Hello! great people, I salute you all. For me, coming your way anytime the opportunity is offered by God isn't something I take lightly. As I do always, I encourage you to kindly take some 10 mins to peruse and mull over or turn it over in your mind - The Past, Present and Future.
In Ephesian 5:25-27, in the verse 25, you see ....... as Christ also loved the church and GAVE HIMSELF UP FOR HER
In the 26th verse, we read that HE MIGHT SANCTIFY HER, CLEANSING HER by the washing of WATER in the WORD
and the verse 27 says, that HE MIGHT PRESENT the church to HIMSELF............
I see three things the apostle is bringing home to us as regards the work of Christ.
In the past, Christ gave Himself up for the church. In the present, He is sanctifying the church and will present to Himself a glorious church in the future.
Can we burrow in a little into the present continuous work, that is sanctifying or cleansing? We are being sanctified or cleansed with the washing of the water in the word. Water in this context is the flowing life of God (Rev 22:1,17 and 1 Cor. 10:4). Let me clarify, the washing of water is not the same as the washing of the blood. The Cross dealt with the nature of sin, the blood washes away the our sins or acts of sins (1 Jh. 1:7). The washing of water of life washes away the blemishes of natural life - the spots and wrinkles. The church now is at the washing phase (the deformation of the church lasted over 1500 years) - being sanctified. The cleansing of the water of life is in the word ( the rhematic word). Ye are clean because of the word I spoke unto you.
That is why we don't have to criticize and crucify people if they miss the mark, if they slip or faulter here and there. Let me ignite the memory of ..... for the perfecting of the saint.... You need to understand that we are being cleansed. Please let's give people time. Bless you.
