries
John 1:12-13, As many who have received him to them, he gave the power to be called sons and daughters of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
A whole body, but in need
Not only are you sons and daughters of God; the bible goes further, but you (the Church) are altogether a single entity called the body of Christ. But in that body are individual parts. And, in order for the body to be fortified, each individual part must be healthy. Not only that, but each part must work harmoniously with each other for high efficiency of bodily function (1 Cor. 12).
Here is the problem in today’s body of Christ:
Did you know that only 61% of Christians pray daily?
Less than half of Christians read their bible more than one time a week.
Only 24% of Christians study the bible weekly.
39 per cent study only three times per year.
This means that the vast majority of believers depend on the pastor to pray for them. They depend on the pastor to study, preach and interpret the word to them; Even though the bible says “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
The vast majority of Christians expect to have a converted pastor in the pulpit to keep their hopes of salvation alive. You realize that the pastor will have his own problems. Some church leaders themselves may be far from God. Some elders are carrying their own burdens. If the rest of the body lacks prayer, lacks time-in-the-words, lacks pure conversion, where will the body be when the pastor is struggling?
Lucifer, the body snatcher
Mike Tyson the boxer employed a devious technique that he used to annihilate his opponents. Most boxers are trained to protect their head in a bout; that is because they believe that their bodies are sufficiently conditioned for punches that might come from their opponents. That was a false assumption when it came to Tyson.
He trained his fists to provide maximum pain and injury to the body. His idea was that once he brought discomfort to the body, the opponent would lower his hands to protect it, leaving his head exposed.
His idea was when you make the body uncomfortable, you can target the head. In the same way, a little creature like the mongoose can defeat the mighty cobra. Because the cobra’s head contains its most lethal weapon, the mongoose goes for the body first. It begins to bite the cobra’s tail, tiring the serpent in the process.
As the snake begins to show signs of exhaustion, the mongoose goes for the throat. Then once the snake is sufficiently weakened, the mongoose closes in for the kill. At that point, it delivers that lethal blow, a strike to the head that renders the serpent dead!
That technique is not lost on Satan. The Bible describes the devil as a wise snake that knows how to use his wisdom. (Rev. 12:9). That old snake copies techniques that the mongoose uses and attacks the body of Christ.
This is why Paul instructs the Church to protect its entire body against the attacks of the devil. Paul says to put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to war against the wiles of the devil. The wiles mean he has trickery up his sleeves, he is cunning he is devious, he is sly, and he can get you when you least expect.
He is a lion that roars, and you may expect that. But he can also look like a sheep or an angel of light which you would hardly ever expect. When Tyson was asked about his best punch, he replied, “The one that the opponents do not see.” What the boxer was saying is that body blows are harder to see than the ones targeted at your head.
Therefore, If the mighty cobra can’t stand body strikes, and if the mightiest boxers fall from Tyson’s body blows, what makes you stand against a body snatcher like that old serpent the devil?
Effective weapons against the body
The devil wants to do three things. He tried Jesus, the head, a long time ago, he worked for 40 days trying to overcome our saviour. That was futile. Now he is coming for the body of Christ. His number two strategy is surprise, to attack the Church where and when least expected.
His number three is when he has compromised the body, he comes for anything that represents the head in God’s kingdom. That means he is coming after leadership – the pastor, he is coming after the elder and he is coming after fathers. Anything that represents leadership or head becomes fair game for Lucifer.
How does the church as a body become a fortress?
The Church has to go beyond good leadership to a strong body. A good leader is not enough.
Moses needed Joshua and in some cases Aaron. Paul needed Silas, Barnabas, and Luke. David needed Nathan and Samuel. Beyond that, a transcendent church does not have a person who prays, but people who pray.
The Word says, if my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves, I will hear from heaven and heal their land – heal the body.
To take this a little further, a transcendent church does not just have a small group that prays, it has large groups that pray. Acts 1:14 – 15, 42. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty). They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
When that group was done, the holy spirit came down like a fire.
People who had never spoken Roman before, spoke Roman that day.
When that group was done, three thousand people were baptized.
When that group was done, they perplexed bystanders so much that people thought they were drunk with wine.
Some people surmise that the effectiveness of a church depends on the effectiveness of its leader. However, effective leaders are dependent on effective people. It does not matter how much the pastor prays; the church will fail if members do not take responsibility for their own salvation.
The strong head alone is ineffective with a weak body, the church leadership goes nowhere without a church where the membership is not committed to personal prayer, personal bible study and personal responsibility for each individual’s salvation. That is why Paul says: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12).
Note: do not assume that I am placing church leaders in the role of Jesus the-head-of-the-Church. They only represent his role.
The book of Acts lays out 6 attitudes of the Apostolic Church:
They devoted themselves to the teaching of the Bible.
They ate and prayed together.
They had a common theology – one did not believe one thing and others believed something else.
They were generous with one another.
They were eager to congregate with each other.
They love each other and praise God together.
Power of a fortified body
God’s children are called to make a difference. Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world.” As His sons and daughters, we have the power to transform.
We are not just called to exist—we are called to be world changers! Being a child of God is not just about escaping hell—it is about walking in divine power here on earth. The power given to us is the power of identity, authority, the Holy Spirit, inheritance, and transformation.
For that transcendent power to envelop the church, each member needs to take full responsibility for his or her prayer life. Each member must make time for consummate and consistent study of the Word. Each member must walk a daily repentant life. Each member must look at himself/herself in the mirror every day and say, I am the body of Christ, Am I representing it today?