Let's Be Family!

I’m going to skip right to the point this time and be so bold as to say, fellowship and accountability is a necessity in the family of God. We just simply aren’t meant to be isolated in our own walk with the Lord. He has placed people in our paths who can encourage us and build us up and we are called to do the same for our brothers and sisters. Part of that fellowship includes accountability. It’s not a word we like, but deep down inside many of us know that we need it.

Maybe right now, you feel you’re okay. You’re not struggling with any big sins and life is great. What about accountability of pride and complacency? Maybe there are hefty sins you’re struggling with, a mature believer can help hold you accountable in that area and push you towards repentance. It might not feel good at first, but there is so much refreshing for the person who gets right with God. We need accountability in so many areas. Our spiritual life is certainly the biggest one that comes to mind, but what about our marriages, the parenting and training of our children, our ministries, etc? There are too many times where people deliberately cut themselves off from all accountability among the brethren and things fall apart. Too many times we see spiritual leaders fall because pride got in the way and they wouldn’t submit one to another? However, the same can happen to the leaders of the home, wives, children, people in ministry, etc.

I just can’t emphasize it enough right now, people need people. I hope that as a family of God, we can be mature enough to be available when people need us and also mature enough to know when we need help too. If you don’t have mature believers whom you can trust, pray to God that He place people in your path who will walk along beside you, uplift you, and push you to a higher place! The answer could come through a church, a small group, another couple, another single parent, or that even that neighbor across the street. And you may be the answer to someone's prayer for help too! Maybe I can pray with you or help in any way, or maybe someone else. Maybe I’ll need to lean on you too. Let’s be family, truly this is what we’re called to be in Him!

Life Moves On, Be Steadfast and Diligent

So you think the world revolves around you, huh? No? Well, most of us sure do act like it don’t we? Well, there’s news. Life moves on and you can’t stop that. Sure you are in control of some things, but life as a whole will move right on. Even when you die, this planet will still keep right on spinning without you. So you see, you are not the center of the universe, just a little tiny speck in a world of billions of people and thousands of years. You can die anytime, people will mourn but the world as a whole won’t care. You could die today by murder, by car accident, by heart attack, or even by choking on your lunch. Pretty morose you may say? Is it really? Isn’t it reality that any of us could die any moment?

We have too much time on our hands. We worry about how we look, about how that person thinks about us, the perfect job, the perfect vacation, we worry if we have the latest gadget, we worry about such high and lofty things. And usually the high and lofty matters of society are the least in importance. While we’re worrying about if that person will notice our new hairstyle or like us, do we have any clue what is really happening around this vast globe? Do we care that children are dying of malnutrition? Do we care that missionaries in foreign lands are being persecuted in the truest sense of the word? Do we care that the old rugged man in the streets desperately needs to see that God still loves him? Do we care that the people in our churches wear masks that hide their true problems?

So you see, there’s so much more to this life than just you. Look around you, there’s a hurting dying world. Everything is passing by so quickly, time escapes us every day and minutes turn into years and then they are gone. And then we are gone.

You may have years yet, you may only have today. One day we will cease to exist as we now know it. We will fall asleep and we will wake up – to the destruction of our souls or to everlasting life and bliss. If you automatically assume it is to bliss, think again. Make sure you’re right before our God and following in His ways. If you are assured of salvation, then don’t be satisfied with that but do what you’re called to do. Every day counts and it’s not just for the sake of your blessing. Think larger than your own personal blessing, look beyond yourself. What is God doing in the earth? What is He speaking to this generation? What is He tearing down and building up? And when you seek to know, seek to know where He wants you in all of this.

Be humble before Your God and let the cares of this world fall to the side. Who cares about what this person and that person thinks; it is the approval and pleasure of the Father that matters in this life. Don’t be afraid of this life or even of death, but fear the Lord and serve Him. Work diligently in your calling and with joy, knowing that one day you will have rest and be awakened to pleasures forever in eternity and what pleasure it is when He say “Well done, my good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master.”

Life moves on, quicker than any of us ever realize. So be steadfast always in His love and purposes.

Disappointment and Discernment

I have mixed feelings right now. This week I feel as though God is moving us into the next step for our lives, specifically our spiritual lives. I’ve felt this during the past couple days. I want more than anything to experience more of God in greater fullness and truth. But I know at the same time, this does not mean running around everywhere looking for a word of knowledge or new prophecy for our lives. Honestly, looking for a word or new ‘move’ of God can be dangerous if it is not founded on spiritual discernment and foundations of truth. As much as I don’t like the word ‘skepticism’ when it comes to churches and movements, I do know that we have to be careful and discerning and when something is in question, we do need to check the Word of God to see if it’s a sure word.

I’m disgusted by emotionalism and hype. Plain and simple. Humans have emotions, God has emotions and often enough I’ve felt His presence strongly and my emotions are most certainly involved. But we need to be so careful that our emotions don’t trump discernment of truth and whether His Word and works are really evident.

Recently, I was reminded of the account in Scripture about Elijah and the pagans at Mount Carmel. Not that I’m referring to anyone as pagans here, I’m not! Just thought I’d clear the air on that. However, the pagans were shouting and repeating things over and over trying to get their god(s) to move. But Elijah simply and directly called fire down from heaven and *bam!* - it happened! I specifically recall (and with amusement) Elijah mocking them saying “Maybe you should call out louder, maybe you’re god is sleeping and doesn’t hear you”. Yet, haven’t some of our churches and ‘movements’ been doing the same? Y’shua said in one of the Gospels that we needn’t babble like the pagans with many words so that He hears us. ­­I see a lot of this all over the place and to be honest, it kinda creeps me out!

I know my post may sound judgmental or harsh, I don’t intend it to be. I really do want to see Him working in our churches with deeper understanding of the Word and with power. I want our churches to be all about Him and I go to various meetings hoping to see the real deal. But more than not anymore, I find myself disappointed. Yet in this disappointment, there is wisdom to be gained. It stirs up a lot of questions and searching of Scriptures and that’s a good thing. It also teaches me just how important discernment is and I pray more diligently for His wisdom, presence, and power to be ever stronger in me for the sake of His Kingdom.

I know that my husband and I are called to be testers of the people, specifically God’s people. We both know this and it is a difficult calling at times. It is so much easier to just let things go as they are. But sometimes we are (and have been) called to address matters as they arise. I am aware that there is a time to speak and a time to be silent. This too takes discernment. Really, it would seem everything takes discernment and that’s not a bad thing, but it does take being developed by Him and being developed means spending a lot of time in His presence which in turn means simplifying my life in such a way that my life is about Him. I truly want to live according to the verse: “In Him, we live and move and have our being.”

Our spirituality on an individual level and as churches do need to be based on the truth and power of the LORD. We can’t count on our emotions, we can’t count on numbers, and we can’t even count on signs and wonders, because not everything we hear and see is of God. But I pray that the LORD purifies His church, my family, and myself included and that we truly see the move of God in which “the blind see, lame walk, dead are raised, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:5). It’s not a ‘new’ move, but it’s simply what being in the Kingdom is all about – truth and power!

Holiness in Living

If we say we desire greater glory as seen in the days of the Acts of the apostles, then we must also accept a higher standard. For when great glory was poured out, so was the fury of the Lord upon the sins of Ananias and Saphirra. It has always been this way throughout the Scriptures, where there is great glory and revelation, where there is great responsibility and authority, there is also greater expectation for holiness and intolerance of sin and rebellion on God’s part. If we desire to walk close to Him, to hear His voice more, and for signs and wonders to abound – can we handle it? Truly, I’m being serious.

He has called us to be His, a people of the LORD – a people who know Him and obey His voice. There is so much He desires to pour into His people – revelation, understanding, power, words of knowledge, healing, etc. Will you say ‘Yes LORD, I desire to be a part of what You’re doing in the earth!’? Let's not be so easily entangled by this world and it’s lusts and passions. Promotion is given to the overcomers. Let's be diligent that we may be a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.

Let’s be careful how we live, not living carelessly for we serve a holy God. His love is jealous and His glory and power terrifying. My friend, let us never forget the fear of the Lord. Seek out the Lord with fear and trembling. Is God big in our eyes or is He small in our eyes? I think many times we treat Him as though He was insignificant in our lives and not all that important. But if we really do see Him as the great God He is, then wouldn’t our focus be on loving and obeying Him be greater than the lusts of our flesh and the pride of life?

If we want more of Him, I mean truly yearn and thirst for His presence and power in our lives, how then shall we respond? With prayer? Fasting? Worship? Those things that are purposeful in the Kingdom and our walk with Him? Or by wasting our evenings and days with the meaningless things in life, those things that draw us away from Him and His calling on our lives? Every man must choose which way he will go, what will you choose?