The Lord once spoke to me and said, “You are as the stones of the river.” I reflected on what God was saying to us as the Body of Christ. I didn’t have any river stones, so I went down to the ocean to gather some stones. I’m sure we have all seen the stones that are washed smooth by the waves o f the sea. You can see how smooth they are.

 

The grace of God is like that. It washes over the soul and in time a change takes place. You can see it in yourself,  a noticeable change takes place in how you think, what you value, where you place your hope. Your perspective changes from the temporal to the eternal. The rough edges disappear, and  just like the stones washed by the sea, your soul shows the effects of  the constant washing of the waves of God’s grace.

 

These are the people of God, “the stones of his river”. We all bear the marks of His work.

I thought how different the stones are that are found on the road. They are rough and have sharp corners. They aren’t much to look at either. I thought about how the stones of the road are trampled underfoot, and here we are talking about the Broad Way, not the Narrow Way. These stones do not go through the same process as the stones in the river or in the ocean.

 

The next thing I noticed about the stones washed by the waves of the ocean was their color. As long as they  stayed in the water, they were able to show off their brilliant colors, but as soon as they were dried, they lost their luster and their appeal.

 

The grace and truth of God is like that too. As long as we, as believers, stay within the current of God’s grace, we begin to discover all these wonderful things about Jesus Christ that are so fascinating. Each revelation unfolds something wonderful you just want to see more and more of it. There is something about each stone that is unique, and God’s grace is like that. He is polishing the will to display us as trophies of His grace. And as He polishes us, His virtues begin to stand out like the colors of these stones.

 

This revelation “You are as stones of the river” is also edifying to reflect on in regards to Body Ministry. There is a choice we daily make, we can be either as rough stones that are abandoned in the road, rough and sharp, not cared for by God, not washed, or shaped by His grace, or we can be as polished stones to be fitted into His crown.

 

Body Ministry is about the mutual sharing of the grace of God between the members of Christ. Each carries Christ in the measure of His grace and as good stewards of His grace, minister the same one to another.

 

Body ministry is about the marvelous stewardship of God’s grace. Satan tried to steal this work from God’s people by providing an imitation, a fake. The modern ministry of prophesying into each other’s lives is a good example of Satan’s direct attempt to sabotage God’s work to redirect your heart away from God into another kind of ministry where the needs of man take center stage.

 

This counterfeit Body Ministry happens when the Body tries to govern itself. But Jesus does not leave the Body to govern itself. Body Ministry does not happen apart from His government. The government unites the hearts of believers to celebrate their salvation. Let’s see how the government enables believers to celebrate their salvation. Let’s see what they do.

 

Each calling is a gift of God to the church to prepare believers in truth, to guide them into the grace of God, and assist them in their training to learn how to build with the stones of His knowledge, how to handle the sword of the Spirit, how to triumph in Christ, how to carry the testimony of the Lord in the equity and power of the Spirit.

 

Many times I have heard it said that conflict between 2 people is like 2 rough stones sanding each other and polishing each other. But I think that is the wisdom of this world trying to gain something from suffering. I think God’s plan is better.  Stay in the ocean of His grace and allow His grace and truth to cleanse, heal, and polish you.

 

Sometimes you might see that a stone in the river still has a few rough spots. Just leave it in the water, don’t take it out. The water of His grace is the environment of this polishing. We are all stones in of the river of His grace, allowing ourselves to be shaped by His love.

 

Scriptures: (1 Corinthians 1:1-31) (1 Corinthians 14:1-14) (1 Peter 4:10)