This is written for all the “religious” family we have out there in the world

Where does your theology lead you?  How does your dogma invite the lost into the Family of God?  How is it your version of the Bible, or your denominational titles are being a light in the world?  How did you get so far off track from the path you started?  People, “religion” does not save men.  Do not think that your billboards telling passerby’s that you read from the King James Version (not that there is anything wrong with this version, it's just an example I am using because I see it on church billboards so frequently) is going to save a single soul.  Or that your programs will entice the lost when the world sees how God’s people are divided! 

How do you not see that your religion has become an idol around your own necks?!  You spend more time condemning and criticizing other children of God for loving on people as Jesus did because your views on the scriptures are skewed.  There is a void of love in your religion that pushes people away from God rather than drawing them to Him!  

When did Jesus ever take the Word of God and use it as a hammer of condemnation over men’s hearts?!  When did he turn up his nose towards sinners and act disgusted?  Did He enter into the tax collectors house (which also was full of prostitutes) and scream at them that they were going to hell because they were “sinners!”   Did He yell at his disciples and condemn them for their uniqueness or for having their own style of ministering to others?  Where did Jesus say that only the Baptists, or the Lutherans, or the Presbyterians, or the Pentecostals or the charismatics, or the Methodists and so forth had the only true theology?  The Jesus I studied was full of compassion on the lost and loved them with such kindness and respect that they were drawn to Him and recognized their own hunger for the Truth.  They knew somehow that they could receive something from Him they could not get from the religious of their time.  He offered them hope and shared a gospel message that had never been heard before.  Well it was not new but He shared the heart of the Father concerning the Laws of Moses and lived a life that completed and complemented the Truth to help people, not hinder them.  Jesus gave people hope that they could find forgiveness for their sins by living the life of Truth and Love. 

Jesus was also not passive when it came to the Truth.  He did not fear the religious or even the lost but stood on the Word of God while walking in the Love of God.  There are religions who would rather turn the cheek to the gospel so as not to offend man and have allowed “sin” into their congregations, and their teachings are pleasing to itching ears rather than hungry hearts or their doctrines are watered down.  We cannot condemn sinners but we cannot condone sin in God’s sanctuary either.  We are God’s sanctuary on the earth and our own lives must be cleansed before we can attempt to help another who is bound in sin.  We cannot be passive, apathetic hypocrites.  This means we cannot water down the Truth to suit our own desires to be popular with the world!  This is also not the Church as she was meant to be! 

God’s doctrine is sound and just and He is able to protect the integrity of His Word no matter the denomination as long as it is His Truth and not a derivative of another man’s ideas on the Truth.  This is how cults are formed and people are lead into deception.  There is so much dissension in the Body of Believers because of men’s attitudes towards people.  We are NOT to use the Truth to imprison people brothers!!!!  The Truth is to set the captives free!  God is the Truth and God is Love and all those who are in God are also in Love.  Whoever claims to love but hates his brother is deceived and God’s love is not in him! 

My point?  How can the lost in the world see God in the Body when the Body is like a lampstand outside full of dirt and dead bugs and our light is dim at best?!  WE MUST clean our lamps with the Love of God’s Truth and purify our hearts in Christ Jesus so that we can illuminate in these dark times!  It’s God’s Love that transforms the world through the Church, not any version of the Bible, or denomination or theology.  We are saved by grace alone through the blood of Christ in his death and resurrection.  If we can all agree on this and set aside our dogmatic differences and unite under this Truth alone then, and only then can we be the salt of the earth, a lampstand on a hill and vessels of righteousness.  Only then can the world finally see Jesus in us and through us.  God’s love changed us and convicted us of our own sinfulness and it seems we have forgotten what it was like to have been lost. 

Love, not condemnation (for God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save it through Him) will reveal God’s mercy and compassion to man.  Love, not criticism will heal the wounds of the lost.  Love with grace and mercy will expand the Kingdom of Heaven.  We must unite brethren if we’re to complete the mission at hand as the Church (The body of believers, aka the Bride of Christ).  We have been adopted into God’s family and we must stop the sibling rivalry and stand together in Christ Jesus as a family. 

Sadly, some of those “religious” will find something wrong with even this plea and condemn me to hell because many are waxed cold in love and are themselves now blinded to the Truth just as the Pharisees were.  The worst part of deception is that the deceived don't realize they are deceived. God help us all and forgive us our absurdities and foolishness of thinking.  Raise up Your People to be a beacon of light in the world; reflections of Your Love and glory to those groping around in the darkness.  Draw them to Your Light Lord that they may be saved!  Break our hearts with what breaks Yours Lord.

What does God look like through you?

"If you don't know God He will probably look like you."

How true could this be?  What does God look like to the world in the Western World?  I suppose it depends on who you are looking at?  Main stream picks up on a harsh, judgmental and mean God who is cruel and unforgiving.  I believe this because I see the hatred towards believers - or those who believe they are Christians  of good intent.  Reading comments on news articles online are a great place to view the hostility.  Can we fault the world for seeing the "Church" through angry eyes and tainted glasses?  Who made them that way?

What have we done as a people who are called by His name?  We have been adopted into a family that was not our own and not received our birth right through our adoption.  We received the new name but not the inheritance.  We have moved into our new Home but have not taken time to get to truly know our new Father. We are distrusting and distant;  selfish and not wanting to really change.  We read His words and miss the intent of His heart because we listen not to His Spirit.

What is God telling us in His word?  He's telling us that He loves us.  That He does not want to condemn us, but that He desires to save us and unite us in Heaven with and through His son!  BUT...we're NOT listening as a whole!  Brothers and sisters of the Kingdom, I appeal to you to look at Jesus again and again and again until you see He is LOVE personified.  He is our example.  He wants to instill His heart into ours.  WHERE did He condemn anyone when He walked the earth?  When did He throw the sins of the people in their faces and shame them?  No, no, no!  He was received by those around Him because of His Love and Compassion.

When we leave our homes each day people should see God as He is when watching us.  We should be different in our behaviors than everyone else.  When we look at others we should look through God's eyes of compassion and Love and not our own.  His eyes will always see differently than ours.  But how we do this is by having that personal and intimate relationship with Him.  We CAN come boldly to the throne of the Creator of all things through His Son.  We can be ourselves and allow Him to work Himself into our lives.  We NEED to for the sake of millions of souls missing out on the greatest gift given to mankind from God Himself....salvation...eternal life and freedom.

It is not right for one to hoard for themselves what God intended to be distributed throughout the world.  When we fail to love as He loves us we are not the light in the world, but rather are static causing shorts all around us.

Lord, please help us to draw nearer to You.  Give us courage to step away from the gates of Your Kingdom and to boldly come into Your presence to receive Your great love so that we may go out into all the world and share it to others.  Let us be the reflection of Your Son and a true bright light drawing others into Your Family!

Abandonment

Listening to a lonely dog howling this morning and my heart felt sorrow for this poor pup who was abandoned by her owners.  Red tape and laws create more isolation for this throw away friend.  As we approach her she runs away and hides from those who would try to help her.  It doesn’t make sense when she is so lonely.  Yet, it makes perfect sense.  She longs for her family to return for her.  Hopefully they will get here soon she thinks. She is hungry, thirsty and alone.  Too scared to go out to those who approach her with a helping hand of love and kindness. 

How often are we like this poor dog?  Do we not all experience abandonment at different points in our lives?  Abandoned by those who professed to love us, by those we trusted.  Love we had escapes our hearts and we are left feeling empty and alone.   Sometimes our own hearts abandon us.  We lose our confidence, our dreams, our aspirations and hopes, and are left reeling in doubt and discouragement.   Questions plague our minds.  Understanding and reason haunt our thoughts day and night.    

Abandonment puts up walls around our hearts to guard us against others we fear will do the same.  Fear and distrust become close companions but to our own demise.  We don’t always understand the why’s or how’s because most often, life doesn’t share the answers to its tests.

God, You said you would never leave us or abandon us.  If we were to go to the highest heavens You would be there.  Should we reach down to the deepest depths, there You would be also.  There is no hiding from Your presence.  In these times of abandonment when we feel alone, heart- broken, confused and lost, may we feel You right beside us.  May we find comfort in knowing that Your eye is always on us, that Your heart is ever loving us, and that there is hope in healing from these wounds that scar us.  Help us to not to be afraid, but to step out in courage and continue to take risks, knowing we could be hurt again.  Let us be so confident in Your faithfulness that we knock down those walls of isolation and distrust and live vulnerable to those around us.  Without faith it is impossible to please You.  Help us wounded warriors live with such faith that we can press into You through the heart ache of abandonment and take that pain and use it to love more passionately, live more fully, and trust more than is reasonable.  Help us to never lose hope in humanity and to see others through eyes of mercy.  May we not lean on our own understanding but trust You in everything.  Remind us that we are never alone.

We've lost our way...

Jesus, forgive Your church.  My heart grieves over how lost we've become.  There are those who rejoice that the world hates us, yet it isn't because we are without fault like You were Lord.  It's because we are at fault.  The world hates us because we have been without love towards them or even worse towards one another.  In Your Word you said "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. ..."  But You did good while you were in the world.  I know there are members of the Church that indeed ARE doing many good things.  But the part of the Body in the Western world is lukewarm, self involved, compromising, legalistic, self-righteous, critical, judgmental and without love.  They don't love themselves with the Love You've given us Lord!  We need You!!!  Forgive us Lord, we don't mean to be so ignorant in our ways.  We think we're doing right, but without understanding our worth to You we have gotten it all mixed up.  

We are a confused Body Lord.  Please enlighten us with Your heart towards us that we may reflect Your Love towards others.  Jesus, you never badgered, condemned, criticised or belittled the lost.  You loved them into Your Kingdom.  We need to be like You.  Give our hearts compassion again Lord.  Help us to forgive ourselves even so that we can extend that forgiveness outwards towards others.  Help us to cover over offenses rather than to take them on.  Humble our hearts towards Your heart Lord and give us eyes to see others as You see them.  You love those who hate you Lord and we too must love those same people.  

Forgive us Lord for our division.  The world sees we are divided and how can they possibly believe we have any answers at all when we build our earthly sanctuaries right next door to eachother and are without fellowship?!  God we have lost our way and taken a degree off course some time ago and now we are so far away from our original destination.  Lead us back on course that we may be partakers and distributors of Your glory here on earth and advance Your Kingdom.  Raise up Your people Lord to be a light in the world as You said we were to be!  Draw us together and may the world see this unity growing.  

If they are to hate us, let it be because we are a light that exposes the darkness, not because we offer them no hope.  We need to point to You in love, unity, with moral excellence and integrity Lord.  Help us to live lives of such love and goodness that You smile upon Your people and the world is affected by Your glory!

You have given us the Keys to Your Kingdom Lord, let us remember how to use them!