Who Is God in Your Life?
Either God is the Creator of the whole man, the whole universe, and
all of reality and existence, or he is the Creator of none of it.
If
God is only the Creator of some divided platonic existence which leads to a
tension between the body and the soul, the real world and the spiritual world,
if God is only the Creator of some spiritual little experiential "praise the
Lord" reality, then he is not much of a God. Indeed, he is not I AM at all.
If our Christian lives are allowed to become something spiritual and
religious as opposed to something real, daily applicable, understandable,
beautiful, verifiable, balanced, sensible, and above all united, whole, if
indeed our Christianity is allowed to become this waffling spiritual goo that
nineteenth-century platonic Christianity became, then Christianity as truth
disappears and instead we only have a system of vague experiential religious
platitudes in its place.
(Franky Schaeffer V, Addicted to
Mediocrity (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1981), pp. 27-28.)
Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. [Isaiah 5:20]
We need to be
aware of what's happening!
Throughout church history, there have
been those who have (to use Dwight L. Moody's words) become
"so heavenly minded that they were no earthly
good." They quit their jobs, sold their property, and sat and waited
for Jesus to return. All of them have been embarrassed, of course, because it
is unbiblical to set dates for His coming. It is also unbiblical to become
careless and lazy just because we believe Jesus is coming soon.
We
need to be alert to the possibility of the consummation of events at any time.
That means we are aware of the events
unfolding in the world that shape our destiny.
Implied in our
alertness, is also readiness. We need to be preparing ourselves for Christ's
return which could happen at any moment. As we see the time of His return
edging closer, we should intensify our efforts of fulfilling our calling of
preaching the gospel so that others might
too be saved.
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.
A
man reaps what he sows. [Galatians 6:7]
Enemies of
Revival
Apathy, complacency, ignorance, fear, compromise, carnality,
and spiritual self-satisfaction are the main enemies of
revival.
- Apathy is a state of indifference, or the lack of emotions
such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion. Far too many Christians
have fallen victim to this enemy. To put it simply; it is the mindset of I
don't care! Apathetic Christians don't believe they have any power to change
the status quo, so they just go along with the flow and do nothing at all to
change their surroundings. They don't participate in regular Bible studies or
small groups, they do not have mentors or people in their lives to encourage
them, and fewer and fewer are giving or serving with their time, talents, or
treasures. These apathetic Christians usually are neither involved in the life
of their church nor interested in connecting deeper with others around them. In
fact, many are not even effectively involved in their own families. Nor are
they involved much in the local
government; they don’t even get out and vote in national
elections.
Apathy and indifference are the direct opposites of God’s call for us. The vine becomes withered and there is no desire to impact one’s self with Christ. When there is no effort to impact others, the church will stagnate and eventually die. Our families will become dysfunctional, and our governments will decay to liberalism and discord.
To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. [Revelation 3:14-16]
- Complacency sets in when you are comfortable in your life.
Perhaps you have reached a point where things seem to be going along well,
where you think you've done enough and can afford to slack off a
little.
Compromise with the world causes us
to loose our focus on what is truly important. When we become like those people
and situations which cause disunity, we add to the problem rather than help. In
today's society, a fad that's in the church as much as it is in the world is to
not take the marriage covenant as seriously as we
once did. It is hard to imagine that anyone in this country has not been
touched by divorce in one way or another. Marriage is a covenant. Not only a
covenant between the man and woman but a covenant with God.
Compromise will not work in religion. We cannot put aside the truth of Jesus just because it offends Muslims, atheists or homosexuals. We cannot agree to worship their gods in the spirit of multiculturalism. Nor can we stand idly by while our children are taught that New Age mysticism or TV paganism is to be embraced if they are to be "citizens of the global village." Sorry, we are to be strangers and aliens of such a place.- Spiritual self-satisfaction is the condition where you may think you are rich and don’t need anything. To the self satisfied you may think you can get along fine without a close walk with God. You have a good salary, investments are strong and a secure retirement is on the horizon. But if you are spiritually lukewarm your condition is wretched, pitiful, blind, naked and poor.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. [Revelation 3:17-18]
Overcoming Life's
Obstacles
The Apostle, Paul, identified for us where the
battleground takes place. It takes place in our thought process. And, it is
that thought process which the devil uses to fill our minds with false ideas
and visions of defeat. Paul says to think on the more positive things:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." [Phil. 4:8-9]
These are the things we need to focus our minds on.
We need both a dynamic concept of mission and also a dynamic concept of life in the power of the Holy Spirit in order to move effectively in God's will. More and more power is ours as we seek Him at greater and greater depths, increasingly submitting to His promptings, and courageously launching out in obedience to His commands. Our resolution should be (in Hudson Taylor's words) to "Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God."
The
Message
The message that is needed is one of
conviction of sin and the fear of God. Until men and
women realize that they have violated God's laws and that this world is
ripening to reap His wrath, they will not see their need for the forgiveness
which Christ bought with His blood. That message will be increasingly difficult
to deliver in the days ahead, but it is the only one that will prevent
"converts" from coming to Christ for the wrong reasons and thereby being set up
to follow the Antichrist when he appears.
When all is said and done,
and your life has come to a close, where will you spend the rest of your
eternity?
Wake Up!
We need to continually grow in our faith! We need to spend more time in the
Word, in prayer, and focusing on Christ. Many of the signs around us are
designed to wake us from our
slumber. God does not pour out His wrath without first warning us.
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. [2Peter 3:9]
God wants us to know He will return. God's seeming delay in bringing
about the consummation of all things is a result not of indifference but of
patience in waiting for all who will come to repentance. God is giving us every
chance to repent of our sin and return to Him. He is being patient with us
because He wants everyone to come to
repentance. Either we turn back to God or we will suffer His just
punishment.
The delay of Christ's return is related to the preaching
of the gospel of the kingdom to the whole world. God wants everyone to hear the
gospel and does not desire anyone to perish eternally (1Tim. 2:4). This does
not mean that all will be saved, for if a person rejects God's grace and
salvation, then he or she remains lost.
