The Lord during these past months gave me an opportunity to encounter a lot of people during my alone time. Funny, the Lord never really gives me “alone” time because He brings people my way to minister to. I’ve grown to accept that a part of wanting to be with Jesus is also knowing that we can be in constant fellowship with Him and in doing so, God will use you to introduce or re-introduce Him to others.
Many of the people I’ve met have something in common — they are bitter towards the local church. So bitter that they’ve chosen not to attend church and to “pray to Jesus on their own.”
Each time I am compelled to ask them, “how often do you pray to Jesus and read the Word?”
And many of them have the same answer, “Oh well you know…I don’t need to read the Word to pray.”
A part of what makes our prayers powerful is because we align them with the will of God. And to know the will of God is to know the Word. One of the roles our Pastors have is to teach us about the Word so that we can step out boldly with our faith.
I felt troubled by their response. There’s many who believe, but don’t follow. And there’s many that believe, yet still cannot “cast out demons in Jesus’ Name.” (Mark 16:17-19). There’s many that are still entertaining their own demons.
The Enemy has deceived so many believers into thinking that the Church no longer has the answers. The church no longer gives Hope. The church no longer builds our Faith. The church doesn’t know what forgiveness is all about. The church just doesn’t get it. And therefore many people choose to isolate themselves and try to walk the Christian walk alone.
How difficult the walk and how easy it is to get lost when you’re walking the path on your own.
Although there are many churches who have lost sight of the power behind preaching boldly and worshipping in Love, Spirt, and in Truth, we cannot rule out the other local churches that do seek the Lord and His Kingdom FIRST. And by local church I am considering any congregation size whether its made up of 10 people, 100’s of people, or 1000’s of people. Or any location whether they gather in homes, rent a space, or have their own building.
We cannot forget that there are STILL local churches that seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and are STILL making disciples throughout the nation.
They might not be doing it perfectly, but they are seeking intimacy with the Lord diligently and choosing growth and refinement.
Either way, I believe that local churches across the nation need a fresh Spirit of Revival to fall on them and I believe that WE are the solution to the problem.
One problem that I saw when speaking to the people I met is that, we have put our expectations on the local church but not on God. It’s easy for us to walk into a church and expect “perfection” — perfect people who live life according to the Word, with a perfect worship band, a perfect kid’s department, with a perfect pastor.
But, there is no such thing as perfection in the church until Christ returns and we are united with Him forever.
In Ephesians 5:22-33 the Apostle Paul compares the union of a husband and wife with the union of Christ and His church. WE are the church. And…WE are not perfect. But as the bridesmaids prepare the bride for her special day, so should WE the believers that make up the Church of Christ be diligently working towards trying our best to make the Bride presentable for her groom.
“It is always our own self that we find at the end of the journey. The sooner we face that self, the better.” — Ella Maillart
Instead of looking outwardly, we must begin to look inwardly, humbly asking the Lord to reveal the contents of our hearts.
“What role am I playing in the local church?”
“Am I walking through my own faith with fear and trembling?”
“Am I choosing to hold myself accountable for my own relationship with the Lord?”
“Am I simply believing or am I a believer who chooses to follow the Lord and live life according to the Word?”
“Am I holding on to offense, allowing the enemy to plant seeds of bitterness because I was hurt by one person or a group of people, not necessarily the church as a whole?”
“Am I having a hard time forgiving?”
“Am I not receiving the truth that is being preached because I have grown prideful?”
“Am I ashamed to go to church, unable to see that Jesus cleanses me of shame?”
“Do I serve at my local church so that I can operate in the spiritual gifts that the Lord gave me to edify the body?”
“Do I encourage other people during difficult times, or am I so self-absorbed in my own problems?”
These are just some of the hard questions I’ve asked myself so that I can grow in understanding God’s heart for His local churches.
An important lesson that the Lord took me through during this pruning process was – in order to live for Kingdom, I must die to myself and my own opinions. I must choose to love.
In about a month I’ll be traveling through the USA. And I needed to grow in these areas:
I MUST love the local church because Jesus loves the local church. I NEED to be reconciled with the local church in order for me to minister the gift of reconciliation through the USA. I WANT a heart of compassion and mercy so that God can use me as a vessel of revival through our nation.
I’ll admit that even before I arrived back to the USA from my World Race, I already began to feel bitterness trying to take root in my heart. But I’ve lived bitter before, and once I experienced freedom from that there’s no going back. Bitterness against the local church keeps you from seeing the blessing that it is or could be, and it keeps you from love.
To actively fight against this feeling of bitterness I did what I knew I could do — I interceded on behalf of my local church and local churches all over the USA. This intercession is specific. I’m asking the Lord to cause a SPARK in the hearts of believers all over the USA. This Spark will IGNITE a flame and that flame is the all Consuming Fire of the Holy Spirit. Only with the Holy Spirit can Revival spread like a wildfire. And it’s up to US — you, me, all believers — to take an active role as His disciples within our churches, community, work places, and family so that Revival can uproot this bitterness that has grown in the hearts of many who believe in Jesus’ Name.
Will you consider partnering with my squad and I as we prepare to launch for World Race America in January 2020 by beginning to pray for your local churches? Would you consider extending grace and giving the local church another chance? Will you pray that the Lord soften your heart to love the local church again?
One day I hope that believers will say, “Yes, I do go to a local church. I love my church! I serve at my church. I pray for my church. I try to do my best to build my church up. My church seeks Kingdom first. And I believe in what JESUS is doing through us!”
“It is when people don’t allow God to show up through them that the world collapses on itself.” — excerpt from “Kingdom Journeys” by Seth Barnes
The focus of this prayer is JESUS working through us! And WE as His living, breathing, moving, body – the Church have the power to be used for Revival.
“For where two or three are gathered, there I AM with them.” (Matthew 18:20)
We cannot allow the enemy to keep us in isolation. We need to do this together.
