As I got ready to retire for the evening and spend time with my Father in Heaven, I heard Him say "The Church Has Failed."
For far too long, she has drifted from the original intent of the Church, as found in the book of Acts. She was always meant to be so much more than what we see today. My heart hurts and cries out, as I write these words, because I know, all too well, how painfully true they are.
I see people walk away from God all the time, because religion without relationship couldn't save them. I watch people turn to the wrong sources for love and acceptance, because they couldn't find it in the Body of Christ. I see people I know, hurting and suffering silently because the Church is broken. The Church doesn't know what to do with pain.
So then, are you surprised she is being sifted as grain? Church has left the building because she was never meant to be an institution to begin with. The Roman Catholics took their own version of reality, and distorted it so greatly with doctrines of Demons, that few can even see clearly anymore. 2020 is a wake-up call guys. 2020 brings clear vision. 2020 reveals.
The agendas that have been once covered up in darkness are now being revealed. The Church herself is being tried and tested, and many doors will close and not reopen, unless they humble themselves and pray. We must seek the Lord, so we may find Him.
For 4 long years, I personally have cried out to the Good Lord about the Church. I have longed to be connected to brothers and sisters who truly love God and love people. I have desired desperately to find my family of believers that treat me as one of their own. I have yet to see the fullness of this attained. I am still praying and believing.
I've been blessed to travel this nation over the last 5 years and go to several different "Churches," and ministries. Some have been Spirit-filled, Spirit-led but most have failed. Most have been corrupt, un-Biblical, and filled with the wrong spirits. Sadly, I feel I have seen it all.
The Lord has opened my eyes greatly in the last few years. Be wise when you ask the Lord to help you to see things the way He does, because it might just break your heart. It also is true that "to whom much is given, much is required." When you see, you can never unsee.
I have seen anything but real love in the "Church." I have seen an obsession with keeping man-made traditions, which Paul warned about in the Scriptures (Colossians 2:8). Even Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in Matthew 15:3, "Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?"
The Church immediately started to deviate from the truth from the very beginning. In the New Testament, when we read the book of Acts, we find the true Church. It is one that is a "City on a Hill," of whom whose light is too bright for the world not to see. This real Church has no one in need because everyone is generous and compassionate and shares what they have.
In this Biblical Church, the believers meet together not once a week, but EVERY day. Yes, you heard right...EVERY DAY! They break bread, fellowship, worship, and share in God's goodness. Then, once a week, they gather together in the Temple to seek the Lord's words.
But the American Church skips the other six days of the week and just likes to gather together on Sunday mornings. That is good but it is not enough.
We have to be a family. The Bible says that the world will know we are His by the LOVE THAT WE HAVE FOR EACH OTHER (John 13:35).
The Greatest Commandment is to love God and love people. All the other commandments can be summed up in this (Matthew 22:40).
Love conquers all. Love never fails. Love never ceases. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love never passes away. Love is the greatest. If you do not love, you do not know God. The Bible is clear that we are meant to love. Love is the answer. Love is the solution. Love is the point.
Where is the love in the Church? I hear messages on everything but love. We are saved by love because God IS love (1 John 4:8). For God so loved the world...you know the verse.
God loved the world, so He gave...
He gave Himself because love always gives. Love is unselfish; love is sacrificial. Love is powerful. Love is and always will be the most powerful thing on the planet!
Without love, we are nothing. If we do all these great and awesome things, but do not love, we've done nothing. Love is patient, love is kind...just read ALL of 1 Corinthians 13.
Friends, I beckon you, through tears and heartache, try love. It can only be found in knowing Jesus Christ but give Him a chance. Ask God to give you His heart. You will never be the same again. May your heart break for what breaks His. May you feel what He feels.
Until our hearts are softened and purified, we cannot begin to be the Church of Jesus Christ that we were created to be. Jesus is coming back for a pure and spotless Bride. We need to get ready. We are broken right now. We are distracted. We are carnal and we are lost.
Wake up Church. Please, may the eyes of your heart be opened. May you see what you have not seen before and feel what God Himself feels for people. May you know the love that surpasses all understanding and that defeats all evil. May you know that love is the secret weapon of God and few live in it. May you be one that does. May you know real love.
It took me traveling around the country and then being in the secret place, isolated from the world, over the last few years to know the heart of God but I can never be the same again. My good deeds weren't good enough without love. My warrior spirit wasn't strong enough without love. My intentions weren't pure enough without love. My wisdom wasn't enough. My faith and kindness wasn't either.
I have big faith, bold, mountain-moving faith. Ask anyone that knows me well. I would do anything for Jesus. I gave to the poor; I understood mysteries and prophecies, I was willing to do whatever I could to be a "Good Christian," but without love, it would've ALL been in vain.
Church- you might have failed so far, but this can be your redemption story. Many have met Christ because of you, and gotten set free, but you can reach even more. You can save so many more lives but it is only done through real, true, life-changing, life-altering love.
You can't argue someone in the Kingdom and keep them there through debates. You can't truly get someone saved through teaching good-works is the way. You can't get someone in Heaven by trying to be the Savior for them. You can't change the world with a bunch of rules.
Love, also known as God, is the ONLY way to eternal life. Jesus is and always has been the answer. He is the embodiment of love. He is kind, patient, merciful, compassionate, gentle, and slow to anger. But when the Church fails to inherit her eternal glory, He is not happy.
He died for her. He gave His life for her. The least we can do is give our life back to Him. Come on Church. Are you known by your love? Do you love your neighbors? Do you love Jesus? Do you even love yourself properly?
First, God had to teach me how to love Him. Then, He taught me how to love myself so that I might love others, as I love myself. A lot of people don't love God, themselves, or others.
But He is good. He is beautiful. He is wonderful. He is forgiving. He is perfect. He is enough. And you are beautiful. You are worthy. You are valuable. You are called. You matter.
And so do others. They are precious. They are special. They are seen. They are loved. They are worth Him dying for. Reach them, talk to them, get to know them, love them.
Love them like Jesus. It is your one requirement, as a believer, to love people and to love Him. But it should be easy to do, if you are really born again.
Love should be natural for believers. Love should be in our hearts because we get a new heart when we become a new creation. God sees the heart. How is your heart?
Do you need to give Him all of your heart? Do you need to pray that He softens your heart more? This is important family. This is everything. Don't be scared Church, be Holy.
Be perfect, as He is perfect. This is not the world's definition of perfection but He is perfecting you into His image. Let Him. Don't resist the work that the Lord wants to do in you.
American Church, be better. Be different. Be a Jesus people, devoted to love. You might just find that the Bible doesn't lie when it says we must be rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17).
In fact, let's just read that whole Passage together so that we might close with what the Word of the Lord says. Then, and only then, may we hope to begin to attain to the full measure of who God is in our lives. There is hope Church and you can succeed, but you must wake up and find this love that changes everything. I believe in you. I love you and I am praying for you. You have my heart and you have my help. Let's come out of the shadows together.
"For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3: 14-19)
Be blessed Church.
Your sister in Christ,
S
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