GOD REACHES THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW HIM
Greetings in Jesus:
There is a tremendous amount of difference in those who are exposed to and eventually convinced that God is real, those who have hungered to find out who God is. I think we have seen that difference develop within the church over these many years from those who have been brought in through the efforts of men, and those whom God has Himself drawn unto Him.
As I look at the account of Cornelius in Acts 10: it becomes easy to see that difference. Both Cornelius and Peter were contacted by God to bring about a face to face meeting so that Peter could tell him the good news of Jesus Christ, and salvation. The Holy Spirit had lead Peter and an angel had lead Cornelius to send for Peter. While I believe that we need to do what we can to bring others into the fold I am still somewhat bothered by how much we tend to take over the things that God has told us are His jobs within the body. I can't help but think that we are putting way too much effort as men into making people believe while taking away much of the opportunity for God's Spirit to draw people unto Him.
As an example we spend so much time trying to find people to come into the church, and so little time feeding the ones who are there. I have always believed that God draws those to a place to hear a message that He has for them, and it is always our own job to minister to them when they come...but it is not our job to drag them in off the streets. There is a fine working between the body of Christ and the Holy Spirit at work within us that has been missing for some time now. In most cases we do not wait on the power of God's Spirit to move among us in the same ways He did with the early Church because we have lost the purpose for what we are called.
1. The idea of waiting on God's power to do something takes away much of our own steam in self work that feeds our ego. He has told us already that we can do nothing without Him, and yet we constantly try. Waiting on God to move within us is much like waiting for hunger to develop within us to know more of Him in life. It involves the meditation of our heart and listening to Him speak within us again.
2. What we do as we wait becomes such an important thing between our own growth and God's work within us. We are called first and foremost to be witnesses to what God has done within our lives...and yet if God is not allowed to make a move within us we have no real testimony. We know that people are watching us when wwe make a declaration of faith in God. What we don't often understand is that they also need to see just how that relationship with God is supposed to work. That can only be seen by our relationship with God and with one another. Instead of trying to show God's love to the world we should be demonstrating that love on one another as the world stands and watches what real love can look like.
3. In the early church they practiced that love for one another in front of the world constantly; which through the evidence found allowed God's Spirit to draw people unto Him for many different reasons...the difference is that it was God drawing them and not our own efforts. Within each study group there is an opportunity to begin this same practice of testimony to the world by loving one another, by breaking down walls that have been built up over the years, and by simply working on the trust issues, and the development of real caring through the power of the Spirit of God as we wait for God's Spirit to begin to move among us.
These are some of the important and factual things that we need to see in churches today, and then begin to take action to restore within the body of Christ...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
There is a tremendous amount of difference in those who are exposed to and eventually convinced that God is real, those who have hungered to find out who God is. I think we have seen that difference develop within the church over these many years from those who have been brought in through the efforts of men, and those whom God has Himself drawn unto Him.
As I look at the account of Cornelius in Acts 10: it becomes easy to see that difference. Both Cornelius and Peter were contacted by God to bring about a face to face meeting so that Peter could tell him the good news of Jesus Christ, and salvation. The Holy Spirit had lead Peter and an angel had lead Cornelius to send for Peter. While I believe that we need to do what we can to bring others into the fold I am still somewhat bothered by how much we tend to take over the things that God has told us are His jobs within the body. I can't help but think that we are putting way too much effort as men into making people believe while taking away much of the opportunity for God's Spirit to draw people unto Him.
As an example we spend so much time trying to find people to come into the church, and so little time feeding the ones who are there. I have always believed that God draws those to a place to hear a message that He has for them, and it is always our own job to minister to them when they come...but it is not our job to drag them in off the streets. There is a fine working between the body of Christ and the Holy Spirit at work within us that has been missing for some time now. In most cases we do not wait on the power of God's Spirit to move among us in the same ways He did with the early Church because we have lost the purpose for what we are called.
1. The idea of waiting on God's power to do something takes away much of our own steam in self work that feeds our ego. He has told us already that we can do nothing without Him, and yet we constantly try. Waiting on God to move within us is much like waiting for hunger to develop within us to know more of Him in life. It involves the meditation of our heart and listening to Him speak within us again.
2. What we do as we wait becomes such an important thing between our own growth and God's work within us. We are called first and foremost to be witnesses to what God has done within our lives...and yet if God is not allowed to make a move within us we have no real testimony. We know that people are watching us when wwe make a declaration of faith in God. What we don't often understand is that they also need to see just how that relationship with God is supposed to work. That can only be seen by our relationship with God and with one another. Instead of trying to show God's love to the world we should be demonstrating that love on one another as the world stands and watches what real love can look like.
3. In the early church they practiced that love for one another in front of the world constantly; which through the evidence found allowed God's Spirit to draw people unto Him for many different reasons...the difference is that it was God drawing them and not our own efforts. Within each study group there is an opportunity to begin this same practice of testimony to the world by loving one another, by breaking down walls that have been built up over the years, and by simply working on the trust issues, and the development of real caring through the power of the Spirit of God as we wait for God's Spirit to begin to move among us.
These are some of the important and factual things that we need to see in churches today, and then begin to take action to restore within the body of Christ...may you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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