Issues About Christians

5-31-16

             There are 3 things with Christians that have always bothered me. Honestly it's what kept me from church. Recently I found that it's not about those people. The point of church is to go to be in the presence of the Lord with other true believers. Yeah, I said TRUE believers. True believers run hot for the Lord and we'll get to that later on in this post. Right now we're gunna start with the good ol' book of James.

James 1:19-27English Standard Version (ESV)

Hearing and Doing the Word

19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear,slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word,which is able to save your souls.

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.

26 If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

                                             Issue 1

     Plain and simple, we have too many sayers, no ones really listening, and not enough are actually living out His word. On one side of the spectrum, we have Billy. Billy likes to pray and worship at church. But Billy also like to pray and worship outside of church, even in public with random strangers. Billy also likes to take care of those who are truly in need. On the other side of the spectrum, we have Nancy. Nancy likes to pray and worship God also! But, as soon as Nancy leaves church, she parties like a rock star, spews out profanities, and then speaks curses to the cop who's trying to get to put her clothes back on. Dont be like Nancy. We need more Billy's. We also shouldn't be flying off the rails at the drop of  a hat when something doesn't go as planned, or when Sally Sue makes us mad for letting her dog crap in your yard. We're suppose to be SLOW to anger. We're suppose to not only sit quietly and listen, but we're suppose to retain the knowledge learned and APPLY it, in our daily lives HUMBLY. We're not suppose to be like Nancy who acts the part in church, then after turns into the devils stunt double!

     When we can obey God's laws, we can and will be abundantly blessed. Like Billy, we need to always help those in need, always pray, and study his word DAILY. You can think you're religious all you want, but if you have the lifestyle of Nancy, you might as well be talking at a brick wall. I say this because, when you're like Nancy, your praises and worship mean absolutely nothing. It's like telling God "hey, i'm good enough like this. I don't follow all your rules". God wants, needs, and deserves your full attention, to have his rules followed. We have commandments for a reason. There are tons of guidance scriptures all throughout the bible! There is literally ZERO excuses you can make to say "well, the bible didnt say...."

                                                                 Issue 2     

    Being lukewarm Christians. In Revelation 3:16, "so, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, i will spit you from my mouth". Lets circle back to good ol' Billy. Billy is 'hot' for the Lord. Billy prays every day, almost as much as King David. Billy helps those in need, even if it's going out of his way, he studies his bible daily. Billy can't get enough of the Lord and wants to grow more and more closer to God til the day he's called home. Then we have Nancy. Nancy finally fell off the bandwagon. She very rarely, if at all goes to church. She ignores the needy and worries only for herself. Nancy is 'cold' to God. Now, we have Cindy. Cindy is a good person. She volunteers, is almost the perfect house wife and working woman, goes to church 3 times a week, she keeps from sin as much as possible. When she slips she immediately repents. But Cindy doesn't go out of her way to pray for someone in need outside of church, or really at all. She prays, praises, and worships pretty much only at church. She reads and learns the bible, only at church. She is completely content in her current status of Chirstian-hood. Cindy, is 'lukewarm'. God doesn't want lukewarm!!! You are completely FOR God or not! God desires for EVERYONE to be HOT for him. To want to learn, to grow, to become His warriors. There's this song. It's called, Start A Fire by Unspoken. In the Chorus is says, "start a fire in my soul, fan the flames and make it grow, so there's not doubt or denying. Let it burn so brightly, that everyone around can see, that it's You, that it's You that we need. Start a Fire in me". Everytime I hear this song. I just want to be still and listen. I want that burning fire. I want to be so HOT for God, that i'm like a fresh cup of coffee. That God would have to wait for me to cool off a bit before he can handle this. Now, that might be a little too big for my britches, but that's how amped up I am. Did you know, the reason we have so few miracles now a days verses back in the bible days, is because we've become so self centered, and distant from God. Back then Miracles were normal because everyone was SO Close and SO HOT for God. If people could get their heads out of their rears we could do it again! My mom wants to speak and people be healed, I have a friend who wants to be so hot and full of God that her Shadow will heal people. I wanna heal people just by looking at them! LOL! It sounds crazy, but it's very possible if we make it a habit to grow, listen, act on his word. We also have to do one other thing. It's a very important key to walking and being like Christ.

                                                                Issue 3

     We need to learn how to pray, and sacrifice the flesh DAILY. I'm not talking about beating yourself, or taking off parts of skin. That cruel, wrong, and just gross. I'm talking about SPIRITUALLY sacrificing the flesh. Everyday we are tempted with gambling, anger, lust, jealousy, hoarding, selfishness, etc. These are all action of the flesh. We have to 'crucify' ourselves everyday, and take up our own personal crosses to be able to follow the will of God. Luke 22:42 says, "not my will be done, but yours, be done" when he was praying to His Father. In Luke 9:23, Jesus said, "if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily, and follow me". We have to be WILLING to bare our own crosses and follow Christ. I'm not gunna lie, some days will be a lot harder than others. Our Spirit is in constant battle with our own flesh. There's a Native American Tale. Which can equate to our flesh and spirit.

            An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

In the Christian aspect, the 'evil wolf' is our flesh. It's the UN-Godly things our flesh wants. The 'good wolf' is our spirit. It wants to do God's will and follow his word. When we give in to fleshly things like lusting after another woman, or spending 'just one more dollar' on that slot machine, we're feeding the 'bad wolf'. But when we deny the flesh, when we pray for help, for strength from God, we FIGHT those urges and keep walking in GOD'S will. We sacrifice and deny ourselves giving into, and feeding, the 'good wolf', our Spirit. Don't get me wrong, there's are plenty of examples all throughout the bible also! Galatians 5:13(and on), Jeremiah 3:13-16, Hebrews 3: 12-19. Those are just a few examples in the bible if you want some light reading. But for me, at this moment, 'the tale of two wolves' is a better analogy for me to work with. I'm still very much in the learning process.

     Hopefully my wording was on point. Sometimes i'm not very good with words. I really struggled writing this segment. Hopefully it catches your attention, opens eyes, gives a different perspective, what have you. If you ever feel like you aren't strong enough to deny the flesh, to 'crucify' youself daily, try to remember this verse, "I can do ALL things through Christ, who strengthens me" Philippians 4:13. Hope you all have a blessed day.