Serving the Whole Body of Christ

The Holy Spirit’s Use of Money: Serving the Whole Body of Christ

When I take Friends in Christ out to clothe and feed the homeless, this is a great opportunity to face any internal judgements or barriers to God’s Love in the mind. The action of feeding or clothing the homeless, in and of itself, is not as important as the practical application of interior forgiveness. Looking upon any self-serving judgements or pride that arise within so that, with the Holy Spirit, you can choose again to value the Voice of the Holy Spirit over the voice that speaks against God and your brother’s and sister’s in Christ.

Through this interior forgiveness, you are invited by the Holy Spirit to open to the Law of Love: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind“ and “Love your neighbour as yourself“. This is about experiencing a heart full of Christ’s Love in every moment of your daily experience, knowing that, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me“. The Law of Love is awakening to your Identity in Christ. As you experientially dissolve the barriers between you and ‘another’, between you and the world, you experience the unity of the whole Body of Christ and experience a heart full of Christ’s Love that does not fade.

“Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.” 1 John 4:20

The transition from a “self-serving” purpose to the Holy Spirit’s Purpose and use of money requires a fundamental shift in how you perceive ownership and possession. When you look at the world’s use of money, it is often a closed loop designed to insulate and serve the individual self. The voice that speaks against God, in mind, counsels: What you have in your life is what you earned through hard-work. It wasn’t provided by the grace of God, no, now do as you please with YOUR hard-earned possessions.

However, the biblical model of Joseph of Arimathea provides a representation for a different kind of purpose—using what God has set up in your life to serve His Kingdom, through the Holy Spirit’s Guidance. It is the humility to know that what has been set up for you, the learned skills and worldly materials, is not truly yours, but God’s. Because it is God’s, it is the humility to ask in prayer: Thy Will be done and not mine. It is His Purpose to bring Healing, Love, and Joy with what the devil made to destroy. His Purpose is allowing everyone who may never see Him to see Him in you through the Fruits of the Spirit and knowing your Identity in Christ.

The Joseph of Arimathea Model: From Storage to Stewardship

In the world’s eyes, wealth is a destination and idol. It serves only the individual self, which comes at the cost of the Fruits of the Spirit and His Glory in your daily experience. With the Kingdom, wealth and everything of the world is used by the Holy Spirit to serve the whole, for your Peace and Happiness in Him, which is His Glory. Joseph of Arimathea, referenced in Matthew 27:57 occupied a unique position as a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin—a position that gave him direct access to Pontius Pilate.

Joseph’s wealth was not just about the gold in his accounts, it was about the influence that gold afforded him. At the critical moment of Jesus’ crucifixion, it was Joseph who used his status to petition for the body of Jesus. In doing so, he opened to the Holy Spirit’s Purpose of serving the whole Body of Christ. This ensured that Jesus was buried in a tomb and not a Roman grave pit, as foretold in Isaiah 53:9, and most importantly, provided the context for the Resurrection and God’s Glory that is opening hearts and inspiring minds today.

Reinterpreting Wealth: Serving the Whole Body of Christ

The world uses money to build walls of protection around the self. In contrast, the Holy Spirit is calling you to use the resources that has been given to you, under His Guidance, to tear down the “barriers” to God’s Love within your mind today: greed, selfishness, lack of love, pride through status and so on.

Worldly Wealth: Focused on accumulation and self-preservation rooted in the identity of the flesh and lack, based on an imagined, mentally created fear of a future consequence.

Kingdom Abundance: Letting the Holy Spirit dissolve the barriers to God’s Love within you through interior forgiveness, so that His Love in your heart can serve everyone moment by moment by moment. Here, you awaken to your Identity in Christ as you now experience your unity with the whole Body of Christ. You joyfully serve the whole through laughter, smiles, singing or dancing, collaboration projects or resting in God. It is the Fruit of the Spirit behind the body’s actions in the world. God is your Provider and Security.

Just as Joseph of Arimathea reclaimed the body of Jesus from the Romans, you are called to reclaim your mind from the voice that speaks against God, allowing everything that has been pre-ordained for you by Him, to serve His Purpose. This isn’t about mere charity, it is about a prayerful, practical engagement with the world’s systems to provide a landing place for God’s Glory and the Fruits of the Spirit that reflect God’s Reality and Aliveness to the entire universe.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19–21

Giving and Receiving Are One in Spirit

Today, the Holy Spirit is stirring those who are open and willing to value His Voice over the “voice of the world”. What is given by God is not for you alone, but for the whole Body of Christ in a practical way.

To the world, giving is loss. Therefore, the world gives to get something in return, whether that is validation, possessions and money, love, or spiritual pride. Yet, to the Holy Spirit, true giving is an act of spiritual extension, entirely free from the ego’s concepts of scarcity, trade, or sacrifice. When you give as the Holy Spirit gives, you realise that giving and receiving are one and the same: what you give from the Fruits of the Spirit is also received simultaneously, keeping the Fruits of the Spirit abundant in your awareness and experience. In this experience, you are then only giving to your Self in Christ. There is no person to take credit. The Glory is God’s.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?… But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High…” Luke 6:32–35

You cannot give what you do not have, but conversely, you only realise you have a divine gift by giving it away. If you want to experience peace, you must extend peace to someone you perceive as chaotic. If you want to experience love, you must extend love to someone you perceive as reflecting a lack of love. If you want to experience forgiveness, you must extend forgiveness to someone you perceive as reflecting judgement, condemnation or unforgiveness. The moment you offer it, you recognise that the peace, love, forgiveness, and ultimately, the Fruits of the Spirit are already within you, you do not have to get it from the world to then give it. Therefore, giving is the ultimate mechanism of self-healing: seeing the unity in Christ.

When you use what you have been given by God to serve the whole Body of Christ, through the Holy Spirit’s Guidance Who Knows the ‘bigger picture’, you aren’t sacrificing anything of real value; you are experiencing the abundance of the Kingdom, spiritual wealth, serving everyone to reflect His Love, Provision and Glory, which is everything of true value, being but the interior Fruits of the Spirit that naturally radiates outward to everyone and everything.

Feel Inspired to Support the Message of Love?

Our community consists of children of God who travel where led by the Holy Spirit to share the message of Love and Jesus’ teachings. Using donations to clothe the homeless and maintain online platforms, if you feel inspired to support this purpose you may do so below. God bless your support. Amen.