This morning I felt the Lord press me to share. I have loved social media and thanked the Lord for its ability for me to be connected to friends/family who have moved away and also to be fed (I have allowed only edifying posts to come through my screen - blocking the vial images, mindless games and such) allowing uplifting posts but, as with anything, we need to find the lanes to operate in. Social media, for all the good (which I believe there has been some good) has become a horrible venue for thoughtful, nuanced, respectful dialogue as people have become so free with their "speech" as they declare their "rights"...trampling over others. I am intrigued by the people (some I know, some I read about) who declare boldly to others that
they are "nice, merciful, meek, dare I say, even kind" (inferring others aren't) and it's up to
them to champion for the "weak, forgotten, wounded, lonely, rejected", (... you pick your adjective) slaying people on the path as "Champions" (many of these "champions" call themselves Christians and think they are battling for Christ). They see no problem "trampling over" all those that disagree with them; shouting out their views, calling names, maybe even using obscenities, marching, protesting (even some wearing vulgar hats). True, in Christ, all things are permissible (you
CAN do this as a Christian) but not all things are beneficial.
(I Corinthians 10:23). This behavior has been "justified" by many as I have seen utter rudeness displayed on topics ranging from illegal immigration, to gay rights, and anti-establishment issues - even speaking disrespectfully defaming offices of highest esteem to those in authority
(Romans 13:1) and MANY of these voices call themselves by the name of "Christ". I agree that
hard topics need to be discussed; in fact, I totally believe that we, the church, have not done this well
BUT hate-filled, attacking, defamation speech and words being spewed among the "brethren" at the brethren, the name-calling, angry actions manifesting, and all this happening being fully justified in our behavior is
NOT the way of the gospel. I know you have seen this too. Christians, in anger, confronting other Christians saying, "you were wrong (for not being kind, like me) because you did this or that" as they do the very thing they are accusing others of having done against them to their brother. How does that work?
My dad used to say, "You have the right to swing your arms, ... until you hit someone else in the nose." Think about it.
😳 What is happening to us, the church? Where is love? For that matter, what is love? If you haven't ever talked with me, you will find I love to ask questions and I have learned to take my questions to the Lord.
I minister to many people in various situations from all over North America. I read about this or hear about that; Christians reaching out with broken lives, broken stories, broken relationships, broken finances, broken health, did I say broken,...
broken! Sometimes people are dealing with another people's current sin choices and sometimes they are just dealing with someone's past offenses. They could be dealing with their own failures and their own unforgiveness; toward themselves and/or toward others but we don't get to stay in a place of broken, again, not as believers. Let me say, it again, God let's us choose whatever we want to do, but
AS BELIEVERS, who believe, we are
required to live GOD'S way, not our own! We choose to lay down our lives, our way, our rights.
(I John 3:14-16). I truly am seeing we are so far from God and His way in our society. Christians awake! We have become the very churches that John wrote warnings to in Revelation - far from God. Think about this, John is talking to the
CHURCHES, not the world! Let.that.sink.in. and read it again: Revelation gave warnings to
CHURCHES —
Christian people; the YOU's AND ME!
Father, I repent! I want YOUR way, not my own way!
(Isaiah 53:6).
We are living in a time where more than ever, God is reminding us that He requires immediate obedience from His people. This requires us
HEARING Him. Many Christians I have encountered say they pray (talk to God), maybe that is you, but when it comes to them telling me they "hear" Him, that is a different discussion. Many tell me they read their bible or they go to church and they are fairly confident when they say they
know God because they think
knowing Him is talking to Him or talking
ABOUT Him or going to church or reading their bible - right? Some feel they know Him because they are working
FOR Him, but does "working for someone" mean that you truly
LET them (your boss [God in this instance]) into your personal life? Even the demons say they
know of and
believe in Jesus.
(James 2:19). A question we really need to be asking is not just do we "know" Him but have we made Him King and do we follow Him? Are we bondservants? That is what Paul called following after the Lord? Do we
HEAR HIM? Do we dialog
WITH Him and does He speak to us? See relationship is not just one person doing all the talking (us praying) but true intimacy requires
TWO; both sharing, giving, building, responding. The question really gets down to,
does He know me?
(Matthew 7:21-23).
Let me dig this out... people say they "pray" (talk to God) but then what? What is He saying
TO you after you talked to Him? I ask people, how did He "answer" you (your prayer)? Crickets.
😳 Many times I hear nothing from them because they say He didn't answer. I have heard them say God doesn't respond. What? How is this amazing God we serve not responding? He says,
My sheep hear
MY voice
(John 10:27)...so He
HAS to talk to us, otherwise He would be a liar because we (as sheep) hear His voice! Maybe we are just not asking the right questions.
Again, I believe the question is do
WE know
HOW to talk to Him so He can respond and then do we wait to hear from Him and what He is saying to us? Over and over in Revelation is says, "to Him who has an ear let Him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches". I am truly convinced we don't let Him speak because deep down, many times, we just don't know how to hear Him, to listen to Him; to respond. And, if we are honest, there are also those who really don't
WANT to hear Him at all because that could quite possibly require them to "change"... and who loves to "change" and is willing to "change"? We really don't like doing anything we don't like doing.
So, my question to you is, do you ask Him to speak to you? Do you ask Him questions? Acts 2 teaches us two great questions to ask to begin a conversation with the Lord. It teaches us WHAT to ask. In verse 13 they ask,
"What does this mean?" Then in verse 37 they ask,
"What are we to do?" This is such a great place to start with the Lord. When you pray (and if you are like most people, you get into the list of things you want God to fix - pray) you
tell Him all kinds of things. But next time you pray, take that list of things and stop. Let's say you have issues in your job. You have been praying about all the broken thing going on with the boss and such. Take that situation to the Lord and use Act 2 as your guide. Like this: Lord, what is this "issue" I am having at work? What does this mean? Then let the Lord respond. He may say, "Well, you have unforgiveness toward your boss because you didn't the raise you thought you should get and now you are bitter about it.
Then ask the Lord the second question: "What do you want me to do about that?" I promise you, God will talk to you! He desires communication WITH us. He wants us to dialog WITH Him. This is just a great place to start. Before you know it, you will be hearing the Lord with great ease - even in your dreams!
I ponder/dialog many things with the Lord as this area of broken Christianity is just one arena I have seen such wounding in the body of believers. Even this morning I woke up to a dream regarding distention in some outside relationships (of believers, not having to do with me) and I was pressed back into Him to find out what it means. Follow up questions with the Lord!
Have we lost our way in the body of Christ? People have become so "me" centered. They "rise up" to "speak out" (all the while thinking they think they are the champions for the weak (they even quote scriptures justifying their stance) but are they truly
seeing how their actions are
hurting others? As believers do we get to stand on one scripture and deny the others?
In my conversations with these type of Christians, they feel "justified" because their way seems right (to them). Hmmm, God even addresses this in His word: there is a way that seems right to man....
(Proverbs 14:12). When did humanity become the face of
JUSTICE? Even Jesus said He didn't come to judge*
(John 12:47). *[Judge
(v): (to) form an opinion or conclusion about.] These Christians have expressed to me that they feel the ends (how they are acting) justify the means (the cause they are fighting for) but that isn't Christlikeness.
They state things like, "You [whatever our topic is] acted like a jerk [whatever they disagree about] so I get to treat you poorly too!" Really? Two wrongs make a right now? Suddenly, we have Christians feeling justified to being rude, hateful, condescending, and dare I say, even anti-Christlike to each other? But that isn't the only tactic. No! Some Christians see this rude behavior is clearly "not Christlike" so they don't go there, they have another avenue to vent their aught; they just block people out of their life and won't talk to them. They choose to ignore those they have "conflict" with. If they have to be in the same spaces (like family gatherings, they don't acknowledge them), or they avoid them (like at work, walking a different way to the lunchroom), or they cut them off (like deleting them from facebook or unfollow them on Instagram).
(Matthew 5:23-24). What has happened to, "Come let us reason together?"
(Isaiah 1:18). I have seen this over and over again in what we call Christianity and we wonder why many people today want nothing to do with our Jesus? Father forgive us!
As believers, we don't "get" to (although the Lord always let's us choose so we can do this) crush all others in our paths while we are on the road for what we think is justice. The Kingdom of God has no place for our self-righteousness. When
WE think
WE are "building a better place and helping Holy Spirit" - that is a clear indicator that
WE have pride in our lives. Seems we all think "our way" is the "right" way...but what does Jesus say? What does Jesus think? People talk and say they are "believers" but what do they do? Our actions are telling the story.
This past Thursday, a 32 year-old young man (that was in ministry with two of my grown sons years ago) went to sleep and didn't wake up. He left behind a wife of 8 years with two small children; a son who is 4 and a daughter who is 2. We met him when my daughter was 2, she is now 16. We had him in our home many times during the three years he was in ministry with our boys. He has now finished his race — strong; serving and loving God, his family, and his friends. He is in the presence of the Lord
(2 Corinthians 5:8) as he lived his faith, sharing with all he knew his love and need for Christ. Everyday I find myself pressing into the Lord with my questions, my concerns, my needs, my desires, and this event was no different. His passing caused me to encounter the Lord too. We don't know when we will be called home. Life is fleeting. I encourage you to encounter the Lord while He is still able to be found.
(Isaiah 55:6-13). We, the church need to start being the Bride - ready for her coming groom!
(Revelation 19:7).
The Lord led me to worship this morning, after I awoke from the dream and began to encounter Him. Worship is a great place to start our conversations with the Lord. Jesus said so, saying this is how you should pray, "Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,..."
(Matthew 6:9-13) - there it is, hallowed; it means "holy, consecrated". Take some time to worship Him - His holiness; consecrate yourself to be like Him — Holy!
(I Peter 1:15-17).
I started with this song, by Jeremy Riddle,
All Hail King Jesus. But what about you? Are you willing to let Him be King and rule over all — even over you? Jesus come!
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Years ago, an evangelist named Mario Murillo, was doing a chapel service at Oral Robert's University (ORU) and Carman (Licciardello) was also invited to the chapel, doing the worship. Carmen stayed at the piano when Mario took the pulpit, just be ready if Mario wanted some back-up music so Carman now had a front-seat view to the story Mario was about to tell. 
