On the 8th of December 2023, Johan Toet received the word ‘restoration’ from God and also what He meant with this restoration. In addition to personal restoration for man, God also spoke about restoration for the body of Christ. This caused Johan to want to repent of something that he had done for a long period of time: his way of communicating about religion. God made it clear that we shouldn’t sow division in the body, but that we must strive for unity.

On the mountain, God speaks

Johan often climbs the mountain in Brazil, where he seeks the face of God. At the end of 2023, a busy year, Johan kneeled at the feet of Jesus and received a word for 2024: restoration. This became the theme for this year, but it also revealed something that Johan had to repent of.

What God wanted to make clear to Johan

Johan shares, ‘God showed that the way in which I went to battle with religion had to change. I saw that I caused division through my statements, instead of unity. I saw that I was repelling people, instead of attracting them for the Kingdom of God.’

Johan knew why he had called out certain things: he wanted to oppose religion because it keeps people away from living in the freedom that Christ has accomplished with His death and resurrection. And the battle against it comes from a pure heart, to protect others from the system of religion that is not from God and the experience he has had himself with religion and legalism. But God made Johan aware that he had called out things in a certain way to people thinking differently that were hurtful or offensive. His words were sometimes fed with frustration and not with love.

Repent

Once it became evident where Johan went wrong, he knew that God asked him to repent of his sometimes hurtful way of communicating. For Paul commands us in the Bible to speak the truth in love and in that way keep the bond of peace (Ephesians 4). That desire established itself in Johan’s heart after his repentance; speaking the truth in love.

A broken body without peace

Harsh statements and throwing mud at each other are something that happens frequently in the Christian world. That causes division and anger. Instead of the body forming unity, it’s broken and damaged. We sometimes don’t seem to be capable of expressing what we think or where we stand in a loving way. A shame, because it is precisely unity that God asks of us.

God wants us to act as one body

It was Jesus Himself that said in John 17:20-23 to be one together.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.”

The world will only believe that Christ is sent by the Father if we will be one. 

If we are one, we become strong. 

All the same foundation

There are different works, ministries, and gifts, but it is the same God and the same Spirit in all of us. A body needs its hands, feet, knees, and every other part to be able to function and that’s why we need to look for what connects us and not at what divides us. What connects us is the foundation. 

‘Our foundation is that Christ is crucified and raised up, that He is the Son of the Living God, and that He is the only Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father but through Him. That is the core and no compromise can be made there. Everyone who believes that, no matter which denomination you belong to, is my brother and my sister. I am connected to them and one with them, because of that foundation”, says Johan.

Focus on similarities

Whether someone does or doesn’t believe in speaking in tongues or does or doesn’t believe in healing is not important for unity. It’s not essential. What is essential, is that foundation. That only Jesus can lead to restoration with God and no works of oneself, law, or self-justification. When you put the differences aside, you can focus on the similarities. Let’s walk in love and look at what connects us, so that we can rise up as one body and walk out the commission of Jesus.

Ask for forgiveness

Johan shares, ‘To everyone who reads this; I’m sorry that I haven’t looked at the similarities, but at the differences. If I have unintentionally offended you, hurt you, or have given you the feeling that you aren’t good enough because you think differently, I hope you can forgive me. It is the past. God has long forgiven me. And from now on I will only strive for unity. To be one with each other, like Christ commands us.

We can’t be the light of the world or the salt of the earth if we are divided, that only works as one working, peaceful body of Christ. Will you join me?’