Its Already Started But People Don't See it

Thanking the Lord for Trials

I am going to say something that will seem strange to many people. Here goes!!!

I am thanking God today for the virus because I believe it is God who allowed the devil to bring it causing the hearts of many in the church to be exposed.

When we can self-reflect, asking God if our attitude is right, He will show us things that need His attention in our hearts.

I am convinced that most people who say they are Christians have resisted evaluating their own hearts to see if they are inclined toward God. Pride and self-righteousness have reigned in the church for a long time. The focus to fight for ourselves has become the goal of many believers.

When we attend church gatherings to enjoy our favorite beliefs but have no interest in being convicted by God to grow in holiness, this is a sign of spiritual deadness.

I notice often a sense that a challenge to greater holiness is anathema in our day of the worship of self. So many will interpret our love to help someone grow is met with anger, even accusation that we are unloving by the mere suggestion that someone may need to rethink their attitude.

Having left the Catholic church in search of a relationship with Jesus Christ I have found many protestant Christians, have rightly earned the title "protestant" since what they do amounts to protesting when someone disagrees with their ungodly and unbiblical stance. The traditions of the church today that are not scriptural are elevated above the Bible, as though they came from God, but in fact were concoctions of man.

We need not search books written by men to discover this, we only need to know the Bible so intimately that Christ jumps off the pages to enlighten us to the truth.

Christ is the Word, HE is the very essence of His own Word. He authored the entire Bible from beginning to end, using prophets and apostles to write down what He told them to write.

I grieve often that many Christians hold His Word in such low regard. They cherry pick verses removing them from their context to make them say what they want to believe while ignoring completely God's purpose and meaning. In essence they are lying against God, His Word, His nature, essentially denying Christ by denying HIs Word. Remember His Word IS Who He IS!!!!

John 1:14

"14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son[a] from the Father, full of grace and truth."

Luke 1:38

"38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her."

Luke 4:32

"32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority."

God's Word, the Bible is not just words alone, they are the power of Jesus Christ, because He is God the Son!!!!!

John 14:9 "

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?"

Many "Christians" are praying for wisdom, for dreams and visions because they lack the faith to believe God's Word, the Bible, the Holy Spirit of which is the essence of and IS Christ.

They are looking for external signs and an emtional high as well as their own will being granted, rather than trusting the Holy Spirit to speak to them. Most of their desires if not all are based on getting things in this world they desire. Very few prayers are based on asking God to change them into His likeness. In fact in most cases prayers are focused on personal comfort in our day as well as delivery from tough situations. God places challenges in our path to teach us lessons and to show us our own need to stop trusting in ourselves and our own devices.

Where are the prayers of the saints that meditate on God's Word to discover weaknesses for cleansing from God?

We all have a need for prayer that Christ in us reveals our wrong attitudes and beliefs. No one is beyond needing direction from the Holy Spirit to walk more in holiness. Shouldn't this be first and foremost so that we can carry out the will of the Father to spread the gospel?

Our personal comfort our freedom or our desires are nothing compared to our calling. We cannot carry out that precious calling when we are full of self-will, dedicated to the things of this world, and angry when we do not get our way.

Only one thing should matter to the born-again believer, that is the gospel. If the gospel is first in our thinking we will be deeply concerned about our witness in the community.

We will not want to be fighting with people over superficial things. What do I call superficial? Politics, health care, diseases, vacations, hairstyles, personal freedoms and many more things that Americans think are so important.

I do not see in the Scriptures mention of any of these things as something to be protecting and fighting for.

If we have our freedoms removed to cause people to want to know more about Christ, Hallelujah, bring it on. If I am to suffer for one person to come to know Christ, it will be worth it all.

I have noticed that the church grows in countries where there is persecution, it rarely grows in countries in which everyone is very comfortable. Perhaps and probably, God is doing a work in this country, exposing the heart of this attitude of entitlement that exists in a country that has had its freedom so intensely and so long that it defends freedom more than it defends the principles of God within His own church gatherings.

Nowhere in the Bible do we see God telling us to fight for our freedoms. Nowhere are we told to hunker down in isolation to protect ourselves. If we are not ready to die for Christ then we are of no use to the Kingdom of God.

Luke 9:23

"And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."

Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Luke 14:33

"So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

Luke 14:27

"Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple."

Hallelujah, When we walk with Christ, seeking His mind every day, we will walk in peace and joy as well as exuding Christ wherever we go. May those who experience our presence feel His love, His safety and His principles lived out, that perhaps they will want to know what we have that they need.

Hallelujah!!!

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