Instead of so much planning I see prayer.
Instead of 'events' with specific messages - I see worship and intercession.
Instead of seeking a 'good Christian speaker' - I see being spoken to directly from God.
Who are we to limit God in our lives? Who are we to water down a reality of listening and receiving from God? Jesus spent hours in prayer - do we? It seems like our churches and ministries "make up" for the lack of prayer by handing out manuals on what to do.
You cannot mimic the fruits of the Spirit. You cannot think of ways to touch people's soul. Most importantly - You cannot teach people to love. The idea of receiving God's power and will is to live in its completion. It is to see God unleashed and overflow in our lives - this is truly an ineffable experience.
We are limiting the work of the Lord when we think we can do it by our actions; when we think we can strategize it; when we seek events or conferences or speakers to hear from the Lord. We cannot do Spiritual things without first being Spiritual - and the heart of Spirituality is long times of humble prayer and worship - where we meet God face to face, and are commissioned by a supernatural Spirit that goes beyond our comprehension. Just as morals without Jesus are wrong - Aren't actions without Jesus wrong too? Would one dare say - even in vain?
My prayer is that we experience God to the point where we cannot keep Him contained. God wants His furious love to run ramped amongst our society in every single area. I pray that we experience God so we wouldn't dare "plan ways to be Christian" - but we would just be love as a result of the Spirit taking His place in our hearts.
God has unleashed His presence - yet we humans have closed the door to the potential of God's all-powerful ministry. God has the real ministry - not us. We're taking part of His work - not our work for Him. We have to make ourselves vulnerable to Him - so He can unleash His love in us. What else can change the world but His power? What separates our deeds from the rest of the world if they aren't God's deeds? Learning to do all things in an overflow of the Spirit is necessary for all Christians - Because it is God who makes us distinct, not the actions we do.
Exodus 33:12
"Moses said to the Lord, "See, you say to me, "Bring up this people," but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, "I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight." Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people." And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." And he said to him, "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?""
We do not need any events, lights, or attractions to spread the name of Jesus. There just needs to be hearts that are willing to give it all to God - to receive the best ministry in the universe. How dare we commercialize Jesus - so that He is boxed into our idea of Christian ministry. What else can that be but a distraction from the heart of it all? If Christians know how to connect with God - Why do we seek certain speakers? Why do we seek events? Why do we seek commercialization? Why do we avoid God when He wants to speak to us directly and clearly? Why do we find motivation in other things when He wants to spark His love in us? His presence is the best and only teaching.
1 John 2:27
But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.
Have mercy God. Have your way. Abolish everything that's not of You. Take priority in our lives - not by actions - but a reality of Your powerful Spirit. So let us abide in only Your Spirit, and nothing else. Because it is then when Your ministry unleashes - and lives are really changed.
I have to agree on some points; you're right when you say that we don't need "events, lights, or attractions", but that shouldn't be said to discourage the use of these things.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that using entertainment to promote religion is a bad thing, and not all of it is so "commercialized". In today's world, it's just one way to actually spread God's word, and in a way that promotes a positive response to it. An example would be a christian concert. It's fun, it's flashy, yet it DOES get its point across as a ministry. True, some people may attend and come away with nothing, but I've experienced with others the impact of a ministry that comes from entertainment. A lot of times God's word will be heard mostly by those who need to hear Him most at these events.
In short, my whole point would be that with all the suppression that Christianity is under in today's world, entertainment (events, lights, attractions) is a good way to bring people to know God, or at least introduce them to Him.
Do we "commercialize" Jesus too much, absolutely. I do think Christians need to back off in "advertising church" in several ways. Not because I think some of it is necessarily wrong, but because we are imposing ourselves upon those who don't believe. A lot of Christian commercialization makes us look arrogant, ignorant, and hypocritical. And that we are RIGHT and everyone else is WRONG. And let's face it, no one likes to be told that they are wrong.
I also really want to talk about this: "We are limiting the work of the Lord when we think we can do it by our actions; when we think we can strategize it; when we seek events or conferences or speakers to hear from the Lord."
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I'm completely understanding your point. But from what I am understanding, I can't say I agree with you. My counter argument would be that we cannot limit the work of the Lord. The Lord will use us in ways even when we don't expect, ask, or even want him to.
True, we can't do everything by action alone, but action is absolutely and without a doubt what puts prayer into motion. "Putting feet on prayers," as my dad will say.
I'm going to use "action" as a broad category here. If I were to invite someone to church - especially someone who isn't familiar, or even at odds with Chrisitianity - would that not be considered an action? An action of outreach? What about when youth go and help construct homes for those who need it? Is that not action that can be done in the name of God? How does that limit His work? It doesn't, because the fact that someone took the time to care for another in God's name doesn't go unrecognized. Whether it is received positively or negatively is up to the person receiving, because it is not in our power as humans to change a heart. So, that is why action is important. It can be one of our most powerful ministries if we do it with the right thought in mind. If we do it willingly, selflessly, and with God in mind. Through action we can lead others to Christ, who will then be the one to change their hearts.
And as for seeking events and conferences to hear the word of God, there is nothing wrong with this. At all.
If you are seeking the voice of God, you WILL hear him. I've gone to many events, church services, even concerts with questions on my heart. And when God had something he needed me to hear at any one of these places, I heard him. I've even heard the answer to one of my questions on the radio. How are we limiting what he is doing by going somewhere - anywhere - to hear his voice? Maybe we go without questions, and we hear something from God anyway. Maybe it's a new idea, a message to ponder, or maybe a new call to action.
And finally, we Christians aren't the only ones God uses to do his work. Just as we cannot limit God's work through what we do, God's work is NOT limited to only be done through Christians.
My grandma told me this story once.
There was a little old lady living in a house by herself. She didn't have much food left, and had no money to buy anymore. She began to pray for God to provide her with some food. One day, as she was praying, a group of young, rather rude boys overheard her. They taunted her, saying that there was no God to listen to her. She ignored them and continued to pray anyway. The boys then decided to play a joke on the old woman, and they went to the store and bought her food. They placed it on her doorstep and rang the bell, and hid.
She came out, saw the food, and began to praise God. Then, the boys jumped out of hiding and said, "God didn't give that to you, we did."
The old woman smiled and replied, "The Devil may have delivered it, but God sent it."
The whole point of that story being that there are no limits to what God can do. And there are no actions we can do that limit his strength and the power of his ministry. And he will work in whatever way he needs to to reach out to a person. He will work to reach a person in a way that will best get their attention.
If people feel drawn to an event, lights, or attractions that are being used as ministry, and come away with something (knowledge, salvation, an answered prayer) even if it's a little bit. Should we stop using it as ministry? Should we stop organizing events? Stop taking action?
I don’t think so.
I agree with everything that you're saying. The point of the article is to address the individual's heart and lifestyle. There is a very big difference between "doing things" and "doing things with the right heart and with the Spirit".
DeleteI'm not saying these things are bad in themselves - But they are bad when people rely on them as their Spiritual food. They are bad when things become a checklist. They are bad when we teach them as "just things that are to be done".
Ultimately when one goes home - are they still seeking God? Are they willing to let God work in every second of their life? Is there full submission?
If God is not causing the flame in the individual then what is he/she doing?
When we don't experience God from the inside out first, then we are not receiving the potential of His Spirit. This is limiting God. We are nothing without the work of the Spirit in us.
I guess I could of been more clear about some things - so I didn't give the wrong impression. Thanks
What I'm trying to say is that the church is not receiving what God wants to pour out spiritually. We're not directly hitting the hammer on the head. We're not directly seeking God fully for what He wants to do - so instead we do things instead of being told in Spirit. The level of experience is more important than the actions people do - Because it's through the experience that results in God's actions.
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