Family Hug!

(F. Lugo’s  “Family Hug”) 

Oh, how sweet it is to receive a loving hug.
Filled with warmth, the touch means the most.
Bodies colliding in impact, saying I love you.
Oh, how sweet it is.

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6 NIV)


Beloved, today I come to you with a burden that has bothered me for quite sometime, and I share this with you as I have thanked my God for you, and this special way of ministering to the children of God as well as to those who have yet to surrender their lives to the Lord.

Whether teaching the Word to you, or expressing my struggles... And His Triumph, I thank God I have been called to do such a thing and we can all benefit from the Lord’s grace and my willingness to be obedient throughout it all.

This burden I have, is with the above verses in scripture. Just last night, I was saddened to hear that there continues to be disunity in the church. Maybe not all people are growing distant, or have yet to embrace another fellow brother/sister in Christ, but we are as one body, therefore if one is out of place– the whole –does not function well.

I can’t help but include myself in this predicament and equation of disunity. I myself have grown distant from others, not for the sake of faithlessness in the Lord, but rather from the disunity experienced every time I reached out to others in love and none reached back out.

Disunity nowadays can be seen in many forms, as we use many methods to communicate. But, I will use the most obvious— Time of fellowship. I have more often than not, seen fellowship as a body of believers in the Lord Jesus, coming together and celebrating what the Lord is doing in our lives. Sharing praise reports of God’s grace and mercy being effectively at work in and through us, and how our talents and calling in the Lord have been bettering the lives of others. Coupled with prayer, reading and meditating in God’s Word and rejoicing that we are growing closer as the body of Christ in the unity of love.

Don’t get me wrong, I myself enjoy fun activities, but there is a time and place for that as well, and I don’t consider it fellowship, as it involves simply time and activity together, rather than evoking the name and presence of the Lord throughout the time shared together as one in Christ.

But I say this sincerely, as I grow and learn, God perfects His love in and through me. For I say this with all humility, that activity together for fun does bring unity as well. May God, I pray, continue to open up my eyes that I will see all the fullness of His blessings in my life when it comes to His children. Amen.

This has been my prayer as well as my conversations with the Lord, “Lord, I would like to experience the ‘upper room’ time of fellowship that I have read and dreamt about in (Acts 1:13-14).”

And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying... These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. (Acts 1:13, 14 NKJV)

This may seem like a dreary post, but I assure you it is not. I thank God that He will perfect all things in the Son. As we continue on in the Spirit, God will perfect and mature the whole body of Christ, and we will all be one body and one Spirit, just as we were called to one hope when we were called; with one Lord, with one faith, with one baptism; worshiping the one true God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Amen!

Beloved, if you have felt such a separation from your fellow Christian brothers and sisters, don’t give up hope for the Lord always makes way for opportunity for fellowship. I myself do not have it all figured out, but I don’t look to have it all figured out, but to remain surrendered to Christ that God will perfect in me, the relationship between the Father and Son, that is more glorious than my vocabulary will allow me to describe. Amen! So, with that, God be praised and continue His good work in us as His Word promises it will be: being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)


Let us pray:

Father God, we thank You for Your Word and Spirit that unites and perfects us. Please help us to be more sensitive to the opportunities presented to us to fellowship as one body in Christ, in the unity of love. May we be filled with the driven desire to fellowship with one another, where You Father, are present, and receive all the glory and praise in Jesus name. Amen.