THE SECRET PLACE
Offend me with the truth and never comfort me with a lie
PART 30
WE ARE NOT OUR OWN
“Life is more accurately measured by the lives we touch
than the things we acquire”

Every human being places value on things around them. Some could care less about nature while adoring certain collectable treasures. Others dream and search for wealth so they can buy what they believe will give them contentment and happiness. Some people disguise their desires and secretly lust for the things they would not want anyone to discover about them while others save every penny they can just in case they may need it one day. Nevertheless, with all people, there are personal priorities of worth attached to the objects of their deepest fantasies. It is in these imaginations where our desires are revealed and our love is judged. With God it is all about us seeking Him, the absolute truth and how determined we are to make this our highest priority. Even our good intentions cannot be honored if we are not connected to the divine reality of Jesus Christ. If we do not care enough about helping others break their bondage of sin or walking holy before them so they might see Jesus – then no doubt we have a “love problem” with God. To love God is to love people and if this is not working in our life, it is a good probability that we love our self and our possessions more than anyone or anything else.

If we have not been convinced that in order to change our thinking, our mind must be transformed – then we are playing a religious game. The stuffy, high minded church attenders like to pretend they know it all about doctrines and creeds, but never get around to putting them into action. These are the kind of believers that will fight you over the color of the new church carpet but have never prayed for anyone or helped others in need. If we really believed that we could speak to the mountains and they would be removed, we would be more interested in demonstrating the super-natural instead of being completely focused with trying to enhance our own way of life. The truth is, we can be used to do God’s will all the time, but it takes such a disciplined lifestyle that most of the time we would rather go take a nap. We have been convinced through traditional teaching that God’s will is going to be accomplished whether we do anything or not, and that faith, confessions and prayers are just to keep us focused. No wonder Christians yawn when they hear sermons about faith – they believe God does not need them. But brother, everyone cannot be a John the Baptist or an apostle like Paul. Where did you hear that? Where and when did God tell anyone that His followers were not to be like John, Peter or Paul? I know one thing – he did not sacrifice His Son for a church filled with lukewarm spectators that live in fear of persecution and have ugly tantrums over the worship being too loud or the sermons too radical.

Some Bible teachers try to bottle the believer’s authority as a magical formula and turn God into a cosmic vending machine which gives His Spiritual principals a black eye. This does not mean that God is not desiring to bless us, but rather it distorts the outline of God’s requirements for the revelation of His blueprints to be comprehended. We cannot exercise faith apart from God’s will because the idea is to know His direction and then “follow” in faith. With Satan twisting God’s word he brings discouragement on those who try it and fail to receive and those who judge it from a distance. The devil desires to influence Christians with confusion so they will walk away without studying it on their own. He wants them to remain powerless as a religious spectator because these types of sheep are NOT a threat to his kingdom. Satan knows there are true spiritual laws that can unleash the power and authority of God through His saints. This is the anointing that can break the yoke of darkness and what he is most afraid of. So, of course he is trying to keep these hidden mysteries and secret truths away from being exposed and activated.

You see, the “power of words” is a valid Spiritual truth. The “name it and claim it” movement based their teachings on this biblical principal and had some very good things to say but like many other views it became unbalanced and legalistic. Satan is an expert when it comes to giving God’s Word a slight “twist” or a small alteration here and there. The crucial component that many teachers “left out” of the equation was that – WE MUST FIND GOD’S PERFECT WILL FOR OUR LIFE. You would not think that mature believers would not be so easily deceived with basic, elementary ideas that exalt the flesh and emphasize building an earthly kingdom. I know the idea was that God’s people should “inherit” the earth and rule with respect, but I personally believe these teachers have their time dispensations out of order. God’s people will be recognized as leaders in the NEW millennium, but in the closing of this age, they will be despised and persecuted. False teachers did not expose the danger of pride and the strong temptations that are associated with materialism. Wealth can help many people and resources can supply the needs of the hurting, but it can also lure the heart away from God by injecting the attitude of self-sufficiency. Positive confessions can be used to help accomplish our destiny as they AGREE with God’s vision for our life, however it was never designed for us to stand out in the driveway and say, “Rolls Royce appear” because that is probably not what God wants us to have at that moment (or at all). Speaking our faith is the result of discerning what GOD is saying and wants to do with us (I like that) and was given to the believer to discover what to do and where to go – then we focus our visions, words and prayers to see it through.

This reminds me of my talk with the Lord this morning about the church. I have been going to church since I was a baby and have been involved with several different denominations and sub-groups. I realize that I sound critical of the church and it is easy to stand back and be negative toward things that other people are at least trying to do. Let me say, I am passionate about the church, I feel for the church and very concerned with what has happened and is happening right now. I have prayed for years asking the Lord to reveal the hidden truths about what the differences between the real church and the false church. I am convinced that what we see as the “normal” traditional church is not what God was talking about. I believe the church that we see now is an imposter that replaced the original model that Jesus established. How could Satan “hijack” the outward manifestation of the church? Easy! Just like everything else in life, God has allowed man’s freewill to choose what he loves. It is no secret the flesh loves to design its own religious agenda and powder-puff sermons that bring comfort to those who know “about” God. When we look at the church under the microscope of the Holy Spirit, we begin to see that the genuine is filled with humility and the generic is filled with pride. My point is that the church should be teaching disciples “how” to grow up into becoming ministers instead of running adult day care centers. The spectator mentality is NOT God’s plan for His people. Pastors that tell their members how wonderful they are and how everything is going to be great, are not listening or conveying the last hour, prophetic message from the Lord. Comfort, prosperity and pleasures have lulled Christians to sleep and the devil is very satisfied that his deceptions have worked beautifully.

Christians that “say” they believe God’s Word and are ready to stand boldly with Him through the end of this age need to take inventory. If we really believed like we say and think we do – I promise our life would look dramatically different than it does today. Most Christians are afraid to step out by faith in anything! They do not want to suffer embarrassment for being fanatical or lose their security and comfortable lifestyle. They do not want to be an outcast, rejected, disrespected or suffer persecution. But the Bible says the original church had only ONE thing as their priority – and that was to FOLLOW Jesus Christ. I thought God’s Word teaches that we were bought with a price which means we are not our own decision maker. Look around, does the modern day church look like that to you? Should we be whispering or are we afraid we might awaken the sleeping giant? Selah.