A complaint among Christians all over the world is, “I can’t find a good church anywhere! I need a place where my family can be ministered to and where my children can grow up knowing true righteousness.”

Too many pastors are constantly trying out new things in church — new methods of evangelism, new music, new “revival” movements. There is so much hype and foolishness — all kinds of distractions from the gospel.

What are you looking for in a church? True fellowship? A place for your children to thrive? Good praise and worship? A place where deep needs in your life can be met? If any of these concerns apply to you, I have a very hard question for you: In order to meet these needs, have you searched your heart about being a priest to your family? You claim you can’t find a good church — one that stirs and provokes you and ministers to your children. But have you done the priestly work of mediating for your loved ones before the Lord?

I grew up in a family that observed what used to be called “family altar.” My father believed that the verse in Hebrews commanding Christians not to forsake corporate assembly was meant for families as well (see Hebrews 10:25). When time came for family altar in our home, my siblings and I came in from our activities and gathered around our parents for prayer. My father happily took on the role of priest and shepherd in our home.

What about you? Have you searched your heart about being a priest to your family? When your home becomes a church, all your deepest needs will be met by your Father in heaven. Then you can go to any church, no matter how dead it may seem. Why? Because God will meet you there — and he can even connect you with others seekers who are hungry to know Jesus better.

For centuries, the most powerful witness of God’s people to the world has been the shining forth of Christ through deep suffering in their lives. Christ’s manifest character has touched those around them and ministered to atheists, Muslims, and unbelievers of all kinds.

The apostle Paul said, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10).

Paul knew firsthand the meaning of despair; after all, he wasn’t superhuman. He faced troubled times that he never thought he would survive. He testified: “We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10).

Do you understand what Paul is saying? He’s telling us, “We were pressed down beyond all human strength and we were utterly at a loss to understand it. We came to the point of thinking it was all over.”

At that very moment, at Paul’s most trying time, he remembered his ministry and calling. Staring death in the face, he reminded himself, “The whole world is watching me. I’ve preached many sermons on God’s power to keep his servants and now everyone is looking to see if I believe it.”

Afterward, Paul tells the Corinthian church, “It was your prayers that helped us. You enabled us to come through it all with a song of victory.” He writes, “You also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf” (2 Corinthians 1:11).

Never take lightly the matter of praying for your brothers and sisters in need. Paul says the prayers of the Corinthians were a gift to him and, likewise, our prayers can bless others.

When the lost souls of this world face serious life crises and have no source of hope, Christ’s church is meant to embody the difference they are looking for. Our lives are to be distinguished by hope, joy, peace, love and giving. But a lot of followers today have erased those distinctions by creeping toward a line of compromise and even crossing it. As a result, the lost and hurting see Christians’ lives as no different from their own.

Jesus addressed this when he said to his disciples, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. … Peace I leave with you; my peace, I give to you” (John 14:23, 27). Jesus essentially stated, “You’ve seen that the peace I offer isn’t received by the world. I’ve demonstrated to you the values of my kingdom — how to live, believe, walk and serve the Father. Those values are in stark contrast to the world’s and you are to live out my kingdom values.”

When God speaks of separating from the world, he doesn’t mean removing ourselves from it. The separation he desires takes place in the heart. It happens through revelation of God — and his glory remains with us even in our hard times.

When the prophet Isaiah entered the temple, he saw the glory of God: “I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple” (Isaiah 6:1). That holy sight sent Isaiah face down on the floor in humble awe and he said, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts” (6:5).

At that moment Isaiah recognized God’s separateness and the Lord told him, “I have separated you for my holy purposes. I am sending you to preach my word to a corrupt people who will resist you, but you’ll be able to endure it because you have seen my glory. You have seen the nature of the God who has called you.”

The beauty of our God is paradoxical: holy and pure yet intimate and caring. He is above us and with us — and he gives us peace we could never find on our own. He is a God worthy of our confidence in and through all things!

“I know that when I come to you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ” (Romans 15:29). In writing these words to the Christians in Rome, Paul was telling them, “I have no doubt that when I meet you, it will be in the fullest measure of Christ’s blessing.”

The apostle’s words here imply something that every believer must know; that is, there are varying degrees, or measures, of Christ’s blessing. Some believers obtain a full measure of this blessing, which is the goal, of course. Yet other Christians enter into only a small measure of his blessing — but we can all pursue the fullness.

Paul makes it clear that we all have the same access to the Lord: “There is one body and one Spirit … one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:4-6). We all have an equal opportunity to obtain his ever-increasing blessing. Indeed, our lives should continually increase in what Paul calls “the blessing of Christ.”

The blessing of Christ means having a life that is pleasing to the Lord. It’s an inner knowing from the Holy Spirit that as God looks on your life, he says, “I’m pleased with you, my child. There is nothing between us to hinder our communion and relationship.”

The writer of Hebrews sums up the fullness of Christ’s blessing this way: “The God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever” (Hebrews 13:20-21).

People who live in this fullness of blessing have about them an aroma of having been with Jesus. Like Paul, they have a divine dissatisfaction with this life, a longing to be in the presence of Christ, a hunger to obtain more and more intimacy with him.

Let us strive to be like these believers — determined to finish our walk of faith and ministry in a way that is pleasing to God.

“Some of the spoils won in battle they dedicated to maintain the house of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 26:27). This verse opens us to a profound, life-changing truth. It speaks of spoils that can only be won in battle, and once these spoils are won, they’re dedicated to the building up of God’s house.

Grasping the powerful truth behind this verse will enable us to understand why the Lord allows intense spiritual warfare throughout our lives. God not only allows our battles but he has a glorious purpose for them.

So, what are the “spoils won in battle”? The first mention of spoils in the Bible occurs in Genesis when a confederation of kings invaded Sodom and Gomorrah. These invaders captured the inhabitants and plundered their possessions: “They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and … they also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son” (Genesis 14:11-12).

When Abram learned his nephew had been taken captive, he gathered his army and overtook the invaders and brought back Lot and his goods (see 14:15-16). As Abram was leading his victorious procession of joyful people home, he met Melchizedek, the king of Salem, and felt led to tithe of his plunder to him (see 14:20). Why would Abram tithe to this king? Because Melchizedek was “the priest of God Most High” and Abram wanted to help maintain the ministry of God’s house.

Imagine the scene just a few hours before Abram overcame those invaders. Satan must have been gloating. His armies had just carried away the entire population of two cities, including the only godly man who lived there. Satan took Lot as a “spoil” along with vast herds of cattle, wagons full of food and clothing, and chests full of gold, silver, and precious stones. Abram’s small army soundly defeated the confederated army, freed the people, and recovered a massive caravan of spoils. The spoils that belonged to Sodom and Gomorrah were returned to them but the spoils of the invaders were kept by Abram. And he promptly gave a portion into the work of the Lord

Here is the principle God wants us to lay hold of: Our Lord is interested in much more than making us victors. He wants to give us spoils, goods, spiritual riches from our warfare. This is what Paul refers to when he says, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). We’re to emerge from our battle with resources we can use to bless and maintain the house of God.

“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). This familiar verse is often used as a benediction in church services, but it is more than a benediction. It is Paul’s summary of everything he has been teaching the Corinthians about God’s love.

1. The grace of Jesus Christ
Paul says grace will “[teach] us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:12). In order to live holy and pure lives, we need the Holy Spirit to shine on our souls the foundational truth of this doctrine. Thank the Lord, he doesn’t judge us according to our condition. Instead, he judges us by our position. You see, even though we’re weak and sinful, we’ve given our hearts to Jesus, and by faith the Father has seated us with Christ in the heavenlies.

2. The love of God
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Although these verses are commonly interpreted as being about believers, it’s God’s love that never fails! His is a love that is unconditional and never gives up. The love of the almighty God is indescribable.

3. The communion of the Holy Spirit
The Greek phrase Paul uses translates as “the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” At first, the Corinthians knew nothing of such fellowship, as the church was rampant with individualism. Paul even said of them, “Each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,’ or ‘am of Apollos,’ or ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Christ’” (1 Corinthians 1:12). They were using their spiritual gifts to serve only themselves. The deepest work of the Holy Spirit deals with more than spiritual gifts, however. He seeks to establish fellowship among God’s people by his unifying power.

The measurement of Christ’s grace and God’s love in your life is determined by your willingness to be in full unity and oneness with the whole body of Christ. What does it mean to have unity and oneness? It means removing all jealousy and competition, and no longer comparing yourself to another. Instead, everyone rejoices when a brother or sister is blessed. And all are eager to give rather than take. Only this kind of fellowship truly reveals Christ’s grace and God’s love.