Ephesians3:16-19 “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in. your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-thay you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Why is it so important for us to be with the “body of Christ,” other believers? Well, scripture tells us that there is power to be had by assembling together with other believers. When we cut ourselves off from other believers, we choose to stay home from church, we are cutting ourselves off from an important source of power, that we need to walk this walk of faith. Let’s face it, life is hard. Walking this walk of faith is not easy, as a matter of fact, sometimes it feels as though we are being swallowed up.

For myself I love to go to church, I love people, but more importantly, my faith is made stronger by the testimony of others. When I witness other believers who I know are going through a very dry season with hard things going on and yet they do it with seeming grace and a joy that is just amazing.

All too often if being with other believers is not a priority then we can grow stagnant, we can start focusing on all the wrongs in life with no way of lifting ourselves up. When we get isolated the enemy of our souls starts to tell us lies and we begin listening and believing them. There is strength in numbers. Also, when we hear God’s word not just preached from the pulpit, but sung in songs of praise, our hearts and minds get elevated to higher places. Our worship gets lifted up and when that happens our spirits gain strength.

The truths we hear will better penetrate our souls and hearts. I have read the scriptures many times and received from the Lord a blessing in my spirit, but that same word can come more alive as I hear it and experience it within the body of Christ. As I listen to others tell what they received from that word, my faith is made stronger and my lesson in that word more complete.

When life gets hard we tend to want to run away and hide in our pain. We want to nurse it and meditate on it; well, that is the wrong thinking. Yes, there are times when we need to be alone, but in the midst of hurt is not a good time. We need the building up that comes from the body of Christ. We need our attention focused on what the pastor is saying, we need the words of God through song and speaking to penetrate the desert places we are experiencing and when we do the voice of the evil one will grow dimmer and we can better hear our Lord speak to us.

It is like anything else. When you are in a room and only one person is talking you hear it loudly, but if you are in a room with a lot of other loudness that one voice seems less and you cannot fully hear what they are saying, you must lean in. And that is what Satan wants, he wants you to lean in, get alone and lean in so he can tell you lies.

We think that if we are alone we will hear a better word from God. We will lean into him a little closer. Sometimes this is true, but most of the time, especially in seasons of hurt it is not true.

Bottom line we are to obey every word that we read in scripture. So, therefore, if he says we need to assemble together, then let us assemble together. It will build the body up as a whole and build us up in our faith alone at the same time.

Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

What is the “DAY” is it talking about? The day the Lord will return for us. As this day draws ever closer our world will get more and more into the evil that permeates it. We need to stand together, leaning on one another, strengthening one another for the trials and hardships that may come. As this “DAY” comes closer and closer there will be more and more spiritual struggles that come to us. So, as more and more difficulties arise we need to make even more of an effort to assemble ourselves together, united in worship and praise and strength.

You were not meant to be an island…think about it!